Kariya woke up like a switch being pulled– exactly at eleven because he could never sleep much later. It was dragging himself out of bed that was hard, not waking up. It was the warmth and how utterly relaxing it was, despite the hot mugginess splashing in through the open window with the sunlight. He left it open at night to let the cold air in, but in the mornings, the Shibuya heat was like Hell, which was always ironic to him.
But somehow, he dragged himself out of bed anyway, even if it was more like flopping out. He landed like a cat, shaking the sleep out of his head, and clambered to the window, snapping it closed and feeling the heat stick to his body.
He stumbled into some underwear, and then halfway through getting his shirt on, he seemed to remember how to get his equilibrium back on track and he was all walking lazily and easily off to his tiny kitchen, picking his way through the mess of his room. He shoved a mug into the coffeemaker and fished a bowl that looked (maybe?) clean out of the sink, rinsing it a few times, then dumping some cereal and milk in it. He plunged his spoon in, not even bothering to sit down, when there was a knock on the door.
He glanced ruefully at his cereal, because he knew it was Uzuki, and he knew he would only get back to his cereal when it was too late, and he knew he hated his cereal soggy. He went to the door anyway because he also knew that if he didn't, she was perfectly capable of blowing his door to smithereens.
She knocked again, and he opened the door and her fist was so close to his face, he had to choke back his greeting. "Finally," she expressed, patting his cheek before he turned without a return and not-quite-so-slowly made his way back to his cereal, taking a tenacious bite.
It was a miracle!
He sat up on the counter as Uzuki scrupulously ignored the mess everywhere and perched herself on the counter. "First day of a boring week," she said drearily, picking at a hangnail.
Kariya shook his head, swallowing the rest of his breakfast and dumping it in the sink before running his hands through his bed-head of a hairstyle– limp. He snagged his mug from the coffeemaker and reached for the sugar. Uzuki hooked the container with a finger and pulled it toward her. Kariya's glare was rewarding. She only saw him loose his cool in the morning.
"Too sleepy for games, Kari?" she teased, holding the sugar cup to her mouth and pressing the warm crockery to her lips.
He took a deep breath, set down his coffee, and smiled. It chilled her a little, when he smiled and it was still morning. "Nope, never." His smile was a challenge because he was a little frustrated.
She smiled back at him, pitying. "If you don't have a bit of artificial sugar today, I'll surprise you at the end of the day," she claimed.
For a moment, he stared at her, then his eyes flashed though his eyebrows had knitted together. "Alright. You're on."
She opened her mouth to make a snarky comment, when instead she said, "Naw. Make it a week, and it'll be double the surprise."
He hesitated, then grinned. "Zing. You got me." He shrugged, taking up his mug again. "Okay. Deal. Did my cereal count this morning? Cap'n Crunch and all?"
Snorting at that, she passed the sugar back to him. "Starting now."
He obediently put it to the side and pushed off the counter, the morning shedding off him in face of the challenge. Taking a swallow, he grimaced, then smirked at his own reaction as he picked his way off to the bathroom. "How awful. How will I ever survive?" He added, after a moment and loud enough through the walls, "I like this game."
When she laughed, she couldn't see him dump the coffee down the toilet.
"You know," Kariya began. "I think I may be dying."
"Again?"
He pulled himself up off the bench like an old man to prove his point.
She followed, a little more spry, but still feeling the heat collect in the black of her clothing. He knocked his sunglasses farther up his nose, saying, "You're buying me ramen."
Laughing, she shrugged. "Yeah, okay. Fair enough."
He spared her a glance, wondering why she would possible agree so quickly. He took a quick breath. "Hey girl, what's that surprise?"
Her eyes narrowed, folding her arms after a coy flip of her hair. "How should I know?"
"Tell me it's worth it."
Smirking, she rolled her eyes. "It's a surprise, Kariya. Part of the prize is finding out what it is."
When they stepped through Ramen Don's door, he took a deep breath, then let it out in a great whoosh, knocking the heel of his hand against his forehead a few times to try to forget that he was sorely missing the sugar in his veins.
"Here, this'll cheer you up," Uzuki claimed, passing over the yen for what she ordered.
"What will?" he responded, sitting at the bar and looking over at her curiously.
She produced a bowl of steaming Mystic Ramen, shoving it into his elbow. "But you're sharing it with me."
He blinked. "Fair enough."
The noodles were sweet and savory and hot on the tongue, slippery and a little impossible to get out of the bowl, but worth it. It was a war with Uzuki over the last slice of pork, but finally Kariya let up and let her have it.
She took the bowl up and took a gulp of the broth, passing it to him. He put his mouth to the other end, though she peered at him a little too intensely. "Wut?" he muttered around the lip of the bowl, setting it down.
"What's with you and your lollipops, anyway?" she said, crossing her legs and lacing her hands around her knee.
"Why you want to know?" he responded casually, taking his sunglasses off and wiping the lenses on the cloth of his shirt. His lips still tasted salty.
"It's just, have you ever gone a day without them?"
"Oh, sure," he assured her, then took up the bowl again and finished up the broth. Before she could continue on that line of thought, however, he got up. "Still starving. I vote hotdogs."
"You never told me you were starving!" she said, following him out the door.
He cast her a look over his shoulder. "I'm always hungry. It's a curse."
She scoffed, "Only a guy would say that." but picked up her pace anyway, white boots falling in step with his own white shoes. "And hotdogs are awful. They're nasty."
