Fukuda was not a fan of this trip.
First of all he hated it when they stayed in apartments. Apartments were worse than row houses. Sharing one wall with Suzuki was bad enough but now he was stuck in this box and Suzuki's box was right next to him…and worse than they the entourage's box was under his…and then there were more Claw boxes below that. This whole apartment building was nothing but Claw. Claw all the way down. At least when they stayed in those prefabs he could, at the end of the day, get some space from all of this insanity. He could unwind and just…not think about Claw for a while.
But now he couldn't.
That brought him to the second thing he hated about apartment buildings. He couldn't unwind at the end of the day. Not only was Suzuki right there and he could sense him Suzuki was able to sense Fukuda as well…well he was always sensing every esper around him but now he was close enough for Suzuki to pay attention. This was…he liked having his privacy. Being this close to Suzuki meant that he always felt like he was right there even when he was in his own apartment. He could feel Shigeko that closely too. It felt like she was watching him, right there watching him, when he knew that it was not the case. She had her own entourage to spend time with, to watch, and she didn't care for him at all…so at least he was safe from that. At least until Suzuki took the world and gave it to her…which it looked more and more like he would….then he would be at her side because he was the only healer in Claw….and he….at least he would get to be near Sho.
The only good thing about this trip was how near he could be to Sho.
Sho was ten, he reminded himself, and a young ten. A young, poorly socialized, ten. He hadn't known what he had been saying, what he had been repeating, and that was…Fukuda just had to teach him what was and was not alright to say. That was all. He was his father's son and Suzuki…well Fukuda had been the one to teach him pretty much everything about when it came to dealing with people….well at least he hadn't had to teach Suzuki not to comment on a woman's breasts in her presence…but Suzuki'd had actual parents actually raising him to become a productive member of society. Well Mr. and Missus Suzuki had tried their best….but he was not going to think ill of the dead. They had done the best that they could with the son that they'd made. They were doing their best back in the day and if they had been alive today none of this would have gone as far as it had.
None of this insanity.
But this insanity had gone as far as it had. Suzuki was going to rule the world, Shigeko was probably going to inherit it, and Sho was currently being completely neglected by his own father. So it would fall to Fukuda to teach him what was and was not appropriate to say and do when it came to the opposite sex….amongst other things. Other parental things that his parents should have been teaching him…but he didn't have any of those, now did he? His father was Suzuki Touichirou. Even without the world domination plans he was not and had never been playing with a full deck. No, even if he hadn't been trying to take over the world he would have still been totally useless when it came to raising Sho. Masami…she would have made sure that Sho knew never to repeat that kind of talk. That was just…there were things that you said in private and things that you said in public and Masami would have known to explain the difference to Sho….
Masami wasn't there.
Sho had no father to speak of and his mother was gone. So the duties of both mother and father fell to Fukuda. That was in addition to his duties as Suzuki's right hand man, personal healer, social skills teacher, guy who wrangled him in when he got too weird, former best friend, and occasional babysitter when he got too overwhelmed…yup. He was adding mother and father of his son to that list of job titles…oh. Adoption agent too in case Suzuki ever decided, again, that having unprotected sex was a good idea….and that was something else that he would have to teach Sho about in the future.
Great.
He did not want to have that talk with Sho but if not him then who? Suzuki? They had both sat through the same health class but Fukuda was the only one who learned anything. Suzuki had been too busy freaking out over the prospect of getting AIDS, it was the eighties so it could make sense…aside from the fact that to his knowledge Suzuki hadn't used a public bathroom since 1986, trying to figure out how homosexuality worked, Fukuda was still trying to forget that one, and being in awe of the fact that women had factories inside of themselves and only needed the raw materials from men…and maybe Fukuda shouldn't have messed with him by telling him that as espers girls would chase them down for their genetic material…but he had been kind of a little shithead back then…and also that should have been enough to scare Suzuki into exploring the wonderful world of contraception.
Not to wake Fukuda up at midnight to tell him that he'd just had sex and condoms sucked.
