Fic: Beef and Leather
Sunday, October 14th, 2012 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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mindcrackloveA little bit of fic that I just typed out. Not particularly set in any previous universe, of course, nor is it strongly shippy. The shippy hints are there if you want to see them, and not if you don't. Apparently I'm really good at writing people talking about semi-serious things. Some day I will write something else.
The cow prank affects Beef more than he thought, so Guude has to come looking for him. They talk.
"Beef?" His name in Guude's voice startled Beef out of his head, and he glanced around rapidly before looking down, half-smiling.
"Hey Guude." He waved, and finally green eyes looked his way. "What's up?"
"What're you doing up there, guy? We were supposed to go exploring tonight, remember?" He did remember, and reached for an Ender Pearl to meet his friend on the ground. "Don't bother; it's late. Can I shoot up there?"
"Probably!" Beef responded, and before he even finished the word, Guude was on the roof next to him. He looked out over the jungle, the nearby village lights glowing, and sighed.
"Look," Guude began, and Beef turned to see his friend sitting beside him, "I know I'm not the talking-to guy here, but it's so not like you to forget about doing stuff. Tell Uncle Guude what happened." The former butcher laughed a little, but couldn't hold back a sigh. He has been around the longest. I suppose it couldn't hurt to tell him about the prank. So he told Guude about the cows in his Nether tunnel, about the beef and the leather and then, finally, the signs by the portal. He stopped, hesitated, unsure if he was comfortable sharing his feelings with Guude. Guude was a good friend, an even closer friend recently than before, but their friendship wasn't one of feelings and secrets and emotion. Surprisingly, Beef didn't have to tell Guude anything else.
"So Pause says you're not spending enough time together, and now you're sitting up here moping and wondering if he's right, if you have moved on, if you've abandoned him?" Beef raised an eyebrow in response, and Guude laughed. "I'm friends with BdoubleO, man. He may not seem like it, but he is a wise motherfucker, and you pick up a thing or two, hanging out with guys like that." Beef shrugged and nodded, and turned back towards the jungle. A hand on his shoulder forced his attention back. "Talk." With a sigh, he did.
"We did tons of things together, before. Vinyl Fantasy, Lethamyr, Deathly Trails, Resident Evil, Stay Together Forever, all just us. And then there was Ultra Hardcore, Left for Dead, MineZ...now there's Chivalry...but he's right. There's only Chivalry. I remember when we were doing tons of content together. When the only stuff we did with others included each other. But now..."
"Now you do things, by yourself and with others, without him. You always have, you know. You were here for basically half a year before he showed up. That's a long-ass fucking time, you know. And Pause does stuff without you, too! All that Race for Wool and solo stuff!"
"Yeah, I know he does, but..." The words were there, but hard to say. The jungle breathed, and the wind whistled through the trees. "I don't feel neglected. I don't miss him. I've got other friends." There.
Guude looked thoughtful, and there was silence on the island for moments that stretched. He heard the sounds of monsters off in the distance, but the roof of his home was safe, Beef knew. The silence wasn't safe. The silence loomed over the roof, judging him, he opened his mouth to say something - anything, he didn't know what - but he didn't have to.
"You know, about a month ago, Pause pranked Millbee. Did you hear about this one?"
"No. How do you know all these things?" Guude laughed.
"People talk. Plus, when you're in charge, everyone wants to tell you the latest gossip. Now, do you want to hear about the prank or not?" Beef nodded. "String, everywhere, covering the inside of Millbee's house, his storage room, the balcony outside. And a sign, of course. Can you guess what it said?" Of course I can, or you wouldn't be telling me this story, he thought.
"Something about missing him, or feeling like they don't do as much together anymore?"
"You got it! And that was before Orange Wool, even!" Guude laughed. "Come on guy, clearly Pause just has some trouble figuring out that his feelings aren't quite the same as reality. Millbee wasn't really doing much else at that time, after all."
Beef knew that was supposed to cheer him up, but it didn't. If the only way for the prank to not make him feel guilty was to think less of Pause, that wasn't really the solution he was looking for, and he told Guude so. The other man stopped his quiet chuckling, and took on a serious look that Beef was wholly unfamiliar with.
"Look, okay, Serious Mode Guude now. Right. Friends with BdoubleO, yeah? We went over this part?"
"I'm not a child, Guude."
