RP Log: Cleanliness is next to obnoxiousness

[wildmildchild]

Who: Allenby and Jamie
Where: their hut
When: yesterday-ish
Warnings: ticklefights and angst, not necessarily in that order
Summary: Allenby confronts Jamie on his cleaning obsession; discussion eventually turns to Leena, and plotting ensues.



Jamie emerged from the bathroom, having tidied it within an inch of its life, and from the beginning of the hallway scanned the rest of the hut for his next target. Having felt particularly restless and out of sorts lately, he'd fallen back on feverish cleaning in an attempt to alleviate his stress - an attempt that, so far, wasn't working as well as he'd hoped. With a sigh, he headed for the kitchen, where after a moment's consideration he zeroed in on the refrigerator, intent on alphabetizing the condiments.

Allenby sighed when she picked up on what Jamie was doing. "You threw out all the expired stuff yesterday," she told him from the table without even looking up.

Glancing over his shoulder, Jamie fidgeted a bit. "...I did?"

"Yes."

"Oh." He twitched again. "Have I reorganized the pantry recently?"

"Two days ago."

"...huh. What about the laundry? Is there any laundry? I didn't check this morning..." he trailed off, sounding distracted.

"Not enough for a full load." Allenby's voice sounded tired.

Jamie peered at her. "Are you okay?" he asked, brow furrowing. He'd been worried about her ever since they'd gotten out of that maze-thing Xellos had trapped them in...she'd seemed all right, but considering the effect Xellos had on most people, he couldn't help but fret a little.

"I'm not cleaning the hut within an inch of its life." She looked up from her magazine at him. "Jamie... you need help."

He blinked at her and then looked away. "...noIdon't," he muttered, pretending to examine the countertop for stray crumbs to be swept up.

Allenby sighed. "Yes, you do. You're obsessing."

"I'm not obsessing," he protested again, almost reflexively reaching out to fiddle with the salt shaker, which had dared move a few centimeters out of line with the pepper shaker. "I'm just...cleaning. Really."

"You're a perfectionist... and it's starting to get on people's nerves. Why can't you admit you have a problem?"

"Because it's not a problem." He paused and glanced back at her over his shoulder. "...it's getting on people's nerves?" he asked, as though this had never occurred to him before.

"Don't you think you're been a little too much of a perfectionist?" Allenby asked him. "It's making it uncomfortable to be in here now. Every time someone does something, you're right there cleaning it up like they're unclean or something."

Jamie chewed his lip, looking abashed. "I...didn't know it was bothering anyone," he said in an undertone.

Allenby sighed. "You should find someone to help you, Jamie. Leena's really worried about you."

"Yeah, well - I've been worried about her too," Jamie said, turning to lean back against the counter. "She's been moping around and acting...weird...she's hardly come out of her room lately..." He shrugged fitfully. "And she won't talk to me when I ask her about it."

"She's upset by how you're acting," Allenby said. "I spoke to her the other day."

He blinked. "She's acting like this because of me?" he asked, sounding faintly aghast.

"I think so," Allenby said. "At least partly. She's miserable being here, too... but that's because she thinks you shouldn't be here." The fighter stood up and put her cup in the sink. She took Jamie by the shoulders. "You need to get help... you're not yourself."

Jamie fidgeted, looking away. "Well...Leena needs help too, right?" he said, at least partially in an attempt to shift focus onto another problem. Generally speaking he wasn't good at dealing with other people's personal troubles, but any dilemma was preferable to focusing on his own problems - and he was, after all, worried about Leena and wanted to help her if he could.

"If Leena doesn't hafta worry about you, she'll probably be better off."

"Yeah, well..." He sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "She never told me she was worrying about me. She said...she thought I was ignoring her on purpose, for some kind of...payback or something." His brow creased again, guiltily.

Allenby shrugged. "She didn't mention that... just that she thought you weren't acting like yourself."

Jamie frowned. "How am I not acting like myself?" he asked reluctantly.

"She didn't really say in detail... but..." Allenby thought for a moment. "She said you have more confidence back home."

He shrugged a little, looking perplexed. "I guess it depends. I dunno."

"I understand things are a little crazy here," Allenby said. "That's okay to be nervous about... but you have to find a way to channel it better."

