He never did seem to learn, did he? It had never failed–Enzo would prod him and he’d snip back, earning more prods. It had been that way for as long as Enzo could remember. The game he made into it was likely a little tiresome, but how could he help himself when Kosei fell for it nearly every time? Like pulling someone’s braids in the schoolyard, really. Though if he was being honest, his own temper could be just as bad. He could curb it now and retrain it into something calculated and measured, but that did not mean it no longer existed. Ugly, snapping teeth under the surface.[break][break]

“Guess that’s true–” he hummed, finger tapping at his chin. “I’d rather not be the subject of their gossip at all, I suppose.” That business was his to conduct, and it only concerned the involved parties, in his opinion. “Cute that you think so, though.” A snicker followed, and he was careful to remain out of reach to any potential smacks or swats. He could be worse, given…everything. And he was sure that Kosei knew as much.[break][break]

Best not provoke him, no?[break][break]

Enzo had never really considered himself a family person. After all, he had ditched his own as soon as he figured out how to sustain himself on the streets (not that they weren’t basically all on the streets before he’d left, but still.) Attachments, even familial ones, were a weakness. A vulnerability that he didn’t care to have exposed to others. Perhaps it would be a lie to say that Miu wasn’t a weak spot for him. (Singularly Miu, naturally.) He’d been wrapped around her finger nearly since Kosei had first brought her to his place, sleep-deprived and on the last tethers of his sanity.[break][break]

"Now who's the one rushing?" he trilled, eventually returning to his spot alongside Kosei and nudging his arm again with his elbow. Albeit a bit softer that time. "I've heard the next house over is giving out pixie sticks. Whole batches. Can't imagine how hyped up she'll be for those." Slipping back into that tentative peace, tempers in check for the time being. He couldn't say he minded.
[break][break]

+ Kosei Kiryu | m: tricking or treating | cassius’ costume…

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“Yeah yeah, sure.” Enzo waved him off with full intent to call it out again later at some other time. Not right then, though. If he was going to wax nostalgic tonight, it was not going to be about that particular chapter. And though Miu was not his, she was still a good result. One that he remained particularly fond of.[break][break]

The turn they took, though, was an unanticipated one. Enzo had expected the same bitter remarks, the bickering that had become more prominent in their interactions that anything else. Kosei, though, didn’t seem to realize that under the sting of pettiness and betrayal that Enzo projected, the sharpness of rejection had always been far more prominent. Kosei had left, not Enzo. He’d never wanted that. And perhaps there was fault of his own for not saying so at the time, and allowing his pride to get in the way.[break][break]

“I don’t think I need to tell you for you to know the answer, Kosei.” It felt strange, not using one of a litany of nicknames he’d placed upon the other. What was he looking to gain from this? Enzo wasn’t sure. He was tired in a different sort of way than Kosei was, but tired all the same. Yet too fixed in the weird liminal space they were now existing in to remove himself from it.[break][break]

If he did that, it would be done and gone. Like liquid spilling between the gaps in his fingers. Unsalvageable.[break][break]

There was a small, unacknowledged hum of relief that he did not repel away from the way Enzo threaded his hands through his hair. He leaned into the contact just the same, two pillars balancing one another’s weight. Wasn’t that how it should have been? Idly, and without much thought to it, his fingers slipped further, tracing the lines of his face carefully. Brows, the slope of his nose, the line of his chin and jaw. Then returned to his hair.[break][break]

“I suppose it does not,” he said after a moment of quiet thought. But his voice had drifted to something softer, less instigating. His fingers continued to smooth through Enzo’s hair, carefully working through little knots without yanking, repetitious.[break][break]

“Though I think that whatever guilt you feel is due to the fact that you do not feel bad, but think that you should.” He took the bottle back and drank from it again, finally feeling the way the edges of his thoughts began to blur. Grateful for the lack of sharp sobriety.[break][break]

Kosei had made a good random choice. The proof and content was particularly high on this label. Heat prickled under his skin, warming his face as the liquor did its work and finally started to kick in. Unfortunate that it only made him gentler at the moment, rather than wilder. “Am I wrong, mio cucciolo? Or correct?”

