|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue May 17, 2022 4:01 pm
 |
|
|
 |
It was an astonishingly quiet place — Eion hadn't expected that any coffee or tea shop could be quiet at this hour, but a little noisy bird had told him of this best-kept secret down an easily missed stairwell on a street past its prime. Many of the shops on street level had gone derelict, be it from missing owners, bad sales, or the slow downturn of the area, but this coffee and tea house had remained in business for over three years now. Eion had supposed that he was rooting around in the Rift back then, stalking that great beast.
Now he got to enjoy a new space with Yuuri. "This one," he murmured to the boy with an easy tug on his wrist, as he started for one of the shop's handful of 'rooms'.
Cushioned red velvet benches were seamlessly affixed to the walls and one another, with mosaic hexagonal tables gathered in the center. A surfeit of blue pillows lined the benches, adding back rests for comfort. The walls were a deep cerulean, matching some of the table tiles, and the ivory blanks on the tables matched a set of macrame door curtains that were pulled back for admission. Unlatching their tiebacks would grant the room more privacy, as it otherwise only had three walls (and two were oddly shaped windows to the next rooms).
Eion chose it for the antique photographs on the walls, for the benches that let him sit however he wanted, and for how they could sit nearer each other.
"Never been here before," he admitted as he slid onto a cushioned bench. He folded one leg up underneath himself while he left the other to dangle off the edge. "Seems quiet." Which, he thought, benefitted them both.
A binder lay on one of the four tables, chock full of different coffees and teas, organized by type, with specialties at the fore. Eion brought it closer to both of them as he prepared to browse. "Anything you're in the mood for?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 9:37 am
|
|
|
|
Yuuri followed Eion easily, grateful for the hand on his wrist because he caught himself distracted by the decorations and atmosphere of the place.
He appreciated the quiet, and the uniqueness of the place. He sat beside Eion on the bench and peered over at the menu.
“Mmm, probably some tea,” he said, although that probably wasn’t all that surprising. “The jasmine green, I think.” The weather was nice for it, although being inside it didn’t really matter. “What about you?”
It was almost surreal being at a place like this with Eion. Not that they’d never gone to restaurants or little cafes before, but with everything that had been going on, well… it had been a little while.
“How is everything?” he asked after a moment, because he was still anxious about Eion getting married, but hoped he was just being paranoid and overprotective.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2022 4:17 pm
|
|
|
|
"Thinking about the Russian caravan," he decided. He wanted something stronger, bolder, for being awake at this hour. It'd be easier to enjoy Yuuri's company without a constant headache ruining it.
As Eion contemplated the question, he shifted and crossed his legs. His brows lofted, as if the question was a sassy one, but his countenance settled and his attention wandered to the door curtains. He supposed it was quite the question to ask, in light of all that had happened, and all that was to happen.
"Busy," he decided. "Been trying to pick up leads on the escaped Princess, but the trail's gone cold. Found a house, trying to rehab it into something livable. Your cactus lives there, now," he added, as if Yuuri would be concerned for its health and safety. "Was investigating a case of… Pet abuse, learned something more concerning from that. Got a new hole in our… Backyard…" Sighing, Eion rolled his eyes.
He leaned closer to his friend, arm across the back of the bench as he spoke in Yuuri's ear.
"Something's out in the Scar. Heard it from a youma. Whole area's empty now, it's ominous."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2022 7:47 am
|
|
|
|
"Don't know," Eion answered, pensive.
He held his thoughts when he saw their waiter drop by, with whom he placed an order of a jasmine green tea and a Russian caravan. The waiter reiterated their order in a heavy accent that Eion couldn't place, assured them the drinks would be right out, and departed for the moment.
Eion watched him leave, his thoughts still on Yuuri's question. "Never seen anything like it. Rift goes on forever — didn't matter how far I went. Youma were ubiquitous. Saw them pick their fights, mark their territory, and they'd leave the bigger ones be, but… Never seen an area so empty." And he hadn't sensed anything else, either. The place was a dead zone that he couldn't explain. To his knowledge, there were no others who had been more thoroughly acquainted with the Rift that he could ask about such an occurrence.
"Need to go out there soon. Keep you informed," he promised.
"Reminds me — do you still have that pendant?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2022 12:39 pm
|
|
|
|
Eion paused, then nodded without looking immediately at Yuuri. "Thinking I may need a group that has those pendants. See if anything comes of it. Would be good cover for those like you, at worst."
He simply hadn't enough information about the space to move forward with a more solid plan. Whatever emptied the Scar hadn't a discernible effect on Alkmene or Fulgurite when they used the pendants, but was that due to the instigating factor not noticing them, or was there another cause? Had it seen through the illusion that so many youma failed to discern? Eion couldn't say. He imagined there was little else to discuss about it, given his failure to collect more than the most rudimentary information.
The youth sighed through his nose. The more he probed mysteries like these, the more he noticed his own shortcomings. The greater those shortcomings grew, too, for each day spent in his new role at Special Operations.
