"Honestly Zacharie, why is this even a thing?" The Batter poked at the plush spectre doubtfully with the end of his blackened bat.
"What, are you scared of the lil' ol' thing?" Zacharie stood on his tip-toes and strained to reach the prize on the shelf. The Batter made no move to help; he was actually rather amused despite the situation. The Judge leaped up onto the wooden board using his powerful feline hind legs and claimed one of the spectres in his jaws. He handed it over to Zacharie before announcing,
"I don't think those would be good for business; hate to say it my dear friend. Elsen are rather terrified of the entities, in case you haven't noticed yourself."
"That's exactly why they're 'a thing' as Batter so eloquently put it himself. It's to help them get over their fear by-" Zacharie began with an index finger pointed in the air, likely about to start rambling when the white cat interrupted.
"Yes, yes, I see your good intentions, but perhaps it wasn't the best idea, was it?" He gracefully waved a clawed paw at one of the Elsens staring concernedly at the little kiosk of stuffed spectres before he walked away briskly- almost breaking out into a run.
Zacharie only huffed and held the toy close to his heart-emblazoned chest. "I thought they were actually pretty cute."
The Batter chuckled lowly in amusement and Zacharie looked up curiously (he almost never witnessed much emotion- he really should laugh more often- and it was such a lovely sound). The Batter coughed and shifted awkwardly on his feet after realizing he let out what he deemed an unsightly response- because the righteous hero was not letting Zacharie's stupid antics get to him- he was not.
The Judge only cocked his head to the side in question before leaping down and merrily walking off. "Come now, we have yet to experience the true joy of this fine establishment!" He didn't bother slowing down for the two, knowing they'd catch up. Zacharie grinned sheepishly at the Batter, but the effect was lost on him seeing as the now-changed cat mask hid any emotions. The smaller of the two ran off to catch up to the Judge while the Batter slowly trudged on; trying to look indifferent and hide the slight excitement he felt bubble up in his gut and threaten to pull a smile on his normally-expressionless face.
After having defeated a school of river monsters while trying to enjoy a somewhat peaceful pedalo ride, the odd little bunch settled down at a plastic fountain to enjoy a sweet confection Zacharie called 'cotton candy'. The Judge sat in the merchant's lap and purred contently while the Batter licked at the remains of sugar on his fingers (sticky, sticky, he hated the impure feeling). He was not normally one for the addicting, drug-like powder the Elsen loved so much, but he'd make an exception. Just for today.
… Because it might be his only day here.. and he was spending it here out of all places, with Zacharie out of all people (not that there were many to choose from anyways). Instead of trying to figure out what his new quest should be. Suddenly becoming restless, he absently slipped his fingers in the flowing waves of plastic behind him; biting his lip and trying to come up with a way to tell Zacharie he should get going.
Noticing the slight change in the atmosphere, Zacharie lightly set the cat in the ground and grabbed the Batter's hand to lead him towards a rollercoaster. The man in turmoil allowed the contact- not really paying attention until he saw the tall hills and curving loops- to which he promptly dug his heels in. Zacharie almost dislocated his shoulder by the sudden step, but it left him unfazed. Instead, he released his grip and casually turned around. He stuck his hands in his jean pockets and exuded an air of cockiness.
"What's wrong, Batter? You look a little pale. You sure you don't want to fork over the credits and just be done with it now?" He taunted behind the grinning cat mask.
The Batter gave a side-long glance at the masked man before looking back at the towering rails. "You know I'm broke, Zach," He didn't whine.
"Weeeellllll…" He rolled and stretched the word, "you don't have to pay me today.."
The Batter whipped around to openly stare at Zacharie. Was he really letting him go that easily? Was the impure man finally showing some kindness? "Really?" He asked in a hopeful tone.
"Why of course! You'd only have to pay some interest for every day you don't pay, but-"
"I should've known," The hero talked over Zacharie and shook his head slightly. He sighed heavily as his hopes went up in smoke. This was Zacharie they were talking about here, what did he expect? The man only offered his usual chuckle and walked a few steps forwards. He called over his shoulder,
"You comin' or what?" Zacharie marched on without stopping because he soon heard the expected heavy footsteps falling behind him.
