It'll Be Enough

OC RVB RP blog

[agt-arkansas]

[(crawls out from deep slumber) HEWWO? IS ANYONE STILL ALIVE]

[villainsmemes-deactivated202503]

“I will beat the devil in an appropriate place and not ruin my floors.”

“I got drunk and now I’m sitting on the ground.”

“Get an ouija board or something and bring me back!”

“Hi, welcome to me time.”

“Do you have anymore almond milk?”

“Just do it!”

“Hell yeah!”

“[Name], stop!”

“Cover it in mustard, and call it a day.”

“The power of Christ compels you.”

“What?”

“[Name], no one is judging you.”

“We know you have a soap fetish, it’s okay, just let it out.”

“Who said you could come in?”

“What’s wrong with eating paint?”

“I will lock myself in the bathroom and fucking cry.”

“I don’t know what the fuck is happening.”

“I painted my face green, I’m ready to party.”

“Cannolis, bitch!”

“I look like a half eaten apple on a road trip.”

“Look how much your mom loves you!”

“Can’t you see what the fuck I’m wearing, bitch?”

“I’m having me time, get out.”

“The devil is everywhere.”

“I think what I’m trying to say is that I just wanna fucking disappear.”

“Some people think that I’m crazy, I’m just out here trying to have a good time, what’s your problem?”

“Don’t do drugs, not even once.”

“I have a basketball game tomorrow.”

“We’re good? Tight.”

“Don’t ever talk to me or my son ever again.”

“The darkness will swallow you whole.”

“This is a safe place.”

“I love you so much, but you test me every day.”

“You’re a nasty bitch!”

“I didn’t come here to fuck around.”

“I want to be seen from the heavens!”

“I love fucking myself up.”

“Don’t expose me like this.”

“Who you fightin’?”

“Please come back, please come back, please come back.”

“My face is burned.”

“Hi, welcome to I feel guilty.”

“I am on a never ending quest to be the most beautiful person in the world.”

“Look at me! And my exquisite face!”

“You have to go to your baseball game right now, son!”

“I think it looks natural.”

“Go away.”

“I’ll never let go.”

“Do I look like someone who wants to hurt your feelings?”

“What are your standards?”

“Can’t you see that I’m fucking leisuring?”  

[agt-arkansas]

“Would it be weird if we held hands. Not like a couple, just as a friends or maybe as a couple. I just want to hold your hand”

“I don’t... I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

Ark isn’t sure if he was supposed to have a different response to that. If he was, they definitely didn’t give him that memo regarding Chorus Contact Conduct. 

They’re out of armor for once. They’re sitting. They’re outside and have a moment to themselves. It’s kind of nice. The air on his skin feels nice. Feeling Tucker’s presence next to him is nice. He doesn’t know what to do with his hand so he just places it on the ground, palm up, between them, as if he was sliding across payment to a cashier. He’s giving Tucker free reign to do as he pleases with it.

“I wouldn’t be the one to ask about what’s weird and what isn’t, but I know that being in your armor for a long time without human contact can be... difficult.”

[magnoliamemes-deactivated201906]

Random sentence starters.  

“Don’t make me laugh,  I’m trying to be mad at you”

“I’m not stalking you,  I’m following you without your knowledge. It’s completely different”  

“I guess I’ll go alone then, without you. Alone.  By myself.  Like a friendless loser.”

“Let me see that pretty smile”  

“It’s you and me against the world”

“Don’t worry, everyone makes mistakes.  Like me I was my parents greatest mistake”

“When I look at you all I feel is rage”

“Are you always this happy go lucky? Don’t you ever feel UNHAPPY?”

“I will dance anywhere I please”

“What’s it like being brighter than the sun?”

