[Lyle is frantically running around his apartment searching for any trace of the green menace.]
not NOW there's a 60% CHANCE A CRYPTID IS LOOSE IN MY HOUSE
[From another room, Mitch pokes out his head.]
The fuck are you doing?
[lyle pauses, their whole body practically snapping to face their roommate.]
MITCH. DID YOU SEE A GREEN BASTARD WITH A STITCHED HEAD AND 6 NIPPLES CRAWL THROUGH HERE???
[Mitch tilts his head, thinking it over for a second or two.]
uh, i dunno. heard something running around and bumping into shit a bit ago but i thought that might've been you.
you thought it was- I'M NOT THAT CLUMSY ASSHOLE. that musthave been it. shit. I have to sweep through this whole apartment to make certain it hasn't escaped yet-
where do each of you guys work, if anywhere? what do you contribute to the delicate dialtown eco-system (mold) and society (mold) ???
YAYY Hellooo! First ask!
Well... we can start off with the others first, right?
Uh, my work? Well, I work part time at the computer repair shop.
My only job is being FUCKING COOL. What do YOU contribute to our mold?
Uhh... I used to work at Bunny's burgers a while back. That job sucked. Really glad I quit it actually.
Now I... don't do much. Just kinda do favors for people I know and they give me cash in return... I have always wanted to be an actor, though.
Uuuh, Lyle's busy right now so I guess i'll answer for him. I think they're a freelance programmer. That's at least part of the reason why they're always in his room, besides the crazy stuff they always talk about.
Anddd as for me... I'm... Working on that! Don't worry about it!! <3
“... They’re not gonna let us out.” Mitch mutters in defeat, staring at Luis who was just calling for their friends and slamming on the door in a rather panicked fashion.
Luis huffs, looking back at the taller. “Yeah. I’ve gathered that.” He bit back, crossing his arms.
Mitch flinches a little at Luis’s tone, facing away. The two stand there in silence for what feels like a millennia. The only sound audible being the muffled sounds of the city outside and Luis’s foot tapping on the ground antsily.
“I can’t believe they’d do something so damn childish. I’m not going to let them hear the end of this when we get out- especially Byrne. He’s an adult, she should’ve been responsible and stopped Dorrie from doing something stupid-” The one with the record player head rambled, and kept rambling, while Mitch leaned against the wall near the door out of Byrne’s room.
“You’re not listening to a word i’m saying are you?” Luis grumbled.
“I was listening a bit.” Mitch replied, fidgeting with the sleeves of his flannel.
Luis scoffs, “Yeah, you’ll listen, but you won’t say anything back.” Then he pauses, staring straight at the taller man, as if waiting to be proven wrong.
“...Sorry.” Mitch supplied pathetically, his eyes resting anywhere but Luis’s face.
“Oh yeah, and all you can give me is a sad little ‘sorry’- Why is that all you can say to me sometimes?” The shorter man scowled, stepping around to face the taller head on.
This time Mitch dignified him with no response, not even a meek apology. Luis’s hackles only seemed to rise at his silence, the shorter man’s shoulders tensing with agitation.
“And now you can’t even say ANYTHING! My God- just fucking fantastic. I’m stuck in a room with YOU of all people and even backed into a corner you have nothing to say for yourself. This night is just going lovely.” Luis complained, pacing around the bedroom.
“I didn’t choose to be here either.” Mitch sighed, gaze firmly planted on the carpet beneath his feet.
Luis halted immediately at the sound of MItch’s voice, his head snapping to face him. “Oh, yeah? You didn’t choose it. You NEVER choose it when I’M involved. If you would’ve known i’d be the only person here you’d be stuck with you would’ve steered far clear of it all!”
“...Luis…”
Luis took a step towards Mitch as he spoke. “What’s so wrong with being alone with me? Why are you so damn averse to it? And why are you even more averse to the idea alone of having a conversation with me??”
“I don’t want to argue.” Mitch stayed resolute, stuffing his hands in his pockets and turning his head away again.
Luis took another step, his voice slowly beginning to rise in aggression and volume. “Well what the hell can I have when arguing is the only time you actually tell me anything?!”
“Stop it.”
Another step, and he was fairly close to the taller man now. “You want me to stop it then say something! Argue back! Fight with me, dammit!”
Mitch’s voice didn’t quite become louder, but he tried to put a little firmness in it, glancing towards Luis. “Luis I mean it. You don’t want this.”
