esp_dragon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
esp_dragon) wrote2016-11-03 09:26 pm
esp_dragon) wrote2016-11-03 09:26 pm
Washed Up [Part 3]
Fandom: Noblesse
Summary: This'll be fun, Tao said. It'll be something you've never done before, Tao said. Chin-mae agrees that breaking into an aquarium on a night out is something he's never done before.
He wouldn't consider stealing an octopus as fun though. Or what happens afterwards because of it.
Contains: M-21/Tao
Notes: I was planning on finishing the next scene but I got distracted with drawing, haha.
Rating: PG-13
Genre: General
Word count: 2,320
Total word count: 7,192
Status: Work in progress
"Uh, yeah, of course I'll come over to check it out," Tao said, bobbing his head up and down. "Yeah, I'll be over as soon as I can." Tao hung up and leaned a hand on the table, air exploding out of him in a whoosh. "Okay, that — fuck."
Tao lifted his head. "I'm totally not misremembering it, right? We just went in and out."
"Yeah."
[Yes. As soon as you picked me up, you headed out straight away.]
"Okay, good. Not just me then." Tao ran a hand through his hair. "Fuck. Was it us? Did we let them in when I adjusted the security — and does that mean there's something I need to fix in my code anyway?" Tao paced, his hands waving in the air.
Chin-mae's attention was drawn back to Takeo, who was perched up on his castle, watching them both. "Takeo..." he said, frowning. "You said you thought someone was coming?"
[I did.] Takeo nodded, and he'd had to lift himself up to be able to do that. [But we didn't see anyone on the way out.]
Hm. Could that have been...?
Tao wasn't slowing down and Chin-mae went over, pulling him into a hug.
Tao struggled for a second before relaxing into him, leaning his head on Chin-mae's shoulder.
Telling Tao to calm down never worked, not when saying that seemed to have the opposite effect, making Tao go into overdrive instead, so Chin-mae didn't. "One step at a time," Chin-mae said. "You need to get dressed and grab something to eat." Preferably without thinking about all the worst case scenarios, but that was unlikely.
"Right. Yeah, I gotta — but what if it's a trap!" Tao burst out instead. "Maybe I did forget something and our faces are all over the tapes and-"
"They would have called the cops instead of phoning you," Chin-mae said, trying to derail that thought.
"Maybe they want to get revenge on all the damages," Tao muttered.
"Want me to give you a lift then?" Chin-mae said, guiding Tao back to their bedroom.
"Nnng." Tao sighed, and then shook his head. "I would, but that probably wouldn't be the best idea if something had failed and I come in the 'getaway car'."
"I don't think the guy would have been yelling that hard if he was thinking about kicking the crap out of you," Chin-mae said as Tao stripped out his sleep clothes. "That would be too suspicious."
Tao made a face at him as he picked out what to wear. "You would think that. But... Okay, yeah, the best thing would have been to pretend there'd been a small glitch that they wanted me to check out and then catch me unawares while I'm trying to figure it out." Tao exhaled, his fingers tapping his thigh. "Which means we really did pick a time someone else decided to break in and break stuff up."
Tao threw his hands in the air. "Who even goes into an aquarium to vandalise it?"
"Someone who doesn't like fish."
Tao threw his shirt at Chin-mae while a short laugh bubbled out his throat. "Seriously, Chin-mae!"
He caught it before it hit his head, and Chin-mae lobbed the shirt onto Tao's side of the bed. "I am. I can't think why else someone would destroy a room there."
"Ah! Unless it was a cover-up!" Tao slammed the bottom of his fist into his open palm. "They destroyed the room to hide the fact they'd stolen some fish! There's a lot of them that would go for a lot of money."
Tao glanced out the window and grimaced at the rain still thudding against the pane. "Another layer it is then." He shook his head. "Ooor, what if-" Tao's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "-it was actually the government that broke into there and were so pissed off when Takeo wasn't there, they busted up the place!"
Chin-mae groaned, dropping his forehead into his palm. "He's not an escaped lab experiment!"
"That's what they want you to think!" Tao nodded as he zipped up his jumper. "No-one would think it was them because the idea's too obvious!"
