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Jeb is currently wiping down the bar, starting to get it ready for the night. Even before Doug got 'sick' since that's what they are calling it, Jeb was always here far before he needed to be, setting up and getting things ready. He always took the job that Doug had given him very seriously and it's even more important to Jeb now, that the club stay in tiptop shape, so that whenever Doug comes back, whenever he isn't sick anymore, that he sees that Jeb didn't disrespect in his absence, that Jebediah Guthrie took great care of Doug's club while he was gone. So he's here now and while he shines the cups, making sure that they practically twinkle, he's reading from a text book on the counter.
Jeb is also wearing his glasses, something he really hasn't needed to do since he got his mutation. It fixed his eyesight, after all, but given the lack of sleep that Jeb has gotten lately, his eyes have grown tired. The front door to the club is unlocked, waiting for employees to file in.
Which is when the bell rings, and someone walks in. He's dressed in a slick, gray bespoke suit, with brown leather gloves and a long coat, and a fedora hat, against the fall chill—black glasses that he doesn't really need, which is why it might be hard to recognize him at first. But then he grins, and turns. "Hello, Jebediah. Taking good care of the place, I see."
Then he turns, and walks to the bar. "Give me an old-fashioned."
Jeb looks up when someone enters the bar, and no, at first he doesn't recognize Doug, just thinks he's got an early customer, trying to beat the crowds in. He pulls the textbook off the counter to place it somewhere out of sight for the time being. Jeb, too, is dressed rather nice, black slacks, a blue dress shirt. There's a black jacket sitting across one of the barstools. He's been trying to look the part of manager.
Then he mentions that Jeb is taking good care of the place and Doug's voice, that Jeb would recognize anywhere. His shoulders stiffen a little but Doug hasn't come in swinging so Jeb relaxes a little. "Of course Ah am. It's your club, wouldn't want you to come back to a mess. This is your baby, you made this." Jeb says, his body language reads wary but when Doug sits down at the bar and orders a drink, Jeb smiles and makes him one and can't help but sass Doug a little, even if it might be living dangerously. "It's mine right now, though, so Ah hope you know that ain't on the house. Got a business to run here, after all." Jeb has never learned to be afraid of anything.
Doug takes out a couple of dollars, which is massively overpaying, and he puts it on the bar. "Fair enough." He says. He winces, a bit, as he curls his fingers around the glass, and then says, "I'm like a bad penny. I keep turning up." He looks up, and gives Jeb a stare. "You hit me." He says.
"You ain't a bad penny, Doug, well, you kinda is right now but.. you're not upsettin' me by comin' 'round." He takes the money, noticing the way that Doug winces when he holds the glass, though Jeb is wary, this is still Doug and Doug is still someone that Jeb cares deeply for. "You said a bunch of nasty shit to my brother, 'course Ah hit you. Ah thought maybe if Ah just did it hard enough it would reset your head." Jeb cocks his head, trying to see Doug's hand. "You hurt?"
Doug tilts his head, and the corner of his mouth turns up. "I tried to kill Elmo. Didn't go the way I planned, which is why he's still alive." He doesn't give a damn about that, apparently, which is why he just smirks, and raises the glass, before he tips it back, and takes a long taste of it. "God, it felt so FREEING just to go try and beat the CRAP out of that guy."
Now, Jeb reacts, eyes widening, heart skipping a beat. "You what? Why would you…" He stammers, and it feels like his entire body goes cold as he takes a step back from Doug for a moment. "This has gone too far, Doug and you know it. You ain't never wanted to kill nobody. Elmo ain't deserve it either… why would you wanna kill him? You ain't a murderer."
"Let me put it to you like this, Jeb." Doug leans forward. "Jay told me I wasn't affectionate enough. Then… he goes out and gets another companion. Someone who gives him what I plainly can't. 'Oh, Doug, you're OK with this right?' What answer was I supposed to give other than 'Yes', Jebediah?" Doug's eyes glint. "Everybody had the right to be selfish *except me*."
Jeb sets a cup down on the counter hard, with an audible 'thud!' as Doug starts speaking. "You tell him no then you big idiot! You know that Jay would have respected that. Then you could have been more goddamn affectionate with him. He was askin' you, wasn't he? Then it was a question. Questions, Ah don't know if you know this, Ah mean, Ah thought you was smart but you been convincin' me lately you ain't at all, questions, my dear Doug, come with options. You could have said yes or no." Jeb growls at his former boss, growing angry now. Halgrim had told him to run, to not take Doug on alone but he underestimated Jeb's stubbornness.
"No I couldn't have, Jeb." Doug says, utterly composed. "Because the second I did, I would've become a tyrant, and the bird really would've flown. It would've been a stolen moment, here and there, a longing glance, and then Jay would've given all his thoughts to what I would'n't let him have, until he hated me. That…" He looks to Jebediah, "Is just human nature."
"You don't know that. You don't know that because you never gave him a chance to prove you wrong. And also, you don't go and fuckin' kill Elmo over it. How is it Elmo's fault? You know that he wasn't out prowlin' around for guys with boyfriends, right? He and Jay just fell into each other like you and Jay did." Jeb defends, vehemently. "Jay would have never left you and givin' yourself… whatever the hell this is, it ain't solvin' nothin' on that front."
"You always think the best of him," Doug says, before he says, "Do you think he gave a fuck about you when he tried to kill himself? Do you think… really think, he gave a fuck that he would've left you behind? Abandoned you?" His fingers drum a tattoo on the bar, as he meets Jeb's gaze. "Jay's *selfish*, Jeb. He's *selfish* and he's a *liar*."
