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Characters: Lucy and Sougo
Location: Lucy's room.
Rating: PG/PG-13
Time: December 28th
Description: Even though Sougo worked super hard on making Lucy's present, she was offended by it because she's ungrateful. So he supposes he's obligated to make it up to her.

This might have been considered breaking and entering in some places, but since it was Lucy -- that didn't matter. Who knew where she had been, but he knocked and told her he was coming in...only to discover that she wasn't there. Sure, he could have left. But he opted to wait around for her instead. She couldn't have been long, and if she saw him here...she would at least be forced to talk to him. It had already been a couple of days now since she was ignoring him. It was cute at first, but now it was just getting annoying.

Waiting patiently was boring, so he killed the time by going through her things and completely violating any privacy Lucy had hoped to keep. By the time the girl actually got back, she would find Sougo sitting in one of her chairs -- munching on cookies while reading a page of her story notes. And Sougo naturally looked up, greeting her with a simple, nonchalant: "Welcome back," before going back to what he was doing.

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Lucy always was so expressive in her rage, and Sougo loved setting it off -- seeing how high pitched she could get or how much she freaked out. She didn't disappoint him this time.

He didn't put up much of a fight, allowing her to snatch away the papers since he'd already read the good parts anyway. But she wasn't getting the cookies. He jammed one in his mouth in protest and mumbled with a mouthful: "Of course I did. You took too long to get back."

Chewchewchew...and swallow.

Then he looked up at her with the most innocent of expressions to off-set his less than innocent personality, "So does this mean you're talking to me again?"

“Ahhh," cradling the papers against her chest protectively, she releases what might have been a sigh, “Even though Levy was supposed to be the first one to read everything.” There’s an uncomfortable pause before she snaps her attention back to Sougo. “’Took too long to get back’?

“… WAIT, FOR HOW LONG WERE YOU HERE!?!”

“And,” though she naturally wanted to continue on her way yelling, her voice temporarily betrays her and all loudness subsides, “… you didn’t read any-“ Lucy quickly shakes her head. Maybe it was better unasked; especially if he was unaware of the fact she wrote about him. However, brief (or not) it may have been.

Not to mention-- that she just realized that she forgot to ignore him. And while she would normally inwardly curse herself for it, she suspected that it was about time anyway. "Maybe." But, not to say that she was going to make it easy.

Edited 2011-11-07 19:49 (UTC)

Sougo wore a telling smile. He didn't answer her trailed off concerns, but from the smile alone it was easy to see that he had read them.

He shifted a bit, drawing out a small, rectangular box. It wasn't wrapped and simply had a bow on top of it to indicate that it was even a present at all. "Here." And to ease any wariness Lucy had, Sougo added on: "Don't worry. I didn't make it."

Whenever Lucy opened it, she would find a golden key necklace (http://www.necklaceshop.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/key-necklace.jpg). Of course, it wasn't real gold or anything. There was no way Sougo could afford that with only the allowance from Shibusen as his form of currency. But he saw it and thought she might like it since she seemed to collect keys and all.

The thought of him reading it was actually a lot less embarrassing than she thought it’d be. Not to say she didn’t shoot him a glare, but there was something oddly comforting about his smile.

Still holding onto the papers with her elbows, she hesitantly accepts the gift box. Though, he said he hadn't made this one, a large part of her still felt, more or less, skeptical. Though, given the circumstances, it was only natural. It wasn't every Christmas in which she received strips of ass hair. Cat-shaped or not.

Taking in a deep breath, she opens it.

Taking the gift out and into her hands, her face lights up despite her fighting judgment and despite the fact that she decided she would make it hard for him.

"I-Is this really for me!?"

"Yeah. It's not magic or anything," he rose to his feet, dusting cookie crumbs off of his pants. This was decidedly a bit awkward -- more awkward than he thought it would be. Sougo wasn't a nice guy who did nice things, and sure he wasn't a horrible person, but unless it was his sister, he wasn't very easily compelled to do something nice for anyone.

So that was why, standing before Lucy, he almost felt vulnerable. It wasn't a feeling he liked to feel, but if it meant she'd stop being mad at him...he would suck it up and deal with it. He blew out a breath, glancing past her. "...you can summon me. If you're in trouble or need help. I'll keep you safe. That's what the key stands for..."

His voice trailed off and he looked at her slowly. Was Lucy always this pretty up close?

It was impossible to stay mad at Sougo and she, somehow, might have realized that from the very start. Closing her eyes, she held the key close between her fingers. It almost felt like it was brought to her by fate or something equally surreal, and everything but his voice seemed to blur out completely.

Without realizing it, the papers slipped from her grasp, falling onto the floor and scattering gracefully across it. With the ground now littered with her notes, she opens her eyes, focusing them on Sougo. Her voice was soft and had an almost tender quality to it, “without my permission or not, I don’t regret a single thing I wrote about you.”

“It’s funny. In my world they say there are only 12 gold keys in existence, I must be really lucky to have been given the 13th.” Stepping half a step closer, Lucy reaches out, her fingers brushing against the back of his hand. “I won’t just let you protect me. I’m not that kind of mage. Even if I call for you, it won’t be for you to save me; it’ll be so we can fight alongside one another.”

