melodiesoflife | Event || The Festival Of Light

Was this letter just sent to him? There was no mention of Akane, but Duster can think of other people Aoi would invite (he does have more than one friend. He's sure). The issue is that after that walk in the rain weeks ago, a simple invitation can mean something a while lot more.

Tamekichi continued his teasing that next day, asking how the "date" went, adding his own commentary whenever Duster said something that could even be remotely constructed at dirty. That was true torture. Not because he hated the idea of dating Aoi, no, Duster was surprised by how unbothere he was by the possibility. Aoi is kind of...hot. They get along well. But he can't tell if Aoi just thinks of Duster as a friend or he stays close to him on purpose.

The letter gives him some hope. Maybe Aoi does like him. Maybe they can clear things up.

Duster wears cargo pants with a bright T-shirt he won at a game yesterday when he arrives at the airport ten minute before departure time. He's fiddling with the insides of his pockets, only glancing up to check where Aoi is waiting for him. It would be weird to keep looking at him the whole time.

He stops just a few steps away, biting his lip while he thinks of what to do.

"...Hey."

Duster may or may not have too much faith in Aoi's friend-making abilities. But yeah, they're on their own tonight, except for all the other people who are showing up to ride the airship. They don't matter.

Aoi looks up from his pacing. "Oh. Hey." His posture slumps a little in relief. "You're here. Good. That's...good." He scratches the back of his head.

"We should get on board, you know, and find a good spot." ~~Secluded, preferably~~.

Duster swears he can smell cinnamon. Nervousness can make people hallucinate, but he's pretty sure he never heard of someone smelling things. Especially not something so random as cinnamon.

He stuffs his hands deeper into his pockets. "...Right, we should hurry."

He can't tell if Aoi's just as nervous or if he's nervous for the same reasons. Duster doubts he can think straight at the exact moment. Thankfully, the threat of being left on the ground gives him something to do, and he follows the stragglers up the ramp, where he'll have plenty of time to think this through. Just him, Aoi, and the night.

...That sounds too romantic. Best not to get his hopes up too soon.

Aoi leads the way up the ramp. He walks past the dance floor that's been set up inside. No way. He pauses by the buffet table, though.

"You, uh, want anything to eat? Or a drink? I can get you a drink."

He's got a vague plan in his head. Duster's too nice of a guy for him, he's pretty sure. But if he can really impress him before Duster finds out how terrible Aoi is, maybe he'll have a chance of not scaring him off. So he's determined to make sure Duster has a good time.

Food. That's a good distraction. He can think better with food.

"Fireworks do sound better with a full stomach," he says quietly and reaches over for a plate. "...We can get drinks later."

He steps in front of the first set of dishes and stops to look at Aoi, expecting him to get a plate as well.

Aoi lets Duster go ahead. He's not sure if he can eat. His stomach is doing flips, and it's got nothing to do with being on a ship that's going to take off in a few minutes.

"Sure. That sounds...nice." He picks up a plate. What can he try to force down, that won't give him bad breath or get stuck in his teeth or prove to be some other sort of disaster like that? He settles on the bowls of fruit, and scoops up a few strawberries, grapes, and slivers of pineapple. He can do this. He is a Kurashiki. Kurashiki's play to ~~not die~~win.

"Ok, come on. We gotta find some seats with a view before they all get taken." It's easier to get through the nerves when he's taking charge and pursuing a clear goal. Seats, the best ones he can find. That's what he needs to make this date go well. Obviously, if they don't see some amazing fireworks, Duster won't want to do anything with him ever again.

Wess used to tell Duster that when he didn't know what to do, dance. Of course, that was meant to be a hint to how to open a secret passage in the castle, but at times like these, he could use a distraction. Instead, he dumps a scoopful of casserole, two pieces of bacon-wrapped dates, and cheese. Lots of cheese. At least three cubes of every type of cheese on this table.

God, he loves cheese. Cheese is his friend.

With comfort food in tow, Duster follows Aoi through the crowd. He's glad he has someone who has a clear idea what to do. Otherwise, he'd stand in the middle of the room and think about all the possible places they could go.

Unfortunately, a lot of the best seats are already taken by groups of young adults who are here to drink beer and party. The deck is packed with tourists and couples wanting the most memorable night of their lives. This can't do. Duster grabs Aoi's sleeve before he can go too far.

