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“You know, I think I kinda like your weird fashion taste. It’s chaotic.” Clef mumbled. And you were soo pissy about not wearing what I wanted to wear. “Fuck off, I’m complimenting you so how about you be grateful for it instead of giving me attitude.” Clef scoffed. Well thank you very much, my lord. He could hear the sarcasm heavy in Bright’s voice. “Remind me never to be nice to you again.” Clef hissed. Will do. It’s weird anyway. “How is it weird?” You just aren’t really nice to me anymore since we got stuck like this so I’m not used to it. Makes it feel like something’s up or you’re trying to manipulate me.
Clef gasps. “I would never.” He said, despite the cheshire grin now spread across his face. I’ve seen you do it to other people. You tried to with Simon too. “Why are you so hung up on Glass? I’ve manipulated and lied to so many people in front of you but you always bring up him.” Clef said, despite already knowing the answer. He just wanted to mess with Bright. Shut up. Clef could feel Bright retreat back, out of his reach. Bright didn’t want Clef to hear his thoughts, so he had put space and a wall between their consciousnesses. It was hard to describe what Clef felt after that. His head had grown annoyingly used to hearing the constant buzz of Bright’s thoughts, so whenever Bright retreated inward and put energy into keeping the walls up, it was eerily quiet. Clef hated it.
It was so dark outside now. Are you sure it’s a good idea to be out this late? “Nothing’s gonna happen. I’m heading back anyway.” Clef said casually. Streetlights and the moon were all they had in the way of light. He wondered just how late it had gotten. We left at like what, midnight? “Yeah, something like that.” We’ve only been out here for maybe an hour or two, so 2 am at worst. “Nice.” Clef shrugged. He didn’t think much about small things like that, because he noticed how Bright liked figuring out the small things on his own. He probably wanted something to keep him occupied while he was stuck in that empty space. Clef almost felt bad for him. Just a little.
He felt Bright’s consciousness come a little closer to the surface again, briefly pushing forward enough to take over Clef’s senses. Clef could still control his body, but they shared just a bit of him. Smells like...rain. “Rain?” Clef tensed up. He honestly hadn’t noticed the smell until Bright pointed it out. He quickly pushed Bright back and he could feel Bright’s annoyance at that. He sped up his pace a little. He didn’t want to be caught up in the rain if it decided to fuck him over today. Bright could just for a moment feel something strange from Clef, an emotion he hadn’t seen in Clef much, and he tried to get closer, to see what it was, but then the walls came up and Bright couldn’t do anything. What’s going on? “Sorry Jack but I don’t appreciate your snooping.” Clef said, keeping a casual tone. Bright remained silent to that.
It started lightly raining and Bright could feel Clef walls wavering as it got harder to contain his thoughts and feelings. Bright wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what was going on or not. He’d never seen something like this before with Clef, although admittedly it had only been a few weeks. Bright decided it might be for the best if he stayed quiet. It felt dark and heavy around him, like Clef’s mind was reminding him that he was only a visitor. He didn’t feel safe.
The rain started picking up. He could tell Clef was deliberately controlling his own breathing, hear the quiet “in...out...in...out…” rhythm floating in the empty space between them. It was something small that seemed to seep through the cracks of Clef’s walls. Clef stumbled over his rhythm and Bright could feel his breath hitch and become more unsteady. He could feel Clef try again, and fail again.
It happened like that three more times before the rain picked up again and things got so much worse. The sound of the rain around them became overwhelming. It was everywhere, closing in on them. It was deafening. Clef’s attempts at keeping his breathing steady seemed to be drowned out by the rain.
Clef wasn’t walking anymore. Move, why are you just standing there? Hurry! Bright felt scared, and only more scared when Clef didn’t respond. He could feel everything starting to crumble. He could feel Clef starting to curl in on himself, crouched down on the sidewalk under a streetlight. The noise was getting louder and louder. The rain.
The wall crumbled with everything else and the flood came. Bright was hit with so much overwhelming fear. Get up! He felt like their lungs were being filled with water. Heat was rising. Everything hurts. Get up! He could hear this high pitched female laughter echoing, the sound bouncing off of everything. The rain.
He could feel everything, like he owed someone something, like he was uncomfortable, like he was afraid, like he loved her, like he wanted to die, like he was in pain, like he was bleeding, like he was being yelled at, like he hated her, like he wanted to end it, like he wanted to save someone, like he knew what was happening but wanted to deny it, like he had to end this, like he did, like he loved her , like he was running, like he was losing something, like he was trapped, and all of it, every little feeling was coming back full force. It wasn’t rain anymore it was a flood.
