90s sadness and gay???

[dtective]

[By this point, Leon has lost track of how long he's been searching for Count D. It became an obsession that only grew with time, and now he couldn't keep to one spot anymore. Not while D was still out there. Across cities, across countries, he probably looked insane to everyone around him. But they didn't know the half of it! Sometimes even Leon wasn't sure he understood what he was doing.

Right now wasn't the time to doubt himself, though. He'd hoped that this lead would get him even an inch closer to his goal, but he hadn't counted on spotting him in the streets. It had to be him. He'd seen him turn and look at him, and those eyes—]

Wait! Stop right there!

[He doesn't hold back, shoving his way through the crowded streets and keeping his eyes locked on him. It doesn't work, because of course it doesn't, and his steps slow in his confusion. His heart is beating way too fast, his stomach sinks, and for a moment he's sure he's lost his one chance.

But something catches the corner of his eye, and his instinct tells him to turn. He reaches out, grabbing the first wrist he can and meeting D's eyes with his own.]

...Found you.

Comments

[dtective]

[Hmmph... He's not going to reply to that comment. He just gives D a Look as he passes by, setting the tray on the counter. "Detective," too. Just like he'd said officer earlier. Leon isn't sure he wants to correct him, as that would be admitting too many things out loud. Mostly to himself.]

You mean like pizza or spaghetti? Sure I do. I had them back in LA all the time. [He's thinking of the most Americanized Italian dishes imaginable, naturally.] It's not like your weird Chinese food. But I guess Panda's pretty okay...

[he will never stop]

[pruning]

You Americans have absolutely no sense of culture.

[Christ... pizza and spaghetti!! Well he's not going to make either of those. And he's diplomatically ignoring the Chinese food comment - Panda, really? Disgusting. He spares Leon only the briefest of exasperated looks before he starts gathering ingredients. There aren't too many - tomatoes, potatoes, rice and a few other little things - but none of them are hamburgers and beer, so he's already anticipating Leon getting picky about it.

So, nipping that in the bud, once he's arranged ingredients and utensils, he turns abruptly to Leon, pressing a potato and peeler into his hands.]

Peel these, thank you. [now you have to help, city boy, do you regret being a dumb freeloader yet??]

[dtective]

Peel them?

[Here he is, standing with a peeler in one hand and a potato in the other, looking surprised. Why does he have to peel them!! Ugh, but he is staying here without rent... Thankfully this shock interrupts his would-be argument about how Americans totally have culture. He had been planning to list off various non-American things that he thinks are actually unique to the USA...

Now he's just holding this over the counter and not even the sink, attempting to peel a single strip of this potato. He manages, but there goes a good chunk of the potato with the skin...]

What are you trying to make? [This doesn't look like a Meal at all.]

[pruning]

[Look at this... moron... D can't bear to watch him waste potatoes like this.]

It should be pomodori col riso, if you leave any potatoes to add to the dish. [Let him just put down the tomato he was going to prepare to reach over and adjust Leon's fumbling dumb American grip, hopefully so that he'll actually peel the potatoes instead of just shred them.

Then he'll go back to the tomatoes, which need to be cut open and scooped out of their tomato-y innards.]

They are tomatoes stuffed with seasoned rice, with a side of potatoes. It's considered "fast food" in this country.

[dtective]

Pompadoury what?

[Why do they make these dish names so hard to understand! Leon frowns, staring with a little too much focus as D adjusts his hold on the potato and the peeler. He can handle this just fine, thanks. ...But now that he tries another slice, it does make the skin come off a lot thinner.

But wait a minute—]

Fast food? This isn't anything close to fast food! Where's the meat? The grease? Talk about a rip off. It must suck to be Italian.

[pruning]

[get the hell out of his house-- It's Italian!! It's another language, Leon. D gives him another look, but continues to prepare the tomatoes without too much interruption. Just peel the potatoes, dear...]

Nothing could be as dreadful as putting that horrible greasy garbage into your body on purpose. Have you been begging for hamburgers on the side of the road all this time? Perhaps I should have dealt with you sooner, so you would at least remember to take care of yourself.

[He's fussing while insulting, this is fine.]

[dtective]

What's wrong with hamburgers? Hell, you could use some meat on your bones! Maybe you should try a few some time!

[Leon... He's so proud of himself for being like this, so he'll just keep peeling potatoes. But most importantly, his pride tells him to speak up against that fussing comment.] I take care of myself just fine.

