[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.]
[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.]
[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.]
[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.]
[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.]
[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!]
[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.]
[Without the tippy-tapping, her hands feel quite nice resting over his insignia. But, no! He can't get all dopey and smiley over this. She just got the one up in him!]
Yeah well, this one doesn't count as a win cause I wasn't given time to try to escape.
[It doesn't count? That tempers her smile. Youko leans more bodily against him, trading the hold on Bandou for the edge of the sink, her hands bracketing him in while her voice drops into that lower register. Provocation, a challenge in each round syllable.]
[It's official. Bandou Saburouta liking dominant women has been confirmed. If there weren't in the back of the bar right now, he may have already given up on his potential, but very unlikely, win and let Youko do as she wishes with her prisoner.
But, no! He has to focus on showing her up! Or, at the very least, impress her with his own skills. And he has to think of how to do so fast, cause apparently there's a time limit he's mentally set for himself.
Right now there's two options he can see. One: Slip down and duck under her arms. But, it might prove difficult due to their height difference and he'd most likely end up blurting out another comment on her short stature, worsening the predicament he got himself into. Two: Quickly hoist himself up onto the edge of the sink and jump over her. The better of the two options, but it also exponentially increases the potential for glass breakage.
Damn it. He's already lost, he thinks before a third option pops into mind. What if he used the very same thing that got this whole ordeal started? Smirking to himself, he decides to go for it. A scare tactic! The moment Bandou gently places the glass into the sink's basin, he allows his Aura to spark up around the areas she isn't in contact with him. If he's successful in getting her to back up in shock, he'll have his moment to run!]
[For the briefest of moments, she wonders if he's going to give up the ghost and accept defeat. Then the glass clinks against the sink and his Aura flares to life, suffusing their close quarters with heat and the threat of flames. She can feel the shirei sleeping in her skin reacting to the display, Jouyuu clawing into her muscles, flooding her irises in red and bidding her limbs to move, a compulsion to get to safety.
If it were anything else, anyone else, she'd allow it to take hold of her, submit to the protection, regroup. That it is Bandou keeps her still despite the urgent feeling nagging at her, and makes her close her eyes tight, severing the shirei's control with blindness.
If there is one thing she has total confidence in, it is this simple truth:]
[Confusion hits him first. He'd expected her to jolt back, releasing him before scolding him as he sprinted out the back entrance of the bar. But the press of her body against his back is unflinching. And her gentle words have him heaving a sigh as the bright, firey Aura fizzles out. If there's anyone he can suck up his pettiness for, it's her. She's caught him fully, both his body and his heart.]
You're right.
[He does his best to turn in her arms so she can see that any bitterness that may have been there before has extinguished along with the flames.]
[It is probably for the best that her competitiveness doesn't come coupled with a need for victory laps or gloating. His concession — and the lack of a sour look coloring his face when she reopens her eyes — is more than enough to satisfy her and bring her smile back up to full strength.
She starts to relax her hold on the sink to give him more freedom, removing one proverbial bar on the cage she made around him, before thinking better of it and resting her hand on his hip. It might not be in her gloat, but having him compromised and at the mercy of her teasing isn't unappealing.]
[The stack of glasses get a nervous glance, as if he already forgot they were there and the mere mention of them might cause them to topple.]
Yeah, maybe we should step away from the sink.
[Though, being the trapped prisoner he is, he doesn't make any moves to back Youko away. He doesn't want her to think he's planning another escape when he's already submitted.]
[The anxious look he shoots the precariously balanced glasses gets a soft laugh out of her. She can perfectly see the horrible tragedy the wrong jostle or nudge would spell out for Bandou, and accordingly takes a measured step back towards the opposite counter.]
I suppose we don't want your hard work going to waste.
I don't see why we can't just shove them all in a dish washer.
[He shouldn't complain. Kusanagi could 100% make him do them without paying him. Though the potential of that meager paycheck turning into stifling debt is a pretty high risk gamble. So he is absolutely following her as she moves them along. Plus, with her back to the counter now, he could possibly have a little advantage to go in for a kiss!]
[Once the counter is against her back, Youko glances towards the door, checking for impending foot traffic as if she were actually up to something illicit, and then carefully hoists herself up to perch on the edge. Far away from any precious breakables, but much closer to eye level with Bandou.]
I could probably be persuaded to dry if you're going to be Kusanagi's hostage for a while yet?
[With that classic nerdy grin of his on, he closes any distance left between them. Considering Kamamoto was in here only a few minutes earlier, any of the guys could walk in on the potential makeout session he's very keen on initiating right now. But that's fine. He'd wanted to put 'semi-public' on the TSAL at one point, didn't he?]
You might have to go up against HOMRA's second in command to claim ownership of me~
[It's his turn to settle his hands on either side of Youko as he leans in to capture that first kiss.]
I didn't exactly think up any plans for taking on the HOMRA second-in-command...
[The telegraph of him coming in for a kiss is crystal clear, and while it's tempting to lean into it and hang the risk of an audience joining them, Youko isn't ready to give in just yet. Instead, she opts to cup his face and tilt just out of range, eyes rolling towards the door again with a thoughtful hum. Like she was taking the opportunity to formulate a real plan on the spot.]
He'd probably give up if an ally of mine with big teeth and claws threatened the bar, right?
[Not that she'd order Hyouki to do something as unkind as that, especially when she just said 'hello' to the man in question minutes ago, but...]
[His puckered lips look more like a pouting duck face now that his cheeks are squished in her hand. It pairs well with the disappointed sound he makes at not being able to get that kiss.]
That or he wouldn't hold back. I kicked a barstool once and he grabbed and lifted me up by my face so we could have a talk about my 'status in the bar'. He's terrifying when you put this place on the line.
[He sounds really convincing trying to speak with squished cheeks, too.
[It takes a not insignificant amount of restraint on her part to keep from laughing once she looks back to Bandou and comes face-to-face with his duck face. Even if the anecdote he's offering is — as it usually is with these boys and their treatment of each other — appalling, the pout is just a little too cute for her to not allow herself to be distracted and take some pity on him. Giving his face one gentle squish, she leans forward into his strike radius, repositioning her hands onto his shoulders. Primed to play nice if he wanted to make a second pass.]
Is this warning because you're counting me out of that fight? Because you just told me he's apparently hurt something a lot more important to me than furniture...
[She relaxes into the kisses with a soft, contented noise, hands coaxing him back to catch him in a fourth, and knees splaying enough for him get closer. It, and the sigh she lets out when they break apart, takes any building bite out her voice.]
I know you don't. For what it's worth, I don't really want to either.
['Whose side,' indeed. If a fight did break out, it would put him in an awful position, one of questioned loyalties and conflicted feelings. No matter how badly as she may want his clan-mates to straighten up and act better towards him, creating a new source of pain is definitely something she doesn't want.]
... sort of wish I had it in me to tell you to root for me, though.
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fast-forwarding a bit
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.]
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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.]
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Not that she isn't anticipating supplying him with a whole new host of complaints from the millisecond she lays hands on him.]
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an allowancean under the table pay check over his head for this job, he'd have walked out by now.]no subject
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?
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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!]
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Isn't it obvious?
[She adjusts her hold just enough for her fingertips tap against his covered mark.]
I've caught you.
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That's not fair. I didn't know you were actually gonna try!
[Let's be real though, she would have gotten him either way.]
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Talking about having you at my mercy isn't exactly ambiguous, Saburouta.
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Yeah well, this one doesn't count as a win cause I wasn't given time to try to escape.
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Then put the glass down. You can try now.
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But, no! He has to focus on showing her up! Or, at the very least, impress her with his own skills. And he has to think of how to do so fast, cause apparently there's a time limit he's mentally set for himself.
