[oopfsb / undarkest timeline] fretting

[stilljustandrew]

[Between this and this.]

Matt's asleep in the infirmary; Andrew's got a couple of promises to keep.

First things first. He takes a seat at the bar, orders a breakfast to replace the one he abandoned, and starts composing a warning poster for the bulletin board between bites.

Comments

[stilljustandrew]

He looks up, blinking.

"You know him?"

[nita_callahan]

"Is he okay? How bad is he hurt?"

[stilljustandrew]

"He's, uh -- he's bruised up pretty bad, and he's got a cracked rib and I think they said a mild concussion --"

[nita_callahan]

"Shit," she mutters, pulling back and rubbing her hands over her face. "Fuck."

She's stamping down really hard on the urge to go straight to the infirmary and check on him. He sounds like he'll be okay in the long term. He will be. He has been so far.

[stilljustandrew]

In a slightly smaller voice: "You do know him."

[nita_callahan]

"Yeah, we dated for a couple of years -- a few years ago now?"

[stilljustandrew]

"Oh."

A bit blankly.

... does that make this weird? He's terribly afraid that makes this weird.

[nita_callahan]

She looks up at him and sighs.

"It was not the greatest breakup ever, is all."

[stilljustandrew]

"Oh," he says again. "S-sorry."

Maybe this isn't the best idea --

(The tips of his ears are going red.)

[nita_callahan]

She half-smiles. "Don't be. It's not like it's your fault."

Her smile fades after a moment, though. "He's kind of a trouble magnet."

Totally unlike her or any of her friends, obviously.

[stilljustandrew]

"No, I mean -- ugh." A faintly despairing look.

[nita_callahan]

". . . What's up?"

[stilljustandrew]

"... so when I said he was a friend," he starts, and stalls out.

[nita_callahan]

". . . Oh," slowly. "Right."




This is weird.

[stilljustandrew]

Small-voiced: "We just started dating like a couple weeks ago. And now this."

[nita_callahan]

Okay.

Well.

Her second, wry thought is that it's not the first time she's discovered unexpectedly that Matt is dating someone new. But her first thought is:

"Andrew, it's -- it's whatever, as far as I'm concerned. We haven't been together in years. Are you doing okay?"

[stilljustandrew]

"I just, I don't know to do. If the First is after him because of me --"

[nita_callahan]

"Hey -- this is not your fault, okay? You don't get to blame yourself for the actions of something that literally calls itself the First Evil."

[stilljustandrew]

"But --"

He swallows it back, and looks down.

"Yeah. Okay."

[nita_callahan]

"Andrew," firmly.

"You cannot tell yourself that you're responsible for the evil other beings do. They'd be doing that somewhere, somehow, to someone, no matter what. That is not on you. Okay?"

[stilljustandrew]

"Okay," he half-whispers.

Boy, he sure sounds convinced, doesn't he.

[nita_callahan]

Ever so.

Nita gives him a worried look, but decides to let that matter drop, for the moment.

"Look," she says, more softly, "you've beaten it before, and it comes from your world. You're the best shot at beating it again. So let's focus on that. Or at least how to keep you and Matt safe until we figure the rest out."

[stilljustandrew]

"Yeah." That's a little firmer.

"I -- there's more. About the first time we faced it. But it can wait."

[nita_callahan]

"You sure?"

[stilljustandrew]

He pauses.

Lower: "It's not ... really about the First. It's about me."