So he shook his head, decided it was best to discuss other matters. Except he was unsure what other matters to discuss — they shared the Negaverse in common, but he was ever the one dragging Kamacite onto missions where he risked his life or got injured. Kamacite never asked for his help, never needed it as far as he was concerned. He knew of no subordinates under his friend, nor had Yuuri mentioned any projects to him in which Yuuri was involved. In his regular life, he had his roommate and that video editing job. What did Eion know about videos, or YouTube, or influencing? Less than he knew about living as an adult human.
The more he thought about it, the less he had to reach across the gulf and connect with his friend. He wondered, then — would it have been better, more charitable, to let Yuuri be with the life he made for himself?
He thought about it, then added, "Thanks for coming with me," as the waiter returned with their drinks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 6:41 am
|
|
|
|
Yuuri chewed on his lip, and then nodded. “I’ll be there,” he promised.
He didn’t want Eion doing anything dangerous alone. And he didn’t trust other people to keep him safe. He didn’t trust people to not understand that Faustite needed patience and care and a chance to breathe. Faustite didn’t need people harassing him about things he couldn’t control. And unlike many others, Faustite was trying.
It was more than Yuuri could say for himself. He did what he was told. He didn’t have much ambition -- other than keeping his friends safe. And he was okay with that. If his magic could be of use, then that was enough for him. Anything else in his life was too inconsequential to bother anyone else with. Not like going into the Rift.
Not like getting married.
Yuuri watched as the waiter set their drinks on the table, waited until they were gone, and then turned to Eion to press a kiss against his cheek.
He knew it wasn’t much, and he wasn’t sure if it would be unwelcome, but he hoped that Eion knew how much he cared about him.
“Thank you for being such an important part of my life,” he said in response, but lowered his head temporarily to rest against Eion’s shoulder. “Thank you for trusting me. And for seeing me.” After all, not many people liked to stick around and stare at the sun. He was there, but often ignored. Maybe that was why it made it easier to keep his head down and do his mundane tasks on his own.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2022 6:44 am
|
|
|
|
The kiss to his cheek surprised him, warmed him. In response, his arm found its way around Yuuri's waist, settling against his bulky shirt. It was easy, then, to dip down and kiss his friend's lips — something unmediated. And that came with its own instinctual aftershock, as if he had hurt Yuuri by doing so, and had to brace nervously for the inevitable consequences.
Eion didn't have a gauge of how careful someone should be around other people' he hadn't thought about that level of interpersonal care when he was human, because he never needed to do so. And now that he was aware of it, aware of all the ways he could hurt someone, accidentally or purposefully, he had but a scant three hours per day to people watch and teach himself a generally acceptable level of care.
21 hours of the day, he was on fire. As a walking fire hazard, physical care around other was was paramount. Mind the flammable office furnishings. Mind the flammable personnel. Mind the handshakes, the shoulder brushes, the length of time spent touching a piece of paper. Mind how he breathed, for all the smoke that rolled off of him. Mind where he stood — not too close to the curtain, but close enough to the window that he didn't choke out a room of officers by breathing. Watching himself became natural.
But it felt so easy to let his guard down around Yuuri. They'd known each other for an age now, and Yuuri remained as his oldest and most trusted friend. His care should have been twice his usual awareness, given that Yuuri was so irreplaceable.
And yet —
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2022 6:33 am
|
|
|
|
The ease in which Eion kissed him meant it was just as easy for Yuuri to kiss him back. He wasn’t sure what was going on with his heart, but it was racing and breaking at the same time.
He knew Eion would be happy getting married. He would have someone by his side to make sure he stayed out of trouble, someone who could take care of him and make sure he was properly cared for.
Then why did it feel like he was being abandoned? Eion wasn’t going anywhere. He wasn’t pulling away from him. He wasn’t deciding Yuuri wasn’t worth his time. Right? They were getting tea! They were talking -- kissing! Maybe that was the problem. Maybe Yuuri should have kissed him before and more frequently. Would that speak all of the words he couldn’t say otherwise?
There was no question in his expression when he held onto Eion’s shirt, making room for the arm around his waist. He just wanted to be there with him. He didn’t care why or if they had anything to talk about. Yuuri didn’t mind the silence.
But since not everyone was like Yuuri, he once more pressed his lips to Eion’s in a desperate attempt to convey all the things he felt that he couldn’t, or didn’t know how, to say out loud.
Loyalty, of course. Admiration. Worry and concern and hope. Maybe some jealousy for the love Eion accepted from someone else, but because Yuuri was unable to let himself admit it -- yes, there was love there. Uncertain and anxious and afraid of being behind again, but it was there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2022 2:42 pm
|
|
|
|
In retrospect, Eion wasn't sure why he waited so long. Yuuri didn't break, or acquiesce out of some perceived compulsion. He was enjoying himself, making the most out of his friend's automatic gesture.
Or Eion had thought. But the tone of their kiss changed to something bittersweet; a revelation wrapped in a rushed whisper. Yuuri's response was speech given form, and Eion's hand stroked along the boy's waist as if to assuage him. He knew as he met that fervor, as he reciprocated wordlessly, that there was so much left unsaid. He knew that Yuuri deserved better than this, so Yuuri should have what he could give.
