gently posts

[luxuriant]

[The meeting with the Project Head had turned so quickly wrong. Zelos only wishes he could say he was surprised. He wasn't. All of his bad decisions thrown out and broadcast across the entire ship via the network. Meetings he never knew had been recorded, but hadn't exactly ruled out the possibility... Information shared that he had been so reluctant to give away but still came across quite blunt in text form.

Everything. And yet... not everything. No signs of his motives, no recorded meetings of the Project Head showing him pictures of his sister supposedly safe and sound in some place without him. There was just him as the villain.

Not only did he have that to deal with, but the physical fight between himself and the Head had gone over equally well. That is to say not well at all. No amount of angel skills (which he noticed were a lot more tiring here than normal) or magic or melee could take care of the guy. Made out of water... He was tricky too. Smart.

And Zelos had been forced to visit the clinic afterwards to deal with his own wounds as best as he could. With the message out for all to see, he hardly felt it was necessary to message Jack. ...Maybe Jack was upset after all. Or didn't realize the extent... He knows he got an earful of Sheena earlier, and that was enough to twist his hope into something a little more bitter.

He was just going to finish cleaning off the blood and go find somewhere to sit and think, maybe. Somewhere away from people so he doesn't have to sit through another speech of how could you where he can't defend himself. Where he doesn't want to.]

I really messed up, huh... [Quietly, he mumbles this to himself, pausing from what he's doing to rest his hands on the counter and stare down at it. He's such a mess, really.]

Comments

[gelu]

[Well.]

[Wow.]

[Whatever sort of response Jack had been expecting--and he'd been expecting something pretty compromising, one way or the other--this still manages to throw him for a very thorough loop, to say the least. He's already half-prepared to get defensive upon spotting how Zelos's smirk widens in that particular way, but no amount of defensiveness or fortifying of thoughts would have been enough to quite prepare for the way Zelos leans in like that anyway. Close enough for a kiss--close enough for a lot of things--Jack's frame stiffens, breath catching, flush deepening a bit because yes it's quite impossible to miss how those eyes rake over him like that. ...Accompanied by those words and that tone, seriously--?]

[The pat on his cheek just tops things off, really, earns a flinch; and then Zelos is moving away, standing up, wandering off as if a perfectly normal conversation had just been wrapped up.]

[Jack takes a moment to stare after him--rubs one of his shoulders as if that'd be enough to shake off this feeling overall, in the wake of that (because it's silly and stupid and that was so obviously teasing and they'd just finished something already besides, and yet--). ...It doesn't work, and Jack doesn't hesitate to send a proper glare at Zelos's departing back before puffing out a sigh that comes out more of a huff and moving to get off the bed and stand up himself.]

You're terrible, you know that? [GRUMBLED...because clearly that's the best way to divert from the current mixture of awkwardness and uncertainty and irritation that's threatening to have Jack actually vocally question what one's supposed to do now, after...all this. But no, he's not sunk quite that low yet, and he's a quick learner, and--clothes, yeah, clothes seem like a good idea first and foremost. The belated realization that they are still in an active clinic has Jack following Zelos over to that spot fairly promptly to retrieve his share of things...pick up his staff...]

[...Flick the crook at the side of Zelos's head as he goes, if he can get away with it......]

[luxuriant]

Heheheheh--

[That was his response to the comment (heavily implying that yes, yes he does know that) up until Jack sneaks in that little flick with his staff. He does in fact get away with it! It thunks against Zelos' head as he stumbles a bit out of his laughter and from picking up his pants, as well, and a free hand immediately moves to cover the spot while he whines in exaggeration.]

Hey, hey, hey, come on, that hurt! [Doesn't he face physical abuse enough!! It's not as if his words call for it or anything, no not at all.

But he's at sort of a loss here. Playing around like this is easy. He can joke and laugh off being hit and keep picking up his clothes, but from here, what are they doing? He's let his thoughts fall back into how he's bad for Jack, that this isn't good no matter what he may want, and at the same time this isn't something that seems so appealing to address immediately regardless. Not seriously in this way. Not... directly.

Ugh! He doesn't usually have to deal with this wave of emotion after something he usually considers so impersonal. It wasn't this time, was it?]

I was just saying what I felt like! Don't get all embarrassed now. [He winds down in this way, laughing lightly (but noticeably fainter than usual) as he trails off, eyes moving aside to the wall instead of Jack now as he thinks of how to word this.]

You're not going to run away, are you?

[And it comes out so hideously-- horribly enough that he almost winces. But he doesn't. He just rattles it off like a joke with the rest of it, gives the bandages on his arm a small look-over while he's at it, and tries not to let himself think on how that came out a little too honestly from his thoughts.]