MCA #4, Monday Morning

[suitably_heroic]

Okay, Atton couldn't say he was wild about finding out that Sparkle had some issues regarding him not being around from Sparkle's nosy boyfriend instead of Sparks himself. He'd make a point out of getting grumpy about it some time after the whole thing got fixed.

For now, he'd informed Mical that he could take care of the three-day diplomatic event by himself, he was a trained diplomat and Atton most pointedly was not. That left him with some time to hang around the island, talk to Sparkle a little, get the worst settled, the works.

That was the plan, anyway.

Waking up on Monday morning with an itch in the back of his head that bounced off of an awakening itch all over the island? That had not been in the plans.

"Oh, space," he grumbled, as he stood in the kitchen and the first hit of coffee smacked him upside the head. "Please just be last night's meatloaf."

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[suitably_heroic]

"I mean, that always works well, until it creeps up on you in the middle of the night and tries to choke you on the spot," Atton said cheerfully. "... But yeah, I get that. Should've paid closer attention."

[myownface]

"I mean," Sparkle shrugged, "you had a lot of shit on your plate. I don't blame you for not noticing when I'm swallowing it back like it's not there so you don't have to... like... deal with me, too."

Mira, Meetra... last year had been bad.

[suitably_heroic]

"Sparks, helping you out isn't dealing with you. Space, you've dragged me out of my own misery how many times? Are you going to tell me you were huffing and puffing the whole way, complaining about your stupid best friend who couldn't get his ass off the floor?"

[myownface]

"... Wasn't doing that, no," Sparkle allowed. "I dunno. I dunno, you know? I'm not supposed to give a shit. It's all bullshit and I don't care, it's easier for everyone when I just don't care. Right up until I do care and then I'm freaking out and doing shit like asking one of my boyfriends why he's not doing crap like Lewis or Alec did, apparently."

He made a frustrated little sound in his throat.

"I've internalized all the wrong shit and I hate it, it's stupid."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton rubbed his forehead.

"I'm going to tell you something that's going to blow your mind," he said, "But literally no one has thought of you as the guy who doesn't give a shit in, what, three years? Four?"

[myownface]

Sparkle wrinkled his nose a little at that.

"See, I'm slipping, I have to work on that."

... He probably would not. He wasn't fooling anybody. And... he kind of didn't want to.

[suitably_heroic]

Yeah, the look on Atton's face read come on seconds before he actually said it out loud.

[myownface]

And Sparkle sighed, and smiled lopsidedly, and hiked one shoulder up a little.

"Or work on getting more comfortable with admitting it. Is there, like, a happy medium there?"

[suitably_heroic]

"I think that would be the happy medium," Atton drawled. "The other side would be you running through the street yelling about free hugs."

[myownface]

"I save that one for Pride," Sparkle mused. "And that's more about being a defiant little shit than touchy-feeeeely."

[suitably_heroic]

"A hug with a raised middle-finger, like the Force intended," Atton agreed.

[myownface]

"One of my favourite kinds," Sparkle all but chirped.

And then he went quiet for a few seconds.

"So... everything's cool?"

He worried, okay.

[suitably_heroic]

"I mean, I reserve the right to smack you later for waiting so long I had to sit through Tea Shop Guy jumping wildly from 'overly polite' to 'openly hostile' for half an hour to find out something was wrong," Atton said.

A little bit because he was still annoyed by that, but mostly because he was Atton and he didn't physically know how to navigate an Important Conversation without bitching about something.

"But yeah, we're good. I'll be here until Wednesday night, maybe Thursday morning." He pointed at Sparkle. "Bug me."

[myownface]

Sparkle smiled crookedly at that.

"I'll tell him to smack me first, next time," he offered. And then nodded. "I'll bug you. I will bug you so much you'll bitch about why you decided it was a good idea to tell me to bug you in the first place."

Because that was the kind of relationship they had, mostly.

[suitably_heroic]

Also because Atton bitching was a bet so reliable they stopped giving odds for it.

"Good," he muttered. "And stop by my bar nights if you can. I'll bug Mical about cleaning up my schedule some more."

[myownface]

"Sunday nights," Sparkle replied, nodding solemnly. "Clearing that part of my schedule now."

A pause.

"I mean, there's gonna be stuff I don't wanna talk about in the bar, if I do this big stupid," terrifying, "thing I wanna do, though, so you're gonna have me being pesty outside of Caritas hours too. Be forewarned and all that."

[suitably_heroic]

"That's fine," Atton said easily. "My phone's usually off if I'm in the middle of people shooting at me, but you let me know if you need me outside of that, I'll see about getting back here."

[myownface]

Sparkle nodded a little more, and then, after a moment of just kind of awkwardly scuffing his toe against the floor, just said, "Thanks, man."

Brains were stupid.

He needed to get better about being aware of the stupid shit his was pulling when it started to pull stupid shit.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton took a step forward and tossed an awkward fake-punch at Sparkle's shoulder. "Just don't tell anyone else about this," he said, finally unable to resist. "Or everyone's going to come to me demanding attention."

[myownface]

"Your secret is safe with me," Sparkle replied solemnly, giving a little fake-sway to go with that fake-punch. "I'm terrible at sharing, anyway."

[suitably_heroic]

"Hey, that's right," Atton said brightly. "Maybe next time someone tries to get too touchy-feely with me, I'll just sic you on 'em."

[myownface]

"I can get super scrappy," Sparkle replied, nodding solemnly. "All shall fear me when I go right for the eyes."

Said, of course, while making little cat-claw gestures with the hand not currently holding his coffee.

[suitably_heroic]

"Yyyeaaaaah, maybe work on that one a little longer, Sparks," Atton drawled.

[myownface]

"What if I put down the coffee and use both hands?"

A little double-rarr-I'm-so-vicious action?