who: Baelfire Everdeen & Marceline Abadeer when: July 27th, afternoon where: Baelfire's Barn / The Ugly Pink House What: A just really sad phone call. warnings: Sadness status: Complete.
Bae cut out of work early. It was reaching a point where the temperatures were not optimal, even with the wearable piece of magic that he'd begrudgingly purchased to keep himself cool while out in the fields. He'd just dropped off his equipment in the barn and was tossing a peach up and down as he walked in the direction of his barn. He'd gotten a burst of creativity a few nights before and had been spending most of his free time painting in his studio. That was precisely where he intended to go spend his afternoon.
Stepping inside the barn, he kicked off his shoes and set the peach down on the counter. His hands came to the edges of his t shirt and he yanked it up and over his head as he walked, letting it fall to the ground. A few minutes later, he'd made his way into the bathroom and the shower, letting the water blast down on him with an icy chill. When he did reemerge, it was just in a pair of shorts, because it was already feeling too warm again, even with his damp hair.
He picked up his peach and flopped down on the couch, taking an immediate bite of the fruit, before reclining back to just relax before he headed for his studio.
Marcy did not precisely remember when, half asleep, she had texted Bae. There was the initial text of Call me when you get this followed by We need to talk. Although Marcy was not aware of the fact that it sounded much more serious than she intended. She only half remembered sending those texts anyway, and usually her half asleep middle of the day texts that she sent to Bae when she was thinking about him were silly kissy face emojis or whatever random, amusing thought popped into her head which half the time made little sense unless you spent hundreds of years in an oddball world where talking candy people existed.
When she started dreaming about Hambo she’d forgotten about the texts entirely.
Once he'd finished eating his snack, he tossed the pit from across the room into the trash can by the kitchen island, grinning widely as it went into the can without bouncing out. Then he shifted, bringing his fingers to his lips to suck off the juices so they wouldn't make his phone sticky. With that complete, and a quick brush of his hand against his shorts to dry his finger tips, he grabbed the phone and promptly saw Marcy's messages.
His stomach dropped.
He dialed immediately. "Marcy?" He said once she'd answered.
Marcy groaned a little with the half mumbled protest of “I’m awake.” Her eyes weren’t opened yet and she yawned loudly into the phone’s receiver, through Bae wasn’t there to see the impressive display of her razor sharp set of teeth.
After stretching with another sleepy noise of content, Marcy half opened one eye with her phone rested on half of her face, “Hey, Bae.”
She was...sleeping? The look of concern that had taken over him when he saw the message shifted into one of confusion.
"You said to call. What is wrong?" He was used to her being asleep at this hour so the request had seemed serious.
“What?” Marcy blinked and tried to remember what she said through the fog of her dream. “Oh. Yeah. I just wanted to check on you.” She yawned again. “And make sure you were okay.”
Marcy rolled over on the bed and pulled her blankets up and over her shoulder. “What are you up to?” she mumbled.
He sat up straighter and shifted, leaning down to the floor to pick up his tablet, quickly hitting the screen. He scrolled through the network with a fierce speed to see if there was any notifications from the people he loved.
He saw nothing.
"I'm...fine?" He said with a perplexed tone before setting the tablet down. "I was going to paint." He paused. "Are you going back to sleep?"
“I dunno. I’m just laying in bed right now. Neal woke me up earlier. I think he’s pretty upset about Gideon and like, you didn’t mention him and you’re not him so I wasn’t sure if you weren’t talking about him because you were upset or because you weren’t.”
Marcy paused.
“I just want you to know you can talk to me. You know. If you wanted to. Not like, about that. I meant about anything. I dunno…” She let the rest of the sentence drift off.
Baelfire froze.
There was the sound of him pulling in a breath even through the receiver and his hand came up to rest against his brow, his thumb pressing against his temple. "And he decided he needed to talk to you about it?" He didn't necessarily get that. He didn't necessarily like it, either. Why did Neal have to be involved with everyone in his life?
That was harsh and Baelfire knew it. The hand dropped down to hit the edge of the couch. "I didn't see a reason to talk about Gideon." He frowned. "I know that."
“Bae, the only reason I started talking to him is because you told me about him. And he was like the old man version of you. I just wanted to know if you would still want to be my friend when you got old or if you’d get sick of me like everyone else.” Marcy sighed. “I know that’s stupid. You’re not even really like him so… I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work like that. But I didn’t know that at the time.”
"I'm not him," he said, perhaps a bit petulantly, and not necessarily the way he'd normally intend. He knew it wasn't fair. Neal had even more stripped from him than Baelfire had or would, but Neal was given a second chance. Neal got to have more time with Henry even if he went home. Baelfire wouldn't.
He sighed. "I don't get why you keep talking to him," he admitted, shifting to lay down on the couch.