They'd just been served their drinks. The waiter would not return for some time yet — he and Yuuri could have their privacy.
He pulled Yuuri closer, then wrapped both arms about him. It was easier to convey his intentions this way — share them in the language of kisses. So he shared that he loved and accepted Yuuri, that he would stand by him. That Yuuri meant so much more to him than what he could give, but that would not hinder him from giving what he had.
When Eion broke the kiss, it was due to parched lips, and he wetted them with fresh tea. It had a brisk flavor, one that threatened to drown out the taste of a boy who was friend and more. An easy remedy — he stole another kiss after the fact, something coquettish and satisfying.
"Want to try some?" He asked, offering his mug. For while they had much to talk about, it was easier to talk around it, and work through it all nonverbally.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2022 6:25 pm
|
|
|
|
His heart was racing. He felt like crying. He didn’t fully understand why, except that his heart ached. It was both in mourning and appreciating the joys that came with receiving affection. There were some things that Yuuri knew he could never change. He could never make Eion a full human again and erase the traumas he’d experienced. He could never bring back the dead. He could never fill the void in his own heart.
The break in the kiss gave him enough time to adjust himself next to Eion and to take a sip of his own tea.
But when Eion offered his, Yuuri took it without question. He lifted it just under his nose to take in the aroma, brought it to his lips, let it rest on his tongue to really learn the flavor of the drink so he could say that yes, he did try it instead of some half assed attempt at obligation, which he never felt with Eion anyway.
Hands warmed by the mugs, he set it back down on the table and turned to place both hands on Eion’s cheeks so he could stare into his eyes for a few moments, as though begging him to see him. And then he kissed him again.
Yuuri knew it wasn’t easy to explain himself. He knew there were things lost in translation or miscommunicated, but he was really trying to explain that he cared for Eion so deeply that he would probably just die if something were to happen to him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 1:08 pm
|
|
|
|
What a perfect, sweet boy. Eion could never think otherwise of Yuuri, especially for how long they stayed around each other. Yuuri was there when his youma side was first rooted in him, there for the path it took, there for the end result of losing his midsection to this new part of himself. Yuuri was always patient, always putting others first. All it took was such a small, thoughtless gesture to invite so much unsaid story.
Eion watched Yuuri with interest. Not because he had meant to stare, not that he thought about being rude. But he still felt the kiss on his lips, still wanted to meander his own fingers across them, as if to find pieces of stars there. There would be nothing, he knew, but the residual firings of neurons warning his lips that they still felt the ghost of a boy's touch. He played with his hands instead — laced them together, as if it was some approximation of how Yuuri's hand would feel in his.
It wasn't. There would be no touching him outside of those three short hours, but a boy could dream. And he did, sometimes.
Then Yuuri touched his face and he turned — there was always that margin of panic, that warning that someone would burn their hands on him, no matter which skin he wore — but Yuuri's hands were steady. It was easy, then, to take the boy in his arms again and answer all the desperation he received with reassurances, that he would rather Yuuri live for him, with him, than die without him. That he had no plans of walking back into the Rift. That he wanted to spend hours, just like this, with just each other, as two easily forgotten boys with no duties but to each other.
Eion was never one to say his I love yous, but he buried them in actions: a hand carding through inky black hair, a thumb tracing a fine jawline.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2022 7:51 am
|
|
|
|
Yuuri could feel it in the gestures, in the way Eion’s eyes burned as he watched him. Surely, they were like suns, because Yuuri could feel his cheeks reddening under Eion’s gaze.
While Yuuri didn’t consider himself shy, he also knew things weren’t as simple as they could have been. With their lips no longer touching, Yuuri lowered his head against Eion’s shoulder, his arms looped around him to hug him tightly.
He cared about Eion, about Faustite, more than he could say. He just hoped that he wasn’t setting himself up for another heartbreak.
Maybe things would work out. Whatever was in the Rift would not need to be bothered with. Faustite wouldn’t get himself into trouble. He and Albite could get married and be happy, and Yuuri would be happy for them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 8:12 am
|
|
|
|
It would be easy to get lost in the weeds of everything that was going on. The mission, the wedding, the daily needs for watching the team and ensuring each of them got what they needed out of their time in the Negaverse, and that the Negaverse got what they needed out of each team member's tenure. It was easy to go days without becoming Eion, it was even easier to forget that Eion existed, but then there were moments like these.
Moments when he could sit as a nobody in a tea house, with a very special boy in his arms, with that very special boy's arms wrapped around himself. These were the moments that justified all the time and sweat and blood and toil and death that went into their jobs in the Negaverse. He would do all of it twice more to press a smile against Yuuri's tousled wefts or feel his cool hands about his waist. That he didn't have to was itself a treat.
Eion always had three hours, and never a moment longer, to be a normal boy. It oft passed in a blink, but moments like these made it worth the 21 hours trapped in fire.
And knowing that Yuuri would always be there for him? Worth an eternity in flame.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
