week one | overflow

[showhost]

you're all animals


Embrace Space | Property Damage, etc
Truth Booth Voting | Match Ceremony Submissions

Comments

[newlugers]

Ritsuka?

[ dammit - he should have looked to see who was coming before getting snippy. She doesn't deserve it. The Steve of a week ago wouldn't have even considered apologizing, but going through hell and then dying can change a man's outlook. He belatedly glances over his shoulder at her, but looks away just as soon, shaking his head. ]

Sorry.

[singurarity]

It's okay. That... sort of thing that we're definitely not going to talk about would have made anyone upset.

[ Nailed it. ]

I don't have to stay for very long, either, if you want to be alone. But I didn't want to just leave you alone without trying to see how you were doing.

[newlugers]

[ her clumsy avoidance of the topic would be enough to get a chuckle out of him if he wasn't in brooding mode. ]

'm fine, [ he mumbles. ] It's not like anything's changed.

[ he's just been continually trying to not think about this. ]

[singurarity]

Nothing, huh. I think if a bunch of people found out something about me I wasn't ready to talk about, I'd need to distance myself a little.

... Avoiding this is hard. [ A thoughtful pause. ]

Um, are you a dog or a cat person?

[newlugers]

What?

[ it's so out of left field that it actually gets him to look at her properly this time. ]

What's that got to do with anything?

[singurarity]

You said you didn't want to talk about it, so we're not talking about it!

[ Obviously. ]

[newlugers]

[ he comes so very close to telling her to buzz off for that - as if he can get over this by talking about pets! - but he manages to have enough emotional maturity not to. She's just trying to help. ]

I don't wanna talk about that either, [ he grouses, but relents. ] Look, I just... You can't help me. Nobody can. I don't want everyone to sit around feeling sorry for me, 'cause it just pisses me off.

[singurarity]

Well.

[ Hm. She considers what to say, then sort of quietly shrugs her shoulders. ]

I'm glad you came here, at the very least.

[newlugers]

Huh? Why?

[ very earnestly - maybe even a little suspiciously, as if she's setting him up for a joke. ]

[singurarity]

If you'd stayed there, we never would've met, right?

[ simply. ]

I sorta feel like I would have lost out on something without ever knowing what it was.

Not to mention if this wish thing is valid, maybe it gives you more of a chance. But that's just my thoughts on it.

[newlugers]

[ wtf is this cute response. Steve breathes a laugh at that, shaking his head in something akin to disbelief. ]

I didn't know you were such a cornball, Ritsuka.

[ the words are without venom - he obviously just doesn't really know how to respond, as evidenced by the awkward moment or two of silence before he adds on: ]

Well, you're getting the Steve encore performance. Congrats.

[singurarity]

Well, I'm glad being a cornball made you laugh! There's some use for it.

[ With a laugh of her own. And a clap for his "performance." ]

[newlugers]

Yeah, yeah, don't get used to it. [ waving a hand good-naturedly before lifting it to briefly rub one eye. ] Thanks.

[singurarity]

Don't mention it. I'll let you be now.