Fandom/Pairing: Elsword; none
Rating: K+
Word Count: 2,611
Summary: Lunatic Psyker has been acting strange lately. Mastermind has his theories on why, but soon learns that making assumptions about the brawler is often faulty and that he needs to reevaluate his personal bias.
LP is tsundere and MM is clueless
Papers crinkled under Psyker's weight, elbows pressed against his workstation and maintained a tight grip over his pen. Black smudges smeared over the paper, thin streaks drawn down to his elbow. He kept his lips pressed, hand placed over his chin in deep thought.
If he collected spare parts from the ruins and… No, that won't work because he already did that last week. But what if Psyker attempted after doing reparations for… Psyker crossed his sentence midway in frustration and scowled.
Hours have passed since the brawler rose with the sun, his joints were stiff from sitting longer than what he was used to. Legs sprawled out and Psyker's face leaned forward in discretion to covering his writing with one hand. He tapped his hand in time to sound of Dynamo processing data in the background. Pages torn out from ancient books covered the bulletin on Psyker's side of the lab with their yellow pages glowing under the blinding light.
"You're hard at work."
Psyker looked up from his workstation, shoving papers into his back pocket and blinked. Initial confusion was quickly replaced with a mix of bemusement and concern. Hearing his own voice coming out of someone else's mouth shouldn't make him feel relief at the familiarity. Mastermind sounded like him, yet he didn't. There was a serene calmness in the scientist's voice, a ripple in a pond tugging Psyker's attention at every word. A shy smile peered from Mastermind's lips with the ponytailed man resting his chin over his knuckles.
Stunned by his counterpart's sudden appearance, Psyker gawked at the man in white. How long did Mastermind watch him mumble to himself? Glancing at his finished glass of a protein shake he had downed an hour ago, Psyker shook his head in silence. Come on Lusa, say something!
Looking at his counterpart did little to offer Psyker words in explaining himself. In a freshly pressed vest, Mastermind's hair was thrown into a messy ponytail, bunched up with white strands spayed out from the top of his head not unlike a potted plant.
"So are you," was Psyker's intelligent response. The brawler choked at his answer, palpable pauses thickened between his words. This was not the conversation he had planned.
"You've been quiet all morning," Mastermind had his hands hovered over his keyboard in the middle of typing a sentence. His eyes left the screen to look at Psyker's, a gaze holding much judgment. "And talking to yourself…"
Now it was Psyker's turn to look at the scientist with surprise, before flashing a toothy grin and beaming, "I'm always talking to myself!"
"Spare me the terrible jokes," Mastermind hid his face behind his hands. "This is a serious question."
"But I am serious," the brawler laughed.
Maybe it was sleep deprivation or because the nerd was puffing his cheeks over Psyker's cheekiness, but the wide eyed expression made the scientist look younger in those brief moments. The scientist forced himself into feigned annoyance, albeit a shy but visible smile peering at the corner of his pale lips.
In contrast to his bedroom, Mastermind's workspace was in disarray - a collection of coffee mugs occupied a corner of his desk and a charger station for the scientist's electronic devices. A jumble of holographic screens and rows of tabs opened to the point that Dynamo's clock was out of view. Code: APOCALYPSE spelled out on one of Mastermind's many screens, an unfamiliar name.
"A new install?" Psyker leaned his chair back to see.
"Still a work in progress," Mastermind admitted. "Need to work out the details before making the prototype."
Psyker's hand phased through the holographic screens, awed at the other's ambition, apparent by the numerous equations and designs covering all the screens. Mastermind did all of this, he thought with a mixture of wonder and envy, but where would that put him? With Nasod Armor complete, what was there left for him to achieve except to continue pushing his body to its limit? There was only so much the human body could do.
"You're not training today?" Mastermind noticed the brawler unmoving from his spot.
"I have research too," Psyker said, pausing to wipe the dust from his glasses with one corner of his shirt before gently pushing them up his nose bridge in irritation. Light reflected off his classes and obscured his eyes from view.
"Tell me more."
Huh? Magenta eyes fell over the brawler with newfound interest. Attention diverted away from his own set of Dynamo for Psyker to look at his counterpart. Psyker shifted in his seat with sudden uneasiness. The paper in front of him might as well have nothing because he lost his voice and train of thought, gasping for more time to gather his feelings.
"What could possibly be stealing your attention away from me?" Mastermind drawled, "unless it's the Queen's codes~"
"That's not it," Psyker interrupted the scientist with a scowl. Mentions of the Queen reminded Psyker of the old lab he had before he met Mastermind, a tattered building unoccupied after the demon invasion in Velder. Unpleasant memories clouded his conscious mind on the sleepless nights he spent in the lab Vanessa gave him until it was destroyed by Elbrat and company.