"Come on, conspiracist," Chin-mae grumbled, getting a headache from trying to keep up with Tao's jumps in reasoning. "You don't want to keep them waiting."
"You'll see," Tao said, grinning anyway, and it was good to see Tao not panicking as hard as he had been a couple of minutes ago. "Takeo'll be an escaped lab animal and I'll be right."
"What do I get if he's not?" Chin-mae said with a smirk as Tao checked what was in his backpack.
Tao looked up at him, pulling a few things out. "What do you you think he is?"
...Uh. Chin-mae's mind blanked, and Tao grinned at him, triumphant.
"Y'see?"
Dammit. What was the most cliche thing he could think of? "A sea prince. Who'd been cursed."
Tao snickered, slinging his backpack on. "All right then. Whoever wins," he said as they left their room, "he gets bragging rights."
"Good enough for m - oof." Tao whirling around and slamming into him to hug him hadn't been that much of a surprise, and Chin-mae returned it, holding him tighter and longer than usual. Tao did the same, his hands grasping at Chin-mae's top. "Be careful, all right?" Chin-mae murmured.
"When am I not?"
"When are you usually?" Chin-mae shot back, his voice wry. "You're usually doing reckless things." That was how they ended up with an octopus in their home in the first place.
"Heeey, hey hey." Tao pulled back to look him in the eye. "You said careful — being reckless is something else. And I'm not reckless," he added, puffing his cheeks out. "I've always got a plan and they always pull through."
"...All right, fine," Chin-mae conceded. They wouldn't have made it out if Tao hadn't made sure everything would work first. "Now go," he said, giving Tao a quick kiss.
"Mmhm." Tao nodded and hurried to change his shoes. "I'll text you every ten minutes; if I don't-"
"That's way too often."
Tao stuck his tongue out at him with a laugh. "Then I'll definitely text you every five minutes to update you on what's happening."
Chin-mae smiled. "Good."
Tao exhaled, his hands tapping around his pockets. "Okay, think I've got everything. Right!" He waved at Chin-mae. "I'll be back soon, see ya!"
[Bye.]
The house rang in silence once Tao had closed the door, and Chin-mae stared at it, finally allowing the worries he'd buried to come to the surface. Takeo being an escaped lab experiment was something for the movies (but did that really matter? They still had a telepathic octopus in their house and he had to come from somewhere), but that didn't get rid of the fact they might have let in some people in when they'd snuck in themselves.
And now Tao was going straight there to where they could be lying in wait.
Chin-mae lifted his head at the sound of buzzing and he walked over to where he'd left his phone. It was from Tao. [[im still alive!]]
A smile twitched Chin-mae's lips up. [[Good. Stay that way.]] Tao would worry if he didn't reply, and he slid his phone into his pocket to keep it close.
Chin-mae turned to Takeo to check on him and frowned, finding the octopus pressing two tentacles to his head, hunkered down in a way that would say he was in pain if he'd been human.
"You okay?" Chin-mae asked him, going over to peer into the tank.
[I... Yes,] Takeo said, giving him one small nod. [You two think very loud. I could...] Takeo was knotting his tentacles up, twisting them together in restless spirals. [It was a little overwhelming.]
Chin-mae winced. "Sorry about that. Humans..." He cast his gaze over the walls, trying to pick the right words. "We're not used to talking with our minds." And it seemed like there was an etiquette to go along with it.
A soft chuckle. [No, it might be that I need to get used to being able to hear people properly again.] Takeo slid down from his castle, picking out another tube to play with.
"I guess there's no way to give you painkillers," Chin-mae said, watching him.
[I don't think so.] Takeo shook his head. [The pressure's fading anyway.]
Chin-mae eyed the door and sighed. "So it's when we get-" Excited wasn't exactly the right word; excited was something they hadn't been at that. "-stressed you can...feel us more?"
[Hm.] Takeo had started to play with the tube, throwing it up and his tentacles snapping around it again before it reached the sand again. [Yes, that was what was happening. There was so much of you in my head, I couldn't tell you or Tao apart.]