“C’mon, we’re too cool for this”

“Would it be weird if we held hands.  Not like a couple, just as a friends or maybe as a couple. I just want to hold your hand”  

“I need you to do me a favor,  hit me as hard as you can” 

“It’s okay,  I know it’s difficult being short so I’ll just lift you whenever you’re trying to reach something up high”

“I’m sorry if I hugged you for an unreasonable amount of time”

“Hurry,  HOP on my back. There’s no time for explanation”

“You know me better than I know me. What should I do?”

“I wouldn’t be staring at you if you weren’t so pretty. I’m not to blame for this”

“We’re friends even if you disagree”

“Now listen here, I love you but you suck”

“I couldn’t think of a way to end my story so I just made annoying noises” 

“Look into my eyes. Do they look infected to you?”

“That’s it. I give up on life”

“I’m friendship breaking up with you.  Don’t worry,  I’ll find someone better”

“No, I wasn’t thinking of kissing you. How awkward would that be. I mean unless you wanted to?”

“Believe in the me that believes in you”

“You’re too tall. It frightens me”

“Wanna spin in circles until we’re too dizzy to stand?”

“We make the perfect duo. Me, the smart one and you the dumb one.”

“Your destiny is to hangout with me. No one else,  ever.  I get jealous”  

“Well if you think I can do it then obviously I cannot”

“I’d say listen to your heart but I highly doubt you have one”

“I’m crying because your face is cute”

“Why are you so hideous?”  

“Oh look it’s you,  the embodiment of an actual angel here to bless me”

“You kissed my face,  I can die happy now”

“You look huggable,  may I confirm?” 

“I think I’m having a fake heart attack”

“Don’t touch me with your weird fingers”

“I had a dream about you,  you died”

“I’m gonna snowplow your whole family”

“You were the one that got away but I’ll get you next time. Oh yes I will”

“I’m gonna keep you forever”

“Don’t look at me with those big sad eyes. I can’t take it”

“You think I’ll do it, but I’ll tell you right now there’s no way- okay I’ll do it”

“I saw a baby deer and it reminded me of you”

“I didn’t miss you,  I REALLY missed you there’s a difference”

“Did you know you’re fantastic?”  

“You disgust me in the best kinds of ways”

“If I had to pick a friend to marry, I’d pick you”

“And they all lived happily ever after or I hope they did. I didn’t even read the book.”

“My life would be boring without you. Very peaceful and stress free but boring”

[agt-arkansas]

misterquickwitted‌:

How can he not think it’s his fault? They’re supposed to be working together out there. It’s Tucker’s fucking job to watch out for Ark, make sure he comes back in one piece. Why the hell was he made a captain if it wasn’t about keeping his team safe? “Yeah, well, I am. You’re not out there alone, y’know? You’re on my team, so that makes all the stupid shit you pull on me.”

He takes a breath, letting his gaze drift to their joined hands. Him put up with Ark? Now that’s a good one. Ark is the one dealing with his bullshit attempts at being a leader. Ark’s the one who’s gonna get hurt when he ends up fucking up like he always does. Ark is the one counting on him to figure this stuff out. And Ark’s the one who actually fucking believes that he can. 

“Dude.” Tucker scrunches up his face, eyes finally flicking to Ark’s face. Then the rest of his words stop short as he catches the look there. There’s something… kinda weird about Ark calling him Captain. Usually, he sorta hates it. Like it’s adding this weird distance that he’d thought was getting smaller. But now… it feels like something else. There’s a weird feeling that kicks up in his guts, one he doesn’t want to put a name to, but one that kinda likes the way Ark looks up at him, head bowed. 

Yeah that’s… that’s weird. Tucker’s just gonna put those feelings in a box and try to ignore the way he’s suddenly gripping Ark’s hand probably too tightly. 

“Don’t start that, okay? Look… I don’t want you getting hurt for me. I don’t want you getting hurt at all,” he says, forcing himself to keep looking at Ark this time. “I… I couldn’t do this shit if something happened to you out there, okay? I need you backing me up. And I just… I just need you around, so you’re staying here and getting better cause I’m not doing this shit without you.” 