[He says, immediately before his stomach growls as loudly as humanly possible. His peeling slows, and then picks up the pace again as he pointedly ignores that. He hasn't been starving himself off and on at all, shut up!!]

[pruning]

I am still a vegetarian. [He actually looks up from these tomatoes to wiggle his tiny vegetable knife at Leon for emphasis, when he says this. It's that important. But he's looking down at the food again soon enough, because he surely can't let Leon see the look on his face that is thoroughly doubting his ability to take care of himself. It's like D worries about him, or something...

Like right now, when his stomach sounds like it might climb out and eat those potatoes raw? Leon--]

When was the last time you ate a proper meal?

[dtective]

[Define a proper meal...]

I couldn't really get to anything the past couple of days thanks to the lead I had. I mean, there were candy bars... Wait, I remember! A few days ago, this woman made something for me! She was seriously smoking hot. Too bad I couldn't understand a word she said...

[Literally she just felt bad because Leon looked like a street bum, so... It's fine that he doesn't know this.] I had to leave in a hurry, anyway.

[Peels these potatoes casually...]

[pruning]

[Why is this hobo in his house... disrupting his Life... D looks only faintly mortified by this casual recollection of absolutely nothing, and rolls his eyes at the bit about the smoking hot woman. He's pretty sure Leon's track record with women hasn't improved from being a homeless shitty backpacker so he can only imagine what she was actually saying to him, but it was probably insulting...]

A few days ago! So you haven't been taking care of yourself at all. I thought so.

[dtective]

Oh, please, I can handle a few days on scraps! It's not like it's the first time I've had to deal with that kind of thing. When I was still taking on cases, there were a few where I had to do without.

[He doesn't even realized he let something slip there because he's too busy defending his manly pride. He is Fine, thank you. His stomach growls again and he peels this potato faster.]

I'm sure someone like you would be horrified at the idea of going without your sweets for more than five minutes, though.

[pruning]

I take care of myself properly.

[And he heard that slip-- Leon is a disaster. It's a wonder he's made it this far without getting himself killed...! D scoops the inside out of this next tomato a little more aggressively than necessary.]

I cannot believe you're this much of an idiot, still. Perhaps I shouldn't let you out of my sight, before you wind up starving in a gutter somewhere.

[dtective]

Oh, so now you care about that all of a sudden? Stop messing around. I got here somehow, so that's all that matters.

[True enough, somehow he did manage to keep following D all the way here... He's an idiot but he's got a brain in there somewhere. And luck. A lot of... luck... He is finally on to the next potato, meanwhile.]

[pruning]

[Rude... He should just let that go, but he can't--] Well, if you aren't going to look out for yourself, I might as well!

[He doesn't not care about Leon, so-?? That counts for something, doesn't it, as he continues to not say what he means...]

[dtective]

Will you stop treating me like a kid?! Don't give me that crap like you're concerned after you ran across the world from me!

[His hand slips in his potato peeling as he yells this and nicks his finger real good. The potato and the peeler both drop to the counter as he pulls back, grabbing at it to keep the blood from spilling all over.]

Ouch, fuck! [Stupid PEELER]

[pruning]

[He can be concerned as confusingly as he would like, thank you-- which he's prepared to argue until Leon cuts his finger like the child that he is. D startles at the suddenness of it, immediately putting knife and tomato down to grab the nearest clean kitchen towel because Leon just opened a goddamn vein here or something judging by all that blood??]

Idiot-- move, let me see it-- [He's just pushing Leon's other hand out of the way so he can glance at the cut to confirm that it is indeed disgusting, then squeeze the towel over it and hold it tightly.

This is some real fretting... don't give him shit for this, dumbass.]

[dtective]

[Oh. That is real fretting... Leon is too stunned for a moment to fight when D immediately attacks this with a towel, but after a few seconds, he tries to grab it himself and take over.]

It's fine, it's just a little cut. Hurts like hell, though... I must have nicked a vein. [Nicked... Well, a lot of his skin is suffering from this, for sure. He'd been so wrapped up in what D had been saying, and his anger got the best of him. How stupid.]

[pruning]

[D nearly smacks his hand away again, but he figures at least one of them should be useful and get an actual bandage for this, so instead of smacking Leon's hand he just grabs it and positions it so he's holding the towel properly and not letting himself bleed out. Very simple. Do not die.]

Oh, be quiet. [He's going to pull a first aid kit out of a random drawer, why does he even have a first aid kit for people in this pet store... whatever.]

