Mike Driver
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@flamingdissidence
||Go on Leon, piss him off.||
Nidai seemed alright with responding to any questions asked of him, but was otherwise a man of very few words, making the walk to the kitchens somewhat awkward.
"I was putting away the mop and bucket I was using from my chores earlier. You were doing the same, correct?"
"Yeah. Well, not theoretically my chores since I fuckin' got extra ones for 'mouthin' off'," he grumbled, scowling at the ground. "Not my fault some people are so annoyin'."
||Go on Leon, piss him off.||
Nidai nodded, moving past Leon to head to the kitchens and get the ice and towel.
"Alright then, come on." He seemed used to the awkward tone, or perhaps he was just so stoic that it didn’t faze him?
Leon fell into step awkwardly beside him, having to move at a sort of trot to keep up with the far taller boy's strides. His hand clasped his smarting chin as if it were glued there.
"So, uh... what were you doin' out here, anyways?"
He had to make some sort of attempt at conversation, right?
Every (¬‿¬) I get my muse will remove a piece of clothing.
{Fire Fire | flamingdissidence}
"Manly? You’re kidding me." Mahiru breathed incredulously. She was angry that this door stood between them— she felt a strong desire to glare daggers at him. Doll? She was tempted to hit him. If only. She clicked her tongue in frustration and rolled her eyes, giving up on beating the door with her fist. She leaned her back against it and crossed her arms, glaring into the darkness of the closet. "You’re acting like a mischievous, bratty little kid. That certainly isn’t manly.”
She hardly even got a wink of sleep the previous night and now she was probably going to get in trouble for skipping out on her chores. Of course… She could probably report this to Miss Monomi and get him in trouble if he kept her in for much longer. But mentioning that aloud would probably result in him walking away or keeping her in there for longer.
She sighed loudly, giving the door a light kick with her heel. Funny? What was so funny about this? Any decent person would have just opened the door…
"For all I know, you’re just some scrawny guy who’s excited to feel powerful for once." She assumed, wondering if mentioning things that could hurt his pride would compel him to open the door… eventually.
"Hey! There ain't no need t'get nasty, now!"
He snickered and leaned forward, yawning and stretching his shoulders. He had no qualms with letting her out. But the chances of him doing it in a way that wouldn't lead to him getting a kick out of it? Zero.
Alright.
The moment of truth.
"I'll let ya out, babe... all y'gotta do is say so. Just say 'I wanna come outta the closet'."
He had to press his hand to his mouth to stifle the hysterical laughter already threatening to escape him.
Maturity? He didn't even know the meaning of the word.
Besides, considering the gloom that clung to the corridors of this place like mould, a laugh, however cheap, was almost never a bad thing.
Except maybe in this case for Mahiru.
{ The Magic Ember | flamingdissidence }
Well, at least things weren’t as awkward as they had been before. That was a relief. Now if only his nose would stop hurting. Oh well. One step at a time, he supposed.
Leon, huh? Well, he seems friendlier than he did before..i can’t believe he’s actually happy for me and I just met him! Naegi thought, nodding at Leon’s introduction. He picked up the pill bottle that had been almost forgotten and put it back into the cupboard. sadly unable to take the pills with the pain medication he had been given for his arm.
He laughed quietly, eyes lighting up when he was able to do it a second time.
Slowly…slowly I’m moving forward…and I’m confident the past will be mostly behind me sooner than I thought. With all the nice people I’ve met, even the bad ones…I feel like I can start to like this place. He thought as he turned his attention to the notepad. As he wrote, he swayed happily, still unable to get past the fact that he was able to laugh, and he had Leon to thank.
its nice to meet you leon!
i owe you big time for this! i was starting to think id never be able to speak or even laugh again! thank you for proving me wrong.
He paused for a moment. Oh. Right. Breakfast. He had almost forgotten about that (maybe that was why he was always hungry).
i almost forgot about breakfast! if we dont hurry we wont get any food until lunch time!
Naegi slid the notepad back over to Leon and wondered if he should ask Leon if he wanted to sit with him. He decided against it though. Leon probably, with his apparent personality, had lots of friends he would rather sit with than Naegi. Besides that, I always felt awkward eating with people I’ve just met…though it wasn’t so bad when I sat with Sonia.
"'ey, it's no problem, bud. It's nice to see someone laugh in this nasty-ass fuckin' place. Even if ya do kinda sound like a smoky chimney," Leon japed, giving Naegi a playful but careful poke in the ribs. It was still a little peculiar to him that he was warming to this boy - and so fast, too. His mother had been the cause of his mistrust and resentment towards adults, but between his old baseball teammates and kids at the other orphanages, he'd become somewhat hateful towards people his own age, too.
