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]

"If you're lucky, you'll never have to," Atton said.

He came to a stop in front of a door. "And here we are," he said, reaching out to knock on the door.

It opened a minute later, revealing a pretty brunette girl. "Wha-- Jesus, Eric! What the hell?"

"My friend here got knocked on the head by some burly jackass at the bar," he said. "He's from out of town and doesn't like doctors all that much, so... I was hoping to cash in on that favor you owe me. You got a second bedroom, right?"

[myownface]

"Hey," Sparkle managed, with a little smile that was still a bit on the unsteady side. "I'm a pro at the couch-surfing thing. Won't be in the way or anything, promise."

Because, really, he wasn't going anywhere on his own accord any time soon.

... At least he'd washed up before being cracked over the head and smeared with some other guy's blood. He could almost fake being a respectable human being, this way.

[suitably_heroic]

"Come on," Atton said. "We don't really have anywhere else to go right now. He's got a concussion. He needs rest."

The girl crossed her arms. "Aren't you supposed to stay awake with a concussion?"

Oh, for the love of-- "That's just the movies, kid," he said. "Can we--"

She released a very deep sigh and rubbed at her face. "Fine," she snapped, "But don't make any noise and hurry through. My parents are visiting."

"Thanks," he said, and dragged Sparkle inside.

[myownface]

Sparkle mumbled something that was probably his own thanks under his breath, letting Atton drag him along. This was probably better than crashing in an alleyway, and he didn't exactly have the money for a stay in an American hospital overnight.

He leaned on Atton until they were at wherever they were going, keeping his head down the entire time.

"Just wanna sleep forever," he shared. "After like a bath or something."

Because... because.

[suitably_heroic]

"You really want to take a bath like this?" Atton said, eyeballing him. "Some of you people put way too much stock in hygiene, you know that?"

Or he put too little. Either or.

"If you're serious? We've got a sink. Baths make too much noise."

And he could hear Sue making shit up to her parents downstairs.

[myownface]

"Man, I'm like covered in some guy's blood here." And, okay, at least some of it was his own. But still. "Your lady friend won't ever look at you again if that gets in the bed. Sink'll do. I'd probably pass out in the tub or something, anyhow."

Because staying awake was hard.

[suitably_heroic]

"Fine."

Atton was taking that backpack of yours, Sparkle, and shaking it until all the clothes fell out. "You might want to start by taking off that shirt."

Okay, did they have a phone here? Because if they did, he might consider calling.

[myownface]

Well, one tumbled out of the bag- a cheap little clamshell cell phone with a pay-as-you-go plan tossed onto it. And there was a phone by the bed, so there were definitely options in that regard.

Sparkle, at least for the moment, was more interested in trying to work his way out of his shirt. The going was a bit slow, between the concussion and the kick he took to the ribs, but he managed to stubborn his way out of the bloody mess he was wearing after a few minutes of struggling and hissing between his teeth.

"Victory."

[suitably_heroic]

"Great work there."

Atton had picked up the phone by the bed and was now eyeing it curiously. "Hey, what's the number for your law-enforcers again?"

Keeping Sparkle talking and requesting important information! Double whammy!

[myownface]

"Um... 9-1-1?" Sparkle balled up the bloody wad of shirt in his hands and glanced over at Atton, managing a little bit of a smile. "You... gonna call 'em?"

That... actually kind of made him feel better. Not that he was going to make a big deal of it.

[suitably_heroic]

"I got nothing better to do," Atton said, dialing the number with one hand while the other busied itself stripping the case off a pillow. "Let me know when you're ready to crash."

This was turning out to be the worst night out he'd had in... well, at least since he left Nar Shaddaa.

Nar Shaddaa set a real low bar.

[myownface]

Sparkle kind of wanted to see this Nar Shadda for himself someday. Not because he thought for even a second that he'd last long there. More because the more Atton talked about it, the more he wanted to know what the hell it was all about.

You'd think he would have learned his lesson by going through the door.

"Yeah," he replied, looking around for the sink. "Probably pretty soon now. Staying 'wake is kinda... Not easy." He wadded up the shirt a little more. "Thanks for calling, man."

[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.