Chapter Text
Gordon didn't think much of the very long, very detailed non-disclosure agreement he signed upon being offered a position at Black Mesa. After all, research facilities like this were very protective of their methodologies and prospective scientific breakthroughs. Doubly so when their government funding was dependent upon a commitment to secrecy.
It's not like Gordon had anyone to talk to about it, anyway.
Still, his first day at the facility has him wondering if he shouldn't have looked a little harder into the establishment he was working for.
It starts when he walks onto the facility campus for the first time. He'd been given transportation in the form of a shuttle from a nearby town, and dropped off in front of a nondescript concrete building in the middle of fucking nowhere.
There to greet him is a security guard, dressed up in pale blue and a kevlar vest.
"Mornin," the guard greets as Gordon steps off the shuttle, squinting in the harsh desert light. Its engine stutters and chugs as it winds back up, the only way back out quickly disappearing into the wavering desert heat.
Gordon gives the guard a polite nod. Already, he's wracked with anxiety over the simplest of things. Should he just walk in? Or should he wait for this guard to prompt him? Gordon's internal monologue is interrupted as the guard addresses him.
"You the new guy? They've been talkin' about you," the guard smiles, peering out from under his helmet. Gordon wonders who 'they' are. Did this guard know Kleiner? "Name's Barney. I handle security around here."
Barney offers his hand, and Gordon meets it with a quick shake. The guard stares at him for a moment - waiting, Gordon is sure, for his own name. Instead, Gordon reaches into his pocket to produce his wallet and ID. After a beat, Barney takes the card gingerly, eyes flicking from Gordon's photo to his face. He hands it back.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Freeman."
When Gordon has nothing to offer him but a stare, Barney clears his throat.
"I'll, uh, show you inside, and you can get your ID and clearance set up, 'n all that."
With that, Barney turns on his heel and leads Gordon inside, boots kicking up dust on the packed dirt path.
The building, while intimidating from the outside, is actually very boring on the inside. Despite the cutting edge research no doubt being done in the labs below, Black Mesa’s offices seem determined to be as bland and featureless as possible.
The secretary at the desk doesn't have a chance to try and fumble through a conversation with Gordon. Barney introduces him, and the secretary points him toward the appropriate office to get his affairs in order. His stomach buzzes uneasily at the thought of living in an on-site dormitory. Sharing his space isn't something he's ever looked forward to.
The guard grins as he leaves Gordon to fend for himself, returning to his post.
"See you around, doc!"
Gordon had wondered, in the moment, if he'd ever actually end up seeing that specific guard again, given Black Mesa's size. He doesn't expect to see him again that day, halfway across the facility.
The metal tram is empty when Gordon boards it. In truth, Gordon hadn't seen many people topside in the walk from the office to the nearest railway station. Gordon tries to contain a shiver as the tram lowers itself into the earth and the temperature plummets. That this place was big enough to warrant its own transportation, transportation that takes its time meandering through massive, winding caverns, is something that Gordon decides falls under the terms of his NDA.
The tram comes to an easy stop at a suspended platform, which leads to a massive metal airlock. And next to it, an observation window, holding another security guard, in the same blue getup. Gordon adjusts his grip on his suitcase holding the only belongings he’s taken with him, and steps onto the walkway.
"Hello again, Dr. Freeman. Lemme get that door for you."
The guard's voice comes over the tinny intercom and Gordon does a double take. He'd put down the similar appearance to the outfit, but, no - it's the same man as before. There's no reason he couldn't have gotten here before Gordon. The guard had left the office before him, after all. But the fact that he seems to be personally shepherding Gordon through integrating at Black Mesa seems... odd.
Gordon pushes the thought away as he makes his way through the airlock to find his room and settle in for the night.
The next morning, Gordon's to be given an orientation into Sector C, where he'll be working for the foreseeable future. He leaves the dorms through the railway station at the back, rather than the one he'd arrived in. The airlock is, once again, manned by Barney.