"Like how?" He arched a brow at her. "I mean...at least I'm doing something constructive, right?"

"I don't know," Allenby said. "If anything, you're just developing OCD or something. I mean... you change how things are organized every single day... and it has to be absolutely perfect after you're done... and you freak if someone messes it up even just a tiny bit. Is that really constructive?"

He looked just a little wounded. "I thought I was being useful," he said quietly.

"There's useful, and there's obsessive." Allenby leaned against the counter next to him. "You need to find a balance."

Jamie sighed and shrugged. "I just...like staying busy," he said. "And I thought I was helping, y'know, keeping things clean and stuff so you guys wouldn't have to worry about it." Ha. That'd backfired magnificently.

"But what if someone else wants to do something?" Allenby asked. "Or... what if someone else likes being busy, too, but you're taking that away from them?" She shrugged. "I'm not saying you're being a bad person by doing it... just that... it seems... strange."

"How's it strange?" he asked, and then, arching a brow, added, "What d'you mean, I'm taking stuff away from people?"

"Taking things to do away from them."

"What, so you mean you wanted to scrub the grout in the bathtub or what?" Maybe he was being deliberately obtuse now, but the conversation was flustering him and putting him on the defensive.

Allenby sighed. "Not exactly... but I don't like having nothing to do. You're not the maid, Jamie."

"I know that. I told you, I just...wanna stay busy and help out." He shrugged, a little lamely. "I don't mind doing that kinda stuff...I thought everyone else did, though."

"It's not what the task is, Jamie... it's the fact that you're being such a perfectionist about it... and then freak out when it gets undone in daily living."

He flinched a bit, looking away. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was bothering everyone so much."

"It doesn't matter that it's bothering everyone," Allenby said. "It's the fact that you're only doing it because something's bothering you... and that's what has me an' Leena upset."

"I just - " He sighed and twitched again, running a hand through his hair. "It helps keep my mind off things."

"But just keeping your mind off things doesn't make them better or solve them, does it?"

"Well, thinking about 'em isn't going to solve them either," he said a little curtly.

"Thinking about them will at least find a solution, doncha think?"

"There isn't a solution," he said, tensing. "If I thought there was one I wouldn't be trying not to think about it."

Allenby sighed. "Fine." Giving up, she walked back over to where she had been sitting and sat down.

Jamie slumped. "I'm not just trying to be stubborn," he insisted, following her to the table after a few moments' hesitation. "'s just...some things you can't fix, and sometimes you're better off not thinking about 'em."

"So, you just develop a complex instead."

He sighed quietly and shrugged, at a loss. "I'm sorry."

Allenby sighed. "I just don't know what to do anymore, either..." she said. "That's why I suggested you find help."

"I..." He trailed off, fidgeting. "I didn't think it was worth bothering someone else about," he said, staring at the tabletop. Now that he knew he was bothering everyone else anyway, though, he supposed he didn't need to worry about adding one more to the list of people who thought he was being a pain.

"I'm sure someone here can help you," Allenby said. "Besides, if they're willing to help you, then I doubt you'd be bothering them."

Jamie fidgeted again, absently fussing with a stack of paper napkins, trying unsuccessfully to straighten the ragged edges of the pile. "...I dunno," he hedged. "'s just..."

"Just what?"

He sighed, turning the pile this way and that, as though examining it from different angles would reveal another flaw for him to correct. "It's...ghh." He gave his head a shake. "Just...it's...weird."

"This place...?" Allenby asked.

"No...well, yeah, the island's weird, but...I meant going to someone and talking about what's screwed up about me," he said, dropping his tone to a mutter as he continued obsessing over the napkins.

"There's nothing wrong with getting help, Jamie." She smiled at him.

He half-grinned back, though it lacked conviction. "I guess, but..." He sighed and shrugged nervously. "Never needed help like this before. It's...embarrassing."

"I can understand that," Allenby said. "But, there's still nothing to be ashamed of."

"I dunno." He went silent for a few moments, staring at the napkins on the table in front of him. Eventually he glanced back up at her, brow creasing. "How about you? Are you sure you're...y'know, okay?"

"I'm as okay as I'm gonna be for now..."

"Whaddya mean?"

"I just need to think a bit."

"Are you sure?" he asked her, studying her worriedly.

