i have cut to the feeling on repeat

[keeptrucking]

[Scene: two losers go to a shopping mall, because Daichi was wandering around looking disappointed in himself yet again and Joe has Better Ideas Than That. Daichi can't remember if he was actually asked if he wanted to be here, or if he was simply dragged along for the ride again and couldn't refuse once they were already at the mall. Joe just happens so much at once, despite all of Daichi's half-hearted complaining, so... here they are.

At the mall. Daichi is, at least, not sulking about whatever he was feeling inadequate about before. Instead:]

Man, my feet hurt... [Here, he affects his best (worst) Joe Voice:] Let's go shopping, Daichi! It'll be fun! —It's been nearly three hours and all we have to show for it is one magazine. C'mon, you could have done this without me.

[This menace... Why is he here, Joe? Why??]

Comments

[armanyo]

[ listen!!! he's here to help. he's always here to help. let him live.

anyway, joe is going to painstakingly remove the pins. one by one. he isn't making that much headway honestly. he's only removed the ones up near his shoulders. ]

Geez, why put them in if you're just gonna take 'em out?

[ JOE? ]

[keeptrucking]

[JOE???]

D— Don't you do this all the time? All you wear is suits.

[Please free him more quickly, he's going to die here. At least his shoulders are free enough to slump with Regret.]

[armanyo]

Jacques always does this part for me.

[ he just pissed him off today. so here joe is, meticulously removing pin by pin, creating a small pile in his non dominant hand. ]

I almost don't wanna take them out.

[keeptrucking]

You— hey. Hey. Don't you dare leave me stuck here like this, Yuzuru Akie.

[So serious, Full Name Serious. He wiggles his fingers kinda sorta at Joe, since he can't do much else in the way of moving.]

Come on...

[armanyo]

Whaaaat? You look good like this.

[ JOE.

BUT fine he will go back to methodically plucking away the pins. one by one they come out and he finishes with a loud, "tada". ]

[keeptrucking]

[That's the worst compliment... Joe, you suck. Daichi seems to droop more and more until the last pin comes out, at which point he nearly collapses into one of those nice chairs before remembering he doesn't own this suit. Yet. Although Joe is apparently paying for it so he won't really own it anyway—too many details!!]

I'm going to get changed... [There he goes, slouching back to his comfortable crappy uniform. He'll be back soon and holding the suit, unsure of where he's supposed to put it.] Hey, Joe... are you sure about paying for this?

[armanyo]

[ it was a good-natured compliment. he meant every ounce of it. it's daichi's fault for not reading into it and realizing he didn't mean pinned up and meant the suit in general.

but he nods, ecstatically grabbing for the hanger to retrieve the garment from daichi. ]

Absolutely. [ it's said with a trademark grin and thank god he didn't break into a jingle. he can't help the whole hands touching though. ]

[keeptrucking]

[So it's Daichi's fault for being kind of... dim... oh. Yeah. Okay.

Anyway he's still not sure how to feel about this suit thing - friends buying each other food or cheap crap, sure, but a suit? How is he supposed to pay back a whole suit?? When is he even going to wear a suit—ah.

Hands touching. He makes a face and pulls his hands back quickly. Aaah.]

I, uh... ["nghjnfg" - daichi 2017] I don't get you at all.

[armanyo]

Eh? Get me?

[ there's a blank expression and joe doesnt at all look offended at the reaction to the hand thing. instead, he simply looks puzzled and is running through a series of thoughts on infinite loop. ]

What'd I do?

[ this time goes unsaid and he chuckles, albeit hesitantly? as a hand clasps the back of his own neck. ]

[keeptrucking]

Seriously? Buying me a suit doesn't seem like a little bit much to you?

[Is that what it's like to be an adult... Joe is barely an adult!! Maybe he should just resign himself to this fate.]

Forget it, let's just get this taken care of and go someplace else.

[armanyo]

[ go somewhere else. well all right!

joe goes about finishing up paperwork with jacques before he heads to the front of the door. it's around that time that he drops the hat (again) back on daichi's head. ]

Where to then?

[keeptrucking]

[Ah, hat 2: return of hat. He'll resign himself to this, too, as long as they can get away from this old man... Joe has to pick up the suit alone, Daichi can never come back here.]

Somewhere with food. [......hmmmMM] My treat?

[nice.]

[armanyo]

[ SMOOTH.

but joe will give him that. he won't argue and totally be dominating today. instead, the grin will grow in size and he clasps daichi on the shoulder. ]

I'm starving. You read my mind. Absolutely famished.

