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[LOG] Niou, Marui and Akutsu
Who: Niou, Marui and Akutsu
When: Right after Niou fills Marui’s head with visions of bugs
Where: Engineering
What: Attempted murdering. Akutsu is the responsible adult in this situation
Marui was about to do something drastic, and he didn’t care. As soon as he’d recovered from the rush of panic Niou’s comments had instilled in him, he grabbed his pillow and headed for the elevator, texting Niou fair warning on the way. Into engineering and straight to Niou, like a man on a mission. He didn’t even stop to speak when he entered– Marui meant business.
Niou looked up as he heard someone approaching, sitting on the floor of the lab with one of his drones in front of him. And… Ok, Marui was a surprising person to see. "Oh? Here to request crawler proof vent covers?" He asked cheerfully. "Or… to sleep under my desk…?" The pillow was a strange thing to be holding.
Ha ha, vent covers, hilarious. No, the only thing Marui was here for was revenge, and when he was close enough he kicked Niou’s drone out of the way, jumping on Niou with the intent of pinning him to the floor and smothering him with the pillow.
"Oi–" Niou's protest at the mistreatment of his drone cut off as he went down under Marui, swearing. "What the fuck get off!" He kept the pillow off his face at least but a panic was starting to rise as Marui was on top of him and he heard the whirr of a drone start up.
“Stop moving, stupid, you’re making this hard.” Oh yes, Marui was trying really hard to get that pillow on Niou’s face. Everything in the background– the drone, anyone else who might have been in the room– were completely ignored for his mindless pursuit of kicking Niou’s butt. “Say sorry. Say sorry.” If Marui noticed how little sense it made to be demanding an apology while also trying to smother someone, he sure wasn’t showing it.
Niou was actually starting to panic now and just shoved at Marui in response to the demands because fuck either of them. "Get off!" He shoved again and froze as he heard the drone shoot because he hadn't gotten around to changing that one over from the usual rubber bullets, right? And it hit Marui straight in the back.
Marui hollered, because ow, and started looking around frantically for the source of the attack. “Did– did you just shoot me?!” He couldn’t believe it. He came for a friendly one on one smothering and he got shot. For Niou at least this created an opening, giving him a chance to get free while Marui was distracted.
Oh thank god it had actually been a rubber bullet, and he wouldn't have to do paperwork. Niou took the chance to shove Marui off him and moved to put the nearest workbench between them. And another drone started up nearby. "... I don't think that one's got rubber bullets in it," he said, hiding the shaking of his hands and ho shit, eyes on Marui the entire time.
“What are you gonna do, shoot me for real?” Marui was up on his feet now too, eyes on Niou, stance wide like he was looking for any opening to get around the workbench and to Niou. Because, uh, he was. “You started it, you brought up the bugs. I’m gonna kick your ass.”
"I wouldn't be opposed to it," Niou said, staring hard at Marui. His heart was up in his throat and he wanted to go shower to get the feeling of Marui having been on top of him off. "You were the one mentioning the crawler in your post and eating them. I did nothing but continue the topic."
“Yeah, in detail! Bastard.” Marui picked some kind of small component up from the workbench and threw it at Niou, testing the water. “Do you know how many nightmares that’s gonna give me? I wanna sleep sometime this century!” Another object thrown, larger this time. “Say sorry!”
Akutsu had been minding his own business, working on a few regular maintenance things, when he heard loud noises coming from Niou's office. That was weird. Usually even if Niou was in there, his office was pretty quiet… And yet another noise got him moving, making the quick trip to the office and pushing the door open wide enough to see… Marui, on one side of the workbench, throwing things, and Niou on the other side, with two drones hovering and aiming at Marui. "...What in the actual fuck is going on in here?"
"Fuck off I have nothing to apologise for," Niou snapped back and he was going to say something more, maybe suggest Marui go talk to Yagyuu to get some juice for his sleep when fucking hell, Akutsu appeared because of course he did. His hands shook again as he clenched them into fists on the table. "Marui's just being insane and I hope he realises I have access to his room."
Marui pointed at Niou like a kid blaming his brother. “He was fucking with my head! He knows I have PTSD!” And whoops, he threw another wrench.
….There was a part of Akutsu that was highly tempted to just turn around and walk the hell out, leave these two to their own devices, and hope for the best. Instead, he let out a heavy sigh and crossed his arms over his chest. "Alright, alright, sit down and shut up, both of you. You can either do it yourselves or I will make you. Take your pick."
Probably for the best that Akutsu was staying, since things were quickly leading to Marui getting shot for real. Marui stared at Akutsu petulantly for a minute, but he knew that was a fight he wouldn’t win, so with a huff he sat down right on the ground where he was. “He shot me in the back.”
Niou was so tempted to just leave and tell Akutsu to fuck off, but he narrowed his eyes and stayed where he was. "You were the one that touched me in the first place," he snarled at Marui, tense and angry. "Fairly sure you were trying to suffocate me there, it was deserved."
Marui rolled his eyes, Niou was so dramatic. “I wasn’t really going to do it. You should’ve just said sorry.”
