BOM fic. Again. Sorry.
Title: The Cockroach Grasshopper Story
Author: takeintoaccount
Rating: PG
Genre/pairing: McPriceley friendship
Word count: ~1300
Disclaimer: Not my characters, etc.
Summary: ...you won't be there in the morning, to take one look at my face and just know and then smile calmly at me and tell me the story of when you ate that cockroach Nabulungi gave you and make me feel better. Make me forget. This is the story of when McKinley ate the cockroach Nabulungi gave him.
Notes: Part of the as-yet-untitled-verse that the other two stories are in.
Elder Price had been improving ever since the elders had decided to stay in Uganda and ignore the mission president’s orders to return home. He no longer seemed like he was on the edge of a breakdown. Not really. But when he entered the kitchen, McKinley could see with just one look that this morning, something was a little off.
He stopped his humming mid-song and gave Price a tentative smile from where he was standing in front of the stove. The others had been up for a while, milling around the house quietly, sidestepping each other with murmured words of sleepy greetings as they all got ready. McKinley had gotten up earlier than the rest of them - still unable to break the habit of rising at six thirty, sharp. It was worth it most mornings, though, because he liked to sit on the front step and watch the sunrise, listen to the village wake up, the sounds of life shifting from night to day. With the morning air cool upon his face and the pinks, purples, and oranges of the dawning day painting the scene, he could remember his faith and hold it close.
Price had been the last one up this morning, only coming out of the room after the others had finished eating breakfast and Arnold had gone back in to make sure he was okay. McKinley had stayed behind in the kitchen to stir the morning's porridge back to life so that it would be ready for Price.
Elder Price tilted his head at McKinley, offering his own tentative smile in return. It didn't quite meet his eyes, although McKinley could tell he was trying. But there was something keeping it away, and it didn't take much for McKinley to recognize the haunted, exhausted look of a night spent dreaming of hell. He knew the dreams would stay with Price the whole day unless something distracted him.
"Have I ever told you about the time I ate a cockroach?" McKinley said, suddenly. He saw Price pause in reaching for a bowl from the cupboard. Price raised an eyebrow at him.
"Uh," he said, his voice morning rough. He cleared his throat. "No? No, I don't think so."
McKinley motioned for him to hand over a bowl and filled it with porridge. "Slice a banana into it. It'll make it sweeter."
Price nodded and grabbed a banana before making his way to the table. McKinley fiddled with the stove, pretending to look busy. "So we'd been here for a while, right? And we weren't getting any baptisms or even any interest at all. And we were all just being so stupid, all of us.
"I mean, well, not stupid. We just thought that the way we were doing things was the way they needed to be done. But we'd been here weeks and we still had no idea what was going on, not really."
Price's spoon clinked against the bowl as he began to eat and McKinley moved the emptied porridge pot into the washbasin to be cleaned later. He turned around to face Price and leaned back against the counter.
"Okay, so, one day Poptarts and Davis and Neeley and I are standing around with some of the others from the village and we think we're making headway, right? And Nabulungi steps forward and she's holding something in her hand. And she says, 'Elder McKinley. I know we have not really been paying attention to you recently. But really, that is because you have not been properly welcomed by our village. You have not eaten the ceremonial welcoming cuisine.' And she held out her hand toward us.'"
Price was watching McKinley from the table, his face having shifted from a distracted disinterest to curiosity. McKinley grinned at him.
"You know how we're taught that we're supposed to respect the culture we're in, right? Well, I start freaking out a little, because we obviously missed a big step, right? We'd somehow skipped the official welcoming procedures. Or something. So I'm trying to telepathically communicate with Poptarts and figure out just what we should do and we're all just madly gesturing at each other and I'm sure we looked ridiculous because none of us knew what was happening. And all of the sudden Davis just shoves me forward.
"I didn't want to be insulting or anything so I took the cockroach thing. And Nabulungi goes, 'first you raise it to the sky and say a prayer,' and she lets out this ridiculously long string of words and then tells me to repeat them. Of course I learn later that she'd just been giving me made-up words. And then she says, 'and now you eat it!'"
"Oh God," Price groaned, completely caught up in McKinley's story. "Ew. That must have been…"
"Disgusting? It was. It was the grossest thing I'd ever tasted. And it like…crunched. And one of the legs got stuck in the back of my throat. And it was all I could do to try and look respectful, to not insult the villagers."
McKinley moved over to the table, sat down across from Price.
"Then what?" Price asked.
