Who: Shard & Torrent When: Friday, April 4th, 2008 Where: Xavier's; their room What: the tango: Maureen Status: complete Rating: PG-13
Day shifts; easier than night shifts. More boring. Less scary. Either way, Troy's guard duty was through, and he frankly just wanted to crash on his bed and veg out for a while. His headset was still hanging on, however haphazardly, and he wore a smirk on his face as he entered his shared room while he listened to the colorful radio chatter going on between two of the Brotherhood who were still on watch. When he noticed the brooder in the desk chair, he quirked a brow and let his smirk fade, but he didn't speak. He hadn't seen Will in over twenty-four hours. The Native knew something was up. They never avoided each other. If there was an issue, they either screamed it out or threw down with Mario Kart. He had a feeling Will wasn't going to be up for Nintendo. "What's going on?"
Will sat facing the door; he knew Troy would be back around now. He waited for his roommate, it was time to hash this out. It had stewed for long enough. "Joe told me something interesting yesterday. About you and Diana in the pool." Old Troy would have loved to get a woman into a pool with him... hell it was a daily goal. Will knew Troy had changed, they both had. But he lived with the old Troy for a long time. "If you're gonna go after Diana just let me know now, okay?"
Troy's hand had been at the side of his head where he planned to use it to remove his headset - but at the astoundingly insane accusation made by his boyfriend, the arm dropped back to his side and he stared down into Will's face. He wanted to shout 'WHAT?!', but he took in a breath and let it out slowly, then blinked in continued surprise a few times before clearing his throat; mostly an effort to snap him out of the stupor, "You know how it is Will - can't get through a day without a big breakfast of jailbait and chlorine..." With his wits back about him, Troy casually slung off his gear and plopped himself down on the end of the bed. "Joe's such a little snatch. What was he doing down there anyway? Probably thought the pool was the office cooler."
"Shut up Troy, leave Joe out of this. He's just looking out for me; he doesn't think you've changed. I do, but you still need to tell me what you were thinking. You had to know that I would wonder, were you going to tell me about it?" ... "And get off your high horse. Tell me a few months ago her age would have stopped you."
What? Will was the one who brought Joe into this. Troy couldn't defend himself? Troy's eyes shifted from side to side as if he'd walked into the wrong room and was talking to someone other than Will. "A few months ago she was a messed up tag-along with some serious issues. And a few months ago, I wasn't with you. So it doesn't matter how old she is. And I'm not sure what I'm supposed to report back to you about. I swam with her - we both swim - a lot. She hit on me, and I told her 'too bad'. Then she called me a liar when I told her I was with you. I'm not sure what Joe said, but between her grinding her teeth in aggravation, her self-hate, and the fun-time dolphin show - it looked more like a ten-year-old's birthday than a sexy-party."
Will stood from the chair and walked to the opposite side of the room as Troy. He acted as though something on his dresser was more important than what Troy was saying. He was beginning to feel like the bad guy in the situation. "Damn it Troy. This is pretty fucked up. This is all still new to me. And you know, part of me thought... that if you found a girl, you wouldn't need me anymore. Then I realized how much I must care about you because I was so fucking worried." He was still facing the wall away from Troy. It seemed to make things easier to say.
'Damn it Troy'. It was beginning to be more common than 'I love you' would be in a 'normal' relationship. Who was he kidding? The phrase had been uttered at least once a day for the past several years. Troy sighed and watched the back of Will's head while the other man spoke. He had caught on quite a while before Will spoke the actual words that were the heart of the matter - a big reason why the Native hadn't blown up at the fingers that were pointed in his direction. "Will, man, I can't get mad at you for feeling like that. I mean, I'm still scared that you'll feel like getting cozy with Zap. It's just natural. It's like living with a pile of people you've dated, and switching teams all at once. It's scary, dude. But I didn't even think about doing anything. I don't need to think about other people." Troy pushed his lips tight together with general frustration at the situation and moved from his spot toward Will. "Plus," his hands touched the sides of Will's torso from behind and he leaned his forehead against the back of Will's neck, "I thought being with a dude would mean I wouldn't have to come home to bitchin'." All of his words were spoken through a wide grin.
"Yeah, well don't get too cozy with seventeen-year-old blonde chicks and you won't get a bitchin'." Will was relieved Troy understood where he was coming from. He could've seen this turning into a pretty big argument. God, this whole thing scared the hell out of him. "I love you, ya goober. I'm sorry I went all jealous girlfriend on you."
"You're not the first," Troy said, dismissively, with a jovial tone. Still grinning, "I love you too." He kissed Will behind the ear, soundly, and gave him a squeeze before releasing him and stepping back. "I can retire now, by the way. I've completed my life's work. The last item on my list was 'make a man jealous'. I was gunnin' for Pete, but you and me just picked out these sheets and settled on our china..."