#theyll obviously need to talk some things out later. things wont be okay immediately but theres nothing they cant work through together

[0rchidm4ntis]

We'll be alright.

[honestfutures]

Mutiny Answers (3/3)

1100 w

Cameron Howe/Donna Clark

ao3

pt 1/pt 2

>>CamHowe: RE: MY BOSSES: OP i am going to find you 

 >>OP: RE: MY BOSSES: The real issue here is that they /aren’t/ doing anything about it.

 >>DClark: RE: MY BOSSES: Good! If they act on it it could implode horribly!

 >>CamHowe: RE: MY BOSSES: ...anyway back in the real world not defined by donna’s anxiety i honestly think you should talk to whoever seems more likely to act on it to avoid secret longing gazes across the room and like, pining and stuff making it weird for everyone

 >>CamHowe: RE: MY BOSSES: if they talk to each other about it at least theyll be clear on whats what and it wont permeate the whole space

 Lev blinked. That advice was actually not half bad. He couldn't really maneuver it now, though. It’d be too obvious, and right now he had… some fires to put out. He rolled his chair over to Donna.

 “Hey, how’re you doing?”

 She sighed. “Okay, I guess, considering.”

 “Not to get all up in your business, but…” Lev paused, trying to dredge up some helpful tip gleaned from the mediation chat rooms. “Have you thought about how she feels?”

 She stared at him. “Really?”

 “No, I mean, hear me out- I know you’re just trying to help her, right? You’re just worried about her.”

 “Exactly and she’s acting like-”

 Lev held up a finger in a shush motion and Donna looked at him like maybe he was testing her limits a little bit. “But she      knows     Joe was bad. You saw what it did to her.”

 She nodded a little, biting her lip.

 “And you know how defensive she is. So every time you bring it up it just makes her feel awful, like you’re chastising her for being weak or something. Obviously she's going to get all aggressive and sarcastic.”

 Donna looked down at her hands. “Okay. Well, I kind of feel like an ass now.”

 Lev smiled. “Part of being human.” It was starting to look like everything was gonna be fine.

 Down the hall, a door slammed open, and Cameron stomped into the room.

 “Donna, could i have a word?” she said, tersely. “In my office?”

 Donna shrugged. “I don't know why, after airing my dirty laundry on a public forum, you're so suddenly concerned with privacy.”

 “Just-” Cam huffed, grabbed her arm and yanked her out of her chair.

 “Hey-”

 “Just come with me!”

 Lev frowned. He hadn’t planned for this.

PRIVATE CHAT

 >>CamHowe: dont talk just type

 >>DClark: If you wanted to chat on Mutiny why are we in your office?

 >>CamHowe: i just realized ppl might be listening in

 >>DClark: This is a little ridiculous, Cam. I was going to apologize and

 >>CamHowe: nevermind its fine just look at these chat logs

 >>CamHowe: “>  MY BOSSES R IN LOVE  : my 2 bosses are obviously in love and everyone can tell but neither of them is doing anything about it. it’s almost painful watching them dance around it all day and it makes working here really awkward. other than that they’re both really cool and would be great together. what should i do?”

 >>DClark: ...I don’t understand your point here. We both saw that.

 >>CamHowe: yeah but look at what they say later “>>OP: RE: MY BOSSES: theyre like. co-bosses i guess?”

 >>DClark: Oh, like us. That’s fairly unusual, no?

 >>CamHowe: i was too mad at you to notice at the time but “>>CamHowe: RE: MY BOSSES: its 1985 idiot plenty of places have open management structures including mutiny”

 >>DClark: Wait are you saying this is about us??

 >>CamHowe: the user data says theyre in this zip code so

 >>DClark: But I’m straight!

 >>CamHowe: sure you are. anyway we need to find this clown

 >>DClark: Agreed.

 >>DClark: Wait what’s that supposed to mean?

 user CamHowe has left the room

 “Cameron, you’re right next to me in physical space. That’s not gonna-”

 Cam placed a finger on her lips dramatically. “Shhhh! The walls have ears!”

 For the past ten minutes, Lev had been anxiously staring at Cameron’s office door. First there’d been some shuffling about and confused mumbling, but then- nothing. Total silence.

 >>CamHowe: RE: MY BOSSES: OP i am going to find you

 Oh mother fucking shit.

 He barely had time to wipe the terror off his face before both women walked out to stand before them.

 “Okay, we wanted to-” started Donna.

 Cam cut her off. “Which one of you is it who can’t mind their own      fucking     business??”

 Everyone looked at each other. “Who is it? Tell me!”

 Total silence.

 Cameron stood there for a minute, fuming. Then she turned to Donna. “Do the- do the mom thing.”

 Donna rolled her eyes, but then she crossed her arms, and shifted her face into the perfect expression of not-angry-just-disappointed. “I’m going to count to five.”

 From the back of the room Carl yelled. “IT WAS LEV!”

 “Dude, really-”

 Cam silenced him with a glare. “Office. Now.”

 When he got to the door, she turned to Donna. “Not, not you. You- I don’t know, just, wait here.” Before she could protest, Cameron slammed the door behind them, and immediately turned to angrily whisper at Lev.

 “Dude! I was going to talk her! Now it’s all- weird!”

 Lev held back a laugh- that probably wouldn’t go over well. “Cam… It’s been weird for a while. The tension is like, visible to the naked eye.”

 “No it’s not!” Then, more anxiously, “Is it?”

 “Yeah, it totally is.” He thought back to the previous week, when Cam had leaned over Donna’s shoulder to check some code and they’d accidentally made eye contact and stayed frozen for, like, a minute. Yeesh. “Just- make a move. Cat’s out of the bag now, you know?”

 “I guess…” She bit her lip.

 Something was still bothering him though. “I thought you’d be more mad.”

 “Nah. I mean, I had this kind of nightmare vision of Bodie being all- God. But it’s you, and well, y’know.”

 Ah. They both nodded at each other knowingly.

 “Anyway…” She gestured, “Kind of have to go clean this whole mess up.”

 “Hey,” he said, as she turned to leave, “you guys are my bosses, but you’re also my friends. I’m here for you.”

 For a second Cameron looked shockingly, suspiciously close to tears. Then her face settled back on a smile. “Ha, yeah, okay. Don’t get all tacky on me.”

 She opened the door. “Hey, Donna, can we talk?”

 “I- Sure.” Donna squinted around the roomful of guys listening intently. “Actually, let’s… let’s go get coffee somewhere. Far.”

 Lev smiled proudly as they walked out the door, arm in arm. He’d done it! Kind of! With only minimal yelling involved!

 From the silent room Bodie spoke up. “So like, what just happened?”