SOULMATE AU!!!

[was_no_monster]

FOR ALL GOOFY SOULMATE NEEDS :3c

Comments

[coaldhearted]

[this may be the first time Harvey's actually taken Kite with him into a bar, knowing how he is about crowds. maybe this time there aren't vacancies in the local inn yet, or some other reason, but as things stand Harvey's pretty much leaving Kite to his own devices as he thoroughly thrashes some of the other occupants at cards.]

[was_no_monster]

[ for the most part, "his own devices" is watching Harvey play. he'd shown more than a passing interest in learning how the game worked before, but this is his first time really seeing it in practice— he wants to pick up as much as he can.

(that, and he does feel better staying close. he's gotten less jumpy around other people, but it's still loud and smokey in there.)

the atmosphere is amiable enough, though. one particular player—a middle-aged worker who'd been taking his beating at Harvey's hands with good grace—takes notice of Kite's interest and coaxes him into conversation, and then into playing a hand for him (joking that it isn't as if Kite could do any worse, after all.)

...it turns out he does better and somehow wins that round, which is how he Kite gets his first drink: bought with the winnings at the man's insistence. and then somebody else buys the table a round, and... well. the first indication Harvey gets that things are going downhill and fast is a creeping sense of unfocused, but pleasant warmth ]

[coaldhearted]

[Harvey doesn't really show any sign of reacting to Kite winning a round, at least not overtly enough for the other card players to tell. They rib him for it, saying he should be proud of his brother and also that he should have taught him how to play ages ago. At least one person wonders out loud if this is a scam, but the mood is too light for anyone to latch onto it.

There is a note of pleased surprise, though, across their connection. At least until that unfamiliar creeping warmth makes it give way to confusion. Glances up from his hand to eye Kite carefully.]

[was_no_monster]

[ he's... more than a little flushed, patchy across the bridge of his nose, and also eying his mostly-empty drink in consternation. he looks up when he catches Harvey's confusion, looking slightly hangdog, and announces (much to the rest of the table's amusement): ]

...Harvey, I think I might be a lightweight.

[coaldhearted]

... Yeah. That's what it looks like.

Let's go back to the room after this hand is over.

[was_no_monster]

[ hangdog intensifies. he'd been having fun :( ]

Okay... aah, this is your fault.

[ HE SAYS, and then downs the last of his drink anyway. might as well, right? ]

[coaldhearted]

Mmhm.

[Not denying it, trying to finish up the hand fast.]

[was_no_monster]

[ just gonna. flop over onto the table and wait, then, grumbling vaguely to himself...

despite the grumble, he's actually in a pretty good mood and not making any attempt to keep Harvey from picking up on that. a little sheepish, definitely exasperated at... something that isn't Harvey (probably his alcohol tolerance), but mostly smugly pleased with himself in a loopy sort of way. ...okay maybe there's a little bit of love for everyone in the room, too, but that's allowed! they've been nice to him and are in fact still being nice by keeping the teasing down to gently ribbing the dumb kid, which is pretty deserved. it's absolutely not the alcohol talking.

(it is a little bit the alcohol talking.) ]

[coaldhearted]

[Harvey's so distracted by Kite's feelings that he loses this hand too, but he didn't bet much on it because he was too distracted by Kite's feelings, so it works out.]

Kite. Let's go.

[feelthisnoiz]

[life can get pretty complicated when you're an information broker and professional Rhymer. some days everything is fine and goes off without a hitch! and some days the fucking police break up your game at the worst possible time and it takes you just a second too long to get your bearings when Usui disappears and then you spend the day hiding in back alleys to shake off pursuit.

y'know. midorijima life.]

[was_no_monster]

[ #midorijimalife

midorijima life is also having some punk kid nearly run into you while running from the same cops you're using that particular alley to hopefully avoid catching the notice of. not that Kaito'd done anything in the recent past to warrant an arrest— but with how much of the police force is in Toue's pockets, that doesn't matter at all. ]

—shit, careful!

