Let's Play a Game then - Chapter V
Feckin' Finally.
I thought I'd never finish this, but here I am xD
I finally got a new chapter for my Marlon Redemption Arc, Let's Play a Game then, available on AO3!
As always, a little preview for you, but if you wanna read the whole thing, hop over to my AO3 page, if you'd like ;)
The night hadn't been particularly long, but thanks to Louis' good coaxing, what was left of it had turned into a dreamless, relaxing round of sleep. The thick down comforter draped over his exhausted body while the icy winter air outside tried to make its way into the room, along with an old, softly creaking mattress that brought back many memories. Before Marlon had fallen asleep, a few of these memories had actually flashed through his mind.
Moments that he had long forgotten, but should never have forgotten. Because they reminded him of a time when he was on his way to becoming a better person. A time when he made friends, when for the first time he really felt as if people were looking at him and not just at the walls he had put up. Times that had been brought back to him because of the words of his best friend.
He wished those times back. They had brought with them a carefreeness that he could use right now, but above all, he hadn't carried the burden of three dead and three kidnapped on his shoulders back then. Not to mention the whole thing with the twins and... Brody.
Yes, if he could, he would take himself back to the time when his greatest enemy was the slug in the school playground that he had accidentally stepped in. But those days would never come back, never again.
Louis had shown him, however, that there were ways to reconstruct them at least a little. And Clementine had promised him - everything would be all right. Even if Marlon was not of the same opinion - he had experienced too many disappointments for that - he wanted to believe her.
So after a while, he finally got back to sleep and only woke up when the first rays of sunshine began to tickle his nose. Blinking slowly, the blond boy opened his eyes, feeling a slight stinging sensation as they were still sticky from sleep. He wanted to lift a hand to rub the grains of sand out of his eyes, but neither one hand nor the other was able to move.
Confused, he looked down at himself and realized that something heavy had settled on his hip, and therefore also on his arm. "Rosie...?" The brown dog raised his head a little at the mention of her name and began to wag his tail happily. When on earth had she come into the room? Not that he was complaining, quite the opposite.
With a small smile, he pulled his arm out from under her chin, rubbed his eyes with his hand and then placed his arm around Rosie's neck. She rested her head back on his hip and closed her eyes while Marlon lay back down as well. However she had come in without waking Louis, because he was a lighter sleeper than Marlon, it didn't matter. She was here now and that made the new morning a lot better.
If he was honest, he didn't really want to get up. Yes, there were things to do - for example, the preparations for the rescue operation that Marlon was secretly dreading. But not a single child had slept properly in the last few days. In fact, none of them had slept at all yesterday. And if they arrived at the boat completely exhausted, they would be caught immediately. They weren't allowed to rush in there without a plan anyway.
Marlon breathed in and out deeply, causing Rosie's head to rise and fall a little. She blinked briefly and ran her tongue over his side, which made him grin. "Don't, it tickles." She understood and closed her eyes again before Marlon started scratching her behind the ears. Good thing she'd been able to clean herself up at the river yesterday. They had both looked like death itself and even if Marlon would have thought that was cool under normal circumstances, these weren't normal circumstances.
Then he heard something rustling next to him and raised his eyes slightly until he could recognize Louis, who was stretching out lying down and humming softly. "Aaahhh.... Morning..." "Morning. How are you?" "If I ignore the things that are constantly trying to spoil my mood, then I'm actually doing great. And you? How's your shoulder?"
The boy's brown eyes focused on Marlon's injury, which the blond looked at suspiciously for a moment. "Hm... It hurts, but it's not so red anymore," he remarked after lifting the bandage a little, which didn't satisfy Louis. "You're going straight to Ruby, you hear?" "Yes, yes, on my way." Marlon grumbled and stroked Rosie's back with his hand, which she enjoyed with her tongue hanging out relaxed.
"I think the cold water did me some good. Plus the air from tonight. Don't worry Lou, it'll heal up." Louis seemed to really want to believe it, but Marlon could see the worry in his eyes. So he thought about how he could calm his best friend down a little and let his gaze wander around the room.
He hadn't been in this room for so long. Not because anything had stopped him, but because there had simply been no reason to come here again. Louis had hung up a few pictures of Tennessee during the time they had slept apart, but otherwise everything had stayed the same.
The wardrobe now had a dent, okay. But the old, rancid carpet was still the same. There were the same curtains, the same chairs, the same old desk. The same lamps that no longer worked, the same hat stand, whatever it was for, and not forgetting the same stain on the wallpaper from the day Louis had found a water pistol.
