-- wallowing in self pity (tim)

[afa]

Tim nodded, glad that Carter had at least agreed to something that evening. As gently as he could, he tried to push it a bit forward, asking in as peaceful a manner as possible, "are you sure you would have been fine with it if it had been someone else?" He had a sneaking suspicion that the answer was 'no,' though Carter would refuse to either recognize or admit this. As his friend continued to refuse elaborating on his reasons for hating their room mate, Tim decided it was time for the subject to drop. "I dunno. If that's it, then that's it," he shrugged, figuring he could always try again later. Maybe when the other man was sober. Fortunately, Tim was too busy ranting to see Carter roll his eyes; that would've only pissed him off more, anyway. At his friend's next words, he thought about it, trying to decide whether the man had a valid point. After all, Tim had agreed to stay out of it, and had done so until things got physical. But could he really be blamed? "I guess I thought you'd eventually get over it," he commented dryly. That had been his hope, as impossible as he now knew such an event to be.

"To tell the truth, I didn't come here to defend him. I came here to find out why you punched him, and I guess I was a bit worried about you since you don't usually go around doing stuff like that. And I know, I worry too much or whatever the hell you're thinking, but that's how it's always been and I don't see why I should have to change now." He rolled his eyes at the lame connection between selfishness and stupidity. Most of the time, Carter's insults would just roll right off of him - he knew his friend too well to let things said in moments of anger get to him. Tim was a bit surprised at the man's next words, though. "Well, it isn't a war zone when you're not there, except that it kind of freaks me out since I'm used to having you around more." Even with Chris there, the room always felt empty without Carter. Not that Tim was going to come right out and say it, of course. "Well... good," he nodded sternly when Carter said he wouldn't leave the room. At least that was settled.

"Then why would you say it?" Tim retorted, still in a bad mood. Every time Carter said something like that, then contradicted himself, it made Tim's head pound more. The man was practically impossible to argue with, simply because of how difficult he was to follow. Maybe that was how he always came out on top - he just kept talking until his opponent gave up. Noting that his friend's gaze had been resting on the clock, Tim's eyes travelled from Carter's face to glance at the little hands, jaw clenching. It wasn't difficult to see that they were both getting tired of the exchange. He didn't want to go back to campus with this hanging over his head, but he didn't want to continue trying to reason with his drunken companion, either. He let out a breath as Carter appeared to imagine him hitting Chris, but let the man have his fun. He didn't have the strength to tackle his friend's imagination, too.

"Exactly. I'm like a boring square without you. And then you turn me into an exciting circle," try as he might, Tim couldn't keep a grin from crossing his face at this comparison. He was also glad that he wasn't the only one who wanted to start over. If only things were that easy... "If you're willing to try that, I'll take it," he decided when Carter seemed to agree with the idea of ignoring Chris. He did have a secret plan which involved getting them to somehow overcome their differences, though that was about as far as he'd gotten with it. However, he didn't mention this, turning his attention to the other man as he stepped away. "Yeah. The next time we run into each other." Because that was the only way they ever saw one other any more, apparently, since Tim was so busy.

When Tim saw what the man was doing to Carter, he practically felt the pain himself. "Why can't it just fucking ever be easy?" he mumbled to himself, feeling the mixed emotions of anger and protectiveness surging through his body. That was the last real awareness he had of himself until after the punch, when he was dragging and injured Carter toward the door and trying his best to ignore the pain in his knuckles. It felt like he'd managed to cut his skin on the dude's teeth, which was actually really disgusting, but not the priority just then. It was immediately clear that his friend couldn't quite hold himself up. Adrenaline coursing through his veins, it wasn't too difficult for Tim to support him as much as he needed it, and he replied to the other man with, "you think I don't know that?" as they headed toward the door. For an insane moment, Tim felt quite like James Bond. Once they were outside, he drew in a quick breath, giving his companion a once-over before wrapping his arm around him to assist him to the hotel (as soon as he knew which way to go).

At Carter's apology, Tim glanced over at him, feeling suddenly giddy. The serious look dissolved off his face to be replaced by one of humour, and he chuckled, shaking his head. "You'd better fucking thank me. You probably owe me your life now, you know. You'll be my slave for all eternity or something." He looked behind them, glad to see that they weren't being followed. He could still feel himself buzzing with energy, too, knowing they wouldn't be safe until they got into the room. When Carter began coughing, Tim's eyebrows scrunched together with worry, and he quickened his pace. Hopefully they wouldn't have to go to the hospital over this; if his mom found out what had gone down, he'd get shipped home in no time... a sound from behind distracted him from this train of thought, and with a seemingly superhuman strength he moved faster, willing Carter keep up with his awkward stumbling.

"It's gonna be okay. We're almost there," Tim said reassuringly, though whether he was trying to convince himself or his friend he wasn't really sure. They were probably both freaking out significantly. As the lights of the hotel came into view, he nearly collapsed in relief. "You've got a key, right?" he asked, hoping to god the other man hadn't misplaced this most important object. He tried to ignore the pain lacing each one of Carter's words, telling himself over and over that it wasn't that bad. It couldn't be that bad. He'd only been hit a few times, hadn't he? Tim's memory of the incident was mostly a blur now, and the only proof of what had happened was the pain in his hand and his friend's laboured breathing. There was a shout from the bar, but the two were miraculously at the door of the hotel, and Tim pushed it open and ushered the other man through. "Which way's the room?" he asked, not really in posession of any logical power at the moment. In the dim light, he could properly see his friend. Carter was more pale than usual, but that could be a combination of the cold and shock. However, the torment in his eyes was all too obvious, and Tim could almost see unwanted tears welling up. He tried to keep his own fear from being displayed on his face, but it was too late - he was seriously terrified.

ooc. AH. Muse attack, so it's kind of rushed xD TIM MUST FIX CARTERRR!! andthentheycanhavesexytime.

[carter dominic andrews]

The question Tim asked was probably the last one that Carter wanted to answer at the moment, and inside he knew that Timmy had already known the answer, so at first he stayed silent. Of course the answer had been no, no matter who had came into their lives he would hate them for the fact that it would no longer be the two of them. Perhaps it would have been different if the two were in an open relationship or something, then Carter could still get his cuddles on a daily basis with no cares what others would think, but both were kidding themselves so if they cuddled or made out people might ask questions. Questions that neither Carter or Tim seemed to have an answer for, and he just wasn't ready for that. "If things were different i'd have no problem with someone else coming into the room." There, he had at least been truthful but he'd tried to word it a way that Tim wouldn't ask questions. He nodded, "That's it," he repeated putting his arms up to show him it'd been over. He laughed when Tim mentioned Carter getting over it eventually, "When do I ever just get over something?" He was the worst when it came to holding grudges and such.

"I punched him because he was running his mouth and being an absolute prick, so I figured it'd shut him up. It did too, knocked the fucking attitude right out of him." He knew that Tim did not want to hear any of this but he just couldn't help himself. The man kept talking about it so Carter was going to unload everything he'd been holding on his chest and shoulders for the last few days. With each statement he could feel the tension lessening as he started to feel relieved. "You don't have to be worried about me, I do alright on my own." He had to though since he was alone most of his childhood, well when he wasn't with Tim that was, so really he wasn't alone all too often. It was nice to always have Tim there when he needed him. Timmy was the ultimate definition of the words best friend, but to Carter he was so much more than that. He just wished he could put into words how much his best friend had truly meant to him. "You don't have to change, I know you worry about everything under the sun. It's just who you are, i've gotten used to it over the years." He didn't mind, at least someone was worried about him. "It freaks you out not having me there? What, you afraid Chris'll take advantage of you or something?" Carter picked a bad time to joke but he couldn't help himself. "I'm sorry if what i'm going through right now is affecting you and making you feel weird," he sighed with a shrug. There was nothing more he could do about it though, the damage was already done.

He shrugged, Carter couldn't help but go around in circles when he fought while he'd been drinking. Should he have came right out and told Tim that the fight at the school with Chris had involved alcohol as well? Damnit, everything had seemed to involve alcohol lately. Thinking about it drove him mad as he wanted another drink here but his friend wouldn't even let him have one. Drinking was the one thing that could clear his mind, but the bad thing about booze is no matter how much you forgot that night it'd be right back there in the morning pulsing through his mind with the hangover that'd usually accompany. At least the vision of Tim punching Chris had been entertaining in his own mind at least, but sadly he knew it would never happen in the real world. "Boring square? Exciting circle?" He looked over laughing as he shook his head, "You'd lucky that makes sense," He teased for one of the first times letting his old attitude shine through. He just couldn't help but laugh when his best friend made comments like that. It was absolutely hilarious and he loved how cute his friend was when making such lame references. "If trying that means this conversation will be over i'm all for it, I don't want to fight tonight." although it was a little late for that considering he'd jumped down Tim's throat the second he'd sat beside him at the bar. He nodded when Tim had accepted the offer, "i'm sure it won't be too long," he made sure to tell him though knew that was a lie. He hoped it'd be a while until they had to have another conversation like this.

