[PRP] No Poaching (Evan/Heidi)

[Inle-roo]

An hour in the fresh air and a liberal dose of toothpaste and mouthwash made Evan feel not quite better, but a little more human. He figured by then, too, Tuck would have started to decompress a little. Maybe he was over it enough to eat all of the food Evan desperately wanted to make. They could get over whatever had put Tuck's panties in a twist and add Tuck's infection to their "Remember that time?" file.

He was surprised to see Heidi sitting in the hall with what looked like everything she owned in bags around her. His steps towards Tuck's door slowed as understanding slowly dawned. Whatever had put Tuck in such a state back in that lab wasn't going to go away that easily.

It was tempting to kick Tuck's door in and shut it behind himself so he could poke and prod and let Tuck rage at him until he got it all out, but he wasn't going to ignore Heidi for it. There would be plenty of time for that later. Evan took a knee next to her and reached out to squeeze her shoulder. "I'm not gonna pry," he said to her quietly. "Just give him some time. It'll all work out. Just be patient."

Eight

 

[Eight]

She had stopped crying, stopped pounding on the door, and stopped looking blatantly pathetic. Instead she was tired, but she refused to leave. Her things pushed to one side, Heidi had curled up with her back against the wall. She was upright, arms around her knees and her face hidden against her legs, blonde and rainbow hair hanging around her head like a colorful curtain and obscuring both her view of everything around her and the view of her face to those on the outside. She was quiet, too quiet, she could probably be mistaken for sleeping.

Someone touched her shoulder and she tensed, lifting her head with a sleepy expression as if she had truly been asleep. "Wha..?" She yawned, rubbing one eye with the heel of her hand. They were red, puffy from all of her crying. She hadn't been sleeping. Heidi squinted at him, looking confused. "Eh? Oh.." Her bags. She had to explain her bags. "Mmno, s'not like that. I just lost my key in all that an'Tuck's not back from his run yet." Heidi chuckled, shaking her head. "Thanks though."  

[Inle-roo]

Heidi looked a mess, but Evan figured she had every right to. He wasn't about to question her story, though it was almost definitely a lie. He gave her a sympathetic smile and decided to play along with it anyway; none of them needed any extra stress, and if she wanted to believe that she had just lost her key, he wasn't going to spoil the illusion.

Evan wondered if Tuck had actually taken it from her. Poor Heidi. She didn't deserve this. "Well, no telling how long he'll be out, and you don't want anyone tripping over your stuff, right? Do you...is there somewhere you can stow it for now?" He thought they'd been living together, but he hoped she hadn't given up her room.

Eight

 

[Eight]

No, her key was in her pocket. Unless Tuck had suddenly become a skilled pickpocket in the last few months, it was still in her pocket. She was not telling a soul. She was keeping her key. Heidi hugged her knees tighter, resting her chin on them with a little pout. "Yeah, that's true...um. I guess. There's my old room. One-fifty four.." Green eyes turned toward the door beside her, she frowned, and then turned back to Evan with a strained smile. "Hopefully he's back soon."

That wasn't Tuck in there. She refused to believe it.

inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

"Yeah. Hopefully." He shouldn't want to indulge Heidi--God knew he was hardly in the mood for it--but there was no reason for all of them to be miserable. Heidi hadn't done anything except come back to the island a little too soon. This was a hell of a welcome home.

"You hungry?" Evan asked. "I was gonna go make pancakes. We can bring your stuff if you don't want to drop it off in your room, swing by after to see if he's back."

Eight

 

[Eight]

"...A little," she admitted quietly. Heidi shrugged. "Pancakes sound good. I don't think I've ever tried your cooking befo--" Wait. Yes she had. Heidi looked stricken for a moment as she recalled when she had had Evan's cooking and glanced at the door again. She had eaten food made by Evan once, during that spontaneous rooftop date Tuck had spent an entire day setting up just to see her smile.

You think you're special to me? You ain't.

