gluttoning: (044)
Beelzebub ([personal profile] gluttoning) wrote2023-08-28 10:39 am

SATURDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL (The World)



[FOOTBALL NOISES

aka this for IRL football watching or any communications outside Fragment. Yay football. :)]
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[personal profile] tablescraps 2023-09-21 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
( He frowns, slightly. Yeah, this is the part he's not good at. Even more because - what did he do when his life changed due to injury? Well, he became half-focused on death, half-focused on violence. Any reassurance he knows he knows from the lips of other people, but, even then, he isn't so sure how he feels about it all. He can't lobby back platitudes he doesn't wholly believe in.

A beat. )


... You're still enough for me.

( He offers a hand, palm up - to take, if Barrett wants it. )

It's fine if you don't have an appetite right now. I don't mind waiting, even if it takes a long time.
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[personal profile] tablescraps 2023-09-21 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
( The matter of appetite not being an issue when it comes to Mithrun earns a suggestion of surprise in his features. Still, he can feel the tension in the way Barrett holds his hand in both of his, and he wonders if this is maybe why his past self said too much to Barrett - in the inverse of how he is now, where he says too little. )

... It's hard.

( Losing things. He knows it. Their situations weren't perfectly similar, but loss and grief ring familiar. )

But the things you do for me don't rely on your strength. I think your brothers feel the same. ( In the end, what he likes is... ) ... I just like talking to you.

( He takes... Barrett's hand in his, the one facing his own palm-side, and holds a it a little firmer. )

But... it still feels bad, right? You don't have to do anything for anyone to have value. But it still feels awful.

( Coming from Mithrun, who's expressed frustration he can't do basic tasks anymore, that he always needs assistance, and struggles with independence - even if Barrett doesn't have to do anything to prove his worth, even if Barrett comes to believe that one day, things aren't easier just by virtue of their truth. )
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[personal profile] tablescraps 2023-09-22 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
( He feels the apology in his touch and he feels it's not quite - necessary. It's fine. It was better Barrett said those things than said nothing at all, he thinks. But he doesn't have the words for this. Give him a second - he'll get there. )

... I think you should do the things you want to do.

( Wow, thanks Mithrun. If only anyone else thought of that. But he's trying to speak sincerely - chipping away at an idea he's trying to get closer to. )

You want to figure things out for yourself and support your family in your own way. Right? So it's not enough if someone ( me, ) pays your way there, or anything. You want to do it yourself.

But there'll probably be a point where everyone splits off. ( He remembers even Booker wanted to be independent eventually, and he knows the rest of them are pretty far apart. They all seem to be in different fields already. ) They might not need you to support them financially, or take care of them. They might be just fine on their own.

When that happens... Will you still want someone to take care of, to support? ( Do you want it, or need it? Is it both? ) Or do you think you'll find it in you to relax?

( He's not critical, or judgmental. The questions are genuine. Barrett should do the things he wants to do - and that means knowing what that is. He wants to accomplish whatever it is on his own - Mithrun doesn't think that's changed. But the rest is what he thinks Barrett should define. )
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[personal profile] tablescraps 2023-09-22 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
( Maybe Barrett should've been the bunny that night of the Telo dinner...

He's quiet as Barrett speaks, his lips pursed, brows furrowed, in thought. He thinks this is the bigger issue, really - this desire to be needed by others, by his family. Because he could tell him practically, you can be a lifeguard, you can be a chef, you can find a great number of professions that don't ask you to sit in an office and don't ask for your body in its prime. These are all true things. But it doesn't really matter if he can manage these things on his own, if the end goal is to keep close to everybody else, if he can't believe he deserves peace and content.

Eventually: )


... It's not the same as family, but...

( His gaze falls to their hands, his hand in Barrett's, and his voice trails off. It's not the same as family - it's probably not worth that much, even. But it feels so strange how on Thursday he'd been in this hazy dream, where he'd settled on his death, and then - stumbled into Saturday, and he found he'd never been so panicked about another person, not since Niamh. He'd never been so angry. He lives self-centric in most ways, but it felt for the first time like he had gotten out of his own head.