“Yeah, I know that now. But sometimes when I get a dumb idea in my head, I follow it anyway. It’s not like I don’t have anything better to do most of the time.” Marcy sat up and decided she would be up early today. “He’s pretty alright, and he’s not you. It’s not like he’s evil. He doesn’t try to hurt anyone. He cares about the same people you do and would look out for them, same as you. I don’t get why you keep avoiding him.”
That explanation didn't surprise him. They'd had their first big blowout over one of her dumb ideas that she had to follow through. He did cock an eyebrow at that following statement with a hint of a frown. "Maybe you should take up night tennis," he suggested, with an attempt at a light tone. He didn't know if it actually worked. He shut his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Same as me."
Wasn't that the problem in a nutshell? "I don't want to talk about this, Marcy."
“No one else would play night tennis,” she said. “Also not really a big enough distraction from how creepy this place is.” Marcy didn’t bring Neal up again. Walking into the bathroom she turned on the sink and splashed her face with cold water. She didn’t have a mirror. There wasn’t really a point.
"I'd play night tennis," he offered up. Okay, maybe not, unless she really wanted to. His point was more than he'd do just about anything if she showed an actual interest in it. He glanced at the phone. He didn't find Tumbleweed creepy but he hadn't lived the life she had. He wouldn't be dismissive of her concern.
He hesitated for a moment before, "Was he actually upset about Gideon?"
“I think he’s upset that he’s gone, yeah,” Marcy said. She didn’t know the whole story, but considering who their father was, she gathered he was probably worried.
"He wasn't ever going to stay," he remarked, shifting to put his arm behind his head and to kick his leg up to rest against the back of the couch.
“You don’t know that. Don’t kids sometimes show up? He could just show up and then someone could be stuck with a baby or a little kid or something. Heh. Now I’m picturing you stuck with a baby.” Marcy smiled a little at the thought.
"I can't remember any kid showing up that didn't have a parent here. Or sticking around after the parent leaves. At least, not a little kid," he said. Gideon showing up any older than he was would have been problematic. It wasn't that he didn't want Gideon to have a second chance the way he did. He just didn't want Belle.
Maybe if Gideon had come alone it would have been different. And if he was any older, he'd have been just as traumatized as Baelfire had been in his childhood. He cleared his throat. "That would so backfire on you. You'd have to deal with a baby, too."
“Nah, I’m great with kids. I’d just let you do the hard stuff.” Marcy was grinning now.
"I'm pretty sure that isn't how it would go," he said, glad to move onto something that was being taken more lightly. It wasn't going to happen and it was a hypothetical without any real weight. He could joke.
“Uh, who sleeps during the day?” Marcy reminded him. After a pause, Marcy frowned, “We’re okay, right? I mean, we hang out but sometimes it feels like we don’t talk like we used to. I guess that was kind of what I was worried about.”
"Hate to break it to you but babies sleep during the day, too," he retorted. But then the lightheartedness felt like it was gone again after only being there for a moment. "You having to ask makes me worried we aren't the way we should," he said, quietly. He didn't like that. "But I think we're okay?"
“Yeah. Okay. Good.” Marcy felt a little guilty for even bringing it up. Her fingers curled through her hair as the other hand held the phone to her ear. “This place just messes with my head, I guess.”
"It hasn't gotten any better?" he was referring to the way Tumbleweed creeped her out. He had hoped that maybe after a couple of weeks she would see that they were safe here. Evidently not.
Marcy thought about lying. No one really seemed to take her fears seriously, and those who halfway did just shrugged their shoulders like there was nothing that could be done about it. No one wanted to hear about Marcy living everyday in her worst case scenario. “...No.” Marcy refrained from asking if Neverland ever got any better for Bae.
There was a long period of silence. He hated that in a place where he felt safe, and where he'd built a family and a home, she was never fully comfortable. He swung his hand through his hair. "...Maybe you should ask about joining them at the Bureau. If something happens, you'd be able to know and help immediately," he suggested. "And it'd give you something to do at night."
“No thanks. Hey, how about we all just move to Dino Island which is way, way safer and like hidden from the rest of the planet?” Marcy already knew the answer was no and that the best she could do was the emergency teleporting bracelets everyone received. She didn’t even know if everyone wore their bracelets. Marcy couldn’t even get Bae to check out the place she’d built.
He didn't reply immediately. There was a flash of sadness across his expression. "I don't want to spend my life on an Island again," he said, quietly, knowing it was just going to hurt her.
Marcy didn’t say anything. She didn’t hang up, but she didn’t know what else to say either. They already had this talk. Marcy had made her feelings very clear. But ultimately, the humans were happy to take the risk that they might die. After all, they weren’t the ones who’d be left behind to watch it. She wasn’t asking him to go to Neverland.
“I gottah go,” she said. Marcy hung up. But she didn’t hang up on him, so it was fine, right? Maybe she could spend some time on Dino Island to clear her head. Or be alone.
"Oh,okay. I'll ta ---" He began but then he heard the call drop. His brows came together and he flung the phone down, before standing to stalk off towards his studio.