Chin-mae had a hard enough time trying to figure out how Tao was thinking, and that was when he didn't have direct access into his brain, hearing every single jump Tao did.
"Is there a way to help with that?" Chin-mae asked, pulling his phone out to glance at it. Should he tell Tao, or would that distract him in the wrong way while he was working? Later. He would tell Tao later once he was home. Because nothing bad was going to happen and Tao would be fine. Probably chattier than usual, but that would be it.
[I'm not sure...] Takeo hummed, moving onto another toy. [I'm not sure how to do it, if I'm doing it as well.] He sighed, which was interesting, since Chin-mae heard it in his mind and saw Takeo's gill-thing moved at the same time.
"You probably are," Chin-mae said with a shrug, "if this is automatic for you."
[Well.] Takeo moved onto the next toy and hm, maybe they should rotate what toys were in there, as well as getting new ones. He curled one toy and held it close to him, moving slower to the next and picking that up as well. He almost looked like a child dragging around their favourite comfort toys. [I guess there's no way to tell until I meet someone else like me.]
Chin-mae put a little smile on his face at that. "Yeah." The likelihood of that happening was slim, but so was meeting a telepathic octopus in the first place. ...And was there a point in doing that if Takeo knew he was lying?
Takeo didn't call him out on his lie, so he either hadn't heard it, or he was pretending he hadn't. Chin-mae waited a few more seconds and when Takeo didn't say anything, Chin-mae turned his thoughts to other things.
He pulled his phone out and did a few searches. "Hey..." he said, putting his phone away again.
[Mm?]
"Would you want..." Chin-mae frowned, trying to pick the right words. In some ways it felt weird asking, but he couldn't just do it. "Would you want to be handled?" he asked. "If I put my hand in. I wouldn't pull you out the water." He was starting to babble, dammit. He stopped talking, his lips pursed. But he couldn't help but wonder if Takeo really was craving contact with how he was holding the toys, or if he was just attributing how humans acted to the octopus.
Takeo didn't answer for a few seconds, his tentacles curling harder around the toys before loosening again. [Yes, I think I would like that.]
Chin-mae opened up the tank and eased his hand in, not sure if he had to flatten it, but it didn't really matter if it was in water, did it.
Takeo let go of the toys and launched himself over as soon as his hand entered, latching onto Chin-mae's fingers, his tentacles curling around them.
It was a weird feeling, and Chin-mae was sure he could feel every one of Takeo's suckers. He wasn't sure how tightly Takeo was holding his fingers, but the grasp was firm and unshakable. Chin-mae wasn't sure he would be able to pull Takeo off without trouble, especially if Takeo could wrap his unanchored tentacle around the fingers that had just pried him off.
"Is this okay?" Chin-mae murmured, watching him. The sites had said to handle the octopuses but he wasn't sure if petting them on the head counted as that. Or if he would crush Takeo's brain by doing that.
[Yes,] Takeo said, climbing up Chin-mae's hand to rest himself in the centre of his palm. [Thank you.]
He shrugged. "I'm not doing much." But it did seem like Takeo had needed the contact like Chin-mae thought he might.
[You're doing a lot,] Takeo said, squeezing his fingers for a second before loosening his hold again. [You've already done a lot for me.]
It was so weird that Takeo was so thankful towards him, especially when Chin-mae didn't feel like he'd done that much. But then, he wasn't the one that had been trapped without anyone to talk to for a week, or possibly more (and dammit, he wasn't really entertaining Tao's theory, just musing). So to suddenly be able to have contact whenever he wanted...
Chin-mae shook his head, in case he was overwhelming Takeo again.
[Hm.]
Takeo turned an eye towards him, and Chin-mae was sure Takeo was considering something. It was probably from the way he was flexing his tentacles around Chin-mae's fingers.
[If you're worried about me hearing your thoughts, I could try to teach you how to shield them?]
"I thought you weren't sure how you did it?"
Takeo had begun winding through Chin-mae's fingers, squeezing himself through the gaps that Chin-mae hadn't thought he could fit through. [And the only way to find out is to try.]
