damned_institute | Dayshift 34: Men's Showers

Albel had wasted an entire night, but he couldn't quite figure out how he had actually wasted it. He had left his room early, didn't stand around doing nothing and no pathetic worm had dragged him down. Finding Fayt's room and smack the foolish maggot against the nearest wall shouldn't have taken a full night, but yet he found himself back in his bed before he even had so much as located the right door.

What the hell?!

But he didn't have much time to think about it, as one of the wenches instantly stepped into his room as soon he sat up. Had she had been waiting behind the door or something? He ignored her useless babble along the way to the showers. Apparently, he had slept through most of the day. Perhaps the lack of sleep was taking it's toll, though the warrior wouldn't even think about admitting that thought. And who cared about it anyway? The days were useless!

By the looks of things, Albel was the first one to arrive. Not that he cared. After stripping himself of his clothing he stepped inside the shower area and picked a stall by random. It took some fiddling with the knobs before the water temperature was good enough, but he eventually let the water wash over his body.

[Free!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Why would he be willing to tell you anything Pete? Unless you've forgotten, the guy did try to kill you. Or did you two chat it out while I was busy dying?" It was infuriating to think Peter might be defending Brock, he was supposed to be on Harry's side, not anyone else's! He was determined now to track the creep down and get whatever he knew out of him before making sure he couldn't harm anyone ever again.

Brock had seen the Peter was Spiderman? When the hell had that happened? And how? It didn't seem right that Peter could keep his secrets from everyone he was close to, even when they were living together, but strangers got to know everything. Fighting back anger he replied as tonelessly as possible, "I figured he must have known, to go after her like that. Everyone who wants to get at the bug does. And yet she keeps coming back. How do you do it buddy?" Harry knew he sounded jealous but he couldn't help it, remembering just relaxing and having fun with MJ, even if she had only been with him because she was arguing with Peter.

"I didn't ask before, did you two get back together? I know you guys were going through a rough patch for a while there. Did you work it out?" Just because he'd get back together with MJ in an instant didn't mean he didn't want her and Peter to be happy, or at least he didn't want them to be unhappy.

"I don't know," Peter admitted with a frown as he started working the shampoo into his hair. "He's always looking for a chance to talk to me here - just talk, even if most of the time it's to pester me - so if I ask about it, he might tell me just to rub it in my face." Then again, that might work just as well if Harry approached him, but it was also more likely that it would result in a brawl.

While he might not have caught it if it was anyone but Harry, Peter knew the guy pretty well, and he could tell that there was a sudden change in his tone. "I... can't let her get hurt because of me," he said with a shake of his head. "She always seems willing to take the risk, but that doesn't mean I could forgive myself if she got hurt." So far nothing too terrible had ever come of the villains' kidnappings, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't happen in the future.

"We worked it out, yeah. It's probably still going to be rough from here on out, but... hey, who knows when we'll even be getting back there." He was doing his best not to think about those at home who might be waiting for him (did it even work that way? It was hard to know with how strange time was here), or what he was missing out on. He needed to focus on the here and now, and talking about MJ wasn't helping his mood much.

"What makes a guy go from trying to stab you to following you around?" Harry grumped. He didn't want Peter getting hurt, but the idea that Brock had gotten over trying to kill Peter after he'd stabbed Harry was- well, it was ironic enough to be true, considering how his luck tended to run.

Although, "Why the hell do you talk to him in the first place?" Would Peter be getting buddy-buddy with the guy if it had been MJ he'd killed? The thought was followed immediately by a surge of guilt as he remembered how close she'd come that night. Harry forced himself to look at Peter, saying as sincerely as possible, "I'm glad you two got back together." Hopefully he could convey everything he meant, how much he regretted past events without actually having to say anything.

Brushing a hand against Peter's shoulder, Harry assured him confidently "I'm sure it won't take you long to figure out how to get out of here. The real question is what do you think will happen when we do get home? If I'm supposed to be dead and all- you think I'd have any luck passing myself off as my long-lost cousin or something?"

"Don't ask me," Peter grumbled in return. He wasn't upset at Harry, but his confusion over Eddie had been bothering him for a while. It really didn't seem like the man wanted to kill him, and he wondered if he ever had wanted to. Eddie wanted to hurt him, yes - both physically and emotionally - but Peter wasn't sure that he wanted him dead.

Peter took a moment to wash the shampoo out of his hair, already feeling better now that he was cleaner. The build-up of grease and blood and sweat and whatever else started to take a toll after a while, and when he actually had good company in the showers, it wasn't all that bad. "I talked to him because -- well, I... Eddie's... it's complicated." He had known Eddie before the symbiote had taken him over, for one, and he knew how tempting it was to give into its urgings. He'd also done some pretty terrible things to Eddie in the past, and he didn't know if he had made up for it. Since he wasn't certain this Eddie had ever even killed Harry Osborn, it was also hard to know if he had that much he could hold against him.

Sometimes he wished it could be as easy for him as it was for Harry and Logan, and that he could just decide to deal with Eddie the way he probably deserved to be dealt with... But sometimes he thought he was too forgiving, and too good, if that was possible.

But then he wondered if he was giving himself too much credit. He had made his share of mistakes in the past, and he was sure he would continue to make them.

He was jarred out of his thoughts and pulled back from the water at Harry's touch. "Huh? Well... I, I don't know." He hadn't wanted to think about that, since he wasn't sure Harry could make it back, but he couldn't admit something like that to his friend. He didn't want Harry to lose hope, since it wasn't like they knew for certain.

Dayshift 34: Men's Showers

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject