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Destiny City hadn't quieted much during the break between Christmas and New Years Eve. People scurried about like ants on self-important but ultimately meaningless errands, Kirin mused, watching out the window of a cafe. Tension was still high, people likely to snap at the smallest of imagined slights. Luckily for Kirin, all his stress was gone now that Christmas with his grandfather was over, so he was free to observe the stupid masses and get his laughs at their expense.

He sipped his frothy something-or-other with too much sugar and caramel to technically be called a coffee anymore. He blamed Zac for introducing him to the place, on their one was-it-or-was-it-not-a-date. Now Kirin was addicted, which was annoying since the reminder of Kirin's last spectacular relationship fail tended to put him in a bad mood.

The tiny yet awesome movie theatre he'd be introduced to had the same problem. Great place, bitter memories. And yet, it was the only place Kirin could find in the city that would show independent and/or subtitled movies that weren't based on bestselling books. Checking his watch, Kirin saw he still had twenty minutes or so before he needed to begin to walk to the theatre, the only cinema he could find playing a cheaply budgeted Vietnamese movie. It was funny - Chinese action movies and Japanese animated films could be found playing all over the place, but the rest of Asia didn't seem to register.

Slurping at his coffee, Kirin paused when he sucked nothing but air. Glancing down, he confirmed the cup was empty. He made a face and checked his watch again. Yeah, he had time for another quick cup before he had to leave. Kirin stood and made his way to the miniscule line at the counter. While he waited, he began humming under his breath, toes tapping as some recent pop tune played through his head.

Kirin felt eyes on him and the back of his neck began to prickle. If he'd been a cat, his fur would be standing up on edge. He turned to shoot a deadly glare at whatever patron of the coffee shop thought it would be a good idea to perve on the tiny redhead ahead of them in line. Said impressive glare faltered and died, replaced with recognition, surprise, hurt, something... rather soft but gone too quick for anyone watching to be sure, then finally settling on a rather confused wariness.

"Zac," Kirin forced out, though the words wanted to choke in his throat. It had been a long time since Kirin had seen the other boy. A late-night illegal entry into his hospital room, for which Zac had still been in a coma. And a return the next day to find Zac was awake, though Kirin doubted he'd been noticed considering how enthusiastically Zac had been sucking the tongue of the blonde boy Kirin had met in the waiting room the day before.

Really, it was a double slap in the face. To have been on a maybe-date with a boy who not only was interested in someone else, but someone else who was also (recognisably) a boy. A real girl could console herself, 'oh, he was gay'. Zac just hadn't been aware that both his options were boys. So annoying!

Closing his eyes, Kirin felt a headache coming on. Zac just stirred up too many thoughts and emotions that Kirin didn't want to deal with. Golden eyes opened to regard the other male.

"How are you?" Kirin asked, more for politeness' sake than any desire to know (as Kirin couldn't decide if he wanted Zac to be miserable with his new boyfriend, or to be happy even if it wasn't with Kirin, not that he would admit that if asked, no, he just wasn't interested, that was all).

Kirin had been all set to get his back up. He firmly considered himself the wronged party here. But hearing that Zac was dealing with the loss of a family member (and the arrival of a new one) took the wind right out of Kirin's angry sails.

"Oh," Kirin dropped his chin. He watched as his hands clenched in his skirt. "That's, um, I'm... really sorry." He peeked at Zac from under his bangs. Losing family was something he could relate to, and not wish on anyone else. Especially someone he cared used to care for.

And looking closely at Zac, the other boy didn't look well at all. Not that Kirin blamed him. Deep circles under his eyes, a rather run-down and working on auto-pilot look that Kirin recognised from his own mirror some days.

One hand raised, reaching out and almost touching Zac's arm before Kirin realised what the traitorous limb was doing and snatched it away. He glanced away, flushing lightly. "Me? I don't think I can really say anything after hearing that... Okay, I guess. The worst of Christmas over, since my grandfather badgered me into spending it with him, which of course just reminds both of us that my mother's no longer with us and so we just feel worse and, god, I'm rambling," Kirin realised and snapped his mouth shut. Way to look like an idiot. "But, um, I do know how it feels. Losing someone close, I mean."

Kirin knew better than to ask if Zac was okay. It was the more inane question anyone had ever asked Kirin, so he wasn't about to pass on the stupidity. Instead he heard himself say, "If you need someone... to talk to..." Glancing away again, Kirin rubbed a hand over his face. "I mean, you probably don't, you have your boyfriend and all, but I don't know if he'd understand that sort of thing, so-"

Rambling again, Kirin's brain pointed out, which shut him up pretty effectively. He also hadn't realised that he'd revealed he knew about Zac and his blond friend.

Eyes as wide as they could go, Kirin blinked at the news that Zac and his boyfriend were no longer together. "Oh." It was very bad, wasn't it, that his first thought wasn't for himself at all, but 'so he doesn't have anyone to talk to after all.'

It was that, more than anything else, that made Kirin nod at Zac's suggestion of sitting down at a table together. The more logical part of Kirin's brain pointed out that Kirin was just asking for another emotional beating, but he couldn't bring himself to ignore a so-nearly-breaking Zac.

"Oh, y'know, same as last time," Kirin waved a hand. "Lots of sugar and caramel and... just point me out to them, they'll remember." Considering they'd had to take detailed notes not half an hour before, they remember. And possibly curse the both of them for ordering again.

As the cashier took their orders, Kirin wandered back to the small table at the window he'd recently abandoned. No one had stolen it yet, for which he was thankful, as he wouldn't have hesitated to try and force them out, which probably wasn't something Zac needed right now.