There was a pause as she smiled, "you can even call me your trump card."

Edited 2011-11-10 05:57 (UTC)

He snapped out of his temporary daze when she touched him, eyes locking on her hand on his. What was he thinking? Obviously the holidays did something to a person -- made them think things or get swept up in the moment. Because in that moment, he was almost pulled toward her by some unseen magnetic force. In that moment, he desired to be close to her -- to step in and eliminate the space between them. But thankfully for him, Lucy had pulled him back to awareness.

Because...anything more than casual flirting would complicate things, right? He had a position in the Shinsengumi to maintain (and a higher ranking position to obtain) -- Sougo couldn't afford the distractions.

"What kind of trump card is that?" He playfully belittled her. "Can I get a better one?"

Maybe Lucy was getting swept up in the moment as well.

Regardless, it didn’t take much to get back and their usual playful banter definitely helped in this endeavor.

“Hey!” stepping back a little, she puts her hands on her waist. “Any card can be good as long as it’s played in the right hands, right?” Or so she heard, though, she can’t recall from whom; guesses momentarily shot at Cana though. “Anyway, thanks for the gift, Sougo,” she holds the gift back out in front of her and smiles a little at it, “it’s perfect.”

Compared to the last gift, this gift was God-sent, really, but she desists in saying this in earshot.

"So you're not mad anymore, right?" And if that was the case, then Sougo could go back to being completely horrible to her.

Later.

They were having a nice moment right now, so he supposed he would keep that theme going. It was an okay change of pace to not be so hateful toward someone for once. This was his day off from hating. A hate-free day. So hopefully he didn't run into Hijikata at any point during it.

“Do you really think I’m that petty?” She shrugs her shoulders, “but to answer your question, I’m not mad.” There was just no possible way she could be. Not with this mood and timing.

Taking one last look at the necklace, Lucy passes Sougo an almost sheepish glance.

"Would it be all right if I wore it now?"

"I'd be hurt if you didn't," there was the briefest flicker of a smile on his lips after her words. Why was she being all shy about it? It was just a cheap necklace. "It's probably best if you wore it all the time, too. Never take it off. Not even in the shower or when you're taking a dump. That'd show how much it means to you."

Before she could even offer a blush or bat an eyelash, he was at it again.

“That doesn’t follow through with your previous statement at all!”

She reaches towards him and gives him a light chop to the head (or tries, it was hard to tell if she'd make it or not with Sougo's natural reflexes). “And are you really bringing this up right now!” Honestly between this and ass hairs, it’s hard to decide which tops her list.

Sougo allowed her the hit -- didn't dodge it or anything. But he didn't really react to it with anything other than a simple blink. He wore the most clueless expression as to what she meant before shrugging it off. Girls. They got upset over the smallest things.

"What? I'm being sincere."

Reaching a hand up to her head, she rightfully face palms before going right back into her normally scheduled yelling.

"Sincere!?!" she waves her arms around frantically, as if gesturing at something or trying to make a point, or, several. "What about the word ....ugh, you know, sounds sincere to you!?"

Sougo's expression warmed over to a point where it wasn't a very Sougo-like expression. He reached out with his good hand, placing it on her shoulder in a soothing manner, "Everybody does it. And I accept that part of you, Lucy."

She stares at him skeptically, before removing his hand.

"Somehow that's the last thing I want to hear from you." Though, the word "accept" sort of hits her soft spot. Somehow.

"I'm sure there are worse things I could say. I can probably come up with something that tops it, if you want," he shrugged a bit, taking a step forward to take the necklace from her hands.

"Turn around."

Lucy made a face at him before giving a stern "no thanks."

There was some light hints of deliberation as she watched him take her necklace away (she could only question what all of this even meant to her). Looking into her hands, she sheepishly agrees, eventually turning her back towards him.

"N-no funny business, all right?"

Sougo didn't respond, taking her hair and sweeping it to the side. He used his good hand to bring the chain around her neck and stepped even closer so that the hand in the cast could catch one of the ends of the necklace. With a little bit of struggling, he managed to hook the clasp before stepping back. Then, he gently guided her around to face him again, eyeing the key for a moment before nodding his approval.

"Looks good on you."

Her cheeks felt unnervingly warm and somehow she couldn’t doubt the fact that this entire process must have been bad for her heart (it had to have been!). She shuts her eyes and squeezes them tightly, figuring it would calm her down some, but to absolutely no avail. But, as quickly as it started it was over and she was left feeling unexpectedly disappointed at their usual break in physical contact.

Speaking shyly and barely above a whisper, she begins to speak up again, “w-well there’s that, but,” a smile, “you also chose well.”

"I just chose the cheapest one, it wasn't anything special," so he said. But it was a blatant lie. He spent upwards of an hour trying to figure out which one looked the most like those keys he'd only seen in passing. And even then, he wasn't sure if he'd made the right choice. Really, it was a waste of time.

....until he saw Lucy's smile, that was. And then, somehow it seemed worth it.

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