Train rides and Champagne
Chapter Six
A sliver of light reflected over steep-metal steps coming out of a barely distinguishable side of the bureau, and even as the effect of sunlight contrasted so deeply with the darkness beforehand, it gave Whi-Two the faint but hopeful impression of happiness, that today, maybe everything was gonna go alright.
Or that was what Whi-Two'd so foolishly thought.
Miss Levy was currently damn tired, this guy he didn't know, okay, she reluctantly admitted, she knew, seemed to be getting more distant as time went, both deliberately and physically. With every step she looked curiously at him from behind, with the occasional glance away so she wouldn't get caught, and found it even more disbelieving than before.
Lack-Two'd goddamn saved her. The guy whose job it was to drag people by their handcuffs to police stations and mess no more with their lives other than that, had taken up a case too personally, certainly, for his own job's good.
Whi-Two finally took a little breath to look away and calm and distract herself, then muttered something about hidden surveillance cameras, but hell if she remembered what she'd said despite herself, because Lack-Two'd smothered her with a glance before she could continue.
And now they trudged among foliage and narrow, desolate alleyways in awkward silence.
Seriously? Was no one going to come after her? She understood that it was most likely due to them taking some isolated route which must be barely frequented by people, but she was so on-edge with Lack-Two around that it felt like her stomach might actually retch and flip and no, she'd rather be poisoned in jail, thanks. With extra dosage.
In order to avoid the flippin' silence, Whi-Two spoke. "Where are you making us go, anyway?"
And she knew then that it was not a good jab at making idle conversation, since he actually used her name, in full, for the first time since they'd met up, and it was fairly weird.
"...I wonder why you're following me if you're so suspicious."
And sometime after that she'd talked no more.
The weather had actually been pleasant, despite their-uh- circumstances, but it was no longer all sunshine and azure skies when Lack-Two had turned and muttered whether she would stop asking, that she was already slow enough as it was.
"It's not that..." She'd said, "but do you have ideas of what you're going to do right now?" Because if she had been in his position, she certainly wouldn't know what to deal with, not with the whirring of helicopter-blades and wails of police-sirens that could be heard emanating every half-minute in that busy strange city.
"Not that I um- Not that I'm not greatful." His head swivelled but the Plasma had to meet up with pin-drop silence.
And that was how Lack-Two had avoided her comments by wearing headphones and the girl had become too afraid and embarassed to speak after that.
Currently, it was beginning to get busier as they came upon wider paved streets, cars swooshing by with their reflective windows drawn up, a steady stream of vehicles jotting down the two-way streets beside solid calcined lime and concrete, and the two ending up mixing in with the crowd on the pavement.
Suddenly, a phone buzzed from somewhere, and Whi-Two tried her best to ignore it as Lack-Two's thumb slid over its skin.
"Hello." Was he talking to someone? Right... now?
"... Same to you." She didn't get the rest of it, so she tried not to overhear but the other line that was still awfully clear over the beeping of cars had mentioned 'Interpol' and it wrapped around her head that this might be the poor flappy-coat-guy from there, but no, he couldn't be this bossy.
Now she really did have no way of knowing whether Detective Looker was alright.
"Tell the superiors yourself if you want to, it's not like I'm on duty..." Meanwhile Lack-Two was being a born actor. "If it's a hijack you're talking about, then I'm sure those plasmas took her away."
Whi-Two could positively understand this, she tried not to gulp, and so suspected that her heartrate was so loud now that it had kind of climbed over the typical boombox-music from the too-loud parties she never went to.
Still, pressing that blame of hers upon Plasmas... Whi-Two could never and would never agree with it.
They might be evil but they hadn't broken in to take her, that would be weird, since she hadn't even seen them before, let alone have some sort of connection with them.
"Hey... Inspector." She saw him actually look at her, and felt a brief spite of courage rousing in her for that second. "What?"
"I really don't care why or how you did it..." She started, "but... that ...pressing that blame upon them, don't you think it's kind of wrong?"
He gave her a peculiar look, but then answered, "Well... since you really don't know anything about it..." He paused.
"What?" She asked.
"Shut up..."
