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[i_am_emmet]

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[i_am_emmet]

Ask for help?

[Emmet questioned to clarify.]

[familyproblem]

[Shakes his head.]

Putting it out in the open. [Hang on a sec. More than that, but he has to beat back the mortification to get there. Scoff. Floor glare.] ...Not being sensitive about it. If - if someone I knew did what the turtle did to his [dad.] housemate, [as in making his problems into this funny...thing,]

[and frankly he doesn't know how to end that sentence because uhhh. It would just. It would just be the end of the world okay? Also not helping is that Emmet is the first person he thinks of who might accidentally do that, after Leo-if-he-slipped-up-and-told-him, but another part of him isn't worried about Emmet doing that and doesn't want to accuse him?

Crosses his arms.]

But it works out for them.

[So he knows the answer to this whole problem, and is just stuck here whining about the effort involved. Is how it looks.]

[i_am_emmet]

I guess it really depends on their relationship and temperaments with each other.

[He puts Cupcake down on the couch and she walks over to him and curls up in a small cream-colored ball next to him.]

And knowing what buttons can and can't be pushed. Which really only comes with time.

[familyproblem]

Yeah. That's how I try to - go about it. Just approach people with respect until you learn enough to figure out where you stand. [Worked with Silvally. There's something insufficient about it here and now, though.] It's...not Leonardo's MO - that's why we don't get along. I didn't know he had buttons to push until you ticked him off. [Vulnerabilities, sure, but things he wants to cover up aren't quite the same as a button.]

But - [scoff.] - if I didn't know better, I could blame it on people not having real problems. I'm not sensitive, I just - I just have it worse than you. [Voice low, exposed. This is a pretty deep dig into his own self-awareness, and it doesn't mortify him nearly as viscerally as other things but it is still embarrassing to say out loud.] But that's not how it works. Especially not here. [So what's his real excuse?]

[i_am_emmet]

Some people hide their buttons. If you stumble on one, accept it happens, learn and carry on, yupyup.

[Emmet nods a little.]

Here is weird, because it is a weird situation to start off with. I don't think anyone would ever expect to come to a place like this, so we all are responding in weird ways.

[familyproblem]

[Good advice when they're not your buttons. And a reminder that he can't put the burden of figuring this out on Emmet, because help is help but it's ultimately his problem to fix.

Shrugs, though.] I was already like this.

[i_am_emmet]

What do you mean?

[familyproblem]

[embarrassed:]Sensitive?

[i_am_emmet]

Everyone is sensitive though. I know verrry few people who aren't.

[familyproblem]

[what]

You don't need to spare my feelings.

[knowing full well that Emmet doesn't, but wow that just felt like. bad. for some reason]

[i_am_emmet]

Why would I spare them? It's better to give the truth on things, yup. Lying to someone is just rude.

[familyproblem]

[yeah...

Well. Speaking of sensitivity, now he gets to try to figure out why that jabbed him in the mood. Yay.

Mnnrrg.]

...What do you mean, "everyone is sensitive"?

[i_am_emmet]

Everyone has something that will get to them, yupyup. Like I don't like being compared to a pokemon.

[Emmet says this easily.]

Everyone has a button, or a trigger or something because life comes with good and bad.

[familyproblem]

[Ah.

Pensive facewrinkle for a second .]

That's...not what I mean by sensitive.

[i_am_emmet]

Then tell me what you mean.

[Emmet leans forward a little, curious to listen.]

[familyproblem]

[exhausted teenage snap moment]

Emmet, you know what I'm like, [he groans, puts his face in his hands, and kind of slides down to the floor??

pwease.]

[i_am_emmet]

I know I see a young man who is considerate but keeps to himself, someone who does his best and is dedicated to things and people he aligns himself with. Someone who has a lot on his plate.

[familyproblem]

[emmet pwease.

FUN FACT WHEN YOU BLUSH GREEN YOUR FACE DOESN'T GET HOT so you are just none the wiser. Good thing he's already rubbing his hands on his face.]

Rewind to the "keeping to himself" part.

[i_am_emmet]

Consider it rewinded.

[familyproblem]

[Waiting?? for critique???]

[i_am_emmet]

[Emmet looks at Gladion.]

And is there anything wrong with that?

[familyproblem]

...No? But not -

[God okay hold on he needs to sit back up and get his shit back together. Knuckling his face a little to make the thoughts go faster. He's still not sure - even though he knows! he knows - that he isn't being punked, or baited into saying it out loud or something, because the difference here is so obvious to him.]

Maybe "sensitive" is the wrong word. [Shit together. Calm. Collected.] Does it make more sense if I say, "reactive". Or maybe "paranoid". [Calm. Collected.]

[i_am_emmet]

It does make more sense.

[Emmet scoops up Cupcake and hands her over to Gladion.]

[familyproblem]

[...He really does not want to hold a dog right now but alright.

Again he is silent as if waiting for more on that.]

[i_am_emmet]

From what I understand, becoming that way helped you when you were younger.