Alto Alto please please get up please I’m scared. He felt Clef suddenly ease back, pushing Bright forward. Bright was in control now, looking down at his bloody hands, feeling the pain of many wounds, blood seeping through Clef’s shirt. But he could do what Clef couldn’t. He stumbled to Clef’s feet and started running. He felt strange energy coursing through Clef’s body. Something so unfamiliar. “What is this? How did you get hurt?” He said, alarmed for a moment hearing himself say it out loud instead of in Clef’s mind. Clef didn’t respond and Bright could feel so much panic from him.
Bright kept running and finally he could see Clef’s apartment building. “Alto, hang in there, we’re almost there.” There still wasn’t a word from Clef. He kept running. He could feel Clef still spiraling, drowning in the flood. He could feel himself drowning too, but it was nowhere as intense as he was sure it was for Clef. He got to the building and took Clef’s keys out from his jacket. “Everything will be okay.” With shaky hands he managed to unlock the door after a few tries. He pushed open the door and quickly went inside, slamming the door behind him. He quickly locked the door again. “Alto, we’re here.”
He could feel a wave of feeling crash over Clef again. A loss of control. “What do you need?” Bright asked, unsure what to do. He looked around and felt jolts of fear whenever he looked at any windows where he could see the rain outside. “Is there anywhere with no windows?” Bathroom. He felt relief hearing Clef say something again. He headed to the bathroom, hoping being away from the sight of rain would calm Clef down. He closed the door behind them. He could feel the emotions ease up just a little. “See, we’re okay. You’re okay.” Bright said. “What can I do?” he asked, hoping Clef would talk to him now. He felt another wave of emotion. Clef was unsure. “You don’t know?” No. “...well...okay then. Um...we could call Simon, he’s a therapist so he might know what to-” He felt another intense wave of fear. “Alright, that’s a no. What about Kondraki?” There was more anxiousness, but it wasn’t so intense. It seemed Clef was more open to that idea.
He was temporarily distracted as he started to notice the room looked really weird. The colors felt off for some reason, and everything close to him seemed blurry. “Alto? What is this?” Bright asked, looking around, watching the mirror shift in shape and size ever so slightly. He felt Clef push forward a bit and things started to slowly come back into place. “Alto?” Later. Call Kon. Bright sighed. “Okay but if-” Don’t tell him about that. “You mean the weird blurriness and shifting thing?” Yes. “Alright..?” He took out Clef’s phone and turned it on, seeing the background to be a hideous flower pattern, almost reminding him of the stupid shirts Clef normally wore. Less judging me and more calling. “Right right.” He went to Clef’s contacts and found Kondraki’s number, labeled as “Konny” with a blue heart beside it. He would have laughed if he wasn’t still getting waves of fear. He calls Kondraki.
“Hey Alto, what’s up?” He heard Kondraki say. “Ah-it’s um...It’s Bright.” he responded nervously, his voice was shaky. Bright hadn’t talked to Kondraki for so long. It was always Clef who was in control when Kondraki was around. “Oh.” Was the only response he got from Kondraki. He probably was awkward about it just like Bright was. “I...um...I had to take control because Clef seems to be freaking the fuck out and ble…” He trailed off as he noticed that the pain and injuries seemed to be completely gone, and all that was left of it was the blood on his shirt as proof it happened. He could feel the energy draining from Clef, like he was fighting to control something. “And?” Kondraki questioned. “And nothing. But yeah he’s flipping out. He seems scared of the rain, what do I do?” Bright asked. Kondraki knew what Bright was talking about, and usually he’d tell him to give Clef space, but he knew Bright couldn’t exactly do that. They were stuck together.
“Just...give him back control, and try to be there for him, but not intrusive. He’ll be okay once the rain stops.” Kondraki said. A wave of sickness went over Bright suddenly. “Alright.” Bright eased back again, slowly pushing Clef back towards the surface, as soon as he did, he heard Clef sobbing, the body now shaking as the nausea got worse. He could hear Kondraki trying to calm him down over the phone but Clef hung up on him before vomiting water and blood into the bathtub. Hey hey hey Alto- “....Please...please shut up…” Clef mumbled, sounding just so tired .
So Bright did. And he heard and felt him cry and get sick and decline Kondraki’s calls, and see the world go fuzzy again over and over until the sound of rain started to die down. And he finally felt the fear start to ease. Alto…? he said it so quietly. “...Jack.” Clef sounded so raw and worn out. You alright? “I’m sorry you had to...see that.” Clef said, nothing above a whisper. It’s okay. Kondraki had stopped trying to call and text him a few minutes ago. Clef picked up the phone and looked at Kondraki’s last text, which read “I’ll be right there, just hang on.” And Bright felt a wave of affection go over Clef and Bright couldn’t help but be a little happy about it too. “...mmm…” He could feel Clef trying to rebuild everything. That head held high, that confidence, that annoying personality of his, everything. Trying to act normal again. You don’t have to do that. Clef tensed up. “Jack…I need to right now. Okay?” Clef said. It’s okay to just...let yourself feel it. “Jack. Another day maybe. But not today.”
It was left at that, and Bright understood.