rivalsweetscent | you say its your birthday

you say its your birthday

Who: Bulba and Vinnie
What: Another gift delivery.
Where: Vinnie's dorm
When: The evening of the 22nd
Warnings: A bit o language

It had occurred to Bulba that maybe it was a little too soon in this tentative continuation of a friendship to do things like bake muffins for Vinnie's birthday. It had also occurred to him that this worry was a piece of crap because he had just made Vinnie soup everyday for like three weeks so what the heck ever. He was gonna bake those muffins. Whether or not Vinnie actually had any was another matter entirely. Bulba didn't even know if Vinnie knew about the ones from last year, or if that mystery package hadn't been delivered on time before the Venusaur took off. He didn't seem to be going anywhere this year though, so Bulba at least had the benefit of being able to deliver them to him whenever.

At least that's what he thought before the Venusaur turned out to be TOTALLY MISSING. What the heck. Where the heck. Vinnie where were you. This was really perplexing. He wasn't in his room, and he wasn't in the green house, and he wasn't in the gardens... Maybe he actually had gone somewhere?

No, that wasn't quite right. Even if it was overall fainter these days, Bulba could still catch the scent of his flower around. He was still here somewhere. The Ivysaur would just have to try again later.

And then later came. Having a whole day to ponder giving him some baked goods made this seem like an even sillier idea, but he'd already put it into motion so he was going to stick with it. He was already outside of Vinnie's door anyway.

SO HE KNOCKED. And unlike the Venusaur, he waited outside the door patiently to see what would come from it.

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Well, there had to be someone behind the door, because the knock definitely incited a startled sound inside. Some frantic rummaging sounds ensued, followed by Vinnie's voice snapping, "Not now."

It was strange, he sounded more raspy than he usually did - kind of nasal, too. And if Bulba listened carefully, there might have been a tiny sniff in there, right at the end.

No he found him he wasn't going anywhere.

Especially not when he was sounding like that. However that was. He sort of missed the little sniff at the end because he wasn't listening for it, but that was okay. Bulba's worrying super power had already started up based on the quality of his voice alone. Was this a relapse...?

Bulba wasn't going to take no for an answer if something was wrong. "Then when? Are you okay....? I'm going to open the door."

What do, Vinnie. What do.

"You're not fuckin' opening that door!"

Wow, that was way harsher than was warranted for this situation. It was a little frantic, even. There was the sound of footsteps, and then a turn of metal as the door was locked.

"If y'need something," sniff, "come back tomorrow. I'm tired."

The most obvious lie in the world.

Wow, okay.

Bulba gave the door an intense frown and... what... was that a sniff? That was a sniff. A sniff and the most obvious lie in the world.

"If you're going to lie about it, at least make it a good one."

There was a light thud that could easily be identified as Vinnie's back to the door. His voice sounded close, and by extension, the sniffling was more pronounced. Definitely not a figment of Bulba's imagination there.

A small, awkward pause nudged its way in before the Venusaur spoke again - this time, in a dull, low voice. More resigned, and quiet.

"It's been a long day... can you please not be here?"

Edited 2012-04-25 07:48 (UTC)

Definitely a sniff. Bulba's brows furrowed and he leaned with his shoulder and head against the door, in a fruitless gesture of trying to stay closer to the other Saur. He kept his hand on the door handle just in case.

"Once I know you're okay."

"I'm fine." He sounded pretty insistent on the matter, but also completely unwilling to divulge anything more.

"I'm really fine. More fine than I've been in..." Pause. He couldn't start to guess at how long. That would just have to be skimmed over then, as he hurriedly amended, "There's nothing wrong, Bulba."

The Ivysaur let out an annoyed huff, but he still sounded genuinely concerned when he spoke again.

"Then why does it sound like you were crying?" Okay that was mostly a weird guess, but that's what it sounded like, if he wasn't sick again. Bulba was well acquainted with the rasps and the sniffles.

There was a very long silence. A telling silence.

Vinnie was completely still - his breathing had gone quiet as well, suddenly self conscious of how obvious his tears must have been if Bulba could suss them out by listening. He thought he'd sniffed quietly enough. Shit and damn. Fuck.

It wasn't that long ago that he'd found the Ivysaur crying, though. Maybe it wouldn't be too terrible to admit that little truth to him.

Not that it made him sound any less reluctant about it.

"If I tell you it's cuz I was, can you not ask why?"

Edited 2012-04-25 08:34 (UTC)

Oh.