As Marlon let his gaze wander, he remembered quite a few things that had happened in this room. But the one that immediately came to mind was the day Marlon had first set foot on the floor of this school. Boy, had he been scared. Of course, he hadn't shown it openly, preferring to overshadow that fear with aggression. But Louis had approached him. He hadn't been impressed by the outer façade.
"Hey. Remember when we used to build caves out of mattresses and comforters?" The thought of the crazy activities from before, when it was easier, made Louis put his arms under his head and settle back down on the bed, as if he wanted to fully indulge in those memories. "Of course I remember. We used to steal candy from Ms. Maddie and hide it as treasure in the cave. You always wanted to be a dragon." "And you a knight." "Mmm. Even had a wooden sword. Until Justin broke it."
At that, Louis turned his head to Marlon and began to grin broadly. "I remember you kicking his ass after that. You should have seen yourself, you went at the poor guy like a fucking lion." The left corner of Marlon's mouth twitched slightly and he turned his blue eyes on his friend. "Well, I guess he deserved that. Idiot, first he bursts in and interferes in our game without being asked, then he breaks your sword. I could have wringed his neck." "Yep, that's why Mr. Wróbel made you do the punishment work."
Marlon had never understood that. Why hadn't Justin been punished, that scumbag? "I never liked him anyway." "Oh, believe me, we know that. It was more than obvious." That made Marlon a little skeptical. Really? Had it been that obvious? Well, when he thought about it, Marlon had never really made an effort to hide his dislike of Justin. The guy had always tried to outdo him, no matter what, and he would have loved to tear him to pieces in his first year.
Then Justin had died. And you really wouldn't wish that kind of death on anyone you cared about in the slightest.
Louis sighed softly and stretched once more before his shoulders cracked slightly. "Damn, I'm getting old too." "Well, soon you'll be in your golden twenties too, my friend." Marlon sat up slowly, though he grimaced slightly as his shoulder began to ache again. Rosie slipped from his side and crawled to the edge of the bed, from where she let herself slide to the floor.
Finally, she started scratching at the door and Marlon got up to open it for her. Just as he pushed the door handle down, he felt a pressure from the other side and as he was about to let Rosie out, he saw Ruby standing outside the boys' room with a small red suitcase in her hand. She had one hand raised, as she had wanted to knock and enter, while her sapphire blue eyes were fixed on Marlon as if she had seen a ghost.
Rosie greeted her old friend with a soft bark before pushing past her to do what old dog ladies do when it's still early in the morning. Marlon hadn't been expecting the visit, but managed a smile. "Hey Ruby. Is everything all right?"
The red-haired girl from the south dropped her arm again and forced herself to look a little friendlier. "Well, aside from the obvious... I think I'll need a good night's sleep once this is over." The bags under her eyes were clearly visible now, which was no wonder since she'd been checking for wounds and protecting Brody.
Marlon stepped aside so Ruby could get into the room, where Louis was already there to greet her. "Hey Rubes." "Hey Lou. You both look like you've hardly slept." "We haven't really." Marlon said, leaning his healthy shoulder against the doorframe. Louis glanced at him before looking him over and then taking the blue sweater that was lying on the desk. "You idiot didn't put this on again!"
Marlon caught the item of clothing with one hand and looked down at himself. "Seriously, am I so ugly that you want to cover me up every chance you get?" Louis stuck his tongue out at him playfully, which Marlon responded to by giving him the middle finger with a big grin.
Ruby, however, just rolled her eyes and put the suitcase down on the desk. "Honestly, you can leave the sweater off for now." "You see! There are people who think I'm great without a top!" However, this earned him a reproving look from Ruby. "Well, firstly, I don't think you're great without a shirt. Secondly, you'll have to leave your sweater off if you want me to take care of your wound. And thirdly... I don't think anyone wants to see that."
Outraged, Marlon looked down at himself, then at Louis. "Really?" "Nah, bro, I can do without acne." The older of the two slumped his shoulders and drew his eyebrows together. "Oh come on, I can't help it!" "Sit down here."
Ruby pointed to his bed, whereupon Marlon settled down. And when Ruby slowly and carefully removed his bandage, all thoughts of a possible modeling career were forgotten. He narrowed his eyes to slits, trying not to allow too much pain, but that was difficult with the irritated wound.