"We're coming up in more crowded areas, so don't dare make eye ccontact with people or worse, end up lost." He surprised her when he took out a white surgical mask abruptly from his pocket, and harshly attached the string over her ears, surprising her again once his fingers wrapped around her wrist just so she wouldn't get lost and land them both in trouble, before guiding them out of the dense, thickening crowd. With a speed that almost gave the smaller motion sickness.
And now Whi-Two watched the shiny metallic monstrosity of a subway before her, with clusters of people gathering around it and rolling their suitcases around the floor, some checking their tickets with which they'd be able to tour the day with, while the other, busier ones glanced at their watches and waited aloofly for the departure time.
Whi-Two'd only found that she'd lost herself in its midst once she took her eyes off the sight and looked around for Lack-Two, and had eventually found herself bartered with other passengers while having no trace of that Inspector.
Though her small build had allowed her to wade in and out of tight snakelike queues of people, she still saw no sign of him nor any indication of which section she was in, the brunette was almost giving up, when someone had strolled up coolly behind her, completely at ease with the crowds.
"What are you doing?" The voice spoke.
Whi-Two turned around, and suddenly saw the brunette, regarding her cynically.
"You're really going to make us late. Just get in already."
Not only did a third of the people packed in the station enter that sub, only a few had got out. Whi-Two had bent her head to adjust the mask around her head, where the sensitive part of her ears were just turning slightly red, and only then looked up to find that their compartment was almost packed, a result of the reasons mentioned above.
She saw Lack-Two get into a seat before her, and inexplicably, her stomach almost curled in longing.
But... That was the end of that.
At present, they were both basically strangers, nothing more, nothing less. And it'd be pitiful of her to think it any other way. So she got into a seat behind, and tried not to think too much about anything, as she tilted her head slowly and saw the scenery unfolding itself behind that glass, and as the subway slowly crawled out of the tunnel and into the bright sunlight of July.
~V~
They would be moving forward, but Whi-Two was suddenly surprised at the silence that had rippled across their wood-panelled compartment, and then at once, a group of grim, suited people strode across the linoleum floors while flicking their IDs and displaying them to the people who were nearly stoned to silence, the door had been opened quite quickly and there were mysterious thumps sounding from its back.
"Has anyone come across this girl? Rosa Levy, she's by all means a national threat-" Whi-Two couldn't hear anymore because the sight of it nearly made her freeze.
It was her. Her in the Plasma uniform.
She tilted her head down, and blinked abruptly at finding similar black markings etched over paling skin. Suddenly glowing. She tried to rub it away, desperately.
It was branded.
"Excuse me," The voice rang clearly across the room, disrupting what had previously been a steady silence.
"I mean, isn't that obvious. She just escaped your so-called high-security confines. She must be a good threat. I'm sure half the country already knows about her." She saw Lack-Two bite his plump, lower lip. But it wasn't out of worry.
He was clearly resisting a smile. But then he parted his lips, teasingly, "Her crimes were really first rate, you know, and you just let someone like that go..."
"A steady flow of murders, decapitation, manipulating organs, collecting cryptid information for blackmail... And I can't even trust you to deal with her."
"Though I might have seen her."
Suddenly, one of the Interpol officers rubbed against his shoulder and passed him, before taking the stunned brunette by the hand and throwing her to the others, another emotionless agent looked over at Lack-Two, who barely shrugged.
"Cut her, fry her, stem her, boil her in a stew, do whatever you want."
A long row of sodium lights shining along a bridge, with water and a long stretch of sand spreading out underneath it, and the flickering light and abrupt voices had made the brunette come out of her sleep, and now she crinked open her eyelids and contemplated about how what she'd been shaken out of had been a dream...
Her sigh was way too long and full of relief as she clasped herself back in the chair. Whi-Two intented to doze off for a few hours more, since at least this dream hadn't been as bad as the rest.
"Care to save a seat for the elderly?"
The girl shook herself up from her rest, eyeing the sudden appearance of the gentlewoman with briefly surprised eyes, and then immediately followed with her instinct to climb out of her seat. The tall, slightly corpulent woman saw the embarrassed brunette as she subconsciously fixed her sweater, suddenly bowing and muttering an apology.
"What are you apologising for, sweetie?"
" Sorry', she said again, before moving out of the way and looking round for another empty place, the train shuddered along its path, which meant the brunette had to stay still a little to steady herself, before moving again.
