I am SO EXCITED to share this chapter okay I've been pumped for it since the beginning of the fic basically! some more acquaintances from Judal's past show up, and he actually sits down and shares something personal with Hakuryuu afterwards. it's a good time I promise!
"Well, that was a waste of time," Judal grumbles once they're back on the road.
"He was rather interesting," Hakuryuu says carefully, and Judal laughs.
"Yeah, he's a piece of work. I'm surprised he actually let you come inside. He hates humans!"
Hakuryuu sees an opportunity and takes it. "But not you?"
"He's learned to tolerate my charming personality," Judal says, and even without looking at him, Hakuryuu can hear him grinning. "Plus, he's known me for awhile now."
"Ah," is all he can think of in response, and Judal starts messing with the radio instead of elaborating. Apparently he's not done looking through all of Hakuryuu's music.
Once they're closer to the city, Judal perks up. "Maybe I should put the shop on hiatus for a bit and take a trip."
"Hmm?"
"You know, road trip around the country, getting new stuff to sell and finding crazy things in the most unexpected places…"
"How are you going to get all that on a bus?"
Judal stares at him, dumbfounded. There's a beat of silence while he tries to come up with an answer, and Hakuryuu has to bite his lip to keep from laughing. "I- I mean- You're gonna be driving! Jeez!"
Hakuryuu can't help but laugh a little now, and Judal pouts at him.
"Gonna leave me to the mercy of a shady bus stop...really! You're such an asshole."
"You're the one making all these assumptions…" Hakuryuu teases, trying to rile him up more.
"Maybe it's for my business that you work at," Judal points out. "I can't believe you'd- oh, hey. We're here!"
Once again, Judal crawls out of the car as soon as it stops moving. If this is how he feels about driving, why would he want to take a cross country road trip? Judal would be miserable, and he'd drive Hakuryuu crazy the whole time.
"It feels the same," Judal tells him once Hakuryuu is out of the car. "The magic in the air. Can you tell? It's pretty subtle, but it's kind of like a residue of something that's wrong."
Hakuryuu tries, and at first he can't feel a thing, but with enough concentration the air around him feels...off, in a way that he can't place. "I see what you mean."
"And I still don't know what it is! I'm so frustrated." Judal pushes the front door open and walks in like he owns the place. Hakuryuu reluctantly follows along, since apparently breaking and entering is just a part of his life now.
The house looks undisturbed, like the first one they went to, and he's unsurprised to find Judal in the kitchen again. "Why do you want to steal food from the dead so badly?"
"It's for a good cause," Judal says, head in the fridge. "Gives me an idea of how long they've been gone."
"I suppose."
"Also, Zagan totally didn't feed us enough. I'm hungry."
Hakuryuu pulls him out of the fridge to chastise him. "You cannot be serious."
"Fine," he whines. "But only if we can get snacks after this.
"Why are you like a 5-year-old sometimes?" Hakuryuu asks, shaking his head.
Judal winks. "Part of my charm!"
Hakuryuu opens his mouth to argue, but pauses. He could have sworn he just heard the front door open again. "Did you hear that?"
"I heard you ignoring my plight," he answers, pouting again.
"No, I-" he stops himself, listening. He can definitely hear muffled voices now, and from Judal's expression it looks like he can too.
Judal draws his wand and takes his hand, and Hakuryuu wonders if he's going to teleport them to safety elsewhere. But it seems they didn't catch onto the intruders fast enough, because they wander into the kitchen before Judal can do anything.
Hakuryuu just hopes they're not police. That's as optimistic as he can be, when-
"You!" Judal yells, pointing at the two men in front of them, who seem equally surprised to not be alone. There's an awkward silence between them, with everyone observing each other, and Hakuryuu tries to get a good look at the strangers. They look very proper, dressed in nice suits, and if Judal hadn't recognized them, Hakuryuu would be worried that they were some kind of authority.
"Judal?!" the taller of the two men finally says incredulously.
"Why are you here?" Judal snaps. He's still got his wand out, and he brandishes it menacingly.
"I should be asking you the same thing," he responds. The more Hakuryuu studies the pair, the more the illusion of authority wears down. The taller of the two wears big gold hoops and his hair is long - not very cop or detective-like in Hakuryuu's mind - and the shorter man looks professional to the point of near parody.
"I'm being helpful," Judal stresses, and Hakuryuu is so glad he made sure Judal didn't steal any food. "Unlike you, I'm sure."
"You? Being helpful?" the silver haired man asks skeptically. Even though he's the slighter of the two, something about him seems even more sharp and dangerous than the man who spoke first. "Somehow, I doubt that."
"Look, Freckles, I can be helpful when I want to be!"