"What about there?" He points to one of the cabins. The roof seems like the obvious place, but his finger points elsewhere, at a overhang that workers would store cargo under. It's empty for the fireworks tour, and it should give them a good view of the display.

"...It's a bit far from the crowd, but at least we'll be sitting down." Just to clarify. It's not like he's purposefully taking Aoi somewhere where they'll be alone.

Aoi follows Duster's gesture, and nods. "Yeah. Sure. That works, if you wanna." He thinks it's perfect, but if Duster wants those prime seats, all it would take to get them would be one little can of Soporil. But if Duster's ok with seclusion...

He smiles down at his boots. That's fine by him.

"C'mon, let's get it before someone else spots it." It might technically be trespassing, since they're heading toward an area the crew uses, but that's...kind of better. Look at Duster the rebel. It's cute.

After taking down a corrupt overlord and his army, small acts of rebellion are nothing to Duster. What's a bit of rule breaking that ultimately doesn't hurt anyone? He alway climbed on onto the roof of his house when he was younger to take a good look at Tazmily.

Duster holds out his free hand in front of Aoi and waits. Scanning the deck, he doesn't spot any security guards, and he moves forward, slipping into the crowd and using the movements of the tourists searching for seats to make his way towards the cabin. The path winds forward, then to the right and back, then forward again. Go with the flow, and no one will notice them.

Aoi sees Duster's hand gesturing him to stop, but he takes another step forward like he hasn't, so that Duster's hand brushes against his stomach. Then he reminds himself, he's on good behavior, and steps back. Even if Duster is really hot when he goes into spy mode.

What he really wants to do is take his hand, but they each have a plate full of food, and Aoi doesn't like to have both hands tied up when he's gotta be moving around. So he walks alongside Duster. "It's a nice night. We should be able to see pretty far."

What could be more inconspicuous than small talk as they work their way toward the awning?

His fingers twitch when he touch Aoi's stomach, but Duster remains focused on leaving the crowd. There's a pause, and he stops.

"Yeah. You picked a good night." Duster looks out at space separating them from their spot. They two have reached the edge of the crowd, but the last step is to sneak into the shadows without anyone noticing.

He turns to Aoi. "All we have to do now is wait for an opening. On my signal, you go first, then I'll go."

...And they need to do something until then to remain under suspicion. Duster picks out a cube of cheese and pops it into his mouth.

Aoi is loving this stealth mission nonsense. It makes their destination feel so...forbidden. He's kind of really into it.

"We should have code names. And a secret distress call. That way, if I see someone coming, I can tip you off." His stomach flutters less now that he's being distracted by this sneaking game, so he takes a strawberry and nibbles at it.

"I guess we're too high up for bird calls. Maybe croak like a frog? A frog could've hopped onto the ship, right?" The strawberries on the buffet are great. He has to lick the juice from his fingers. He doesn't wanna get a big stain on his shirt.

"We're still low enough that we can do bird calls. But really, I'll just poke you when I see an opening."

He turns around, definitely not expecting to see Aoi sticking his fingers in his mouth. Much less licking off the strawberry juice so slowly, giving Duster a good view of his mouth...

He shakes his head. What's wrong with him? Getting distracted by that makes no sense.

"Are you ready?" He silently prays for the two passengers standing by the railing to turn around right now.

"Ok, poke away." Bird calls would've been fun, though. And he's not gonna be able to poke Duser once he's in their secret spot...although, once they're both there, if they get caught, they can pretend they snuck in there to make out. But wait, that's more suspicious than what they're actually doing, isn't it?

"Right. Yeah, I'm ready." He's finished off the strawberry, so yeah, he's ready to go. He'll move when he gets the signal.

Oh thank the gods. The airship turning grabs everyone's attention, leaving no one that can look their way. Duster pushes Aoi's shoulder and whispers "Go!" at him.

He'll just...stay out here for a few more seconds and eat some more cheese. This outing has been a mess so far. A strawberry shouldn't have been enough to leave Duster's head spinning, but here he is about to be alone with Aoi and these confusing feelings.

This outing has been great so far. Aoi quickly crosses the distance to the storage area, and he turns back to wink at Duster before ducking into the shadows. This is awesome, and he's awesome, and Duster is awesome.

Now he just needs to wait for Duster to get his butt over here so the fireworks can get started. He amuses himself as he waits by throwing grapes up in the air and trying to catch them in his mouth. It's not as easy as it sounds when you're seated on a moving airship.

