(Suicide crisis hotline for the US: 988)

He couldn't think. 

Every time he tried to focus on one thing, another issue would begin whispering in the back of his mind, but when he switched to consider it, instead, something else would suddenly demand his attention. The more things he tried to focus on, the darker his thoughts grew as they melded together into one mess of a shitty life. 

He continued to try and fight against the negatives that were now relentlessly bombarding him, using the memory of his recent conversation with his daughter to try and fight them back, but for some reason, her voice was just so much quieter than any of his other thoughts. 

And, eventually, it was swallowed up altogether. 

Wincing as his already-aching body tensed further, Baron ground his teeth and lifted one hand to try and pull at his hair, needing something to get his mind back to the present, but when he didn't begin to feel the pain of his hair being pulled out, he blinked his left eye open. 

Unfortunately, his vision was so blurry at that moment that it didn't seem to matter.  

He didn't currently have control over his right one, either. His raccoon had become pretty brave during the time he'd been unconscious, and it was refusing to allow his other eye to close completely, even though he also couldn't see anything out of that one but faint blurs of light. 

I just want to die... why do you want to stay? 

He couldn't understand the stubborn creature. He'd kept it inside of himself for years since his wife had hated it and thought it was disgusting and a bad influence to their daughter. She also thought that it would somehow give them rabies...

A faint, indignant chatter was his raccoon's response to his question, but he could barely hear it over his own stifling insecurities. 

The only thing that actually kept him from hurting himself at that moment was the odd pressure wading around his mind. He'd never felt such a thing before and pretty soon it had the majority of his attention as he tried to pinpoint exactly what it was. 

At first he thought it was just King's thoughts, since he definitely wasn't used to those yet, but when it continued to silently slip just out of his reach, he realized that it might not be King. At least, not entirely. 

What is going on? 

Pushing aside the negative thoughts gnawing at his aching mind, Baron focused solely on figuring out what was running around his mind. 

"...him sweetheart." 

Huh? 

His heart twitched painfully in his chest, exhausted from trying to fight off his demons for so long. 

"...toast for dinner?" 

He blinked both of his eyes several times as he felt his raccoon abruptly retreat, along with the other sensation he'd been chasing, returning control of his other eye and allowing them to blink in tandem as his vision finally cleared. 

King was on his knees in front of him with both of his hands wrapped firmly around  Baron's right one.

No wonder why I wasn't able to pull at my hair... 

There was something else that needed to be verbally said, though. He tugged his hand free from King's, then scowled at him as if he were crazy. 

"Who the heck makes toast for dinner?" 

The young man in front of him looked confused for all of two seconds before he gave him a huge smile... and a few tears. 

"Does it sound so bad? I promise I'm good at making toast," he mumbled, confusing Baron even more. 

King seemed to get himself under control quickly, because he was soon getting up and walking over to his big closet. He returned a moment later with a pair of sweatpants and a comfortable-looking long-sleeved shirt. 

Relieved to have something to cover up with, Baron eagerly stood up on his shaky legs and got dressed. 

It fits really well...

"Thank you," he said honestly, giving King a tired smile as he finally met his gentle eyes. 

He got another smile in return. The man seemed to have no shortage of them to give. 

"So... breakfast for dinner? I'm not exactly a great cook, but I just figured out how to boil pasta so I think I'll be able to manage eggs and toast," King said as he calmly reached forward and gently took hold of the tips of Baron's fingers. 

They walked in silence through the small apartment, allowing him the silence he needed to examine what he was seeing. 

It's so... bare. 

His own home had so much stuff in it that just thinking about returning to it had added mountains to his anxiety. His wife always insisted that she needed this new gadget or that fancy tea set, but when she got the things she needed, she'd use them for all of a week, at most, then leave them lying around to collect dust. 

She never cleaned or put things away, either, and if he happened to move something she wanted to use only once a year...

"Hey B, how do you like your eggs? I can do scrambled and... something else. It's kind of close to scrambled but a bit more runny?" 

B? 

Slipping out of his thoughts, Baron walked over and looked into the fridge as King held the door open for him. 

Uh... why do half of those eggs have smiley faces on them? 

"I can sense you judging my eggs," King muttered, though he still had a smile on his face as he closed the carton and took it out of the fridge. 

"The smiley faces are from the old carton and need to be used first. I don't like keeping extra stuff around so as soon as I can fit them into one container, I mark the old ones, then recycle the other." 