"Then? Then every single one of them burst out laughing. Well, Nabulungi looked a little guilty, but still. And Asmeret says, 'You don't actually think we eat that shit do you?'"
Price groaned again, this time in sympathy.
"Yeah, so. Joke was on me."
"Please tell me that Poptarts and Davis and Neeley have never let you live this down," Price chuckled.
"Are you kidding? Of course not. Whatever. I freaked my little sisters out big time though. Wrote it all down in a letter - well, I left out most of the story of course, but you can bet I told them I ate a bug. 'A giant, mutant cockroach,' I told them. 'I could feel it moving even after I'd swallowed it.' When my mother wrote back, I could tell she was completely torn between wanting to believe me herself and being mad at me for teasing my sisters." McKinley grinned at the memory.
"It wasn't a cockroach! It was a grasshopper!" Davis shouted from the other room.
"Semantics!" McKinley called back, laughing. "It was a bug and you made me eat it!"
Price snorted as he heard Davis cackle, delighted. He swallowed the last bite of his porridge and chased it down with the rest of the banana. His chair scraped as he pushed it back to stand. He chuckled again as he dropped his bowl into the basin next to the others leftover from earlier. "Ugh. McKinley, that is just. Wow."
McKinley stood himself and smiled sunnily at Price. "Yeah, well, you just be glad that everyone took such a liking to Arnold. Or else you know that would've been you."
"You would've stopped them. Or warned me," Price said, narrowing his eyes in mock suspicion at McKinley.
"Maybe," McKinley sing-songed. "Maybe not."
Price grinned and shook his head. "Whatever."
The two moved toward the living room, but just before they left the kitchen, Price grabbed onto McKinley's arm and stopped him. McKinley cocked his head in a silent question.
"I know why you stayed with me this morning, why told me that story," Price said, his voice low so the others couldn't hear. "Thanks."
McKinley nudged Price gently with his shoulder and offered him a soft smile. "Anytime. I've been there, Elder Price," he responded, just as quietly. "I know what it feels like to wake up the way you woke up this morning. The least I can do is be a friend for you. I mean it."
They held each others' gaze for a beat too long, Price's hand still warm and solid where it encircled McKinley's wrist. And then Price shook himself and let go, said quietly again, "Thanks," before they moved through the doorway together to join the others.
Author: takeintoaccount
Rating: PG
Genre/pairing: McPriceley friendship
Word count: ~1300
Disclaimer: Not my characters, etc.
Summary: ...you won't be there in the morning, to take one look at my face and just know and then smile calmly at me and tell me the story of when you ate that cockroach Nabulungi gave you and make me feel better. Make me forget. This is the story of when McKinley ate the cockroach Nabulungi gave him.
Notes: Part of the as-yet-untitled-verse that the other two stories are in.
Elder Price had been improving ever since the elders had decided to stay in Uganda and ignore the mission president’s orders to return home. He no longer seemed like he was on the edge of a breakdown. Not really. But when he entered the kitchen, McKinley could see with just one look that this morning, something was a little off.
He stopped his humming mid-song and gave Price a tentative smile from where he was standing in front of the stove. The others had been up for a while, milling around the house quietly, sidestepping each other with murmured words of sleepy greetings as they all got ready. McKinley had gotten up earlier than the rest of them - still unable to break the habit of rising at six thirty, sharp. It was worth it most mornings, though, because he liked to sit on the front step and watch the sunrise, listen to the village wake up, the sounds of life shifting from night to day. With the morning air cool upon his face and the pinks, purples, and oranges of the dawning day painting the scene, he could remember his faith and hold it close.
Price had been the last one up this morning, only coming out of the room after the others had finished eating breakfast and Arnold had gone back in to make sure he was okay. McKinley had stayed behind in the kitchen to stir the morning's porridge back to life so that it would be ready for Price.
Elder Price tilted his head at McKinley, offering his own tentative smile in return. It didn't quite meet his eyes, although McKinley could tell he was trying. But there was something keeping it away, and it didn't take much for McKinley to recognize the haunted, exhausted look of a night spent dreaming of hell. He knew the dreams would stay with Price the whole day unless something distracted him.
"Have I ever told you about the time I ate a cockroach?" McKinley said, suddenly. He saw Price pause in reaching for a bowl from the cupboard. Price raised an eyebrow at him.
"Uh," he said, his voice morning rough. He cleared his throat. "No? No, I don't think so."
McKinley motioned for him to hand over a bowl and filled it with porridge. "Slice a banana into it. It'll make it sweeter."