Does the entire complex have only one security guard? Gordon passes off their repeated encounters as coincidence, and tries to keep his mind focused on the very important task of making a good impression on people who definitely do not want him here, rather than a security guard who seems to be around every corner.
That becomes impossible when Gordon arrives at Sector C and there to personally let him off the tram is none other than Barney. Again.
Gordon doesn't hear the guard's greeting. There is no way Barney could have gotten here before him, unless Black Mesa is letting their guards in on experimental teleportation technology (and Gordon knows for a fact the stuff is still only theoretical. He'd read Kleiner's book). He doesn't make a move to exit the tram.
"Uh. Dr. Freeman?" Barney questions, as if Gordon's the one with a problem. Gordon keeps his stare level and even. Then, he signs:
"Why are you here?"
Barney blinks, uncomprehending. Not a new or surprising reaction, but one that manages to frustrate Gordon for the first time in a while. This is beginning to turn into something he can’t just ignore. Chagrined, Gordon shakes his head and steps off the tram, brushing past the guard to head to the massive airlock doors behind them. Barney babbles something, and moves to catch up to Gordon's brisk step.
"Doc - uh, wait - " Barney tries, meeting Gordon at the door when it becomes clear that the doctor will need to wait for his assistance once again.
Gordon stares at the airlock doors for what seems like an eternity before he finally looks askance at the guard. Barney jumps, turning to punch numbers into the door's keypad.
"Lemme, uh, get this for you." The guard mumbles.
The massive door opens with the grinding sound of metal-on-metal and a hiss of cool compressed air. Gordon darts in, ducking under the door before it finishes fully opening. Inside, he can only direct his hard stare at the opposing door as he waits for it to open to see -
to see -
Barney.
Standing inside, abashed.
Gordon can't help it. He whips his head around to look behind him, but the entrance door is, of course, already closed.
"I can show you to where Dr. Kleiner's lab is...?" Barney tries.
Gordon returns his stare to the man who can seemingly apparate out of nowhere. After a cold moment, Barney clears his throat.
"Uh, this way." Barney leads him past the front desk, Gordon quickly falling in step behind him
It's his first day at Black Mesa proper. He'd expected resentment from older employees, and stress from being thrown into a new environment, but being haunted of all things was not on his list of unpleasant experiences to expect.
Gordon is thrown out of his train of thought when they arrive at a glass door and - standing beside it is - Barney.
But Barney's right in front of Gordon.
Gordon's gaze rapidly flits between the familiar face beside the door and Barney's back in front of him. There's a heavy feeling curling in his chest. It's as if something terrible is about to happen. When Barney - the one in front of him - moves to step through the door, Gordon doesn't follow. The guard notices, and turns to face him. Gordon feels the urge to close his eyes.
But he doesn't. And as he looks between the two of them, Gordon can see they're identical. The same face, from their tired eyes and 5 o'clock shadow to the slope of their brow and the sharp bridge of their nose.
Barney says something to him, but once again Gordon doesn't hear it. He stands there with his jaw locked like a vice, unable to voice his confusion over what must be his own burgeoning insanity. He doesn't like how both of the guards have their eyes on him, sharing the same concerned expression, head gently tilted. The back of his neck prickles with unease.
"Dr. Freeman?" The Barney in front takes a step towards him, and Gordon takes a step back. Both guards frown.
"Uh - "
"Gordon! There you are!"
Gordon jolts from his trance to see his old mentor briskly stepping into the hall ahead of them. Seeing Kleiner in person after so long is an unexpected relief, minutely easing the tight coil in Gordon's chest.
"I had meant to meet you at the door, but I'm sure you know that our work often takes precedence!" Kleiner smiles. Gordon does not.
Gordon would like to greet his mentor warmly - he IS the reason Gordon's position was able to be secured here, as far as Gordon knows - but his focus is taken by the still-identical guards. Kleiner notices that in lieu of a greeting, all he's being offered is Gordon's frantic gaze, bouncing between the guards and back to him. Unfortunately, he completely misinterprets the reason for Gordon's anxiety.
