Re: B&B: Janus, Steve, Atticus
Steve's entrance caught Janus mid-step across the floor, his expression stormy and ready to bust into a nice, healthy argument with the stubborn side of meat on the other side of the hall. He aborted the movement, and the Captain's appearance had a visible effect. Janus' shoulders straightened and he rotated toward Steve as the old soldier dropped the boxes, and his spine straightened up out of that pre-coffee slump he had adopted in the doorway. Nothing about his expression much changed, and there was too much in movement more than appearance to suggest it was a premeditated change. His mouth moved to one side when Steve used his last name, not precisely public and a little too close to the name he had asked him not to give. Janus didn't look at Atticus at this, remembering in that moment that Atticus knew what Jeffrey Allen looked like, but not his name. He didn't like the idea of the over-curious historian looking up his military record, but it was probably a foregone conclusion now, knowing at least the last name and that he had served with Steve.
That took a lot of the wind out of Janus' sails. He shook Steve's hand with equal warmth and welcome, but with a hint of absentmindedness, before standing back and using the excuse of sugar and cream to turn his back to both men. He used the intervening seconds to compose himself, to think about being Janus in a way that perhaps only Steve could really understand, a sort of deliberate acceptance of psychological dysphoria. He went through the motions with the sugar and the cream as Atticus went on about boxes, and by the time his name was mentioned he turned in place.
"He doesn't need my help," Janus said, smiling at Steve, who could probably free lift the motorcycle with all the boxes on it and walk it up the stairs.
As Atticus neared the coffee pot, Janus reached out for his chin to take a better look at the mess of his face. "Meet last night go bad?" He blatantly didn't care if Steve knew about how stupid Atticus was being, and deliberately didn't exclude him from the conversation.