[dtective]

[Hmmm... He'll hold it here like so for a good few minutes before he gets too curious and peels back the towel to take a look himself. Yeesh, he got himself good.]

I think I bled a little on that potato.

[What else is he supposed to say... D is fretting over him after all this time, as if everything's normal. He has to think about that.]

[pruning]

[Someone please teach Leon how to be quiet when he's asked!! D has the first aid kit open and the proper things pulled out by now, so he has a second to spare to give Leon a look that reiterates that he should shut up. Please.

Leon can think about this as deeply or not as he wants - it won't change that D is gently lifting the towel away from the cut to properly bandage it now. This is another reason he kept running away from Leon, honestly-- look at him! How is he supposed to get anything done at all when Leon's mere presence makes him go to pieces, and the man keeps hurting himself? Ridiculous.]

You will have to throw it away and start over-- [Oh... no, he can't peel with this hand anymore, probably??] ...You can begin preparing the rice mixture, instead.

[dtective]

[Okay, he might be bleeding all over the damn place, but he didn't lose his hand! He survived being mauled by animals, somehow, with help, so he can definitely survive this! But D's acting like his whole hand was cut off!]

I can peel the rest of the potatoes! What's wrong with that one, anyway? It's just a little bit, you can just cut that part off. It's not like I'm diseased. [Huff.] Ow, would you take it easy already?

[pruning]

I will not eat your bloody potato, Leon. You may keep it if you truly wish, but it won't be in any dish of mine.

[but it's GROSS and he only barely survived being mauled by animals, so excuse D for being concerned about his punk ass that can't even peel a potato. Let him hurriedly finish with this bandage without being any gentler because shut up, then take the bloody towel from him and frown at it. Ew...] I will be right back.

[He won't make Leon follow him to whatever weird shop corner conveniently morphs into a laundry room with no laundry appliances, but he will stop just before he leaves the kitchen for a Comment. Here it goes.] I do care about your well-being. Being angry with you for other things does not, unfortunately, change that.

[hmph!! Stew on that while he flounces out to soak this towel or something.]

[dtective]

[Oh. Those words actually surprise him, and for a moment he can only stare stupidly after D.]

Wait! [But there he goes, to deal with the bloody towel. ...He'll be back. Probably. He hopes. Stupidly, Leon stares down at his bandaged finger and wonders how long he should give him before he has to go check on him. Maybe he can make an excuse to make it less obvious, like he had to use the restroom or something...

D cares about his well-being. Well, that does explain saving him from that burning building. But what does that mean? How complicated is he making all of this stuff? If he cares, why can't he just care and leave it at that, geez...

Leon will just stare stupidly at the bloody potato and his bandaged finger and wait for D to come back. He's giving him five minutes before he gets nervous.]

[pruning]

[Five minutes is not enough time for D to sulk in another room and wish he hadn't said that at all, but it's a start. He's surprised at himself for keeping it together this long, after avoiding everything about what happened in LA for as long as he has. It was-- a shock earlier, when Leon actually managed to get close enough to him to stop him from running off. And yet... he's had more than enough opportunities to run off again since that time, and he hasn't.

He should. Grandfather would insist. Father-- he frowns at the soaking down-- would tell him again to stop embracing hope. Is that what he's doing here, letting Leon stay? That he can't even determine what he's doing in all of this irks him more than the rest. Leon cannot be here, because D has strayed enough from what he ought to be doing and if Leon is back then he'll only do it again, because plainly he hasn't learned.

But Leon is here and D hasn't run any further away than a separate room. He's resolved nothing in these five minutes other than he can't trust Leon with sharp objects, which is what he's thinking about when he finally returns to the kitchen to find him just standing there. Hmm...]

Goodness, you are hopeless. Throw that potato away and let me show you how to prepare the rice.

[master of illusion, nothing is wrong and he is fine]

[dtective]

[He came back.

All at once, Leon relaxes from his stiff posture.] Fine. Cutting those things felt more like a punishment, anyway. [He says, after just arguing that he can still do it. He grabs the potato from the counter and chucks it in the trash, moving over to wherever D heads to find out about this mystery rice.

Things are less familiar now with this feeling hanging in the air. D caring, but still distancing himself like that, with comments that avoid it or looks that hide everything. How's he supposed to know anything? What's he supposed to do?

Maybe he just needs to be less... harsh. He'll try to pay attention to making this dumb rice, as a start.]

So what do I do?