Then she sighed, having followed her gaze to the only remaining navy blue draped seat.
Why shouldn't she have known.
The only available space was beside Lack-Two, bless it, he must've looked so unapproachable with his utter silence that he'd made both women and men run in the other direction, not that she wouldn't, but there wasn't much of a choice...
She approached him with an unperturbed expression across her mouth, only sending him a side-glance whence she curled her fingers around the pole beside his seat, muttering, "If you're wondering, by the way... It wasn't my purpose to come next to you."
Lack-Two'd only just looked at her, but in that one glance he'd managed to convey everything he felt about that, and a strange flicker passed by his eyes quite momentarily that Whi-Two didn't want to know about, and thus looked away from, rendering the thought in her head that their feeling was now basically mutual.
It was somehow tough to recover from glares.
But goodness, as the train hustled between stops, the constant momement of suited people in and out of the train meant that Whi-Two was having to try her best not to get shoved, much less into Lack-Two.
As the girl continued looking at the crowd inquisitively so that no future accidents may occur, she didn't notice the well-groomed man nearby who'd just made his suitcase fall off a rack, leading to a flurry of things that Whi-Two couldn't stop even if she hadn't moved away to make space for another passanger.
A little stumbling, leading to more stumbling, leading a confused Whi-Two to fall straight into a seat when she'd reached for the thin stands, which ended up being Lack-Two's lap, and a man who'd collapsed to the ground with the force of a bullet.
Whi-Two climbed up again, not yet aware of what she'd just fallen into.
"Um, are you okay? She asked, reaching to help the man, who seemed frightened by the prospect of the somehow small brunette and immediately leapt away, nursing his broken around.
Whi-Two suspected his bone had crunched underneath the stress when he fell. Oh god.
"S-sir, are you okay Sir?" He didn't even let her come near, and shuddered and leapt away again so fast he almost twisted his feet, leaving the girl almost confused but utterly distressed.
"Oh no... Um Sir,"
Why's he running, what did I-
"Sir please come back! And please take care of that forearm..." But before she could continue, he'd disappeared into a blur, and by then had almost certainly went away. Whi-Two sighed, slowly, not knowing what to do, and then turned around, cluelessly eyeing Lack-Two.
"I swear I hadn't even known he was there," she whispered, again looking away in the direction of said-man's departure, "... The poor Mister."
So far Whi-Two had been half-absorbed with the tetanic vibrations of their compartment, as their train glided over metal rails, and the low whistle dragging sternly in the air to signal they were about to stop, that she had in fact not noticed the thud of yet another suitcase falling nearby, at least not until a few seconds later.
The severe guilt of having knocked out a man three times her size had been the cause for which she'd run away, and almost carved herself to the door of that compartment, merely looking at the ground and not wishing for anything else. Luckily, the excitement in the car had died quickly as no one seemed to bother paying attention to something so trivial as a grown man's accident.
And now she lazily clutched the plastic handle and was just about to put it back in place, when a voice had called. It seemed, to her.
Catching sight of the woman from before had been a blessing, because even within their short encounter, Whi-Two'd sort of become familiar with her, and that glimpse had made her smile. Whi-Two barely shoved the suitcase back into a rack, before making her way there: without toppling, it seemed, since their sub had just paused at a stop.
"...No need to be such a sweetheart, dear, you're probably going to miss your stop." The dark lady had tutted for some reason, surprising the girl.
"My... stop...?"
"Why, wasn't that your boyfriend just now?" She glanced at a seat several rows away from her, and Whi-Two's heart gave a panicked jump despite itself.
"What?"
"If so, I'm sure I just saw him get up to leave."
The woman stopped when her gaze backed to Whi-Two, who'd been watching the place in the distance with an almost sad but confused expression.
Had she really made him that angry? But, couldn't that also be a good thing? She could escape from him for now and continue on her own. But... had... Had she really made him angry?
"Aren't you going to go too, young lady?"
The brunette almost looked caught off guard for a second, but then her features suddenly and conclusively drew rather clear, and the next moment Whi-Two was hurriedly giving a goodbye, whilst setting off a bit clumsily as she wished for Lack-Two to please please appear within eyesight.
