snitches get stitches

Dwyer wondered if the other was used to having near death experiences. That or he took embarrassing situations into stride. It seemed likely that experiences like these were frequent occurrences in the stranger’s life. Or at least, if this entire fiasco was any indication. 

Breathing in slowly, Dwyer wondered how he’d ended up being blessed enough to be waiting this man’s table. He picked up the empty glass, deciding not to look at the stranger while silently judging him. Blinking back to attention when the other started talking, Dwyer let him prattle on, hiding the smirk that threatened to spill over.

“Not to worry. I’m trying to forget the past 3 minutes of my life. I haven’t felt so much second hand embarassment in my life.” And as for sharing this particular piece of work with the rest of the staff, well. He was sure that they’d been able to witness the entire thing first hand by the commotion the other had caused. 

Keaton couldn’t help but wonder how this guy got along in life if that was the most secondhand embarrassment he’d ever received.  Truthfully that wasn’t even the most embarrassing thing to have happened to him today, so he couldn’t say he was fazed by the situation -- he just didn’t want this tale to be regaled in the back room.

“It wasn’t...that bad...worse has happened.”  Truthfully he felt that all the times he’d become hopelessly lost in his own hometown was far more embarrassing.  “I mean you’ve definitely seen some terrible things around here right?”  Keaton chuckled nervously looking for an out of this conversation.  He was being cornered into admitting that he’d majorly embarrassed himself in front of a large room of people due to his vacuum like eating habits.

❅ | A trick? Felicia tapped her chin in thought, trying to remember if there was any secrets or tricks but didn’t recall any. But if this castle was supposedly haunted then there might just be a secret exit, right? No wonder they haven’t run into any of the employees.

 “We could try!” Felicia exclaimed. “I know some parts of the castle are closed off…like that one!” She pointed at a rather shady looking hallway. There was no doubt there could be an exit hidden in there.

 “I’m sure nothing could go wrong! Eheh…” she chuckled nervously as she lead Keaton down the dreary hallway. The hall was lightly lit but despite that, Felicia managed to bump into a vase, knocking it down it’s pedestal and sending it to it’s doom. 

 “Oh no! Be careful not to step on that Keaton!”

Closed off?  He didn’t like the sound of that.  If they were closed off there was a good possibility that those sections of the castle were unsafe for the public to be walking around in.  This place did seem pretty old after all...  Felicia seemed fairly confident in her decision, so he followed nevertheless.  It’s not like he’d have any better luck wander the castle alone.

“Nothing could go wrong...?  I think you might end up jinxing us with that kind of ta--”  Keaton practically bristled when his guide knocked a vase off of its stand.  The noise it made as it hit the ground reverberated off the walls and down the hallway.  Surely someone heard that.  There was no sound to acknowledge anyone was around though, so he just skirted around the mess and continued to follow her.

“Dwyer, and thank you…” He took the compliment, and left his name, but no sooner had he done so, the other shoved almost half of the slice of cake into his mouth and made a spectacular show of choking on the wad stuck in his throat. 

He raised his hand to stop him, but the human disaster in front of him decided to chug the entire cup of piping hot coffee. Eyes widening, Dwyer quickly ran back to the counter, probably the first time he’d moved so quickly in years, and grabbed a glass of water. 

He hovered worriedly, about to offer the glass, when the man decided to run his mouth as soon as his throat was clear. This was beyond ridiculous, and as worried as he was, Dwyer was also infuriated by the sheer unapologetic pace that this train wreck unfolded, and the gall that this customer had to blame the food for what he’d done. 

“I would ask you if you were alright, but since you have the energy to spit out quips I’m sure you’re still in working order.” But as he spoke, he set down the glass, sliding over the water, hoping that the other was capable of at least drinking cold water. 

“Aw, hey, thanks.”  The waiters rude remark didn’t seem to stick to him, or else he was too focused on the water to notice it was even said.  Taking the glass offered to him, Keaton threw back the liquid in two big gulps.  He let out a sigh and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.  Clearly he didn’t notice that his waiter was close to snapping his neck for his negligence.  It wasn’t his fault no one told him the coffee cake was going to be as dry as the Mojave desert during the mid-summer.

Granted, he should’ve defnitely guessed his drink would be hot considering...he’d ordered a hot drink.  No one thinks straight during emergency situations!  Especially situations where you can’t breathe correctly.  His life had most definitely flashed before his eyes and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to die immediately seeing his many fuck ups replay in his brain.  After giving himself a moment to regain his composure Keaton coughed into his hand.

NICO’S CRYING LIGHTENED UP AFTER SHE WAS PAT ON THE HEAD. when she was pushed away, however, she looked hurt before remembering that he had always had issues with public displays of affection, so it was nothing against her, personally. she nodded her head at his words. glum didn’t even begin to explain how horrible the situation was for her currently. she thought it had been fixed, that her parents would start equally paying attention to them both now, but things had stopped as soon as family therapy was over, and they would not like to go back any time soon, so nico was stuck between a wall and a hard place.

❝nico… nico’s mom and dad started doing the… the thing again.❞ she knew she had explained it to him at some point, how her mother and father were like in her earlier years as well as most recent ones. she thought it was over, and she would talk animatedly to him about how it was such a good time for her to be with them, but now… her brother was the limelight, taking her parents away from her again. she felt guilty for the hatred she felt, but she never spoke up about it, because she was that type of person. she didn’t like making other people feel bad, so she kept it locked away until it was about to burst at the seams.

❝i-it started two weeks ago, and nico’s been trying to stay happy during that time, but now it’s too much for her and…. nico’s been getting the bad thoughts again, even though she’s been taking her medicine. she doesn’t know how to stop this, and she doesn’t want to talk to her parents about this, because they’ll dismiss her like they always do.❞ she sniffled, then, wiping away tears from her eyes and muttering to herself another sentence, ❝half-assed girl…❞

Keaton blinked as she mentioned ‘the thing’.  He couldn’t quite understand it himself, being an only child, but he could imagine being ignored by your own parents in favor of another sibling didn’t feel great.  Maybe he couldn’t empathize, but he could at least try to make her feel better.  Letting Nico finish her story, Keaton nodded thoughtfully.  He needed to tread lightly in order to make sure he didn’t accidentally hurt her feelings even more.

“Yeah...uh...that doesn’t sound like a great situation you find yourself in.  I’m not sure I know what I can do to help.  I think you’ll have to talk to them yourself if you want them to stop; if you think they’ll just tell you you’re reading into it too much maybe I can help you come up with stuff to say.  Although first we should do something else; sounds like you have a dark cloud hanging over your head so we should get rid of that first.”  With that he slipped his hands into his pockets and motioned for Nico to follow him.