That admittedly didn't make Bulba any less worried. In fact that probably made him more worried. Sure, he said he was fine but... He'd seen the Venusaur down, but he'd never actually seen him cry. It was a very surreal admission, and made for a strange role reversal. Bulba certainly wasn't going to think any less of him for it, even if the other Saur hadn't found him sobbing in the green house.

"You don't have to tell me why if you don't want to," he assured him gently. It was only fair that Vinnie get the same chance to keep his reasons to himself.

"Can I come in though...?" He paused. "... Not for long, I promise."

The question hung in the air around them, colouring the stillness with a simple offer of companionship. Vinnie gave no verbal reply. Then again, he didn't need to.

There was only so long he could take leaning against a door, trying to keep the Ivysaur out. He definitely couldn't deal with a worried mother hen fretting all night from the other side of the wall. This was childish and dumb. And his eyes stung like a motherfucker.

With a huff, he eventually unlocked it and walked back to his bed, where he promptly sat down in a huff. He didn't turn around to bother watching Bulba open the door. He didn't look up.

If the Ivysaur needed to be here for a reason, then he could say his piece. He could get all the worrying out of his system, or something.

He heard the lock click. Good. The chances of him hovering outside of Vinnie's door otherwise were very high. The chances of him eventually trying to wiggle a vine up under the door to try and unlock it himself, while significantly lower, were still high enough to exist in the first place. It was for the best that this just didn't come to pass at all.

The Ivysaur waited a moment before he turned the door handle, easing his way into the room. He came close to Vinnie, but he didn't sit down or anything. He had promised to keep it brief, after all. There was only one brief moment where Bulba tried to get a good look at Vinnie's face, but he stopped as soon as he started to try, opting to give Vinnie that space.

A small box was held out towards him instead, the scent of apples and baking escaping from it. This was seeming like an even sillier idea now. He tried to shrug the feeling off.

"... I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday."

With a sigh, Vinnie commented, "It's been a weird birthday," and left it at that.

The mess of hair he had going on did a pretty good job of hiding his eyes from view, but when he raised his head to peer at the box Bulba offered him, a hint of it was visible. Blood red irises against bloodshot eyes, with a faint puffy redness to accompany it all. The Venusaur had to hope that Bulba wouldn't make a big deal of it, or flinch, or stare. It already made him feel sick to his stomach with embarrassment to have him here at all.

The strange part was, despite all this crying that must have happened, there was no palpable sadness to Vinnie. He was drained, yes, and self-conscious at the moment, but not depressed. There was a... lightness to him?

Out of some courtesy, he asked, "What is it?" in regards to the baked contents of the box. If they had to have conversation, Vinnie didn't want the topic to be him.

It must have been a hell of a weird birthday, yeah.

The most Bulba did when presented with those red eyes was blink, and then he casually turned his attention down to the box in his hands. Actually being on the same side of the door as him made it easier to tell that things might actually have been fine, albeit confusing to the younger Grass type. Vinnie had already asked him not to ask though, and Bulba knew first hand how embarrassing it was to get caught in that state. If Vinnie didn't want to shed any light on the subject yet, that was fine.

But man Bulba was outrageously curious.

"Um, just some apple muffins," he provided. "Nothing fancy... I know you're not real big on birthdays."

Bulba was certainly right about that. And Vinnie did like apples. He mused on them. "Hm."

He didn't want to turn the muffins away. But at the same time, if he accepted them, his constant lack of appetite would probably leave the muffins old and stale and, eventually, in Sonny's hands - which dishonoured Bulba's efforts for him. It just didn't feel right eating them alone for some reason.

After more deliberation than all this was probably worth, the Venusaur ventured, "If I have a muffin right now, will you eat one with me?"

Edited 2012-04-25 10:15 (UTC)

It was a suggestion that caught Bulba by surprise. He had sort of thought that all that contemplation over a box of muffins would have been over how to best reject them, to which Bulba was fully prepared to suggest he just leave them for Sonny to eat anyway. This was different.

He smiled. It might have been different, but it was a scenario that he was plenty happy to go along with. "Sure."

Bulba opened up the box to reveal the few muffins that were sitting inside. There weren't a whole lot, simply because Bulba was well aware of what kind of appetites (or lack thereof) they both had. He offered it up for Vinnie to take the first pick, and then he sort of glanced at either side of him.

"Would it be all right to sit next to you?"

