InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "We super believe in Tad Cooper"

Dr. Owen Harper [Torchwood] (imatwat) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2012-01-20 03:48:00

Entry tags:

cordelia chase, owen harper

WHO: Owen Harper & Cordelia Chase
WHAT: Roommate wars!
WHEN: January 20th; early morning hours
WHERE: Owen & Cordelia's flat
RATING: PG-13 for potential language
STATUS: In Progress

Dr. Owen Harper was exhausted. It seemed like this place hadn't had a proper doctor in a long time, and even with a few to currently pick up the slack that had been going around, his day had been tortuously long. So when he opened the door to his flat, dropping his coat onto the nearest available surface without so much as a thought to where it landed, his immediate destination was his bedroom and the sleep which he'd find within it. At least, that was what he'd thought until he'd staggered inside in the dark and went to throw himself down onto the bed only to end up faceplanting into the hard wooden floor. Well, not strictly just the floor. There was a sleeping bag rolled up underneath him and a cardboard box next to it precariously balancing the items that he'd had laid out on his nightstand. But other than that, squinting through the dark, Owen couldn't see a single scrap of the furniture that had filled the room when he'd left this morning.

Annoyance coursing through his veins, Owen had already started the network message by the time that he realized at this hour, Cordelia wouldn't exactly be in the position to argue about this much less tell him what the hell she'd done with all of his things. But all the same, it also left him with a wonderful opportunity. Tacking on the last few words and pulling himself back to his feet, Owen stripped off his shirt and pants, leaving them in his room, well away from where Cordelia could demand that he put them back on with the ability to toss them at his face, and sauntered with intent over to her room.

"Budge over, princess," Owen hissed, giving the woman a nudge in the side as he climbed into the bed next to her, weaseling his way into the space that was left.

(Post a new comment)

thisismyofframp
2012-01-20 09:26 am UTC (link)

Cordelia had been having a wonderful dream involving a beach, a light breeze, a tasty frozen alcoholic drink of some sort, and a muscular guy rubbing suntan oil on her back. It wasn't often she had such pleasant dreams; visions of death and tragedy had certainly left an impression on her subconscious more than she liked to admit. However tonight was an except rather than the rule and probably had a lot to do with the good mood she'd been in when she'd laid down to go to sleep.

Was it petty of her to donate all of her roommate's furniture to charity? Probably. Fortunately, Cordelia was not the sort of girl who had a problem being petty when the situation called for it. So she had gone through with her retaliation for what Owen had done to her clothes without much hesitation at all. And once every piece of his furniture was hauled out of the apartment, she had promptly locked the door and gone to bed with a smile on her face and a feeling of vindication in her heart.

Unfortunately, that was not how she felt when she woke up. No, she woke up - slowly, at first - following a rude shove and the feel of someone that was not the suntan oil guy from the beach getting a little too close for comfort. It took a few precious seconds for her to realize that the other warm body was not part of her dream but was, in fact, in the real world. As soon as the thought registered, though, her eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed as though she'd just been shot at. Her head snapped to the side, taking in the sight of none other than her rude, annoying, pain in the butt roommate lying beside her.

"What," she bit out, voice low and still thick with the final remnants of sleep, "do you think you're doing?" Not even waiting for him to continue, she gave him a hard shove. Realizing a heartbeat later that he was most definitely not wearing a shirt, she pulled her hand away quickly and all but leapt from her bed. Which now contained a guy that was at least half-naked who was not there by invitation.

"Are you actually insane?" she demanded, hands going to her hips as her voice rose several decibels. "Get out of my bed!"

(Reply to this) (Thread)

imatwat
2012-01-20 09:41 am UTC (link)

Owen had been expecting a negative reaction. Actually, he'd been relishing the thought of a negative reaction, so even as she shrieked at him, Owen just smiled a hazy, sleepy smile up at her as he reached out and snagged one of the pillows from her now abandoned sleeping place. "Not insane. Tired. For some reason, my bed has mysteriously vanished along with the rest of the furniture in my room," He said, pretty much suspecting that she'd had something to do with it. Even if she denied knowledge and played it on the faeries, he wasn't buying it. "Pretend like i'm not even here," He said, waving his hand as if that made everything better before curling up and resting his head on the thieved pillow and closing his eyes.

Not that Owen really expected to actually get to sleep without that much of a fight, but he was pretty sure pretending like this was no big deal would make her even more angry. And that, well, that really was the purpose of all of this, wasn't it?

