Wanna bet?[break][break]

“Absolutely.” He spits the word back, but it seems that the rise of the threat level is doomed to taper before it really takes off.[break][break]

He watches her coolly, unbothered by the impression she cuts. Bitey and fierce. Just because he does not mirror the same image does not mean he did not at one time.[break][break]

A younger version of himself that he would like to claim is dead and buried in the backyard is still always with him wherever he goes. That surly, cutthroat boy that ran the streets and abandoned a life to trade it out for another.[break][break]

He clawed his way to the top. Blood under his nails, in the narrow gaps between his teeth. He wasn’t kind nor tempered, so all at once, he gives up on the insistence that she temper her foul mood.[break][break]

A wolf is a wolf. Some don’t do well in sheep’s clothing.[break][break]

As it’s pointless to deny what lurks under the placid surface of his put together appearance, so too is it pointless for her to deny her prominently feral nature.[break][break]

Perhaps he’s just uncomfortable with the level of deja vu.[break][break]

The sound of snuffles and rooting pulls his dour thoughts and he leans up off of the headstone to slink forward, though it has nothing at all to do with her demands.[break][break]

Now he just wants to find the damned spoink and prove a point. Though he doesn’t quite know what it is or why he should appeal to the stubborn likes of Margot.[break][break]

Like a child on the playground, angry to have been one-upped.

[break][break]

+ margot mori    | pearls before swine

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“I don’t disagree.” Though the elegant extravagance that surrounds them, or his finely tailored suit might beg to differ. They only became a reality because of his mind, however.[break][break]

And for someone who scraped by on nothing for much of his life, this makes all the difference.[break][break]

There is an ebb and flow to their conversation, and Enzo rolls with the push and pull, smile widening a fraction. Expression shifting in micro-transactions to tailor fit reactions to whatever she says. “And what would the right person look like—in your opinion?”[break][break]

No playing for keeps occurs here. But he does play for curiosity’s sake. That intrigue is doled out in equal measure, even on both sides. “I should hope I might make the cut,” he answers, low slow rumble laugh following.[break][break]

He ponders the question. The easy answer is yes, it is difficult to compel him more often than not. Instead of saying as much, though, he meets her question with one of his own after a lengthy pause.[break][break]

“Do you ever find yourself lonely for someone in particular? For a certain place, in a time long passed?”[break][break]

His glance flits away, the cleverness in his smile waning in favor of a certain edge of honesty that is not often offered to anyone—be they friend or stranger.[break][break]

Perhaps it’s the way she holds herself, or the way she speaks of intimacy that gives him the idea that she might understand. Though he doesn’t wish to provide his life’s story. “I find it often proves a deterrent unless the interest is there.”[break][break]

A distraction powerful enough to shutter off the active parts of the mind that seek to prevent. Even if only for a temporary period.[break][break]

Even if it always fades. And what better companionship, than one found on common ground?


[break][break]
illeana reyes   | >:3

[attr="class","milkcredit"] [attr="class","fas fa-cookie-bite"]

“Alright, okay,” his hands lifted in resignation, and he winced back at the bite in Kosei’s tone. Normally, he would’ve challenged it easily because as easily as they came together as a team, they could be equally as tempestuous. Right then, though, Enzo was too tired for a dispute. Fatigue and drowsiness still clung to him, drooping his eyelids, though he managed to stay awake just fine for now.[break][break]

It was there, embedded deep in his bones, though—the feeling that he could sleep for years and years with the opportunity to.[break][break]

Of course, he’d grow too restless for that sort of laziness, but still. He continued to watch Miu, even as Kosei spoke. “We’ll make sure she gets whatever she needs to improve,” he murmured, expression terribly fond and conflicted for his part in this. For worsening something already impacting with his grievous injury.[break][break]

Enzo couldn’t find it in him to be resentful then, and he let that irritable outburst with a soft shrug. Already, he’d shifted into softer things that made him feel unbearably weak and exposed. He almost expected laughter for his sulking. Honestly, even that would’ve been better than the gawking silence that followed, so he refused to look over out of petulant stubbornness. And then a hand was guiding his face, and Enzo watched him carefully. Faces close, breath mingling.[break][break]

The tease made him huff in response, but a grin cracked across his face. “Only for you, Kiryu.” That time, he was better able to meet the kiss than the first—leaning into it with more reactive effort. His hand tucked under Kosei’s chin, forehead resting against his. “Obviously a mutual sentiment, even if I was horrible at showing it.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Kosei Kiryu | once more in English smh[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndoom"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-lycanroc form-dusk"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-charizard"]

Fingers knitted into the fabric of his shirt, and Enzo felt the distinct need to let his free hand roam. Add fuel to the fire until Kosei no longer knew what to do with the experience he was being provided.[break][break]