Kariya shrugged. "I like how they taste imperfect."
"That's crap."
He shrugged. "Apparently I've got a taste for imperfect things." He nudged her just to see her get riled up over that.
Indeed, it was successful and her expression flashed with a bit of anger.
Smoothly, he continued with, "But hey, polar-opposites, they say."
That caught her blinking, but only after she opened her mouth for an angry retort. "Are you saying I'm a perfect–"
"Yup." He cut her off loosely, just in the right spot, and didn't say anything more.
Effectively, she was silent the rest of the way and next thing, they were slipping into the Mexican Dog and into a seat. The cushions were tattered and a little grimy, but apparently the food was decent and it hardly looked worse than his bedroom did.
Uzuki seemed roughly appalled, especially about the (apparently 'decent') food as Kariya went to gather it. "It's burnt," she said disgustedly.
"It's delicious," he countered.
She peered at a mustard-soggy bun and gagged, and all that accomplished was getting a laugh out of her partner.
In the act of shoving a hotdog into his mouth, he suddenly looked up. "Ey, 'ook oes ere!"
She snarled, "Gross, Kariya!" but looked around anyway.
Neku and co. had just stumbled through the door, laughing of all things, Shiki socking Neku in the arm and Beat looking like someone had been scrubbing at his face for quite a while until he was red as a… heh… Beat.
Kariya watched them, a sort of curious, pleased look crossing his features. "Seems like they're all getting along."
Uzuki huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "To bring them all back to life, He must've really gained a soft spot for them."
"Or just for Phones."
She looked at him sideways, placing her hands on the table and giving him an intense stare as Kariya ate another hotdog cooly.
"Do you know something I don't, Kariya?"
He smirked, leaning back and picking up a fry. "Remember, your just a spring chicken. I know everything more than you do."
Flushing in frustration, she pulled out her phone and glared at the screen, ignoring him as best as she could.
"Yo Lolly, Pinky!"
'Lolly' looked away from 'Pinky' slowly, eyes landing on Beat and letting his eyebrows rise.
"Hello there, Bito," he greeted in return.
Beat went an angry red and began to deny the name immediately. Neku appeared by his elbow and pulled his earphones down. "Cool it, Beat."
Neku's expression was vaguely suspicious as he gave a nod to the two Reapers. "Still a bottom link, Uzuki?"
She swallowed her lividity surprisingly well at that, so Kariya let her handle it as he dipped his fries in his shake. "Is living still boring as Hell, boy?"
Kariya snorted as she delicately crossed her ankles and ate a fry while slapping his fries away from his mouth with a warning glance.
Neku simply smiled, an interesting expression to see on his face and said, "You can bet your boyfriend on that."
This time, Kariya flung out a hand to keep his partner in her seat when she gave a frightening growl. "Easy there, Uzuki. He's just messing with you." He abruptly turned the conversation away from that fragile topic and said, "Well, living seems to suit you pretty nicely."
Neku deadpanned with, "It might be because we like it better this way." and slipped into the booth with them, pulling Beat after him. Beyond them, Rhyme and Shiki were ordering the food, talking between them .
"Then we're all content," Kariya said, "Aren't we?"
Uzuki pushed his arm down, as it was still in its careful position over her stomach and snatched his shake away. Her scoff was bitter, staring frostily down at the cup.
With another glance down at his food, Kariya decided that they could leave soon. He ate the third hotdog quickly, then gave a curt smile to both Beat and Neku as he left the booth and pulled the bristling Uzuki along with him just as Shiki and Rhyme approached the table. Close call.
When they were safely out of the restaurant, Kariya gave her a careful look, a mulling one behind his sunglasses. "Don't let them get to you, Uzuki. It'll ruin your whole day."
She stuck out her jaw stubbornly. "We could be working right now. I hate vacations."
"You don't have to hate them," he suggested. "But if you want something to do, you can help me clean up a bit," he said with a grin.
"You're joking." She crinkled her nose.
His chuckle was deep. "Maybe not."
"There is no way you meant that seriously. What you really meant to say is, 'if you want something to do, you're welcome to clean my apartment for me'. Well, I'm not your maid." Her expression grew dark.
"I sure hope not," he began. She gave an low, angry yowl, reaching out to snatch the front of his shirt. "Because I certainly couldn't afford to pay you," he finished calmly, brushing her offending hand to the side and reaching inside his pocket to take out his keys as they approached his building.
"You're supposed to be calming me down, not making me angry," she exclaimed, pushing her hair out of her eyes.
He grinned. "I know. It's a breath of fresh air, isn't it?"
"And," she added. "That shake was totally artificial sugar."
He raised a hand in pledge. "I never had any of it."
"Yeah, but you will totally cheat. You would have eaten those disgusting shake-drenched fries if I hadn't caught you. How can I know you won't? Cheat that is?" she said pointedly.
He just gave a hum of thought as they climbed the stairs.
"Well?"
He inserted the key in his door, then before turning the knob, looked to her over his sunglasses. "I guess you're just going to trust me," he said quietly, oddly, and then opened the door wide and welcomed the sight of his pig-sty apartment room with a slow waft of muggy heat.
He really ought to call about his AC.
While he stepped over all of his crap, what he suggested swam around in Uzuki's head, and she couldn't figure out why it made her feel like someone had run their fingers up her sides. Trust your partner.
Certainly, that phrase applied anywhere.