"A good Christmas?" he repeated as they sat. "I don't know how you got that out of... but I guess it can't have been as bad as yours," he sighed. Propping his head up on one hand, he gazed at Zac. Rather abruptly, he said, "I'm not gonna bug you to talk. God knows I never wanted to when people asked me, but if you want someone to just listen... I'm good at being quiet, even if you wouldn't know it from the past five minutes." A light pink dusting appeared on his cheeks as he referenced the rambling caused by the surprise of running into Zac again.

"That's okay," Kirin reassured Zac over the faux pas. What was surprising was that he meant it. "You've got other things on your mind. Losing your aunt trumps my bad Christmas, anyway."

And Kirin was all too familiar with the way death in the family overshadowed everything else. Auto-pilot was incredibly handy - hence the reason Kirin's usual manners and responses ran off flowcharts describing 'normal' behaviour. Though it did sometimes mean making responses like 'that's nice' when someone else said 'I think the roof is on fire.' Eh, what could you do?

He nodded again as Zac mentioned Kirin's offer. It was an open invitation. If nothing else, maybe it would get Zac to call or text him some time, though the troubles he'd mentioned were certainly a decent excuse as to the death of communication between them. (Not that Kirin had been all that eager to get in contact himself.)

So, Kirin cast his eyes about, searching for another topic of conversation. Zac's family was off limits, Zac's boyfriend (ex boyfriend) was off limits... And didn't that make Kirin want to jab Zac and scream 'I'm a boy, you idiot'. Bad idea for several reasons. He couldn't expect Zac to have noticed when Kirin fooled so many people every day. This clearly wasn't a good time to put anything extra on Zac, even if Kirin did decide to be selfish. And, well, people didn't tend to take it so well that they'd been fooled. Even Sue had acted weird for a while (though Sue was most likely straight, and therefore his reaction entirely different from that of a guy who'd only thought he was straight but realised he was actually gay and then been told, hey, you were not-quite-dating a guy all along).

... That was making Kirin's head hurt and he was the one who knew of all of this already. Clearly not something to throw at Zac, then.

Kirin's eyes landed on Zac's arm. He frowned, detailing the cuts on fingers and bruises further up his wrists and arm. "Are you still getting picked on?" he asked quietly. He reached out and traced one of the cuts, touch feather-light. Just as quickly, the hand was snatched back and Kirin was staring out the window, face bright red. "s**t."

Kirin shifted in his seat, well past uncomfortable by now. Zac's wounds were the least of it, though still a troubling matter in their own right. "Surely even Hillworth should be doing something about that kind of bullying?" he asked. Sure, everyone called it the school for delinquent boys, and maybe they weren't wrong, but this was looking more like torture than 'boys will be boys'.

'It's not your problem, why do you care?' demanded an angry voice in his mind. Reasons flew to his tongue, but of course he couldn't voice them - not even to himself, as refutations both angry and truthful would only follow. Kirin wasn't Zac's girl- or boyfriend, barely even a friend. All the one-sided emotions in the world weren't going to change that.

"I should go," Kirin blurted out. He pushed away from his seat abruptly. "I was on my way to a movie, and I'm sorry and my offer still stands, I just... I have to..."

He just had to get away. It wasn't that the atmosphere was bad between them. It was the same almost-companionable mood they'd shared before on their meetups. But that was just too smothering for Kirin, with things the way they stood. Anger and recriminations would have made things so much easier for him.

Backing away from Zac and the tiny table, Kirin ran a hand over his face. With a bitter laugh, he said, "You know, it never would have worked out even if we had tried to date properly. We're too used to lying."

Kirin flinched at Zac's sudden anger. So maybe at least Zac hadn't been leading Kirin on purposefully... The red head looked away. His own anger flared, then died a little. These days he was more resigned than anything about their non-relationship. "Ah," he said, eyebrows slightly raised. "Maybe it was just me, then."

There was no mention of what Kirin had been lying about. Zac might as well not have asked at all for all the attention Kirin paid to it. Not like it was any of Zac's business any more. Maybe there was a tiny sliver of guilt over the fact that Kirin had been the only real liar here.

"Nevermind," he finally said. "Maybe relationships should be left to the social people." Not people like himself and Zac, who clearly lacked understanding of others and basic social skills. Hell, Kirin doubted that Zac even wanted to be friends after this. Maybe that was the reason for the lack of communication in the first place.

Kirin didn't want to say he fled the coffee shop, but that was pretty much exactly what happened. A blurted out, "Don't worry about my coffee," to the barista on the way out and he was gone. Kirin made his way down the street as fast as he could without bursting into a run. God, he needed a distraction. A big one, right now.

... Was a movie going to be enough?

No, a movie was definitely not going to be enough. Cursing, Kirin broke his stride and glanced around. Spotting a likely alcove off the street, he ducked out of sight. A recent near-miss had him check for hobos first, before powering up.

Transformed as Foramen, he leapt for the rooftop. This wasn't somewhere he usually explored as a senshi, so he had no idea if it was a hotspot or a dead zone when it came to Nega activity. God, he was hoping for a rumble, though.

He flew across the rooftops. Far faster than a human just by putting in the effort of a jog, Foramen now hit the level of sprinting for his life. He wanted a distraction, he wanted one now-!

... And here one was. He smirked, doubting any senshi had a reason to be wearing a mask even if their fuku was uncharacteristically black. "Foramen Rift, Slice!" A gesture, and he teleported himself into the other male's path. Legs apart, one hand down in the ground for balance, he gave the black-clad young man a feral grin from his crouch. "Going somewhere?"