( CLOSED ) NOVEMBER & DECEMBER CATCH-ALL.

[hitokiller]

WHO: Okada Izou and "friends".
WHAT: Catch-all for closed starters for the rest of the year.
WHERE: Anywhere and everywhere.
WHEN: November-December.
WARNINGS: N/A.

Comments

[bowtography]

...

[ The can is warm against her palms but she doesn't open it yet, instead keeping an eye on the side of his face. Someone who can't do something without being selfish about it more often than not? Isn't that human of him? Even the members of the Astral Express had their reasons for helping and a lot of it boiled down to recovering a Stellaron.

In the end, because of how they'd met, his flat assurance that he wouldn't let anyone hurt her despite barely knowing her... it's hard to view him entirely the way he sees himself. He's not perfect, no, but neither is she. She needs to point out when things aren't okay and she has to get used to telling him when they aren't for her especially, instead of sucking it up and powering through it.

But isn't that just... a sign that they're taking this seriously?

She wants to give him this big thoughtful explanation of what she thinks, but what slips out instead is a very simple-- ]

I love you.

[hitokiller]

( izou shifts a bit, thinking about a truth that lingers in his mind.

that he can be tough to talk to, that he comes off as pushy and a bit too loud, not really giving her a chance to say anything when he’s rambling on about something unimportant. that he should chill out a bit and be more considerate. that deep-down, there really isn't a soothing thing about him. only a deep-seated bitterness that's warped into thorns for his own protection, where march had managed to slip through without getting hurt.

eventually, he'll prick her. he knows it. he'll get all up in his head and ruin it for the both of them.

but then he hears what she actually has to say, and—

izou whips his head around immediately, kind of awe-struck and eyes wide. )

Wh... You—

( he stammers, completely caught off guard. just like before, at the river. not an inch of him is graceful, and yet—

"i love you".

his bottom lip quivers, unable to grasp at the words to even form a reply. everything about her is so unpredictable, so alien to him. so comforting that he's gradually grown afraid of ever having to let go. but no one's ever actually said a phrase like that to him before, and it activates his fight or flight response before anything else. so izou does what any self-respectable man does in a situation like this and completely forgets about the damn drink to stand his ground. even if standing his ground right now is so damn difficult with the sudden weakness in his legs. )

You... know what you're sayin', right? The weight of it. To someone who's breathin' now, but... I—

( his already straining voice cracks, izou using the machine for support now as a balled fist rests upon it almost desperately. )