That had not been a fun time. Suzuki shaking him awake at midnight and just sitting there on his bed going over….in vivid detail….exactly how his date with the brown haired girl in his kendo club had gone. Yeah…even several decades later Fukuda…he still didn't like knowing so much about…any part of that…and he hoped to God that he wasn't going to be that person to Sho…but he also sort of did. Sho needed to talk to someone about this and God knew Suzuki would probably just tell him to go out and get as many women pregnant as possible or something so the world could have more espers and he could have more grandkids…even though he had done a pretty poor job with the kids he had…and then Sho would….
Yeah. That day was coming and Fukuda was not looking forward to it.
But one talk at a time. Tomorrow he would have the private versus public talk with Sho. Once he calmed down. He had been angry with Sho…and he could not be angry with Sho. He was a little boy with a very difficult life ahead of him and a very difficult life behind him. He didn't need Fukuda getting mad at him for…for saying things that he never should have said in front of him. He should have known that Sho was going to be a little mocking bird. Well that was fine. He was just a child, truly a child, and Fukuda…he would have to remember that. Sho needed him. Without him who did Sho have? His sister who was so blatantly favored by Suzuki that he explicitly said that she outranked everyone. Logically Sho as the only male blood heir should have outranked them all….but Suzuki's neglect and casting aside of his only son was a blessing in disguise…for all of them. Sho with that sort of power…Fukuda shuddered to think. No, it was a lot better for Sho to at least be allowed to be something of a child. Look at what that power had done to Shigeko? No, Sho did not need that.
Sho was just a little boy.
A little boy who needed Fukuda. Tomorrow…or maybe once he was done unpacking…then he would talk to Sho. He would talk to Sho about what was and was not appropriate to repeat and also…also about how possessive he was getting about Shimazaki. That was…that was the Suzuki Touichirou in him. Suzuki had always been possessive of the girl's he'd had crushes on…and it looked like Sho had inherited more from his father than just his eyes and hair. Well it looked like they would have to talk about appropriate feelings to have towards friends. Not that Fukuda had a problem with what Sho was, and he was definitely something, he just needed to not be whatever he was towards Shimazaki. He was…even without the drinking, drugs, and whatever he was towards Shigeko he was still not a good person for Sho. Fukuda knew what his life had been like before Claw. Everything that he'd been involved in…that he'd decided to disclose. He was just about the only person in Claw that the investigators had found nothing on. Nothing that he hadn't said….
Which meant that either he was proud of the life that he'd lived before Claw or there were skeletons in that closet that nobody in their right mind would WANT to find.
Sho did not need that in his life. Sho did not need a man who had been killing people since fourteen or maybe even younger. Sho did not need someone who was covered in yakuza tattoos even though he didn't even need them. What was the point if he couldn't even see them? Fukuda had no idea and he knew that Sho thought that they were cool and Fukuda was not going to let him cover himself in tattoos. No, Shimazaki was a terrible influence…and that wasn't even getting into the real reason that he could never show his face around his yakuza family again. That was…Sho could not be around Shimazaki in a few years. If he tried that shit with Sho then Fukuda would kill him…
Somehow.
He closed his eyes at the memory of it. He had come very close to dying today. If Suzuki hadn't been there…and he hated himself for needing Suzuki to rescue him, he would have ended up going for a nice ride on the wing of the plane…and that….Fukuda went back to putting his clothes away. He was alive. He was alive in this shitty apartment in Moscow and he needed to put his clothes away because he did not feel like living out of a suitcase and…and then he was going to lay down and try and get some sleep even though he knew that he needed to adjust his internal clock to Moscow time…and then he would wake up and try and fix things with Sho…and that was just…what he was going to do…
What he had been planning on doing.
There was a story about a ghost called 'Bloody Mary'. When you said her name three times in a mirror she would appear before you and drag you to hell. Well if he hadn't heard that story when he had been a child he would have assumed that Bloody Mary had been based off of Shimazaki Ryou. He seemed to sense when people were talking about or even just thinking about him and then he would appear…like now. There was a shift in the energy around him and then a pair of arms wrapped around his waist.
"Let's you and me take a walk."
