[TWEWY] - Covert (Joshua/Rhyme)
Josh sank down into one of the comfy couches in WildKat, grateful for the odd moment of silence. It had been an eventful day - at least three new Taboo noise factories had opened up at various points around Shibuya and the five of them had been busting their butts trying to get it cleaned up. The work was exhausting even though they had been taking care of it in shifts.
Josh had just gotten back from his round with Neku. It had been tiring but they had managed to take out one of the factories, so at least it had been a success. Neku had disappeared upstairs as soon as they’d gotten back, probably to take off a shower and “scrub off the gay,” as Beat had once put it, that apparently built up when they hung out with Joshua. Josh had found this immensely amusing.
Shiki and Beat were out making the rounds, Neku was upstairs and Mr. H was off doing whatever it was he did when nobody was looking. At least he let them use his pad as crash space whenever they needed it, although he still charged them for food. Couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks, Josh supposed. Or get a greedy old bastard to suddenly be charitable, for that matter. Either way, the place was deserted.
Or maybe not.
There was a small orange and white lump on the couch with Joshua, looking like a cross between a half-melted creamsicle and a stuffed animal. Rhyme, in noise form of course. Rhyme was able to assume human shape now, but it took a certain amount of focus - focus she obviously didn’t have when she was sleeping.
Josh studied her for a minute. He had seen her in noise form before, but not up close. The majority of the time when he saw her like this, she was curled up on Beat’s shoulder or hanging onto his hat. He’d always wondered if she was heavy…
He picked her up as carefully as he could and placed her gently on his shoulder, just to see for himself. It wasn’t quite the creepiest thing that Josh had ever done, but it came fairly close.
“Soft too,” he remarked to himself, placing her back down on the couch. She certainly looked peaceful, all asleep like that. Maybe it was a good idea for him to take a nap too. After all, his next shift was going to come sooner than he wanted to think about and it couldn’t hurt to get some rest.
He didn’t see one of Rhyme’s beady eyes open as he leaned back on the couch. And by the time he realized that she was now curled up in his lap, he didn’t really care.
~
Josh had just gotten back from his round with Neku. It had been tiring but they had managed to take out one of the factories, so at least it had been a success. Neku had disappeared upstairs as soon as they’d gotten back, probably to take off a shower and “scrub off the gay,” as Beat had once put it, that apparently built up when they hung out with Joshua. Josh had found this immensely amusing.
Shiki and Beat were out making the rounds, Neku was upstairs and Mr. H was off doing whatever it was he did when nobody was looking. At least he let them use his pad as crash space whenever they needed it, although he still charged them for food. Couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks, Josh supposed. Or get a greedy old bastard to suddenly be charitable, for that matter. Either way, the place was deserted.
Or maybe not.
There was a small orange and white lump on the couch with Joshua, looking like a cross between a half-melted creamsicle and a stuffed animal. Rhyme, in noise form of course. Rhyme was able to assume human shape now, but it took a certain amount of focus - focus she obviously didn’t have when she was sleeping.
Josh studied her for a minute. He had seen her in noise form before, but not up close. The majority of the time when he saw her like this, she was curled up on Beat’s shoulder or hanging onto his hat. He’d always wondered if she was heavy…
He picked her up as carefully as he could and placed her gently on his shoulder, just to see for himself. It wasn’t quite the creepiest thing that Josh had ever done, but it came fairly close.
“Soft too,” he remarked to himself, placing her back down on the couch. She certainly looked peaceful, all asleep like that. Maybe it was a good idea for him to take a nap too. After all, his next shift was going to come sooner than he wanted to think about and it couldn’t hurt to get some rest.
He didn’t see one of Rhyme’s beady eyes open as he leaned back on the couch. And by the time he realized that she was now curled up in his lap, he didn’t really care.
~