Everyone's happy, he says, but she's not sure she believes that. The man didn't seem very satisfied with her response, and while Zangetsu doesn't seem too bothered, neither does it feel resolved. But he tells her it's solved, so she relaxes a little.
"If you think so," she agrees, looking back down to her dinner. "But if he gives you any trouble, let me know, okay? If there's a problem, I don't want to be the last to know."
He frowns at her a moment, like he's trying to figure something out. Like he's heard wrong or maybe she misspoke.
"Don't you mean the other way around? You want to know if I'm causing trouble?" Surely that's what she means right? "Anyway, there's no problem I can't handle. He's terrified of me. Therefore, if he wants me to stay away from him, he's not going to give me trouble."
"I meant what I said." She smiles, almost knowingly, like she's aware of what makes him think she meant the other thing. "You're not the only one out there causing trouble. Terrified or not, if anyone's picking a fight with you, I want to know about it. Please?"
That knowing smile catches him. It's not that she can't imagine she knows, or at least has an impression as much is the case, but seeing so whilst being almost okay with it. A bittersweet trade off.
If that weren't have him looking and sounding dubious enough. "Not sure how would you even define such a thing. What falls under picking fight?"
What would that look like? She pauses, trying to figure out how to explain it. She thought it was a simple request, but... maybe not. A lot of things that she thinks are simple with him turn out not to be.
"You know... Trying to start trouble. Bothering you when you've told him to keep away, trying to provoke you for whatever reason. Anything like that."
He thinks, trying to recall if anyone's done as much. And then makes something of a face.
"Ugh. But that's not even a big deal. It's annoying but it's... it's just annoying. Or embarrassing for them if it doesn't work." He can handle that, he thinks again. He did with Justin. "It only really bothers me if someone's trying to screw with you. Or, y'know, the name thing."
She laughs a bit at his complaining. The part about screwing with her is a little touching.
"You don't have to tell me every little transgression. Once or twice isn't an issue. But if someone's making a concerted effort to bother you or start a fight, whether it's working or not... Will you at least tell me then? Please?"
“I’ll think about it,” He says. It’s not much, but maybe it can be enough. “I can’t imagine anything I couldn’t handle myself, but if i'm stuck and it looks like I need backup, I’ll give you a call.”
He can ask for help if he needs it. He asked Pokey to get him in contact with Zephyr didn't he? He asked Zephyr for help. And he's worked with the old man. That's all it would be, not running to Mom to cry about a bully-- ha! No, he can keep his word here and still take care of himself.
"Zangetsu..." That's not what she's asking, and her mild exasperation says that she's sure that he knows that. This trust thing is turning out to be harder than originally intended.
"...This team of ours, I don't want it to be simply for when we need help. I want us to be able to talk about what's going on. It may not be something the other can help with--or something where help is even wanted, but it's still important to talk."
He frowns at her tone, as that name is drawn into a sigh. He gets what she's saying, or he thinks so, but there's clearly some point of disconnect.
"We do talk. We talk all the time." He's around every day. Doesn't that count for something? "I've talked with you more than I've talked with anybody." In all times he was himself, that is. Maybe even in general. "There's not much to say right now though. I haven't gotten us home yet and everything in the past is the past. If I haven't told you something it's probably just not important."
He searches her face for a moment longer. "Did someone say something?" Did Peter?
"No. No one said anything... Just you." Just the way he words things, like the only reason he might need to tell her anything is if he needs help. She pauses, looking down at her dinner.
"If there's something or someone troubling you, you don't have to wait until you need help to talk to me. I won't run off and start meddling in your business. I'd just like to know. And if there comes a time that you do need my help, then you won't need to fill me in." She looks back up at him again, tilting her head a little.
"Does that make sense? I want to know because you're someone I care about. And I enjoy all the things we talk about, but I'd like to hear about these kinds of things, too."
Just him? Did he let something slip? No, she'd have said something over that for sure.
