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[ his laughter fades to a softer smile. ] Yeah, that's true. He's a pretty good person.

[ riku wholly believes that. he simply raises an eyebrow at lea, finally stepping into the room more. he'll fix his robe later. ]

You can stay being boring, then. I think I'll try some I-could-choke-on-this stew.

He is. Better than he realizes, I think, but... that could be said for a lot of people I know. [He's looking at one of them.

[He leans back on his hands on the bed when Riku steps out of the bathroom and lifts his eyebrows before grinning wickedly.]

I better go with you, then; can't have anybody else giving you mouth to mouth if you choke on stew.

[ it's the combination of his words and the fiendish grin on his face that have riku's stomach fluttering and his skin heating up, probably the reddest lea's seen. he just gives a strangled noise before he grabs the nearest soft thing (the towel haphazardly sitting near the windowsill) and throws it at his head. ]

[Lea just cackles like a hyena. Now the score is 13254685 to 2. He drapes the towel around his shoulders and gets to his feet, moving back to the window and making a beckoning gesture.]

Okay before you go choke on stew, though, there's like. A minute til midnight now. You can't miss midnight walking somewhere, I'm pretty sure that's like super bad luck. [He peers out the window again, gazing down the street. The streetlights reflect brightly off the snow, making the night not nearly as dark as it probably should be.]

Back home they would always set off fireworks at midnight. My old man would always manage to find me some sparklers, and me and Isa would--

[He cuts himself off with a sharp inhale, then hefts a sigh that clouds the window glass. He clears his throat then.]

I didn't see any fireworks stands or anything here.

[ he doesn't know quite what to do at first, but then he raises his hand to lea's arm, gripping it lightly. he's taken to actually touching him a little more, now, but it's not often at all. after a moment, he actually steps closer to the window, pushing it open and, without a word, sticking most of his body out of it. he exhales sharply--it's freezing--before he raises his hand to the sky, breathes in, and channels.

dark energy itself is easier to channel. light energy is harder, it's like sparkling electricity and the sun burning in his palm. when he finally lets it go, his wrist aches at the drawback, but it pelts all the way to the sky, and riku pulls himself back in with a little wince at his shoulder.

in seconds, the light bursts, and it's not quite a firework, but... soft petals of light drift down across the sky. it's similar. ]

Sorry. That's the least I can do.

[ he glances to lea with a helpless little smile and a shrug, taking one glance to the clock as the seconds start to tick down, closer and closer to midnight, the seconds hand already past the 50-second mark. ]

[Lea looks a little surprised by the grip on his arm, but less because of the contact and more because suddenly Riku seems really... intense. ~~[ʀɪᴋᴜ ɪɴᴛᴇɴsɪғɪᴇs]~~ He actually makes a wordless noise of alarm when Riku pulls the window open though, his expression warping with bafflement.]

Riku, what the hell are you--?

[Oh. Oh. Oh, jeez. He really wasn't expecting that. He watches as the little comet of light arcs away into the sky and bursts, a brightly colored spiderweb of color and shine tumbling back to earth. Lea exhales, his breath a bloom in the cold air at the window, and he smiles with a shake of his head. He really has to wonder how he got so damn lucky. New leaf or otherwise, since when does the shifty antagonistic troublemaker wind up with the noble hero, anyway? For that matter, Lea hadn't expected to find a relationship of all things in this place.

[He expected the happiness even less, at that.

[Lea shakes his head then.]

Don't be sorry. That was great. [He glances at the clock, then grins.] Actually there's one other thing that's a New Years tradition back home. It's one I've never had the chance to take part in, though.

Edited 2013-12-31 06:04 (UTC)

[ he frowns slightly at his hand (he's not sure if it's because he's never really done that before--like lea's attempt at drawing out heat, that had been on instinct, though riku was glad it came out the way he wanted it to) as it tingles, looking back up to lea when he mentions another tradition. he looks at the clock quick and back to him. ]

You probably should've told me before. I don't know if we'll have time for whatever it is, there's only a few seconds left.

Good thing that's all I need, then. [5... 4... 3... He nabs Riku's chin in one hand. 2... 1... There's a loud peal of far off bell chimes, and Lea just leans in and presses his lips to Riku's. He still feels a little bad that Riku's first kiss was little more than a cocoa sample, so better make the second one a bit more memorable. As the tolling continues, Lea holds the kiss for the full length of twelve bells, brushing one long hand through Riku's hair just for a little icing on the cake. Just because he's an antagonistic troublemaker, he supposes that doesn't mean he can't be just as good a partner as a hero, right? Lea knows Riku holds himself responsible for a lot of the mishaps that have come his way, even if a good number of them were just serendipitously unlucky and no fault of his own. Might as well do what he can to make sure Riku understands that this relationship--while Riku is definitely the reason it's happening--is no mishap and no mistake; Lea might not really know how this sort of thing works, but he's pretty invested in seeing it through.