Perhaps it was Naegi's innocence, the way that it seemed that there was no ulterior motive in the world that could be attributed to him. Or maybe how he had a way of making the frost around a carefully guarded heart melt away with his smile.
When Leon glanced at the fresh writing, however, his expression fell. He was fucking starving. There was no way in the world he was going to let that happen.
"Where do we go?"
||Go on Leon, piss him off.||
Nidai raised a brow. “Wrap it in a towel? It’d probably be uncomfortable just shoving ice against your face, anyway…it’d start to hurt from the cold after a while.” He finished replacing the equipment and looked to Leon again, his gaze hard to read. “Should I just get it for you?” He’d had to deal with such things more than one would think, having dealt similar situations with other residents of the orphanage in his long stay there.
"Um... yeah. That'd be great, man. I mean. Uh. Thanks. Shit."
The words came out stilted and awkward, and Leon found his face going a little red. It wasn't often that anyone did something that nice for him. Then again, it also wasn't that often that he was polite enough to thank people. Why should he, when the world is pretty much made up of nasty shitheads? Still, something seemed different about this guy. Maybe that was why he was finding it so hard.
||Go on Leon, piss him off.||
Nidai rolled his eyes at the second nickname, dropping Leon to the floor as he moved to put away the equipment from his chores.
"I’d imagine the kitchen would be the first place to look - but for Heaven’s sake, don’t stick it directly on your skin, it’ll freeze to it and you’ll have to wait for it to thaw…."
"Eh? Ain't it just gonna melt, then? How the fuck am I meant to not put it on my skin, but still use it, and also wait for it to melt? You're expectin' a tall order off a guy who just fell onto his fuckin' face," he grumbled, rubbing the inflamed area with a self-pitying pout.
||Go on Leon, piss him off.||
Nidai’s concerned expression flattened at the name and he sighed, leaning down to pick Leon up by the back of his jacket.
"I daresay a bit of ice would do better than the floor for that…" he lightly gestured to Leon’s sore jaw. "And it’s not a good idea to lay on the floor like that, either…you’re in the way." He moved to pick up his mop and water buckets again, bringing them inside to dump the dirty water out.
"Yoooooo!! Whatcha think yer doin'!? Put me down meathead!!"
When Nidai instantaneously complied, however, Leon was kind of left stumped for words.
"Y-Yeah, uh. Damn right."
A slightly awkward silence settled as the redhead watched the other collect his equipment and industriously continue his chores - it couldn't really be much more of a far cry from his own brash attitude. He drifted a little closer, leaning against the doorframe as Nidai began to tip out the buckets, one hand still clasped around his chin.
"So uh... where do I go to get me some ice anyways?"
{Fire Fire | flamingdissidence}
Mahiru cringed at the sound. There was a thunk and she knew then that someone had heard her. But they weren’t doing anything… no. Whoever it was, they were leaning against the door and sighing at their own leisure. It was also a guy, just judging by the sound. And it made her blood boil. She was too tired to deal with this so early… It was dark and she felt like the four closet walls were pressing in on her.
The door shook lightly under the impact of her fists. “Hey! Be a man and open the door, would you?” She managed loudly through her gritted teeth. He was just on the other side of the door, so she didn’t want to risk yelling so loudly that she’d wake someone up. “Good grief… I don’t see how leaving me in here is going to benefit you?”
What on earth would he have to gain by leaving her there… if she yelled loud enough, surely they would both get in some kind of trouble for it! Either extra chores added on… or punished in secret for causing a disturbance and waking one of the higher ups.
Unless there was a red or blue aristocrat on the other side of the door. By that point, the remark she just yelled would’ve probably already gotten her into some trouble.
Leon barely batted an eyelid as the door pressed against his shoulder shook with Mahiru's aggressive blows. He shrugged, running a hand through his carefully mussed hair to re-position a few wefts of flaming red.
"Yeah well sorry doll, but I don't see how lettin' ya out is gonna benefit me either. Least this way I can have some fun."
"I'll make it simple for ya: my week's been shitty as hell and this? This is real funny so. Y'know. I ain't all that inclined t'help ya out."
He yawned, stretching leisurely and leaning his back against the door, slowly sliding down to be sitting on the floor, leaning against the door. He curled his legs up and bridged the gap between them with folded arms, tilting his head sideways and resting it on them.