It's really not the same as family. He considers again if he shouldn't pivot off this. He hesitates, but, eventually: )


... Could I try living like I won't leave you alone?

( Like he'll be there on that day his brothers say they're fine and independent - like Barrett won't be by himself; like he won't hand what's left of his life to the professor on a silver platter, and beg him to eat it.

It's not worth a lot, because he knows he can't promise so much. He doesn't think Barrett would believe any foolhardy proclamation that he's decided to abandon his revenge, anyway. But - he can try, he would try, if it means something to Barrett. His fingers curl light against Barrett's palm. Maybe he just wants it to mean something to Barrett. )
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[personal profile] tablescraps 2023-09-22 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
( He shakes his head. )

... I can't live for you.

( Feral cats can become barn cats, but they can't really become house cats. He doesn't have any illusions about that - that he has crossed some point of no return, in terms with his proclivity. Mithrun doesn't need other people to be happy - not anymore. He's not like Barrett; he's not like a lot of people he knows. )

I don't know what you think I need. I don't need a carer, or an accessory. ( In murder, he means. ) But... no one spoke to me after my accident. Then they put me in that apartment and told me not to go outside. And I got this book for you because I thought... we could talk about it, later.

Companionship is a choice that I make. And I like choosing yours.

( ... )

... I don't need anything from another person. But there are things I've come to like. I liked going to the carnival. I liked walking through the low surf. I liked... the idea of cooking with you. ( Little gestures, new experiences; mundane things, faintly interwoven. ) ... But, it sounds like... that's not enough for you.

( That Barrett needs - to take care of and support someone in some larger way, a way more dramatic that satisfies himself, that soothes his own anxieties. That someone who is able to be content with themself just leaves Barrett lonely. )
Edited 2023-09-22 05:56 (UTC)
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[personal profile] tablescraps 2023-09-22 06:50 am (UTC)(link)
( Hearing this, he thinks - maybe... the way he phrased his question had been poor. Maybe it didn't describe what he was trying to get at. It's... Mm... It's kind of like...

Gently he brings up his other hand and he lays it on Barrett's, and he takes his hands apart - Barrett's hand in each of his, like Barrett had done when guiding him into the water, before they'd walked back side by side. )


... Then can you let me try to show you that you're enough, even now?

( Maybe that's it. It feels a little more right. Does it convey? Does it carry? He can't promise he's going to be here in a few years, he isn't trying to ask Barrett to be with him right now. But, you know - this isn't it, this isn't all. That's what he means. Isn't that what Barrett tried to tell him, too?

He curls his fingers against Barrett's own, his hold light but firm. )


... It feels like, maybe... you think people can only lean on you when you're a certain way, doing certain things. I like those things, too. But it doesn't seem like it's enough for you, when I say you've helped me other ways.

( "I can't take care of you or Booker or anybody by just talking to you." If only Barrett knew how quiet things had been, with nothing for company, before Fragment. That Kabru and Cithis began to talk to him is something of a recent development. )

I don't know if I can thrive yet. But I'm learning things, being with you. ( Being Barrett, being with others - fumbling through relationships, experiences, learning he's loved, learning what it means to matter... ) I think that's worth something.
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[personal profile] tablescraps 2023-09-22 08:12 am (UTC)(link)
( Ah. Is this what it's like to connect, or get close enough to it? He doesn't know if - he can make Barrett happy. He doesn't know if he can promise he'll learn how to thrive, he doesn't know if he can really be the one to show Barrett he's worth a lot more than he thinks he is - and he doesn't know if he has to be all these things, anyway. Barrett has six other brothers and these many friends who care for him, too.

He squeezes Barrett's hands as his tears roll down his cheeks. )


... It's okay if it takes awhile. I think... I can try to figure it out with you - how I feel about myself.

