cigsandbeer | IC INBOX

Jedao leans a little farther over Hakkai.

"Sha Gojyo, you look me dead in the eye and tell me you'd rather watch the 21-generation, 343-planet nomadic semi-historical quasi-tragic serious literary military epic A Dream of Ten Doorways than The Victorious Beauties of Hyacinth Moon."

But be careful, because if you pull it off he will absolutely bully you into watching Ten Doorways instead.

"I suppose I could consider expanding my taste to include more, ah, mainstream media."

Beauties does seem to suggest there are boobs involved. Gojyo is not so ready for purely gay porn yet.

"He'll appreciate having someone who pays attention to the dramas," Hakkai confides to Gojyo. "I usually just knit."

And while spending time together is nice, he's aware he's not properly appreciative of the media.

Jedao huffs a laugh and has another gulp of liquor.

"You'll like it. I've been putting it off for ages because it's mostly women as major players, but it's supposed to be a classic of romantic intrigue."

Yes, there are boobs involved. Jedao will be watching it for the plot, and also for the opportunity to get Gojyo used to having frustrated boners on their couch.

Gojyo drains the rest of his glass - he beat Jedao, hah! disregarding Jedao being like six glasses ahead - before refilling it.

"Fine, fine, I'll watch your stupid show. As long as the actresses are pretty. You--" he says as he bumps his shoulder against Hakkai's -- "are just not used to finding artistic merit in every art form. Do better."

~~Gojyo maybe has some experience with that, come this point.~~

"I'm sure it has artistic merit," Hakkai protests mildly. "I just prefer other kinds of media."

Books, mostly. Although it's harder to enjoy those in company, and Jedao's shows are perfectly good background noise....

Mildly embarrassed, he glances down at his sake just in time to catch Jeep trying a taste.

"Jeep! That's mine."

"Appallingly pretty. I don't know how where the Andan find them." Probably the Andan make them, technically.

"Naughty boy," Jedao coos at Jeep, in a tone that can't possibly be construed as anything but doting. "But it's not fair, is it? The rest of us all have a treat. Maybe I should get him juice, or something."

~~Get him more comfortable with it, then.~~

Okay, Gojyo is officially interested in these dramas. For purely artistic reasons.

"He'd probably get wasted with just a mouthful of alcohol, with how small he is."

Let's not get into the ethics of 'is it ethical to allow your sentient(??) pet to get drunk'. Somehow, Gojyo wouldn't be surprised if Jeep turned out to have a killer tolerance.

"He probably would, and I'm sure it's not good for him," Hakkai says firmly, easing his way out from between Jedao's lean on his shoulder and Gojyo's knee against his. There's a pretty little enameled jar on the shelf full of dried meat snacks for Jeep, which are much better for him than stealing chokecherry brandy.

"Only we get to get wasted," Jedao agrees, a little tongue-in-cheek, his faux lofty expression breaking into a grin.

With Hakkai gone from between them, Jedao pointedly looks at his ass, then back to Gojyo, and waggles his eyebrows.

...Fff.

Look, it's not like Jedao isn't hot (Gojyo has eyes), but Gojyo doesn't actually-- Well. Whatever he feels for Hakkai doesn't extend to Jedao. And joint leering at Hakkai isn't--

He can feel his face embarrassingly heating up, and looks away, draining his glass.

Jedao sighs, struggling not to let himself go maudlin about it. This is good! This is all good. Gojyo wants to stay. They're going to watch melodramatic shows together.

He doesn't expect Gojyo to feel about him the way that they do about Hakkai. It just hurts, every time, that there's no avenue of connection or shred of shared joy he can find to offer that Gojyo is willing to try with him. No matter how small, or silly, or silent.

Jedao takes a long drink and then closes his eyes, leaning into the hollow place on the couch where Hakkai's warmth was.

