Freeze your brain

Rory had been in her room all day since she'd spoken to Jude the day before and Zora the morning after that. She'd gotten Jude to be brave enough to talk to Broen later because God knew Broen shouldn't be fucking alone through all this bullshit, even if he was going to be a shit about it.

Rory had made something of a blunder. She'd been just like fucking Basilio. 'Regretable' that Jude could look at her. What the fuck was wrong with her? She shouldn't have wanted anyone to be hurt.

She was pacing her room, door closed, and cursing to herself. She muttered something bitter and solemn. It was taking her everything not to hit the wall. No, but she needed to hit something. She finally needed to hit something.

Leaving her room, Rory did something of a doubletake at Broen sitting in the guestroom.

"Eh, Rat Girl is fine. It never bothered me. Fangirl, though. Oof."

Rory inhaled and relaxed her shoulders, vying for an expression that was less 'I'm about to murder something or someone.'

And though it was awkward and Rory wanted to give him space she wasn't even sure he needed, she also didn't want to be a fucking coward and run away. So, she turned and leaned on the doorway, glancing over her shoulder to see if anyone was nearby. Nope.

"I can't ima--" But she cut herself off and shook her head, somewhat agitated. "No. Nevermind that. It's not important right now. You look like someone just shoved you in a bag and threw you in the fucking river."

Rory felt tired too. Not in the same way as Broen, but trying to talk people into being smart and reasonable was fucking tiring. At least she never had to worry about that with her team. And Broen. Who was part of the team by everything but name.

She held up a finger to signify he give her one moment and pushed off the doorway to disappear down the hallway. She returned with some water and a bottle of Ibuprofen, both of which she set on a table near his bed before sitting at the foot of his bed gently a good arm's length away from him.

Rory looked utterly serious. "How fucking cheesy would it be if I said 'up' right now?" And she snorted before answering him more seriously. "No. But really. You just move forward. You figure out a living situation. Figure out if you want to go back to school or get a job. But for this week? Fuckin' rest. There's no point in trying to come to an emotional conclusion about anything when your emotions are in overdrive and the harder you go now, the harder you'll break down later. So just let it out now and be done with it."

She tapped her fingers on her knees. "You can stay here for the week you're healing up. It's not charity when we genuinely like having you around. Better than us having to worry how you're doing out there and not feeling brave enough to look you up and ask."

"Almost everything is," she said in response to 'easier said than done.' And Rory could already feel the groaning working its way up her fucking throat.

She made a sound like a low-pitched tea whistler and slowly looked at Broen completely. "My God. What did she say?"

Oh. Okay. Rory was about to comment on having known Zora caught feelings. Like duh. But Broen kept talking. So she quietly listened and died just a tad inside. She wanted to groan, but she wouldn't. She wasn't even frustrated at him over it. It was still a clusterfuck.

"Oh, boy. That's a clusterfuck. First things first. Remember that thing I said about not making big emotional decisions when your emotions were all haywire? This is one of those things. I'm going to start with you because that's easier:

"You are smart and funny and fucking competent, even without your powers. You have things going for you, you're just feeling too shitty to see them right now. You did a lot of shitty things and it sucks, but you can't go back and undo those things so you're just going to have to move forward and find a way to live with yourself. Not easy, but you have us and if we didn't walk away before we sure as hell aren't going to now."

And now the big one. Rory had to pause and think about how to word this weirdly delicate situation. "Liking someone is... It's like... Shit. It's a fucking paradox. It's not complicated until it is sort of thing. Do you like spending time with someone a lot? You also attracted to that person? Chances are, you're romantically interested in them. Really, you date until you find out if it can work or not. That's all asking someone on a date is."

And then Rory groaned. "I fuckin' told Zora to hold off on that shit until you were feeling better, but since she didn't I guess I'll just point out Jude likes — liked? — you too. No pressure there. Just don't tell him I told you if you like. He's not going to make a move. He's more considerate than that.

"As for me? You were a shit, but you were my friend. No romantic attraction to old Broen on my part. I'm not into the whole 'self-serve' attitude. New you? Hell if I know. I don't know you yet and I'm not about to take advantage of your situation."