"I've paid you back for the comments," Niou shot back. "If you wanted an apology you shouldn't have pinned me to the ground, fucking idiot." He kicked angrily at the table. The drones still whirred in the air next to him.
“Hey, I said shut up and sit down,” Akutsu growled, glad that one of them had at least half listened. He gave Marui a look to tell him to stay put and then walked towards Niou and snatched one of the drones out of the air. “And put your damn toys away, for fuck’s sake. Nobody’s gonna do nothin to nobody.” He shoved the drone at Niou.
His instinctive reaction was to just throw the drone and swear, but Niou caught himself gritting his teeth and forcing down the emotions and how he was still shaky as he held onto his drone. “This has nothing to do with you, Akutsu,” he said, pushing past him to grab onto the other drone and take them back to their spots.
"Well excuse me for giving a fuck when I heard loud noises from a usually quiet space." Akutsu wasn't an idiot. He could see Niou was worked up and trying to hide it, and admittedly doing a decent job at it. Despite Niou's words, Akutsu leaned back on the edge of the workbench, with no intention of leaving yet.
One drone put away and Akutsu was still there. Niou ground his teeth together. "Since you're being a dumbass again: Get. Out. And take that pile of trash with you," He gestured rudely at Marui who was probably getting way too much enjoyment out of watching this but he did not care. "I have work to do."
Marui was definitely invested, but enjoyment wasn't the right word. He watched silently, not even protesting when he was called trash. Mostly he was trying to figure out why Niou was so worked up, (besides the attempted murder. Because that definitely wasn't it. Right?)
Akutsu lingered, just long enough to observe the two. Whatever fighting they'd been doing seemed to have simmered off… Niou was clearly stressed…and Marui looked pretty much unbothered by it all. He knew Niou well enough to know he wouldn't even begin to settle down until Marui was gone, so he pushed off the workbench and walked over to Marui, grabbing him by an arm to haul him to his feet. "Come on. Let's go." He pulled Marui towards the door.
Up went Marui, grabbing his discarded pillow as he did. He looked at Niou, and then at Akutsu, and back at Niou. He obediently let himself be pulled along to the door, all desire to be difficult long since gone.
Niou stared and watched Marui and Akutsu leave, still on edge. And he counted his breaths as the door shut, and after 5, finally moved. Sitting on the floor and continuing working on his drones wasn't appealing anymore… he tugged on his hair and okay, time to hide under the desk and think about designs or something instead.
Akutsu let go of Marui's arm once they were out the door, but he nudged him towards the elevator, fully intending to make sure the guy headed up and away from Engineering. "Tell me what I missed," he demanded as they walked.
Ohhh, not looking forward to this part. Marui cringed guiltily, because yeah there was no way to make this sound good, and Akutsu was definitely going to talk to Niou after this so lying was out of the picture. “Uhh… so I sorta tackled him and tried to smother him with my pillow. But he was going on about the big bug being full of babies, and them going through the vents and crawling on me and–” Marui visibly shuddered, doing a little anxious dance on the spot and furiously wiping imaginary bugs off of himself.
Akutsu literally facepalmed. So Niou shooting Marui with the drone was self defense. Fair enough, all things considered…but Marui got more than enough revenge just by touching Niou, from the look of it. "Well. He's a dick like that. Likes ta pick at other peoples' weaknesses. But he's got his own share so…can't really say I feel that sorry for him this time." A part of Akutsu wanted to put Marui's mind at ease about the crawler not having babies in it, but…he honestly had no clue and sadly, if it did, Niou's scenario might not be far off. "Look…you can fuck with him verbally all ya want. I don't give a shit. But…Keep it verbal, yeah?"
Somehow he was not getting scolded? Marui had no idea how he lucked out like that, he’d expected to get told off at least a little. “I wasn’t really gonna hurt him. Saying stuff doesn’t work on him, it’s not fair. He just shrugs it off and gets all unreadable.” Marui was starting to pout now, just a little.
"Ehhh, every now and then it's possible to find a topic that bugs him, but yeah, he's good at tunin' shit out. But you got plenty'a revenge just by touchin' 'im." That explained a lot about what Akutsu had seen of it, why Niou was so incredibly on edge. "Look. I dunno if I'll be able to convince him not to be a dick about the crawler thing, but I'll give it a shot. In the meantime, leave 'im alone. Wouldn't put it past him to be an extra big asshole to ya for a while."
“Touching him… does he have a germ thing or something? He was really weird about me being on his roommate’s bed, too.” Kinda annoying how Niou had made it sound like Marui was diseased, but maybe this explained it. “He’s the one who usually approaches me, but okay. I won't bug him.” Belatedly Marui makes a face at his own words, because ugh, bugs.
Akutsu shrugged. "Don't think it's a germ thing… He's very touch-phobic, though. Bein' touched at all by just 'bout everybody, especially without warnin, really freaks him out. It's prob'ly bout for him like the crawlers are for you." Although Marui did have a point about the germs, considering how Niou had decided to just change Hiyoshi's entire bedding just because Marui had laid on it for a bit… Nah. Felt too simple. "Didja really not know? Thought the whole base knew by now."
