“Ah–t-that was all for a house gift?” Or. He assumed a house gift. Gouma safe in the aquarium tank, he was accepting the gift. He peeked in the bag and, not being picky whatsoever, he knew he liked it (any sort of sweet was fine by his palate). He accepted the bag, a small smile after he got over the shock. “You would have been perfectly fine not to bring a gift, b-but thank you.”
Sullivan was terrible at eye contact too, so Seigo’s lack of it went unnoticed. His eyes were already back on little Gouma…which was long gone in the stuffing. He wanted to drop the rest of the toys in there, but they would need to be hand-washed first. Thus, he looked up to the other as they were offering.
“Oh, you drive? That makes getting there quicker.” Here he’d thought that they were going to walk. It was the way that Sullivan transported. Either that or a bus. He used to have a bike, but it was stolen. Twice. The only time he rode in a car was the rare occasion he got a taxi. They were expensive so it’d been months since that. To summarize that thought: it was indeed have to be Seigo to grab the vehicle.
In the meantime, Sullivan left the hamster cage on the ground, grabbing up the groceries. He’d drop them off and then seatbelt Gouma in so he didn’t tussle around everywhere. Seigo pulling around, he remembered to ask.
“Do you have AC in your car? Otherwise, it might get a little too hot for the hamster, it being Summer and all…”
He knew the gift was technically optional, but Sullivan took the time to come and help him. It only felt right to do something in return even if that something happened to be as simple as buying a few pastries.
“I end up traveling sometimes for work. Not always somewhere trains or buses will take you. The house is a bit out of the way, too. Even if I am going somewhere trains are always going to, like Tokyo, I might get called home at a moment’s notice,” he explained, though there were other reasons the car was convenient that he perhaps should avoid trying to point out.
Like storing his weapons, spare clothes, or those times he forgot spares and had to drive home with blood on his clothes. The last thing he wanted was Sullivan thinking he was some sort of serial killer or yakuza.
He got the car quickly, tucked away anything that could be suspicious (bye bye sword), and pulled up right where Sullivan stood waiting. He began helping Sullivan load up the car, pausing for a moment when asked about air conditioning.
“AC? Yeah. I have it. Sometimes I wish I could stay in the car and not go outside with how hot it gets. The map is open on my phone, you can type in your address when you’re ready or just give me directions yourself, whatever works.”
Not knowing how comfortable Sullivan was with the idea of people being inside his home, or knowing his address, he didn’t care if Sullivan wanted to avoid leaving any written record of his address in Seigo’s phone. After all, the Shirakawa family preferred to limit their visitors to trusted guests and or important members of other wealthy families.
He never got to have friends stay over as a child. While he was well within his rights to deem Sullivan trustworthy enough to visit his own residence, it still felt strange to him. He couldn’t remember if anyone outside of the family had ever visited him... pretty sure not.