"No need to worry, Gordon. The security team is only a precaution against any unwanted visitors. As long as you've got your ID, there's nothing to be nervous about!"
"I, uh, don't think that's the problem, doc." The Barney next to him mumbles, scratching at his stubble. He shifts his footing, tapping the toe of his boot against the tile.
"Oh?" Kleiner says helpfully, turning to Barney. Then, to the other Barney. He looks between them for a moment before the light seems to turn on in his head.
"Ah! Yes! No one's properly introduced you, have they? Gordon, this is Barney," he says, placing a hand on Barney's shoulder, "he's the hivemind that forms the bulk Black Mesa's security team!"
Gordon's mind goes blank. His hands twitch, and the first thing he does is spell out,
"Hivemind...?"
"Yes! Ingenious, isn't it? One mind, many bodies! His very nature allows him to coordinate the facility's security with unprecedented competence!"
"Shucks, doc, you don't have to flatter me." The Barney next to Kleiner smiles sheepishly, while the one by the door stands a little straighter, puffing out his chest.
Gordon is at a loss. His normally sharp mind is stumbling over this new information. So all of the Barneys he had seen up to this point were - different. Different bodies. But the same person. One consciousness, spread out across Black Mesa in the form of a painfully average-looking security guard.
Once again, Kleiner's voice brings him back to reality.
"Now then, I'm sure you're eager to see where you'll be working. If you'll come along, Gordon, I'll show you to the laboratory. We've got a great deal to catch up on, you and I!"
Gordon follows Kleiner further into the facility, leaving the Barneys - Barney - at the door.
He tries to focus on his initiation. Which isn't as hard as it should be, as Gordon easily becomes absorbed into the lab's workflow. It seems the presence of another doctor in the lab was sorely needed - no wonder he'd been rushed through settling into Black Mesa. He nearly lets himself forget about the encounter, until he passes through another guarded door, and Barney is there to remind him that yes, he is going to be a fixture of Gordon's employment.
As the day winds down, and Gordon's heading back to the tram, he is once again confronted with two Barneys. At the guarded door near the entrance of Sector C, it seems another Barney has arrived to replace the one currently at his post. Gordon's bewilderment at the guard's existence is turning into genuine curiosity. Do the bodies each have separate schedules? Do they individually need to rest?
As the wheels in his head turn, his gaze doesn't go unnoticed. The Barney taking up his post catches Gordon's eye, and the other immediately turns to face him. Two sets of identical eyes, in identical faces, pin Gordon down, and he is once again taken by unease. Barney, to his credit, seems to notice the effect his twin gaze has, and quickly turns his on-duty set of eyes away. The other, off-duty body approaches Gordon.
"Heya, doc. I wanted to... apologize for earlier," he says, brow furrowing a little. Gordon frowns.
"I've been around long enough to know that meeting me can be kinda... overwhelming, for people, the first time. Most new hires get briefed about it, but I guess they wanted you in here right quick, since you didn't get the chance."
Barney is again shifting his weight from one foot to the other, wavering in place. He rubs his hands together. Gordon isn't sure what he's done to warrant this much personal attention from the guard, and feels a little uncomfortable.
"I gotta change outta my uniform," Barney says, tugging at the strap of his vest, "But uh, catch me later, and I'll buy you a beer." He grins.
Gordon thins his lips in a not-quite-smile. Ending the one-sided conversation with a curt nod, he makes his way to the tram.
Gordon's usual way of dealing with conflict is to avoid the issue entirely. When it comes to awkward situations, and individuals he doesn't get along with, his instinct to avoid all contact has served him well in his 27 years.
The fact that this seems to be an untenable method of dealing with his new omnipresent acquaintance is not doing his anxiety any favors.
Barney treats every scientist with familiarity. Including Gordon. At first, Gordon pegs him as something of a social butterfly because of it. But with time, it becomes clear that this isn't exactly the case. Barney knows everybody because he's the only security guard to know. The Science Team may interact more with Barney on a day to day basis than their own lab mates.