[feelthisnoiz]

[fuck you and fuck this there is no time to explain, grabs him and shoves him down an adjoining alley]

[was_no_monster]

[ that actually works really well, considering he'd just reached out to do the exact same thing; that shove wouldn't have worked at all otherwise. huffing quietly and towing the kid after him. there's a shortcut via a fire escape not far from where they are, if they can get there fast enough... ]

[feelthisnoiz]

[fortunately, the kid seems to be entirely composed of lean wiry muscle and apparently has a lot of experience in traversing the cluttered urban backways quickly. as soon as he sees the fire escape, he stops needing to be towed and moves in accord with his partner of the moment.]

[was_no_monster]

[ letting him go, then, and letting him take the escape first as well. no sense making him wait while he hauls his own heavy ass up, not to mention the risk of making it take both of their weights.

the door at the top of the fire escape has been unlocked, the inside of the building vandalized. there are steps up to the roof, though, not to mention several rooms off of a main hallway. it's a good place to either hide or use to get elsewhere. ]

[feelthisnoiz]

[hiding is fine - there comes a time when the pursuit needs to stop being able to hear footsteps. the kid gives the rooms a cursory check, then ducks into one without windows and sits down on the floor.

...aaand immediately brings up some screens on his coil and starts typing. really?]

[was_no_monster]

[ does, in fact, make a "really?" sort of face, but does not comment out loud. he slips into the same room, weirdly noiseless for a guy his size (although there's something off about the way he moves...), and eases the door mostly shut— not so much they wouldn't be able to hear someone coming, but also keeping anyone from immediately looking in and seeing them ]

[feelthisnoiz]

[so it turns out walking out on your soulmate without getting a name or contact information or anything is not really a great life choice. but that's okay - there are ways and there are means, and Noiz has both time and motivation to search.

he's good at finding where artificial beings are going to be.]

[was_no_monster]

[ it's only the fact that Noiz is as good as he is that gets him any information at all. whoever his soulmate is, he seems to be living completely off the grid— the only registered profile that seems to fit turns out to be a dead end, nothing but garbage data. there aren't any purchase records that can be traced back to him, and at first the only thing searches of his appearance turns up is some sort of bullshit creepypasta about some sort of glitch in Rhyme— a supposed monster made up of the corrupted data of the Rhymers it had eaten.

eventually, though, there's a lead— a blurry picture taken from a street security camera near the north of the Old Resident District. from there, it isn't difficult at all to pull up more and trace him back to a shitty studio apartment rented to an Ichiro Tesshin. ]

[feelthisnoiz]

[it's enough. it's enough. once he has the address, he's out the door. he navigates by back alleys, and without Usagimodoki - if the police are after this "Tesshin", they won't be able to track him through Noiz.

it's the middle of the night when he gets there. there's no way to look in through a window and see if the other man is in; it's too late to knock on the door without drawing unwanted attention.

but it's a cheap lock and easy to force without much noise at all.]

[was_no_monster]

[ the door creaks open to a dark apartment; there's no sign of the man from before, for the moment. it's definitely inhabited, though; there's a pile of bedding shoved into a makeshift futon in the corner, and clothes and books scattered untidily across the floor.

that, and there is a runty-looking patchy cat blinking at him from her bed on top of the futon before trilling in inquiry ]

[feelthisnoiz]

[Noiz slips in carefully, shutting the door behind him with as little sound as possible, before crouching down and reaching out to the cat.]

[was_no_monster]

[ she very carefully inspects his fingers before squeaking and rubbing up against them. definitely a real cat, and not an Allmate. ]

[feelthisnoiz]

[you don't see a lot of real animals in Midorijima... it's kind of nice. he rubs her gently, wondering what that feels like]

[was_no_monster]

[ worth sticking around and soliciting more for, apparently. she's purring by the time the door finally swings open, silent enough to be unnoticeable if the open doorway weren't suddenly the main source of light for the room. ]