goddamngrenades | RP Open Post

"You're a person. NOT a product." He mutters. "Both of you. The Project treated us like that and you're getting it all over again. Neither of you deserve it. Let alone for this long."

HE should've kept looking. That's all he can take away from this. That and Wash IS, in fact, jealous. And territorial. Time to keep poking.

"Boss wants to make me comply. He'll hold Delta over me to make it happen. Probably gonna get my suit refitted with an EMP collar or some shit. 'Do as you're told or your green friend gets it'." A beat. "You're really gonna give them shit for looking at me, aren't you?"

"We're weapons," Wash says, his voice thick with frustration and anger and the hurt that's usually buried as far as he can make it. "We're not people. We're weapons and weapons don't... Don't get to make those decisions." And he was terrible at making them anyway. "Had enough freedom to know I can't do it. He let me walk away, York. I tried. And I can't do it. Got picked back up cause I couldn't." Wasn't that evidence enough? He could have walked away but he didn't.

"At least you wouldn't be alone anymore," he says and then, without thinking, "Yes. I'm gonna break their fucking faces."

"Never said you'd have to do it alone. Trying to do it alone just- helps you fall back into old patterns. I had D. It made it easier to not." To unwind. To fix the patterns that put him in that spiral. It's work but it's work worth doing. "Nothing saying you both can't walk away now. Try something different."

Well that. That's- almost sweet.

"I'm down here in a skin tight suit. And again, I'm the pretty one. NOt all that surprised they want a piece." Doesn't keep him from moving over to the bed and sitting down, pressing against Wash from hip to thigh.

"You're crazy. We can't just... just leave. Can't just stop." The boss would be unhappy and that didn't usually lead to anything good. Wash was already in trouble, even if he'd come back. "Not all of us have a best friend who can help rewrite our brains and understands everything."

He tenses up when York comes to sit by him, stiff and unhappy. "Everyone's wearing a fucking skin tight suit. They don't get to do that."

"It wasn't rewriting, Wash. Delta's logic based, remember? Patterns and decryptions. He helped me talk through shit. Found the patterns of thought that led to downward spirals and talked me out of them before it got bad." Way better than a therapist, really.

He tilts over enough to lean against Wash a little more, chin tucked on his shoulder. "Yeah but how many have my ass?"

"Well, that's great for you. I can't do that. You're reaching for something that isn't there." He wasn't going to talk through anything, definitely wasn't going to let an AI trash his brain again, no matter how well intentioned.

He hunches up defensively when York touches him, but doesn't push him away. This was already more non-violent physical contact than he got in a year honestly. "I'll have words with them."

"If it wasn't there you would've shot me in the canon instead of murmur my name like you saw a ghost." Kill first, ask questions later. "If it wasn't there we wouldn't have had anything to make you jealous of a dumbass guard's lonely fantasies now."

It's a tentative thing, the looping of his arm around Wash's waist. It's actually pretty chaste- but he wasn't lying earlier. It gets chilly and he sleeps better with someone in the bed with him. "Words or fists? Cuz you punching someone for eyeing me is kind of sweet. And kind of hot."

"You just startled me. I thought you were dead." That would have startled anyone, right? Of course it would. There's no response when York wraps an arm around him either, he holds himself still and unresponsive. "You're an idiot. I'm just doing when I have to."

"Kind of the plan. Being legally dead makes getting work difficult, but I figured it'd be worth it." More cuddling. And nuzzling. "Nah. Admit it. You're jealous over something that's not even gonna happen because A) you kind of terrify the men here by being a badass and B) You're the only one here I want touching me."

He wants to touch back. He'd love that. To curl up with him like they had the past couple of nights. It's like testing himself, he supposes, being here. Throwing himself into the path of temptation and seeing if he can resist. He has to be strong. What about Carolina?" he asks quietly.

He curls closer into Wash's side, nose pressed against his skin. "...it's Complicated. We weren't ever- and last time we met we had a literal fistfight because of my excellent timing. Now she's...worse. Before when she was my CO it was bad enough. Now she's this untouchable thing. Mission first. Orders first. The hell kind of place is there for me in that?"

He's so warm, that's what gets him, and not the artificial warmth of the suit adjusting to optimum temperature. Genuine warmth. "She's not that bad. She's just focussed." It must be nice to have that kind of unswerving conviction. "And I make a nice runner up prize, right?" he says with a brittle smile.

"It kills someone to be that on all the time. Focus like that comes from trauma. From grief. From obsession." The Director had been obsessed and, well. That's how the project happened. He hooks his other arm around Wash's waist just to lean. To feel the solid warmth of him. "You're not a replacement and I'm not settling. I shot ou because I was pissed. I made sure the gun was loaded with lockdown paint because I care about you anyway."

He can't deny that. There's something broken in Carolina that he certainly can't fix, can just try to shore her up as best he can. "Why did you come after me? You'd have been safer staying with the rebels. They needed you and I'm not worth that."

There's the question now, isn't it? Stay with the rebels. Make sure the meeting works. At least he'd told Kimball that if he didn't come back in four hours to consider him captured or dead and beyond rescue. They know not to wait for him. "Because I've lost enough people to not want to lose more. I kinda get stupid over people I care about, David."

He squirms away when York uses that name. Too much of a reminder right now. Can't be David anymore. Never could be really. "You care about them too. Should have stuck with that. How did you not figure out that I'm a lot cause from that fucking video."

"Do you really want me to hate you?" He understands guilt but- if anything this is a sign that Wash is conflicted. If he was the selfish asshole he keeps saying he was, he'd take what York was offering without batting an eye. Play it up.

"Yes." Of course he doesn't. That was why he'd run off instead of explaining himself face to face. "At least I'd understand why you felt that."

"And people say I'm a shit liar." He snorts a laugh and settles back against the covers, offering Wash an arm. "You don't need to understand it."

He'd managed to fool York for the past couple of weeks hadn't he? He could pull that out. Cut him down. He glares at York for a moment before grudgingly taking the offered place at York's side, letting York wrap an arm around him. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Emotions tend to not. It's part of what makes us human." There are so many things he could do here but- he's tired. Wash is warm. Wash is comfortable. D's minding their surroundings. It's as safe as he's gonna get to bury his nose in Wash's hair, tangle himself up in him, and relax. "How long do I have you?"

"Fucking bad idea if you ask me," he mutters.

"If Control doesn't send new orders or want to speak to me again? I'm not on duty for a few hours. Not that there's a lot for me to do here." He'd been with the rebels. Carolina was the one who took care of stuff.

"Of the three of us-" Four counting Delta, which he isn't since D has no taste for such things. "I'm the one with a history of healthy relationships. So trust me." He brushes his lips against Wash's temple, slowly unwinding until he's loose and easy. "Mind tak'n a nap with me?"

He sleeps better with a second body present- preferably one that he trusts and cares about.

Besides.

Wash didn't get any sleep the night before.

He lets out a soft sigh, closing his eyes when York kisses him. It's nice and easy and he can almost pretend that they're back at the rebel base and everything is as honest as he'd been pretending. That everything is going to be alright. "Alright," he says. "I guess I can stay for a while."

"Just till you have to go." He'll take what scraps of comfort he can get. It also serves to remind Wash of what they'd had- to make him think about what he's doing. To make him reconsider his position.

Honestly? Carolina is gonna be the hard sell. He'll work on that.

After he dozes.

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)