Minegishi was themselves again.
They were naked, they were sticky, and they were themselves. They were naked, sticky, and themselves in Hatori's bed….and they were going to be sick. That was him, Hatori Nozomu, snoring away beside them, pinning them down, his weight keeping their arm trapped….they wondered which would happen first. Hatori waking up or them managing to gnaw their arm off like a trapped dog. They looked down. He was…Hatori. Any and all traces of endearment they'd had towards him were gone. He was way too skinny, especially for someone who lived on sugar water and chips. His face may have looked like it cleared up but it was clear that everything had migrated to his back. He still smelled like a can of body spray had exploded…his entire room smelled like that…and so did they…
Great.
They had to get out of here. They had to slowly extract their arm so they didn't wake him….no, they had to wake him up and kick him out and make him pay. Yes, that was more like them. They had been…they didn't know what they had been…who they had been. Yesterday…they wished that they could have said that yesterday was a blur but it wasn't. They remembered everything.
Every. Little. Thing.
Giving Ryou permission to sleep with Mob again, Matsuo leaving, Hatori…Hatori actually looking good to them. They had always had shit taste when it came to men and Hatori was no exception…but their taste had never been that shitty before. But Mob's was. Mob had taken everything that they hated about themselves and turned it up to eleven. Nobody had ever…spiritual contamination. They knew what it had been. They had been possessed by Mob somehow…the explosion. So they had left their body after all and become…they didn't know what they had become…
But they knew what they were right now.
"Hatori, move." Said Minegishi as they pulled their arm free. He snorted and began to flail. They scooted away from him…closer towards the wall, which made sense, Mob always liked sleeping near the wall…they liked the edge of the bed. That way they didn't end up trapped like they were now. If this had been anyone else they would have just climbed over him but this wasn't anyone else, this was Hatori.
And there was no way he was seeing them naked, not again.
"I don't want to go to work today!" whined Hatori
"I don't care if you go to work or not, just move." Said Minegishi as they kicked him. He was heavier than someone as skinny as him had any right to be. He didn't fly or even fall out of bed. He just rolled onto his side and felt around for his glasses.
They should have broken them.
"Minegishi? Or do I call you Toshiki now? Or Toshi?" asked Hatori as he shoved his glasses onto his greasy face. Minegishi pulled the blanket up over their chest. They didn't like the way he was looking at them. It would have been one thing if he had just been leering at them, they'd been dealing with that for their entire life, but he was looking at them like…like Ryou looked at them…like Ryou wasn't going to be looking at them for a long, long, LONG time….he should have known better…
They both should have.
"If you're planning on making it to old age then don't you dare call me 'Toshi'." Said Minegishi. No. They didn't want to hear that from him. They barely wanted to hear that from Ryou and they loved Ryou…they still loved Ryou. Even after…after…they didn't want to think about it.
"Oh, ok, I'll call you Toshiki then." Said Hatori
"So you want to die, is that it?" asked Minegishi as they glared at him. He sat up…and just let the blanket fall like it was nothing. They kept their eyes firmly above his waist. They were long past the point where they got embarrassed. They weren't Mob.
Not anymore.
"Sorry, sorry, it's just that Shimazaki calls you Toshi and Matsuo calls you Toshiki and I just assumed that since we'd, uh, made lo-" said Hatori. If Minegishi hadn't been naked they would have reached over and slapped whatever half formed ideas he was giving birth to right out of his head to die in the cold, axe filled, hell that was his bedroom.
"We most certainly did NOT make love." Said Minegishi
"Ok, we uh…had…adult relations? Is that better? I mean…no, no, I sound…well, it doesn't sound dirty so that's…good?" asked Hatori
"That depends, are you secretly seventy?" asked Minegishi sarcastically.
"Ok, ok, sorry. I've just…I've never done this before." Said Hatori
"I'm flattered. Thank you for the gift of your virginity. It was most definitely worth the fifteen seconds of artless thrusting." Mocked Minegishi. He looked hurt. Good, he should have been. Who did he think he was going after them when they had clearly not been in their right state of mind? Even Ryou wouldn't have dared and he was probably out there with Mob right now…
…making Minegishi sick to the core of their being.
"Hey! It was way more than fifteen seconds and it's not like you were complaining, anyway." Said Hatori
"How could I complain with you trying to lick my tonsils the whole time?" asked Minegishi. Hatori at least had the decency to look embarrassed there…good.
"That was…kind of a first for me, too." Said Hatori. Minegishi scoffed and rolled their eyes.
