#interaction !

“ wasn’t there, like, an entirely new stock of ‘i get lonely’ this morning ? ” david asked, nodding towards the empty shelf that was once dedicated to the janet jackson album released hardly two days ago. “ you haven’t seen anyone, like... slipping past the rhythm nation radar, right ? ”

Like I'm not super serious abt it but

THEY'RE SO FREAKING CUTE

THEY ARE REALLY CUTE I LOVE DUCKS

i want one 😩

Masked meek : it does , isn't it ?

“ i... shouldn’t be trusted with small children, should i ? ”

just about a week free of telepathy and david had: gotten new sheets ( thank god -- he was quite tired of sleeping in slashed ones ), gotten a properly fitted suit for the upcoming gala ( quite fancy, if you asked him ! ), voluntarily taken on some of the more social posts... -- not too much for the average bear, but quite a lot for the average david ! and now, he had one person to show his no-telepathy-means-new-year-new-him off to: billie foster. from recent recollection and perception, she was one of the few who had encouraged him to learn more but didn’t scold or infantilize him when he stewed in scared stubbornness. 

so she was about to meet a new man ! he’d done his hair, put on his best outfit ( which still wasn’t much -- sadly, the suit had been prioritized over new clothes ), and even popped a breath mint to just emphasize how clean he was ! no more fumbling david for her, oh no ! she would meet confident, radiant, brilliant, fun david as the first person -- outside of solomon -- to learn of his trade-off !

silverhouse apartments ? he figured that was always a safe bet ! -- not to mention, if he saved up some more of his salary and tips, he would soon have enough to check out a better living space than his current one ( a place so decrepit that may can’t even fit it into any of the residencies offered on the locations page ) ! and a new location meant new opportunities, which meant chances to find a better job ( although his manager would certainly miss him ), which meant he could keep paying rent and living his best life ! it all made sense ! fixing that one part would fix his entire life ! getting rid of his telepathy meant nothing bad would ever happen again and clearly no good had ever come out of that ability, so there !

“ hey, billie ! ” he called out as he entered the building’s office which may is assuming it has just let her know if she’s in the wrong and she’ll edit this part...of course, it would’ve been nice to immediately know how david was perceived when he caught sight of billie. was she as impressed as he was hoping ? was she confused ? was she being interrupted ? unlike usual, only time would tell ! “ i might be in the market for a new apartment soon, ” he said, popping the consonants in the most suggestive, ‘i’m not actually here to talk about this yet, comment on new year new me, do you see how cool i can be?’ way possible.

there wasn’t much good david could say he had done in his life ( not that there was much bad either, but who was he to see that ? ), but one of those few moments ? one of those few deeds ? thinking to send word of xavier’s to olivia. he didn’t know how hector had wound up, he hadn’t wound up very well-off himself, but -- in terms of ability, at least -- perhaps he could improve her experience. give her somewhere to go, if she ever so chose to leave the castillo residence ( which always seemed an inevitability ).

spotting them at the gala, mood so very light over his newfound silence that he managed to completely neglect how little he had visited her, he slid up. would he usually be more standoffish, even around them, for how loud everything could be ? oh, definitely. but tonight ? tonight was different ! he was all but a new man ! and one he was proud to show the face, and well-fitted suit, of ! “ so, liv, what’s it like with all these people crashing xavier’s ? ” ...it may have been a slight joke, but he did have to wonder ! “ including me, i guess -- but check out this suit ! i think it makes up for it, y’know ? ”

while david and his ‘friendly, but cool’ face were often positioned at the check-out, he had pleaded with his manager to once... just once... simply stock some records and offer the occasional recommendation. it was much easier to drown in ska or boyband or pop-punk or whatever they were playing on the overhead speakers, much easier to focus on anything but the thoughts of others. even those screaming thoughts became muffled. there was a woman in between two records, but he couldn’t tell what they were -- why ? because of the loud music, alcohol, and lack of human contact !

of course, approaching the records towards the front of the store, he could absolutely still hear the bell ring. and he absolutely recognized the man who walked in -- one who, while they were still strangers, david had often found drowning in thought. perhaps he wasn’t the man in the store or the woman by the bus, but overwhelming stress was overwhelming stress was overwhelming stress ! he had made a concerted effort to listen to others as they talked more, but the fact that one of his ‘strangers’ had turned into something of a friend... this was why he wished he had the choice to read no minds at all !

“ will, hey ! you, uh, looking for anything, like... specific today ? ”