tushanshu_logs | (no subject)

Characters: Hayley & OPEN
Date: June 25th (or the next couple days)
Location: Hayley's sweet new digs or outside in the Metal Sector
Situation: Roommate shenanigans, Hayley coming out of hiding to be social again, whatever..
Warnings/Rating: None yet.

Hayley had done her best to avoid people for the last few weeks, trying to regain a more objective view of the situation and of her relationships. These friendships were getting harder to avoid and while part of her wanted to accept them, there remained a voice in the back of her mind warning her of the dangers of embracing these people. Moving had been a very unwelcome break in the monotony, but a joyous excuse for helping her in hiding away in a nice place and pretending she didn't exist. She kept contact, of course; it was the bare minimum required to keep anyone from thinking she had disappeared from the turtle.

Now, finally, boredom has overcome her and so instead of taking her food to her room and leaving for work at odd hours, Hayley was returning to a more standard routine. It meant she was more likely to run into people and to have to be friends again. She knew that and was slightly apprehensive about it, but the part of her that wanted those kinds of connections had inevitably won out and she found herself missing Bart and Kon and the others after enough time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She cringed slightly at his response. "It's Hayley."

The girl waited a breath before taking hold of the handle and pushing the door open to give them a mutual line of sight. She didn't move from her stance at the door, plate of cookies balancing on one hand while she stared awkwardly into the room and to the guy that she had rarely felt awkward around before, the one who usually made things easy somehow.

"I brought cookies," she offered lamely, knowing it was a poor attempt at reconciliation for how often she had avoided him as of late. If someone had done the same to her, she would be unlikely to accept cookies and an awkward inability to express feelings as an adequate apology. But Mark had always been a better person than she was.

At the sound of the door opening, he turned to see Hayley entering with a plate of cookies. He had no idea what finally pushed her to start talking to him again, but whatever it was, he was grateful.

"I don't think anyone can say no to free cookies."

He scooches over to give her some space, and pushes stuff on his table over to give the cookies a place to sit before he eats them.

"But I can't shake the feeling these are bribery cookies."

Hayley sets the plate down in the space on the table and then takes a seat on his bed where he made room for her. She immediately pulls her feet up to sit cross-legged, dropping her hands into her lap and watching him. At his comment about a bribe, she smiled before mocking great offense.

"You're getting paranoid, Mark." She points a finger at him. "What ever would I be bribing you for?"

Mark looks from the cookies to Hayley, then back to the cookies. They looked delicious.

"I don't know, world domination?" Mark places his hands over his heart, as if to protect it from her finger, but smiles slightly to show he's only kidding. "I can never tell with you."

"Too much responsibility," she quips back at him, dropping her finger. She waves a hand freely at the plate to encourage him to help himself, clearly thinking about things beyond simply the baked goods. Hayley lifts a hand to scratch at her hair and drops it again not a moment later. There's something about how casual Mark is that makes he nervous. With all he's been through and everything she's bothered him about, he's still okay with her and might even continue to call her a friend. It's weird.

"It wasn't you. You know that, right?" Might as well get the awkwardness out of the way. Her avoidance of the population at large was not unique to any individual, least of all Mark. She wanted him to know that. There was no foreseeable advantage to having him doubt or believe otherwise and if it maybe helped his mood a little, that wasn't such a bad thing. "I just needed some time to think."