thenearshore | [closed] the best medicine

Entry tags:

[closed] the best medicine

Who: A: Shun, Ren and Yukine, B: Shun, Ren and Fubuki
When: A: June 27th, B: June 28th
Where: A: Cat Cafe Calico, B: Nekhbet's Temple
What: A long overdue plot tweest at the cat cafe (when you find out your friend is friends with That One Asshole), and sleepover 2: the sleepovening (a.k.a. Shun's over a week of sleep deprivation is starting to catch up with him, time to do some things that maybe don't involve running into burning buildings)
Warnings: None yet.

[A]

[Maybe there's other things happening in the city today, maybe it's just a nice enough day that most people don't want to spend it inside. Whatever the reason, Cat Cafe Calico is quiet this afternoon, with only a few small groups left on the lower floor after the busier lunch hours pass.

This is definitely not a concern for Shun, who has work to do and would much prefer the quiet to do it in. This isn't the first time he's had to help out with newcomers to the cafe, but when he's supposed to be "socialising" the kittens as well as taking care of them, cramming himself in the backroom to avoid customers isn't the most productive method of doing it.

With the quiet, though, he ends up in one of the corners of the lower floor, a few cushions strewn around nearby and a short, folding gate up so the kittens can't go having any unsupervised adventures around the cafe if his attention lapses. It's far enough from the current customers to be quiet, but close enough to the door for people to come by and get excited about the kittens if they notice them. At least, that's what Shun's under the impression is supposed to help socialise them.

As it is now, though, the half dozen or so kittens seem to be having a grand time socialising themselves all over him instead. One of them is asleep on his head, another hanging off his shoulder, and yet another one is making an admirable effort of trying to crawl up his shirt, even as Shun bumps it onto its side with one hand in hopes it might serve as a temporary distraction - which it kind of does, given two of the other kittens come tumbling by and catch the third one up in their play-fight as well. He himself is holding another of the kittens with a hand under its belly, doing an apparently routine check of its teeth and ears, and gently pushing out its claws one by one. His focus on the work is intense and unwavering - even more so than he gives it to most things, because as the dark shadows and lines under his eyes suggest, he hasn't really been getting any sleep recently, and it's starting to wear on his ability to multitask. The amount of smoke he went through last night definitely didn't help that either, let alone his hopes of actually being able to do anything strenuous today.

At the very least, the sound of the door opening still makes him glance upwards, if perhaps with an air that says it comes much more out of nowhere than it normally would for someone like him.]

--

[B]

[Training with Ren today was a bad idea, but when Shun was the one who insisted on it, he's definitely not admitting that.

It's about as much as Shun can manage afterwards to busy himself with sorting out water and jugs and cups, and hope to hell the continued movement can disguise the fact that his hands are shaking a little. It's been about nine days since he slept properly, about a week since he stopped trying at all, and while the reasonable part of him knows there's no way he's getting through tonight without either Ren or Fubuki noticing, if not both - though that would imply they hadn't already noticed and he just hadn't admitted defeat yet - the still-dominant unreasonable part is telling him to keep up the facade as long as he can.

So for now, he tries to keep himelf in motion. Moving cups, filling two jugs of water because hell knows how long one is going to last with his throat still itching from the fire, and leaving them on the coffee table in the loungeroom before sweeping up the hall to rap sharply on the wall at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the bedrooms.]

We're done. You can come down. [His voice is a little rough, like it has been for two days now, but he can still make it carry more than well enough up the stairs for his purposes.]

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[Shun lightening up a little just because he's here is pretty unlikely but not as much as Shun seems to think, if that look he's getting is anything to go by...but unfortunately, he's pretty sure Fubuki would have to be in another building for Shun to relax that much anyway.]

Kurosa-kki doesn't need to lighten up. That's what I'm here for.

[Kurosaki might need to actually tell them if he's planning to go somewhere, though. Ren pauses in stirring his sauce to watch Shun walk across the kitchen, and looks more concerned and bewildered the closer he gets to leaving. Until he's...actually leaving...]