Allenby looked at him. "I'm not cleaning the house obsessively, am I?"

Jamie flinched a bit, looking wounded.

Allenby looked down. "Sorry..."

He shook his head, dismayed. "It's okay. I mean...you've got a point, I guess. I just...wanna make sure you're okay after...y'know..." He fidgeted.

"I know."

"Well...so are you?"

Allenby smiled a bit at him. "I will be," she said. "If anything, what happened made me realize that I still fear Nobel in some way. I know now that I need to work past that."

He smiled back, tentatively. "Well, if there's anything I can do to help...or if you just wanna, y'know, talk or anything..."

"It's okay... you have enough problems without having to worry about me."

He looked down a little. "Maybe...but like you said, that's part of a relationship, right? People worry." He shrugged.

"I guess."

"So..." Absently he began fiddling with the napkins again. "I'm still willing to help...y'know, if you want me to." He glanced back at her.

"Thanks," she said earnestly, giving him another smile.

Jamie offered a small smile in return. "No problem."

"I think if you let people help you, then maybe Leena would stop worrying so much."

The grin faltered a little. "Yeah...but..." He sighed, frustrated. "She's upset about more than just me. At least, that's what I managed to get out of her when I asked her about it."

"It would be one less thing, then," Allenby offered.

"Well, yeah...but..."

"But..."

He sighed, agitatedly picking up the stack of napkins to straighten them again. "I just...she thinks everyone here hates her. She thinks I hate her. And she doesn't believe me when I try to tell her it's not true, and I just..." He paused, shrugging fitfully, worried guilt writhing around in his gut. "I don't know what else to do to help her."

"Well, I did check on her and bring her chicken soup," Allenby said. "Surely she realizes not everyone hates her now."

"Maybe..." He sighed again. "I dunno."

"Who else was she upset about?"

Jamie shrugged, the motion more agitated this time. "Everybody. She thinks Duo hates her, she says Jr.'s not gonna wanna hang out with her 'cause his other friend's here now, she felt like I was shutting her out 'cause I was mad about stuff back home..." His manhandling of the paper napkins was, by now, becoming a little vicious.

"So... maybe we need to do something for her where everyone gets to show her they don't hate her."

He paused. "I think her birthday's coming up...unless it's passed already." He looked appalled. "I forgot all about it. No wonder she thinks I hate her."

"There's a birthday list on the board where the hut listing is," Allenby said. "We could go check it to make sure."

"I know when it is...just haven't been paying a lot of attention to what day it is anymore, I guess," he said lamely.

"Well... maybe we should give her a surprise party!" Allenby said.

Jamie blinked. "I...guess we could."

"It'll be fun!"

She sounded so gung-ho it was hard for him not to perk up a little. "Yeah...where would we have it?"

"We could have it anywhere... the beach... or we could decorate the gym... or we could ask Jon and Shampoo to use the cafe... or we could even just have it here..."

He nodded thoughtfully. "I guess it'd kinda depend on how many people were gonna show up...who d'you think we should ask?"

"I don't know..." Allenby said. "I saw her talking with Winry in the hangar once, so maybe her? And definitely Jr."

Jamie nodded again. "Yeah, I was thinking of them...maybe Omi and chaos? And...well, I told her Duo doesn't hate her...at least, I don't think he does...should I ask him to come?"

"Maybe talk to him first," Allenby suggested. "I mean, if you're not sure..."

"Yeah..." He paused, thinking, and then glanced back up at her. "Can you think of anyone else?"

"I think that's a good number for now... and maybe Jr. can bring his friend to meet Leena so she doesn't feel like Jr.'s going to abandon her."

"Sounds good." Jamie bobbed his head thoughtfully, pleased that he had something else to occupy himself with. "It's a start."

Allenby nodded. "It'll be fun."

"Do you want me to take care of talking to everyone?"

"If you want," Allenby said. "If anything, I can maybe try to find a way to distract her so she doesn't figure it out."

"That might be a good idea," he agreed, frowning just a bit. "Even though she's been so bummed out lately I don't think she's paying attention to much of anything anyway..."

"But, it'll be good to get her out and doing things," Allenby said.

"Yeah..." He sighed a little. "I hope this works."

"It will."

He gave her a small smile. "If you say so."

