Room 307, Monday Evening

[dollpocalypse]

After an hour and twenty-five minutes spent trying to trace a text message that had just come in on his phone, Topher was forced to conclude two things: one, it was legit, and two, he sort of wanted to crawl under his bed and never come out ever again.

But there were bags of chips under his bed and he really didn't want to find out if the chips had rodent friends down there, so he had to settle for burrowing under the blankets instead, laptop open in front of him as he vengefully and imprecisely shot at zombies in a video game.

Like this weekend hadn't been bad enough. Like he hadn't gotten a stupid (albeit newly vanished) haircut and a hangover. Like he hadn't made a total moron out of himself in front of Ben and Jello Girl and Peter, then hurt his hand making the world's shittiest piece of technology. Now he'd done something to piss Tony off too, and -- here was the kicker -- he didn't even know what it was. Because Tony already knew about that stupid fanfiction story that that bitch Karla had told everyone about, and he hadn't been mad at him after the whole lap-sitting thing on Thursday night, and their encounter as kids on Saturday hadn't been too horrible, and nothing bad had happened in frat, so... what was it?

For a second, he wondered if maybe Kenzi had said something... but they weren't close, were they? He dismissed the idea and shot furiously at zombies. The volume was up ridiculously high, but he wasn't too bothered by the noise of the explosions right now. Or the gore. Even the stuff that normally squicked him out was fine.

[[Door closed, post wide open. This kid. So much emo.]]

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[dollpocalypse]

"Yeah, but... he's Tony." Which meant something to him that it didn't necessarily mean to Peter, so he clarified. "I mean... he's, like, the nicest guy ever. He wouldn't've done it like that unless I, you know, completely fucked it up."

[lockestheway]

"Trust me, nobody does ungrateful better than the nice ones," said Peter, who was not at all projecting any of his Valentine issues here. "Usually when you least expect it."

[dollpocalypse]

"I just can't figure out what I did." Said vigorously, and punctuated with the thump of Topher leaning his head against the wall behind him. "He was even nice to me on Saturday, and I was -- I mean, I wouldn't have blamed him if, you know, he wasn't."

He thought about leaving it at that, but then realized: Peter was pretty much it for his friends right now. Kenzi was being a bitch and he couldn't exactly go to Ender and Ben anymore, so...

Quietly, he finished, "It's just, like. I've fucked up around him a lot, you know? So I figured he was okay. With me. Being around."

[lockestheway]

"Then poleaxing you like this is hardly fair, isn't it?" Peter reasoned. "You've just been doing what he's been letting you know is okay, and then bam! Suddenly he slams the brakes."

Beat.

"Somebody like that, you could give them the world and they would still pull a fast one on you. Who needs that, right?"

NOT. PROJECTING. AT ALL.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher stared. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen Peter this obviously pissed about anything, and he was... really kind of clueless.

"Why do you care?" he had to ask. "I mean. You've been telling me to leave him alone forever. Right?"

[lockestheway]

"Sure, but that doesn't mean you need to beat yourself up about it," Peter said. "I mean, fuck he-- him, right?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Well." Topher coughed and looked away. "No."

The nicest guy in the whole world, and he had to fuck everything up with him. Fuck.

[lockestheway]

"Why, you think hanging around here moping is doing anyone any good?"

[dollpocalypse]

"What else am I gonna do?" Topher asked, surprised by how Peter had put that. "He doesn't wanna see me."

[lockestheway]

"I don't know, build something useful? Get mad! Make life take the lemons BACK! This is just stupid." Yeah okay definitely projecting.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher just blinked at him. Yeah, not following this at all.

[lockestheway]

"Oh, whatever," Peter said, finally. "The next time you go drinking, you're coming with me."

Peter would be drinking super-adventurous Virgin Marys.

[dollpocalypse]

"Don't wanna go drinking anymore," Topher whined mumbled. "Just want to kill zombies."

Which was... at least sort of productive. Since the zombies were evil.

[lockestheway]

"Well, you don't need me for that," Peter commented. "I can go and leave you to your zombies if you want."

It wasn't like he wasn't drowning in work, god, Topher.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher certainly didn't want that, and it was obvious in his expression for a second. Then he just averted his eyes.

"Whatever," he mumbled.

[lockestheway]

"Going once," Peter said, "Going twice..."

Look, he was fine and if your sister ran out on you you'd need validation too.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher stared down at his bracelet, rotated it around on his hand a few times, then said very, very quietly, "Don't."

If Peter told him to speak up, he might get ragey.

[lockestheway]

No, he'd heard that fine. Validation, and all that.

"Fine," Peter said, and took royal advantage of his new invite to collapse back on the bed. "But I don't do the zombie-killing thing."

[dollpocalypse]

Topher flopped onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. Because when he emo'd, he did it right, damnit.

"So... what's up with you?"

[lockestheway]

"Me?"

Did you have six hours, Topher?

"Nothing much."

Oh, come on, Peter. You could lie better than that.

[dollpocalypse]

"No boring politic-y stuff?"

That was almost disappointing. He really, really wanted a distraction right now.

[lockestheway]

"Wow, now I feel really good about my own hobbies," Peter said, pulling a face. "But no, nothing new under the sun. Except, have I told you I'm about to become an only child?"

... Too many secrets lodged up in his head screaming to get out. He was going to blame that part. And also the projecting.

[dollpocalypse]

Quietly, in case Peter was being serious, Topher said, "I was kidding."

He couldn't really afford to alienate any other friends right now.

"But -- wait, what? Why?" Big puppy eyes! Puppy eyes of sincere concern!

[lockestheway]

"Dear sweet baby Valentine's decided to go play house with my brother on a colony somewhere," Peter said cheerfully. "Good riddance, eh?"

[dollpocalypse]

That, on top of everything else, was enough to Really Piss Him Off. Topher's eyes flashed with anger.

"What a bitch," he snapped. "Didn't you just go get her out of trouble, too? Who just does that?"