I'll look after you (Mal, Ardal) BACKSTORY!
Jan. 20th, 2001 09:02 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
myeyesarehollow.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
darker_londonFinding the tumbledown house that they were seeking temporary shelter in empty didn't worry Mal O'Reilly at first. It was common for Mal and Ardal Quinn to split up when money issues were dire and they figured they would fare better by covering more ground. Mal didn't like taking money for nothing, but Ardal wasn't above asking for it, so he often went and spare-changed people while Mal found somewhere to play. And Ardal excelled at getting people's sympathy too. Something to do with his baby face. When Ardal wasn't in the house when Mal arrived, Mal simply figured he was having a productive day. He certainly hoped so...
His own day had been much less productive. It was a warmer afternoon, though it was still in the middle of winter. And Mal had found a little shopping plaza to play in front of. The courtyard was covered, and Mal's fingers didn't get so cold there. He had sat and played his guitar, singing his songs for about an hour before he was approached by the building manager. Apparently Mal's songs were depressing people... Mal had asked what he was supposed to sing about. He lived on the streets of Dublin in winter. It didn't exactly inspire songs about rainbows and daffodils.
The man had taken pity on Mal. He'd given him a fiver, and told him he was talented. Said he should try to book a gig somewhere. But he still had to move on because music about things that could go wrong in life tended to send people home to their families instead of leaving them in shops, spending their hard-earned money. It was too bad too, because Mal had been making quite a bit playing there. What money the shoppers weren't spending in the store, they seemed to be giving to the poor soul who's songs were full of torture, heartache and lament.
The sky began to darken and with it, so did Mal's mood. Time dragged on, and there was no sign of Ardal. Mal started to panic, expecially when he looked out the window and he saw that the sky had opened up and everywhere, vision was obscured by freezing rain. Where ever Ardal was, Mal knew he was in trouble.
Mal was not wrong. Ardal didn't arrive back at the house until after dark. Mal ran for the door and he yanked it open, dragging his boyfriend back inside. "Ardal!!" Mal cried, throwing his arms around Ardal even though Ardal was soaking wet.
The first thing that Mal noticed, was that Ardal wasn't shivering. Mal pulled away slowly, and he reached out to touch Ardal's face, which was ice cold. "Ardal..."
Ardal looked up at Mal. He was rather sleepy, and contrary to everything he'd just been through, he was feeling pleasantly warm. He'd been caught out in the storm, and he'd gotten a little lost and there was a time there when he'd been so miserably cold he had thought he would die right then. But he hadn't. He'd continued on and fought his way back to the tiny structure that would shelter him from the wind and rain. And along the way, he hadn't felt cold anymore. Ardal smiled lazily at Mal. "Hi!" He said, cheerfully. "I got some money."
Ardal was slurring. And he wasn't shivering anymore. And he seemed far too cheerful. Mal knew what it was to be cold. He knew how it felt when your body just couldn't stop shaking and there was nothing you could do about it. It was the body's natural reaction, protection against freezing. And when your body lost that ability, it stopped shivering. And you were in danger. Hypothermia. Feeling fear in the pit of his stomach, Mal leapt to action. "Get your kit off, come on!" He demanded, while he moved to unzip Ardal's sopping wet coat.
"Are we going to have a little fun?" Ardal asked, sounding quite stupid, which was not something Ardal sounded like often at all.
"No! Jesus, Ardal! You're fucking freezing to death and you just want to get your hole." Mal pulled Ardal's coat off and then he ripped Ardal's shirt off as well. Ardal's skin was freezing to the touch and Mal knew he had to hurry.
"I got money, Mal. I stayed out even though I was cold, because we needed the money."
Mal paused for a split second to look Ardal right in the eyes, his own expression full of worry and sympathy and so many other things. Then he hurried back to his job of ridding Ardal of his wet clothes. "You've done lost your mind." He hissed, his cold fingers fumbling with the button on Ardal's trousers.
"I didn't lose my mind!" Ardal said happily. Completely content to stand there in the house with barely a stitch on and less by the minute. "We do need the money. My stomach thinks my throat's been cut."
Mal sighed. "I know, Ardal! But you can't stand out in the freezing rain in the middle of fucking winter because you're hungry! Come on, step out of these!"
Ardal did as he was told, and then he looked shocked as Mal shrugged out of his own coat and he wrapped it around Ardal's shoulders. Then Mal went running for more trousers, which he helped Ardal in to. "Why are we changing?" Ardal asked. He was feeling sleepier by the minute.
"Doesn't matter. Come on. Over here, you crazy son of a bitch." Mal led Ardal to a corner of the room and he laide Ardal down in one of the sleeping bags. There was a fire place and he could start a fire eventually, but he had to get Ardal's core body temperature up first. Otherwise the drastic temperature change could lead to shock and Ardal would be in just as much danger as he was in now. "Come on. Curl up. Into a ball. Tuck your fingers under your armpits. That's right. Stay like that." Mal pulled the sleeping bag tight around Ardal, and then he retrieved the other sleeping bag and he layered it on top of Ardal to trap as much body heat in as possible. Ardal's body had to warm itself up first, before outside influences could be added.