But that would be a bit cruel, wouldn’t it? As far as he was aware, Kosei wasn’t all that experienced or well-versed in this. And to indulge this only risked stoking hopes and misleading ideas that Enzo was interested in any sort of emotional attachment. He waffled on that considerate path and doing what he wanted in the moment with no regard for the repercussions that might follow.[break][break]

It was a feat to go with the former, but of course it wasn’t easy by a long shot.[break][break]

That eager reaction was doing awful, foul things to his measure of self-control, though, which was already hanging on by a precariously thin thread. If he didn’t get it together. There would be an imminent and…obvious issue present that he didn’t really care to explain or be laughed at for so, he stubbornly stuck to his heel-turn toward the sink, rather than collide with him again as he very much would’ve liked to.[break][break]

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself, puppy,” he crooned back, the words more playful than they had any right to be given his attempt to be serious. He turned, cups in hand, in time with the thump of Kosei falling in the small, wedged space.[break][break]

Enzo couldn’t help the snort that slipped out as he set the cup down on the table in the corner and moved over to look down at him. “Stuck?” It shouldn’t have been cute. It didn’t have any right to be. Stooping forward, he bent to hook his arms under Kosei’s to pull him up. “Alright, no funny business, casanova,” he grumbled, but the smile was still there sneaking into the edges of his voice.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Kosei Kiryu | m: vacation time | ~10 yrs ago[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndoom"]

Another wheezy laugh pulled free from his lungs, disbelieving. “Why should I be angry with you? For blundering in there maybe, but it’s what most fathers would do.” His hand raked through his own hair, dissatisfaction curling through him with the fact that he knew it was no longer in the neatly kept style that it had been that morning. His ribs ached. No actually, everything ached.[break][break]

When had they gotten so old? Ugh.[break][break]

His thoughts scattered and came back together in bursts. He wasn’t sure what was so difficult to understand. He could suggest that Kosei would do the same if it had been him, but Enzo didn't want to determine that for him. His gaze followed Kosei’s to the little girl. ”Is she okay?” Physically, of course. It would take time to heal the fear and trauma in her mind. That—Enzo did have guilt for.[break][break]

He sighed again, that time a bit dramatically. There were no complaints or cheeky retorts in the moments that followed. Awkwardly, he pushed himself up with a wince. Then he simply took the offered glass and drank from it—throat finally clearing itself of that frogginess. All the while he deliberated whether or not it would be good to say what he said clearly so that Kosei would understand.[break][break]

Would it relieve him of that guilt, or worsen it?[break][break]

And then Enzo remembered that he could have died without saying them, whether he wanted to admit the brush was closer to mortality for his liking or not. He finished his glass and set it to the side. Hands folding in his lap, Enzo looked up at Kosei evenly. “Yes, it’s that easy, because I love you. There’s your translation. Eat your heart out, or whatever.” His head turned to the side as he fumbled with the words.[break][break]

Far less poetic when he didn’t have the shield of his first language to hide behind.


[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Kosei Kiryu | once more in English smh[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndoom"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-lycanroc form-dusk"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-charizard"]

Just like that, Kosei was awake and alert. Fretting over him as Enzo imagined he’d been before exhaustion had overcome him. It twisted up his chest, immeasurable relief and tenderness swallowing up his words briefly and rendering him unable to speak. “Hello, pup,” he finally rasped back before shaking his head and pointing his head at a water pitcher planted on the side table. “Just that for now.”[break][break]

And then hands fell about his face and he returned the kiss as best he could, his own hands curling around the other’s wrists loosely until they slipped away.[break][break]

He snorted, “Can’t get rid of me that easy.” One hand rose again, his pointer finger pressing firmly against Kosei’s lips. “I thought I told you none of that.” Despite the vulnerability of the moment, and the scratchy exhaustion in his voice, it was steady. “I don’t do these things so that you’re indebted to me, or that you feel guilty for being safe.”[break][break]

That same hand moved to cup his face, thumb gliding over bruised skin. “I’d make the same choice again and again, without question.
And there’s nothing you can do about it, so there isn’t any use in feeling bad.”[break][break]

Kosei sat back however, and his hand had fallen from his face. Enzo, nestled against his pillows, studied him. Maybe it was the weight of the painkillers, numbing his senses and his measure of control. Coupled with the strange reversion to his childhood and the daunting wariness of rejection, he slipped back into his native tongue again. More fluidly and without the normal, teasing composure that existed when he spoke to Kosei that way.[break][break]

He sighed, the curl of his mouth still present and exhausted, but incessant. The sort of amused exasperation that came with debating with a stubborn lover— “Caro mio, cuore mio, faccio queste cose perché ti amo.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Kosei Kiryu | *he said: my dear, my heart, I do these things because I love you. <3[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndoom"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-lycanroc form-dusk"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-charizard"]

Enzo laughed. “Well if that’s the case, you have no sense of coyness whatsoever.” There was an odd sense of warmth that diffused through his chest at the idea that Kosei might actually be a little smitten enough and too inebriated to keep his mouth shut about it. Weird—perhaps his own drinking had affected him more than he initially thought.[break][break]