She frowned and turned her gaze down to the floor, rubbing her lips together and finally moving to get up. It was a good opportunity to hide her face from Evan while she bent down to gather up her things. Heidi cleared her throat, wearing the duffel bag over her shoulder and using both hands to mess with her hair. She didn't comb it back over her face, in fact she essentially fluffed up her hair so it would still block the view of her face from the side while she walked down the hall beside Evan. "So how're you feelin' after all that?" She managed to ask with a calm, even voice.

inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

It was distressing to see Heidi, who was normally full of good cheer, so obviously upset. He wanted to track Tuck down and drag him back here and make him deal with this, this mess that he was responsible for. Anything to force some kind of normalcy back into the day. How had they started with good-natured insults and progressed to cold shoulders? How was this even the same day?

Evan didn't protest as Heidi took up her belongings. Normally, he would have insisted on carrying something for her, but she looked like she needed the buffer between herself and the rest of the world. "Not great," he admitted. "You? Did you get hurt any?" His focus had been almost completely on Tuck once s**t started hitting the fan, but he hadn't noticed any of the others acting like mindless, ravenous zombies.

Eight

 

[Eight]

Heidi shook her head. No, she wasn't hurt physically. She dug around in her pocket for her keychain, finding it and looking over each key. There were clearly two keys on the keychain; one for her and Tu--...one for Tuck's room and one for her room. She hadn't lost her key at all. He wasn't being given back the key, either. No. She refused to believe it was over between them.

She sniffed, finally stopping in front of the door to her room and unlocking it. It was clear walking in that she had had no intention of ever coming back to this room. The air inside was stagnant, having not been opened and circulated out of an open door or window in a little over a year. It was barren, no blankets, no pillows, no decorations on the walls or clothes in the closet or dresser. Heidi dropped the heavy bag by the door with a sigh. All of a sudden she seemed to be in a hurry.

Heidi didn't want to be in this room.

Clearing her throat, Heidi stepped out of the room again, closing it behind her and locking it once more. She turned to Evan with a bright smile. "Pancakes, yeah?"

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

Evan walked Heidi to her door but didn't follow her into the room. He couldn't help but see inside of it, though, and he frowned at the state of it. There was nothing of Heidi in here, but he bet there had been traces of her all over Tuck's room. There was almost nothing in there period. He'd offer to help her get bedding, at least, from the quartermaster, because it was the least he could do even if he was already more involved with this than he wanted to be.

He was almost relieved when Heidi came out smiling. "Pancakes, yeah," he replied, already making his way towards the cafeteria. "You like chocolate chips in yours?" It came out grimmer than he'd hoped for, but if she could try to pretend everything was okay, he could too.

Eight

 

[Eight]

"I love anything chocolate, sign me up." Heidi rubbed the back of her neck and then began to absentmindedly braid her hair. "..Thank you, by the way."

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

"Now you're talking," Evan said with an approving nod as he led them into the kitchen. He waved her towards one of the stools at the island before moving to retrieve the ingredients he'd need.

"No thanks necessary," he called over a shoulder, stretching up to get a bag of chocolate chips. He thought about it for half a second before collecting a container of cocoa powder, too. "I like cooking, and you just gave me an excuse to make chocolate chocolate chip pancakes. I should be thanking you."

Eight

 

[Eight]

Heidi climbed up onto a stool as directed, still braiding her hair while she watched him wander around the kitchen. She smiled. The pancakes hadn't been what she had been thanking him for, and she wasn't sure if he was being genuine or still just humoring her as he had been before, but she wouldn't burst the bubble. This was a good thing they had going.

It just. Hurt. So much.

"Do you have a girlfriend, Evan?" It was purely a question of curiosity, not interest in..him. They didn't spend much time together so really despite him being Tuck's best friend she barely knew the guy. Might as well make conversation.

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

"I have a lot of friends who are girls," Evan replied hesitantly, looking up at Heidi and whoops, accidentally pouring a little too much chocolate powder into the mixing bowl. What a shame. "Why?"

Eight

 

[Eight]

She shrugged. "Just curious. Just, y'know, realizing we've barely really hung out and gotten to know each other." Heidi needed him to keep talking to her. She needed to not be left to her thoughts. Heidi needed distraction. She put her elbows on the counter and held her chin in her hands. "Have some pancake with your chocolate~."

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

"Well, you're back now, aren't you? About time we fixed that," Evan agreed, paying a little more attention to the batter he was making. She wasn't wrong; if not for their mutual connection to Tuck, they probably wouldn't know each other.

Still, that same connection made her one of Evan's, no matter how close they weren't. "How was your deployment?"

Eight