"Heh, sure." Chin-mae waggled his fingers, giving Takeo something new to fit through after each loop. It would keep him occupied until Tao came home.
Summary: This'll be fun, Tao said. It'll be something you've never done before, Tao said. Chin-mae agrees that breaking into an aquarium on a night out is something he's never done before.
He wouldn't consider stealing an octopus as fun though. Or what happens afterwards because of it.
Contains: M-21/Tao
Notes: I was planning on finishing the next scene but I got distracted with drawing, haha.
Rating: PG-13
Genre: General
Word count: 2,320
Total word count: 7,192
Status: Work in progress
"Uh, yeah, of course I'll come over to check it out," Tao said, bobbing his head up and down. "Yeah, I'll be over as soon as I can." Tao hung up and leaned a hand on the table, air exploding out of him in a whoosh. "Okay, that — fuck."
Tao lifted his head. "I'm totally not misremembering it, right? We just went in and out."
"Yeah."
[Yes. As soon as you picked me up, you headed out straight away.]
"Okay, good. Not just me then." Tao ran a hand through his hair. "Fuck. Was it us? Did we let them in when I adjusted the security — and does that mean there's something I need to fix in my code anyway?" Tao paced, his hands waving in the air.
Chin-mae's attention was drawn back to Takeo, who was perched up on his castle, watching them both. "Takeo..." he said, frowning. "You said you thought someone was coming?"
[I did.] Takeo nodded, and he'd had to lift himself up to be able to do that. [But we didn't see anyone on the way out.]
Hm. Could that have been...?
Tao wasn't slowing down and Chin-mae went over, pulling him into a hug.
Tao struggled for a second before relaxing into him, leaning his head on Chin-mae's shoulder.
Telling Tao to calm down never worked, not when saying that seemed to have the opposite effect, making Tao go into overdrive instead, so Chin-mae didn't. "One step at a time," Chin-mae said. "You need to get dressed and grab something to eat." Preferably without thinking about all the worst case scenarios, but that was unlikely.
"Right. Yeah, I gotta — but what if it's a trap!" Tao burst out instead. "Maybe I did forget something and our faces are all over the tapes and-"
"They would have called the cops instead of phoning you," Chin-mae said, trying to derail that thought.
"Maybe they want to get revenge on all the damages," Tao muttered.
"Want me to give you a lift then?" Chin-mae said, guiding Tao back to their bedroom.
"Nnng." Tao sighed, and then shook his head. "I would, but that probably wouldn't be the best idea if something had failed and I come in the 'getaway car'."
"I don't think the guy would have been yelling that hard if he was thinking about kicking the crap out of you," Chin-mae said as Tao stripped out his sleep clothes. "That would be too suspicious."
Tao made a face at him as he picked out what to wear. "You would think that. But... Okay, yeah, the best thing would have been to pretend there'd been a small glitch that they wanted me to check out and then catch me unawares while I'm trying to figure it out." Tao exhaled, his fingers tapping his thigh. "Which means we really did pick a time someone else decided to break in and break stuff up."
Tao threw his hands in the air. "Who even goes into an aquarium to vandalise it?"
"Someone who doesn't like fish."
Tao threw his shirt at Chin-mae while a short laugh bubbled out his throat. "Seriously, Chin-mae!"
He caught it before it hit his head, and Chin-mae lobbed the shirt onto Tao's side of the bed. "I am. I can't think why else someone would destroy a room there."
"Ah! Unless it was a cover-up!" Tao slammed the bottom of his fist into his open palm. "They destroyed the room to hide the fact they'd stolen some fish! There's a lot of them that would go for a lot of money."
Tao glanced out the window and grimaced at the rain still thudding against the pane. "Another layer it is then." He shook his head. "Ooor, what if-" Tao's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "-it was actually the government that broke into there and were so pissed off when Takeo wasn't there, they busted up the place!"
Chin-mae groaned, dropping his forehead into his palm. "He's not an escaped lab experiment!"
"That's what they want you to think!" Tao nodded as he zipped up his jumper. "No-one would think it was them because the idea's too obvious!"
