Super Bowl Buttonhole(closed)

[Dr. Sean Neville]

If this wasn’t so frustrating and unwelcome, the telepath might find himself overcome with the absurdity of it all. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the frustration far outweighed any other emotion he might feel. Not only was he the oldest person in this room, but he had the most experience when it came to relationships: in terms of number, variety, and depth of involvement. He also had the most professional experience, as he’d had his degree for almost a decade and a half older than Ben and was a doctor, and the other two people trying to host this weren’t involved in the field by practice or training. Apart from Josh, none of them had been around for the original relationship or breakup, or their decades of friendship, and as much as he liked spending time with these men, none of them knew anything important – nor were involved in – his personal life. Dating his coworker didn’t count. Having more personality and relationship issues than he could keep a running tab didn’t count.

And had Cobalt just mildly insulted Josh’s intelligence? Already off to a bad start, this afternoon proved unbearable. Worse yet, there was a throb at his temples. He didn’t need a migraine. Not now.

Not when he had to explain to a forty-year-old man that neither he nor Josh were responsible for anyone else’s actions. Specifically that neither he nor Josh behaving a bit untoward with one another at a couple of parties three months apart invalidated Ben’s, Cobalt’s or Riley’s agency and responsibility for their decision to lie to him, inject themselves into a highly personal situation, and ruin two people’s afternoon.

He was about to say as much, but then Josh simply gave in. He sat down, leaving the telepath staring between Ben and Cobalt with a few choice words for both of them. Such as telling Cobalt that since he was inexperienced that he didn’t have reason to correct other people, particularly since the telepath had never hidden his identity or the fact that Josh was the person closest to him in this world. Or that Cobalt didn’t even know the meaning of dancing around someone if he was applying it to him and Josh, when they had perfectly natural and non-sexually tense interactions when they were alone. People let their hair down at parties. The thoughts of all three men that this required a different solution or that this was somehow abnormal was irritating and displayed a fundamental lack of understanding of what rights these men had regarding his and Josh’s relationship (for the record, none), as well as a lack of awareness of human behavior.

Sometimes exes continued to have a bit of residual sexual tension, and alcohol lowered inhibitions. None of that translated into a need for real world change with the exception of Sean drinking a bit less at parties, which he would.

If he ever went to another party with any of these men again. At the moment, that was a big if.

He couldn’t leave Josh here to deal with these men alone, and since he’d also provided the transportation, it seemed that he was stuck. Sighing to himself, he moved to sit on the arm of the sofa beside Josh. This was the only concession he would make, since he was not comfortable and wouldn’t pretend to be. Making his displeasure clear, he said, "Typically, interventions are reserved for substance abuse and hoarding.” This was highly inappropriate, and they should be aware.

And Riley’s remark was the icing on the cake. Had he just accused a telepath of not seeing something from someone else’s point of view? He liked Riley, but the other man obviously didn’t know anything about Sean on more than the more superficial of levels. “And for the record, I do see this from your point of view; I still disagree."

[Cobalt Weaver]

Okay, so maybe Cobalt felt a little bad about snapping at Josh and insulting his intelligence. That wasn’t fair and hardly appropriate in this situation. Josh’s petulant sulking didn’t make him feel guilty (usually, it just amused Cobalt), but it did remind him that he couldn’t go insulting his friend. It was going to be up in the air whether or not Josh wanted to speak to him after this anyways. There was no reason to make things unnecessarily worse. It would appear that Cobalt was going to have to do most of the work anyways. Great. He shot a glare at Ben, hoping it would prompt the man to be a little more proactive in this. This was your idea anyways, you idiot, Cobalt thought irritably at Ben.

When Sean finally made the decision to sit next to Josh, Cobalt relaxed marginally. At least everyone had the relative presence of mind to not turn this into an actual, physical fight. That would have been a real pain in the ass.

Speaking of pains. At Sean’s curt observation, Cobalt rolled his eyes. “I’m sure you’ll survive somehow.” He said, equally curt, crossing his arms over his chest. Cognitively, he knew that Sean had every right to be annoyed, and he expected nothing less. But that didn’t mean he was going to cut Sean any slack when the older man seemed to want to dig his heels in and be stubborn. “And Ben’s right. This is getting a little out of hand.”

At Josh’s half-mumbled protest, Cobalt felt a swift pang of guilt. He definitely felt like he was betraying his friend somehow. Even though all he wanted to do was help him. “Josh… this wouldn't be our business if...look, I know you guys think you're being real sneaky and all, but it's all really obvious. And it's... not healthy.” He rubbed the back of his neck, awkwardly, “You're my friend, Josh. And...” Cobalt shrugged, not looking at the older man, “It really bothers me that you and Sean are letting...whatever stand in the way of being as happy as possible.”