Just the thought of not needing to keep extra things sitting around made his body relax a little more as he watched King bring the eggs to the counter, having switched to being the one holding the door open. 

"Was there something else you wanted in there? Go ahead and grab anything," King said as he got a pan situated on top of the stove. 

Uh...

Baron returned his attention to inside the fridge, then reached in and pulled out a quarter stick of butter, then a bell pepper, some mushrooms, and a small package of ground sausage. 

I don't know how to cook that stuff with eggs...

The thought he caught from King wasn't a surprise considering how he'd described his ability to cook eggs in general. 

"I can help you if you'd like to learn how to cook a little better," he said as he took down a cutting board and set it next to the stove. 

He'd prepared all of his family's meals before he'd went to work each morning, so he was pretty good with most things. 

When he picked up one of King's decent knives, the thought to hurt himself flitted through his mind, but stabbing himself would definitely inconvenience his new friend and possibly wouldn't be fatal, anyways. 

It wouldn't be worth it. 

"I'd love to learn some new things!" King exclaimed as he quickly turned his attention to what Baron was doing. 

"I've been trying to learn things as I go when I was taking care of Prince, but he's not really a picky eater. He didn't care if things were cooked or not, and he even ate an entire snow crab earlier. Right out of the package." 

Baron glanced sideways at him as a faint blush tinted his cheeks. 

His wife had always made fun of people who allowed their shifts to be so uncivilized. That's probably why their daughter had only ever played in her kitten form on the rare occasions when his wife wasn't there. 

"Everyone thought he was adorable, especially my mom. And, of course, we paid for the crab, too. Heck, my watchers on my video game loved seeing him eat whenever he wandered into the view of the camera." 

King paused abruptly after he finished speaking, making Baron suddenly curious. 

"Prince... my raccoon, was on a video?" 

He was partially freaking out about that, but partially disconnected. He wasn't his raccoon. They were practically two different entities at this point. Did it really matter if his raccoon was seen by some people online? 

"Y-yeah. Not intentionally, but he wandered into view a few times and let's just say that he now has a pretty large fan base," King said, his eyes looking away every so often. 

Fan... base? 

"People... like him?" Baron asked, unable to comprehend what he'd said. 

People didn't like raccoons in general, let alone seeing one inside a home... right? 

King nodded as Baron added butter to melt in the pan, then mechanically cracked some eggs into a bowl. As he knelt down to retrieve a second pan, he heard King respond. 

"They love him! I'm always being asked if I can call Prince over when I'm working but I don't like using him like that, so I just tell them that he'll walk in front of the camera if he wants to." 

Straightening up, Baron took a few moments to process what he was saying as he got the pepper and mushrooms chopped up, then left them for a moment to put the sausage in the hot pan, then season it. 

Uh, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. 

"I can feel that disappointment. We can go shopping whenever you want tomorrow," King said, making Baron blush slightly at having been caught judging his lack of spices. 

It honestly made sense that he didn't have much. He wasn't big on cooking.

"I-it's fine. It's actually nice not to have a lot of stuff to deal with," he said, partially honest. 

He did used to love cooking, but after having to wake up before his usual two-job day and cook full meals for his wife and daughter? It had just become another dreaded chore. 

Smiling slightly, Baron made sure the sausage was cooking correctly, then added the vegetables to the other pan and seasoned them lightly. 

King watched him in rapt silence for a while, making the entire thing honestly quite relaxing. He didn't have to worry about getting done in time to make it to work without being late, and there was no one breathing over his shoulder about how they liked their egg whites an exact way with only a pinch of pepper and three slices of diced jalapeno. 

That actually reminded him...

Glancing sideways, he asked, "do you want your eggs a different way? Is the sausage and vegetables okay?" 

King simply grinned and leaned against the counter. 

"I rarely ever touch vegetables, to be honest, but it looks delicious so I'm definitely willing to try." 

That smile again...

He thought that he'd be jealous of someone being able to live such a carefree life, and while he was a little envious, he also couldn't help but be happy for him. 

"You said that you stream on a video game. Is that your main job?" he asked, actually wanting to fill a bit of the silence so that he wasn't left alone with his own thoughts for too long. 

When King nodded and hopped up on to the counter, Baron felt his left eye twitch. 

His wife would have thrown an absolutely fit if he'd even put their daughter on the counter to cook with, let alone if he'd hopped up there, himself. 

