comicshavefailedme | LL cont’

[Bad ideas. That’s what Rafael was famous for. Sometimes those bad ideas would pan out into groundbreaking technologies. Other times it would blow up spectacularly in his face - and by extension, all faces adjacent. Not that it ever stopped him from coming up with more.

This one, though. A bridge too far.

Aracha - if that really could be called his name anymore - sat, hunched over, cycling a trinket between his fingers as though in a trance. It felt like the slow, tactile motion was the only thing still keeping him grounded to reality (again, questionable). His mind was… far, far away, in a place that might not even exist anymore, lost. But more than that, alone, in a vast, empty field of deaf, silent rage. And that cold silence seeped into every crack in his brain, filling the folds of his thoughts, the hollow space in his bones, the pockets in his lungs.

He wasn’t real. He wasn’t real. None of this was real. He knew that now.

At some point, his fiance was going to walk through the door and find him sitting at the foot of ~~their~~ his bed. And one way or another, this lie would be shattered.]

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[erection go away go away go away]

I called the bed, didn't I?

Did you forget who put me in bed?

Nothing happened.

[ERECTION GO AWAY GO AWAY GO AWAY]

[ he is just slightly amused now. from his earned space on the floor. ]

And you definitely didn't jump on me.

[ and kiss me. ]

You deaf or something?

[DON'T SOUND AMUSED I'M FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE HERE]

[ Miguel sits up, dropping his elbow onto the sacred land of bed, gazing at him. ]

Someone else kissed me, then?

[Very deliberately not looking at him and facing the opposite way. It makes him look extra sulky.]

Maybe.

[It was Aracha. That's someone else, right.]

[ How... is such a huge, angry man... kind of adorable. ]

If I ever see him again, I'll have to tell him he's a great kisser.

[hey is it weird to be jealous of yourself?

this is a trick question.

Kaine's quiet for a moment.]

...

'If you ever see him again'?

Yeah, because I'm not sharing the rest of the Fireball with you until you look at me.

...

That's playing dirty.

Honey, you haven't seen anything yet.

[ I CAN BE SO NAUGHTY!! ]

[DON'T CALL ME HONEY--!]

I could just take it from you.

[ there is a slight flutter in his chest. ]

Yeah?

Yeah.

[that's not helping with his flusteredness, Miguel]

...Once I get pants on.

[ Naked chasing is way more fun. ]

By the time you get pants on, I'll be long gone.

[IGNORING THAT HE HEARD THAT]

You forget or somethin'? I can find you anywhere.

Okay, I did forget that.

[ why

why does he feel slightly warm being reminded of it, though. ]

But that doesn't mean you can catch me.

[ And you'd have to at least turn around to put on pants. ]

Yes it does.

[You'd want to be caught.

and that makes him feel slightly warm.]

[ why am I being SEEN. he is... so tempted to just dive out the window and see what follows. he could do that. he's an adult who makes good choices he could just GO FOR IT...

anyway, kind of fondly: ]

Have I ever told you that you're a pain in the ass?

[miguel honey you've never made a good choice in your life]

I thought you liked those.

[okay that's a leading question. he KNOWS he likes those.

maybe he's just fishing for miguel to tell him that.]

[ hey ]

...yeah. I do.

[ whoever wrote the memories in his head... they picked the right kind of person for him. ]

Even Dana was kind of... ]

[A TWINGE OF JEALOUSY???]

Who's Dana?

[ There's a pause. He shouldn't have ment... no, he didn't mention her, he thought about it instead. But for this guy, that's one and the same, thanks to mind-reading.

...the bed shifts slightly; he's leaning his elbow down, and exhaling slowly. ]

My first fiancee. She's been gone [ dead! ] a long time now, though.

[ It feels even longer now, now that he thinks about it; there's a whole extra thirty years in his head that she's missing from. ]

[...Gone. Even if the grief isn't forefront in Miguel's mind anymore, it still stands like a beacon to Kaine. Another fiance, another life ago. More ghosts to compare himself to, from his pit of self doubt. He got over her, he survived - so, surely he would survive Aracha.

Aracha wasn't even real.

Kaine curls up a little tighter, feeling guilty and ugly. What kind of monster was jealous of a dead woman? With great reluctance, he tightens his jaw and grinds out a sullen mutter,]

Sorry.

Re: THE SECRET FOURTH ONE

intelligent - 2025-05-15 18:07 (UTC) - Expand

markofkaine - 2025-05-16 02:43 (UTC) - Expand

intelligent - 2025-05-16 03:59 (UTC) - Expand