once the door is closed, phone is left to sit in lap as she brings palms up to her face in the dim car. a second passed before she dragged both hands down along her face, exhaustion and fatigue having kicked in now that she was finally sitting. another second passed before her hands picked up the phone as she heard the driver’s door open. the pair fell into silence with eyes locked on her phone, scrolling passed red ‘closed’ shops, shops too out of the way... but this trance was broken by roy unexpectedly speaking.
❛❛ ... ❜❜ it wasn’t until his second set of words that she looked up from her phone and over at him. ❛❛ um... ❜❜ came her eloquent reply before looking back down. ❛❛ ah. here we go. open twenty-four hours... three point seven rating... the food doesn’t look like much, but it’s better than waitin’ for somethin’ t’ open. ❜❜ tapping at her phone while talking, and once she finished, a new voice took her place. loud and monotone as a woman said things like ‘turn right on–’, ‘continue on–’, and ‘in a quarter mile–’ while fumi held her phone for roy to see the screen alongside the voice giving directions. their silence was filled by this until a loud ‘your destination is on the left’, and the phone was picked up to silence the voice. it was only when silence hung after the engine was turned off, and she had unbuckled her seat belt, that...
❛❛ um. ❜❜ hands move in front of herself, ❛❛ i don’t know if you’re being cordial or amicable—... but... ❜❜ then awkwardly stopped in the air. finally, after the car ride, she looked at the male again. ❛❛ but you need to protect your morality, roy. this—... tonight—... ❜❜ she looks away with low brows while scrambling for the words and looks back towards him once they come to her.
❛❛ i’m a disgustingly nefarious bastard. that’s not self-depreciation; it’s just a fact that if there’s ‘good’ and ‘bad’, then i’m a bad person. and what you’re offering is— ❜❜ a pause as a hand went up to rest on his shoulder. ❛❛ that kind of help should be offered to a ‘good’ person. someone who can’t bring themselves to ‘pull the trigger’, or... ❜❜ she smiles, leans in, and whispers: ❛❛ someone who loses their appetite after seeing such gore. not someone who can stuff their gob and peacefully go to sleep after such. ❜❜ face softens once she’s done, and quickly she removes her hand from touching him.
❛❛ ...and—... i know you don’t want to hear advice from someone like that, but. i think... you should be yourself more. because i’ve found in life that people love a guard dog or attack dog, but once that ‘thrill’ wears off, and things calm down, then all you are is a mangy mutt being told to ‘stop!’ and ‘no!’. life isn’t constant chaos and drama, so people—especially boring people like me—don’t always need someone to guard them or attack for them... so... ❜❜ looking away, then down, before looking back over at him.
❛❛ just be yourself and the people who still want you around... without getting blood on your hands or putting a burden on yourself... the people who want to be around you in boring mundane situations will eventually—yanno—appear ‘n’ shit. ❜❜ a slight smile was joined by a slight shrug before the passenger door was opened. once she stepped out and shut the door behind herself, fumi made her way into the restaurant with her phone in hand.