pairing; addelsain, addain
wc; 818
rating; k
notes; dox practiced it, okay?? give him some credit scher
ao3 linky!
Herrscher blinks.
Herrscher blinks back.
He cocks his head to the side and the other Herrscher does so as well.
"Impressive," he says, and it makes the other Herrscher's lips split into a wide grin, with teeth all too sharp. Well, as long as he keeps his mouth shut, Dox makes a surprisingly good Herrscher.
The bandaged eye hides Dox's own, hiding the only other thing that would give him away. He makes a petrifyingly accurate Dominator. Doom Bringer, however, he can't do no matter what.
"I practiced," Dox boasts smugly. "The void is endless, it's coming to eat you all, waaaaaah!" he mimics, holding his arms in front of himself and flattening his tone. Not that far off the mark, actually. He's missing the ever-present echo.
It's a little disconcerting, to hear his voice coming from what is essentially Herrscher's body, but it's not like he hadn't seen (or heard, in this case) weirder things in his time.
"I think you should try Bluhen," Herrscher tells him, interested in how the other portrays his human-like counterpart.
Dox flashes him another grin and with a flash of pink light, the second Herrscher is gone, in his place Bluhen sporting a black eye, the one thing that lets Herrscher know it's still Dox in there, and having a tremendous amount of fun with it.
"It's me, Bluhen!" Dox exclaims, throwing his arms up in the air, "I've come to kill demons and say human proverbs wrong! It's my Achilles' forehead!"
Herrscher can't help his lips turning up, and that, in turn, makes Dox's grin even wider. It's so wide it probably hurts his cheeks, but it's not an unusual sight on Bluhen's face. Bluhen tries with the proverbs, he really does, but he still does not get them.
Not that Herrscher does either, but even he knows it's called Achilles' heel. Miss knight explained it once about their strategy against the demons, so he remembers it means a weak spot.
"Who next?" Dox asks, a childish glee gleaming in his eyes, a mischief unfulfilled.
"Try Immortal," Herrscher requests, his own gaze turning just a little curious as Dox's form flickers with a pink shine.
And in the next second, Immortal stands before him, a smirk that looks identical to the real deal, but the eyes, crinkled at the corner and unmistakably pink still give it away. Maybe one day Dox will learn to manipulate those as well. Or maybe not, Herrscher isn't sure how it even works. If he asked, he's sure Dox would just spill a bunch of technical terms at him, and he isn't in the mood for that.
Immortal - Dox - takes a step forward and presses a hand against the hole in Herrscher's chest, painted fingernails dragging down around the edge of it. Dox's eyes are alight with something Herrscher isn't sure he can place correctly.
"Oh, Scher," Dox whispers, leaning up to be closer to his ear. The soft touch at his chest doesn't leave, and Herrscher welcomes it wholeheartedly, leaning into it as much as he leans into Dox himself. "I love you so much," Dox continues, "More than there are swords I can summon."
Herrscher can't help a chuckle, and then Dox joins him, their breaths intermingling as they laugh, forehead to forehead.
"Was I good?" Dox asks him, batting his eyelashes before pushing red hair out of his face. He makes a face as he does so, unused to Immortal's fringe.
"Spot on," Herrscher tells him, leaning down to capture those lips that look so much like Immortal's right now. They still carry Dox's softness, though.
Dox's eyes slip closed as Herrscher envelops him in dark tendrils, snaking some around his hips and shoulders in a mockery of an embrace. Dox, however, melts right into the touch as of he'd never felt anything better in his life.
It makes Herrscher want to hold him closer, the tendrils squeezing momentarily before he will them to slack. He doesn't want to suffocate the other.
"So who did you like the best?" Dox asks when they pull apart. Dox is heaving for breath while Herrscher forgot he needs to breathe yet again. He swallows an apology from the tip of his tongue, because Dox's face is flushed red and his eyes hold nothing but happiness.
He places a hand at his hip, grinning lopsidedly and already knowing that Herrscher would say he liked his impression of Immortal the most, but the fallen celestial manages to surprise the smugness right out of him with a well placed kiss to his forehead.
"I think I like the original you better."
Dox feels his cheeks flush further, full of embarrassment and flattery, so much so that his hold on his form slips and he's back to the one Herrscher meant.
