ruffians | the punchline to the joke is asking "someone save us"

[Terry chose to stay behind.]

[There's shit all waiting for him back home, and this is a place he can make a difference. Between the remains of Pride and Virgo, there's enough musicians left behind who need help and direction, and a world reeling from whatever the fuck happened with Blanch and Santiago. He's not a businessman, but he can help. He can do something.]

[What that something is exactly, Terry's got no idea. The weeks immediately after The Event, Terry spends pouring over files he doesn't understand, wondering if dismantling the labels altogether is the best thing to do, or repurpose them to be something better. He doesn't really take better care of himself than showers that are mostly to wake himself up along with a lot of coffee and cereal bars, the kid's in desperate need of a hot meal and a shave, but he'll deal with that after.]

[Gotta save the world first, etc.]

[It hasn't been an easy or short journey getting back here.]

[He didn't think he wanted to at first. He went back to his familiar life and genuinely enjoyed it for a little while, but after that his heart started to ache. He didn't miss the fame or the money - he'd long come to terms with the idea that it was all manufactured - but he missed his friends. He missed his band. Most of all, he missed Terry. Terry was the hardest loss to bear, and over time it felt like it was just getting harder and harder instead of easier.]

[So when the opportunity to come back came up of course he took it. And it took a little while in some weird inter dimensional spaceship but he touched down on Tera about an hour ago and has been doing everything in his power to get to Pride HQ. He's not even sure Terry will be here but it's a start at least.]

[The fact that it's a ghost town doesn't seem promising. Maxxie almost makes a beeline for the elevators but stops and thinks it might be a good idea to see if anyone even works here anymore and might be able to give him a clue, so he opens the door to the bar and his breath catches in his throat.]

[He feels like he wasn't prepared. How could he be? It's been so long but Terry's frame and posture, hunched at the bar with papers spread out in front of him, is so familiar that it hurts and it feels like an eternity passes between the recognition and the moment Maxxie finally speaks.]

Terry?

[He's sure Maxxie left, he's certain of it. He has a life and a family to get back to and Terry isn't a part of that. He's not happy about it, but he understands. So it's easy to pass off hearing his voice as the auditory hallucinations of a lonely man.]

[His response is just to frown and take a gulp of his cold coffee, leaning over the table like that's gonna help him focus more and not think about who he misses and how alone he feels and all that. He has issues to figure out, okay.]

[Maxxie swallows. Terry must not have heard him. He takes a hesitant step closer. His stomach's in knots and he's worried Terry hates him for leaving but he needs him so badly.]

Terry.

[He looks up that time, not entirely sure why since it's obviously not real, but then he's looking at Maxxie and he doesn't know what to say or do or how to process it. But it can't be real. It's just not possible. Obviously he's just losing his mind and Terry can't give in to that right now. Maybe next week.]

Nope.

[He shakes his head, repeating it again, and looks back at the papers on the table in front of him.]

I might be crazy, but I don't have any time for hallucinations right now.

Terry...

[Maxxie feels his eyes sting. He makes his way over to the table, still a hesitant beat in his step, and crouches down beside it.]

I'm not--

[It catches in his throat, and he reaches out to put his hand on Terry's forearm, to prove that he's real.]

I'm not a hallucination.

No...

[Terry shakes his head again, but he's looking at Maxxie now. Really looking. Eyes misting up a little because that looks like him and it feels like him but...]

You went home. [it sounds more like he's trying to reassure himself than he is sharing a fact] You have a family and friends and-- And you went home.

[Maxxie sniffs and lifts his free hand to wipe away tears even though they haven't fallen yet. He doesn't have anything he can say to Terry that will sum up the complicated feelings he had about all of this, and he doesn't want to muddle this moment with all of that anyway. There's only one thing that matters right now.]

I came back.

What--No. Why?

[Terry frowns. He doesn't understand this, he doesn't understand any of it. Why... Why would Maxxie come back? For what? Some hollowed out record label and a shitty boyfriend?]

[Maxxie reaches out to put his hand on Terry's cheek, a tear finally falling as he smiles. His voice breaks a little when he speaks - he didn't think it would feel this heavy to be around him again but after thinking they might never see each other...]

I love you so much.

Maxxie, don't...

[He's crying, he's sure of it. A mix of exhaustion and heartbreak-- not that he doesn't want Maxxie here — god he's missed him so much it hurts — but he had things to go back to, that mattered. That were more important than this.]