“Ooohh. Oops.” Akutsu comparing Niou’s touchphobia to Marui’s own issues was enough to make him feel a bit bad. But just a tiny, tiny bit. Marui raised his hands defensively. “I had no clue. If I did I wouldn’t have needed the pillow.” Chasing Niou around and threatening to touch him would’ve been enough.
Here Akutsu had thought just about everybody knew about Niou's touch issues, but apparently not. "Well. Now ya know." He reached over and ruffled Marui's hair while his other hand hit the call button for the elevator. "This might damn well be the only time I act like a ref. So if he shoots you in the ass with his drones in the future, know it's cuz ya deserved it." It was a weird feeling, being the sensible one in the room. Didn't like it. Don't want it.
“He didn’t actually have real bullets in those other ones, right?” It seemed like a ridiculous thing to ask, but somehow Marui got the feeling that Niou hadn’t been bluffing. The elevator door opened with a ding, and Marui stepped in. Before the doors shut, he added one more thing. “Um. Tell him I’m sorry for trying to suffocate him. Okay?”
At the question about the bullets, Akutsu just shrugged. "I think that's a 'fuck around and find out' kinda thing. Wouldn't chance it if I were you." Real bullets or not, it wasn't something he would put past Niou. Especially if he felt threatened enough. People did crazy things when they felt backed into a corner, after all. "I'll tell him," he nodded, sticking around just long enough to see the doors close and hear the elevator start its way upwards. Then he turned around to head back to deal with Niou.
Niou had indeed squashed himself under his desk to sulk and had brought his tablet down to start designing miniature models of the crawlers to perhaps send to the 3D printer en masse. And then shower Marui with them in some sort of payback. It made him feel better at least, even if he didn't go through with it. He glanced up for a moment as he heard someone walking past and then went back to lovingly recreating the many legs.
Akutsu stopped outside the door to Niou's office and took a deep breath. He was not looking forward to this. At least Marui had been reasonable. Niou...who the hell knew. Sometimes he was fine, sometimes…not quite as much.
He debated the merit of knocking versus just barging in…and decided on a bit of a compromise. Akutsu opened the door, and immediately announced himself so Niou would (hopefully) not be tempted to send a drone at him. "Hey. Just me. Marui's gone."
Ah, damnit. He didn't know how he felt about the fact that Akutsu had actually come back to talk - some sort of caring debrief, maybe, he thought grumpily. "Good," Niou said, but he wasn't moving from his spot. He at least awkwardly reached up to slide his tablet back onto the top of his desk. "I should request to make engineering some sort of ID restricted place so idiots can't come in."
Akutsu made his way to Niou's desk and sat down on the floor, facing Niou's little hiding spot. "Ain't a bad idea, actually." He held his hand out, offering it to Niou. Given how strung out he was, Akutsu wasn't going to assume touching was okay. "For what it's worth," probably not much, right now, "Marui said to tell ya he's sorry."
Niou automatically reached out to take Akutsu's hand, gripping it tightly. "He can take his apology and shove it up his ass," he said grumpily because okay, maybe the bug thing had maybe been a bit uncalled for, but smothering him with a pillow and tackling him to the ground was just… not okay. "Hope a spider crawls in his mouth while he sleeps."
Niou's grip on Akutsu's hand was almost painful, but instead of trying to make him loosen it, Akutsu slid closer to Niou, trying to tug him out a little bit. "He didn't know about your touch thing. Dunno how muchuva difference it woulda made if he had, but…" Akutsu shrugged. "Your touch thing is kinda like him with the spiders. Play nicer." Because 'play nice' was too much to ask, especially right now.
Niou grumbled and just stubbornly squashed himself more under the desk in response. "No, he probably would have abused it more. Because he's an asshole." Like how Yagyuu went straight for the weak points. He nudged Akutsu's leg with his foot before curling his leg back in under the desk. "Except I'm dealing with mine with exposure therapy. Maybe he should consider it too. Hold one in his hand."
….Since Niou refused to be pulled out, Akutsu made an attempt to fit himself in there instead. …It didn't work well, he couldn't really make himself that small, but he at least got a side and shoulder in. "He was tryin' to deal with his with the whole cook 'em and eat 'em thing. Different strategy, same goal."
Having his space crowded into by Akutsu at least made Niou laugh and some of the angry edges melted a bit, and he nudged Akutsu away. "Oh my god you cannot fit under here you idiot. I want to be able to breathe." He could take the hint though and shuffled out a little bit, reluctantly. Still under the desk but not hiding fully under as he had before. "I severely dislike him."
Akutsu just laughed, glad that Niou had gotten the point and come out a little. Maybe not as much as Akutsu had wanted, but it was an improvement. "Well, I bet he ain't all that fonda you right now either. He ain't a bad guy. Ya just pushed his buttons. Just like he pushed yours back by tacklin' ya." Personally, Akutsu figured they were even, but he also knew it wouldn't be that easy.
Niou sighed and god, what was this guilting that Akutsu was doing right now? He dragged a hand through his hair and slouched, the angry tension leaving him all rather suddenly now that there was no threat. "I feel gross," he complained, letting the usual act drop. "He was on top of me trying to stick a pillow on my face."