And then the world fell away. The world fell away and there was no air…and then the world was back and there was air. Fukuda fell to his knees and gasped for breath. Cold. He was so cold…because he hadn't been wearing a coat or shoes in his own house…and he couldn't put up a barrier. He felt his feet going numb as snow melted and seeped into his socks. He was standing….he had no idea where he was standing. Trees. There were trees all around him…and it was so dark…too dark to see….
He didn't have to see Shimazaki Ryou to know what had happened.
"So I'm guessing that with your powers you can't freeze to death. Good. The kid would be so pissed at me if you died." Said Shimazaki as he felt Fukuda scrambling around in the snow. God, he hated the snow. It made everything look so fuzzy. Still, this was a good place for this little talk. He wasn't going to kill Fukuda, no, but it always amazed him what the human body could take and still come back from.
"What the fuck do you want from me?" asked Fukuda. He felt around…and he hated that he had to do this…but he had to. He had to feel around for Suzuki…and he couldn't…he had no clue where Suzuki was. He couldn't feel him anywhere….which meant that…
This was going to hurt.
"I want you to feel as crappy as you made Toshi feel." Said Shimazaki before he grabbed Fukuda by the back of his shirt and hauled him into the air. He wasn't doing this for himself he was doing this for Toshi. He was no letting that stupid, possessive, felling he got for them control him. He was just….getting revenge in ways that Toshi never could because they couldn't fly and weren't this strong of an esper. Not in this way. They could use plants and all but there was something to be said about being able to fly up in the air and drop someone.
Repeatedly.
He never let Fukuda hit the ground. No, he just dropped him and let him hit a few tree branches on the way down. At the very last second he caught Fukuda and then he did this all again. He did this again and again until he got bored. There were other things that he could have done. He could have dropped him into the ocean and left him there. He could have beaten Fukuda up so badly that he coughed up his own lungs. He could have even dropped him into a traitor hole and let him starve to death if he wanted to…but he didn't.
The kid cared about this guy.
And he cared about the kid. Sho may have run his mouth about Toshi's tits but he was just a little guy. He didn't know that he had to keep his opinions about Toshi's tits, really anyone's tits, to himself until the person who's tits he had all the opinions on wasn't there to hear your opinions on their tits…and he shouldn't have had opinions on Toshi's tits anyway! Only that they were the best tits in the world! Like someone had taken two kiwis and shaved them and then stuck two gumdrops on the end…not that the kid should have had any opinion on Toshi's tits because he was a kid…and also those has been Fukuda's opinions…
Which he was now going to pay for…and had paid for….because Shimazaki was bored.
"I'm tired of this." said Shimazaki as he grabbed Fukuda before he hit the ground. He held him by the back of his shirt and teleported him back to his apartment. He threw Fukuda down onto his bed, well it felt like a bed, and then he sat down on what felt like a desk. He didn't know. His perceptions were still sort of fuzzy. Toshi was taking up a lot of his headspace again. Toshi was hurting on the inside, he could tell, and he needed to make Fukuda hurt on the outside…but he had to be careful because if he hurt Fukuda too badly on the outside then Sho would be hurting on the inside…and that kid had enough pain inside of him as it was.
"What the hell was that!?" asked Fukuda as he scrambled across his bed and pressed himself up against the wall. It was an instinctive fear response…and one which he should not have listened to. Now he was trapped….well he had been trapped for quite some time. Shimazaki could teleport. He could teleport, he could fly, he could press his barrier down on you hard enough to kill you, he could….he could and would kill you without a second thought…..and there was no way to escape. No way to fight him off. You just…you dealt with whatever he did to you…..
Fukuda knew that he could live through a lot but….but he had never intentionally tested it before…
"Me warning you." Said Shimazaki as he flipped through a book that was on the desk. Yup. Paper. That was a bunch of paper. He needed….he needed to think. Was the mortal terror of falling enough to get him to never talk about Toshi's tits again? Or maybe he should drop him in the ocean…and stuff….but then he would be hard to find and if he drowned or was swept away then Sho would be sad and the little guy was going through a lot. His dad may not have been the type to spray him with a hose and then whip him with a belt or leave him out in the woods to die or fill a pillowcase with rocks and wake him up by beating him with it he was still having a pretty hard go of it…and this was one of the people in his life making shit a little easier….