He leans down to kiss the real lips again, savoring the softness and Dox's sudden shyness.
Would it be possible to get some Herrscher/Paradox sfw or even nsfw headcanons? :0 thanks in advance
Herrscher isn’t the most affectionate; however,he can sense the mood and will do small things to show his affections (i.e.small kisses, handholding, even a hand lingering around the waist)
Dox is almost a polar opposite – not thatHerrscher complains. Dox just likes attention and affection and craves italmost nonstop, and it’s not uncommon that Herrscher will spend the greaterhalf of an hour covering Dox’s cheeks in smooches.
Dox often falls asleep in Herrscher’s arms. It’snot something he intentionally does, but he does it regardless. Herrscher willmake a few small quips when he wakes, but doesn’t mind at all. (Dox talks inhis sleep, and Herrscher finds it absolutely adorable.)
When they have to spend time apart, Dox willoften use his temporo-spatial tampering abilities to leave small notes andgifts around for Herrscher. The attention Dox pays him is something he enjoysgreatly, and he repays it when Dox returns.
Sometimes Herrscher will surprise Dox by hugginghim out of nowhere. Literally nowhere. Just some arms coming out of the void.Prepare yourself, Edward.
mad paradox x herrscher board for anon! i tried my best with the theme, but if you want anything changed, let me know! (as per usual- click for better resolution)
Pairing: addain [Esper/Sia], elsain [Infi/Sia]
Rating: T
WC: 2410
AU: gang au
CWs: violence, alcohol
part of q-rious
previously; quanta
There is no worse taste than a glass of shitty whiskey, left out all night and undiluted. And unfortunately, Esper doesn’t give a single fuck as he downs it, throat ablaze and every single taste bud protesting.
And, as if on cue, as if he hadn’t been thinking his morning couldn’t be worse with the hangover and lingering pain, someone knocks on his door. Or, more accurately, pounds onto the flimsy wood.
More on autopilot than not, Esper grabs his handgun, checking the clip and turning the safety off. Pure agitation drives him, overpowering even the world slightly swaying and his head pounding as he stalks to the door and poises his gun at the hip.
A few more knocks — punches, both to the wood and his head — and then the person grasps the doorknob and twists, opening the door.
It's obvious it takes them by surprise, because Esper has no problem kicking their legs out and dragging them inside.
"What the fuck do you want," he practically snarls, locking the door for a good measure. When he turns to lock the gun at the other and take a proper look, his finger almost slips on the trigger. He clicks his tongue, face twisting into a grimace as the redhead on the floor turns over. "You... What the fuck do you want here?!"
"What a friendly welcome," the redhead replies, but he does tense up when Esper cocks the gun. "Ugh, okay, jeez. I'm here to bring you back."
"Not in a million years. I should shoot you full of holes like Swiss cheese." And he wants to do just that, empty the whole mag and paint the hideous motel carpet red. It would be an improvement — both for the carpet and for himself.
"Just fucking listen to me, I don't know why you just up and left, bu--"
Bang!
Esper takes a deep breath, reveling in the clarity the pain from recoil of such a sudden shot brings him. Smoke still rises from the muzzle as he exhales.
"Give me one fucking reason not to steady my aim," he prompts, squaring up his shoulders in preparations for another shot. As much as he likes the burning spreading through him, he doesn't need to actually hurt his arm.
Infi tears his eyes from the hole in the carpet next to himself, ears still ringing. He's starting to think this had been a bad idea. This Esper seems incredibly unstable, and that's by his standards. Coupled with the vendetta he seems to be adamantly holding, that's a volatile combination.
"Sia misses you."
Esper hesitates; for but a moment something flashes in his eyes, the gun moves, but then the hardened glare is returning, lips pressing into a tight line. "He can get another bodyguard," he bites out.
"He wants you."
Infi shifts, propping himself up more properly. The lack of a bullet digging into his skull tells him he had struck a chord.
"He has you," Esper states. "Now, I want you to pick up your sorry ass and leave."
"I'm not a bodyguard."
"I know." Esper bites at his lip, thinking back to all he knows about this infernal boy. His lips crack into a grin on their own accord and soon enough, he's laughing, half-mad and full-volume. "Now— no."