Akutsu reached over and pulled Niou out a little more, just to tuck him against his side like Niou seemed to like. He held him there, loose enough that if Niou really wanted to, he could get free. "Bet it'll be the last time. Left 'im thinkin' there might'a really been real bullets in the drones," he smirked, admittedly curious about whether or not there really had been. Marui had been shot by one of the two, but there was no blood, so probably a rubber bullet. But the other drone? Akutsu could only guess.
Urgh this was unfair. Niou grumped but let himself be moved more, purposely elbowing Akutsu in the side, but settling down against him. He tilted his head in confusion and frowned. "... There was real bullets in them? I'm prepping them to take out to the mine site." Since he could use them quite well in combination with Hiyoshi. "It was just unlucky that the one that shot him hadn't been changed over yet. Normally they're just rubber bullets for shooting at Hiyoshi for practice."
Akutsu blinked, turning to look at Niou with his eyes wide. "Fuckin' hell, Niou. I know you're pissed but damn. If you'd ended up killin' him they'd send ya to jail." Hopefully that wouldn't have happened, but shit. "Thank god you only got him with the rubber one."
Niou just looked moody again. "Well, I didn't. And since they normally only have rubber bullets in them anyway, it's not a risk." It was just unlucky for Marui that he'd picked that particular week to do it when Niou had actually been changing things over. He huffed to himself. "So what, are you going to tell me to apologise to him or something? Try to lecture me about being a good person?"
"It's a risk this week, since like ya said, you're changin' 'em out. It coulda just as easily been the one with the real thing." Marui had actually gotten really lucky, and Akutsu knew it, although he wasn't sure if he'd go telling Marui that. "It'd be nice if you would. But I know better than to expect it from ya." Akutsu ran his fingers up and through Niou's hair a little, hoping to settle him down a bit.
"There's usually a few more controls in place if they're real bullets though," Niou argued. "Less likely for automatic shooting." … Still such a shame that the drone had stopped at a single shot though. At least 5 more would have been nice. He sighed and this was using definite weak points against him. "Yeah I'm not apologising. And it's weird that you of all people are trying to convince me to be nice."
Akutsu kept his fingers moving in Niou's hair, as much because he liked doing it as for the calming effect it had on Niou. He was glad to know about the extra controls. Really didn't want anybody dying around him because that brought back too many memories of the bad kind. And while he doubted either of them would have actually gone so far as to literally kill the other…it wasn't something he'd wanted to chance. "Seriously. Don't make me do this again. I hate being the sensible one. Take this bullshit and shove it."
“You really didn’t need to interfere, I was handling it fine,” Niou said, still looking a bit annoyed. And really, Security should have been alerted to the fight in the first place as well, and interrupted them - definitely something to mention at some point, that someone had been slacking. Niou sighed and ran a hand through his hair, nudging aside Akutsu’s hand. “I need to get out for a bit.” Go for a walk or something, to just shake off the remnants of skin-crawling feelings from dealing with Marui. “... Do you want to come with me, or should I pester Kippei?”
"Mm. I dunno… My boss gave me a lotta work to do…I might get fired for neglectin' it this long," Akutsu replied, shifting and standing, then helping pull Niou up too. "But...I guess I can take a walk if he says it's okay." Maybe he could walk Niou to Tachibana, then head back, because probably at least one of them should be working…
Niou gave Akutsu an unimpressed look as he stood up because his to do list wasn’t that long for the shift. … But now that he’d mentioned it, getting coddled by Tachibana actually seemed like a decent idea. “Hang on.” He sent a quick message to Tachibana to meet him at their usual spot - because Tachibana was a lovely human being who had no schedule, apparently. “Walk me to the cargo lift? And I’ll be back in like 10 minutes anyway.”
Akutsu just chuckled at the look Niou gave him and draped an arm around Niou's shoulders. "Take yer time. Pretty sure we're competent enough down here ta handle the routine stuff, and smart enough to know if you're really needed." He tugged Niou towards the door, acknowledging that Tachibana was probably the better influence for getting Niou out of his funk.
“I want to talk later about Marui, okay?” he said, nudging Akutsu in the side letting himself be steered out of the room. “Later, when I’ve calmed down. And less wanting to stake him out in the desert for the sandworms.” And oh, an incoming message from Tachibana, how lovely. “Don’t break anything while I”m gone.”
Okay, Akutsu didn't like that thought at all. Talking about Marui. With Niou. Considering the last journal conversation with Marui, which had been completely screened and Niou had no idea about, Akutsu was pretty sure he'd rather just avoid that topic altogether. So he just made a noncommittal noise by way of response, just as they arrived at the cargo lift. "Don't break anything, huh? I dunno… I'm still just an apprentice. Make lotsa mistakes…"
Niou narrowed his eyes at Akutsu. "If you absolutely insist on not going back to work on your own, then you'll have to suffer through 10 minutes of me cuddling up to Tachibana." He raised an eyebrow and sat down, leaning against the wall to wait. "In silence."
Akutsu threw his hands up in surrender. "No sir, I'm outta here. Ain't gonna sit around and watch that shit." Knowing it was happening was one thing. Witnessing it? Hard no. So he turned around, hands behind his head, and started walking back towards his station, whistling the Itsy-Bitsy Spider tune as he went.
