@ pettymuch.

[suntones]

for continuations, prompts, starters, etc. ♥

Comments

[suntones]

that's an innovative way to be asked to be put in air jail.

[pettymuch]

ill just have to scoop you up first!

[suntones]

you'll make a valiant attempt, i'm sure.

[pettymuch]

hey i can do it!!
ive picked you up before!

[suntones]

you have, but i don't think you'll get to this time if i take that 'first' like a challenge.

[And she is. She very much is.]

[pettymuch]

no way youll be first
im faster and taller than you

[suntones]

are you willing to bet on that?

because last i checked you haven't sparred with me.

[pettymuch]

we havent
but ive got a lot of practice fighting too

[suntones]

i know you do. i'm just not the one discounting an opponent because of their height.

[pettymuch]

ah shit!
im sorry!!
youre not actually mad right??!

[suntones]

maybe slightly irked, but i'll get over it.

right after i catch you.

[pettymuch]

...idk if i should be terrified or turned on

[suntones]

[Knowing his capricious moods?]

you'll probably find a way to juggle both.

[pettymuch]

i have to!
cause youre sexy no matter what youre doing!

[suntones]

no matter what? that sounds like your bias talking.

[pettymuch]

yeah no matter what!
i cant help it if my gf is the sexiest one around!

[suntones]

guess we'll see how the flattery holds up when you're at my mercy.

[pettymuch]

okay im definitely more turned on!

fast-forwarding a bit

[suntones]

[Maybe she shouldn't be doing this. Maybe it is a textbook example of picking your battles, the kind of mole hill that doesn't need to become a mountain. Maybe their exchange should have stayed as a playful series of texts, something silly and flirty on the tail-end of an experiment hosted in her kitchen (unsupervised) that she was just genuinely glad didn't turn into a 119 call. Maybe going so far as to tell Bandou she was busy for the night just to go about planning to catch him off-guard while he'd been inevitably sentenced to washing dishes in the HOMRA kitchenette is a little childish.

Then again, this is a far more measured response than the last man who underestimated her got. No army deployment this time, no uprising, no arrests. Just Youko sneaking in behind Kamamoto with his bussed glasses, seamlessly trading the cover of the largest member of their gang for ducking down behind the counter at Bandou's back, well below his line-of-sight. Really utilizing how short he helpfully pointed out she is while waiting for her moment.]

[pettymuch]

[Dish duty. Why does Kusanagi always give him dish duty? He could serve drinks. Maybe not mix them, but what could be so difficult about walking a newly poured, pricey alcoholic treat across a busy, low lit bar? Kusanagi could just mix up another if he spilled it, right? It doesn't make any damn sense to give the guy who'd be the first one to do so the task of cleaning up multiple fragile glasses with slippery, soaped up hands. Ones he has to rearrange on the drying mat multiple times just to fit all the varying sizes and shapes together. Kusanagi's just asking for the sound of a huge crash to reverberate though the back room.

At least hes almost done. Just one more glass to precariously place on the mat and he'll be free to shed this wet, soapy kitchen apron and get a drink of his own! Until Kamamoto arrives with a new tray. There aren't too many. But Bandou's gonna groan in protest nonetheless.]

Are you kidding me??

[Kamamoto can't help but chuckle at Bandou's predictable reaction before he leaves his comrade to it. He sure as hell doesn't wanna be caught back here when something inevitably breaks.]

[suntones]

[That all-too-predictable and familiar protest at the freshly deposited tray of dirty glasses makes the corners of her mouth turn up, his poor luck of the draw working nicely to her advantage as a distraction. Watching Kamamoto vacate the area, she waits a few extra moments before shifting her balance until she is poised on her toes, ready to move as soon as the grumbling ends and the scrubbing resumes.

Not that she isn't anticipating supplying him with a whole new host of complaints from the millisecond she lays hands on him.]

[pettymuch]

[The scrubbing has resumed, but that doesn't mean the grumbling ceases. If anything, it gives enough sound cover for Youko to put a little less effort into being stealthy, if she needs to. He's giving the stubborn spots that litter the bottom of this particular glass a stern talking to. What the hell was this person drinking that got it so dirty over the course of maybe a half hour, tops? If Kusanagi wasn't dangling an allowance an under the table pay check over his head for this job, he'd have walked out by now.]

[suntones]

[A slight miscalculation, she realizes, as his grumbling evolves and he lays into one of the glasses. While the additional noise is a windfall, she has no intention of relaxing because of it. 'Easy' isn't in the plan. Even if it is silly — and there is no mistaking it is — what pride Youko has in how far she has come since that first fight feels a little scuffed. Proving to Bandou that she isn't just talk, that she is capable, reliable in the rough spaces HOMRA occupies, will hopefully smooth that feeling the rest of the way away. Like she told him, she'd get over it after she caught him.

Taking a steadying breath, she moves out from behind the counter, keeping low to the ground as she swiftly clears the handful of feet between them, until she's situated behind him. If she were a little taller and he weren't wearing his ever trusty sunglasses, this is where she could surprise him by clapping her hands over his eyes. Not having that option, she goes for the next best thing and springs up to catch him around the middle, arms tightening as soon as she has contact.]

Washing dishes again?

[pettymuch]

[The yelp that pounce gets may have been louder than any clattering dishes! As well as the cursing that ensues while he scrambles to regain his grasp on the soapy highball glass he'd been scrubbing. It's only when it settles in his hands that he's able to process the voice he'd heard. He peeks down at the arms wrapped tightly around his middle and heaves a heavy breath.]

Youko? Why'd you jump me like that? I could have dropped this!

[He wants to sound angry, but it just can't come out like that around her. Cause he damn well would have laid into Shouhei if he tried to pull something like that off!]

[suntones]

[Despite the yelping and the swearing and the fumbling, there is no shattering glass which means she doesn't need to bow her head, apologize to and reimburse Kusanagi like she had been braced for. A very clean and clear success. She gives Bandou an extra squeeze, leaning slightly to one side to grin at him, triumphant.]

Isn't it obvious?

[She adjusts her hold just enough for her fingertips tap against his covered mark.]

I've caught you.