"One day, you'll be okay. For now? It's okay to hurt." + Coinless Bulk
Misery Loves Company
Even when things in their universe hadn’t swerved chaotically into the sulfuric pits of hell, Farkas Bulkmeier didn’t consider himself to be gifted with words. Unless, of course, they were of the insult and/or provocation variety. It wasn’t his nature to be a comforter… Not yet in any case.
Bulk hadn’t had the real-world experience or suffering with which to grow that part of himself. It was unfortunate that it had taken Ascension Day, the devastating defeat of the Rangers, and the leveling of their city to begin to cull the young bully’s innermost strengths.
He was still rather clumsy in his attempts, but to his credit, he did try.
Eugene hunkered behind a toppled wall of busted cinderblock tile, the moon reflecting on the parts of his signature leather jacket that weren’t smudged with grime or torn clean through to the orange cotton beneath. He was deathly still and, for a moment, Bulk feared his friend had done something foolish.
That decision was for later.
When Skull stirred slightly, shifting his weight imperceptibly and crunching the grit under his heavy boots, Farkas let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He gently skirted the lanky boy’s side and settled his girth upon the remains of Angel Grove High.
“Hey, buddy…” he started, uncertain where one would customarily begin such a conversation. “I’ve been looking for you. Thought you might’ve done something stupid.”
He winced after the comment left his lips.
However, Skull didn’t appear to be distressed by the selection of adjectives. He was staring at his hands which were still covered with rust-colored flakes of dried blood, the liquid coating his flesh until it ran like small rivers in the creases of his knuckles and palms.
“I had no idea you and Billy were…you know…together. Why didn’t you tell me?”
The muscles in Eugene’s jaw were tense as he grit his teeth in both anger and anguish.
“Because it was special…and it was just mine… Because I knew an explosive secret and my damned big mouth always gets me in trouble…”
He shrugged.
“That’s just to name a few.”
“I wouldn’t have thrown it in your face…you liking Billy, I mean,” Farkas whispered. “And I’d beat anyone’s ass who opened their pie hole about it.”
Absently, the larger teen picked at the frayed knee of his denim pants, the material covered in streaks of blackened soot and mud. And possible streaks of blood of their own. It was hard to say. He’d tried to clean them as best he could while on the lam, but the garment was hopelessly stained and chronically put through the wringer as Bulk navigated this new role of leader and protector.
“You did the right thing. I’m not mad that you didn’t run to me and give away the Rangers’ identities. It would have been a bad idea for us both,” he admitted after a few moments of silence.
Skull chuckled bitterly.
“For all the good it did, Bulky. No one listened to me about Oliver. Besides Matthew and look where he ended up…dead as a doornail just like Billy. And I didn’t have any other strokes of dumb luck that helped me save either one of them.”
Tiny particles of Billy’s blood fluttered from his flesh as he moved his fingers, floating about in the light breeze. The weather was beginning to get colder, which would have been odd for this time of year and the locale of California.
“They’re like little snowflakes…” Eugene muttered bizarrely, watching his lover’s essence drift into oblivion. “Delicate and beautiful…”
Hesitantly, Bulk put a large hand on the other teen’s shoulder, giving a soft squeeze.
“I considered throwing my worthless self off Angel Pointe, but I worried about that one doctrine that I’d end up in hell… Stupid, I know, since I’m not religious or went to church in my family.”
His hands stilled their aimless fidgeting.
“And I realized that if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to make things right…make them better… Honor Billy…honor Matthew…honor Jason…”
“That’s the right,” Bulk agreed, his voice firm. “One day, you’ll be ok. For now? It’s ok to hurt.”
This time Eugene giggled in a way that caused Farkas’s hair to stand on end. It was deadly…dangerous…full of malice.
“Oh, I’ll never be ok, Bulky, but you’re right about one thing. It’s ok for me to hurt right now. Because when I’m done letting my pain lead me around by the nose… when it finally hardens me into unfeeling stone…” he hissed. “I’m going to personally see to it that Lord Fuckwad is getting his turn to hurt…”