He shakes his head and steps forward, kneeling before Infi. Finally they're on eye level. Esper's eyes look at him with nothing but disdain. "Oh, I know who you are. I know soooo much about you, Infi Elsword Perfect Fucking Sieghart. I've had to listen to how you did shit, what fucking flavor of McFlurry you liked and other useless pieces of fuck trivia for three fucking years. I want to kill you, I want you to suffer, I want to knock your goddamn teeth out--"
Esper's free hand winds back and then shoots out, and before Infi can register it, it connect to his jaw, forcing his head sideways. Pain blooms in the spot where Esper had hit him, but the other pulls away.
"You're getting off easy. If I see your stupid mug one more time, I will kill you. Sia was a better leader than you ever could be, anyhow," the tall man sits, and then he actually spits, right next to Infi's hand.
"Wait--" Infi calls out, but Esper simply twists on his heel and marches out of the room, opening the door only to be met with Sia's imposing figure in the doorway, blocking the exit.
"You!" Esper growls, clenching his hands into fists by his sides.
Sia glances from Esper's face, features twisted into a vicious snarl, to Infi, still sitting on the floor and with an already-forming bruise on his cheek. But otherwise, he seems fine; even with the gunshot earlier, he's not bleeding out all over. In fact, Sia spies the hole in the carpet, singed around the edges. So that's where the bullet had ended up.
"Esper," Sia breathes out. His expression is unreadable, but what else is new? "Come back with us."
"No chance in hell," Esper shoots back immediately. He tries the same trick, kicking out to buckle Sia's legs. He'll lock them in the room, that'd give him enough time to drive away before they could break the door, and--
He can't get any further with his mental plan, because Sia lifts a foot and stomps onto Esper's twisting his ankle painfully instead of falling. And he doesn't let up, leaving Esper rooted to the spot.
"Fuck--!"
"I don't want to hurt you," Sia tells him, proving his point by not taking out any of his weapons.
It only serves to make Esper's blood boil. Too fucking late. "Well, I want to hurt you."
Esper grounds himself on both feet, gritting his teeth through the pain of Sia stomping more, and elbows him into the solar plexus.
Sia splutters for breath, leaning over with pain, and Esper uses the opportunity to grip his shoulders and switch places with him, shoving the taller man backwards into the room.
He fumbles with the key just long enough for Infi to get to the door, but he manages to lock it after a short power struggle that leaves the hinges creaking. The banging returns, Infi's voice coming through, but Esper can't hear what he's saying through the pounding on his own heart in his ears. Probably pleas to be let out. Threats, maybe. He doesn't care.
The panic reaches him belatedly, how easily they traced him and wondering what he'd have to do to get away. And with the panic comes nausea, swift and strong.
He doubles over, clutching his stomach as it empties itself onto the porch of the motel room, painting the faded stone with the remnants of whiskey and chocolate.
He ends up on his hands and knees, dry heaving and with tears in his eyes, gazing into a puddle of his own bile. Pathetic. That's why he'd only been a replacement.
His gun weighs heavy in the pocket of his hoodie, fingers itching to go back inside and shoot the both of them. Why not, what's stopping him? Sia would fight back, probably. He knows how to. And Esper refuses to believe Infi had been a head of a gang without knowing at least the basics.
He sits up, swallowing the lingering taste of bile clinging to the inside of his mouth and throat. Infi is still pounding at the door and saying something. Esper still can't figure out what it is.
Impulsively, he kicks the door from this side, yelling, "Shut up already!"
The inside does indeed fall quiet, much to his surprise.
He sits there, shoulders heaving and stomach still twisted, but bit by bit, the sounds come back to him; the traffic on the main street, the crows overhead, the other loud tenants. As much as he loathes other people, he's glad.
"Esper?" comes from the inside, Sia's voice quieter and softer, He'd probably sat down by the door. Esper feels the urge to leave, to scream at him to keep quiet again, but he does neither. He feels tired all of a sudden, but the puddle of sick behind him might be the reason for that one. "Are you still there?"
Esper doesn't answer, from simple pettiness or because his voice isn't working, he doesn't know.
"Why did you leave, Es?" Sia asks.
Esper would love to believe he genuinely cares, but... Nevertheless, he scoots over, resting by the door. It's soothingly cool against his forehead. He tells himself it's to escape the disgusting smell of his puke. He tells himself a lot of things.