Fate, or more importantly karma Carter assumed, had kicked his ass though when he'd gotten grabbed and hit those few times with the stick. Damnit that stung and he was sure that once he lifted his shirt he'd probably have a few nice stripes going flat across his stomach. He was wasting his breathe when he'd told his friend they had to get out of here, of course Tim knew that much, and he just let the man help him out of the bar. As they made their way in the direction that Carter had motioned he could hear Tim start to chuckle and he just looked up at him for a second before looking back down at the sidewalk so he wouldn't trip on a crack or something. "What's so funny?" He asked softly as he let out another small cough, was Tim seriously that fucked up that he'd found what just happened to be funny? When he heard the man talk though he could even feel a roll of laughter fighting to break from his lips, but with each chuckle his stomach throbbed so he kept them to a bare minimum. "Like I wasn't already," in the past Tim had caught him and helped him out of some of the worst situations. When he was lying in a ditch frozen almost like a popsicle because he'd passed out after a night of binge drinking had to have been one of the stupider things he's done, but sure enough Timmy brought him home and warmed him up and took care of him. Carter owed him his life a few times over. He was not too ashamed to admit it either.

He could feel Timmy moving faster as he kept up, well mostly as he did stumble a few times which probably made it even hard on poor Tim, but he nodded when Tim assured him it'd be alright. Carter knew that as well, if anything those men had just knocked the wind out of him and given his stomach a good bruising. He would be fine in time, but for right now he was shook up and couldn't even think straight. "How's the knuckles?" He had to keep his sentences short as he started to cough again feeling bad that Tim had to get into that whole mess. When asked about the key Carter nodded as he used his hand that wasn't secure around Tim to pat his pockets until he found the one it'd been in and reached in to pull it out. He went and snuck it across his stomach to Tim shaking it so the man would reach for it. When Tim did reach for the key Carter noticed the hand and his eyes widened, "Shit, Tim you're bleeding." he gasped some feeling ultimately worse now that he knew that Tim had hurt himself for Carter. When asked what direction he'd nodded down towards the left hallway. He didn't want to look so helpless in there so he tried to straighten himself up and thankfully was able to do a little, but he did keep his arm around his friend for support down the hall. He was thankful that nobody was around or else they would ask questions, and right now Carter just couldn't bring himself to tell anyone anything that happened tonight. It was just better left unsaid, well to anyone except the two of them of course.

When they reached another hall Carter pushed Tim just somewhat to show him that they needed to go down that one as well, and soon they were standing infront of the door to the room he'd been staying at. He leaned against the wall so Tim could have both hands for opening the door and when it'd been open he burst into the room stumbling over until he fell on the bed closing his eyes as his muscles were still as tense as ever even with him laying there. "I think there's bandaids in the bathroom or something," usually these hotels had some weak first aid kit somewhere in the bathroom. He sighed as he sat up and tried to lift his shirt so he could pull it over his head but his shoulders hurt too much to do that, "Uh, little help?" He thought that it was sad that he couldn't even take his own shirt off but right now he did not want that fabric bunching and hurting him anymore. He pulled his shirt down to about his elbow as he tried very slowly to bring his hand through the arm maybe being able to do that instead of taking it off in one quick sweep. Sometimes Carter had felt like such a baby that Tim needed to take care of, and today had been no different as he'd probably looked pathetic.

[notes. so I sort of godmodded (about the part where Tim took the key) but I hope that's alright because I wanted Carter to see the blood and feel like complete shit.

[/blockquote][/justify]

[afa]

Tim waited as Carter no doubt tried to come up with a clever answer to his question. As the man spoke, he raised an eyebrow. Actually, that had been quite a convincing response, and if Tim hadn't been looking for the cover-up he wouldn't even have noticed it. "Whatever," he replied, not wanting to get into yet another fruitless argument. He gave the man a hard look when he claimed that the reason he'd given was the only one, but he didn't see why he shouldn't believe it. At Carter's next words, Tim pressed his lips together, wearing a helpless expression. "Yeah... I guess that was a bit too much to hope for." While his friend described exactly why he'd punched Chris, Tim glanced away uncomfortably, still not sure if he should take the man at his word. He knew, without a doubt, that Carter had instigated the fight... but it wouldn't have been impossible for Chris to simply react and say something that would set the other off. Carter was probably exaggerating, but he didn't seem to be outright lying. "Great," he groaned, the fight having all but left him.

"I know you do, but I just felt like finding you, alright?" he replied defensively, fed up with having to explain his reasons for coming out to the bar. Even Tim didn't know half of them. It was probably a mixture of being pissed at the man and just plain missing him, as well as wanting to attempt to get him to give Chris another chance. Obviously that one hadn't worked out, though. "Ha, ha," he rolled his eyes at the comment about Chris taking advantage of him. If he had to worry about that with either of his room mates, it was Carter. "I didn't mean freak out like that. I'm just used to you being there, and it's wierd when you're not," he looked over at his friend, tired of trying to describe his emotions and crap. Carter knew he didn't like that sort of thing. "It's fine," he said gruffly, shrugging, not knowing how else to respond to the other man's apology.

When Carter laughed at his, albeit lame, joke, Tim allowed himself to feel a bit of relief. At least they could still joke around, right? "I thought so too," he grinned cheekily. He'd come here completely determined to talk to the other man and find out what his problem was, and now he just wanted things to go back to normal and pretend the whole issue with Chris didn't exist. He was far too easily distracted. That's why you didn't join the debate team, he reminded himself, wishing he had the will power to put their conversation back on track. All chances of that happening disappeared when Carter said he didn't want to argue, and immediately Tim nodded, saying, "me, neither." He was only putting it off a bit, after all. Not avoiding it completely. He simply grunted when his friend said it 'wouldn't be too long,' knowing there was a large chance that he would be avoided for the next few days.

Of course, all thoughts of arguing and trying to stop Carter and Chris's fighting had left his mind by the time he'd managed to lift his friend and get him out of the bar. He felt a bit bad for laughing at a time like this, but he was honestly still too shocked to stop himself. It wasn't really an amused laugh - more of an 'I can't believe that actually fucking happened' sort of laugh. He heard Carter start to join in, but could tell it hurt. Oh, great, now he'd gone and made his friend's pain worse. "True. I'll put it on your tab," he gave the man a half-grin, hoping to at least take his mind off of their current situation. Personally, Tim was relieved that he'd managed to 'save' Carter so many times. Not that his friend was completely incapable of taking care of himself - he just seemed to get into hairy situations a lot of the time, and more often than not Tim helped him get out of them. That was really why he worried so much when he wasn't around. What would those guys have done if Tim hadn't taken action? Would someone at the bar have stopped them? Would Carter have managed to get away? Or would something terrible have happened? He didn't like thinking about it.

Tim barely noticed Carter stumbling, focused as he was on getting off the darkened street and into the hotel. He would have lifted his friend and carried him like a baby if that could've helped them get inside faster. "They're alright," he assured the man as to the state of his knuckles, knowing the last thing Carter needed was to feel guilty about a few scrapes on the backs of Tim's fingers. He winced at his friend's coughing. "I'm guessing your stomach hurts like hell?" The laugh threatened to return, but he managed to hold it in this time. He reached for the keys, glad they hadn't been lost in the recent exchange, only glancing down when Carter mentioned he was bleeding. "Oh," he looked at his hand. His index finger had a bit of a gouge in it, and there were a few scrapes on the others, but the bleeding seemed to be slowing. "It's fine, barely hurts at all. I think my biggest worry is whether the guy had rabies," he grinned, trying to make a joke of it. The last thing he wanted was for Carter to feel like he'd caused him some sort of immense pain, because that was obviously not the case.

Almost as soon as Carter straightened himself, Tim was pulling him off down the hallway, turning where his friend had indicated. "This looks cozy," he commented, looking at the door. At least it wasn't a completely seedy, rundown sort of place. Apparently Jacksonville was a fairly respectable town. He reluctantly allowed Carter to support himself as he unlocked the door, pushing it open and letting his friend enter before closing it firmly and making sure it was locked. Just in case. "Okay," he nodded, stepping over to the bathroom and easily spotting the little first aid kit. He ran his fingers under water, remembering something about cleaning the wound, then dried them off on a bit of toilet paper and wrapped a bandaid around the worst of the cuts. He smirked when his friend called for help, returning to the room and laying eyes on the sorry sight in front of him.

"I should've brought my nurse outfit. Then at least this would've been sexy," he joked, referring to how he would probably be playing doctor for the rest of the night. He sat himself gently down next to his friend, using one hand to hold the fabric of the shirt and the other to guide the man's arm through the sleeve. He could already see the beginnings of bruises on his stomach, and he bit his lip nervously, helping Carter remove the rest of his shirt. "Is there anything I should get you?" he asked, looking around the small room, then glancing uncertainly at the door. Some sort of painkillers would probably be helpful, but he didn't want to have to go find a drug store now. Especially when those guys might still be out on the street. Now that they were safe, he was simply exhausted. He didn't want to fight, didn't want to take any chances... Tim only wanted to make sure his best friend was okay.

ooc. OMG WHY DID YOU DO THAT TIM TOTALLY WASN'T GOING TO REACH FOR THOSE KEYS LIKE SRSLY >=o
Jk. It's cool. Aww angry Tim becomes protective Tim (: Plus he totally secretly enjoys shirtless Carter.

