Jake (aimistrue) wrote in commandhq, @ 2018-06-01 17:30:00 |
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Entry tags: | ethan bishop, p: mena, p: mj, riley hunter |
Who: Ethan Bishop & Riley Hunter
What: Two guys shooting some pool and having a back and forth
When: 31st May [Backdated]
Where: Leisure Room
Rating: Low
Being a handler didn't give anyone a lot of down time and what little Riley did have was often spent in the gym or continuing to catch up on what felt like a neverending pile of paperwork. But he was beginning to feel stir crazy, between agent training sessions, paperwork, transfers, trying to help Matt deal with Bea's arrival and the death of his brother (when Matt really wasn't interested in being helped at all which made things... difficult) and trying to process being effectively trapped in the same facility as Ben - someone who he was quite sure he'd never see again and apparently wasn't really all that ready to see - he just needed a break. He was also nursing a beer which he hadn't done in a while, but he had a six pack under the pool table just in case someone joined him. The one he had was open but barely touched; beer wasn't really his thing. But it was easier to get hold of and less likely to make him tipsy. He'd set the balls up on the table and spent the last ten minutes just fucking around on the table, potting them as and when he could and poking them in with the cue when he couldn't. The last pot was one that meant he had to bend right over the table, braced awkwardly, but it went in. He was pleased with that. Of course, with an empty table, he needed to rack them again, so off he went, bending to grab the rack and retrieving the balls from where they'd pooled, holding multiples at a time between long fingers as he dropped them into the rack. Ethan had finished up on the shooting range and was still feeling kind of restless so he tugged on a jacket with the intention to get outside and stretch his legs but when he passed the Leisure room he spotted Riley playing a very solitary game of pool. "Pretty sure pool is more fun when you're playing against somebody else," he offered with a toothy lopsided grin which exposed dimples. Ethan was always a bit more relaxed around Riley but the he'd known Riley a long time and the Handler had made an effort to get to know the agent known as Seeker. It was easy to be more... authentic around people he knew than people he was just getting to know. He was after all something of an introvert. "Pretty sure if I played this with someone else, what lingering respect they had for me'd disappear, like," Riley said, straightening up and turning to look at Ethan. At the grin, his own expression lit up in a mirroring one. He really liked Ethan, the guy was easy to spend time with and easier to hang out with, and conversation flowed naturally. It was... it was good. "Considering how shocking I am at this game. I'd just embarrass meself." He chuckled, pushed his fingers through his hair - and it needed a cut, good Lord - before he lifted a shoulder. His other hand snagged the beer and raised it to his lips. "You wanna join us?" he asked, "Feel like you oughta prove it and not just use it as an excuse to ritually humiliate us in a semi-public forum." Except it wasn't all that public, in fact, Riley was alone. "I've got beer?" "Yeah, I can't really play this without cheating," Ethan pointed out with a smirk. "Got that power I can't really switch on or off." At least he was honest about that though Jade was right, he really could make a killing out of a game of darts or anything he put his mind to that required hand eye co-ordination. He wasn't however about to turn down an offer that came with beer so Ethan signalled that he was in by shrugging out of his jacket and resting it over a nearby stool. "I'm in." "Yeah," Riley grumbled, watching Ethan divest himself of his jacket and drape it over a nearby stool. "Youse are gonna make us regret this, aren't youse." Ever since he'd run into Ben again his accent had gotten thicker, sliding back into it as if he'd never left Newcastle. He knew it amused Matt some, to hear more clearly than ever where he'd come from. Riley kept trying to catch it but failed miserably every time. He felt like it was serious enough that he should probably do the same, so he mimicked Ethan in that he shrugged out of his own outer shirt, leaving him in just his t-shirt and jeans. Grabbing Ethan a beer, he passed it over and finished racking up the balls, spinning the black one in the centre as he lifted the triangle away and rolled the cue down to the bottom of the table. "Just try not to wipe the floor with me in one go, like, otherwise this'll be the shortest game on record." Ethan's lips slipped into a knowing smirk and honestly he didn't need words to express "yup I am" because it was blatantly written across his face for all to see. Or rather Riley seeing as they were alone. He had noticed the change in Riley's accent, the strengthening of his twang, and idly he was curious about the cause. He took the beer with a grateful nod before cracking open into it and taking the first sip before he caught the cue that was rolled down the table towards him. "I'll do my best," he said with a small smile as he collected the cue ball up and smoothly turned it over in his hand with an impressive display of dexterity. Ethan was good with his hands, make of that what you would. Riley opened his mouth to retort when Ethan picked up the cue ball and played with it in his hand and Riley's brain completely frizted. His eyes tracked the ball in Ethan's hand and he cleared his