Prompt 2 (Paint the Night Sky): Destiny City has already had its fair share of snowfall but for the past week it’s just been constant. There hasn’t been a clear sky in days, and even when it’s not snowing it’s still too cloudy to see anything. Finally, one night, the clouds have finally thinned--only to reveal something more surprising than the suddenly good weather. A glorious display of colorful light dances over Destiny City. Auroras are uncommon in this area, but it’s something unique to see. Especially because it almost seems like the colors blend like watercolors, and look like they’re deliberately weaving around each other.
There'd come a time when his friends' patience with his presence would be at its limit, and Tanwyn was ever-wary of overstaying his welcome. For the most part, he kept to his borrowed room both out of observance for Nataniel and Basyl's privacy and because he just wanted to be alone. He wanted to sleep and cry and just keep his grief to himself, rather than burden anyone else with it. They had their own lives, jobs, and relationships to tend to. Tanwyn didn't mean to impose on anyone.
They were already doing so much for him by letting him stay with them, and he felt incredibly out of place in their home, no matter how little of a mess he made or how hard he tried to be a guest they didn't even know they had or how he tried to make himself useful by picking up groceries or tidying when he saw something that needed cleaning.
Mostly he tried to express his gratitude to Natanial by just being something of value to him in other aspects of his life, and then staying out of the way as much as possible everywhere else.
No one had ever even inferred that he was unwelcome. No one uttered a single complaint to him. Nataniel was his friend from years prior. They had a certain understanding of what to expect from each other. The other man was an unknown. Consequently, he'd hardly spoken to Basyl at all, just enough to know that he was busy, tired, jittery like a caffeinated squirrel, and unfairly kind and gentle, regardless of who he was faced with.
He was in his room now, propped up in bed with his laptop in front of him while he made a pass at a round of Age of Empires to entertain himself.
EchosSweet
Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 4:57 pm
BiggerinTexas
Basyl sucked his bottom lip between his teeth and held it there, tired eyes staring unwaveringly at the closed door in front of him as he fretted with the tangled ends of his lavender hair. It was a bizarre situation in which he found himself- though no more bizarre than usual, really. Nothing was exactly ‘normal’ ever, anymore.
But the senshi and monsters and aliens had become familiar in their own ways. Expected in the sense that he knew those things roamed Destiny City and magic was a wild and rampant thing. So Basyl could just sort of accept things like that without too much difficulty nowadays.
It was the… having some stranger in his house for months and months that felt out of place.
He didn’t mind! Basyl would of course never complain about helping any soul who needed a place to stay and feel safe and welcome, and he was so proud of his boyfriend for being able to give that to someone he cared about. But Tanwyn made Basyl nervous in a way that was different than usual. He was quiet and unobtrusive and spent a lot of time on his own. …A lot of time locked in his room, for someone who’d had a whole family to take care of before.
Basyl tried to tell himself that it wasn’t his place to decide what was right for Tanwyn. That was a grown man who could decide for himself what he needed, and Basyl didn’t know him like Nat did. Nataniel and Tanwyn were friends and would look out for each other without Basyl’s interference.
But how could that be right? Natanial struggled to read the emotional needs of other people, and it seemed like Tanwyn was intentionally shuttering himself off. He’d hardly spoken to Basyl besides casual pleasantries, and quick greetings when they crossed paths.
And someone who’d lost so much needed more support than that.
Except who was Basyl to judge? How could he justify what anyone else needed? He didn’t know Tanwyn very well, and he was functional enough to… do normal things on his own? Eating and basic hygiene and such. That seemed like good progress, and maybe it was standard for him, despite having lost his wife and son. And that should be good, right? If anything, it almost seemed like Basyl was being the obnoxious one by attempting to force companionship on someone who didn’t want it, and that wasn’t his intention…
So he wasn’t going to force it, of course not! But he could offer, and maybe that wouldn’t be too obtrusive? He just felt so sure that poor Tanwyn must need someone to be there for him, if he wanted it, and Basyl wouldn’t mind just being an ear for someone grieving…
It was fine, it was fine, it was fine. He could do this. It was just a matter of being nice, and even if Tanwyn didn’t want or need another friend, Basyl wouldn’t be offended by that.
