dumbshow | answer your god damn phone

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answer your god damn phone

[How many calls had he missed from Leorio alone?

Honestly, he preferred not to look at the number. It was wrong, but this wasn't something he could pull any of them into. He'd been wrapped up in his own little world, paying attention to the news enough when it related to his work and his end goal, and while he could have gone to the elections or even to visit Gon (his comrades had, after all), he decided against it. Visiting would have just opened up a whole can of other problems.

Maybe it went against what he'd been thinking before, but he had matured a bit since then. With the Spider desperately working to repair itself, and plenty of its members still on the move, Kurapika had to consider how to handle them-- but he was also sitting right on top of the location of the eyes of his brethren. He had to work up to it, and well... That's what he'd done.

There were a large amount of them recovered (he had to deal with a lot of people to get this collection) and given funerals, but it wasn't enough until he had every last set. There were still leads to follow, and so he continued to climb and gain Nostrade's trust.

Trust, though, is what leads him to pulling his cell phone out now. A strange illness was breaking out in the Nostrade organization, and it was worrying Nostrade himself. A few of his workers had already died, and panic was growing. He demanded that Kurapika find him someone to find out what was going on, but to be sure it was someone they could 'trust', because this could very well be an attack on them.

A doctor that he could trust? His first thought was that there was none. But after just a moment's more hesitation, he gives in and speaks his understanding clearly to Nostrade, hitting the call button on his phone and stepping away. His opposite hand curls at his elbow as he waits. This is pulling him in, but if it's just Leorio... It'll be easier to keep him in the dark about a lot of what he's been doing.

He'll use that to justify this selfish decision.]

Leorio?

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[It's a good thing he does it, too. Kurapika had been set on returning to the other mess of a car, and while he was in no state to drive, too... But Linssen gives them one last look (what the hell is this tall guy's problem, does he want to go???) before nodding at Kurapika. He can drive... he guesses.

Kurapika frowns the slightest bit, turning back to face the tug before giving in and shuffling in to the backseat of that car.

It has Melody, too. Is this really a good idea? But he'll keep quiet on that front and stare out the window, instead.]

Is everyone okay? [That's the time he'll speak, once they're driving, and a slow glance to Leorio tells him he's asking him, too. Maybe most of all.]

[Honestly, that wasn't hard to predict... Leorio's suddenly pettily angry at everything; the backseat of this car is not made for people who are this tall, his back still hurts, his clothes are ruined and he'll punch that one guy in the face if he keeps looking at him-!! It's all he can do to just slouch down in the seat and stare glumly at the back of the one in front.

But Kurapika is next to him and not trying to drive. (Leorio realizes dimly, then, why that car from before is wrapped around a pillar. Goddamn.) He doesn't say anything other than making an irritated noise of acknowledgement, but under pretense of needing more room for his mile-long legs he fidgets and presses his leg against Kurapika's.

He's okay. Melody says something about how everyone's hearts seem to be in order, which must relieve the others more than those of them who know she's only slightly making that up. Everyone else's hearts are in order, at least.

And they can ride in silence after that. When they get back Leorio refuses to be carried again and loudly announces that he doesn't want to do anything but go to bed now, just in case anyone thought he was going to go help report to Nostrade even a little bit. Haha, no.

He really does need to just drop, though, which is where he'll be after he more or less abandons the rest of the group: face down on his bed, half asleep.]

[After all that fear, the leg against his own is comforting. It doesn't stop the intense guilt that comes for inviting him into this situation to begin with, but at least for now they can stay quiet and enjoy each other's company on the ride back. Well... 'enjoy' as much as they could, after that. He appreciated Melody's white lie. His heartbeat was anything but fine.

Leorio heads to bed right away, and Kurapika doesn't stop him. He must be exhausted, going through all that, and so he watches him disappear as he's finishing up handing out orders and explaining conclusions to everyone involved or important. He feels faint, himself, so he wasn't too far from heading to rest.

But once he catches up with things and gets to the floor with the rooms, he finds himself stopping before Leorio's door uncertainly. He wants to check on him. To make sure he's fine and then slip away, maybe. Because sleeping in the same bed again would be too much, after everything else. It would encourage all the wrong things.

He lets his fingertips slide away from the door and backs against the wall nearby, instead, sighing down to the ground.]

[Melody finds him only a few moments later. She'd been searching for him, really, curious about his and Leorio's state from the beginning. She can hear the latter sleeping behind that closed door, and so she takes it as a good opportunity for a talk, stepping forward with a small smile.