"Of course!" Allenby stood up. "So... where do we want to have it?"

"I guess we could just have it here, since there's not gonna be that many people. Y'know, as long as that other girl...um, Miakis?...if she doesn't mind." He looked contemplative again and added, "I haven't talked to her much, but she seems nice. Maybe we could include her too."

"Sure." Allenby smiled. "Though... I thought you were intimidated by her."

He blinked, looking a little embarrassed. "What makes you say that?"

"You seemed nervous around her." Allenby shrugged. "She does come off as a bit perky, but she seems like a good person."

"Yeah..." He fidgeted a bit more, gave the stack of napkins another straightening tap and replaced them neatly in the center of the table. "Well...okay. Anything else?" he asked, standing up.

"Not that I can think of... So... I'll distract Leena part of the time... and we can split who asks people to come and who gets the things done."

"Right." He nodded and grinned a bit. "Thanks."

Allenby giggled and hugged him.

Jamie fidgeted a little and tentatively hugged her back.

Allenby pulled back for a moment. "Are you okay with me hugging you?" she asked him, thinking about the fight with Eagle not that long ago.

He nodded quickly. "Yeah." He paused and glanced at her. "...are you?"

"I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't," she said. "You seemed... shy."

Jamie shrugged a little, reddening. "...sorry."

Allenby just nodded.

He shifted awkwardly, tried to think of something else to say and finally muttered another "Sorry."

Allenby smiled at him a bit and tickled his side.

Jamie uttered a little squeak and swatted playfully at her, grinning. "H-hey..."

"Hm?" She looked at him innocently.

He shrugged and then took an experimental tickle-jab at her, still grinning.

Allenby wiggled away from him.

"Don't like being on the receiving end, huh?" he said, somehow managing to sound shy even when he was trying to tease her.

She giggled. "That doesn't mean I still can't do it to you..."

"Yeah, well..." He fidgeted and smirked a little. "I might just fight back."

"Right." She shook her head.

"You don't believe me?" He arched a brow at her.

"Nope." She giggled.

"Yeah, well..." He shrugged, blushing a little at her giggle. "I guess we'll see, won't we?"

"Will we?"

"...maybe." Jamie folded his arms over his chest.

Allenby looked at him dubiously.

He looked back. "...what?"

"I don't believe you."

"Wul..." He fidgeted. "How come?"

"Because..." She gave him a challenging smile. "You don't have the guts."

"Yeah, well..." He shrugged again, raising a brow at the smile. "...so?"

"So?"

Jamie fidgeted, eyeing Allenby curiously. "...so?"

She reached forward and tickled him instead of remaining at their stalemate.

"Ghh!" Jamie flailed and swatted at her again, squeaking a protest.

Allenby giggled, not giving up.

Jamie gave in and retreated a few steps before he finally dared try to tickle her back, jabbing at her ribs again in between bouts of defensive flailing.

Allenby squeaked in response, only letting up a few times, but kept coming back to him.

Grinning, Jamie continued trying to press his advantage while at the same time attempting to fend her off using some of the blocks she'd taught him.

Allenby picked up on what he was doing, and moved in to pin him against the kitchen counter.

Jamie squeaked again when he butted up against the edge of the counter. Cornered, he redoubled his efforts at trying to tickle her into submission with one hand while he used the other to block.

Giggling like a nutbar, Allenby eventually just wrapped her arms around him, trying to get her breath.

Jamie desisted almost immediately, winded and red-faced. He let himself lean against her a bit, still somewhat unsure about their closeness but able to relax with her a little.

Once she'd caught her breath enough, Allenby straightened up and then rubbed the top of Jamie's head.

He ducked away, swatting at her hand again with a grin. "What's that for?"

"Just 'cuz." She smiled. "So... wanna meet again tomorrow and start figuring things out?" she asked him. "We've got almost the whole month.

Jamie nodded. "Sure." He gave her another small smile. "Thanks."

"Sure thing." Allenby smiled back at him. "I'll see you tomorrow, then." She headed for her room.

He watched as she left the kitchen, moving to follow suit, then glanced over his shoulder and gave the pepper shaker a straightening poke. Stupid thing was out of line with its twin. That chore taken care of, Jamie wandered off to do some plotting.