"Jesus Christ, what the... Marlon, it looks like you've had three wasps' nests stuck in your shoulder!" "It feels a bit like that to be honest, now that the bandage is off..." "Did you put the ointment on it that I gave you?" "...." "I thought so."
She pulled off the bandage, which was already badly discolored, and threw it in the trash can near the desk. Then she looked at the wound again. There were still a few stitches in it to allow it to close completely, but the swelling meant it was almost done. Ruby put a hand on Marlon's shoulder, then on his forehead. "You don't have a fever yet, but the wound is way too hot."
Great, and what did that mean? "Have you been feeling sick lately?" Marlon bit his tongue at the question and avoided her gaze. "Last night, yes..." "...How bad?" "I almost threw up. But I had a nightmare, I thought it might be because of that." "It can't be ruled out, but if a wound is infected, it can also cause nausea, as well as fever and chills." "Well, he doesn't have chills, otherwise he wouldn't be running around shirtless all the time."
Louis was joking, but his concern was clear to see as he tried to get a picture of the wound. "Will you be able to fix it, Ruby?" "That depends entirely on him," she replied, looking Marlon straight in the eye. "It's still only a slight infection. Redness around the wound, swelling, warm skin, no bad smell yet and no fever. That means there is still a chance that it will heal on its own. But if you don't take it easy and end up developing a fever or the wound starts to fester, then we'll have a problem."
Marlon looked at his shoulder for a moment and then nodded curtly. Antibiotics were long out. So that meant he really had to take it easy or he could die. If the infection got worse and spread, it would mean a very agonizing and protracted death for him.
Ruby took a cotton ball and some disinfectant, which she used to clean the wound, causing Marlon to wince and draw in a sharp breath. "I think we can take the stitches out, but-" "No way." He knew that it was probably better to remove all foreign bodies from the wound, but he could do without any more pain right now.
"It's my body, so we'll leave the stitches in. Just to be on the safe side." Marlon stroked two fingers along the stitching and gritted his teeth as the burn got a little stronger. Yes, he would like to delay that a little longer, if it was possible.
Ruby shrugged her shoulders and pushed his hand away to clean the wound a little more. Then she fetched a new bandage from the box and wrapped it around his shoulder and chest after securing a soft covering over the wound. Finally the bandage was in place and Marlon had to admit that he now felt much better. The feeling of a fresh bandage and the smell of disinfectant made him feel clean and his worries about inflammation faded somewhat.
Ruby's look, however, was a little... unsettling. She avoided his questioning eyes and the corners of her mouth turned downwards, which only changed briefly when he thanked her. "Thank you. I'll be all right. I'm not dead yet and without your help I would have been in the ground long ago."
The girl with the red hair seemed a little more content, but there was still an aura of guilt surrounding her, which made Marlon tilt his head in surprise. "Are you okay?" Ruby nodded curtly as she closed the box. "Yeah, it's all right. I just should have checked the wound sooner. And it really would be better to take the stitches out, Marlon. Every foreign body less makes for better healing."
Marlon sighed softly and put a hand over the wound as if to protect it from Ruby's intervention. "I know, just... Can we do this tonight? I'm sure it's going to hurt." "If you act like a child, yes, it will hurt." "Urgh... Well, then go ahead."
There was silence in the room for a moment and neither of them knew what to say. Until Ruby reached for the tweezers in the case and looked at the former leader with a soft sigh. Her face showed a mixture of sternness and pity, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry I chased you out like that yesterday. I... I'm just worried about Brody. She's back on her feet and we've all talked to her, but I don't think she'll be back to her old self until you two have a talk." That sounded bad. Very bad. Why couldn't Brody just carry on as before? After all, Marlon had been the one who had silenced her. Why did she let her fear eat away at her like that?
The moment these thoughts crossed his mind, Marlon felt incredibly bad and avoided Ruby's gaze. Questions like that were just stupid. He might as well ask why they had all come to this school for troubled children in the first place. Why are you the way you are? A difficult question to answer when you had no idea yourself.
Besides, there was a reason why Brody couldn't just carry on as he had before the incident. He was the reason. He had seen it yesterday, she was afraid of him. Surely she was afraid of the moment when they happened to be alone and he got the chance to take revenge on her. He felt no desire for revenge as far as Brody was concerned, no, quite the opposite. It hurt him that she was so afraid, but if he was honest, he had only himself to blame.