Lack-Two splayed his fingers as he waited for Whi-Two at the entrance, not minding as people continuously shoved past his hurt shoulder in an attempt to hustle out to the grey station, though the annoyed expression that still somehow remained on his face was understandable.
The girl hadn't actually yet caught up with him.
Lack-Two swore if it was any different he'd have left her then and there, but he just started hearing his name being uttered faintly through a crowd, and the visual of the top of Whi-Two's hoodie clambering among people, at a lower height no less, was fairly amusing.
So he waited. And yes, he waited even though his left hand had gone numb, from when he'd retracted it back in surprise and hit against hard metal as the girl briefly fell back and then levered herself from his lap.
Lack-Two couldn't bring himself to think about that.
"Whi-Two." Her head spilled around, noticing the voice being called. It dipped slightly lower as she moved and curled her hands inside her pockets, but by then, the tight mass was waddling towards the entrance and Lack-Two and yet she still didn't notice.
There came a final buzz, and the conductor had begun saying something introductory about their travel destinations. Lack-Two sighed, and couldn't really help but outstretch a hand to grab the masked girl's pale one and tug her around, letting her gaze flock over and identify him before he snapped. He saw pinpricks of pink dust around her cheeks, probably just from embarrassment, and brushed it off.
"You're practically delaying the whole schedule, " he muttered, once the girl's eyes had fluttered close, as if in disbelief.
"Hang on..." She started messing with the position of the mask, simply so she could look out the window more clearly, and once she did, her entire body absolutely stiffened, just so she wouldn't take her eyes off.
"This..." Her voice was almost inaudibly low, "Y-you actually live... here?"
Admittedly, it was a rare sight as the sea was just a few feet from the station, streches of sand going on for meters and meters, its frothy waves hurling themselves at the bay, only to retreat calmly moments later, laying scattered seashells offshore as it did.
And the air hummed with sounds of splashing water forming its backdrop, carrying with it a whiff of salty air.
And all of these things completely revealed themselves to Whi-Two as their compartment doors slowly slid open, with an added clink.
~V~
The sun shone down brightly, colouring the few hedges sprung about in the vicinity golden, and as the two walked across arched stone pathways, Whi-Two found herself slightly lost in wonder.
This region seemed to consist mainly of broad French-styled houses, and a few timber ones strewn about here and there, with their immaculate gardens bordering the area, and sprigs of flowering plants hanging about windows and roofs, a new diction for urban gardening, dry wooden chairs that were propped up against the very walls to provide private sunbaths.
Lack-Two gave the very-out-of-place girl a look, not that she noticed. Though the next time she did, and actually didn't care, continuing to look around, her mouth parting open slightly to reveal her amazement only when she knew he wasn't looking.
Whi-Two was abruptly brought to earth by the sound of clinking keys. Lack-Two'd stopped near the doorway of a house not much unlike the others, except it didn't really look as if it was lived in, and prodded the knocker afterwards to open it.
"Wow... You actually live here..." Whi-Two mumbled to him, only then noticing that something was weird as she suddenly and quickly reached for the pocket of her jeans, quickly taking out a papery tissue, (the kind that were sold nearby stations), because she'd apparently drooled a little when she'd somehow fallen asleep in the train car.
She kind of drooled during sleep.
The inside of the place seem just as comfy as it had been hinted by the broad exterior, and her eyes met what seemed to be a contemporary living room, with cream coloured sofa sets, hanging paintings blurred with colour, and an unused surfboard leaning discreetly against a corner, giving off a vibe that it wasn't pulled out usually from that initial space and used.
Deluxe, but in a way comfortably so.
Though Whi-Two was sure this would lead to a lot of worry since she didn't want to break anything, and the paranoia of trying to be neat might just override all sense of comfort.
This was barely like what Whi-Two had imagined, so she barely could control her awe and maybe didn't even close the door.
"Don't tell me you broke the knocker." The lone voice in the room filtered slight, if discreet, amusement, and Whi-Two just blushed in response, still unnerved, but quickly proceeding to close the door as she did so, the silvery glass smoothing back easily into place.
If only toiling mindlessly could help Whi-Two understand somewhat what she should actually be doing here, and whether she should actually have been there in the first place, she might have achieved Nirvana by now, would tick it off on her list of goals. But sadly that was not the case.
