when i see the devil's eyes

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

“Shh, it’s fine.” Sunjata hums, not needing to speak too loudly with how close Niki is now even if he seems to flail about it. His hands meet his shoulders, though, and Niki could likely feel the lightning scars beneath his relatively thin shirt on that one side while the other remains relatively smooth. But his grip is sure, without a single chance to drop or make Niki think he will drop him. “I’m helping you to your room, obviously.” He says back with amusment in the accent of his voice and the smirk that dances on his face.

And luckily for Niki, Sunjata’d picked the perfect time when everyone was not paying attention to anything back there. After all, Niki needed to keep his dignity.

Taking the stairs easily, once they’re finally on the second floor does Sunjata’s step start to slow, taking the direction. “Then I won't put you in bed and you can do… Whatever you want in your room?” He suggest, grinning down at Niki with a slight shrug that jostles him minutely as he steps down the left corridor.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

stay your pretty eyes on course

"I did not ask for your help," Niki points out, the colour high in his cheeks as Sunjata carries him up the stairs as if it's nothing - which he imagines for the Heartless, it really is. (In more than one sense). The way the bustle and music of the party is suddenly muffled and distant is somewhat sobering, the necromancer swallowing hard as he realises that Sunjata has essentially just cut them off from the rest of the people in attendance.

But he's still far too drunk to struggle down from his arms without falling on his face, not that it isn't very tempting as his room at Wildering House grows steadily closer. "And if I would like to go back downstairs later? How am I supposed to do that?" he asks sharply, considering not pointing out the correct door to his room, but he imagines that will only make things more awkward.

"It is here," he mutters. "Please put me down now."

Niki

I guess I never really faced my fears before

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

“You did not.” Sunjata agrees – but it was something that made logical sense to him. If Niki wanted to get to his room rather than be stuck on the couch downstairs while anyone walked by him to see him all alone there and far too drunk to do much else other than sleep, well.. If it were him he’d have liked the help. Even if he thought he could do it himself and would complain the entirety – he hopes Niki’s similar in that way.

Following directions, though, he doesn’t even consider the possibility that Niki might lie to him about it. Instead, choosing to focus on the question. “I can get you downstairs too.” He says like it’s a simple answer, his smile muting a touch as the request comes and the answer for the door that belongs to Niki comes into view. “Alright, alright, fine.” He drawls, shifting now to set Niki down on his own feet, one hand remaining around his back just in case he’s wobbly from being lifted and set down. The other hand lifts to open the door so the necromancer can step in. "Better?" He asks, his steel gaze looking to Niki for the answer.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

stay your pretty eyes on course

Niki doesn't shrug off the hand at his back, much as his pride would like him to, because you can bet your bottom dollar that he's unbalanced as all fuck as he's set back on his feet. Flexing the hand with his ring on it, his cane appears a moment later for him to lean on, the necromancer still flushed and perhaps unreasonably embarrassed by what has just happened.

It's too complicated to unpick it all right now - having Sunjata so close after everything he'd let slip and spiralled about with Flora earlier, being moved and manhandled in a way he'd liked not expected, having his independence compromised by a few cocktails. "Yes," he says stiffly as the Heartless pushes open the door to his room.

"Why me?" he asks suddenly, the world blurring as he glances up at Sunjata, swaying a bit even with the cane to keep him upright. "Of all the people at the party to hide from your ex, why did you come and find me?"

Niki

I guess I never really faced my fears before

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

The yes softens any uncertainty Sunjata has, especially when Niki doesn’t shove off the hand at his back. With the cane back out despite the sway that the necromancer has, he’s confident he can catch him if he were to go down, but he finds himself staring at Niki like he has a hydra shift of his own when the question leaves his lips.

“I think the better question is why not find you?” He asks, shrugging lightly in spite of himself. But he sighs a little and shoots Niki a small smile. “You were alone, whether you liked it or not, and so was I. Thought you might like the company as much as I wanted it.” It’s as much an answer as it is a non-answer. “So why not you?” He shoots back at Niki with a raise of his brow, a challenge in his gaze.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

stay your pretty eyes on course

"Because there was much better and more fitting company for you all around the party?" Niki retorts with a roll of his eyes that sends the room spinning, and he grumbles and reaches out to catch the doorframe with his free hand. "It is not the first time you have found me, either." He'd come to Niki's house after the incident at the Mathair - also a time when he'd been trying to get away from his ex, now that the necromancer thinks about it.

He doesn't really want to think about it any more, though, so he steps unsteadily through the door instead and into his room. A mix of workshop and sleeping space, it's as neat and tidy as his house in the Greatwood had been, though there are a few more bones here, curiously. "I am sorry," he says a moment later, rubbing tiredly at his eyes. "It has been a strange sort of night. I was not expecting to bump into you." Or for you to carry me to my bedroom.

