The rest of the week is spent with a lot of conversation. Ai tones down his conversations with Aine, and it's easy to find him muttering at no one in particular when he's suddenly walked in on. Aine doesn't become a staple as much as he becomes a distant concept. He also starts filling with color once more, the distressing emptiness from before fading.
Most nights Ai sits at the cliff by himself. Reiji invites himself into those moments, and they talk quietly. Reiji always returns before Ai does, since Ai had a habit of waiting for sunrise and then sleeping in until midday.
"A little chaos never hurt nobody." Ranmaru assures Reiji every morning when he voices his concerns. "He's doin' soul searching or whatever. You gotta let him."
Ai spends a lot of his afternoon with Camus, lounging around the living room and occasionally, the indoor pool. He only dips his legs in it at first, but he seems more okay with water as time goes on.
Actually, they all sort of end up migrating to the indoor pool; the beach ceases being attractive all at once, but it'd be a shame to waste the time give to them. One day Ai eventually ends up sitting on the steps of the pool while talking to Camus, Ranmaru and Reiji doing their own, very splashy, things in the deep end.
Evenings end up slotted with Ranmaru, and it leaves an odd feeling in his chest. Usually, Camus is the first to abandon ship, pretty much done with human interaction until dinner. Reiji sticks around a while longer, mostly annoying the hell out of Ranmaru for fun. Ranmaru ends up cornering him against the steps next to Ai today, who has been suspiciously silent with a little grin during the whole ordeal; he could easily break them up and make the afternoon last until sunset, but he let's Ranmaru chase Reiji out of the pool.
Reiji stumbles and laughs, teases Ranmaru from dry land, and Ai lazily drags a nail down Ranmaru's arm to remind him launching at Reiji straight from the water is not appropriate. Reiji pads off, scrubbing his hair dry and singing pleasantly as he makes his way upstairs.
Ai sighs, sinking further into the water as his whole body sags.
"Reiji is great and all, but if you keep that kind of track up, I'm gonna stop playing translator." Ai says to the ceiling, and Ranmaru snorts, imagining what Aine had run across Ai's head.
Nasty, Miss Jackson, nasty.
"Need space?" Ranmaru asks.
"Not really." Ai replies a little too quickly.
Ranmaru dives back into the water, deciding to do some laps and give Ai at least some semblance of privacy as he chats with Aine. He had objected to Ranmaru outright leaving, still seeming a little restless despite having spent all day talking, but Aine was still a partly private concept. The sun is just starting to set when Ranmaru resurfaces for good, slicking his hair back as he sits on the last of the steps, leaning back so that he's submerged to the shoulders.
Gay, Aine declares, and Ai feels a little hot in the face.
"Not everyone is you, you know." Ai complains, frowning.
Maybe but if Reiji and I got away with it, so can you. You're smarter than the both of us combined, so!
"You only like to compliment me when you want to do something devious."
Rude ass.
"More like nice ass, flat bastard."
Ranmaru chokes on a laugh, curling in on himself a little; even just hearing one half of the conversation was utterly hilarious. Ai's face could probably boil water, and he quickly covers his cheeks with his hands.
"God, I hate you," Ai whines. "You're the only one who can make me so mad."
It's a talent.
"Is it just a Kisaragi thing to say that every time you're being annoying?" Ai grouches, standing to properly go down the steps and into the water.
A familial annoyance!
"Hn. I'll take it."
Ai finally goes quiet, and Ranmaru sneaks up behind him just to be a pest. Ai shoots him a look over his shoulder, unfazed. It's inevitable that they end up face to face, half floating in circles; Ai is trying to get used to the water, and the pool is a lot less scary than the ocean. There was also an inherent trust between them, since Ranmaru had already pulled Ai out of the water once.
"You could probably convince Reiji to teach you to swim." Ranmaru says.
"I could, but he gets too anxious when I go into the water like this." Ai replies lowly. "It's not very obvious, but I can tell."
"You know all his tics."
"I do. I know all of yours too."
"You do not."
Ai laugh. It's quiet, shy as if he's not used to making the noise, but its genuine as he splashes at Ranmaru. Ranmaru dips under and swims circles around Ai; when he pops up and out of the water, he sweeps Ai up, and Ai smacks his shoulder but holds on, lips twisted upwards.
"Annoying." Ai says, letting them drift a little deeper without much protest.
"Not as annoying as you are."
"Arguable."
"As if!"
Ai splashes him again, much smaller this time, and Ranmaru casually shakes the droplets off. Ai pushes his bangs back, strands having fallen loose from his braid, and for a moment they're just looking at each other.
"I've been working on a song," Ai murmurs, head tilting from side to side as if it focus. "Several, but mainly on just one. I'm struggling though. I'm not very good at passionate lyrics."
"Passionate in what way?"
The acoustics in the pool room is actually pretty okay, considering that the only other thing in there is a gaudy fold out chair Camus had dragged in to chill out on. Ai clears his throat and sings, the bounce of his voice ethereal. He skips and stutters over half finished lines, and Ranmaru occasionally fills in where he can think of something that sounds pretty good. It's calm, and eventually the water turns an inky black as the new moon blends into the sky.
It's. . . peaceful, actually.
"Huh," Ai interrupts himself, one hand coming up to touch his temple.
"What?"
"It's peaceful. Inside my head and outside. I've never had that."
"Guess this vacation was pretty good."
"And I still don't know how to vacation properly."
)))
Ranmaru's head hates him the entire drive back. Hates him.