But he did not get to talk about Toshi like that!
"Fine, message received. Can you go now?" asked Fukuda. He could feel Suzuki there, right there, on the other side of that wall…so he must have known what was happening…and he had better not have been playing Minecraft again or something. He was tempted to ask him for help, to just start screaming…but Suzuki wouldn't help. No, he was just send his Daughter in to deal with this….and Fukuda did not need that. He did not need to get another lecture about friendship from a ten year old girl.
"In a minute. I'm thinking about what else I should do to you. The punishment has to fit the crime but I have no idea how to punish you badly enough for what you said about Toshi." Said Shimazaki. He flipped the pages of the book as he thought. He liked paper. He liked the sound of it and the smell of it. He had no idea what was written on it but….doing this helped him think. Toshi loved books. Toshi loved books and reading and they were so smart because they were always reading and their voice was at it's most perfect when they read to him and….and now they felt like crap. They felt crappy from the plane ride and they felt crappy that everyone had been talking about their tits and now they were in their room feeling all crappy and-and-and-and Toshi was not supposed to feel crappy! He had to fix this!
He teleported next to Fukuda on the bed.
"What? You're going to fuck me now?" asked Fukuda as he got as far away from Shimazaki as he could. He smelled like…like he had gotten drunk and then wandered into the cologne department and sampled everything excessively. He did not want to be near Shimazaki at the best of times but especially not when he was drunk and…and Fukuda did not want to think about how close he had come to hitting the ground…
"What, you want to? Because if so that's going to be a hell to the no. There is no way that I'm becoming eskimo brothers with Suzuki, first of all, and second of all if I'm going to be with another guy then I'm going to be on the receiving end of that. There's no way I'm doing all of that work if I don't have to…and I wouldn't let you fuck me either because, honestly, I feel like you'd be really selfish in bed." Said Shimazaki as he picked up Fukuda's pillow and threw it up in the air and caught it. He needed to think. He wasn't going to fuk Fuckuda….fuck Fukuda…because then he would end up being eskimo brothers with Suzuki and he did not want that. Plus there was a lot of prep that went into it that Shimazaki was not in the mood to do and also he was more in the mood to receive than give and…and he wasn't letting this asshole in his asshole anyway. He had standards. High standards….medium standards…not this guy. Suzuki could have him.
"Well then get out of my bed, out of my apartment, and just…out of here. Ok? You made your point. I was out of line talking about your girlfrie-you partners breasts and I'm sorry. I won't do it again, ok? Now can you please leave?" asked Fukuda. He had no idea what eskimo brothers meant but he got the feeling that he didn't want to know. He wasn't going to ask the drunken, possibly high, murderous esper sitting beside him about that.
"Toshi isn't my partner. We're just friends who fuck sometimes and I don't want anything else…well I don't know what I want, honestly. Them to be happy, mostly, I mean all the time. If I just want them to be happy ten that should be enough and…and I have no clue what I want and…and what am I talking to you about this for?!" asked Shimazaki. He threw Fukuda pillow at him and threw himself back down onto the bed. He had no idea what he even felt and…and he was not discussing his life with this asshole. This was not about him anyway, it was about Toshi, and it didn't matter what he was feeling about Toshi or what he had felt about Toshi….this was about Toshi being all hurt and stuff. That was all.
"I don't know, maybe you're drunk?" asked Fukuda. Yes, now that he was close and calm…Shimazaki was messed up. He was messed up and drunk and…and Fukuda had no idea if purging this from his system would make him better or worse. He would maybe get even more upset and then God only knew what he would do to Fukuda…or God didn't even know. Even stone cold sober he had impulse control issues. This was…he had no idea what this was….
"Yeah, a little bit. I think better when I'm drunk…or maybe not. Toshi says that I don't…but I think that I do. I don't know. I want to drop you in the ocean and shit but I know that I might not be able to get you out again so…I'm a loss." Said Shimazaki
"You can leave. How about that?" asked Fukuda
"I could but I won't. If I don't leave then I know that you're still going to be spouting off about Toshi's tits, which are perfect by the way, and I can't have you doing that. Especially around Sho. Like…why would you say that around him? if you talk like that then we're going to get another Hatori and we don't need another Hatori." Said Shimazaki
"Don't talk about Sho." said Fukuda. He wanted to kill Shimzaki in that moment…but he wasn't strong enough. He was young looking, about ten years younger than he was, but he was not a fit man. Shimazaki on the other hand could have killed him without his powers.