Ark’s eyes crinkle at the edges. “I really wish I could tell you my stupid shit was done.” He huffs out one breath of a laugh, but even that’s too much, and the sound dies almost as soon as it starts as he freezes with a sudden jolt of pain. “See?” he says, weaker this time. “Like that. Like that stupid shit.” The amusement isn’t completely gone from his next exhale, but it scrapes against the gravel and displeasure in his throat.

“Dude,” he echoes, imitating Tucker. It’s a word he hadn’t used for years before meeting him. It can mean anything when Tucker says it. Usually it means he’s angry. Just then it was a request to stop. Ark says it like an acknowledgement and a challenge to make him stop, raising his eyebrows and drying his tone. As if it needed help to sound that way. Ark can practically hear the bullet still rattling and ricocheting around in his lung every time he tries to speak, can feel the uneven vibration through the other hand he pressed against his chest when he tried to laugh. 

Blinking his vision back into focus, he tucks away a mental note that neither of them are particularly good liars. He can see it in Tucker’s eyes the moment he decides not to pursue whatever he was thinking of. Ark considers asking for a moment, mostly as a flashing of a badge that he knows Tucker well enough to have been able to notice such a thing, that he can even stay in his head long enough to watch someone’s expression change, but ultimately decides that it wouldn’t be fair. Tucker gets to keep some secrets too. 

Besides, the words that Tucker says instead are more than enough of a distraction to drop the subject. They make Ark stop, break him open in a way he can’t describe even mentally. 

Tucker doesn’t want to fight the war without him.

Like... the peeling of layers. The dissolving of an object in liquid. Of what? He doesn’t know. Of him. Of a human being. Floating in a world he hasn’t been able to recognize or understand for years. A second world consisting of infinitely numbered and infinitely small social factors on top of that world that he understood even less. That someone helped him through until he could begin to resemble a person again. 

Tucker needs him.

His hand feels less cold. His heart, for a single beat, pumps something different than blood; that feels different. But he has nothing to give Tucker in return that wouldn’t just be his own poetry recited to him in butchered tone and meter. Ark blinks.

“Okay,” he says, in consonants, nodding. It’s barely above a whisper, and it’s graceless and rough without volume to compete against the unpleasantness going on in beneath his ribs. But it’s not a repeat. It’s his own words. The words he has right now, to respond and not to parrot. 

[agt-arkansas]

misterquickwitted‌:

So Tucker likes praise. Normally he soaks it up like a dried out sponge getting its first taste of water in years. And compliments from Freelancers–they shouldn’t mean more, but they do. That’s what he wants to be. In some ways. He gets that the program, was, well… pretty fucked up. He knows that. But he also knows that they’re these crazy fucking badasses and if he was half as good as they were, maybe he’d actually be able to fucking do something here. 

But right now, right here, he doesn’t want it. He would give back every nice thing Ark and Wash and even Tex and Carolina have ever said if it meant Ark could just get out of that bed and walk this shit off like it wasn’t a big deal. 

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t fucking remarkable enough to stop you getting shot the hell up, was I?” It comes out more clipped, more pained than he means it to be. Cause Ark was reckless, that goes without fucking saying, but Tucker was the one who was supposed to be watching his back out there. He was supposed to fucking do something to help. And he couldn’t do shit. 

He takes a breath as he finally meets Ark’s eyes. His mouth opens and shuts a few times before he huffs and looks away again. Shifting, his chair screeches a little on the tiles as he inches it closer. One of his hands falls onto the bed, then… inches ever so slowly toward Ark’s. Fingers brush a few times before he gives in and lets them link together, giving a firm squeeze. 

Looking at Ark is harder now, so he doesn’t. “People don’t just want you around cause you’re useful, dumbass. Some people… some of us just like having you around. You already do plenty to help. And… and for some assholes here, it sucks a lot more seeing you like this. So you need to do better at not dying. That’s a fucking order.” 

