[Thread] Kiss and Make Up

[hands_of_reason]

Characters: AU!Lyle Norg, OU!Naoki Kashima
Where: The Fountain
When: Sometime after the Tanabata festival ends
Summary: Now that Lyle's back, Naoki has some things he wants to talk with him about.
Warnings: A little angst and/or fluff? Shouldn't be any, really.

After he ran into Lyle, he hadn't lingered around the festival very long. It had been nice

Comments

[invisikid]

In the thinning crowd, he weaved past a couple and got the fountain, with Naoki beside it, in sight. A breath escaped him, chest tight in hesitation. This meeting was...unexpected. Inevitable, yes, but so soon? Lyle barely had his Econtra feet under him. After how much he had made the older boy mistrust him, he'd thought they would be avoiding one another like the plague.

Lyle approached, slowly, and ended his walk three wide steps, a respectful distance, away. If he was guessing right, Naoki had been their for a while. "...Enjoy the festival?" He managed, itching to tug at the sleeves of his yukata. His voice was testing the waters, even a little suspicious, tense.

Before, it had been easy to be surprised, to let the air between them become friendly once more. Now he was alone, face to face with Naoki, and no Dick or Tim or Brainy to keep his mind off of the words he and the Demi-Fiend had exchanged. At that, Lyle's eyes darted to the side, before slowly returning to the other teen's face.

[hands_of_reason]

While he was glad to see that Lyle came after all, Naoki could hear the unease in his voice, and it only made him feel worse about what he'd done.

"Of course. Tanabata is one of my favorite holidays, even if the story is a little hard to believe." He smiled, trying to dissipate the suspicion and put Lyle more at ease. It was unlikely the hero would be as willing to hear him out if the negative feelings persisted. "I was surprised to see you there, but... it made the night that much better."

[invisikid]

"...Heh." A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. This speech pattern was familiar...it was something Naoki would say. That meant he was really dealing with the balanced version of his friend...? The unease didn't leave him, but his shoulders relaxed. "I was surprised to be there myself. Home and back again. But its..." What was it exactly? Lyle refocused on Naoki. "...I don't really mind being back."

But the other boy had wanted to talk to him, hadn't he? The younger teen tried to figure out exactly what was going on by glancing across the other's face.

[hands_of_reason]

He'd just see the somewhat sad smile on his face and not much else. For once, his expression gave little away.

"I'm really glad you're back. I missed you; probably more than you know." Naoki sighed and went back to sitting on the edge of the fountain, hands folded in his lap as he looked up at Lyle.

"I did a lot of thinking while you were gone, and I was actually a little scared that I'd never get to talk to you again; that I'd never get the chance to tell you all the things I wanted to." Whether Lyle believed or listened to him, he certainly sounded sincere and almost remorseful. "And you'd never know how sorry I am for what I said to you before. I don't know what came over me, but almost everything I said then was a lie. I don't regret trusting you or liking you, even if I don't know you as well as I think." He paused, shifting to stare at the ground between his feet. "I know I can't take any of it back and just apologizing won't make it right, but I really am sorry. I'll do anything to make it up to you."

[invisikid]

"..." Lyle's eyes widened, shocked. He was...Naoki was apologizing. He pressed his lips into a thin line, before they parted without any words, closing again at that realization.

"...A lie...A lie, really?" He said suddenly, voice strained if one listened properly. His rattled mind meant he was slipping from outward hesitation to a scramble for inner collection. "You had a right to say it, though."

But he wasn't trying to be accusing. He had told Naoki that they didn't know one another, how could the other boy not be angry? He had trusted Lyle, and the Legionnaire had awarded him by claiming that trust was on an incomplete person.

[hands_of_reason]

"I didn't mean any of those terrible things, honest." He shook his head before putting his forehead in his hands. "And I had no right or reason to say them. None of it is even close to how I really feel. You've been nothing short of wonderful to me; I can't believe I treated you so badly."

Had it been within his physical reach, Naoki would have kicked himself- repeatedly. Whatever had possessed him to even start that argument couldn't ever be a part of him. He couldn't even stop it until it was too late and the damage had long since been done. Oh, hindsight.
"Out of everything I said, only one thing I'm willing to say wasn't a lie. ...I am interested in you. I meant it then, and I still do."

[invisikid]

His gaze softened, still a little unsettled, but seeing that there was little they could do but ask for forgiveness and move forward. Naoki still wanted to know him, to be his friend.