"Mal, what are you doing? I don't want to lie down. Can I have something to eat?"
"No, Ardal. Just stay still, you've gone and got yourself frozen nearly to death and if you don't stay like that I'm going to be chipping parts off of you next." Or Ardal would die. Even thinking it made Mal's throat constrict.
"Chipping parts?" Ardal had no idea what Mal was on about. "I'm warm, Mal! I'm fine, I just want something to eat!" Despite his protesting, Ardal didn't move. He didn't want Mal to be all sad.
"Ardal, you have to warm up first! You know I'd give you something if it were safe! I'd never keep you hungry on purpose. But you have to stay there right now! Trust me." Quickly, Mal got things ready for a fire so he could light it the second it was safe to do so.
"I do trust you. But when is anything ever safe out here...?" Ardal mused, mostly to himself.
"I am not having a philosophical conversation with you when you're off your tits!" Mal protested, staking up the firestarter logs in the broken down fireplace. He was shaking now with the cold, but he could take it. As long as he didn't stop shivering too, it was fine.
It was silent then inside the little house, for quite a while. Mal, shivering in the dark, listened to the wind outside the tiny little house as he watched Ardal, under the blankets. Ardal was slowly thawing out body and mind. He started to shake violently, eventually, and Mal realised he'd hardly been breathing the entire time, because he was so scared that Ardal might stop... "Fuck it's fucking cold..." Ardal finally hissed, through chattering teeth.
Mal jumped up at once and he started the fire. Then he dragged Ardal towards it, sleeping bags and all. "Whoooaaaa. Augh, I feel terrible." Ardal moaned.
"You went and froze yourself into an Ardalsicle, you bockedy-headed fart." Mal finally, gratefully, crawled into the sleeping bags as well, and once he was under them, he wrapped his arms around Ardal, burying his face in Ardal's shoulder. "You can't do that, Ardal! You can't stay out when it's cold, no matter how much you think we need the money."
"You were goin' to! Outside the cafe once. And then I asked you to come back with me and you did and then there was a storm and we had shite all to eat for days." Ardal's body was shivering uncontrollably now, as his core temperature raised enough that his body kicked in and tried to save itself.
"Oh, Ardal..." Mal leaned forward and he kissed poor Ardal's forehead. "That was terrible I know, but so is you freezing to death. You can't eat if you're all lookin' like Jack Nicholson in the last shot in The Shining. I love you, Ardal. Please, please...be careful, please." Ardal wasn't cut out for this. No one was, really, but Ardal simply was not coping.
"I liked...The Shining. Mal. I'm so cold..."
"I know. Here." Mal moved his body closer to Ardal, and he wrapped hs arms tighter around his boyfriend. In time the fire and body heat would warm him up. Until then, Mal was there for him and that was all he could do. "I'll look after you. Ardal. I'll always look after you. I promise."
His own day had been much less productive. It was a warmer afternoon, though it was still in the middle of winter. And Mal had found a little shopping plaza to play in front of. The courtyard was covered, and Mal's fingers didn't get so cold there. He had sat and played his guitar, singing his songs for about an hour before he was approached by the building manager. Apparently Mal's songs were depressing people... Mal had asked what he was supposed to sing about. He lived on the streets of Dublin in winter. It didn't exactly inspire songs about rainbows and daffodils.
The man had taken pity on Mal. He'd given him a fiver, and told him he was talented. Said he should try to book a gig somewhere. But he still had to move on because music about things that could go wrong in life tended to send people home to their families instead of leaving them in shops, spending their hard-earned money. It was too bad too, because Mal had been making quite a bit playing there. What money the shoppers weren't spending in the store, they seemed to be giving to the poor soul who's songs were full of torture, heartache and lament.
The sky began to darken and with it, so did Mal's mood. Time dragged on, and there was no sign of Ardal. Mal started to panic, expecially when he looked out the window and he saw that the sky had opened up and everywhere, vision was obscured by freezing rain. Where ever Ardal was, Mal knew he was in trouble.
Mal was not wrong. Ardal didn't arrive back at the house until after dark. Mal ran for the door and he yanked it open, dragging his boyfriend back inside. "Ardal!!" Mal cried, throwing his arms around Ardal even though Ardal was soaking wet.
The first thing that Mal noticed, was that Ardal wasn't shivering. Mal pulled away slowly, and he reached out to touch Ardal's face, which was ice cold. "Ardal..."
Ardal looked up at Mal. He was rather sleepy, and contrary to everything he'd just been through, he was feeling pleasantly warm. He'd been caught out in the storm, and he'd gotten a little lost and there was a time there when he'd been so miserably cold he had thought he would die right then. But he hadn't. He'd continued on and fought his way back to the tiny structure that would shelter him from the wind and rain. And along the way, he hadn't felt cold anymore. Ardal smiled lazily at Mal. "Hi!" He said, cheerfully. "I got some money."
Ardal was slurring. And he wasn't shivering anymore. And he seemed far too cheerful. Mal knew what it was to be cold. He knew how it felt when your body just couldn't stop shaking and there was nothing you could do about it. It was the body's natural reaction, protection against freezing. And when your body lost that ability, it stopped shivering. And you were in danger. Hypothermia. Feeling fear in the pit of his stomach, Mal leapt to action. "Get your kit off, come on!" He demanded, while he moved to unzip Ardal's sopping wet coat.
"Are we going to have a little fun?" Ardal asked, sounding quite stupid, which was not something Ardal sounded like often at all.
"No! Jesus, Ardal! You're fucking freezing to death and you just want to get your hole." Mal pulled Ardal's coat off and then he ripped Ardal's shirt off as well. Ardal's skin was freezing to the touch and Mal knew he had to hurry.
"I got money, Mal. I stayed out even though I was cold, because we needed the money."
Mal paused for a split second to look Ardal right in the eyes, his own expression full of worry and sympathy and so many other things. Then he hurried back to his job of ridding Ardal of his wet clothes. "You've done lost your mind." He hissed, his cold fingers fumbling with the button on Ardal's trousers.
"I didn't lose my mind!" Ardal said happily. Completely content to stand there in the house with barely a stitch on and less by the minute. "We do need the money. My stomach thinks my throat's been cut."
Mal sighed. "I know, Ardal! But you can't stand out in the freezing rain in the middle of fucking winter because you're hungry! Come on, step out of these!"
Ardal did as he was told, and then he looked shocked as Mal shrugged out of his own coat and he wrapped it around Ardal's shoulders. Then Mal went running for more trousers, which he helped Ardal in to. "Why are we changing?" Ardal asked. He was feeling sleepier by the minute.
"Doesn't matter. Come on. Over here, you crazy son of a bitch." Mal led Ardal to a corner of the room and he laide Ardal down in one of the sleeping bags. There was a fire place and he could start a fire eventually, but he had to get Ardal's core body temperature up first. Otherwise the drastic temperature change could lead to shock and Ardal would be in just as much danger as he was in now. "Come on. Curl up. Into a ball. Tuck your fingers under your armpits. That's right. Stay like that." Mal pulled the sleeping bag tight around Ardal, and then he retrieved the other sleeping bag and he layered it on top of Ardal to trap as much body heat in as possible. Ardal's body had to warm itself up first, before outside influences could be added.
"Mal, what are you doing? I don't want to lie down. Can I have something to eat?"
"No, Ardal. Just stay still, you've gone and got yourself frozen nearly to death and if you don't stay like that I'm going to be chipping parts off of you next." Or Ardal would die. Even thinking it made Mal's throat constrict.
"Chipping parts?" Ardal had no idea what Mal was on about. "I'm warm, Mal! I'm fine, I just want something to eat!" Despite his protesting, Ardal didn't move. He didn't want Mal to be all sad.
"Ardal, you have to warm up first! You know I'd give you something if it were safe! I'd never keep you hungry on purpose. But you have to stay there right now! Trust me." Quickly, Mal got things ready for a fire so he could light it the second it was safe to do so.
"I do trust you. But when is anything ever safe out here...?" Ardal mused, mostly to himself.
"I am not having a philosophical conversation with you when you're off your tits!" Mal protested, staking up the firestarter logs in the broken down fireplace. He was shaking now with the cold, but he could take it. As long as he didn't stop shivering too, it was fine.
It was silent then inside the little house, for quite a while. Mal, shivering in the dark, listened to the wind outside the tiny little house as he watched Ardal, under the blankets. Ardal was slowly thawing out body and mind. He started to shake violently, eventually, and Mal realised he'd hardly been breathing the entire time, because he was so scared that Ardal might stop... "Fuck it's fucking cold..." Ardal finally hissed, through chattering teeth.
Mal jumped up at once and he started the fire. Then he dragged Ardal towards it, sleeping bags and all. "Whoooaaaa. Augh, I feel terrible." Ardal moaned.
"You went and froze yourself into an Ardalsicle, you bockedy-headed fart." Mal finally, gratefully, crawled into the sleeping bags as well, and once he was under them, he wrapped his arms around Ardal, burying his face in Ardal's shoulder. "You can't do that, Ardal! You can't stay out when it's cold, no matter how much you think we need the money."
"You were goin' to! Outside the cafe once. And then I asked you to come back with me and you did and then there was a storm and we had shite all to eat for days." Ardal's body was shivering uncontrollably now, as his core temperature raised enough that his body kicked in and tried to save itself.
"Oh, Ardal..." Mal leaned forward and he kissed poor Ardal's forehead. "That was terrible I know, but so is you freezing to death. You can't eat if you're all lookin' like Jack Nicholson in the last shot in The Shining. I love you, Ardal. Please, please...be careful, please." Ardal wasn't cut out for this. No one was, really, but Ardal simply was not coping.
"I liked...The Shining. Mal. I'm so cold..."
"I know. Here." Mal moved his body closer to Ardal, and he wrapped hs arms tighter around his boyfriend. In time the fire and body heat would warm him up. Until then, Mal was there for him and that was all he could do. "I'll look after you. Ardal. I'll always look after you. I promise."
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