She only stopped to glance at the Inspector once she heard a door thudding open, with him, looking in presumably all circumstances, completely at ease, as he unscrewed a large condensing bottle that he'd retrieved from the fridge.
The clear-coloured liquid that she'd originally presumed to be water now lay still over a shiny marble-top, and Lack-Two made no attempt at conversation at all as he inserted his hand into a cabinet... Medications? He had his own health routine, maybe? Whi-Two recovered some poise in her shoulders, now thinking how she was going uncomfortable while he was doing this, all of this, though she barely even knew what she else she wanted because she didn't want to wait either, or find out, or have some sort of conversation with the Inspector about everything that had happened and its determination on some kind of a bleak future because that was the thing she least wanted right now.
Getting arrested was actually way down the list.
Whi-Two moved, an indicative that she'd finally thought of something, though she did not place herself any nearer in case she might just piss him off.
"Um..." She said for the umpteenth time, "Do you really think I can 'live' here, is that um..." The correct word to place here would be 'appropriate'. She almost gulped.
"That's just dependent on opinion." He said, before she could, and looked at her, surprising her, not with the words but rather the sudden unearned attention."
"It's not like I've done anything like kidnapped you, so take your time getting used to it..." It was strange that his eyes could soften, not often, but at least they could become less glare-y when he wanted.
Lack-Two straightened, about to head back into the more spacious stairs, when Whi-Two just found herself suddenly interrupting him.
When she spoke she was actually really quiet, as if she was muttering something discreet.
"Do you actually have something useful to say?" He muttered, his voice going eerily snappy. "I can't hear you from there."
"...Could you show me the washroom?" She reiterated embarassedly, "I uh, wanted to shower."
~V~
The hell.
"Didn't you just this morning..." Must have, standard jailing procedure, or whatever.
"Yeah well..." She pursed her lips thoughtfully, "I don't really feel comfortable working along with their system, and uh, we've been outside for..."
She looked up at him, "At least four hours, and you know, car seats aren't really supposed to be the most hygienic."
"'System'." he repeated, cocking an eyebrow.
Oh well.
He could have done without the information.
"Talk about a neatfreak," he muttered under his breathe.
"Excuse me?" She said, clearly having heard. "You know..." She breathed out a sigh.
"You don't really get to decide that."
He lifted his gaze back to her, expression almost unfathomable. "Go and rest your legs right now, we've been outside long enough, it's not like it's the end of the world."
"Well-"
"Unless," He cut her off, the word hovering unwaveringly in the air, "Actually, I was about to shower just now so unless you're one of those people..." He stopped, just for the impact, and decided he'd won right then.
"So, hop quickly along like the bunny you are and sleep in a goddamn bed, unless you want me reporting nine-one-one about a pervert." He ended flatly, pressing the locked knocker of his bedroom and doing so without a second thought.
Before Whi-Two could even begin wondering fully about the things she'd just been called, the ebony door clamped loud and tight against its frame, almost deafening the girl's confused ears in the process.
It took her a few seconds to finally process what had happened, and with a series of quick and nervous headshakes and imminent mental facepalms, the girl stepped back, wondering whether she would actually sleep based on orders.
She probably would.
Stepping back from that void of a system and entering another. How wonderful...
She actually knocked tentatively on one of the doors she'd met along the hallway, which was kinda stupid, seeing as there were probably not gonna be any occupants there since for the past few days it had been locked up, unless they were dead, but old habits she supposed.
Quite unsurprisingly, her legs numbed and she fell on the bed almost reflexively from tiredness once she'd sighted it, fluffy blankets and pillows having met her eyes. It was all well and all getting crumpled under silken bedsheets, but... For quite a few minutes that the girl had been laid out had she been eyeing the ceiling-fan intensely, wishing very much that she wouldn't fall asleep.
On the aspect that she might have already made Lack-Two consider her as an utter crackhead, she couldn't possibly risk dozing off there and waking up the boy with screams that would possibly result from whatever latest torturous envisions her brain had schemed up for her.
She pulled over her sweater sleeves, fiddling over the only personal clothing of hers that had been left in the prison cell locker, and the one that she'd managed to get her hands upon before leaving so she could wear it over and conceal that her identity was one of an arrestee.
