he can hear his blood roaring in his ears loud enough that it threatens to drown out his THOUGHTS. the door before him looks more imposing than it has any right to be. knock. knock. knock. that's all he needs to do — that's supposed to be the easy part, yet ku ... no, ren finds himself freezing when it counts. ( cold feet. just his luck, huh? ) it probably doesn't help that this is the longest he's spent in public in — well, MONTHS. the brunt of his social interactions have consisted of monosyllabic exchanges with the night shift cashier of his local convenience store. after a while they stopped even questioning the vast amounts of caffeine-leaden garbage he was putting into his body. in hindsight, that probably wasn't a good thing.
okay. enough stalling. an inhale, an exhale — and he's raising a hand, rapping knuckles sharply against his cousin's door.
ren waits and waits and waits for him to answer. he's adorned himself in a dark jacket with a hood large enough to comfortably shroud any recognizable features from wandering eyes. ( fucking security cameras might as well be planted on every street corner these days. ) the lower half of his face is adorned with a mask, and when the door FINALLY cracks open, he preemptively hooks a finger beneath the thin fabric. ❝ ... kaminari. ❞ the name feels awkward on his tongue, like the months and months of separation have left it feeling unfamiliar. he stares at his cousin — meeting the eyes that bear such eerie resemblance to his own. he really should have taken the time to plan out what he was going to say, but he didn't and there's no point in agonizing over what's already done. ❝ i know how strange this might look, but i can explain. ❞ and he punctuates the reassurance by tugging the mask down, revealing his face in full. same indigo hair, same piercings, same shadows beneath his eyes from a decade of substituting coffee for sleep.
❝ it's kuni. seriously. and i'm not dead — never was. ❞ weight shifts impatiently from one foot to the other. he has to fight the urge to look over his shoulder. ❝ can you hurry up and let me in? standing around out here is making my skin crawl. ❞
@oficeandwind new and improved modern AU!
