Hello, lovies! Good to see you all again after my long stay away. Okay, long for me. In the time since the Christmas chapter, I have done much. My skiing trip was t3h awesome and I'm going next weekend too! I caved and got a LiveJournal (see link in my bio) though I'll prolly only really use it for fic update notifications. Also, I got tons and tons and tons of new music. Inspiration fodder, yes, but more than that - you have no idea how good for you dancing is.
Anyway. Today's buzzword is "accordion" because today I played one for the first time ever. And it was hella fun.
Notes to my lovely reviewers at the end.
Somewhere, there is the rustle of pages in inexperienced hands. Rough fingers catch on unglossed pages, unused to traction and delicate paper. When a page is turned, it is after an extensive, exhausting, rewarding interval. A chuckle is cut short at a warning, perfunctory knock on the door heralding the entrance of a surprising face.
"Was the door unlocked?" asks Gojyo, looking up into Tenpou's smile.
"Why, no." The man brandishes a key card. "This belongs to Hakkai. He and I have the same taste in bookmarks," he explains with a wink. He places the card key on the kitchen counter, and then stops still, bearing the expression of one hit in the back of the head with a brick. "Are you sure you're Kenren's incarnation?"
Gojyo raises his eyebrow, leaning over the back of the couch. "Whaddayamean, am I sure?"
"It is just that...I see a book in your lap."
Gojyo resists the urge to react on his ire at the observation. He knows, has watched fictional flashbacks detailing Tenpou's strength and physical prowess, and doesn't want to risk getting his ass kicked over a book. "Yeah, you do. Goku hides the controllers to his video games and hell if I'd watch Sanzo's television. Some things aren't worth getting shot. The stupid set's in black and white."
Tenpou smiles as if he had found a quarter in the street. "Well, what are you reading?"
"Hakkai picked it out for me," Gojyo responds, dog-earing his place and pitching the book at Tenpou. As expected, it is caught without comment.
Tenpou thumbs through the text, trying not to make disapproving sounds at Gojyo's treatment of his reading material. Coffee stains, cigarette ash, and creases from folded pages mar the passages, sometimes to the point of unintelligibility. Yet, Gojyo is reading for leisure. And the book does not have pictures, nor does it appear to involve any sexual debauchery whatsoever. Tenpou raises an eyebrow at the genre of the book, but he supposes the redhead's vocabulary isn't as expansive as it possibly could be. Same goes for his reading skills. All circumstances considered, Tenpou is reasonably impressed, and hands the book back to Gojyo with a smile on.
"Don't tell me I may have to share Hakkai's library with yet another person," Tenpou comments, and laughs.
Gojyo snorts. "Yeah, right. Don't you have your own anyhow?"
"Well, ours are different," Tenpou says, coming to sit next to Gojyo on the couch and shoving his hands into the pockets of his coat. "My library consists mainly of historical texts and other possessions I have in canon. Every once in a while, one itches for modern satire. Hakkai and I do share a fondness for good, honest fiction."
"So," Gojyo replies with a leer, "who gets the cheesy two-dollar romance novels and love poems?"
Tenpou pauses for a long moment, biting down on the inside of his cheek. Finally, he suggests, "You should inquire next door."
Gojyo grunts, gruffly saying, "Hey, I think you got something wrong there. I mean, Yaone's got her cooking stuff, Lirin's got a computer, Kou's got his mom, and ... oh, God. You're kidding me."
Tenpou grins. "You know, I almost wish I were. But neither Hakkai nor I have space to hold the sheer amount of those books that are pumped out every day. And I cannot begin to express my gladness of the fact that nobody on this floor even thought to mention the word 'comic' or anything of the sort."
In response, Gojyo crosses his eyes. "I could have lived so well without that ever crossing my mind..."
"Yes, well," Tenpou replies and chuckles. "I couldn't leave without giving you something to keep you awake at night. I wouldn't want to risk missing one of my own cues, so I'll be off."
"See ya," says Gojyo, waving over his shoulder and reopening his book. The door does not so much as close before it is opened again, allowing Goku, Hakkai, and Sanzo to stumble in. Sanzo immediately hurries to one of the bathrooms and Goku zooms into the kitchen to shove some food into his mouth.
"Enjoying the book?" Hakkai asks weakly.
Gojyo gives a monosyllabic response and a short nod before looking up at Hakkai. "Jeezus! You look awful."
Hakkai musters a pained smile and explains, "I fear there may be a...highly selective fiction contest going on somewhere."
"Uh oh," says Gojyo, his face already contorting in sympathy. "What is it this time?"
Sanzo emerges from the bathroom, holding his stomach and near spitting with frustration. "You wanna know what it is? Make-up sex! Oh, no, not just make-up sex. Hakkai-violates-Sanzo-make-up-sex. Everybody's just gotta fuck the blonde." He jams the heels of his hands into his eye sockets. "So first we yell at each other and then there's a sappy apology or he takes out his anger on me and then it's ass to the ceiling, monkboy. D'you know in the last one I was crying? Fuckin' crying!" Sanzo snarls and looks away.
It is Goku who responds first. "Ouch."
"Yeah," mutters Sanzo. "I'm feeling sick again. I swear if the next one's another song fiction I'm going to shoot something."
"Big surprise there," Gojyo comments while ducking behind the couch for safety. "Try and have fun with it. It'll make the time go faster. Especially in those ones that are sorta descriptive but leave a lot to the imagination. I swear if one of you can, break out into the chicken dance."
Goku laughs hard. Hakkai jerks a thumb over at him. "If we did that while arguing, we'd get stuck that way."
