(Untitled)

[quite_a_delight]

Just because Kate didn't have anything to do to fill her days, didn't mean that her brother felt the need to sit around on his ass all day, complaining about the loss of a life he'd never really liked in the first place. And, okay, maybe that made him sound really bitter, and it wasn't like there hadn't been things about home that he missed, but it

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for Marshall

[not_the_fish]

Marshall is kind of hard to avoid, especially when Hal isn't even sure if he wants to avoid him. The last few weeks have been, well, pretty normal actually: people showing up out of nowhere, getting stuck in trees to avoid death by island fauna, training with Cal and Niko.

It's not like he's gone out of his way not to see the guy, but he thinks he was supposed to be doing the opposite. It wasn't--it wasn't like last time, right? Because he'd gone to that party, and Marshall hadn't run off and refused to talk to him or anything.

Hal doesn't want him to do that. He doesn't really know what he wants or what he's doing, but he knows that much. He also knows Marshall cooks well, so it's not exactly a hardship to show up for dinner tonight, filling a plate with mashed potatoes and meat. Clearing his throat, he waits for Marshall to look up from the book before he raises his free hand in a little wave that probably looks as stupid as it feels.

[quite_a_delight]

It was all as pathetic as you might've imagined.

Eyes lifting from the page, Marshall was one step away from a full-blown flail, book nearly tumbling out of his hands and his whole face brightening before it occurred to him to tone it down and maybe play it cool. Not that he took advice from his sister very often, but she was probably right when she told him it was best not to make a total ass of himself in front of somebody he liked.

Not that he liked Hal or anything...

God, he was an idiot.

"Hey," he said, clearing his throat and putting his book aside when he was sure he wasn't going to fumble it onto the floor. "Um, Hi."

[not_the_fish]

Okay, maybe the wave isn't too stupid compared to that, and Hal can only pretend he thinks Marshall is startled because he doesn't want to see him for so long. Ginny never flustered like that--she just went blank, and it was like a tiny victory to see her perfect voice disappear for seconds at a time.

He'd done that. Now he's almost made Marshall drop a book, and that--that has to be something. Enough to make him smile in spite of everything. "Hi," he says, breathing the word like he's relieved. It's a simple word, one he doesn't usually stumble on. "Everything, um, the--the food, that is? It looks, it looks, like, really good."

[quite_a_delight]

"Oh, um... Thanks. It's not, you know, a big deal or anything," Marshall floundered, sliding off his stool and wandering closer after an anxious moment of hesitation.

"I'm glad you're here. I mean, I was going to come by your place, but I got... busy." It was a lie. It was a horrible lie, but it was already out there and he couldn't really take it back.

[unbound_vala]

It was dinner and William was in the children's office. I just wanted some time to myself, not baking or mothering or being with anyone or doing anything for anyone.

But there was Daniel.

Ever since Halloween he had become my shadow again. Not unlike when I'd awoken chained to the Ori alter, now in the wake of my nightmare he was hovering. He was with me when I went to get dinner and I can't say why or for what reason he finally just got on my last nerve.

"Could you stop that? Honestly, Daniel, you're not surgically attatched to me. I could eat dinner on my own, you know."

[theunascended]

"Did it ever occur to you that I was hungry?" Daniel pointed out. There was something the slightest bit snappish about his tone, but he tried to keep calm. There wasn't any use in fighting when it wouldn't do any good. After all, had he really complained that much when she'd put the bracelet on him? No, he hadn't. Not much past the original shock of it, after all.

He scooped the mashed potatoes onto his plate and hit the spoon on the plate maybe a little harder than necessary. He was hurt at the idea that she didn't want to have dinner with him.

[unbound_vala]

I huffed and picked up a couple tarts and some of the bird.

"Could you stop monopolizing the spoon? Or are you so hungry you're taking all the potatoes?" I snapped.

[theunascended]

Oh, so it was going to be that way, was it? He picked a tiny little portion, smaller than a single bite, and put it on her plate. "There, that should work for you, don't you think?"