Compass - Banana Fish x Reader

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: Neverlast

"Get your bony ass off'a me, you bastard!"

As expected, I had slept well into the afternoon, but that seemed to have struck a nerve with Ash, who was now sitting on top of me, crushing my body into the sofa.
"Then get the hell up." He replied, casually, yet with an obvious bite. He was definitely in one of his moods, and I must have been the easiest person to take it out on.

"I would if you fucked off!" I snapped back, fruitlessly trying to shove him off so I could sit up. Max wandered in from outside, wiping his hands on a greasy rag.
"Ash, quit bullying her. (Y/N), get up." Was he trying to be like a father figure? I didn't quite appreciate that, but at least Ash seemed to listen to him, finally climbing to his feet and freeing me from his rear.

Once I was upright, I flipped him off, and he reciprocated with equal animosity before striding out of the room. Clicking my bones back into place, I tried to psych myself into getting up to my feet, but it seemed like so much effort.
"Where's Shorter..?" I began to ask, midway through a yawn, and Max snickered.

"I thought you said you two weren't dating? You've been awfully cuddly with each other as far as I've seen." Giving him his own, slightly less aggressive flip off, I used the arm of the sofa to stand up, groaning as my exhaustion hit me.

"Yeah, well, things change. We have any coffee left?" Trying to change the subject, I waddled off to the kitchen, the sleeves of Shorter's jacket well past my fingertips.
"Nope. Fresh out. We have water. Sea or bottled." The older man replied, and I nearly doubled over in disappointment.

"Well, that's just great. Guess I'll just lay down and die." And that I did. At least I pretended to, lowering myself to the hardwood floor and sprawling out. Max came to stand over me, only slightly amused at my display.
"You really do have a flare for the dramatic, don't you?"

Masking trauma with comedy. A classic coping mechanism.

"I'll have you know, I was villager number five in my grade two class play." I stated confidently, lolling my head to the side and sticking my tongue out. "But, alas, I cannot tell you that, because I'm deceased. Please put Ash is a massive jerk on my epitaph."

Choosing to just step over me, Max threw the towel over his shoulder and grabbed two bottles of water out of the powerless refrigerator.
"Believe me, I get it, but I also get where he's coming from. He's stressed out. We all are. Besides, his mood only got worse when you and your lover boy got back this morning."

Worse..?

Dropping my deceased act, I sat up, making grabby hands at the other water bottle, thanking him when he handed it over.
"I was out cold by then. What, did he get the shits cuz we didn't tell anyone we went somewhere? We were just up at the lookout."

Taking a sip of his water, Max screwed the cap back on and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, looking up at the ceiling.
"Could be, but to me, it looked like good, old fashioned jealousy." That irked me a little, but at the same time, something inside me began to fizzle, just a bit. Something old and unknown to the current me.

"Uh, no. Definitely not." I grimaced a little, tossing the bottle back and forth between my hands, nearly dropping it more than once. "So, how's the truck going? Any progress?" Max seemed to take my conversational bate, and gave me a thumbs up.

"We should be clear to leave in the morning, as long as long as I can get my hands on some coolant." Hearing that made me rather downhearted. I loved it here in Cape Cod, but I understood that we needed to keep moving.
"Nice. I'll take a driving shift, as long as I'm not stuck with blondie again." Grunting as I lifted myself off of the ground, I waved over my shoulder as I went outside.

Squinting into the light, the first thing I saw was Shorter, shirt off and abs out as he laid across the porch, snoring lightly. A few feet away, Eiji and Ibe sat, chatting quietly.
"Afternoon, (Y/N)." Eiji greeted me with a smile, and I reciprocated, moving to sit by Shorter's head, reaching to comb my fingers through his purple tuft.

"Well rested, I hope?" Ibe added, watching along with me as Shorter shifted a little towards my touch, lips twitching upwards in his sleep.
"Nope. I got stabbed in the spine by a butt." I snorted, watching the light glint off of my new partner's eyebrow piercing.

"So that's what all the commotion was about." Ibe chuckled, stretching his legs out in front of him. "You two really don't seem to get along, do you?" Shrugging, I leaned my back against the wall, a leg either side of Shorter's head as I began to fluff up his mohawk.

"Well, he did uproot my entire life by kidnapping me, sticking a loaded gun in my mouth, getting me involved in a deadly war against my Uncle, and refuse to give me any explanation." I explained, a sarcastic nip to my voice, but not directed towards the Japanese men.

"But you don't hate him, do you?" Eiji asked, almost worriedly. "Sure, he can be harsh sometimes, but he's a good person." I found it rather cute, that Eiji was already so fond of Ash. Naive, but cute. He was already proving to be a great friend.

"No, of course I don't really hate him. Resent, yes, but I think that's justified. It wouldn't hurt him to help me out with all these repressed memories, though..." I didn't want to get into too deep of an explanation with them. Not yet. We barely knew each other, after all.

"That makes sense. I can't imagine how difficult that would be." Eiji sighed, looking out and up at the sky, which was beginning to grow warm in hue with an oncoming sunset. "I think I should maybe go look for him. He stormed out earlier."

Humming in agreement, I abandoned Shorter's hair, which caused him to stir in complaint as I climbed to my feet.
"I'll tag along. It's easy to get lost out here." Opting to just continue barefoot, I hopped down the stairs and joined him walking along the path, hands in my pockets. "So, what's Japan like? Much different from America?"

Nodding, Eiji made sure to look to me before responding, and I had to smile back at his polite nature.
"Very much so, for the most part. The food is a big difference. You guys fry almost everything." We both laughed, and I realised that I felt comfortable with him. He wasn't threatening, in the least, and he didn't seem to have a bad bone in his entire body.

"Less violence too, huh?" I looked up to the darkening sky as I sighed, trying to imagine what it would be like. "It sounds nice." My relaxation was cut short when I heard footsteps quickly approaching from behind, but when that large arm curled around my shoulders, I eased again.

"Could've invited me, y'know!" Shorter complained jokingly, falling into step with us as we continued on. "I like strolls too!" I knew that wasn't the reason he had followed. I felt the gun wedged into the side of his pants. He was playing bodyguard, just in case.

"We didn't want to wake you. You looked so calm when (Y/N) was playing with your hair." Eiji explained, much to my embarrassment, and I shrunk away from Shorter as he leaned in with a smirk.
"Awwww, angel, you're such a cutie! No wonder I feel so well rested!"

I'm still not used to my chest squeezing like this...

I let Eiji and Shorter chat between themselves as we walked, and I quickly regretted skipping out on a pair of shoes. The gravel on the path was harsh against my feet.
"Oh, hey, it's Ash!" When Eiji pointed down the hill, I followed his gaze, but my blood began to run cold when I realised his position.

Back to the outer wall, gun in hand, he was waiting. Listening. On guard. When Eiji began to jog forward, I tried to reach out and grab him, but I just wasn't quick enough.
"Eiji, n-"
"Ash! Hey, Ash!"

I barely had enough time to cry out when Shorter grabbed the two of us and dragged us to the ground, the deafening sound of bullets cutting through the night air. With Eiji by his side, Shorter covered me with his body, our eyes trained down towards the building, where Ash was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Shit...They've found us...

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***Uh oh spaghettio

Next Time: Without A Thought***