Jeb's face crumples a little when Doug talks about Jay killing himself. Jay abandoning him. "He.. He.. it was an emotional day for him. He couldn't think about me, he.. he wasn't thinkin' at all. And it was my fault, Doug. It was my fault that the girl got killed so maybe Ah would have deserved it." He shakes a little, Doug is getting to him. Doug knows where to hit with Jeb, knows that Jeb is terrified of being left behind. "How is he a liar? He ain't a liar. What's he lied to you about?"
Doug just gives a smile as hard and cold as a razor. "Oh, he was thinking. He was thinking about himself. Because Jay gets what Jay wants. It was a gigantic temper-tantrum. That's all it was. I see the things about him you're blind to. And I still love him…" He says, "If not in the same way I once did. You all keep saying you're going to 'fix' me. You know… there's nothing to fix. I am completely at peace with myself, Jeb."
"Ah don't think that people kill themselves for attention, Douglas." Jeb says grouchy. "You're not you. That's why you're sayin' shitty things about the person you're supposed to love most and was this all because of Elmo? Why would you be at peace with yourself if you murdered someone? My Doug? He ain't a murderer. My Doug? Ah would have never punched."
That just makes Doug throw back his head, and laugh. "There's a reason why I'm doing these things, but none of you will ever see it." He begins to push himself up. "Jebediah Guthrie…" He says, "Such an innocent, ingenuous boy." He suddenly reaches out to grab Jeb by the shirt with both hands, and pull him across the bar. "What a lie. I know what you *really* are…" He hisses. "You're a needy little *masochistic tramp* looking for someone to put you in your place—"
Doug steals Jeb's breath from his lungs when he grabs him suddenly. He grabs a hold of Doug's wrist too late as Doug pulls him across the bar. "Get your fuckin' hands off of me or Ah'll beat you to the 'ass kickin' part you promised me if Ah hit you again." Jeb hisses, rather brave for the position he's in. "/You/ don't know anythin' about me and what Ah'm lookin' for because you ain't Doug."
Doug just grins, real slow, and then he says, "Oh, no?" He says, meeting Jeb's eyes, and staring, unblinking. He still has hold of him. "Look at me, look me in the eye, and say that again."
Jeb struggles, fingers tightening on Doug's wrist but he doesn't hit Doug, just holds tighter to him and then does as Doug commands, looking at him. "You don't know me. You ain't my Doug." He isn't saying that Doug is wrong though. "You're not. You just.. my Doug loves my brother… he doesn't want to tear him down all the time so how could you be my Doug?" He growls.
"I like to think of myself as Doug Plus. Best Doug, if you will." Doug says, "But if you really MUST make a distinction, don't call me Doug at all. Call me 'Mister Ramsey'. I like that." Doug finally lets Jeb go, and grabs his drink, and tosses it back. "If you doubt what I'm saying about your brother, why don't you make him look you in the eye and ask him to tell you the truth!"
"Why don't you just fuckin' come back? Why don't you just stop bein' an asshole. If you loved him then you know that he doesn't need this. He definitely doesn't need you to kill Elmo! How would that help anythin'!" Jeb is breathing heavily now, clearly trying his best not to cry but only once Doug releases him. "About what? What truth? Should Ah ask him if he tried to kill himself? That part Ah don't doubt, it was… a bad time… Ah don't… Doug Ah don't wanna ask him if he did, Ah figure it's the truth but if it is, that's /my fault/. Not his!"
"You ask him what he was thinking about. Ask him if he blamed you at all." Doug pulls his coat back on. "Ask him if he was thinking about you at all."
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if Ah was or wasn't. Who has time to think of that when someone is dead in your arms?" Jeb reaches for Doug's wrist, grabbing it hard. "Stop. Stop this, please. Stop trying to hurt people. Don't go after Elmo again. Stop all of this, Doug, it's not what Jay wants, you know it isn't. It isn't what he needs neither. Just tell Jay you want him all to yourself and you can have him! He'll step back from Elmo. Be selfish but not in the way that hurts others." He begs, trying to yank Doug back. "This isn't Elmo's fault. This isn't anyone's fault but yours for not speaking the fuck up."
"You're still so optimistic, Jeb." Doug says. He pulls his arm free, and turns to head for the door.
"Consider this a lesson in people disappointing you, the way both of your older brothers have disappointed me."
"Sam's an asshole, Doug! We've discussed this. Sam doesn't think about anyone but Sam most of the time! Ah couldn't even get him to stay! Ah couldn't! Ah'm his brother! Ah needed him and he didn't stay for me!" Jeb shouts at Doug. "You gotta just… get over Sam, Sam is always going to disappoint you but Jay didn't do anythin' wrong! Stop hurtin' him and fuckin' leave Elmo alone. You stay away from him."
"AND THAT'S NOT THE SAM I REMEMBERED!" Doug says, rounding on Jeb. "All that PROMISE, FUCKING WASTED. How DARE HE. HOW DARE HE PISS AWAY HIS POTENTIAL, HIS *INTELLIGENCE*, BECAUSE OF THE WAY HE THINKS HE *HAS* to be?" Doug rounds on Jeb at the door, and his mouth tightens. "I'll do whatever the hell I want. Good *night*, Jebediah." He opens the door to step out into the night.
Jeb flinches back when Doug starts yelling and his eyes spark dangerously but Jeb, for the record, doesn't hit Doug with any of it. He's.. he's scared. He's afraid of Doug, the sparks come from a place of fear, of self defense. Once Doug exits the club, Jeb steps into the doorway. "If you come after Elmo again, Ah won't hold back next time Ah punch you in the mouth. You ain't need your teeth, Dougie, remember that! Ah still think that if Ah hit you hard enough you'll go back!"