His eyes narrow and he sighs, not sure why he expected Gaius to say anything that wouldn’t make him groan. Still, the unabashed nickname he coins for him this time does spark a faint dusting of pink across his cheeks, one he hopes goes completely unnoticed.

     “Hey yourself, you… you.” He scoffs, then moves closer. He wants to make sure no one can overhear them. It’s not as though his hands are still shaking and he’d prefer to be near someone he knows over alone in the dark night. No, certainly not. “I was just on my way back from hanging out with a friend. This way is a shortcut even if it’s pretty shady.” He looks around again, silently hoping the adrenaline leaves his system.

     “Anyway, you still haven’t answered my question. But then again, I guess ‘getting drunk while sitting on a trash can’ could be considered a likely answer coming from you.”

The blush isn’t completely undetected, but he does lack the initiative to point it out. This time, anyway. There were bigger and better details happening, ones he didn’t quite yet want to wash away in the sea of flirtatious comments and embarrassment. 

“That friend the guy you sent this way?” An almost mocking tone comes to his voice as he lifts the drink and once more, takes a sip from it. Refreshing. How better to spend his evening than doing just this? Still, he’s not completely hammered right yet and his senses are perked, observational patterns ever present. “Not a good friend if he’s making you shake, princess. C’mere.” The arm holding the bottle lifts and quickly, he tucks the blade away from the other one before using that to beckon him, gesture him closer. It probably wouldn’t work, but it was worth a shot. 

         There’s a commotion in an alleyway. There are two men, one smaller than the other and far more fragile looking. This man is cornered, but not for long. There’s a flash of steel, and soon the tide changes completely. It’s the silver-haired male that’s spitting threats now, combat knife at the ready and fighting posture assumed.

It’s not uncommon for people to think Takumi is a scrawny pushover, to think his loose clothing hides nothing but skin and bones. But he’d rather die than get trampled for being weak.

By letting his naturally overblown anger free, he manages to scare the poor fool who tried to mug him off. For a moment, he watches him flee. Then, he hides his weapon once more and lets out a shaky sigh. Adrenaline makes him shiver. He’s still guarded as he emerges from the alley, and nearly jumps when he sees a shock of red hair out of the corner of his eye.

     “Gaius? What are you doing here?!” He pauses, thinking. “Am… Am I near a bar right now?”      >> @getsweets (sc.)

He had heard the commotion while walking down the street, minding his own business. It wasn’t uncommon in these parts of town for things like such to happen, for people to get into arguments or altercations. Usually it ended in a fit of cat wailing as he would call it-- two people shouting over one another in a fight over vocal control until the other eventually lost their pride, then their voice and found they could do nothing but walk away. Often times the winner would gloat in their glory by shouting after them, threatening them or insulting the bruised ego on its way out. Then it would be over and the night would move forward to the next pair, or in some rare instance, trio. 

What was unusual about this night was that he actually knew one of the people in the confrontation. He’d seen him walk down the alley, watching from afar; then heard the rustle of weapons and tasted the hostility in the air. Quite frankly, he knew he could have done something to help, but decided to wait to see who walked out at the end, then would take it from there. As it was the one he didn’t know, he remained where he was, sat on top of a trash can, a large whiskey bottle in one hand, then a common dagger tucked neatly beneath his shirt in the other. It would look simply like he was scratching his stomach to the unknowing eye; that was how he planned it. 

Then he waited, and waited. Only when he was about to get up and figured it would be a good idea to check and see if Takumi was actually alive did the boy come around the corner, startled and obviously shaken. Amused, he couldn’t help but to look him up and down, affirm there was no damage.

iirc if u take a screenshot from the post limit checker website of ur blog u can email staff that and say ur blog was wrongfully flagged and they’ll fix it for you!

And I grew up nouveau riche And I'm a slick son of a bitch

despite the lyrics of the lovely band say anything who is releasing an album this month that is literally going to be gay (i am so stoked, i just have to go off about it), gaius here did not grow up rich on the island. with a set of flaky parents, who more or less didn’t want a child, he learned how to take are of himself at a young age and left them fairly early into early adolescence.  

he was a delinquent, he did not go to school, he didn’t care to learn how to do math or study history and all he wanted to do was find a meaning to the hole in his chest from neglectful parents and experience life in a fun, free-willed way. 

if any characters have gangs, hmu! he might be in them or involved with them on the side, as in his adulthood, he engaged in bad and suspicious behaviors. problematic behaviors, if you will. primarily to survive, but also to just do it because he could! nobody was there to stop him.

he still very much likes candy but has also picked up alcoholism and sticks in shady places drinking about 5 times out of the 7 days of the week. maybe some people know him from that.

he’s a bit more sharp tongued to the fancy people who live better lifestyles than he does. a bitterness is there that he can’t quell, making him hostile to them on occasion and finding them to be whiny babies who don’t know how hard life really is.

         “Well, I’d like to have a bit more!” He snaps, not at his acquaintance but the space between them as he stares at their feet. He hates how much his mind chokes him when he’s alone, how it’ll drift towards despair when he’s trying to concentrate. But he can’t inconvenience someone else. He looks weak enough already. “You’ve listened to me whine plenty before. You don’t need to do it again.” His voice, too, has softened.

     “Ice cream…?” He’s surprised, but also relieved. His posture noticeably slackens as he realizes the topic is being avoided. “You know what? Yeah. That actually sounds pretty great right now.”

“Yeah, that’s something you can work towards.” He mumbles that, trying to keep himself back from overly poking around and getting into his space. Takumi said he didn’t want to talk about it and despite nosiness and the urge to take care of what he can, offer advice where it’s possible; he notes he should probably respect the statement first. Alas, he still does sigh when it’s pointed out that he’s listened to him whine. “It’s not whining when you have something on your mind that’s making it hard to think straight, pumpkin.” Again with the nickname, though different than the usual.

         The flash of emotionon his face is subdued panic, surprise over how quickly he’s had. Takumi schools it into something more like discomfort, but he remembers a similar scenario happening before. How silly of him to think the other had grown less perceptive.

     “Well…” He sighs. “Yeah, several things. But I’ve been trying not to think about them, okay?” For once, he wants to keep it together.

         “I see you haven’t changed much,” he mutters, eyes following the new revealed sweet. He tilts his head a bit and squints, evaluating. “Well, you do seem to just pop up so I guess that makes sense. As for me… lots of stuff I guess. Getting jobs, meeting people and…” His face darkens for a moment, ill knowledge rising to the surface. Knowldge he doesn’t want. “.. Not much else.”

         “Wh– It’s you! Where did you come from?!” He’s so surprised, he doesn’t notice the nickname. “I mean, uh? Thank you? What have you been doing?”

“We all must go someday. For some, it is much sooner, crueler and agonizing.”

         “My birthday is in two week, huh?… Hmm…”

     “Well, whatever. I won’t count the days.”

“It’s a fine day. Who would like to share a can of sauerkraut with me?”

@getsweets​

    “So, Gaius….I was thinking. Aside from that, uh, outing I never did manage to go far from my comfort zone. And being here, well…it’s only made me realize how much more I haven’t experienced.” A pause, as he’s quick to backpedal. “I’m not sure what we did last time was exactly my cup of tea, but…if you’re free, do you think we can do something like that again?”

He was taking a sip of water, but as Chrom goes on with speaking, he’s slowly taking the bottle away from his lips and glancing over to him. An eyebrow raises and he looks to his face, surveying it for a moment. “Hold on there, Blue. I’m having a hard time remembering what exactly you’re talking about, so you might have to jog my memory on that one. But, by the sounds of it, all context aside..-”