throat, trying to force his brain back onto the track. He reached out and took a long drink of his beer and adjusted his grip on the cue, twirling it in his hand and then poking Ethan in the side with it for good measure. For being cocky. Not for distracting Riley. He could already tell how this was gonna go. "I'm gonna make it as difficult for youse as I can, you know." Ethan eyed the poke with an arch of his eyebrow. "Good to hear," he replied with a further grin. "Wouldn't want this to be easy." He chuckled and placed the ball down before he picked up a cue and he took up a position at the table which allowed him to see the full expanse of the felt. He took the cue in hand and promptly bent over, sliding it through his fingers and lifting his eyes to get a better assessment of the angle. Ethan could if he wanted to take the table in a few moves but he wasn't a complete asshole so he pocketed his first and second before missing the next one. "You're up," he said as he slowly stood back up with a smile. "I wasn't kidding about being shit at this game," Riley muttered, watching Ethan break the formation and pot three in a row before missing one which Riley knew was just a ploy, Ethan was being nice and not an asshole. "Playing against me's gonna be way too easy for youse." He drew his lower lip into his mouth, chewing on it as he moved around the table, trying to find the best angle before settling and chalking his cue, delaying actually taking the shot because honestly he wasn't really wanting to make a fool of himself. Why had he even asked Ethan to play? Because he was a masochist, apparently. "You doing okay, like?" Riley asked, eyes falling onto the table as he lined up the shot, sinking the first ball and looking more pleased with himself than he probably should do considering, but the grin spread across his face like a wildfire. "Keeping yerself busy?" Now, not to miss the next one. Ethan dropped his head to hide the smirk that passed over his lips before he watched the way that Riley pulled his lower lip into his mouth and worried it. His attraction towards men wasn't exactly secret, his tastes always went beyond the package. Could be male, female, have six heads, wouldn't matter any to Ethan just as long as he felt that... attraction. He'd have to blind not to notice the attractiveness of Riley Hunter but he'd always been good at recalling how he was an Agent and the other was a Handler. He definitely had eyes and he had noticed other attractive people, Agents mostly. Made more sense to keep his interests within what was achievable after all, but he'd never done anything about it because well, he wasn't the forthcoming of people. "Bored mostly," Ethan shared with movement of his eyebrows. "I've stayed out of the insanity so not been involved with that but yeah, bored. You?" "Ah, mate," Riley drawled, glancing up in time to see the rather fluid movement of Ethan's distinctive eyebrows. They were a lot more expressive than he thought Ethan realised, but he wasn't about to point it out; Ethan was often so closed off and private that it was good to have a slight insight into him that felt sort of private. "Keeping out of the drama's probably the sensible thing to do, but at least having drama would keep you busy." He chuckled, "I wish I could be bored." He drew his lower lip between his teeth again, concentration on his face as he aimed but the cue ball went wide, bouncing off the edge of the table and into the middle of a small group of balls. "But I'm drowning in paperwork and angry mams." He wrinkled his nose and pushed his hand through his hair again. "Well, fuck." His eyes cut back up to Ethan and his lips quirked up a little. "If you're really bored though, I can definitely find some stuff to help keep you busy." "The banes of being a handler," Ethan replied with a smirk. "All work, no play." He watched Riley as he concentrated before his gaze travelled back to the table where sure enough the cue ball went wide and Ethan was up again. He idly turned the pool cue over in his hand as he assessed the spread and planned his next move. He paused, took aim, and started to draw the pool cue back. "I gotta give you the dues on the paintball thing, that was fun." "What do you think I'm doing now?" Riley asked, "This isn't work." His eyes tracked Ethan's fingers as he twirled the cue and moved around the table, taking a sip of his beer and while he was out of eyesight waited for Ethan to start taking the shot. As he did, saying at the same time, "Aye, it was. Gonna have to find more stuff to remodel," he nudged the edge of Ethan's knee with his cue, poking him to put him off just as he took the shot, with the cheekiest of grins on his face, not even a little bit smothered by the can as he lifted it to his lips. Ethan felt the nudge to his knee a second or two too late because he'd already taken the shot and almost immediately his light hazel eyes cut over to Riley who was doing a rather poor job of hiding that shit eating grin. "Really? You're resorting to that?" He gave a disapproving tut and shook his head. "And here I thought you were better than that." Riley looked past Ethan to the table but the ball had gone in anyway; Ethan had managed to sink the shot successfully even with a nudge to his knee and he huffed out a breath, though the grin didn't go anywhere. "You said so yourself, you've got an unfair advantage. I'd like to point out, Ethan, that it didn't even affect you." He leaned against the edge of the table, cue resting against him. "There's only one other way I know of distracting someone while they're concentrating and I'm not sure that'd totally be appreciated." He chuckled, taking another sip of his beer and stepping away from the table. "Honestly, can you blame us for wanting to draw out youse kicking my arse for a little longer?" "Lucky break," Ethan retorted to Riley's claim that his distraction hadn't actually affected Ethan's ability to sink a ball into the pocket he'd been aiming for. "Still," he muttered as he pointed his pool cue in Riley's direction, "Not cool." He circled the table and stopped to line up his next shot, tall form bending over for him to draw the pool cue back. "And now that you mention it," he began before glancing up at Riley with a slow toothy grin, "Can't say that I can blame you for that."