#him and tim would have a healthy conversation abt poly relationships and asked Jay to date them

[viscerax]

Jealous longing

Brian knows he shouldn't be mad. Not after everything he's done to Tim. But it still feels like a punch to the gut when he watches Tim tenderly hold onto Jay in the backseat of his car and kiss him like he needs it to survive. Brian knows that Tim doesn't even know he's still alive. But he still feels so hurt. So betrayed. After all, they never 'officially' broke up since he went missing. That means Tim was technically cheating, didn't it?

Brian shook his head. He knew it was stupid. He wanted to be happy for Tim, and for Jay. He could see why Tim loved the guy so much. If Brian didn't have to deal with The Ark, he'd probably have a crush on the guy too. Besides, he definitely had a crush on Jay back in college. Even Tim knew it. He never acted on it. He didn't get the chance.

Brian couldn't watch it anymore. He'd watched them cuddle, he'd watched and recorded Jay sleeping. But he just couldn't stand to watch them kiss. He turned off his camera and scattered away, out of the bushes and deeper into the woods where no one would see him unmask and wipe away a few tears that were definitely because of allergies.

Besides, he wasn't completely separated from Tim. Well, not completely. He got those moments with the more estranged Masked counterpart. Brian knew of Tim's disorder back in college. He ran into the masked person a few times, but they didn't come to front as often back then. Brian supposed they were around far more often because they were trying to protect the body. Even though that clearly wasn't working out very well for any of them.

Brian was just glad to be around them, to finally not be completely alone. Even if Masky (the dumb nickname Brian had given them years ago due to their tendency to almost always want to cover their face in some way) didn't talk, they were affectionate in their own way. They took a long while to warm up to Brian. But once they did, they acted like a kicked puppy. Brian was hesitant then to let them get that close, in their dangerous 'line of work.' But even He couldn't resist the prospect of good quality time with someone else, even though the relationship was often pretty rocky and mainly based on circumstances, they worked well together. It wasn't much, it wasn't Tim, but it was all Brian had and he'd do his best to make do, and learn to love Masky all the same.