Log; Complete

[thunderwitch.livejournal.com]

When; Oct. 21st, evening
Rating; PG
Characters; Cirucci {thunderwitch} & Alfons {opfern}
Summary; Taking Cirucci out to dinner for a variety of reasons, Alfons' tongue ends up a tad too loosened by wine, admitting something that, while it proves embarrassing for him, proves more shocking for the Arrancar.
Log;

It wasn't often that he saw Cirucci truly dress up, curses aside. He could recall a few nicer-than-normal dresses, but this one took the cake. The color scheme was the same one she normally followed, but it left the cutesie frills behind in favor of a more classic elegance. The gloves were a nice touch...although the high slits kept making him have to avert his eyes. At least her cleavage was well covered.

Truthfully, Alfons felt underdressed. He had worn the nicest thing he owned...but it was still just a normal tan suit, and he had nothing like a tie to accompany it and make it classier. Feeling like a pauper escorting a princess to a place he couldn't afford, he just about cried when he saw the prices on the menu. Clearly he would have to dip into the stash he'd been saving up just for a new engine model design.

And having to pay as much as he would, he expected plenty of food... This place was French, wasn't it? Didn't the French eat well?

Apparently not. The portions were surprisingly tiny. Edward would have starved on this kind of food... Trying not to seem as grumpy as he was, he was even more polite than normal, having pulled out her seat for her and tried his best to keep casual conversation flowing without lecturing her on her stupidity with getting back her number.

And really, he wanted to tell her no dessert just because of her horribly idiotic decision that was going to keep her in a world of trouble... But he had promised her to a pleasant night out, and he wasn't going to back out on that. After what Nnoitra had probably put her through, it was most certainly what she deserved...a little. And so he agreed to have a look at the dessert menu, just handing it off to Cirucci to pick when their server brought it over.

At the very least, he mused, the view was nice. A little chilly outside, but the lake was pretty, and the wine offered him a false, temporary warmth.

>>>

Cirucci liked dessert.

She kicked her feet a bit as she looked over the menu, perusing with a purse of painted lips. She knew exactly why Alfons had agreed to treat her tonight, because he felt sorry for her, for being bound to Nnoitra now as she was, and she didn’t want his pity, didn’t want anyone’s pity, but with Alfons, she always got it anyway. He also probably wanted to fuss at her, over the tattoo on her breast, but she didn’t mind that at all.

That she had one to fuss about made her swell with pride anyway.

It was a stupid pride. She’d have to be dumb to think Nnoitra wouldn’t kill her if he found out. Oh, more than kill her, probably. Torture, humiliation, rape, the works. And yet, somehow, Cirucci couldn’t care. Oh, she could take precautions, but, even if it did happen, it was still worth it.

“This one~!” The Privaron crooned, turning the menu to point at a small cheesecake, a circle shape with fresh berries arranged on top, smiling over the picture edge.

>>>

He barely got a chance to glance at the item and it's price before the menu was taken back by the server. Well...she could have picked a more expensive item, but...she could have picked something cheaper as well. Did she think he was made of money? He needed to find a job immediately.

But she just had to smile like that and he was helpless. Sigh.

When had the server left? Sometimes it seemed like they disappeared or appeared in the blink of an eye. It gave him the creeps... They were just normal people like them that worked there, right? ...Maybe he ought to pick up a job application at some point.

Looking nervously over his shoulder for a second, as if expecting a creepy server to jump him from behind, he then straightened up and set his wine glass own when a familiar tune filtered outside from the grand piano being played inside. "Ah, I know this song..."

Farewell to the Piano. It was definitely soothing.

>>>

“I don’t know any songs~” Cirucci answered automatically, a shrug of one shapely shoulder, covered in thick curls, hair down for once, as she was prone to do when she dressed up. She could appreciate music as much as the next person, but she’d never taken the time to bother.

“But, come now, Alfons.” She was definitely curious as to why he would treat her like this, usually dinners like this were only when non-Arrancar males were courting her, one, or wanted information, two, or allies, three. There was always that cautionary, violent undertone with those, and not now.

