Day 91 | log | [CLOSED]

[individuates]

Who: Kaoru Hitachiin (individuates ), Abe no Seimei (yinyangfox )
Open: Closed
When: Day 91
Where: Seimei's pad
What: Bribing Seimei with cake.
Format: Log
Warnings: None! Just two guys eating cake.


Kaoru had to admit it. As dubious as he had been in the beginning about Seimei’s little house, once all its walls were erected, and its insides (mostly) furnished… it actually hadn’t turned out so bad.

He could give himself a pat on the back for some of the work, too. Not that he had sourced all the wood himself. Or lacquered it. Or fit it together in a house-shape. But he had slaved away on the furnishings, which had definitely helped with the effort. He had managed to figure out how to quilt blankets from his scraps – they were easy – but he had no idea how to make a futon other than to sew together his blankets. Which was precisely what he did.

Well it was the best he could do, with the resources at his disposal. In hindsight, he could have just bought one with shards and saved himself the trouble, but never mind. He had delivered the futons the previous day – if Seimei had had a terrible night’s sleep on them, he could always run back to the Monument and buy real ones.

He had finally made his first purchase from the Monument with the shards he had been holding onto – a small strawberry shortcake and forks and plates to eat it with. Nothing as grand as they had eaten or used at the host club – and not antique either, or if they were, certainly not antiques he recognized. But they looked good and, really, they were fit for purpose. And the cake smelled simply heavenly.

So with the bag of cake in one hand and one hand resting on Tama-chan slung across his chest, he started down to Seimei’s. The egg had been rocking since a few days ago, tapping sounds coming from within. Perhaps it would hatch soon – until then, Kaoru was keeping a careful eye out.

He stepped into the small gardens around Seimei’s house, raising the bag and giving a bright, slightly teasing smile.

“Sei-chan~!”

Comments

[individuates]

"...it sure would be great if I could talk to her..." He rubbed the surface of the egg lightly, tracing over one of the splotches with his fingertip. "I'll have to see how much she understands from me first, though and take it from there."

He cocked his head to one side, looking Seimei up and down as if appraising him. How would he fit into Tama-chan's little family? Rin-chan had already taken the position of aunt, so what would that make Seimei?

"I may have to think about taking her outside, depending on what she is. I don't know how big she'll grow, but she'll need some space to roam..."

[yinyangfox]

"That's true enough. And you'll have no shortage of people to go with. Plus the areas closest the Bastion are relatively safe, even for casual explorers. I would never hesitate to accompany you, Kaoru. I doubt many other people would, either."

He caught the look, offering a questioning expression in response but saying nothing as he looked away over the garden once more.

"I will help you in whatever capacity you need. You are not alone, Kaoru. Not in this, not in anything else."

[individuates]

At Seimei's look, Kaoru couldn't help but laugh, rubbing the back of his head apologetically.

"Sorry, sorry. I just... I don't know I guess I'm kind of putting together Tama-chan's Bastion family and was wondering how you'd fit into it. I guess technically speaking I'm the mother - there's no helping that..."

A little seriousness came creeping into his expression though and he lowered his head, still a little soft, a little fond,

"...I know. I know I'm not. Thank you."

[yinyangfox]

A faint dusting of color crept out from Seimei's collar, but he said nothing about Tama-chan's makeshift family. Where he fit in was up to Kaoru and Tama-chan, he supposed. He had no business making suggestions that would be tasteless anyways.

Nodding in reply to Kaoru's thanks, they eventually left each other in companionable silence, the onmyoji's gaze distant, longing for a breeze to shake the leaves, the sound of birdsong, the patter and peaty smell of rain.

"This world seems so...stagnant. I wonder if it will ever be a real world or if we are doomed to silently drift, no matter how how large this place becomes?" he mused aloud, eventually looking down into his teacup.

[individuates]

"I miss the rain," He admitted quietly, looking out over Seimei's garden. "I miss watching it. I miss sitting by our window and reading while the rain fell outside. But if it ever rains here I might just stand outside and enjoy it, just in case it never comes again."

Not just the rain. Breezes through open windows. The feeling of stepping out of the cold into the warm. It should have almost been December - or at least he roughly guessed so, from the day he arrived. Yet he was still dressing like it was early autumn.

"This world may be a little stagnant, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to be." His gaze slid over to the onmyoji before calmly drifting back outside again. "There are other ways to shake things up. For instance I'd love to know what it was you thought that made you colour up like that, though I doubt you'd tell me."

[yinyangfox]

"Hm..." the onmyoji smiled slowly, imagining the red head in Kyoto during a warm rain, standing in his old overgrown garden in Heian fashion. He had to snort a soft laugh when he couldn't imagine Kaoru in the more common dull colors of masculine fabrics. Florals and bright summer and spring colors were all he could see. He had a sudden urge to paint and shook his head in amusement.

