If there is a Hell [Closed]

[stepford_smiler]

Who: Hakkai Cho and Gojyo Sha~
What: Hakkai helping Gojyo adjust to their new and temporary living situation.
Where: Around!
When: For the rest of this week
Warnings: Gojyo. Gojyo is a warning in and of himself. (swearing, drinking, possibly perverted thoughts, etc)

Hakkai found himself doing very familiar things that he hadn't done in a little over a month. He had gone grocery gathering not just for himself and Hakuryuu, but for two people this time. He had picked up Gojyo's things off of the counter and placed them in designated spots so that they can be easily found and their apartment kept tidy. He had gone to bed knowing that there was someone nearby, sleeping soundly in their own room.

It was that strange comfort that came with just knowing there was a familiar presence around. He didn't mind solitude. In fact, when he first got here, he appreciated the silence. There was a sort of peace that came with just him and his pet dragon. But then, he had been around so much life for such a long time, that it started to be disquieting instead.

So he was glad.

Hakkai was cooking up a breakfast using something that was an egg, but not a chicken's; and some vegetables that tasted and felt like vegetables, but he had absolutely no name for them. He was making omelettes. He wished he had some kind of meat to go with it, but he was still not ready to take a chance on tasting human for the first time unintentionally.

He plated the omelettes for the two of them and made a small plate of scrambled eggs for Hakuyuu. The smell drifted over the apartment.

Comments

[inappropriatelaughter]

Gojyo was the kind of person one could usually hear ahead of time, talking over other voices, slamming doors, scraping chairs across the floor, and generally being noisy—but in the morning, noise was effort.

So one second the door to his chosen room was shut, and the next second he just kind of appeared, slouching in the doorway, struggling to form coherent thoughts. He was wearing the same dusty pants and sleeveless shirt he'd slept in. He hid a yawn behind the back of his hand and shuffled toward the little kitchen.

"Smells like food," he observed, but he stopped halfway to his destination to hunt down his cigarettes. He had a preternatural sense for them, like a psychic beacon.

When he found them next to the phone he paused. That damn thing. It was like a symbol of how fucked up all of this was: he'd gone to sleep and woken up and everything was still here, the same, so it was real—or everything else that had happened was fake, and they'd just picked up where they'd left off, him and Hakkai, and he'd never met a monk before.

It was too early to be thinking about crazy bullshit. He flipped the phone face-down, sourly, and grabbed his cigarettes.

He flopped into a chair at the kitchen table and pushed his hair out of his face. Omelettes, smoke, figure shit out, in that order.

[stepford_smiler]

Hakkai was suddenly aware of Gojyo's presence in the room, but only because he knew it would be any minute after be began to cook. Food was usually good at drawing people out no matter who they may be.

He placed the plate in front of Gojyo, followed by utensils, and a glass of water. Coffee would have been nice or even a good tea, but he didn't recognize anything that resembled either of those. It would take a little more experimentation on his end to figure out what he could use as some sort of good hot beverage.

Hakuryuu was on the floor by the table, happily eating up his eggs, starting before everyone else.

Finally, he sat down to his own plate.

"First thing's first. I'm going to teach you how to use the communication devices. They may be strange, but if we get separated and need to reach each other for any reason, they'll be very useful" he explained, making sure to stop any sort of protests beforehand.

[inappropriatelaughter]

Gojyo grumbled nothing in particular around a mouthful of eggs. Pragmatism got way too much credit as a philosophy. I don't feel like it, so let's not deserved more consideration.

He didn't say anything until his plate was empty, and then he left it there (for now!!), pulled a cigarette straight out of the box with his lips, and got up to get his phone, which was maybe three days away from developing a lot of abusive nicknames.

"Okay." He lit his cigarette and tossed the lighter in the center of the table (for nobody, it occurred to him a second later—there was no need to preempt Sanzo when Sanzo was not there), and dragged his chair around next to Hakkai's, facing the wrong way, so he could sit with his arms propped on the back. He set his phone between them. "Teach me."

[stepford_smiler]

Hakkai would be surprised if it didn't get abusive nicknames as he was teaching him how to use it.

His eyes fell onto the markings on the back of Gojyo's neck as he watched him grab his cigarettes, lighter, and his phone. He noticed them the first night he arrived, but didn't bring it up right then since there was far too much to think about without adding that layer of mess from their home world on top of it. He would mention it later. There was much more to discuss about their current situation at the moment.

Hakkai turned to face the phone and tapped a button on the side to light up the screen.

"That button there shows the screen. You swipe your finger across the glass to get to the main menu." He demonstrates with his own long, pretty fingers as he gives the explanation.

"So the picture you tap with your finger to access the network is here. People can post different kinds of messages depending on what they're trying to say. See, this person used a video method" Hakkai used his finger to scroll down more. "And this person used text. There is a voice option as well. If the message is relevant to you, then you can hit the comment button here." He just points rather than tapping on the icon so he doesn't accidentally activate something so they're posting or commenting on random things.

"Any questions so far?" If there anything Hakkai was good at, it was teaching.

[inappropriatelaughter]

He made a noncommittal noise and leaned over to practice moving around the network page.

"Why's everything so tiny?"

Comment? Yes! Comment. Comment here. He tapped out an eloquent response to some random unfortunate:

fawlaifaijkamnfuulamk

h i

Please stop him. Such power was not meant for mortal men.

[stepford_smiler]

Gojyo no.

Hakkai quickly tapped the back button so the keysmash wouldn't go through to the poor soul. He just went on in the explanation as if he didn't just silently reprimand him.

"You can make the screen larger like this" he uses two fingers to zoom into the page. He zoomed back out then pressed the button to get back to the home screen. "This button gets you back to the main screen."

