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[nutsaboutscans]

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JOHN KENNEX

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[nutsaboutscans]

William?

[He looks up at her before tucking her bandages underneath one another to hold it.]

I invited that guy out to drinks. Might be weird to have drinks with the guy my-... [He narrows his eyes, not sure how to describe Sally.] -best friend kicked in the face.

[unmakes]

Well, I mean. You might have to buy him dinner first.

[nutsaboutscans]

[A smile reluctantly creeps on his face.] Maybe I will. He said to Heather that he'd sleep with me, so-

[He licks a finger and touches it to his butt, making a sizzle sound.]

-maybe I will.

[unmakes]

[ her brows raise, but not in the surprise he probably hopes for. he's playing along instead of turning red and stumbling over words, that's definitely improvement, but not enough that she's letting him win. ]

Well hey, there you go. [ an encouraging smile! ] But if he gets too handsy for you, tell me and I'll kick his ass.

[nutsaboutscans]

[He shakes his head good-naturedly.] Thanks. I'll definitely keep that in mind. Sounds like he likes to get rough. How'd Sirius come out of the fight? He okay?

[unmakes]

I mean, he's bleeding from like six different places, but yeah, he's fine. [ that's why it took her like an hour to text him. ]

[nutsaboutscans]

Yeah? Jeez. If you want to take some of the bandages I've got for him, I wouldn't mind.

But first tell me what happened after. What did you and that guy do? Throw William in the brig?

[unmakes]

I have no clue, [ she admits, flexing the fingers of her hand and eyeing the bandaging now that he's mentioned bandages. ] I figured Charles had it handled. Also kinda wanted to get Sirius out of there before anyone pinned it on him.

[nutsaboutscans]

Yeah, I get that.

[He pauses. He's thinking, which is always a bad thing.]

You and Sirius are good friends.

[unmakes]

[ her brow knits. is he getting at something? ] Yeah, we are.

[nutsaboutscans]

[He presses his lips together.]

He's a...

[He crinkles his nose and shakes his head.]

Iiiiii'm being a douche.

[unmakes]

'He's a guy'? [ she fills in the blanks pretty well, don't worry. ] Look, just because he's a guy, that doesn't mean - [ doesn't mean they're Like That? technically they aren't, but that'd be a flimsy argument at best so: ] My first two roommates back in Boston? Both dudes. And it took four years and, like, alternate timeline possession bullshit to get with even one of them - which was doomed, by the way.

Besides, hey - I talk to Remus, too. Sirius's friend? Not banging him either. Or Harry - trust me, those sandwiches are my end of a business deal, not some excuse to creep over there and jump in bed someone younger than my brother. Robin's just a friend, and one of the few people I know who isn't neck-deep in wolf bullshit, which is pretty much fantastic. Mitchell's got his own problems and I've had enough of his mouth in my personal space for one lifetime, George is sweet but that'd be like banging Josh with a stuck-up accent, Stiles is like twelve. Peter and Bells are straight-up gone so whatever happened there is pretty much pointless because it's not like I'll ever see them again. Which, by the way - 'what happened there' was also pretty much nothing.

Are we done with this now? Like, is that good enough for you?

[nutsaboutscans]

[He listens to her in astonishment. He wasn't expecting this. In fact, this really fucking hurts.

'Like, is that good enough for you?' He lets out a bitter laugh.] You think this is what I wanted? A list of all the guys you've talked to and not banged?

[He stands up and starts to pace as he rants at her.] I was gonna say Sirius was a really good-looking guy, but hell, might as well assume I'm being that much more of an asshole.

Did you ever stop and think that maybe, just maybe, I'd be a little paranoid after a woman lied to me for months, slept with me, pretended to love me...

[He runs his fingers through his hair, trying to calm down.] I'm sorry for what I was implying. I'm sorry.

[unmakes]

[ god, she shouldn't have said that. any of that. he was just - i don't know, being nervous or unsure and she had to go and snap out like that. already the tension of the moment's fading and she doesn't know what button he pushed or nerve he tweaked. she doesn't know why she went off. just that all of a sudden, something about the conversation had her really uneasy.

her words stung him, and now his words are stinging right back. a fair trade, except it's the kind that's not actually fair to either of them. not even a little bit. it's not even the parts aimed at her that really get to her - it's the part where he spells out exactly why she had pretty much no right to jump down his throat.

for a long second she just watches him pace, stuck in a helpless sort of limbo. then she's on her feet, closing the distance between them and slipping her arms around his middle to hang onto him in no uncertain terms. ]

No, it was stupid, I just - [ she grasps for a reason or even an excuse, just something she can say to finish that sentence. ] Friends were just one of those things I didn't get to have when I was with Danny. And everything's just - I never thought I'd say this, but things are actually okay here, even without Josh and Aidan. And then all of a sudden you were asking about Sirius and it felt... [ her voice quiets as she lamely admits: ] Familiar, I don't know.

[nutsaboutscans]

[He stops when he sees her get up, and he's astonished when she wraps her arms around him.

He listens, wrapping his arms around her. And he feels bad for jumping down her throat back.] I didn't even think... I just didn't think.

[He hugs her tighter.] I'm so sorry, Sally. I'm sorry I made you feel that, even for a second.

[unmakes]

[ her nose wrinkles, not that he can see it from his angle, and her shoulder lifts in a half-shrug. ] I mean, it's fine - like, it's still my bad. I just. I didn't think you were being an asshole, I just have war flashbacks from someone who really really was. [ there's a note of dry humor in 'war flashbacks', like the's trying to lighten the mood a little. ]

[nutsaboutscans]

No, it was my bad, too.

[He pulls away enough that he can see her face.] I get it.

I'm hoping things might quiet down enough that I could actually sit down with Sirius and learn a little about him.

[unmakes]

I still owe you guys lunch, don't I? [ she's realizing that now - or more, realizing it never happened. ]

[nutsaboutscans]

Oh, yeah. [He grins, but then it fades and he makes a 'bleh' face.] I better not come off as an old man. I think Stiles thinks I'm old.

[He's joking. He really doesn't think he's too old. But he does think Stiles thinks so.]

[unmakes]

Well that, [ she says, ] is when you tell him to respect his elders and stay the hell off your lawn. [ and with a sly sort of grin, she lifts up to kiss him on the cheek. ]