Luis scoffs once more, pointing a finger at Mitch as he retorts back once again. “As if YOU can decide what I want. It honestly annoys me so damn much how you try to act like this big strong caretaker and push your ideas of what you’re thinking onto others.”
Sighing, Mitch moves his head back to face Luis once more, this time looking at him. “I”m not pushing an idea. I’ve seen how arguments between us end.”
Luis groans. “Maybe they wouldn’t end so badly if you’d actually LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE.” He gestures towards the other and then himself exasperatedly in an attempt to get his point even farther across.
Mitch crosses his arms at this, his tone less quiet than before but still as uncomfortable as the beginning of the argument. “I don’t understand why you say that when you don’t listen to me either. Whenever we fight, it just keeps escalating no matter what I say to you.”
“And since when was the last time you actually properly talked back in an argument??? Without hiding things or mincing words??” Luis retorts, his hands now resting on his hips, with his head cocked to the side.
At this question, Mitch took a few seconds to mull over his thoughts, carefully recalling the answer and presenting it in a solemn tone. “... After Katherine died.”
At the mention of Katherine, silence blanketed over the room once more.The air almost felt colder than it did at first, which was already unusual since Byrne hates the cold and liked to keep his room warm.
Luis piped up after a bit again, shaking his head. “Okay. Okay you should know that silence drives me crazy. We’re not going quiet again. You’re not escaping this- not this time.”
Mitch sighs, heavier than before. “Luis.”
Luis’s head snaps straight towards Mitch, looking him dead on. “Don’t ‘Luis’ me. You talk to me like i’m a kid sometimes- even if it isn’t in your choice of words usually it’s that damn tone you use. You sound like a stern parent and it makes me livid.” He seethed.
“I don’t.” The taller one’s tone sounds a bit more strained now, though he still kept up an impenetrable, impassive wall like everything depended on it.
At this though, Luis finally completely snaps. “You JUST DID. You can’t bullshit your way out of that- I KNOW what I heard. I’m not some hot-headed, sensitive, little snot-nosed child anymore! I’m DIFFERENT now! I’ve CHANGED, i’ve GROWN- What more do you want from me?! Everyone else seems to be pleased enough with how I am now so why are YOU the only one left? Why are you so fucking STUBBORN? What do I need to do to get you to stop treating me like scum?!” He fumed, gesticulating animatedly while he yelled at the other.
And again, loathingly, again- silence comes back in response. It’s almost scathing now- it mocks Luis and all his efforts. He wants to grab Mitch by the shoulders and throttle him until they’re both dizzy. He wants to scream at him until his speakers were ringing. But even with all this anger inside him, burning his insides up, it was more akin to a flame on a candle as it swiftly burnt out- and all the emotions he felt were replaced with a forlorn, exhausted pit. Luis’s hands fell gently to his sides, and his shoulders slumped. He let out a shuddering breath, trembling like the last leaf falling from a winter tree.
“...Do you really still hate me that much? Why can’t I prove myself to you? Why am I not deserving? I just- I’m just fuckin’ tired of this, man. I just want to be your friend. I don’t want to keep doing this.” The one with a record player for a head admitted, gaze downcast and the lid of his casing starting to close.
Mitch collected his thoughts. He was caught off guard at the sudden outburst, and the sad display afterwards, yes, but more than anything he’d been taken by surprise at the revelation he’d been finally forced to face once he heard all of these words. Once the gears in his head had started turning, he’d come to a conclusion that frankly, seemed laughably easy. And he lamented. He couldn’t keep standing there quietly though- it was the exact opposite of what Luis needed him to do in this moment.
For once, he realized he needed to use his words. And that, he did. “I want to protect you. Or… more accurately, that’s what I’ve thought i’ve been doing. For once, I really genuinely want to say I’m sorry. I'm sorry for what I said to you after Katherine died and I'm sorry that I refused to talk to you afterwards. I'm not 'sorry' in any of the ways i’ve said it to you all these years, as a poor excuse to try to get out of an uncomfortable conversation- but as an earnest apology. you don’t need to accept it. But I atleast want you to know now I’ve realized how much i’ve fucked up finally and that I want to amend my mistakes. Because the truth that i’ve come to terms with, that you’ve made me realize, is that I wasn’t protecting you from getting hurt- I was protecting myself. I could never be more ashamed in myself than now, if i’m honest.”