"Come on, conspiracist," Chin-mae grumbled, getting a headache from trying to keep up with Tao's jumps in reasoning. "You don't want to keep them waiting."
"You'll see," Tao said, grinning anyway, and it was good to see Tao not panicking as hard as he had been a couple of minutes ago. "Takeo'll be an escaped lab animal and I'll be right."
"What do I get if he's not?" Chin-mae said with a smirk as Tao checked what was in his backpack.
Tao looked up at him, pulling a few things out. "What do you you think he is?"
...Uh. Chin-mae's mind blanked, and Tao grinned at him, triumphant.
"Y'see?"
Dammit. What was the most cliche thing he could think of? "A sea prince. Who'd been cursed."
Tao snickered, slinging his backpack on. "All right then. Whoever wins," he said as they left their room, "he gets bragging rights."
"Good enough for m - oof." Tao whirling around and slamming into him to hug him hadn't been that much of a surprise, and Chin-mae returned it, holding him tighter and longer than usual. Tao did the same, his hands grasping at Chin-mae's top. "Be careful, all right?" Chin-mae murmured.
"When am I not?"
"When are you usually?" Chin-mae shot back, his voice wry. "You're usually doing reckless things." That was how they ended up with an octopus in their home in the first place.
"Heeey, hey hey." Tao pulled back to look him in the eye. "You said careful — being reckless is something else. And I'm not reckless," he added, puffing his cheeks out. "I've always got a plan and they always pull through."
"...All right, fine," Chin-mae conceded. They wouldn't have made it out if Tao hadn't made sure everything would work first. "Now go," he said, giving Tao a quick kiss.
"Mmhm." Tao nodded and hurried to change his shoes. "I'll text you every ten minutes; if I don't-"
"That's way too often."
Tao stuck his tongue out at him with a laugh. "Then I'll definitely text you every five minutes to update you on what's happening."
Chin-mae smiled. "Good."
Tao exhaled, his hands tapping around his pockets. "Okay, think I've got everything. Right!" He waved at Chin-mae. "I'll be back soon, see ya!"
[Bye.]
The house rang in silence once Tao had closed the door, and Chin-mae stared at it, finally allowing the worries he'd buried to come to the surface. Takeo being an escaped lab experiment was something for the movies (but did that really matter? They still had a telepathic octopus in their house and he had to come from somewhere), but that didn't get rid of the fact they might have let in some people in when they'd snuck in themselves.
And now Tao was going straight there to where they could be lying in wait.
Chin-mae lifted his head at the sound of buzzing and he walked over to where he'd left his phone. It was from Tao. [[im still alive!]]
A smile twitched Chin-mae's lips up. [[Good. Stay that way.]] Tao would worry if he didn't reply, and he slid his phone into his pocket to keep it close.
Chin-mae turned to Takeo to check on him and frowned, finding the octopus pressing two tentacles to his head, hunkered down in a way that would say he was in pain if he'd been human.
"You okay?" Chin-mae asked him, going over to peer into the tank.
[I... Yes,] Takeo said, giving him one small nod. [You two think very loud. I could...] Takeo was knotting his tentacles up, twisting them together in restless spirals. [It was a little overwhelming.]
Chin-mae winced. "Sorry about that. Humans..." He cast his gaze over the walls, trying to pick the right words. "We're not used to talking with our minds." And it seemed like there was an etiquette to go along with it.
A soft chuckle. [No, it might be that I need to get used to being able to hear people properly again.] Takeo slid down from his castle, picking out another tube to play with.
"I guess there's no way to give you painkillers," Chin-mae said, watching him.
[I don't think so.] Takeo shook his head. [The pressure's fading anyway.]
Chin-mae eyed the door and sighed. "So it's when we get-" Excited wasn't exactly the right word; excited was something they hadn't been at that. "-stressed you can...feel us more?"
[Hm.] Takeo had started to play with the tube, throwing it up and his tentacles snapping around it again before it reached the sand again. [Yes, that was what was happening. There was so much of you in my head, I couldn't tell you or Tao apart.]
Chin-mae had a hard enough time trying to figure out how Tao was thinking, and that was when he didn't have direct access into his brain, hearing every single jump Tao did.