"Of course you're not, you're sad, that's almost worse. But listen. BdoubleO and I also used to do tons of stuff together. With Etho or with others too, yeah, but then he started making other friends. Juice and Genny and Kurt and basically every person under the sun. He roomed with me at MineCon last year, this time, he's with other people. I'm feeling a little neglected, right? I've also got no fucking idea how he's feeling, or how to say it. But then, something amazing happens." Guude's eyes were light, and the cheer of the memory was a little infectious, even if Beef still had thirty or so theories of how the story went from there. "He came over one night and was like, Guude, why don't we ever do stuff together anymore? And I laughed at him, sad to say, and he just looked at me with that dumb face. I wasn't really the soberest guy, of course." Of course. There was a pause in the story, and when Beef looked over, Guude was staring at the jungle again. Strange.
"Then what happened?" Guude turned back to Beef, the light in his eyes ever-present, but with something unreadable there as well.
"I told him how I was feeling. I told him all the stuff I'd seen him doing, the people he was spending time with. Told him he didn't have the right to say he missed me when he was running around with half the world doing all kinds of things. And he just...looked at me...and said he was sorry." Beef smiled, then. "He said I was right, imagine that. And now he's going to try to make more time for us to do things together again. But it's hard to have so many friends and want to spend time with all of them. Sometimes you get confused, ya know."
So maybe Pause is struggling with balancing all his friendships. Like, he knows we don't do stuff anymore, but doesn't realize it's because he's doing other things? But what does that mean for me? The last question, he asked Guude.
"I don't know, guy. Do you want to spend more time with Pause? You say you don't miss him, that your other friends more than make up for him - are you sure? Everyone here is great, but there's nobody else like BdoubleO. Whatever you're thinking, though, don't mope around about it. Pause is obviously feeling like he misses you - whose fault it is, that's kind of a stupid thing to argue about. If Pause missing you means that much that you're going to sit here on the roof and be sad about it, what does that say about you?"
Guude yawned then, and stood. "It's late. I gotta head home. You gonna be all right out here?" Beef nodded, still mostly absorbing what Guude had said. "Damn straight you will be. See you soon."
Ender Pearl snaps faded into the distance, leaving Beef alone with his thoughts yet again. Guude had a lot of points, and Beef had to spend some time thinking about them. He realized, though, in that moment, that of course he missed spending time with just Pause. The Indian was like a roller coaster, and even Guude didn't bring that sense of wild adventure that doing things with Pause guaranteed.
He snapped down to the ground and walked into the house, feeling much lighter. The guilt had lifted, knowing that it wasn't his fault, that he wasn't abandoning Pause with no consequence to himself. With the guilt and sadness gone, there was only one thing left to think about.
How best to prank Pause back.
The cow prank affects Beef more than he thought, so Guude has to come looking for him. They talk.
"Beef?" His name in Guude's voice startled Beef out of his head, and he glanced around rapidly before looking down, half-smiling.
"Hey Guude." He waved, and finally green eyes looked his way. "What's up?"
"What're you doing up there, guy? We were supposed to go exploring tonight, remember?" He did remember, and reached for an Ender Pearl to meet his friend on the ground. "Don't bother; it's late. Can I shoot up there?"
"Probably!" Beef responded, and before he even finished the word, Guude was on the roof next to him. He looked out over the jungle, the nearby village lights glowing, and sighed.
"Look," Guude began, and Beef turned to see his friend sitting beside him, "I know I'm not the talking-to guy here, but it's so not like you to forget about doing stuff. Tell Uncle Guude what happened." The former butcher laughed a little, but couldn't hold back a sigh. He has been around the longest. I suppose it couldn't hurt to tell him about the prank. So he told Guude about the cows in his Nether tunnel, about the beef and the leather and then, finally, the signs by the portal. He stopped, hesitated, unsure if he was comfortable sharing his feelings with Guude. Guude was a good friend, an even closer friend recently than before, but their friendship wasn't one of feelings and secrets and emotion. Surprisingly, Beef didn't have to tell Guude anything else.
"So Pause says you're not spending enough time together, and now you're sitting up here moping and wondering if he's right, if you have moved on, if you've abandoned him?" Beef raised an eyebrow in response, and Guude laughed. "I'm friends with BdoubleO, man. He may not seem like it, but he is a wise motherfucker, and you pick up a thing or two, hanging out with guys like that." Beef shrugged and nodded, and turned back towards the jungle. A hand on his shoulder forced his attention back. "Talk." With a sigh, he did.
"We did tons of things together, before. Vinyl Fantasy, Lethamyr, Deathly Trails, Resident Evil, Stay Together Forever, all just us. And then there was Ultra Hardcore, Left for Dead, MineZ...now there's Chivalry...but he's right. There's only Chivalry. I remember when we were doing tons of content together. When the only stuff we did with others included each other. But now..."