[carter dominic andrews]

Carter shrugged, "Well you found me, you satisfied?" Tim must have known he'd be like this, usually after a fight or confrontation he was always like this. He was rather predictable, or maybe pitiful and pathetic would be the better words to describe it. Carter, though hearing the sarcasm in Tim's voice, still laughed at the thought of Chris pinning the other on a bed. You would think that with Chris going after the Todd sister Carter wouldn't feel as threatened, he'd obviously been straight to want to date a woman, and yet he was still as jealous as ever thinking about what was going on while him and Timmy were alone. "That is a good thing right?" He asked glancing over to try to read his friend, but he just couldn't figure out what emotions Timmy was trying to convey. "You're going to have to get used to that, I only see one of us going to college." He had no idea what he would do if Tim went to college and stayed in the dorms. Carter just couldn't see himself furthering his education, so thankfully he had a year still to figure everything out.

You could tell they were both letting their anger and confusion take a backseat as the arguement seemed to be nearing it's end. That was mostly because either were taking it as a sign to just leave and forget about it for the night. He was glad when Tim agreed that he hadn't wanted to fight anymore, and he just grinned as he looked over at the man. Finally they were starting to agree on something so they were on the right track. Tim seemed to accept the it won't be too long and Carter turned around feeling good, or at least until all that with the guys at the pool table started. It's funny how a mood can change in the matter of seconds, but I guess when you're smacked in the stomach with a pool stick it tends to have that effect. He had never thought that Tim could get him out of there that easily, one pop in the jaw and Carter seemed to be immediately be released, so that made him look over at Tim wondering just how powerful that mans punch had been. He had never gotten Timmy mad at him enough for a punch, but with the sports he played there had to have been obvious conditioning. "Huh-hah," was all he could manage to get out for a laugh when his friend joked about the tab, though in reality he'd been in debt for a good amount of times his ass had been saved by his friend.

Carter felt immediately worse when he had seen the bloody knuckle. He knew instantly that he must have dragged or jabbed it against the mans teeth, how else could he get a bloody gash, and although it must be painful for Tim at least the guy back at the bar was probably still feeling it. He grinned some, well a more twisted and mangled one at best, "Hope you knocked-" he took a deep breath not being able to finish the entire sentence without a little more air, "one of his teeth out." He chuckled, another huh-hah mostly, and just stumbled alongside his friend who was keeping a good pace to get them into the hotel. "Like hell but worse," but really he'd been mostly in shock more than anything by having the wind knocked out of him by such a hard blow. He knew nothing was broken, if it were he wouldn't be walking at all, so it was now just a waiting game until he started to feel better. At the joke about rabies Carter laughed, "Huh-hahaha, Huh hah-hahah," It had sounded rather awkward but right now it's all he could do, so in return he'd started laughing at how lame he had sounded right now just increasing the intensity of his loserish laugh.

Carter nodded unsure if Tim was being honest or not. Cozy just wasn't something that Carter was looking for, it was more of just a place for a distraction, but he would never check into some sketchy hotel so this had to do the trick. It was nothing like the Hilton but it got the job done, he had a roof over his head and a blanket and pillow to call his own for the next few nights, and surely that's all this pouty little boy had needed. That and of course the bar down the street, but after that just happened with the guys at the pool table he didn't really feel like going back there. At least not for a while, not until the men had forgotten about him and Timmy. Once inside the room Carter could feel himself sinking against the bed when he laid on it, but because he'd been in pain his muscles refused to do anything other than stay tense. He was pissed that he couldn't even take his own shirt off, it was like he'd reverted back to being a baby that couldn't do anything right. He looked around the room for a crib just to fuck with himself since he couldn't do anything else. At least when Tim came back out of the bathroom he seemed to play along adding a joke, and of course that made Carter just sigh and roll his eyes at him. "Ha, ha, you're hilarious." Sadly it kind of was funny though, and had Carter been feeling better he might have cracked a joke about how sexy he'd look wearing one of those short nurse skirts.

Luckily the man came over to him and helped him slowly out of his shirt without anymore teasing, and while Carter moved his arms and shoulders he just took a deep breath and did what he had to in order to get the fabric off. About halfway through he'd almost been tempted to just holler at the man to rip it off, to pull some hulk strength out of nowhere and snap that shirt right in half, but he knew that it wasn't as easy as the television shows and movies made it out to be. Plus he'd been rather fond of this shirt and since there wasn't any blood on it he at least wanted to keep it for another time. Not like he'd wear it again after the memory it'd held within the cotton blend, but at least he could look at it as a time that Timmy had turned the entire relationship around, beat up some guy at a bar, and carried Carter away to safety. Okay so maybe Carter was exaggerating a little but did that matter? Hell no, Tim had been his hero tonight. He shook his head when he'd been freed from the shirt and just sighed as he rolled his body back against the bed and closed his eyes, "How's it look?" He couldn't hold his head up enough to see his stomach without it hurting so he would just take his friends words for it. He looked over at the mans hand again and noticed that it'd been bandaged, "I see you found yourself some bandaids."

"You got a good arm on you," he laughed some as the relaxation was helping get the wind back in his system. "I should start calling you slugger or something," He tried to make a joke out of it since tonight had turned from bad to worse to downright insane. "We could have taken them," no they couldn't have and Timmy did the best thing by just dragging him out of there before either were seriously injured. Hell, for all Carter knew one of them could have had a pocket knife or something and that would have looked cute going to the hospital with a stab wound. Damnit, now Carter was just thinking worst case scenario, but that was easy to do since they had been out of danger already. "Is there one of those cheap ass ice pack things in that first aid kit? Or maybe an aspirin?" the more he kept talking the worse it hurt. He had never understood those ice packs that you had to break up and it'd instantly turn freezing, but whatever would help lessen the pain would be greatly appreciated right now. "Or maybe just a cold washcloth," anything would work right now. He just hoped he wouldn't have to go to the bathroom anytime soon, having to roll out of bed might just kill him on pain factor.

[notes. > CARTER WOULD HAVE GRABBED HIS HAND AND PUT THEM IN IT, HA TAKE THAT ONE!
okay so no he wouldn't have :[ but who DOESN'T like shirtless Carter ;]

[/blockquote][/justify]

[afa]

"Yup," Tim answered shortly, seeing no reason to mince the truth in this case. After all, he was glad to have found Carter, even if the two of them were in the midst of some awful argument. It was better than having to sit on it for a week until the man came back to the dorm, then being too uncertain to bring it up and eventually allowing it to join the rest of the proverbial elephants in their room. "I'd like it to be..." Tim trailed off. Finding Carter had, in reality, been a sort of double-edged blade. He wasn't really sure whether things would have been better if he had stayed at the dorm, but he didn't want to think about it now. He was already confusing himself enough as it was. Of course, when Carter brought up college, it only served to drag Tim deeper down into a pit of indecision. "Can we not talk about college, or all of that now? If I do end up going, we'll figure something out. And if I don't... well, we'll figure something else out. I just don't want to get into that right now." If Carter had been trying to push Tim from offensive to defensive, he had certainly succeeded, as Tim was slowly returning to his usual, meek self.

At Carter's grin, Tim found the corners of his own lips rising. It seemed the two of them could only fight for so long before it became pointless. Besides, in most cases, all it took was for both of them to calm down a bit, then talk things over like adults - this was probably the most mature component of their relationship, and Tim was incredibly thankful for it. Even though his friend was simply up and leaving, Tim was sure they'd get to the bottom of the whole thing. He'd gotten up to follow the man out of the bar, maybe to make sure he got back to the hotel safely, at the very least... however, yet another useless incident of violence occured, and Timothy suddenly found himself going from potential savior to actual savior. He winced at his friend's attempted laugh, giving him an apologetic look. "Sorry. I'll try to be less funny," he said, though that in itself could be considered a joke. It really depended on one's sense of humour.

At Carter's next words, Tim looked grimly at his fist again, appearing thoughtful. "I don't think I hit him that hard, do you? He'll probably just have a giant bruise on his jaw for a bit," he decided, trying not to sound too proud of himself. Though, in truth, he was. After all, he'd basically got himself and Carter out of there in one piece, and those guys hadn't exactly been weaklings. While he wasn't the violent sort, Tim hoped that the man's face hurt more than his fist did. He smirked at Carter's reply, hoping it had simply been the man's tendency toward exaggeration talking. Sleeping it off was one thing - having it checked out in Emergency was another entirely. "I didn't think assholes like that actually existed outside of movies," he grumbled, still quite mad that they'd hurt his friend for no reason whatsoever, other than that they apparently liked stirring up trouble. "Agh, don't laugh, it sounds like you're about to die," he regarded Carter with worry as the other began to make strange, gasping noises. Apparently Tim's natural tendency to turn to humour in bad situations would be of no help this time.

"I know," Tim replied to Carter's compliment, sarcastic as it was, grin still in place. As he helped the man remove his shirt, he tried his best to cause the least amount of pain possible, though by the look on his friend's face he wasn't succeeding terribly well. For a moment, he considered how obscure it was for the two of them to be in this random hotel room in Jacksonville after getting into a fight at some bar, compared to their life in New York. If they were back home, he knew, he only would've needed to employ the services of his own mother and Carter would be on the quick road to recovery. As it was, they were on their own. Maybe it was part of that whole 'growing up' thing adults were always talking about. Tim wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the whole thing, though he was thankful that they were safe and, at least, together.