Marlon ran his fingers through his blond hair and slumped his shoulders. "I'll talk to her as soon as I get a chance. She.... She didn't seem like it would be a good idea for me to do this alone yesterday, though." "You're not going to talk to her alone either. We'll be there." Louis gave his friend an encouraging smile and nudged Marlon's healthy shoulder with his fist. "You'll manage. It won't be like before, but we all know Brody deserves more than an apology. I suggest you just treat her like a princess from now on to get your karma account back on track a bit. Okay?"
"Mhm, totally easy." Marlon grumbled and shook his head dismissively. "I just have to think carefully about what I say to her. A simple apology won't be enough, I don't want it to be enough because... that just wouldn't be right. Not after all this. But... What else can I tell her?" Looking for help, he lifted his eyes from the floor and looked back and forth between Louis and Ruby.
Both looked first at each other, then at Marlon. A moment that clearly showed how difficult things were for him, because there was obviously no real solution to his problem. Or he was simply too blind to see it.
No answer was also an answer. Admitting defeat, he lowered his head slightly and Ruby took out a pair of scissors to cut the first thread. "This is going to hurt, but pull yourself together and don't scream all over the house, will you?" "I'll do my best." She cut the first thread and slowly and carefully pulled the foreign body out of his skin with the tweezers. It was an extremely unpleasant procedure and Marlon couldn't avoid clawing his fingers into the sheets while he gritted his teeth.
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Hello!! I absolutely love your TWDG writing. And I have been having a bad day bc my tooth broke and I'm stressed -_-
Could you possibly make a "TWDG S4 characters when a bubbly Y/N is upset/sad"? ^_^
Hey yeah ofc! And I’m so sorry I hope your day gets better lovely :(
Also I did this as platonic lmk if ya want me to redo it idm! 😭
Another sorry if there’s any spelling mistakes it’s half three am and I’m tired
Also side note, sorry I’ve been like gone a lot of stuff happened and I lost intrest in the game but it’s kinda coming back I’m just getting use to writing again so if this sucks I’m SO SORRY 😭😭😭💖💖💖
TWDG S4 characters when a bubbly Y/N is sad
Violet
She’d find you a bit strange and would tease you but in honesty she loves how bubbly you are
Whenever life gets her down all she has to do is spend some time around you and she feels better
She notices instantly when you’re upset tho and will give it a few minutes before coming up to you
“Hey. What’s up? Why are you all depressed?”
But fr tho that’s her job 😞 LMAO SORRY
But you’ll open up to her and she silently nods along
Whatever it is she gets it
“Yeah…it sucks sometimes…”
She won’t say much but she offers to go somewhere more private so you two can chill and just complain to each other
She’s not all that good at comfort but she’d really try
When your back to normal she’d have a small smile on her face
“Ya happy again now?”
She’d be a bit upset if you’d want to go right back to being around everyone else but she’d join you anyway cuz she’s just happy to see you smile again
Mitch
He doesn’t really get it I mean how can anyone be happy living like this? I mean sure it’s manageable at times but it still sucks
He’d never on his life say it but he does secretly enjoy how happy you are even if he’d tease you for it
When he sees you upset tho I’m so sorry but this man is useless here
He doesn’t notice at first but after Willy or someone points it out he picks up on it and worries a bit
However he just hopes you cheer up on your own and doesn’t say anything
But he does watch out for you in the corner of his eye
He just assumes if it’s really bad you’ll come to him
Cuz he won’t come to you unless your both alone
When you do tell him what’s up he’s still not very helpful
“Damn…that sucks..”
He does care he’s just rubbish at showing it
He will let you stay with him but be warned you’ll both be sat in silence if you’re not in a talking mood
But when you do cheer up he’s relived
again, not that he’d voice it
“Happy again huh?”
Marlon
Marlon finds you to be a breath of fresh air, he always has a gentle smile on his face when your around
He’s happy that you can bring the others up too cuz a happy group is a good group yk
Plus you keep him calm too
So when he sees his usual happy friend down in the dumps he’s very confused
What happened to you?
He watches you for a bit then walks over to you and asks if you’re ok and if ya wanna talk
Hell take you up to the office and will listen to you explain why your upset
He listens and offers some advice and comfort
He’ll let you stay with him for a bit and if you like dogs yk he’ll get rosy to give you some comfort hugs and all
He just has normal conversations with you and will say that he hopes you cheer up soon cuz what would they all do without your positive ways
When you cheer up he’ll have a big smile and if your ok with it he’ll pull you in for a hug and definitely does that back pat and rub (yk the that you do to a friend or family to either be like heyy! Or ok that’s enough now)
Louis
HELLO YOUR BASICALLY THE ONLY OTHER PERSON THEIR WHO CAN MATCH HIS ENERGY
Like he needs to see you all happy and lively because that makes him more happy and lively too!