Kurosaki...?

Edited 2017-04-19 10:18 (UTC)

[... Wasn't that what he just said?] Wait, I don't... [He doesn't understand the difference, send help]

[(Actually, don't send help, no one needs to encourage him.)]

[Oh no, Shun's running away.] I won't say it again, come back—

"He lightens the mood enough for both of us" is what he means. [At least, Shun is pretty sure that's what Ren's getting at, because it certainly sounds accurate. This is said more in passing as he's heading out the kitchen doorway, though he pauses in apparent confusion when they both seem so concerned about him leaving the room.

After a moment, though, he sighs quietly and keeps going.]

I'm showering so I don't have to go out of my way to do it later. Unless one of you thinks I can't do that right now either.

[His tone is dry enough to mark that second comment out as not entirely serious, at least, but...it's still probably around half serious.]

[What do you know, Shun's figuring out how to interpret him for other people. Of course, it was only a matter of time, but it is really nice when one of his friends gets to that point.

And he'll admit, he does have a fleeting thought of offering to help with that shower, since Shun set it up so well, but...that's just going to stay safely inside his head for now.]

Oh, okay. Have fun~!

[~~don't encourage him~~]

[He wasn't talking about the mood of the room in general, though? Ah, well. The fact that Shun was only able to admit his problem only while Ren was here too hadn't escaped Fubuki's notice, but if Shun was going to wait that long to begin with, then that's that, and he shouldn't push too hard.]

[So all he says is—] Knock on a wall really hard if you need something? [Would that even work? He has no idea.]

[He waits for a moment after Shun gets out of sight, then sliiides over to Ren. Whisperwhisper] Can I ask you something? How often does he do that? Wait for it to get that bad?

[Ren is just moving on to start taking care of the peppers when Fubuki move in all conspiratorially, but that requires a more serious answer than a lot of things so he puts the pepper on hold for a minute.]

It's...not uncommon. [He hates to say it, but it's true. This is the third time in two months, Shun.] Although I think this is the first time he's just stopped sleeping. A while ago, he was having trouble with it, but I think he was still getting a little sleep.

[Ren stops for a moment to thoughtfully turn a pepper around in his hands. He's not sure how much Fubuki knows about Shun's life before, so he isn't sure how much detail he can go into about why Shun is like this...]

He has a lot of trouble accepting that he has limits and that someone else might see those limits better than he does. And that it's okay to take a break sometimes. I'm sure you've seen that already.

Yeah, I have. [From where Fubuki's sitting, it wasn't so much "limits" as "perceived weakness," but...yeah. Then again, it's not like Fubuki's been here that long, and it's not like both things can't be true at the same time.]

...I guess I'm not used to it yet. [There are a lot of things that feel familiar but which...probably shouldn't. One of which vaguely—] I don't want to push hard enough that he starts seeing me as an enemy.

[The fact that he doesn't know much about why Shun's the way he is makes it a bit of a balancing act. It's more relevant for when he meets shinki, but he doesn't generally make a habit of asking gods about themselves, either. Especially not after meeting someone in front of whom he did the thing he shouldn't.]

...But it also feels as if something bad will happen if I leave it too much alone. [It's like he doesn't want to get to a point where someone else has to ask him to do something. Not pride so much as...just a feeling, that he doesn't want to be too late to act.]

Well, I think you're right that you shouldn't try to push too hard. At least, not at first. You'll have to build up to it. And maybe be kind of indirect about it?

[Because he's right in that if he gets on Shun's case too much, Shun's probably going to react by getting frustrated with it and trying to shut him out. But Ren's been pretty successful with getting him to stop for a few minutes without directly bringing up how tired Shun seems.]

And I hate to say it, but he might have to do this again before it really sinks in that he can't keep doing it.

[Maybe even more than one time. Shun's not going to give up on pushing his limits to the breaking point that easily, not when it's worked out for him relatively okay up until now.]

