[Closed] Clutching My Cure

[demureshift]

Title: Clutching My Cure
Characters: Ninomiya Kazunari, Horikita Maki
Location: The Apartment.
Week: Week 12, Tuesday, November 9th, 8:20pm
Rating: ?
Warnings: Sadness. And woe

Comments

[faysounds]

Nino had called in from work. It was the first time he'd ever called in since he'd started working at Bluebell. Andy had asked if he was in the hospital. Nino wondered if they'd have given him a sedative if he'd gone. It would have stopped him from thinking. Stopped him from feeling. Even if it was only for a few hours, that was all Nino wanted.

His chest felt like it had been ripped apart. His skin felt tight all over, like he might tear it in half if he moved too quickly. Pearl's claw had knicked him in the morning - Nino had felt it like she'd tried to flay him.

And he just felt too much. Everything was raw and open. He could feel everybody in the building, everybody on their block and on the other side of the street, everybody who happened to walk down the sidewalk below. It was too much. It hurt everywhere

[demureshift]

Maki may not have had the most brilliant senses in the world, but she could hear almost instantly that something sounded kind of wrong when Nino's voice answered her through the comm. Was he sick? Maki frowned.

Maybe...she had been interrupting something.

"Nino? Are you..." okay? "...busy? I thought- I'd come by and hang out. I know it's late, I'm sorry." Chewing her lip, Maki waited, feeling kind of stupid now for not calling first.

[faysounds]

"Busy? Oh. No, no," Nino blinked and shook his head and pressed the button to open the door. "Come in, come in."

He waited a bit at the buzzer to make sure Maki could get in the building, sending an absent tendril of magic to open the door. He scrubbed his face with his free hand.

He hadn't even dressed, he remembered only then, but it was too late to do anything about it.

[demureshift]

Maki smiled a little, he still sounded a little strange but the door unlocked for her and Maki shot a little look upwards, as if Nino could see her as she headed through and up the stairs. It didn't take her long at all to make her way up, hopping up them at a fairly quick pace without the hindrance of any kind of heels, or injuries.

She did her best to ignore and tamp down on the nervous twist in her stomach. Really? Even now? Honestly.

The door was open, and Maki nudged through it, sort of naturally kicking off her sneakers and abandoning them and her heavy purse by the door. "Hey," she greeted with a bit of a sigh, and an uncertain smile.

[faysounds]

It felt... surprisingly comforting, to be rocked like a child. Nino couldn't remember his mother rocking him. (It wasn't that she'd been neglectful. There hadn't been a need to be rocked back home - nothing bad ever happened there.) He might have snapped at the hand that tried to rock him on any other occasion, but this was Maki, and right now Nino felt like a child. He wanted whatever comfort he was offered.

Maki moved, pulled back a little, and so Nino did the same. He looked into Maki's eyes, watching her gaze search his. Nino smiled softly and kissed the tip of her nose.

"Yeah. I know," he said, cupping her cheek gently.

His thumb stroked her skin. He'd wanted them to explore, to see where they could go. But now it didn't seem right. Maybe in time...

[demureshift]

It was somewhat reassuring to see Nino's smile again, even if it was only brief, that she could bring it about made Maki feel just a bit better. Her eyes fell shut at the kiss to her nose, and stayed closed as his words fell over her, tilting a little into the hand at her cheek

[faysounds]

Though he would have liked nothing more than to hold on, to keep Maki by his side, to have her warmth tucked against him, Nino let Maki go. He stayed by the counter and watched her pour the water into their mugs. He automatically started counting to thirty in his head. Letting this tea steep for any longer would make it bitter and gross.

This was good. This was safe. Drinking tea side by side was boring and comforting, and wouldn't lead them into any more confusion, or into something they couldn't handle and wound up regretting.

Nino picked up his mug. He pulled the tea bag out and threw it away, and looked at Maki out of the corner of his eye.

"Read any good books lately?" he asked.

[demureshift]

Maki waited until Nino tossed his own tea bag away to do the same with her own. She pulled a spoon from the drawer (she knew where they were), and stirred in her spoonful of sugar. It reminded her of the Mary Poppins song, and completely unthinkingly, Maki began humming it to herself (and Nino) as she stirred.

She was finally about to bring the mug to her lips when Nino asked his question, and she sent him a similar sideways look, and a wry smile as she allowed herself a small sip of the steaming liquid.

"Actually, I'm in the middle of a series right now. I'm liking it a lot, but haven't had time to read in awhile. Don't know if it would be something you'd like."