[open]

[suddenlybees]

Who: Kano & OTA
What: magic practice, pettiness, finals
Where: Lumière, greenhouse, library
When: mid-month, before finals
Warnings: self-harm for prompt i., none expected for the rest
Notes: details of Kano's new Fey Contract can be found on his app

i. Lumière dormitory rooftop
[ Fey magic is a really... terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea. But Kano is determined to make it work, this new Contract that he'd forged a couple of days ago, but it's just so different from his usual illusion magic that he'd worked ten whole years to get to the point where he is now, illusions seamless and effortless compared to him staring at his arm right now wondering what he's doing wrong?

Because his arm is bleeding, a bloody knife on his lap while he pokes at the wound with his other hand and it just comes back bloody, him wincing because it hurts and why isn't the magic working? There's nothing intuitive about this at all, and he has no idea how he's supposed to make it work, with the magic supposed to be healing and dulling pain but it's just doing the opposite for him, the pain making it hard to keep a smile on his face, and making him feel like crying a little.

With a sigh, he waves hand over the bleeding cut instead of touching it, and it disappears— simply masked underneath an illusion, but it's still there while he tries to figure out how to do this, preferably before he bleeds out.

It won't come to it, though. He has three years worth of band-aids stocked up, and he knew they would be useful someday. ]

ii. campus, on the way to the greenhouse or inside
[ But you know what always makes up for terrible days? Even more terrible ideas to get your mind off previous ones. This one isn't that bad, though, because it's something that'll have positive long-term consequences. Probably.

Anyways, it's Kano with long sleeves and pants and winter gloves and the hood of his jacket pulled over his head and eyes and also a bandanna over the rest of his face so he can have as little skin showing as possible. It isn't all because of botched healing practice, though, it's because he's lugging around a three gallon plastic jug in his arms— you know, one of those large plastic containers twice the size of your head that you can buy cheese balls in, but instead of cheese balls, it's bees.

It's a jar full of bees.

He had to ship them to a PO in town and then lug them all the way back to campus; this insect purchasing restriction is really an awful pain. ]

iii. library
[ But also, anyways, it's almost finals and while Kano did surprisingly okay on his midterms, he's got to do slightly more okay on his finals too, because exam scored are literally all that's carrying his grades without the homework to pad it.

So the library it is... Books, his arch nemesis... Him, sitting at one of the open study areas with a stack of brand new text books in front of him that barely look touched, a mug of something on the table that's a dark dark red to the point that it's almost black and also has four tea bags sitting inside it that's steeped so long the tea is no longer steaming, and also hands clamped over his ears like he's trying to block out ambient noise, or massage away a headache, or give himself a headache so he can go hang out in the infirmary for the next two weeks and not do finals.

Why does Daybreak have to be a school??? Schools suck. ]

Comments

[suddenlybees]

[ There's a difference between no stabbing necessary, and no stabbing warranted, Kano thinks, rocking back on his heels and biting at his lower lip for a moment and then he extends his hand, pinky out. ]

We'll have a sleepover, but no matter what, you're not allowed to stab me. Deal?

[deuteranope]

[He laughs and grins on instinct, but then it occurs to him that it might be a legitimate concern, from Kano's point of view and the smile melts away. Without everything else happening today, he might have been suspicious out that "no matter what", but alas... It's not a good feeling, knowing someone you like and believe is your friend thinks that you'll up and stab them. Stabbing friends was only fun in a mutually agreed upon knife fight.]

Cross my heart. [As he reaches out and links his pinkie with Kano's.] I will not stab you on this, or any, sleepover.

[suddenlybees]

[ Growing up sharing a room with Ellie, who's explosive when startled and is also prone to nightmares and whose favorite keepsake is a knife, there's always been legitimate concern. He doesn't believe she or Maverick would do it out of ill intentions, but that man who murdered his mother and then went and stabbed Kano? That wasn't done out of malice either. Kano was just in the way. It'd be like that here, too, hooking pinkies with Maverick and giving it a squeeze and a twist. ]

You'll leave it in your room when you come over?

[deuteranope]

[...Mm. That's harder. His lips thin into a line and his eyes immediately flick down towards his pocket where the knife safely rests, now.]

I, uh...

[He would prefer Not To.]

[suddenlybees]

[ Maverick is not getting his pinky back until they come to some sort of consensus about this. ]

Do you really need it? If it's just me in the room, you could easily beat me up with your bare hands, you don't need a knife.

[deuteranope]

[ughhhh]

Oh, come the fuck on, like I'm really worried about you. Fuck.

[suddenlybees]

Then you have nothing else to worry about!! We'll bar the door with a chair and place tacks on the windowsill and you don't need that knife!

[deuteranope]

Cricket --

[He huffs, but...

He doesn't...have an argument he can make. He wants to fight, but he doesn't want to ruin this, either.]

Fucking... Fuck, fucking hell. Fine!