Whi-Two got up, brushing the hood over her eyes, only to be caught in surprise by the sight of a butterfly that had randomly swirled into the room.
It spiralled in and about the thin wisps of light coming from the semi parted curtains, flickering light, stencilled wings.
Woah.
She counted her fingers.
Almost three months from April and a day going forth, at least, since she'd last seen one. Minus four hours and thirty-five damn minutes because of the arrest proceedings.
She folded her hands, leaning back and watching, which might seem pointless but hey... a chance like that, too, could be taken away at an uncertain point.
Might as well memorise a butterfly while she still could.
The only true purpose for 'You only live once', right? Because she might just let someone manipulate her and be stupid enough to lose track of everything again.
Since it had basically taken a few words for the Inspector to order her about, and the sickly thing here was that she didn't even feel bad about it, she could've said 'no' more if she wanted, but some perverse part of hers just wouldn't let her, rather it wanted to do it like he said.
And it wasn't because she wanted to be on the Inspector's good side for information or- peculiar things like dependency, no, it was just Whi-Two being emotionally obtuse with her critical self when it came to Lack-Two, and for god-knew-what personal reasons...
She wanted to become friends again with him, but it wasn't like Lack- Two was going to appreciate since he most likely hated her, judging by his behaviour, and would think the useless prying bothersome.
Oh... you better get your shit together, Whi-Two.
She was just being paranoid, was all, paranoid because there wasn't any going back from what she'd done. She knew she needed to forget and what's past was past but...
But she would really want to prove herself and renew her friendship again with the boy. Just without having something selfish in its core, for once.
Despite the sudden, uncomfortable surge of almost pelting warmth in her stomach, Whi-Two opened her eyes again, only to spot the butterfly from before disappearing out of one side of the tall windows. And she found herself immediately regretting the fact that she was left alone with prying thoughts.
Oh shit.
She needed to sort this out for herself as soon as she could.
~V~
"What are you doing?"
Whi-Two froze, almost inwardly beating herself up for how obvious she might have just seemed. She straightened, clearing her throat and letting go a bit of the silky blue fabric.
It turned out that the gap behind a pair of curtains was apparently not the best place to hide, which shouldn't have been a surprise, considering all things, but one should still consider the fact that Lack-Two's appearance had been absolutely sudden and desperate situations like those permitted utterly stupid desperate activities. Add to that the fact that she'd hid many times before, and with surprisingly more elaborate plans, and including the last few days this had been the first and only time she'd been caught.
"What d'you mean?" She quickly asked, turning round with what seemed to be a purely innocent expression etched across her face.
Lack-Two's annoyance flickered by so quick one might actually have thought it a good illusion, but not Whi-Two, no, who was so much familiar with that slight press of his lips, that she knew immediately. Couldn't dodge it even if she wanted.
Lack-Two was fecking annoyed.
"What are you doing?" He repeated, noting her eyes invert to the doorway behind them, and how that flicker of relief died immediately once she'd felt his gaze, and begun stuttering.
"...W-What do you mean?"
"I'm not the one who needs explaining," he muttered in answer, "but if only you'd used this fantastic stray-cat flexibility Whi-Two, and actually done something good and gotten out of Interpol jail, I don't think we would have to be here. And yet we are..."
"Finding excuses to disappear everytime I enter the house, simply ignoring calls that could have determined your safety while I was away, and a list of stupid things which seem too stupid to even mention," he trailed off, though his eyes were fixed at her in a way that did make her feel rather peculiar and stupid, to be honest.
"Or do you want me to elaborate?"
Please, no thanks.
She laughed, nervously, shifting her gaze to the ground as if she couldn't well hear the even, faint sounds of his breathing, as if she weren't perfectly alarmed by how sinisterly close they were... "This doesn't really make much sense, Lack-Two."
"I'm sure I just made perfect sense, Levy."
Levy couldn't have thought that she would feel any more uncomfortable and ashamed than this, but then Lack-Two had just started eyeing her with almost blatant distaste, and something in her just cracked a bit inside.
It's not like she had purposely been avoiding him. Though the situation might say otherwise, Whi-Two had only too well felt like it was the other way around, whatwith Lack-Two not paying attention to her and keeping to himself and all.
