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[gadaboutdetective]

Mmhm... So I just need to record a message? Right, then!

You have reached the inbox of Detective Llewellyn Watts
I’m unable to respond right now but if you leave me a message I will uh— get back to you as soon as possible.

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Open Plotting Post

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[gadaboutdetective]

[Ah, yes. The dreaded ‘things.’ It’s so vague and yet so telling... It’s the excuse of someone who doesn’t really know what else to say, but needs something to suggest there was a good reason why they weren’t being themselves without actually putting it into proper words.

Well... Llewellyn had time, and Eddie would work up to it eventually. It was almost like a tea-kettle that you were waiting on. It was a slow build up, and then suddenly the sound would start till all the built up steam escaped.

Would it be better if the kid just came out with it, rather than let the pressure and anxiety build up until he spilled the beans in a panic attack? Yes.

Could Llewellyn tell him that without being something of a hypocrite? ... nope.

He focused instead on keeping the conversation going in its strange, winding little path as they walked.]

I am trying to learn some of the new methods and the like. There are uh— things about modern police work that do confuse me a bit... But perhaps I’ll work it all out eventually. Who knows, maybe your movies will help?

[wheezed]

I heard that if the cops catch your fingerprints on the crime scene that's basically as good as catching you red-handed, but I don't know. These cops are always up to no good, what if they just stick 'em up on the wall and then call you a crook? I don't know about all that...

( Eddie, whose entire knowledge of police work comes from a handful of genre films and run-ins with the local force, nods very confidently as he imparts his wisdom.

The good news is a good old conspiracy theory is enough to keep him focused for half a second, and the whirlwind of nervous energy quiets as he chats away. But it doesn't last, of course, and as he eyes Llewelyn the fidgeting hands start to return. )

You uh, you ever kissed someone before?

( He looks a little shocked, like that wasn't at all what Eddie was planning on saying, but he's interested enough in the answer that he just snaps his mouth shut and looks. Probably a little too intensely, almost creepy really, but the answer is...important. )

Omg Eddie you precious disaster

[gadaboutdetective]

Finger prints are becoming a little more common as evidence in my world, though I would caution officers from using it as damning evidence without anything else that was substantial to back it up?

One of the last cases I worked before coming here, a man was murdered and my inspector almost charged a man for committing it because his finger prints were found on the murder weapon. He didn’t do it, he’d only visited the place many times. Someone else did, and it took longer to consider them a suspect and check their prints and motives because of how sure the inspector was.

[He could see the kids attention was beginning to shift again the longer he was distracted by the conversation. Llewellyn couldn’t help but wonder what sort of blurted out concern would come this time, though he expected it would be on a similar topic to last time considering the drastic change in moods between Eddie and Richie recently.

Then Eddie spoke, it was out and Llewellyn found himself staring back at Eddie a little shocked himself. That... was not a question he had expected.

Clearing his throat a little, he blinked and tried to respond in a timely manner before the kid bolted for some secret fire-escape exit the sphere had.]

Yes...? Uh— I have. Why do you ask, Eddie?

he rly be going through it!!!!!

[wheezed]

See? See. You can't trust cops. ( uh ) ...Except y'know, you. You're pretty cool. Bet you're a good investigator too, that's why you're always writing all them notes and stuff.

( Not that Eddie's nosed his way through any of the stray notebooks and papers left around, he'd never do anything like that.

Llewellyn's shock is very nearly enough to get him to skitter away as fast as he appeared. It's not that he thinks he's going to be judged by the man exactly, not really, but he's so high strung about the topic that anything might send him into another tail spin.

But he answers, and Eddie takes a slow breath in, and another longer one out, and he doesn't run. Instead he just wrings his hands together, folds them over his chest, unfolds them and pushes them into his pockets, and finally kicks a little at the floor. )

Um. It's just– you ever kissed someone and maybe afterwards realised that he probably didn't want you to do that at all and you shouldn't have done it and now you feel like garbage about it?

( That...sure is a specific hypothetical. )

[gadaboutdetective]

[It isn’t as though he hasn’t watched Richie dig around under his bed at the dorms. Nothing would surprise him, and he wouldn’t complain if he saw Eddie doing the same.

He might ask questions, but that was about it.

Llewellyn listened to the very specific hypothetical situation with as neutral an expression as he could manage on the subject. After all, he’s only kissed a man once thus far in his life. It was here in this world.

That all aside, it doesn’t take him long to fill in the blanks. Eddie and Richie had been avoiding each other, Eddie was panicking over kissing someone. 1+1=2. Eddie kissed Richie and wasn’t sure he should have.

Oof.]

Is there any evidence to suggest that the other party in this hypothetical story didn’t want to be kissed?

[wheezed]

( Eddie tried to talk to Stan about this, and he was his typical enigmatic self about it all. "Talk to Richie", he'd said, like that was in any way practical advice for Eddie to follow. Ridiculous. And Eddie would normally talk to Richie, except right now there's a very obvious reason why he can't. They're barely talking, a pale imitation of their former friendship, and every time Eddie sees his stupid face he wants to scream until his lungs explode.

So. He can't talk to Richie.

Unsurprisingly, he's fit to burst. )

Obviously!

( He never means to burst when he does, but this is something of a pattern for Eddie now. He doesn't even ignore problems, he straight up blocks them out entirely until it's so much that he's vibrating with the efforts of his own repression. And then, inevitably, he unleashes on whatever poor soul is unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast radius.

Eddie takes another deep breath, shaky and a little wetter than he'd like, and then doesn't stop talking for a very long time. )

I didn't mean to, I just– he hurt himself and I was so worried because he's so stupid all the time! All the time, I'm serious! And he had blood all over his arm and I was so mad because he's always getting into dumb situations and– and he was just being him and I didn't mean to, but I just...fucking kissed him and who even does that? He was hurt?! And he looked so shocked and I just– I didn't... I didn't mean it, and now I'm pretty sure he secretly hates me and everything sucks. So–

( The rant only cuts off because Eddie's chest is whistling and he can't ignore it any longer. He has to stop long enough to suck on the end of his rattling inhaler, and by the time he's got a few good puffs in he's run out of steam.

Eddie just shrugs his shoulders instead, fumbling the inhaler away and staring at the floor. )

[gadaboutdetective]

[Llewellyn raised a brow at the ‘Obviously!’ as though to patiently suggest that at this point, it was definitely not obvious. He could open his mouth and say that, but he knows Eddie is just about ready to explode into another rambling explanation again.

The kid needed to let it out, as hard as it was to follow sometimes. Holding all that in was going to give the kid heart problems before he was twenty.

So he waited a moment or two, and then listened as another wave of words were thrown his way. All the expected anxiety and panic obvious from the rate and tone of Eddie’s voice. Wow... There was so much to unpack there, the detective needed a minute to run it over in his head a few times. At least he had time, as Eddie took a couple good puffs from his inhaler.]

So... Um... In a state of panic, you acted on impulse and kissed him. Believe it or not, I’ve uh— seen that happen. That seems like a fairly normal emotional response when someone you have feelings for is past the worst of some sort of danger. He might have been shocked because he didn’t expect it, but uh— I believe you should probably try to talk to him to confirm his feelings before you decide he hates you.

[Basically, Llewellyn is saying Stan is right without saying Stan is right.]

To be honest, having observed both of you since — I expect around the time this happened — you’re both rather anxious and miserable over awkwardly avoiding each other. At least if you approach him and find out how he felt, you could make a logical decision on how to progress from there, rather than continue without certainty.