depollute me, pretty baby (short, soft mcyt oneshots)

(and though i am hungover in the morning) facedown in the carpet i feel safe

tws: mentions of alcohol/being drunk, pills (painkillers), implied abuse (not in much detail, i promise)

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grian woke up facedown in a shaggy carpet, with fluff tickling his nose and a killer headache.

where am i, and why am i sleeping on a carpet? he wondered. his brain was too fuzzy to recall anything, so he instead rolled over onto his back and took stock of his surroundings: warm brown walls, hardwood floors, chocolate-colored carpet, off-white blinds that let little slivers of light through— yep, this was pearl's apartment.

looking around a little more, grian noticed an arm hanging down from one side of the sofa and a golden wing drooping down to brush the floor from the other. pearl and timmy, he assumed, which brought up the question grian'd subconciously been trying to avoid: what had happened last night?

well, judging by his headache, grian could pretty reasonably say he'd gotten drunk. he wasn't sure why and he wasn't sure if it had happened here or somewhere else, but it was a start, at least. pearl and timmy sleeping sprawled out on the couch supported the conclusion of him getting drunk here, but grian couldn't smell any alcohol, and there was no way timmy got drunk and managed not to trip over his own feet and spill half of his glass somewhere, so that hypothesis was probably out.

so where had grian gotten drunk, then? last he knew, there hadn't been any alcohol in his apartment, so it was either a bar or a party at another friend's place. grian didn't remember anything about a party, and he most likely wouldn't have let himself get so hammered at one, so it had to have been at a bar. 

why would he have visited a bar last night? grian rubbed at his forehead, trying to soothe the pulsing pain in his head a little. it was a permanent solution by no means, but it would be enough to keep him from having to get up to find some pain relief for a bit longer. although, maybe he should just go get some now; it would be easier to think once his headache died down a b—

we fought last night, grian suddenly remembered. no wonder the area around his right eye kind of hurt! everything became clearer now: he'd grabbed his wallet and left, promising himself he'd never return, and promptly headed to the nearest bar to try and forget everything for a while. he'd stayed up near the bar, chatting with the barkeeper as he drank. very faintly, he remembered surrendering his phone to the barkeeper after she insisted he'd drank too much and needed to go home. she must've then called pearl or timmy to come pick him up.

grian heard a little shuffling from the sofa, and then pearl sat up, hoodie ruffled and hair sticking up all over the place. she blinked, and then seemed to remember the events from the night before, because she mumbled to herself, "oh, right," then asked grian how he was feeling.

"my head is killing me," he groaned in responce. "i don't know where your painkillers are."

"i'll go get some water and pills for you," pearl said. she stood up, ran a hand over her hair to smooth it out a bit, and then headed in the direction of her kitchen. grian worked on sitting up while he listened to the faint sounds of pearl drawing water and rummaging in her cupboards.

before long, pearl was back, and grian swallowed the pills she gave him without a second thought, washing them down with the water. "thank you," he croaked, wincing a little at how raw his throat sounded. 

"of course," she said, sitting down next to him on the carpet. gently, she asked, "do you remember what happened yesterday?"

"yeah," grian mumbled, looking down at his glass, not wanting to meet pearl's eyes. "did i tell you about it while i was drunk?"

"mhm. you kinda . . . broke down in my arms, and i panicked and called jimmy over to help calm you down."

grian winced. "sorry."

"don't be." pearl smiled reassuringly. "how're you feeling about that?"

grian chewed on his lip. "i don't know yet. i don't really want to think about it right now. can we just lay on the carpet together for a while?"

"of course," said pearl. "want me on one side and jimmy on the other like how we always laid when we were kids?"

"mhm."

so, pearl shook timmy awake and told him what was going on, and then they all got situated on the carpet, grian squeezed right in between his siblings. it wasn't long at all before he started to feel drowsy, and he let his eyes drop close with a smile.

despite everything that had happened the night before, lying facedown in the carpet, right next to his favorite people in the world, grian felt safe.

***

author's note

word count: 806

hi.

title is from wander. wonder. by the arcadian wild.

okay so 1.) i meant to finish tcitg (my main project atm) before i wrote another oneshot, and 2.) i meant for my next oneshot to be a request, but this song took me by the shoulder and wouldn't stop shaking me until i wrote something for it.

anywaysssssss the next oneshot here will hopefully be the request i currently have. i should get done with all of the writing for tcitg this week, so expect it next week probably?? the trip i mentioned last chapter starts during the second week of may, so i want to get it out before then. 

oh also if you want more oneshots to read while you wait for more parts of this, go check out my 'the foxlore collection' reading list :D it's basically a compilation of oneshots i wrote inspired by songs on the crane wives' foxlore album, a oneshot per song. there's five out right now, and the sixth will be out tomorrow. 

anyways, self-promo over :]] have a great day!

-blu