ꜱ1ᴇ5　　balcony

@♆　Basil Hiroki smiled at his dragon in response to the kiss. He felt warm and fluttery on the inside and wasn't sure how he'd manage to sleep now. He curled in closer to Basil and relaxed into his ever-present warmth. Despite the lightning in his veins he felt relaxed. Before he knew it sleep had claimed him. He never felt safer than when Basil's arms were around him, after all.

@✧　Ishida Hiroki Narrowing his eyes teasingly, the dragon bit back the urge to swoop down and kiss his shoulder for good measure, and settled down well and truly comfortably against Hiroki. He could quite happily stay there for literal ages, though he knew it wouldn’t be possible even in the morning. He pressed a tender kiss to the tengu’s lips, just caring and feathery before he pulled back and shut his eyes, determined to find an easy rest in the arms of /his/ bird.

@♆　Basil "Don't you dare," Hiroki said, giving the male a playfully stern look. "If you bite me again you'll be responsible for the consequences since you know exactly what they are." The tengu settled down closer to the dragon, leaning in to give the tip of his nose a gentle kiss. He pulled back, staring back into Basil's eyes, an instant calm settling around him. He let out a soft sigh of contentment, squeezing the dragon gently. "Goodnight, my pretty dragon."

@✧　Ishida Hiroki Once Hiroki was beside him, the elder settled down, burying his head in the pillows before peeking up so that he could easily draw the tengu into his arms. ‘I’m not complaining, it’ll be easier if I bite you like this, too.’ He didn’t really have the intent to fluster his poor bird again, twice in one evening would be utterly cruel of him, but he still rested his forehead against Hiroki’s for a while, simply gazing into the other’s eyes as he often liked to do.

@♆　Basil "Oh." Hiroki beamed. If his wings were out his feathers would have been all ruffled up. He folded up his shirt carefully and placed it on a chair in the room, smiling. "Thank you! I used to sleep with just like a yukata type thing on, but I lost mine somewhere. I think it fell out of my pack somewhere in Turkey. I can't find another one so this is more comfortable." He happily sat down on the edge of Basil's bed, sliding under the covers next to him with a happy hum.

@✧　Ishida Hiroki Delighted to be teaching, Basil smiled at him. ‘Clever. I signed ‘my clever bird’. It’s what you are, after all.’ While his cheeks flushed when Hiroki removed his shirt, he hastened to compose himself with a nod, his eyes locking firmly with the tengu’s. He didn’t trust his eyes not to wander from his companion’s face, otherwise. ‘I’m comfortable. You can keep the shirt off for as long as you want, little one.’ He patted the spot in the bed beside him. It still felt strange to actively encourage someone into his bed with him, but he didn’t feel uncomfortable having Hiroki there with him. The company was more than nice.

@♆　Basil Hiroki blinked at the sign. He understood "my" and "bird" but not the word in between. "What was the second thing you signed? Before bird?" he asked with a tilt of his head. He rolled his eyes playfully at the hand motions but obediently turned around, not peeking while the dragon changed. Hiroki shook his head in reply at the phone screen, simply pulling off his shirt in one go. "Are you uncomfortable if I sleep shirtless?" he asked. "I'll put a shirt on if you are."

@✧　Ishida Hiroki His shoulders slumping with relief to be back in his own untouched space, Basil couldn’t help but smile when Hiroki showed him what he recently learned. Moving close to the tengu he signed in return; ‘My clever bird’, a proud glint in his eyes before he the empty bed, pausing when he reached the edge and looking doubtfully at Hiroki. He didn’t want to sleep as he was, so waving his hands until he got the bird to turn around, he quickly slipped into the more comfortable clothing of a hoodie and sweatpants before he crawled into the sheets. ‘You can change too, I won’t look,’ He offered as he settled with his phone out again.

@♆　Basil The tengu nodded, squeezing Basil's hands. "It's alright. I think some of them probably expect me to be with you anyway. Don't worry. Even if one of them wakes up we'll be in your room before then. And they'll probably just go back to sleep." Hiroki shut his mouth as they headed inside, happy that some of his bones were hollow so he didn't make much noise when he moved around and didn't weigh enough to make the floorboards squeak or anything else. Once they reached the dragon's room Hiroki let out a breath. He pulled his hands from the dragon to sign something new he'd learned 'Everything is okay'.

@✧　Ishida Hiroki With a nod of approval, the dragon lead his bird up the stairs and along the corridor to his room. The house was a big one, to compensate for its many guests, but it was easy to navigate to the dragon’s room, even if his brain was fuzzy and sleepy from the busy day. It was the most he’d been out of his room in a while. ‘I don’t know if they would, but you never know. Everyone is a little more suspicious of everyone, you know, with all the death. It’s better to be, even if they should know by now that my bird is allowed in the house.’ Comforted by Hiroki’s observation of the place, he nodded, unlocking the door to his room and slipping them both inside.

