fandomhighdorms | Fourth Floor Common Room, morning

A.J. had to bite his lip a little. As much as he imagined that it would have sucked, it was...kind of...a little bit...maybe in a sadistic way...amusing. "Are you...are you at least okay? I mean....ouch. Never been tasered before, but I can't imagine it feels good."

"I'm okay," she looked over at him. He was the first person to ask her if she was actually okay. "I was alone so that was a plus. Kind of had myself a nice nap. It's the way I'm looking at it."

"Ohhhh, Annette," A.J.'s entire face seemed to frown and he was moving to hug her before he could even think twice about it. "How is being alone a plus in that? You sure you're okay? No weird, like, after shocks or whatever?"

The hug was nice and she hugged him back, closing her eyes even because this was A.J. and she had missed him. "Because no one was there to see my humiliation. Hearing about it is one thing, seeing it, totally another." She shrugged a shoudler. "I'm okay, honest." It had hurt like hell, but she'd gotten over it.

She pulled back and looked up at him. "Tell me how you are, truly."

Humiliation was one thing, but having someone there in a moment of pain...

A.J. gave her a small smile as she pulled away. Okay, fine; he'd give in. She earned it with being strong about all that with tasering, because, damn. "Truly?" he asked. "I've been better, but it's not bad. Worst of it has eased through. Nothing to worry about."

She reached for his hand, staring down at it while she held it. "A.J., I do worry about you because you are my friend and I care. I've... heard a few things, on the radio. I want to know what is going on in your life and if there is anyway I can help you."

"Damn that radio," A.J. muttered, ducking his hands deep into his pockets with a lowered head and a wry smirk. "I...it's my own mess, Annette, don't really know what you could do to help, and it's all working out, I think, so..." He drew in a deep breath, lips pressed together thoughtfully. There were a few things he could have possibly asked Annette, but, at the same time, she had enough to worry about.

She chuckled a little. "That radio does like to talk, doesn't it?" Annette, as well as A.J. probably knows, has been under fire quite a few times. More than a few actually. "I could help by simply listening... if you want." He could ask her; her worries were really nothing and something she had to work out on her own.

"I know," A.J. said with a small breath of a nervous laugh, shoulders shrugging more. "It's just...I...there's not much to say, I guess. I...I messed up, you know, and I know what I did, and everyone got their stories out and so now I just gotta try to be...stronger than I usually am. About...stuff....Like...uh, like this..."

He grew a little more awkward the more he said, considering that, yeah, Annette knew exactly what he was talking about from personal experience here.

"I understand," she said quietly, almost pensively. "I'm not sure I agree with you though, A.J.," she ventured in a kind tone. "I mean, I don't see it as you messing up, I see it as you being not sure. Is there anything wrong with that? You're a single guy... right? Or am I misunderstanding everything?"

"There wouldn't be anything wrong with it, no," A.J. said with a sigh, "if people weren't getting hurt. Because, yeah, I am...single, but I guess..." He drew in a breath, not sure how to explain, "I guess not everyone saw it that way. Not being sure is one thing, but hurting someone else is..."

Annette sighed and looked down at the floor. "I know. Trust me, I know. But why can't you just be free... why can't you just date if you want, who you want, and when you want? Sometimes life is so unfair in these situations that everything gets tangled and you have someone else controlling your emotions for you. You can't think yet you know you've hurt someone. It's not fair... sometimes it's just so not fair." She probably rambled a bit too much there, possibly reflecting on a few of her own feelings instead of trying to help him with his. Annette looked infinitely embarrassed about it too.

And, yeah, A.J. was kind of having a feeling that they weren't talking so much about him any more, but he didn't mind, his head ducked to look over at Annette with an expression to let her know that he didn't mind, he understood, and she could go on if she wanted to. And he really didn't mind; he was much better at listening than he was talking, especially about his own problems.

Annette peeked over at him, her cheeks red. "Sorry. I... got carried away." She took a deep breath and asked him, "How are you and Troy?" Because there was no reason for her to carry on about herself. She wasn't talking to him now for herself. She wanted to know about him. Just him. Besides, she pretty much figured she was stable. No... bahh, she didn't want to think about herself!

A.J. gave a small smile at the apology, reaching over to wrap an arm around her in a little half hug, comforting rub on her shoulder. "S'okay," he assured her. "But, kind of funny how you ask that; I've been...kinda mostly talking about that this whole time....We'rer...I...really don't know how to explain it; it's complicated now..."

"I know," she replied softly and sheepishly, curving into him a bit. "Was it ever just you and him, A.J.? Exclusively?"

"I didn't think so," A.J. admitted. "But...Troy thought...differently, and...I...I don't know...It's hard. Really hard, to realize I hurt him as much as I did without even realizing it..." He probably wouldn't admit it, like, ever, but part of him was actually a little mad about that, that all of that was there and he'd never said anything.

"Then how can that be your fault? How could you know how deep he was, how serious his thoughts were? If you didn't know it, didn't realize it, then how can that be your fault?" She looked up into his face, her eyes questioning. "A.J., I can understand the hurt feelings that you feel knowing that you've hurt him, but do you honestly feel like it was planned, that you did it on purpose knowing how Troy felt? If you didn't know, then do not blame yourself. It serves no purpose other than to put weight on your heart."

"Of course I didn't intend for this to happen," A.J. said, rolling his eyes a little, but mostly out of frustration with himself. "But it still did, and, I mean, I'm okay with it. Shit happens, you know; of course I'm going to feel bad but I'm not going let it take over, either. And I'm not. I mean, I'm just trying to make this easy for both of us. Push comes to shove, we live together, we spend just about every single night in the same damn room, so if we let it get awkward, it's just going to be hell on both of us. You...you know how I was after....after what...happened between us, Annette. Staying friends is the most important thing to me, and if that means I've just got to shove my hang ups aside and deal, then that's what I'm going to do..."

She listened and felt bad for him, that he was going through all of this, because she wasn't sure how he felt about Beauty. It wasn't her place to ask really about something that wasn't offered. She felt okay asking about Troy, for some reason to Annette that was different. Beauty was her friend and they were getting close. Which... had been awkward at first, especially knowing what was going on between Beauty and A.J.

"I know... and I'm sorry I let crap come between our friendship, A.J., it's just that it was hard on me since I do have a boyfriend. I hurt someone, I hurt two people, you and him. But... staying friends is more important to me and maybe Troy will understand that and recognize that. Granted, I don't live with you nor see you on a daily basis..."

A.J. shrugged a little. "Water under the bridge," he assured her. "I mean, you and Dick are good, you and me are good, so it all worked out, you know? So I just hope this ends up working out as well in the long run."

"It will," she said but her face really didn't match the reslove in her tone.

"You're planning to go to college, right?"

A.J. shrugged his shoulder; it was an interesting jump in subject, he felt, but he was grateful for it. "Art school, maybe," he said. "Not sure if I'm the university type, but maybe just a small program somewhere to just sort of...hone my skills, build up a portfolio. Eventually maybe move to New York, do the whole scene thing. Y'know..."

"You so should. Don't let your talent just sit still. You are too incredible, you know that, right?" Annette blinked at him mentioning New York. "I'm... I'm probably going to be in New York, for college..."

"...yeah?" A.J. grinned a little at the revelation. "Don't know how that works with the whole timeline thing, 'cause I'm like...you know, the whole Neanderthal from the past thing, but...I don't know, would be pretty cool if we could work it out that we're in New York together. It's a big city, would be good to have some friends..."

Fourth Floor Common Room, morning

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