The identical guards are, quite literally, around every corner. At every airlock, every secure door, every tram station. Outside of greetings Gordon receives in passing, Barney doesn't make another attempt at real conversation. But he still feels Barney's gaze on him every time he passes through a checkpoint, like the guard is waiting for something. It may just be that Gordon's anxiety is making him paranoid. If paranoia is even an unreasonable response to what amounts to a sentient surveillance system.
Still, Barney's haunting of Black Mesa means that Gordon ends up learning more about him without really trying. Knowledge about a strange, unique entity isn't necessarily something he's going to turn away.
First is the confirmation that Barney's disparate bodies indeed have different schedules. They have their own shifts, off hours, and breaks, as if they are different people. More than that, each body has an individual designation, which, in practice, seems to take the place of a surname. Gordon wonders if he has an actual last name. Where exactly Barney came from isn't something that is ever touched upon, but Gordon has a few undisclosed ideas relating to his employer.
Eventually, despite Gordon's best efforts at being standoffish, Barney does get to buy him that beer.
The shuttle that had brought Gordon into Black Mesa ran regularly from the facility to a small desert town some distance away. There's practically nothing there - the main draw for Black Mesa's employees being a dinky little bar and the allure of being outside the facility's careful gaze. Not that Black Mesa didn't most likely have their claws sunk deep into their little neighbor.
Gordon decides to take the shuttle that night. A few drinks by himself is a last resort measure to unwind from the stress that's been a constant since he got here. There are a couple other Black Mesa employees riding along, but the majority of the shuttle is empty.
It nearly escapes Gordon's notice that Barney is here. He's never seen the guard outside of his work clothes. Barney passes very easily for a regular guy - and there's no reason he wouldn't, for anyone who wasn't aware of his hundred-plus doppelgangers lurking beneath the New Mexico desert.
Gordon sits at the other end of the shuttle.
When they arrive, Gordon meanders alongside the group as they head towards the bar, not quite wanting to be part of it. If Barney is trying to catch his eye, Gordon pointedly ignores him.
Gordon takes up a seat at the far end of the bar, planning to get harmlessly buzzed so that he can think himself in circles.
"Heya, Doc."
Barney is leaning on the bar beside him, smiling easily. Gordon wants to feel frustrated, but the feeling doesn't quite come.
"Lemme get you that drink?"
Gordon says nothing, only tilting his head. He doesn't refuse; Barney seems to take that as an okay, and soon they're both holding a bottle.
"I didn't really expect you to be the 'drinking alone' type." A smirk slides onto Barney's face.
Gordon’s lips press into a hard line. The urge to speak and be understood rises in his chest, and he moves his hands despite his expectations.
"I like my space."
Barney’s smile falters, his eyes narrowing just a bit. There's a full pause as he doesn't speak, doesn't move, then:
"Hah. Now that much, I was able to pick up on."
Gordon raises his eyebrows, just a bit. So he can understand sign, or he's learned some, since the last time he spoke to Gordon. But it'll take much more than that to impress him.
"You know sign?"
"I've been, uh, learning. Slowly. Since the last time we... talked." Barney takes a sip of his beer, mouth curling sardonically around the lip. "Figured I ought to know, right? 'f you're gonna be here for the long haul."
Gordon takes a moment to watch him. Barney’s eyes flit around the bar every now and then, like he’s looking for something. Or looking out for something.
"Who's teaching you?"
Again, it takes Barney a beat to catch up, even to a simple question.
"Oh, uh, nobody. Not like I can take a class." Barney laughs, but it's humorless. Gordon wonders if it's because Black Mesa is so out of the way, but has a feeling the real reason may be far more unpleasant. "Black Mesa's got books. And uh, I did... ask Dr. Kleiner about some things. Though, he's too busy to devote too much time to me. He just... pointed me in the right direction."
Barney takes another sip. Gordon has more than a few things to think about.
"How long?"
"Huh?" Barney catches the movement out of the corner of his eye, and Gordon repeats himself.
"Oh, uh... not long. Little more'n a week."