“You can’t think this was your fault.” Ark sounds genuinely surprised, perplexed, as his eyebrows draw together. They might be disagreeing about how valid his reasons were for attempting what he did out there, but his failure, and whose fault that failure is, aren’t things that should be in question. “Tucker, there was nothing you could have done. You-- you can’t put my impulsive stupid shit on yourself. That’s not fair.” 

 Ark’s hand burns where it meets Tucker’s, bony and cold after laying unused at his side for so many hours, and he turns it over to squeeze properly, make sure Tucker gets his point. His conviction, if nothing else. “Honestly, with how much you have to put up with with me, it’s pretty god damn impressive that you’re not the thing that tried to kill me. So don’t pretend to be.”

And he wouldn’t admit that a shiver shoots up his spine to hear Tucker’s voice drop like that, pull rank and curse all in one little package. But it happens. It is a thing that occurs, and it makes Ark’s grip on his hand falter a little as he stares at that face and tries to find something. Tucker won’t look at him. Ark wants to hear him say those things again. 

“You have my apologies, Captain Tucker.” It’s usually with a bad taste in his mouth that Ark would call him that, but not this time. This time he’s dead serious, dipping his head down while staying focused on Tucker’s face. But it’s not a role he can play for long, and he slumps quickly. letting the rest of his thoughts tumble without filter from his mouth.  “...Thank you for saying so. If our situation was reversed right now, I... wouldn’t be happy either. I’m glad that you’re okay, Tucker. I--I would rather...”

He doesn’t finish that one.

[oldmemesandhelpandthings-gone]

Send Me Your Assumptions About My Muse

and I’ll respond with “Correct”, “Nope”, or “Kinda”.

[agt-arkansas]

[taps mic] hey just a PSA to everybody that my black husband gets to have whatever size penis he wants and as a white man i’m pretty sick of this white nonsense and i can and will take off these socked sandals in favor of my new balance sole support shoes which will ensure my spinal health as i kick your shit in

[agt-arkansas]

PLAYLIST

A song I associate with my muse

Carmen -- Lana Del Rey

Darling, darling, doesn't have a problemLying to herself 'cause her liquor's top shelfIt's alarming honestly how charming she can beFooling everyone, telling them she's having fun

She says, you don't want to be like meDon't wanna see all the things I've seenI'm dying, I'm dying

A song I associate with your muse

Shades of Cool -- Lana Del Rey

But you are invincibleI can't break through your world'Cause you live in shades of coolYour heart is unbreakable

A song I associate with our muses together

Kiss with a Fist -- Florence and the Machine

My black eye casts no shadowYour red eye sees no blameYour slaps don't stickYour kicks don't hitSo we remain the same

Blood sticks, sweat dripsBreak the lock if it don't fitA kick in the teeth is good for someA kiss with a fist is better than none

A song for our muses going on an adventure together

Road Trip -- Ninja Sex Party

Let’s hit the roadI was so close to personal growthSo California here I come

A shippy song

Off to the Races -- Lana Del Rey

My old man is a bad manBut I can't deny the way he holds my handWhen he grabs me, he has me by my heart

A nsfw song between our muses

Bad Guy -- Billie Eilish

Bruises on both my knees for youDon't say thank youOh please, I dowhat I want when I'm wanting to

A song for one of our muses dying

Don’t Be Afraid, You’re already Dead -- Akron/Family

Love is simple.

[agt-arkansas]

‘Playlist’

A song I associate with my muse

Daniel in the Den -- Bastille

And you thought the lions were badWell, they tried to kill my brothersAnd for every king that diedOh, they would crown anotherAnd it’s harder than you think Telling dreams from one another

A song I associate with your muse

Luck -- American Authors

Please just listen, ‘cause I don’t ask for muchI am my own manI make my own luck

A song I associate with our muses together

Sunflower -- Post Malone & Swae Lee

Oh you'll be left in the dustUnless I stuck by yaYou're the sunflowerYou're the sunflower

