[multiple locks]

[doyoulikecake]

[locked to Molly]

Quit breaking my toys, will you? :P

[locked to Lily]

[in Japanese] I have a couple surprises for you. I miss you, kiddo.

Comments

[doyoulikecake]

"That was a concern," he says. "Whether or not she could handle Naomi. She was worried she wasn't going to be able to make it to Christmas this year -- still doesn't know if she will." He shrugs, staring up at the ceiling. "I guess it'd be as good an excuse as any."

He heard her, but he's not going to suggest he try to get the information. He wouldn't do it for her now, anyway. And he can see the tension in her, the fact that she would rather be talking about what's under those photos than the photos themselves.

Too fucking bad. He doesn't particularly want to be talking about it either. He wants to ask her why she left. Why she keeps trying to leave him. Why she's in here at all, and whether or not she's going to blame the family's problems on him again. He knows she knows that; he knows she can feel his anger and resentment at having to stay here when she so obviously doesn't want him there in the first place. He's not sure why he even came, but he can't quite bring himself to just walk out. Not when he hasn't seen her in a few days. Not yet, anyway.

[idontlikecake]

The only problem here, Kaden, is that your sister knows you almost as well as you know her. Which is why she's not really going to put up with this smalltalk bullshit much longer.

However, she does need to say, "I guess we'll have to drop by before we go to Japan, and say hello to both of them, then." Apparently she needs to get the last smalltalk in or something. It doesn't even matter.

Which is why she finally says, "But that's not even what you want to talk about." She presses her lips together, and takes in a long breath through her nose, doing her best not to look huffy. "So do you mind respecting me enough to tell me what you actually came here for?"

She pauses, looking appalled. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to come out like that..."

[doyoulikecake]

He nods. "I figured we were going to do that anyway, given we're booked to fly out of LAX, not O'Hare. Well, rather, that we're flying out of LAX to go to Japan. O'Hare's kind of unavoidable if we want to get home."

He just stares at her when she brings up the fact that he doesn't want to talk about it. Of course he doesn't want to talk about it. But he'd rather talk about visiting the family than her stupid research, right now.

And like hell he's going to bring up what he actually wants to say. He knows how that conversation will go.

"I'm going to detox next week," he says with a shrug.

[idontlikecake]

Well, that rips her attention from her research rather quickly. She just stares at her brother, almost afraid to blink.

"You know," she says, choosing her words carefully. "When you said you had two surprises for me, I didn't imagine one of them would be so unpleasant."

Who is she kidding? This is Kaden, after all. She should be pleasantly surprised that one of them was nice at all. Even if she can't properly focus on the pictures. She'll be happy enough to sort through them later.

She shouldn't have let herself dig through this paper, right before he was about to get here, but he was late, and she hadn't really thought he was coming.

[doyoulikecake]

"Did I ever promise just two?" he quips, still not looking at her. Of course she'll care if it's something that hurts her. It seems that's the only time she's paid much attention to him at all, lately. It's part of why he's spending so much time on his experiments, both at work and at the Kashtta.

If she wanted him to pay more attention to her, maybe she shouldn't have called Ken.

"It's better if I do it now, while you're here, rather than incapacitating you when you have class and work to deal with," he continues, finally dropping his eyes to look at her, meet her stare. "Particularly since I know the staff here will understand that it's not you. And it's not like it's even going to last half as long as a reset."

[idontlikecake]

"Well, you said a couple, so I figured it was two," Lily says, trying not to be angry at him. But she's so frustrated from his reset and while he says that they understand it's not her, they don't really. They don't understand how much Kaden affects her. How strong their bond is.

The moment his eyes meet hers, she looks away, not able to take his gaze. "It's not like I get any say in the matter," she says, doing her best to keep her tone level.

It's not like she's had any autonomy since he's come back. It's just been more and more hurt. Nothing else.

[doyoulikecake]

He shrugs. Outwardly, he looks perfectly fine, relaxed even. But he knows she can feel his frustration and his hurt, and he knows she doesn't care, which is starting to make him angry. And when he speaks again, his voice is getting closer and closer to deadpan. "Might be, as I think I left all the rest of the good surprises at home."

But for all that his voice is flattening out, his tone is still even, amiable. "If you're not going to have any say, then I guess you wouldn't, but if you have a better idea, by all means, let me know."

[idontlikecake]

"Like you'd even listen to anything I had to say if I said it," Lily says, blinking slowly. She seems calm herself, but he can read her tells, that slight twitch there, her breathing just a bit too fast. She's not very happy about Halloween. Not at all. And the fact that he didn't even bring her stuff only makes things worse. Of course he didn't. He's punishing her for things that he did.

"I'm the stupid one, remember?"

Because she is feeling stupid right now. Stupid. Left out. Discarded. Unloved. She did everything for him, because she loved him, and then he treats her like this? This -- this isn't even how he usually treats her when he's feeling this way, which scares her. She thought she knew him.

Apparently, he's changed. That part wasn't a lie, at least.

[doyoulikecake]

"I might, if you presented it properly," he says, sitting up. "If we discussed it like adults, instead of you instantly sulking over it."

Oh, he knows she's angry. You learn to see the tells pretty fast, in his family, because it wasn't as if anyone ever got visibly angry, at least not in public. You learned the tells so you could watch for the hit when you got home, or could keep an eye out for the public humiliation. So you could guard your secrets closer, just in case.

"You're not stupid," he says, his voice softening a bit. Yes, he's still angry, but he can't help it. "You were never stupid. Only a little childish."

Yes, he changed. He learned to manage himself better -- no, he learned to manage himself without her. And she's giving him every signal, right now, that she would rather he do that. Normally, he might try to cling, try to get back in her good graces, but he can't quite bring himself to, anymore. This is her punishment for trying to leave him again and again, for trying to drive him away; this, more than the torture she so overreacted to, will hurt her. And yet it will never make up for what she did to him.

He wishes he could let go of that grudge, but every time he tries, he remembers the searing pain and the panic and the fact that when he was sane again, when he tried to find someone to tell, she wasn't there.

[idontlikecake]

"If you don't want to be here," she says, working so hard to keep the tears from coming to her eyes, "then you should just leave."

It hurts her so much to say it, but she can't stand him sitting there like he didn't do anything, lecturing her. Besides, he obviously doesn't want to be around her. She doesn't know what happened, what took him away from her. She wants to reach out, to hold him, to stop all of that pain, but she doesn't know how anymore.

She picks up the photos, refusing to look at him. Because if she does, she might not be able to hold those tears back. She never was that good at hiding her emotions. Well, for a Fuchizaki. Or maybe it's just around him.

[doyoulikecake]

He's quiet for a very long time, not looking at her anymore. Her words hurt, but it's not like everything else hasn't. It's just confirmation of her need to escape.

And right now, probably the nicest thing he can do is give her that. At the same time, it's probably the thing that will hurt her the most. Funny how sometimes these things align.

So he sits up, pushing himself off the hospital bed and grabbing his coat. "If I'd known you didn't want to see me," he says, swinging it on, "I wouldn't have come in the first place." It's a lie, but right now, he wants to believe it.

He strides to the door, but pauses just before going out. "I love you," he says. "And I think you need to drop Iris Fortner a journal entry, as I'm sure you two have things to coordinate."

And with that, he's out the door again.