But you're his friend and his exemplar, Fubuki-kun. Looking after him and pointing out when he's pushing himself too much are exactly what you should be doing. I can try to remind him of that too, if you want.

[Exemplar, huh...? Technically, he's been one twice already, and theoretically he should be experienced with it, but...he's not.]

I feel like he doesn't take me that seriously. [Which is Fubuki's own fault but he isn't aware of that.]

[Being indirect might be the way to go, but if Shun's going to do it again, that's...maybe not... He understands the wisdom of it, but self-destructing friends make him ornery and despite what his head is telling him, he wants to put a stop to it if he can.]

...Have you ever gotten angry at him for it?

It's not just you. He's had to rely on only himself for a long time, so he has trouble with anyone telling him to take a break. He also just doesn't like taking breaks. He gets really restless if he's not doing something.

[He's going to cut himself off here before this turns into him listing every little reason Shun is going to have difficulty with this. He covered the main ones, they're good.]

But he's the one who took you on as his shinki, right? You didn't just wake up here one day? So if he likes you and trusts you enough to do that, I think it'll be easier to get him to listen to you too.

[Then again, he doesn't seem to listen to Ren yet either...or maybe Ren just didn't protest against the sparring earlier until after the fact.

Ren shrugs a little at the question. He's always been more concerned and sad than angry about it. It's not entirely Shun's fault, and he just doesn't get angry about things like this anyway.]

I got frustrated earlier.

... [He lays down what he's doing to look over. He didn't ask the question idly, but if Ren isn't the type... It's not like he thinks showing Shun other people getting upset at his antics will work, necessarily, and even Fubuki has the sense that it very much might not. But he has very few ideas right now.]

[To begin with, he'd never thought about Shun trusting him enough to accept him as a shinki; Fubuki had come here for help, and his impression of their partnership has been colored by that since.]

Ah...I see. [There'll be no easy fix for this, in other words.]

[... He sees something else, too. He continues his working as he asks—] So how long have you known each other?

[Sorry about that, Fubuki. Now if Shun were going to go something like betray his friends and try to take over the world, then Ren would be happy to get angry with him.

And since it seems like most of the serious discussion is over, he turns his attention to actually dealing with the bell peppers and making sure they are as inoffensive as possible.]

Hmmm, a couple months? Maybe a little longer than that. Sometimes it feels like it's been a lot longer than that, but I think that's because they keep throwing parties every other week.

[The following is very serious discussion—] Do you not like them? [He points at the bell peppers as he says it. He means both, those and the parties.]

[A couple of months of knowing Shun means Ren is Very Knowledgable, but he doesn't want to lay it all on Ren, either. Especially since, as a shinki, there are certain impulses he can't explain, and for another thing, it would be kind of unfair. It's not like he's planning to sneak-attack Shun or anything, but it sure sounded like he was... Ahaha...] Oh, and—thanks. I'll listen to you any time, too, so don't hold back!

I like them, I just think there are a lot of them--

[And that's about when he notices that Fubuki pointed at the peppers and might have meant those instead of the parties. Or maybe and the parties. Either way, he gets an answer for both, so it all works out.]

Oh--no, I like these just fine, but Kurosa-kki has trouble with food that's too strong. This--[specifically, the gingery sauce]--is already going to be pushing his limits a bit, so I just want to make sure it's not too much.

[Speaking of being Very Knowledgeable about Shun...Bell peppers aren't even hot though, so he's definitely being overcautious here.]

That goes for you too, Fubuki-kun. You can always talk to me if you need to.

Heh, that doesn't apply to coffee, though. [The last time he drank Shun's coffee, he nearly came back to life.]

When did you find out about that?

[And...how many sleepovers...?] All he said about you was that he trains you. [That's mostly because Fubuki was arguing with Shun at the time and so couldn't actually give the issue his full attention, but never mind that.]