It takes him a minute. Then, the revelation comes in a sort of flat tone. "You want me to talk about my problems. Use you as some kind of shoulder to cry on."
It's a struggle to keep his disgust with that idea down. A difficult struggle. He answers with a sort of stiffness to his voice for it. "I don't want to talk about things like that. If I have a problem I want to deal with it or forget it, not get pathetic about it. That doesn't fix anything. I hate that kind of thing. And I don't need to do that to you anyway. You have enough to worry about."
He calls confiding in her 'being pathetic'. He says he hates that sort of thing, and the words sting more than they probably should. At least it's not like before in Timeless, where she struggled to keep her chin up. It's probably not personal. It's just not the sort of thing that he does, no matter how much she might want it from him. But it still feels a little like a rebuff, and it's difficult to hide her disappointment.
"I'll worry more if you don't tell me," she teases in an effort to lighten the sudden tension in him, but it's maybe only a half-hearted attempt on her part. "It's not quite like what you're saying, but it's fine. If you don't want to tell me, I'm not going to force you." There's really not point in beating against that wall if he's so vehemently opposed.
She doesn't take it badly, but she definitely doesn't take it well. He doesn't understand. She shouldn't want to be burdened.
She tries to tease but it doesn't feel like one. He wants to tear at his hair because he doesn't know what she wants him to tell her. What did he let slip? It occurs, the fact there are more than a few things he doesn't want her to know is probably exactly what she's referring to but he knows that these are things she's better off knowing.
"There's nothing to worry about. Nothing's wrong. Everything's been going fine." And it's true. All the problems are old problems. "What is it if it's not that? Are you-- is something bothering you?"
Is something bothering her? Yes. Of course the answer is yes. There's a whole host of things that are bothering her, but the most immediate one is the one that he probably means. She's just not sure if she wants to tell him.
She avoids his gaze by looking down at her food again, finding it rather interesting the way she can push it around in her bowl with her chopsticks.
"You're... the closest person that I have here," she starts, after a few long moments of silence. "You know that, don't you? If I feel the need to share something, it's usually with you. But when I try to get you to do the same, there's often what feels like a wall thrown up between us. There are things that you don't seem to want to confide in me, and I don't know why."
"...I don't need you to cry on my shoulder, but I do wish that you would depend on me sometimes. I want to be someone like that for you. Someone... a little more on equal footing with you."
He hates that it feels like he's come to interrogating her, but he thinks he hates the silence that falls more. But when she speaks, he can't do the same.
He expected being closest to her. He didn't expect the other way around. And he knows it's because he hasn't found the way home yet, he hasn't worked fast enough and so she hasn't had any options.
He's quiet and still until suddenly he stands. He walks away from his seat, but rather than leaving, he makes his way around the table, pulling a chair closer and letting it sit at her side. He doesn't face her, just sits next to her.
"I do depend on you," He says. "I can't help Ichigo like you can. I'm counting on you for that. I really want things to get better. I want to see the way everyone just loses their minds when they see you again." He wants the skies so blue they're nearly blinding.
"I count on you to keep yourself safe, because I can't really do that right now. And I don't... I couldn't deal with something like that. We go to these worlds where others in this village die and get hurt and all I can really do is hope you don't and come along to make things wrap up faster." So far she hasn't been hurt, and really none of it is something he can take credit for. She's taken care of herself, which brings both relief and that familiar feeling bringing him back to Ichigo's year of powerlessness.
He still doesn't look her way. He sits with his hands somewhat in his lap, fingers picking at one another.
"Old Man Zangetsu never told me why he had to do what he did. I never asked him and I never really tried to dig around in his head. I figured, whatever reasons he had to keep it a secret it, they must have been important. As long as he looked out for us, for Ichigo, then it was fine with me. With me, it probably is just a wall. I'm not really meant to be otherwise. I'm not like Zangetsu either. But we are team. Me and him, and me and you. If I could, I'd have no problem fighting by your side, and to me, that's pretty equal. Honestly, I'd thought that was a given."