This isn't your house, it's his. The rules are different. 

That actually had him thinking... what exactly were his rules? 

"It is! I just recently signed a contract to do it full time. They've also been giving me a bonus any time your raccoon has showed up on camera. I've been saving that money in an account for you, though. I also added some from my own fans if they mention you when donating."

I... have money? 

King tapped a few things on his phone, then turned it to face him with a big, goofy grin. 

"Not bad, right? Prince is a little star." 

He... couldn't believe his eyes. 

Three... three-thousand and thirty-five dollars?

A text message appeared at the top of the screen as he was still trying to process that he actually wasn't completely broke anymore. 

King evidently recognized the chime, because he quickly turned the phone away and opened the message. 

"Oh, looks like my mom just got the money you were owed at your last job, too. She said she just sent it over. Here, look," King said cheerfully as he turned the phone again, showing his account once more. 

Seven-thousand? 

He'd only been owed two, though. 

"She mentioned that they also gave you a small severance package, so if there's any extra, that's probably why. You must have been a great employee for them!" 

His mind couldn't comprehend the number he was seeing.

"They... they had fired me, though," he eventually ended up whispering as he finally looked past the phone and up at King's still-smiling face. 

Feeling the young man's hand settle against his hair after he set the device aside, Baron couldn't help but step closer, until he was able to press his forehead against the man's soft shirt. 

Soon there was an arm around his shoulders and the hand that had been settled atop his head now gently sifted through his hair. 

 It was the first hug he'd gotten that wasn't from his daughter in... he couldn't remember. 

From a complete stranger, too. 

That didn't stop him from accepting the offered comfort, though. They were also just about equal in height, so even with King sitting on the counter, he wasn't too high or too low. 

This feels nice. 

He probably would have just stayed there until King got annoyed with him, but the scent of the sausage beginning to burn pushed him to react. 

He highly disliked wasting food. 

So, with more than a little effort, Baron forced himself to step out of King's warm embrace and got busy tending to their dinner. 

Thankfully, King didn't seem to mind in the least, and quickly got busy grabbing down plates and unloading the dishwasher to keep out of the way. 

It was a good thing that he could read the full situation, too. Because, while Baron had told him that he'd teach him how to cook a bit, everything needed to be done quickly right now to prevent anymore stuff from burning. 

Thus, staying out of the way was the best plan of action. They worked perfectly in tandem, though, even within the small kitchen. 

Every few moments he would catch little thoughts from King, too, but he knew better than to give away any hint that he was hearing just about everything from the other guy now. Especially the repeating he's so cute! and I wish I could cook like that, sentences. 

It had been a bit odd, at first, but now that he was getting more used to it, he didn't really mind. Besides, being called cute wasn't a negative to him. He knew that he wasn't exactly the general idea of what masculine should be, but he also knew that he definitely didn't look childish. 

He was handsome in a cute way, if he didn't put much effort into dressing up, and that was fine. 

Once everything was plated, he realized something that had him pausing with both their warm plates in his hands. 

There... isn't a dining table. 

"Over here," King said as he hurried past him, making Baron awkwardly walk over to the sofa. 

He'd never dared to eat near his wife's expensive furniture.

"I got it from the thrift store. Don't worry about it," King said with his usual happy smile as he got himself settled near the arm of the couch after setting their drinks on the little old coffee table nearby. 

After another moment of hesitation Baron finally walked over and handed King his plate. 

"Thanks! Do you want to watch anything? I have a few streaming services, but I'm not familiar with a whole lot." 

He honestly hadn't watched more than two or three movies in the entire past year, but he did like some programs.

When King offered him the remote, he slowly took it, then pointed it towards the TV to turn it on. It took him a minute to actually get the hang of the app he found, but once he was comfortable, a nature documentary about North America's wildlife began to play. 

To his surprise, King straightened up and crossed his legs in order to focus on the TV as it began. 

Does he like nature documentaries, too? 

He was about to consider asking, but then decided not to bother. King was clearly engrossed in the show already, and he didn't want to start a conversation when all he really wanted to do right then was nibble at his food and relax, watching a show he hadn't had time for in so long. 

About halfway through said show, as a little opossum was munching on a piece of bread that had been discarded by a human at some point, he realized something as he looked down at his now-empty plate, then over to the kitchen, then back to his plate. 

We... never even made toast. 

And come to think of it. He didn't remember seeing a single slice of bread anywhere in that kitchen, either.