Who Pip and Eston What A quick chat then off to eat Where Eston's cabin then out. When Friday afternoon Rating/status PG 13 / complete!
Pip was in a good mood. Goodish. He would be in a better mood after his show was done and he was heading back home, but he was between practice and show and was feeling the zen of a man prepared but not bored with the material. He walked along the hallway towards his cabin and hummed softly, a new song on his list for the evening that he kept going over. He was walking past Fabian and Eston's cabin when he took a breath and stopped. He hadn't seen Eston for a bit, or Fabian, so he figured...well, he figured dinner with one or the other would be nice. Trystan wasn't expecting him back, and was probably in a meeting, so it wasn't like Pip would be missed particularly. He turned to the door and gave a knock. He wasn't sure who he was hoping to be the one he ended up finding on the other side, but really...He'd take whichever.
Eston answered because there was only Eston left. His roommate had moved out, switched rooms or moved shipped, Eston wasn't sure and could only guess, but he was not on the priority list of people who should know what Fabian was doing. In fact, he was pretty much at the bottom of everyone's list, a place he was no unfamiliar with and had no care to even be on a list in the first place. The knocks at the door, people searching for Fabian, or for those who assumed he was still here, was getting tiring.
"He's not here," Eston said and looked up briefly from his music sheet, taking in Pip and his current buzz. His papers lowered and the pencil waggled back and forth inquistively. "Lost are we? Nerds and celebrities three rooms down." He started to close the door.
Pip rolled his eyes. It was like he hadn't been away from Eston at all.
"Well, I was looking for either you or Fabian, actually, so," He put his hand on the door, "Haven't heard from you in a while, thought I'd check in. If we are doing this 'trying to be friends' thing, then this is what being friends entails. Me. At your door. That shouldn't be shut on me," He looked at the door pointedly then to Eston.
Eston rolled his tongue in his mouth and leaned on the handle, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand. "Yes well, funny that -- this friends thing you call it, whatever this--" he waved his papers between them, gesturing back and forth. "-- seems to work out as long as I leave you two alone. The second I get involved, it's like plucking feathers when the bloke is still alive, yes?" Eston was in an equally good mood and sober, very very sober, for once, which was likely why he was coming across a little too chipper. There was a lack of hostility that was usually there. Like he'd let go of something and the man underneath all the problems between them was having his own shining moment. It was just that his shining moments involved pointing out the blatant truths and sending people off - a thing he was likely not about to get away with with Pip.
"Friends don't break up marriages. See? We are learning rules together," Pip raised his eyebrows, "So. Are you going to open the door?" He pointed to it, "Because I'd like to talk to you, but I can just as easily not talk to you. Up to you, sport," He wasn't going to make a big deal about their past, distant or recent, and was just going to focus on wanting to chat now. Wanting to talk was not something he could be faulted for.
"Right, well..." He actually considered closing the door on Pip, if only because he always maintained an air of space between himself and people but something had him let go of the handle, open the door and step back. "--Then, here we are. This is the bed, that's the other one. Washroom's there," he pointed to the end of the room. "Much like yours, I'm afraid. I havn't bothered to redecorate, see? Fabian was the decorator. Not much of one - I blame the language barrier."
"Yeah, because you can't decorate unless you speak English," Pip rolled his eyes and walked in, "So. How've you been?" He asked, trying to get conversation going, determined to actually try this friendship thing with Eston, and give it a good shot.
"Fine, Healthy, happy, lazy - all the requirements of a musician on a ship, being the background's bitch," he said, dropping his music sheet on the table. As an afterthought, he turned it over and set the pencil on top. "You've been busy. Saw your poster boy. He doesn't seem too pleased about the whole thing. God knows why - the prude."
"I've been busy," Pip agreed with that, "And he has every right not to be pleased, seeing as he didn't sign on for it," He sat down on the extra bed, "Been writing a lot?" He asked, sitting back, weight resting on his palms as he crossed his legs.
"He signed up for it the day he said 'I do'. Don't be fooled, that one. Jealousy comes in all forms, even modest ones." Eston went to fetch himself a bottle of water from the mini fridge and tossed Pip one as an after thought. A brief glimpse into the fridge said it was fully stocked of unbranded bottles, amongst other things floating in brown unlabelled paper bags. "Now c'mon, we aren't here to talk about me and we both know it." Eston was uninspiring in terms of gossip. He was only concerned with music and where his next hit was coming from.