"You want to creep into my head and now all the good and ill, but what do you propose in return, Kaoru? I am not a flower, blooming and opening myself to others despite the risk of exposure. Am i not allowed my secrets?"

[individuates]

He chuckled softly, turning to face Seimei fully with a smile.

"Your secrets are your own. I would never dream of making you give up anything you were unwilling to part with. But if it is an exchange you're suggesting what would you accept in return?" He breathed one of his musical 'host club' sighs, raising his hands. "Aaaaaa. Alas that I only have to offer what I can create with these two hands of mine..."

[yinyangfox]

Tilting his head and arching a brow, the onmyoji finally shifted in his seat, turning entirely to face Kaoru. Reaching to pick up his fan, he held it out to his companion and inclined his head.

"Take it. Otherwise I fear I will give in to weakness and retreat."

Huffing a sigh and arching a brow, he rested his hands on his knees. Eyes closed and cheeks rosy, Seimei twitched his head in a small nod.

"I was imagining a domestic family setting. with I as lord of the estate and you my companion helping to raise an heir."

[individuates]

Kaoru accepted the fan with his raised hands, sitting back to listen carefully.

He was dying to laugh in delight, but his own soft huff of an exhale through his nose was the closest he came to it. No laughing. He didn't want to gave the wrong impression or scare Seimei away. But he still smiled, hands closing around the fan a little.

"...I certainly can't object to that. Though it is a very small estate. And a highly unusual heir."

[yinyangfox]

"I was not imagining us here. I was imagining us in Kyoto. I was still in standing with the court. I was able to give you the world and we were raising a son that would inherit my name. I was introducing you to my mother. You were in the finest fashion money could buy. You were happy..."

He trailed off, eyes still closed. It was almost as effective as hiding behind the fan. More so in some ways. Without seeing Kaoru's expression Seimei didn't have to fear the effect of what he said.

"I was able to make you happy."

[individuates]

"...I don't want the world."

He leaned just a little forward, thankful for Seimei's closed eyes, thankful that he couldn't see his blush, though he would have heard Kaoru's voice shake a little. It was nice to hear him say it, if a little unexpected. "...I'm quite happy with just you."

[yinyangfox]

He smiled in spite of himself, eyes remaining closed, though his tension relaxed some as he uttered a long sigh of relief.

At least Kaoru didn't condemn him.

"You have me. you have all of me, whenever you should want it or need it. I only wish that I were in a position to give you more. You would have liked walking the royal grounds when the trees blossomed. The summer festivals. To seasons changing in the garden. I like to imagine those things, when I am troubled and alone. Dreaming of you accompanying me, in halcyon days."

[individuates]

Kaoru's lips parted to speak, but he simply couldn't muster a response. Instead he leant in - quickly, before he had a chance to override himself, before Seimei had a chance to open his eyes - and kissed Seimei on the cheek. Not low enough to be too intimate; certainly shy but not so hurried as to be throwaway or impersonal. Or at least he hoped not. Every second felt like a lifetime when his heart was hammering in his chest like that.

[yinyangfox]

His own heart had been a steady thud, calm enough, since the admittance had been more cathartic than alarming or stressful. That changed when lips touched his cheek.
Something so chaste might have only amused someone else but for Seimei it was considerably more personal. His space was actively invaded and for a gesture that was really impossible to mistake for anything other than what it was. His heart skipped and lashes rose from his cheeks as dark eyes flicked open and rolled to fix on Kaoru's face.
In that moment he didn't even think about his tessen. Even if it had been in his hands he wouldn't have had the presence of mind to open it.

He raised a hand, sleeve sliding away from where it tended to conceal his palms, and moved to touch the red heads's face only to curl his fingers closed at the last moment. Regardless of Kaoru's leap forward Seimei was unwilling to push, though he obviously wanted more for all that he was politely distant and delicate; in that moment his younger companion could see past the veil of courtesy to someone who was emotional, lonely and not nearly so bland as he presented himself.

Searchign Kaoru's face for several moments, panicked thoughts rushing behind his gaze as he tried to figure out what to do that would neither push too far or seem like he was pulling away or dissatisfied in some way, the onmyoji at last chewed his bottom lip and leaned forward. A little push off the floor to give him more leverage - was Kaoru taller than him? He hadn't noticed before - and he pressed his lips gently against the boy's forehead, lingering a few seconds before pulling away and sitting back down.

For once, he wasn't blushing. No, instead he was pale and wide-eyed and under the distinct impression he was about to find out exactly what being slapped felt like.

[individuates]

...it was moments like this he missed Hikaru the most. The moment between him sitting back and Seimei reciprocating, the almost agonising wait, because although he knew how Seimei felt, Kaoru had never quite believed it, at least not until the onmyoji had leaned in to kiss him back, albeit just as chastely.