He steps towards Judal aggressively, and his friend has to hold him back. "Come now, Jafar, Judal, let's not turn this into a fight."
"Sin-"
"Let's try to start over," the taller man says warmly.
Judal is still pouting angrily, put out that he doesn't get to start a fight, so Hakuryuu tries to be the diplomatic one. "I take it you're acquaintances of Judal's?
"Something like that, yes. But I see we haven't properly introduced ourselves, and for that I'm sorry. Somehow, Judal brings out my worst manners. I'm Sinbad, and this is my partner, Jafar." He offers his hand and Hakuryuu shakes it. Judal pretends to ignore the whole exchange, but Hakuryuu can see him frowning deeply.
"I'm Hakuryuu. I've been working with Judal as his assistant," he explains.
Sinbad almost looks concerned, but the look vanishes quickly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Hakuryuu," he says, smiling like he truly means it.
"Stop trying to charm him to your side," Judal says, sidling up against Hakuryuu possessively.
Sinbad holds up his hands and chuckles. "I'm just being friendly, Judal, don't get so defensive." Hakuryuu realizes, perhaps a little belatedly, the last thing that had seemed off about Sinbad. He's stupidly magical, his magic strong enough to be easily felt next to Judal's massive well of power. Hakuryuu keeps that realization to himself for now, instead reassuringly patting Judal on the arm.
"What are you doing here?" Jafar asks, scowling. "Have you sunk to theft now?"
Judal tenses beside him and Hakuryuu grabs his hand without thinking. Surprisingly, it works to calm him down, and Judal just turns his attention back to Sinbad instead. "I've been checking up on some customers of mine," he explains.
"Oh?" Sinbad looks around. "Do you know where he is?"
"Nope," Judal says simply. "They've been vanishing suddenly, and I wanna know why."
"Maybe it's because you sell cursed items to unsuspecting people," Jafar says under his breath, but Hakuryuu and Judal can still hear him.
"I'll have you know, I sold Hakuryuu a cursed item and he's still fine," Judal snaps back, and Hakuryuu cringes. Why would he try to use that as an example?
Jafar raises an eyebrow. "If he's stuck with you, I'd say he's still cursed," he says, and Sinbad laughs nervously.
"Alright Jafar, let's all try to get along for now," Sinbad says. "I'll assume you don't know anything about this, then."
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Judal says cagily. "What about you?"
"We were in the area, and heard there have been some magical items going missing lately," Sinbad answers simply. "I'd planned on stopping by to see you too, you know."
"Unfortunately," Jafar mutters darkly.
"Obviously, I'm fine," Judal tells him. "Now go...save someone else, I've already got this under control."
Sinbad looks at him questioningly. "So you've figured out what's causing these disappearances?"
Judal crosses his arms and doesn't quite meet anyone's eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know."
"Well, yes, I would, but since you're going to be this difficult when I'm just trying to be polite, I guess I won't know your side. But I don't need the information, so don't worry about it," Sinbad says, looking very much like an accomplished hero already.
"You don't need it? Why?" Judal asks, frowning.
"We already know what we're looking for, so we're just tracking it down now," Sinbad explains. "Isn't that what you're doing?"
Judal freezes, and Hakuryuu can feel his nervousness in the air around him. "Of course. Right, Hakuryuu?"
"Just working out the last of the details-" he starts, trying to back up Judal without knowing the right answers.
"But we're on the right track, so you know. We're better than you!" Judal finishes quickly, grinning. There's still tension in the air, thick and awkward, like there's more to all of this than Hakuryuu can quite get a grasp on.
"If you're done wasting our time, Sin, we should get moving," Jafar says, interrupting Hakuryuu's thoughts.
Sinbad shrugs. "I guess we're heading out. It was good seeing you again, Judal, and a pleasure to meet you, Hakuryuu. I'm sure we'll see each other again." He waves and follows Jafar back into the hallway.
Judal deflates when they're gone, sighing heavily. "Ugh," he says, sinking into a chair.
"You're not actually good friends, are you?" Hakuryuu asks, and Judal shakes his head.
"It's complicated," he begins. "We've been enemies more often than friends, I think, but we've also known each other for a long fucking time, so there's this stupid familiarity, I guess."
Hakuryuu isn't sure what to say to this, so he waits for Judal to finish. He usually has a lot to say about people, even strangers, and Sinbad and Jafar can't be the exceptions. Especially with whatever past they have together.
"I wanna go home," Judal says instead.
"Oh. Um, sure. Let's go, then."
Their drive home is oddly quiet, and he's beginning to worry about Judal. It's not like him to shut down like this, but he doesn't know how to get him to talk about it either. Should he try? He's not sure.
