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Chapter Three: The Count
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"Chase after him, Count!" Percival is shouting.
I didn't want to let you leave without telling you I loved you…
"Count? Count, come on!" Pon-chan's voice.
…without telling you I loved you…
"Shut up, all of you! Give the guy some space!"
The quiet that follows T-chan's command makes little difference. D's frozen in place, running the words over and over through his mind, trying to comprehend. Leon…loves him?
Clearly there is more to his dear detective than meets the eye. He never once thought that Leon—Leon, of all people—could feel this way. D had played with him from the beginning, but it was all very one-sided. And now, suddenly, he's confessing…love?
Love. It makes D uneasy. He thought he had been in love once, but things had not gone well. He just doesn't understand it. In fact, he had told Monica as much, just weeks ago.
Monica, yes. She was the reason he was here.
"Is… Is there someone else in your life? Someone special?" she had asked him.
"No," was his response.
Not any person…is there?
He'd had to leave. He'd known that it was happening again, the obsession—that dark thing that made him cleave to something and never let go. That wasn't the way that humans loved. They could not stand the hunger, the intensity. He knew this. And so he left, before Leon's presence became too familiar, before he convinced himself that he needed that cursing, womanizing, gun-carrying, horrendously American detective. That amusing, protective, loyal, thoughtful detective who brought him sweets just because. He had to leave, before Leon stopped dropping by on his days off. Before he made Leon completely hate him.
Chris's departure had made it easier. He picked a day, and when it came, he made muffins. They weren't very sweet, and he was certain Leon would like them, but things had gone all wrong. Leon was distant and angry, and very unapproachable. Before they could talk, Leon's phone went off, and he disappeared up the stairs of the shop. And D had wanted to say something, came so close to doing so, but in the end he just couldn't find the words.
And then…his father, and his grandfather, and Agent Howell. A huge mess that left him flying through the air with Leon, who knew about everything, and thought he was a monster. He had wanted to leave before Leon hated him and he had failed completely.
Or so he'd thought.
The shop seems colder now than it has any right to be. He moves for the first time in minutes—possibly hours—pulling his robe around himself tighter and positioning his sleeves so that his hands may stay warm. The animals have left the room, save for T-chan, who moves to sit beside him now that he's shown some sign of life.
"Count," he begins quietly, "you know I'm not a member of the Leon fan club. In fact, I'd really, really love to eat him. Really. But I'm thinkin' that maybe I shouldn't. I'm thinkin'…that maybe you should go after him. Maybe he's not that bad a guy." It's all very grudging, and it makes D smile slightly.
"Such a glowing recommendation coming from you, Tetsu," he observes. "But I cannot, as you say, go after him. Love between our species is not possible." It makes his heart hurt to say it.
T-chan snorts. "You don't know a damn thing about love, then. If not a human, who will you love? It wasn't very long ago that you were going to let me eat you, Count, and that right there is a whole hell of a lot unhealthier than anything you're thinkin' about right now."
D scowls. "That wasn't—"
T-chan waves a hand to silence his protest. "Don't go there. If the state of the buttons on your changshan were any indication, you were smitten with my human form. Yeah, you might have been willing to lose a few limbs to add a fine totetsu like myself to your collection, but there was more to it than that, and you know it."
D colors slightly but doesn't argue. Instead, he confesses, "I don't know what to do. Detective Orcot"—T-chan rolls his eyes at the ridiculous formality—"showed no signs of his feelings until I left. For as much sense as it made, we may well have been hallucinating the entire evening." Something occurs to him, and for a moment, D smirks. "I told you not to get those herbs."
Now it's T-chan's turn to scowl. "It wasn't the herbs! Unlike some individuals in this shop, I do know how to cook. Don't insult my intelligence."
Smiling, D moves his hand to pet the totetsu soothingly. "I trust in your competence completely, T-chan."
"Mmmmph, well, you should." In a languid motion, T-chan drapes himself thoroughly over the Count, whose arm goes around him automatically. He rests his chin on D's shoulder and speaks into his ear. "Count, we need to go back."
D sighs softly, leaning his head against T-chan's. "We're too different, Tetsu. He can't give me the things I need."
"Then you at least owe him an explanation. Count, he was crying. That wasn't just bizarre—it was sad."
D closes his eyes, considering it all. The tears, the words, and how hard it was to not take Leon into his arms.
I really thought you meant it when you asked me to stay forever.
Oh, if only a human could be prepared for Forever.
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