Peni Tent, Wednesday Morning

[dollpocalypse]

Over the past few days, Topher had learned some things about close-quarters communal living. The first thing he'd learned was that his normal sleep schedule (waking up early to play on his laptop, then taking a few naps interspersed with occasional breaks for video games) wasn't really going to fly here. The light from the computer while other people were sleeping tended to be a little on the annoying side, and while he ordinarily wouldn't care... well. He was sleeping next to Billy.

So.

Morning again, with Topher fidgeting and trying not to make an excessive amount of noise, playing Angry Birds and cupping one hand around his phone to try to prevent the light from bothering anyone.

By which he meant Billy.

If it bothered Mercy or Sam, he was pretty much okay with that. Sorry, guys.

[[open open!]]

Comments

[selfhelphero]

Over the past week, Billy had found that he wasn't a terribly heavy sleeper out in the tents, without the blissful darkness he had in his dorm room. The light from Topher's phone, even blocked a little by his hand, was enough to get him up, and he cracked an eye open to watch him. "What are you doing?" he whispered.

[dollpocalypse]

...Oops.

"Angry Birds," Topher admitted. "Um. I was trying not to wake you up."

Clearly that had been a huge success.

"...Morning."

[selfhelphero]

Billy smiled softly. "It's okay. Morning," he said. "Are you winning?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Not really," he admitted sheepishly. "'Cause I had my other hand like this to try and block the light, so it was kind of hard to..."

Okay, Topher. Yes. You'd suffered.

"I can. You know. Put it away." Probably smart, yes. "Did you, um, sleep okay?"

[selfhelphero]

"Pretty okay," Billy said. "You don't have to...I mean, you can keep playing. It won't bother me. I don't want to bother you."

Which would be why he wasn't scooting his sleeping bag closer. He also didn't want to weird out their tentmates, but Topher's boundaries were a lot more important.

[dollpocalypse]

"No, it's okay, you're more interesting," Topher explained, stashing his phone somewhere in the depths of the small mountain of technology next to his sleeping bag. This involved some pretty careful reorganizing of precarious things, but nothing fell (probably in no way due to the awkward way Topher held up both his hands in a nonverbal plea for things to stay put) and he considered that a success.

"So this tent thing is dumb."

[selfhelphero]

"Is it the outdoors part you don't like, or having more than one person in your 'room?'" Billy asked. If he was smiling, it was only because Topher and his mountain of technology was kind of adorable.

[dollpocalypse]

"...Well, both of those," Topher admitted. "And also the internet connection sucks. But also it's just kind of... squished. I keep thinking I'm gonna kick you or something. So the other day I thought maybe I should move to the other side or something, but then I'd be next to Sam and she'd probably, like, pee in my hair in my sleep. So I'm okay here. Just. Yeah."

[selfhelphero]

"You're not going to kick me. And even if you did, I'd just kick you back and we'd be even," Billy said. "I like having you over here more than you being by Sam anyway. You can...I mean, if you want to be further away from her, it's fine with me."

[dollpocalypse]

"Oh." Topher paused to consider that. "You mean like..."

And lo, that would be his sleeping bag scooting over a few inches closer to Billy, while Topher glanced up to make sure that that was indeed what Billy was asking for.

[selfhelphero]

Billy grinned, and scooted his sleeping bag a little closer in return. "Yeah, like that. If it's okay with you."

[dollpocalypse]

"Totally okay," Topher said with an emphatic nod. "Just as long as I don't kick you. But anyway that'd probably be pretty difficult what with being awake and everything. So that's good."

Making conversation was suddenly much more difficult now, with their sleeping bags basically touching and all.

"So I told Tony how we're in the same tent," Topher blurted out. "He recommended cold showers."

Oh god, Topher. Please stop talking.

[selfhelphero]

"Cold showers? For what?" Billy asked. It was one of those questions he didn't realize he could answer for himself until after he'd asked it. "Oh. Do you...not like that we're in the same tent?"

[dollpocalypse]

OH GOD, SO AWKWARD.

"What? No! I mean. I didn't mean-- Wait. What?"

Topher really needed to not say things out loud. Ever.

[selfhelphero]

Billy bit his lip and decided to try to take it one question at a time. "Do you like sharing a tent with me?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Um?" See, that was kind of a tricky question. "I mean. I like living near you because you're you, so obviously you're awesome, but it's a little awkward sleeping next to you since I like you and everything. Which apparently is not weird for most people. According to Tony."