[The last toll of the bells echoes through the air and the sound fades, and Lea pulls back, his hand still on Riku's chin and another cloud of breath in the chilly air between them as he exhales and licks his lips.]

Ah. Happy New Year. [Another inhale, exhale, and he reaches over to close the window forcefully before he just grins a bit and rubs the back of his neck.] Kissing somebody special is supposed to be good luck too, I'm told. [He clears his throat.] Never, ah... had anybody worth kissing before, though. [A helpless chuckle.] Now that I've had the opportunity, though, I think it's a way better luck tradition than choking on stew.

[ it happens too fast for riku to process, it's a few simple seconds that could pass by while he summoned a dark shield. at first he's a little tense, still too surprised, but the second bell tolls. lea's hand slips through his hair and his shoulders shudder before they slack and he actually presses back. he's unsure of where his hands should be. should they be around his waist? uh, shoulders? just at his sides? his sides seem too awkward.

his hands creep up to brace against lea's waist, but that's too low for him. ugh, why isn't he taller? he rocks onto the balls of his feet to kiss him a little easier, hands creeping up to his shoulders.

he lets himself back down when lea parts, a little out of breath and definitely flushed, but not as bad as he usually is when the redhead teases him mercilessly. the smile isn't self-conscious or embarrassed; his eyes light up a little and he actually grins. it turns modest at his words, but...

he isn't letting go just yet. ]

I guess it is. [ oop, and he is totally kissing him back. it's nowhere near as long as lea's--it is definitely firmer than the other ones he's treated lea, less soft and gentle like he's trying to make sure he won't hurt him and more insistent and sure.

he pulls back after a few seconds, rocks onto his feet, and lets go. ]

Happy New Year.

[He isn't really expecting the reciprocation, certainly not to the degree he receives it. Riku's usually more chaste and uncertain, but when he initiates a second kiss, Lea can't help but grin through it. As much as he enjoys giving him a hard time and making him bluster, he's kind of been waiting for Riku to realize there's investment on both sides of this relationship. No one has ever done anything like this for him before, made him feel like there's something worthwhile about him besides his skills as an investigator and assassin, made him believe that maybe he deserves a little happiness, even after everything he's guilty of. He's not sure he's ever wanted to be in a relationship before, really... but so far this one's turning out to be well worth the leap of faith.

[It's still a little crazy to him that less than a year ago he hardly trusted Riku at all... and here he's trusting him with not only his back, his secrets, but his heart. He wasn't sure he would ever trust anyone with that, and not just because he was for wont of it for ten years. A heart isn't the most vital of possessions for nothing, after all, physical or metaphysical or otherwise: wounds of the heart can kill in an instant, whether they bleed or not.

[Pulling the towel from his shoulders he tosses it around Riku's neck and tugs him forward to bonk their foreheads together before releasing the fabric and taking a step back. The smile on his face is genuine, sincere, not at all like the ones he used to have to force all the time.

[It's been a while since he's believed any year could honestly be a happy one, but...]

Well, I'd say it's off to a pretty good start.

[ when their heads press together, he laughs, shaking his head when lea lets him go. ]

Yeah. I guess it is. [ alright, try to ignore that flutter in your chest, riku. he rubs the back of his neck before looking down at his robe, and looking behind him. hmm. ]

Uh... maybe I'll see if Sheena's still up. You know, for--

[ of course his bashfulness kicks in. ]

[Lea barks a laugh. Nothing less from Riku--he's cool and confident one second and then diffident and floundering the next. He shakes his head hopelessly.] Wanna call her? Ahh, I'm... sorry I dunno how to tie your fancy robe thing either.

[ he laughs and shakes his head. ]

Not your fault. It's not from either of our worlds. It's not even from Sheena's--she said it looked like the one from her world, so I'm gonna guess she knows how to tie it.

I'll go call her. [ um. quietly gonna grab his tablet. and going to exit the room now. //// ]

[Lea just grins as Riku makes a slightly flustered exit stage left, then sits down on the bed with a sigh. He reaches up and runs his fingers over the chain to the necklace Riku gave him for Christmas, then pulls out the two little wooden tags, holding them in his palm a moment. Maybe he'll never know how he got so lucky, but he's never been the sort to question fortune when it decides to be kind to him. He'll definitely take what blessings he can get, and though he never would have expected to count Riku among them, it's been a pretty interesting experience so far.

[Tucking the tags back into his shirt, Lea pulls his tablet out of his pocket and boots up one of his games. If Riku wants company he knows all he has to do is ask; he's made him blush enough for one night, perhaps. He's got a whole brand new year to spend flustering him, after all.]

Edited 2013-12-31 08:38 (UTC)

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