KOA
Koa looks ready to protest Soh's apology - no, I'm sorry! - but settles instead for a huffed half-laugh, squeezing again as she comments on how nice the moment is. The warmth from her fingers radiates through his arm, threatens to darken the curve of his cheeks. "It is, isn't it?" Even if he's still not sure what it is. Not wanting to upset the tenuous comfort with prying questions, he quickly barrels on: "I'm glad we can do this. Hang out. Be friends." He gestures between them, boyish smile dimpling his face. "Real grown up shit, eh?"
Their drinks come then, and Koa has to admit that the whisky is remarkably pleasant, perhaps even dangerously so. He's on his second sip when Sohalia inhales a bracing breath, signaling dangerous waters ahead. He looks at her haplessly, half wanting to tell her to stop before they get into deeper water, more than half desperate to hear what it is she's going to say.
Ah, but it's only an apology, and the boy feels his tension deflating with a strange mix of relief and disappointment. "Young and stupid, remember?" he chuckles, waving his hand dismissively as though to disperse an unpleasant smell.
But then she adds I really missed you, and fuck, ok, but what does that mean? Missed his friendship? His protection? Missed the feeling of his mouth, the dashed promises of what they could have been?
Feeling newly unmoored and a little dizzy (the third sip of spirits on an empty stomach isn't helping things), Koa tries to find an eloquent answer and in the end comes up short. "I missed you, too," he settles for at last, rubbing the skin at the back of his neck. It feels... inadequate, somehow. So close to the thing they're skirting around, and yet so very far.
Not wanting to fall back into awkwardness, Koa decides to chatter on. "So! Tell me what you've been up to, then. Are you here for a while? Or still mostly in Torchline?" Taking another sip of whisky, he steels up the courage to super casually add the question: "Anyone new in your life?"
You know, the things friends ask each other. Because that's what they are now. Friends.
Their drinks come then, and Koa has to admit that the whisky is remarkably pleasant, perhaps even dangerously so. He's on his second sip when Sohalia inhales a bracing breath, signaling dangerous waters ahead. He looks at her haplessly, half wanting to tell her to stop before they get into deeper water, more than half desperate to hear what it is she's going to say.
Ah, but it's only an apology, and the boy feels his tension deflating with a strange mix of relief and disappointment. "Young and stupid, remember?" he chuckles, waving his hand dismissively as though to disperse an unpleasant smell.
But then she adds I really missed you, and fuck, ok, but what does that mean? Missed his friendship? His protection? Missed the feeling of his mouth, the dashed promises of what they could have been?
Feeling newly unmoored and a little dizzy (the third sip of spirits on an empty stomach isn't helping things), Koa tries to find an eloquent answer and in the end comes up short. "I missed you, too," he settles for at last, rubbing the skin at the back of his neck. It feels... inadequate, somehow. So close to the thing they're skirting around, and yet so very far.
Not wanting to fall back into awkwardness, Koa decides to chatter on. "So! Tell me what you've been up to, then. Are you here for a while? Or still mostly in Torchline?" Taking another sip of whisky, he steels up the courage to super casually add the question: "Anyone new in your life?"
You know, the things friends ask each other. Because that's what they are now. Friends.
Let me go, I don't wanna be your hero
I don't wanna be a big man
Just wanna fight with everyone else
I don't wanna be a big man
Just wanna fight with everyone else
Code stolen from Queen Sky