She's just glad the both of them are okay, physically.]

You're uncertain about what you should do. [Off the bat, she reads him like usual, but Kurapika still isn't used to blunt comments like this. He blinks in brief surprise, letting out a cut-off laugh as he looks towards his own door across the hall. Melody continues.] But Leorio was very certain.

[His gaze is pulled back to her, and she takes that to mean an invitation to explain herself.] I could hear it in his heartbeat. The soft but constant beating, gentle yet firm, moving forward without hesitation like a drum-- He doesn't want to be anywhere but here. ['With you' is what she really means here, but saying that would be too blunt for Kurapika.]

[He thinks he knows this. He's suspected it, at least recently, and now he's faced it. But...]

It's too dangerous. If he keeps getting into scenarios like this--

If he keeps following you into scenarios like this, and you regret it and worry about it, isn't it your reckless pursuing of things that should be changed? [It's not often she interrupts. When she does, it's a strong, concerned opinion that she has.]

Kurapika, just a day ago, your hearts were the happiest I had ever heard them. The uncertainty and the hesitation only added to that beautiful song. [Linking her hands together in front of herself, she faces him more directly, looking very serious.] I believe... the two of you form a melody that can't be made by just anyone. Please consider that before you decide anything else.

[She knows that's enough to make him stop in his tracks, and so she bows her head and excuses herself, hurrying off.]

[That leaves Kurapika thinking in the hallway for another good minute before he leaves Leorio's side of it completely and enters through his own door. Melody meant well, he knew she did, but was it really so easy as changing the way he went into things? He had a goal. Goals.

The two sides of himself clash as he tears off the last of his clothing and he manages just the pants of his pajamas before he falls into his bed. He pulls the covers over himself and exhales halfway into his pillow, fingers curling at the sheets of his bed. When did this get so complicated? Should he try to sort it out, or go back to ignoring that any of it exists?

Eventually, he does fall asleep with a fever and a frown on his face. Tomorrow... Maybe he'll know better tomorrow.]

[Leorio sleeps, but it hardly does anything for him. He falls asleep in his tattered clothes, on top of the covers, one leg not even on the bed all the way— but he sleeps. It's far from restful, and when he groans awake the next morning (sore, he knew it), the only thing sleeping has done is make him more awake to experience how bad an idea sleeping like that was.

And the rest. The rest was a bad idea, too. Mostly; as he peels off his burned clothes to change into something else, he realizes with a new day's clarity that it might have been stupid, but Kurapika is okay and that makes it worth it.

Ah, Kurapika— Leorio only then notices that he's alone, that he woke up in much the same way he collapsed into sleep. Kurapika... Naturally, his first thought is Kurapika had better have gone to bed after all that, and then the vague discomfort of waking up without him at all gains traction and has him standing there, frowning at a pair of pants, thinking. He'd said they'd do it again - spend time together, share the bed, whichever - just a day ago and now a lingering feeling of he's not sure what is making thay feel like it was weeks ago rather than hours.

Kurapika must be angry, he thinks. Leorio would be- is, he is. It's harder to say now that they're all objectively fine, as much as he knows he should be nothing but furious.

... Well, he should get dressed.]

Edited (can't spell at 8am) 2015-01-15 16:04 (UTC)

[When he's made it to the hall, Leorio stops and frowns at Kurapika's door. He wants to go in, of course, but if Kurapika doesn't want to see him - or isn't there!! - then what?

It doesn't occur to him to stop and think about the choice he's made. Melody was right, of course; nowhere else but here. No one else but Kurapika. The heart can't deny it the same way words can (not that he's ever made a flimsy effort at all to try).

To his credit, Leorio knows it's... not the decision most reasonable people would make. But he's made it and he'll keep making it for as long as it takes for Kurapika to be free of all this. That's fine (relatively) by him.

So why the hell is he just standing there? He remembers with a sick jolt the look on Kurapika's face yesterday— he cried. He cried and then looked like there was nothing left in him after that.

That, more than the mafia and the violence, frightens Leorio. Kurapika is too important now- not just now, had been before too- for him to deal with losing him, especially like that.

So why is he just standing there? He should start with seeing if Kurapika is awake. Simple. Doable.

He smacks the door with his fist, because that's the surest way to guarantee his "Don't ignore me!" defense will carry any weight. Yeah.]

Kurapika- hey, Kurapika!! You awake?

