Shock

After finding out clothes and leaving Astrid to get herself changed, Damian was cradling an arm around the girls shoulders when she reentered his room. He needn’t get dressed down or clean up since he’d already been in bed prior. “Stop apologising, alright? It’s fine, really. The doors always open for you.” Admittedly, he had anticipated a healthier way of repairing their relationship than everything that had been happening since they reunited, but he could work with it. He smiled as warmly as he could, pulling her close into his side in a small hug before letting go of her to get into his bed. He petted the sheets besides himself for her. “You should try get some sleep - let your mind get away from all this mess.” He knew all too well the many coping mechanisms for a messy mind.

It wasn’t long before Astrid was back into Damian’s arms, and she couldn’t have been more thankful. She really hated being this way, being so vulnerable, but if there were anyone she’d be this way with, if there were anyone she’d break down in front of, it would be him without a doubt. Despite all of the shit that had transpired between them, she’d always turn back to him. Though she knew she’d have a time trying not to, the blonde nodded against his chest in his embrace. “Alright, I’ll try..” she said. With Damian she’d always apologize now, but she’d at least try not to bother him. Once he had released her, she climbed around to the other side of his bed and crawled in slowly, resting her head against the pillow near where he had patted the sheets. Getting sleep was going to be a task that was easier said than done. Astrid had a feeling she wasn’t going to be able to shut off her brain. “I know, I will, soon.. But - can you tell me about your day, or something good that’s happened with you recently? Really anything that might help take my mind off of all of this shit so I can sleep? Honestly even if it’s a made up story.. I’ll take anything at this point.”

Damian let his fingers pet the girls hair, not exactly the best when it came to comfort but just allowing himself to follow his instincts. He nodded at the question, his voice soft as he recognised the slight strain in her voice. “Yeah, ‘course you can. Stay as long as you need.” The boy offered, eventually pulling away and taking her hands in his own in a gentler hold than before. “I can take you in the morning if you like, yeah?” He smiled, a soft expression, as he masked his worries and concerns with concern and comfort for her. He had to tell her, but he had to choose the right time. It wasn’t exactly like telling someone a small fuck up one had made, and would need a much less intense setting to be revealed in. No, for now he would help her calm down, as well as measure himself, and tomorrow face the hospital. “Come on,” He let one hand fall from his, and guided the way to his room to fish out something for her to sleep in. “Go make yourself comfy.” 

Astrid was truly thankful for Damian. Of course she had been a bit awful to him in years past but she did really appreciate him and she knew she sucked at showing that. Upon hearing she could stay she nodded, pulling back from the hug and glancing down at her own hands in his. “I think I can handle that, yeah..” she nodded at his offer to take her in the morning. Of course she thought she could handle it - who knows how she’d feel in the morning, hopefully less stressed but there was no guarantee. But she nodded as he lead her to the bedroom, grabbing a shirt for her. Astrid disappeared into the bathroom momentarily, not that she needed to but she didn’t hate the thought of splashing some water on her face. She did just that and slipped out of her clothes and into what she was offered, leaving her clothes in the floor of the bathroom once she emerged. “Thank you, Lock.” she finally spoke, finding her way back into his room. “I’m sorry to just show up like this... I just, I really didn’t know where else to go.”

For Astrid to say she was ‘pissed’ and not horrified, or concerned wasn’t that much of a surprise. Her relationship with her Uncle was something he’d witnessed growing up enough. That didn’t mean Damian wasn’t pissed at her; for not asking questions and finding out why Oogie was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to wires and machines. The boy loosened his grip and pulled her into a hug nonetheless, knowing he’d probably be as thoughtless if he was in her situation. Well, Astrid was the bright one, so probably even less rational. He was holding her now not only to comfort her, but to comfort himself too. She was, to him, a voice of reason who told him not to do something stupid that would easily get him into trouble. She would instead help him do it with limited chance of being caught and punished. There were two options to work out - was this an accident, or was this targeted. There was reason enough for this to be the latter, considering Oogie’s business and relations and general interaction with the world, but there was always the chance of a random, tragic, fatal even accident, wasn’t there, Lock? He followed a hard breath, tightening his grip a little. In the window of possibilities, Damian couldn’t help but feel a weight on his being that he might, might be involved in one of them. The choice now, was whether or not he told Astrid this. Doing so would open up a whole new can of worms. Did Astrid need that right now? “I have someth-” He cut himself off, a small sigh leaving him as he attempted to assure and comfort his friend. “It’s gonna be fine, Astrid. He’ll be alright.” 

