Lavi Bookman (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
inksplashes) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
overjoyed_logs2017-02-16 03:03 pm
inksplashes) wrote in overjoyed_logs2017-02-16 03:03 pm
Entry tags:
closed | world forgetting by the world forgot
Who: Lavi, Kanda
Where: Various locations
When: ... Various dates!
Summary: Keeping my non-plot stuff in here!
Restrictions/Warnings: We're aiming for cute so expect extreme angst in like five tags.
Where: Various locations
When: ... Various dates!
Summary: Keeping my non-plot stuff in here!
Restrictions/Warnings: We're aiming for cute so expect extreme angst in like five tags.
no subject
One which seems, at least on first glance, to have the anxious tinge of uncertainty to it..
Ah, but considering that Kanda might be nervous does not fit into his world view of self-sacrificing martyrdom (and his infatuation is certainly dramatic enough to qualify for that, or he thinks), so it's swiftly rejected and written off as another mistake of a wishful mind.
Still, whether the statement was delivered with confidence or not, the parameters of the statement itself is downright unusual. Yu, willingly eating something that isn't soba, and even volunteering as much in an open offer for fun?
Lavi hums, mulling over this for a moment with stitched together brows and a thoughtful expression. After the requisite "maybe he's suddenly fallen ill" consideration, the redhead grins, laughing brightly and fearlessly looping an arm about Yu's free elbow. (The matter of shifting weight to accommodate the books under his own arm is one of unconscious ease: he has long since learned to balance books and monkey-clinging without sacrificing the integrity of either.) ]
Kanda Yu volunteering to eat food that isn't noodles...?!
[ He tugs lightly at that arm, leading them towards the front of the story to pay for their goods as if certain that Kanda will change his mind. ]
Such a surprising man. Just when I think I've got you figured out. You're the mystery that keeps on givin'!
no subject
[Despite the reprimanding words, there's a hint of laughter in his voice, no bite in the command to be found as he lets Lavi lead them through the stacks of books and holo-readers. As they go, he drops his gaze, just enough to consider the arm linked with his own, to try to figure out if the move was Lavi being... well, Lavi... or if this was some measure of memory bleeding through to the moment.
This, though, is not something Kanda can discern even if he had Lavi's ability to see the finest nuances, and so he stops trying to figure it out. It's frustrating, to say the least, and makes him want to stop, pull Lavi back into that secluded corner, and test out the other man's memory with a more physical approach.
(Because he can still feel it, the way lips slanted against lips, the taste of this man on his tongue... the way their bodies had felt pressed flush, hard and demanding)
Instead, he simply forces himself to drag in a slow breath before he drops the books in hand down carelessly to the counter, adding them to Lavi's own - and then shifts the arm linked with Lavi's to catch his partner's wrist in hand (to keep him from reaching into his pocket).
Without even glancing at the redhead, he reaches into his pocket with his free hand and pulls out a slim red joy chip, tosses it on top of their selection. Only then does he cast a sidelong look at his partner, a faint smirk pulling into place.]
I'm not the complicated one between the two of us... so if I'm a mystery, it's because you're not looking close enough, idiot rabbit.
[That said, he turns back just long enough to catch bag and joy chip - the first he holds out to Lavi and the second he pockets - as gives the wrist still caught in his grip a light, questioning tug.]
So - new place or soba?
[Nerves, it seems, aren't something one can ignore entirely - they crop up with the simplest of questions... like where someone wants to eat.]
no subject
Yu also pays for books?!
Idly, in that usual order of hope followed by crushing reality, he reflects that this is exactly the order of seduction most tailored to him. All Yu would have to do now is flip his hair and he'd surely be done for...!
Head dropping down in muted defeat, he offers a half smile, wan and soft while accepting the bag of books.
Like a damn school girl, really.
(Presumably, at least. One does not actually become familiar with school girls when the education of childhood is conducted in war zones. But classic cinema tells him he's well on his way to writing names with hearts if he doesn't mind himself.) ]
Hmm..
[ Weighing the bags in his one hand and shifting the other in Yu's grasp like the balancing scales of justice, he gives a heavy moment of indecision.. ]
Soba.
[ That's what would make Yu happiest, right? Volunteering to join him in this nightly excursion and buying Lavi books deserves some kind of gratitude, and eating soba isn't that hard of a price to accept.
