A quiet house won't do (Ben)

[Yulia Sokolov]

Eerie. That was the best word to describe the atmosphere around the house. The two runners up were sad and silent, but Yulie felt like eerie in this case kind of covered both as well. Ben had seemingly cooped himself up in his bedroom, and she wasn’t sure why. Between that and the whole online college thing already going so poorly, Yulia had a sense of underlying stress that she really was not sure how to approach.

She had never really had to cross a hurtle like this before. She didn’t know the cause so it was hard to find the solution to the now very closed door that led to Ben. So for the past few days she had been trying to think of ways to cross that boundary. She needed to find a way to fake her way in.

Of course there was the usual option of baked good, but the problem was that she could not cook in the least. She burned soup, and thought that cookies would probably end more or less the same way.

She could always pretend that she had news of some important variety, but what if she said the wrong thing? She wasn’t looking to pry into his private life, just somehow work her way past that closed door and make sure that he was alright. Yulia looked at the computer screen and sighed.

She could bring beer…. No, bad idea.

Then Yulia frowned. What was she dancing around here? What was she afraid of? She needed to stop this, now. She had never been the sort of person not to face things head on until she came to America. And now, when she needed that confidence, she had let it slip away from her.

Yulia got up and headed upstairs. She went to her room first and found the pin she was looking for and then headed for Ben’s. She knocked softly on the door first but then used the pin to smartly pick the lock on his door, there were some skills that still came in handy, and went in.

“Millyana, how long has it been since you have had a shower?”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Rejection left a sour taste in Ben's mouth no amount of toothpaste could get rid of. And he found that he handled the emotion very, very badly. All he could do was moan and sob in bed. Though he still went to work, he came back home straight and let nobody visit him. He had thought he would have had half of this feeling when he broke up with Oberon but no. He wasn't even involved with Cobalt yet the child psychologist was now moping about the house and listening to sad classical music.

He still made breakfast for his two housemates but he made no effort to communicate with them any way else. Suffice it to say, Ben was a wreck.

Even in bed, Ben looked like he wasn't even sure where to put his limbs and when he woke up, he found that he had sores on his back from sleeping on his front the whole night. He was depressing, to say the least.

Which was how Yulia found him after she successfully lock picked his door. He was sprawled across his bed, his head buried under pillows with one leg dangling over the bed and the other tucked haphazardly in the tangle of sheets. Her question was left unanswered as he laid still, trying to will away the sadness suddenly overwhelming him. He hadn't actually shed a tear since the last time he spoke to Cobalt.

Briefly, he wondered if that meant he was broken.

[Yulia Sokolov]

Yulia had been met with a very sad scene in Ben’s bedroom. She had not been expecting this bad of a reaction to whatever was bothering him, so it must have been considerable. A twinge of fear struck her as she tried to think quickly back to the papers. Had anyways died recently and she had missed it? No, she was a meticulous reader about those. This had to be something else as a result. She had never seen Ben in this sorry of a state, and she was the one who got called to walk him home from bars when he needed it.

She closed the door behind her, trying not to disturb him too much until she decided directly on her plan of action. It was clear that she needed one given his reaction, or lack there of.

He had not even yelled at her, or said anything when she broke into his room. There he was, like a dead man on a bed. Instantly she went into the best plan of action that she could think of for Ben, haphazard as it was.

She stood there for a moment, letting him get used to the idea that she was in the room and she was not going to leave. Then, after a moment she dove right into part two, which was a bit more difficult. She had to step outside of her comfort zone for this one, and attempt something that she never had before. Yulia went over and sat down on the edge of the bed next to Ben, and then she took action. She leaned, rolled, and slipped one arm under and one arm over Ben. Then came the hug as she stuck herself to his side. It was honestly a bit awkward, though the starting effort was there.

“We do not have to talk about it, but I do have to know that you are still functioning.”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

What he knew of Yulia had Ben thinking she would leave when she saw he wasn't moving. Maybe she thought he was sleeping or something. But he heard the door click and rustling of clothes. And her presence went very much noticed by the child psychologist.

It took a moment for him to realise that the young woman had sat on the bed, sinking the mattress a little and before he knew it, there were arms around him, not quite reaching all over but the fact of the matter is, the Russian former military operative was hugging him. She was trying to make him feel better.

Ben didn't know whether it was a good time to do anything but her question got to him. Well, she wanted to know he was functioning. He'll let her know. By letting loose a little grunt. There. He did his duty by answering a simple question. He was very much functioning. Just not in the way she probably wanted him to.

What he didn't understand was why he was so distraught. Was it because Cobalt had given him that little slice of hope by taking his hand? Cobalt had given him a meaningful look, hadn't he? Or was that Ben's desperate need to delude himself into thinking he wasn't the only one who wanted this?

By right, he shouldn't even care right now. He should just let it go. Cobalt didn't want anything to do with him. It was better left that way wasn't it? So why was he so damn upset?

[Yulia Sokolov]

Yulia wasn’t sure what else she could do for him right now. It was slightly awkward trying to hug him, both because he was lying down and because she wasn’t exactly the biggest hugger out there. Of course she didn’t want to make him angry so she had no intention of pushing him in the way that she might have had she been back in Russia. She had gathered that it was perfectly acceptable to sulk as much as one needed here, hadn’t she after all?