At the moment all Astrid truly wanted was to be held. It was weird, she probably should have been more upset about it all - not that she wasn’t but she wasn’t outwardly sad. She was having a truly difficult time processing her emotions. She’d probably wake up in the morning pissed at herself for not checking in to see what exactly happened with her uncle but she wasn’t lying when she said she couldn’t handle it right now. Astrid needed time separated from the event. This was all so sudden and sure tragedies happened and there was nothing that could be done but given all that had went on over the last few months.. this was just icing on the cake in all of the wrong ways. “Can I-” the blonde stumbled over her words. She wasn’t crying, it wasn’t like her to cry, but she was having a rough time finding the right words to say. With her arms wrapped around Damian’s neck, she was finally able to speak once more. “Can I stay here tonight, with you? I just can’t go back to the hospital, not tonight. I promise I’ll go in the morning I just - I just don’t want to be alone..”

Damian was relieved to hear that Astrid herself was alright per say, but the wording immediately had scenarios of trouble crossing his mind. Had Nathan done something? They’d got along just fine during the storm, and the rift thad mended itself just a little, but Damian also knew Nathan was still holding onto resentment and that could lead to the boy doing something to cause trouble - this imaginary scene only growing more likely in Damian’s mind when she mentioned the use of an unknown number. It was more of a shock then, when he heard what news Astrid really brought. "What?” He choked out the word, trying to comprehend what she had just told him. His mind flatlined for a moment, and he was searching for an explanation of her explanation. “Oogie’s in hospital?” He echoed her summary in an abridged sentence. ‘What was he doing to end up in the goddamned hospital’ was very much a thought that now flashed in his mind too. He felt a few things in this moment, with the reality and the gravity of the circumstance, and all the background the last couple of weeks brought to the table; Worry, panic, and distress. For Damian though, these presented themselves in one way, and only one way, as they always did. His brows were pulled inward, features deep as he was rounding on Astrid almost, and taking hold of her wrists in his hands. “You don’t know why he’s in there? Didn’t you ask someone?”

Astrid hadn’t even realized she had been moving so much until Damian’s hands were wrapping around her wrists, stopping her in her tracks. Her eyes shifted from the floor to him for a few short moments before finally settling on the blonde haired boy, his eyes full of concern. To be in the presence of someone who could make her feel the way she did now, even if just for a moment, almost calm in the midst of a storm, it was just what she needed. “No, I don’t know why he’s in there..” she shook her head. “I didn’t say a word to anyone in there, literally just asked where he was and .. saw it...” she blinked a few times. “No I just ran away. I couldn’t be there. I was just so pissed all I wanted to do was yell at him. he hasn’t told me about anything lately.”

The nights were getting longer, and though he still took his medication, his sleeping periods were getting shorter. He should schedule a new appointment and head to the doctors for something new - something a little more effective than what he had. Maybe a horse tranquilliser or- was that a voice? His eyebrows dipped inwards for a moment, and a few seconds later he was registering the voice as Astrid’s. Guess this was her thing now - turning up at his at, what would with anyone else be, a fucking ridiculous hour to show up at someone’s house without warning. With a groan and a slightly hazy view of his own apartment, Damian was clambering out of bed and navigating his way to the door. It felt a little strange hearing his real name for the first time in a little while, but what was stranger was Astrid’s tone. She didn’t sound.. alright, that much was clear. The click of the door rang as he opened it, peaking for a moment as though to ensure it was really her and not the first ghost of a trilogy that would visit him in the night. It was actually her though, and Damian was instantly frowning. He wasn’t frowning at her, but the look of her. Definitely not alright. “It’s fine, I was awake anyway.” It was quite obvious he’d been in bed though - hair disheveled and wearing only a loose shirt and some shorts. “What’s wrong? What happened?” A small panic had taken in his voice, a culmination of worries cementing themselves into a horrible idea that something quite awful had happened to Astrid, and now he was moving without thought, taking her hand and pulling her into the building, into the safety of his apartment and shutting the door and any bad things out. “Are you okay?”