At Carter's question, Tim reluctantly allowed his eyes to wander back down to the man's stomach, inspecting the damage more closely. There were definitely a few pool-stick-shaped bruises there. "Well, it'll probably be sore for a while. And kind of purple," he offered. He wasn't sure what else to say, really. He wasn't exactly a doctor. When Carter noticed the bandaids, Tim glanced at his hand nodding. "Yeah. They didn't have any cool superhero ones or anything, but I guess these'll do," he looked forlornly at the boring, skin-coloured patches. He would have to pick up something more exciting before he healed. At Carter's comment, Tim laughed, shaking his head. "I don't even remember what happened. I was just standing there one minute, and then my fist was in his face, and then we were outside. I don't think I'm going to take up boxing anytime soon," he shuddered at the thought of participating in a sport where people beat you up for fun. At least soccer and hockey tried to have a point - boxing and wrestling were just blatant chances to exert power or whatever. Not his kind of thing.

"Ugh, Slugger, that's an awful nickname. I need something better. Like Champ," Tim laughed, wondering where that had come from considering it didn't have much to do with punching people. "Or maybe we can just stick with Tim the Great. Keep in classic," he raised an eyebrow, then rolled his eyes as his friend continued. "Yeah, sure we could've. I'm just lucky he was too busy trying to kill you to pay attention to me... I did get him pretty good though," he grinned at his wounded knuckles, "he'll definitely be feeling it in the morning." And so would Carter. You win some you lose some. When Carter mentioned an ice pack, Tim brightened: he hadn't thought of that. "Oh, yeah, I think I saw one. There aren't any painkillers, but the ice should help for a while. And once we run out of those we can use a washcloth and shit," as he spoke, Tim returned to the bathroom, bringing the relatively small first aid kit back to the bed with him and pulling out one of the ice packs. "Do you want me to wrap it in a cloth or something?" he asked, smirking when he realized that he sounded an awful lot like his mother, minus her assertiveness.

ooc. D: Sorry this took so long. As usual, I shall blame school, because it's totally school's fault. Not that I don't appreciate school, since without it I wouldn't even be able to write... butyeah. (: HOPEFULLY it won't take like 249280483920 days for my next reply to happen, but feel free to take your time <3

[carter dominic andrews]

Carter just nodded as he sunk lower in his seat resting his elbows on the bar as he sulked into them. "How about we just talk about nothing? That seems to be the best option," he shrugged feeling that no matter which way the conversation would go it'd end up being nothing more than awkward. This whole entire thing had started because Carter had taken a lucky swing at Chris, and now here he was trying to bring up all other sorts of drama that neither needed to deal with right now. He couldn't help himself though, he was just upset and looking for any out he could find so he wouldn't have to keep this conversation up. Obviously he had triggered some sort of emotion out of Tim because Carter could notice the change in mood, but he just huffed shaking his head looking at the bar, "Like you're not going to go to college, that right there's a joke." Tim had to go to college, he was too smart not to, and if the man were to stay out of university solely for him Carter would be devestated. He wouldn't let him do it, he loved the man too much to watch him throw away his future on his account, or at least he'd think it'd been because of him.

Things had felt like they were sorting themselves as Carter got up to leave, but just as he felt like the night had ended on a somewhat good note the guys at the pool table started acting up. He could not believe how quickly everything had happened, it was as though time had stood still long enough for Timmy to drag him out of the bar to safety. Time did seem to speed back up to normal as the pain started to get to Carter while the two of them made their way to the hotel. Carter was so thankful that his friend had been there to help him, though he really hated his friend having to see him like this. He was not a fighter, not in the least, "Karma sure is a bitch," he forced out before laughter tried to take over but was replaced with nothing but coughing. Damnit, he hoped he could get the wind back soon enough and it wouldn't hurt to take deep breathes. "Thanks for that," He did make it sound like he'd only been thanking him for being less funny, but in reality he was thanking him for pretty much everything. He just didn't have the voice to tell him that because his nerves kept getting the best of him.

Carter shrugged when Tim asked him if he thought he'd hit him that hard, honestly he could not remember the punch at all, but that was probably because his eyes were shut solid hoping to stop the pain that was rushing through his body. He had wished he'd had them open to see Tim turn into the hero, but sadly he couldn't say much about what had happened back there. "Hard enough," He grinned looking up at him though you could see the severe hurt in his eyes. Those damn pool sticks were fucking solid as it felt like the damn thing had just barely struck him, with each breathe it felt like he was getting struck by that stick over and over. Knowing that the man who'd Timmy had punched would have any sort of mark on him helped Carter at least feel better, but he had wished it'd happened before the few strikes. He could not dwell on the little things though since Timmy had gotten him out of there, and in the end that is all that really mattered.

Carter had only heard most of the statement, something about assholes and movies, so he just shrugged letting out a sigh. At least the sting against his stomach was going down some, perhaps it had something to do with his nerves lessening with each step they'd taken away from the bar. He was thankful that nobody had been following them, if that were the case he was sure that the two of them wouldn't stand a chance against the group, but to be on the safe side he did try to speed up some so they could get to the room sooner and lock the doors. Carter frowned after he'd tried to laugh and only ended up in some coughing hacking fit that did sound rather terrible. "You can't get rid of me that easily," he gasped laughing some more, his usual cough infested chuckle. He did happen to smile as he looked over at his friend for a second letting him know that it'd take a lot more than a pool stick to the gut to end his life. He looked back at the ground though so he could slouch his body some so he wouldn't hurt as bad as they made it to the hotel.

Getting to the room was nice since Carter made it right over to the bed and laid right down, his muscles relaxing against the bed as he heard his friend in the bathroom nursing his own wound. Carter had felt bad that he couldn't even take his own damn shirt off, and when his friend came back out he probably looked like a complete fool not being able to lift his arms all that much, but it didn't seem to matter to Tim as he did come over and help like Carter had asked. Once the shirt had been off, and after quite the struggle as his body seemed to scream at even the slightest twitch of his muscles, he laid his back down against the bed as he stared up at the ceiling for a second just taking a few silent breathes so he could stop himself from hurting so much. "Can honestly say this wasn't how I planned on spending my night," it seemed to be a lot easier to talk when he was laying down. He smiled faintly up at his friend wanting to laugh at the mess he'd gotten them both into, but now just didn't seem like the time to do something like that. It was not funny, Carter's mouth and actions could have gotten them both into a lot of trouble and he just hadn't thought it through, typical.

His eyes watched his friend as he stared at his stomach inspecting the damage and he just sighed when he started to talk, "Purple? Just great," he rolled his eyes some just laying there afraid to move as the pain might come back through his system. He managed to laugh softly as he looked over at his friends bandages and pictured them being superhero themed, "We could always draw some on with a sharpie?" He offered, though he had never been that great of an artist from the start. He too laughed when Tim had found his words amusing and he listened to him start to talk, "I know the feeling," He told him simply shrugging his shoulders some although a sharp pain quickly shot through his arms so he stopped moving once more. It would go away quickly though so at least that was a good thing. Of course he'd been talking about Chris though when he'd hit him, he just couldn't help himself and it seemed like it happened all within a minute.

"Champ? Eh," He paused to make it look like he was actualy contemplating the name, "It just doesn't have a ring to it like slugger does," he shrugged forgetting about the pain for a second, but as soon as he moved his shoulders his body let him remember it as it coarsed through his arms again. He figured the more he moved around he'd either get used to the pain or pass out, either way he couldn't just lay here and do absolutely nothing the entire night could he? "Tim the great?" He laughed though kept it soft so it wouldn't hurt too bad. He grinned when his friend talked about how that man would feel the pain in the morning, of course he opted to just ignore the part about him trying to kill Carter, "You got him good, he let go didn't he?" He smirked looking up at his friend feeling hopeless for a minute. He watched as Tim jumped up from the bed and went into the bathroom and he just smiled, for a couple who spent the night before this fighting it was so funny to see them now. It was as though they hadn't fought at all, but that was usually how it was with them. If something happened and they needed one another the other would always be there, and that's just one of the many reasons they were made for one another. When the man returned to the bed and asked the question Carter shook his head, "How about we see how cold it is first?" He didn't mind the cold, perhaps it'd take away from the sharp shooting pain. It could at least freeze it and that was better than nothing at this time, "Thanks again, I don't think I can tell you that enough tonight." He was being entirely honest with the man too.

[/blockquote][/justify]

[afa]

Tim shook his head at Carter's suggestion, shifting uncomfortably and looking over as his friend slumped down. Well, weren't they a depressing pair. Moments like this between the two of them were incredibly rare, and Tim didn't quite know how to handle himself. His instincts told him to sympathize, but that would only serve to indulge Carter's self-righteousness, and more than anything Tim needed the man to see that what he'd done was wrong. It was almost as if he were trying to reprimand a sulky little boy, knowing all the while that whatever he tried to say would roll right off his companion's shoulders and make no difference in the school yard the next day. At Carter's mention of college, Tim let out a snort, more of frustration than anything. Thinking about the future made his head hurt. Maybe he wcould just get a job at McDonalds and spend the rest of his life earning minimum wage, at least that would be easy. "Y'know, I could get in with the wrong crowd, start doing hard drugs, go downhill and end up on the streets in the next year and a half," he countered, half-smiling to himself. It was amusing to think of plot twists like that for himself.