[man what TIME is it]

[It's late enough in the morning that Kurapika should be awake by now. His annoying alarm that always goes off should have been enough, but oh, right, his phone was dead. And abandoned on the floor with his clothes.

The thumping isn't enough to wake him, even still. IT's Leorio's loud voice that has him shifting, squinting past the pounding in his head to sit up. He raises a hand to his forehead-- hot. Right, well, even with all of his training, he'd expected some sort of reaction like last time.

It feels less like he can't move. That might be good. Maybe because there was less rage overall? Or something else...

But oh, right, Leorio's at his door. He forgets momentarily that he doesn't have a shirt on, or he might make the poor man wait longer for him to find one. Tired, his voice will make its way through the door.]

Leorio? [He sits up further, looking around the room.] What time is it? I-- [Ah, he slept in. He slept in...] Come in.

[What time is it indeed. Leorio answers as he swings the door open to walk in-]

Late, I dunno. How long were you up after- [A beat, and he decides to abandon that question as he takes in the sight of Kurapika.

Jeez. The door shuts behind him as he crosses the room and immediately puts a hand on Kurapika's forehead to confirm he has a fever. He remembers the last time this happened, of course-]

You look terrible. How do you feel?

[Terrible, perhaps??]

I'm fine.

[Grumpily, he swats that hand away. The last time he was out of action for days. He is not dealing with that again. Stubbornly. Through sheer will power!!]

I should be asking you that. [He seems less lifeless than yesterday, at least. But he's not yelling or scolding like he normally would be. Instead, he's just giving Leorio a serious stare.]

Are you still hurt? I wasn't at full power when I used Holy Chain on you.

[Rude. Leorio pokes him in the head lightly for that, but he'll reserve his demands for Kurapika to shut up and go to sleep for the rest of the morning. Which he should!!]

Never been better. [Flatly, because of course he's still sore as hell and now has his poor night's sleep on top of that. But,] I'm not letting you use it on me again, so don't try anything!

[And also scoot, he's going to sit down so he's not looming hugely over the bed here. For a moment all he does is frown at the opposite wall and make a frustrated noise. If he skips "Kurapika go back to bed," where should he begin?

Maybe fucking up and catching fire (twice), that seems good.]

... [mumbled:] Sorry.

[The poke to the forehead gets an irritated huff and he's about to mutter more excuses when Leorio... apologizes. He looks to him again at that. It's true that he was foolish, hot-headed, acted without thinking and caused a lot of trouble...

But they both had done that, hadn't they?

He moves despite Leorio's worrying, letting his legs dangle over the side of the bed as he watches that same wall.]

I'm sorry, as well. I lost control again.

[No, lie back down, what is this. Leorio glances at him, still frowning, then sighs as he gets an apology in return. That's- well, how much good does an apology actually do, after everything they did yesterday? He can't take back witnessing it all, but—it is good, on some level, to hear Kurapika admit he went too far.

Objectively. Leorio only wants him to stay grounded, when it comes to his- stuff.]

You sure as hell did! [huff. breathe.] But I guess I might have run in there without thinking...

Might have?

[If Leorio thinks he can scold him and let that roll as all, he's got another thing coming. But it is a good sign, that Kurapika's well enough to bicker like this.]

That was completely idiotic! I've never seen something so reckless... [Okay, that's an exaggeration.] The others even told me how you reacted before you left. What were you thinking?

[Precious glimmers of normalcy. Leorio's puffed up to argue back instantly- "Maybe you haven't fought in front of a mirror then!!" for example, but mercifully he's struck by supreme embarrassment before he can deliver that... brilliant rebuttal.

That guy!! He's going to deck him, he swears.]

I was thinking someone dropped a building on you when your call went dead! [Maybe this was an overreaction? Ah.] I brought backup.

[So there. It seems he's entirely forgotten he nearly kicked down Nostrade's private office door... whatever.]

That's only because you distracted me. [That his phone went dead, he means. 'Distracted', he says.] I wasn't able to charge my phone.

[He glances across the room at an uncharacteristically messy pile of his clothes, frowning. Ah, don't look at that-- but his still-dead phone is in there, somewhere.] I should do that now.

[So he gets up to do just that, tossing the sheets aside and over Leorio as he does. It takes him a few minutes, with his pride and trying to care about his appearance, but he finally does speak again, his back to Leorio.]

...I did appreciate it. Despite the way it was handled.

[Distracted. In fairness, that's not- inaccurate. But please be stuffier. Leorio sputters indignantly at him a few times, watching as he gets up (and an extra sputter for throwing sheets at him, come on).

