2022-07-09 20:28![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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the_zone
spaceninja144 in the_zoneWho: Gakuto and Hiyoshi
When: The day after the chicken debacle
Where: Hiyoshi's room
What: Hiyoshi teaches Gakuto to meditate and the truth comes out about Cluckerton
Day two back from the expedition, and Hiyoshi had mostly finished decompressing. It was amazing what a full night’s sleep and a stomach full of mutant chicken could do for a guy’s spirits. The morning’s fuss about the chickens had been… something, but since it mostly centred around PeanutBiscuit being missing and not Cluckerton’s unfortunate demise, Hiyoshi wasn’t too worried about it. Gakuto had been pretty upset about the whole thing… maybe Hiyoshi should check the bathroom for blood one more time before Gakuto arrived.
Gakuto had been pretty upset about the whole thing. He didn’t know why he was so strangely attached to PeanutBiscuit, but he was. Her going missing sent him into a panic, and when he couldn’t find her, into tears. But he realized he needed to get over it. At least, try to get over it. That was when he remembered that Hiyoshi had offered to teach him to meditate. So here he was, at Hiyoshi’s door, not really sure what he was in for. He knocked nervously. “Hey, it’s me.”
Ah, too late. Hiyoshi stood up from his chair, activating the door manually to let Gakuto in. “It’s been a while.”
He doesn’t sit back down immediately, instead taking the chance to stretch out his muscles a little. Even after walking around the base for a day they were still a little stiff, and Hiyoshi was still very much in recovery mode, wearing comfortable workout clothes, and his glasses to rest his eyes.
Gakuto looked at Hiyoshi, his face obviously still blotchy from crying. He had never seen the other man looking so… comfy before. “I didn’t know you wore glasses.” It wasn’t an overly common thing these days. He wasn’t going to freak Hiyoshi out by commenting just what he thought about the glasses. “Um, but yeah, it’s been a while. You doing okay?”
“That’s because I don’t unless I have to. They get in the way.” And really hurt if someone hit you on them while you were sparring.
Gakuto may have the sense to keep certain things to himself, but Hiyoshi had no such filter. “I should be asking you that. You look like crap.”
Gakuto snorted, a wry laugh escaping his lips. “Geez, you’re such a dick sometimes.” He shook his head. “Yeah, I was crying, I’m not gonna lie about it.” The proof was on his face, so what use would lying do? “I don’t know why this is bothering me so much.” Maybe that chicken was just a distraction, but he had never considered what would happen if she went missing or died.
“But that’s why I’m here, right?” Gakuto asked. “To learn to not let things bother me so much.”
Hiyoshi had his own theories about why it had made Gakuto cry, but he was pretty sure unsolicited psychoanalysis was a few steps above where they currently were on the friendship scale, so he just nodded. “Right. I’m not an expert though, I can’t guarantee this will help you enough to keep your face from matching your hair again.” But hey, worth a shot. With one more stretch, Hiyoshi settled down on the floor cross-legged, waiting for Gakuto to follow him.
“Jerk…” Gakuto mumbled, rubbing his face before going to sit across from Hiyoshi, matching the way he was sitting. “You’re more of an expert than I am, so it’s worth trying, right?”
“It’s useful to know.” It had got Hiyoshi through a lot of things, and hopefully it would help Gakuto as well. He was sure Gakuto would have no problem catching on– Hiyoshi noticed he was already mirroring him again, which he approved of. “Are you comfortable? It’s important you are. There are proper ways to sit, but I find them distracting.” Then again, knowing how flexible Gakuto was, he could probably do them no problem… ah hell, that meant he would have to demonstrate. With a small sigh, he refolds his legs into the mildly uncomfortable lotus pose. “Like this.”
Gakuto stared at Hiyoshi’s legs for a moment before folding his legs the same way. Funny enough, he didn't find any discomfort in this pose, but Hiyoshi… "Not a fan of sitting like this?"
Stupid bendy Gakuto and his stupid flawless lotus pose. “No. Some of us have joints.” And with that he moved back into his less proper but much more comfortable position. “It doesn’t matter, how you sit isn’t the point. It’s about relaxing and clearing your mind and what works for you.” Settling his hands onto his lap, Hiyoshi closed his eyes. “We’re going to start with breathing, seven seconds in, seven seconds out. The goal is to think about nothing but the flow of oxygen and the here and now.”