In only a few days, he's learned this much? Barney's face twists a bit, eyes shying away.
"Actually, I uh... I should be honest." Barney scratches at the back of his neck. "I may be, uh, lookin' at a dictionary right this second."
Barney grins a little sheepishly. Gordon looks him up and down. There's no book anywhere on Barney's person. Feeling Gordon's gaze, Barney speaks up.
"Oh, not here, doc. Back at home base."
Gordon blinks. In the short time they had been talking, Barney had started to turn from 'surveillance borg' to 'well-meaning coworker'. Now, he is thrust back into a very strange reality. As Barney speaks to him, he is also somewhere in Black Mesa, nose deep in whatever meager literature the facility has on ASL.
"Haven't really. NOT been studyin' since I started. Benefits of being... well." Barney's lips quirk, eyes shifting around the bar again. "You know."
Gordon follows Barney's suspicious gaze. Barney's nature can't be something Black Mesa would want public. His entire existence is likely confidential. Gordon wonders if his being out here is done in flagrant disrespect of that fact.
"You came by yourself?" Gordon asks, changing the subject.
They'd all come on the shuttle, of course, but it wasn't like Gordon was here to drink socially. Barney seemed the type, but he'd only been chatting up Gordon.
"Huh?" Barney’s smile fades a little.
"The bar. You came alone?"
Barney gets a faraway look in his eyes, back straightening a little.
"I'm never alone, doc."
His answer blindsides Gordon, and all at once, the man sitting in front of him isn't just a man. His gaze is dark, strange, and Gordon can see a hundred sets of eyes looking out from behind his own.
Gordon gets that cold, prickling feeling again. Meanwhile, Barney shakes off his little reverie, schooling his expression into something more... human.
"But uh, yeah. Just me. You'd think being everywhere at once, I'd have someone to go out on the town with, yeah?" Barney grins, but it doesn't reach his eyes.
"I'm glad I caught ya here. Hey, if you don't mind, there's something I wanna ask you..."
Gordon isn't sure what he expects, but it's definitely not for Barney to launch into half-baked conspiracy theories about how Black Mesa is hiding aliens and "Sector C's gotta be close to it, right?" And when Gordon brushes him off Barney insists he read this book - he's got a copy, he'll lend it.
Gordon wants to think he's humoring the man, but if he was, he wouldn't be wholeheartedly engaging with his conspiratory ramblings. It's slow going, because Barney needs him to finger-spell out some things and takes a minute to process what he's saying. But they spend the whole night like that, and when the late shuttle comes, Gordon rides sitting next to him.
In a very short time, Barney has somehow become the person Gordon talks to the most at Black Mesa.
Gordon did read Barney's book - and handed it back full of sticky notes on how half of it was absolute bullshit and how could you even believe some of this? And it isn't long before they spend another night talking about the parts Gordon didn't think were completely fabricated. This time, in Gordon's dorm, somehow.
Gordon hadn't really considered the possibility of inviting anyone over to his meager little dorm, when Barney offhandedly mentions inviting himself over and Gordon… doesn't refuse. His impulse to escape any social situation is drowned out by a strange, giddy nervousness he's unfamiliar with. Gordon hasn't had another man in his space for - god knows how long.
Prying into Barney's nature seems... too much of a breach of boundaries, no matter how much Gordon would like to understand. He settles for what Barney does tell him, and what he can surmise on his own.
Barney never brings more than one body when he spends time with Gordon and, should Gordon catch him "changing shifts", he's quick to shy them away from his double. Gordon wonders if it's done for his sake - or simply a habit he's picked up, trying to hide his nature for the comfort of others.
Gordon is no stranger to that.
Even with this habit, though, Barney still remarks on his nature often. And what he does say sometimes worries Gordon - implicit confirmations that Black Mesa has Barney on a very firm leash. That no, he isn't free to leave, he doesn't even exist on public record, and if he ever got tired of working for them - well. It's best not to think about it.
