empathicfault | IC Inbox

That seems to do it. Will's shoulders relax and he gives Malcolm a tired smile. "All right. Good. I won't ask for any more details, then. You just point me towards what I need to be presentable for this trip and I'll follow you."

He sips his coffee more. But whenever Malcolm gets up, he will as well. While he's obviously tired, he's clearly amenable to whatever Malcolm wants to do. There's been a little crease in his forehead from the tension of the past week- that's already starting to smooth out a little. This, here, is not something he's messing up. At least he's doing okay in the most important area of his life.

Malcolm is careful to sip at his coffee cup until Will's is empty, then he gets up and pulls one of Will's softest flannel shirts out of a drawer and a pair of comfortable pants from another. He grabs a sweater and jeans for himself. Once they're dressed he gives Will a prolonged, wordless hug and a gentle kiss, then he grabs Sunshine's cage and ushers Will and the dogs into the ship.

They don't need anything else.

He disappears into the cockpit for a moment, then reappears.

He gestures to the door when they arrive, for Will to open it. It opens right into their spacious cabin's living room. The pastries on the kitchen island are still warm.

When Will opens the door, he just stares as the dogs run in. And then he breaks out into a laugh.

"Is this your way of telling me I need to take a break?" Expertly done, if so. He likely would've argued otherwise. As it is, he's sniffing the air and stepping out into their little private oasis.

Malcolm steps out behind him, Sunshine’s cage in hand, closing the door behind himself to lean back on it, watching Will.

“It’s… not really about a break, per se. It’s about… taking care of yourself at all. You haven’t been doing any art, you haven’t been using your helmet… as far as I can tell, you haven’t been coming here. The whole Barge is tense. On edge. You’ve been absorbing it without opening any of the valves that release it. I’m not going to analyze you and attempt to tell you why, but… I am going to apologize, because it took me embarrassingly long to notice.”

Several days. Days.

“Anyway, something about this house… the forest… the river… it lets you release other people’s garbage. And we can stay here for a week and get you back there in time to work on the last couple shed walls this afternoon, if you want.”

"...ah." The humor in his expression dies down as he inwardly searches and finds it has been several days. And it's not like he didn't know he was doing it, but he was just- well. Things needed to be done, or at least that was his convenient excuse.

"John, he asked me if I wanted to go hunt in his world, and I...I told him I wasn't sure if I wanted to see my emotions with the clarity that would bring," he admits. He takes Sunshine's cage from Malcolm and puts it on her stand here in the cabin.

He pulls Malcolm into his arms and hugs him close as he continues. "You don't need to apologize. I don't know how long I would've tried to make that work. Months?" His chuckle is a little bitter this time. "I'm sorry. I thought I'd gotten past this...and I never want to make you worry."

Malcolm kisses his jaw.

“I don’t want you to apologize. I just want to help you be well.” His body relaxes a little in Will’s arms. “I got you pastries,” he murmurs. “Those ones you like. And there’s hot coffee.”

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