"It's pretty good."

"Would it bother Cricket?"

"...in the sense that he'd complain about it if I didn't ask him not to, probably, but he's a sound sleeper?"

"Hm."

He goes and unbuckles the guitar from its case and starts tuning up.

...it's probably fine if he does that all the way over there as long as Haru's keeping an eye on him.

Every - Acid - Dealer - Gets - Buuusted - Eventuallyyy.

And when he's done has Haru already retrove the headphones?

They never went back upstairs after Cricket fetched them; he's got them hooked up to his phone.

Sure.  Bug re-pouches the tuning gadget and comes back over to cuddle up.  On the opposite side from before so Haru and the neck aren't getting in each other's way.  And - actually he should haul this side table over so he has a surface for his laptop to exist on?  Does Haru look like he's going to complain in some way if Bug makes to do that.

No, that seems fine.

Then he's going to practice 'Hey There, Delilah' until he gets tired of it and, hm, browse browse browse browse - 'Stand By Me' until lunch.

Even through the extended period of guiding, he - the person next to Haru - doesn't interrupt their separate activities to announce Julien's return.

Haru finishes Les Misérables and then does some blog stuff instead.

Tap tap tap tap.  "I have a desperate craving for broccoli cheese soup."

Headphones off. "Say again?"

"I have a desperate craving for broccoli cheese soup."

"Okay, do you have a recipe you like for that? What should I text Ren to get?"

"I do but not with me.  I can ask my mom for it.  ...But it sounds like that would make it happen for dinner, and I don't know if I'll still be around then.  And Julien doesn't really care what he eats this week."  He wants to say a thing but it's secrets.  - No, actually, it's extremely practical to mention.  It's not even like Julien thought about wanting Bug keeping his secrets, it's just that Bug is trying to be better than him.  Julien is all about spilling his guts in the name of practicality because he believes he's inherently untrustworthy.  "He's really worried about you deciding to kick him out because he's too inconvenient, and also very convinced that he's going to get a useless or evil power that means he can't pay you back.  But I don't think either of those will happen, and even if they do, we'll still be able to pay you back for a couple meals ordered out."

"Well, I'm not going to do that, and I know perfectly well that that his power might be useless - I don't think a power can be evil inherently but I guess one could be difficult to use ethically? - and am not remotely worried about the price of broccoli. He can give money to the Against Malaria Foundation same as I do if he wants to symbolically square up with fewer steps. You want delivery broccoli soup right now? They take a while to get an order to an address even if you pay for priority, are you going to be around in thirty minutes?"

"Gosh, I hope so.  I mean, I've lasted a few hours, so, I think so?  Especially if I'm actively trying to stick around for soup reasons.  I think there's - I can try and explain in a bit; you should get the order in.  Thank you."

Haru orders broccoli cheddar soup. And garlic bread, as long as he's in there.

Yessssss.  They aren't using animal stock in here secretly are they, no, good.  Hell yeah.  "I had a thought last time that whether I go away might be more related to the rate of guiding than the level of backlash per se.  And now I also think that it's a lot to do with - my mental state generally.  Last time I was trying to disappear as fast as possible, to show you I could cooperate.  And also because I was so miserable."

"You seem remarkably cheery for an awakening person, though I'm trying not to assume that's necessarily genuine, I get smiley when I'm backlashed as a kind of fawn-response thing."

"It's not - wholly ingenuine, at least.  Like I said, I think we do better when there's something to be scared of.  And currently I'm really afraid that since you've been nice to me I - won't - need to exist, like I said that I did earlier, and maybe Julien will grow as a person and I'll never come back because I'm not afraid enough.  And like, he's not going to stay this backlashed forever, but what else is there, for me?  I didn't exist before his awakening, so who's to say that I will afterwards.

"But, I dunno, guiding's nice, food's nice, I don't have to work at fucking Starbucks and I don't feel like doing his homework even though I'm probably better at it at least until he stops awakening, I don't seem at risk of slipping away on accident; life is pretty okay.  I - will probably get a lot less chill if I decide to actively try and disappear.  Or... he reset from the delusions after a night of guided sleeping, so.  That idea is pretty scary.  But I'm like, I have to do my best to enjoy what's in front of me while I can, because it might be my only chance."

"I guess all things considered that seems like a pretty constructive attitude."

"Thanks.  I don't even know that - I would - think of my death.... as a particularly great tragedy.  As long as he'd learned the important thing from me.  But - it's still really scary to think about..."

"The important thing?"