Gordon learns that Barney prioritizes certain bodies for certain tasks. The only body he'll send into town is the same one that makes time to seek out Gordon after-hours, designated Barney-Calhoun. Barney tries to liken it to favoring one hand over another, but Gordon doesn't quite get the comparison.
There's far too much, Gordon thinks, that he doesn't understand. Even with a doctorate in theoretical physics, working for a secretive experimental facility. Which, true, he may have been able to brush aside when he arrived here. But with Barney in the picture, Gordon finds himself wanting - something. A fuller picture.
He doesn't expect to get it.
It's just another after-shift walk to the tram. Barney is trotting alongside him. It isn't Calhoun (Calhoun has a little scar on his chin), but Gordon hasn't learned how to tell the others apart - or if there's even a point to doing so.
"We still on for tonight?"
Oh, right. Gordon had invited him back to his dorm. Which wasn't unusual, at this point, but still feels like a new and exciting concept. Wanting to share his space - Gordon isn't used to it.
A thought occurs to him.
Gordon nods, then says, "Why not yours?"
Barney frowns. "What? My-?"
"Your dorm." Gordon feels a nervous buzz that he attributes to the simple act of being social. "I've never seen it."
"Oh, um, that." Barney huffs out a laugh, fidgeting in place. "I just... It's... uh. It's a real mess. Yeah."
"I don't care." Gordon says, truthful.
Barney's frown deepens. "You... wouldn't like it. I don't... I mean, I have my own room, but it's not..."
Gordon tilts his head a little. Just as he's about to drop the subject, Barney seems to flip on it entirely.
"Y-y'know what, yeah. You can come over." Barney grins nervously.
Gordon’s brows knit, anxiety bubbling up. "If you don't want to -"
"No, no, I want to. I owe you some hospitality." Barney's smile becomes a bit more earnest, and Gordon finds it in himself to return it.
They do not head to the dorms. Or at least, not the ones Gordon is familiar with. Barney's lodging is in a separate area of the facility entirely, and although they talk the whole way there, there's a nervousness in the guard that doesn't go unnoticed by Gordon. Jigging his leg, grabbing at the loose fabric of his sleeves, looking out the window as if there's anything at all to see - Barney is usually relatively laid back. Gordon's never seen him this wound.
They disembark at a tram station Gordon's never been to. Beside the metal airlock is a glass window, and behind it, Barney. Or at least, another one of his bodies. He wordlessly lets himself and Gordon in. Inside the airlock, Barney's fidgeting reaches an apex, and all of a sudden his words leap out of him.
"If you - I mean, if - I, uh," Barney flounders, wringing his hands. "I've never brought anyone down here before," is what he settles on saying, turned away from Gordon but peering at him out of the corner of his eye.
Before Gordon can respond, the grinding of metal fills their ears and the interior door opens. Inside is a featureless concrete hallway, broken up by evenly spaced doors. A familiar feeling of trepidation rises and keeps Gordon from saying much of anything.
"My bunk's this way," Barney says hurriedly, stepping inside. He gets several feet ahead before Gordon remembers to follow him. At the door, Barney pauses with his hand on the knob. Takes a deep breath, and releases it. Opens the door.
What Gordon expected was... well, a dormitory. Something to mirror the quarters that houses the rest of the on-site staff. But this is more of a... barracks.
Metal bunk beds line the walls, each with a crate at the foot. And in and around them is Barney. A lot of him. Meandering around, lying in bed. One is donning his work clothes, while another slips out of them. A few flick their eyes up toward him as the door opens, and turn away just as quickly.
Gordon has a realization that sends a nauseous bout of anxiety through him. Everyone in this room is paying full attention to him right now, even if they seem to be looking away. Because there's only one other person in here, and it's Barney.
Gordon steels himself. This is what he wanted, after all.
One of the other Barneys heads towards the door, dressed for work, and Gordon steps inside to get out of his way. 'His' Barney walks down the aisle of metal beds to an empty bunk. It creaks noisily as he sits down.
"Well, uh... here we are."
