" I want that." He said, voice containing nothing aside from the calm request.
Ryder looked to match their gaze, attempting to figure out what had gotten their attention through the window. Once failing, he gave up and asked. " what are you wanting?"
The blonde sighed pointing to a stuffed sloth in a display just past the entrance.
" aren't you a little old for toys?" He asked,taking ahold of their outstretched hand, tugging them to move along. " I guess for those kind. So can I ask for a different kind?" He mentioned jokingly, watching the back of the others head as they walked on. Almost valentine's day, and they hadn't said a word on it. Surely it's just an expression based issue. Ryder has always been stoic, but he's never doubted he cared for him. He's not that expressive either, but they understood. Right? The thoughts pushed him to move forward to walk beside him, lightly tugging on their ponytail.
" What?" " Nothing. Just wanted to touch you. " He rolled his eyes, brushing it off like always. He never understood what loches obsession was with always needing to touch him somehow. Hair, hands, hugging. It wasn't too annoying, just strange. It had become more frequent lately too, which concerned him. Had he been fighting with his brothers again or steal something from his workplace? He was always clingy, but especially when something was wrong. Questions for later he decided, letting go of their hand to unlock the apartment.
Loche stared at him, waiting for him to go first. Instead he gestured him towards the door, so he gave and walked on in. He checked the time on the stove, looking back to Ryder " happy valentine's day. " He said gesturing to the clock. Once mentioned, suddenly everything made sense, but suddenly everything went wrong. The touching, the cooking, the stupid sloth " you forgot, didn't you?" The voice snapping him back to reality from the daze of what he missed, back to his life flashing before his eyes. Upsetting him meant upsetting the others. "No,I just didn't think it mattered." He lied, trying to avoid and push the topic off the table. Loche grew quiet after that, going to sit on the couch, throwing his legs over the other seat. Ryder internally sighed, the signal has been received. He pissed him off. " Why does it matter if you can't feel anything?" " Because it's normal. I want to and have always wanted to be normal. Why? Is it not normal to be upset?" There it was, the losing question. Yes is bad, no is bad. He shook his head , going to the bathroom. He'd need a bump to get past these mental gymnastics. Tipping the powder from the vial into his palm before taking a sharp inhale. He looked in the mirror before rinsing his face, cursing himself for wasting the blow he'd been saving and contemplating how to make up for this. He returned shortly after, raising his voice" so what the fuck did you get me ?" He didn't intend for it to be so harsh,yet it was already out there.
Loche stared back at him wide eyed. He was not intimidated like most would be, just surprised. After the shock wore off, he gestured to the fridge. " it's in there." He said matter of factly. Ryder held his breath for a moment before going to open it up. He couldn't get out of the wrong, could he?
It was a bag of batteries, a full grocery sack of batteries.
" yeah, sorry I forgot about it today. But I did go shopping. I couldn't remember what kind of batteries your favorite flashlight needed, so-Ow! What the fuck?" Ryder had tossed one of the packs at him, knocking him in shoulder. He sat back up, waiting for anything else to fly. He hadn't really forgotten or stole the batteries for valentine's day,but the joke was apparently too much for the other." that's sweet and all, but you stole a ton of these things. " " Sorry, officer. " He said, flipping him off and flopping over. He counted his losses , facing the back of the couch before getting dragged off, hoisted up, and brought to the bedroom. Lazy ending because no.