[Terry's voice catches in his throat and it's almost a struggle to speak when what he wants is to just throw himself into Maxxie's arms and never leave.]

You have a life-- You've got friends and family and a dog and I'm not... I'm not worth that, Max.

Terry, stop.

[It comes out more like a plea than a demand.]

Please, just... just come here.

[He could keep talking, keep going on about not being worth it, but Maxxie asks him to come and it's like he's been issued with an order. Slipping out of his seat and onto his knees in front of Maxxie. He resists the urge to throw himself at him for all of a second, about as long as the time it takes him to hesitantly put a hand on Maxxie's chest, and then he's putting his arms around him and pressing his face into his shoulder with a sob.]

I missed you. I missed you so much.

[Terry's clinging hard, hands bunched in the back of Maxxie's shirt. He's thought about this a lot, usually his fantasies are cooler than him crying on the floor of an abandoned bar, but he's so overwhelmed. Scared and relieved all in one, and so, so very tired.]

I know, me too. I’m so sorry Ter...

[Having Terry in his arms has almost a calming effect on all the anxious knots that were riddling his body. He feels hus chest immediately settle but the tears come freely now, partly in relief and partly in joy and partly in the overwhelming sadness he feels at having been apart so long. He had tried to convince himself that love couldn’t possibly run this deep just to save himself from the pain but it all comes crashing back now and god it hurts.]

[They can talk when everything isn't so much, maybe. Terry just... He doesn't want Maxxie to waste his life on him, but he also doesn't want Maxxie to leave. Not again. He doesn't know if he could handle it.]

[He looks up from Maxxie's shoulder, at his face and then down at the ground, offering a slightly wet laugh when he speaks.]

We must look so dumb right now.

[Maxxie laughs too, hugging Terry just a little tighter.]

Yeah. I don’t care right now.

[Terry just takes that as a reason to go back to pressing his face against Maxxie's shoulder with another sob.]

I can't believe you're here.

[Maxxie rubs Terry’s back and then pulls away just enough to rest his forehead against Terry’s.]

I know, me either.

[He’s suddenly nervous to kiss him, like Terry won’t accept it. He knows that’s probably ridiculous but he hesitates anyway, continuing instead.]

I needed to see you again.

I don't understand.

[He's a little hesitant, even scared. Partially because he doesn't want to do that thing where he goes on about why Maxxie shouldn't care so much about him, and he's worried he will if he starts talking at length, but also because it just seems too good to be true.]

[Swallowing, Terry lifts his hand to cup Maxxie's cheek. Cautious as if he'll suddenly fade away into nothingness if he's too hasty.]

[Maxxie smiles and shakes his head. At the moment he doesn't want to explain why or how he got here beyond what he's already said.]

It's a long story. I'm here now.

[He doesn't know if that's a permanent state of being or not - he hasn't gotten that far yet.]

I can't believe how much I missed you.

[Terry brushes his thumb over Maxxie's cheek, overwhelmed by how much he missed him, how good it is to see him right now. It hurts how much he wants to hold on to him and never let go, he can barely think about anything else.]

[Well, except how his knees are starting to hurt.]

... We should get off the floor.

[Just take him to bed and make him go to sleep for once.]

[Jamie opted to stay too, for reasons of his own. He misses the people back home, now that he can remember them, and he'd like to see them again someday, but...they'll be all right without him. He can do things now, things he never dreamed he'd be able to, and there's people here he can help.]

[...not the least of which is Terry, who seems intent on working himself to death. It's early morning as Jamie shuffles out of one of the bedrooms in the suite they've commandeered and makes a beeline for the coffeepot, side-eyeing Terry as he goes.]

Are you up earlier than normal, or did you just never go to bed?

Yeah.

[He sighs, looking around at the bar. There are so many memories here that still feel like they don't belong to him, because he didn't know who he was when he made them. It's such a weird sensation, to have had a time when he was just... someone else for a while, and to be able to remember that and everything that came before.]

[That's not worth fixating on right now.]

Are you staying here?

Yeah, still in the penthouse.

[Terry stands with a grunt and looks at the table, tiredly shoving all the papers in his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.]

I... Didn't see much point in leaving.

Haven't been to bed.

[He looks up at Jamie and holds out his mug in a request for a refill. He looks like shit and he feels like it too, but coffee will obviously help right.]

the punchline to the joke is asking "someone save us"

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