@♆　Basil "I didn't say I'd do anything. It's a hypothetical," Hiroki said quickly. "But I agree that it would not be a wise long-term decision. I was thinking of a one fight scenario." He smiled and shook his head. "I won't go anywhere, don't worry. Though...why would they hurt me? I think I'm nice. I'm a Buddhist." Hiroki pouted when Basil unwrapped his arms, but he didn't say anything, instead letting Basil hold his hands. "There are only three people in here right now and they're all asleep. I can feel it. The yin energy is really strong. Don't worry."

@✧　Ishida Hiroki Blinking, Basil slowly turned around, pulling out his phone. ‘It’s best not to think about that in Akaedi’s home, I’m not going to be able to save you from the basement if Akaedi comes home drunk and you fight him. Most of the others, you’d probably get away with, I could argue that it was me.’ He shook his head, walking further into the warmth. ‘Don’t walk around by yourself in here, either. Not that I think you’d get hurt or into trouble, but a few of my housemates are a little… unhinged. The little corpse boy hangs around in cold corridors, Avra will poison you, just stay beside me, little one.’ He took ahold of both of Hiroki’s hands, reluctantly unwrapping them to hold the tengu’s hand until they reached his room. As conflicted as he was about explaining things to Vos members, it would be a lot harder to escape interrogation with a pretty bird around his waist.

@♆　Basil Hiroki nodded, satisfied with the dragon's backup. "If Akaedi doesn't have a weapon on him I think I could take him--not that I would! Just speculating. Buddha wouldn't like if I used violence for no good reason and all that." Hiroki smiled at the dragon, leaning against him. "Okay. It's fine. I generally don't tend to notice or pay attention to anyone else when you're in my line of sight. Unless they pose a threat. That's different." The tengu happily followed the other in, wrapping his arms around Basil's waist as he walked behind him.

@✧　Ishida Hiroki A lot of the time, Basil simply didn’t have the energy to try and explain what he felt to the people of Vos. He didn’t like many of them enough to go talking about his feelings to them, and the rare ones he did, he didn’t often feel like explaining to. But it worked for them. What mattered was that he enjoyed his time with his bird, not whatever the little ones had to say about it. They could cope with not knowing what went on in his life. ‘I’ll look the other way, and I’ll do my best to save your if Akaedi catches you beating up any drunk housemates.’ He promised, giving Hiroki’s hand a squeeze before releasing it to unlock the door. ‘If anybody asks you why you’re in here, just ignore them, I’ll deal with them,’ He added before he clicked his phone off and opened the door.

@♆　Basil Hiroki nodded after reading the phone screen. "That's fine. I'll try to be quiet so no one hears me once they get home." The tengu knew Basil didn't feel like explaining their relationship to other members of Vos, and Hiroki didn't really care. It wasn't any of their business after all, and their relationship didn't need any labels or names to be validated. He just wanted to be with his dragon. "But if they come in drunk I reserve the right to roundhouse kick them and knock them out."

@✧　Ishida Hiroki After safely entwining his fingers and casting another disappointed look at the water that they hadn’t uncovered an ancient evil for that night, he turned to walk in the direction of the beach house, pulling his phone out with his free hand to unlock it and type after a moment of consideration. ‘My bed, please. We’ve been around people for a lot of the night, I think I’d like to be in my space again, if that makes sense. You can sleep with me, of course.’

@♆　Basil "Nothing there, right?" Hiroki checked, only a little concerned that something might /actually/ be there. He peeked down at the water again before deciding they were definitely over water too shallow to house any dark fabled myths of the deep. He decided not to look down at the water anymore, keeping his eyes on the beach that was nearing. When they reached it he landed easily, wings folding and disappearing. He smiled at Basil as he landed, taking his hand and swinging them as they walked towards the house. "Want to sleep in your bed or my nest tonight?" he asked, happy with either answer.

@✧　Ishida Hiroki The violet dragon’s eyes were angled down towards the water as they flew, his pace steady once again to keep close to Hiroki. They were both creatures of the air, they could both fly wonderfully, but he liked to be close by just in case. While his bird went higher, Basil’s curiosity brought him lower, until he was happy the water wasn’t deep enough for a monstrous hungry pet to be slumbering in, and didn’t want to run the risk of making a small wrong move and embarrassing himself by stumbling into the water. While disappointed, he was also a little glad, and was quite happy to drift higher as they neared the shore again. He transformed before his feet hit the sand, though not high up enough to break anything. Staying in one piece was always a good idea. He straightened, brushing wet sand from his knees to no avail and giving Hiroki a defeated smile after trying for several minutes to get every grain of sand from himself. Basil offered his bird his hand.

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@♆　Basil Hiroki smiled as he saw Basil burst into the air as well. He followed the dragon over the water towards Vos's home, glancing down at it's dark depths with more than a little bit of unease. "I don't know that any kind of monster pet thing would be able to stay at these depths," he called out. "It might be too shallow. But I guess we'll see if we see anything out of the ordinary." Hiroki lifted himself higher, still not liking how the only thing beneath him was air and water.