"What does that matter?" Esper grits his teeth; his nails dig into his palms, almost, almost unconsciously. "You don't need me anymore. Everything's gonna go back to the 'good old days' that you missed so much. It must be nice to have your lover back. So you don't need me anymore. So stop following me." Esper takes a breath when he stops talking. He'd gone off the rails there, for a moment. He's regretting it already, and Sia hadn't even replied yet.
"Esper..."
That isn't even a reply, at least not in his books. He can still remember how Sia's lips felt on his, forceful, cold from the snow, but most importantly, full of passion. He had tasted of the overpriced mulled wine. Since that say, Esper actually started liking the flavor.
Despite the many more kisses later, Esper's mind usually wanders to the first one. Cliche or not, it was special.
Then again, Sia is special.
"You can find a new bodyguard," he chokes out, surprised to hear his own voice almost breaking. "But a bodyguard having a bodyguard?" He snorts humorlessly, staring off at the row of flats on the other side of the street, banged up and closed down. "That's kinda stupid."
"You'd be a guard to Infi, not me--"
"I refuse!"
"Do you really hate him that much? Why?"
If Esper didn't know better, he'd say Sia sounds a little hurt. But why wouldn't he, when he's being so disdainful towards his dearest Infi. Esper's jaw starts hurting from how hard he clenches his teeth.
"I don't have an obligation to answer you," he says finally, swallowing the biting voice at the back of his mind screaming, he ruined everything! There really wasn't that much to ruin in the first place. "In fact, I don't even have to stay here."
"Then why do you?" Sia questions, softer.
Esper's eyebrows lower, eyes trained to a scrap of paper floating in the breeze in one of the windows. "I really don't know."
"Will you open the door?"
"No."
"Would you talk to me if I knocked it down?"
"...No."
"Okay."
Whether willing to admit it or not, Esper is grateful the other isn't about to knock the door down yet. The barrier feels safe, and the fact that Sia can't see him makes it even better. He must look like a mess. Probably as bad as the rented room, due for a makeover years ago.
"Esper... Why don't you want to come back?"
"Why do you want me to?"
"Because I miss you," Sia says, causing Esper's nails to dig into his palms even further.
"Bullshit. You've got Infi back."
"But I miss you even so. It's not like Infi returning would make me stop caring about you."
"Why not?" Esper bites out. He's going crazy sitting here and having nothing to fiddle with. He fight the urge to pull out the gun again.
"Jesus, Es, is that what you thought, you--" Sia cuts himself off. Muffled whispers fill the room, too distorted and muffled for Esper to make out.
"Is this about the kiss at the penthouse?"
Esper freezes at the words, nails breaking skin and drawing blood. He springs up, breathing labored all of a sudden.
"Fuck you, Sia," he hisses, "I'm leaving!"
Sia pounds at the door from the inside. "Wait!" he calls, sounding desperate and pleading, and Esper would be lying if he said it didn't work, because he stops, whole body tense as a bowstring.
"That's it, isn't it?" Sia continues. Esper doesn't know if he knows he had stopped, or if he's just shooting in the dark. Not literally, though Esper is sure he has a gun on hand, too. "I'm sorry, I wasn't the one who initiated it."
"What does it matter? What are you getting at with this?" Esper can feel himself get snappier and snappier, but he can't help it. He still wants to pick himself up and leave.
"Of course it matter, we had a thing--"
"You fucked me on a table once, so what?" Esper cuts him off again, doing his best not to remember the scene, or how Sia looked between his legs, or the things he'd said. Tough luck.
"Well, it means something to me, and it sounds like it did to you too."
"Yeah, sure," Esper drawls, prolonging the words on purpose. "You called me by the wrong name, really gets me going." His sarcasm is almost palpable.
"Esper--"
"Oh, now you remember my name, huh?"
"No, that's not... listen, can you open the door? I want to speak to you face to face."
Esper hesitates, staring at the door for a long, long while before mentally slapping himself and fitting the key into the lock.
Sia opens the door almost hesitantly. Esper stands there on the porch, wild hair, hangover and all, slumped and betraying his own greatness. And he doesn't say a thing.