“What did you treat me for, mm? Bribing me, are you?” The 105th laughed lightly, to assure him she wasn’t angry or upset, more teasing, plying, having been irritated with him far too much earlier, for his morose mood over Edward, damn that boy.

She had always hated Edward.

>>>

Why? Oh, there were a number of reasons... The easiest to claim was because she had manipulated him into doing so, knowing he wouldn't be able to say no. Or he could have said it was to make her feel better for the stress that her idiotic decision must have been causing her. But he didn't actually have a solid answer... It was always more complicated than that.

But complexity was overrated, so he just smiled a little for her. "Can't it just be because I like seeing you smile? And I'm proving to you that you can get fine food elsewhere... You don't need me cooking for you."

>>>

“Liar~” Cirucci smirked cruelly, perhaps a little fondly, leaning back to cross her legs, rearrange the dress, longer than her uniform for him, for his silly human male propriety, adjusting the garters still visible with the slits up the side, plying her hands over smooth fabric.

“Cirucci’s smile isn’t worth all this.” She gestured about them, knew he didn’t particularly care for nice outings and fancy dinners like she did, she liked the dazzle and sparkle, the attention and the wealth of it all, liked feeling pampered, special.

“Alfons is upset, no?” Small fingers played in dark curls, purple eyes level, but hiding a bit of teasing mirth.

>>>

For as shallow and selfish as she constantly acted, she could be surprisingly perceptive. It was a little annoying, and just made him smile more with a shake of his head. "Your smile is worth everything, Cirucci! I've told you that before, now haven't I?"

Knowing that they would probably have to wait a bit for her dessert, he took advantage of the familiar melody and lack of other people sitting outside to set his napkin and the table and stand to walk around the table to where she sat. Distractions were something he was fairly skilled at, and maybe the wine was helping. "If I was upset, would I be asking you to dance?"

Holding his hand out, palm up, he waited. No, this social scene was not normally something he was skilled at, but he had always known the basics, and Noah had shown him how to dance more smoothly during her stay in the City.

>>>

Cirucci blinked, flat out stared, and abruptly recrossed her legs.

Did he just ask her to dance?

“… Silly.” She sighed; rising and delicately placing her palm in his hand, the cool, silky feel of glove, against his skin, her other hand brushing out her dress as she stood, a little bit shorter than the human male, petite and lithe, allowing him to lead if he wanted to, quite capable of leading herself if he decided to be shy.

>>>

He might have felt shy and awkward around anyone else, but it was difficult to get embarrassed around Cirucci anymore these days, unless she went overboard in teasing him. Also, he wasn't completely hopeless on the dance floor... The waltz was easy once one learned the basics, and knew not to step on toes or mess a beat.

"Why silly? Men dance with women all the time," he teased, taking her hand and guiding her a few steps back so that they were even between their table and the balcony's railing. Perhaps the only thing to be embarrassed about was the close proximity, since it was face to face, but the wine relaxed him enough so that he didn't fumble when he rested his free hand against her waist.

>>>

“Smiles aren’t worth anything.” She murmured as she moved, rested her other gloved palm on his shoulder as she was supposed to, couldn’t tell why or how she knew how this dance went, another thing she just knew but couldn’t explain, didn’t want to bother explaining.

“Especially not Cirucci’s, you know.” The Thunderwitch let her lush lips curl into a smile, just like most of her smiles, fake and heartless, as everything she did was literally heartless, breathed heartless, moved heartless, spoke and danced heartless.

“Don’t put too much stock in them~”

>>>

Her words really were depressing, and he supposed they fit the song being played. He knew that Cirucci's smile had yet to reach her eyes, not in the way he thought of, but then lately he could be accused of the same. It certainly wasn't a crime... But it was morose.

"Really? I like them, anyway. But only when you mean them." Left foot forward, step to the side, feet together, right foot back, and to the side again, then turn. It was easy so long as he ticked off the steps in his head, much like the way he went over old formulas when writing.

She was acting too depressing... A compliment could usually fix that. Something not involving her smile. "You're beautiful tonight. Where did you get the dress?"

