icarusalsoflew | 003. and in every raindrop... // open post.

["Sure."

Gotta hand it to this man: he can shore himself up pretty damned quickly and focus on the Task At Hand, especially when money's involved.

Hikaru's content to watch the rest of the exchange in silence from this point on. He even lights up a cigarette as Josh handles the payment. This might just be a subtle but significant reminder of why all of his dossiers have the same description for him: "a high-functioning sociopath".

Anyway, at the end of it, the owner retreats as gracefully and as quickly as he could manage, and he doesn't even bother saying much else beyond tossing a (forced) smile in Hikaru's direction and a "Call me anytime".

Of course.]

[ And Josh notes that without watching things outright: a glance here, a look right as the guy steps away and retreats into the walkways of Kibo that will lead him out.

When he looks like he's out of sight, his arms are coming around you, chin resting on your shoulder. ] Let's go eat.

[ A part of him feels just a little bit sorry for the guy. Just a little. There are more pressing things at hand. ]

Yeah.

[He'll bend just enough to plant a brief one on your mouth before unraveling himself from your arms. Give him a bit: he'll set the plates and put everything where it's supposed to be. You're welcome to help him out or watch him as you will.

If you were to ask him, he did not particularly feel anything about what just happened. Maybe it's cold, maybe it's wrong. Either way.]

[ He'll elect to watch this time, because he still does feel like if he touches you, it'll be difficult to stop. The last few minutes are an example enough, in a way, and he'll be honest: you're distracting, you're enticing without even actively thinking to be, and he's realizing that he's more than a bit skin-starved for you.

( That, and you'd just told him, before the necessary interruption of your food delivery, that you don't mind him touching you in the least. )

Leaning sideways, thumbs tucked into the pockets of his pants as his eyes follow the way you move about. ]

Answer me one thing? [ You'll note that there's an underlying hint of curiosity in his tone. ] Who started flirting with who?

He started flirting with me. I believe he thought that he'd make a much better distraction than the Vigil would, since he's ridiculously in tune with world politics, and I also think he was trying to prove something to his father.

[This one's rolling his eyes and giving you a Look just as he's setting the plates and chopsticks down for the both of you.]

You get daddy issues, misplaced pride, and the wrongful belief that I wasn't marrying the Princess of Japan because I was desperately tortured by my sexuality, and you have that boy.

[Yes. He just called him 'that boy'.

Nearly everyone in the Fifth World is young compared to your boyfriend, Mr. LaRue.]

[ You'll see the smile that tugs at the corner of his mouth before Josh moves from that doorway, and then you'll find yourself caged to the table with his mouth slanting right over yours. ]

Then I am so not sorry that he's going to need to check his life choices.

[ The guy seemed nice enough, but just because someone seems some way doesn't necessarily mean that they are. Besides: You? Tortured by your sexuality? Give him a break. The guy clearly needs to get his eyes checked.

Ending that kiss and pressing one right above your brow. ]

Mmm. The food smells great.

[ So do you, by the way. But that's kind of a given. ]

[Has he told you how much he loves the fact that you're so easy with your affection? He should probably tell you someday.]

Feel free to dig in already. I'll grab drinks for us.

[And heading over to the booze pantry, because yes, he has an entire pantry for alcohol.]

Want anything in particular?

[The two of you might need it later.]

[ And he's sitting down and setting out food on both his plate and yours. ]

I'll have whatever you're having.

[ Because, yes, he knows he will likely need it. Dinner can only last so long before you both start talking about the thing that you need to discuss. ]

Yamazaki it is.

[Because he's pretty sure you haven't tried Japanese whiskey yet, and it is perfect for situations like this.

He pours for you both once he has the bottle and the glasses, and then it's down to business with that food.]

[ He's unsurprised by how great the food is ( he trusts your taste ) and he takes his time sampling everything before he helps himself to second servings.

That whiskey is also pretty amazing, though his first taste of it had him leaning back as the burn went down to settle in his stomach.

Yes, that's your boy taking a breath before he reaches for the water. ]

[...And stop right there. He'll pour for you. This is his house, after all, and he IS Japanese that way.]

At the risk of sounding creepy -- [Not that he actually cares, but it does need to be said] -- I could watch you eat any day.

[He could watch you do anything, really. You're horrible.

(And yes, this is him trying to dispel at least a bit of the tension here.)]

[ He sees what you're doing and he's all the more grateful for it.

He's also going to catch that and of yours and press a kiss to the center of your palm before he pulls back and takes a drink from his glass. ]

So you mean what I've been doing all this time counts as creepy?