@✧　Ishida Hiroki ‘I dare you to, without having at problems,’ The dragon responded, the dim light concealing his smug expression as he stepped back from the edge. ‘Yes, he’s a little different. I don’t think I’ve caught him drunk since, it’s really disappointing, he was a funny drunk. I never slept on his couch in the end though.’ Basil slid the phone into his pocket, taking a moment to quietly admire the beauty of the tengu’s dark wings before he sprang forward himself when Hiroki was in the air to take his most comfortable form and twist his body towards home.

@♆　Basil Hiroki shot Basil a look in return. "Doesn't mean I still can't, you know." Slowly the tengu got to his feet, reading the screen and tilting his head in thought. "Isn't Jinhai the Mer that went crazy or something? I don't know about you, but I think believing the zombie Mer is safer than doubting him. But...if you insist we can fly over it. I'll go first, then so you have more room." Hiroki stepped to the side, his wings unfurling from his back, large and pitch black. He ran lightly towards the edge of the cliff, beating his wings and lifting himself into the air.

@✧　Ishida Hiroki ‘And you said you’d be the one finding my sensitive spots.’ Basil shot him a sharp toothed grin and clambered to his feet after lightly bumping their heads together, then took a few steps further towards the edge of the cliff, phone in hand before he turned back to show Hiroki the screen. ‘Should we fly home? Let’s fly over the water, if we do. Jinhai wouldn’t tell me what his new pet is, and I want to see if we spot it anywhere near the beachhouse.’ He doubted it. He found it very unlikely that there would be a mysterious pet around. Maybe supposed hungry beast wasn’t even real. Maybe he just wanted an excuse to jump off a cliff as well as a building in one night.

@♆　Basil Hiroki gratefully leaned back into Basil's warmth. He had fully calmed his issue down south and mostly just felt embarrassed about it. He gave the dragon a look and whined. "Not even fair that you figured out a weakness that quickly. Though I didn't know it was one, either." The tengu puffed his cheeks out. "I'm okay now. But we can go ahead and head back home now. If I keep staring at the ocean I'll start seeing things I shouldn't. That usually happens when you look anywhere for too long."

@✧　Ishida Hiroki Slowly, Basil nodded and reached up to pet his hair again. It took another moment of mulling it over before he pressed into the tengu’s side again, this time resting his head upon the shoulder with no intent to sink his teeth in. ‘Well, at least now you can keep it noted for in the future, you know.’ He looked up, giving Hiroki a light wink before he turned back to his phone. ‘I’ll keep it in mind. Sorry, probably not helping. Are you sure you’ll be alright? We can go home now, if you want to make yourself comfortable. I won’t bite you anymore.’

@♆　Basil Hiroki took a deep breath and shook his head. "It's okay. I was the opposite of uncomfortable. A little /too/ comfortable. It's okay though. You didn't mean to cause /that/ kind of reaction. I didn't even know that I liked..." Hiroki trailed off, cheeks heating up again. He cleared his throat and fanned himself, puffing his cheeks out. "You can keep scratching my head," he assured. "It was just the biting that did it."

@✧　Ishida Hiroki With an understanding glint in his eyes, Basil nodded. ‘I can just provide moral support then.’ He decided, then gave Hiroki a pat on the shoulder. ‘Don’t apologise, I thought we were still playing, and I shouldn’t have bitten you. But it’s not your fault, obviously. I did say to let me know if I made you uncomfortable, after all.’ He reached up and made to give the tengu another head scratch, but paused, wondering if it was the right thing to do in the situation, before he slowly lowered his hands and held his ankles to keep them occupied without causing any more problems before he needed to type again.

@♆　Basil "I'd like to kill him myself. I won't feel quite satisfied if I don't." Hiroki made a soft noise. He took a deep breath and shook his head. "I told you not to bite me," he whined in complaint. "I'm okay! Really. It's fine. It will go down in a couple of minutes. Don't worry about it. Sorry." Hiroki covered his face with his hands, wishing he could dig himself a hole and just stay there for a couple of centuries. He felt more than embarrassed--it was mortification at this point.

@✧　Ishida Hiroki The dragon’s head dipped slightly in a nod of understanding before he glanced back down to his phone. ‘I understand. I found it hard to go back to England for a while. I hope she’ll find peace, Hiroki. I’ll hold the oni down for you while you kill him.’ He promised, though he startled a little at the reaction the small bite drew from his companion. He pulled back, sitting back on his legs with his knees in the grass, deciding not to push things to tease Hiroki further for fear of getting them both into a situation they both weren’t ready for. ‘I’m sorry. Do you need me to go, or are you alright?’

@♆　Basil "Hm...I don't think I can go back right now. It won't feel right until I kill the oni that killed my sister." Hiroki sighed softly. "Then I think I can go back, visit her grave, light some incense for her, then tell her that her onii-san avenged her. She'll be able to rest easy, then." Hiroki blinked at the dragon in bewilderment. "I--why?" But then Basil bit him again and the tengu jerked before shuddering. He let out a short breath, his hands curling into fists. "B-basil you really probably shouldn't..." He pressed his lips together, suddenly crossing his legs and looking away, his ears and cheeks a bright shade of red.