Niki

I guess I never really faced my fears before

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

“Define better and more fitting?” He asks a small amount dryly as Niki rolls his eyes and catches the door frame with his hand. “You’re my friend, should I not want to spend some time with you?” He asks, curious, surprising himself with the comment considering that he didn’t think he had many friends these days. And the ones he did have seemed only partially there at the best of times, until something bigger comes out or they needed something from him.

As for the rest of the party, the only ones he could see himself spending time with was Melita and Iskra, and while he did enjoy spending time with his niece, he didn’t want to be a downer on the party being around them, either, feeling a bit like a third wheel.

Niki steps in, though, and Sunjata follows if only to ensure he doesn’t collapse once he’s inside. The apology surprises him, though, and it settles somewhere in him. “It’s okay.” He offers, instead of the I wasn’t expecting to see you either, but I’m glad I did.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

stay your pretty eyes on course

"Oh, you know, people who can walk themselves upstairs when they are too drunk to stay at the party after a few cocktails," Niki mutters, his back to Sunjata as he dismisses the cane and flops down to sit on the side of his bed. (Yes, despite having said he wasn't going to bed, shut up).

"People who do not fall apart at the seams at the idea of a Frey demigod finding them attractive. Flora cleared that up at least." His fingers find the buckles of his brace with practiced ease, but getting them loose is clumsy work better suited for a more sober man.

After a few unsuccessful tries, Niki groans his frustration and collapses back on the bed, throwing an arm over his face. "People with two working legs," he snaps, gesturing down at himself with his free hand.

Niki

I guess I never really faced my fears before

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

The first muttering is heard easily with the hEARs even with Niki’s back to him as he drifts further in and closes the door behind him. Something that strikes nearby as something that could be akin to the necromancer thinking he pitied him for not being able to walk after being that hammered – when in reality, Sunjata had been there far too many times to count where he, too, couldn’t walk up the stairs after some drinks. Gods how he wished he could be there these days, too.

“I mean..” But Niki’s not done there, not as he sits at the side of his bed and his fingers start to try to clumsily remove the buckles of the brace on his leg, and Sunjata very much realizes why he thinks Flora had sent him over to talk to him. His brows pinch and he steps forward in spite of himself, chewing on the inside of his cheek.

But then, as frustration looms and he flops back on the bed and covers his face with an arm, Sunjata crosses the rest of the way. He’s not used to dealing with the spirals, he’s used to being the one that’s essentially inconsolable. It’s a strange reversal he isn’t sure how to handle, let alone for someone he considers a friend but one he doesn’t know all that well in the grand scheme of things.

Maybe that’s for the better, though. “You put a lot of emphasis on me being a demigod for Frey.” He starts off, trying to interject some lightness into the conversation rather than doubling down on Niki’s insecurities. “And I get it, I guess to an extent, but I don’t just.. live and do things because I want to appease Frey. I’m a person, too, and half the time I do something I don’t really think much about Frey when I do it. I’ve always just kind of lived in the moment.” Comes the slight explanation, Sunjata dropping to his knees by Niki’s leg with the brace, reaching up to gently undo the buckles so that the necromancer might be able to find some relief getting it off his leg. “Whether or not that’s spending time with people that have two working legs.” Like it matters to him that Niki doesn’t. “It’s not a downside to me like it might be for you. I mean, obviously I don’t want you to hurt or be in pain or anything, but don’t think that it makes me think any less of you because you’ve got problems.” Because he doesn’t. “Gods' know I’ve got enough of my own to judge anyone elses.” He explains, working from buckle to buckle.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

stay your pretty eyes on course

"In my defence, we speak about Frey a lot. And you own a brothel. And Frey makes you find everyone attractive," Niki mutters, voice muffled, the words mostly for himself and the darkness he's hiding in beneath his sleeve. But Sunjata's follow-up - I'm a person, too - is enough to have his arm sliding up a bit, the necromancer searching for the other man in the sudden and startlingly dim light of his bedroom, only to find that he's on his knees to unbuckle the brace on his leg.

"You do not have t..." Cutting himself off, Niki sighs wearily and tries again. "Thank you." He manages to lever an elbow beneath himself to look at Sunjata properly, dark hair tousled and falling into hazy blue eyes. "With respect, though, I dare you to trade places with me for a day and not see the downside." He raises his eyebrows skeptically, as if to say that denying the blunt reality of his situation has never helped him at all.

The buckles give easily beneath the Heartless's hands, the leather supple and clearly well-worn and well cared for, Niki hissing out a soft sigh as the brace comes loose. "And for what it is worth, you seem to have truly awful luck more than you have problems."

