She says she's a first-year, but none of us ever heard of her.
[ funny how this is the first time ryuji's ever brought it up...has ren not said anything to anyone, either? he didn't think it was between the three of them, but maybe he's wrong. the mystery dampens his potential ire that much more, and he scratches at the back of his neck. ]
Ren, Ann, and even Haru'd tell you the same thing...I thought it was 'cause of those different timelines or whatever.
[Finishing sweeping up, he moves to empty the pan.]
She seemed to know me as well, and at first I assumed I'd merely forgotten her... [He is pretty absent-minded, honestly,] But she seems to hold memories of me that I myself do not recall. So perhaps you are right, and differing timelines are indeed the issue.
I dunno what else'd be...anything's possible, I guess.
[ walking past one of the apartment's little alcoves, ryuji leans his weight on the edge of it, and frowns. ]
...hey, sorry for, uh...makin' you come over and clean up like this...
[ it's no way to kick off a birthday, and nothing to put one of his friends through. now that his senses are back for the moment, he feels kind of bad about it all. ]
[ there's a wisecrack on the tip of his tongue about hiring yusuke as a full-time maid, if he wants to do this so badly. maybe there's some lingering ren-ness left in him from a few days prior. ryuji physically shakes it off, moving on to turn a chair right-side-up, fix the table covering... ]
'course, I'd do anything for y—
[ whoops. too overly familiar; ryuji snaps his mouth shut, righting another chair. calm down, dumbass, we're the same as we ever were...! ]
Anything for a buddy, eheh.
[ right. buddies. just a slip of his tongue, there, and a slide of some trash with his foot into the side closet, there. he'll throw it out later, no one has to know. ]
[ he's been caught red-handed, but it doesn't appear to particularly bother yusuke, so it's...okay? everything is okay?
ryuji, for his part, isn't backpedaling or flipping out over it. he does, however, step right over the glass (when did that happen), and swoops down to snatch it up along the way, bare-handed and relatively nonchalant. if anything slices him, he pays it no mind when he's dumping it all into the garbage. ]
's force of habit, my bad...
[ after spending most of the week being sweet on yusuke, it feels weird not to be. this, however, is the way things truly are, and it'll be easier in time.
oh, his palm's bleeding...it's easy as well to lap this up with his tongue like it's nothing and wrinkle his nose. not the tasted he wanted when it's his own, but he'll take it. ]
[Apparently the warning is completely unheeded, as he watches Ryuji handle the glass shards and inevitably cut himself. The lapping tongue is a little distracting, if only because he's more familiar with it than he used to be only a matter of weeks ago, but he forces himself to focus.] Here-- let me see that.
[He's already taking Ryuji by the wrist to examine the cut, then guiding him over to the sink to run it under cold water.]
What were you thinking, picking it up with your bare hands?
[ what's yusuke so worried about? it's just a little blood, no big deal. why bother waiting and bending and bumbling about to gather every last piece with a bristly broom when you can grab it instead? ]
Huh? What's the big deal?
[ ryuji's ready to lick it up again when he's being lead to the sink, and although he complies, he grunts in confusion, squinting at yusuke. ]
's just blood, it don't matter. Might as well get it out of the way before someone steps on the stuff...
[ if anything, he's taken one for the team here. his good deed for the month. ]
Ridiculous. At least use gloves if you must insist on using your hands.
[Did Sanguis make him dumber or was he always like this... Unclear. When Yusuke is satisfied the wound is clean and the worst of the bleeding has stopped, he carefully dries it.
Then, after a second's hesitation, he brings Ryuji's hand to his lips to kiss it. It'll heal faster this way, after all.]
[ a little from columns a and b—ryuji's not impervious to pain by any means, but it's like him to be reckless, and doubly so when the moon's in its strongest phase. in any case, he still can't see the cause for alarm. a few shards of glass aren't going to kill him, he's suffered way worse than this! ]
What're you talking about, that ain't worth it...
[ nor are yusuke's...lips? it's sound logic, with how the power of moonlacing works, and he'll thank him later for it, to be sure. in the meantime he's all the more confused, trying not to look at it, gaze swerving off to one side.
it's not as if this is the most intimate thing they've ever done, or anything... ]
[Is it a little excessive? Perhaps, but he's trying to stop Ryuji being a whirlwind of destruction, not encourage it. He lowers Ryuji's hand and examines it again, noticing the bleeding has stopped altogether.]
