Alone Together

16: Homicidal clouds and coupons

Sometimes when Ryou was upset, he'd make tea, or watch TV, or read a book- anything to get his mind off of whatever was bringing him down.

Mariku's methods seemed quite...unorthodox.

There was the touchy flirting, for starters. Ryou couldn't wrap his head around how that made him feel any better, but as long as he recognized the boundaries, Ryou didn't mind.

But then Mariku was rude. Insults and crude humor; somehow he found joy in that, too. Ryou couldn't place where that was coming from, other than directing his hurt somewhere. Perhaps Ryou would talk about that when he was ready.

It seemed that when Mariku wasn't looking to pin Ryou to a wall, he wanted to make him cry.

Not too far into the day, Ryou got up from his bed and headed toward the kitchen. He searched through the junk drawer that seemed like a bottomless pit until he found what he was looking for.

"Hey, Mariku?" Ryou called out for him, wondering if he was even listening.
No response followed, so he said, a bit louder, "Mariku!?"

"What? What? What do you want?" Mariku stuck his head out from behind the door frame, slightly annoyed.

Ryou tried to hide the fact that he stepped back in a bit of fear, but ended up doing an odd stumble.

"...you wanted to show me your dance moves...?"

At this, Ryou grinned shyly as an embarrassed blush tinted his cheeks. "N-no! I just wanted to ask you if you want to go out for ice cream."

He raised a brow. "...are you asking me out?"

"No! I just..." Ryou sighed heavily and straightened his posture. "You seemed a bit upset lately. Ice cream always seems to cheer me up when I'm down, and..." He waved the little paper in the air with an innocent smile. "I have a coupon."

Mariku stepped out of the room entirely, this time, where Ryou could see that, again, he was shirtless.

Ryou added, "And maybe we could go clothes shopping too?"

"Are you implying that I put on a shirt?"

"No! No! That's not what I mean!" Again he fumbled over his words, becoming a flustered mess that couldn't seem to get the right message across. Oh dear...he is quite fetching without his shirt...

Mariku looked down at himself, wondering what Ryou was so fixated on. He knew exactly what it was (the abs he'd eat pancakes off of, if he could), but decided it'd be more fun to watch Ryou become a broken record that stuttered over everything.

"Is it my nipples? Are they oddly shaped?" He pretended to feel insecure and covered them. "Well screw you; I like my nipples!!!"

"No! NO! Your nipples are fine!" Ryou was getting frustrated with himself. "I just want to go out, get some fresh air? Sitting in here all day isn't going to make you feel better."

"Oh. Well why didn't you just say so?" Mariku cracked his neck both ways and said, "What if I was lactose intolerant?"

"ARE you?"

"No."

Ryou said, "Okay, then. Would you like to go for ice cream?"

Mariku threw his shirt on over his head and placed his hand on his chest like Ryou had just asked him to the ball. "I'd be delighted, Creampuff."

Smiling, Ryou took his hand, believing that he could really make Mariku's day. "Wonderful! Let me just get my things together."

With his wallet, keys, and phone in his pockets, and his head held high, Ryou left the apartment with his new flatmate in pursuit.

They had already started walking along the sidewalk when Ryou looked up and saw the clouds in the sky; they were big and dark and kinda scary lookin'.

"Do you think it'll rain again?" Ryou said, wary. "Should we go back an get an umbrella?"

"No. We'll be fine. We can just be quick."
When Ryou felt a hand grab his own, he looked up to see Mariku's grin.
"Just in case we cross the street."

"...what?"

"You hold someone's hand when you cross the street, Creampuff."

"Yes- until you're like, twelve!"

"You've been living in danger all your life. I'm just protecting you."

Ryou sighed and smiled in defeat. "Okay. Whatever you say."

Mariku frowned, but hid it well enough. Still, that totally backfired! What happened to Ryou being creeped out by everything he did?

By now, their fingers were entwined as the walked past the cars. Ryou squeezed Mariku's hand a little tighter as the little numbers on the light at the end of the crosswalk counted down further and further.

He wasn't quite sure why he did, but Mariku squeezed his hand too.

Finally they walked into the ice cream parlor, and it seemed that because of the weather lately that they were the only ones there.

After ordering their ice creams, they sat at the bar beside the window and looked out at the city streets that seemed quite busy, even though the clouds looked homicidal.

Hoping to break the awkward silence, Ryou asked, "Do you like the rain?"

Mariku shrugged. "It's sky water. Not enough motive to hate it."

Ryou nodded, only because he didn't have much else to say.

This was going to be a long evening.

<><><><><>

Yay! I finally updated!
I know this chapter may seem like a bit of a drag but lately I've been feeling a little more inspired so imma try to pick myself up.
Thanks for sticking around this long!