tampered | closed }{ not if it's bitter

closed }{ not if it's bitter

When; August 12, evening
Rating; PG-13
Characters; Tyr Mcdohl [

stargathering] and Yuri Lowell [

notflynn]
Summary; Tyr's been avoiding Yuri. Yuri finds him anyway!
Log; He'd decided to come home early that day - with jobs all finished and nothing else to do. Yuri looked forward to relaxing in his or Flynn's bed, hair wet just to piss the other off. Despite liking his time off, he'd also been working quite diligently lately. It kept his mind off things-- like how he hadn't been able to see certain people in a while.

That was also a partial reason in his early arrival home. While Yuri generally gave others space to work out whatever needed to be worked out-- avoidance was never really something he liked all too much. It reeked too much of running away, and that never proved to be such a good solution to any problem.

However- just as he arrived at the door, to his luck, it swung open.

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It was a stroke of luck that Tyr didn't just keep walking and bump into Yuri purely out of habit. Thankfully, though, he wasn't that careless, but there wasn't much grace in the way he froze and stared up at Yuri like he didn't actually live at the beach house. Admittedly, Tyr was surprisingly good at not seeing the other despite his frequent trips there, organising his visits to times when he knew Yuri usually wasn't there, based on old experiences.

And it would really be his luck that once he made up with Rita and began visiting again, those experiences would fail him and he'd run into Yuri again - almost literally.

He took a few steps to the side to give Yuri room to enter, looking straight ahead to his chest rather than his face. "Welcome home..." You're early, he thought.

There were times when Tyr was actually pretty difficult to read - even Yuri couldn't quite get a hint in what the other was feeling or thinking. But the way the other reacted now... well, it was like reading an open book. The stiff lines in the other's body, his voice-- Yuri kept his own smile vague as he stepped inside, closed and locked the door behind him.

"Thanks," he responded, arms crossed almost accusingly. "Haven't seen you in a while. How have you been?"

He had a feeling he knew why, though really Yuri had a little bit of trouble believing it. They were even now, right?

Getting even in nearly killing each other wasn't really Tyr's idea of making up. Seeing Yuri lock the door and block his path to it didn't leave any room in Tyr's imagination for how Yuri felt now, though—or at least what he was thinking. He looked up to Yuri's face then just to show he wasn't intimidated by him or too ashamed to look him in the eye.

"I'm all right..." His eyes looked Yuri over, but after more than a week, Yuri should be healed. At least as long as he didn't worsen his wounds somehow. He glanced away again towards the kitchen. "I didn't think you'd be here now. I made food earlier..."

"I'll eat later then," he said softly, his tone puzzling in its vagueness. He kept his words as steady as possible and his smile disarming. The only sign of tension was in his hands, the way they crossed over his chest almost defensively. "For now- you got a moment?"

Regardless of how Tyr answered, however, Yuri intended to speak with him. This little game of Tyr's had gone on long enough, and now seemed to be the perfect time to set things straight. Get things in order. Get rid of that look. Yuri never was a man of patience, and he often preferred to seize the moment with his own two hands on his own two feet.

He didn't even bother saying that there wasn't any left since he only made enough for himself and Rita. The fact Yuri was smiling at all right now was unsettling. His mind was still on the fact Yuri had essentially trapped him.

There wasn't even a point in trying to act casual now. He nodded, but didn't move to go anywhere. Mostly for the fact Tyr didn't want to turn his back to him. "Something on your mind?"

"What gave you that idea?" He had a lot of things on his mind, actually, and immediately after responding his grin drops, eyes darkening with seriousness. He leaned against the door, arms crossed.

"You're not dumb," he said, fingers tapping against his arm with all the patience he could muster. "You know that I've noticed, right?"

Maybe that was a dumb question. He had a pretty good idea what was on Yuri's mind. He takes a step backwards, hands hanging stiffly at his side in case he had to do something with them.

"Hard to say what you've noticed. I haven't seen you around."

"Exactly." Not at the restaurant, not around here with Rita-- not anywhere. It was common before the incident to run into Tyr pretty regularly. But now? It wasn't just a coincidence, and they both knew that. He knew Tyr wasn't a coward. So why-?

"Mind explaining?"

He took a little breath, letting his eyes drift down to Yuri's neck instead of his eyes. Of course Yuri wasn't a fool, and it hadn't been Tyr's intention to play him as one, but that was essentially what he had been doing.

"I didn't think you'd want to see me," he confessed quietly.

"Yeah?" He took a step forward, towering over Tyr a little. It wasn't meant to intimidate- not really meant to trap. But he did take advantage of the closeness and flicked the other on the forehead. "And since when do you decide those things for me?"

It was more than obvious what Tyr was referring to.

Grimacing a little, he slapped away Yuri's hand belatedly. He hated how close they were, but Tyr wasn't going to step back and let Yuri know he had intimidated him without even meaning to.

There was an edge to his voice, partially because Yuri flicking him on the head annoyed him. "Then what do you want?"