There'd come a time when his friends' patience with his presence would be at its limit, and Tanwyn was Tanwyn glanced toward the door at the knock. It was just something that came with sharing a home with others. He was grateful that they respected his privacy, but there was still that expectation, that little thrum of discomfort, that any of his housemates could just show up at any time. Sometimes good, when he didn’t want to be alone, but sometimes bad when he did. Now was one of those times when he might have preferred to be alone…
But he wouldn’t say so, and he wouldn’t tell any of his friends that they couldn’t come into any space in their house.
“Come in,” he called. Was a little surprised to see Basyl instead of Nat there in the doorway. They usually only caught each other in communal spaces, like kitchen or living room. The lavender-haired man rarely came calling for him personally. Which made sense. They didn’t know each other, weren’t close like he and Nat had been. Tanwyn glanced to the other’s fidgety fingers, what was he doing? Nervous? Expecting something?
He slid his laptop from his lap and onto the bed, then stood to greet the other. “What? Something wrong? What do you need?”
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 8:41 am
BiggerinTexas
'Come in.'
With a tight little nod to steel his resolve, Basyl obliged. Despite the trepidation he felt, the lavender-haired man entered the room with a wavering sort of smile. He was happy to see Tanwyn lounging, comfortably enjoying his hobbies like one would "normally" expect. For all intents and purposes, this was Tanwyn's home too, and Basyl felt a strange sense of something like relief to know that the other could be at ease- or could at least appear at ease, maybe.
It was hardly a second longer than it took for Tanwyn to look at him, before the taller man moving to stand in front of Basyl, asking what he needed and what was wrong.
Basyl must have looked like something bad had happened, for Tanwyn to ask him that! "Oh? N-no, no! Nothing's wrong, nothing like that! I j-just..." Oh, god, how on earth could he possibly articulate his own concern for Tanwyn's mental health without sounding like a busybody trying to invade someone else's life. He couldn't, right? There was probably no way! His magenta eyes were wide with something like confusion, like he'd just been caught off guard, despite having stood outside the door and thought about this before he even knocked.
He fretted with his hair as his gaze roved, carding his fingers through tangles while looking anywhere but Tanwyn's face. "I just- I just... Wanted to talk to you." Which was true. But about what? It was hard to say. He chewed his tongue, flicked an almost hopeless look to the other, and gave a tiny, uncertain shrug of his shoulders.
"You spend a lot of time alone in your room?" He said uncertainly. "I just thought you might like to cook dinner with us, or watch a movie with us? Nataniel has seen surprisingly few movies, just- in general, so we've been going through some of the Marvel ones on the Disney app. But you c-could pick whatever you wanted, if you were int-terested. I make p-pretty good nachos that I have to eat alone before they get all soggy. Nataniel won't eat them; they've got meat on them. Or- I mean, if there's something you want to do to, like, get out? I-I'm here, and I don't mind joining you if you wanted some company, is all I'm saying."
He tried a smile, another finicky, almost fretty sort of thing.
Usually when someone approached him all stammery and twitchy, Tanwyn had either assumed that something was wrong or the person was scared. He expected an issue, not whatever concern Basyl was trying to bring to him. Since Tanwyn didn't know how to politely say that he wasn't interested in company very often, he went with the more brusque, "Yeah, I would come down if I wanted to, but I'm pretty satisfied where I am right now, thanks."
He really as grateful to the pair of them for letting him stay, and he was happy to tidy up after himself, grab a few snacks for the house, provide whatever he could as payment for the room.
But he was pretty sure all of them would be happier if he kept to himself most of the time. Nataniel and Basyl didn't really need to feel like he was there, and Tanwyn didn't want to feel like he was being monitored or looked after in any fasion. Even if he was sure Basyl's intentions were good, this time. "Look, man, I appreciate that you're worried, but don't be, okay? I just want to keep to myself and get figure things out from there."