[suddenlybees]

Good.

[ He takes their hands and crosses them over his heart before Maverick can say never mind, even though he knows he's basically twisting the other boy's arm into this, and then lets their hands drop without letting go of Maverick's pinky. ]

If it'll make you feel safer, I'll let you borrow Ellie's knife for the night, alright?

[deuteranope]

[...okay, he's yanking his hand away for that.]

Fuck you! What's the difference if it's mine or hers? Why the fuck do you even have it?

[suddenlybees]

It's different because it's hers! Isn't that enough?

[ If he gets stabbed by Ellie's keepsake, he doesn't think he would mind it as much, but that's not something he's going to admit to Maverick. Ugh, he misses her. And he's doing... not this for her, but has plans in motion for her sake, and he rubs at the bandaging over his arm. ]

It's 'cause it's her favorite. So she has to come back to get it back, like that?

[deuteranope]

[It's a knife! He'll be giving Maverick a knife when apparently his fear is Maverick stabbing him with a knife! In what world does that make sense!! Forcing Ellie to return to get back her favorite knife he can follow, but]

That's so fucking stupid, I can't fucking believe I expected some shitty, not stupid reason why I can't fucking have my knife, just fucking someone else's.

[he's crabby]

[suddenlybees]

Too bad you already agreed to it~

[ It makes sense in Kano's own little world, and Maverick not breaking his sacred pinky promise is really all that matters here. ]

[deuteranope]

Yeah, I fucking know!

[He's going to be mad about it, still!! But dumb hand intimacy is the way to his heart, so breaking a pinkie promise with someone he considers a friend is unthinkable, really. He's just...gonna sigh and go on back over to his bed, flopping down.]

Whatever, just... Go out and release your bees, or whatever, before your stupidity causes my brain to fucking atrophy.

[suddenlybees]

Hm, yep, the bees and I are going to have a good time~

[ He raises the bottle of alcohol in toast, attempts to pick up the jar of bees with the other, and finds that he can't get a good enough grip on it with just the one arm.

... ]

You're quick, right? I gotta favor. I'm going to open this jar, and you're going to toss the bottle inside, and then I'm going to slam the lid shut. Can you do this for me?

[deuteranope]

[He expects to hear footsteps and the door go, but he doesn't. Concerning...but he still doesn't sit up to deliver his incredulous look until Kano asks his question.]

You're just fucking killing the bees? Are you shitting me?

[suddenlybees]

No, no, not yet! The whole bottle! Don't pour it in!!

[ He just bought these bees, they were expensive and they can't die yet! ]

[deuteranope]

[???????????????????]

What?!

[WHAT ARE YOU DOING]

[suddenlybees]

[ NOTHING. YET. ]

Oh, never mind, never mind. Here— [ He sets his jar of bees down on Maverick's stomach. ]

I'll be right back for these.

[ And now there are the sounds of footsteps and the door. ]

[deuteranope]

You know what? Why the fuck not. I don't have anything better to fucking do than babysit a fucking bucket of bees.

[Or talk to it, while he waits alone in his room. After he gets up and makes sure the door is locked again, as always, he returns to the jar to watch the bees, listen to the bees...be gently lulled by the bees. He's still annoyed, but it's hard to stay as agitated as he was, after letting his brain simmer down to that buggy hum.]

[suddenlybees]

[ Good. He would trust nobody else to babysit his bees and not toss them out the window. He's also sure that Maverick wouldn't hold him to his word about being "right" back for the bees, so... four hours later... the sound of a jiggling doorknob.

Not the sound of a doorknob having its screws removed, but the sound of somebody going ??? why is this door locked when I just stepped out for barely a moment? ]

[deuteranope]

[Four hours later, the organic white noise and boredom has put Maverick to sleep, but the sound of someone trying to get in, even naturally and gently, makes him sit up, awake again. And then it's a whole nother moment of panic as he has to catch the bees his movement has jostled into rolling off the bed.]

No, shit! Okay...

[Safe... Back to the desk they go, and Maverick moves over to the door, cracking it open after unlocking it to see if it's Kano like he expects before opening it the rest of the way.]

Jesus. What fucking time is it?

[suddenlybees]

[ Oh, wonderful, the door opens and Kano sticks his foot out through the crack before Maverick can slam the door in his face, something he's prepared for because what comes out of his mouth is ]

It's peanut butter jelly time!!

[ ......PLEASE UNDERSTAND THE REFERENCE. Kano's currently batting zero for five and he's dying that nobody knows these memes. ]

[deuteranope]

[.....................

sluggishly tries to close door on his foot]

With a baseball bat... [Is he getting his?]

[suddenlybees]

[ ...He sticks both feet inside, jamming the door with his entire body. ]

Mmhmm, that's right, with a baseball bat.

[ He has no idea what that means— he knows the meme but not the full lyrics, why does Mav know the full lyrics? ]