Bittersweet Candy Bowl

Poor paulo is getting it from both sides and all he is trying to do is be a good friend

I can’t believe Paulo didn’t notice that Amaya was depressed!

That, or Mike is reminding him about Lucy.

hmm, not really, not at this moment anyway, it’s almost like when you don’t make yourself available there’s only small periods of time where people who care can actually try to reach out to you

Well, at least it’s not the explosive mike going off. It sucks to see him keeping himself closed off from Paulo. And looks like Mike is taking the isolation ritual to the next level. Most likely skipping lunch to not be where Lucy is. And avoiding after track meetings to not be seen by James. My poor boy

As serious as this is I want to point out that Mike is doing the Arthur fist meme but flipped

Now on a more serious note: yep, he’s closing himself off from everyone else like I expected. When the inner demons tell you you’re alone, you begin to build walls around yourself. I don’t expect Mike to tell anyone anything about what happened, the window for that closed.

This is healthy.

I did in fact call this

Guys I think Mike isn’t actually in the right headspace to see that Paulo is actually worried about him. He did kinda get his shit rocked the other day

Paulo, please keep pressing on.

This is so not ok….

Sigh, Is he also going to make out with Paulo before trying to do anything to himself?

I hope this is gonna be different from what Lucy had during her struggle. I hope to see fresh perspectives.

This is just…. this is not good. Mike’s spiral down is clearly at a more accelerated pace than Lucy’s. For her, it took months to reach that breaking point, but for Mike it seems to be taking just a few weeks. And what makes it all worse is he believes he deserves all this. It is starting to hit him how awful he has been, and is punishing himself in the worst ways possible, by shutting himself off from his friends because he views he doesn’t deserve to be with them and self harming himself in ways it can’t physically be seen. I am afraid that if Paulo can’t reach him here, the point of no return for Mike will likely be in two or three chapters.

Mike isn’t even explosively upset with Paulo’s/others prodding like he usually is.

This! This right here scares me!

This is like watching a Lion, that lost any fight left in it, succumb to hyenas

A fire within, once a raging Wildfire, is now dying embers…

At this point he has little to no spirit left, and is just going through the motions, autopiloting, and should his life take an unexpected turn or fall…

“Whatever happens, happens” will probably his go to mindset…

Mike haters been reeeeeal quiet this chapter

I think Mike is angry here but it’s hard to tell. I don’t think he was smiling to reassure Paulo, he just has a sort of bitter hardness to him about “needing to be better.” Like he’s internalized the really intense pressure. I can relate to that :/ but it’s very self-destructive.

Oh the turntables Mike

I’ve been in this boat before Mike

Thing is it doesn’t need to be a bad thing. Appart from the not eating thing focussing on training and yourself can be helpfull

Maybe you don’t need to seek redemption from a bunch of people who have taken every oppertunity to hurt you or stab you in the back.

You don’t need their forgiveness, you only need your own and then you can rise above them. Move forward and let Lucy and her clique choke on their petty grudges

Im genuinely curious if Mike is reflecting on his own actions or just wallowing. Not in a mean way like “oh he doesn’t deserve to feel bad”

There’s a lot of similarities to how he’s responding and how Lucy was acting back in December. But for different reasons almost?

Lucy was depressed and self harmed because one of the few people she trusted called her a parasite and told her he hated her. And also that no one could ever love her.

Versus Mike was called out on all of his behavior. Regardless if August was in the wrong to say anything, nothing he said was untrue.

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