Gakuto cackled. “Joints are for the weak!” He grinned. He settled his own hands into his lap, taking a look at Hiyoshi before finally closing his eyes as well. He took a few practice breaths. “Are we breathing together, or…?”
“I’ll count to get us started. In, 2, 3, 4…” Hiyoshi counted slow and steady, in and out. After a couple times he dropped the counting and only announced the in and outs, and then he stopped even that, breathing in and out in silence. Despite the distraction of teaching Hiyoshi’s mind emptied easily, the process being second nature by this point.
Gakuto breathed along with Hiyoshi, the other man’s voice distracting him enough to ease into the counting…but the moment Gakuto took a couple of breaths in silence, something that had been bothering him since he walked in washed over him. “I’m sorry.” He interrupted. “But what is that fucking smell?”
Dammit Gakuto. Hiyoshi cracked open a single eye, looking decidedly less zen. “I don’t know, just ignore it.”
Gakuto looked green in the face. “How can I? It’s disgusting!” He scrunched his nose. “Did you not do your laundry after marinating in the heat for two weeks?”
Eye number two opened. Right. His laundry. That was currently covered in chicken blood. Who could have guessed that eviscerating a chicken would be so messy? That said, he wasn’t about to just take the accusation of smelling like dead chicken lying down. “They stripped us down in decon, and I showered. It didn’t smell in here until you got here. Maybe you’re the one that smells.”
Gakuto sniffed himself, just to be sure. “No, no, there’s definitely something wrong…” He stood up. “I’m gonna figure out where it’s coming from. Last time I smelled something like that, there was a pigeon in the wiring of a building I was going to demo.” He stretched his legs before he started sniffing the air.
Uh oh. Now what. The room wasn’t big, Gakuto would find the laundry in no time. Ideas raced through Hiyoshi’s brain; denying it, lying, blaming it on Niou… but nothing he could come up with seemed like it would stick. As soon as Gakuto saw that laundry, he was done. Which only left one option: don’t let Gakuto see the laundry in the first place.
Hiyoshi was on his feet a second later. “You need to go.” And to make sure it happened, he picked Gakuto from behind, in a completely normal and not suspicious manner.
Gakuto squeaked and struggled, flipping his legs so that they were over his head, sending them both tumbling from the shift in momentum. “What the fuck, man! Why would you do that? What’s up your ass?” He cried, his limbs still tangled with Hiyoshi’s.
Normally, Hiyoshi would bounce right back from something like that. This time Gakuto’s lucky, because the only thing on Hiyoshi’s mind was fuck, my glasses. “The room doesn’t smell!” he shot back, shoving Gakuto off him and grabbing his glasses off the floor to check they weren’t broken. A quick once over proved they were fine, and Hiyoshi’s attention is back on Gakuto. “Don’t throw yourself upside down like a monkey!”
Hiyoshi was acting suspicious as fuck. “Don’t pick me up without my consent!” Gakuto shot back. “And this room does smell!” He started following the scent. “Dude, what if a weird creature followed you back or something?” He was starting to wonder why this was freaking Hiyoshi out so bad.
“I already told you I went through decon. Anyhow, someone would have noticed.” Hiyoshi was glaring at Gakuto now, as if it would do anything. And then of course, when Gakuto took a step nearer to the bathroom, Hiyoshi blurted out, “Stay out of the bathroom”. As one does.
Gakuto glared right back, and then Hiyoshi warned him away from the bathroom, and his brow furrowed and his glare softened. He didn’t yell. He didn’t scream. In a very quiet voice, he simply said. “You’re hiding something.”
Hiyoshi looked at Gakuto. And then at the bathroom door. And then back at Gakuto. And said absolutely nothing. Because he knew there was nothing left to say, and nothing left to do besides be torn between his decision to stand there and look guilty or to tackle Gakuto again.
“I thought I could trust you to be honest.” Gakuto said. “I thought you were different.” He folded his arms. “Unlike you, I am trying to learn to respect people’s wishes…so fine. I won’t go check…”
Dammit. Dammit And out it poured like word vomit. “I ate the chicken.”
