he's perched on the counter , nibbling on a piece of lemon candy , sour and sweet . too focused on the crease of suguru's soft shirt over the bump of his hips ; the mission went bad . satoru looks flawless as ever , suguru has a bruise on his cheek - he wants to break something . and everyone came to visit him , even the lower grade sorcerers that didn't quite know suguru . ❛ suguru . . . everyone is so fond of you . ❜ 😔💕
█ ○ 🙿 he's better off unsightly , according to shoko, dented in like unwanted fruit for having had too many hands pass it over — brought it on himself with the fold of an unimpressed expression when suguru'd shouldered off his dirtied jacket ﹠. heaved the words out like the world's weightiest burden, “ i didn't mean to worry anyone ... but it's a necessary evil that everyone remembers there're things out there that'll knock even the best off their game, isn't it ? complacency kills, after all. i won't take the blunder to heart, knowing some good's come of it . ” and her eyes had flickered, rolled, bounced with the flop of her head against the cot's sanitary linens ( 'wow . what would we do without your noble sacrifice .' ﹠. declined to heal him any further . )
blunders came with paperwork , though . pretty as he'd build it up by the wave of his hand ﹠. a smile creasing the extra color in his cheek, pillowed now into one cupped hand while his pen scratched, scratched the hour, the date, the location — a pause in the coil of the characters in satoru's name in the moment his voice'd come creeping, curling softly . melting such an extended stretch of silence that he'd halfway forgotten he was there, halfway imagined he'd have wandered out once the cloud of onlookers had ; gravitated to the center of all energy . cursed or of the social sort. suguru tucks his bangs behind his ear, feels them swing right back over his cheek . “ yeah ? my capacity to carry cordial small talk sickens you, i know, so you've made that clear. all i mean is that the audience at your own sick bed would prob ab ly rival mine if they weren't all convinced you'd chew them out at the door — hell, i'm not convinced they're wrong. and you'd never get hurt anyway . ” distraction softens, molds to relief of a reason to let the pen clatter down to the tabletop, amusement, contentment, some scattering of a private humor screwing up his expression when he folds his arms behind his head ﹠. stretches .
the capacity, to play ball . bullshit when it wasn't genuine, saccharine bursting between grit teeth ( not a thing shared, satoru's tongue untrained to be kinder than it was barbed, tart as the scent of citrus on his breath . ) that's why you should make sure not to discard me, unspoken in a smile. no matter what . can't trust you to speak for yourself, not with ones like the higher ups : i should always be there .
ㅤ ㅤ the puzzle of satoru — more like a tangled ball of string . stubborn cords needing coaxing, patience . unwound with hands willing to see through point a to point b . he'd already sat crowned king of society by the time suguru'd stepped a single foot into territory already touched by one boy's six eyes ; maybe he should've fought more, struggled further, been more put out in feeling himself ( like all things ) becoming something belonging to satoru . his, his. rival, friend. best friend . all his, and there's nothing ever worse than the indulgence of a sidelong look, a chuckle breathing noise to the cut of a knowing smile . the bump of his heels against the wood when suguru'd propped up to sit beside him, sides nearly touching, holding a hand in wordless expectation at his chin until satoru'd relent ﹠. spit the candy into his palm — possession is belonging . a home carved into the shape of him. “ your bad aura rushed everyone off, y'know. happy now ? you're the one and only one i'm paying attention to right now. ” the candy's sweet when suguru holds it between his teeth. all the sour already melted away .