3! And you know that just sounds like a whole legion of Komuis. Which is fitting, I guess.onthelastbreathOctober 3 2011, 04:48:24 UTC
It'll have to be close to your old place, I think, but not too close.
[It's a delicate balance, you see. He gives her hand a light squeeze, turning from the latest for sale sign they've been inspecting with the too-wide grin of a man who's only half-joking:]
Either could end in Komui making routine attempts on my life.
[Just 'Komui'. He's been 'just' Komui for a few years now.]
I didn't think of that, but now that you mention it... farflungskiesOctober 3 2011, 05:40:17 UTC
[Oh, Allen, she knows he will never be 'just' Komui, if only because her brother can never be 'just' anything. Above and beyond, as evidenced by the fact that they very honestly have to consider how long it would take for a robot to cause a riot in the neighbourhood in relation to just how far she can try stretching the leash she and Komui have on each other.
(It's a mutual thing, same as always.)
She wriggles her fingers good-naturedly in his grip, just a touch teasing.] I think he'll do that anyway.
[Well, it's more like Allen's ceased thinking of him in terms of entanglements like 'mister' and 'supervisor', but- Yes, above and beyond sounds about right. In their years spent here, Komui's built such a transcendent reputation for himself, it no longer surprises Allen to catch muttered speculations about whether he hails from somewhere other than Earth.
At her answer, he manages to scrape together a distant, 'ahahaha' sort of laugh, only to have it fall flat into a forlorn sigh. Still, there's a twinkle in his eyes when he laces their fingers in one deft gesture, fluid with a comfortable ease he once thought himself incapable of.]
Lucky for me you'll be there to stop him, then. Won't you?
[Despite his light tone, hints of trauma are lurking throughout his countenance, from that slight twitch of his right eyelid to the tic in his cheek to the brief jitter riding his shoulders. Having your future brother-in-law show up at the wedding wielding a man-sized drill will do that to you.]
[Those speculations never really did surprise her. She heard them often enough within the Order! Almost bolstering, in a way, to hear them again here, even if this time those mutters are twice as genuine as what the Science Department sometimes joked about.
She thinks Komui really enjoys being the talk of the town.
Well, when the road of war and ruin comes to a stop, what else is there for him to do but keep walking and tackle those difficult things like gestures of physical intimacy? It still thrills her to receive them, in that way where she has to lower her eyes and smile to herself for a moment. Like she does now.]
Mm, I'm not sure if I can deny Brother his favourite pastime. [Said with an evenness that speaks of having thought, in complete seriousness, about this sort of thing before. Gently ribbing him, with the palm of her free hand.] And the exercise could be good for you!
[But, no. It wouldn't be. Which is funny, really- that something most people seem wont to avoid because it's good for them is the same thing Allen tends to avoid for how much it tears him down. Funny in the sense that it isn't funny at all.
So wide curl of her lips fades into something much more sincere, and she brushes a flyaway strand of her hair from Allen's lapel before drawing that hand back.] ...You know I will. I love Brother dearly, but his protectiveness gets to be too much even for me, sometimes.
[And for as much as she loves Komui, she loves him, too. So.]
[Truth be told, it wasn't as difficult an adjustment compared to everything else leading up to it. Coming to the realisation that unconditional love really means there's nowhere left to go, for a start. First learning, then actually making the shift from his blanket application of 'I love you for who you are' to 'I love you for who you've been for me'; and even then, it took time to figure out how he loves her, because he always has and there was a time when that alone had to be adequate.
He was only finally sure when he found himself standing on the Lees' doorstep late one night, back already cold, the hall lights behind her blurring everything as he makes some inane remark about the weather. Anything to buy himself a moment, so he could gather enough rationality to bid her good night instead of asking if he could stay, never mind what your brother might do and no, of course he doesn't mean it that way, he just wants to stayThen he'd gone home and stared in the mirror and told himself no. Too many years wasted, too few of them left
( ... )
[Heaven knows how he went from that to this - how they went from that to this - but here they are in the end. Forever too late, and yet he has never felt more content than he does in this moment, just walking with her hand-in-hand. If he could, he'd spend the rest of her life walking by her side.
