Chapter Text
"H-hey there, good morning!" The little man in Blake's new tamagotchi says, with a very tight smile.
"Mornin’, little man,” they say, casually, leaning back against their couch. (They’ve ripped it quite a bit, but it’s still a good’un.)
“M-my name is Harvey Harvington!” Harvey gives a little wave, sitting criss-cross on a small bed.
“The fuck kinda name is that?” Blake says to themselves, with a small laugh.
But then, Harvey tilts his head, something very much so like offense crossing his eyes for a second.
Almost like he’d heard ‘em.
Blake can't help but feel guilty, especially in the brief pause that follows.
Hopefully they hadn't hurt the little guy's feelings...
Blake starts to say But I do like the name! But before he can, Harvey clears his throat.
"Well. Anyway. You see those buttons on the side?”
“‘Course I do.” They pull a cigarette out of their pocket and ignite it with one of the lighters they always keep near them.
Everything is safer with it, of course.
Harvey shakily clasps his hands together, then rests his head on his chin.
"Those are to keep me healthy and happy!”
Blake takes in a breath of smoke, looking out their living room window for several seconds.
They wonder how much money they’re gonna make today.
They do need quite a bit for an operation they need.
25K, the doctor had said. Ouch.
Tips probably wouldn't pay for that much that quickly--
“--I’m feeling a bit peckish right now! I’d appreciate a bite to eat!” Harvey says, and Blake finally snaps back to attention.
Whoops.
They 'prolly should've been paying attention to all that.
“What kind ‘o meal you looking for, Harv?” They say to themselves, clicking every button before finally getting to the food one.
“I uh," Harvey stutters, sounding a bit surprised, though Blake doesn't know why. "Anything's fine for me."
“Oh, can you hear me, or something?” They ask, casually, scrolling through the two food options. Candy or pie, such a hard decision.
Harvey blinks a few times.
“Oh uh…did you not know that?”
“Nope.”
Blake finally decides to give Harvey pie, then takes another puff of their cig.
It’s probably just one of ‘em things always in the new Tamagotchi's, maybe it's a microphone or something. It's not a big deal.
“Thank you. For the food." Harvey says softly, a plate of chocolate pie in his hands, as well as a cup of water and spoon. (They're a little jealous.)
Blake grins their classic, gold toothed smile at the little man, (They’d lost a tooth falling down the stairs.) and adjusts their leather jacket.
“Anything else I’m meant to do with ya, pal?”
Harvey lets out a little, nervous laugh, that makes Blake tilt their head in confusion. Did they do something wrong?
“Were you listening to what I said? It’s…kind of important.”
They grimace, watching as Harvey’s smile briefly flickers off, his eyes firmly on the food he'd stopped eating.
Poor, nervous little fella.
Blake shoulda' been listening to 'im!
“Can ya repeat yourself, I swear I'll listen!"
Panicking, they click on the screen, remembering something about that making Harvey feel better.
But it doesn't. In fact, Harvey jumps, as in the game world his hair is gently pet.
His eyes fill with fear like Blake has never seen before, and he lets out a choked, "Please!"
Shit!
Their throat fills with bile, with no fucking clue what they did or what to do to fix it.
"Sorry! I'm sorry, did I hurt you?!"
“No, no, I was just...being silly." Harvey pants, smiling once again.
Blake tries to grin reassuringly, though they're still shaking a bit.
No more clicking.
They don't care what the damn tutorial said they were not doing that again.
"Here, let's restart."
And with that, Harvey, between eating his pie, repeats every instruction. Except the part about clicking.
Feed him, play with him, put him to bed.
Blake repeats it in their mind a few times, making sure they remember it nice and good.
“Alright, now let’s have some fun! Hit that game console!” Harvey beams, but sweat still drips down his forehead.
“Whack-a-Harvey, huh?" They say, uneasily looking at the option.
|
That don’t sound too fun for Harv, and they don’t want to accidentally hurt him.
“Yep! Just hit the button, and we can play!”
“Are ya sure ‘bout it?” Their finger hovers over the little icon.
No other game is available–well that's whatcha get for free–, so they don't really have a choice.
“Of course! Just keep going!”
“‘Right, if you’re sure...” Blake throws their cigarette into the ash tray on the coffee table in front of them.
Well, here goes nothin’.
They click the minigame and, while it takes ‘em a while to figure out how to do it, they finally manage. (It's hard with the little, stiff buttons their given to work with.)
It’s…a lot worse than they expected, and they grimace at the sight of blood, but hey, at least it’ll make Harvey happy!
Hopefully.
You hit…10 Harvey’s!
Mood points gained, 5!
“Wahoo!” Blake cheers, nearly dropping the device. They did amazing!
“Wow, that was fantastic!” Harvey says, and they let out a breath of relief to see that he’s still alive, and well.
“We’re having such a great day together--" It don't feel like a great day, they think. "--you….what’s your name?”
“Blake,” they say, happily.
“Ah great, it’s nice to meet you, Blake!”
They reach forward and grab one of their nonalcoholic beers. For some reason, when they drink these suckers out on the road, they always get pulled over.
“Nice to meetcha too, fella!”
Blake automatically sticks their free hand out, but they end up shaking midair. Harvey puts his palm up to the screen, and they tap it with their pointer finger.
Well, close enough to an ol’ fashioned handshake!
They keep happily talking to Harvey, even trying to play that terrible game again to increase the man’s mood! (This time, they get a whole 7 points!) But…they can’t help but feel like they’re…forgetting something.
“Harvey,” Blake says dreamily, hearing the birds chirping from outside their window. “What time is it?”
“Why would I…know that…?”
For the first time in Blake’s entire life, they almost feel stupid.
“Well don’tcha Tamagotchi thingy’s normally have clocks?”
“I’m not a–! Never-mind, never-mind!”
They look in confusion at Harvey, then remember they have a watch on, and check that instead.
It’s 9:00AM.
9:00AM.
9:00AM!
“Fuck!” Blake shouts, getting up fast, almost knocking the couch over.
Shit, shit, shit.
“My shift is starting now!" They yell, wanting to set the Tamagotchi down, but no, they don’t want Harvey to be bored, or to be alone for so long...!
“What do I do with you, buddy?”
They run their thumb down the screen, without thinking, not even meaning to click, but they do. Harvey shudders at the touch, and are those...tears filling his eyes?
Poor thing.
“You can go ahead and put me to sleep!” Harvey says, his smile tight.
“But, I’ll…probably be quite hungry when you get back.”
Blake doesn't like the way Harvey looks. The man's hands are shaking so hard they can even see it with the pixels. His face is somehow even paler, his lower lip trembling.
“You know what?” Blake takes the chain of the toy, and slips it onto their belt.
“I’ll just take ya with me!”
“Oh, thank you!” Harvey lets out a sigh of relief.
“But try to be quiet, if ya don’t mind!”
“Alright.
Blake grins, then quickly rushes to get ready for work.
What a normal, fun little tamagotchi they’d been lucky enough to get.
……
…….
………
Even if he doesn’t have a clock.