And he figured this was a much more elegant revenge than putting neon pink dye in her shampoo.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thisismyofframp
2012-01-20 10:09 am UTC (link)

Hazel eyes that were shining with a mixture of annoyance and frustration immediately narrowed at his words. Cordelia's lips pressed together to form a thin line and briefly, for a moment, she considered simply picking up her crossbow and shooting him with it. Not that she actually would, of course, but it was certainly tempting.

Instead, though, she continued to glare for several long seconds before finally drawing in a breath and exhaling slowly. Getting her pissed off was exactly what he was after and she knew it. He was expecting her to scream and shout, make demands and threats, and basically react in every way that she normally would. She was not, however, going to give him that satisfaction.

So rather than raise her voice even higher, or brandishing a weapon, she calmly sat back down on her bed. Then she just as calmly picked up the pillow he hadn't stolen from her, gripped it tightly on one end... and promptly whacked him in the head with it as hard as she could manage.

"Get." Whack! "Up." Whack! "NOW!"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

imatwat
2012-01-20 10:24 am UTC (link)

Owen had been keeping on ear open for some sort of reaction, any sort of reaction on her end, so when the only one that came with the sharp intake of breath and slow steady exhaling, he was a little bit surprised by how calm she was being. Eyes still shut tight, he was even more surprised when he felt the bed shift under the weight of another person. Perhaps she was more collected than he had assumed and would be able to deal with this situation like an adult until she was able to get the furniture that she'd removed from his room back into some semblance of order. Perhaps he would actually get to sleep...

And then the pillow collided with his head, once, twice, a third time, each time predicated by a sharp word. The hands that had been wrapped around the pillow under his head shifted quickly, hauling the pillow upward to block the blows that Cordelia was peppering him with and then fighting back with a few of his own, shifting to thwack her on the shoulder as best that he could.

"Nope. Stuck with me," He said, the statement coming out half amused because, really, who could stay serious under these circumstances? "On the plus side, I'm extremely cuddly," He said, sticking out his tongue and moving his pillow to preemptively block any shots that she tried to get in.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thisismyofframp
2012-01-20 06:59 pm UTC (link)

What had started as a fight about counter space had grown until she was now, literally, sitting on her bed at a ridiculous hour, in a form-fitting tank top and boy shorts, hitting a potentially naked man with her pillow and demanding he leave. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Cordelia knew that the entire situation had crossed well over into ridiculous. And although she was still furious, when he stuck his tongue out at her, she paused her pillow mid-swing and did something even she wasn't expecting.

She laughed.

It was more of a snort, really, partially out of amusement and partially out of derision, but it was still very much a sound that was not a shriek of furious indignation like she had thought she would make. It was also quickly followed by another snort, then a snicker, until finally she dropped the pillow to her lap and clamped a hand over her mouth in a vain attempt to keep the noise from being audible. Even then, her shoulders shook from the laughter bubbling up inside of her and her eyes lit up with amusement.

Finally, a few seconds after she'd started, she managed to get control over herself enough to speak. There was merriment in her tone as she stated simply, "This is ridiculous. We are fully grown adults, for crying out loud." With a shake of her head, she sighed and moved her pillow back to the head of the bed. "And I, for one, am going to actually act like it for a change."

Snickering again, she laid back down and pulled the covers around herself. For a brief moment, she was quiet, then couldn't help but tack an airy, "Of course, there is no way on this planet or any other that I'm getting your furniture back until you've replaced my wardrobe. Not happening, buddy. You and I will share a bed until you're bald, first. So, say, another month or two. Give or take."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

imatwat
2012-01-20 07:39 pm UTC (link)

Laughter had been the one thing that Owen had been trying to avoid, even as he had realized just how ridiculous this had gotten since they were basically having an anger fueled pillow fight, but when she started laughing, Owen allowed himself the chuckle that had been building in his throat, remaining poised with the pillow ready until she'd moved to a position where he could pretty safely assume that she wasn't going to attack him again, even to make a point.

Scrunching his face at the implication he was going to be bald in a month, Owen tossed the pillow back to the head of the bed and flopped back on it, "If I'm going to have to replace your wardrobe, make it more like a year or two. I might be a doctor, but Prada's even well out of my price limit," He said, moving his arm under the pillow, bracing his head back against it as he turned to the side to smirk to Cordelia. "Do you snore? Figuring I should probably prepare myself if we're going to be stuck like this for awhile."