"Es," Sia calls out, taking a step closer to the other, but he stops himself.
"Well, say whatever the fuck you wanted to say so I can leave," Esper huffs back, making the way he hugs himself look like folding his arms.
Sia steels himself, suppresses a sigh, and steps forward. Esper tenses up when he gets into his personal space, but otherwise doesn't more. Infi watches them from inside the room. He'd definitely been the more understanding of the two, but Sia can't blame Esper.
Trust comes hard and heavy in their line of work and life, and having betrayed that, even unknowingly and unwillingly, he's lucky the other isn't holding the gun again. That could, of course, change at any moment, though.
So he doesn't wait.
Sia leans down and when he's close enough, towering above Esper, and presses their lips together.
characters; add (LP) > ain (EE)
rating; t
category; fluff
wc; 648
notes; @re-coded asked for some lpee fluff, hope i did it justice
Erbluhen looks up from the book he'd borrowed - human literature is oh so interesting, and sometimes lets him peer right into the mind of the characters! Lusa sits on another chair, tinkering with another tech… thingy.
Mochi might understand emotions and humans a bit now, but by the Goddess he's never ever going to figure out robotics. The fact that Add and Eve can work so easily with these pieces of metal and make them… do things, is astonishing. Not that he's willing to say that out loud.
"What is it, Mr. Ancient?" he asks, placing his bookmark inbetween the pages and setting the book down. Lusa looks like he'd been caught with a hand down the metaphorical cookie jar. If he were caught in the real jar, he'd look different. Mochi had seen Lu catch him one time, and it wasn't pretty. "You've been staring at me for a while now."
Lusa looks away as if on cue. He looks like he wants to say something, but holds his tongue for once. He puts the bracelet he'd been fixing, upgrading… whatever, down onto the coffee table and crosses his arms.
"It's just-" Lusa huffs, "Your hair! It's so all over the place that it's distracting me!"
Mochi laughs, blowing up at the strands falling into his face to push them away. "No one's forcing you to stay here," he chides, though he has to admit the quiet company was nice so far. Add isn't like the others; though he does get loud, and so very often, not when he's alone or with certain people. And Mochi is fortunate enough to be on that list, along with Aisha.
"Oh great, now you're telling me off, huh?" Lusa asks, rolling his eyes. Mochi knows it's just a front, though. There's no hostility in Lusa's posture of gestures. In fact, Mochi would wager on him still being relaxed. "Just let me fix it for you so I can concentrate on my work again."
Mochi doesn't protest, half because Lusa is already standing up and half because he has this curious expression on his face. He lets the scientist walk up to him, towering over his chair, and reach out to brush through his hair.
Lusa's hand is gentle, fingers carding through the hair softly like if he were connecting wires. Comparing himself to some robot undergoing maintenance shouldn't be comforting, but Lusa isn't acting like he isn't a human. Maybe Mochi just hadn't seen him be gentle with people like this before, so he compared it to him assembling a robot.
Wait, why is he justifying Lusa's actions?
"Whoa, it's really soft," Lusa muses, patting down the side of Mochi's head. The touches feel nice, honestly, so much that Mochi lets his eyes fall closed.
"Was this all a ploy for you to be able to touch my hair?" Mochi asks, the corners of his lips curling up devilishly. "You can be much sneakier, Mr. Ancient."
Lusa's cheeks color with a faint shade of red and he pulls away. Mochi mourns the loss of contact briefly, but he knows to stop himself. "There. Now I can finally get back to my work."
Mochi is sure his hair is just as messy as usually, but he doesn't have any mirrors nearby to check for himself. Lusa seats himself back in his chair, immediately burying his face into the bracelet again.
Mochi can't help a smile settling on his face, eyes softening. "You know, Mr. Ancient, you just have to ask next time! I'll let you touch my hair!"
Lusa glances up at him with wide, startled eyes, probably thinking he'd heard wrong, and goes right back to his tinkering. The blush on his face only worsens, however. Mochi keeps smiling, even as he picks his book back up. So much for stopping himself, huh?
Pairing: addain [Esper/Sia], elsain [Infi/Sia]
Rating: T
WC: 1697
AU: gang au
part of q-rious
previously on q-rious; quod
Esper doesn't even realize he's shaking, though his whole body moves like a leaf in a storm, hands frozen by his hips, twitching minutely.