“Thank God...” Astrid muttered to herself when she first heard the sound of Damian’s voice on the other side of the door. Of course he was in bed, anyone would be at this hour, and she certainly didn’t want to make a habit out of just showing up so late, but she needed her best friend and really Lock was the only one she knew to go to. She followed him in, shedding her hat, dropping it to the floor, and slipping out of her coat. No doubt with emotions running so high she’d be sweating in a minute. “I’m fine, I’m okay, I guess. I mean nothing is wrong with me.” she said, pacing now. “I was minding my own business, lying in the middle of my living room floor as I do, and got a call I didn’t recognize but answered and Lock, Oogie is in the fucking hospital!” She still couldn’t believe the words coming from her mouth. “Like full on hooked up to the pain meds and machines and shit. I saw him, I went.” that whole bit still felt like more of a dream than something she had indeed witnessed. “I went to see him myself but couldn’t bring myself to go inside the room I just had to leave. Like fucking hell what was he doing to end up in the goddamned hospital?” 

lokken-boy‌:

Was Nathan asking Astrid? Yes, he was? She was answering? Oh god, this was a pleasant interaction. He didn’t know what to do. He suppressed a smile, watching one, then the other, as they spoke respectively. He didn’t want to interrupt the conversation, incase he falter it, and so let them speak whilst he watched them in silence. At the mention of Oogie, he made a small sound of amusement, and finally spoke. “You’re here for the storm only. I’m not having either of you longer than that.” He chuckled lightly. 

“Sounds like you two need to watch more Netflix or something, if this is so fun for you.” Maybe he was joking. He liked this storm more than half of what he’d done this week, but he hadn’t been dead bored like he usually was. Maybe he’d just had an okay week. Of course, then Damian was there with his little joke. “Well, there go my plans of finding and moving into a crawlspace, then. Damn.” Nathan snapped his fingers in mock disappointment just as lightning flashed. And close this time. “Oh shit.”

“Hey I didn’t say this was fun. I just said the rest of my week had been pretty bland.” Astrid repeated herself, leaning her head back against the wall behind her. Overall Astrid had been pretty bland recently. She hadn’t been into any trouble - of course having your apartment wire trapped is anything but bland so for a while she was okay with the slow going life. Though there was no telling what could happen with the trio reunited. As Damian called her out for only being stuck temporarily she couldn’t help but glare. “I didn’t say I wanted to live with you.” and then Nathan chimed in calling it a crawlspace and the blonde snorted. “That’s fair. I’m a spoiled brat. I need more room.” and with that her eyes danced over to the window as she saw the lightning. It sure was pretty.

lokken-boy‌:

Oh, wow, she actually followed him. Good. He was smiling a little more sincerely, thankful she was willing to keep trying. Something told him it wasn’t because she wanted to be friends with Nathan again, but because Damian was insisting on it. He’d feel guilty if he.. well, felt guilty, but he didn’t. Damian rested his shoulder against the edge of the wall, behind Nathan, so that he could wrap an arm around his shoulder. It was a small gesture, maybe a sorry. “Yeah, neat view. Better than anything I’ve seen this week, anyway.”

“Lightning’s more fun than stars anyway. You can smell it.” At least, he could. He never knew if the others could, maybe he just assumed. Either way, there was an arm around his shoulder, and…maybe he felt better? It was hard to tell. He knew Astrid was closer, but maybe it didn’t matter. As long as they didn’t start arguing again. Then he gave a little scoff. “You must have had a very boring week, then, Lock,” he teased. “How about you, Shock? Seen anything cooler than electricity this week?”