>>>

“I always look beautiful.” She reminded gently, teasing, following his steps with all the grace she had normally, while lounging, while fighting, while just walking. She was a thing such as that, light and pretty, and it was instinctual to her to be so.

“Can’t remember.” She tried to, briefly, but she never had been keen on remembering things like that. No point to it.

“… Shopping with Orihime, maybe.” It was her best guess, anyway, sufficiently distracted.

>>>

Such a pretty dress, and he had never seen her wear it before... She must have gotten it recently, right? Or had it been collecting dust in her closet? Either way, he certainly appreciated it, as much as any man could, though he agreed with her on the beauty thing. She probably could have pulled off a bed sheet just divinely.

"Miss Inoue? One of the trips you didn't drag me on, then..." Keeping an eye out for one of the creepy silent servers, Alfons spun her around again, reminding himself he had no reason to be surprise at how flawlessly she was keeping up with him. She probably thought him clumsy... "I still wonder...why do you take me on shopping trips with you two? Aside from when it's to cheer her up."

>>>

“I though gay men liked that sort of thing?” Cirucci smirked a little, still teasing, but she honestly was being rude when she said that, though it wasn’t quiet her intention. She didn’t set out to offend him, but it usually sort of happened when she said things like that, insensitive to his propriety and his moral senses.

… And she did think he was somewhat clumsy.

>>>

Her saying it so casually made him shoot another look over his shoulder, though there were very few people seated outside at this time of year. He was glad for that, but still.

The look he offered her when he looked back in her direction was something similar to a glare, but more leaning towards amusement than anything. "And how would I know that? You're always saying such things... Do I have any say in the matter?"

Really, whether he was gay or straight, being accused of that sort of thing where he was from... Well it was certain taboo. He could have lost his job. Fortunately, he needed to remind himself that this place was different, and he wasn't going to get beaten and mugged if someone overheard Cirucci make such claims. Not that he couldn't get beaten and mugged for other reasons...

>>>

“Nope~” Cirucci giggled softly, abruptly letting her hand fall down to his back and nudging his leg with her foot, enough to trip him into a fall, what she made into a dip, low and gallant, taking the male lead of a dance and supporting his lower back to make sure he didn’t fall, leaning in close to press her lips to his forehead.

“Cirucci’s the boss, remember?” She laughed again, playful and teasing, and very nearly dropped him distractedly when she caught sight of her dessert, but she made sure not to, smirking a bit and helping him back up before she flounced back to her seat.

>>>

It wasn't difficult to trip him up, and it was only her strength that kept him from completely tumbling over onto the ground. When he saw the dessert on the table, he paled even more, if such a thing were possible. Damnit, someone had seen this disgrace? Those damned servers. Were they ninja or something?

Once he was allowed to stand back up, Alfons huffed a little and smoothed out his blazer before rubbing at his forehead in annoyance. The woman sure could do a lot to damage a man's pride, that was for sure. Did she always need to be such a show off?

Walking back over, he flopped ungracefully into his seat and watched her dig into the cheesecake for a minute before he let his gaze wander back over towards the lake.

"Well, I think the 'boss' is wrong in that regard. I don't know why you've always just assumed I'm...that way." Annoyance slipped out of his tone, replaced by his normal easy-going manner. "Edward's been the only one."

>>>

“So you’re only kind of gay, then.” Cirucci shrugged. “Whatever, you know?” She speared a raspberry on her fork and gestured with it. She made faces at the idea of men together, but it was more to be dramatic than anything. Unless she wanted one of the males for herself, she usually didn’t give a shit what they fucked.

“If it makes you feel better, that makes me a little gay too, how about it?” It was a roundabout way of trying to make him feel better about it, whyever he felt bad about it, and she certainly wanted to distract him from that topic, Edward, though it made her want to spit. But she didn’t she was in public and that would look rather unappealing, wouldn’t it?

“Nnoitra had that stupid bitch of a woman of his join in, so there.” She pointed at him with the raspberry-ed fork before popping it into her mouth.

