Open! Come to me my pretties.

[inthejunk]

Who:New and old CR. it's a party! Sorry for inviting Yosuke...
When:Tuesday or after. But go for after if you don't want to deal with Pull sickness.
Where:Give me a setting, I'll play along. Maximizing new CR potential. Hell, he can wander into a strip club if you want, or an underground lab. We'll blame the brain fuzzies.
Summary:Happy reunions, unhappy reunions, potential unexpected meetings, etc.
Warnings:Probably some grumbling and cursing, and whatever other mischief people like.



It's cold compared to Inaba, Japan, anyway. Especially considering it had been August in Japan. So if Yosuke is hunched over in his summer uniform, puffing and huffing and stamping a bit unhappily, can he really be blamed?

Last night he was safe at home in his own bed, probably sweating in his sheets while cicadas chirped and the fan on his desk hummed quietly. Today, he's on this cold, grey island instead. It turns out it wasn't just a dream. Or if it is a dream, it isn't quite over yet.

And it's turning his freaking fingers blue. Swell.

Comments

[retraced]

[He winces and recoils back as Yosuke wheezes his way to the bed and proceeds to soap up the sheets with whatever suds he missed in his mad dash to lie down. He stands and stares in shock for a brief second until he's sure that the boy hasn't had a stroke or choked to death, and then gives a tiny flustered sigh before walking into the bathroom and grabbing another towel.

Marching towards the bed now. He sits down next to his fallen friend and rubs the towel over his damp head. No way he's letting Yosuke fall asleep with wet hair - cartoon logic dictates that this is the leading cause of pneumonia.]

What were you doing? Trying to breathe underwater?

[inthejunk]

[Yosuke grunts a little, but for once he's too out of it to protest at Gilbert's fussing. He just pulls the blankets from the edge and curls up under the part of it he can reach without really moving. He sighs a little, which makes some of the suds gurgle in his throat again. Eugh.]

Fell asleep.

[retraced]

I told you that you would.

[He shakes his head and reaches out to help Yosuke finish tugging the blankets up over himself before going back to toweling off his hair.]

You can sleep properly now. And when you wake up...things will...

[He can't promise that they'll be better, no matter how badly he wants to offer Yosuke that reassurance.]

Well, you'll feel more awake.

[inthejunk]

[That gets a sort of gurgly snort, followed by a wheeze 'cause ow, his lungs. Yosuke sighs tiredly, and a tiny bubble escapes one nostril the way they sometimes do a bottle of dish soap.

Interesting.]

Less make somethin' nice for her. Rose candy or...nice stuff.

[retraced]

[That's...not natural. He walks across the room and returns with a tissue box. You're blowing your own nose though, dude.]

Do you know how to make it? [If not, he's going to just have to do some research.]

[inthejunk]

[He dabs at it a little, tiredly. He's still not going to do something like that in front of you, dude.

Well, except that one time but that was an emergency. It's totally different.]

Uh...maybe just...oranges. Those taste happy, right?

[retraced]

[Huh, food that tastes happy? He's never been good at this sort of thing, but he thinks about it for a second before answering.]

People are happiest when they're eating something sweet, I think.

[inthejunk]

You mean like-u-ugh.

[The thought of Break makes his head whirl a little still, that miserable car ride a little too fresh in his memory.]

She liked the an pan. I-you made that, right? I gave her some...when...

[Oh. He sits up suddenly, alarmed out of the drowsiness.\

Shika's dead.

[retraced]

[Gil hesitates as he watches Yosuke sit up, raising one hand cautiously as he stutters over the words that he has to end up holding back. He'd only met the man once, but he still knows how much he meant to the people he'd left behind here.]

Yosuke... [He exhales, slowly.

Come on, lie down. We can talk about that later.

Our coding is fucking flawless. :|

[inthejunk]

[Something hot slides down Yosuke's face, but it's hard to care about that. The sudden, unexpected grief is like being blindsided by a locomotive. It's all just too much. So when Gilbert tells him to lie down he does it, helpless to resist a command when it's so impossible to think for himself at the moment. He lies silently for a moment, not even bothering to hide the stunned tears that are still running down his cheeks. The forgetting is a curse, the way it makes old wounds sharp and fresh and heavy on his chest. He swallows, and tries to remember to breathe.]

I don't...I can't...

I can't. I just-

[There it is. He should have been expecting it, but it catches him completely off guard when the sob wrenches it's way out. Gilbert shouldn't have to deal with this. Gilbert has already dealt with some of this, has already saved him from friends and enemies and his own stupidity more times than he can even remember. Literally. It just isn't fair to break down on his watch like this. So Yosuke claps a hand over his mouth to try and hold the next sob in.]

[retraced]

[In a way, seeing Yosuke break fills him with relief. Pain held back can create enough pressure to destroy a fragile body like his, especially after seeing whatever it was that left brain residue and blood on his clothing. This explosion of grief, fear, whatever terrible things he's seen; Gilbert understands this reaction. It's the same one that he used to fear when he'd faced his own broken, troubled past.

But that only caused conflict, indecision. The weight of his choices is lighter in this world than his own, but just as time is broken, so is reality. Watching a man die here is different than it would be at home, for all of them.

He tips his head down, staring down at the floor for a moment to try and give Yosuke at least a little privacy to have his cry. But after a second of hesitation he moves to his friend's side, sitting down on the bed next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder gently, and in silence.]

[inthejunk]

[Yosuke turns away, embarrassed and ashamed and frustrated with himself. But he doesn't shrug the hand away this time, he just buries his face in the bedding so he can't be seen. And hopes that it muffles his voice enough to obscure an ugly confession:]

I want to go home. I can't do this again.

[retraced]

[He doesn't catch every word, but he hears enough to understand what Yosuke is saying.]

You can. You've done it before.

[inthejunk]

[He groans, and curls up again. But the sobs are already turning into hiccoughs. He's too exhausted to handle these emotions right now.]

[retraced]

[He glances over at the door, but asks first:]

Would you like some privacy?

[But he doesn't make any move to leave, not unless Yosuke tells him to.]

[inthejunk]

[Yosuke doesn't reply at all. At least not in words. But he grabs the cuff of Gilbert's shirt loosely between two fingers. There are too many monsters when he tries to close his eyes right now. It's better to have backup. Whatever details he's fuzzy on, he knows without a doubt that he trusts Gilbert. For now, that's enough.]

[retraced]

[He knows better than to say a word. He sits in silence right where he is, not moving a single muscle, and lets Yosuke hold on as tight as he wants. He doesn't plan on leaving until he's asked, doesn't plan on speaking until he's questioned. A rock is only there to give structure and be leaned on, and he's okay being Yosuke's rock as long as he needs to be.]

I don't have a sleeping icon anymore shh just pretend

[inthejunk]

[Thankfully, Gilbert is a far more comfortable rock than that one he fell asleep on at the beach when he was tipsy. And he's enough of a calming presence that Yosuke drops into a deep, exhausted sleep quickly enough, and his hand sinks off of Gilbert's wrist. It dangles off the side of the bed, fully relaxed. Any fits and starts that are usually there are buried under thick layers or subconscious. For the moment, Yosuke is absurdly peaceful, all things considered. Quality rocking, Gil-san.]