(open) i don't know how to word it

[flatteries]

Who: Inigo and you!
When: Fiddlesticks 27
Where: Sleeper carriages, luggage carriage
What: Inigo loses a boyfriend.
Warnings: None, just a very sad Inigo.

( scenario a - sleeper carriages )

Maybe you've already noticed it, but something about Inigo today seems.. off. Or at least, extra off, considering Inigo has already seemed to be acting more strangely than usually the past few days, especially since the day of the party.

But today? Today things have seemed to reach a fever pitch. Maybe you're worried enough to go check up on him, in which case you might find the guy in one of the hallways of the sleeper carriages, near his room. If you bother to ask him what's up though, he'll just laugh.

"What? No, I'm fine! Of course I'm fine, what could po--"

That's the exact moment he turns to head into his room to try and hide from this conversation, only to forget to scan his ticket. Which means he's just walking head-first into the door, causing him to topple over to the ground.

It's fine. He's fine. This is fine.

( scenario b - luggage carriage )

Inigo is trying really hard to carry on as usually. Really, he is. Because that's just what he does. He's not someone who sits around and mopes. Sure, the circumstances here may be different than the ones back home, but old habits are hard to give up, and Inigo's oldest and most stubborn habit is definitely the thought running through his mind that he has to be okay. He has to be strong. So despite the moments where he slips up and seems off, he tries so hard to laugh. And joke. As if nothing is up.

As if he doesn't feel like his heart has been torn straight out of his body.

But it's so hard to keep it up all the time. At least the shower is a good place to cry, but when Inigo finds it occupied exactly at the moment he needs it, he quickly tries to look for another place. He knows nowhere on the train is safe to hide from everyone, but he figures the luggage carriage is at least the furthest out of the way. It's the only option right now. It's either that, or crying in the middle of the train.

Which is why if you happen to be in the luggage carriage - or went looking for him everywhere only to end up here - you may find Inigo sitting on top of some suitcases. His knees are drawn up to his chest, and although that makes it impossible to see his face from the current angle, the telltale sounds of sobs are probably all anyone needs to see what's going on here.

Comments

[flatteries]

Even as Tidus agrees and stands up, Inigo just stares at him for another moment, not quite making the same motion yet himself. His brain needs that another moment to catch up with the current situation. Even with Tidus half-offering it himself, rejection is so ingrained in Inigo's brain that he honestly expected the other to back out somehow. Or to call him out on how ridiculous his request is.

And yet Tidus doesn't. He just says alright. Sure, he looks a little muted compared to the way he usually acts, but he doesn't seem angry. Or like he's making fun of him.

Inigo feels the water in his eyes now forming tears that properly roll down his cheeks, but he doesn't do something about it right away. Instead he takes his time standing up as well, looking at Tidus for another moment before realising he ought to wipe the tears away if they're going to have to make their way out of here and to Inigo's cabin. It's only then that his hand moves up to his face while speaking.

".. Thank you. This.. really means a lot to me."

[blitzcheer]

He nods his head simply. The vulnerability before him is strange to behold, nothing Tidus expected to witness out of Inigo--perhaps nobody on board, except maybe some of the younger kids. He doesn't know what to say to it, so he says nothing, pulling his lip in the ghost of reassurance, nodding his head, and turning to head towards the doors for want of nothing else to do.

But his slow pace slows more, coming to a stop before he reaches them. His head hanging, and a voice in his throat after all. Some need to speak, as if otherwise would be deceitful. Some kind of honesty he wants to share, even if he can't do it in front of Inigo's crying face.

He doesn't know if this is the time or place--other than it's there, slipping out before he can think twice.

"Someone disappeared, where I came from. They faded away in front of everyone they knew, and...the person that loved them. They couldn't comfort them. They slipped right through him, and all he could do was...pretend to hold her."

And he feels as hollow now, recounting it. Holding out a hand without looking to anyone to take it.

"I'll be here... as long as I can be."

[flatteries]

Inigo is about to follow Tidus, but then is stopped right in his tracks by those words. It's not something he expected the other to say right now.. but then again, hasn't he already been caught by surprise by Tidus' offer? Maybe this is just the point from which everything is going to be surprising.

Maybe it's since Inigo is already emotional as hell right now, but those words tug heavily at his heartstrings anyway, despite knowing nothing else about the situation Tidus is talking about. But it's just something about Tidus saying it.. It has to be about himself, right? Or at least a situation he was close to.

After ensuring that there's no longer any tears on his face - though his eyes are still red from crying, but there's not much he can do about that - Inigo finally steps forward until he's next to the other guy rather than staring at Tidus' back, and before the other can say or do anything, Inigo grabs a hold of his hand, firmly holding it in his own.

"That's right."

Despite everything, despite the way his heart still aches right now.. Inigo manages a smile. And it's not forced, not the kind he puts up to pretend he's okay when he isn't. The pain is still evident in this one anyway, so it'd be the lamest possible coverup. But despite the pain in it, it's genuine. There's something glad about it, or at the very least grateful.

"I mean.. we're basically best buds now." Surely you qualify for that after seeing each other get stupidly emotional and then going off to nap together, right? "And it's not like there's anything out there that can separate those. Not even a dumb train."

[blitzcheer]

Tidus doesn't have the strength for it--if that what it is, this aversion to turn and look Inigo in the face, to acknowledge his presence beside him. But he doesn't reconsider the hand, though his grip is nothing at first, just one held in another.

But when Inigo speaks his reassurance, his belief--Tidus laughs lightly, short and fond. A tug of his lips that could be a smile, his eyes closing for the dip of his head that might be a nod. There and then gone, and then Tidus squeezes Inigo's hand.

"Yeah. The people who meant something to you...they're always with you."

He allows a pause of air with those words, but then he's moving, though not with any particular rush; a "C'mon" and his free hand pressing on the button to slide open the door, the humming of the void outside a whisper to the ears in the space between the cars.

Inigo's got a room to get them to, even if Tidus will take the lead on getting them going.