( Because he isn't convinced he's enough either, but - well - first - he's not - he's going to say he's passed up revenge as an eventuality, or anything. But if he thinks for a moment, as a hypothetical, that maybe he won't pursue it - not a commitment to the idea, but trying the idea out, to see how it fits - would it feel like this, sometimes? Not less empty, but more - forgetting, a little bit, that he feels that way?

That was the feeling in his chest, when he first asked if he could try. He's not that good with words or feelings. He's getting there. )


... I want... to keep talking to you. And for you to keep talking to me. Even when you say things I don't believe about myself. I like them. Because... I do like you. ( A gentle rebuttal of the apology Barrett had signed into his palm. ) I can try to say it more. There's a lot of things I think but don't say.

( He'll need to recognize that he's in the process of liking something and then pull together a compliment, but - he's open to the idea. Barrett worries a lot about what people need, but he guesses not a lot of people get to hear what he needs, in turn. )
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[personal profile] tablescraps 2023-09-24 11:52 am (UTC)(link)
( He's fine without anyone else. He understands this to be true; he had thought on it for a time after he broke his feelings off from Hani and Justy earlier like he would a ceramic plate. And he had thought, it had hurt when he brought the thing over his knee and snapped it, but he no longer feels the tension on either side of the half-split crack that'd been running through him, and he feels at ease. He understood he could still set aside anything. And so he had come to some balance with Barrett in the ocean, in that - he looked toward the professor before he looked toward Barrett.

So this isn't, really - needing. It's kindling something else. Killing the professor is a need, because he doesn't know what else to do with himself, because he doesn't know what other meaning there is for him if not for that. And maybe it's a little weightier in his chest to say I choose this, I've decided to want this, when I know I have every means to walk away.

With each tumbling and tear and word, his chest feels not so much a steady beat as it does a gentle thump, one that lands a little heavier and a little softer into its soft bed of feeling with each repeat. So naturally, like a reflex, he meets the gentle squeeze at his hand with a full and proper hold, so he is not so much keeping Barrett's hands wrapped in his as he is holding it, mutually, with as much intent as he can manage. )


... If you want to yell at them, then yell. They don't know you. And if you don't know the words yet, you'll find them. We'll find them, it sounds like.

( He says it like a fact - like a weather forecast - like maybe they just don't know when, but it's bound to happen from the look of it. His voice is certain and frank, as it is when he speaks of things he knows.

He squeezes Barrett's hands once more before he lets them slip free, just so he can gently let the palms come to rest on either side of Barrett's face; the fingers half-spread, so they can curl light into his wet face. )


... You're enough for me. ( The phrase echoes familiar. ) You, you as you are. I like seeing into you - seeing you. And you don't look broken from where I am.
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[personal profile] tablescraps 2023-09-25 07:39 am (UTC)(link)
( Barrett's tears are hot against his palm, and Barrett's hand is hot against his skin; he cradles his face with a little more steadiness when Barrett presses his face in, like he needs a place to rest his head. Barrett needs time like he's working his heart through a strainer, and Mithrun doesn't mind staying here. He accepts what he sees as Barrett, too - with weakness, with faltering; but still, Mithrun thinks, whole.

He'd meant it, when he said he liked Barrett like this, too. Mithrun is not so good at reading hearts; he can't see them so well when they're hidden away. He thinks he understands this a little better - the vulnerability, and how it balances Barrett's affection. And Barrett seems a creature of love, if anything - in that so much of what he does is defined by how he cares for others.

Caring, wanting - are both hungry things. And Barrett offers them to him anyway, even while red-faced and teary. Gentle thumps, gentle thumps. He can't think of Barrett as anything like a mess. )


... I think... I'd like that. I trust you, too.

( His palm presses into Barrett's cheek, fingers brushing into his hair. He'd considered for a moment if there was anything better to say here, but he guesses he will never quite have a hang of what the right thing to say he; he can only be transparent and honest.