Catching the water, Pip rolled his eyes, "Doesn't mean he has to like it, Eston," He took a drink of water and shrugged his shoulders, "I'm here to talk, period, about anything. Why not about you?"
"Because we never talk about me," Eston said, sitting across from Pip and opening his bottle. "Besides, you're life is far more interesting than mine." He rarely wanted to go into depth about himself. "Oh don't look so agreeable, it's patheitc. You're always looking for something more to me and I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you this time. Though I will admit, Im liking this solo room thing," he said, waving the bottle to gestured to the room. "It's rather enjoyable."
"Why didn't you just go for a single room? You know you don't play well with others," Pip arched a brow, looking around the room, "If the fact that you fight with my husband any chance you get is proof of anything."
"Ah! Ah!" Eston pointed to the ceiling. "He fights with me. I just have to open my mouth and his tantrum's already there, ready and waiting."
"You don't seem to understand that he doesn't want to hear from you," Pip replied, "And your "good natured"," Air quotes made here, "Attempts at chatting with him fall short of the mark. Just saying."
"He's just too bloody sensitive, that's all. I bet all he does is complain, that one. Gets his feathers in a huff at anything I say. Can't we just all get along?" Eston asked in a sing-song.
"Eston. Come on. Even you aren't that emotionally stunted. My ex shows up and insults him, what is he going to do but get defensive? I'd do the same if any of Trystan's ex's showed up," Pip shrugged. Not that Trystan had ex's like Eston, but still.
Eston sobered slightly, giving Pip the benefit of the doubt for just a moment. "I'm the competition to him when truely, there's no contest for me. If I really wanted to make his life hell, I would and you know I would." Because Eston on warpath was a very scary thing. It usually involve d alot of drugs, fighting and someone always hurt in the end. "Would he feel better if I pulled up my shirt and let him suck my tit for awhile?"
"I think that image is one of the most disturbing things I've ever had in my head, and we both know I've had some scary shit going on in there," Pip rolled his eyes, shaking his head, "We're going away for a bit. And I'd just like it if you two could maybe play nice when we get back. He doesn't go out of his way to insult you, and it would be kind of nice if you returned that favour, is all I'm saying. If not for him, for me. If not for me, for whatever it is you care about."
"I don't care about much, you know that." He leaned back on his elbows and pointed at Pip with his waterbottle. "You know what your problem is? And his, I would say. Is whenever I talk to you, he gets his knickers in a knot. If it's not me, it's someone else. And you, good man that you are, bend over backwards, defending him to the teeth even when he's wrong. Doesn't that remind you of something?" Many many times Pip bent over backwards for other people, Eston included. "Did you know I havn't spoken to you for weeks because I knew this would happen. One word to him and he throws his arms up, you come to his defense and we're right back where we started." Eston sat up and set his water bottle aside, eyebrows raised, giving Pip that look. "Don't you think I get tired listening to your husband cry wolf everytime I set foot within a five foot radius of you? I'm not askin' you to choose Philip. But I'm right sick of having to tip toe around him because he's got some soft heart and can't take a light joke. At least they didn't publish his ass," he snarked. "I would have liked to see that."
Pip rolled his eyes, even if he knew it was true. He knew that he'd defend anyone he cared about without pause, and had done so, yes, for Eston in the past. Sighing, he shook his head, "Well, I don't know what you want me to stay, Eston. Yes, I defend my husband no matter what. It's part of being married. I use to defend your idiocy, you know, and you never complained then," He shrugged, "Try not speaking to him like he is a child or like you hate everything about him, then you might get a better response."
"I said he had a nice smile." He nodded to that and despite the heavy conversation, his mood was still bouncing. "Mm we'll see, won't we? Raining dogs and fire, isn't it?" he asked, standingup and fixing the hem of his shirt.
"Oh, bravo," Pip clapped his hands together a few times, leaning back on his elbows on the bed, "You used to be nice once and a while, I'm sure of it," He noted, tilting his head, "Or maybe that was the drugs."
Eston let a hearty genuine laugh escape him and he cupped Pip's cheek, patting his affectionately."Only when I try love, only when I try." He righted himself and flicked away a fluff from his shirt, always paying attention to the smallest detail. "All this talk has me famished. Am I going to have to suffer you reminicing or can I buy you a bite to eat?"
"One those rare occasions that you do," Pip sat up, "I can eat and be disgustingly nostalgic at the same time," He stood and put his water bottle down, "So. Let's eat."