Though one could argue that she shouldn't have been oversmart and evaded him when he hadn't really mentioned that she was dusturbing, and it was her fault since she carried it on without even knowing...
Oh shit.
Lack-Two leaned away, though only staying long enough to tell her quietly that it would be better if she said it straight to his face the next time she didn't feel like owing someone, even if she dared to do so, that is.
And she felt him shove roughly past her without throwing a second look.
~V~
A pair of shoes clacked fast against the stiff mount of steps that gave way to a lower staircase. Lack-Two came down to the floor looking practically ready for work, if only he hadn't been stopped by the sight of smoke drifting out from one side of the kitchen, only light wisps of air at the moment but possibly the result of a meagre mess.
His gut-instinct answered for him that Whi-Two was perfectly capable, it was almost a betting deal that she'd messed up with some appliance and caused a fire. If Lack-Two had any actual use for the kichen, he might've been worried.
But the kitchen actually looked pleasantly alright as he entered, or at least he was sure he wasn't close to encountering burnt pans or tabletops anytime soon, and the only alarm came from the smart-stove that seemed to be wheezing with the surprising load of contents.
It was all rather just a strange sight to be fair, one didn't wake up at early mornings to stir omelette-burgers if one clearly didn't need to, especially not if he were staying at a safehouse and bought takeaway when it was convenient.
Keeping his surprise to himself, Lack-Two just made his way to the mini icebox, and felt the cork of a bottle loosen underneath his fingertip as he listened to content humming, Whi-Two seemingly unaware of everything else including his presence, while tapping away at the metallic kitchen surface in between stirring some kind of sauce and humming softly.
It was only a bit later, however, when Whi-Two'd suddenly glanced at him and stiffened, continuing to stare at his presence. And only broke from her reverie once he looked back.
"... 'Morning," she greeted simply, before edging her gloved hands beside the stove, leather gloves which really did make one wonder, putting the pan away and imperceptibly peeling off the gloves after doing so.
"Is there a reason you're wearing gloves?" He asked, thinking it only reasonable to speak as he leaned slightly against a kitchen cupboard, taking small sips of the wine.
"Yeah." She answered.
"..."
"...Um... Aren't you, aren't you going to ask me anything else?" She spoke out, voice coming out slightly nasally as if she hadn't slept very well.
"What do you mean?"
"... Nothing," Whi-Two almost gulped, "Just thought you were going to ask more questions. I mean, if you were wondering..."
"No, I wasn't-" her voice interrupted his in a quick mumble, so quick that he really barely caught it, "It's an apology."
Lack-Two just glanced once at the neat array of dishes decorating a part of the counter, and caught what was going on. And Whi-Two just breathed a sigh through her lips, before looking down.
It came as a slightly surprise to him when the naturally cheery and confronting girl from a week ago just suddenly turned utterly quiet. Whi-Two, continuing to sigh at Lack-Two's lack of response, shifted herself at his gaze and spoke with an even lower voice.
"I... Uh, made breakfast for you," she muttered in a still-husky voice, cheeks ending up uncharacteristically pink with embarassment.
"...You know, yesterday, I didn't really expect you to get angry but i-it was really wrong of me to ignore you. And after all of the stuff we've been through, I guess I really don't want us to be like strangers and," she looked up, eyes reflecting barefaced timidness, "I realised that even after all the shit you had to go through for me I still haven't thanked you."
Lack-Two looked at the sweater-clad girl tense even more underneath his stare, if that was possible, and looked away whilst restraining a smile, lips still managing to curl up slightly at their corners as he did so.
"Did you? Well, that makes about as much sense as everything else you do..."
"What?" She frowned, tilting her head slightly critically in response, "...you know, no matter what you say, I'm not really a nutter." At which Lack-Two really had to heighten his concentration in stepping away from the gilded tabletop without snorting, making Whi-Two move her lips more and more in annoyance as he did so.
Yet just as he was about to walk away from the kitchen, Whi-Two gently slipped into the opening, casually blocking him from leaving.
Lack-Two raised an unimpressed eyebrow, and Whi did the same in return, before siddling against the wooden door and folding up her arms.
"Well, since I've apparently proved to you I'm a nutter," she shook her head at him, "I guess this wouldn't do as much damag-"
"Really, you should just move, Whi-Two."