He glanced over at Sean, who still looked irritated, and decided on honesty. “And I don't even really like you all that much, but really. This is just...nobody deserves to be alone their whole lives when they've got someone they care about right there. Okay?”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

The guilt in Ben grew when he saw how resigned Josh looked and he all but cowered when Cobalt glared at him, as if pushing him to say more than he was already putting on the plate. This had been his idea in the first place but Ben hadn’t realised how much guilt he was carrying until he saw Josh’s betrayed look and Sean’s restrained displeasure.

"Of course you'd disagree, Sean.” Ben said a bit after Cobalt spoke. What the shadow manipulator had said struck a chord in Ben but that was another thought for another day. “Because you don't see...well you do see but you don't really see it like we do.” They had been sort of too inebriated to have seen what their behaviour truly looked like to an outsider. “You both clearly still care for each other which means what you're doing right now, what you think you're in control of...it's not right.”

Ben paused to let what he said sink in. This was obviously not going the way he had thought it would. Granted, he hadn’t exactly planned out the whole intervention. He probably would have handled the situation better and not have left Cobalt to be the only speaker. And Riley wouldn’t look like he had just murdered a kitten. He looked so pained.

“Someone will eventually get hurt and that's not something I want to see happen.” Ben said after a long pause. He looked up in determination to Sean, and then to Josh. “Especially not to either of you." He ended.

[OOC: You can skip Riley's turn since he just keeps quiet.]

[Joshua Bernstein]

Suddenly Josh found that the floor was vastly interesting. Was that a red wine stain in the carpet? He was no expert on carpet stains, but whatever it was had caught the attention of an ant, probably a scout for some colony somewhere nearby. Fascinating! He hoped Ben or Yulia had put out some ant traps or they were going to find themselves infested soon.

"Ah." He replied vaguely, watching as the ant meandered about the stain, doing whatever it was that ants did. He imagined that it was snuffling. "hmm."

Having finished its scavenging the ant turned back around, only to find itself blocked by his shoes. "You know, we did try this already." That was for the benefit of Riley and Ben; Cobalt had already asked him rather directly about his relationship with Sean. He was beginning to think he should have lied.

"It....just didn't work out." For a myriad of reasons, beginning with obsession and ending with smothering. He had learned since then to keep an emotional distance in subsequent relationships; passion was a terrifying, overwhelming thing. "We're still friends, that's what's important."

Being just friends had been better for a lot of things, like his grades and his career progression. He was fairly certain it had been better for Sean's grades and career progression, as well. He didn't feel as if he owed an explanation to any of his other friends, however. He hoped that the admission that they had tried, no matter how far in the past, would be good enough and the other men would drop this line of inquiry.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

The fact of the matter was that Sean didn’t think for a moment that they were being sneaky. Sneaking implied a plan and conscious conduct designed to hide from others. That he and Josh had dated wasn’t a secret (with the exception of Josh’s family but that was because the other man had never come out of the closet). And if anyone else thought that it was, then the fact that they were still fond of one another was the worst-kept secret in the North East, perhaps along the entire Eastern Seaboard.

Their hosts’ assessment that this was getting out of hand was incorrect, although that was difficult to see without knowing their full history together. This had been twice in a four months period, the result of excess stress and drinking. That was hardly their record. But the telepath didn’t want to think about that.

He had more than enough given the situation, confronted by three people who knew only a portion of the story and were yet making sweeping generalizations. While Josh had learned from their relationship to hold back, Sean had escaped no less unscathed but with less ability to adapt. As a telepath, the merger was natural, and while he hadn’t felt it as intensely with anyone else, that was partially because Josh was the first, and partially because their friendship remained paramount. And as a result, Sean made the same mistake in every relationship, getting too close only to be pushed away, and he was never quite prepared for that. At least Josh remained his friend.

But he owed no explanations, not to Ben and Riley, his friends, and not to Cobalt, who had finally aired his dislike openly. The telepath paid that no mind, because Cobalt’s social skills were lacking and it was not surprising. He begrudged him nothing, although the irony of Cobalt lecturing him about appropriate behavior would be amusing if not for the hostage situation.

Patiently, he added on to Josh’s explanation. "Long term relationships aren't for everyone, but thank you, all three of you for your concern."

He’s certainly put forth more than his fair share of effort in the process, but the situation was what it was.