[ the hand doesn't budge. ]

[keeptrucking]

[Everything's Coming Up Daichi

Or: neat, now he just has to silently pray that he actually has a decent amount of cash on him and pick a place to eat that isn't a convenience store. All this, while Joe's stupid hand distracts him again?? The worst!]

Right... Well, come on, let's get... un-famished? [just. just walk. in the end it's probably going to be burgers.]

[armanyo]

Heh. A dream come true. Lead on, McDuff.

[ joe likes a lot of foods. burgers are fine.

the hand slips away from his shoulder, as these things tend to happen when you're walking side by side with your best bud at the mall. however, what doesn't normally happen that is quite indeed happening right now is said hand knocking ocassionally against daichi's hand. what do you know. ]

[keeptrucking]

[For a brief few moments, Daichi can confidently (he thinks) lead the way to this burger place. A whole short time. He can casually ignore the first hand bump, but after that... is... is Joe doing this on purpose? Is Joe also 12—]

S..so, like I was saying, they have this soda machine that looks like it came off a space station... [you know, that kind with like 50 flavors??

He is in Crisis.]

[armanyo]

[ joe is twelve. ]

Yeah? You can really add vanilla to anything?

[ joe please no. the twelve-year-old hand bumping continues, never manifesting into anything more even as they near the burger place. but by god does he look entrenched in this ridiculous conversation. he's so entrenched in whatever daichi is saying it's surreal. ]

[keeptrucking]

[12-year-old hand bumping is surreal enough without Joe being so apparently fascinated by vanilla soda flavoring. This is probably the longest anyone has listened to Daichi talk about total inane nonsense... ever? Besides Hibiki who has a Best Friend obligation.

Anyway, he's going to go crazy if Joe hand bumps him one more time.]

Sure! Not, like, water - but the rest, yeah. Come on, I'll show you.

[They're near enough that he can just... reach over and... and no, he grabs Joe's elbow to steer him toward the space soda machine. A nice try.]

[armanyo]

[ the effort is what counts.

joe stands there, marveling at the thing, reading over the display menu with a lazy grin. it's truly a work of art. after a moment, he reaches for daichi's hand and actually uses it to begin guiding daichi's index finger to the screen. vanilla soda please! ]

You were right.

[ he's so fascinated. so fascinated he couldn't use his own hand. germs? something? there has to be an excuse. ]

[keeptrucking]

[Joe????]

Why wouldn't I be— what are you doing...? [He... will press the vanilla flavor for him, but also, why? Joe is losing his mind, one vanilla icon press at a time.

But Daichi is also twelve, and very much not pulling his hand away like he's been burned or something this time. What level of intimate hand holding does this count as??]

Hellooo, earth to Joe? Are you still in there?

[armanyo]

[ he looks as if he's spacing out, stuck in thought.

admittedly, his hand is warm in daichi's and it's been awhile since he's held hands with someone, even for something as mundane as this. hell, there might even be a slight squeeze to daichi's hand before a true smile breaks through and.

and could this be? could he finally be getting his head out of his ass and confessing in a fast food joint - ]

We're going to mix all the flavors.

[ god save the burger joint. ]

[keeptrucking]

[Daichi hardly holds hands with anyone outside of buddy system field trip type situations - you know, when he was actually 12 for real, so this after the rest is kind of doing weird flippy things to his heart that he can't say he knows what to do with. He's no stranger to the inner workings of passion...!!

But for Joe, really? This is his taste now? That thought is cut short when Joe smiles - oh yeah, definitely. goddamn it. - and Daichi is nodding before really listening to what the plan is.]

Okay, sounds... waaaaiit, why? You might as well just drink sugar.

[armanyo]

[ why he asks. why! joe doesn't actually know the reasoning behind that besides the fact that he's just insanely curious what all those flavors will create. ]

Eh, where'd your sense of adventure go?

[ the hand remains firmly grasped around daichi's and is slowly pressing the pour option on the machine. there's a drizzle of vanilla! ... now to guide it to the cherry.... ]

[keeptrucking]

[A mess. They're going to make a mess. A primordial sugar ooze.]

I'm adventurous! I'm sooo down for adventure. When it isn't going to turn my insides into candy, anyway...

[Here's an idea: only Joe drinks the bad idea drink. Great! That's settled; Daichi dutifully selects the cherry flavor.]

[armanyo]

[ he was just going to sample it! not consume it in its glorious, glucose entirety. have some faith!

after the cherry comes the orange and then the grape. this is a hideous mess already but joe seems delightfully entertained by guiding daichi's hand around on the screen, watching the drink contents turn grosser and grosser. ]

Only a few more. Heh, I wonder if there's a Challenge built around this? Or a Medal? I wonder if we could convince Ronnie or Yams to try this?