The feeling of Apos' tongue across his lips and in his mouth is familiar and his body welcomes it right away. His mind, however, doesn't share the same sentiment. On unsteady feet, he backs away, lips tingling with the still-present ghost touch.
His hand raises on its own, swinging in a wide arch.
Smack.
It doesn't even feel like it's him doing it, more like he's just an observer peering at the world through the eyes of whoever it is that just created a crimson, palm-shaped mark on Apos' pale cheek.
Apos moves his jaw, making sure it's all right - Esper hasn't been a bodyguard for nothing, even with a body that hides his strength. He looks guilty and doesn't move from the spot even as Esper takes progressively longer and longer to sort through the turmoil of his thoughts.
"Your sense of humor has changed, I see," he mutters darkly, feeling the way his brows knit almost painfully. "Let me clarify, it wasn't funny."
He suddenly feels like retching again, purging the last remains of the alcohol from his body along with Apos' taste that lingers on the edge of his tongue, taunting him. Something smoky with a touch of mint.
Infi hadn't moved during this whole exchange, but now he does, stepping closer to Esper with his arms folded. "It wasn't a joke, that's why," he says, shifting. His arms are as much a barrier as any. "Listen, I know my return fucked up your little thing, but that's why we talked with Apos about it. Y'know, the thing you refused to do and instead got high and drunk?"
"What I do with my body is none of your concern," Esper bites back, all he can force out.
Infi pierces him with a look simultaneously burning and chilling to the bone. Esper refuses to budge, though he does cross his arms in return, doubling the makeshift barrier. "It's my concern when it makes stuff worse."
"It makes nothing worse."
The redhead sighs, shoulders lowering a little. "Apos cried, y'know."
This seems to startle Esper, his eyes shooting to the mentioned man's face for a split second only to find it perfectly dry, if a little contorted. "I don't follow," he breathes.
"When you left. He wouldn't stop, no matter what I did. Just kept crying 'Esper, Esper!' until he passed out from exhaustion." Infi starts twirling a long lock of hair around his index finger as if to find something for his twitchy fingers to do. When he notices Esper's still-very-much-confused look, his lips press into a hard line. "Let me make this clearer."
Finally, Esper thinks.
"Sia likes you. Whether or not you believe it, he does. He also still likes me." Apos is trying his hardest to look like he's not even there. "And you like him, don't you. Otherwise you wouldn't be so jealous-"
"Watch your mouth!"
"-of me." Infi offers a lazy grin, swaying on the balls of his heels. "Now, now. We've come to an agreeable... Let's say a deal, while you were busy drinking yourself up."
"That's it, I don't have to listen to this… kid… spewing shit about me," Esper declares, obviously fed up with Infi's thinly veiled jabs at him.
"Esper," Apos speaks up, first time in the while, and now Infi falls silent. Well, he does when Apos' eyes bore into him, berating him without a single word. "Hear us out. Me out."
Esper takes a deep breath, gazing wistfully at the road before sighing and holding his arms tighter. "Alright, I'm all ears. What is this deal bullshit the pipsqueak blabbered about?"
"Pipsqueak?!" Infi cries out, offended. Well, not even the heels of his shoes give him nearly enough to match either Esper or Apos' height.
"I don't want to lose you, Esper," Apos says, ignoring Infi's remark for the moment. "I... I care about you. Not like a subordinate, but as a friend... Partner. I care the same about Infi, but he'd been gone and now he's back and it's pretty confusing but I know I want you around if that's what you also want!"
Esper is quiet for a moment and then he's still quiet, barely audible, as he says, "It's never been fun being Elsword Perfect Sieghart's shadow, you know? Whenever you talked about him I just wanted to kill him as well, because you'd never stop, you never let me forget there was someone better than me."
"I should have noticed," Apos admits, hanging his head in a mixture of shame and apology.
"I wanted to be special to you," Esper admits, the most painful thing he'd said all day.
"You are special to me."
Esper shakes his head at that, making Apos take back the cautionary step he'd taken towards him. "Not like Infi."
"So that's what you think," Apos utters and his lips quirk up at the corners. "You're right. You're special to me not like Infi, but like you. And I want you to stay, I… need you to stay, it hurts to imagine life without you."