Hovering just another moment, Lyle closed the last distance between them, standing now almost next to the older boy. The Legionnaire let out a soft laugh under his breath, as if trying to expel the pressure in his chest, and pressed a hand against the soft hair on the back of Naoki's head. In the memory of a similar motion he'd done weeks ago, Lyle then pushed playfully. A weak grin, filled with hopefulness in the place of usual boyish charm, would greet Naoki should he raise his head. "Don't think about it anymore. Alright?" The younger boy sighed, talking both to himself and the Demi Fiend. "We both...weren't ourselves. I just hope you can..." forgive me for not telling you everything about me.

[hands_of_reason]

He laughed off the last of his nerves, though it was a shaky sound, and caught Lyle around the waist with one arm, pulling him into a rather lopsided hug. While he probably could have stood up and done the same thing with a bit more ease, this was just the first reaction that worked it's way down from his brain.

"I will, but don't you even dream of apologizing to me. You didn't do anything wrong."

[invisikid]

For a moment, his hands hovered in surprise as Naoki pressed them into an embrace. Then, as the touch became familiar, he placed them on the other boy's shoulders, tightening his grip at Naoki's words. "I antagonized you when you weren't yourself. I knew better yet I stayed. That's what started the fight in the first place. I think that warrants some blame."

[hands_of_reason]

"Even so, I don't blame you. It was my fault; I deserved what I got. You can say it if you want, but I won't accept it because I don't see why you even need to be sorry." He paused for a minute. "Thank you for giving me another chance. I won't mess this one up, I promise. You'll never have to see that side of me ever again."

[invisikid]

Like a string had been cut, his body seemed to slump. Arms went loosely around Naoki's shoulders, his own sagging and head dropping. It was such a relief; Naoki wouldn't be lost again.

"Good, 'cause an evil you is a little difficult to handle." He laughed weakly.

[hands_of_reason]

Unnoticed though it was, he smiled, patting Lyle on the back.

"Mm, I'm sorry for that, too. Never meant to be such trouble, but it gets hard to keep everything under control. I'm awake, though. It won't happen anymore." Naoki laughed quietly. "You're stuck with this me from now on." Though that didn't mean he wasn't still going to be trouble, but it would be more of the mostly harmless, well-meant trouble. What sort of friend would he be if he never gave Lyle a hard time once in a while?

[invisikid]

Lyle stood properly, backing up so the Demi Fiend had his personal space back, and giving the older boy a crooked grin. "Brainy held his own, and I'm not a push over either." If he was feeling more himself and less exhausted, he would have maybe made a cocky heroic pose or jab at Naoki with playful fists. But being plopped back in Econtra after completing a tough mission back home, and then going to a chaotic festival, only to stumble through an apology left him pretty drained. "It wasn't trouble, we wanted to make sure you didn't do anything you'd regret. Such as hurt anyone."

At Naoki's quiet laughing, the Legionnaire felt a few chuckles escape himself. "I'll just have to learn to live with it, I suppose." Lyle teased lightly.

[hands_of_reason]

"Don't I know it..." Naoki subconsciously put a hand over his chest. Though the aching was gone, that kick wasn't something he'd forget for a while. "I won't try anything like that again, you can count on it." Strong as he was, that still hurt more than he'd expected it to. Definitely not something the Demi-Fiend wanted to repeat.

"You make it sound like a bad thing." He said, smiling slyly up at Lyle. "Just don't go changing your mind later."

[invisikid]

The reflexive action didn't go unnoticed. Lyle was tempted to say something, but was distracted by Naoki's following vocal pokes. "Maybe not a completely bad thing, but I'll have to draw up some charts later to be certain." The Legionnaire commented airily, the amusement in his eyes bright from the sarcasm.

"I think only something utterly planetary could make me think about reconsidering." Lyle said sincerely, before pausing. Then he folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "You got something like that stored in you somewhere?" A wide grin.

[hands_of_reason]

"Oh, draw away. You'll get the same conclusion every time, I assure you." Naoki said with a grin, waiving his hand in mock dismissal of the idea. "But if you have the time and resources for that kind of thing, I wouldn't mind being the subject of your experiments."

"I'm going to take the moral high road and not make a joke about that for once, but let me check my..." He stood up and patted the sides of his yukata, making an irked face at the darkness after a moment. "...Right. No pockets. I always forget about that. So, I guess I don't have anything utterly planetary on my person at the moment." He shrugged and laughed again. "Good to know that, though. I'd rather not do anymore changing, but I would have made an exception in your case."