Which, speaking of honesty and feelings. He recognizes a feeling that he'd just sort of been overlooking for a time - he just notices it now. If his hands weren't preoccupied, he might've just followed his impulse into direct motion; but, because he's almost reluctant to move them: )


... Would it hurt if I came up onto the bed?

( Like, not in with Barrett exactly, but up beside him. Getting closer, as it were. )
Edited 2023-09-25 07:40 (UTC)
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[personal profile] tablescraps 2023-09-25 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
( !

His fingers curl and brush along the underside of Barrett's eye before he lets his hands slip away, carrying away what's left of the wet lingering there - taking in, for a moment, his red-eyed, wet-faced gaze; better now, he thinks. He wonders how often Barrett lets himself cry.

Then he abides by the charmingly eager tug and he pushes himself up and into the bed. It's a quick and easy motion, slipping in just beside him - against the chest, just under the arm - a little snug, but comfortably so. He's thankfully petite enough to Tetris in. As he comes to settle in against him, cheek brushing against his chest (not really sitting up, but not fully lying down yet, either), he is quiet for a moment; past the familiar sterility of the hospital and its familiar fabrics, he feels... )


... You're warm.

( He says, gazing up at him. It's a tone of surprise, and positive regard. To Mithrun, who runs a little stuff and cold, and for the both of them sat in the off-kilter cool hospital, Barrett might as well be a radiator. If he thinks back on it, he thinks he may have vaguely noticed this before, on the occasions Barrett has picked him up, but he's never totally registered it like he finally has now. )
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[personal profile] tablescraps 2023-09-26 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
( Oh, oops. There's definitely a sense of regard, a frown, when Barrett winces - but he's willing to let the matter be for the moment when Barrett reassures.

If the awkward and smushed-up positioning of the bed, the equipment, and the Barrett bother Mithrun, he doesn't seem to indicate it; or, mind if he does, as with most things.

Naps, huh... )


... No. You're comfortable.

( Hmm!! He sets his cheek against Barrett with a contemplative expression, as if to test it. (He may look too seriously thoughtful considering the levity of the subject matter.) Hadn't he done this before at the picnic? He was a little tipsy then, he thinks... Had he fallen asleep then? Was that because of the alcohol, or Barrett? )

... I can't really sleep, normally. I usually take medication for it. ( Sleeping, like eating and The Basic Human Instinct To Remain Alive, is also a thing he lost. ) But I feel like I might've fallen asleep against you last time...

( :thinking: )
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[personal profile] tablescraps 2023-09-27 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
( "Sometimes," huh. He figures Booker must nap on Barrett more often than not. He can't really imagine what it's like to be that close with your sibling - twinship might have something to do with it, but even Barrett and Levi were close. He thinks briefly back to Cael, before his thoughts return here.

It isn't lost on him, the familiar echo of their situation - a mirror of some week ago, an inverse of the day before; it isn't lost on him, the warming sensation of his firmer hold. )


... Sleep too, if you're tired.

( He closes his eyes in quiet affirmation that he'll see if he can get some rest against the gentle radiator that Barrett is. He shifts - not so much getting comfortable but finding some closer position, arm curling up over Barrett's chest as he rests against him - and seems to settle there. )

I'll be back tomorrow, too. As long as you're here.

( He's not going anywhere. He couldn't tell you why or what for; he just simply has decided this would be true, and so he will be here.

His breathing remains steady for a time; the same, quiet breaths in his same, slow rhythm. Conscious, not really minding the silence; not needing to talk, even if it's what he likes. Being here is all right. And in the quiet depths of his relaxed mind, there is some part of him that finds relief in this; he doesn't realize how exhausted he'd been, all wound up and upset over Barrett.

Eventually, his breathing starts to slow. It's a gradual gradient. It languishes in its pace, but it flows its way to restfulness eventually. His expression relaxes, and the tension in his muscles goes soft.

Mithrun doesn't really dream; and he doesn't either, this time. But the darkness that finds him now is something more comforting, more safe than he's found it in a long time. )