Not that he isn't going to sigh as if he's suffering greatly for it, of course, wrist twisting in a wide circle to ease out of Kanda's grip only to reverse it and take the man's wrist in his own hand.
He could practically walk his way towards the little soba shop blindfolded were it not for the crowds in the way. For their sake, he keeps his eye open while guiding them around the various clusters of bodies and towards the ever-prized soba. ]
The things I endure...
no subject
So for now, letting Lavi take lead is nothing new when traversing the Bazaar - he's well-known and well-versed in the paths and short cuts throughout the place - so when Lavi reverses their grip, he doesn't protest.
(If anything, there's a subtle delight in that firm grasp against his pulse, a discrete thrill at the strength in Lavi's grip.)
Chuckling softly under his breath, Kanda can only shake his head as they near the small shop.]
I appreciate your endurance.
[Stepping past Lavi once they're in the door, he pulls the other to the side by the hand still gripping his wrist to the back, to their usual booth, pausing only long enough to nod to the server - that the server knew them enough to automatically turn to place their usual orders, silent proof of just how often they actually frequented this particular location.
Smirking, he pushes Lavi lightly towards his side of the booth without actually pulling his hand free, and arches a brow at his partner.]
But we're still stopping by that other place so we can try their desserts - you mentioned before that they have green tea ice cream. I've never heard of that before.
no subject
(Idly, he pauses to reflect that his gaze hadn't immediately raked over the tables in search of the particularly curvaceous brunette on the wait staff. Trees, he's becoming a monogamous crusher.)
Mumbling a vague declaration about overly pushy partners without any real conviction behind it, Lavi slides into the booth without further preamble, only belatedly realizing he's yet to let Yu go. Drawing away to nervously scratch at his nape, the redhead settles his hands under his chin, suddenly intent on studying the tabletop as if he's only just now noticed what a peculiar sheen of blue it has in this light. ]
Mmmhm, black sesame too!
[ Lavi pauses, throwing an askance glance in Yu's direction. It would probably be best not to press the point and ruin the mood, but... ]
What's got you in such an adventurous mood though? Usually I have to beg to take a detour if there isn't some kind of weapon at the other side.
[ Quickly lifting his hands to wave them before a potential fight can start-- ]
Not that I'm complainin'! It's nice. It's like... a whole new Yu.
no subject
(And Kanda's never looked at the waitstaff like that - but he doesn't miss the lack of the same by his partner and that... that is something that he can grasp like a lifeline, almost like hope, foolishly stolen.)
That particular realization is enough to warm an ice blue gaze if only for a moment, safe in the showing thanks to Lavi's sudden interest in the tabletop... and then has his own gaze cutting up, then to the side as he settled into his own seat.
It takes a surprising bit of effort to school his features into a frown, nose wrinkling slightly.]
...Bastard, you're gonna make me say it, huh?
[He pauses as the waitress brings over their drinks, sets them on the table, and then disappears just as quickly (because while Kanda might just be their biggest customer, they all know quite well that he's far from social). Just a moment to let the stoic mask settle more firmly into place as he cuts Lavi his own sidelong glare and shrugs a shoulder as he clears his throat.]
You've done a lot for me, lately. I'm not so much of an ungrateful bastard to not recognize that.
[Accept that, don't ask more... a sudden mantra in his head, hoping his words are enough to keep Lavi from looking too close, from seeing too much before the man was prepared to remember him.
Remember them. ]
no subject
Bewildered (and obviously so), Lavi manages the usual apologetic smile at the waitress before gathering his overly sweet frozen drink, the scifi equivalent of liquid diabetes. One long slurp in and the usual brain freeze kicks in, his expression scrunched up in the sheer agony of so cold so cold.
An expression which shifts to a grimace and then to honest confusion. He hasn't done anything out of ordinary lately--not anything that actually proved worthwhile, anyway.
Yu ended up turning to a drug dealer to cure his ails, for all that Lavi tried to find alternatives.
Shoulders falling with that thought, he grants Kanda's wish--albeit, for different reasons than intended. ]
Um, yeah. Sure.
[ Biting back a sigh, he interjects a quick dose of saccharine cheer to cover the slightly defeated note in his voice-- ]
Anyway! It's nice. I'm glad you came tonight. And not just 'cause I didn't have to pay for my own books.