Vinnie nodded mutely and shuffled to the side in order to give Bulba room. All the muffins looked equally edible in his eyes, so he just took the one closest to him.

He nibbled at it in small bites, as their kind usually did, content with eating slowly when there was someone else lacking in hunger as well. The muffin top was gradually being worn down, bit by bit.

By the time he actually got to the wrapper, the Venusaur lowered the muffin. For a second he looked like he was full already, but that was when he took the opportunity to speak instead.

"Do people make resolutions on birthdays, or is that just for New Year's?"

Bulba had eased into the spot that Vinnie had left behind, taking one of the muffins for himself at random. The box was set off to the side somewhere to be remembered at a later time, and for now he just lapsed into a comfortable silence.

He took all of this to be a roundabout way of being invited to stay for a little longer, so the Ivysaur was in no rush with his snack either. Bulba was idly chewing on a bit of apple from the top when Vinnie spoke up, and he glanced over at him.

"I think people can make resolutions whenever they want," Bulba mused as he leaned back a little on one arm. "New Year's just gets a big stink cause its new... I made a resolution on mine, anyway."

Vinnie nodded slowly as he took another bite out of the muffin's midsection. His gaze was fixed forward, as though focused on something unseen that lay just in front of him.

"Okay," he said, after chewing a bit in thought. "In that case... I want t'move forward."

It was what he had told Marie, and the Venusaur would be well served to remember it for himself as well. The resolve in his voice was a quiet one, but it still stood firm. He'd been given a new start. It would've been stupid to waste it on rehashing a mindless rivalry.

"No more doubtin' myself. No goin' back t'stupid shit with old grudges'n old habits, okay?"

Though it wasn't necessary for Bulba to be here for the resolution to be made, it was spoken aloud as much for his benefit as it was Vinnie's.

"Yeah," Bulba said quietly to his muffin.

Even if the resolution was the Venusaur's, it still resonated with the Ivysaur. His thoughts had traveled the same path just after this whole fiasco. He was tired of things getting flipped upside down over the stupidest reasons. It was beyond time to take those steps forward.

"That sounds like a good one."

"Mnf," replied Vinnie, mouth full of muffin.

He was fairly certain that Bulba could empathize with his resolve, so hearing him acknowledge it was enough for the Venusaur. He nodded, and proceeded to finish his baked goods wordlessly, with a slight sense of accomplishment.

It'd been a busy day, on top of resolutions.

It didn't take much longer after Vinnie finished for Bulba to finish up his own muffin. He carefully licked the bits of crumbs off his fingers.

Now the reason that he had been able to stick around was gone, and Bulba was left sitting there wondering what he should do. He could very easily just pick up and go, but he found that it actually wasn't something he wanted to do at the moment. There really wasn't a reason for it, since it was clear that the Venusaur was actually fine just... really mysterious right now.

He idly folded the muffin wrapper into a tiny triangle, lightly tapping the edge with his finger. He still didn't quite look over at Vinnie, on the chance that the older Saur was still feeling self conscious. Eventually he found a reason to speak up after a long period of quiet.

"...Was your day all right?"

Vinnie, on the other hand, crumbled up his wrapper and wiped his hands on his pants before trying to knead some of the soreness out from behind his eyelids with his palms. It was really annoying how dry his eyeballs were.

"Long," was all he said. He wasn't too keen on telling Bulba much more on the subject at the moment - Vinnie was tired, and the Ivysaur would probably find out anyway, by his mouth or by another's.

"I've had a lot t'think about today."

Well okay, whatever. It wasn't his place to try and divulge anymore information out of him. Be all vague and mysterious if you wanted to, Vinnie, it was your birthday. Happy Birthday.

"It sounds like it." Bulba shifted forward, leaning on his legs with his elbows. "It also sounds like a lot of good thinking, if its helping you move forward."

Vinnie shrugged, adding with a remark, "Well, I gotta remember t'follow my own advice sometimes."

Wasn't it really the same thing he'd said to Marie, after all? God, it felt like recently he'd been giving out far too much advice and neglecting to pause and look inward. The time he spent on his own had helped his mind a great deal, but sometimes, getting caught up in the mayhem of the school, it was easy to forget the truths about yourself.

Maybe, Vinnie wondered, he could try to take up meditating. It never seemed to work unless he was on a frozen mountain, though...

"Easier said than done," Bulba said with a small chuckle.

He reached over and gave Vinnie's shoulder a little pat. "I'm sure you can though."

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wow this is the worst tag I'm sorry