By the time Kurapika is ready to speak to him again, he's regressed into a fine sulk, sitting there hunched over with his arms folded, giving everything else in the room grumpy looks. Kurapika...]

Hmph. I ruined a suit for you.

[The suit is much easier a sacrifice to talk about than all of those pesky abstracts, like taking a person-bomb for him. His suit!!]

I bought you that suit to begin with.

[Remember, when they bought him a bunch of suits and he probably thought it was Nostrade's money? Well. He shuffles through his clothing and pulls out the phone, plugging it into the wall there and then moving to fold his dirty clothes.

He's keeping his back to Leorio on purpose, too much thought revealed on his face. He knows Melody's words last night hold a certain truth, and he knows the feeling in his own chest, now, and he has a feeling he knows what Leorio is going to say if he just straight out asks this.

So he has to be creative in how he words it, right?]

Have you thought more about Nostrade's offer?

[Oh, Kurapika is the sugar daddy... embarrassing.

Anyway- Leorio looks over at Kurapika properly for the question about Nostrade, surprised. He mutters,] We're doing this now? [but when else would they do it, really...

Again, a sigh.] There wasn't any time.

[Extra 5 hours aside, he was busy being a dork around Melody during that time. He thinks about it now, frowning without directing it anywhere again; the offer.

... Well, he really doesn't want to join the mafia. But like he's loudly proclaimed at least a dozen times by now, he wants to leave Kurapika even less. After yesterday, no one would blame him for turning tail and getting out of there- he was on fire! He almost died! This way of life doesn't suit someone like him. He knows all of this. Working for Nostrade, as the- family doctor, or whatever... it might technically be helping people, but not in the way he planned.

He knows this, as well as he knows that if Kurapika is left alone, one day he'll get that look in his eye he had last night and it won't go away. Leorio is certain of that, and quite frankly he's not going to allow it!

On top of that, well—who's he going to have stupid arguments with and kiss and cram into a tiny bed with if not Kurapika? He likes that. And now he's going to make Kurapika say it.]

His offer sucks! [stay with him] What's yours?

My offer?

[He questions it aloud, sounding a little distant. Is that what he meant? Standing up, he sets his clothes (now folded) aside, and steps over to the door, locking it. Hm.

Turning in spot there, he leans back against the door and finally looks over to Leorio. He looks thoughtful, if anything.]

I don't know that I really have one.

[He locked the door? What? Leorio blinks, opening and closing his mouth a few times like he's- suddenly not sure where this is going.

He isn't, really. But he will act like it!]

Sure you do. Or— Just think of one now!

[He narrows his eyes a bit at that comment, but it doesn't last long. Seriously, he can't believe... this idiot, this huge, stubborn, hotheaded idiot... And he's here thinking about Melody saying their hearts were compatible in some way.

He pushes away from the door and moves back towards the bed.]

It's not that simple! [He doesn't want to say it so bluntly, either! He sits firmly next to Leorio again, sighing up at the ceiling.] All I have here is the mafia and my goals that make me more and more reckless. You have your schooling, your morals, and there's the subject of your well-being...

[That's a thing, yes. Finally, he looks down from the ceiling, fixing on a point across the room again. This wall must be very interesting, they both keep staring at it.]

If I had to summarize all of it, I think it would be that I don't want to lose you. [So, in any meaning of the word... He may have left out a few of his thoughts here and there.]

[Don't worry about him out loud, that's- okay nothing can beat being carried bridal style in front of those mafia guys, right now, but still!! Leorio glances between Kurapika and that very interesting wall a few times, thinking—

Really thinking, trying to pick out the actual answer to his question - because none of that was. Use your adult words, Kurapika.

He clears his throat.] You, uh—

I'm pretty sure we already covered that. The other day? [He said something dopey about not being able to leave??]

nodes......

smells like a scene change

and with that comes me narrating an entire fanfic with myself, prepare

bc melody's fucking cute and ships it in this psl??? because she basically does in canon

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also I MADE THIS DAMN ACCOUNT I'M GONNA USE IT

of course my lack of hooks is a problem, forgive me

i woke up 35 min before my alarm and thought, i'll do this

I'll write this 2 part tag of leorio having the same crazy loyal thoughts as usual, yes

i'm so proud, wipes tears from eyes

now I'm doing this at lunch, the thirst is real

as greer has said, we are in deep

20,000 nodes under the sea

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