[Closed]

[daddyscythe]

Characters: Clovis, Spirit. Phoenix and Seimei optional/just jump in!
Location: Clovis and Seimei's apartment
Rating: Gen...?
Time: Backdated to December 3, night
Description: After Clovis' entry, Spirit agrees to go on a sleepover with him. Maybe it will clear things up.

Comments

[justsopretty]

Hm, am I not respecting Spirit's feelings? Clovis hummed softly to himself as he played with his hair. It seemed like he had to explain his feelings to his friend. Everyone seemed to act like this was something that he should have been aware of doing first and foremost. His hand settled on his hip as he felt a sudden rush of annoyance and righteous anger that he shouldn't know these things. When he had problems with his brothers and sisters, he sneaked around them until a) the problem went away, or b) he found a way to go over their heads to ensure that it was handled. Usually, it was the former before the latter.

Letting out a soft sigh, he played with his hair a little more with his ungloved hands. Friends were coming over for a sleepover which meant that he should be in his pajamas first, right? He made a bit of a noise as he tugged at his current night-time attire -- light blue with frills on the cuffs. The store clerk had looked funny at him for buying such a pair, but it looked similar to what he wore normally so, why not? At least, at least, he was starting to feel a little more like himself.

Heading to the door as soon as he heard the knock, he kept the fiddling of his hands and clothes to a minimum when he finally opened the door. His smile was bright and friendly as ever. "Hello, Spirit. Please, come in." He should start out like that rather than start on serious topics, yes? If it was up to him, he would rather just shove all these topics under the rug and not speak of them ever again -- or, at least, until Spirit was somewhere safe and sound.

[daddyscythe]

He was surprised at how cheerful Clovis looked, after spending that entire afternoon arguing with people and generally getting into all sorts of online trouble. It was a relief to him, at the same time, because he was a hopeless softie and he wouldn't really know what to do with a crying Clovis.

"Hey," he said with a small grin and a shrug, taking a step into the room. No Seimei in sight? "Phoenix here yet?" Maybe he should have passed by for the man at the clinic, but Spirit had had too much to be anxious about. Stein had to fix half his bag for him when Spirit started stuffing an entire pillow into his case.

[justsopretty]

His hair flipped over his shoulder as he realized that he did not care what people thought, as he believed he was right. It was an old mindset that he had -- the one that had got him into a bit of trouble in the past, but he felt that it was very important to have now. Clovis had to be firm and sure about what he was doing and not be bothered by what others said when it came to the protection of his friend. Spirit was someone who was constantly kind and helpful to him, which made him feel both protective and indebted to the man.

"Not yet, no." Clovis shook his head once as he closed the door behind Spirit. "Have you eaten yet? I could see if I could warm something up for you." He fretted quietly to himself about his friend working too long of hours and not being able to get a good dinner, etc., etc. Something else that he could bring up when they actually began to talk on such topics.

[daddyscythe]

On the other hand, it was the same mindset that would probably get Clovis into even more trouble and arguments in the future. It was too bad: Spirit had wanted to introduce Clovis to all these new people that he'd befriended in the past few weeks, and now they'd all gone on and fought with him. He supposed it couldn't be helped. As long as Clovis was safe...

And now the guy was doing something nice for him again. Spirit was exactly the sort of soft-hearted person who couldn't resist any kindness done to and for him. He grinned faintly, moving into the apartment to deposit his things on a dining chair. It was automatic enough for him to decline, but he felt a little bad for rebuffing all the other things Clovis was trying to do for him. "I'd like that," Spirit answered instead, chuckling lightly. "And those pajamas are nice! Are they new?"

/jumps in!

[thirteenthace]

Phoenix was a little late, mainly because he had to spend some time in the clinic's reception filling up his (discharge) forms, albeit the fact that he was only going to be let out temporarily. Even until now, the man hadn't quite trusted himself yet without the comforting presence of the Calming Wavelength nearby him. It was perhaps bad for him, having to depend on something like that, but with his state as it is (he really couldn't deny his PTSD now, not with it official and flashed in his face like that) it was for the best. Eventually he would have to get out of there, but until then...

