myownface | An Airbnb in Baltimore, Tuesday Afternoon

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An Airbnb in Baltimore, Tuesday Afternoon

Sparkle had given the island's weirdness one night! One.

One was enough. The message that he'd left for Atton in the wake of that night was dubiously coherent and had been left without a single breath taken between words, and Sparkle could not get off the island fast enough after being caught out after the airhorns sounded, thank you very, very much. Sparkle had put up with years of Fandom horror, but very little could prepare a guy for the things he'd seen, stabbed, and screamed at while trying to make his way to somewhere that didn't involve...

... those.

It was a frazzled, tipsy Sparkle, wielding a tupperware container with a fish in it in one hand and half a bottle of Fireball in the other, who made his way up to the Airbnb that Hernando had booked and who knocked on the door. With his face.

There might have been sobbing involved? Or it could've just been frazzled ranting in between bouts of quiet screeching. It was hard to tell.

Sparkles were not made for Silent Hills.

[OOC: For the one, or for texts and/or phonecalls! NFB for distance!]

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Hernando immediately shook his head and kissed Sparkle. "The comment made me ask because you're sometimes very bad at asking for what you need. I think you need to be carried into bed so you can rest, that is all that is on my mind." Rest. Not sleep. He knew that was unlikely for a long while.

Tipping Sparkle's head back again, he rinsed the conditioner, working his hands through.

There was another pause, shorter, before Sparkle hummed a little, more or less in agreement.

"That sounds about right," he admitted, replying to the whole of it. "Should eat, too. Haven't yet today. But..."

No appetite to speak of, and not so sure anything would stay down, either. But he'd been doing a lot of drinking! He was totally fine, honest.

"That too, yes. It can wait until your stomach has settled a little," Hernando agreed, all too familiar with Sparkle's heave reflex. "There's ice cream in the freezer if we need to get your blood sugar up, but after Fireball, more sugar may not be wise."

Thought about it and said, "Toast and tea, maybe. Something without caffeine."

Sparkle tried to gauge just how much of either he'd be able to get down, and then shrugged and nodded. At least the toast was relatively inoffensive from pretty much every angle, and tea came with water, water was good...

"Sounds like a plan," he agreed. "Toast and tea. No sugar."

"Mmhm," Hernando agreed as he turned off the water. "First, though.." Snaking a hand out the shower door, he grabbed a towel. Sparkle was wrapped and gently guided out. "Let's get you a little dryer before I carry you off to bed."

And if you thought he wasn't going to princess carry you, think again.

Sparkle nodded a little and leaned hard against Hernando.

"Should prolly get some gunk on my arms and wrap 'em before bed, though," he murmured as he let Hernando guide him along. "They're still..." his brain muddled through a haze of words and alcohol before settling on, "sticky."

... Which wasn't quite right, but he figured Hernando would know what he meant.

"I will gunk your arms," he promised, "but they are already starting to scab so we might want to let the air so it's thing." A beat. "Unless you want to cover them." So he didn't have to see them.

"... Whatever you figure's best," Sparkle said after a pause to process. "But cover before bed so I don't get... like... linty or... whatever?"

Having bedsheets stuck in scabs sounded like an ungood time.

"We'll see if they're dry by the time you are ready to sleep and if not I will wrap them," Hernando compromised. Keeping one arm around Sparkle, he caught up one of the fluffy robes and began gently manhandling Sparkle into it. There was executive function failure going on and this wasn't something he needed to focus on when Hernando was right there.

"Arms around my neck, baby, and prepare for liftoff."

"Heh," Sparkle said, a little exhale, a mostly put-on laugh, and he was reaching up and doing as he was told. "Five, four, three..."

Really, if it hadn't been for just how desperately Sparkle had needed to not be on the island, he probably wouldn't have made it this far. Could very well have found his way to the bathroom, to still be there, sobbing in the tub. Maybe he would've gotten the water running, eventually. He'd managed that before, at least.

"..Two, one," Hernando finished and on cue scooped Sparkle up. Adjusted his weight and carried him to the bed. Where he set him down and collected a kiss as toll who while working the covers out and up. He didn't lay him down but rested him against the headboard. "I will be right over there where you can see me making you some tea," he told him.

And yes, he was still naked and the only dry areas were where Sparkle's towel and robe had been. Enjoy the view.

Sparkle was so not going to complain about the view. It made for a much needed distraction, really.

"Thank you, babe," he murmured, kind of grabbing for a corner of the covers and clinging to them. Literal security blanket. He couldn't bring his knives to bed. "... Thank you. I. Yeah."

Wanted to scream and cry about those things again. But maybe not. Maybe he'd just... just be okay with being not okay for a while.

That was fine. He was allowed.

Hernando saw the detritus of Sparkle's arrival when he turned around and with a small frown, he detoured from tea and toast to take care of Milady and Pauline. He opened the lid of the tupperware and added a little of the tank water to it before setting it to float and acclimate. Pauline, he put nearby so she could have the light.

The rest of it.. that frown grew. Two knives that needed to be cleaned, and he would do that in a bit. For now.. he kicked them into the bathroom with Sparkle's clothes. Found two that were clean in the pile and idly counted several more just to make sure they didn't get lost under a couch or anything. Brought them to the nightstand on Sparkle's side and set them there, collecting another kiss.