"'sides, I don't see how helpin' or not helpin' makes me any less or more of a man. I'm manly as fuck. I know that. Don't think I need to open no door to prove it either."
||Go on Leon, piss him off.||
Nidai paused, having been on his way to the cleaning closet as well. He had a mop slung over his shoulders, a bucket of water hanging from either end of the long handle.
"….Leon? Are you alright?" He swung the mop from his shoulders, setting it and the two buckets of water on the floor beside him, and knelt to help the redhead up, his expression one of guarded concern.
Leon's eyes darted up, his face not even leaving the floor - why should it, when the coolness on his grazed jaw was just about the only good thing he could claim right now? He groaned quietly with a frustrated expression, eyes boring into the muscle-bound young man before him.
"Whaddaya want, Beef Jerky?" he spat, watching Nidai as he knelt. "Cantcha see I'm busy feelin' sorry for myself here? Shit fuckin' hurts."
||Go on Leon, piss him off.||
It was on a grey morning of October that Kuwata found himself dragging a sponge and a rusting bucket of brown water through the corridors of the orphanage. The whole 'chore' thing, to say the very least, was beginning to grate. Leon had been at Hope's Peak just shy of a week, and already he was finding that, much to his dismay, he was experiencing regular back pain from scrubbing fucking floors. Back pain. What was he, 80?
He ground his teeth as he wrenched open a side door which took him to a small, cobbled area of the grounds with a small drain. The murky water sloshed over the edge of its receptacle in the redhead's eagerness to finish any and all manual labour for the day, further shown when he knelt on one knee beside the drain and unceremoniously dumped the contents of his bucket, watching the filthy water swirl away with a weak gurgle.
Content with a job 'well done', he hopped to his feet and started at a half-jog back to the cleaning closet. Sadly for Leon, his journey was cut very much short when his shoe skidded on the water he'd spilt near the doorway and he went plummeting to the floor, his chin colliding with the floorboards with a resounding thwack as he executed a graceful rendition of the classic move, 'fall through a door and onto your face'.
"Shitshitassfuckshitfucktits," he hissed, his hand immediately flying to his grazed jaw, only to flinch as his fingers made contact. Instinctive tears sprang to his eyes from the sharp sting, and he had to blink hard to prevent them from escaping. That had hurt. He let out a loud groan and rested his forehead against the floorboards, breathing through his teeth.
"Jesus CHRIST, shit a brick and fuck me sideways with it...."
{Fire Fire | flamingdissidence}
Mahiru was tired. Her workload yesterday— on top of meeting the talkative little dancer left her with aching shoulders and dark bags under her eyes that stuck out embarrassingly easily against her pale skin. She needed to get to work, though. She had her chores… She had to clean. The hallways were deserted at the moment, so she briskly walked towards the closet.
It was always dark and a bit confined… The photographer only had to peak her head in for a moment, though, so it wasn’t too much of a problem. The door whined in protest as she opened it and she stepped inside, scanning the shelves for a mop and a bucket.
Only to be distracted when the closet door closed behind her, leaving her in the dark even to the point where she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. Was this someone’s idea of a joke? Or did someone just shut it without knowing she was inside? Regardless, a feeling of unease settled over her and she narrowed her eyes.
She tried the knob and pulled on the door, only to find that it was stuck. She gave the door a bang. And then another. And another. Well… this was embarrassing. Her cheeks flared with frustration. “Anyone out there?” She called out, hoping to reach someone’s ears.
Well. Of all things, Leon hadn't expected to start his day faced with somebody trapped in the closet. Trapped. In. The closet. This was just too good.
Sneering, he sauntered over to the cupboard, leaning one elbow on the handle and idly checking the nails on his other hand. He had been about to say something, some witty remark - until he realized that he could fuck with her far better than that.
He scrapped all plans for words, and merely heaved an especially heavy sigh. There was no way she wouldn't hear.
{ The Magic Ember | flamingdissidence }
The redhead was being pretty…dramatic about the whole thing. Never before had he seen someone get the “I hate myself so much I want to die” expression so quickly.
He tried really hard to stifle the choked, squeaky laugh from escaping, he really did, but, despite his best efforts, he laughed. It wasn’t the quiet half-chuckle he usually emitted or the silent ones he usually did. it was a laugh. His vocal chords ached from disuse, and, just as quickly as the laugh had escaped, it was silenced by his hands flying to his face as his expression became one of confusion and shock.
I laughed! He thought, smiling goofily as he frantically scrambled for his pen and paper. I can’t believe it! It was a real one! It sounded kind of gross and squeaky-toy-like, but still! Maybe I really will be able to speak soon!
