собака

It really was amusing getting Viktor so frustrated, though it was also a bit surprising to hear him openly admit to his feelings. He only flinched slightly when Viktor hit his desk, but his expression didn’t change.

“Hm… I could consider keeping it a secret. After all, who am I to get in the way of young love? Ah, wait, you aren’t exactly young, are you? Ah, well, you understand what I mean. But if you wish for me to stay silent on the matter, I suggest you tread very lightly in the future. Who knows when I might feel like sharing?”

His eyes were now directed down at the desk. He gritted his teeth in frustration, and his finger nails dug into his skin he had his hand so tightly balled up. 

Oh, and Roderich thought this couldn’t get any better! Now Viktor had practically actually admitted to it! Still wearing a smug smile, he raised a brow in surprise. “Oh? Don’t tell anyone? So you are admitting to hiding something now? Wonderful. I suppose the feelings aren’t foreign any longer, then.”

“Oh, and I wouldn’t lay a hand on me if I were you. What would Samiri think then? He already worries quite a bit whenever you attack me… We just had dinner the other night, you know. He’s quite a good cook.”

“Wonderful?” Viktor repeated, his voice dripping venom now. “This is not wonderful! And the feelings were never foreign! So what if I’m hiding it? No one needs to know!” With each word his voice rose, and at the end he slammed his fist down onto the desk. He would have much rather it had connected with Roderich’s face.

Roderich didn’t falter, only continued to smile, amused by Viktor’s reaction. “Ah, so you are hiding something, then,” he said in a false cheery tone. “If you didn’t want such a rumor spreading, I would expect you to give me a firm no. But instead you gave me an answer that is anything but ‘no’… How curious.” This was a better reaction than he could have anticipated. “Are you truly just now discovering the answer for yourself? I suppose such feelings would be rather foreign to you, after all.”

Maybe Viktor should have said no from the star and just left then. Not only has he now gotten himself into a corner, but he’s now in a damn hole. And he was just digging himself deeper at this rate. There was no use in just denying it now. At least Roderich was the only one in the room. 

Roderich really didn’t mind if he didn’t hear it directly from Viktor at that moment, but he knew the other well enough to see that something was going on in his head. It helped that Viktor was absolutely terrible at masking his expressions at times. 

“Fine then. If you’re so certain you’ve nothing to hide, then tell me. Do you or do you not feel something more than friendship toward Samiri?”

Oh, this was all too amusing. Viktor might have been doing an alright job of hiding it, but he was clearly unsure what to say at this point. And Roderich was more than happy with the results.

“Ah, yes, telling me twice that you’ve nothing to hide is very convincing. Granted, if that minor misstep wasn’t telling enough, your expression speaks volumes.” Roderich finally allowed himself a small smirk. “You’re hiding something, perhaps even to yourself.” That was mere conjecture, but no need to state that. Roderich figured it was better to be completely confident that he was right than continue as if he were simply guessing.

Viktor was not enjoying this at all. It wasn’t just the teasing from Roderich, but also the fact he had the dawning realization of just what the hell was up. And there was no way he was going to let Roderich know that he now knew.

“Trust is one thing. All of these incidents can’t just be coincidences, I hope you realize. After a while, it becomes a pattern.”

While Roderich didn’t have any more receipts, he most certainly didn’t want to end this just yet, not with how Viktor was reacting. “If there was nothing special to it, why are you becoming so defensive? It’s almost as if you’ve something to hide.”

Viktor was quiet again. Part refusing to acknowledge what Roderich has said, and part not knowing just what to say. This was quite the corner he had been backed into. 

“They’re favorites, and yet you would still trust Samiri with them… interesting.” Maybe Viktor had been in denial after all. There was something about his expression that was changing, and Roderich was very curious to know what was going on in his head.

The look didn’t bother Roderich at this point, he was too confident now. “Well, to start, Samiri is my vice leader. What happens to him concerns me greatly. More than that, I am his friend, so I care about finding out your intentions.” Of course, there was also the fact that it was oh so amusing to get Viktor in a corner like this, but he wasn’t about to say that.

“Because I trust him. Haven’t you been wanting me to get along nicely with other Guild members?” Time to try and get this off of Roderich question Viktor so much. Anything else would be better. Like that sandpaper again.

And it will still be very obvious.

Roderich had a feeling this one was going to give Viktor a hard time. It was hard to mask a smirk, but somehow he managed, though if Viktor were actually looking at him, he might be able to tell that Roderich was a bit amused. “Ah, of course, nothing special. It’s just your coat and scarf, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without. I’ve always assumed they were quite special to you.” Roderich kept up his stare.

“You could have always offered to go indoors, but instead you lent your precious coat and scarf… and not only that, you let him hold onto them for a time. My apologies, but your explanation really doesn’t hold much water.”