Not the time to think about that, the man reminded himself, biting back a sigh as he went up the last few steps to Clovis's apartment. He hadn't really been here before, if he recalled, and he hadn't really brought anything besides himself and a few treats from Death By Pastry when they were clearing out for the day. It wasn't much, but hopefully it'd be enough.

Readying the box in one hand, Phoenix knocked politely on the door, speaking after that. "Clovis? It's me, Phoenix."

[justsopretty]

Clovis took out some gyudon that Seimei had made for dinner. He turned it over a few times before warming it up in the microwave. This he did mostly in silence as he was trying to think of what to say. It seemed like he didn't have to worry about it as Spirit brought up his new pajamas. Pivoting around on his heel, he posed proudly in them. "Yes. I was a little unhappy with the ones of before. I think that I like these much more."

Turning his head toward the sound of the knock, he quickly pulled the food out to serve Spirit before a quick gesture for him to help himself. "That must be Phoenix." There was a sense of relief that he would not have to do everything himself. Keeping the sigh of relief to himself, he hurried to the door to let his friend in. "I have Spirit having some dinner first before we start talking to him."

It was not the best of greetings, but he was more nervous about having to have an actual confrontation. He disliked having such things with his family and now that he had actual friends, Clovis found that he disliked them even more with them. Of course, with everyone else, he was more than fine with having to deal with them in an abrasive manner.

"Ah, thank you for coming." He said finally, embarrassed. Gesturing for Phoenix to enter, he held onto the door tight. It was interesting to see his friend now after all that he knew about him. Scratching the inside of his ear, he wasn't sure which issue that he should be concerning himself with first. Another sigh as he let go out of the door so that he could quickly embrace Phoenix. I'm sorry for what you lost. Thank you for looking out for me. It was too embarrassing to say those things aloud and so he wouldn't.

[daddyscythe]

Spirit took the bowl of beef and rice to himself, blinking at Clovis as the blond scurried off to let the person outside in. Phoenix, right? The dining room was right next to the doorway, so he couldn't help but see the scene between the two friends. Spirit swallowed the greeting that had been about to come out of his throat and averted his eyes, not wanting to disturb the two Hexed from their moment of... understanding? Either way, it brought a pang of sadness to Spirit's heart and a quiet reminder to fix things and try to end this war before more of his friends got hurt. Clovis was going to stay in Death City after all this was done. There would be time to help him heal.

He got up from his seat to fetch a fork, and it was only when he had returned to his gyudon that he finally nodded at Phoenix. "Hey, buddy, how're you doing?"

1/2

[thirteenthace]

A small smile crossed the man's face when he saw Clovis opening the door, inclining his head to acknowledge his friend's words. Truth be told, Phoenix really wasn't looking too forward to that - but at the same time, he could understand Clovis's concerns, even if he was perhaps going about it the wrong way. Still, Phoenix supposed he should have expected it - it just seemed like Clovis to do that, as... well, as naive as he was about it.

But even with understanding that, it was still hard to stifle the surge of emotions that came through him at the moment when Clovis embraced him, and for all the control Phoenix had to learn in his seven years he was stunned, shocked for a moment. Physical contact was--well, he wasn't very good with it since Michigan. He had been getting better, but this was just about the first time he had something as unexpected as this, and it was worrying how jarring it felt to his psyche.

Most of all, it was worrying just how close Clovis was to him now, and he to Clovis - and how he never realized it until now.

[thirteenthace]

Phoenix leaned away from the embrace after a moment, smile widening just a little as he held up the box of treats he had in hand.

"I got a little something, just in case," he explained, before moving quietly towards the table where Spirit was.