[break][break]
Kosei Kiryu | xoxo

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It wasn’t that Enzo didn’t respect Kosei at all. Sure, he judged him for taking some moral high ground that had never mattered before, then suddenly did. But that didn’t mean he didn’t hold any regard for his former partner. Even back when things were alright, it had existed. Unspoken, and often unacknowledged, yes, but still there. It likely wasn’t fair that he left it unsaid, but Enzo was just as inherently selfish. He wasn’t often fair.[break][break]

But he wouldn’t have continued to work with Kosei if he didn’t hold some regard for him or his opinion. That felt obvious enough to Enzo—it went without saying. Except, perhaps it didn’t.[break][break]

“Ooh, tetchy,” he quipped back, brows lifting as his eyes lit with a sort of goading wildness he didn’t often show these days. It had been more common when he was younger—unable to help himself from provoking anything or anyone who crossed his path. It seemed he’d struck a nerve somewhere, though he hadn’t actually thought he would. How interesting.[break][break]

Enzo had to clamp down on a bark of sound that wanted to slip free as pain sparked in his foot where Kosei ground his heel down. His eyes narrowed as they shifted sideways to his companion, jaw ground together with the muffled sound. That didn’t really slow him down, though, as they turned to go and as soon as he could exhale a breath without complaint, he leaned toward Kosei again to elbow him in the ribs with a cheeky little, “bark, bark.” Once again, quiet enough to not be overheard, low and gravely.[break][break]

Then he was jogging down the remaining steps, slightly ahead of Kosei to keep his toes safe in his shoes. Eventually Enzo fell back in line with him, still anticipating repercussions, but not before offering Cassius’ leash for Miu to hold—something she eagerly obliged.[break][break]

“It’s not a worry,” he grumbled as his hands swung at his sides, newly freed from their prior obligation. “More the annoyance of it that I’d prefer not to deal with.”

[break][break]

+ Kosei Kiryu | m: tricking or treating | cassius’ costume…

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“What sort of power do you mean?” His head tips to the side, a curious question. A genuine one.[break][break]

After all, there are different sorts of power, and each can be leveled in different manners. He’s not really certain why he’s decided to pick her brain for such a thing, but her answers have been interesting, to say the least.[break][break]

“This smile suits you,” he adds in casual observation. She should be allowed the opportunity to feel as if she is flourishing at the center of someone’s attention.[break][break]

Enzo’s own smile stretches wider, eyes crinkling just so at the corners. “I’m certain you will not.”[break][break]

Of course, he doesn’t hold some grand idea of how a chance meeting like this might play out. He is simply dwelling in the moment for what it is, and in company he finds holds his interest. He needs nothing more than that, and there are certainly no outright hurdles required of her to pass. Not today.[break][break]

It would be a lie, after all, to say he is not an opportunistic sort of beast.[break][break]

But he is not actively looking to gain right now. If something works to his favor from this conversation–well then that is just added benefit.[break][break]

A short laugh chases her words. “No,” he says, pausing to drink from his glass. “It’s not nearly as fun at all.”[break][break]

Rose tint is also a complementary thing on her, he decides. Blooming across pale skin in a vibrant, but not so overpowering way. “I suppose I just think it wouldn’t be such a bad thing, should you give it the opportunity.”[break][break]

He shrugs, “Though I suppose I can’t fault you for preferring more intimate interactions, either.”


[break][break]
illeana reyes   | >:3

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Enzo whistles low, the sound sharp, but plummeting at the offer presented to him so easily. “Well then, isn’t this an interesting turn.” He wasn’t sure if anyone might come for him–on good or bad terms, but this seems fortuitous indeed. His old alignments may have been severed, but Enzo has always been a creature of opportunity.[break][break]

And this ladder seems as good for climbing as any.[break][break]

“Well then I thank your late father his good favor.” It has certainly helped their cause that they’ve sent along a connection to his late colleague. A smart move on their part–even if he seems a bit unsure of himself standing there in Enzo’s office like a thin reed about to be blown over when any slight breeze.[break][break]

An eyebrow arches slowly at the mention of his accomplishments–which, if he does say so himself, are no small thing. “You flatter me,” he says anyway at a false play of humility. The boy is smart. Enzo does love to have his pride bolstered.[break][break]

“Ah, ah.” Enzo holds up a hand then, and pauses long enough to push himself up out of his seat. “Do not forget, Little Cross,” he continues as he walks around the side of the desk to stand in front of Jayden. He looks down at him, smile largely benign save for the fleeting glimmer of teeth. “You are offering me the pardon here. You are not the one in need of completing tasks.”[break][break]

It’s simple advice.[break][break]

Though if he’d like to jump through hoop after hoop just to gain Enzo’s favor, well then he’s not about to stop the young man, either. Still, he offers his hand to shake.