A song for our muses going on an adventure together

Home -- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes

Home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youHome, yes I am homeHome is when I'm alone with you

A shippy song

If My Heart was a House -- Owl City

Risk it all, ‘cause I’ll catch you if you fallWherever you go,If my heart was a house you’d be home

A nsfw song between our muses

Dress -- Taylor Swift 

All of the silence and patience, pining and anticipationMy hands are shaking from holding back from you, ah, ah, ahAll of the silence and patience, pining and desperately waitingMy hands are shaking from all this, ha, ha, ha, ha

Say my name and everything just stopsI don’t want you like a best friendOnly bought this dress so you could take it offTake it off, ah, ah, ah

A song for one of our muses dying

Breezeblocks -- Alt-J

She may contain the urge to run awayBut hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocksGermolene, disinfect the sceneMy love, my love, love, lovePlease don’t goI love you so

[rpmindthinker]

Send me ‘Playlist’ and I’ll Give You

A song I associate with my muse

A song I associate with your muse

A song I associate with our muses together

A song for our muses going on an adventure together

A shippy song

A nsfw song between our muses

A song for one of our muses dying

[agt-arkansas]

misterquickwitted‌:

“No, you need to chill the fuck out for a minute, dude.” Tucker doesn’t want to snap at Ark, especially not when the guy looks like he might break if Tucker looks at him too hard. So, yeah, maybe he’d been a little freaked out when they’d brought Ark in. He had been on the team, had ended up covered in Ark’s blood up to his elbows as the medic tried to stop anymore getting away from him. 

Sighing, he sinks back in his chair and glares at the ceiling for a minute. Yeah, he’s not sure he agrees with… any of that. He’s trying, sure, but he can’t see any kind of improvement. And honestly, he doesn’t know what the fuck that has to do with Ark. “Yeah, well, you’re not gonna make anything happen if you get yourself killed trying, asshole. And where are the rest of us gonna be if you die trying to prove some stupid fucking point about how good you are? The limits are there for a reason sometimes. Like… I dunno, man, I’m not saying you shouldn’t push yourself. But you’ve also gotta take care of yourself sometimes. People here actually give a shit about you, y’know?” 

Is Tucker one of those people? Maybe. That’s not what they’re talking about.

Ark wishes he could just take Tucker back in time with him, let him see Agent Arkansas at his peak. The agent they tacked onto stealth-be-damned objectives to eliminate the possibility of failure. He would get it done, somehow, no matter how messy things became and no matter how many absurd stunts he had to pull to make it happen. No matter how battered he got. This is just another battering, isn’t it? A three year battering that’s had a longer recovery than previous batterings. That’s all it should be. This is infuriating.

“I wouldn’t pay you the compliment if I didn’t think it was true.” He squints, avoiding the topic of himself just like Tucker has. “You really are remarkable, Tucker. Don’t call me an asshole just because you can’t see what we see.”

The next part... does close his mouth for a while. Ark needs to think before he can address any of it. Immediately, he honestly doesn’t know how. Because he’s still wishing for the impossible in all shapes and forms, for time travel and restoration and miracles. “I am not... trying to die,” he starts, tilting his head and averting his gaze until the word ‘die’ has completely left his lips. Okay, that’s maybe not the most tactful way he could have put that. But he tries to make it gentle, dips his tone until it’s quieter and sincere. The look he gives Tucker is a peace offering, absent of the wild, blind ambition that landed him here. “You must know that’s not my intention. But I... I can’t keep the bar of my performance so low if I’m going to help --to actually, help-- any of you. Those who care about or rely on me in the New Republic have granted me the time to prove to them that I can be as useful as I promised. I can’t stop out of fear, or because of setbacks, until I do that. I don’t want to.”

[agt-arkansas]

“that’s mine.