There's a moment where he stands, that she looks up at him suddenly, expecting to have said something wrong. Expecting for him to walk away abruptly and leave her sitting there, her heart twisting in her chest. But he doesn't. He settles down next to her, and that's a new kind of surprise.
The words pour out of him like she hasn't heard before, and she listens intently, hanging onto each one. He talks of depending on her, of wanting to see their family's face when she walks in through their door. He talks of wanting her to be safe, and her heart goes out to him just that little bit more.
He talks of the Quincy spirit and of walls and of teams... He when he finishes, she reaches over to him and rests a hand over his fidgeting ones. She smiles softly.
"It might be a given, but it's still nice to hear once in a while. We can be silly sometimes... Doubting things that we know are true. We need reminders now and then--not always like this, but sometimes just little things. Like telling me how your day goes. I feel more a part of it--and I feel closer to you." She squeezes the hand clasped over his.
He keeps fidgeting until her hand falls on his. It's only the slightest wince around his eyes to show the way the connection gets to him. He keeps his head bowed and his gaze forward otherwise.
Silly. Yeah. He guesses that's true. He knows he's doubted her more than once, bared his teeth to her to match a threat that wasn't there.
"It... makes sense." That much is true. "I just don't know if I can do that. I don't think of things like that. What happens in a day, it usually isn't anything. When it's something... I'm honestly not sure how much of a good idea it is to be closer to me. You won't see me forever."
He reminds her that she won't see him forever, and that stings more than she really wants in that moment. She wants to keep seeing him, but she knows... That won't go over well, even if she says it aloud.
"You don't have to think of them yourself. That's why I ask. To remind you to tell me the little things." She gives him a small smile, leaning down to try and catch his gaze. "All you have to do is tell me--and I can tell you thing too."
She takes a breath. "For instance! I saw this really cute rabbit in the forest today. It was just sitting there eating, when I came up, and it froze! I didn't want to scare it, so I crouched down really low and started creeping past... I swear I was close enough to see its little nose quiver. I thought I was going to die from how cute it was." She puts her hands over her chest, like she's going to swoon and leans on him dramatically.
She tries to catch his gaze and his eyes dart a little, to and away from her face. The brightness of her smile can overwhelm sometimes. Especially in contrast to his own uncertainty with all of this.
But then she's talking about supposedly cute rabbits and trying to sneak up on wild animals. He can just see her crouched in the dirt staring wide eyed at this dumb thing. He laughs lightly pushes her back, "You're ridiculous! You want me to talk about rabbits?"
He shakes his head. His mother is crazy. But then, he falls into a silence. He looks up at the ceiling.
"... I saw a cloud that looked like a rabbit. And one like a moon next to it. I was thinking it was on the nose with the literal moon rabbits here, but... I thought it'd be something you like anyway."
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2018-08-11 07:14 pm (UTC)"If you think so," she agrees, looking back down to her dinner. "But if he gives you any trouble, let me know, okay? If there's a problem, I don't want to be the last to know."
no subject
on 2018-08-11 10:52 pm (UTC)"Don't you mean the other way around? You want to know if I'm causing trouble?" Surely that's what she means right? "Anyway, there's no problem I can't handle. He's terrified of me. Therefore, if he wants me to stay away from him, he's not going to give me trouble."
And of course, the feeling is pretty mutual.
no subject
on 2018-08-12 03:48 am (UTC)no subject
on 2018-08-12 04:48 am (UTC)If that weren't have him looking and sounding dubious enough. "Not sure how would you even define such a thing. What falls under picking fight?"