Now, it was Luis’s turn to stand there in silence. Only for a few seconds though, as his lid closed and tears immediately started forming from his optical sensors. Luis brought his sleeves up swiftly to wipe them away, sniffling as they fell down onto the flooring despite his best efforts.
His voice came out wobbly, but he managed to speak clearly enough anyways. “...You… J-jeez, how long did it take for us just to get to such a simple resolution?” Luis starts laughing, all through his tears. He hiccups, and whimpers, but the sounds of his giggling persists through it all. “You’re such an idiot, you know? I am too though. We were both idiots.” He states, his voice smiling.
Mitch can’t possibly just stand there and watch Luis cry- even if he’s laughing too. Something comes over him suddenly, and it feels almost natural despite the last time he felt this was when they were kids. He wants to hug Luis tight and reassure him until he stops crying, soothing him by rubbing patterns onto his back. The fact alone that it’s been so long since there’s been an appropriate situation to do such a thing was making him hesitate, though he couldn’t hold back atleast a gentle hand to rest on his friend’s shoulder.
Mitch’s voice came out gingerly, matching the lightness of his touch. “I know, Lu..- can I call you Lu?”
Luis paused once more, looking back up at Mitch. He nods, and unexpectedly, pulls the taller man into a hug. “Sure. That’s okay. As long as you’re not looking at me as if i’m the Lu from 6 or 20 years ago.”
Mitch is caught off guard again, but quickly adapts to the hug, reciprocating and securing the shorter in his arms. “Of course not. You’re much different now than how you were then- the only thing that’s the same is that you’re still my best friend.”
Luis feels an ache in his heart hearing Mitch call him his ‘best friend’- It wasn’t an ache of longing, or of sadness like he had felt before when he thought of how he missed when the two of them used to act so close- it was a pleasant ache. It felt warm, and almost bittersweet. They had been fighting for so long now, and a part of Luis’s brain, his subconscious doubts had almost had him convinced things would never improve between them- that he’d messed up their relationship like so many other things in his past and this one was a wound that he would never be able to stitch up. But, kindly, those doubts were proven wrong. And he was so happy they were.
Luis pulled back from the hug a little in order to look at MItch. “I wanna apologize too. I’ve been so combative with you this whole time, and even though you were assuming things about me, I was too. I shouldn’tve let my insecurities get the best of me and make me lash out at you all the time.” He confessed, still sniffling a bit, though his tears were starting to subside.
Mitch looked down at Luis with the eyes she’d given him, caring and warm. The green hues shone almost like the stars she’d loved so much- but they weren’t her’s. They were Mitch’s- Now, especially since she was gone, they shone with his own special glow. His own brightness, hope, and love for those he held close. Ever since they’d met, when Mitch moved to Dialtown with his mother and father at 6 years old, Luis felt this warmth come from the other that was abstract in concept, but it was like the feelings he gave him when they spent time together. Now he saw this warmth in his half-lidded green eyes- and they glowed even brighter from what he told him. “You know, I think if Katherine were here now she’d really be proud of you.”
“You...You think so?” Luis’s voice was just above a whisper, a new bout of tears forming at his optical sensors.
“Yeah.” Mitch confirmed, simply and earnestly.
Luis pulled his friend back in again, squeezing him tight. “Thank you, Mitch.”
hey guys. I've done some thinking and i've come to decide something really important...
I actually hate all my friends and i'm deleting this blog. fuck all of you!
Yeah I have something to add too. I think I lied about liking hatsune miku actually and im not a girl anymore either. i'm gonna go socialize with my schoolmates in a normal well adjusted manner and not try to act like a delinquent at all!
hey guys! it's me, lyle! lyle, who famously loves going outside and talking to people! i dont care about my theories any more. i think i want to get a normal job as an accountant or something and start using exclusively he/him pronouns. cant be nonbinary with a real job!
I just broke up with my girlfriend because i realized how much i NEED mitch. I never liked her that much anyway. also any and all character development i have ever accumulated in my life is gone and i have learned nothing and never will. but no karma or hubris will ever come back to bite me because I am the BEST person on earth and you all are WORMS.
I agree with byne; fuck all of you. I'm not going to mother any of you anymore all of you can die in a ditch for all i care. also i give up on all my dreams and passions and hobbies and i'm just gonna live like a cryptid in a dank dark hole somewhere feeding off of worms and bugs that i find in there.
[happy april fools <3]
[also none of this is canon of course, and it didn't really happen in any context. just a little joke i thought would be appropriate for today!]