"M'sorry," she answered him, not moving a single step even under the glare, "Because it's too much work worrying, and it wouldn't make any sense since I've worked too hard... so you should just accept my apology. And I won't move unless you do."
Lack-Two thought it was understandable that she was digging up a grave and didn't even know what would be inside, but if it was about showing mercy, maybe he just didn't have enough.
"Feel free to go back while I'm still letting you." He muttered, voice still laced with considerable annoyance. Whi-Two might just make him late for work.
If that wasn't an utter pain in the ass, Lack-Two didn't know what was.
Whi-Two didn't move, though. In fact, she just started looking at the floor with that unperturbed expression of hers, eyes blinking slowly and contemplatively as if she was thinking something through, though it probably wasn't about letting him go to work or letting herself remain unharmed. She was the kind of person who sometimes made people really curious as to what went on inside her head, especially when she did things like that.
Lack-Two smiled ruefully, succeeding in controlling his anger while being careful to lower his head exactly as much as he could without breaking the girl's dreamy unmindfulness, and then proceeding to whisper slowly into her ear something that had managed to do exactly that.
"Good luck just standing there forever, Whi-Two."
~V~
Five minutes later, Lack-Two repressed a small yawn, before blinking his lashes lazily at the brunette, who had the back of her hand pressed against her lips, trying to muffle the series of hiccups that had begun emerging little by little in the last few minutes.
"There's water in the fridge-"
"Nevermind," she coughed, pulling her oversized sleeve away. She hiccuped again, then clasped her hands against her mouth immediately, as if it was going to help repress it somehow.
Another hiccup. "Um, can I drink this?" She was pointing to the section of little bottles lying in haphazard positions above the counter, and immediately took one, looking at the contents and gently shaking the bottle back and forth with weary eyes.
"Sorry Lack-Two, but it really seems troublesome to move and let you go when there's water-" she tried resisting another hiccup, failed, and pulled the cap open, "here."
It was only when she lifted it carefully, did Lack-Two notice the bubbly spheres that had been whizzing over the surface ever since, and increasing with evert slight nod of the bottle.
Goddamnit champagne sake.
"Wait, Whi-Two-" But Whi-Two had already started sipping away, and a couple sips later she was remarking about the sparkling drink's oddity and how it actually just looked like 'coconut juice'... only to stop seconds later, utter realisation hitting her for another blind second and her eyes flitting to and fro from Lack-Two and the bottle as if she'd not just simply drunk alcohol, and had instead comitted a horrendous crime.
"Shouldn't it be illegal to put wine in inconspicuous bottles like these? What if..." She frowned, trying to set it down but ending up with another raw hiccup, which only led her to frown more, reverse the act and continue drinking, not having any other choice.
Lack-Two grimaced slightly at the amount she was going to end up drinking, but whatever it was, the damage had already been done, and even if she was a lightweight it wasn't likely she would get drunk off of this.
So he waited for the slight tilt, and only when Whi-Two had flinched and sat down with her wrist supporting herself against a bit of wood, most likely still not giving up, did Lack-Two kneel, snatching the bottle and putting it away, before reluctantly putting his arms around her waist and, ignoring the sursprised small cry from Whi-Two that had emerged with this, and proceeding to literally carry her above his shoulder.
"What are you doing?! You shouldn't just pick up and throw people around like that!" Ignoring all of the protest and muttered threats of her wanting to really sue him, he went on to release her, quite abruptly, over a small table, an action which made Whi-Two land very hard over the rough surface and with a resounding thud. Somehow the table had shuddered unusually forcefully, though Whi-Two had been too numb and too busy finding some sort of support to notice.
Whi-Two glared at him, though it was no sooner aimed at the Inspector's back as he'd already just begun preparing to leave.
Rest in peace, tailbone. She thought, sighing slightly inside.
The end of the chappy-thingy~
A/N: Hello loves I need some real help with adoption papers :') I can't take it anymore so I'm adopting these two twelve year ol's as soon as I can
Also tysm for the detailed reviews and favourites I can't even tell you how happy I am (hearts) Y'all should be angry at the late updates but still keep supporting me and ohmygod your reviews were real blessings, thank you~
Good day~