— ᴇᴛʜᴀɴ / ᴍɪsᴀ —
[ ✂ ]
she stays silent for the most part && lets nikolai talk, her own expression one of amusement with a pinch of ‘yikes’ mixed into the pot. this was their fight now && as much as she would’ve loved to slip away under the cover of the SUFFOCATING tension in between the two, her curiousity ( && ethan’s arm) keeps her in place.
( men are so DRAMATIC. )
( . . . )
❝ two housemates on a date , how … cute . ❞ the insincerity leans heavy near the end of his sentence , gaze bouncing between the two before setting on his girl . ❝ if i didn’t know better , i’d think yeun here was trying to snatch you up , darling . ❞ he laughs , loud and cold , at the irony of nikolai’s big bad wolf costume to misaka’s red riding hood – it should be amusing . ❝ funny thought , isn’t it ? ❞
there’s a miniature pause , before he cocks his head to the side in thought . ❝ not that i’d put it past him . ❞
his mind sputters, his blood thickens. there’s a strong metallic taste in his mouth & a dull ache that lingers at the tip of his tongue. for some time, he doesn’t register the twinge of pain; hell, he doesn’t even notice the subtle change in his own expression ( a scrunched up nose, a furrowed brow ). his head and---god forbid---his heart are both far too preoccupied with the vile undertones seeping through the pauses of ethan’s insults. it’s scathing, scalding. && like how he didn’t register biting his tongue ‘til it bled, he doesn’t immediately register snapping back: ❝ she’s not your damn toy. ❞ ------to use against me are the words left hovering in silence between them.
but isn’t he doing the exact same thing? it’s funny. ironic, even. he has himself convinced that he’s doing this for misa too---that all their hushed scheming in private corridors was for their shared amusement. yet, here they are: him, standing to the side, nursing that dull ache in his mouth that is sure to turn sore once he comes to & them, standing in proximity, hands intertwined, close, intimate, together. his gaze drops to meet misa’s own, and the cold look in his eyes tells all. why aren’t you resisting?
it dawns on him that misa doesn’t hate ethan as much as he does.
of course, she doesn’t---------
ethan still calls her lovebug, while nikolai has been cruelly demoted to yeun.
gone are the days when ethan would greet him with hello, dearest. gone are the days when ethan would care, even if it was pretend. && it confuses him. ethan kudou has a reputation - one that misa is sure to know about. the question now becomes why did she agree to date him? he had never thought to ask her & had always assumed she was doing it to play ethan right back. this was her chance to do so, to resist, but she didn’t---and that doesn’t sit well with him.
❝ misa, ❞ he starts, words and demeanor a lot more composed than his previous outburst. ❝ let’s go. ❞ though he says this, he doesn’t reach out to her; he wants her to make that move. a test of sorts . . . to see where her loyalties lie. not quite wanting to see her expression though, he peers back up at ethan. ❝ you weren’t planning on entertaining her for the evening anyway, so allow me to. ❞ he tilts his head ever so slightly, mimicking his counterpart’s provocative behavior from earlier. ❝ shouldn’t be a problem, since we’re just two housemates on a date. ❞








