heavenlydecree | (no subject)

(no subject)

[If there was one thing Takatora was sure he should have learned by now, it would be how to keep his life in perfect running order. He had been the head of Yggdrasill's Research and Development branch from the moment he'd left high school and even before that, his father had kept him on a tight and strict schedule, never a second unaccounted for or left out of place. Unfortunately, with all of Takatora's scheduling and trying to squeeze an extra hour into every day, he still felt as though he never had time for anything, let alone everything. Even his weekends left little time for himself, though Takatora was also painfully aware of his obsession with triple-checking everything under his command and bringing such weight onto himself. He couldn't allow for errors.

His morning routine started a bit later on the weekends, if only because Takatora knew he had to catch up on sleep at some point to make up for running himself ragged. Getting sick was something he couldn't risk. The usual morning routine went by quickly: dragging himself out of bed (he'd never become a morning person, as much as he wanted to), showering, getting dressed, checking for any news or alerts while he had been sleeping. Thankfully, nothing important had happened during the night. Takatora always lived with the fear of something awful happening while he was asleep that he would be unprepared for, but every morning brought the same temporary relief. For now.

Takatora headed out of his room after an hour or so, still checking his phone as he made his way down the hall and towards the stairs. Ryouma already wanted to talk to him about something, which was mildly surprising as Ryouma rarely (never) got out of bed so early, which meant he'd been up all night again. Stepping past one of the maids, Takatora spoke a return greeting to her as he continued on, paying more attention to typing out messages than his surroundings.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[With that said, Kouta goes through and opens a couple more foods, offering bites of random ones to Micchi to see what he likes. There's a bite of cake here, part of an egg salad sandwich, a macaroon, part of a fruit tart, another soda, and a bite of pudding. Kouta manages to take a couple bites of each as well, though he doesn't really finish anything off because, well, they had ended up buying a lot of food.

Once they're done running through everything, Kouta packs everything up and puts it back in the bags to carry it back into the kitchen.]

If you want to go ahead and get ready for bed...

[Kouta motions to his bed.]

[... Oh. Right.]

I can sleep on the couch or something. It's your bed.

[He doesn't really want to sleep on a couch but taking Kouta's bed just seems... wrong.]

I'm not having you sleep on the couch, you're sleeping on my bed. Don't fight me.

[Kouta sticks his tongue out at that, then turns and walks out to head to the kitchen.]

[Well. Fine. He heads to the bathroom and washes his face and gets ready. He doesn't exactly have sleep clothes with him, but his team clothes are comfortable enough. He's not going to change into his other clothes. They're too nice for sleeping.]

[He sits down and brushes down his hair, running his fingers through it. It's calming, and distracting enough that he can get his brain to stop running a million miles an hour. He flops down and turns so he can watch the door.]

[Within minutes, Kouta is back in the room, carefully shuffling in and closing the door again. Of course, his quiet is short-lived, while he runs over to the bed and jumps over Micchi, pretty much rebounding off of the wall into bed.]

Back!

[He lets out a thoroughly undignified squawk, and rolls a bit to avoid the flying Kouta. He laughs and leans against him.]

So I see.

[Kouta practically sits on his pillow to move the blankets around, throwing them over himself and Micchy once they're free. It takes him only moments to snuggle into the bed.]

It's kinda small, but I figured you wouldn't mind sharing.

No, it's fine.

[It's weird, but it's fine. He holds onto the blankets, pulling them up and snuggling in. It's a lot warmer than he usually likes, but... it's kind of calming.]

[Kouta fluffs his pillow up and then brings one hand up, scratching lightly at the space between them.]

... can I have your hand while I sleep?

[Uh.]

S... ure?

[Kouta you're weird.]

Sorry... It just makes me feel better. It's nice to know someone's around when you start having bad dreams, or something.

[The 'or something' was tacked on pretty fast to make it sound more casual, but he knows he's given himself away.]

... It's okay. You're not the only one who has them.

... what do you dream about?

[Kouta scratches the bed again for Micchy's hand, pouting a little now.]

[He takes Kouta's hand gently, trying to figure out how to phrase this.]

Sometimes it's stupid things - failing a test, botching a presentation... sometimes it's about falling on my face in front of the rest of the team.

Sometimes it's about Inves attacking, and not being able to save anyone. Just them running wild, killing people...

And sometimes it's about just... being alone. I can handle being on my own, but that's different than really being alone.

[Kouta laces his fingers with Micchy's, giving the other's hand a light squeeze as he listens attentively.]

Aah... Yeah. I sort of get the same things....

[He nods, and runs his thumb along the back of the other's hand.]

What about you? Anything else?

[Kouta makes a thoughtful noise, turning his face more towards the pillow and enjoying the feeling of Micchy's touch.]

Falling, sometimes... Being lost inside the forest, looking for Yuuya. ... sometimes he turns into a monster or everyone turns into monsters and I have to kill them, because I can't save them... Or watching someone die and not being able to stop it...

[... He reaches over with his other hand and strokes the back of Kouta's neck.]

Kouta... we'll keep people safe. Don't worry about it. Most of all, we'll keep each other safe. No one's dying if either of us can help it, right?

I know... I guess I'm just scared because I haven't heard from him ever since he wanted me to meet up with him. I don't know what happened.

[On top of that, Kouta was pretty sure his involvement with Yuuya back when he'd first run with the team had been pretty obvious, though Kouta never talked about it.]

... I'm not going to lie to you, Kouta - it doesn't look good. But there's still a possibility he might turn up, until we hear otherwise.

[He smiles a little bit at his friend, trying to be encouraging.]

Do you... mind if I ask you something, though?

[Unfortunately, Kouta's aware of that. His fear is that Yuuya was attacked and died, caught off guard without realizing how to use the belt. Which makes it hurt more, knowing he may never get a chance to properly say goodbye to someone who was so important to him.]

... what?

Were you and Yuuya... together?

[He hadn't really ever wanted to ask, but now... it makes sense.]

[It wasn't as though Kouta had purposely tried to hide it, but he knew Yuuya flirted casually with pretty much every member of the team (and some members from other teams), so maybe it had just never looked that way. He turns his head even more to bury his face in the pillow, trying to ignore the pull of awful emotions in his chest he'd been pushing down for months.]

Yeah... A few months after I joined the team the first time...

Hey...

[He rubs Kouta's back a little, careful not to press too hard. He hadn't wanted to make his friend feel bad, but he sort of had to ask.]

It's okay. It doesn't... really matter to me. I mean... it matters because it matters to you but - you know what I mean.

[He should just shut up before he says something stupid.]

[Kouta whines a little and scoots closer, moving his other hand to tug at Micchy and pull him in enough to hide his face against Micchy's shoulder.]

Yuuya was... ... the first person I ever felt that way about. After my sister wanted me to start working and be more responsible, we ... decided to take a break. It was my idea. I didn't want him to have to wait for me.... It was just until everything got sorted out...

[Not crying, not crying... He definitely doesn't want to start crying.

But he does anyway.]

Micchy... I don't know what to do....