burn, baby!

‘ i guess you haven’t noticed, huh. ’ poor guy. ‘ not those kids — though some of them do come back after battling…to talk. ’ sighs. ‘ i meant ones we both know. i don’t wanna give any names, but…one or two of them have an interest. i feel bad for them, so i want to let them down as easy as i can, flint. i can only do that with your help. ’

      “--haven’t noticed what?” Kids with an interest? Uh-oh, this doesn’t sound good. Not good at all. “I think I get what you’re tryin’ to get at here but what I don’t get is why you need my help! You need me to talk to them or somethin’, Volk? Sure, I could do that for you--but wouldn’t it be a lot better if you did it? You’ve just gotta be upfront about it, Volk! There’s no point in beatin’ around the bush here---you don’t want these kids to get any ideas, y’know?”

‘ i need to let the kids down easy, flint.      i need your help. ’

“--what kids? I thought we talked about this! You don’t gotta feel bad about winnin’ battles, Volk! Just give ‘em a few words of encouragement and send ‘em on their way! Better luck next time and all that, right? C’mon, it’s not that hard!”

‘ is it my pen? maybe that’s why it’s so nice. ’ he’s staring…so thoughtfully at this pen. truly. it’s a pen of the ages. ‘ do i need to let go? i’m just checking it out. it even has gelled ink. my favourite. ’ brings the pen ( and flint’s hand ) up for closer inspection. hums. haha. nice.

    “--dunno what makes this pen so nice. It’s just a pen, right? Nothin’ special, long as it does its job--who cares?” Pens were superior to pencils only because of the fact that they were less prone to snap. “I mean--don’t you want a better look at it? Look at you! You’re practically squintin’ just to see around my hand. How about I let go and give you your pen, huh? I’m done with it anyways.” Look, Flint is such a great guy. He’s giving his best buddy, Volkner, an out here. Take it, asshole. Before this gets awkward.

‘ that’s a really nice pen. ’ glances at the pen in flint’s palm  before holding onto it, along with his hand. haha. ‘ it’s a really nice  pen. can i use it? ’ wow. what a nice pen. he can still feel it. haha.

  “--yeah? ...funny you say that seein’ as it’s not---” He would complete his sentence if he hadn’t suddenly found another hand covering his own. Was this Volkner trying to be cute or a not so subtle hint that Flint should drop the pen? Sort of difficult to do if both of them were holding onto it. “...you get that this is your pen, right? You gonna let go anytime soon, Volk?”

‘ flint…i leave satoko in your hands. ’

“...listen--that sounds great and all...but I’ve already got my hands full with Aaron so how about we not, huh?” 

and — thanks, flint. it was sort of quiet for the past few days, so it’s nice to have you visit.

Hey, man--you gotta call me more! I’d love to visit more--you know that, right? Just--things have been a lil’ busy, that’s all. I swear this isn’t happenin’ again! I’m not lookin’ to make a habit of it or anything!

you’re overreacting. there’s always next year? and i just assumed you were busy…or that you had a lot of challengers. i thought saying something would seem overbearing – and i only really remembered at the end of the day myself. don’t worry about it. but if you still wanna celebrate we can — the gym’s closed just for you so go wild. anyways, i hope you got me flowers for valentines day.

Forget flowers, bro--I got you cake! Happy freakin’ birthday! Cheer up! Don’t lock all those shitty feelings inside you, alright?