Now that was an encouraging thought.
He wrote a response, bouncing on the balls of his feet a little, before pushing it over for Leon to read.
no no no! its okay! really! i mean honestly im still getting used to it but its getting better! obviously! i havent been able to even laugh until now
chuckle maybe but not LAUGH like i just did!
sorry sorry im just really excited mister……….
shoot i dont think i even got your name did i?
Leon's eyebrows arched in response to the unexpected noise. What the hell happened to being mute? Still, though, from the expression of wonder on the other boy's face, he had little doubt that this was a very new development for Naegi.
As he pulled the pad into his hand with one finger, he could already feel a grin beginning to spread across his face; he couldn't even remember the last time he'd smiled out of happiness for someone.
His eyes darted across the paper and his grin widened. It might have been uncomfortable, but it felt far too good to be.
"Dude, that's..... pretty fuckin' awesome. Glad my empty head helped ya out, heh. Oh, and shit, none of that 'mister' crap. Hell, how old d'ya think I am? I ain't gonna be a mister till I'm a grandpa. Y'can just call me Leon."
{ The Magic Ember | flamingdissidence }
Was this guy serious?
Even the densest person he had met had picked up on the fact that he was mute - or at least unable to speak in some way. But nope. Apparently the redhead was denser than dense though. So, he supposed he would have to spell it out for him.
Literally.
He leaned over the notebook again, writing his reply while trying very hard not to smile or laugh. Now that he was done being deadpan, it was pretty funny.
um i dont really know how to say this but im kind of mute.
and im really really sorry about your nose. everyones been kind of staying away from me so i wasnt really expecting someone to be there
i promise to watch where im going from now on though.
He smiled, chuckling silently as he slid the notebook back over to the redhead. He set his pen down and turned back to the cabinets, frowning at them a little. Where would the pain meds be? Not his, but the normal, over the counter stuff. Curiously, he poked around in the cupboards, searching for names he recognized before finally finding it.
Off-brand aspirin was better than nothing.
Silently, he skimmed over the directions before nodding to himself and setting the bottle down in front of the other boy.
Leon's eyes scanned the paper for a moment, before going wide. His face paled and he glanced up, managing only an:
"...oh."
Well, stupid didn't even begin to stretch far enough as to describe how much of an idiot he felt at that precise moment.
"Fuck, shit, I, uh, sorry, I'm sorry, I just ain't never met anyone who's mute before. That musta looked really fuckin' stupid, wow," he managed through gritted teeth, his face bright red. He could laugh at himself, sure, but this wasn't a 'laugh at yourself' situation, this was a 'crawl into a hole and never come out' situation.
Mortification coursing through him as if it was inside his very bloodstream, he stiffly reached for the bottle of pills, giving a quiet grunt by way of thanks and tossing two down his throat, dry-swallowing them with a grimace.
He's mute.
You are so fucking stupid.
{ The Magic Ember | flamingdissidence }
Naegi didn’t say anything - reasonably so. He just shook his head, kept his nose covered, and tightened his clumsy (weak) grip on Leon’s hand. He pulled the redhead into the clinic and was mildly surprised when he didn’t see Mikan anywhere, but he didn’t linger on that thought for too long.
He let go of Leon’s hand and moved over to the sink, turning it on and washing his face and hand off before grabbing a couple paper towels and dampening them slightly. He pressed one to his nose (which was still bleeding a little), and pushed the other into Leon’s hand so he could wipe any blood off his nose and fingers. Naegi smiled a little at him, and wiped the dampness on his fingers from the paper towel on his pant leg.
Now that his hand was free, he was able to pull out his notebook and pen and, resting the notebook on the counter, wrote out a message to try and explain why he wasn’t saying anything. Being mute was such a pain…but, again, he reminded himself not to think about it. It would just upset him, and that would get him nowhere fast.
sorry about that!! i cant really talk right now but i didnt want you to get blood on your clothes
is your nose okay??
if it isnt i can try to find tsumiki and she can take a look at it!
The notebook was pushed in Leon’s direction, and then Naegi paused and, after a second of thought, added:
by the way im makoto naegi
sorry you had to be on the receiving end of my bad luck
Eyeing Naegi with a slight air of suspicion, Leon whipped the towel from his hand, pressing it hastily to his gushing nose to staunch the flow of blood.
