[open] And the nights, they last forever...

[the_horror]

WHO: The Hargreeves + Guests
WHERE: Various Cities
WHEN: Month of May
WHAT: Mass log of idiots to keep from flooding others. A log for all things Hargreeves, their Adventures, and those trying to befriend them.
WARNINGS: Obligatory CW for: drugs, alcohol, mentions of death, and mentions of child abuse. You know, the normal things.

"Gerard Way - Baby You're A Haunted House [Official Lyric Video]" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[crassidy]

Cassidy actually being home isn't always common, but somehow Diego always manages to time it just right.

The knock isn't something he really recognises as Diego's, high and clueless as he was last and this time, but it's vaguely familiar as the good ol' cop knock. When Cassidy answers the door he doesn't seem all that concerned by the chances of a cop though, swinging it open with a half-smoked joint dangling from his lips, and eyebrow arched.

"Yeah?-- Oh, it's you." Sorry not sorry if he doesn't sound too excited about it.

[deadlycurves]

There's a nearly pins-and-needles sort of feeling as he waits. He knows it can't be more than a couple of minutes, but that doesn't stop it from feeling like a goddamn eternity before the door opens. Diego doesn't bother with pleasantries, or even say a word to that less-than-amused greeting. Instead, as soon as it's half-registered from his eyes to his brain that Cassidy is, in fact, the one that answered the door, he pulls back and immediately throws a punch aimed directly for his jaw.

[crassidy]

The words had barely finished leaving his mouth before he's got a fist to the face, caught completely unaware and hit hard enough to throw his head sideways, joint tumbling sadly to the floor. For once Cass is too distracted to be concerned about drugs, hand shooting up to cradle his jaw, reeling back a step as he tries to gather his senses, while he looks to Diego with pure confusion.

"The bleedin' hell was that for?!" Cassidy gets punched a whole lot for a whole bunch of reasons, but usually he at least has a distant idea of why. He probably deserved it, he thinks, but that doesn't make it right! Probably.

[deadlycurves]

"Like you don't know," his words are razors dipped in poison as he follows Cassidy into the house. He doesn't have time to worry about things like closing the door, so it'll just hang open behind him. "my brother's laid up in a hospital bed and you've got the fucking gall to act like you didn't have anything to do with it?"

[crassidy]

A few steps into the hallway and then he's standing his ground, hand lowering from his jaw even with it still stinging from the impact. The confusion remains, but it's slowly getting laced with bristled annoyance. "Wha-- No?! You dumb bastard, I don't go around hurtin' folk. You're the psycho punching fellas in the face for no good reason."

[deadlycurves]

"Right, right." he nods in that over-exaggerated way people do when they're angry that looks downright cartoonish. "So, I'm supposed to believe you had nothing to do with Klaus overdosing? Because, I'm not sure that lines up." He continues to advance on him, not particularly showing any signs of backing down from this fight any time soon. "Assholes like you are what's gonna keep him in this stupid fucking cycle and I'm sick of watching him kill himself for it. So I think it'd be best for everyone if you back off and get out of my brother's life." Klaus will definitely not appreciate any of this when he inevitably finds out about it later, but Diego really doesn't care. Anger is easier to hold onto than fear, and it feels better to have an external target to direct it at.

[crassidy]

As Diego advances, Cassidy's shoulders square off, straightening from his usual slouch and his jaw setting, a clear display that he's not going to slink away from the display of aggression. He's ready to brawl if he has to, and he's so damn close to it until he actually listens to what the fuck Diego is saying.

And then his shoulders roll forward into a slouch once again, defeated.

"He overdosed? Christ, mate, i-is he alright? Like..." A vague gesture. Alive, he means, but Cass has way too much survivors guilt as it is to start thinking about more pals dying from his dumb ass enabling.

[deadlycurves]

His body is still tense and rigid, ready to fall into too-fluid action the second he feels like it, but the sudden shift from fight-ready to slumped-shoulders in Cassidy makes something in Diego's movements stutter to a pause. The voice dropped of defensiveness, quieter like it was too touchy of a subject to yell about, the stutter of genuine shock trying to be processed too quickly. No. Everything in him hardens into cold steel. He won't be diffused that quickly, that easily. Blame where blame is necessary and whether he was literally at the fault of this instance or not, Cassidy was part of Klaus' overall problem. Diego's jaw sets in a tight line at that not-quite-asked question. "He didn't die, if that's what you're asking." He bites out, ignoring the sharp twist in his chest at the idea. "But he's been at this edge too many times. At some point, his luck's gonna run out and the people keep pushing him into are gonna be the ones with it on their conscience." He doesn't care what people say about death in this place. That they don't last or stick or stay that way. It doesn't matter, that doesn't make it mean less to him. Nevermind that he isn't sure that fact can be so easily trusted, that there must be some kind of upper level limit of number of times this government would find it acceptable to keep reanimating corpses or whatever it is they do to bring them back. None of it makes death an acceptable outcome, especially not one that could be prevented.

[crassidy]

Cassidy almost falls for the temptation of going on the defensive again the moment Diego points blame, close to quickly denying fault over the whole ordeal because it's so much easier to contest than it is to accept accountability for any actions. He almost defends himself, but he doesn't.

Instead he nods, slow and yielding, gaze lowering like a child being berated. There's too many people in his lifetime that have killed themselves with drugs and stupid fucking acts while high. Too many that he's constantly encouraged because it's more fun to get high with company than alone.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm selfish arsehole. I-if you came here to beat the shite outta me or kill me or whatever, I don't blame yeh, mate. Like honestly I'm fine with that, do what yeh need to do. Although... if it's murder you're after, gonna have to wait 'til sunrise for that one, so maybe just. Get creative 'til then, eh?" He lifts his chin and scrunches his eyes closed like he's waiting to be hit again.

[deadlycurves]

A frown flickers across Diego's face, jaw still tense as Cassidy continues to relent and it just throws him completely off. A fight isn't really a fight, and loses all of its fun, when the opponent decides to give up on it completely. Even if that doesn't completely dissipate the rigidity and spring-ready tension in his muscles, it does bring him to a heavy sort of pause. "I'm not here to kill you, idiot." He glares at him, like that fact was just some kind of convenience of circumstance. There's a short moment of tense silence before he asks, "You really didn't know?"

[crassidy]

"I swear, I didn't. If I did I woulda gone to see him already." Which may have been a bad idea anyway, but it's hard to hear your pal is ill and just leave them there in hospital without even trying to visit. At least Klaus has his family around, he supposes, otherwise Cass would have felt even worse about not knowing.

"You... want a drink or anythin'?"

He's not really sure what he can offer by way of apology, but he tries for alcohol.

[deadlycurves]

"I don't want you. Anywhere. Near. That room." There is no real room for argument in his voice, the warning attached to it with spikes and jagged edges, a promise to waste no second at all on finishing what he'd actually come here for if he sees Cassidy anywhere in the vicinity of hospital room his brother is currently laid up in. His face twists up in something half-disgust, half-incredulity at that offer. "No, I don't want a drink. I've got better places to be." He doesn't hesitate to spin on his heel and stalk out of the house. He has to get to the hospital and see his brother.

[crassidy]

Cassidy blinks in mild confusion at Diego's insistence for him to stay away, but ultimately relents with a slow duck of his head and a hand raised in defeat.

"A-alright, mate, alright," he concedes lightly as Diego stalks off. Probably better than him punching more, but still not exactly the best way to end an argument. Cass just lingers at the door, calling after him, "I'll stay away, I swear."

But if Klaus chooses to come back after he's healed? Well, that's his own choice, he's a big boy.