"Is there a way to help with that?" Chin-mae asked, pulling his phone out to glance at it. Should he tell Tao, or would that distract him in the wrong way while he was working? Later. He would tell Tao later once he was home. Because nothing bad was going to happen and Tao would be fine. Probably chattier than usual, but that would be it.
[I'm not sure...] Takeo hummed, moving onto another toy. [I'm not sure how to do it, if I'm doing it as well.] He sighed, which was interesting, since Chin-mae heard it in his mind and saw Takeo's gill-thing moved at the same time.
"You probably are," Chin-mae said with a shrug, "if this is automatic for you."
[Well.] Takeo moved onto the next toy and hm, maybe they should rotate what toys were in there, as well as getting new ones. He curled one toy and held it close to him, moving slower to the next and picking that up as well. He almost looked like a child dragging around their favourite comfort toys. [I guess there's no way to tell until I meet someone else like me.]
Chin-mae put a little smile on his face at that. "Yeah." The likelihood of that happening was slim, but so was meeting a telepathic octopus in the first place. ...And was there a point in doing that if Takeo knew he was lying?
Takeo didn't call him out on his lie, so he either hadn't heard it, or he was pretending he hadn't. Chin-mae waited a few more seconds and when Takeo didn't say anything, Chin-mae turned his thoughts to other things.
He pulled his phone out and did a few searches. "Hey..." he said, putting his phone away again.
[Mm?]
"Would you want..." Chin-mae frowned, trying to pick the right words. In some ways it felt weird asking, but he couldn't just do it. "Would you want to be handled?" he asked. "If I put my hand in. I wouldn't pull you out the water." He was starting to babble, dammit. He stopped talking, his lips pursed. But he couldn't help but wonder if Takeo really was craving contact with how he was holding the toys, or if he was just attributing how humans acted to the octopus.
Takeo didn't answer for a few seconds, his tentacles curling harder around the toys before loosening again. [Yes, I think I would like that.]
Chin-mae opened up the tank and eased his hand in, not sure if he had to flatten it, but it didn't really matter if it was in water, did it.
Takeo let go of the toys and launched himself over as soon as his hand entered, latching onto Chin-mae's fingers, his tentacles curling around them.
It was a weird feeling, and Chin-mae was sure he could feel every one of Takeo's suckers. He wasn't sure how tightly Takeo was holding his fingers, but the grasp was firm and unshakable. Chin-mae wasn't sure he would be able to pull Takeo off without trouble, especially if Takeo could wrap his unanchored tentacle around the fingers that had just pried him off.
"Is this okay?" Chin-mae murmured, watching him. The sites had said to handle the octopuses but he wasn't sure if petting them on the head counted as that. Or if he would crush Takeo's brain by doing that.
[Yes,] Takeo said, climbing up Chin-mae's hand to rest himself in the centre of his palm. [Thank you.]
He shrugged. "I'm not doing much." But it did seem like Takeo had needed the contact like Chin-mae thought he might.
[You're doing a lot,] Takeo said, squeezing his fingers for a second before loosening his hold again. [You've already done a lot for me.]
It was so weird that Takeo was so thankful towards him, especially when Chin-mae didn't feel like he'd done that much. But then, he wasn't the one that had been trapped without anyone to talk to for a week, or possibly more (and dammit, he wasn't really entertaining Tao's theory, just musing). So to suddenly be able to have contact whenever he wanted...
Chin-mae shook his head, in case he was overwhelming Takeo again.
[Hm.]
Takeo turned an eye towards him, and Chin-mae was sure Takeo was considering something. It was probably from the way he was flexing his tentacles around Chin-mae's fingers.
[If you're worried about me hearing your thoughts, I could try to teach you how to shield them?]
"I thought you weren't sure how you did it?"
Takeo had begun winding through Chin-mae's fingers, squeezing himself through the gaps that Chin-mae hadn't thought he could fit through. [And the only way to find out is to try.]
"Heh, sure." Chin-mae waggled his fingers, giving Takeo something new to fit through after each loop. It would keep him occupied until Tao came home.