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]

Topher wasn't sure what to say to that. He knew Peter had been a dick, but he was here willing to take the blame for the first time ever, and now apparently it wasn't his fault. Even though everything else this week... kind of was.

Apparently.

"Hey, so, um, I could fix that lamp for you," he offered hesitantly. "I mean. It's kinda shitty. You know, now that I can... actually figure out how things work."

[lockestheway]

"If that's what you want to do, sure," Peter said. "I don't want to step on your professional pride here."

[dollpocalypse]

Actually, if he ever saw that stupid, exposed-wires-ridden excuse for a piece of technology, he might shoot himself.

"No problem."

[lockestheway]

Peter nodded. "So," he ventured, "Can I sit down?"

[dollpocalypse]

Topher dropped the blankets he'd been clutching holding up to make some space on the bed. "Yeah, sure."

And if clearing off the bed meant catching a glimpse of his phone and his face just falling, well. Nice friends wouldn't call him out on that, would they?

[lockestheway]

Peter sat down on the bed, more than a little relieved that the apology part of the evening was over now. "So what's up?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Just sort of a shitty week," Topher said, shrugging one shoulder. "You know, with the hangover and the weekend and the -- everything."

Nice, Topher. Nice.

[lockestheway]

And now they were back at 'do I really care about Topher's little feelings?' Sigh.

"Well, if you don't want a hangover, don't get smashed with Ben and his gang," Peter suggested.

[dollpocalypse]

And now he was staring into his lap and generally exhibiting those dreaded feelings all over the place. Sorry, Peter.

"I won't," he mumbled.

[lockestheway]

What was that?

"Look, I said I'm sorry," Peter said, "If you're still pissed off--"

Yes, because everything was about you, Peter.

[dollpocalypse]

"I'm not," Topher interrupted Peter, his voice coming out unnaturally sharp. "I mean, I wasn't. It's fine."

He turned his phone over in his hands and fell silent.

[lockestheway]

Oh, kuso, he was supposed to ask what was wrong or something now, wasn't it?

Peter stole one quick, longing glance at the door (and another, quicker one at the window-- dammit, third floor). "So what is it?"

[dollpocalypse]

"'s nothing," Topher mumbled. "Just... stuff. You wouldn't care."

While that was accurate, Topher, it was also remarkably self-pitying and annoying. God.

[lockestheway]

"Yes, but you're moping all over me about it, so you might as well say it," Peter said.

The only thing he had less patience with than feeeeeeeeelings was overt guilting. Ugh.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher's voice came out surprisingly harshly as he interjected, "You don't have to be --"

Then he sighed and glanced down. Whatever. This day couldn't suck any worse, so... he passed Peter his phone.

"Told me so, right?" he asked dully.

[lockestheway]

Peter whistled. "Wow, couldn't even do it in person, could he?" he said.

[dollpocalypse]

It probably wasn't possible to get any more sullen than Topher already was.

"Shut up," he mumbled reflexively, expecting some kind of rebuke. Then he processed what Peter had said and glanced up. "Wait, what?"

[lockestheway]

"Our mister Stark," Peter said, tossing the phone to the bed. "Apparently doesn't have the balls to tell someone to go away in person, so he has to do it over the phone. Weak."

[dollpocalypse]

"'s not like you didn't tell me before," Topher pointed out in a monotone, picking at a loose thread on his comforter. "Should've just listened. Left him alone. And now he hates me."

Stupid, stupid, stupid...

[lockestheway]

Peter rolled his eyes. Sure, Kenzi would be whining about how he should just give Topher a hug or something, but one: ew, touching, and two: just no. "He just broke up with you over the phone. So to speak," he said. "You might have been crazy, but at least you had some guts."

[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?"