If.
Either way, he's damn well going to try. Maybe he'll prove himself unprecedented again - just one last time, please.
Her teasing gets an easy laugh out of him, not because the exercise comment didn't strike him the same way it did her (he can, in fact, cheerfully out-morbid most people these days), but because you can't move forward if you're always pausing to acknowledge the pieces. Best to take it in stride, keep your eyes on the people walking with you and off the inevitable end of the road.]
I'm his favourite pastime now? [ Help. ] That's a bit too much for anyone to bear, I think.
[He moves to help tuck that stray strand of hair behind the shell of her ear, casual but by no means careless. Gloved fingertips linger briefly on her
( ... )
[Well, Allen, if you're so adamant about not paying attention to the spot where the road ends in snarled edges, then maybe don't think of it as forever too late. A few years is such a long time for an Exorcist, after all.
...And there's no end to the little things she'll do for him to demonstrate that she's doing her level best to make up for as much lost time as she can. Waiting to make the coffee until he's already up, on those rare mornings-turned-afternoons that she risked spending the night for. Traipsing back home with one of his shirts torn from the last quick-and-dirty 'brawl' with Kanda, and sometimes catching herself wearing it for an afternoon or two before she actually mends it. Small things.
Important things.
Besides. He will be by her side for the rest of her life, even if she can't see him, and even if he's far away. He'll be there. Marie told her something like that, once.]
He gets bored. [In other words: yes, Allen, you are his new favourite. Ever so popular with the Lee household, as always. She squeezes his
( ... )
[It is. It is, and he's still an Exorcist. Will always be one even if the world's moving on without them, but he's no longer just an Exorcist either. There are other things he defines himself with now. Things he isn't ready to let go of, if he were to be completely honest with himself - which is brutally easy to do these days, because appearances are taking so much more energy to keep up, he'd rather reserve it for people who need it more.
And while he does believe - would swear it if he had anything to swear by - he would never truly leave her, leave anyone behind, he's seen enough to know sometimes, that just isn't adequate. Isn't the same. Sometimes, death is an empty chair and a scattering of poppies on freshly turned earth; and there are things Allen no longer considers fair of him to say. So he probably hasn't promised her that yet. Oh, he would've told Noise just in case, but not Lenalee
( ... )
[Ohhhhh, no. Not a chance, mister. If you're going to be dead and gone by the time this child is old enough to want to know where their father is, you are going to pack a whole lot of parenting into the year or so you'll be one. Up, up.
Lenalee is already making to sit by the time he nudges her, having been woken by Andrew's crying almost before he began. She pushes her hair out of her face and closes her eyes for a moment once she's upright, duly out of it. This is the third time this week...] He's crying again...?
[She groans quietly, leaning down to rest a temple against her knee.] Probably...
[And then she's reaching over to firmly shove at Kanda's shoulder while she clambers from under the covers. Not hard enough to hurt or push him out of bed, but certainly a "your wife is not pleased with this behaviour" kind of gesture.] Get up.
[She pauses by the door, turning to him with a pout that's just a bit too bossy to really be called a pout at all.] Come on. Up. The father should involve himself in these things, too- I read somewhere that it forms a familial bond.
[This is Lenalee bullshitting at 2am, but really. What could it hurt? And she'll operate on the hope that Kanda will bend and break and do as she asks, here, and pad down the hall towards the baby's room without waiting for a reply.]
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[It's a delicate balance, you see. He gives her hand a light squeeze, turning from the latest for sale sign they've been inspecting with the too-wide grin of a man who's only half-joking:]
Either could end in Komui making routine attempts on my life.
[Just 'Komui'. He's been 'just' Komui for a few years now.]
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(It's a mutual thing, same as always.)
She wriggles her fingers good-naturedly in his grip, just a touch teasing.] I think he'll do that anyway.
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At her answer, he manages to scrape together a distant, 'ahahaha' sort of laugh, only to have it fall flat into a forlorn sigh. Still, there's a twinkle in his eyes when he laces their fingers in one deft gesture, fluid with a comfortable ease he once thought himself incapable of.]