"Look on the bright side; at least you made some easy credits!" Zacharie patted the man's back who was hunched over a toilet. The Batter lifted his head slowly lest he get dizzier and tried to glare at Zacharie. Even behind the mask he seemed a bit too happy. He stood holding the Batter's black cap so it wouldn't accidentally fall into the bowl. The half-hearted attempt at a glare did nothing for Zacharie so the now-sick man responded weakly,
"Perhaps it was easy for you, but not for me," He wiped at his lips with paper towels. He threw the filthy thing at the trash bin nearby without looking, and Zacharie was slightly impressed that he managed the shot with precise accuracy while being distracted. The Batter spit into the bowl once more for good measure, then flushed it. He whipped around quickly wanting to escape the suffocating stall already and met a startled Zacharie head on.
The Batter simply stood before him, neck slightly bent so that he could look at where he assumed the smaller mans' eyes would be. After a few moments of terse silence, the Batter finally spoke up.
"What?"
"… Your breath stinks," Zacharie's tone implied that he wore a grin under the mask while saying this, and it infuriated the Batter. He shoved his way past him and strode towards the sink, considering swishing some around in his mouth to get rid of this 'smell', but shoved the idea away. Why should he care what some merchant thought; he didn't want to put filthy water in his mouth for the sake of another anyways.
"Gee, I wonder whose fault that is," He heard a chuckle emanate from behind him- way closer than he remembered- and looked up at mirror to see that Zacharie had gotten a bit too close for his liking. Well, he only saw the familiar black curls and cat ears pop up from behind his shoulder since the hero took up most of the space in the small mirror.
"What's this? The dignified king of OFF has such a sharp tongue? Maybe I've been hanging around you for too often," Zacharie moved to the side so the Batter could properly see him. He waggled a finger mockingly, "If you keep it up, one might even think we're friends!"
… The Batter didn't know what to say to that. He didn't understand most of what Zacharie was saying most of the time, but did he just deny the two being more than just merchant and customer? The Batter would've thought this entire day would've proved otherwise, but perhaps he was wrong.. Anyway, it didn't matter, he planned to search the library after this. Pushing off the sink's edge with two hands, he turned and snatched his black cap back from Zacharie and headed towards the exit.
The uniform-clad man was able to hear a faint voice as he strode away.
"Pity, I rather liked the hair.."
After a strange conversation with the Judge about a substance called catnip, Zacharie finally returned from the washroom. What he was doing in there that took up so much time the Batter didn't know, nor care to find out, but he clamped down on the weird sensation in his chest when he heard Zacharie's laughter once more.
"Pablo, don't bore him with your odd talk!" He chuckled as he picked the white fur ball up and gave a nice scratching behind the ears. The Judge's words were contradictory to his incessant purring.
"I wasn't boring him, you big brute! The Batter was actually quite invested in our conversation! He was the one who asked me what it was in the first place, isn't that right?" He turned his yellow gaze over to the Batter.
"Y-yes, that's right," He turned slightly and coughed into his fist, wondering why he felt so awkward all of a sudden. Zacharie only laughed again and the Batter found himself wanting to take a picture of the scene so he could always have it with him- but wait, what was that?
"… on the other ride!" The masked man began to pull the Batter along by the elbow, but the Batter shook his head and firmly planted his feet into the ground.
"Zacharie, you promised I wouldn't have to," And maybe because he knew Zacharie responded to more emotion than him, he emphasized, "you promised."
The Batter wished for the umpteenth time that Zacharie would stop wearing his mask so he could see his facial expression right now, but he couldn't, so he just shifted his weight from foot to foot impatiently. It was a nervous habit of his and he found himself doing it more around Zacharie than anyone else. About to spout off an angry, 'no!' and just leave already, the smaller man mumbled, "You are too cute for your own good," before reaching out to grab at his elbow again. "This ride isn't a rollercoaster; you'll like it, I promise that,"
"Well, this is heart-warming and all, but I'm a bit tired. I think I'll just go have a nap, but I must say, this was exquisitely fun! Let's do this again, hm? Tell me how it goes!" The Judge spoke up from Zacharies' arms and directed a wink towards him. He leapt towards a nearby kiosk rooftop and lazily walked away until he was no longer in sight.
Odd. Upon closer inspection, the Batter noticed that the tips of Zacharies' ears were red.
… Was this man blushing? Why? The Batter was a bit of a stranger to this, but he'd seen it on- (no, no, mustn't mention her name) Well. It wasn't that cold, was it? The Batter was partial to the weather, he was always cool to the touch, but still. Ah, well, Zacharie had his usual sweater on, so he'd be fine.
