welcome to this week's exciting adventure~ I swear this is the last of the kind of short chapters! after this one we start getting deeper into the plot and then that just keeps happening XD please bear with me until then, and enjoy this chapter for now! :D
Judal is sitting on the doorstep with two cups of coffee, a box of donuts, and a far too cheerful smile. "Good morning! I hope you're ready for today!"
"You're up early," Hakuryuu says, gratefully taking the offered cup of coffee. "Thank you."
"I had to be up for the shipment and there was no point in going back to sleep. So here I am!"
He nods, sipping his coffee. It's fairly good, but rather sweet. Judal must have picked some sort of overly sugary creamer, which is probably also contributing to his upbeat attitude.
"Anyway, we'll be unpacking it in my apartment. If anyone's in the store, customers will try to force their way in." Judal hops up, carefully balancing his cup and the box of donuts, and leads the way around to the back of the building. Hakuryuu hasn't been here since the first day, but he can still remember the mess. He's curious about how they're going to get anything organized in a place like that.
The living room is packed with oddly shaped boxes, and Hakuryuu barely resists cringing. Of course it's a disaster. No wonder Judal wanted his help.
"Don't open anything," Judal tells him, squeezing his way to the back of the mess. "Some of it is magical and I don't want you getting any more nasty curses."
"That almost sounds considerate."
"Well, I'd have to waste my time fixing it," Judal shoots back, grinning. "Hand me a box cutter and we'll get started."
Hakuryuu passes him the knife and manages to make a seat for himself on a couch to watch Judal work. He lifts pieces out of the boxes, turning them over and observing seemingly worthless items carefully, before laying some of them out on the couch next to him.
"Oh, there's an empty box in the kitchen. I need somewhere to put this crap."
"Got it," Hakuryuu says, getting off the couch and carefully walking through the living room, trying to avoid all the boxes and mess.
"Actually, bring both boxes."
When he makes it to the kitchen, he frowns at the mess on the floor. "Judal, there are more than two boxes here."
"Just, I dunno, pick a couple!"
He grumbles but complies, since arguing with Judal is usually a lost cause. It takes a bit of maneuvering to pass them to Judal, but they make it work eventually, and he starts dividing items between the boxes without any sort of organization that Hakuryuu can understand.
Eventually Judal crawls back out of his box fortress, the two boxes levitating behind him.
"Show off."
"I am about to teach you, so you should be grateful," Judal says, setting one of the boxes in front of Hakuryuu. "This is full of magical items and this-" he sets the other one down "is nonmagical. I want you to try to feel the difference."
Hakuryuu looks at the boxes, each filled with a seemingly random assortment of items, and back up at Judal. He's grinning, looking quite pleased with himself, but still manages to look serious about his idea.
"I'll see what I can do," he tells Judal, feeling somewhat silly as he picks up a tarnished candle holder. It doesn't seem to be anything special or different, but according to Judal, it's magical.
Judal looks over and shakes his head. "No, that's too much of a challenge. It's just slightly touched with magic. Lemme see," he says, nearly crawling into Hakuryuu's lap to get to the box of magical items. "Hmm...no, no….ah hah!" he exclaims, pulling out a music box. "This has a much stronger magical signature."
"Thanks?"
Judal sits back up and he's all leg as he squirms his way off the couch. He picks his way back through the boxes to his original post and nods at Hakuryuu. "I'm gonna keep sorting and you just...work on that for now."
He tries. He feels ridiculous, but he tries. Hakuryuu clutches at the music box in his hands, willing it to just feel like something besides wood and metal. But there's nothing for hours, just the same curved metal legs digging into his palms as he holds it close. He tries to think back to the night he signed his contract with Judal, to the thick feeling of magic in the air and thrumming in his veins, but he can't reconcile that with the music box in his hands. He wants to feel it, he's ready to believe, but why-
"You're going to hurt yourself," Judal says, interrupting his thoughts. "Also, the pizza is here and I don't want to talk to the delivery guy."
"Really, Judal?"
He shrugs. "Come on, put that down and go get the door. I even got veggies on your half," he says, pulling a face.
"That's actually quite thoughtful."
"I'm a fucking delight."