“You’re fucking kidding.” Ark is incredulous. He has no other weapons left. They’ve all been destroyed or lost or stabbed, or some equally unsalvagable shit. They still need to fight their way through what looks like another half a mile of armed soldiers here and clearly things have been going real well so far; in addition to being stripped of his rifle and pistol and anything else that might have helped him, Ark's red armor is soaked redder and too much of the blood is his own for his liking. He knows they like to mess with each other, but surely getting him literally killed is a little far.

So he keeps his grip on the thing, stubbornly, and his voice pitches tight and impatient. He won’t admit he’s afraid, he would never, but this is not ideal. “Maine, I need this gun. I can’t do this with my bare hands.”

[tooxmanyxfaces]

seven sentence starters for the seven deadly sins

lust

“kiss me.”

“tell me you love me.”

“let me brush your hair back.”

“take it off.”

“are we seriously going to just talk?”

“those eyes…”

“harder..”

gluttony

“lets order chinese.”

“i’m starving, what about you?”

“can we watch one more episode?”

“let watch disney movies all day and act like were ten again.”

“i love you more than pizza.”

“i want you.”

“more please.”

greed

“that’s mine.

“i made bank last night.”

“i’ll take whatever you’ll give me.”

“did you just call me greedy?”

“don’t you dare touch.”

“i’d offer you some, but i ate it already.”

“give it to me now.”

sloth

“can we just cuddle?”

“sorry, i was up all night.”

“i think i need to lie down.”

“coffee, please.”

“this bed is the most comfortable thing i’ve ever encountered.”

“wait for me, tiny legs.”

“why are you so tired?”

wrath

“tell me you’re lying.”

“go fuck yourself.”

“if i could roll my eyes I would.”

“you’re ridiculous.”

“i can’t believe you told him/her”

“don’t touch me.”

“calm down.”

envy

“is there anything you can’t do?”

“you’re jealous aren’t you?”

“what can i say, i envy you.”

“fuck him/her and her/his perfect body.”

“why are you a perfectionist?” 

“i can’t help it.”

“guess what i got?”

pride

“what can i say? i rule.”

“get over yourself.”

“i’m fairly good at ____.”

“but can you do it with no hands?”

“oh, of course you can do it with no hands too.”

“take your pride elsewhere.”

“you can’t see it, but i’m rolling my eyes.”

[agt-arkansas]

@misterquickwitted from X

“I don’t need twelve hours. I need fucking results.” He pouts, crossing his arms over the various tubes and sheets. After a small while of displeased grumbling to himself, he tilts his head back at Tucker, squinting. “You don’t get it,” he says, and breaks into a choppy laugh. “Because you get better and better. Always. That’s who you are. And I...”

He stops. Swallows.

I’m not like you. Sometimes it can’t be like that. Not all of us can be that way. I don’t. None of them sound right. None of them say what he’s trying to. He can’t, say what he’s trying to. So he shuts his mouth, and smiles, and lightly shakes his head instead. He tries something else. “No matter how hard I work today to make tomorrow better, tomorrow will never look like my yesterday. Ever again. Unless I push the limits and make the impossible happen.”

[agt-arkansas]

misterquickwitted‌:

“Yeah.” Tucker doesn’t want to say it’s okay, cause, well… Ark hits fucking hard. And yeah, alright, maybe his feelings are a little bruised up too. What’s he done to make Ark not trust him? He hasn’t told anyone about the Freelancer stuff. He hasn’t gone back to the crash site to dig around for dirt. Hell, he doesn’t even ask about his time with Freelancer–seems like kind of a tough topic. 

His eyes flick to Ark’s hand as it moves to his ankle. There’s no flinch, but he half wants to bat it away. Tucker’s not really one for grudges, but he’s pretty sure he gets to be mad for at least a couple minutes here. 

But then Ark starts talking and flops onto the floor. The irritation fizzles away as Tucker lets out a long breath. Okay, it’s not all gone. He takes a second, tugging off his shirt to steal the one he’d actually managed to dig out of Ark’s stuff. That’s better. At least he’s a little less gross now. 

