(Untitled)

[will_you_see]

Though usually quite patient with it, Alcuin was in no mood to indulge the rec room bookshelf's sense of irony today.

Every book he picked up. The Tempest. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Hamlet. A Comedy of Errors. Othello. King Lear. Taming of the Shrew. And it went on and on. Even textbooks - The Annotated Works of William Shakespeare.

Comments

[theunascended]

"I do believe this room doesn't like anyone today," Daniel murmured, scowling at the jukebox. He took a deep sip of coffee before looking up at Alcuin. "Hello, Alcuin." He was pretty sure that Mohinder would have talked to Alcuin by now. Which meant that he knew they'd broken up.

[will_you_see]

"I find it exceptionally unamusing today," Alcuin said. Feeling a bit dejected, he sank onto the couch before looking up at Daniel. His eyes softened as he realized he hadn't seen the other man since his and Mohinder's break up.

"How are you doing, Daniel?"

[theunascended]

"I'm..." He considered the question as he sat next to Alcuin. "Good. I'm good." And, barring an unfortunate conversation or two with Jack, he really was. "How are you holding up?"

[will_you_see]

"I've been better," Alcuin admitted. "But... I'll be okay." Barring anymore pranks from the bookshelf or jukebox.

"Mohinder told me about your breakup," he said, just in case that weren't obvious. "And I assume he told you about Will."

[captainjack]

Jack had stepped out of the rec room to enjoy a cup of coffee and the relative silence of the kitchen for a while before coming back in. Great, another song about being a...

"Oh, such a pretty mouth," he quipped when he heard Alcuin's rough language.

[will_you_see]

Alcuin looked up and saw Jack, and blushed a little. "I... find myself rather unimpressed by the rec room's sense of humor today."

[captainjack]

"You too, huh? Maybe it's in a mood," Jack replied as he crossed to where Alcuin was. "It was playing me some choice music earlier."

[will_you_see]

"Yeah," Alcuin said, "something like that." He sighed. "Do me a favor and see if the bookshelf will give you something not written by Will Shakespeare?"

[karmic_darwin]

Mohinder entered the rec room in time to hear the jukebox playing something about Casanova. He thought of Alcuin even before he heard the cursing.

Wincing, both for Alcuin's distress and the memory of the last time they'd been alone in the rec room together, Mohinder stepped inside. He didn't bother with greeting Alcuin from the door, instead moved close to him and ran a heavy, warm hand down Alcuin's arm.

"It seems to be especially malevolent today," Mohinder observed quietly. "I wonder who tried to turn it off?"

[will_you_see]

"It's conspiring against me with the bookshelf," Alcuin muttered. "I give up."

He sighed. "How are you doing, Mohinder?"

[karmic_darwin]

"If you're looking for something to read, I have books in my hut." He scowled at the shelf. "They won't be distressing for you."

Resisting the urge, for the moment, to embrace Alcuin and stroke his hair, since he seemed more irritated than distressed, Mohinder smiled. "I'm quite well actually." It seemed breaking up with Daniel had agreed with him. It ached a bit still, but on the whole, he was happier than he'd been. "Other than this accursed room, how are you?"

[will_you_see]

"Thank you," Alcuin said to the offer, and then shrugged a little and added, "I suppose I'm all right. A little better every day. It's not as if I'm going to forget them so I may as well get back to living my life as normally as I can."