When: Right after Niou fills Marui’s head with visions of bugs
Where: Engineering
What: Attempted murdering. Akutsu is the responsible adult in this situation
Marui was about to do something drastic, and he didn’t care. As soon as he’d recovered from the rush of panic Niou’s comments had instilled in him, he grabbed his pillow and headed for the elevator, texting Niou fair warning on the way. Into engineering and straight to Niou, like a man on a mission. He didn’t even stop to speak when he entered– Marui meant business.
Niou looked up as he heard someone approaching, sitting on the floor of the lab with one of his drones in front of him. And… Ok, Marui was a surprising person to see. "Oh? Here to request crawler proof vent covers?" He asked cheerfully. "Or… to sleep under my desk…?" The pillow was a strange thing to be holding.
Ha ha, vent covers, hilarious. No, the only thing Marui was here for was revenge, and when he was close enough he kicked Niou’s drone out of the way, jumping on Niou with the intent of pinning him to the floor and smothering him with the pillow.
"Oi–" Niou's protest at the mistreatment of his drone cut off as he went down under Marui, swearing. "What the fuck get off!" He kept the pillow off his face at least but a panic was starting to rise as Marui was on top of him and he heard the whirr of a drone start up.
“Stop moving, stupid, you’re making this hard.” Oh yes, Marui was trying really hard to get that pillow on Niou’s face. Everything in the background– the drone, anyone else who might have been in the room– were completely ignored for his mindless pursuit of kicking Niou’s butt. “Say sorry. Say sorry.” If Marui noticed how little sense it made to be demanding an apology while also trying to smother someone, he sure wasn’t showing it.
Niou was actually starting to panic now and just shoved at Marui in response to the demands because fuck either of them. "Get off!" He shoved again and froze as he heard the drone shoot because he hadn't gotten around to changing that one over from the usual rubber bullets, right? And it hit Marui straight in the back.
Marui hollered, because ow, and started looking around frantically for the source of the attack. “Did– did you just shoot me?!” He couldn’t believe it. He came for a friendly one on one smothering and he got shot. For Niou at least this created an opening, giving him a chance to get free while Marui was distracted.
Oh thank god it had actually been a rubber bullet, and he wouldn't have to do paperwork. Niou took the chance to shove Marui off him and moved to put the nearest workbench between them. And another drone started up nearby. "... I don't think that one's got rubber bullets in it," he said, hiding the shaking of his hands and ho shit, eyes on Marui the entire time.
“What are you gonna do, shoot me for real?” Marui was up on his feet now too, eyes on Niou, stance wide like he was looking for any opening to get around the workbench and to Niou. Because, uh, he was. “You started it, you brought up the bugs. I’m gonna kick your ass.”
"I wouldn't be opposed to it," Niou said, staring hard at Marui. His heart was up in his throat and he wanted to go shower to get the feeling of Marui having been on top of him off. "You were the one mentioning the crawler in your post and eating them. I did nothing but continue the topic."
“Yeah, in detail! Bastard.” Marui picked some kind of small component up from the workbench and threw it at Niou, testing the water. “Do you know how many nightmares that’s gonna give me? I wanna sleep sometime this century!” Another object thrown, larger this time. “Say sorry!”
Akutsu had been minding his own business, working on a few regular maintenance things, when he heard loud noises coming from Niou's office. That was weird. Usually even if Niou was in there, his office was pretty quiet… And yet another noise got him moving, making the quick trip to the office and pushing the door open wide enough to see… Marui, on one side of the workbench, throwing things, and Niou on the other side, with two drones hovering and aiming at Marui. "...What in the actual fuck is going on in here?"
"Fuck off I have nothing to apologise for," Niou snapped back and he was going to say something more, maybe suggest Marui go talk to Yagyuu to get some juice for his sleep when fucking hell, Akutsu appeared because of course he did. His hands shook again as he clenched them into fists on the table. "Marui's just being insane and I hope he realises I have access to his room."
Marui pointed at Niou like a kid blaming his brother. “He was fucking with my head! He knows I have PTSD!” And whoops, he threw another wrench.
….There was a part of Akutsu that was highly tempted to just turn around and walk the hell out, leave these two to their own devices, and hope for the best. Instead, he let out a heavy sigh and crossed his arms over his chest. "Alright, alright, sit down and shut up, both of you. You can either do it yourselves or I will make you. Take your pick."
Probably for the best that Akutsu was staying, since things were quickly leading to Marui getting shot for real. Marui stared at Akutsu petulantly for a minute, but he knew that was a fight he wouldn’t win, so with a huff he sat down right on the ground where he was. “He shot me in the back.”
Niou was so tempted to just leave and tell Akutsu to fuck off, but he narrowed his eyes and stayed where he was. "You were the one that touched me in the first place," he snarled at Marui, tense and angry. "Fairly sure you were trying to suffocate me there, it was deserved."
Marui rolled his eyes, Niou was so dramatic. “I wasn’t really going to do it. You should’ve just said sorry.”
"I've paid you back for the comments," Niou shot back. "If you wanted an apology you shouldn't have pinned me to the ground, fucking idiot." He kicked angrily at the table. The drones still whirred in the air next to him.
