Smiling Friends Angst\Comfort HCS and Stories

Heart to Heart (🌩)

Alan had invited Pim over to his house for a "heart to heart" conversation. The red critter has been jealous of his co-worker's success at making people smile. Pim was just so....PERFECT! He always came off as flawless critter who did nothing wrong. While Alan was always told he wasn't trying enough or people just never noticed him. The red critter was fed up with being labeled cold and emotionless and was ready to face Pim head on.

"You've been sitting still for the past 5 minutes." Pim said, prompting Alan to break from his trance. "Oh....So I was..." Alan mumbled, he began to tap his one finger on the table. Pim could feel Alan's frustration from right across the table, "Alan. You really don't seem like yourself today. Is something the matter?" The pink critter asked concerned, Alan suddenly bolted from his seat. "Yes. EVERYTHING is the matter, Pim!" He said, raising his voice. "I'm just so SICK and TIRED of you being so...PREFECT! Its like you can't do anything wrong!" He yelled, causing Pim to cower in his seat. "Maybe you need some time to cool down..." He stuttered. "Oh I need time? Well how about you take some time to get off that damned soapbox you're always standing on!" Alan shouted once more, pounding his fist on the table. Pim was instantly reminded of the argument he had with Charlie way back when, and how much it affected him. He began to space out, barely hearing Alan's rant. Everything just came flooding back within the snap of a finger. Pim could remember everything word for word. Tears stung the critter's eyes, but Alan was too furious to notice. 

"I just feel like...I'm ALWAYS living in you and Charlie's shadows! And..." The critter began to take control of himself, his head was throbbing. "I...I'll be right back, I need to get an aspirin" Alan said before walking into the kitchen. Pim sat there stunned, still struggling to take in the words of his friend. "I've never come off like that....Have I?" He thought. Pim was often told by Charlie  and other people in his life that he was "trying too hard" or was "too sensitive," what if they were right? What if he was actually too much to handle? He couldn't handle the idea that someone would have such a disliking for him. "Maybe Alan is just...Overreacting? He probably had a bad day at work or something...." Pim muttered to himself. Alan returned and sat in his chair. "...Do you wanna put in your two cents?" He offered, not noticing how frightened Pim was. The pink critter gathered up all the courage he had inside and made eye contact with Alan. "Well I don't know about you, Alan. But I think this accusations are just all in your head. Maybe you just had a bad day at work?" Pim spoke, not knowing he was unintentionally gaslighting Alan. "Ok, I'll admit maybe going off on you wasn't exactly the best approach. But what you just said is a whole new low." Alan pointed out. "You know you can't always be in the right about everything. I mean have you learned NOTHING from what happened during Christmas time?" Those words hit Pim like a dart to the chest. "I thought we all agreed to NEVER bring that up again!" Pim retorted. "Well this is a circumstance where it needs to be brought up." Alan responded.

Pim began to tear up, he never wanted to have his mistakes hurt others. He thought everybody was over Charlie's near death experience. Alan sat there quietly, trying to keep his cool. Pim's sobs started to get to him though. "Pim..." He spoke before the pink critter got up from his chair and ran upstairs. "I'll give him a minute..." The red critter said before flopping onto the couch. Glep came home a minute later and saw his emotionally drained roommate on the couch. "Hey, Alan! You ok?" Glep asked hopping onto Alan's chest. "Not really...I finally got to talk to Pim about...Stuff. And uh. He's not taking it too well. Not surprised though." Alan said rolling his eyes. Glep was relieved to hear that Alan was able to confront Pim, but also a bit sad that the other critter was taking it so hard. "Alan...I get you're frustrated, but maybe try and look into Pim's perspective too." Glep suggested. "I know, but it feels like he can't stand the fact that he can't always be this perfect little ray of sunshine!" Alan responded, feeling his blood boil again. Glep figured that it'd be too early to try and talk sense into either of them, so he went upstairs. 

Upon entering his room, Glep noticed Pim was laying on his bed. Tears streaming like a running sink. Glep felt bad for Pim and walked closer to the waterbed. "Pim? You ok?" Glep asked, causing the other critter to jump. "Oh um. Hi Glep. Yeah, I'm fine. Just.... Had a bit of an intense conversation with Alan. So we're kind of taking a bit of a break." He then wiped the tears onto his head, to try and convince Glep that he was fine. "Man...You should really consider getting an air conditioner for this room, Glep. I've been sweating like crazy." Pim tried to laugh everything off, not understanding that Glep could see right through his lies. "Alan told me everything, Pim. You don't need to hide anything." The green critter said. "Oh he did, did he?" Pim responded. "Yeah its all just a misunderstanding, Glep." The pink critter looked down for a second, Alan's words echoing in his mind. The part where Alan brought up the argument especially stung. "I feel like maybe he's overreacting to all of this! I'm not perfect! Nobody is!" Pim admitted, tears falling onto the waterbed. "Yknow Pim. I'm no professional, but I feel like you're too hard on yourself sometimes." Glep said trying to comfort his friend. "Yeah....Everybody says that..." Pim said. Before he could speak further, he heard Alan's footsteps. 

"Pim? Glep?" Alan called from the hallway. "We're in my room Alan!" Glep called, leading the red critter to peek into Glep's bedroom. He quickly took notice of a hurt looking Pim and went over to the bed. "Pim? Do you think you wanna talk? I think I'm in the right headspace to continue." Alan said kneeling next to Pim. "No, Alan. I think we both screwed up." Pim responded. "Sure, I appreciate you for admitting to overreacting at first, but if we're being honest, bringing up the argument between me and Charlie was a bit below the belt." Alan took Pim's words into consideration, maybe he did go too far with bringing that up. "Yeah, maybe I went too far by bringing that up." Alan admitted, furrowing his eyebrows. He pulled Pim in and wiped away his tears. "I can't guarantee that I'll try to 'better myself,' but I appreciate you being able to come to me with your concerns, Alan. Even if they're hard pills to swallow." Pim said. "Nobody is perfect, Pim. That's something a lot of people struggle to cope with." Alan said. "Besides, living in a perfect world would be kind of weird, wouldn't it?" the two chuckled at the idea, "I mean yeah I guess you're right on that." Pim said, cracking a smile. Alan got up and walked over to the doorway. "You guys just take your time for a moment, I'm gonna look into ordering from Doordash. After this, I think I'm too tired to cook tonight." The red critter said before going downstairs.

Glep turned to Pim, who seemed to be perking up a little. "I see good in you, Pim. You always try and help others smile, but never seem to think about yourself." Glep said. "Is it ok if we touch up on that another time, Glep? I'm really not in the mood to go back down to another argument." Pim said getting up from Glep's waterbed. "Fair enough. I'd say worry about it at your own pace." The green critter said. "I'll keep that in mind..." Pim replied, walking into the hallway....