Where Every Scroll is a New Adventure
Part 1
My ao3
That same scenario runs through his head over and over on repeat the entire walk home, and it was bad enough that he was out of cigs or else he'd be turning to crying or something.
It's all he's thinking.
๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฅ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ, ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ ๐ง๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต, ๐๐ญ๐ณ๐ฐ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด? ๐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ต?
Sighing, he drags his feet over and over to get home with a deep pout and frown on his lips. He just wants to go home. He doesnโt want this lifestyle anymore. Not the fame orโฆ not the fame it brings. He's not happy. It's doesn't feel right to be here, controlling and being supposed to look after people when he can't even look after himself. Twenty eight years old and he can't even do that: take care of himself. It's pathetic.
__
Opening the door to he and Manjusha's shared.. apartment(?), he drags himself inside with slumped shoulders and a pout. Making the smart decision to at least close the door before slowly trudging his way to the kitchen after stopping by the couch and grabbing a blanket to tightly wrap around himself like his mom used to - But it's /his/ blanket, his worn to softness, rocket blanket that nobody else can touch, not even Manny- before trudding all the way to the fridge. Cool-aid seems like the only thing Manjusha will let him drink these days, after what happened.. he doesnโt think the scar will fade. But at least it wasnโt all that bad.. right? Right-?
But a loud clatter coming from his bedroom tears him out of his thought, already in a bad enough mood given today, not to mention that he's all out of red cool aid.
Taking in a sharp and shakey breath -donโt fucking cry, you pussy- he waddles a little closer to where the sound had come from. His upset pout quickly gone when hearing the commotion, just to be replaced by a scared kid. Arlo may be an odd 6ft something, but helped by the day he's had with all the sounds, bright coulors and lights, he though it was safe enough for him to put his gaurd down even just for a little bit. But he was wrong. He's always wrong.
So instead of walking closer, he quietly whimpers to himself. Stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen with a kids blanket wrapped tight around him and unshed tears in his eyes, he watches as what made the loud sound walks out of his room.. he can't move from the spot he's in, there's so many monsters it could be..
๐ง๐ถ- ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ต, ๐๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ-
And oh.
It'sโฆ. Dave.
"Ah- shit. I /seriously/ need to ask Arlo what the hell that is-"
Oh.
Of all people, It's Dave who has to see a scared, younger looking Arlo stood terrified in his kitchen. Eyes glasses over with what could be tears, or just that childlike way his eyes get when seeing something particular. Not that he'd know exactly, but he's seen it first hand, and yep- okay. He's crying.
"Uh, shit, hey man. It's- hey, it's okay. I wasn't trying to rob you guys-" and, okay. Internally he's cursing himself for not parking his car out front, but he didn't know this would happen, okay??? He wad just trying to do something kind, and..
"I am NOT doing that, are you kidding me??? Look, Sasha-"
"No, Dave, shut UP. /You/ are going to fix this, and /you/ are going to cheer him up if it costs you fucking everything just because I canโt be there for him. You're basically like an older brother to Arlo" Sasha exclaims while looking at Dave through her glammed out mirror, trying to get 'these damn lashes on-'
"I have known him for two MONTHS! How does that make me- I'm just not. That guy fucking hates me and I'm not going to go babysit him because he can't take care of himself"
And oh did that hit something in Sacha.
Tightening the grip on her tweazers, Sasha visibly shakes in anger with a glare as she turns in her stool. Trying and failing to fully control herself as she stands up, dropping her prized tweazers and poking Dave hard in the chest when face to face.
"Arlo is, /NOT/ a fucking child" she grits, voice thinly avoiding the tone of pure murder before continuing.
"That boy has been through so fucking much just to be here, and don't think for a /second/ that he's keeping you here out of pity and not because he's the sweetest fucking person you'll ever meet. That 'Manchild' is who's giving you a fucking job and you're going to help him when I can't. Say no one more fucking time and you can see what it's like being in a coma for twenty years. Got it?" she says lowly through gritted teeth as she looks Dave dead in the eye. Shit she's gotten closer-
"Yes. Yeah- I- I've got it. Got it." He says with shaken breath and a stiff nod acompanied with a tight smile to sell that he knows Sasha's being seriously, and that he much appreciates being alive once she mentioned it.
And with that, she nods and steps back enough for Dave to realise he needs to breath. Not realising he'd been holding his breath.
"Good. You better make sure he's okay, I'm not fucking kidding /Dave/." Sasha spits as she backs up, putting on a fake smile after checking her hair in the mirror and throwing the thin strap of her bag over he shoulder. Spitting out his name like it was some sort of poison she didn't want on her breath anymore.