They're all seated the same as their initial trip, except in an attempt to be as annoying as possible, Ranmaru had laid himself across the back seat. Ai had primly picked Ranmaru's head up and dropped it onto his lap unceremoniously. Everything was okay at first, him dozing away as Ai rattled off directions to Reiji- and then, the fingers. He should have realized Ai's restless habits wouldn't just abandon him all of a sudden, because while Ai is flicking through his phone with one hand, the other finds it way into Ranmaru's hair.
He's careful to not pull on knots, and the pressure is light when he twirls a stand or two, and those hands were going to kill all his fucking cool.
Realizing he wants to kiss Ai's stupid fucking android face is ruining Ranmaru's life through and through. When he pops an eye open to complain, Ai clicks his tongue at him.
"You decided to be annoying, so now you have to deal with the consequences," Ai says clearly, bangs cascading to block the sunlight as he looks down at Ranmaru. "Basically, eat it."
He undermines the harshness of his words by brushing Ranmaru's own fringe out of his eyes. Ranmaru realizes he wouldn't mind never kissing Ai if he could just do this. He's fucking screwed to hell and back and he vaguely wants to die instead of have a ridiculous crush. Ai gently petting Ranmaru's jaw when it clenches doesn't help, but his body relaxes after a while.
He'll live, probably.
)))
Something feels wrong. It had been a low sense of general unease, steadily building throughout their trip. Ai had ignored it in favor of listening to Reiji and Camus argue about the best dog breed for a few miles, an increasingly hilarious argument especially after Ai adds his two cents.
"A border collie," Ai says when they ask. "They're smart, adaptable, and easy to care for."
They both immediately fight him on it, giving varying breeds and then arguing with each other again. Ai's lips twitch, and he continues diligently running his fingers through Ranmaru's hair. They stop at a gas station, and Reiji and Camus take the argument outside. Ai doesn't need to stretch his legs, so he gently shakes Ranmaru awake.
"You're going to rot." Ai deadpans and Ranmaru mumbles, sleepily burying his face into Ai's stomach instead of getting up. "Were at a stop. You should get up."
"How cute!" Reiji half screams from outside and Ranmaru growls more aggressively.
"I'm gonna kick his ass." he says plainly and Ai's lips quirk up a bit.
"You can keep a secret?" Ai teases as Ranmaru groggily gets up; he grunts out a 'yes'. "I kinda want to kick his ass sometimes, too."
Ranmaru barks out a laugh and finally gets out of the car, shutting the door. There's two seconds- just two seconds- of stillness inside before Ranmaru opens the door again to ask Ai if he was going to step out too, or die of heatstroke, dumbass?
All it takes is those two seconds for pure, unfiltered panic to sink its teeth into Ai's body.
It's quiet in the car.
It's too quiet in the car.
It's quiet in Ai's head.
Ai can't hear Aine anymore.
That underlying unease had stayed low because the car had been loud with arguing, with Ranmaru's soft breaths, the radio, Ai's own thoughts- everything was there, except for Aine's voice in his ear. And it was just. . . gone.
"Are you gonna get out or die of heatstroke, dumbass?" Ranmaru asks, and Ai feels dizzy with how good the chaos outside sounds.
He wordlessly steps out of the car when Ranmaru offers a hand, and Ai feels hyperaware of- of everything, because he can't hear Aine and his body is trying to fill in the gaps in sensation. Like someone cut his arm off. He can smell the petrol acutely, underlaid with heat banging on pavement and the scent of the sea clinging to them four like comet tails. The heat is dryer than the beach, less sticky but no less uncomfortable.
It's overwhelmingly loud. There aren't many people milling between the pumps and the station, but there's music pouring from speakers left and right, this stuff is tacky, Ai can imagine, but he knows its not Aine. Aine's thoughts had always blended seamlessly into the stream of consciousness that led to Ai's mouth and this was nothing like it; a fabrication built out of Ai's desperation could never be enough. He feels lonely, despite the fact he's surrounded by people who, by all means, care about him.
It's not the same, he thinks as he refuses to let go of Ranmaru's hand and pulls out his phone distractedly. It's not the same, being with someone your whole unnatural life and then losing them, even for a moment.
He's texting the doctor without really thinking on it, check on Aine, I can't hear him, before flicking between apps anxiously.
You're loud when you're afraid, Aine murmurs groggily, and Ai flinches. I was just mindin' my own business. Thought you always wanted me to shut up.
"Hey, hey!" Ranmaru says, free hand steadying Ai; he shares a confused look with Reiji and Camus, their chatter scattered away. Ai had been quite still and totally silent, but that wasn't odd; this was. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Ai isn't sure what to say.
"I feel hot." is what he does say, which is at least the truth.
Ranmaru flinches when he touches Ai's temple, shaking the sharp feeling of heat off.
"What the fuck, you're burning." he says, quickly letting go and backing off when Camus steps up.
"Don't touch," Ai insists, stopping Camus's hand. "If I'm that hot outwardly I shouldn't be touched."
Camus scoffs, and the hard edges of his voice are comforting. His hand lands on the back of Ai's neck, familiar swirls working their way into his hairline, and Ai let's himself relax into it.
Talk to me?, Ai thinks hesitantly, not thinking that its odd at all that he's shy in his own mind. They're back in the car, Camus and Ranmaru switching seats wordlessly, and the conversations around him don't feel as soothing as they once were.
It was his job to be aware of Aine at all times, and he had just failed at one of his prime objectives. He had failed at the beach too; nobody was supposed to know, and the eased weight from finally being honest returns tenfold. He was going to have to explain himself, the human failings he wasn't supposed to have.
He's contemplating whether reprogramming is better or worse than being decommissioned when Aine pipes up.
You're never alone, Ai, he assures tiredly, and he feels a phantom hand on his cheek.
Nice trick you're developing.
I can tell you about it if you'd like.
I'd be delighted.