Gojyo shrugs. "Then be subtle. Bunny ears, a little softshoe; s'long as nobody reacts you can get away with anything."
Goku grins. "Yeah! And if you get the word 'orb' you gotta stick your tongue out. It'll be like bingo! Gemstone references, you gotta stick your finger in your ear or something."
"It's better than praying for a power outage, you know?" Gojyo finishes with a laugh. "We ought to make up a set of rules just for the hell of it. We know we can keep straight faces and all."
"If it's a songfic you gotta jump one one foot the entire time!" Goku cries, triumphant. "And if there's a mayonnaise joke Hakkai's gotta make double the food for dinner."
Hakkai chuckles and rubs the back of his head. "Oh, dear. Well, I suppose that's all right, but only if every use of gratuitous Japanese in a fiction written in any other language merits me first dibs on the shower without having to share the water heater."
"You drive a hard bargain," says Gojyo, "but that's way too often to cut both bathrooms off. Howbout only if the fiction's real messy?"
"Unless," Sanzo cuts in, "we get caught in the 'dessert' again, in which case everything is up for grabs."
"And if I have to angst Hakkai makes triple the food for dinner!" declares Goku.
"Geez, you gotta learn to put your mind on other things, animal," mutters Gojyo.
Hakkai laughs. "Things just wouldn't be the same. I agree to all the terms, but I will only make triple food for Goku if he promises not to try to help me."
"After angsting over Sanzo for too long I don't want to do anything," assures Goku, rolling his eyes.
"But here's a good rule," says Gojyo. "If somebody says 'I love you' more than three times in one chapter, the game's off because you don't wanna risk getting stuck in that one."
The others respond with complete and exasperated agreement.
Gojyo grins. "We gotta write these down sometime."
"Why? To impose them on everybody else?" mutters Sanzo dryly.
"Nah. To make sure nobody cheats and makes up a rule about Hakkai cookin' quadruple."
Goku growls and jumps over the back of the couch, a fist in Gojyo's hair before he even lands.
The pleasant chime echoes over the din of wrestling, and a slip of paper ratchets into view. Hakkai, nearest the slot, grabs the paper and makes a resigned face. "Hakkai and Sanzo are fighting again. Over a girl. Differences," he reads, "are eventually reconciled."
Gojyo and Goku stop fighting for long enough to make sympathetic noises before the two leave the room. And then Goku realizes his hand is still in Gojyo's hair and that Gojyo's foot is still in his stomach. The war resumes.
Somewhere, the mad clicking of keys is the only sound. Their rapid rhythm is unbroken, even as a giggle tumbles into the air.
Notes: Dun dun DUNNNNNN...
D-Chan: Inspiring Homura/Goku is not a bad thing. Seriously, using the fern reminded me of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" so I couldn't resist. Glad you liked it :)
Joonie: Points! See: "The Santa Clause". X3 Glad you liked it! I think chapter 25 is way up there with my favorites.
Hakkai'sHerFavorite: Points, even if you're yelling at me ;) Ouch! Your poor wrist! Well, I didn't fall on my trip at all so things were cool - even though the conditions were terrible. Can you say: White-out? Ah well, it was good anyhow. Hee.
Crimson1: Um. Wow. That's another chapter of Breakroom altogether. Thanks a bunch for the compliments blush
Koinu-Chan: Well, heh, chapter thirteen or whatever it was (Goku's nightmare) basically dealt with that idea, only in major numbers. The OCs I used are mine, but they are so Mary-Sue they really fit both categories. Eh heh. And as you can see, Goku didn't have a good time at all.
Asian-Orange: Points! Except for the whole Killing-Santa thing. Eesh, they probably would. And then realize he gave out presents. Meep Meep!
Silver Raven 014: Here you go :)
Caffinebunny: La-a-azy. But points nonetheless ;) Yay for you and your Grune reference-catching! It's like Where's Waldo cheesecake...Or something. Ehh.
Jadesword: Ooooo! Sweets for Karot! Thankyou! And yes, I did, thanks very much!
Sparrow319: Points! Flattering points! Aww. ...oh, geez, Saiyuki pagan fertility? Man would that ever kill Gojyo not to be able to go XD And if Yaone ever had a sense of maternity, she ought to be reminded that she still has her hands full with Lirin...o.O;
Zelgadis55: Nice use of "chimney" - points! I think that's my favorite line, too XD
Schizo The Mentally Disturbed: Glad you liked it, and nice to meet you!
Devinewaterdragon: -ness-ness? Hmmm. Loch ness. Loch nog. Dingly loch nog. Thanks for the pocky. I'm incoherent, nice to meet you.
Akiko Koishii: It's okay :) If you read and it makes you smile, that's all I care about.
OptiMoose: Oh, gosh, the canon puppy. I totally forgot about the canon puppy. It may very well be hanging around. And, well, perhaps inspiration will hit once my brain's settled down a bit. Eh-heh.
Mezi: How could I forget you? And yes, I know of the UruSai! scene with San-chan in the reindeer suit. X3 Points, if freaky. And I -have- been on AIM. I just don't poke you enough and my screen name has been changed. I think it's in my bio though.
Sohmachi: You know, I'm not sure how fun it would be to have Gojyo around. But it'd definitely be interesting to find out XD
Aki: Aw, thanks. Here's another chapter for ya.
Lilghost: Although I don't normally respond to reviews to chapters other than the one immediately prior to the one I'm posting, your review really caught my eye. Aside from the length, I laughed quite a bit. Especially at the perpetual-breakroom-fic idea. Whoo, boy. As for collaborating, you have no idea what a bitch I could be. But we can always work out ideas with one another if you'd like. Gimme a buzz sometime :)