Astrid was surprised to hear Nathan talk directly to her, ask a question like he was interested. Perhaps he really was interested to hear what she had to say. Maybe Astrid was being petty about all of this, ridiculous even. She drew in a quiet breath as she sat there, she didn’t want to draw attention to any discomfort, of course she wasn’t completely uncomfortable, she just wasn’t comfortable. “Hm?” she zoned out. “Oh, no, no.. Textbook images of the human brain and charts of feelings aren’t cooler than electricity. No this week’s been pretty bland. Oogie accused me of stealing something. I need to get out of that apartment.”

continued from here. @justalittleshock

“Ah, here it is,” said Oogie as he finally founded what he was looking for inside one of Astrid’s boxes, having helped her pack for the past months after she had found an apartment for herself, not even bothering to check anything else inside. “Next time you want something from me, actually return it instead of saying you did and then hide it in here,” said Jason as he stood up, his pocket knife in between his fingers as he showed it to Astrid. “This is my favorite too, bad move Astrid,” he said as he gave her a look.

“What are you talking about?” Astrid looked up from her book on the counter, brows furrowed as she looked back at her uncle, him now holding up a pocket knife, one she had never seen. “What would I need a knife for? Honestly Oogie, I didn’t take that. It must’ve just ended up in there in the packing mess. I’ve got my own pocket knife, and my pepper spray for my late nights. I don’t need your shit.”

lokken-boy‌:

A big fat sigh. That’s all he could feel like right now, but had to refrain lest he give away his frustration at the pair. He didn’t like seeing Nathan upset, or sulking, and definitely didn’t like when it came from his own actions. He gave only a small sigh then, but it was masked by the sudden clap of tremendous thunder overhead. He was immediately looking to the window, glancing from the dark sky to Nathan. He looked to Astrid then, smiling as he spoke. “That’s a shame. But, can’t say I pity you. Online classes don’t get cancelled for anything apparently.” He was thankful that Astrid was here too. It was a comfort after the goings on of the week, as much so as it was a pain that thing’s were this way. He couldn’t help himself - Nathan was emotionally the most… difficult, it seemed, and his features were faltering just slightly as he looked at Astrid, giving away Damian’s uncertainty. He gestured at least, with a flick of his head, for her to follow him. He hoped she would, and that Nathan wouldn’t mind, if Damian was there between them. He was getting up, and moving towards the window, stopping besides Nathan. Perhaps the storm was a very fitting setting - like, what was that stupid phrase? Pathetic Fallacy? “Is it clear enough to see the lightning?” He asked the other boy, voice soft.

Nathan was still quiet as he watched the storm. The thunder wasn’t bad, so really it could only get better. As long as the power didn’t go out he would be just fine. He could probably stay calm, as long as he had the storm to watch. He’d always liked bad weather. Honestly, he was only half paying attention to what the other two were doing, knew that something had come up about classes. His were…too easy. It was why he was sat here doing nothing. Which…apparently was a problem for Damian, because now he decided they should talk. Okay. He glanced away from the storm for a minute to shoot Damian a confused look. “Uh. Yeah, I can see pretty far right now. Probably won’t for long, there’s a wall of rain coming this way.”

Astrid was content to stay on the couch with Damian, leaving Nathan to sulk on his own by the window, she could read, listen to the rain. It didn’t sound so bad. But then Damian gestured and she couldn’t not follow. She had to play nice. “Yeah,” she nodded, shoving the blanket from her legs and hopping up from the couch to follow to the window. She had to admit, the view was pretty cool. “It is a pretty neat view.” she said. “I wish we could see the stars, but lightning is cool too.” She did herself to comfortably seat herself to face the both of them.

lokken-boy‌:

Ok, great. He refrained from rolling his eyes at Nathan, turning to Astrid as she spoke instead. “Good job Oogie to- Um, I couldn’t get into the gas station cause all the people leaving town to wait it out. Managed to get in eventually then.” He realised he didn’t know where to sit, and wherever he did would be taken as a signifier. If he sat too close to Astrid, he was defending Astrid’s side. If he sat too close to Barrel, then the guy was getting what he wanted. Maybe he was overthinking this, but it really wasn’t unlikely with them. He opted to sit as in the middle as he could get, by his coffee table, drink in town. He’d found time to grab some beers - he’d need alcohol. “Been up too much? Sorry I didn’t text, I’ve been.. kind of busy this week.” He was directing his question to Astrid. If Nathan wanted to sulk his way through, so be it.

