#-them asks b!-

[dakotaxmp]

❛ don't think this changes anything between us. ❜

&. 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 (𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬?) 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. {Accepting!}

//

“It doesn’t.”

And that he says with absolute certainty as he stands from the table and readjusts his coat. He had needed information and got it. There’s a polite dip of his head out of habit but when Dakota does leave, he’s got no cause to look back. “Later.”

[dakotaxmp]

❛ sometimes i think you must hate me. ❜

&. 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 (𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬?) 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. {Accepting!}

[[ This muse is gone too but just for the record’s sake, he should know. For clarity, Alexios and Dakota were dating but the muse got cut during an AC and myself and Ares mun decided the pair would stay together and Alexios would be an NPC. ]]

//

Dakota exhales the smoke in his lungs into the night air off the balcony of his boyfriend’s penthouse. His cheeks are flushed from laughing just a minute before as he holds the phone in one hand that has a picture of the pair of them on screen. They look terrible in it but they are happy.

“Nah,” he says still smiling. This his soul knows in its deepest point. “I wouldn’t know how to hate you even if my life depended on it. And I don’t want to learn how now!”

He takes a slow drag off the cigarette before he blows it out in a series of rings that drift between them. “Don’t overthink it- I loved you before. I love you now. I’ll love you even when I’m too old to remember anything else.”

[dakotaxmp]

❛ DO YOU HONESTLY THINK THIS IS EASY FOR ME? ❜

&. 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 (𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬?) 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. {Accepting!}

//

Dakota covers his ears as the volume of her voice rises and pointedly scoots himself slightly away from her. The action makes his barstool wobble, steady then tip slightly to the side with his weight and he places one foot down to fully stay upright.

“STOP SHOUTING!” He says in equal escalated volume. Drawing his hands down and looks at her. There’s no real bad blood between them, just a slight misunderstanding prior and now the shouting. He blames the music being a bit too loud tonight honestly but still. “You gonna get me mad before I even know what you’re talking about!”

Correcting the barstool again and then self soothing by knocking back the shot he ordered, Dakota recalibrates before speaking again. “Do I think what was easy?”

[dakotaxmp]

❛ well, someone needs to shut the fuck up. ❜

&. 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 (𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬?) 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. {Accepting!}

//

Ah, this one again. Dakota had a brush with this person once already but had found that rather than being put off by their rough edges, he was more curious. Some other unfortunate soul had spoken and though the grievance was likely very light in nature, the reaction was all the same sharp. Rounding the corner of the aisle Dakota spies the familiar face of that man he met recently and the unfamiliar one of some new resident to the island.

“Another bad day? Or is this some intellectual aspersion that you’re dealing with today?” He asks before turning his attention to the new unfamiliar person between them. “Go. Away.”

[dakotaxmp]

"you're not bad as everyone says you are"

&. 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 (𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬?) 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. {Accepting!}

[ Yeah I know they’re gone but I’m just clearing the box out and this was too fun for me to toss away.]

//

He’s unfolding the clean pale yellow tablecloths as he hears this. Isn’t that funny to hear in relation to him from a man who hardly knows his life story? Dakota shakes out the fabric in his hands as he laughs dryly at the remark.

“Do you say this merely because I let you in to escape the rain? Or is it some moral bright point that your god gives you that makes you see the minimal good in another person as a redeemable trait for a life of rubble?”

It’s rude. Rude in the sense that he’s picking at the threads of his own being before someone who might give it the credit it is due. It’s sad in the sense that it’s remarkably inaccurate. Dakota shakes the fabric harder, snapping it for a second as he goes on, “If there are those that speak against me, it is on things that they don’t know well enough from me. And they speak it alone— I make no corrections to those I would not serve at my tables.”

[dakotaxmp]

❛ i know i'm the last person you probably want to see, but… ❜

&. 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 (𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬?) 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. {Accepting!}

//

That statement is only true on the count of because the restaurant should be in a state of closing at that moment. Dakota stands poised to go ahead and lock the door to the public right when Arwyn crops up in front of him. There’s an awkward moment where the pair just stare at each other before Dakota is the first to break the silence with a curt ‘the fuck?’

Arwyn begins his case with that opening and Dakota exhales audibly. “I don’t want to see anyone that isn’t cleaning up in here with me or is picking up their check. Kitchen is closed and I know you know that because you’ve eaten here before. So what on earth would make you come here right at closing time? Answer wisely, you have about forty full seconds before I’m not required to use my customer service voice anymore.”

[dakotaxmp]

❛ sometimes i wonder if you're in love with me. ❜

&. 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 (𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬?) 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. {Accepting!}

//

Dakota looks at him as best he can from where they’re tangled up on the couch watching some tv. He had long ago pretty much abandoned paying attention in favor of zoning out and fiddling with the hem of his shirt as he lean against Alexios.

“Bro..” he says blinking at him. His eyes are tired and he looks one yawn away from snoozing as he says, “ Are you for real?” Because, of course, he does.

[dakotaxmp]

❛ i don't think i've ever seen you smile. ❜ (it's almost a sheepish smile on his lips, in response to the peals of laughter from the other demigod)

&. 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 (𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬?) 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. {Accepting!}

//

Dakota’s laughter slows a bit then, the heel of his hands at the corners of his eyes to wipe happy tears away. It had been a joke in poor taste made at his own expense when Dakota had said that he could use a lobotomy instead of the offered ibuprofen.

It had been a better joke still in poor taste when Ryul had retorted that the store was fresh out of ice picks. It had thrown Dakota so far off because most would have just chastised him for saying it in the first place, not joked with him, that he laughed. Well, more like barked into coughing due to his asthma. He needs to stop smoking!

“I mean like,” he wheezes. For a minute he coughs again, smiling more as laughter zips through him once more. When he calms again Dakota finishes his sentence, “I love to laugh so I would smile more if I laughed more. But I admit, things I see got me real serious real quick.”