teaic | (no subject)

WHO: Theo & Marisol & technically Briony and the rest of the interns, so pls just look at the first like couple of tags if you're an intern and want context.
WHERE: On base.
WHEN: Monday. As the interns are being traded to new tour guides.
WHAT: Marisol !!!s at Theo.
WARNINGS: i feel like... no?

In the middle of a perfectly nice conversation with Briony Cavanaugh, Marisol’s words drifted away from her mid sentence. Her arms crossed her chest as the new interns filtered into the room, gaze locked on one in particular.

The silence went a moment too long before Marisol remembered that she was meant to be speaking.

Instead of introducing herself to the interns as she was meant to, she leaned over to Briony. “I’ll catch up to the tour.” Slipping through the room, her fingers dug too tightly into the wrist of Theodore fucking Rowan as she dragged him into the hallway.

“What the fuck—“ The slam of the door muffled her words from that point forward.

Briony blinked quickly at the back of Marisol and the poor intern she’d seized, then pasted a bright smile on her face and redirected her attention to the small crowd of remaining interns. “As you can see, any of us here are happy to answer any questions you may have on a one-on-one basis if needed!” Her voice rang out cheerily. “Now, if we head just a bit further down here, we’ll see…”

“—are you doing here?”

Theo appeared perfectly content to be pulled around like a wayward child, going easily as Marisol yanked him out of the crowd of his fellow interns and into the relative privacy of a hallway. “Going on a tour of the non-work facilities?” He looked lazily around the hall, acting as if his ex-wife didn’t have his wrist in a clawlike grasp. “Is this hallway part of that?”

“The tour is for the interns,” Marisol nearly growled, “and you are not a fucking intern. Because if you were an intern, I would already fucking know it. You’re not—you don’t even—what the fuck, Theo.”

Theo, seemingly unaware of the danger he was currently facing, glanced down at his nametag. “I’m not? Does that mean this is wrong? Who should I speak to about that, do you think?”

“Don’t.” Her gaze stayed on the nametag for a moment as she attempted to process that as reality before meeting his gaze. “Why are you here?”

Holding his arms wide (and lifting Marisol’s as well, since she’d seemingly forgotten she was still holding onto him), Theo grinned. “I’ve gone straight. I’m a time cop now. Here to make sure the timeline is maintained.”

Dropping his wrist, both eyebrows raised. “And this decision was brought on by…?”

Going into the complex mess that led to their present position in a hallway seemed like a colossal waste of time. Marisol didn’t care about the shit he’d gotten himself into, and she was unlikely to believe he’d done it for Elena after the past six years of broken promises and missed meetups. While he was under no mistaken impression that he was anything other than the asshole in their situation, that didn’t mean he wanted to have it thrown in his face. Again.

“Got a little too dangerous out there for me. I’m getting older, figured maybe I should defect to the side that’s less likely for me to end up in prison.” Theo shrugged his shoulders as if prison were more of a mild annoyance rather than a real deterrent. “And now I don’t have to time jump to get over here to see Elena. Win-win!”

“Sure.” A beat, as she gave up getting a real answer. “You tell Charlie?”

“No,” the word was drawn out, his voice dropping an octave as it extended, “But I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to see I’ve recanted my evil ways. Isn’t this what she’s wanted the whole time?”

“Something like that.” The last time that Marisol hadn’t shared big Theo news hadn’t gone over well with Charlie. “Text her. Call her. Hell, let’s take this tour to the neighborhood. I’ll be the one getting into fucking trouble if you don’t.”

“You didn’t know about this,” Theo’s voice grew serious, “It’s different.” He let out a sigh, running his hand through his hair to brush it back from his face. “I’ll talk to Charlie. I’m not here to make trouble, Marisol. I get why that’s hard for you to believe, but it’s the truth.” He paused, looking for a moment like he might say more, then breaking eye contact as he repeated, “I’ll talk to Charlie.”

“Great.” Frustration was blatant in her voice as she glanced back towards the room they’d come from. “Elena will be pumped to see you. You can come for dinner tonight. We should catch up with the tour.” The last sentence said with the same level of enthusiasm that someone might give to a trip to the dentist’s.

“Hey.” Theo reached out to place his hand on her shoulder, only to stop midaction and let his arm fall limply back to his side. “I’m not here to make trouble for you, Marisol. Whatever else you might think, I hope you can trust that much.” Guilt, regret, remorse– all the things he kept moving to avoid having to feel– swamped over him in the dogged silence of the hall.

“I got fucked up pretty bad a few months back. You know when you couldn’t get ahold of me for about a month?” His gaze landed somewhere over her left shoulder. “It made me think about things. Turns out time can be limited even for us. I– I am trying to be better. I’m sorry, I should have told you.”

Marisol’s gaze flicked over him as if to find lingering evidence of Theo being fucked up, concern mingling with her irritation. “You should have,” she eventually agreed, “though I would’ve thought you were fucking joking. You swapping teams is…” She met his gaze. “Nearly unbelievable.” And then, as though it only occurred to her right then (which it had), she continued on in a more controlled hush: “No one knows about that part of my past but Charlie.”

“I’m not planning on announcing my own checkered history from the rooftops. If it gets out, it gets out, but, like I said, I’m not here to make trouble for you. No one needs to know we were in it together.” Theo’s voice lowered to match hers, his eyes scanning the empty hall to ensure it remained that way. “We won’t talk about it again.” Anyone who would be willing to retroactively look down on Marisol for mistakes she made when she was in her early twenties was an asshole who didn’t deserve the time of day from her. That didn’t mean it was up to him to put her in that sort off position. He lost the right to make any sort of choice for her a long time ago.

“Good.” Her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the wall. “Fucking hell, Theo.”

“You’re not even a little happy I’ve gone on the straight and narrow?” He moved to stand beside her against the wall. “I thought you might be.”

“I didn’t say that.” Marisol cocked her head to look over at him. “I’m processing.”

He leaned his head against the wall and turned his face to mirror her. “When we walk back in, should I limp a little so they’re scared of you?”

“No.” But she couldn’t help a small grin and a roll of her eyes as she glanced away and down the hall. “Just a little chastised and we’re good.”

He practiced kicking an invisible rock with his foot while slumping his shoulders. “This look good? Or is it too ‘aw shucks’ to pass?”

“Lose the kick, keep the shoulders.”

“Ten-four, captain.” Theo straightened up and glanced down the hallway. “Need me to bring anything for dinner?”

“Just you. Think you can manage that?”

“As long as I don’t get in trouble for missing the tour.”

Marisol cocked her head, indicating that he follow her as she started walking. “You’re with one of the tour guides. You’re good.”

“Then I think I’ll manage it fine.” He tested out one final kick from behind her for fun, then focused on slumping his shoulders. “It could be fun to work together again, you know.”

“Could be,” Marisol agreed. “Could be a nightmare.” With a glance over her shoulder, she flashed a grin. “We’ll see, Rowan.”