And, thanks, I'll take you up on it. [If only because he gets the feeling it's a long road ahead...]

[Ren laughs--and then coughs--a little at that.] His coffee is a little strong, isn't it?

[He'll have to remember to bring some of coffee he got from his trip to Iraq sometime so Shun can try something else...

And Sadly, this is still only the second sleepover...] Well, that is usually when we see each other, but I've hung out with him a lot outside that too. He told me when I took him out to lunch one time.

Hmm? [Suspicions confirmed.] Sounds nice.

[love doctor rides again]

...What'd you do to get him to agree? [He's not saying that, from his perspective, Shun seems a bit...not the type to get "taken out" to lunch, except that's exactly what he's saying.]

[Shun is absolutely not the type to go along with being "taken out' to lunch or anything else that involved someone trying to spend money on him, so Fubuki is well within his rights to think that Ren had to twist his arm a bit. Or a lot.]

I had him come out for something else, and he went along with it because he was already there.

[Aaaand it looks like it's about time to actually start cooking things, so he'll just be collecting all the cut-up food now to start doing that.]

He also scolded me for doing that, so I think if you want to try it, you should just ask him.

Hmm...I think it only worked because it was you. [If Fubuki tried that, he'd probably get a vulture set on him. (Not salty about that at all Shun.)] I was just curious.

[While Ren collected the food, Fubuki had palmed one of the heart-shapes he'd made, which he tosses idly up and down in his hand.]

...You seem pretty competitive with each other. [Not that he doesn't understand competitive friendships, but it's more just a vague feeling than real knowledge for now.] Is it always like that?

Maybe, but I don't think I'm the only one who could do that.

[Yuto, Hajime, and Nanako could probably get Shun to go along with something like that too, and he might not even complain much at two of them.

He pulls a black headband out of his pocket to push his hair back away from his face and sets a frying pan on the stove to start heating up while he goes about rolling up his sleeves.]

Well, we're both pretty competitive people. I'm a lot worse than he is, though. [Hard as that may be to believe sometimes...] So it is a lot of the time, but that's part of the fun, you know?

That's good. [He would add something to the effect of, "do it more often!" but they just got done talking about not pushing Shun into things... And he shouldn't push Ren into things, either.]

[Yet.]

I guess I'll see later! [So long as the poker-playing doesn't devolve into an actual fight. (He might have been plotting to do it himself earlier on but never mind that.) (He's started to have misgivings about being able to get away with it you see)]

So all of that earlier was just part of the fun? [Maybe he shouldn't have interrupted it? Heh.]

[Probably not an actual fight since neither of them are really the type to do that, but almost certainly some actual card game anime style flirting...

Ren doesn't answer that right away, seemingly having to think about what "all that" could be referring to, despite it already being the current topic of conversation. When he does seem to realize, he laughs a little and shrugs.]

That wasn't really "all that". You cut us off before we could really get going.

Must be terrifying, then! [And now he's definitely teasing.] Are you sure I should be in the room, then? You're not exhibitionists, are you?

[Whoops, the heart-shape almost slipped out of his hand. ...Come to think of it, he should probably stop playing with this.]

[As he goes to toss it out, something else occurs.] During the fire...did you split up?

[Ren hums thoughtfully, going right along with it by seemingly taking the question completely seriously.]

Well, I don't know if he is most of the time...

[Ren doesn't have a problem with fawning over his rivals and going on and on about how wonderful it is to fight them in public. Because that's definitely what they're talking about here.

It's with a somewhat more apologetic look that he addresses that next question.]

Not while I was helping him pull people out, but after that, he went back in by himself.

Ehh...? [He's going to misunderstand things about Ren at this rate.] Sounds like fun.

[But there is no time for fun when there is an urgent matter— (Spoilers, the matter is not actually urgent.)]

[He notices the look, and holds up his hands.] No, that's— He would have gone back in even if you'd tried to stop him, right? I was just wondering. [Confirming what he already suspected, really.] I'll remember that.

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