Right now there's two options he can see. One: Slip down and duck under her arms. But, it might prove difficult due to their height difference and he'd most likely end up blurting out another comment on her short stature, worsening the predicament he got himself into. Two: Quickly hoist himself up onto the edge of the sink and jump over her. The better of the two options, but it also exponentially increases the potential for glass breakage.
Damn it. He's already lost, he thinks before a third option pops into mind. What if he used the very same thing that got this whole ordeal started? Smirking to himself, he decides to go for it. A scare tactic! The moment Bandou gently places the glass into the sink's basin, he allows his Aura to spark up around the areas she isn't in contact with him. If he's successful in getting her to back up in shock, he'll have his moment to run!]
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If it were anything else, anyone else, she'd allow it to take hold of her, submit to the protection, regroup. That it is Bandou keeps her still despite the urgent feeling nagging at her, and makes her close her eyes tight, severing the shirei's control with blindness.
If there is one thing she has total confidence in, it is this simple truth:]
You won't hurt me.
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You're right.
[He does his best to turn in her arms so she can see that any bitterness that may have been there before has extinguished along with the flames.]
I guess losing this one time isn't so bad.
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She starts to relax her hold on the sink to give him more freedom, removing one proverbial bar on the cage she made around him, before thinking better of it and resting her hand on his hip. It might not be in her gloat, but having him compromised and at the mercy of her teasing isn't unappealing.]
Not least of all because the glasses survived?
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Yeah, maybe we should step away from the sink.
[Though, being the trapped prisoner he is, he doesn't make any moves to back Youko away. He doesn't want her to think he's planning another escape when he's already submitted.]
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I suppose we don't want your hard work going to waste.
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[He shouldn't complain. Kusanagi could 100% make him do them without paying him. Though the potential of that meager paycheck turning into stifling debt is a pretty high risk gamble. So he is absolutely following her as she moves them along. Plus, with her back to the counter now, he could possibly have a little advantage to go in for a kiss!]
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[Once the counter is against her back, Youko glances towards the door, checking for impending foot traffic as if she were actually up to something illicit, and then carefully hoists herself up to perch on the edge. Far away from any precious breakables, but much closer to eye level with Bandou.]
I could probably be persuaded to dry if you're going to be Kusanagi's hostage for a while yet?
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[With that classic nerdy grin of his on, he closes any distance left between them. Considering Kamamoto was in here only a few minutes earlier, any of the guys could walk in on the potential makeout session he's very keen on initiating right now. But that's fine. He'd wanted to put 'semi-public' on the TSAL at one point, didn't he?]
You might have to go up against HOMRA's second in command to claim ownership of me~
[It's his turn to settle his hands on either side of Youko as he leans in to capture that first kiss.]
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[The telegraph of him coming in for a kiss is crystal clear, and while it's tempting to lean into it and hang the risk of an audience joining them, Youko isn't ready to give in just yet. Instead, she opts to cup his face and tilt just out of range, eyes rolling towards the door again with a thoughtful hum. Like she was taking the opportunity to formulate a real plan on the spot.]
He'd probably give up if an ally of mine with big teeth and claws threatened the bar, right?
[Not that she'd order Hyouki to do something as unkind as that, especially when she just said 'hello' to the man in question minutes ago, but...]
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That or he wouldn't hold back. I kicked a barstool once and he grabbed and lifted me up by my face so we could have a talk about my 'status in the bar'. He's terrifying when you put this place on the line.
[He sounds really convincing trying to speak with squished cheeks, too.
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Is this warning because you're counting me out of that fight? Because you just told me he's apparently hurt something a lot more important to me than furniture...
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[He'll take this open opportunity to finally get that kiss! Okay, maybe two. Or three, slinking his arms around her waist as he does.]
Whose side am I supposed to root for?
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I know you don't. For what it's worth, I don't really want to either.
['Whose side,' indeed. If a fight did break out, it would put him in an awful position, one of questioned loyalties and conflicted feelings. No matter how badly as she may want his clan-mates to straighten up and act better towards him, creating a new source of pain is definitely something she doesn't want.]
... sort of wish I had it in me to tell you to root for me, though.
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