"Why not? He's my little bestie. We're going to be best buddies for life so you had better get used to me talking about him." said Shimazaki
"He's a child." Said Fukuda. His voice was low and dangerous even though he had no idea how he was going to back this up. He couldn't.
"Yeah, and he's my friend. He's a fun kid. He's always got the best ideas. Like one time this guy rode by on an old timey bike so Sho picked up this big stick and-" said Shimazaki. God, that had been a fun day. Sho'd had the idea….or maybe he'd had the idea…one of them had gotten the idea to throw a stick through the old timey bike guy's spokes…it had been so funny. He didn't know why Fukuda's aura was like that…or why he was just such an asshole all the time. Really. Sho was a fun kid and there was nothing wrong with having fun, real fun, with him.
"He is not your friend. He's a child and he needs to be a child. He needs to just…be a kid. Not smoke and drink and do whatever it is that you do with Shigeko…and if you don't stop-" said Fukuda. He would have said more but then there was a hand around Fukuda's neck. A strong one.
"If he wants to smoke and drink then he will. He doesn't want to so we don't. Also don't you dare put Mob down, she's a fun kid. She's a fun kid and when she takes over this whole thing it's going to be a good time…and I am not doing anything with Mob! She's a kid! I don't know what's going to happen in a few years but I am not messing around with her. Got it?" asked Shimazaki. His voice was low and his eyes were opened. He could smell the dust in the air. He should have closed his eyes. He would need to clean them out, now, based on how dusty it was…and maybe he should have closed his eyes…but this scared Fukuda so he would keep doing this. How dare he think that Shimazaki would mess around with a kid? What was it about him that made people think that he would mess around with a kid? And especially not with Sho of all people! Even when he grew up Shimazaki could not see himself ever sleeping with the kid. Just…no….Mob yes but Sho no….
What was WRONG with Fukuda?
"I…get…it…" gasped out Fukuda. He took in the deepest breath he could draw into his lung when Shimazaki let him go. That…might have been the one thing that could kill him. He had never been strangled to the point of passing out but….but he got the feeling that it would have been the one thing that could kill him.
"Good. You know, you need to learn to keep your opinions to yourself. Your opinions and crazy theories. Seriously. I don't fuck kids! What, do I have to get it tattooed on my dick? Because there's no more fucking room and I am not going through that again." said Shimazaki
"You…have a tattoo…on your….?" Asked Fukuda, his eyes going downwards. He crossed his legs compulsively. This was…he would gladly thank God if Shimazaki decided to take him back out to the woods to kill him.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I got it done after Suzuki kicked my ass because he thought that I was messing around with his Daughter. Want to see?" asked Shimazaki, his hands going to his top button. He could feel Fukuda shaking his head.
"No, no, for the love of God no. Keep your pants on, please." Said Fukuda. This night….maybe he had hit the ground and died. Maybe this was just his brain doing whatever it needed to do as he died. Maybe he was in hell. Maybe this was what hell was. Shimazaki Ryou sitting next to him on his bed ready to both kill him and show him his dick tattoo….that couldn't have actually been on his….because that was just….what?
"What? Now you want me to keep them on? Five seconds ago you were asking me to go to bed with you. Make up your mind." Said Shimazaki
"You…you make up your mind…you….you just are you going to kill me or not? Because if you're going to kill me it would be nice if you got on with it. It's late and I would like to get some sleep at some point tonight." Said Fukuda. He knew that there was no talking to this man. He was….Fukuda had no words for what this man was. Impulsive. Not entirely there. All of it. He as a terrible influence on Sho and…and what did Sho even SEE in this man? Just…he didn't know. He didn't know anything.
