foolishmortals | all that glitters is gold [AFTERPARTY]

Entry tags:

round 1,
week 4

all that glitters is gold [AFTERPARTY]

[It's been a very long, and very upsetting morning, and honestly, Ford is feeling goddamn drained. All the events of the day have hit him like a ton of bricks. And as much as he wants nothing more than to sleep for about a week...well. There's work to do.

After talking it over with Fiddleford, his first mission is hitting the kitchen and scraping together all the eggs, potatoes, and onions he can find. It takes him a good few hours, but eventually he's got five big casserole dishes full of kugel, steaming hot, fresh out of the oven. He stacks up a big pile of plates, forks, and serving utensils and carries it all into the lounge in trips.

Next is the business of the still. Between the two of them, the two Fords manage to get it into the lounge and set it up on a table where it's easy to access. Ford also pilfers a big glass jug of apple juice for the kids and puts it nearby. All the adults are free to partake of a cup of Fiddleford's sugar shine. They'll be needing it, tonight.

Lastly, are the notes. Ford writes them all out in his neat, block lettering, and slips one under each door—pausing at the doors of the deceased with a sad frown each time.

The lounge is quiet while they wait for everyone to arrive, save for the sounds of banjo music....

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[At the sound of Maui's voice, he relaxes (doesn't lay back down yet, though), reaching up and touching his nose with his free hand- and then flinching immediately.]

...Like it's been run over by a cart wheel.

[But apparently sleeping for a few hours has done him good, because at least he's lucid. ...Even though he sounds like he's talking through a bad head cold.]

What happened?

From what I've seen, that's not far off.

[But that was getting ahead of himself, just a little. Much as he didn't want to think about the trial, Lefou needed to know before he got outside and ran into the others. Maui didn't think himself the gentle type, but at least they were friends.]

There was a trial. People are dead. You should... you should now that. [He wanted to give Lefou a chance to breathe, to take it in, but letting him sit with the knowledge of a death but not knowing who...]

Sylvia and Wander are dead. Tarzan is missing and... things got a whole lot of not good.

[Lefou's breath caught somewhere in his chest when Maui told him that there was a trial. It felt like something tightened there and broke, like a string twisted too tight. He struggled to sit up, and looked down at his sheet.]

...I remember I heard screaming. I was going to help and then I-

[His heart jumped up in his throat, and he looked back at Maui.]

Are you okay?

I... don't know. [He and Sylvia had a complicated relationship, at best, but at the end of the day... she was still a friend, or at least the closest thing to it before he sat down and spoke with Lefou. It felt... wrong, knowing that the following week, she wouldn't be there to poke fun at him, or for him to throw around.

Hadn't they promised to go monster hunting?

And Wander. He was annoying, but there were plenty of good things about the creature too. Had Maui ever brought any of those up? Had he ever thanked the orange boy for reading to him? Or even said anything nice at all?

People died all of the time, but it was never the ones Maui cared about. That, coupled with the gravity of what he had done in the graveyard... He shook his head, trying to clear the troubled thoughts from it, or at least keep file them into a solid line. One thing at a time.]

I think I messed up, Lefou. I think I messed up again.

[Lefou.

Not "Short stack."

Somehow, that does more to lessen the pounding in his head, or at least make it easier to ignore, as he swings his legs out of bed and then clenches his eyes shut and grips the nightstand until the room stops spinning.]

...What happened?

[The sound was enough to get Maui's attention, and was quick to bring him to his feet. He took a few long strides, enough to kneel at Lefou's bedside and place a hand on his shoulder. For a moment, he was quiet, content feeling the warmth of another person, letting the fears from earlier that morning finally subside.

Lefou was okay. That was something.]

I... I made a deal with a ghost. To get my hook back. All I had to do was kill the Ghost Host, and when I made it... When I made it, I thought he was more complicit. That this was just as much his game as his employer.

[He heard Maui move, opened his eyes to see him kneeling there, but the warm, heavy hand on his shoulder assuaged the bolt of pain and nausea that shot through him head to toe, and he put one hand over Maui's wrist. A familiar gesture, by now.]

...Oh, Maui...

[he doesn't even have a frame of reference for this, just a cold knot sinking into the pit of his stomach. But his grip tightens. He's not letting Maui take his hand back. Not right now.]

Did you-

[Maui was quick to shake his head, even though he didn't hurry to elaborate.]

Tarzan... someone took his place. Some weird little dude. When we caught him, he went a little kooky dooks, was going to kill all of us.

[Maui pulled his hand back, opting instead to place his head in his hands.]

You can't kill a ghost unless it's in a body. And... so when the little dude got mad, the Host took over to save us. That's when the Ghost I made a deal with told me to do it. Gave me my hook back.

I thought about it. But I didn't know what would happen, and I didn't want to lose y-- anyone. I didn't want to make another mistake and doom everyone all over again.

[Lefou listened, because it was important, because he needed to know what happened even if his brain was trying to slam out of his skull.

His heart dropped when Maui pulled his hand back, and his posture slumped a little.

I didn't want to lose y--anyone.

Lefou reached out and brushed some of Maui's hair back, held his wrists and tugged at them gently to try to get him to look at him.]

...Hey. Look at me. Please?

[Considering the way their strength compared to one another, Lefou's efforts shouldn't have worked. But the pressure was enough to alert Maui to his efforts. He lowered both of his hands, met Lefou's eyes. Festering there was not just the doubt of his choices that day, of the past week, but a century of mistakes.]

What? What is it?