Lucky for me you'll be there to stop him, then. Won't you?
[Despite his light tone, hints of trauma are lurking throughout his countenance, from that slight twitch of his right eyelid to the tic in his cheek to the brief jitter riding his shoulders. Having your future brother-in-law show up at the wedding wielding a man-sized drill will do that to you.]
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She thinks Komui really enjoys being the talk of the town.
Well, when the road of war and ruin comes to a stop, what else is there for him to do but keep walking and tackle those difficult things like gestures of physical intimacy? It still thrills her to receive them, in that way where she has to lower her eyes and smile to herself for a moment. Like she does now.]
Mm, I'm not sure if I can deny Brother his favourite pastime. [Said with an evenness that speaks of having thought, in complete seriousness, about this sort of thing before. Gently ribbing him, with the palm of her free hand.] And the exercise could be good for you!
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So wide curl of her lips fades into something much more sincere, and she brushes a flyaway strand of her hair from Allen's lapel before drawing that hand back.] ...You know I will. I love Brother dearly, but his protectiveness gets to be too much even for me, sometimes.
[And for as much as she loves Komui, she loves him, too. So.]
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He was only finally sure when he found himself standing on the Lees' doorstep late one night, back already cold, the hall lights behind her blurring everything as he makes some inane remark about the weather. Anything to buy himself a moment, so he could gather enough rationality to bid her good night instead of asking if he could stay, never mind what your brother might do and no, of course he doesn't mean it that way, he just wants to stayThen he'd gone home and stared in the mirror and told himself no. Too many years wasted, too few of them left ( ... )
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If.
Either way, he's damn well going to try. Maybe he'll prove himself unprecedented again - just one last time, please.
Her teasing gets an easy laugh out of him, not because the exercise comment didn't strike him the same way it did her (he can, in fact, cheerfully out-morbid most people these days), but because you can't move forward if you're always pausing to acknowledge the pieces. Best to take it in stride, keep your eyes on the people walking with you and off the inevitable end of the road.]
I'm his favourite pastime now? [ Help. ] That's a bit too much for anyone to bear, I think.
[He moves to help tuck that stray strand of hair behind the shell of her ear, casual but by no means careless. Gloved fingertips linger briefly on her ( ... )
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...And there's no end to the little things she'll do for him to demonstrate that she's doing her level best to make up for as much lost time as she can. Waiting to make the coffee until he's already up, on those rare mornings-turned-afternoons that she risked spending the night for. Traipsing back home with one of his shirts torn from the last quick-and-dirty 'brawl' with Kanda, and sometimes catching herself wearing it for an afternoon or two before she actually mends it. Small things.
Important things.
Besides. He will be by her side for the rest of her life, even if she can't see him, and even if he's far away. He'll be there. Marie told her something like that, once.]
He gets bored. [In other words: yes, Allen, you are his new favourite. Ever so popular with the Lee household, as always. She squeezes his ( ... )
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And while he does believe - would swear it if he had anything to swear by - he would never truly leave her, leave anyone behind, he's seen enough to know sometimes, that just isn't adequate. Isn't the same. Sometimes, death is an empty chair and a scattering of poppies on freshly turned earth; and there are things Allen no longer considers fair of him to say. So he probably hasn't promised her that yet. Oh, he would've told Noise just in case, but not Lenalee ( ... )
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Gives Lenalee a nudge.] Hey.
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Lenalee is already making to sit by the time he nudges her, having been woken by Andrew's crying almost before he began. She pushes her hair out of her face and closes her eyes for a moment once she's upright, duly out of it. This is the third time this week...] He's crying again...?
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[And then she's reaching over to firmly shove at Kanda's shoulder while she clambers from under the covers. Not hard enough to hurt or push him out of bed, but certainly a "your wife is not pleased with this behaviour" kind of gesture.] Get up.
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[This is Lenalee bullshitting at 2am, but really. What could it hurt? And she'll operate on the hope that Kanda will bend and break and do as she asks, here, and pad down the hall towards the baby's room without waiting for a reply.]
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