>>>

Sort of gay? Oh Lord. And then she had to go and talk about what she'd done in bed... His cheeks were bright red by the end of her attempt to...comfort him. "C-Cirucci!"

Waving his hand in an attempt to shush her, regardless if anyone was around or not, he willed the flush in his face to lessen. Oh yes. She could still embarrass him. Lord.

"I didn't need to know that... And I don't think that's quite the same thing. You weren't...attracted to her, right?" They weren't having this conversation. They simply weren't. He blamed the wine. He'd blame it all on the stupidly expensive wine.

"Anyway, I mean, I wouldn't say I go around...observing women in that manner, either. I find lots of women beautiful, but attraction, maybe...it's not so common...with me? Perhaps my work can be blamed." And Edward, of course, stole all of his attention as soon as he appeared. The prodigal son and all that. He was sort of rambling now, though he wasn't sure why exactly.

"Ah, but, that's why it made me so uncomfortable when you used to tease me like that, Cirucci. If I had no attraction towards you, I doubt it would even bother me."

>>>

“I hate that bitch.” Cirucci snarled immediately, took her anger out on the berry in her mouth and swallowed hard. “Goddamn, Nnoitra’s like, a child molester for sleeping with her, she’s a goddamn idiot.” She tossed her hair back irritably, flushing in suppressed shame and anger.

“Tch.” She tried to disregard it and listened instead, reached for the wine, could stand it, taking a sip and nodding idly before she suddenly sucked in a breath and choked, had to cover her mouth and thump her hollow chest to swallow and stare across the table in utter disbelief.

… What?

“… Huh?”

>>>

What? Damn, what had he said that would make her choke of all things?

...Ah. Crap. "What?" he suddenly responded, voice rising in pitch so that it actually cracked a bit due to nerves. There was a reason he had kept that bit of information to himself all this time, and he had done a fine job of it, too. Then he had to go and blurt something stupid out.

Really, though, half the reason he'd kept it secret was now gone. There was no Edward for her to taunt with this news...and oh he knew she would, too. Still, he didn't feel comfortable with her knowing. She was too unpredictable. Now he had a damn headache.

"I need to go pay the bill. I'm not waiting for the check. They're too slow here," he blatantly lied as he stood back up.

>>>

Cirucci blinked, her brow furrowing as she waved him off, processing that little bit of information.

He was attracted to her? Honestly, she’d had no idea. Well, sort of… not really? Most men that liked her liked her for fucking, and not much else. The idea of being liked for anything else was completely foreign to her, and even the two lovers she valued most, Il Forte and Luppi, used her for that above all else, and she knew without a doubt that if she didn’t sleep with them, there would be nothing between them.

She waited, idly bit into one talon of a nail, and recrossed her legs.

And here, judging by his reaction to the one time she’d fucked him, she’d definitely pegged him for gay. … What the fuck?

>>>

He was pretty certain that this one meal had cleaned out his wallet. He would need to do some serious job hunting in the morning... Hell, he couldn't even wait until morning. Middle of the night. Now? Now. It was so tempting to just run from the podium and very far far away from this situation.

Because it was humiliating. It was somewhat reminiscent of a situation he had once experienced a the university... What a blow to the ego that had been. He didn't care to repeat any of that, especially not with a good friend like Cirucci.

As he pocketed his wallet, Alfons trudged back as slowly as his feet could carry him... Any slower and he would have been standing still. Maybe...she would make nothing of it. After all, it should have been nothing to her. Maybe another thing for her to preen about, because of course she was queen and reigned above all and everyone should kiss her feet so this was expected...or something like that.

Really, he knew she didn't actually think that, but she seemed to like to make people think she did, and he was nothing if not grand at humoring her at times.

So, if he acted normal, she would act normal, and he could blame the wine in the morning. Headache.

Still remembering his manners, though he was beginning to loathe them at this point, he quickly slipped up behind her and pulled out her chair just a bit. "Ready to go?" He sounded steady, he was pretty sure.

>>>

She didn’t respond at first, still staring off into space, lost in thought before she realized he had been taking to her.

