Outside a Metal Bar and Beyond, Baltimore, Thursday Evening

[suitably_heroic]

"Okay," Atton said, staring back at the door he'd just been thrown out through. "Okay, that could have gone better."

One of these days he was going to charm his way back into Linda's good graces. Damn it all. She'd yelled at him some more about being a jackass when he and Sparkle'd tried to come in acting like nothing had ever happened (what? It worked with Sia), but that clearly hadn't worked out for him all that well.

And okay, he did have some more aces up his sleeves if he wanted to use them, but he was... kind of trying not to do that.

"But hey, the night's still young, right?" Right.

The night was young! And cold. Very, very cold.

[[ for sparkle and misadventure. ]]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

"Don't get used to it," Atton said. "I just don't have anything else to do, and I got to stay awake."

He folded a layer of the pillow case over the phone and shifted the cadence of his voice some as he dropped off his message. Trace of blood leading down one street, worried, yadda yadda. It wouldn't keep the cops from stumbling onto the bar, but with any luck those idiots had been real mobsters and they wouldn't even try to stick around.

[myownface]

Sparkle kind of stood there, awkwardly listening to Atton leave the message before, deciding he was satisfied, making his way to the little attachment bathroom and starting to sponge himself off in the sink.

... That shirt was going to be a write-off, so he just left it in the little wastebasket next to the toilet. There wasn't exactly a better place to leave it, really.

And a few minutes later, when he felt slightly more human, he kind of wobbled his way out of the bathroom again and hung out in the doorway.

"So... sleep was a thing that you said could be a thing?"

... Thing?

[suitably_heroic]

Atton tossed the pillow case aside and eyed Sparkle over his shoulder. "Sure," he said. "I'll wake you up a couple times, just to make sure your brain hasn't gone funnier than I thought. But sleep is good."

Ah, well. He could hear Sue's parents getting ready to leave downstairs.

[myownface]

"Sleep sounds amazing," Sparkle agreed, closing his eyes and carefully resting his head against the doorframe. "You're okay with staying up? I could like... set a thing to... you know... beep."

An alarm? For the making of noise?

Oh, he'd regret that right away.

[suitably_heroic]

"Get in the bed and go to sleep," Atton said, rolling his eyes. "And just remind me to kick someone's pet in the morning."

Apparently Sparkle made him feel protective like the kid was a little brother or something. Atton didn't like it. The last thing he needed was getting attached to Fandom or people on it.

[myownface]

"I'm gonna totally forget by morning," Sparkle almost merrily related as he dragged himself toward the bed and, unceremoniously (and with much regret the moment after) flopped down on top of it.

Oh god those were fireworks in his brain.

"... Remind me never t'do that again."

[suitably_heroic]

"Never do that again," Atton said. "There. Another thing to forget."

Almost made him wish he was one of those people who believed in torturing themselves endlessly over their past actions. At least then he might've gotten some kind of fuzzy atonement buzz out of this.

[myownface]

"You're too good to me," Sparkle half-snarked, groping around for the blanket, because he needed to burrow the heck under it and maybe never come out ever again. "Thanks for... you know... draggin' my ass out of there."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton got up and walked a few steps towards the bathroom. He was thirsty all of a sudden. "Yeah, don't get used to it."

[myownface]

"Hoping... not to have to." Oh, man. This bed was probably more comfortable than anything Sparks had slept in in his life. "No more fucked-up... you know. Doors. Kay?"

It was really hard to keep his eyes open, damn it.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton snagged the closest thing that looked like a cup and filled it with water. "Space, kid, will you just go to sleep?" he said. "The quicker you get rest, the less banged-up your mind is going to be in the morning."

[myownface]

And for all of that, Sparkle just cracked a little grin, rolled over and buried his face into the pillow - oh shit that pillow had to be stuffed with like real feathers or something did people even make pillows with real feathers in them holy fuck that was nice - and closed his eyes.

"S'always bang'dup." Well, that was true enough. "Night, Att'n."

[suitably_heroic]

"Night, kid," Atton muttered.

He took a sip of water. And then another one. Water was pretty damned nice right now.

Downstairs, the door slammed shut. Sue's parents were out - that meant it was time for him to swoop in and do some damage control before she came up here and started yelling.

He cast Sparkle another look. Okay.

Then he slunk out through the door and headed downstairs to talk to Sue. Just a short one. He'd be back up to check on Fireball in fifteen, tops.