Gakuto’s eyes widened. “You did lie to me.” He moved forward and slapped Hiyoshi. “You fucking lied to me! I trusted you!” He balled up his fist and then took a breath. “...The chicken from the kitchen?”
The slap surprised Hiyoshi more than anything, and he just sort of took it with a stupid look on his face. “Of course I lied to you, I can’t just tell people I stole a chicken and ate it. It was a rooster, they’re going to get cooked soon anyway.” Honestly, the whole thing sounded a lot less glamorous on a full stomach.
“You could have just told me it was a rooster. You didn’t have to lie.” Gakuto looked at the ground. “I wouldn’t have told on you or anything.” He closed in on himself a little. “Like, I like you because you’re honest. You don’t beat around the bush. You lying is just so… wrong… it makes me wonder what else you’ve been lying about.”
Uh oh. This was a Thing, wasn’t it. Hiyoshi didn’t know how to deal with Things. “I didn’t lie about anything else. I only lied about the chicken because I didn’t want to get reprimanded for it, and you seemed really upset about the whole thing. It’s not like I could un-eat the chicken.”
Gakuto looked back up at Hiyoshi. “You promise? You promise this is the only lie you’ve ever told me? Because I just… I can’t deal with lying.” He searched Hiyoshi’s stupid handsome face and sighed. “...Sorry I hit you.”
“I promise.” But then Hiyoshi grimaced, because a certain very stupid memory came to mind. “Ah. Actually, the elevator thing was me as well. But that’s all.”
Gakuto rolled his eyes. “I know that.” He thwapped a hand against Hiyoshi’s chest. “I’m not an idiot.” He sighed. “So you snuck a rooster…why?” He was curious. That little moment of rebellion was actually quite admirable.
The elevator trick may have been obvious, but hopefully it earned Hiyoshi a few points for admitting to it, because he honestly hadn’t been planning on it.
And as for the reason for the rooster’s death? “I was hungry. “ Unfortunately, it wasn’t much deeper than that. “I ate military rations for two weeks straight. I deserved it.”
Gakuto laughed at Hiyoshi’s straight answer. He reached out and pinched Hiyoshi’s cheek. “Well, next time, do your laundry and your cleaning better, because it definitely reeks of blood in here.” He let go and went to sit back on the floor, in full lotus pose. “Sit down.”
Wait, was he forgiven? Was it really that easy? Now it was Hiyoshi’s turn to be suspicious. “Are you going to tell anyone?” There had to be a caveat here, he thought as he sat down and folded his legs.
Gakuto shook his head. “I won’t tell anyone.” He said, closing his eyes. “Just please don’t lie to me again, okay? Send it over a screen message, tell me it’s none of my business, tell me in private…anything but lying, okay?” He took a breath. “In, two, three, four…”
“...okay.” And Hiyoshi really meant it, even if it didn’t mean a lot because he didn’t lie often anyway. He fell back into patterned breathing for a while, but after a minute he was the one to break the silence this time. “Ugh. It really does stink.”
Gakuto laughed. “It does. Why don’t we clean up that mess, then?” He was willing to help, since Hiyoshi had promised not to lie to him anymore.
What a true pal, offering to launder the evidence with him. “You aren’t squeamish, are you?”
Gakuto shook his head and pulled up his long sleeves to show his burn scars. “Had to peel cloth off these right after they caught fire, so nothing makes me squeamish anymore.” Nothing like pulling off your own charred skin to make you desensitized to most things. “I can show you how to get blood stains out.”
Hiyoshi stared. And stared. “What the hell, Gakuto-san.” Not gonna lie, Hiyoshi was kinda terrified and kinda turned on right now. Because what. The fuck.
Gakuto grinned, because the other option was to wonder if Hiyoshi thought he was gross now. “Explosive went off too soon, I was trapped, and I had no choice. It was either that or burn to death.” He put his hands on his hips. “I do work with things that might catch fire. It was only a matter of time.” He shrugged. “Now, do you want help getting that blood out of your clothes, or are you just going to keep staring at me like I’m the boogeyman?”
You’re right Gakuto, Hiyoshi would think the boogeyman was hot.
Anyhow, Hiyoshi nodded. “Alright. I hope you’re not all talk about the blood stains, because there’s a lot of them.” And now all that was left was a totally normal, totally not sneaky trip to the laundry room to deal with some totally not suspicious stains.
