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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 6, 2010 17:26:38 GMT -5
Though saddened by the sudden lack of warm, pretty things hugging him, Alex felt that he was rather more awake than previously anticipated. He tugged the covers around himself and rolled over onto his stomach, grinning up at Hitoshi from beneath a flop of hairstrands.
"I want... to use the restroom first, then go see a museum and a temple and see if we can't rent an artsy movie with English subtitles or something. For breakfast? I don't know... and you don't have to cook if you don't want to."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Sept 6, 2010 19:44:17 GMT -5
Hitoshi blinked down at Alex, and for a moment he was very tempted to stay in the hotel room all day and keep Alex to himself.
He bent down, pushing Alex's hair out of his face, and placed a line of kisses along Alex's jaw. "Hm. I'm feeling kind of lazy. I think I saw a little cafe down the road, or if you feel more like American food, Athens has some chain restaurants here."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 6, 2010 20:16:37 GMT -5
Alex pulled his arm out of the blanketroll so he could adjust Hitoshi's face and kiss him properly. After a moment, he then slid into the blanket and out the other end, grabbing his backpack and moving towards the bathroom.
"Wonderful. Let's take in the local culture."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Sept 6, 2010 21:47:29 GMT -5
Hitoshi wasn't quite inclined to stop kissing Alex once he'd started, but he supposed he should at least let Alex get properly dressed first.
Hitoshi slipped off the bed and grabbed his glasses from the nightstand, fixing them on his nose. By the time the world swam into focus, Alex had already left the room.
Professor Yogo's side of the room was already a horribly disorganized mess, with clothing strewn on the floor, a stack of partially-graded papers spread out over the bed (and a pair of dice, though Hitoshi could only guess how those were involved), and fast food wrappers. He had to wonder when the professor had even had time to do that, since it had been more or less clean when Hitoshi had fallen asleep.
Hitoshi thumbed through the copy of House of Leaves left on the nightstand, which was shoved full of random notecards and slips of receipt paper and post-it notes. At first Hitoshi had thought these might be some sort of notes on the book, but as he looked closer, they seemed to be mostly notes and reminders to himself -- Give Smoke back his book, Show Kemekin what I confiscated from fourth period today and Call Tsuki, among others.
He put the book back on the table and sighed. The professor might not have cared what the room looked like, but he did. Hitoshi bent down and started tossing bits of Professor Yogo's clothing back onto the man's bed -- a shirt, a sock, another shirt, a jacket (why the hell did he bring a jacket to Greece), it never seemed to end. Finally, when Hitoshi wasn't sure the damn bed had any more room for the man's junk, Hitoshi seemed to be at the end.
Hitoshi picked up the last item -- a pair of pants which he sorely hoped were clean -- and made to toss them onto the bed, when something small and rectangular slipped out of the pants pocket and onto the floor. A wallet. It landed open, face down on the floor, right at Hitoshi's feet.
He should have closed it, stuck it back in the pants pocket, and forgotten about it. But then, that would have been too easy.
He picked up the wallet and flipped it over. His breath caught in his throat.
A picture of Hitoshi's mother, himself, and his sister stared up at him, and a very familiar one. It was the last portrait they'd taken as a family, the Christmas before his mother passed away. Hitoshi and his sister sat on either side of their mother, each dressed in deep red. His mother wore a dress of dark green velvet, and had tucked a poinsettia blossom behind her ear. In that picture, Hitoshi almost looked like he was smiling.
Behind it, there was an old, faded picture of a pretty blond girl and a young Asian man, the sort that you could buy at the photo booths at the mall.
Hitoshi's mouth went dry. He sat in the floor, staring numbly at the picture in front of him.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 6, 2010 22:20:06 GMT -5
It took Alex a few minutes to wash up and change; he made a note to do laundry at the hotel at some point in the next day or so, but at least he still had a long-sleeved shirt-jacket-thing he could wear over a number of other things.
He came back out to see Hitoshi sitting in the floor next to the professor's bed. He walked over behind him and crouched down, his chin hovering next to the other boy's ear.
"Hmm-?"
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Post by Hoshi Yogo on Sept 7, 2010 12:03:48 GMT -5
Hoshi had gotten about halfway down the stairs before he realized that he had forgotten his wallet back in the room. He was already running just a tad late from oversleeping, and no doubt Ellie was going to wonder where he was, but it wouldn't exactly go over well if they got into a restaurant and Hoshi had no way to pay.
Hoshi made his way up the elevator and down the hallway, opening the door just in time to see exactly where his wallet was at the moment. He paused in the doorway. From the look on Hitoshi's face, he could guess exactly what he was staring at. It took every ounce of willpower he had not to turn around and run away.
"Oh." His throat went dry. He tried his best to keep his tone light. "You found my wallet."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Sept 7, 2010 12:12:55 GMT -5
Hitoshi's gaze snapped up to the professor, boring into him with cold, gray eyes.
He threw the wallet at the professor's feet. "Explain."