"Don't tell me I was your first kiss, too." Said Minegishi. Pathetic. Completely and totally pathetic…and now they knew what Mob saw in him. That was what she liked, wasn't it? Men who needed her. Men who pulled at her heartstrings. Men who couldn't take care of themselves. Awkward nerdy man children…men who were somehow chronologically and biologically older than her but mentally even younger than she was…
Somehow her taste in men was worse than theirs…which was why it was their job to protect her from herself when it came to things like this…and they'd been doing a piss poor job of it, weren't they?
"Kind of? I mean there was this one time in sixth grade but the girl was dared so I don't if that counts, I mean I used to count it but then you kissed me and-" said Hatori
"I just said 'don't tell me'. What, was it so good you forgot Japanese?" asked Minegishi
"N-No! I mean yeah, it was good when we…uh…had sex? I mean that doesn't sound right either, I sound like a health teacher…but we did have sex so-" said Hatori
"No, we didn't." said Minegishi. Hatori looked confused. They had no idea what he was so confused about. They hadn't had sex. Their body had been there, yes, but he knew them. He knew that they wouldn't have touched him with a ten foot pole. Hell, they would have gone to bed with Suzuki himself before they even considered letting him touch them. Hatori looked confused…how could he have been?
He had known Mob for five years now. That was long enough to be able to tell when he was sleeping with her.
"Wait…are you saying that I was…off target? Because I wasn't! I know for a fact that I was completely and totally on target! I mean, yeah, I was at first but you helped so…so I definitely know where I was." Said Hatori. Minegishi shuddered as they remembered…things that they would rather have forgotten. Hatori on top of them trying his best to find something, anything, anything other than the bed or their thigh or…they wished that they had plants, anything, even a seed.
They'd show him 'on target'….if they could.
"No, you weren't off target, but WE weren't having sex. You and I didn't have sex last night." Said Minegishi
"Ok, I'm really fucking confused right now." said Hatori. Minegishi kicked him as hard as they could. He pulled his legs back and gave them a hurt look. Good.
"You do know that you were essentially sleeping with Mob, right?" asked Minegishi. They loved the way he turned white. They loved the way his eyes went wide. The loved the way he started to shake. They loved the way his eyes kept on darting towards the wardrobe. They loved every moment that they could cause him even the mildest of discomfort. He deserved it.
He deserved a whole lot more than what they could do to him right now.
"I was…what!?" shouted Hatori. They felt their ears ringing. They didn't think a grown man could hit that octave…good. Well, not for their ears but for his vocal cords.
"Mob. You essentially slept with her…so congratulations, I guess. You finally checked that off your list." Said Minegishi
"I…no, no way! You're Minegishi and you-" said Hatori
"You know that I can't stand you." said Minegishi
"Yeah but I thought…uh…I don't know what I thought. That you'd come around and you want to be with me and…uh…" said Hatori
"And then what? That we'll fall in love, run away, and leave this place behind? That we'll start a new life together out in the mountains? That we'll grow old together and die together and they'll find out mummified bodies clinging to each other at the bottom of a well?" asked Minegishi
"…no…is that from something? I feel like that's from something." said Hatori
"Feel however you want, I'm done here….and don't look at me." said Minegishi as they wrapped themselves in Hatori's comforter like a toga. He didn't even have the decency to be embarrassed…whatever. Hatori was Hatori and Minegishi…
They needed a bath.
"But we just had sex…like, a lot. All night." Said Hatori
"No, we had sex twice if you can even call it that and then you fell asleep and pinned me down…and I was too polite to kick you out of bed…Mob was too polite. Well, now you know what Mob's like in bed, so do with that what you will." Said Minegishi
"Please stop, I think I'm going to be sick." Said Hatori as he put his hand over his mouth. They couldn't deal with this anymore. What, he thought that he had the right to be sick right now? Really? No, he had no right. What about them? They were the one's who'd actually had him on top of them and…and everything else…
Fucking Hatori.
"You and me both." Said Minegishi as they gave him one final kick. That one did send him to the ground…and they had the only blanket. They didn't care. They just needed to get dressed and get out of here and then get in the tub and boil themselves alive like a lobster until they either came out the other side clean and reborn or they shriveled up and died. One of the two.
They didn't care which.
"W-Wait, you're just going to leave? But what about…about…" asked Hatori. His voice was trailing off, there, and getting higher. They looked up. Their clothes were somewhere in this mess…a mess that they weren't going to pick through. Not when Hatori was looking at them like he was genuinely hurt. Not when they still had enough of Mob in them that they actually wanted to ask him if he was alright, if he needed anything, to actually apologize to him…
No.
"What about nothing. I'm leaving. I don't care where you go or what you do but you'd better stay the hell away from me." said Minegishi as they left. They didn't care if they looked ridiculous, they didn't care if any passing moron could have been able to tell what they had been up to, they just didn't care. It wasn't like they hadn't gone on a walk of shame before, just not at their age, and not after quite so much shame, and especially not dressed like an extra in a bad college movie…
They needed their clothes.