“Hey, I said shut up and sit down,” Akutsu growled, glad that one of them had at least half listened. He gave Marui a look to tell him to stay put and then walked towards Niou and snatched one of the drones out of the air. “And put your damn toys away, for fuck’s sake. Nobody’s gonna do nothin to nobody.” He shoved the drone at Niou.
His instinctive reaction was to just throw the drone and swear, but Niou caught himself gritting his teeth and forcing down the emotions and how he was still shaky as he held onto his drone. “This has nothing to do with you, Akutsu,” he said, pushing past him to grab onto the other drone and take them back to their spots.
"Well excuse me for giving a fuck when I heard loud noises from a usually quiet space." Akutsu wasn't an idiot. He could see Niou was worked up and trying to hide it, and admittedly doing a decent job at it. Despite Niou's words, Akutsu leaned back on the edge of the workbench, with no intention of leaving yet.
One drone put away and Akutsu was still there. Niou ground his teeth together. "Since you're being a dumbass again: Get. Out. And take that pile of trash with you," He gestured rudely at Marui who was probably getting way too much enjoyment out of watching this but he did not care. "I have work to do."
Marui was definitely invested, but enjoyment wasn't the right word. He watched silently, not even protesting when he was called trash. Mostly he was trying to figure out why Niou was so worked up, (besides the attempted murder. Because that definitely wasn't it. Right?)
Akutsu lingered, just long enough to observe the two. Whatever fighting they'd been doing seemed to have simmered off… Niou was clearly stressed…and Marui looked pretty much unbothered by it all. He knew Niou well enough to know he wouldn't even begin to settle down until Marui was gone, so he pushed off the workbench and walked over to Marui, grabbing him by an arm to haul him to his feet. "Come on. Let's go." He pulled Marui towards the door.
Up went Marui, grabbing his discarded pillow as he did. He looked at Niou, and then at Akutsu, and back at Niou. He obediently let himself be pulled along to the door, all desire to be difficult long since gone.
Niou stared and watched Marui and Akutsu leave, still on edge. And he counted his breaths as the door shut, and after 5, finally moved. Sitting on the floor and continuing working on his drones wasn't appealing anymore… he tugged on his hair and okay, time to hide under the desk and think about designs or something instead.
Akutsu let go of Marui's arm once they were out the door, but he nudged him towards the elevator, fully intending to make sure the guy headed up and away from Engineering. "Tell me what I missed," he demanded as they walked.
Ohhh, not looking forward to this part. Marui cringed guiltily, because yeah there was no way to make this sound good, and Akutsu was definitely going to talk to Niou after this so lying was out of the picture. “Uhh… so I sorta tackled him and tried to smother him with my pillow. But he was going on about the big bug being full of babies, and them going through the vents and crawling on me and–” Marui visibly shuddered, doing a little anxious dance on the spot and furiously wiping imaginary bugs off of himself.
Akutsu literally facepalmed. So Niou shooting Marui with the drone was self defense. Fair enough, all things considered…but Marui got more than enough revenge just by touching Niou, from the look of it. "Well. He's a dick like that. Likes ta pick at other peoples' weaknesses. But he's got his own share so…can't really say I feel that sorry for him this time." A part of Akutsu wanted to put Marui's mind at ease about the crawler not having babies in it, but…he honestly had no clue and sadly, if it did, Niou's scenario might not be far off. "Look…you can fuck with him verbally all ya want. I don't give a shit. But…Keep it verbal, yeah?"
Somehow he was not getting scolded? Marui had no idea how he lucked out like that, he’d expected to get told off at least a little. “I wasn’t really gonna hurt him. Saying stuff doesn’t work on him, it’s not fair. He just shrugs it off and gets all unreadable.” Marui was starting to pout now, just a little.
"Ehhh, every now and then it's possible to find a topic that bugs him, but yeah, he's good at tunin' shit out. But you got plenty'a revenge just by touchin' 'im." That explained a lot about what Akutsu had seen of it, why Niou was so incredibly on edge. "Look. I dunno if I'll be able to convince him not to be a dick about the crawler thing, but I'll give it a shot. In the meantime, leave 'im alone. Wouldn't put it past him to be an extra big asshole to ya for a while."
“Touching him… does he have a germ thing or something? He was really weird about me being on his roommate’s bed, too.” Kinda annoying how Niou had made it sound like Marui was diseased, but maybe this explained it. “He’s the one who usually approaches me, but okay. I won't bug him.” Belatedly Marui makes a face at his own words, because ugh, bugs.
Akutsu shrugged. "Don't think it's a germ thing… He's very touch-phobic, though. Bein' touched at all by just 'bout everybody, especially without warnin, really freaks him out. It's prob'ly bout for him like the crawlers are for you." Although Marui did have a point about the germs, considering how Niou had decided to just change Hiyoshi's entire bedding just because Marui had laid on it for a bit… Nah. Felt too simple. "Didja really not know? Thought the whole base knew by now."