Hakuryuu gets up and stretches, trying to shake out his stiff limbs before he gets the pizza. The apartment is too much of a mess to sit in the dining room, so Judal leads them to the spare bedroom.
"It's the cleanest room in the house right now," Judal says by way of explanation, gesturing at the only slightly cleaner room. "Well, except my bedroom, but it would have to be at least the third date before you're allowed in there."
He's not sure how to respond to that, so he just ignores it and tries to find a place to sit. Hakuryuu ends up wedged on a rickety futon with the pizza on a bean bag chair in front of him, Judal settling for the floor without complaint.
"You need to relax," Judal says around a bite of pizza.
"You need to clean your house," Hakuryuu counters, and Judal laughs.
"You do have a point," he admits. "But so do I. You're way too tense and stressed out."
"I like to be prepared for every situation-"
"No, with trying to feel magic. You're thinking too hard and getting yourself all work up. You should try not doing that."
Hakuryuu ignores him for the time being, instead focusing on his lunch. Judal's advice is too vague to be useful.
Surprisingly, Judal takes the hint and drops the subject, so lunch passes in comfortable silence. It should have been a warning sign to Hakuryuu though, since Judal isn't quiet without a purpose.
After eating, Hakuryuu cleans up the leftovers as best he can before heading back to the living room. He settles back on the couch, music box in his hands. This time, he's going to-
"Nope!" Judal interrupts him again, plucking the box from his hands. "I'm gonna give you some one on one help." He plops down on the couch next to Hakuryuu, making himself comfortable.
"Judal-"
"Close your eyes and relax."
"I can't just relax on command."
"Do I have to remove the stick from your ass? Don't worry, I'll be gentle."
"Judal!" Hakuryuu snaps, his cheeks flushed.
"Just close your eyes and sit back, okay?"
He takes a deep breath and slowly exhales, trying to calm himself. "Alright." Hakuryuu shuts his eyes and focuses on his breathing. He can feel the solid warmth of Judal's leg pressed against his own and he can hear the slight buzzing of the lights in the room, but still, nothing feels different.
They sit quietly, Judal somehow sitting still next to him, until finally, Hakuryuu can almost feel himself relaxing. Nothing else feels different but he feels like he's unwinding slowly, now that he isn't stuck trying to focus on one item.
"You could feel the magic when you signed our contract, right?" Judal asks softly, voice barely above a whisper so as to not disturb the gentle peace they've finally achieved. Hakuryuu nods, and Judal shifts slightly, probably trying to contain his glee. "And when I was getting rid of the curse, too?"
"Yes," he answers. "When you held my hands, I could feel...something different about you. It was hard to put into words."
"See, you've already felt magic, but those both involved you so it's not entirely surprising." Judal pauses and shifts a little more to get comfortable, before dropping the conversation to let them sit in silence again. Still, nothing seems to have changed, until-
There's a sudden emptiness to the room, like some overpowering force has left, and Hakuryuu would think it was Judal if he couldn't still feel him squished against him on couch.
"What- did something change?"
"Ahh, I had a feeling that would work," Judal says, sounding pleased with himself. "I'm quite powerful, you know? So I just hid my magic and you can tell something's missing."
"It feels...empty in here, somehow."
Judal leans into him a little more, putting something in his hands. It's the music box from earlier, familiar, but now something about it feels different. It's not much still, just a subtle thrum from it, but it's there.
"I can feel something now," Hakuryuu admits. "It doesn't feel like much, though."
"Well, yeah, it's just got a small calming charm on it. Which actually makes it even more impressive that you couldn't relax earlier! Eventually you're gonna have to work out how to pick up on magic without getting distracted by mine, but this is good progress."
"Thank you for the help," he tells Judal. It's strange and a little silly, but he's quite proud of himself.
"It's for my benefit too," Judal says softly, leaning away from him. The couch shifts as Judal gets up, and Hakuryuu opens his eyes to watch him get back to work. He feels almost lonely now, without Judal sitting next to him, and Hakuryuu isn't sure how he feels about that.
Hakuryuu turns back to his work, trying not to dwell, and the strange moment passes. But for the rest of the evening, the music box makes him think of Judal's touch.