And this mf he instantly knows when you’re down and he will come up to you and just say “aww what’s wrong (name)? You gotta turn that frown upside down!” He might even pull an over the top sad face too
Depending on what kinda person you are this either kind of works or makes it so much worse
If he does realise that he’s not helping he panics a bit like
“Oh no- they really are sad…what do I doooooo?? This is badddd…”
He’s not all that good in serious situations and will try healing you with comedy and laughter
He’ll tell jokes, tease the others at Ericsson’s
Anything to cheer you up
Heaven forbid the moment you actually do cuz this mans energy is amplified by 100
“is that a smile I see?? So mx grumpy finally cheered up? Ha well it seems I’m just the best at curing sadness.” He acts all cocky but he’s just joking
He’s very pleased to see ya back to your regular self again
Aasim
Aasim always found it curious how someone so happy could exist in a world like this
But he’d be lying if he said he didn’t like it
He can’t match your energy but he does support your cheerful ways
He won’t voice it but you do cheer him up when he’s having a bad day
he notices when you’re upset very quickly n all it’s very obvious lmao
He’ll give it a few minutes but after a while he’ll cave and awkwardly walk over to you
“So…you ok? You seem upset…”
You tell him what’s up and he listens
He either gives you advice or will empathise with you saying he gets it
He just kinda silently sits next to you cuz he doesn’t really know what to say
You both just kinda sit around for a while
he won’t really offer it out loud but he doesn’t mind giving you a hug if it will cheer you up
He just waits for you to feel better and is thankful when you do
(Sorry but damn this man I just can’t imagine he’d be much help here that sounds horrible Ik ik 😞)
Omar
This man is grateful that you’re the way you are even if he doesn’t voice it a lot
He’s also a silent observer so when he saw you where upset he just quietly watched you
I think he either doubts how good he is at comforting or he’s too preoccupied but he’ll still watch you for you
He’s kinda hoping it’s just a off day and you’ll perk up again in a while
He waits to see if anyone else will check up on you or if you’ll come to him
But if enough time has passed and both of those didn’t happen he’ll slowly make his way over to you
He doesn’t say much but he listens to you
The few times he does speak it’s either reassurance or advice
He will stay with you for as long as he can and if he had to start cooking again he’d let you stand next to him while he does so
When you cheer up again he wont say much but he has a smile on his face
Ruby
Ruby fully appreciates your bubbly ways and she will usually match your energy when she can
She really thinks you totally brighten up Ericssons!
But today you were acting totally different and she could just sense it
Like there was a shift in the air she just picked up on before she even saw you
Since she gives me like mother friend vibes she totally instantly goes over to ya
Are you ok hun? Ya seem down? What’s happened? Do ya need some space?
She’s there and she will listen to ya 100%
She does whatever she can to be supportive and she might tell a few rubbish puns to make you smile again
She’ll get all protective of ya too like if anyone tries to annoy ya (which I doubt anyone would but yk just incase) she will get so mad at them she’s shout at them and scold them so much
She’ll either stay by you till you cheer up or will give you the space if you need it but the moment she sees that smile she loves so much and that cheery personality she adores she’s matching that happy face
Brody
This girl loves how bubbly you are it’s such a nice change of pace from the usually rubbish day to day apocalypse life
You don’t know how much you can cheer her up and make her feel more relaxed
So she was super quick to notice that you where sad
Huh that’s (name), why arn’t they all happy?? Where’s that lovely smile gone??
I don’t think she’d straight away ask if you where ok cuz maybe you needed some space? I mean it’s normal to get upset now a days but this isn’t like you
She’d ask the others like Marlon if they noticed that you’ve done a total 180
She’d still stay put but keeps a close eye on you and after a few minutes of watching you mope around she’d walk up to you and ask if you where ok
After you tell her what’s got ya so bummed out she’d do anything to get that smile back
She’d listen to you, give you advice if you wanted it, she’d give you a hug literally anything!
She’d also try to distract you by planning some made up road trip (a beach trip if I remember correctly??)
She needs to see her friend go back to their bubbly self 😞
Once you do cheer up she just sighs in relief man she’s happy you’re back to normal lmao
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