"Um. Anyway," The Batter inwardly cursed again, "What ride are you taking me on?"
"Oh heheh, it's not anything particularly scary like the rollercoaster," Zacharie jabbed a finger in the Batter's side.
"Quit it, you!" The Batter retaliated with a smack to the back of his head. "It's like you made those contraptions to purposely terrify everyone,"
Zacharie rubbed his noggin and muttered a curse. "Don't get your panties in a knot, the Ferris wheel is a lot calmer than the rollercoaster," He continued a moment later, "That really hurt y'know. You big meanie," He pulled his mask up a fraction to stick a tongue out at him, then quickly lowered it again and sped off.
Slightly stunned, the Batter walked with longer strides to catch up with him and called out an, "I'm sorry!"
Now Zacharie was the one who seemed shocked, but he quickly covered it up with a laugh.
Hmph. It's not as if the Batter didn't know how to be polite. He just never felt like anyone was worth it, really.
"Hey look, we're here!" The merchant pointed up at a menacing wheel jutting up towards the sky. The lights attached to it only made it seem more of a hazard in the Batter's mind.
"I was wondering what that was… I still don't know if I want to go in there," He looked over at some Elsen waiting in line, anxiously churning out their black fumes from their mouths.
"Nonsense, it's great! I mean, unless you're scared of height..?"
"No, of course not," The Batter swiftly denied Zacharie. He walked to the end of the line and looked at Zacharie expectantly. The latter only shook his head and joined the Batter, tugging on his arm.
"C'mon, let's just go in already,"
"Are you suggesting we cut all these Elsen? Wait, why am I even asking- of course you'd do such an impure thing," The Batter pulled Zacharie back to their original spot. Zacharie groaned.
"You didn't care about it when we rode the rollercoaster.."
"That's because there was no line," He firmly stood his ground. Zacharie only muttered under his breath in response. He tried leading the Batter away again but the stronger man held on tightly to Zacharie's hand. Zacharie looked down at their intertwined hands before quickly looking away and mumbling,
"Fine. But at this rate, it'll be getting dark once we get to the top and well, that kinda ruins the whole point.." He fumbled with the hem of his sweatshirt with his free hand and seemed to be.. pouting..?
The Batter unconsciously smiled at the sight before schooling his expression back to normal lest he get questioned. "Weren't you the one who so adamantly pushed me towards the ride? You can- as I distinctly remember you once saying- suck it up," He felt a smirk tug the corners of lips anyways.
"Pfft, since when do you listen to what I say?" Zacharie countered.
"You'd be surprised," The Batter gruffly replied, simply leaving it at that and only glancing through the corner of his eyes towards Zacharie. The smaller man grew quiet. Wanting to (oddly) reassure Zacharie, the Batter spoke up, "We can always come back at a later time. Perhaps after I find my answers," He didn't mean to include that last bit in, and he cringed inwardly after the words left him. As expected, Zacharie questioned,
"Answers? What answers? Do you mean why you came back and no one else did?"
The Batter hesitated. "That's part of it, yes, but let's just leave it for now. This is supposed to be fun, isn't it?"
Zacharie looked as if he were to pursue the matter, but in the end he dropped it in the favor of some more banter.
"Ah, so you admit it! You did have fun! Oh, it fills me with joy to hear you say that, Batter!" He pulled what the Batter assumed to be a coy pose and laid a sleeve-covered hand to over his heart. The hero only rolled his eyes behind his cap and lightly snapped, "Lord, don't start,"
Zacharie laughed in response and the Batter felt his chest do that weird clenching thing again, but he pushed it aside for now. Maybe later he'd reflect on it, when he was sucked back into the Nothingness (because honestly, he was pretty sure he'd go back eventually). As of right now, he had a nice (?) ride to look forward to with a certain merchant.
He didn't notice until now that he still had his fingers laced together with Zacharie's, but he let the matter go and continued the contact.
AN: Hey guys, I'm alive! Sorry for the long waiting time, I don't really have much of an excuse.. euo; But hey, I think I'm back into writing- at least for now- so if you'd like I can write up another chapter of this! I could just end it here, but I don't know. I feel like there wouldn't be much more to write about after this. Let me know what you guys think.