That it was. 

“You heard me right. It’s nothing special.” Viktor was still keeping up his oh so good disguise of denial, though he was looking like he was starting to realize something. Not that he would share what it was yet. “Those items are favorites.”

Yeah, Roderich’s entire schtick is learning to recognize and understand how people act, Viktor. His denial was way obvious.

Giving a sigh, Roderich leaned forward in his chair again, resting his elbows once more upon his desk. “Well, if you insist, I have one more point I can think of…” He paused, as if to think about it for a moment, before looking up at Viktor with a cold glance. “I must say, it was quite the surprise to me when I found Samiri the other day, adorned with your sweater and scarf… Care to explain?”

Oops. He’ll still be in denial though.

The other instances were easy to put an excuse to, but this one was a bit of a corner. Viktor had to actually think of some sort of reason. Though that wasn’t coming easy this time. “It was cold out and he didn’t have a very good jacket of his own.” He paused after speaking, his lips pursing. That wasn’t much of an excuse but the actual reason. 

Oh he’ll keep trying alright. For once his stubbornness is going to pay off, hopefully.

“I’m aware that you can check the wrist for a pulse. In fact, I suspected you might say that’s what you’d been doing. But all that takes is two fingers. Did you really need to hold his entire hand to do so? From what heard, it could have even been mistaken as a rather touching, yet heartbreaking scene, not unlike the reactions to the other deaths from their significant others.”

Hopefully.

Viktor’s last arguments against the drawings certainly weren’t interesting, but Roderich was going to focus on that any longer. No, he had to continue on to better things, bigger incidents that Viktor couldn’t so easily explain away.

“Hm, I suppose you’re right that everyone was a bit at their wits’ end… but the only ones reacting so strongly to the deaths were people very close to the victims. And while you might be closer to Samiri now, you certainly weren’t as close then.” He gave a scoff of a laugh. “Double checking? For what? To see that he was dead? Really, I’d think you of all people would know what a dead body looks like. Besides, if you really were checking, you would have checked his pulse, which you can do without completely holding someone’s hand.”

You can try and you might Roderich, Viktor is going to try his damn hardest to come up with some sort of explanation. 

So Viktor was clearly still in denial, or he just really didn’t want anyone to know. Either way, Roderich wasn’t about to back down yet. 

“You could pay attention, for starters. Or take notes. Or do something less strange than draw pictures of your coworker and friend like some sort of child with a crush.” Perhaps, Roderich thought, he ought to bring out some of his other receipts now. “But of course, if I was going off of that alone, I’d seem rather foolish. No, I’ve more reason to think this.” He watched Viktor critically for reactions.

“Onto my next point… that ridiculous display that that Poe put on. You acted quite strangely then, I’d say. You weren’t entirely close friends then, and yet you still were rather upset by his death, going so far as to get mad at me. And from what I’ve heard, you apparently showed a bit more… vulnerability while investigating his body. Why did you feel the need to hold his hand?”

Viktor scrunched his nose up at Roderich comparing him to a child with a crush, but brushed it off quickly. Can’t give Roderich what he wants yet. “Make the meetings more interesting and maybe I’ll pay more attention. You can only hear about the finances of the Guild so many time before you fall asleep.”

Roderich ignored Viktor’s comments. This wasn’t about them, after all, this was about Viktor and Samiri. Which wasn’t any better, but regardless, that was the topic.

“I suppose that’s how you could make friends… but drawing your friends without asking during meetings? I must say, that strikes me as a bit odd. From what I’ve heard, Samiri is quite the muse to you…” Once again he adjusted his glasses. “They’re quite good drawings, I must say, but I have to wonder why you choose to draw him over everyone else in the meetings? It’d be one thing if you asked him to model for you, but doing so without permission only raises more questions.”

It was about Viktor, so he was going to bring up anything and everything.

“It was simply an example. I refuse to speak more of it.” Like hell is Roderich ever going to admit he got any semblance of enjoyment from their unfortunate fling, even though he definitely did. It was just the aftermath that ruined it. 

“Well…” Roderich hummed as if in thought, deciding what receipt to pull first. He better save his big guns for later. “To start off, I’ve noticed you two spending quite a lot of quality time together, lately. I’ve confirmed this with Samiri as well. You’ve been very kind to him as of late. Now, at first I thought perhaps you had ill intentions, as I said before. But then I became aware of another interesting fact…” He paused, perhaps for effect. “Do you enjoy drawing, Viktor? You seem to be drawing something at every meeting.

“Then you should have never brought up such a thing if you wish not to talk of it more.” Knowing Viktor he would try and bring it up every chance he got just so he could annoy Roderich with it. “It’s amazing what denial you bring up even though nothing bad had happened then.”