They slammed the door behind them and hurried to their apartment. The Awakened they passed didn't give them a second glance, not when they were too busy trying to pound Sho's door down, though they wished that other people had their sense…whatever. They hurried past Fukuda…Fukuda who was carrying several bottles in his arms of what they were sure wasn't water…they didn't care. Let his grief over the loss of Suzuki drive him to alcoholism, he wasn't their problem. They were their own problem.
One of many problems.
They shed Hatori's blanket like an unwanted skin the second they stepped into their apartment. Cold, very cold, and empty…good. They didn't bother picking out new clothes, they just went straight to their bathroom. The tubs here were tall and short, not good for laying down, but they would take what they could get. They needed to get the stench of Hatori off of them, the feel of him, this sticky slimy feeling…
Slimy.
They kicked the tub as hard as they could…which, of course, did nothing for their current reproductive dilemma at all. They hadn't been this irresponsible in years. Not even with Ryou...and they loved Ryou. Hatori had actually…somehow that was worse. Somehow knowing that he had actually finished…that millions of his potential idiot spawn were making their way towards their stupid egg that they didn't even want…great. Fan-fucking-tastic. They didn't know if they were going to faint or be sick or what…they shook their head.
Throwing up wouldn't solve their problem.
The bathroom was always the first thing they unpacked so it had to be somewhere…if it wasn't expired yet. They had never been this careless before in their entire adult life…that they chose to remember. They didn't have time to go over their many mistakes, not now, not when the clock was ticking. They dug through everything. Their medicine cabinet, their drawer, even their hamper…and for some reason it was in the same bin as their various face masks…whatever. At least it wasn't expired.
Down the hatch.
They wondered if downing it with warm bathwater would make it less effective…well if it did then they were screwed…but they weren't going to let things get that far. They couldn't. They didn't want kids, had never wanted them, and had already done a bad enough job with Mob. They certainly didn't want Hatori's kids. Ryou would have killed him…if they didn't kill Ryou first…why had they given him PERMISSION?
…because Mob would have.
And they were still worried about Mob. They were still worried about her even after they had potentially ruined their life…no. No way were they keeping it…which meant that they were going to have to go through that no so fun medical procedure again…great. How wonderful. They got to be laid up again for a couple of days all the while dealing with a million and one intrusive questions from Mob, probably, and…and they were still thinking about her.
Well, it did make sense.
She was their kid, after all, essentially. She was for all intents and purposes an orphan. Not that Suzuki had exactly been raising her with the utmost care and affection. No, Minegishi was all that she had and…and they didn't have time for this. Not when she was out there somewhere making mistakes with Ryou. Not when she was most likely not in her right state of mind…of course she wasn't. If Minegishi had been her then she must have been them…which explained Ryou and the whole 'running away with him' thing…they needed to put their feelings aside. About that, anyway.
Mob needed them.
Even though it wasn't fair! They hadn't sighed up for this. They didn't want kids, they certainly didn't like them, and they had decided from an early age that they were never having them. They had joined Claw because they had needed somewhere to go, somewhere to live, somewhere where it wouldn't matter who and how they were. Their job was to kill people and dispose of their bodies. Their job was not…taking care of an eight year old hadn't been in the job description…of course she was fourteen now, wasn't she? She was fourteen and…and she still needed someone to take care of her, whether it was fair or not.
It didn't matter how they felt.
They dumped a handful of bath bombs into the tub. They didn't know what kind they were, they hadn't been paying attention, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. They could smell themselves and they smelled like axe and sex and shame…so they jumped into the tub. They didn't care that it was way too hot, or that they'd forgotten to grab their loofa, or that none of these smells went together. Mint and rose and cupcake…that last one might have been one of Mob's that had gotten mixed in by mistake…it smelled horrible.
Good.
They were themselves again. They hated this cupcake bath bomb, Frozen was trite and boring, skirts were the worst article of clothing imaginable unless you liked accidentally flashing people, their hair was fine the length it was, Sho was an annoying little terror, Mukai was more of a demon than a child, sugar was poison, milk wasn't anything special, and Hatori would have made better fertilizer than a human being.
They were themselves again.
They soaked in the tub until they couldn't stand it any longer…and then they soaked some more. They knew that they had to get out of that tub and find Mob. They knew that they had to drag her back, kicking and screaming if necessary, and they knew that as painful as it was they needed to forgive her, too, so they could move forward…so they could be there for her. They knew that they had to be there for her because nobody else was capable of being there for her….just them…because they knew they were, essentially, her parent and she was, essentially, their kid…
Even though best friend, really, felt better…even though they knew it wasn't completely right.