"Park around back," Judal says when they're close, finally breaking the silence. "There's a spot."
True to his word, Hakuryuu finds a parking spot in the alley. He's pretty sure this is an invitation to come upstairs with Judal, but he wants to check.
"Want me to come up?"
Judal nods. "Your stuff is up there anyway," he says, grabbing his bag and making a beeline for the door. Hakuryuu follows him and has to sprint up the steps to keep up. He half expects the door to be locked with Judal's current attitude, but it opens effortlessly. Judal, however, is nowhere to be found.
"Judal?"
"I just want a snack," he calls from the kitchen, but he somehow sounds even more distant.
Hakuryuu waits in the living room awkwardly, not sure what Judal wants him to do. He wants to know what's wrong because he's genuinely worried, but for how loud Judal is, he's oddly cagey about his feelings. He'll probably have to wait for Judal to bring it up.
Judal breezes past him silently, down the hall to his bedroom, and Hakuryuu gives up on waiting for instructions. He sits on the couch and tries to relax for now. Judal eventually returns in much more comfortable clothes with a smile plastered on his face, and if Hakuryuu didn't know him better, he'd think it was real. He's not carrying any sort of snack, so he either ate it already or was hiding in the kitchen to compose himself. Hakuryuu's not sure which it is, but he has a pretty good guess.
"I see you stuck around," Judal says, before plopping on the couch right next to him. He sounds surprised but not upset, and somehow that spurs Hakuryuu on.
"I was worried about you," he says honestly, before he can help himself, and Judal's plastic smile fades.
"Oh," he says softly. Judal doesn't continue at first, instead settling deeper into the couch and ignoring the difficult conversation at hand. After awhile he sighs, and turns to face Hakuryuu. "I've known Sinbad since I was young and stupid. Like, stupider than I am now, if you can imagine."
"I'd rather not."
Judal laughs, and the mood starts to lighten, just a bit. "At least you're honest with me. But anyway, we didn't always see eye to eye. Er, we still don't, but I don't go around blowing up his shit anymore. Usually."
"Judal-"
"Really!" he says. "Jafar is his right hand man, and has been since before we met, so he's never liked me. Says I'm a bad influence on Sinbad or whatever, but he gets into stupid problems even without my help. So I'd give Sinbad help sometimes, and then fight with him other times, and then sometimes we'd make out and shit because I have really bad taste," Judal admits, and he almost has the decency to look ashamed.
"Ah," Hakuryuu says, trying to work through all the information Judal just gave him. "Is...Jafar jealous of you?"
"What? No, Sinbad is the biggest slut ever. They have some kind of understanding," he says, shaking his head. "Everyone says Sinbad's soooo good in bed, and he won't shut up about it. It's only half true, cause-"
"I really don't need to know that many details about Sinbad's personal life," Hakuryuu interjects before Judal can go any further.
Judal laughs again. "Sorry, I get off track easily. And that's not that important, I guess. I mean. It's related to our history together-"
"Judal."
"Right! I won't tell you about Sinbad's dick."
"Thank you," he says emphatically.
Judal shrugs. "Your loss! Anyway, I kind of gave Sinbad the idea that he could live forever cause I bragged about my own abilities so much, and Jafar hasn't forgiven me for it because apparently every dangerous decision that Sinbad makes is my fault somehow."
"Is it, though?" Hakuryuu asks, and Judal frowns.
"No," he says firmly. "It's not. He wanted my help but I refused, because I would have had to devote too much of myself to serving him, and I wasn't willing to live in that cage, no matter how pretty it is."
There's a heavy silence now, all the light energy from earlier gone, and Hakuryuu isn't sure how to respond. Judal fidgets with a loose thread on his pants, not making eye contact, until he clears his throat and continues.
"Sinbad did something else to obtain his immortality. I don't know all the details, but he made some sacrifices that Jafar wasn't happy with. And so that's my fault or something," Judal says, looking put out. "And we do argue a lot...and I can have an explosive temper around them, sort of. I threw Jafar through a wall last time I saw them."
"And you wonder why he doesn't like you?"
Judal shrugs. "He didn't like me before that, it's not like I made it worse."
"I'm sorry we ran into them," Hakuryuu says, attempting to comfort him, and Judal shakes his head.
"It's fine. It went better than most time I see him. No one got thrown into buildings, you know?" he says, sighing. "I just feel like a failure because I still haven't made any progress and it sounds like Sinbad knows everything already, so what's the point? I should just let the shining hero save the day again." Judal laughs hollowly and shakes his head.
Hakuryuu reaches over and takes his hand, and Judal grips back tightly. It's silent between them again, for a little.
"And I'm stupidly worried about something happening to you, okay?" Judal sounds so small and unsure that it feels wrong, but it's quiet, raw honesty.