It's easy for Duster to sneak away any time he wants, being a thief, but his limp puts him at a disadvantage. Most people would look over an average-looking guy like him, but they always remember "that limping guy I saw there a second ago." He waits another minute, giving himself enough time to control his breathing.

Good. Back to normal. He can deal with this. Once the first firework rises into the sky, he takes the opportunity to turn around and run to the storage area while careful not to drop any of his snacks.

Aoi casually brushes a few grapes out of the way when Duster finally appears.

"Took you long enough," he teases, but he scoots over to make room for Duster to sit beside him. Not that there isn't enough room for two, but he's hoping Duster's not going to sit on the other side of the space.

"C'mon, they're starting."

Duster slides his plate onto the awning next to Aoi. He doesn't want to be close enough to touch him, but he can't sit too far. The plate will be a good buffer. He pulls himself up onto the awning and takes his seat.

He sits in silence as another firework flies up. Blue. He reaches over for his plate.

"...It's a nice view."

Uh, no. Aoi sets his plate on the other side of him, then takes Duster's place and puts it on his lap. Now there's no reason he can't move up beside Duster. So he does. Personal space is for quitters.

"Yeah, it's good. Kinda...romantic and shit, right?" He pops another strawberry into his mouth. He hopes it's suave and cool.

Edited 2016-07-20 04:50 (UTC)

Duster doesn't notice the strawberry because did Aoi just call this romantic? He moved right next to him and said that. There shouldn't be any reason to be afraid.

But he's tense an looking at his feet dangling over the edge instead of at the fireworks. He can't say no when this is getting romantic, but saying yes feels painful. Maybe he should wrap his arm around Aoi again, maybe he should look at him, maybe--

"Y-yeah...I guess that's why this is popular with couples." A non-answer in his eyes, but like hell his flushed face doesn't mean anything.

Well, blushing into the darkness isn't good enough, is it? Aoi needs him to admit it, so that he doesn't pretend this was nothing later on. He presses on.

"And you showed up 'cause I asked you to. You didn't just black out and wake up here with no memories of how you got here." Which had been a very real possibility. Aoi is really trying here, Duster, you don't even understand.

"That's, like, basically...you know, a date. Right?" He steals one of Duster's cheese cubes, but he ends up putting it back on the plate. It's too tense of a moment to eat. He just needs something to do so Duster's silence doesn't kill him.

Edited 2016-07-21 00:45 (UTC)

He doesn't care if Aoi steals his cheese. The fireworks are silent, despite their light illuminating the space between the two of them. Duster stares at the empty spot where they aren't touching.

"A..." A date. His hand grips on he edge of of the awning, the other hand that's closer to Aoi still on his knee.

"I...had to show up..." Why? Because they were friends? Because he wanted to figure out what happened on the 10th? Isn't this what he was hoping for?

His mouth opens and closes as he tries to sound out his answer, but he can't believe this is actually happening. Is this just a dream? He tentatively holds out a shaking hand, letting it hover over Aoi's. If he touches this illusion, will it disappear?

Just at this moment, Duster's eyes flick upward to look at his face for the first time tonight. There's hope in his own, bewilderment. The past few weeks have gone by so fast: this guy (who happens to be good looking) becoming a friend, they hang out together, bond over training, break apart, share an umbrella, and he asks him out on a date. It's almost like it happened out of nowhere.

Aoi translates fear to anger. It's his automatic reaction to being scared. And he's so afraid that Duster's gonna start laughing at him any second now. His eyes narrow, though his flaming cheeks probably make it look more ridiculous than intimidating.

"HEY, nobody made you come. You coulda said 'no', or gone with someone else. But you didn't. So, yeah, either it's a date, or else you're a dumbass who does romantic shit with his friends. And...that's fine...but...I gotta know which it is..."

He loses steam as he finishes, because he's pretty sure Duster's gonna run for the metaphorical hills and leave Aoi up here alone with the fireworks. Who's he trying to kid? Why'd he think this date thing was gonna work?

If it were any other person, the sudden violent change in Aoi's tone and that remark would have caused Duster to flinch. Not this time. He takes it as a good sign. His instincts tell him he can trust Aoi, and he can't run. He's just...upset.

Duster breathes in and takes the leap of faith. His hand lowers onto Aoi's forearm. His fingers tingle as they press down, and his entire hand goes numb. He can't tell if it's hot of cold, but it's spread to his palm, and it's spreading into the rest of his arm.

"..."

And he's not a dumbass.

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