Which, if he had to raise several thousand dollars to buy her a whole new fashion line, was probably going to be however long that they were actually stuck in this place. Especially since he had no real clue what the clinic was going to be paying him monthly yet.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thisismyofframp
2012-01-20 08:26 pm UTC (link)

"Yes," Cordelia replied without missing a beat, tone and expression both carefully neutral as she turned onto her side so she was facing him and pulled the covers up a little past her hips. "I snore." Slowly she smirked. "And drool. And kick. And toss and turn. And scream. I even claw at things randomly that are within reach in effort to gouge out eyeballs and rip out big chunks of hair. In fact, if you want to actually get any sleep at all, ever, you'd probably be better off using that sleeping bag I gave you."

Of course, truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure whether she did any of those things or not. She knew she had snored and drooled before, but she had been sitting up and leaning against someone else at the time, and had certainly never received any complaints about doing either of those things before that moment. With, you know, the whole one guy she'd slept with at the time.

Refusing to think about such things - both her relative inexperience with sex despite having had several boyfriends over the years, as well as the closest she'd ever really come to sleeping beside Angel - she instead twisted a bit to glance over her shoulder at the alarm clock on her nightstand. Blinking, she stared at the glowing red numbers for a long moment before slowly looking back to Owen.

"So... do you usually get in at ridiculous o'clock in the morning?" she asked in what could almost pass for a civilized tone. What? She could keep the peace if she really needed to. For now, at least.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

imatwat
2012-01-20 08:55 pm UTC (link)

"Nice try, sweetheart," Owen said, laughing despite himself at her trying to scare him off with all these things that she probably had never done in her life. "But I've slept with a biter before. You're not going to run me off by telling me a bunch of lies," Owen said, waggling his eyebrows before a smirk slowly formed on his face. "Oh, and in case you were wondering, I am wearing pants," He said. "I figured it wasn't polite to go starkers around a lady. Unless she'd like a show, that is."

And he was probably setting himself up to get hit in the face with a pillow again, but Owen really didn't care. It was just fun to mess with her.

Glancing back over his shoulder at the clock, Owen turned back to Cordelia and answered with a shrug, "It's not all that late," He said, knowing full well that he'd pulled shifts longer than this before at both the hospital and with Torchwood, though mostly with Torchwood, but that any normal, sane person would actually beat him if they insisted on waking them up over and over again at this hour just to get into bed. "But I doubt it'll be a regular occurrence." And that was the best reassurance he could give her with the hope that he wouldn't be shunted out of her bed with a well placed foot to the bum and sent to curl up on the cold floor in a sleeping bag like a pathetic boy scout at a badly funded camping retreat.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thisismyofframp
2012-01-25 05:16 am UTC (link)

Cordelia snorted softly. "It better not be a regular thing," she said flatly as she fixed him with a glare. Nevermind that said glare was a bit less pointed than usual due to the sleep that was threatening to overtake her at any given moment. It was still a glare, dammit. "Otherwise," she tacked on, stifling a yawn, "you are so sleeping on the couch until you save up enough for a new bed." Pausing, she added in a somewhat peeved tone, "Which is only happening after you replace my wardrobe, just so you know."

Eyes fluttering closed for a few second, Cordelia might have very well fallen asleep right then and there if something he'd said hadn't finally registered in her sleep-deprived mind. Reopening her eyes, she stated firmly, "And the first time you try to climb into bed in the buff, I am going to bring my sword to bed with me. And that? Is the only warning you are getting, you Casanova wannabe."

Smirking slightly, she let her eyes drift closed again even if her mind was far too wound up to really let her get any semblance of sleep.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

imatwat
2012-01-25 07:05 am UTC (link)

A sword? Bugger, that wasn't something that Owen wanted to even consider. Even joke starkers was out of the question, then. Exactly as much as sleeping on the couch was out. "Excuse me. If I have to replace your wardrobe, you have to replace my bedroom furniture. Tit for tat, sweetheart," Owen said, staring at the back of her head. If she expected him to fold so easily to what she said, she was in for a nasty shock. He was definitely far too stubborn to just let something like this go or accept that he was going to have to fix damage that he hadn't done himself. Her wardrobe was his fault, his responsibility to handle. His bedroom? Was not.

Laying back, staring up at the ceiling as she attempted to get to sleep, Owen couldn't help but feel the urge to be an ass. It was pretty late, and he'd already been up most of the day. Sacrificing a few more minutes to irritate her seemed well worth it in his mind. And placing cold feet on a warm leg was always a wonderful way to make someone shriek.

(Reply to this) (Parent)