"....thanks," he muttered, pressing it there for a while before taking a moment to use it to mop the sticky, browning stains on his fingers, before returning it to his nose, only ever briefly taking his narrowed eyes off the boy in front of him. He was still feeling... well, he wasn't sure what word he could use to describe it other than weird from the whole hand-holding shindig. There was something oddly jarring about going from having had little to no close contact with anyone for years to some random kid you just met grabbing your hand and taking you running along corridors.
He snapped back into reality with the gentle scrape of the notebook along the counter. Raising an eyebrow, Leon picked it up, squinting at it and then doing nothing for a few seconds, just staring at the paper with a look of bemusement. He then proceeded to cautiously take the discarded pencil and scrawl back in an ugly chicken-scratch:
it's ok man my nose will probably stay in one peice piece at least
hurts like a bitch though you should maybe watch where you're going yeah?
why is it we aren't talking anyway??
{ The Magic Ember | flamingdissidence }
Oh shit.
Leave it to him to run into someone and make their nose start bleeding. Naegi checked his own nose, grimacing when he realized he had ended up doing the same to himself. Wonderful, and just his luck. He sniffled and covered his nose, trying to keep it from dripping onto his one clean shirt because if there was one thing he didn’t know how to get out of clothes, it was blood.
He gestured nervous, trying to convey how sorry he was and that he would take him to the clinic and help him…which really just made him look like he was freaking out about all the blood. Which he kind of was, that wasn’t the message he was trying to send.
Naegi sniffled again, grimacing when he tasted blood in his throat.
Oh this is pointless. He thought, grabbing the redhead’s sleeve with his cast-restricted hand and nodding his head in the direction of the clinic, his good hand covering his nose. Maybe that would get his point across.
Leon watched the shorter boy gesticulating wildly, his expression only growing more bemused by the second.
"Whassamatter, cat got your tongue?" he probed, one eyebrow raised and both his eyes narrowed. He wasn't really sure what the kid was tying to say, but all the arm-waving wasn't helping a lot. Jeez, a simple 'sorry' would have sufficed.
"Uh. Look, buddy, ya got a little, uh..." he trailed off, removing his hands from his face for a moment in order to tap the bloodied skin between his nose and lips. "Got a little something right the-- ooohhhkay, that's, uh, that's my hand ya got there," he blustered dumbly, cutting eyes darting between their joined hands and the back of Naegi's head as he was marched off.
"Wait, hang on, what the hell're you doin'? Where are we going?"
{ The Magic Ember | flamingdissidence }
Once, an unhappy and truly pitiful boy found a fireplace
Inside, there was a magic ember
It would shield him from the things in the shadows, or at least he hoped it would
It was hidden in many other fading embers and that unlucky boy burned himself many times
Hands blackened and burned, he found that ember
How does the story end?
Where’s the dining room again…? Naegi was in a bit of a pickle if he did say so himself. He had picked up a book from the library to read, had started reading it while walking thinking he would be able to navigate to the dinning room with ease. Of course, this wasn’t the case, and he merely ended up wandering around aimlessly with his nose stuck in the pages of the book. I think…nope, no clue.
He sighed a little, reluctantly closing his book after folding the corner down so he didn’t lose his place and looked around. It took him some time (and some more aimless wandering) before he realized he was near the male dorms much to his relief. Why the hell was the building so damn BIG? He hesitated for a moment, trying to decide if he should drop his book off first before heading to breakfast or not. Finally, he settled on just tossing his book on his unused bed.
It would give him an excuse to actually go in there…and maybe grab a couple more pillows for his bed in the filth room. Sadly, as soon as he entered the common room, he ended up running nose-first into someone he hadn’t met before.
"Ngh!" He squeaked a little in pain and surprise, backing up quickly and pressing a hand to his nose. Of course. Leave it to him to hurt himself walking into a room.
"Ow! What the shit!?" Leon's hands instantly flew up to cradle his smarting nose, a furious scowl crossing his features. "That was my freakin' nose, you--"
Upon looking down and registering the confused and ever-so-innocent-looking countenance of the boy responsible for the collision, he couldn't quite bring himself to finish the string of insults bubbling to the surface of his brain.
"You should watch where you're goin', man," the redhead sighed, his expression softening marginally, readied fists relaxing. "You're gonna end up breakin' something - of yours or someone else's. Maybe even both. Jeez."
He rolled his eyes, swiping a hand under his throbbing nose and having to do a double take before groaning as his fingers came back red.
"Aw shit, ya went and gave me a freakin' nosebleed," he grumbled, wiping his bloodied fingers on the backs of his pants. All he'd been looking for was some grub, and all he'd managed to do was get a face wound. Not a great start to the day, by any means.