Especially if he's not the one doing it.
no subject
on 2018-08-12 04:55 am (UTC)"You know... Trying to start trouble. Bothering you when you've told him to keep away, trying to provoke you for whatever reason. Anything like that."
no subject
on 2018-08-12 01:17 pm (UTC)"Ugh. But that's not even a big deal. It's annoying but it's... it's just annoying. Or embarrassing for them if it doesn't work." He can handle that, he thinks again. He did with Justin. "It only really bothers me if someone's trying to screw with you. Or, y'know, the name thing."
no subject
on 2018-08-16 12:09 am (UTC)"You don't have to tell me every little transgression. Once or twice isn't an issue. But if someone's making a concerted effort to bother you or start a fight, whether it's working or not... Will you at least tell me then? Please?"
no subject
on 2018-08-16 10:41 am (UTC)He can ask for help if he needs it. He asked Pokey to get him in contact with Zephyr didn't he? He asked Zephyr for help. And he's worked with the old man. That's all it would be, not running to Mom to cry about a bully-- ha! No, he can keep his word here and still take care of himself.
no subject
on 2018-08-16 03:46 pm (UTC)"...This team of ours, I don't want it to be simply for when we need help. I want us to be able to talk about what's going on. It may not be something the other can help with--or something where help is even wanted, but it's still important to talk."
no subject
on 2018-08-16 04:05 pm (UTC)"We do talk. We talk all the time." He's around every day. Doesn't that count for something? "I've talked with you more than I've talked with anybody." In all times he was himself, that is. Maybe even in general. "There's not much to say right now though. I haven't gotten us home yet and everything in the past is the past. If I haven't told you something it's probably just not important."
He searches her face for a moment longer. "Did someone say something?" Did Peter?
no subject
on 2018-08-17 12:43 am (UTC)"If there's something or someone troubling you, you don't have to wait until you need help to talk to me. I won't run off and start meddling in your business. I'd just like to know. And if there comes a time that you do need my help, then you won't need to fill me in." She looks back up at him again, tilting her head a little.
"Does that make sense? I want to know because you're someone I care about. And I enjoy all the things we talk about, but I'd like to hear about these kinds of things, too."
no subject
on 2018-08-17 12:58 am (UTC)It takes him a minute. Then, the revelation comes in a sort of flat tone. "You want me to talk about my problems. Use you as some kind of shoulder to cry on."
It's a struggle to keep his disgust with that idea down. A difficult struggle. He answers with a sort of stiffness to his voice for it. "I don't want to talk about things like that. If I have a problem I want to deal with it or forget it, not get pathetic about it. That doesn't fix anything. I hate that kind of thing. And I don't need to do that to you anyway. You have enough to worry about."
no subject
on 2018-08-17 01:37 am (UTC)"I'll worry more if you don't tell me," she teases in an effort to lighten the sudden tension in him, but it's maybe only a half-hearted attempt on her part. "It's not quite like what you're saying, but it's fine. If you don't want to tell me, I'm not going to force you." There's really not point in beating against that wall if he's so vehemently opposed.
no subject
on 2018-08-17 02:27 am (UTC)She tries to tease but it doesn't feel like one. He wants to tear at his hair because he doesn't know what she wants him to tell her. What did he let slip? It occurs, the fact there are more than a few things he doesn't want her to know is probably exactly what she's referring to but he knows that these are things she's better off knowing.
"There's nothing to worry about. Nothing's wrong. Everything's been going fine." And it's true. All the problems are old problems. "What is it if it's not that? Are you-- is something bothering you?"
no subject
on 2018-08-17 03:10 am (UTC)She avoids his gaze by looking down at her food again, finding it rather interesting the way she can push it around in her bowl with her chopsticks.
"You're... the closest person that I have here," she starts, after a few long moments of silence. "You know that, don't you? If I feel the need to share something, it's usually with you. But when I try to get you to do the same, there's often what feels like a wall thrown up between us. There are things that you don't seem to want to confide in me, and I don't know why."