When: The day after the chicken debacle
Where: Hiyoshi's room
What: Hiyoshi teaches Gakuto to meditate and the truth comes out about Cluckerton
Day two back from the expedition, and Hiyoshi had mostly finished decompressing. It was amazing what a full night’s sleep and a stomach full of mutant chicken could do for a guy’s spirits. The morning’s fuss about the chickens had been… something, but since it mostly centred around PeanutBiscuit being missing and not Cluckerton’s unfortunate demise, Hiyoshi wasn’t too worried about it. Gakuto had been pretty upset about the whole thing… maybe Hiyoshi should check the bathroom for blood one more time before Gakuto arrived.
Gakuto had been pretty upset about the whole thing. He didn’t know why he was so strangely attached to PeanutBiscuit, but he was. Her going missing sent him into a panic, and when he couldn’t find her, into tears. But he realized he needed to get over it. At least, try to get over it. That was when he remembered that Hiyoshi had offered to teach him to meditate. So here he was, at Hiyoshi’s door, not really sure what he was in for. He knocked nervously. “Hey, it’s me.”
Ah, too late. Hiyoshi stood up from his chair, activating the door manually to let Gakuto in. “It’s been a while.”
He doesn’t sit back down immediately, instead taking the chance to stretch out his muscles a little. Even after walking around the base for a day they were still a little stiff, and Hiyoshi was still very much in recovery mode, wearing comfortable workout clothes, and his glasses to rest his eyes.
Gakuto looked at Hiyoshi, his face obviously still blotchy from crying. He had never seen the other man looking so… comfy before. “I didn’t know you wore glasses.” It wasn’t an overly common thing these days. He wasn’t going to freak Hiyoshi out by commenting just what he thought about the glasses. “Um, but yeah, it’s been a while. You doing okay?”
“That’s because I don’t unless I have to. They get in the way.” And really hurt if someone hit you on them while you were sparring.
Gakuto may have the sense to keep certain things to himself, but Hiyoshi had no such filter. “I should be asking you that. You look like crap.”
Gakuto snorted, a wry laugh escaping his lips. “Geez, you’re such a dick sometimes.” He shook his head. “Yeah, I was crying, I’m not gonna lie about it.” The proof was on his face, so what use would lying do? “I don’t know why this is bothering me so much.” Maybe that chicken was just a distraction, but he had never considered what would happen if she went missing or died.
“But that’s why I’m here, right?” Gakuto asked. “To learn to not let things bother me so much.”
Hiyoshi had his own theories about why it had made Gakuto cry, but he was pretty sure unsolicited psychoanalysis was a few steps above where they currently were on the friendship scale, so he just nodded. “Right. I’m not an expert though, I can’t guarantee this will help you enough to keep your face from matching your hair again.” But hey, worth a shot. With one more stretch, Hiyoshi settled down on the floor cross-legged, waiting for Gakuto to follow him.
“Jerk…” Gakuto mumbled, rubbing his face before going to sit across from Hiyoshi, matching the way he was sitting. “You’re more of an expert than I am, so it’s worth trying, right?”
“It’s useful to know.” It had got Hiyoshi through a lot of things, and hopefully it would help Gakuto as well. He was sure Gakuto would have no problem catching on– Hiyoshi noticed he was already mirroring him again, which he approved of. “Are you comfortable? It’s important you are. There are proper ways to sit, but I find them distracting.” Then again, knowing how flexible Gakuto was, he could probably do them no problem… ah hell, that meant he would have to demonstrate. With a small sigh, he refolds his legs into the mildly uncomfortable lotus pose. “Like this.”
Gakuto stared at Hiyoshi’s legs for a moment before folding his legs the same way. Funny enough, he didn't find any discomfort in this pose, but Hiyoshi… "Not a fan of sitting like this?"
Stupid bendy Gakuto and his stupid flawless lotus pose. “No. Some of us have joints.” And with that he moved back into his less proper but much more comfortable position. “It doesn’t matter, how you sit isn’t the point. It’s about relaxing and clearing your mind and what works for you.” Settling his hands onto his lap, Hiyoshi closed his eyes. “We’re going to start with breathing, seven seconds in, seven seconds out. The goal is to think about nothing but the flow of oxygen and the here and now.”