“Ooohh. Oops.” Akutsu comparing Niou’s touchphobia to Marui’s own issues was enough to make him feel a bit bad. But just a tiny, tiny bit. Marui raised his hands defensively. “I had no clue. If I did I wouldn’t have needed the pillow.” Chasing Niou around and threatening to touch him would’ve been enough.
Here Akutsu had thought just about everybody knew about Niou's touch issues, but apparently not. "Well. Now ya know." He reached over and ruffled Marui's hair while his other hand hit the call button for the elevator. "This might damn well be the only time I act like a ref. So if he shoots you in the ass with his drones in the future, know it's cuz ya deserved it." It was a weird feeling, being the sensible one in the room. Didn't like it. Don't want it.
“He didn’t actually have real bullets in those other ones, right?” It seemed like a ridiculous thing to ask, but somehow Marui got the feeling that Niou hadn’t been bluffing. The elevator door opened with a ding, and Marui stepped in. Before the doors shut, he added one more thing. “Um. Tell him I’m sorry for trying to suffocate him. Okay?”
At the question about the bullets, Akutsu just shrugged. "I think that's a 'fuck around and find out' kinda thing. Wouldn't chance it if I were you." Real bullets or not, it wasn't something he would put past Niou. Especially if he felt threatened enough. People did crazy things when they felt backed into a corner, after all. "I'll tell him," he nodded, sticking around just long enough to see the doors close and hear the elevator start its way upwards. Then he turned around to head back to deal with Niou.
Niou had indeed squashed himself under his desk to sulk and had brought his tablet down to start designing miniature models of the crawlers to perhaps send to the 3D printer en masse. And then shower Marui with them in some sort of payback. It made him feel better at least, even if he didn't go through with it. He glanced up for a moment as he heard someone walking past and then went back to lovingly recreating the many legs.
Akutsu stopped outside the door to Niou's office and took a deep breath. He was not looking forward to this. At least Marui had been reasonable. Niou...who the hell knew. Sometimes he was fine, sometimes…not quite as much.
He debated the merit of knocking versus just barging in…and decided on a bit of a compromise. Akutsu opened the door, and immediately announced himself so Niou would (hopefully) not be tempted to send a drone at him. "Hey. Just me. Marui's gone."
Ah, damnit. He didn't know how he felt about the fact that Akutsu had actually come back to talk - some sort of caring debrief, maybe, he thought grumpily. "Good," Niou said, but he wasn't moving from his spot. He at least awkwardly reached up to slide his tablet back onto the top of his desk. "I should request to make engineering some sort of ID restricted place so idiots can't come in."
Akutsu made his way to Niou's desk and sat down on the floor, facing Niou's little hiding spot. "Ain't a bad idea, actually." He held his hand out, offering it to Niou. Given how strung out he was, Akutsu wasn't going to assume touching was okay. "For what it's worth," probably not much, right now, "Marui said to tell ya he's sorry."
Niou automatically reached out to take Akutsu's hand, gripping it tightly. "He can take his apology and shove it up his ass," he said grumpily because okay, maybe the bug thing had maybe been a bit uncalled for, but smothering him with a pillow and tackling him to the ground was just… not okay. "Hope a spider crawls in his mouth while he sleeps."
Niou's grip on Akutsu's hand was almost painful, but instead of trying to make him loosen it, Akutsu slid closer to Niou, trying to tug him out a little bit. "He didn't know about your touch thing. Dunno how muchuva difference it woulda made if he had, but…" Akutsu shrugged. "Your touch thing is kinda like him with the spiders. Play nicer." Because 'play nice' was too much to ask, especially right now.
Niou grumbled and just stubbornly squashed himself more under the desk in response. "No, he probably would have abused it more. Because he's an asshole." Like how Yagyuu went straight for the weak points. He nudged Akutsu's leg with his foot before curling his leg back in under the desk. "Except I'm dealing with mine with exposure therapy. Maybe he should consider it too. Hold one in his hand."
….Since Niou refused to be pulled out, Akutsu made an attempt to fit himself in there instead. …It didn't work well, he couldn't really make himself that small, but he at least got a side and shoulder in. "He was tryin' to deal with his with the whole cook 'em and eat 'em thing. Different strategy, same goal."
Having his space crowded into by Akutsu at least made Niou laugh and some of the angry edges melted a bit, and he nudged Akutsu away. "Oh my god you cannot fit under here you idiot. I want to be able to breathe." He could take the hint though and shuffled out a little bit, reluctantly. Still under the desk but not hiding fully under as he had before. "I severely dislike him."
Akutsu just laughed, glad that Niou had gotten the point and come out a little. Maybe not as much as Akutsu had wanted, but it was an improvement. "Well, I bet he ain't all that fonda you right now either. He ain't a bad guy. Ya just pushed his buttons. Just like he pushed yours back by tacklin' ya." Personally, Akutsu figured they were even, but he also knew it wouldn't be that easy.
Niou sighed and god, what was this guilting that Akutsu was doing right now? He dragged a hand through his hair and slouched, the angry tension leaving him all rather suddenly now that there was no threat. "I feel gross," he complained, letting the usual act drop. "He was on top of me trying to stick a pillow on my face."
