inkwreaths | AU; ain't no rest for the wicked

A wet titty.

It sure as hell isn't a hot titty.

That analogy doesn't even make sense.

[Slowly pushes his noodle bowl away...]

You're just sore I didn't take your advice.

Mm.

[She leans in to peer at him.] No longer choking?

[He doesn't lean away. Having her close up is actually reassuring.]

Yeah, I'm still alive. [He yanks on a strand of her hair.] I've had enough of your crazy talk. I'm taking you home.

[She smiles when he doesn't. And at his answer, though she pulls her hair out of his grip while sticking out her tongue.]

You always drive me home. So protective!

[Ignoring how cute she's being right now as he pushes in his chair...]

It's not safe for girls to walk home by themselves. [How dare you imply he's deeply invested in your well-being Monica?? In any case, he's going to be holding open the door for her.]

You read into everything too much.

[The problem with Seki isn't even that he cares for Monica Campanella. It's that he cares at all. Does he plan to drive every girl he talks to home? And open doors for them? She'd like to think he won't. It'll be safer for him that way, because girls betray men. But Monica doesn't intend to betray him. Which means he could be used against her, too.

Ah. They're both fucked, she thinks as she ducks through the doorway with a smile.]

A girl can dream, can't she? You're too greasy to be a prince charming, anyway. [There's more truth to that statement than they should ever acknowledge.]

[For some reason, hearing that stings a bit.] Hey, you're no prize either.

[It's a weak retort, and he's aware of it. Seki understands how pathetic he is: a high school dropout with no goals, no dreams. Just some low-class trash trying to scrape together a living. What was he doing around a girl like Monica? What did she see in him to let him hang around her in the first place?

Thinking about it throws his thoughts into a bad place, so he'll shake them off. It's too much trouble to think about now. He has to get Monica home, first.]

Besides, the whole idea of prince charming's a shallow lie.

[Monica didn't even go to high school. Anybody who lives around here's a dreamless piece of absolutely nothing, worthless and forgotten by the world around them. Any namecalling between them is akin to the bantering between a pot and kettle. With the same smile she called him greasy with, she raises a hand to his cheek and pats it almost kindly.]

No prince charming's gonna come here to pick up his princess, Seki. He'll get robbed. [But the flash of gentleness is gone and she grins fully now, turning and bouncing over to his bike.]

[Contact from Monica's about as familiar as the dirty streets they lived in. It's accepted with a grunt, but nothing more. When she turns he pats the cheek she touched, his other hand fishing through his pockets for the keys.

Another day done. Another meal shared. That was all they could ask for. He settles him down on the seat, making room for her to sit behind him as usual. The bike rumbles as he turns its engine to life.]

Exactly. We don't need one. [People like them don't deserve one, in the end.] Hold on tight.

[She waits until he's seated to climb on. She used to try not to think about how familiar the motion is, how easy it is to find just the right height to wrap her arms around him, the exact place to settle her cheek against his back. But now she doesn't bother with that resistance. She accepts, and resigns to it. These are the moments she can indulge herself with.]

I'm holding.

[Her presence is a warm shield against the biting cold. There's few things Seki appreciates in this life. He'd never admit it, but Monica is one of them. Something as simple as having someone by your side to keep the wind off your back: it's more valuable than people would think.

The bike growls as it cuts through the crowded streets, with Seki honking his horn every now and then to scare off any lollygags. He hardly has to think to steer. The route home is something he's memorized by now, and he pulls up at Monica's place without any problems.

He doesn't bother to kick down the brake when he stops the bike.]

... here we are.

[For Monica, who always rides on the back of his bike, there's nothing to keep the wind off her back. But that's fine. For her, the value of these moments lie in the back she can rest her body against, the waist to wrap her arms around, and the wind blowing past them. They move fast. Faster than she could ever go on her own feet, and for that short time she can pretend they're escaping, leaving it all behind to a future just as unknown but perhaps brighter than the murky bleakness ahead of them now.

It's all just an illusion, but people have to hold on to dreams sometimes, she thinks. She's as usual a little slower than necessary in peeling herself away and slipping off the bike.

Her place is a small apartment. It's not any better than the rest in this part of town, even if she does her best to keep it clean and comfortable. But she calls it home, because sometimes you're lucky to even have somewhere to go. She turns and smiles a little.] Thanks.

[His back is still warm when she leaves. Seki watches the way she walks, the way she moves, studying it as though he's been granted the privilege of glimpsing something rare that only comes by once in a lifetime. He's half-afraid that one day, when he drops her off, that radiance will be gone.

Shit. They were terrible. Him especially, for appreciating that smile.]

It's nothing. [As always.] Have a good night, Monica.

[There's a bounce in her step and a flair to her movements that she knows she only has because he's there to watch. There's no need for a mask when nobody will see. There's no need for a play when there isn't an audience. There's no need for her to act alive if nobody knew she was there. But there's Seki. He's her only audience and her one co-actor. The only one she'll truly accept, and she knows it. She doesn't touch him once they've pulled apart, taking a few steps forward and stopping when he's far enough that she couldn't reach him if she stretched her arm as far as it would go.]

You too, Seki. If we're lucky, we'll see each other again.

[She means it in no ominous way. But it'll save them both the disappointing of promise of seeing each other again and it not happening, right?]

AU; ain't no rest for the wicked

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