[ Because he enjoys Yu's company, because he can't seem to get his mind off his partner long enough as is and probably would've spent the night missing him..
But he's not going to say something so truthful. He'll do as he always has: obscure the innerworkings of his mind with a quick grin and joke. ]
Though that's most of it.
no subject
[Chuckling softly, Kanda lets a smirk slip into place as he reaches for his steaming tea and shakes his head at his partner's antics - glad to use that (and Lavi's own words) as a distraction from the faint awkwardness that had threaded into the conversation with Kanda's quasi-truth.
Because he may have gone to a drug dealer to find the means to knock himself out for a few meager hours a night, but it was Lavi that stood guard over him while he was affected.... while Kanda made himself potentially vulnerable, even if only for a few hours.
This, he knows, because he's gotten used to seeing Lavi asleep beside him in Kanda's bed, usually with a book or notes about him.
It's a trust given, and a trust honored.
Even without everything else his partner has seemingly forgotten, this alone would be something that created a debt in his own mind...a debt that, for once, he's not entirely opposed to owing.
Lifting his mug for a small, careful sip, he cuts his gaze to the side, blue gaze thoughtful as he glances between his partner and his cold monstrosity...
Just before impulse has him leaning over to catch the hand holding it a moment before his lips catch the straw. A smaller sip, before he leans back with a faintly disgusted look.]
Too fucking sweet. You're gonna go into a coma one day.
no subject
Such perceptions as the softness of skin despite the taut quality of the grip, the way dark strands catch the light while they drift across a pale face..
..a face which quickly contorts itself into a reviled look, the disdain emanating from the man almost impressively aural.
Lavi tries to bite his tongue, sets his teeth to it properly and all, but this buys him a mere half second of silence before laughter creeps up and makes its escape. One hand lifted to shield his mouth, he makes an at least good faith effort to mute the sound, though even from the fan of fingers his face visibly lights up with amusement. ]
Sorry--
[ Considers that..
Actually, he's not. Mouth twisted in a grin, he triumphantly takes another (mildly melodramatic) sip from his caffeinated liquid sugar and waves a forbidding finger. ]
's only for sweet people, y'see.
[ Vague grimace of brain freeze resurfaces here. Sometimes making a point comes at an icy price. ]
Someone with such a sour personality could never appreciate its quality.
[ Solemn nod. These are totally legit facts and make perfect sense. Is that the waitress coming with their usual order? Why yes, yes it is. He's going to be extra excited about food in the hopes it deters any attempts to find fallacy in that theory.
Not that there's any to find. Of course. ]
no subject
In that case, he almost asks how the bookman side of him can stand the sugary sludge masquerading itself as a beverage - but Kanda has enough self preservation instinct to know that, in doing so, he might as well kiss the rest of the evening goodbye.
It'd be the quickest way he knows of, to push Lavi away.
And while that might have been something worth doing even a few months back... this is nice, now. Awkward at times, true, but doing things like tonight that both take him out of his comfort zone and gives him hours at a time to keep Lavi just left of centered is something that he's slowly becoming addicted to.
It's stolen time and selfish intent, but it's the first time in his life that Kanda's reached for another person for the sole reason of seeing them smile. Of figuring out, however obliquely, what it means to show interest.
To flirt, in his own way.
Though he refuses to think of it as such - KANDA YU does not flirt. But he is learning how to smile... much like now, as he shakes his head at the return of the cold headache.]
You really are an idiot.
[If anything, the wry words carry a faintly affectionate, amused tone before he finally looks towards the waitress, the smile fading as quickly as it had appeared. To her, he offers a satisfied nod as he reached for the chopstick set beside the plate.
As she makes her second retreat, Kanda reaches past the plate to pick up his steaming mug of tea, turns it in his hand thoughtfully.]
Say what you want, but this? Bitter on the surface, but there's a wealth of subtle flavors hidden beneath. Just have to savor it to find them.
[And true to point, he takes a delicate sip, then sets the mug back down to focus on the food before him, careful not to look at Lavi to see his reaction to Kanda's assessment, the veiled invitation there in the words he'd offered. ]
no subject
Really gravely about tea, but tea nonetheless?
Lavi tilts his head this way and that for a moment, running through the requisite checks that are swiftly becoming part of his normal conversation protocol. First: is he imagining or hallucinating the conversation?