You're fine now. There's no need to hurt yourself when it's easily avoidable.
[He knows Ryuji has handled worse, but this is tidying his apartment, of all things, not fighting Shadows in the Metaverse.]
[ excessive or not, it's a gesture that's turning ryuji's cheeks a light pink the longer that it sets in. he'd think most people, abilities aside, would toss a bandage at him and he done with it. ]
Well, I've saved a step or two as well. Your hand seems to be healing quite nicely.
[He lets go of his hand with a smile that is at least slightly teasing upon seeing the pink in Ryuji's cheeks. Someone has been spending too much time around Midna, perhaps, and has learned a thing or two from her.
With that, he turns back to continue sweeping up before Ryuji can do any further damage to himself.]
[ is that all it is...ryuji watches him go for longer than he should, before he spins around, growling to himself. at least he doesn't have a tail that's out of control to make this mess even worse, a small saving grace. ]
Tch, whatever...!
[ he'll show yusuke! if he's banned from picking up glass, there's plenty of other things he can snatch up and haphazardly throw back where they belong, although most of them fall short of the mark.
it looks a lot less like helping and a little more like part two of his tantrum, but who can say, really. ]
[Whoops. Apparently the teasing was a little too effective, if that reaction is anything to go by. Yusuke stops cleaning and turns to look over at him with an expression of mild concern.]
[ he really isn't. he's flustered, mainly, but under the sanguis moon's influence, it comes out a lot more hostile than ryuji would ever intend. the least he can do is try to channel this into something semi-productive instead of threatening yusuke with violence again...or worse.
his appetites have only steered towards something more carnal once before, and it's as inappropriate now as it was then, if not more so. they can't blame this on mating season anymore, and the thought of it adds to ryuji's growing frustrations. damn it, he should have slept this off, stormed down to the lower levels of the city and worked it out that way and not turn it on to any of friends. it's not fair to them. ]
Hell no I'm not!
[ maybe a little, though it's directed at himself: for messing up his living space, for troubling yusuke, for kicking off his birthday in a rather unusual way. after a few more minutes, he'll probably resettle, and then they'll be free to do some more real cleaning, as opposed to...ryuji doing a whole lot of nothing, because this looks no better than it already did.
granted, that's how his normal brand of cleaning looks a lot of the time, anyway. as long as there's no garbage around, it's fine, right? ]
Well, I'm sorry for teasing you, all the same. But it really is one of the fastest ways to heal someone.
[Kissing, that is. He finishes sweeping up the worst of the glass, then crouches down to check he hasn't missed tiny any shards that might get stepped on later.
Maybe it's from this (relatively) sheltered position from anything potentially being thrown at him that he feels he has the courage to add:]
Has anyone ever told you it's rather endearing when you blush? [He's learning a lot more than he expected about Ryuji, lately.]
Eh? [ the factoid puts a pause on ryuji's rummaging. he blinks in confusion. ] It does?
[ weird. then again, anytime he's gotten bruised and banged up here, his first instinct hasn't been to run into the arms of anyone he knows. does that mean he should start, the next time he goes too far whenever he's itching for a fight?
that would've been useful in the past. maybe it's something he forgot; his old notes are still around here somewhere, crumpled up, probably at the bottom of a drawer.
there are other interesting tidbits yusuke's telling him, too: ]
N-not, uh, recently?
[ or ever? unless it's from his mother. if it's more blushing yusuke wants to see, well, mission accomplished. what's with him... ]
[Oh, he's not yelling or throwing anything. The coast is clear, so Yusuke gets back to his feet, peeking at Ryuji.]
Yes. I never imagined you'd be someone so easily flustered in that manner, but it's quite charming.
[He'll follow after Ryuji's trail of destruction and pick up some of the things haphazardly thrown across the floor, putting them on shelves, or at least on chairs or countertops so they can be organised properly later.]