Gojyo is two strong drinks in, which isn't drunk-drunk, but sober enough to tell that hurt Jedao's feelings, and still drunk enough to feel confident enough to give Jedao's shoulder a shove. Stop that.

Jedao opens his eyes to glare at him. Gojyo gets to dislike him; he doesn't get to demand that Jedao be happy and not care about it.

"No matter how nice the boobs are, I'm not watching shows with a sad-sack."

Stop that, basically. Gojyo doesn't dislike him. ~~Also "sorry"~~.

"Wow, what was that, a whole twenty seconds before you found an excuse to back out."

Fire and ash, why did he even bother trying.

Ugh--

"Look, I don't know what the hell you're expecting from tonight, but take your horny-ass assumptions and shove 'em somewhere!"

"I was hoping I could get you to smile, and not even at me."

But that's what Gojyo thinks of him, of course.

"I'll temper my fucking expectations in future."

Hakkai hasn't even gone far: he turns, jar of jerky snacks in hand, to look at both of them with a faintly pinched expression around his mouth.

"...Here," he says, opens the jar with a decisive twist of his wrist, and hands one dragon-snack to each of them. "Feed Jeep."

It's not that he thinks they're obligated to get along -- it's been a difficult day for all of them, they're both tipsier than he is -- but, really, he'd turned his back for less than thirty seconds....

Gojyo rubs his neck, accepting the jerky with the air of a scolded kid.

They're never gonna manage to get along, are they? At least not unless they go total teetotaler.

Jedao does not look scolded at all; just sort of sad and deflated and bleary. He's drunker than both of them. He meets Hakkai's eyes as he takes the jerky.

"You were right, I think," he tells Hakkai, heavy with older conversations. When Hakkai told him maybe you should stop trying. It was always asking too much, Jedao wanting to be friends with him, and removing jealousy from the equation doesn't actually change that. It's not that he's Hakkai's husband that Gojyo doesn't like: it's Jedao. It always has been.

But they've got what they wanted most, Gojyo agreeing to stay in Hakkai's life. That's the important part.

"Now where did he get to?" he mumbles, as if he couldn't pinpoint Jeep in the room with his mothsense, and just happens to have his back to him, and stumbles out into one of the new rooms, the one he asked for thinking secretly of Edwin, if he ever comes home. He leaves the jerky on the table in there and curls up in the reading nook, looking out the window at the stars.

Whatever Hakkai's said in the past that Jedao's answering now-- well, the way he looks when he says you were right strongly suggests that Jedao's deciding to take it in a way he hadn't meant it.

But it's been a lot: it's been a lot for all of them. He sighs, as Jeep comes circling down around the two of them with a chirrup to steal the treat in Gojyo's hand, and sets the treat-jar down on the endtable before he lets his elbows rest on the back of the couch.

"Maybe we should all go to bed," he suggests ruefully. "It's late."

Jeep steals the treat, and Gojyo finishes the rest of his glass in one swallow.

"Yeah, I'll... see myself out."

He stands up. He's drunk, but nowhere near drunk enough not to manage the walk home.

Edited 2025-10-27 03:46 (UTC)

"Gojyo," Hakkai says, and reaches out to catch his upper arm, tugging him to turn towards the couch and meet Hakkai's gaze. "Thank you. For calling me, and helping bring him home."

Yes, they'd had another awkward clash of personalities, but that doesn't mean Gojyo hadn't helped and it doesn't change anything Hakkai had said to him earlier.

But he isn't going to insist Gojyo stay, regardless. He's had a few drinks, but nothing like enough to make Hakkai worry about him walking a few levels up.

It's only very reluctantly that Gojyo meets Hakkai's gaze. He fucked up again - what did he even say wrong? - and this is never going to work and he needs to... either go and think really hard on what Hakkai has confessed, or absolutely not think about it ever again.

"Y-yeah, no problem. Next time I'll just... dump him on the couch and leave."

Come home with us. Gojyo is such a colossal fuck-up.

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