Yulia waited for an answer to her question and she ended up getting just a grunt out of him. She frowned just a little, wishing that he had responded with something a little more… verbal. Still she accepted it for what it was and moved her hand a little, rubbing his back.

“You can tell me what is wrong if you would like to,” she told him. She posed the phrase as gently as possible. She tried to think of something to talk to him about. She considered the online college thing but she didn’t want to tell him that she was doing a miserable job at it. As she considered she watched Ben, well watched Ben’s back rise and fall.

Then it struck her. Ben was acting a bit like she had when Evgeny’s death date had rolled around, minus the drinking. Still she could only think of one person who Ben had been interested in, or so she thought, and they certainly were not dead. Still what was she supposed to say about this? She didn’t want to ask that particular question, it seemed like a very bad idea.

Yulia went a different route instead. “I will cook dinner tonight, would you like some?” She figured that she could make an attempt to cook if he was going to be up here, and if she followed it exactly then what could go wrong. “I promise I will not burn anything.”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Ben thought he should at least make little concessions simply because he knew it had to have taken a lot out of the Russian to be this affectionate. He was touched, he truly was. He just didn't think he really had anything to say. It wasn't like Ben had just broken up with his boyfriend. He just couldn't get the guy he wanted. It seemed pretty childish and selfish of him if he really thought about it. And he didn't want Yulia to think he was juvenile.

Not that what he was doing was any better.

Just as he made the decision to remove the pillow from off his head, Yulia said the most ridiculous thing ever. Well, not the most ridiculous. Just not the most sensible comment he'd ever heard. It made him laugh.

Removing the pillow off of his face, he turned and ruffled Yulia's head. "Thank you, Lia. I'm sorry I've been such a tool," Ben sighed before dragging himself up to a sitting position. "I'm sorry I haven't been myself. I just haven't had a good week. I promise I'll try to be better." He said, reassuring himself as much as he was reassuring his housemate.

[Yulia Sokolov]

Yulia had been about to get up when she heard laughter bubble up out of Ben. Naturally she knew the cause of this, and she wasn’t sure whether to smile or to scowl. She’d let it go though, she knew that, after all the laughter was not unfounded, she was an awful cook. She was about to respond when her hair was all messed into her face. She didn’t protests, simply closed her eyes and scrunched up her nose a little, trying to stop any of the strands from falling in her eyes before brushing it all back with a hand.

“Oh sure, that gets you to get up, very nice of you Ben.” She Laughed a little bit herself as she also sat up. She was glad that he was actually responding with words now instead of grunts. After all she spoke Russian, not cave man.

None the less this was a definite improvement, still she didn’t want to push him out or into anything. “No, no millyana, you can do whatever you’d like. I just want to make sure you are ok. It is fine to sulk once in a while, goodness knows you tolerated it well when I did a few months back.” She half smiled again and then patted him on the arm.

“I think that you need a night out with a few friend, or maybe a night in with a few friends? Maybe Riley? Oh! Or Cobalt? Where has he been recently? He has not stopped by.”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

He laughed with Yulia, leaning his head against the headboard as he tried to compose himself. Her reassurances did nothing for him but damn it all if he didn't at least try.

"I'm fine. Just have a lot of things on my mind." Lie, there was only one dominant thought in his head. "I can deal with it, don't worry." Lie, it had been less than a week and he was already a wreck.

Evident wherein even the mere mention of Cobalt sent his smile down south. "We're not talking at the moment. I did something stupid. Shouldn't be dwelling on it." Ben shrugged.

[Yulia Sokolov]

Yulia listened to what Ben had to say. She wasn’t going to call him out of any of it but she had been living with him for long enough to know when he was bullcrapping her, and this was one of those times. After all she was no idiot, maybe she wasn’t the master of the English language, but lying was universal.

She did wish that he trusted her a little more, or whatever it was that made him open up. Then again she had barely opened up, just post-drunkenly confessed the whole Evgeny thing, that was hardly some great outreach. As such she really could not nitpick about any of this. However, a moment later she felt like she could.

Cobalt, that was clearly the source of this Ben mess. She had managed to accidently strike the nerve by saying that name. Alright, well all of this made much more sense now. She paused for a moment before continuing. “You know Ben, I spent seven years in love with the same person who had no idea, and then he died, and I still love him regardless. I know how you are feeling, and I know how much it…. sucks.” She had to search for the word for a moment. “But I do not think that is the sort of person Cobalt is,” she said, not exactly sure what she even meant.

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Yulia's choice of words were peculiar but Ben sort of understood where she was going. Sort of.

"He thinks I made a mistake. I guess I believe him." Ben replied, sighing a little before rubbing his face with both his hands, suddenly very tired.

"I should...do something. Cook maybe. Or take a shower." He forced out a laugh and then pushed the sheets off him before placing a kiss on Yulia's forehead. "Thank you, Lia. I...I needed this." He stroked the top of his housemate's head and got off the bed, shuffling over to the bathroom.

"Why don't you go downstairs. I'll make us an early dinner when I finish showering." He smiled at Yulia over his shoulder before locking himself in the toilet.

[OOC: Continue or wrap? Your choice ^^]