[ no, yusuke is safe for the moment. a good amount of ryuji's temper, now that it's long boiled over, is fizzling out, replaced by simple self-consciousness, and maybe a dash of further confusion. he can't tell if this is just another one of yusuke's blunt observations, or if there's something more hidden in-between the lines of it all...is ryuji not the only one with a force of habit at hand here? ]
Get real, I ain't that charismatic of a guy...!
[ he's growling about it, a loud rumble in his throat, but yusuke should know better than most he's mainly all bark and no bite. his aggression peaks here and settles down once more, following suit in putting more items away and deliberately not looking over at yusuke. nope. no. that'll just color ryuji's cheeks more vividly. ]
Just 'cause it's my birthday doesn't mean you gotta act so nice...
Ah, but I wouldn't offer empty platitudes to someone merely for the occasion of their birthday. My opinion is an honest one.
[He picks up a shirt he assumes (?) is Ryuji's and not the result of a raid on Yoshizawa's wardrobe, folding it neatly and leaving it on the arm of a chair.]
[ with as much skin as it shows? yeah, it's one-hundred percent ryuji's. he may pick up after her here and there, but yoshizawa's room is strictly off-limits when he's not invited inside, out of respect to her. he still can't believe a girl actually wanted to live with him in the first place; it feels so daring to do, all things considered.
but that doesn't matter right now. yusuke's being honest with him, and what's he supposed to do with that information, exactly? so someone thinks he's charming, not swayed by the moon or the urge to mate or anything of the sort, okay, cool, nice.
he's charming... ]
Eh? Nothin' else here but mine, man.
[ they share a perfectly normal-looking bathroom, and should yusuke glance down the hall into his roommate's area—so daring, so trusting of her to just leave the door wide open—it's about the same. there's only ryuji's room, and that's...well..
the biggest offender of all, which he's definitely not going to point out. nothing to see here, everything's fine! ]
[Perhaps under the circumstances and their very recent history he shouldn't just barge into Ryuji's room, but he's still determined to help him get things in order so Ryuji can enjoy the rest of his day.
So, after a brief glance down the hall at Yoshizawa's room, it's over to Ryuji's next, and as he pushes open the door and sees that it's even worse in there. His mouth a flat line, he steps back out into the hall and calls to Ryuji.]
...You're... not going to make a monthly habit of this, are you? [Even Yusuke's helpfulness has limits, its seems.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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How could you never see her if you attend the same school? That ribbon she wears is quite distinctive.
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She says she's a first-year, but none of us ever heard of her.
[ funny how this is the first time ryuji's ever brought it up...has ren not said anything to anyone, either? he didn't think it was between the three of them, but maybe he's wrong. the mystery dampens his potential ire that much more, and he scratches at the back of his neck. ]
Ren, Ann, and even Haru'd tell you the same thing...I thought it was 'cause of those different timelines or whatever.
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She seemed to know me as well, and at first I assumed I'd merely forgotten her... [He is pretty absent-minded, honestly,] But she seems to hold memories of me that I myself do not recall. So perhaps you are right, and differing timelines are indeed the issue.
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I dunno what else'd be...anything's possible, I guess.
[ walking past one of the apartment's little alcoves, ryuji leans his weight on the edge of it, and frowns. ]
...hey, sorry for, uh...makin' you come over and clean up like this...
[ it's no way to kick off a birthday, and nothing to put one of his friends through. now that his senses are back for the moment, he feels kind of bad about it all. ]
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[He glances to Ryuji as he finishes tidying. It's... another birthday present? Sort of?]
I'm certain you'd do the same for me if our situations were reversed, at any rate.
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For real? Whatever you say, man...
[ there's a wisecrack on the tip of his tongue about hiring yusuke as a full-time maid, if he wants to do this so badly. maybe there's some lingering ren-ness left in him from a few days prior. ryuji physically shakes it off, moving on to turn a chair right-side-up, fix the table covering... ]
'course, I'd do anything for y—
[ whoops. too overly familiar; ryuji snaps his mouth shut, righting another chair. calm down, dumbass, we're the same as we ever were...! ]
Anything for a buddy, eheh.