"...I don't need you to cry on my shoulder, but I do wish that you would depend on me sometimes. I want to be someone like that for you. Someone... a little more on equal footing with you."
no subject
on 2018-08-17 04:41 am (UTC)He expected being closest to her. He didn't expect the other way around. And he knows it's because he hasn't found the way home yet, he hasn't worked fast enough and so she hasn't had any options.
He's quiet and still until suddenly he stands. He walks away from his seat, but rather than leaving, he makes his way around the table, pulling a chair closer and letting it sit at her side. He doesn't face her, just sits next to her.
"I do depend on you," He says. "I can't help Ichigo like you can. I'm counting on you for that. I really want things to get better. I want to see the way everyone just loses their minds when they see you again." He wants the skies so blue they're nearly blinding.
"I count on you to keep yourself safe, because I can't really do that right now. And I don't... I couldn't deal with something like that. We go to these worlds where others in this village die and get hurt and all I can really do is hope you don't and come along to make things wrap up faster." So far she hasn't been hurt, and really none of it is something he can take credit for. She's taken care of herself, which brings both relief and that familiar feeling bringing him back to Ichigo's year of powerlessness.
He still doesn't look her way. He sits with his hands somewhat in his lap, fingers picking at one another.
"Old Man Zangetsu never told me why he had to do what he did. I never asked him and I never really tried to dig around in his head. I figured, whatever reasons he had to keep it a secret it, they must have been important. As long as he looked out for us, for Ichigo, then it was fine with me. With me, it probably is just a wall. I'm not really meant to be otherwise. I'm not like Zangetsu either. But we are team. Me and him, and me and you. If I could, I'd have no problem fighting by your side, and to me, that's pretty equal. Honestly, I'd thought that was a given."
no subject
on 2018-10-14 04:53 am (UTC)The words pour out of him like she hasn't heard before, and she listens intently, hanging onto each one. He talks of depending on her, of wanting to see their family's face when she walks in through their door. He talks of wanting her to be safe, and her heart goes out to him just that little bit more.
He talks of the Quincy spirit and of walls and of teams... He when he finishes, she reaches over to him and rests a hand over his fidgeting ones. She smiles softly.
"It might be a given, but it's still nice to hear once in a while. We can be silly sometimes... Doubting things that we know are true. We need reminders now and then--not always like this, but sometimes just little things. Like telling me how your day goes. I feel more a part of it--and I feel closer to you." She squeezes the hand clasped over his.
"...Does that make sense to you?"
no subject
on 2018-10-14 11:15 pm (UTC)Silly. Yeah. He guesses that's true. He knows he's doubted her more than once, bared his teeth to her to match a threat that wasn't there.
"It... makes sense." That much is true. "I just don't know if I can do that. I don't think of things like that. What happens in a day, it usually isn't anything. When it's something... I'm honestly not sure how much of a good idea it is to be closer to me. You won't see me forever."
no subject
on 2019-01-25 03:26 am (UTC)"You don't have to think of them yourself. That's why I ask. To remind you to tell me the little things." She gives him a small smile, leaning down to try and catch his gaze. "All you have to do is tell me--and I can tell you thing too."
She takes a breath. "For instance! I saw this really cute rabbit in the forest today. It was just sitting there eating, when I came up, and it froze! I didn't want to scare it, so I crouched down really low and started creeping past... I swear I was close enough to see its little nose quiver. I thought I was going to die from how cute it was." She puts her hands over her chest, like she's going to swoon and leans on him dramatically.
no subject
on 2019-01-29 09:06 am (UTC)But then she's talking about supposedly cute rabbits and trying to sneak up on wild animals. He can just see her crouched in the dirt staring wide eyed at this dumb thing. He laughs lightly pushes her back, "You're ridiculous! You want me to talk about rabbits?"
He shakes his head. His mother is crazy. But then, he falls into a silence. He looks up at the ceiling.
"... I saw a cloud that looked like a rabbit. And one like a moon next to it. I was thinking it was on the nose with the literal moon rabbits here, but... I thought it'd be something you like anyway."