(edited) "Aye, when you seem like youse just wanna get the game over quick as possible, like," Riley drawled, chuckling at the slow grin. He resisted the urge he had to whack Ethan - gently - with the cue. "Still..." He came up behind Ethan, tipping his head at the table, standing close enough behind him that the other guy would be able to feel his presence almost touching, but not quite, and he leaned forward, keeping a distance between their bodies - barely there as it was - his hand finding the edge of the table, breath hot against Ethan's ear as he spoke. "I'm curious to find out just how much it takes before you actually miss a shot." Ethan shrugged his shoulders. "I'm efficient like that." Which wasn't a lie. He tended to look at most things in a way of 'how can I get this done fast?' and 'how can I get this done well?'. It was just the way his brain worked, especially when he was playing games. He did however become hyper aware of Riley's presence when the other man came up behind him and his eyebrow lifted in suspicion because what was that about? Focus, Ethan was the thought that passed through his head as he turned his gaze back to his shot. Of course what he had not been expecting was Riley's mouth at his ear and that rush of hot breath over the sensitive skin on his ear, the same skin he'd been considering piercing, but was now sort of glad he hadn't. Curiosity killed the cat but in this case Ethan's shot went wide so apparently satisfaction brought it back. Riley chuckled as the shot went wide, not moving back from Ethan's space immediately, so the sound, low and rich was still right by the Agent's ear. That had been a little easier than he'd thought it would be. But even then, his point had been proven and he knew he needed to move out of Ethan's space but he just sort of didn't want to. He touched the guy's back, ostensibly to move himself carefully out of Ethan's space but he really didn't need the help, cool touch lingering for longer than strictly necessary as he returned to circle the table, trying to work out how best to take his next shot. "Efficient," Riley tsked, "Anyone'd think youse aren't interested in hangin' out with us." He chewed on his lower lip and bent forward, carefully starting to line up his own shot. Ethan inwardly rolled his eyes at himself before he reached up to rub absently at the affected ear, disliking how easily that had distracted him. Thankfully he wasn't about to have an attractive guy breathing on his ear in the field so it wasn't something he needed to worry about too much. "Well," he began, "I didn't quite know how to tell you." And then he just smirked. Riley's eyes cut up to look at Ethan, watching him rub at his ear and his lips curled up into a smile that could only be described as affectionate before he returned to focusing on the table. "I can see youse smirking, you bastard," he responded, having to push his hair back out of his face before moving to take the shot. It went in - barely - bouncing off the pocket and going in on the rebound, but it still went in. He knocked Ethan with the cue as he moved past him, maybe a little closer than was strictly necessary, to the other side of the table. "I'm hurt," he said, melodramatically. Hand on the table, he braced the cue again and lined up the shot. "Ooh," Ethan hissed quietly. "That nearly didn't go in." He glanced at Riley as he moved past him before he just decided that fair was fair. Granted he wasn't going to do anything quite so underhanded as move up behind Riley and breathe on his ear but what he was going to do was knock the back of the other man's leg with his pool cue. See how he liked it. "You're a fucker," Riley muttered as his knee got knocked with the cue, causing his balance to wobble a bit and he didn't even hit the cue ball. He laughed though, because if this was the game they were going to play, Riley was unmatched in being a pain in the ass around a pool table. Because he'd missed so spectacularly, he had to concede the table. With a roll of his eyes, and a sudden surge of relief that they were alone in this room, he swept his arms out in a mock bow as he moved away, a little. "Youse really wanna play this game with me, Ethan?" he asked, tongue touching his canine as he looked at the other man. Never one to back down from a challenge Ethan knew that he was probably getting in over his head especially with that shit eating grin on Riley's far and yet he couldn't help himself. "I didn't start this game," he pointed out as he flipped his cue over in his hand and pointed one end of it at Riley. "You did if I recall correctly." "I told you I was gonna make it as difficult for youse as I could," Riley pointed out . "You're the one that retaliated." He twirled his cue in his hand like a bo-staff and brandished it in response, knocking the end of Ethan's playfully. "You're upping the stakes, mate." He tipped his head, curling