"I'm not going to kill you and I'm not sure if I'm going to mess you up, either, because if I mess you up too bad then Sho's going to get upset and I do care about the kid…and I can care about him without wanting to fuck him! Seriously! Not him and not his sister. What even happens in your mind that it's even an option?" asked Shimazaki
"Forgive me for being a little nervous about you. Forgive me for being a little nervous about you when I know for a fact that you get a ten year old girl drunk and high. Also forgive me for being a little nervous when I know exactly why you got kicked out of your yakuza family." Said Fukuda. He could live through a lot. He could live through one of Suzuki's explosions so therefore he could live through whatever Shimazaki threw at him.
"I didn't kill my father, I just didn't save him, and I have no idea what that has to do with-" said Shimazaki
"No, the other reason. You were very open about this and, yeah, I'm a little nervous about you and Sho. Especially with the crush he has on you-" said Fukuda
"Wait, what? The kid has a crush on me? No way." said Shimazaki. Sho didn't have a crush on him. He was way too old, he had a little girlfriend, and if Sho'd had a crush on him he would have said something. As was obvious from their most recent plane trip Sho could not keep things to himself. No, Shimazaki would have been informed if Sho had a crush on him.
"Don't play dumb. You know that has a crush on you. It's obvious. Even you should be able to see it." Said Fukuda
"Hey, only I can blind jokes. Only me, and Toshi, but not you….and also there is no way that kid has a crush on me. He would have said something. He can't keep things to himself." Said Shimazaki
"Fine, only you can make blind jokes…but are you telling me that you have no clue…that you haven't been able to tell that Sho has a crush on you? Honestly? You haven't been able to see the way he's possessive over you? And jealous of Minegishi? How he's always finding excuses to be near you? You haven't heard the way he talks about you?" asked Fukuda. How could he not have noticed? Sho had the most obvious crush in the world on Shimazaki! He was more obvious than Shigeko was with Hatori.
"No…but whatever." Said Shimazaki. Whatever. So Sho had a crush on him. Whatever. He was ten and shit. He got crushes and Shimazaki was not going to go off and tell him how he could and could not feel. The kid was something, he was right about that, but he can go and be whatever he was with some guy who was not Shimazaki.
"Whatever? What the hell does that mean?" asked Fukuda. There had better not have been any 'whatever' not while Sho was ten and not when he got older either. Sho was…he was what he was…and he could be whatever he was with someone other than Shimazaki.
"Whatever. A word which is used to emphasize a lack of restriction in referring to any thing or amount, no matter what." Said Shimazaki like he was reciting for an exam. He could feel Fukuda's surprise. What, did he think he was a moron or something? He had never been to real school in his life but he wasn't an idiot.
"What…?" asked Fukuda. He pinched the space between his eyes and exhaled. This was…he had no clue what this even was. Besides draining. Very draining. This was worse than dealing with Suzuki at his worst. This was worse than the time when he'd put on his mother dress and walked through a date with Suzuki so he knew what to do. This was worse than the time Suzuki had dragged him out to the woods at four in the morning to show him the base he'd build. This was worse than the time…this was worse than all the times that he'd ever had with Suzuki at any point in his almost forty four years on this Earth….the most draining….
"I've read the dictionary cover to cover a few times." Said Shimazaki with a shrug. He had a lot to think about. Well there was Toshi, there would always be Toshi, but also…the kid had a crush on him. That was…well it was whatever. So the kid had a bunch of feelings for him. That wouldn't change the outcome. They were still friends and shit.
"You're being intentionally dense. You know what I mean. What the hell did you mean by 'whatever' before? I just told you that Sho has a crush on you and all you can say is 'whatever'?" said Fukuda
"Yeah, whatever. He's a kid. He's going to get crushes, a lot of them, especially since he's getting closer to that terrible age where you just have to hump everything that's even vaguely humpable, and I don't care if he's got a crush on me. That just doesn't matter. It's not like I'm ever going to fuck him so, yeah, it's whatever." Said Shimazaki
"So this is a nonissue for you? How is this a nonissue for you? I tell you that Sho has a massive crush on you and you don't care but I make one offhand comment about someone who isn't even your partner and you try to kill me?" asked Fukuda. He was trying to understand the incomprehensible. Suzuki Touichirou….he was a strange man but he had his own internal logic he worked off of. Shimazaki….he was like…it was like he had stepped out of some terrible Wonderland. He had no sense of logic or consistency or…or anything. There was no speaking to this man because the things he said would make no sense even with years of intensive study.