Nathan felt a little twinge somewhere in him, the one that always came up when he was being ignored, but he pushed through it. He wasn’t going to have Damian picking on him again, especially not for being ‘needy’, and wasn’t going to give Astrid a reason to start. Not like he could do anything right anyway. So he listened, and watched the sky outside. Just like he’d predicted, he saw lighting strike somewhere in the distance. Probably the Empire State building, since it was partly made to be a lightning rod. He grinned to himself, and counted. He could keep himself entertained if they wanted to ignore him. Wasn’t any different than how he got through school.

Astrid brought her glass of wine to her lips and took a long sip before putting it back down on the floor next to her and she closed her book. She quickly glanced over at Nathan as he stared out the window but her gaze didn’t linger long before turning back to face Damian. “Just class, which professors didn’t seem to care about the storm. Work’s still due when it’s due, no one extended anything. I was hoping they’d all freak out or something and cancel.” she sighed, “And don’t worry about it. We all get busy. But I’m glad I’m here now..” her voice was soft as the last few words left her mouth. It was true, at least to see Damian. Not that she wasn’t glad to see Nathan, she was, kind of.

lokken-boy‌:

[ @barreledhawthorne​ / @justalittleshock ]

To say that this week had been eventful would be the understatement of the year so far. The text that Damian had received from Oogie just this morning had him wanting nothing more than to sit alone all weekend; to avoid any outbursts. But alas, the electrical storm didn’t care about his troubles. Damian did care about Astrid and Nathan though, and out of the three of them, his place was the most suitable to sit out the storm. So here he was, with them in his apartment together for the first time since New Year’s day. What a fucking shit-show. Nathan might’ve promised to behave himself, but Damian very much doubted that would last long - if he even bothered at all. He just wanted things to be normal, and right now everything was about as not normal as it could get. Damian was in the bathroom right now, taking his medication under the guise of needing to use the toilet.  When he was rejoining the pair, he half expected his sitting room to be on fire and one of them missing a limb. Thankfully, all limbs were still attached. “Did you both get here alright? I bet the traffic was crazy with the way people have been treating this thing like the fucking apocalypse.” He had to keep it together tonight. His mind was in such a precarious position that if these two little monsters started at each other, he wouldn’t be able to keep his calm as well as he had on New Year’s day.

Nathan had gotten the text right after the storm warning, and hadn’t wasted much time throwing some stuff together, making sure he had his chargers, and getting to Damian’s. He had gotten there first, which had been nice, and had set up his own little camp near the window, because this was a storm he wanted to watch. So, he’d admit, he hadn’t been paying much attention, or…any, to Astrid. He’d been busy. “Traffic was fine,” he responded, still looking out the window, trying to figure out what he was going to do next. How he was actually going to deal with this.

Though the thought of being stuck at her uncle’s apartment was comforting, with him there anyway, for the duration of the storm, at the same time Astrid wasn’t so sure she’d make it alone with just him. So when she got a text from Damian inviting her over she figured it’d be fine - despite knowing Nathan would no doubt be there. She’d be on her best behavior. After packing a quick bag with some clothes, toiletries, her charger, and a book just in case - oh and of course her cigarettes, she headed out to hop on the metro. It was a bit of a headache of a trip but nothing she couldn’t handle. Her arrival to the apartment was fine, she hadn’t said much to Nathan and it was the same the other way around, which wasn’t unexpected. She could feel the tension in the air but she didn’t dare say anything. “I mean,” she looked up from her book as Damian walked out of the bathroom. “the metro was kind of packed and the only thing still ringing in my head right now is the message that it’d be going down this evening because that was on repeat.. Not sure how the streets were.”