[break][break]

jayden cross   | m: recruitment act i. | you got a mobile order for him, starbo boy??

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“I could change my mind and opt to willingly,” he retorted with a scoff. Though that was very unlikely. “Yeah, you drew the short end of the stick there. But I could’ve told you that.” He paused, and looked at Kosei with a tilt of his head. “Oh wait–I did, didn’t I? Huh.” It was long in the past now, but Enzo had never been all that shy in his opinions of Kosei’s ex. And it was likely that he wouldn’t stop anytime soon, either. That I told you so rush was just too great. “Fine, though. You were napping away.” [break][break]

“Sure it doesn’t, pup,” he repeated, noting the lack of scolding he’d received that time. There wasn’t much bite there in his own words anyway, more like a quiet humoring of Kosei’s insistence that he wasn’t a lightweight. “Fussier and you don’t hold your tongue quite as much,” Enzo added in a mild grumble. “You’re the one who said to ask, Kosei. Not me. Maybe your subconscious is giving you a signal.” He snorted, poking him in the back of the head where he was flopped. The unspooling of inky blackhair made him smile–just the flicker of one. Something nostalgic, maybe a little bittersweet as his fingers threaded through it for a second pass. A bit more careful than before. For a moment, he considered asking if he might be able to braid it, but–[break][break]

‘you’re an asshole.’[break][break]

“And you’re hogging.” Reaching out, he grabbed up the discarded bottle as Kosei sat up. But not without exchange– he held up the cigarette in his other hand and let the unlit end hover in front of the other’s face for him to take. He wasn’t near as off-kilter as Kosei, and that was a setback. He tipped the bottle back, soaked in the way it made his mind fuzz in and out of focus. “That’s not how it works, though. You can’t feel guilt for the sake of it. And I didn’t say nothing.” He tilted the bottle in Kosei’s direction. “You did.” He needed another drink.

[break][break]
Kosei Kiryu | xoxo

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Just the same as Kosei was resistant to the idea of depending on collaboration, Enzo was just as unwilling. He’d been independent for as long as he could recall. To suddenly believe that he needed help or extra hands on some jobs or in some exploits (such as this stupid endeavor,) offended his sense of self. Still…they complimented each other with a strange sort of consonance. It would be…stupid not to capitialize on that. Or so he told himself to settle his irritable pride.[break][break]

He drew the line at being bossed around, though. That was his schtick.[break][break]

“Well, I’m not so you can take your assumptions and shove them elsewhere.” He almost added another ‘puppy’ to the end of it, having not at all missed the little glare he’d received for it. He refrained, though. Oddly. The freed onix blotted out much of the remaining light with the sheer size of it, and as Enzo ambled away with Cassius trailing his shadow, he was definitely grumbling something about show-offs as the large rock snake seemed to complete a few tasks in one fell swoop. Stupid, conjoined rock quarry, that’s what it was. Mutterings to himself as he kicked at loose abandoned shells and picked up sticks.[break][break]

After another rumble of thunder, though, he also picked up his pace. Releasing his sableye, he instructed it to scope out the area for any other potential issues that might try to arise. Gizmo skittered away, dissolving into the growing dark. Then a strike of lightning in the distance illuminated the beach as the light reflected off the water. Enzo slouched and tipped his head back, groaning dramatically.[break][break]

Stomp stomping back to where they’d set up base, Enzo tossed his little bundles of sticks down and began to look for larger rocks to arrange in a containing circle. Very obviously still sulking. “Didn’t you think to check the weather forecast before you signed us up for this thing?”

[break][break]

+ Kosei Kiryu | deserted island | 8 years ago!!

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