A small huff of mild amusement came from him as he regarded the Deathscythe with a polite incline of his head, replying to the question in his usual tone. "Same as always, Mister Albarn. I hope you're well yourself too." He looked alright at least, but there was no telling for certain - a lot of things had happened, even with the recent lull once again.

[justsopretty]

Flipping his hair over his shoulder, he stepped away from Phoenix with the same gesture. Somehow, he was feeling a little more like himself. It seemed like he could if he could always keep in mind what he wanted to protect. Remembering how close that Spirit was then, he slipped back to take his seat at the table. He had almost forgot himself and glad that he had said nothing too damning when he got caught up in his emotions.

"Isn't the food that Seimei made delicious?" Clovis allowed his own conversation to turn just as light. He occasionally would drop his smile just a little as he looked between both Spirit and Phoenix. "It's interesting to be eating Japanese food." The title of Eleven he would give to those Japanese that were annoying him these days. They didn't deserve any other title from him, after all.

"And you didn't have to bring anything, Phoenix. I feel a little bad that you had to in the first place." A huff that pushed his bangs out of his face for all of two seconds. "But it isn't like it is not appreciated. Yes, I appreciate it." His hand came to fiddle with his cravat before realizing that it wasn't present. He sighed as he let his hand drop to rest in his lap instead.

"You were able to eat something, too, weren't you, Phoenix?" He looked up at the man for a bit before returning to look to Spirit. "I hope that you aren't working too hard, Spirit. With all the new Guests that come in, I can only imagine how tiring that must be after awhile." Lightly prodding at the topic that he wanted to get to, but not quite able to speak on it just yet.

[daddyscythe]

"It is," he replied, eager to please, and taking a large bite of the steaming food to prove how pleased he was. It was thankful that he was a sturdy weapon whose partner used to experiment on him, or the scalding would have shown on his face. He chewed deliberately, swallowed, and grinned.

"I'm not... I don't think I am? I mean, working is what I do and it'd be bad if I slacked off. A lot of it's just talking, anyway..." A lot of talking that he sometimes wasn't cut out for, but one thing he had over all these politicians was that he was the deathscythe, and his decision was always final. Shibusen wasn't a democracy and would never become one.

At least, that was what he was thinking, before suddenly remembering his own baggage of food. It wasn't much, but-- Spirit scampered off his chair and went for his stuff, bringing up a somewhat melted but still intact tub of chocolate ice cream. "Oh, I forgot I had this!" The best comfort food, right? At least that was what he learned as a student.

[thirteenthace]

"It was nothing," Phoenix assured his friend with a smile as he took some gyudon for himself, managing a small wince for Spirit's sake when the Deathscythe ate his own scalding portion. At least the man seemed alright, more or less - still, he could have afforded to be more careful about it. Nothing he could say about it though.

Watching the steam rising from his beef in curiosity, Phoenix glanced back up when Spirit was done talking, inclining his head again as he replied, mirth evident in his voice. "Well, I am going to eat now. Once the gyudon is cooler." He was usually okay with hot stuff, but the weather was getting cold - it wouldn't be good to eat something too hot for the tongue. That would just be bad in general.

[justsopretty]

"I'm glad that you enjoy it." Clovis would have to thank Seimei once more for making it, since it seemed to make his friends happy as well. "Yes, it would be bad if you slacked off."

His shoulders dropped a little as he couldn't bring himself to say too much more on the subject just yet. He really hated confrontations, especially with those that he was fond of in any way. Even though he supposed that was the same for everyone, he took it to the point of sneaking around them rather than having to actually speak to them.

"Ice cream? How delicious!" He paused. "You didn't have to bring anything, but I'm grateful that you did." Setting his hands on the table, he stood up to go and get a few bowls.

"Do you want a bowl, too, Phoenix?" Clovis smiled lightly, even if he was a little embarrassed that he was backing away from having such a talk with Spirit after probing at it briefly just moments before. "Naturally, you are having some, right, Spirit?"