"Why are you avoiding me?" he asked, getting straight to the point, arms crossing once more. His expression turned neutral, almost blank with a hint of unimpressed. Yuri was real great at showing his feelings and all that.

He opened his mouth to say something else before closing it, opting to stare intently at Tyr for an answer instead.

"...Because I hurt you."

It was a simple answer even if it didn't fully answer the why. That could be too complicated for Tyr to even answer himself. Even though he avoided everyone directly afterwards and disappeared into the forest, Yuri was the only one he had been actively avoiding now.

"You and I both know it was because of a curse." Yuri, while he'd been pretty injured after that, recovered smoothly after some rest, a few gels, and a few sneaky healing artes (he couldn't be more grateful for Guardian Field.) It seemed the entire City was out to curse his friends in such a way that they were all out for his blood at some point or another. He always got hurt somehow -- he was no stranger to it.

Despite the fact that he'd gotten angry at Tyr for the same curse and the same type of spell that killed Flynn-- he was much less accusing and much less angry about the same situation happening to him. Most important was the fact that he hadn't died. Second-- well, it was more than obvious how much Tyr regretted it. And that was enough for Yuri.

That didn't seem to matter too much before, Tyr thought. Now he wonder if he was he scared of Yuri, and decided it was just his vengeance and rage that he was scared of. If the entire thing where he almost let himself be killed by Gremio and Ted meant anything, though, it was that Yuri wasn't exactly proud of what he did either.

For that reason, he didn't bother to bring up that it didn't matter last time. Yuri was his friend and didn't deserve to be reminded of that.

With a sigh, he looked back up at Yuri's face. "You're right, but... That doesn't change that I hurt you."

"It doesn't change that I healed up just fine." Yuri'd only really felt an intense pain back then-- and during the entire curse, he hadn't been in his right mind either. Though not as cursed as he was when he went around slaying the innocent, he was willing to, once again, kill for the sake of his own justice.

The City just loves to bring out their worst, didn't it, creating these uncertainties and feelings of guilt. He remembered how he felt after nearly choking Tyr to death-- he didn't want Tyr bearing that same burden. Flynn wouldn't want that, either.

"I guess..."

There wasn't anything he could really say back to that. Maybe they were just even now and they should just get over it—or Tyr should. He was the one that avoided Yuri, and he was the one who was afraid of Yuri.

He shifted from foot to foot, wondering if he should tell Yuri that he couldn't even use the rune again, but with the way the City was, he would just be made to try to bash Yuri's head in with his staff the next day. After a pause, he finally asks, uncertainly, "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"If I say no, will you take that as an excuse to get the hell out of here?" Because Yuri wasn't having any of it. Tyr's his friend! And Yuri liked to see his friends at least once in a while. Just to talk, hang out. Enjoy the company. Especially now with Flynn gone-- he'd been feeling a bit restless.

Though Tyr's answer didn't fix anything. Was he all right, now? Was he okay?

Flynn and Yuri's loneliness didn't even enter Tyr's mind, and the intent behind Yuri's words was lost on him. Stiffening, he crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm finished with my business here, so I'll leave whenever you'd like..."

"Good, because we're going somewhere." Always so hands-on when it came to Tyr, he took the other's hand and pulled him outside. He wanted Tyr to leave! Just not-- leave leave.

—What.

Tyr stared at Yuri, but didn't pull his hand away - maybe just because he was too shocked to do anything but follow along.

"Where are we going?"

He didn't think Yuri had any ill will now, at least. That big, childish grin was not even close to looking malicious to Tyr.

"Just somewhere I like to go to every once in a while." Yuri led him straight to the beach next to the house- taking them further, however, until they reach a pile of rubble. Yuri finally let go, stretching and enjoying the sea breeze for a moment.

"Go ahead and sit down. Relax."

By this point, Tyr wasn't worried about where they were going or what Yuri had in mind. He smiled easily and let himself be dragged along the beach. He wondered for a second what the pile of rubble was from, but didn't bother to ask yet.

"You have to join me," he told him, taking Yuri's wrist and trying to tug him down with him as he plopped into the sand,

Yuri bent down to sit in the soft sand, not caring how it got all over his clothes already. The atmosphere was peaceful, a bit isolated from the bustle of the City. Hands already dug into the sand, just digging and messing around with it idly.

"Feeling relaxed, yet?"

Tyr pulled his legs up and folded his arms across his knees to make a pillow. When it was quiet at the end of the day like this, being in the warm sand made him a little sleepy. "Sort of, I guess..." he answered with a sigh. "Do you usually come out here at night?

"Not always, but I'm no stranger to this place." He'd come here plenty of times to just think or reminisce. Even just to relax from a stressful curse, stretching out in the warm, smooth sand always helped. Sometimes his dog Hamlet would come with him, licking his face and playing in the waves. "Never thought I'd like the ocean so much."

He hummed a little in response, looking out to the sea. "You get used to it if you live by it for long enough..." That's how it was at Toran Castle, at least. After hearing the waves night after night, the sound turned into a relaxing rhythm.

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closed }{ not if it's bitter

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