Gakuto cackled. “Joints are for the weak!” He grinned. He settled his own hands into his lap, taking a look at Hiyoshi before finally closing his eyes as well. He took a few practice breaths. “Are we breathing together, or…?”
“I’ll count to get us started. In, 2, 3, 4…” Hiyoshi counted slow and steady, in and out. After a couple times he dropped the counting and only announced the in and outs, and then he stopped even that, breathing in and out in silence. Despite the distraction of teaching Hiyoshi’s mind emptied easily, the process being second nature by this point.
Gakuto breathed along with Hiyoshi, the other man’s voice distracting him enough to ease into the counting…but the moment Gakuto took a couple of breaths in silence, something that had been bothering him since he walked in washed over him. “I’m sorry.” He interrupted. “But what is that fucking smell?”
Dammit Gakuto. Hiyoshi cracked open a single eye, looking decidedly less zen. “I don’t know, just ignore it.”
Gakuto looked green in the face. “How can I? It’s disgusting!” He scrunched his nose. “Did you not do your laundry after marinating in the heat for two weeks?”
Eye number two opened. Right. His laundry. That was currently covered in chicken blood. Who could have guessed that eviscerating a chicken would be so messy? That said, he wasn’t about to just take the accusation of smelling like dead chicken lying down. “They stripped us down in decon, and I showered. It didn’t smell in here until you got here. Maybe you’re the one that smells.”
Gakuto sniffed himself, just to be sure. “No, no, there’s definitely something wrong…” He stood up. “I’m gonna figure out where it’s coming from. Last time I smelled something like that, there was a pigeon in the wiring of a building I was going to demo.” He stretched his legs before he started sniffing the air.
Uh oh. Now what. The room wasn’t big, Gakuto would find the laundry in no time. Ideas raced through Hiyoshi’s brain; denying it, lying, blaming it on Niou… but nothing he could come up with seemed like it would stick. As soon as Gakuto saw that laundry, he was done. Which only left one option: don’t let Gakuto see the laundry in the first place.
Hiyoshi was on his feet a second later. “You need to go.” And to make sure it happened, he picked Gakuto from behind, in a completely normal and not suspicious manner.
Gakuto squeaked and struggled, flipping his legs so that they were over his head, sending them both tumbling from the shift in momentum. “What the fuck, man! Why would you do that? What’s up your ass?” He cried, his limbs still tangled with Hiyoshi’s.
Normally, Hiyoshi would bounce right back from something like that. This time Gakuto’s lucky, because the only thing on Hiyoshi’s mind was fuck, my glasses. “The room doesn’t smell!” he shot back, shoving Gakuto off him and grabbing his glasses off the floor to check they weren’t broken. A quick once over proved they were fine, and Hiyoshi’s attention is back on Gakuto. “Don’t throw yourself upside down like a monkey!”
Hiyoshi was acting suspicious as fuck. “Don’t pick me up without my consent!” Gakuto shot back. “And this room does smell!” He started following the scent. “Dude, what if a weird creature followed you back or something?” He was starting to wonder why this was freaking Hiyoshi out so bad.
“I already told you I went through decon. Anyhow, someone would have noticed.” Hiyoshi was glaring at Gakuto now, as if it would do anything. And then of course, when Gakuto took a step nearer to the bathroom, Hiyoshi blurted out, “Stay out of the bathroom”. As one does.
Gakuto glared right back, and then Hiyoshi warned him away from the bathroom, and his brow furrowed and his glare softened. He didn’t yell. He didn’t scream. In a very quiet voice, he simply said. “You’re hiding something.”
Hiyoshi looked at Gakuto. And then at the bathroom door. And then back at Gakuto. And said absolutely nothing. Because he knew there was nothing left to say, and nothing left to do besides be torn between his decision to stand there and look guilty or to tackle Gakuto again.
“I thought I could trust you to be honest.” Gakuto said. “I thought you were different.” He folded his arms. “Unlike you, I am trying to learn to respect people’s wishes…so fine. I won’t go check…”
Dammit. Dammit And out it poured like word vomit. “I ate the chicken.”
Gakuto’s eyes widened. “You did lie to me.” He moved forward and slapped Hiyoshi. “You fucking lied to me! I trusted you!” He balled up his fist and then took a breath. “...The chicken from the kitchen?”