Price nodded and grabbed a banana before making his way to the table. McKinley fiddled with the stove, pretending to look busy. "So we'd been here for a while, right? And we weren't getting any baptisms or even any interest at all. And we were all just being so stupid, all of us.
"I mean, well, not stupid. We just thought that the way we were doing things was the way they needed to be done. But we'd been here weeks and we still had no idea what was going on, not really."
Price's spoon clinked against the bowl as he began to eat and McKinley moved the emptied porridge pot into the washbasin to be cleaned later. He turned around to face Price and leaned back against the counter.
"Okay, so, one day Poptarts and Davis and Neeley and I are standing around with some of the others from the village and we think we're making headway, right? And Nabulungi steps forward and she's holding something in her hand. And she says, 'Elder McKinley. I know we have not really been paying attention to you recently. But really, that is because you have not been properly welcomed by our village. You have not eaten the ceremonial welcoming cuisine.' And she held out her hand toward us.'"
Price was watching McKinley from the table, his face having shifted from a distracted disinterest to curiosity. McKinley grinned at him.
"You know how we're taught that we're supposed to respect the culture we're in, right? Well, I start freaking out a little, because we obviously missed a big step, right? We'd somehow skipped the official welcoming procedures. Or something. So I'm trying to telepathically communicate with Poptarts and figure out just what we should do and we're all just madly gesturing at each other and I'm sure we looked ridiculous because none of us knew what was happening. And all of the sudden Davis just shoves me forward.
"I didn't want to be insulting or anything so I took the cockroach thing. And Nabulungi goes, 'first you raise it to the sky and say a prayer,' and she lets out this ridiculously long string of words and then tells me to repeat them. Of course I learn later that she'd just been giving me made-up words. And then she says, 'and now you eat it!'"
"Oh God," Price groaned, completely caught up in McKinley's story. "Ew. That must have been…"
"Disgusting? It was. It was the grossest thing I'd ever tasted. And it like…crunched. And one of the legs got stuck in the back of my throat. And it was all I could do to try and look respectful, to not insult the villagers."
McKinley moved over to the table, sat down across from Price.
"Then what?" Price asked.
"Then? Then every single one of them burst out laughing. Well, Nabulungi looked a little guilty, but still. And Asmeret says, 'You don't actually think we eat that shit do you?'"
Price groaned again, this time in sympathy.
"Yeah, so. Joke was on me."
"Please tell me that Poptarts and Davis and Neeley have never let you live this down," Price chuckled.
"Are you kidding? Of course not. Whatever. I freaked my little sisters out big time though. Wrote it all down in a letter - well, I left out most of the story of course, but you can bet I told them I ate a bug. 'A giant, mutant cockroach,' I told them. 'I could feel it moving even after I'd swallowed it.' When my mother wrote back, I could tell she was completely torn between wanting to believe me herself and being mad at me for teasing my sisters." McKinley grinned at the memory.
"It wasn't a cockroach! It was a grasshopper!" Davis shouted from the other room.
"Semantics!" McKinley called back, laughing. "It was a bug and you made me eat it!"
Price snorted as he heard Davis cackle, delighted. He swallowed the last bite of his porridge and chased it down with the rest of the banana. His chair scraped as he pushed it back to stand. He chuckled again as he dropped his bowl into the basin next to the others leftover from earlier. "Ugh. McKinley, that is just. Wow."
McKinley stood himself and smiled sunnily at Price. "Yeah, well, you just be glad that everyone took such a liking to Arnold. Or else you know that would've been you."
"You would've stopped them. Or warned me," Price said, narrowing his eyes in mock suspicion at McKinley.
"Maybe," McKinley sing-songed. "Maybe not."
Price grinned and shook his head. "Whatever."
The two moved toward the living room, but just before they left the kitchen, Price grabbed onto McKinley's arm and stopped him. McKinley cocked his head in a silent question.
"I know why you stayed with me this morning, why told me that story," Price said, his voice low so the others couldn't hear. "Thanks."
McKinley nudged Price gently with his shoulder and offered him a soft smile. "Anytime. I've been there, Elder Price," he responded, just as quietly. "I know what it feels like to wake up the way you woke up this morning. The least I can do is be a friend for you. I mean it."
They held each others' gaze for a beat too long, Price's hand still warm and solid where it encircled McKinley's wrist. And then Price shook himself and let go, said quietly again, "Thanks," before they moved through the doorway together to join the others.