He'd obviously struck a chord with Esper, because he shifts nervously, running fingers through his messy hair. "You survived without Infi. You… became greater. You'll have him back, so you don't really need a failed experiment anym-"
"You're not like Infi, don't you understand?" Apos cuts him off. He would not hear another self-deprecating word from Esper's lips. "You're Esper Grenore, and there's nothing failed about you."
Esper chuckles; it's not wholehearted, but it's a step in the right direction. "The test results would beg to differ."
"What do I care about some decade old tests?"
Esper's lips curl up further. Apos can see the exhaustion clear in his eyes and the bags under them. The man looks like he needs a good night's sleep. And some breakfast, preferably.
"Can I make an offer?" Apos asks, taking a small step towards Esper. Esper doesn't back away, this time, just peers curiously at him. "You don't have to be a bodyguard to Infi. We talked, and Infi agreed to… Well, share the head spot. He'd been gone so long he doesn't know current operations and whatnot. So I wouldn't be his bodyguard, and you could stay mine."
There's a glimmer in Esper's eyes as he glances sideways at Infi, though whether it's an excited grimmer or an enraged one for Infi to try and steal Apos' hard earned spot is beyond either of them. "What about him, though?"
Infi laughs and speaks up again, finally. Honestly, it felt like they'd been passing a baton. "I don't need a guard for the time being. No one even knows I'm back yet, and when the rumors spread, it'll be much more effective to show I can protect myself, don't you think?"
Esper doesn't offer an answer, instead turning back to Apos. "So he'll always be around," he states more than asks.
Apos' eyes soften and he smiles rather lopsidedly. "Give him a chance. I'm sorry I did… all that I did in the past, but no matter how much I hyped him up, he's still a human like us."
"And I don't have to protect him?"
"No." Though Apos doesn't have a single doubt Esper would jump in were something to actually happen.
"Only you? Like before?"
"Only me. Just like before."
"And…" Esper falters. He's almost there, they almost have him! Apos' heart is pounding so hard it's a real feat to keep himself composed. "What was that about the... kiss?"
"Ah." Apos flushes, looking away. "Well… Uh… I love you?"
Esper quirks a brow, hiding his inner turmoil with a scoff. "Love me enough to botch my name during sex, huh?"
Apos cringes. "I'm… sorry for that. Truth is, I also love Infi. But that's… no reason to hurt you in such a way. If you'd give me permission, I would use the right name next time."
"Would you now?" Esper muses, mulling it over. "Are you saying you want to fuck me while you're, what, fucking Infi as well?"
"Date," Apos corrects. "I want to date you."
"Us both? Do I have to date Infi?"
Infi can feel the weight of Esper's stare burning through him. "Nah," he says, instantly feeling it burning a little less. "Just Apos."
"I can… live with that," Esper nods, more to himself than anything. Apos knows he'll warm up to Infi, sooner or later. Well, knowing Esper, it'll be later more than sooner. "I… don't know how this works."
"We can figure it out. For now, how does lunch sound like?"
Esper has to admit, at least to himself, that he is starving. Having heaved up what little he'd ingested the night prior left him woozy and with a grumbling stomach, so he didn't have many protests.
"McDonald's?" he asks hopefully, just the thought of a chocolate McSundae making his mouth water.
"Anything you want," Apos nods.
Esper casts a glance at Infi, who had stuck his hands into the pockets of his jacket, looking odd with the bruise on his face and dust on his dress shirt. His tie is askew. But the boy - how old even is he? How is he the head of a mafia? - looks completely relaxed now, when grinning lazily.
"One order of chicken nuggets and chocolate ice cream?" Infi asks, already looking like he knows the answer. Esper glances at Apos, and even if Apos' expression doesn't betray anything, he knows he's the one who told Infi what he likes. Something tugs at his heart.
"Double order of chicken burger and vanilla ice cream?" Esper replies, hesitantly.
They turn to look at Apos and this time their voices are almost synced. "One order of cheeseburger with bacon, no ice cream and apple cake."
"Ice cream isn't even a part of a menu why do you say no ice cream?" Apos sighs, rolling his eyes goodheartedly.
"It so is," Infi huffs, "What's an order without ice cream?"