Gordon is lagging behind. His eyes rest on every identical body, trying to separate them in his mind. Has he seen some of them before? Which ones? There's little differences he's learned to look for - defects, his mind supplies. When he reaches the bunk, Barney's expression is pinched with worry.
"Is it... too much? We can go, if it is - "
"Where's Calhoun?" Gordon asks. Barney blinks owlishly.
"Huh? It's - uh, he's here."
As if on queue, a Barney at the far end of the room, who had been laying in bed, staring at the bunk above him, sits up. He joins Gordon and his other body.
Sure enough, when he's close, Gordon can see the little mark on his chin. As the two (and far more) of them fidget, Gordon looks between them.
"You know, It's not... we aren't different people, really. It's all me." The Barney on the bunk says, fisting his hands into his slacks.
"I know." Gordon says simply. "Which one is this?" He gestures at the body that had brought him in.
"That's... Beier." Calhoun says, crossing his arms and leaning against the bedpost.
Gordon nods. He sits on the bed across from Beier, bed springs whingeing, and looks at him intently.
"Whatcha doin there, doc?" Beier questions, face fraught.
"They're all a little different. Calhoun has a scar," he gestures to the body in question, and both of them stiffen.
"You - "
"I want to know what's different about this one."
There's a long silence. Then, Calhoun laughs disbelievingly - and his chuckle spills over into Beier. The sound ripples gently around the room, subdued little breaths of laughter finding their way out of a dozen bodies.
Gordon feels a thrill climb his spine, and this time, it's not from dread. Despite the very, very strange set of circumstances, he feels a fluttering in his chest.
Barney seems embarrassed at the momentary synchronization, however. Beier ducks his head and scratches his neck, while Calhoun clears his throat.
"Sorry about that," Calhoun says. "You just surprised me. Nobody's ever..." He trails off.
"Nobody's ever noticed things like that." A voice from behind Gordon finishes. "You're awfully perceptive, doc."
Gordon turns. A third body has joined their little group, dressed in sweatpants and a loose t-shirt.
"O'Conner," Calhoun supplies, before Gordon can ask.
Gordon stares at the body - O'Conner - a moment - and receives a shy grin in return. O'Conner sits on the other side of the bed, drawing his legs up to face them.
"Do you choose the names?" Gordon asks.
A sneer forms on Calhoun's face, and O'Conner scoffs, eyes darting away.
"No. They - uh…" he pauses suddenly, nearly biting his tongue.
"I get them from… well." Beier tries, and trails off similarly.
"I don't pick them." O'Conner finishes, voice flat.
Gordon looks between them, frowning.
"You - only gotta look at one, doc." Calhoun almost laughs, his grimace fading.
"How am I supposed to know?" Gordon says, movements petulant. His eyes still flick between them despite his efforts otherwise. "I'm never around more than one of you."
"Well, there's a reason for that." O'Conner says, looking away. When Barney doesn't elaborate, Gordon asks:
"And that reason is?"
"Well, just look at me, doc - look at us ." Calhoun says, voice a little strained. "People aren't meant to deal with… what I am.”
Once again, Barney’s face is marred by distress three times over. Gordon takes in the little differences in their tense expressions - Calhoun clenches his jaw, while Beier looks pointedly at the ground - and regrets asking.
“...Maybe.” Gordon says hesitantly. All three sets of eyes turn towards him as his hands move and he tries to ignore the way it makes his heart flip with anxiety. Being reassuring is not his strong suit, but Gordon feels the need to try. “You don’t have to hide from me.”
Barney’s glowering fades, mouths tilting up into three uncertain smiles. Calhoun straightens a bit where he stands.
“Doc…” He trails off, but none of Barney’s other bodies pick up the slack. Hesitantly, he steps forward and sits next to Gordon. The bed springs groan at the added weight. Gordon keeps his eyes on Calhoun, but he can feel Beier and O’Conner leaning in, waiting for… something.
“Thanks, Gordon.” Calhoun says. His eyes are light and clear, expression earnest. His hands fold over each other in his lap, like they’re looking for something to grab. “You’re a good friend.”