[ right. buddies. just a slip of his tongue, there, and a slide of some trash with his foot into the side closet, there. he'll throw it out later, no one has to know. ]
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[Yusuke teases him lightly with a smile, moving over to the kitchen space. He pauses and stops short when he nearly steps on broken glass, yikes.]
Oh-- be careful if you come this way. [Time to sweep this mess up too.]
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[ he's been caught red-handed, but it doesn't appear to particularly bother yusuke, so it's...okay? everything is okay?
ryuji, for his part, isn't backpedaling or flipping out over it. he does, however, step right over the glass (when did that happen), and swoops down to snatch it up along the way, bare-handed and relatively nonchalant. if anything slices him, he pays it no mind when he's dumping it all into the garbage. ]
's force of habit, my bad...
[ after spending most of the week being sweet on yusuke, it feels weird not to be. this, however, is the way things truly are, and it'll be easier in time.
oh, his palm's bleeding...it's easy as well to lap this up with his tongue like it's nothing and wrinkle his nose. not the tasted he wanted when it's his own, but he'll take it. ]
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[He's already taking Ryuji by the wrist to examine the cut, then guiding him over to the sink to run it under cold water.]
What were you thinking, picking it up with your bare hands?
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[ what's yusuke so worried about? it's just a little blood, no big deal. why bother waiting and bending and bumbling about to gather every last piece with a bristly broom when you can grab it instead? ]
Huh? What's the big deal?
[ ryuji's ready to lick it up again when he's being lead to the sink, and although he complies, he grunts in confusion, squinting at yusuke. ]
's just blood, it don't matter. Might as well get it out of the way before someone steps on the stuff...
[ if anything, he's taken one for the team here. his good deed for the month. ]
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[Did Sanguis make him dumber or was he always like this... Unclear. When Yusuke is satisfied the wound is clean and the worst of the bleeding has stopped, he carefully dries it.
Then, after a second's hesitation, he brings Ryuji's hand to his lips to kiss it. It'll heal faster this way, after all.]
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[ a little from columns a and b—ryuji's not impervious to pain by any means, but it's like him to be reckless, and doubly so when the moon's in its strongest phase. in any case, he still can't see the cause for alarm. a few shards of glass aren't going to kill him, he's suffered way worse than this! ]
What're you talking about, that ain't worth it...
[ nor are yusuke's...lips? it's sound logic, with how the power of moonlacing works, and he'll thank him later for it, to be sure. in the meantime he's all the more confused, trying not to look at it, gaze swerving off to one side.
it's not as if this is the most intimate thing they've ever done, or anything... ]
F-for real!? I'm fine, c'mon...
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You're fine now. There's no need to hurt yourself when it's easily avoidable.
[He knows Ryuji has handled worse, but this is tidying his apartment, of all things, not fighting Shadows in the Metaverse.]
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[ excessive or not, it's a gesture that's turning ryuji's cheeks a light pink the longer that it sets in. he'd think most people, abilities aside, would toss a bandage at him and he done with it. ]
Just tryin' to save a step or two...
[ he's helping! or he thought he was... ]
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[He lets go of his hand with a smile that is at least slightly teasing upon seeing the pink in Ryuji's cheeks. Someone has been spending too much time around Midna, perhaps, and has learned a thing or two from her.
With that, he turns back to continue sweeping up before Ryuji can do any further damage to himself.]
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[ is that all it is...ryuji watches him go for longer than he should, before he spins around, growling to himself. at least he doesn't have a tail that's out of control to make this mess even worse, a small saving grace. ]
Tch, whatever...!
[ he'll show yusuke! if he's banned from picking up glass, there's plenty of other things he can snatch up and haphazardly throw back where they belong, although most of them fall short of the mark.
it looks a lot less like helping and a little more like part two of his tantrum, but who can say, really. ]
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...Ryuji. Are you angry with me?
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[ he really isn't. he's flustered, mainly, but under the sanguis moon's influence, it comes out a lot more hostile than ryuji would ever intend. the least he can do is try to channel this into something semi-productive instead of threatening yusuke with violence again...or worse.
his appetites have only steered towards something more carnal once before, and it's as inappropriate now as it was then, if not more so. they can't blame this on mating season anymore, and the thought of it adds to ryuji's growing frustrations. damn it, he should have slept this off, stormed down to the lower levels of the city and worked it out that way and not turn it on to any of friends. it's not fair to them. ]
Hell no I'm not!