He was moving almost lazily. He was anxious, sure. He wasn't going to show it because it would set Sparkle off and right now, Sparkle needed to just.. exist. Returning to the kitchen, two pieces of bread were popped into the toaster while the kettle was set to boil. He had several teas with him because of course he did. He selected a nice light tisane, chamomile and lemongrass and mint. Nothing red, nothing spicy. "Do you want butter or peanut butter or cheese on your toast, baby?" Beat, "You can have butter with either of the other two but I am not putting all three on the same slice of bread for you."

Mostly teasing. He absolutely would put all three on the same piece of toast if Sparkle would eat it.

Sparkle paused for a moment, and then noted, mostly just because there was a certain amount of banter he had to keep up in order to convince himself that he was a functional human person, "I bet peanut butter and cheese would be a legit good combination, though. I've seen it on hamburgers before."

There you go. Legit.

Hernando gave the obligatory shudder. "It was processed American cheese, wasn't it?" He sighed theatrically, "Of which I have some Kraft Singles in the fridge." For all he teased Sparkle, he still bought things that Sparkle ate.

He got out the peanut butter and the cheese. "You'll have to let me know how it tastes. I do not, I tell you this now, want a bite." Yup. He was going to make at least one horror toast for his boyfriend.

Sparkle stuck his tongue out.

"It was a gourmet burger diner in Toronto and it was aged cheddar, thank you."

So there! Ha! Not every cheese Sparkle put in his face was horror cheese! Only most of it.

"Well that is not what you are getting on this toast," Hernando informed him, just as the toast popped and he began smearing them with a layer of butter first. One piece became the horror toast of peanut butter and cheese, cut into triangle quarters. The other was just buttered but he cut it into smaller triangles. The whole were arranged on the plate as two big butterflies surrounded by itty bitty toast butterflies.

Look. He knew his audience and right now, Sparkle needed a whole lot of ridiculous and cute to offset whatever had caused the gore.

Hernando didn't let the water get to boiling, just very warm. The tea was set in a steeper across the top and the water poured over.

When done, he carried the plate and mug over and handed them to Sparkle, collecting another kiss as toll.

Awwww, butterflies. Buttered butterflies. Sparkle gave the plate a silly little smile as he took it, and then leaned up to kiss Hernando again.

"Thanks, babe," he murmured. "I needed this, I think."

Well. No, he'd definitely needed this. This was breakfast, unless Fireball counted. Which... it probably did not.

"If all you have in your stomach is Fireball, then yes you do," Hernando teased him, stealing another small kiss. "Eat your toasts. I'm going to put things away in the bathroom. I won't close the door."

Thankfully the bathtub and the rest of the stuff to be cleaned wasn't in sight of the door. Collecting the dish soap, he went to see what could be done for Sparkle's clothing and to clean the knives.

The clothes didn't seem too terribly damaged, for all they were stained. Dish soap was applied and left to sit while he took care of the easier to clean items, the knives. Hernando had no clue if you were supposed to use dish soap on knives like these or if there was some specific way to clean them and oil them or whatever, but for now dish soap was what he had and he went to work.

If that was the wrong way to go about it (and it kinda was), Sparkle wasn't really in any position to complain. He'd do maintenance on them when he could run his brain again. Right then, he was just kind of quietly watching whatever part of Hernando was in view at any given moment, picking halfheartedly at his toast.

His head was spinning. He wasn't completely convinced he hadn't lost his mind. But he'd been around the island long enough to know better.

He was sane. It was the island that had gone nuts.

Hernando was making sure that there were steady supplies of booty flashing by the doorway. Sparkle needed the distraction as well as the reminder that Hernando was right there. It maybe had a chance of keeping him from thinking too much just then.

He began rinsing the clothing. A ... disturbing.. amount of blood rinsed out right away. He was surprised but ultimately pleased that the dish soap did a fairly good job of getting at least the color out. After a moment of consideration, he got the peroxide out and splashed it liberally over the clothes and let it fizz for a minute before soaping and scrubbing again. There might be some slight bleaching but that would be better than bloodstains. When he'd finally rinsed them and they were as clean as they were going to get, he wrung them out and tossed them over the shower door frame.

Then, silly as it seemed, he went and scrubbed his hands at the sink all the way up to his elbows. A second trip through the main area saw more tank water added to Milady's tupperware. Padding over to the bed, he crawled up and kissed Sparkle's temple. "Eat your toasts, baby."

"Eatin' my toasts," Sparkle murmured. "Gonna eat so many toasts. They're cute. You made 'em butterflies."

He appreciated that, a silly little gesture, clearly meant as a personal one, at that.

"... Babe," he said, after a few moments, "what's all that?"

Nodding to the aquarium setup, yes.

"I made them butterflies," Hernando agreed, kissing his head again. He looked at the aquarium setup and bit his lip sheepishly. "Um. I didn't know what size to get. They said he'd be fine in a bowl but you asked for a filter so I needed a tank with a filter. The one and two-point-five gallons looked very small and ten seemed a little big maybe for just the one fish, so I got the size between? Is it big enough? Should I have gotten the ten?"

He frowned a little and mumbled, "I should have gotten the ten."

"The five's plenty," Sparkle replied, biting the inside of his cheek for a moment, amused. "Milady will appreciate all the space. Bettas don't need too much, they're kinda territorial, but this is nice. Maybe I can get him a tankmate or two."

Something that wouldn't take an interest in pretty drapery.

"Are you sure?" Hernando asked with a frown, "If it's too small we could use it as the baby tank and get Milady a bigger travel tank. The water should be safe. I bought it at the pet store so it had already been dechlorinated and everything. I didn't want to risk trying to treat it and there was no time to cycle it properly."

Yup. Worried about the betta.

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