"Oh," Hakuryuu says, and feels stupid for it. He should say something better, but-
"I know I'm weird," Judal says all in one breath, and Hakuryuu feels bad.
"I appreciate your concern," he says, trying again before Judal can say anything else. "I do. It's- I guess it's kind of sweet."
Judal's cheeks flush pink. "Yeah, I guess. Well, now that I've shared some of my tragic backstory, are you gonna bare your soul too?"
"My mother had my brothers killed," Hakuryuu blurts out, and Judal just stares at him.
"Shit dude, that is not what I expected from you," Judal finally says.
Hakuryuu can feel his cheeks burning from shame. "I'm telling the truth," he says defensively, though he knows it doesn't matter. It's about to be like Hakuei all over again. He's stupid; he should know better-
"What? Of course you are. It's just super fucked up, and you seem all...normal and shit," Judal explains, confusion in his eyes.
He breathes out in relief, and tries to smile. "No one believes me," Hakuryuu tells him, and Judal grips his hand tighter. It's grounding in a way, and he squeezes back.
"You're really not what I expected at all," Judal elaborates.
"You keep saying that," Hakuryuu says, and he shrugs.
"I thought you'd be boring."
"Oh, I see."
"But you're not, and- ugh, I don't know. I'm bad at shit like this," he admits, leaning forward to rest his forehead on Hakuryuu's. "I hate talking."
"No you don't," Hakuryuu says softly, teasing, and Judal blows a puff of air on his face. There's this quiet between them, and before the moment can pass, Hakuryuu turns his head just a bit, enough that he can lean the rest of the way in and kiss Judal.
There's a second of hesitation where Hakuryuu thinks he misread the situation, but then Judal kisses him back, reaching up with his free hand to tangle in Hakuryuu's hair. He tastes like peaches and power, and somehow feels exactly like he expected Judal to. He's clingy and needy, and he seems all too happy to be kissing him, the past few weeks of unspoken attraction and sexual tension all coming to a head as they desperately kiss each other.
Judal eventually pulls back for air, but only a little. He grins at Hakuryuu before crawling into his lap to kiss him better, leaving light kisses on his cheeks before finally kissing him properly again. Hakuryuu wraps an arm around his waist to keep him close, and Judal practically purrs as he squirms closer.
The next time they pull apart, Hakuryuu leans down to kiss Judal's neck before he can do anything else, and Judal shivers in response, trying to somehow force Hakuryuu closer.
"Mm, Hakuryuu," he gasps out, twisting so that he can nip at the tip of Hakuryuu's ear. He pauses from the sensation, mouth against Judal's neck, because he didn't realize that would be so sensitive. Judal seems to notice and teases at his ear, licking it oh so softly until Hakuryuu is gasping too, and he can see Judal's smirk in his mind.
"Nice," he whispers into his ear, before going back to nibbling on it. Hakuryuu bites at his neck in retaliation and Judal gasps loudly, squirming in his lap again.
"Judal-" Hakuryuu begins, though he's not sure where he's going with it.
"Yeah?" Judal leans back to look at him properly, and Hakuryuu can't help but think about how cute he looks with flushed cheeks.
"I- I don't know," he admits lamely, but Judal just grins.
"Cool, I'm gonna kiss you some more, then," he says, and does just that. It's somehow sweet and desperate all at once, and Hakuryuu isn't going to complain. Judal's lips are soft, and his hands feel good threaded in his hair. Hakuryuu teases at Judal's lower lip with his teeth, just a little bit, and Judal makes a happy, almost laughing noise against Hakuryuu's mouth before wrestling the kiss so that he's the one teasing Hakuryuu's lip. Hakuryuu lets him, and they stay like that for a while. But then something changes, Judal going almost stiff, and he breaks the kiss.
Judal pulls further back this time, and he can't quite meet Hakuryuu's eyes. He's still pink, and Hakuryuu reaches up to push his bangs out of his eyes.
"Stop that," Judal tells him but he doesn't sound upset.
"Why?" he asks, and Judal shakes his head.
"You're being too nice," he tries to explain, gesturing awkwardly.
Hakuryuu cocks his head. Every time he thinks he's starting to understand Judal, he's proven wrong. "Too nice?"
Judal looks flustered. "I'm not used to someone so sweet. It's cute, but-" he stops himself and squirms out of Hakuryuu's lap. "I have to go to bed."
"Um, okay," Hakuryuu replies, feeling lost. Did he do something wrong?
Judal gets up and starts to head to his room, before turning back to give Hakuryuu a quick kiss on the cheek. "Night," he says, going to bed and leaving Hakuryuu to his confusion.