his hand around his beer and lifting it to his lips. "You still down to play?" "Well, I figured," Ethan began as twisted his cue and in a smooth movement he had Riley's cue knocked back and his own at his throat with a playful smile. "Fair is fair." Of course he couldn't leave the game unfinished, wouldn't sit well with whatever OCD he had for making sure things got finished. "Well we started so we might as well finish." Riley reached up and touched the cue at his throat and dragged his fingers slowly down it with an arched eyebrow before he knocked it to the side. "I don't think anything about this is fair," he pointed out, beer back on the table. "But it's your move, Bishop." "Can't help how I was born," Ethan fired back with a smirk before he turned his attention to the table and moved away from Riley so if he was going to distract him this time then he would at least have to put some legwork in. He settled and began to get into his next shot. "You can help that face," Riley retorted childishly, sipping at his beer and watching Ethan for a moment before he waited, just until the other man was going to take his shot and he subtly nudged the table with his hip. Because honestly, Ethan's face alone was distracting, let alone when he was smirking or grinning. Ethan gave Riley a look of "really?" because he was pretty sure he couldn't actually help his face. Genetics and all. And it was as he hit the white ball with the tip of his cue that the table shook and Ethan shot a look at Riley though thankfully it wasn't enough to knock Ethan off his game as the ball sunk into the pocket. "Nice try." "Okay," Riley conceeded, "Not my best comeback." Of course, the ball went into the pocket it had been aiming for and Riley decided next time they played pool it would be with Ethan's powers off because it just wasn't fair. He chuckled, thinking about the last time he'd played Distraction Pool. It had been with Ben, and his expression faltered a little, clearing his throat and stepping back to perch on one of the stools, downing the last of his beer, snagging another one and perching it on his knee. His urge to play dirty faded fast. He should just concede defeat. "I still maintain you have an unfair advantage." "You're not wrong about that," Ethan admitted and whilst he might not have commented on it outright he had noticed the shift in Riley's mood and demeanour. Clearly something was going on beneath the surface but Ethan respected a person's need for privacy and now wasn't the time to push. Not when all they were doing was shooting some pool. It really didn't take Ethan very long to clear down the table with a few more well aimed shots and it was at this point he withdrew, closing his hands over the top of the pool cue, and resting his chin atop of his linked hands as he gave Riley a small smile. "Which bit?" Riley asked, head tipped to the side as he watched Ethan clear the table. "And if you say both I'm gonna throw this cue at you." Though he was just teasing. "Did you finish your beer?" He returned the small smile and hopped off the stool, new beer cracked and open, condensation against his palm. "Is there anything you're not good at?" "Well," Ethan began before his lips edged into a smirk. "And try to miss the face you know considering I can't help this." Truth about Ethan was he could be just as sassy and snarky as the next agent but it took a lot more for him to get to a place where he felt comfortable enough to be that way. He'd totally forgotten about his beer but that tended to happen when he focused in and now he was done playing he collected the beer and took a sip. "Um, anything that doesn't require hand eye co-ordination?" "Y'know, you could definitely help it. I get that there's a genetic element but you could at least be decent enough to get yoursel' punched in the face next time you're on a mission or summat." Riley rolled his eyes, crossing back closer and putting his cue down on the table. "At least give the rest of us a fighting chance around here." Anything that didn't require hand eye co-ordination? "Which is what, exactly? Cards?" Riley snorted, "I bet you play a right mean game of poker, mate." Ethan rolled his eyes at Riley's dramatics, especially when he didn't need to worry because he was an attractive guy. He was certain he wasn't the only one who had noticed that fact. "Pretty sure there are plenty of people with more than just a fighting chance here at Limbo." "Okay, that much I'll give you, but I suck at cooking." "Aye, perhaps, but you're a cut above the rest of them, Bishop." Riley pushed his hand through his hair, suddenly a little bashful. "You're lucky." He cleared his throat and squeezed the back of his neck, taking another sip of his beer, shaking his head a little. "You mean you've not tried your hand at it yet, you mean. Find it kinda hard to believe there's anything you're not good at, like." Ethan ducked his head at the compliment, hand lifting to rub over the back of his neck, hoping he was doing a good job of covering the fact colour had rushed to his cheeks. "I'll take your word on that." He tipped his can to his lips and took a further sip. "Guess there's only one way to find out and if I burn Limbo to the ground I am blaming you." "I'll owe you a beer," Riley said with a laugh, nudging Ethan's shoulder with his own, affectionate and easy. "Wanna rack up again? Youse got time to kick my arse once more?" He snorted quietly before he gave a nod of his head. "Alright, best out of three?" And with a grin he went about setting the table up for another game. "Aye," Riley agreed. "Best out of three." |