"Why is this an issue for you? He's himself and I don't give a fuck if he has a crush on me or not. I'm flattered a little bit, actually, but it's not like I'm going to fuck him or make him feel like crap about this. He's at the age I was when I was figuring myself out and I'm not going to do anything about this because you just get sort of…weird…when you're figuring yourself out. He's a kid who I care about…and that's why this isn't an issue. You spouting off about Toshi to that kid, on the other hand, is an issue. Toshi feels like crap and I can't stand it when Toshi feels like crap…and I thought that killing you would help but that would piss off the kid….and I know that Toshi won't accept your apology because they kind of hate you, so I am at a loss." Said Shimazaki. He sort of wished that Mob had turned that plane around but Minegishi had been right, that would have just meant more time all cooped up together on a plane, so to Moscow they went.
Here they were.
But Toshi still felt like crap and Shimazaki had no idea how to make them feel better beyond killing this cock sucking dickhead….but if he killed Fukuda then Sho would be upset…and he needed another drink so he could think. It was like his thoughts were all…slippery. All slippery and fast, like trying to catch eels, and he just…needed a drink. Well he needed a drink and he needed this guy to say that, yes, Toshi's tits were something to write home about. They were perfect. It was like someone had shaved two kiwis, good kiwis, the kind that were really sweet on the inside. Or maybe more like avocados…but they weren't as bumpy….smooth actually. All of Toshi's skin was so smooth…and they sort of wanted to hold Toshi…the wanted to hold Toshi more than they wanted to kill this guy…more than they wanted to beat this guy up…he was on a bed and he wanted to be in this bed with Toshi, not Fukuda, and just hold them and feel them breathing and touch their hair and smell them, they smelled really good, and also just be there with Toshi….
Toshi was worth more to him than senseless but cathartic violence. Huh. Who'd of thought?
"Maybe you should just go and ask Minegishi what they want? Maybe you should just go to them and leave me alone already?" asked Fukuda. It was like a switch had flipped…sort of like Suzuki but…worse. He understood Suzuki. He didn't understand this man at all….and he sort wished that it had been Suzuki about to explode at him…because he knew how to diffuse that. This was…he back more towards the corner.
"I know what Toshi wants. They want you to have never said anything about their tits and they want the kid to never have spouted off about what you said…gotta talk to him about that at some point….but I don't think that you can take it back…and also Toshi's tits are plenty to write home about! So just…write home about them!" said Shimazaki. There, that was a good idea. He had good ideas, the best ideas, and nobody had ever had better ideas than him.
"….what?" asked Fukuda. He wondered if maybe he was the crazy one and everyone else made perfect sense. Shimazaki was…well Fukuda must have been the crazy one, then, if he was going to sit there and expect Shimazaki Ryou of all people to make sense. His train of thought was unfollowable. It was as off the rails as he was. He knew crazy. He'd been dealing with Suzuki's crazy for thirty years now, but this was a whole new brand of crazy and he had no idea what to even do…what to even begin to do.
There was nothing that he could do.
He was weak as far as espers went. He could heal himself and others but that was it. Suzuki had always been the stronger of them. Even before he had known that Suzuki was the most powerful being on Earth he'd always been stronger…and he was right there. He could have…but he knew that Suzuki would just sent his Daughter…and he it would have been bad enough being rescued by Suzuki let alone his own daughter.
"Toshi has perfect tits so just…write home about it. There. That's better than killing you since it won't piss off the kid. Write pages and pages and pages about how awesome Toshi's tits are and then never talk about their tits again." said Shimazaki
"What are you even….you can't even READ." Said Fukuda. He was grateful that he had a hell of a time getting himself into this state. If it hadn't been so much trouble he would have taken up drinking long ago…but it was a lot of trouble so he would not be ending up like Shimazaki anytime soon.