[ maybe a little, though it's directed at himself: for messing up his living space, for troubling yusuke, for kicking off his birthday in a rather unusual way. after a few more minutes, he'll probably resettle, and then they'll be free to do some more real cleaning, as opposed to...ryuji doing a whole lot of nothing, because this looks no better than it already did.
granted, that's how his normal brand of cleaning looks a lot of the time, anyway. as long as there's no garbage around, it's fine, right? ]
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[Kissing, that is. He finishes sweeping up the worst of the glass, then crouches down to check he hasn't missed tiny any shards that might get stepped on later.
Maybe it's from this (relatively) sheltered position from anything potentially being thrown at him that he feels he has the courage to add:]
Has anyone ever told you it's rather endearing when you blush? [He's learning a lot more than he expected about Ryuji, lately.]
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Eh? [ the factoid puts a pause on ryuji's rummaging. he blinks in confusion. ] It does?
[ weird. then again, anytime he's gotten bruised and banged up here, his first instinct hasn't been to run into the arms of anyone he knows. does that mean he should start, the next time he goes too far whenever he's itching for a fight?
that would've been useful in the past. maybe it's something he forgot; his old notes are still around here somewhere, crumpled up, probably at the bottom of a drawer.
there are other interesting tidbits yusuke's telling him, too: ]
N-not, uh, recently?
[ or ever? unless it's from his mother. if it's more blushing yusuke wants to see, well, mission accomplished. what's with him... ]
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Yes. I never imagined you'd be someone so easily flustered in that manner, but it's quite charming.
[He'll follow after Ryuji's trail of destruction and pick up some of the things haphazardly thrown across the floor, putting them on shelves, or at least on chairs or countertops so they can be organised properly later.]
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[ no, yusuke is safe for the moment. a good amount of ryuji's temper, now that it's long boiled over, is fizzling out, replaced by simple self-consciousness, and maybe a dash of further confusion. he can't tell if this is just another one of yusuke's blunt observations, or if there's something more hidden in-between the lines of it all...is ryuji not the only one with a force of habit at hand here? ]
Get real, I ain't that charismatic of a guy...!
[ he's growling about it, a loud rumble in his throat, but yusuke should know better than most he's mainly all bark and no bite. his aggression peaks here and settles down once more, following suit in putting more items away and deliberately not looking over at yusuke. nope. no. that'll just color ryuji's cheeks more vividly. ]
Just 'cause it's my birthday doesn't mean you gotta act so nice...
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[He picks up a shirt he assumes (?) is Ryuji's and not the result of a raid on Yoshizawa's wardrobe, folding it neatly and leaving it on the arm of a chair.]
Are any of the other rooms in need of cleaning?
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[ with as much skin as it shows? yeah, it's one-hundred percent ryuji's. he may pick up after her here and there, but yoshizawa's room is strictly off-limits when he's not invited inside, out of respect to her. he still can't believe a girl actually wanted to live with him in the first place; it feels so daring to do, all things considered.
but that doesn't matter right now. yusuke's being honest with him, and what's he supposed to do with that information, exactly? so someone thinks he's charming, not swayed by the moon or the urge to mate or anything of the sort, okay, cool, nice.
he's charming... ]
Eh? Nothin' else here but mine, man.
[ they share a perfectly normal-looking bathroom, and should yusuke glance down the hall into his roommate's area—so daring, so trusting of her to just leave the door wide open—it's about the same. there's only ryuji's room, and that's...well..
the biggest offender of all, which he's definitely not going to point out. nothing to see here, everything's fine! ]
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[Perhaps under the circumstances and their very recent history he shouldn't just barge into Ryuji's room, but he's still determined to help him get things in order so Ryuji can enjoy the rest of his day.
So, after a brief glance down the hall at Yoshizawa's room, it's over to Ryuji's next, and as he pushes open the door and sees that it's even worse in there. His mouth a flat line, he steps back out into the hall and calls to Ryuji.]
...You're... not going to make a monthly habit of this, are you? [Even Yusuke's helpfulness has limits, its seems.]
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