“Ah-“ She blinked. “Mm.” Cirucci stood, brushed off her dress, and let him lead, sullen and quiet. … That was just-

… That was weird, and she didn’t know what to think, really. She expected people to like her, yes, but… Alfons? Alfons was Alfons and he didn’t like anyone but Edward.

“… Alfons?” She murmured oddly, following him out. “Are you ashamed to like a whore?”

>>>

While the silence was awkward, it had been preferable to a question like that. "What?!" he hissed out in shock, shooting a wide-eyed look her way before speeding up so that they could leave quickly before anyone overheard.

Once they were out on the pathway in the garden, he stopped and turned to face her. "Cirucci, you're not a whore. How many times have I said that? I'm never going to live that one comment down, am I?" At least comforting her was something Alfons was more familiar with... It made him less nervous, though as sad as any other time when she spoke of herself in such a manner.

"You know I've cared for you for a very long time... You just insist I don't use the L word, isn't that right?" he teased, trying to lighten her mood a bit.

>>>

“No, you’re not.” She huffed, crossing her arms under her breast, pausing to let fingers caress the newly healed scar lovingly, trying to keep a disdainful expression on her face before it kept giving way to confusion.

“There’s a difference between caring and loving and wanting to fuck someone!” Cirucci protested, not giving into his teasing, lips thin and stance stiff.

“When I fucked you, you threw a fit,” She reminded.

>>>

She was going to make a scene, and there was nothing he could do except be grateful that there weren't as many people in Xanadu as there were in the more urban part of the City. Still, there were enough around to make the back of his neck feel hot in embarrassment.

"I realize there's a difference, Cirucci...! And I told you, it was the principle of the matter. You took advantage of me when I wasn't myself, and you did it just for kicks. A passing fancy. That's what upset me. And Edward, he..." Alfons let his gaze drift off the side, pinning on a tree. "I don't practice polygamy, so that also made me upset. I know it was a curse, but I still haven't forgiven myself."

>>>

Cirucci hmmphed, tossed her head and sent dark curls whipping around her face. She didn’t know what she wanted out of him, what she expected him to say, do, what she expected herself to say and do, but it wasn’t this.

“Kiss me, then.” She said suddenly, watching him critically, as if testing him. If he liked her liked that, he would do it. If not, he was just being dumb again, as humans were inclined to do, like their monogamy, their silly little loves and fancies with romance and all those idiotic things she couldn’t ever understand courtesy the gaping hole in her torso, the one that made the only thing she could feel akin to love was a possessive need.

>>>

Where was a hole in the ground when one needed it? It would have just been brilliant for one to appear so he could curl up and die in it.

"Kiss you? I'm not...! You don't just kiss people out of the blue, especially not in a public place! Well, at least I don't. And what would that prove, anyway?" Alarmed and uncomfortable, Alfons raised his hand to rub at his arm. Normally his palms would have been sweaty, but his cooler body temperature kept that at bay for now.

"I don't understand why we're talking about this."

>>>

“You started it.” Cirucci pointed out, huffing again and stomping a small foot irritably.

“You kiss who you’re attracted to.” Or the Espada who could just as easily kill you as fuck you, and fucking was the preferable option.

“So if you can’t, you lied.” She bound with words and his sense of honor, morals, whatever the fuck they were called, chin rising proudly.

>>>

With a groan, Alfons reached up to run his fingers through his hair. His headache was getting worse. "Cirucci... That's not how it works. No matter who I liked, I wouldn't kiss them in public. And I wouldn't do it in private unless we were dating. That's the proper way to handle it..."

Not that there was any real proper way to handle this. "Besides, proving what I said was true would get us nowhere, other than make me look like an idiot. So if saying I'm a liar makes you feel better, then go ahead." Already he was walking off again...well...trudging in a grumpy manner.

>>>

“… Fine.” Cirucci felt a hot surge of fury, but she stuffed it down and replaced it with a mask of cold indifference, she was not unfamiliar with it. She suppressed the urge to worry at the awkward statement he’d admitted, discarded it and let her bottom lip stiffen in an unsatisfied pout, slinking behind him, irritated.

She didn’t say another word,