"I know. It's not for me it's for you. You said something that wasn't true. Now you're going to have to write home about Tosh's tits. Then you're never going to mention them again because Toshi has a lot of very complicated shit about their body that I don't feel like explaining to you. So you're going to do what I said or maybe next time I won't catch you after I drop you." Said Shimazaki. He could be a scary man when he wanted to be. He knew that he was scaring that healer right now. He was close, close enough that he was sure Fukuda could feel him breathing, and his eyes were wide open. His aura was pressing down on Fukuda. He could feel Fukuda. The way his heart was racing, the way he was trying to control his breathing, the way he was muffling his aura, the way he was about ten seconds away from pissing himself. Good. He should have been afraid. He should have been very afraid. Maybe now he would know better than to talk about Toshi like that.
"That wouldn't kill me." Said Fukuda. He knew that it was senseless, trying to put up a brave front, but he would not just sit there and cower in fear. He didn't do that for Suzuki, openly, and he wasn't going to do that for Shimazaki either.
"No but it would hurt. Now get up, go over to that desk, and write pages and pages about how Toshi's tits are perfect. I like to think of them as shaved kiwis but you can use whatever fruit you want…but not avocados. They're the right size and shape but way too bumpy. Maybe…peaches. Yeah, like if someone shaved a peach." Said Shimazaki
"Do you mean a nectarine?" asked Fukuda shaking his head. How could he just go from being terrifying to just…whatever the hell this was? Sitting cross legged on his bed tossing a pillow in the air comparing his partners breasts to various fruits. If Fukuda wasn't sure it would get him maimed or seriously injured he would have told Shimazaki that they were currants at best…but he didn't feel like getting maimed or seriously injured.
"What's a nectarine?" asked Shimazaki. He went through his memory. Toshi had never grown one of those for him. Toshi grew him a lot of apples, actually, really tart ones but he wasn't going to complain. He liked the limes with the lemon inside that they grew…and the potato melons. People said that you weren't supposed to eat raw potatoes but nothing bad had ever happened to him. Maybe that was Toshi keeping him from getting sick. They were great like that even though they didn't really like to let it show.
"A hairless peach." Said Fukuda. How had he never had a nectarine? And why…why did this offend him? That he was being threatened by a man who'd never even heard of a nectarine. That was…Shimazaki had kidnapped him, thrown him through the woods, threatened his life, worn shoes in his house and ON HIS BED, but the thing with the nectarine….that was the one step too far.
"That's weird. I don't think that's real. I think that some guy shaved a peach and they're just messing with you. I should do that. I think I will do that…but you're distracting me! Now get to writing! And it had better be about Toshi's tits and it had better be good! I'll have someone read it to me when you're done!" said Shimazaki. He had no idea what a nectarine was but now he knew that he had to have Toshi make him one. Because he wanted to know if they were real. Yes, that was it. It had nothing to do with this growing need that he had to be beside Toshi. He just…wanted to know if nectarines were a real fruit and not just some guy shaving peaches…
So he would ask Toshi…and that was what he did.
"You're completely insane, you know that right. You crazy…drugged up….drunk…annoying….I don't even know. Just…fuck you. Fuck you and leave Sho the fuck alone…and…whatever." said Fukuda once he was sure that Shimazaki had left. He had no idea what that was but…but he knew that he was not going to be writing a multipage missive about Minegishi's breasts. That was just….no. He was not going to do that.
He laid down and turned to face the wall.
There was no way he was going to write that. He was going to lay down and go to sleep and wake up at some weird time because his internal clock wasn't on Moscow time. He was going to talk to Sho about what happened tomorrow and he would do whatever Suzuki had brought them here to do and then he would live his life like he had been living it for the past few years…his lifetime….and that was just what he was going to do. He would not be picked on like a sixth grader. He would-
There was a shift in the energy around him and a dip in the bed beside him.
"Write it in Japanese too, not Russian, because Toshi is the only one who can read Russian and I don't want Toshi to read this. This is just so I know that you know that Toshi is awesome and everything about them is awesome including their tits…and also fuck you for making me think about tits." Said Shimazaki
"….fine….just get out." Said Fukuda. He breathed a sigh of relief when Shimazaki left. He was….he was afraid of him and…and he decided to make his life a little easier and just write the damn thing.
He really wasn't a fan of this trip…and it hadn't even been a day yet.