[When their eyes met, he smiled reassuringly. He wanted to take his face in his hands, but he settled instead for brushing his hair back off his shoulders and letting his hands rest there.]

You did the right thing. We're safe.

...I don't remember much from when I was out of it, but I could hear- no, feel your voice. I held onto that even though my head was killing me.

You would never do anything to hurt any of us.

[For perhaps the first time in his entire life, Maui almost wished he didn't half his height or weight. It might have felt nice, collapsing against someone, being the weak one. He indulged the thought of falling against him anyway, letting the exhaustion of the day get to him, but...

But instead, he settled for something a little simpler. He pressed his forehead against Lefou's, closing his ees for just a scant few seconds.]

I'm not the hero you think I am. I doomed my world. Maybe I doomed us here. I can do good things sometimes but I'm... not good. [He breathed a soft sigh, moving to pull away, moving to keep his burdens off of the man in front of him.]

[The forehead press surprised him with how...intimate it was. His nose wasn't transmitting many other sensations but pain, but he almost could feel it tingling from where it was barely making contact with Maui's. He wanted to close his eyes, but he kept them open, leaning into it a little bit.

He never thought anything could feel more intimate than kissing someone, but there they were.]

I don't care about that. [His voice was soft, still a little strained through his nose.] You care about me. You've been there for me every time I needed you. The last guy I called a "hero" never did any of that for me.

[When Maui pulled away, Lefou was reluctant to let him, one hand coming up to the back of his neck like he wanted to stop him, keep him close. But if Maui wanted to pull back there was nothing Lefou could do to really stop him.]

If I have to choose, I'll gladly face any kind of doom standing next to someone like you.

Sounds like he wasn't much of a hero...

[Since leaving the graveyard, Maui had felt a chill running down his spine and pooling in his gut. Normally, he might have laughed about it with Lefou, telling him that the cold finally got to him. Maybe he might have as he relaxed, if not for the fact that said chill was... quickly being chased out.

It started with his complexion darkening ever so slightly, and a tickling sensation like feathers in his gut. Though the cold remained at his back, it was quickly being licked by the flames spreading through him. Perplexed by this, he could only offer a thoughtful rumble as he gave into Lefou's coaxing.

He didn't have the energy to argue, he told himself.]

Don't go down with the ship for anyone, least of all me. You're a good man and your own hero, not to mention what you mean to everyone else.

Huge jerk, turns out. Left me for dead under a harpsichord.

[But enough about that.

Lefou smiled when Maui decided to stay close. He was used to the rushing feeling of overwhelming affection, the desire to be close, to touch, to feel, to hope that one day he could be the one.

He wasn't used to it now, though, with their foreheads hovering just shy of contact (because Maui had managed to pull back slightly before he gave in).]

You mean a lot to me, Maui.

[Since they were so close, he gave into the temptation that had been eating at him for the last few minutes (and hey, if Maui reacted negatively he could blame the head trauma and they could never speak of it again). He closed his eyes and tilted his head, his turn to cross the distance between them for an intimate touch.

And this one a gentle, chaste kiss.]

[There were perks to being a demi-god. Being a trendsetter just so happened to be one of them. Regardless of what tradition was back home, regardless of the importance of men and women being together for the sake of keeping the village thriving, Maui was a god, and therefore made the decisions about what would fly and what wouldn't.

Kissing a man? That was different. He'd wonder about whether or not it was weird later, but right now... Well it was the same as it always was, wasn't it? Maui was a glutton for affection, had crossed the seas and stolen literal hearts to win the masses over.

He'd kissed women before, brief affairs to hear them squeal and nothing more. It wasn't any different at its core, except this time he wasn't going for an ego boost, but something so much more. It wasn't anything intense, it wasn't the right moment. Hell, it was barely anything more than brushing his lips back against Lefou's, before allowing his first smile since escaping the graveyard.

He wasn't good with words or praise. When he spoke next, he was moving forward. He had to hope that their continued pseudo-embrace would be enough to convey that whatever had just passed between them, Maui was okay with it. ]

You... gotta tell me. The heck is a harpsichord?

[The second before Maui's lips pressed back against his felt like decades. He remembered how shocked Maui had been the first time that he kissed him, but also how there had been no disgust on his face. Nothing like the looks he usually got for being too much.

The kiss lasted just long enough. It wasn't the time for anything intense, anything more, and anyway he could still feel his pulse in his temples and the back of his head.

But the sight of that smile on Maui's face, when just a few minutes before he'd been so hard on himself, warmed him from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

He pulled back only most reluctantly, shifting his hands to brush Maui's jaw before returning them to his shoulders. He was smiling too, now, like there was sunshine, there was a song inside him and he couldn't hold it in. He chuckled at the question.]

It's like the piano upstairs, but fancier.

[ After years under the harsh rays of the sun, day in and day out, Maui figured he would have been used to being warm. Such external sensations didn't, could never compare to what felt like the very sun, like the fires he stole, burning in his chest.

When he laughed, it was a low rumble, and when he spoke, his voice was husky. ]

Tell you what. I'll at least keep you safe from the piano upstairs. Dunno about any flarpsidords.

[If he wasn't so weak and dizzy right now that voice would be making him weak and dizzy for a whole host of other reasons.

Still, he was grinning so wide that the gap in his teeth was almost visible.]

How brave, fighting off such a deadly instrument for me.

[he wanted to twirl that silky hair around his fingers, but he resisted. For the moment, maybe.]

...I'm glad you're safe.

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all that glitters is gold [AFTERPARTY]

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Will I ever match tenses with you stay tuned

sometimes i can't even match my own tenses i'm so sorry

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