Of course, all thoughts of his own personal struggles had slipped from Tim's mind as he escorted Carter from the bar. It was almost relieving to be able to focus on something as immediate and critical as getting his friend away from the idiots who had attacked him. Had he not been so worried about the other man's wellbeing, Tim might have enjoyed the sudden rush of adrenaline and the way his mind could consider nothing but the present task. "Shh, don't let karma hear you," he muttered, managing a grin in spite of everything. The expression didn't last long, quickly replaced again by a sort of fearsome determination. He smiled grimly at Carter's next words, eyes darting between his friend and the direction in which the two of them were stumbling along. Seeing the pain in the man's eyes literally crushed Tim - pointlessly, he almost blamed himself for not getting his friend out of there sooner, but he knew that would do no good in the long run. What was done, was done. "I don't think it would've been hard enough if I'd thrown a train at him," he replied, a steely look of amusement crossing his face. Tim was a relatively peaceful person, but when somebody just went and attacked a friend of his for no reason - especially if that friend happened to be Carter - he could easily wish violence upon them.

"If I wanted to get rid of you, I would've done it by now," Tim told his friend sternly as the man began to cough up what must have been his fourth lung. He could, of course, admire that Carter was still standing on his own two feet and not crumpled up in an inconvenient ball on the concrete. Who knows what the men would have done if they'd decided to come after them. Even though no one had given chase, Tim still wouldn't feel entirely safe until they were locked away inside Carter's hotel room. Fortunately, they came to the building quite quickly, and he breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he'd bolted the door to the room. As far as he was concerned, everyone had had more than enough excitement for one night, and he wasn't taking any chances. He was also incredibly thankful to the hotel for providing first aid kits. Sometimes, the simplest of gestures could go the longest of ways. But maybe they'd had situations such as this happen before.

After helping Carter out of his shirt, Tim watched him for a moment, too wrapped up in his worry to really realize what he was doing. He didn't know much about injuries, but from what he could see, Carter wasn't in danger of strolling off into the light just yet. As his friend looked at him, Tim suddenly remembered where he was and what he was doing, and he gave the other man a wry smile as a reward for his words. "Really? Because I had it written out on the calendar weeks ago," he replied sarcastically, relieved that the sense of humour hadn't been knocked out of his companion. At Carter's response to his mention of purple, Tim shrugged. "What? Purple's a cool colour. You should be glad bruises aren't hot pink or fluorescent green, how weird would that be?" he chuckled, trying to imagine what life would be like were that the case. But who was he kidding - it would actually be pretty cool if bruises came in outrageous colours like that.

Tim looked down at his hand thoughtfully when Carter suggested sharpie. "Mm, maybe. But it would be cooler if they were legit superhero bandaids." He nodded at Carter's agreement with his words, noting the irony of how both of them seemed to be in a punch-throwing mood lately. Maybe it had something to do with all the tension building up between them. He wasn't sure about Carter, but personally, the increasingly tumultuous nature of their relationship had been putting him on edge, and he'd definitely been grumpier than usual lately. He'd only just come to this realization when Carter spoke again, and his thoughts faded as he focused on their conversation. "Guess not," he agreed, warming up to the name 'slugger,' "Slugger's not bad. As far as nicknames go." He bit his lip slightly as Carter moved slightly, only to have an expression of pain cross his face once more. Apparently the distraction technique wasn't the most effective.

At Carter's laugh, Tim smiled softly, feeling compassion for the man well up within him. As shitty as their current situation was, he was glad to be alone with him again. After the arrive of Chris, he'd been forced to ignore how much he missed being able to hang out with Carter in the dorm, one-on-one. He didn't blame Chris for intruding the way Carter did, but he wasn't finding the addition of another room mate easy. "Yeah, that's the important part," Tim nodded, eternally thankful for the fact that the man had released his friend and allowed them to escape. He'd probably just decided that a pair of kids wasn't worth the trouble - and he was damn right, as far as Tim was concerned. He caught the hopelessness in Carter's eye, but didn't quite know what to make of it, and could only respond with his most reassuring smile. They were going to be okay. They couldn't not be okay.

"Alright," Tim nodded again, scanning the directions on the ice pack quickly before cracking it as instructed. Immediately, the package became cold in his hands, and he sighed in relief. "This stuff's legit," he informed his friend, handing the man the ice pack. He didn't want to try to apply it himself; he would probably just end up hurting Carter more, and that would really suck. Then, he lowered himself onto the bed once more, laying on his back beside his friend. "All I did was get a lucky hit in and drag you a few blocks, it's no big deal." Tim had always been uneasy when it came to people thanking him. He never really expected or even wanted to be appreciated for things like this; in his opinion, it went with the whole 'being a friend' thing. "Wouldn't you have done the same for me? Not that I'd ever be clumsy enough to walk into some badass guy's pool stick to start with, but whatever," he looked over at Carter, grinning at the lame joke. Anything to bring some humour into the situation.

[carter dominic andrews]

Carter looked at his friend in disbelief as he shook his head, "You can't honestly believe that you'd be capable of doing anything like that, can you?" The whole idea of Tim going downhill and getting intro drugs was just insane, if he was going to come up with better ideas he might want to at least make them realistic. He loved how the last thing that he'd said in the bar to Tim had been something negative, and then the next thing that happened was entirely negative, and yet Tim still helped him out and was leading him back to the room that he'd boughten to avoid him in the first place. What a chain of events, even Carter had to admit that tonight had just been insane for the both of them. Plus having Tim punch the man as well, it was a whole new side that Carter just hadn't seen and it was safe to say he'd been impressed. To see the man stand up to someone much larger than him for Carter, well it showed that he cared though he still couldn't tell how much exactly.

"Don't you think karma's already heard?" He looked up quickly before finding it much easier to move with his head down facing the ground, but Tim had to admit that Carter sort of did have all this coming to him after the way he'd been acting lately. He wished he could say that a pool stick to the stomach would make him change his attitude and be a better person, but now he was just going to be miserable and in pain, what a lovely combination. Carter, though he knew he shouldn't, couldn't help but laugh some as he agreed with Tim, the punch had probably just startled him enough to drop Carter from his clutches. That's all that it seemed to need though as both were together and heading off in their own direction away from the group that could have murdered them. Carter still couldn't believe what had just happened back there, it was almost as though Tim became another person when Carter was in trouble and needed him.

Carter didn't feel the need to say anything when Tim told him he could have very well gotten rid of him a time or two before. He knew that it'd been true, whenever Tim wanted to he could just leave Carter behind in the dust and forget about him. Carter knew that he brought nothing to this dynamic other than angst and drama, perhaps it had a lot to do with his drinking, so it was a safe bet that one day Tim would wake up and realize that Carter would be out of the picture. That was hard to think about but sometimes the realization was just like a kick in the face and Carter couldn't ignore it. Tim really should have said something else before he went into the bathroom to nurse his wounds, at least then Carter would have been able to think about something else, but nope that just had to be the last thing and now that's all he could think about.

Or at least it was until he saw Tim coming out of the bathroom as he tried to take his shirt off to get more comfortable, and thankfully his friend came over and helped so it was over quicker and it wasn't as painful. Carter cracked a joke and it was a pleasant surprise to hear Tim going along with it, "Maybe you should have filled me in then so I could have done some crunches or something, gotten my stomach ready for the thrashing." He knew that doing crunches would do nothing when it came right down to it, but it was still rather amusing to think about and was calming the pain by not thinking so much about it. "I wish we could have traded places at least, i'm such a pussy when it comes to pain." It was just a joke though because he would never wish Tim pain at all, no matter what Carter would do (or take) anything to keep his friend safe and happy. He was just that much of a sap, and he hoped that his friend had at least known that he'd even take a bullet for him if he had to. Carter looked at it as love but figured Tim would just see it as the definition of a best friend.

He knew that the things Tim were saying were probably just to keep his mind off the pain, and he had to admit that it was working rather well. He laughed as he imagined his stomach with neon pink bruises, he'd be embarassed to even be laying here with his shirt off right now. "I might be able to rock the neon blue or something, but pink would not be my color." If bruises did come in random colors like that he could only imagine what it'd look like after someone punched you in the eye and it bruised, the thought alone of people walking around with bright pink eyes was hilarious. He just hated that he couldn't laugh as hysterically as he'd wanted to without barreling over into pain. He just shrugged before shaking his head, "it probably wouldn't be the best idea, people would be punching each other just for the hell of it." Sort of like what happened with Chris, but he wasn't going to get into that right now. Not again anyway.

Carter had thought the sharpie had been a good idea, but he could understand where it just wouldn't be the same as the real deal. He made a mental note to stop at the store and pick up some superman bandaids or something so he could stock up for the dorm. He could tell that it'd been Tim's turn to lose his thoughts as he watched the other who seemed to be somewhere else other than the room for a moment. Carter thought the joke about the nickname slugger would be the perfect thing to bring him out of whatever train of thought he'd been on, and sure enough Tim reacted and Carter just laughed and nodded from the bed, "I knew you'd come around to the idea sooner or later," He would not call him that around other people though, this was pretty much just the joke of the night to keep him from crying about everything that had happened tonight. He had almost forgotten about the pain until he moved slightly and it throbbed in his body and he groaned loudly not wanting to deal with all of this right now.

Carter watched Tim as he went and got the ice pack and started to break it up as Carter heard what he said, "Good, good, maybe this will do the trick then," He sure hoped it would, he couldn't deal with this for too much longer. He took the ice pack from Tim's hand and could immediate feel the freeze as he looked up at his friend with thankful eyes before slowly putting the ice pack where the mark had been. He groaned and let out a wild noise, what it was though he couldn't be too sure, and he soon picked it up not being able to handle how cold. "Okay so that was a dumb idea," He grabbed the sheet beside him and rolled it onto his stomach grunting some at the moving around he'd been doing, and from there he went and situated the ice pack back where it needed to be though it felt better this time. He could actually stand the cold on his body as he could feel himself relaxing underneath it as he dropped both hands to his side and closed his eyes once more.