Then and there, all his worry, all his caution faded, and he was hopelessly lost.

He lifted one slightly trembling hand, almost mirroring the motion Seimei made, but gently, softly running his knuckles along the onmyoji's cheek. With the other, he carefully pushed the fan back across the floor towards Seimei - who well and truly had Kaoru's permission to use it, even if he didn't say it in as many words.

[yinyangfox]

He allowed the touch, though his skin was chilled beneath it and his throat worked hard to swallow against the dryness therein. eyes tilting down at the scrape of the fan on the floor, he reached to pick it up, only to leave it in his lap.
Pulling the fan open slowly, each fold a rasp and click sounding off the seconds where no words were spoken, the onmyoji finally closed it completely and set it aside once more. Heat at last rose to his cheeks, color trickling in to banish the previously unhealthy pallor. At least he didn't feel quite like fainting anymore.
It took a moment longer for the frozen surprise to relax from his face enough to allow the flutter of an arrogant smile.

"Heh...I...knew you would eventually fail to resist my elegant charms," he fairly croaked, oblivious to how obvious it was that his usual confidence had fled, along with his ability to conjure witty repartee.

[individuates]

Kaoru couldn't resist a burst of slightly nervous laughter, leaning forward slightly and wrapping his arms around Tama-chan, trying to get himself under control.

"...do you even realise how not elegant you sound right now?! You sound like I mortally wounded you!"

Well, they still had a little cake left. Cake could fix a lot of things.

[yinyangfox]

"Do I?" he asked, sounding genuinely perplexed. Clearing his throat and adjusting his robes, the onmyoji tried to look and sound more collected.

"It is terribly cruel to bring a man's sudden disorganization into question. I was trying to behave in a dignified manner. You do not think it a bit discourteous to point out that I was not particularly prepared for...that?"

He pursed his lips, pouting visibly and gesturing at the cake vaguely.

"Perhaps we ought to finish before the food spoils? Distract ourselves from...things."

[individuates]

"Well. I quite like it when you're suddenly disorganised. It's cute." He reached for the cake, to cut it into equal pieces and serve it. It was a knack he had developed, to be able to do it elegantly but without taking his attention off his companion. "I don't mean to be discourteous. I was just... stating my preferences?"

[yinyangfox]

"You prefer me in a state of distress?" he asked, looking up questioningly as he took the offered pastry.

"I could not imagine why. I find it difficult to speak and flutter without direction like a butterfly caught on a strong wind cast by your passing. It cannot possibly be dignified in any manner. I look a fool," he muttered, taking a moment with the fork once more before scooping a bite into his mouth. Fortunately the sugary confection was enough to relax some of his growing unease and he appeared significantly less antsy.

[individuates]

"You're cute distress." Kaoru corrected gently, depositing his berries on Seimei's plate again. The Strawberry Strategy worked before - hopefully it would appease him again. "And did you say something before, about how you enjoy changing the colour of a person's face? It's a little unfair that you get all the fun."

He popped a bite of cake into his mouth as nonchalantly as possible. Truth be told, he was still a touch flustered over the whole thing himself. He was just used to doing this sort of thing on a daily basis.

[yinyangfox]

Another purse-lipped stare before he huffed and poked a strawberry, eating it in grudging silence. There was no easy way to argue that and he'd only make himself sound even more petulant which was frustrating on its own.

Glancing down at his tessen he sighed, tilting his head to regard Kaoru with narrowed eyes. Eventually he relented and smirked softly, setting his plate aside to free up his hands.

"You have outdone me again. I am a complete fool with you. I lose all sense. You make me want to behave indecently."

[individuates]

"...I know."

A fond smile over the top of his own plate. He didn't even mind if Seimei sounded a little childish from time to time. Kaoru often resorted to that particular tactic himself.

"I think you'll find I have a tendancy to win." He needled gently, still smiling, "And I can make myself very difficult to refuse..."

[yinyangfox]

"Kaoru I find that statement entirely unfair and to a degree, inaccurate," Seimei replied with a faint snort and chuckle, eating another mouthful of cake before finishing his thought.

"Since I have no desire to refuse you, there is no use suggesting you are difficult to refuse. And since I cannot refuse your demands, you are automatically correct in your ability to win. I will unfortunately fall defeated to the wayside at every turn for the sheer enjoyment of doting upon you."

[individuates]

He laughed softly, trying not to snort into his cake himself.

"I only wanted to warn you! Just in case you ever had plans to resist me. But as you know, I'm mostly very gentle. And I can supply sweet things for you."

He finished up the last of his piece, setting the plate down delicately.

"It's good to know these things though. So about this party...!"