#ppenn

whitney had been distracted ever since angie had returned. it was something he had dreamt about but never expected to actually happen. she had died and whitney had mourned her in unhealthy ways since then accepted she was gone. he had let himself move on as much as he could. he let himself fall for penn. he felt like he could be happy again and then she came back.

it was jarring at first to say the least. a little terrifying but his wife was back and he had missed her so much. everything he felt for her and more came rushing back when he saw her. he thought he felt more than one person ever could seeing as what he felt for penn hadn’t left either. he didn’t think it was possible for him to love two people at once romantically.

whitney had felt lost. he couldn’t leave penn and angie was his wife. he loved both of them. he didn’t want to choose between then and angie had seen that. when angie had suggested he stay with penn too he had fell in love with her a little more. only he hadn’t seen penn since angie had returned and he missed him. he didn’t know what penn was thinking or feeling but he missed him. so he had set out to find him and it took him a while but he had found him.

It had been over a month since Whitney had spoke with Penn. He’d seen him around (obviously it was unavoidable seeing as how Rain and Cal were dating) but Whitney had done his best to stay clear of Penn. He assumed that that was how Penn wanted so he’d given it to him. It was the least that Whitney could do seeing how he’d treated him in the past. He wanted to make good on what he said and he guessed that this was the only way to do it. 

In the stretch of that month Whitney had been reinstated to his squad (albeit not as the leader) so at least he had something to do again. Whitney didn’t think he was being as reckless as he was before (Cal had made sure of that). He managed to fix things with Cal and Billie was still as cheerful as ever so it seemed everything was back on its normal path. At least the normal before Penn and his siblings had come into his life and changed things. 

So things were right again but he still felt like he was missing something. He knew that that something was Penn and Whitney was trying his hardest to resist it. It still terrified him that he felt this way towards Penn but he had more or less accepted it. And that Penn didn’t want anything to do with him. That second part was harder for him to accept. 

But he had forced himself to or at least he thought he had because now he was on his way to find Penn to ask for a second chance at... well, something. To be friends at least. Whitney hadn’t thought of a proper plan but he didn’t want to wait anymore. 

whitney knew he had messed up. he’d messed up and he didn’t know how he was going to fix it. he had almost gotten himself (and his squad by extension) killed and he knew it was because he made a stupid mistake. and maybe he made the stupid mistake on purpose and everyone had noticed but he wasn’t thinking about that in the moment. 

the injuries he’d received weren’t that bad just some bruising and some small scratches and out of everyone that was there he got the worst of it. it could have been a lot worse, almost was a lot worse but whitney’s second in command had fixed the situation before it could escalate, got them out of the area before any leviathans actually showed up.

or maybe he should start referring to him as his former second in command because that’s what he was now, at least for the time being. whitney’s reckless behaviour had gotten him temporarily relieved of duties (something that was a long time coming according to his commanding officer). 

even though this situation was the opposite of ideal and one he wanted to get out of he couldn’t help but fixate on the words he had said to penn the weeks prior. that was how he found himself sitting in the hunter’s debriefing area that often doubled as a med bay just staring at penn while his brother stood next to cal. cal who was saying word after word to him that whitney wasn’t fully processing. 

“whitney.” cal spoke harshly, “can you stop staring at penn and actually listen to what i’m trying to say to you?” 

at those words whitney startled as if he hadn’t been hearing cal until that moment. he felt like he was lagging as he tore his gaze from penn to look up at the taller man. whitney didn’t know what to say to explain himself - he had been staring at penn, he realized that but he didn’t think that anyone else had noticed. 

when he didn’t open his mouth to speak cal let out a long frustrated sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. “y’know what? i should just go. i need to go cool down or something.” cal dropped his hand his face now scrunched up as he looked down at whitney, “and it’s obvious you don’t want to listen to me right now.”