"Right, no big deal, it's not like those guys couldn't have beat the living shit out of me if they wanted and you saved me, I shouldn't be thanking you at all," He laughed curving his lips into a smirk as he peaked an eye open looking at his friend beside him. He listened and was about to nod before he heard the joke afterwards and he just groaned, "Let's just say i'm having a bad night," He shrugged though still nodded afterwards, "I'd go all Rocky Balboa on their asses," right now he'd do some cool moves to show that he meant business but he just didn't want to move, "I find it funny that someone who knows karate went and punched the man, you should have karate chopped him or something." At least Carter had thought that he'd said Tim had known karate but who the hell knows, he could never be too certain what he said when he'd been drinking.

[notes. THIS ONE IS SHIT, absolute shit! Distraction central so I hope it makes sense >.> my next reply will be better, promise!]

[/blockquote][/justify]

[afa]

Tim shrugged. He was blatantly tired of thinking about the future, to tell the truth, and figured he was just as likely to be a crackhead as he was to get a PhD in Mathematics. Fortunately, after the whole pool stick incident, he had quite enough on his mind to distract himself from such thoughts. He knew punching the guy had been a bit of a wild card move. Especially after his lecture to Carter about going around and being violent, though he was quite sure he'd had more of a cause to do that man's face in than Carter had had to sock Chris in the jaw. He glanced at his friend curiously. The other was probably too caught up in his own pain to really process what had happened, but Tim wondered what he would think once he got down to considering the chain of events. Did it really matter, though? At the end of the day, they'd gotten out of there, and who knows what would have happened if they hadn't.

Tim grinned, shaking his head at Carter's comment. "Oh, yeah, you get winded and suddenly you can be all dramatic," he joked, giving the man's shoulders an automatic squeeze. As usual, he was making bad jokes, not really knowing what else to say. What else could you expect, when all of his energy was being focused on getting as far away from the bar as possible? Fortunately, the hotel wasn't too far off, and they made it without obtaining any more wounds. He hadn't even really noticed that his knuckles were bleeding until Carter mentioned it, and had only gone to bandage it up because he didn't want his friend to start feeling guilty or anything ridiculous like that. It was almost depressing to see the man with one arm pulled halfway through a sleeve, an expression of pain and helplessness on his face, as he re-entered the room, and Tim again turned to humour in order to distract himself. He absolutely hated seeing Carter hurt like this - he half wished he could head back to the bar and pull a Jackie Chan on the men's asses.

At the very least, Carter seemed to be slowly recovering. Even if he would be sore for a few days. "Oh, right. I was going to say something but I guess it slipped my mind..." he replied, then paused, thinking. After a moment, he looked down at his friend, scoffing, "as if you would have exercised. We could have just bought you some sort of armor or something. And hired a bodyguard." Now, that would've been something. Too bad their imaginations could never be reality. He rolled his eyes at the comment about trading places, giving the man a good-humoured smirk. "Gee, I fend off a bunch of buff rockheads for you and all you can do is wish they'd been beating me up instead?" He shook his head, sighing. "I'll think twice before I save you again." As if thinking twice would be an option - when Carter was in trouble, it seemed, Tim didn't think. He just acted. At least, he couldn't actually remember having any sort of coherent thought which caused him to plant his fist in the guy's face. It had kind of just happened.

"I don't think pink is anybody's colour," Tim supplemented, "at least, not bright pink." He laughed at the thought of everybody punching each other just to see what colours they would get. "That would make life more interesting, though," he pointed out, "there would always be something to do. If you got bored, you could go run into a wall or fall down the stairs..." The sad thing was, if bruises really were pretty and colourful, people would actually do that kind of thing. "Yeah, yeah," Tim waved off Carter's claim that he'd known Tim would end up liking the name Slugger. His friend had been spot on, of course, but there was no need to congratulate him on it. He winced at Carter's groan, trying to think of something to alleviate the pain. Ice would be the obvious answer, and fortunately the other man seemed to be wise enough to realize that an ice pack could be found in the first aid kit.

"Hopefully," Tim replied. Painkillers would have been exponentially better, but this could work, too. He was both amused and worried by Carter's reaction to the ice, helping him move the sheet over his stomach and making sure that would do the trick before settling himself down next to his friend. As Carter seemed to relax, Tim looked up at the ceiling, examining the little irregularities on it. There weren't any significant stains, which was always a good sign, and again he had to commend his companion on choice of cheap hotel. At Carter's sarcastic remark, Tim chuckled, glancing over at the man. "Exactly! I'm glad you see it my way. That's why we make such a great team: we agree on everything." Those words were meant as a sort of joke, considering they'd spent the first half of the evening arguing. It was also a subtle way of apologizing, at least as far as Tim was concerned. In his own style he was letting Carter know that, for the time being, he was over it. Something would have to be figured out eventually, obviously, but hopefully they could do that under better circumstances.

As Carter spoke, Tim had to resist the urge to hug him. In all honesty, his friend did look like he'd had a lot of crap handed to him recently, and Tim wished there was something he could do in order to comfort him. "Well, at least we get to hang out now," he offered brightly, knowing that was hardly worth getting beat up but trying to remain optimistic. He laughed at the idea of Carter channelling his inner Rocky Balboa. "That would've been awesome," he decided, shrugging at the question about karate. "I'm... uh, a bit rusty. Haven't chopped anyone in a while," he tried to make up an excuse, failing miserably. It probably would've been ten times more crazy if he'd actually pulled some karate moves on the guy, but Tim wasn't about to go back in time and re-do the whole incident.

ooc I TOLD you to stop watching Buffy, but did you listen? Noo. I'm so ashamed D':

[carter dominic andrews]

Carter figured that he'd had every right to be dramatic right now, he'd just gotten the wind knocked out of him by some badass biker dude holding a pool stick. Yes, he was going to embelish the truth as much as he could, and he was sure before school started back up he'd say it was a baseball bat instead of a thin pool stick. At least lying would make his defeat better, who in their right minds could fight off a five hundred pound biker dude with a baseball bat? The thought alone kept him motivated as he rushed, or his version of the word anyway, towards the room. He just wanted to lay down after all this and curl into a ball and sleep for the next week, but he knew that he couldn't do that and would have to face all of this sooner or later. It happened for a reason, everything had just spiraled out of control since Chris had walked into the room, and he couldn't take too many more nights like this so he had to figure something out. He couldn't go around moody and brooding all the time or he'd end up getting himself killed.

"Telling me something important like this just slipped your mind?" He shook his head laughing some as he laid on the bed, "You secretly wanted me to get my ass kicked tonight didn't you? This is all your fault isn't it? I knew it, Chris put you up to this didn't he?" This was all a joke right now, although he'd brought Chris's name up he hadn't been thinking of him at all, if anything he was nothing more than a puppet in Carter's little game right now. He listened to Tim as he called him out for not exercising and he just sighed and shrugged the best he could, "It's scary how well you know me," he mentioned as he imagined having a body guard that night. He would have been a lot better off and it's not like he didn't have the money for someone to come in and protect him, but knowing him those guys would have just stalked him until he was alone and beaten him to death. Damn, after getting sacked in the stomach he was all doom and gloom tonight, but having Tim around was slowly but surely bringing him somewhat out of that mood.

Carter cracked a wide grin, the pain still present in his eyes but everywhere else he'd tried his best to hide it, "buff rockheads? We're going to have to get our stories straight for when we go back to campus," he used the word we to let him know that he'd be coming back with him. He couldn't hide anymore and after what Tim did for him back there he at least owed him that much. "We should probably tell them I put up somewhat of a fight though, or and leave out the drinking part," He would try to weave the best story out of this bad situation, but in the end he'd probably keep all this hidden from everyone just because he'd been ashamed that he'd gotten himself into something like that. Getting sacked with that pool stick sure did sober him up quick enough, all he'd had was the dizzy sickening feeling though the euphoric state was nowhere around. He looked around wondering if the mini fridge had booze in it, but since the people down at the front desk knew he'd been underaged he was sure they had taken all alcohol out. "You know I don't mean it," all jokes aside he would never want Tim to take his place. He'd try to keep Tim safe no matter what that meant he had to do.

He nodded when Tim brought up pink not being anyone's color and he just laughed, "I am sure it'll at least look more manly being a bruise and all, plus it'd be a good accessory when the girls are wearing pink dresses and shit for prom. One punch in the eye and you're matching," prom, that was a huge event that would be coming up at the end of the year and he had no idea what he would do. How lame was it that he didn't want to take anyone but Tim? He really needed to figure all of this out soon, it was starting to eat away at him and he couldn't handle it anymore. He burst out laughing though tried to keep his stomach as still as possible when Tim mentioned running into walls or falling down the stairs just for fun, "Could you imagine ultimate fighting and shit? Watching those guys beat the piss out of each other and then turning all shades of pink?" He smirked wishing it were true just so he could watch it happen, it'd be so much fun. He laughed watching Tim just shrug and play the nickname off, he knew in time Tim would probably like just about anything that Carter called him, well as long as it wasn't negative.

