fandomhighdorms | Gym, Sunday morning

Brooding on the roof in daylight just didn't work, so Bel came down to the gym to work out some aggressions on a punching bag. "Hey," he said to Shep as he came in.

Shep watches Bel beat the living daylights out of the punching bag for a few seconds. The bag is swinging wildly, so Shep cuts off the treadmill and goes over to hold it for him. "Hey yourself. Bad morning?"

"Just trying to work something out," Bel admitted, taking several more punches. "Got a lot on my mind. How are you doing?"

Shep leaned a little more weight into the bag. Either Bel was really pissed, or the guy was stronger than he looked. He wasn't sure if he should press or not, he really didn't know the guy all that terribly well. "I would guess I'm doing a little better than you. I don't feel the strong urge to knock inanimate objects into their next incarnation." There, Bel could do with that what he wanted.

Bel stopped for the moment, panting for the exertion. "Yeah, you're lucky," he said. "Lana didn't mention any problem in your relationship when I was in her room the other night."

Shep almost got knocked over with the bag the next time Bel hit it, since he was no longer actively holding it still.

"Okay, you realize that requires a two part follow up, right. Let's start with, what the hell were you doing in Lana's room the other night?"

He wasn't going to get pissed yet, there could be a very good, very platonic reason for this. But yet was the operative term here.

"We were talking," Bel said, seemingly oblivious to Shep's developing anger. "I had some issues she was helping me work through. She was giving me her feelings on the matter."

Shep caught the bag again and held it. "That better have been all she was giving you," he muttered. "So what's this big bad issue?"

"Dude, don't you trust your girlfriend?" Bel said, this time oblivious the irony. "We were just talking about...stuff."

Shep raises an eyebrow. He didn't want this to turn into a thing, but...

"Of course I trust her. I don't know you that well yet. But I've heard the word 'demon' circulate around you more than once. Gives a guy pause, you know?"

"Yeah, I'm a demon," Bel admitted with a shrug. "But Lana's cool. I'm not trying to kill or seduce her or something."

"Just checking," Shep told him. "Lana's a dear, sweet girl, but some days I wonder if she'd notice a meteor headed her way, let alone someone who's not exactly what they appear to be. You know?"

"She knows what I am," Bel said. "She's a good friend of Phoebe and they talk a lot." He paused, and said, "Can I ask you something? Who is your best friend?"

Shep's a little caught off guard by the question. "Uh... probably Lana, if I can include her. There's really not much I can't tell her. If I can't say my girlfriend, then I guess my roommate - Han. Why?"

"How would you feel if Lana asked you to choose between her and Han?" Bel asked.

Seeing where this was going, Shep sidestepped the question. "Oh man, what did Phoebe do?"

"She wants me to choose between her and my best friend," Bel said simply. "I don't want to."

"Choose... in what sense? I mean, something's not right if she's getting so possessive that you can't have other friends." Shep can't imagine Lana getting worked up about him having other friends and spending time with them. He's also reasonably sure that that would be the end of them if she ever did get like that. Because there was no way that could be considered healthy for either of them.

"It's just one friend in particular, my best friend," Bel said. "It's someone she really doesn't like. That's why were broken up right now...because I want my friend to come back to the school."

Shep thinks for a minute. "Okay, Phoebe has always struck me as a rational, if a little emo, person. What exactly does she have against this person? And just for the ease of conversation - who are we talking about?"

Bel sighed a little. No sense dancing around it. "Angelus," he said evenly, looking Shep in the eyes.

Shep shifts from foot to foot for a minute. "Okay, what I know of him is all hear-say. But... in order for him to come back, wouldn't Angel have to... you know, disappear? I'd think he'd be more pissed than Phoebe."

"Yeah, well Angelus is pretty pissed that he disappeared when he got a soul stuffed into him against his will," Bel countered.

Shep shakes his head. "Man, and I thought it was odd back home when people got parasites that took over their body. Does Phoebe have a particular gripe with Angelus?"

"He, uh...he killed a friend of hers. And he's got a thing against witches," Bel admitted.

[OOC: Have to run out for about an hour...back as soon as I can.]

"Uh... okay." That wasn't the answer he expected. "But it seems to me that it's really not up to either one of you if he comes back, is it? I mean, it's Angel/Angelus' issue, isn't it? But I guess if he does come back... I don't know. I wouldn't take too well to Lana telling me who I can hang with. She gets to make those decisions for herself, I get to make them for me. I wouldn't make her hang out with someone she didn't like, but if she told me who to be friends with..."

Shep shrugs. He so doesn't envy Bel his position.

[ooc: no problem]

Bel managed a weak smile. "Yeah, sucks to be me right now," he said. "Gotta make a choice, or she'll make it for me."

"That does suck," Shep isn't sure what else to say. "I think she's already made it for you man. If you let her start controlling who you're friends with... I don't think it's going to end there. Do you really want to start down that road?"

He didn't really want to see them break up... but he couldn't imagine letting himself in for that kind of controlling relationship, so he felt that he had to give Bel an idea of what he could be in for.

"And that's why I'm down here trying to kill the punching bag," Bel said. "I don't want to lose her. But...." He sighed and shrugged helplessly.

Shep put his weight behind the bag again. "I feel for you, man. I really do. That sucks. But all said, it might not be a thing, right? If Angel stays... I mean, then she won't have anything to bitch about, right? So, you know, don't borrow trouble." Though he's still pretty sure he wouldn't stay with someone who wanted to dictate who he could be friends with. All said, he was pretty glad he wasn't Bel that morning.

"Your girlfriend is on Phoebe's side," Bel said. "That's what we were talking about. But girls always back each other up, right?"

"Well," Shep shrugged, "we really can't bitch. I've got your back. They'd say 'guys always stick together'."

Gym, Sunday morning

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