"Welcome back, Nezumi!" Shion called with a smile lacing the features of his face, though it didn't reach his eyes like it normally would with a childish sparkle, as he stirred the pot full of a creamy chicken soup.
"I take it the two of you made up if you're still alive, Iro." Nezumi stated with a nod towards me on the couch with a book on Japanese as he pulled his scarf and jacket off and hung them up on the coat hanger. He rolled his shoulders, along with his neck and rubbed the area where the two met with a small groan.
"Yeah, there's something about crying together that seems to bring people closer and solve all of their problems." I said with a small smile, my eyes scanning over a new sentence structure that I was struggling to understand. I suddenly realised that maybe learning a language in a few hours was probably impossible, now that I was actually thinking about it logically.
"How's the arm holding up?" The mouse boy asked as he sat next to me and rubbed his hands together and stared hungrily at the pie Shion had brought with him before coming home and finding me. He muttered about how good the food looked, going to steal a slice of tomato only to have his hand smacked away by Shion, who waved a finger at him with a look of a mother scolding her child.
At the comment my eyes left the worn pages of the text book and found their why to the boy sitting next to me. "Concern? From the standoffish Nezumi?" I began with mock shock, a hand placed over my heart as I leant back. "Who are you and what have you done with Nezumi?"
"Oh haha, very funny..." The boy replied with a roll of his eyes.
"You won't find a brain in there, Nezumi, so stop rolling your eyes." I waved off, going back to my book and mouthing out the words to myself because dammit, I wasn't a quitter!
Said mouse boy grumbled back at me, taking the bowl Shion offered to him and began to angrily eat it to keep himself busy. I was half tempted to roast him like a pine nut some more but left it at that and thanked Shion as he offered me a bowl for myself.
The dog that had taken a liking to Shion slept at the foot of the bed as we happily ate in silence, moving to the side once Shion had gotten himself a serving so he could sit next to Nezumi. We made small banter, though it was mainly between Nezumi and I as Shion would chuckle at us.
It wasn't long before we were eating the pie, the mice squeaking at us and after a bit I gave them a crumb each and giggled at how they held the piece in their tiny hands like hamburgers. It was incredibly cute!
"Hows that serum coming?" Nezumi asked as he took a bite out of his second slice. "Making any progress with that third option of yours?"
Shion finished the bite in his mouth and gave a disappointed smile, "I haven't been able to find all the tools I need..."
"That's too bad." I commented, giving the mice another crumb. "You need to make it before spring, right?"
"Mmm, but Rikiga's helping though!" Shion said, his smiling looking brighter than before.
"Good grief!" Nezumi all but chuckled and took another bite of his slice, "So you're relying on others?"
Shion hummed in answer with a small nod, looking out into space. His eyes moved as though he were reading a book he was stuck in, something he'd do when he absorbed information and processed it. It was a quirk that was interesting. I made a mental note to add that to one of my more air headed characters the next time I had the chance to write.
"Well... If you manage to destroy that wall, then I guess you won't need my help anymore." Nezumi said with a fond smile, surprising Shion with his words.
Though I couldn't fault the niveous haired boy for that, Nezumi was acting awfully optimistic about the whole plan Shion had when he'd usually preach a speech about how thing's were black and white.
"You'd be able to see your mummy, and that Safu girl, too!"
I flinched at that. Fuck... I forgot about that. I ate more of my slice of pie - which I was progressively thinking was more of a tart - but how would I know when the only pie I ever had was a good ol' Aussie meat pie - to distract myself.
Shion turned from Nezumi and looked down at the mice whilst wearing melancholy on the features of his face as he quietly agreed with Nezumi. The room got colder with the mood of the conversation became tense, all three of us dancing around the elephant in the room.
"So..." I said after a while, looking at Shion from under my lashes, "You gonna do the do with Safu?" I batted my eyes in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere of the room.
"I'm not sure, she may have lost interest in me."
"Honey," I wore an exasperated look like an old man wearing a winter coat, "she's wanting you to go into her wine cabinet and pull out a stiff one, if you know what I mean!" I said as I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively at him, receiving a laugh from both of the boys next to me.
"I swear, you're as blind as a bat." Nezumi said as he leant on his arms on his legs.
"I don't know much about girls, but I consider myself a good judge of character."
"Yeah, nah, that's cause you know a lot about boys!" I said, taking a bite of my pie/tart. "I should know, I saw you doing 'field research' myself!"
The two boys blushed a bright red, looking like tomato soup with a mop of hair each. I couldn't help but giggle at them.
The dog walked over to me and nosed my leg, wanting to go out, which I was grateful for because I needed to leave before I ruined this touching moment between Nezumi and Shion. I placed my piece of pie down next to the mice and let them go to town on it as I walked out with the dog, the thin blanket wrapped around my shoulders like a shawl to go on a walk with him.
I breathed in the smell of winter and ice, the wind bringing a chill that made me bring the shawl around me closer. I smiled down at the brown dog and picked up a stick before throwing it as far as I could and watched as the dog run after it, his tail wagging behind him.
He brought it back, seeming to smile as he dropped the stick at my feet with his tail waving back and forth behind him. I picked it up, and as I was about to throw it until my gaze fell onto green ones glowing back at me. The smile on my lips fell with the weight of a tree as my eyes widened in fear. The dog seemed to pick up on my panic and turned around looking for whatever I saw.
He was covered in blood, the hole in his shoulder looked infected, and his body was littered with cuts, bruises, and gashes like trash. He looked utterly exhausted, though he carried himself towards me, stumbling on his way.
The dog whined at me, like he wanted to know what was wrong. I didn't understand why, I mean he was right there, making his way over. I realised he wasn't real and that I was seeing things. At the revelation, Jet appeared in front of me, black gunk slowly dripping down him like he was melting. He reached out for me, moaning my name in pain - or rather Iro's name. His voice with breathy and as thin as ice, as though he was struggling to breath, gurgling as a mixture of blood and the black spilt from his mouth.
I took a step back, and another, before I ran back to Nezumi and Shion. Surely Nezumi would realise I was in trouble by now, he'd be able to get rid of the apparition appearing as Jet, right?
I pulled the shawl around me tighter as it began to slip, the brown dog running and keeping up before his ears perked up and he ran off somewhere. I skidded to a halt and turned to follow him, Jet speeding after me and groaning out my name louder.
I tripped and fell, my hands bracing me and getting scuffed up in the process. I turned onto my back and watched as Jet pounced on me with claws and teeth similar to the mermaids. I screamed and kicked out to get away from him, shuffling back as far as I could.
As soon as he would have clawed me, his expression twisted in pain, being ripped away from me and thrown like a rag doll. As soon as he would have hit the ground Jet disappeared like he was shattering, Nezumi and Shion stood in between us with concerned expressions. My chest heaved up and down as my quick breaths slowly began to calm. I stared up at them, almost rubbernecked from shock, before Jet's disappearance finally settled into my head and I breathed a sigh of relief and laid down from exhaustion.
"Iro, what was that?!" Shion asked as he sat next to me, his brows knitted together with concern and confusion.
"What..." I gulped, "What prepubescent Iro thought was cool and sexy."
"You have a lot of weird kinks then..." Nezumi huffed, holding a hand out for me to take.
I did, and all but flew as he pulled me up. I dusted myself off, my legs still feeling like jelly, though I'd live. Shion handed me the shawl I'd lost somewhere along the way and I gratefully accepted it with a small thanks as I put it around my shoulders.
That was more than a little weird...
Horrifying, actually...