Carter, once finally settled with the sheet and ice pack, closed his eyes just letting that nice feeling wash over him when his best friend had been laying so close beside him. He missed even the simple things like that, although they weren't cuddling or anything it meant the world at least knowing he was there close to him. Hearing Tim's statement caused Carter to turn his head to the side to stare at him with the dumbest look on his face, he of course had gotten the joke a lot quicker than usual as he tried not to laugh in fear that the ice pack would shift or fall and he'd have to situate it again. He didn't go and make a big deal out of what the other had said though but instead just nodded moving one hand to rest it on Tim's arm feeling his way down to where his hand had been as he slipped his hand into it without even thinking. He pulled it up so their elbows propped their arms up on the bed and he glanced at their hands together out of the corner of his eyes, "You're right, we do make a pretty good team. I'm the brains and you're the bulk, slugger," he chuckled letting their hands drop back down to the bed laughing as he'd been obviously joking, brains and Carter should never be in the same sentence.

"Sorta hoped when we hung out it'd be under better circumstances," He had hoped a lot of things, like Tim not putting two and two together about Carter being the one that'd popped Chris in the jaw. He could have hidden that so Tim wouldn't have had to get mad at him, but of course leave it to Chris to not say a damn thing and still mess everything up. Carter, although he didn't hate the guy as much anymore, was still pretty pissed just for the fact that he could be. He had no real reason to hate Chris other than he was snaking his way into their lives, but it's not like Carter could keep Tim all to himself and be selfish for the rest of their lives. "You do realize you punched the guy right? After you were mad at me for punching a guy? That's pretty much the same thing," he started to go on about it though he knew that these two were not the same thing at all. Chris had no reason to be hit and it'd been the only thing Tim could do to get Carter away from them. Tim had been right whereas Carter had been wrong, but of course he would not admit that because it sucked being on the wrong end of things once again, it always seemed to happen.

[ notes. there! no distractions and got my post up this morning no more being ashamed! ]

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[afa]

"Yes...?" Tim answered, putting on his best 'I'm-totally-telling-the-truth-but-making-it-obvious-that-I'm-lying-at-the-same-time-while-being-completely-sarcastic' face. And some people thought expressions were limited to sad, happy and angry. Shows how much they knew. As Carter continued, Tim couldn't help but grin, shrugging in an off-hand manner. "Could be true. Then again, you haven't got any proof, so I guess you'll never know for sure." He smoothly ignored the comment about Chris, figuring Carter wasn't really trying to insult their room mate at the moment, and deciding it would be best to just leave the comment be. After all, the last thing he wanted was a repeat of their conversation at the bar. Especially considering the lack of hotheaded, poolstick-weilding men to punch in the face. Tim had the feeling that was only a one-time deal, anyway; next time, there wouldn't be as much of a shock factor involved, and he didn't particularily like punching people in the first place.

At Carter's observation about how well Tim knew him, Tim laughed. "Yeah, funny how seventeen years of friendship works." He wasn't entirely sure if it had been quite seventeen years, but he couldn't even remember a time before Carter so that number had to be pretty close. He raised his eyebrow at the other man's mention of getting their stories straight. "Oh? Care to remind me exactly how it all went down?" he looked over in amusement, wondering what sort of embellishments Carter might have made on the cold, hard truth. Whatever it was, it would probably be more imaginative than 'buff rockheads.' He also took note of his friend's implication that he would be going back to the dorm... that was good. Maybe, in one way or another, he would be willing to give Chris a second chance. Or maybe he was just doing it for Tim. Maybe not even that - maybe getting beat up had reminded Carter that he was just a kid, and that campus would be safer than a hotel and a seedy bar. Whatever the reason, though, Tim was glad, and he allowed a small smile of triumph to form on his face. As Carter continued talking about how they should describe the events of the night, Tim laughed again, shaking his head. "Sure, whatever you say. Just as long as we include the part where I beat your ten attackers - all secretly blackbelts - to a pulp." Where imagination was concerned, the two of them had more than enough. "I know," was Tim's answer when Carter claimed he hadn't meant it, "your fist probably would've just bounced off the guy's face, anyway. Then we both would've had our asses handed to us." He grinned, poking fun at his friend's supposedly weak physique.

Tim frowned at the thought of getting punched in preparation for prom. "I'm kind of glad life's not like that," he admitted, slowly becoming more thankful that bruises were all ugly and purpley-brown instead. He didn't really stop to think about the notion of prom - it still seemed so far away, and as far as he was concerned, it wasn't that big of a deal. He burst into a fit of giggles as he tried to imagine how serious professional fighters would look covered in splashes of pink. "Now, that's a manly sport for you," he managed, well aware of the fact that all this joking around was probably causing Carter's stomach pain. "If that happened, it might actually be worth watching... well, once or twice, then it'd kind of get old." Pink bruises would only be interesting for a short period of time. After a certain point, things would just get ridiculous.

As Tim heard Carter's head turn to look at him, he turned as well, wearing a slight smirk. For a moment he observed his companion, then turned to stare at the ceiling once more, lips still twisted upward. As Carter found his arm, Tim remained still, feeling strangely calm. He allowed him to intertwine their fingers, gently gripping the other man's hand. He, too, missed the easy moments like this. Before Chris, before his own uncertainty, before his heart decided it couldn't be happy with what it had. For the moment, he let it be enough, watching as his friend lifted their hands and letting his words wash over him. He almost forgot to laugh, and if Carter's amusement hadn't bubbled over to remind him, he probably would have been laying there with that ridiculous smile on his face for hours. As it was, he, too, began to chuckle. "Sure, sure. You can pretend, for now," he added, careful not to let go of Carter's hand.

Tim nodded to his friends words, letting a small sigh escape before glancing at the man. "Me, too." He looked up at the ceiling again. He couldn't admit it out loud - he could barely admit it to himself - but he really missed it just being the two of them. Sure, having Chris around meant he didn't have as much time to focus on the whole being-in-love-with-my-best-friend thing, and he genuinely liked the guy, but... to put it simply, Timmy-and-Carter time had been short recently. He grinned as Carter spoke again. "I knew you were going to bring that up sooner or later," he turned to eyes his friend, "howabout next time, neither of us punches the guy, and we'll see how that works? Deal?" It sounded like a pretty fair compromise to him, anyway.

ooc YESS NON-DISTRACTED POST. Keep it up? =D

[carter dominic andrews]

Carter hated that it hurt him to laugh, especially when his friend was laying the jokes on thick like he seemed to be doing tonight, but it was probably just to ease the tension with everything that had happened thus far tonight. He was thankful that Tim had just gone with it instead of saying something about Chris, obviously he had gotten that Carter was just joking, and he even managed to crack a grin keeping his laughter brief. Carter still found it humorous that the two could be fighting and bickering one minute, and then the next minute they were back to being happy and laughing with one another. Sometimes he thought their relationship needed to take bi-polar meds because it was all over the place, but as long as it ended with them being happy he could take the occassional rollercoaster of emotion.

As he heard Tim mention seventeen years Carter looked over at him wondering if it'd been true. He looked away as he stared up at the ceiling trying to remember a time that Tim had not been around, but he just couldn't no matter how far his memories reached back. He knew that it couldn't have been that long though, well unless if his nanny had hung out with Tim's family. Actually, the more he thought about it he couldn't even remember how the two of them had met. He wished it'd just been the alcohol but he had to admit it'd been so long ago, and back then first meetings weren't really something you want to remember forever. For all he knew he'd been stuffing sand down his diaper while chewing on a stick or something, he was surely not the brighest child there was. "Yeah, funny," he chuckled feeling he'd been too quiet and had to say something, but sometimes it was just nice to lay back and listen to his friend.

When Tim asked him to further explain Carter thought about it for a minute and looked over at him, "For starters I was sober," he had to throw that one there though anyone that knew Carter had to know that'd never be the case. If Carter had been at a bar he'd been catching a buzz, that was just how things worked out for him. It's not that he was an alcoholic, well not a heavy one at that, but he did enjoy his drinks to take his mind off of home and all that shit that was better left unsaid. "There were ten of them, badass four hundred pound bikers with baseball bats. Wait, how would they all be carrying bats on their bikes? How about a baseball team stopped in for some drinks after a game and they stole the bats just to beat us, and that's where the bruises came from, a thick heavy bat."

He grinned thinking that was a good enough story, but since he'd talked too much he had to slow his breathing down again watching himself so he wouldn't get too hurt. He nodded letting Tim know that they could infact include that in the story, "Of course that has to be in there, that's like the best part," he teased with his bright eyes as he looked at the other for just a moment before adverting his eyes to somewhere in the room just so he wouldn't be staring. Carter glared at his friend, all in good fun of course, when he talked about his hand just bouncing off the guys face, "It didn't just bounce off-" he stopped talking as he shook his head not even wanting to mention the bruise that he'd supposedly left on Chris's chin. He wished he could have seen it but that would have meant sticking around campus, and that would just be stupid with Tim mad at him.

Carter sighed and had to agree with him, even if the idea had been hilarious and fun he just couldn't see it being all that practical and acceptable in the real world. Carter could tell that Tim had been dodging the prom subject, it just seemed funny that he'd talk about everything else but that, but he didn't mind all that much since the event had been far enough away. He had to admit though, if Tim took Chelsea again like he had the last dance Carter would find himself getting extremely jealous. Chelsea was just too dumb for Tim, how could the other man not see that? It's not like he knew if Tim had liked her or not, actually Tim had never talked about his feelings towards anyone to Carter so he'd been fairly clueless, but he just hoped Chelsea hadn't been on Tim's mind all that much. "Can't get old if the bruises change color every week, like mood bruises! Whenever you change mood the color of your bruise changes, how awesome would that be?" He would have jumped up and done a little happy dance for coming up with an epic idea, but instead he just laid there unable to move.