No, no. That was foolish. And besides, he knew that Kosei looked at him. He wasn’t immune to the side glances and little looks when he thought Enzo wasn’t paying attention. It was equally foolish for him to indulge that with pokes and prods, but it was entirely likely that Kosei would not remember this in the morning anyway.[break][break]

“Oh, if you insist, I might,” he teased, brow lifting as his smile turned smug and his eyes rolled. He tried to heave Kosei in the direction of his bed, but Kosei didn’t go. The litany of questions gave him pause— “Well, I didn’t expect you to go this hard, but sure yeah. I’m proud of you. Step in the right direction.” Or maybe not the right direction, but one that further freed Kosei from the whole his earlier light had on his sense of control and restraint.[break][break]

The kiss, though. That was unexpected entirely. It wasn’t a notion that had ever really crossed Enzo’s mind as plausible, nor the sudden hunger that bloomed in its wake despite the fact that it was a clumsy, drunken excuse for a kiss in the first place. Heat burned in Enzo’s face, equally unexpected.[break][break]

“No, that would be you, booze hound.” Light laughter mingled with the words. He should shove Kosei’s face away from his—playful rebuttal. The problem was the difference in their frames of mind. The problem was that Enzo wasn’t morally good or truly wise. He was calculated, but also just immature enough to act on an impulse desire.[break][break]

His hand slid up, a firm cradle against the edge of Kosei’s jaw, around the back of his neck. His own head tilted in absent adjustment, heavy-lidded violet eyes studying him for the fraction of a second before he crashed through the gap between them again. A proper kiss, though nothing sweet or chaste.[break][break]

It wasn’t in Enzo’s nature to be careful in it. He was selfish and ravenous, but somehow the back of his mind signaled that even he apparently had a limit, and at least a small degree of guilty conscience. He didn’t allow himself the room to consider that perhaps it was because this was Kosei that he felt the flicker of hesitation before retreat.[break][break]

“Okay, alright,” he muttered with a rough clearing of his throat. “Sit. You should hydrate.” Abruptly, he turned away toward the sink to fill a few of the complementary paper cups.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Kosei Kiryu | m: vacation time | ~10 yrs ago[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndoom"]

Distantly, he wanted to protest the drooping of his eyelids. He wanted to give instructions about his dogs—he could still feel Cassius’ warm snout against one palm. The nip of his teeth as he tried to rouse Enzo as well. There were things he should say, things he’d like to make the other aware of and hadn’t. In the wake of his fading senses, he heard Miu begin to cry again behind the reprimands Kosei made in his panic.[break][break]

I’m sorry—I don’t mean to scare you.[break][break]

He didn’t know how long he was out for. He didn’t know anything about the trip, or the need for paramedics to pull Kosei from him. Not about the surgical procedure to how he got where he was. It was all a dreamless, fuzzy white. The occasional flutter of a memory.[break][break]

Though he couldn’t hope to grab hold of them as his consciousness swam toward the light above a watery dividing line, he remembered the baking heat of his hometown. An arm hugged around his knees as he drew shapes in the red clay dirt with a stick. Always building to something bigger. Better.[break][break]

But it never felt good being alone, did it?[break][break]

Hazily, his eyelids fluttered open to meet the sterile neutrality of a hospital room. His abdomen throbbed with dull pain, but it felt distant. Slightly nullified. Probably some high grade pain relievers. For a moment there was a ringing in his ears as he grappled with his bearings.[break][break]

He tried to lift his hand to rub his eyes but something weighed on it. He used the other, distantly noting the IV tubing poked into his forearm and the hospital bracelet on his wrist.[break][break]

How did I get here?[break][break]

Everything in his recent memory was foggy. Weighted with the blur of long term unconsciousness and anesthesia. Head spinning as he squinted at the printed letters and stupidly expecting the typed name Luca to be there. Vincenzo, right of course. Slateport General.[break][break]

His memory began to fill in the blanks, panic crawling up his throat as he tried to twist stiff, sore limbs in resistance. He had somewhere to be. An irritable huff followed the lack of compliance his body provided, and agitation crawled under his skin until his head flopped to the side and registered a mop of dark hair fanned against the crisp white linens on his bed. The pinned hand weighted only by the hard grip of another.[break][break]

A breath heaved from his lungs. Just beyond Kosei, in Enzo’s periphery, a sleeping Miu and the red glow of a lucario’s eyes. Clumsily, his other hand crossed across his body to rest against the top of Kosei’s head. “Eccoti, luna gemella.” No more than a hoarse murmur as a faint smile tugged his lips and fingers slid against inky black strands. They brushed over a ridge of stitches and recoiled slightly.[break][break]

A wheeze of thin laughter— “sembri una merda.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Kosei Kiryu | *he said: there you are, twin moon. You look like shit <3[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndoom"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-lycanroc form-dusk"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-charizard"]