He scoots closer until his knees press into Ark’s side and he reaches out to poke his chest. “Hey, you better mean that, cause I’m gonna steal all your shirts. And maybe some of your pants. And definitely all of your boxers, hope you like going commando, babe.”

It’s sort of a joke, but he is definitely going to steal at least some of Ark’s clothes. 

“Just… you do trust me, right? Cause, I dunno, I thought we were in a good place… or we were heading to one.”

Ark snorts, weakly, rolling his head towards Tucker so he can stop gazing into the void that is his blank ceiling. “Whatever you want,” he promises. “Anything, Tucker.” It’s a little dry, but he means it. He means it in every way possible. “Am I allowed to say you look good in that?” he adds, just barely brushing his fingers against the material of the shirt without reaching skin. It’s the first time he’s seen Tucker in something of his and he’s worried how fast he could get used to the sight. Even now, something about it seems right. Natural. 

“You’re not the thing I don’t trust,” Ark tells him, slowly and honestly. “In fact, I trust you more than probably anyone else. But... you hold a lot of power over me. It’s not your choice to, but you do. And I’m always scared that the way things are right now are... fragile. Not you and me, but me and the New Republic.” The last part is tagged on, rushed, when he hears how the word ‘fragile’ hangs in the air. “It’s--it’s hard, to uphold a story as stupid as the one I spun. To live it. But I don’t-- I can’t, use the truth instead. I want to give her everything. I want to give all of them everything. But they might not want that if they knew who I was. You, on the other hand,” he emphasizes, pointing sloppily, “shouldn’t have to deal with this. Because you’re the best thing that’s happened to me since the general of a resistance army decided I was worth scraping off the ground and fixing up.” He frowns. “You deserve better than... me tackling you because I’m scared.”

[agt-arkansas]

misterquickwitted‌:

“The fuck are you even saying?” Tucker’s still so lost. What’s even going on here? Does Ark not want him borrowing his stuff? He could kinda understand that. But like, this is a little much. Actually, it’s a lot much. Shit, he’s gonna have bruises after this and he so has to kick Ark’s ass the next time they’re training together, cause this is not cool. 

As soon as he’s not pinned, he scoots back, rubbing at his chest where Ark was pinning him down. His eyebrows slowly rise. Ooooh. Okay, that… kinda makes a little sense. He’s still sorta pissed though. Making a face, he lightly nudges at Ark with his foot. But he does look him dead in the eye when he speaks. “Dude, can you give me a little credit here? I’m not fucking lying. I’m not looking for dirt–I wouldn’t do that. I seriously just wanted to steal a shirt for a little while. Mine’s kinda rank. Pretty sure you must’ve got a whiff just a second ago.” 

Tucker isn’t lying to him. Tucker really was just looking for something to wear. Tucker really wouldn’t do that. Tucker really does smell bad. Everything is fine. 

“I...”

Ark’s shoulders fall, and he brings a hand up to grip the back of his neck. “I’m sorry,” he says, sounding winded and still a little confused. He swallows. “I don’t-- I just, saw you rummaging and I panicked.” He wants to reach out, to touch Tucker gently to make up for this, but it’s an urge he resists when he sees Tucker’s hands scrubbing at his own chest to dispel the ache he caused. Instead, he awkwardly moves his hand to Tucker’s ankle, the closest thing to him. The least threatening option. He kind of... pats it, like an attempt at reassurance.

“You can always come here, Tucker. I don’t want you to think you can’t. Anything I own is yours. You can... take as many shirts as you want.” It’s still uncomfortable and weird. Ark doesn’t know how one makes reparations for something like this. He balls his hand into a fist and puts it back on his lap, staring at it now. “I’m sorry,” he says again, “I don’t know what came over me.” He frowns when he says that. “No, that’s not true. I do know. I lost it because I was worried that... you would do that. But you wouldn’t. I should know that.” 

Ark sighs again, frustrated with himself and still out of breath, and lets himself fall backwards until he’s lying on his floor.