Carter knew that had he tried to hold Tim's hand earlier it would have never happened. The way the two were fighting he would have probably gotten hit or something, so it was nice that now it seemed that Tim didn't mind his hand there. He even laughed and nudged Tim the best he could in the side when he retaliated telling him he could pretend, "Hey, i'm not the one who goes around punching bar baddies for the hell of it," he smirked as he turned his head to face Tim as he had the broadest grin on it, the ice and not moving were doing wonders for him. He wondered how much it'd hurt when he had to move but for now he was lucky he didn't have to go to the bathroom or something.

He just smiled returning his attention to the ceiling when he'd heard Tim agree, it's really all he needed to hear right now and it had him smiling. "Like i'd forget something as big as this," he chuckled looking back over at Tim with a sly smirk, "It's not everyday I get to hold something like this over your head you know," he loved it but felt bad at the same time that Tim had felt the need to punch someone for him. "How about we both just punch the same guy so nobody feels left out," he grinned though knew Tim would not think that was very acceptable. "I can't promise anything, but if you're around I can try to be on my best behavior," he grinned looking at the other man as he picked his hand up some to see it again, their hands fitting so perfectly and comfortable against one another. He would think twice about punching someone next time. His stomach hurt like hell and he'd try to avoid something like this next time at all costs, and in a roundabout way he felt that this venture tonight had been karma kicking him in the ass for what he'd done with Chris.

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[afa]

Tim graciously allowed the silence to stretch on, figuring it wouldn't hurt to let Carter get lost in his thoughts for a while. After all, he'd just had a relatively traumatic experience; if he wanted to shut up and listen to the humming of the lights, he had every right to do so. Besides, silences had never been a big deal to them. Not on a regular basis. And, once in a while, it was the only thing that made sense. As Carter replied, Tim looked at him again, amused by his apparent detachment from the conversation. As he had a hundred times before, he wondered what was going on in the other man's head, unable to even wager a guess. Even after however long it had been, those little mysteries still existed. It was probably better that way. As Carter began describing his version of events, Tim grinned, nodding. "Well, obviously. You've never had a drink in your life! Why would you start now?" The summit of sarcasm, to say the least, but Tim pulled it off seamlessly.

He let out a laugh at Carter's description of his attackers, trying to picture the bikers. "Would they even be able to stay on the bikes if they were four hundred pounds?" he asked, always thinking logically. Though Carter hadn't thought of that, he did catch the baseball bat problem, and Tim chuckled again as his friend came up with a solution. "Yeah, yeah, that makes sense," he nodded again, the scene playing out in his mind. He left out the part where Carter took anything - pool stick or baseball bat - to the stomach, as he would probably only end up wanting to punch that guy again. Tim almost beamed proudly when the other man told him his contribution had been the best part, though he quickly realized that it would be wrong to be pleased with fighting anyone. To tell the truth, though, as far as he was concerned the ten blackbelts had deserved it. Compromising with himself, he allowed an only slightly satisfied smile to cross his face. Point was, he'd gotten Carter out of there.

Tim just managed to meet Carter's eyes before his friend looked away, and he found himself hurrying to glance off in a random direction, as well. For some reason, it felt like they'd caught each other doing something wrong, even though they'd been looking at each other without a problem all evening. Just another weird part of their friendship, he supposed. He raised an eyebrow at Carter's outburst. Tim was relatively smart, and he could tell that the other man wasn't simply talking about some made-up attacker. Luckily for his friend, Tim was through arguing about what had gone on for the evening. "Yeah, I guess you can throw a punch when you put your mind to it," he admitted, though he spoke in a somewhat begrudging manner. Yet, the smile remained in place, and he only shook his head at the knowledge of Carter's previous activities.

When his friend suggested mood bruises, Tim couldn't help but burst out into a fit of laughter. All he could do was try not to shake the bed too much for fear of causing the other man discomfort. The joke probably hadn't been worth his level of amusement, but he was fairly tired and it just felt good to giggle away like a little kid on ice cream. "I guess that would be cooler, then," he said, trying to catch his breath, "better than those little rings, or whatever, they never get my mood right." He sighed, as if this had been a problem all his life and made him feel terribly sad. When Carter grabbed his hand, however, he brightened up pretty quick. Here, in this little hotel room, he felt calm, safe and happy. Even in his dorm, he hadn't been this settled, what with the constant friction between Carter and Chris; he was glad he'd decided to hunt Carter down tonight. For the time being, it seemed like whatever was broken between them had been temporarily fixed, and he could only hope that this would last for a while.

He chuckled as Carter nudged him, shaking his head. "Oh, yeah, I only punched him 'cause I felt like letting off some steam. Not like he was doing anything wrong," he replied sarcastically, shifting slightly on the bed to make himself more comfortable, then taking note of his friend's relatively evil expression. "Y'know, I think you should consider this your early, early Christmas present. I don't punch people in the face just any old day," he grinned widely. Truthfully, for Carter, he would do it time and time again. In fact, his only real regret of the evening was not jumping in to save him sooner, as he probably could've prevented injury. Or, at least, some injury. He rolled his eyes at the other man's suggestion. "Gee, why didn't I think of that? It's so much better than being peaceful and non-violent..." He drifted off, eyes travelling to their hands as Carter again lifted them and lips turning upward at his friend's words. "Sounds good to me," he agreed.

ooc Mmm, not my best, but it's done (:

[carter dominic andrews]

Carter was glad that Tim seemed to be going along with how things happened back at the bar, and when he even cracked the joke about having never drank Carter burst out laughing despite the pain. He held the ice pack on his stomach where he'd been hit as he leaned his head over to look at Tim, "We actually want people to believe what we're saying, remember?" He shook his head as he still grinned though his laughter was starting to fade, "I think we should leave out the never drank in my life thing, and maybe we should probably tell them I had just one drink tonight." He wanted it to sound like it'd been true and everyone that knew him knew that he could not go into a bar and not have a single drink, that just would be completely unbelievable. "But nothing more than one drink, I don't want to be considered drunk or something," now he was just rambling but in his mind trying to get the right image of the night was distracting him from the pain he was in.

Carter once again started to laugh, this time it wasn't as apparant as before but instead just a minor chuckle, "they have those fat boy motorcycles or whatever remember? Have you never seen a movie with a biker gang? There's always a four hundred pound man in there, you seriously need to watch more television," either that or Carter had to start watching less if he knew so many things, or in this case just seemed to think every biker gang needed that morbidly obese man (or men) to look big and bad. He sighed shrugging, "Fine, maybe they were only like three twenty five or something," since his friend was the logical thinker of the two he would be able to weave this fabricated story into something impressive, or at least Carter had hoped. The sad thing is they were probably doing all this for nothing and Carter would get back to campus and nobody would ask how it happened. He was glad that the baseball bat scenario had played out better than the biker one though, at least his mind wasn't entirely shot tonight.

Carter just let the punch comment drop as he could hear anything but amusement in his companions voice, so instead he continued right on to the mood bruises. If there were such things he'd randomly punch himself in the arm or something just for the hell of it. It sure beat having to figure out his mood all the damn time, he could just look from a bruise to a color chart and it'd tell him what he was feeling. It would also help a lot when he'd been drinking and could never understand his emotions, or maybe it could help him understand all these emotions he had been having for Tim even as the two lay side by side in the bed. "Didn't stop us from buying them though whenever we saw them on a counter at a store though," Carter was always buying mood rings or other mood trinkets, he loved the swirls of colors and how his body heat could change them. It had always been the simple things in life that made him happiest, and surely mood rings and everything of the sort had been capable of entertaining him at least.

"Not at all, I mean come on, is it really bad that that group could have killed me?" He gasped able to joke about it now since they weren't being threatened by them anymore, but had they not been in the comfort of this room there was no chance Carter would be joking about any of it. "Nah, I want something else for christmas," He shook his head, "well unless if I can consider that just one of my presents and there are more to follow?" He gave him a sly grin as he found himself yawning feeling his eyelids starting to get heavy. He had been through a lot tonight and all of the stress was starting to weigh him down, and of course that made him start to get very sleepy. "Being non violent is just boring, you know i'm all about the Jackie Chan and Van Damme fight scenes," he tried to avoid Chuck Norris because one more conversation about him and these two might actually seem obsessed. He had always wondered how Norris made it into each of their conversations, but in the end he didn't care all that much as it'd at least been hilarious and that's all he was aiming for.

Carter sighed as he could feel his body starting to shutdown on him and tell him it was time to just pass out already. He actually thought that he'd been forcing himself to stay awake this long just to carry on the conversation, so he tilted his head moving his shoulders some so his head brushed against the other mans hair as he smiled and closed his eyes, "thanks for tonight, you didn't have to do any of this," he didn't want to think of what would have happened had Tim not been around to help him. "You're the best," he couldn't very well tell the man he loved him so instead he had to settle for him being the best, and as he felt his friend close by his side he stopped talking and let his body naturally fall asleep to both heal and strengthen himself for the morning, or whenever he'd wake up to have to get up to go to the bathroom. That was what he was most afraid of doing at this time as he could only imagine the pain, but for now thankfully Carter had fallen asleep so for that time his worries and cares had left him and he was nothing more than a child in a dreaklike state.

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