Niki

I guess I never really faced my fears before

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

“Well that’s not true.” Sunjata says, refraining from letting the laugh leave him with the latter of the reasoning they speak about Frey. “I don’t find everyone attractive.” He points out, even as he looks up from where he works at the brace to meet those hazy blue eyes and dark hair, swallowing hard and averting his gaze to see all those similarities to what he does find attractive. “I’m pretty sure they make it so I’m more attractive to everyone else. But I really don’t find everyone attractive.” He corrects, snorting softly in spite of himself.

He nods to the thank you, ignoring the comment that he doesn’t have to. He knows he doesn’t. And when it comes to the trading places, a small smile tugs on the corner of his mouth as he forces himself to look back up at the necromancer. “Think you could stand it in my shoes, too? Y’know, since we’re trading places and all that.” He knows he’d suffer in Niki’s place, but would Niki suffer being in his?

As the brace comes loose, he carefully works it off of the abandoned’s bad leg, setting it by the foot of the bed within easy reach whenever Niki wants to put it back on before he’s sitting back on his heels and looking back at the other man. “Oh yeah, no, my luck is absolutely garbage. Has been for at least thirty years, I think.” He winces, trying to lighten the mood more with the dramatic pull it has on his face. “Truly awful luck tends to lead to problems, though, in my experience.” He points out, shooting a small smile up at him.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

stay your pretty eyes on course

"Wh- but that is not..." Not what he'd thought, not what Flora had implied, but also not anything that he'd checked was actually true. Granted, that had been several Blue Torchers ago, and Niki figures he can be given a pass for things he'd been told when he'd been more sober that have since melted into their own version of the truth. "I suppose that would make sense," he adds, of how Frey may have flipped the script on his initial assumption. Sunjata's words echo in his mind again - I'm a person too - and he finds himself seeing the man in a new light. (Ironic, given the relative darkness).

"Could I stand in your probably very expensive shoes, being what, eight feet tall, and with considerable magical power and a dragon under my skin?" he echoes, and if it weren't for the slight slur to his words, the dry tone could be all sober-Niki. "I think I could suffer through that, yes."

He scoffs, shifting enough to get out of the brace with Sunjata's assistance, his smile fading a little as the other man continues. "Maybe you need to get yourself one of those luck rings," he suggests, also aiming for a lighter tone. "Or therapy. I have heard that works wonders also."

Niki

I guess I never really faced my fears before

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

“Not what you expected?” He asks, raising his scarred brow as he tilts his head. But as it settles in the abandoned’s mind to say he supposes it makes sense, Sunjata snorts a little, his gaze lingering on Niki for a few long moments before he’s forced to look away. He isn’t sure what else to say to explain it, instead choosing to let Niki sit with the information before he’s starting to greatly exaggerate his height and his shoes, apparently.

A laugh leaves him, the smile lopsided on his face. “Okay, first off, I’m not eight feet tall. And also, I’m pretty sure I have normal shoes?” He asks, flexing a bit as he leans back to try and look at the shoes he’s currently sitting on, bracing himself on a hand as he leans back. His shirt rides up a touch with it, revealing a curved pink scar beneath it before he straightens again and focuses back on Niki. “The dragon is true, though. And I’ve got a zoo in here for any kind of vibe you want.”

He shakes his head at the idea of a luck ring, but when the necromancer mentions therapy his nose wrinkles and he snorts. “Well, I’ve never been one for therapy.” Not that he’d really given it a solid try. “I’d rather not make other people sad having to listen to all my trauma.” His hand lifts, gesturing helplessly before his shoulders slump slightly. “All for it for everyone else, though.” By all means.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

stay your pretty eyes on course

"Honestly, no," Niki confesses, and now as understanding starts to cement itself into reality, he's left more puzzled than ever. If he remembers any of this in the morning, it will certainly be food for thought. Before that, though, he slides right back into the realm of ridiculousness, blowing a raspberry in response to Sunjata's objection about height and shoes. "You may as well be. I thought I was going to get altitude sickness when you picked me up," he retorts.

Tilting his head at the flash of pink scarring as the other man moves, alcohol almost makes his lips loose enough to ask about it, but Niki catches himself just in time. "There, you see? I could certainly trade places with you if that is the case," he declares. "I would even march you to therapy whilst I was in your expensive shoes." His amusement is plain, but the smirk that starts to creep across his face doesn't get very far.

"Have you considered that you might make people sad because you are not taking care of yourself as well as you could be?" he says with a raise of his eyebrows, tone a little softer. "Especially given how you clearly want to take care of other people?" He gestures around the room as evidence.

Niki

I guess I never really faced my fears before