[ Teasing, just as he's rubbing light circles over the back of your hand with his thumb. ] Because, you know, I do that. Watch you eat.

When I can, anyway.

[Chuckling at that, then withdrawing just to fetch his cigarettes.]

Then I suppose we can be creepy together.

[Couples are more than allowed to be weird!]

[ Yeah, chuckling now. ]

I am oddly okay with this.

[ The conversation is due. He knows that much.

He has absolutely no clue how to start though. ]

[And he won't press. He'll wait for whenever you're ready.

While he's doing that, of course, he's cleaning up for the both of you, and filling both of your glasses again.]

[ There's a faint smile on his mouth before he goes for his cigarettes.

He doesn't light up right away, and he's playing with that lighter again. ]

...I don't know where to start.

You could pick up where we left off earlier.

[That seemed like the most logical place to start at, at any rate.]

[ A soft, wry laugh. ]

You mean the part where I had to say no to the idea of sleeping with you because it wouldn't have been you?

[ He's not trying to make light of it because it doesn't matter -- on the contrary, the subject's a complicated one that he's not quite sure how to handle. ]

[Don't worry, love: he gets what you're trying to do. People aren't difficult to read for this one, and he's especially attuned to the minutiae that makes one Joshua LaRue who he is.]

Well... yes.

[There was probably a lot more to talk about outside of how weird and wrong and possibly sad that was for Josh, wasn't there?

And, unsurprisingly, the other in this one's head is quietly withdrawing to the recesses of his vessel's brain. He'll deal with Death later, or drag him out accordingly. It all depends on how this talk goes down.]

[ He falls quiet at first, brows knitted together as he works out what to say next, because he's replaying that night and how he'd felt, how he'd tried to calibrate and then reassure that while yes, the proposition had startled him and made him uncomfortable, it didn't have to be too big of a deal.

Abstract being or no, the look on your face animated then by Brother Death, had looked pretty human. ]

Is Brother Death alright? [ It's probably not the question most people may think to ask -- but most people didn't spend several days in the company of Death, watching him be around but keep himself separate, with the exception of well. The only time he could think of was in Russua and Yulia.

There's a wan and quiet laugh as he reaches for that glass of whiskey, knocks back half of it and looks off to one side. ] No, um, sorry. Forget I asked. That's a weird question.

[Honestly? He isn't surprised in the slightest that you'd ask that, nor does he find it weird. Many members of the "old guard" (i.e. the vets, the Kings, his own people in Zangyaku) were acclimatizing themselves to viewing Brother Death as yet another comrade, a fellow Keeper in the Vigil. While that wasn't entirely accurate, it wasn't like one could say that He was still exactly the way he used to be before the Godslaying Ceremony. Before Fate bound Him and an unknowing Japanese boy together.

He reaches out and snags your wrist, in an attempt to get you to look back at him.]

It's not a weird question. [Saying that softly.] He's been off, actually, ever since he relinquished control to me.

[ You catch his wrist and he looks back at you before he turns his palm over to that he can tangle your fingers together.

He's also quiet for awhile, as he mulls that response over in his head, and then: ]

He said he was curious. [ There's a brief flash of discomfort on Josh's face, as if he's voicing out something that was spoken in confidence. ] He said you couldn't properly... [ how exactly did he put it? ] That you couldn't explain to him the concept of desire.

[ He's averting his gaze at that. Sorry, Brother Death. ]

I really can't, given the fact that desire in itself is sort of a "know by doing" thing. Can you blame a guy for not wanting his big brother peering over his shoulder every time he makes out with someone?

[Or sleeps with someone?

Yeah.

That would be kind of awkward, even for somebody like the Blade King.]

He's also never dealt with emotions before, at least not until he and I really ended up becoming One. He's the End: impartiality, along with everything that follows that, is the only suit he ever really had.

[ He listens to you put that last part in that way and nods.

He totally understands the first part. But he's never had to worry much about his own "tenants" prodding into his business. Coach, he has confidence, would turn the other way. And he's come to the conclusion that there's really no point in hiding anything from Makoto. ]

He stuck it out with us at the Tower -- Brother Death, I mean.

Stayed with us the whole time. [ Pausing at that. ] But he didn't really interact with us much. Not after that first night.

[Can I...?

(does it matter?)

He is, at that moment, reminded of a sullen child. Who would have thought, right?

Yes, it does.

(...)

That is why Hikaru's response to you was delayed, LaRue: he had to check in with his passenger upstairs, and he didn't bother hiding it this time.]

I think being in close proximity with all of you and having you tell him, flat out, that you could not do what he asked reminded him of something.

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