"Then what is it?"
Searching for answers, all he could read were concern and curiosity in Mastermind's features in that reminded Psyker of a cat. Chuckling at the comparison, Psyker relaxed when Mastermind bobbed his head into a nod of encouragement. Mastermind was listening.
Ask, Rena encouraged when Psyker asked her the other day. The Grand Archer giggled in his memories, it sounds like you've been putting a lot of thought into it.
But for how long? Would it be too late to backpedal on the idea of asking yourself to lunch? What did people do on dates? The books the brat named Aisha read made no sense on romantic etiquette. Why were evil mother in laws involved and why did one of them keep getting ran over by cars? Mother in laws were out of the question for both of them and why was it always expensive restaurants with food no one liked? Was that something Mastermind would expect?
Psyker pretended none of this went through his head and nodded, feeling his face heat up.
"Lunch. Want to have lunch with me?" Subtle, Psyker forced a weak smile, "There's this code I'm having trouble with. I thought you would know something about it."
"You want me to help you?" Brows rose and Mastermind frowned. Bad sign? Was the scientist looking at him in disapproval, or the idea that there were unsolved codes lying around without his knowledge?
"Yes?" Psyker's voice cracked. "At the cafe across the armor shop?" They had Mastermind's favorite pastries.
"Sure..." Mastermind rubbed his forehead, perplexed by his invitation. Psyker could already see the wires whirring with the ponytailed man running through unlimited possibilities as he spoke. "Tomorrow?"
"Yes," Psyker was quick to answer with more eagerness than his pride would allow him to admit.
"Then it's a date," Mastermind chuckled.
Psyker's heart fluttered erratically to Mastermind's laughter. Not maniacal, but a soft one the scientist made with his eyes shut and an all knowing smirk like he held a secret no one else knew. Psyker let out a happy sigh of relief. That was easier than he thought.
"A date, huh?" Psyker brushed his cheeks to discover they were still warm and looked away, failing to hide his smile.
Mastermind liked making notes on what he saw, things he had planned for the day, notes to himself on what to change for the next project with the codes he found in ancient ruins. Even as he passed by a few stalls selling herbal medicine, his eyes fixed on screens projected by Dynamo of his to-do list. Clean the lab before leaving the house, check. Restock medicine because Psyker was a musclehead and used them all against mermen, done.
Rubbing his forehead with the side of his hand, Mastermind brushed off the last train of thought, running his fingers through strands of hair. How many more times was he going to have to rush to the stalls before Psyker learned? The shopping plaza was a twenty minute walk from their home in the outskirts of town, twenty minutes too far for the scientist's liking.
Despite his complaints - and Psyker teasing him about it ("Come on, nerd." He showed his teeth, "you need to see the sun more." What was Mastermind supposed to do? Photosynthesize?), leaving the lab wasn't entirely unpleasant. Velder had a mix of stalls for traveling merchants and permanent shops for residents. Stalls filled with goods and merchandise on display; some of them offered blacksmithing and alchemy services. The sharp herbal smell clashed with the sweetening aroma coming from the food vendors selling hot cakes on the streets. Mastermind sometimes stopped to buy one for himself, but he was meeting with Psyker today.
Mastermind narrowed his eyes on mentions of his counterpart. The brawler was in bright spirits today, waking up before the sun was up and his stupid singing in the showers woke him up to tell the other to shut up. No snide comments on that one, only Psyker giving him a cheery good morning and continued humming to himself. It was a familiar tune Psyker once sang to him.
Those codes must be archaic or frustrating for Psyker to that kind of enthusiasm when Mastermind offered to help. Books bared their weight inside Mastermind's bookbag. He brought out books he thought would help them on their quest to decipher whatever Psyker had in mind. When he asked to take a look, Psyker stuck out his tongue, "Nuh, uh. Tomorrow."
How childish, Mastermind snorted, but that was what made Psyker an interesting conversation partner. The brawler exceeded his expectations and more often surprised him with theories and concepts he hasn't thought of.
Psyker said to meet in front of the cafe, Mastermind scanned in search for the familiar spiky white fluff. He once touched Psyker by the shoulder to get attention, but the hairs stood up like porcupine quails with his counterpart cackling and pointing at him. Asshole, Mastermind thought with fondness. It was hard to stay mad at him when the brawler offered to make him coffee with that dumb impish smile of his. Where was Psy-?
Mastermind stopped walking.