The slap surprised Hiyoshi more than anything, and he just sort of took it with a stupid look on his face. “Of course I lied to you, I can’t just tell people I stole a chicken and ate it. It was a rooster, they’re going to get cooked soon anyway.” Honestly, the whole thing sounded a lot less glamorous on a full stomach.
“You could have just told me it was a rooster. You didn’t have to lie.” Gakuto looked at the ground. “I wouldn’t have told on you or anything.” He closed in on himself a little. “Like, I like you because you’re honest. You don’t beat around the bush. You lying is just so… wrong… it makes me wonder what else you’ve been lying about.”
Uh oh. This was a Thing, wasn’t it. Hiyoshi didn’t know how to deal with Things. “I didn’t lie about anything else. I only lied about the chicken because I didn’t want to get reprimanded for it, and you seemed really upset about the whole thing. It’s not like I could un-eat the chicken.”
Gakuto looked back up at Hiyoshi. “You promise? You promise this is the only lie you’ve ever told me? Because I just… I can’t deal with lying.” He searched Hiyoshi’s stupid handsome face and sighed. “...Sorry I hit you.”
“I promise.” But then Hiyoshi grimaced, because a certain very stupid memory came to mind. “Ah. Actually, the elevator thing was me as well. But that’s all.”
Gakuto rolled his eyes. “I know that.” He thwapped a hand against Hiyoshi’s chest. “I’m not an idiot.” He sighed. “So you snuck a rooster…why?” He was curious. That little moment of rebellion was actually quite admirable.
The elevator trick may have been obvious, but hopefully it earned Hiyoshi a few points for admitting to it, because he honestly hadn’t been planning on it.
And as for the reason for the rooster’s death? “I was hungry. “ Unfortunately, it wasn’t much deeper than that. “I ate military rations for two weeks straight. I deserved it.”
Gakuto laughed at Hiyoshi’s straight answer. He reached out and pinched Hiyoshi’s cheek. “Well, next time, do your laundry and your cleaning better, because it definitely reeks of blood in here.” He let go and went to sit back on the floor, in full lotus pose. “Sit down.”
Wait, was he forgiven? Was it really that easy? Now it was Hiyoshi’s turn to be suspicious. “Are you going to tell anyone?” There had to be a caveat here, he thought as he sat down and folded his legs.
Gakuto shook his head. “I won’t tell anyone.” He said, closing his eyes. “Just please don’t lie to me again, okay? Send it over a screen message, tell me it’s none of my business, tell me in private…anything but lying, okay?” He took a breath. “In, two, three, four…”
“...okay.” And Hiyoshi really meant it, even if it didn’t mean a lot because he didn’t lie often anyway. He fell back into patterned breathing for a while, but after a minute he was the one to break the silence this time. “Ugh. It really does stink.”
Gakuto laughed. “It does. Why don’t we clean up that mess, then?” He was willing to help, since Hiyoshi had promised not to lie to him anymore.
What a true pal, offering to launder the evidence with him. “You aren’t squeamish, are you?”
Gakuto shook his head and pulled up his long sleeves to show his burn scars. “Had to peel cloth off these right after they caught fire, so nothing makes me squeamish anymore.” Nothing like pulling off your own charred skin to make you desensitized to most things. “I can show you how to get blood stains out.”
Hiyoshi stared. And stared. “What the hell, Gakuto-san.” Not gonna lie, Hiyoshi was kinda terrified and kinda turned on right now. Because what. The fuck.
Gakuto grinned, because the other option was to wonder if Hiyoshi thought he was gross now. “Explosive went off too soon, I was trapped, and I had no choice. It was either that or burn to death.” He put his hands on his hips. “I do work with things that might catch fire. It was only a matter of time.” He shrugged. “Now, do you want help getting that blood out of your clothes, or are you just going to keep staring at me like I’m the boogeyman?”
You’re right Gakuto, Hiyoshi would think the boogeyman was hot.
Anyhow, Hiyoshi nodded. “Alright. I hope you’re not all talk about the blood stains, because there’s a lot of them.” And now all that was left was a totally normal, totally not sneaky trip to the laundry room to deal with some totally not suspicious stains.