The lingering brain freeze and all too familiar aroma of still steaming tea confirm that he is, in fact, at their usual dive at the Bazaar. If he were imagining it, he'd like to think he's more creative than soba.
Second then, and most importantly, is Yu giving any indication he meant the potential entendre there?
Lavi hums, a considering, lingering noise while he idly twirls a noodle around with a chopstick. It's hard to discern if Kanda is avoiding eye-contact or just in full on soba-mode (in which no living thing should approach 'lest they sacrifice limbs in the process)..
Then he shrugs, characteristic grin pulling across his mouth on cue. Whether or not it'd been meant, he's quite happy to make it worse: ]
'S why you gotta add all that sugar to it. Brings out the flavors so you can enjoy it.
[ and/or drowns out the acidic bitterness to the point of being vaguely-floral-sweetness, but who cares?! ]
Luckily for you, I've got plenty of sweetness to share.
[ The true mark of the shameless is the ability to say such obviously ridiculous and cheesy things with a straight face. Lavi excels in this regard, facial expression the usual mix of casually affable even as he dares a far less veiled addendum: ]
You gotta buy dinner first, though~
no subject
Somberly, if for a moment, but it's just tea - at least, if that's all you can accept.
For now.
Meanwhile, as Lavi runs through his mental assessment of their little exchange, Kanda? He sits there calmly, and savors his soba even more than usual. Taking his time with each bite, careful to suck the noodles into his mouth, rather than cut them down with his teeth.
That is, until Lavi opens his damned mouth.
It takes every last ounce and dram of his self control to not choke on the food in his mouth, despite it suddenly tasting as appetizing as dirt with the sudden memory that Lavi's words had provoked...
(Despite fever and hallucination, there had been sweetness underlying the threads of desperation, shared between them in the hesitant press of lips, the slick velvet glide of tongues)
He blinks, wrestles the sudden heat a mere memory can evoke down once again, lets it settle low in his belly as a personal torture before he reaches down, catches another few noodles with deliberate ease, one brow arching. ]
What, books aren't enough?
[A beat, as he lifts the chops sticks to his lips - and just before he takes the next bite, he'll match that last testing jab with one of his own:]
But, alright then. Guess I'm paying for dessert, too.
no subject
Actual outcome: none of the above.
Brows lifting in momentary surprise (though it's the lack of concealment that's momentary, the surprise continues well-past the time he schools his expression into its usual mold), Lavi starts, stops, then starts again.
Fortunately, in the time honored tradition of most not!dates, there's something available to give him an excuse to not immediately respond, and never before has he been so grateful for chilled noodles. Lacking the same propensity for table manners or proper behavior, Lavi fumbles with his chopsticks for a second before gathering the largest mass of noodles he can manage in one bite.
(Yes, he knows he's not supposed to bite. No, he's not going to pay attention to that because wow this is way more chewing than initially anticipated as is.)
Finally, nerves calmed by way of distraction with food, he reaches for his slush-abomination and gulps down the remainder of the overindulgent bite. ]
Dessert too? You tryna' get a proposal outta this, Kanda Yu?
[ Laughing lightly (if a bit nervously), Lavi waves a hand of dismissal to indicate the question is very much meant rhetorically. The expected outcomes are again: die, idiot, et cetera.
Doesn't stop him from a cheerfully delivered, beaming one-liner though: ]
Nevermind. I'm pretty sure your idea of dessert is just ice cream with more soba. No deal.
no subject
[Side-eyeing Lavi's attempt at asphyxiation via noodles, Kanda shakes his head as he turns back to his food, before he can fully witness the mix of delicate soba and sugar monstrosity.
A fortunate thing, too, because his bangs give him the barest measure of cover at Lavi's teasing words. Words that, though lightly offered, carry as much weight as the previous memory Lavi had evoked.
They remind him of promises made between them, now forgotten by the redhead beside him - and remind him, too, that he's getting dangerously carried away in this moment.
This Lavi has no reason to expect - much less accept - any advances offered from Kanda, no matter how oblique so that reaction?
Enough to draw him up short, at least for now.
Too much, too soon, and his rabbit will jump - and Kanda's not so good that he knows which direction Lavi would go. So for now, at least, he snorts and lifts another bite, holding off on taking it to shake his head again.]
Whatever. Just stop wasting good food now, at least. Watching you choke will give me heartburn.