In a black blazer with folded in collared sleeves underneath, Psyker was wore matching pants a tie loosely around his neck. Polished shoes and black gloves, his hair spiked to one side from excessive static electricity. Even Dynamo sparkled and shined with their beaming master.
Looking down at his own clothes, Mastermind had a white jacket over matching pants and a vest. He was no slob, but it was an exceptional moment where felt being underdressed for something he was unaware of. Nice clothes, sitting at a table outside a quaint cafe Mastermind once praised, and the hopeful looks Psyker was giving him. T-that couldn't be it, could it?
"Sorry I'm late," Mastermind stammered. "Did I keep you waiting?'
"Not at all," Psyker chuckled. How could he laugh it off like it didn't bother him? He should be calling him out and teasing him for losing track of time as usual. Small talk wasn't something Psyker had patience for, what happened to him?
"I, uh…" Mastermind held his book bag closer to his body, embarrassed at the revelation. "This isn't about the codes, is it? This is a date?"
No, that was ridiculous. Mastermind fought the temptation to turn the other way and storm off, his legs going stiff and staring into space to where Psyker was. A date? That was something Elbrat and friends sometimes talked about, a silly topic he couldn't understand and didn't want to understand, but Psyker…
"You didn't know," Psyker dropped his smile.
Mastermind felt his face heat up and shook his head, "I'm sorry."
He wanted to hide his face from his counterpart, overwhelmed and filled with embarrassment at the misunderstanding. Mastermind rewinded yesterday's conversation and searching for a specific moment when Psyker asked him. Were the codes an excuse to get him to agree on meeting up? How and why? Psyker wasn't one to show interest in dating up until the time he commented on the books the Elemental Master read, but who wouldn't be? The mage always had her nose buried in books she claimed were 'literature novelties'. Right…
"Hey, I'm not mad at you." Psyker stood up and reached for Mastermind, hesitance in his movement before awkwardly putting his hand down. Gods, why was Psyker apologizing when Mastermind misunderstood? He wanted to smack the brawler for holding blame on something that wasn't his fault.
"Is that how you see me?" Mastermind gaped at him.
He nodded.
Mastermind once thought Psyker was an idiot who sacrificed his brains for muscles, but like many of his assumptions, he was very wrong. Psyker was observant and had a keen eye for details Mastermind sometimes overlooked, but that wasn't what surprised the scientist. There was a softer side of him, fondness for teasing Mastermind many times and eyes crinkling when Psyker caught him sneaking snacks into the lab before dinner. Was he that clueless to ignore the obvious?
When did Psyker start seeing him in a different light? Was it when they stopped seeing each other as rivals, but more as friends as they relied on each other's research and experiments? Or was it when Mastermind woke up to be wrapped in a blanket in bed instead having his head on his desk in the lab?
"I should have been clearer and asked you again," Psyker said. "Sorry about that."
He grabbed Psyker by the arm, bringing his arms around the brawler's waist and cupping the other's face. Identical eyes met with equally redden cheeks, Mastermind afraid to blink. Was Psyker's skin always this warm?
"Stop apologizing," Mastermind brushed his hand over Psyker's hair. It was softer than it looked, like a paintbrush if it absorbed static electricity on a daily basis. "I'm the lousy date."
"You?" Psyker mumbled, "not much of a date when we haven't started."
A date! No matter how many times Mastermind repeated the four letter word, it didn't make it any less surreal. A foreign concept, but a curious one he had read about in books. Were their experiences what Psyker had in mind? He turned red thinking about something he once caught Void Princess reading. Chocolate and yarn? That couldn't be sanitary.
"It doesn't have to be that way."
"Masi?"
"What I mean is," Mastermind blushed and pulled away. "We can try an actual date, unless you don't want to."
He watched Psyker's scowl transform into an awkward expression, uncertain on how to react, but he caught the brawler's lips twitching upward. There was something endearing in seeing an uncommon part of Psyker, a vulnerable side of him that reminded Mastermind of a puppy. A lost puppy he had just kicked unintentionally under a metaphoric bus. Mastermind hated seeing his smile drop because of a dumb misunderstanding. Maybe he was the idiot of the two.
"Really?" Psyker asked. If Mastermind knew any better, his tail would be wagging if he had one. He coughed and crossed his arms, "I mean, yeah. Sure."
"I'm not sure what people do on dates." Mastermind confessed, "Are you sure it's me you want to date?"
This time, Psyker was the one surprised. He rounded his lips into an o-shape and beamed, baring his canine teeth, "Me neither! Guess we'll figure it out together."
"Together," Mastermind echoed and chuckled quietly. "I guess we will."
He liked the sound of that.