"Now you do things, by yourself and with others, without him. You always have, you know. You were here for basically half a year before he showed up. That's a long-ass fucking time, you know. And Pause does stuff without you, too! All that Race for Wool and solo stuff!"
"Yeah, I know he does, but..." The words were there, but hard to say. The jungle breathed, and the wind whistled through the trees. "I don't feel neglected. I don't miss him. I've got other friends." There.
Guude looked thoughtful, and there was silence on the island for moments that stretched. He heard the sounds of monsters off in the distance, but the roof of his home was safe, Beef knew. The silence wasn't safe. The silence loomed over the roof, judging him, he opened his mouth to say something - anything, he didn't know what - but he didn't have to.
"You know, about a month ago, Pause pranked Millbee. Did you hear about this one?"
"No. How do you know all these things?" Guude laughed.
"People talk. Plus, when you're in charge, everyone wants to tell you the latest gossip. Now, do you want to hear about the prank or not?" Beef nodded. "String, everywhere, covering the inside of Millbee's house, his storage room, the balcony outside. And a sign, of course. Can you guess what it said?" Of course I can, or you wouldn't be telling me this story, he thought.
"Something about missing him, or feeling like they don't do as much together anymore?"
"You got it! And that was before Orange Wool, even!" Guude laughed. "Come on guy, clearly Pause just has some trouble figuring out that his feelings aren't quite the same as reality. Millbee wasn't really doing much else at that time, after all."
Beef knew that was supposed to cheer him up, but it didn't. If the only way for the prank to not make him feel guilty was to think less of Pause, that wasn't really the solution he was looking for, and he told Guude so. The other man stopped his quiet chuckling, and took on a serious look that Beef was wholly unfamiliar with.
"Look, okay, Serious Mode Guude now. Right. Friends with BdoubleO, yeah? We went over this part?"
"I'm not a child, Guude."
"Of course you're not, you're sad, that's almost worse. But listen. BdoubleO and I also used to do tons of stuff together. With Etho or with others too, yeah, but then he started making other friends. Juice and Genny and Kurt and basically every person under the sun. He roomed with me at MineCon last year, this time, he's with other people. I'm feeling a little neglected, right? I've also got no fucking idea how he's feeling, or how to say it. But then, something amazing happens." Guude's eyes were light, and the cheer of the memory was a little infectious, even if Beef still had thirty or so theories of how the story went from there. "He came over one night and was like, Guude, why don't we ever do stuff together anymore? And I laughed at him, sad to say, and he just looked at me with that dumb face. I wasn't really the soberest guy, of course." Of course. There was a pause in the story, and when Beef looked over, Guude was staring at the jungle again. Strange.
"Then what happened?" Guude turned back to Beef, the light in his eyes ever-present, but with something unreadable there as well.
"I told him how I was feeling. I told him all the stuff I'd seen him doing, the people he was spending time with. Told him he didn't have the right to say he missed me when he was running around with half the world doing all kinds of things. And he just...looked at me...and said he was sorry." Beef smiled, then. "He said I was right, imagine that. And now he's going to try to make more time for us to do things together again. But it's hard to have so many friends and want to spend time with all of them. Sometimes you get confused, ya know."
So maybe Pause is struggling with balancing all his friendships. Like, he knows we don't do stuff anymore, but doesn't realize it's because he's doing other things? But what does that mean for me? The last question, he asked Guude.
"I don't know, guy. Do you want to spend more time with Pause? You say you don't miss him, that your other friends more than make up for him - are you sure? Everyone here is great, but there's nobody else like BdoubleO. Whatever you're thinking, though, don't mope around about it. Pause is obviously feeling like he misses you - whose fault it is, that's kind of a stupid thing to argue about. If Pause missing you means that much that you're going to sit here on the roof and be sad about it, what does that say about you?"
Guude yawned then, and stood. "It's late. I gotta head home. You gonna be all right out here?" Beef nodded, still mostly absorbing what Guude had said. "Damn straight you will be. See you soon."
Ender Pearl snaps faded into the distance, leaving Beef alone with his thoughts yet again. Guude had a lot of points, and Beef had to spend some time thinking about them. He realized, though, in that moment, that of course he missed spending time with just Pause. The Indian was like a roller coaster, and even Guude didn't bring that sense of wild adventure that doing things with Pause guaranteed.
He snapped down to the ground and walked into the house, feeling much lighter. The guilt had lifted, knowing that it wasn't his fault, that he wasn't abandoning Pause with no consequence to himself. With the guilt and sadness gone, there was only one thing left to think about.
How best to prank Pause back.
