I Deliberately Misinterpret The Nature Of An Agreement

[summerdude]

Galahad probably didn't expect Magnus to come pounding on his door in the middle of the day when they agreed Magnus would try sleeping on his own, especially since Magnus decided pretty quickly that he wanted to sleep outside again (but on purpose because he prefers it, not because it feels like the only option that doesn't end with the walls closing in on him). But here Magnus is, anyway, in the middle of the day, knocking loud enough that he has to force himself to take a step back so he doesn't break the door down.

"Dude, it's me, I need you," he calls, just so Galahad knows for sure it's him, or whatever. "You're in there, right? Galahad?"

Comments

[summerdude]

Something -- an anxiety Magnus didn't know he even had -- relaxes, and he lets his breath out in one big rush. "Good."

[onthewillowsthere]

"It's okay. We're okay."

[summerdude]

"We're okay," Magnus echoes. "We're -- dude. Idea."

[onthewillowsthere]

"What?"

[summerdude]

"You know graphic novels?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"No," a little amused, because he's pretty sure Magnus knows he wouldn't know.

[summerdude]

"The books I'm always reading," Magnus clarifies. "With all the pictures."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Oh! Yes."

[summerdude]

"We should make one," Magnus says, thoughtfully. "Maybe for Shen Yuan, since he's doing that animation for us? I bet he likes graphic novels, too."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad's eyes widen slightly. "Yes. About Pokémon?

[summerdude]

"Yeah, we could do it about Pokemon for sure," Magnus says, enthused. He doesn't know a huge amount about Pokemon but he's picked up a bunch just from hanging out with Shen Yuan.

[onthewillowsthere]

"He likes talking about them. We could ask him what Pokémon he thinks everyone here would have," Galahad says, with the supreme confidence of someone who has been Shen Yuan's friend long enough to know he definitely has Opinions.

[summerdude]

"And make a graphic novel about him, like, hanging out with them?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Battling with them. He likes battling in games."

[summerdude]

"His guys battling all the other guys," Magnus says, nodding. "There's probably a book somewhere in the library that would tell us about their really cool moves, if we wanted to, like, be subtle about it instead of asking him all our questions directly."

[onthewillowsthere]

His eyes light with pleasure at the idea of surprising Shen Yuan. "Yes."

[summerdude]

"Awesome," Magnus says, happily. "Cool. You're definitely better at drawing than I am, but I think together we can come up with something great."

[onthewillowsthere]

"You're the best at thinking of things." His toneless voice gains a note of warmth.

[summerdude]

Magnus grins. "My mom always said I was smart," he says -- it's a treasured memory.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Tell me about your mother?"

[summerdude]

Magnus's smile softens. "She was the best," he says. "What do you want to know?"

[onthewillowsthere]

To be honest, he's not sure where to begin. He's never had a mother; he doesn't know what a good one does. "What was she like?"

[summerdude]

"She radiated joy," Magnus says, immediately. "She had this enthusiasm for life and everything associated with it that was genuinely infectious. Even when I had a really bad episode, she'd sit me down and wrap her arm around me and tell me stories until I could breathe again. I'd count her freckles to focus."

[onthewillowsthere]

"She took care of you?"

[summerdude]

"She'd say we took care of each other," Magnus smiles, "but yeah. She did. Took me camping every weekend. Dumped boyfriends who weren't careful enough. She was really, really good at skipping stones."