xp_logs | Doug and Darcy

xp_cypher posting in

After the posting incident and the followup texts, Doug and Darcy sit down and actually talk about their feelings like adults. Neither of them much likes it, but they do it anyway.

Doug sat in a deck chair on the expansive back patio of Xavier's mansion, looking out at the changing colors of the leaves. This particular discussion felt a little too potentially fraught to have in one of their rooms, so he'd suggested this as an alternate location to Darcy. He resisted the urge to fidget nervously with his phone while he waited for her to arrive.

"Hey," Darcy said, slipping onto the patio quietly and coming to a stop next to Doug. "I... before anything else? I know you said a single sorry was sufficient for you, but it's not for me. I do apologize for you seeing the journal comments first instead of a head's up text from me. That was thoughtless."

Doug patted the seat of the chair that he had pulled up next to his for Darcy, inviting her to sit. She looked...almost at war with herself, the desire to be close in to his personal space battling the hunched defensiveness of her posture. "I appreciate the apology," he said gently.

"The least I could do," Darcy replied, curling up in the seat. "Even if we were just friends, it would've been polite to give you a heads-up. And we're... more? Working towards it? Were? Regardless, you deserved better treatment than that, especially from me." She reached out for his hand, hesitated in the air, and ended up curling it around the arm of her chair instead.

"Not 'were'," Doug corrected Darcy, reaching out to place his nanite hand on top of hers. "People make mistakes, I certainly don't expect you to be perfect. And you apologized, which means a lot." He shrugged. "A worse person would have just doubled down and made it all the other person's fault somehow."

"I do try to own my mistakes," Darcy replied dryly, giving his fingers a squeeze. "I know I don't really have much knowledge navigating," she continued, finger twirling in the air to indicate the mansion and themselves, "complicated friends with benefits? Baby's first polycule experience? Whatever we're doing over here. But a head's up seems to be the bare minimum of the norm." She'd been looking things up online, but navigating the waters of her bestie-with-benefits and maybe-boyfriend seemed complex even without the background the two had with one another.

Doug nodded. "Yeah, pretty much," he agreed. "I mean, that's part of why things are complicated with me and Laurie? She sorta just ghosted me, decided things were over more or less unilaterally. I mean, it's possible I was doing something, but we didn't talk about it either way." It was hard for him to talk about Laurie without letting his sadness and regret color things, but he felt like it was important to get out there to help clear the air, and so that Darcy didn't feel like all of this situation was on her shoulders alone.

Darcy winced. "Yeah, shit. That... I would hate that. And still living in the same space? Ouch. And a little bit even shittier of me, because I knew you two had history, but not so complex?" She twisted in the chair until she was mostly facing Doug. "Has that ship sailed, or would you like me to ask her if she's willing to talk to you about it. Closure, maybe?"

That was a very complicated, very emotionally charged question. At the end of it all, Doug still cared about Laurie, despite what had happened. It had eaten him up that he couldn't help her with the wreckage of her prosthetic even as the nanites were building him one - he knew how much that must have hurt her. And yes, she scared him a bit sometimes with how intense or abrasive she could be, but he still believed in her. He just wished she had believed in him. In them. "I mean, I'm pretty sure the ship has sailed, but you can ask her if you want."

"I'll wait until she's had a few good days, but definitely. You're both important to me, so getting you two... neutral? Polite? Benefits me greatly." She rubbed Doug's hand absent-mindedly as they sat, the silence a little awkward instead of the easy comfort they normally enjoyed. She steeled herself before asking, "So.. not were?"

Doug nodded firmly. "Not were," he agreed. "Like I said, I don't expect you to be perfect, and I certainly wouldn't stop caring just over one mistake." He smiled reassuringly and squeezed her hand with his.

"Should we have that adult conversation about.. I don't know, lines? Boundaries, expectations? I was serious about not wanting this to be something that we regret. I value your friendship too much, even if I've not been a shining example of that this week." She scrubbed her free hand over her eyes, voice tired. "I wasn't expecting Laurie to tell me she was interested in more than the one-off with Namor after the Gala, and I know that complicates... us."

"I don't want this to be something we regret either, I meant that too." Doug shrugged. "Me and Laurie being exes complicates things, but I would never ask you to choose between us." It might pick a bit at that scab of regret, but that was Doug's stuff to deal with, not Darcy's. "Just understand that I'm not always going to want to talk about her, and we should be fine? I don't have any expectations for how things will go between us, we'll figure it out as we go."

"Keep it surface? I won't hide that we're spending time together, but I won't give you details either, unless it's something you need to know? And like.. we're not there yet, but obviously I won't go straight from one bed to the other either, that would be tacky and rude. If it's just casual time though, I'll try to buffer to avoid overlap." She smiled at him, still a little tentative. "A well-made schedule hasn't failed me yet."

Doug nodded. “I can live with that.” It wasn’t that he didn’t have any input to make so much as he wasn’t the one balancing the needs of all this awkwardness the same way Darcy would. “Angie is mostly figuring things out with Amanda, lately, but I’ll make sure to do the same for you if that changes - buffer casual time, and not go right from one bed to the other.” Granted, Darcy and Marie-Ange didn’t have complications the way Doug and Laurie did, but being on an equal footing was a good way to be going on, and set a solid foundation.

"Don't always have to buffer with her, I think? We get along fine, and she's important to you, so I'm not opposed to spending casual time with both of you. And you can give me details if you want, and I'll tell you if that needs to change." Darcy leaned towards him, reaching out a hand and running it through his hair. "Obviously can't always talk about work or club before, but maybe an overview after? Not that I'm doing missions with sex yet, minus flirting with Mr. Smarm."

It wasn't very difficult to read the way Darcy kept trying to lean in and be closer physically to him. Doug patted his lap and tugged on her hand. "C'mere," he said, recognizing that she probably needed more than just verbal reassurance that things weren't irreparably broken between them.

Darcy didn't need to be asked twice, and was out of her chair and into his lap with her face pressed into his neck in a few blinks. "Look at us, acting like adults and talking about our feelings," she mumbled against his skin.

Doug wrapped his arms around Darcy and held her close. "You did great," he told her, rubbing a hand soothingly on her back.

"Not just me, mister." She poked Doug gently in the side, relaxing into his hold. "We should go on a date soon. Something fun."

"That's a really good idea," Doug said, dropping a gentle kiss on the top of Darcy's head. "I'll see what I can come up with."