LOCKED TO preybeforemeals

[deaftly]

[Today was supposed to be just another, normal day in which Naki terrorizes some poor waiter with his awful manners and rude demeanor while Tsukiyama attempts to place nice, all the while probably being disgusted by the sheer amount of sweets Naki will undoubtedly consume.

But no. Not today, apparently. Not today, because Naki's been sitting here at this café, waiting for over an hour for Tsukiyama to show up.

Eventually he calls out five of his Pokémon. It should be of no surprise to anyone who knows this man that they're all Inkays. Naki gives one order "Search party: go!" and points in a random direction and the five squids immediately start floating away as quickly as they can go. Naki leans back in his seat and messes with his 'Gear, waiting for them to return. Apparently they've been trained to respond to that stupid command and they know that it means "find Tsukiyama". Somehow. Naki also releases his last Pokémon, a Malamar, who is presumably one of the two responsible for this set of Inkays (unless Naki kept a third Malamar, which honestly wouldn't be surprising).

It doesn't take long for the Malamar to catch Naki's attention with her frantic tentacle-waving. After relaying her message to Naki, the ghoul goes stiff.]

What-- Are you... You're sure!?

[The Malamar bobs up and down as best she can in a nod. Naki takes off immediately, only pausing to return the Malamar. Unsurprisingly, he forgot - or didn't bother - to pay for the coffee he was drinking.

The forest closest to the northern end of town is still too far away, in Naki's opinion. It takes him much longer to get there than he would have liked, and he seriously misses the speed and stamina being a ghoul had offered. Sure, eating tons of cake probably hasn't helped him with this, but by the time he arrives to where the Inkays have gathered, he's holding his side and wincing.]

Move-- Get out of the goddamn way!

[The Inkays part and let Naki through. He drops to his knees, ignoring the fact that his pants are going to be grass-stained horribly. All that matters right now is Tsukiyama.]

Shit, fuck, are you alright!?

Comments

[preybeforemeals]

[Naki, that's...]

...You know I won't just decide that I don't want anything to do with you anymore, right? Even if things were different, I would still want to be friends with you - you know that, don't you?

[His words are surprisingly patient, with nothing chiding or annoyed behind them; he's still really bad at this sort of thing, but it's something that needs to be said.]

[deaftly]

I... Well, yeah, I mean... obviously...

[...shut up.]

It's not that I was doubting you or anything! It's more that... I dunno. I'd be completely untolerable?

[...intolerable, Naki...]

[preybeforemeals]

...Intolerable. "Intolerable" is the word you're looking for.

[The correction is automatic, slipping out before he even really registers that he's doing it; it's a familiar pattern, something he used to do all the time.]

Either way, I definitely don't find you to be; if anything, I'm glad to be around you again.

[deaftly]

[Naki makes a face at the correction, but he doesn't comment on it.]

Good. That's great! I'd just be fucking pissed if you showed up here and wanted nothing to do with me!

[preybeforemeals]

Oh, naturellement - and I think you've had enough of that lately.

[deaftly]

What do you mean?

[He knows he should be able to follow that but uh... he's dumb.]

[preybeforemeals]

[He just laughs a bit.]

Nothing, nothing.

[He lets his hand run back through Naki's hair for a moment before he shifts a bit, pulling away.]

While we're all being cavalier today, though - you make me very happy, monsieur.

[deaftly]

Ah, really? Well, I mean, I sorta knew that already, otherwise why would you spend so much time with me but... it's... it's really nice to hear that?

[HE'S TRYING SO HARD]

[preybeforemeals]

That's why I didn't mention it; I imagined it was obvious.

[We're really bad at this.]

[deaftly]

Oh. Well. Yeah, I mean, it is.

[BOY DID HE TRY...]