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Post by Hoshi Yogo on Sept 7, 2010 12:19:01 GMT -5
Hoshi's arms felt heavy, and he couldn't bring himself to pick the thing up. He took a step toward Hitoshi, putting the wallet behind him.
"Look, Hitoshi, I wanted to tell you," he pleaded, his voice strained. "I would have been there, but your mother--"
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Sept 7, 2010 12:26:56 GMT -5
"Don't you dare," he seethed. His pulse pounded in his ears, and he felt his vision start to swim. He heard something crack behind him. "Don't you dare blame her!"
He could see it now, didn't know why he couldn't see it before. His eyes, his cheekbones... Hitomi even had the man's god damn smile. The thought made him nauseous.
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Post by Hoshi Yogo on Sept 7, 2010 12:33:22 GMT -5
Hoshi winced. Hoshi could hear the implication behind the words -- whatever Cassandra said, whatever she wanted, he still could have stayed, rather than running away like a coward. It was like a punch to the gut.
The window had started to crack -- Hitoshi's doing, no doubt. He needed to get Hitoshi to calm down before someone decided to investigate.
"Hitoshi, that's not what I meant," he said softly. "I'm not going to pretend that what I did was excusable, and if I could change what happened--"
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Sept 7, 2010 12:39:24 GMT -5
"But you can't," Hitoshi snapped. He pushed himself to his feet. "And no, it wasn't excusable. If you had any idea what she went through..."
He heard the cracking again in the background, and he tightened his fists at his side. He needed to calm down.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 7, 2010 12:51:07 GMT -5
Alex stood against the wall, looking between the both of them with wide eyes. He either really should say something, or he really, really shouldn't, and he had no idea which one to go with- he did not want to piss Hitoshi off, especially after the idiot things he'd said a few days ago.
This... he didn't want to jump to conclusions about what this was, but it sounded like something horrible, and anything involving Hitoshi's mother was going to be an emotional minefield.
Thinking quickly, an idea came to him: Alex edged unobtrusively towards the door, glancing worriedly at Hitoshi. He'd be passing right through Hitoshi's line of sight, so if he wanted Alex there for whatever reason, he could say something, and if not, Alex could wait somewhere less volatile.
(Oh god, Hitomi might be a bad idea in that regard. Maybe Rudeth?)
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Post by Hoshi Yogo on Sept 7, 2010 20:00:39 GMT -5
"Look, Hitoshi..." Hoshi held up his hands in defeat. "I know it was rough for you, and nothing I can say will change that. You have no idea how often I wanted to come back and see you, especially after..." His throat tightened, and he took a shaky breath. "After what happened to your mother. I wanted to come to the funeral, and to talk to you and your sister, but your uncle--"
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Sept 7, 2010 20:13:11 GMT -5
"Tristan knew?" Hitoshi's eyes went wide. "Tristan knew who you were, and he knew you were here, and he didn't tell me?"
He fumed silent for a moment, his gaze flitting from Professor Yogo to Alex. He didn't feel like dealing with this right now. He didn't even want to look at Professor Yogo, let alone hear his side of the story. He didn't give a damn what the man had to say.
He turned toward Alex, very pointedly not looking at Professor Yogo. "I think I need to have a few words with my guardian. I'll catch up with you later.
Hitoshi pushed his way past the professor and into the hallway, not once looking at the man.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 7, 2010 20:30:12 GMT -5
Alex nodded, not that it matter terribly as Hitoshi swept past him and into the hallway. As the door shut, he closed his eyes and tried to think.
All right. That... might work.
He looked to Professor Yogo and spoke calmly: "I apologize for the imposition, but when the situation is less fraught- relatively speaking- we will need to talk." He watched the man's reaction carefully- this specifically may have been none of his business, but there was the temple to think about, and if the Professor knew Cassandra, Alex got the inkling that there was information he and Hitoshi might need to know. That could not be dealt with by acting like he was just some boy Hitoshi knew...
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Post by Hoshi Yogo on Sept 7, 2010 20:54:56 GMT -5
Hoshi looked at Alex, startled. He'd almost forgotten the boy was even in the room. He sighed and ran one hand through his hair.
"I suppose that might be best," he murmured. "I have a feeling Hitoshi's not going to be very inclined to listen to me at the moment. He might be more willing to hear my side of the story if it comes from you. Besides, I...think you have a right to know to, given."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 7, 2010 21:01:44 GMT -5
"Hmm." He was a little surprised how differently Professor Yogo responded than he had anticipated, but in hindsight, it made sense.
"I don't know what I could do," he said carefully. "Though at the moment, I would say you need to make the choice whether to let Hitomi know, or to let Hitoshi and Professor Gilespi tell her. Either might be a bad idea, but at least you get to pick your position."
He shrugged and moved towards the door, heading out. "Good luck... sir."
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Post by Hoshi Yogo on Sept 7, 2010 21:33:05 GMT -5
Hoshi sighed and plopped down onto the bed. He considered Alex's words briefly, but he already knew what he was going to do. He was going to be a fucking coward, like he always was.
He knew one thing for certain, though. Like it or not, he had to tell Ellie.
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