Akutsu reached over and pulled Niou out a little more, just to tuck him against his side like Niou seemed to like. He held him there, loose enough that if Niou really wanted to, he could get free. "Bet it'll be the last time. Left 'im thinkin' there might'a really been real bullets in the drones," he smirked, admittedly curious about whether or not there really had been. Marui had been shot by one of the two, but there was no blood, so probably a rubber bullet. But the other drone? Akutsu could only guess.
Urgh this was unfair. Niou grumped but let himself be moved more, purposely elbowing Akutsu in the side, but settling down against him. He tilted his head in confusion and frowned. "... There was real bullets in them? I'm prepping them to take out to the mine site." Since he could use them quite well in combination with Hiyoshi. "It was just unlucky that the one that shot him hadn't been changed over yet. Normally they're just rubber bullets for shooting at Hiyoshi for practice."
Akutsu blinked, turning to look at Niou with his eyes wide. "Fuckin' hell, Niou. I know you're pissed but damn. If you'd ended up killin' him they'd send ya to jail." Hopefully that wouldn't have happened, but shit. "Thank god you only got him with the rubber one."
Niou just looked moody again. "Well, I didn't. And since they normally only have rubber bullets in them anyway, it's not a risk." It was just unlucky for Marui that he'd picked that particular week to do it when Niou had actually been changing things over. He huffed to himself. "So what, are you going to tell me to apologise to him or something? Try to lecture me about being a good person?"
"It's a risk this week, since like ya said, you're changin' 'em out. It coulda just as easily been the one with the real thing." Marui had actually gotten really lucky, and Akutsu knew it, although he wasn't sure if he'd go telling Marui that. "It'd be nice if you would. But I know better than to expect it from ya." Akutsu ran his fingers up and through Niou's hair a little, hoping to settle him down a bit.
"There's usually a few more controls in place if they're real bullets though," Niou argued. "Less likely for automatic shooting." … Still such a shame that the drone had stopped at a single shot though. At least 5 more would have been nice. He sighed and this was using definite weak points against him. "Yeah I'm not apologising. And it's weird that you of all people are trying to convince me to be nice."
Akutsu kept his fingers moving in Niou's hair, as much because he liked doing it as for the calming effect it had on Niou. He was glad to know about the extra controls. Really didn't want anybody dying around him because that brought back too many memories of the bad kind. And while he doubted either of them would have actually gone so far as to literally kill the other…it wasn't something he'd wanted to chance. "Seriously. Don't make me do this again. I hate being the sensible one. Take this bullshit and shove it."
“You really didn’t need to interfere, I was handling it fine,” Niou said, still looking a bit annoyed. And really, Security should have been alerted to the fight in the first place as well, and interrupted them - definitely something to mention at some point, that someone had been slacking. Niou sighed and ran a hand through his hair, nudging aside Akutsu’s hand. “I need to get out for a bit.” Go for a walk or something, to just shake off the remnants of skin-crawling feelings from dealing with Marui. “... Do you want to come with me, or should I pester Kippei?”
"Mm. I dunno… My boss gave me a lotta work to do…I might get fired for neglectin' it this long," Akutsu replied, shifting and standing, then helping pull Niou up too. "But...I guess I can take a walk if he says it's okay." Maybe he could walk Niou to Tachibana, then head back, because probably at least one of them should be working…
Niou gave Akutsu an unimpressed look as he stood up because his to do list wasn’t that long for the shift. … But now that he’d mentioned it, getting coddled by Tachibana actually seemed like a decent idea. “Hang on.” He sent a quick message to Tachibana to meet him at their usual spot - because Tachibana was a lovely human being who had no schedule, apparently. “Walk me to the cargo lift? And I’ll be back in like 10 minutes anyway.”
Akutsu just chuckled at the look Niou gave him and draped an arm around Niou's shoulders. "Take yer time. Pretty sure we're competent enough down here ta handle the routine stuff, and smart enough to know if you're really needed." He tugged Niou towards the door, acknowledging that Tachibana was probably the better influence for getting Niou out of his funk.
“I want to talk later about Marui, okay?” he said, nudging Akutsu in the side letting himself be steered out of the room. “Later, when I’ve calmed down. And less wanting to stake him out in the desert for the sandworms.” And oh, an incoming message from Tachibana, how lovely. “Don’t break anything while I”m gone.”
Okay, Akutsu didn't like that thought at all. Talking about Marui. With Niou. Considering the last journal conversation with Marui, which had been completely screened and Niou had no idea about, Akutsu was pretty sure he'd rather just avoid that topic altogether. So he just made a noncommittal noise by way of response, just as they arrived at the cargo lift. "Don't break anything, huh? I dunno… I'm still just an apprentice. Make lotsa mistakes…"
Niou narrowed his eyes at Akutsu. "If you absolutely insist on not going back to work on your own, then you'll have to suffer through 10 minutes of me cuddling up to Tachibana." He raised an eyebrow and sat down, leaning against the wall to wait. "In silence."
Akutsu threw his hands up in surrender. "No sir, I'm outta here. Ain't gonna sit around and watch that shit." Knowing it was happening was one thing. Witnessing it? Hard no. So he turned around, hands behind his head, and started walking back towards his station, whistling the Itsy-Bitsy Spider tune as he went.