I won't pretend that I intend to stop living

[mildwildchild]

Who: erryone in Pride
What: recovering from the events of December 7
When: late December 7/early December 8 - ???
Where: Pride HQ and wherever else they're allowed to go
Warnings: Carnies? references to I Will Twist the Knife


So maybe you've just gotten back from the most mellow kidnapping ever and you're itching to tell your bandmates about what went on with the cool helmeted guys while everyone else was at that stuffy party. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a little while to tell them, but that's okay - surely you can keep yourselves occupied until everyone else returns.

Or maybe you're one of those who wound up at that party of Naomi's, and your night was a little less fun. Now you're back at HQ, possibly with mended physical injuries and almost certainly with a few new psychological scars. Now's your chance to check in on your friends and bandmates who missed out on all the trauma and deal with things as best you can.

Comments

[traumatizing]

[HM. Terry chews his lip as he thinks about it, he'd kind of just said it without thinking.]

I guess we could...

[He moves his hand a little closer to Maxxie's and hesitantly stretches out his little finger to stroke the side of Maxxie's hand. He's not used to propositioning people, but it would be a way to take their minds off things.]

[notahobby]

[Maxxie looks from the look on Terry's face down to his hand like he's confused, his mouth hanging open slightly in an unasked question. It doesn't take long for him to process the implication, and when he does his lips quirk into a smile again. He shyly looks down at his coffee and then gives terry a wry smirk.]

That's one way to avoid talking.

[traumatizing]

I mean if you're not in the mood, I don't mind. I just... [He sighs again, looking down at his hand.] It'd be more enjoyable than sitting here awkwardly.

[notahobby]

No, I want to. You wanna finish your coffee first?

[He raises an eyebrow at Terry, though his tone is still gentle.]

[traumatizing]

[He looks down at his mug.]

I'm pretty much finished.

[notahobby]

[Maxxie looks at his own and decides that he doesn't want it that badly anyway, then nods his head toward the door.]

Let's go, then. I could use a bit of stress relief.

[traumatizing]

[Terry bites his lip again when he gets out of his seat, sucking in a breath through his nose to offset the pain a little. One might think it'd occur to him at this point that he's not really up to any funny business, but Terry is a stubborn young man.]

[He will, however, wait for Maxxie and stay a little behind him as they walk. Can't let him see the effort walking actually seems to take at the moment.]

[notahobby]

[Maxxie doesn't even notice, walking a pace ahead of Terry the whole time until they get to the elevator, and then until the get to Cosmic Indulgence's penthouse. He waits while Terry opens the door and hesitates as always when he walks inside, but once he knows it's a clear shot from the door to Terry's bedroom he relaxes again. It's kind of a habit now that when he walks in he has to wander a little bit, but now there's something missing. Some of that spark they usually have isn't there, replaced by some desire to just get away from everything else, so he just stands awkwardly at the edge of Terry's bed and turns to him with an awkward smile.]

[traumatizing]

[Terry returns the awkward smile as he steps in a little closer to Maxxie, feeling that lack of fun or excitement they usually have when they get here, but it's not terrible. A little awkward, but he feels more or less comfortable with Maxxie.]

[He puts a hand on his chest lightly and leans in for a kiss.]

[notahobby]

[Maxxie kisses him happily, sighing into it and then bringing his hands up to Terry's jaw. It doesn't take him long to decide that he wants to get into this thing quickly, so he pulls away and takes off his own shirt before he goes back to kissing Terry, hoping he'll follow suit or move them along toward the bed.]

[traumatizing]

[He unzips his hoodie and shrugs out of it, walking Maxxie back toward the bed with a small sigh. He puts his hand back on Maxxie's chest to push gently too, a request for him to get on the bed rather than an actual push.]

[notahobby]

[Maxxie acquiesces sitting down on the bed and shimmying himself back and biting his lip as he waits for Terry to join him.]

[traumatizing]

[He's a bit self-conscious about the state of his face without a hood to hide most of it, but Terry gets on the bed anyway with a quiet grunt of pain at the amount of moving it takes to get himself over to Maxxie, straddling him carefully.]

[His hands go to the hem of his shirt out of habit, but he hesitates on the idea of taking it off for a handful of reasons and slips his arms around Maxxie's shoulders instead, going for another kiss.]

[notahobby]

[Maxxie's fingers ghost over the bruise on Terry's jaw, but he's set on glossing over it for now and getting right to the distracting. He wraps an arm around Terry and his hand goes to the hem of Terry's shirt as he kisses him, completely unaware that there's a lot more going on where he can't see.]

[traumatizing]

[Ugh no. He frowns a little and reaches for the hand at the hem of his shirt, trying to move it and encourage Maxxie to just... Put around him or something. Something that doesn't involve taking his shirt off at any point.]

[notahobby]

[Maxxie pulls his hand away, but he pulls out his kiss as well, frowning in concern and confusion. This is the natural path he would take and Terry's never been particularly shy about it before.]

What's going on?

[traumatizing]

Nothing.

[He tries to force a smile, but that's not something Terry's ever been particularly good at. It probably just makes him look tense, if anything. A little at odds with the way he tenderly ghosts his fingers over Maxxie's cheek.]

Don't worry about it.

[notahobby]

[Maxxie remains completely unconvinced, and he bites his lip again as he tugs gently on the hem of Terry's shirt.]

This is kind of part of the whole thing.

[traumatizing]

I don't...

[He trails off as he looks down at the hand on his shirt, looking distinctly uncomfortable. It's not pretty under his shirt and Terry just. He doesn't want anyone to see him looking like that.]

I can't, I'm sorry. I just-- I can't right now.

[notahobby]

[Maxxie can deduce that whatever's going on under Terry's shirt has something to do with last night, so he simultaneously wants to not talk about it and to talk about it immediately. It's a difficult decision to make, but he makes it pretty quickly, frowning up at Terry and setting his jaw.]

Let me see.

[traumatizing]

[Terry swallows, still looking down uncomfortably. When he looks up at Maxxie, he meets his eyes with an almost distressed look on his face.]

Maxxie...

[notahobby]

[Maxxie presses his lips together, but he doesn't pull Terry's shirt up.]

I wanna see how bad it is.

[traumatizing]

[Okay. Fine. Maybe it's not as bad as he thinks it is. Terry sighs after a moment or two and slowly pulls his shirt up-- It hurts when he lifts his arms, moreso when he has to stretch to get the shirt all the way off, and there's some muffled noises to that effect.]

[He drops the shirt on the bed and has to fight the urge to pull his arms around himself. There's cuts and bruises all over, (the joys of pale skin,) and some particularly angry looking bruising across his ribs and on the sides of his neck. Someone had an eventful night.]

[Frowning, he watches Maxxie's face carefully for some indication of what he's thinking.]

[notahobby]

[Maxxie swallows but his expression remains steady as he gets up on his elbows to inspect all the damage. He didn't know what he expected, but it's worse in person and up close. Very carefully, he brings his hand up to Terry's neck and brushes his fingers over a nasty bruise.]

[When he speaks, it's just above a whisper, and it's as though his voice is threatening to break.]

How could anyone do this?

[traumatizing]

It looks worse than it is.

[This is pretty much what he didn't want. Terry frowns, taking Maxxie's hand so he can both get it away from his neck and give it a reassuring squeeze.]

I'm fine, okay?