[selfhelphero]

"Am I doing something to make it awkward? Or to not make it not awkward?" Way to maintain the English language there, Billy. "I mean...you know."

[dollpocalypse]

Topher shook his head. "I think it's... just a me thing," he said. Helpfully and all that. "Like. A thing. Where sleeping next to you is awkward 'cause I like you and all that and we sometimes go on dates, so sleeping in the same room seems... advanced."

Advanced. Okay then, Topher.

[selfhelphero]

"Ooh," Billy said slowly. "Well, I mean, it's not like we're sharing a sleeping bag." Yes, go ahead and put that image in Topher's head. "It's like we're roommates, only outside."

[dollpocalypse]

"It was also awkward when we were roommates," Topher mumbled. Then he shook his head, wringing his hands a little as he tried to figure out how to articulate what he was thinking in a way that wasn't completely rude. "Um. Sorry. I mean. It's worth it? Because you're you, obviously, and you're really cool. It's just also a little weird. But manageable. Manageable weird."

Beat.

"'Cause I like you."

That point seemed important to reiterate.

[selfhelphero]

"I like you too," Billy said, because yes, that seemed important to say. "Is there anything I can do to make it less awkward? Or easier to manage?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Don't know," Topher said truthfully. "Um. We could maybe, you know, not kiss and stuff in here?" he tried. "Like. Outside it's fine." He blushed a little, then amended, "More than fine. Just. If we did it in the tent it'd be weird. I think."

Lucky Mercy and Sam!

[selfhelphero]

"That's totally fine with me. It's a lot better outside," Billy agreed. "It's still a little weird to do it with other people around."

[dollpocalypse]

"Cool," Topher said, relieved. "Yeah. We can... make time for that. Just not where we sleep." For whatever reason.

Then-- "Sorry," he added, a little sheepishly. "I don't really know why it's awkward. 'Cause I like, you know, dating you. If... we're doing that. It's just new and stuff."

[selfhelphero]

"Hey, it's okay," Billy said quickly, trying to give Topher a reassuring smile. "I think I know you're kind of awkward by now. And that's totally okay, because I am too. This is new stuff to me too, and we can go however fast or slow you want. I promise."

[dollpocalypse]

"You're the best," Topher said gratefully, meaning it. It was true: Billy was indeed kind of the best. Shifting a little in his sleeping bag so he could prop himself up on his side, Topher offered, "Hey, you want to see Ratman this weekend? We could kiss there, promise."

Beat.

"In between, you know, the action scenes and stuff."

Naturally.

[selfhelphero]

"Yeah, I'd love to." Topher and Ratman was an awesome combination just waiting to be made. "I might kiss you a bunch then. I've been storing them up."

[dollpocalypse]

Topher beamed. "Me too," he admitted. "Plus, um, it's like a rule. Nothing's more romantic than a guy in a mask and a cape."

Pause.

"Or sometimes a metal headband and a scarf thing. It's the superhero costume that's the important part. You know."

[selfhelphero]

Billy laughed, grateful that he had a sleeping bag to burrow his face into to hide his blush. "You make me want to walk around in costume more often, just to see your reaction."

[dollpocalypse]

"Oh, it would be spazzy," Topher promised. "Which is not to say you shouldn't do it, 'cause it looks super cool."

Priorities.

"Especially the pants."

[selfhelphero]

"The pants? But they're the most simple part," Billy teased. Just because he couldn't kiss Topher didn't mean he had to stop teasing him, right?

[dollpocalypse]

"Yeah," Topher admitted, "but they also look really good on you."

...Shut up. Just shut up.

[selfhelphero]

"You're totally getting an extra kiss for that later," Billy promised.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher grinned. "We could go outside now..."

Yes, he was making a loophole for his own rule. HE DID WHAT HE WANTED.

[selfhelphero]

"We could. Since we're both awake." Topher had the best ideas, clearly.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher scrambled out of his sleeping bag. "Now?"

[selfhelphero]

Billy grinned as he got out of his sleeping bag as well. "Now is good. You're right, I don't want to wait."

[walkswithcoyote]

Topher was just very very lucky that Mercy liked Billy.

Otherwise, something really unfortunate might already have happened to all of Topher's electronics. Really, really unfortunate.

Coyote vision and hearing and all that.