He points to the button that's shaped like a regular house phone that they're probably more familiar with. "This button is used to call anyone here. You would access the contact list by pressing this button." He points to the contacts icon.

"So you can just go to the contacts list, search for a name, then call them or send them a message in text." he explained. He almost regretted telling him this because of all the mischief that could potentially be caused with this much power.

[inappropriatelaughter]

Gojyo stared at the screen for a few seconds, evidently unimpressed, and searched for Hakkai's name.

"Okay. There."

He stared for a second longer, then slid the phone back off the table with a furtive glance at Hakkai. Distance and the back of the chair obscured whatever he was doing. Adding secret friends, probably. Harassing strangers. It was a whole new world.

dawn of the final day: 24 hours remain

[inappropriatelaughter]

They did not, of course, explore the caves. Drowning in monster blood seemed better left for when he was out of cigarettes and badly in need of either stress relief or a good, respectable place to lie down on the ground and give up. At some point after the fake light had gone out of the nonexistent sky he announced that he was going to go die, ran a bath, and smoked his last cigarette with a bottle of something that wasn't quite wine and made him slightly ill.

He spent most of the next day doing nothing with increasing spite. He swore at his phone. He swore at the network. He swore at the map he couldn't find. He was awarded no high scores (and a lot of deaths) in the tiny game he'd picked up at the Colosseum; eventually he answered this transgression by flinging it under the couch. He tried to dice some kind of unidentifiable vegetable-thing and cut his thumb in the process, which was really the last straw.

"Why is there no normal fuckin' food here!" Normal food would never have betrayed him like this. It wasn't really directed at anyone in particular, but on the other hand, Hakkai had gone shopping (as it were). Hakkai had brought back treacherous food. Therefore, Hakkai had cut his thumb. Sort of. By proxy.

Gojyo dropped his now-gross knife in the sink with an angry clatter. Pay attention to him!!

[stepford_smiler]

Hakkai had just watched the whirlwind of temper tantrum around him happen when that last cigarette's ashes fell into the makeshift ashtray. He was ready for it. He knew what he was potentially in store for, so he just let it happen.

He didn't get onto him for throwing things under the couch (which he had to pick up). He didn't pay any attention to the excessive amounts of cursing at nothing. And he didn't get onto him now for the tantrum he was slinging now.

Since Hakkai had been a school teacher, he knew better than to pay attention to a child that was throwing a fit unless they were in danger to themselves or others. Gojyo cutting his thumb wasn't that much of a danger to himself.

All Hakkai did was stand up and finish Gojyo's dicing job. He wasn't sure why Gojyo had taken to the kitchen in the first place.

"You can go ahead and sit down. There are some bandages in the cabinet there." He pointed to a cabinet off to the side then went onto cutting vegetables.

[inappropriatelaughter]

"Is there anything else? My fuckin' head is killing me." He stalked over to the cabinet, swung the door open, and glared at the contents.

"Hey, Hakkai. There's no way you could make this—" he half-turned toward Hakkai and made a fiddly gesture— "You know, kinda go away, right?"

He could almost hear Sanzo's voice telling him not to ask questions he already knew the answer to. Sanzo wasn't even there and he was getting on his nerves.

[stepford_smiler]

Hakkai expertly cut the vegetables Gojyo had started and put them in a pan to make up a stir fry. He didn't know what his roommate was attempting to make, but he didn't ask.

"You know I can't" he answered. The sigh didn't come in the form of air, but through the tone of his voice. If he could fix Gojyo's withdrawals through his qi-healing technique, he would have long done it to avoid this. But Gojyo should have known that he can't fix a joined psychological and physical response to suddenly not having something it's been getting constantly for years.

The vegetables sizzled gently in the pan.

Hakuryuu had taken to just staying in Hakkai's room and away from the storm cloud that floated around their apartment.

"Try drinking some water and closing your eyes." That was really the best advice he could offer up.

[inappropriatelaughter]

"I know you can't do it, but can you do it anyway?" He rested his head against the edge of the cabinet (which was not comfortable) and closed the door on himself. This time he was really going to die. "What if I say please? A lot?"

The bandages were directly in front of his face. He pulled them off the shelf and dropped them, of course, on the floor.

[stepford_smiler]

"You're only going to be disappointed when it doesn't work" Hakkai said, not giving into Gojyo's childish whims. Stir fry didn't take long to cook especially since there were no noodles or rice to go with it. What he wouldn't have done for some nice, fluffy white rice....

He poured the vegetables into two bowls and pulled out eating utensils from a drawer then began setting them on the table. He set down two glasses of water next to them.

"Maybe eating will help" he said. Even though it probably wouldn't. But if he put the idea into Gojyo's mind that it was a possibility, then maybe it would lessen his mood.

post-nightmare, post-cigarettes, mid-loss of dignity for one or both of them probably

[inappropriatelaughter]

He woke up with a jolt, and it took him a handful of seconds staring at the ceiling to remember where he was (again). He sat up, checked his hand to see if it was whole. His blanket was on the floor, his head was already pounding, and he had a sore throat, but he didn't feel like Hakkai had been beating him up for an indeterminate length of time. That was good.

The apartment was silent, he realized. That was weird. He was never the first one awake.

He ventured out into the living room in pajama pants (it was so novel to have pajama pants), blanket stretched around his shoulders, and assessed the state of things: empty kitchen.

Very weird.

He padded over to Hakkai's door and knocked. "Hey, are you up?"

[stepford_smiler]

Hakkai was still in limbo of asleep and awake. He was vaguely aware of his body and consciousness, but the dream still felt fresh on his mind. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he lifted his head and saw sharp fingernails instead of his neatly trimmed ones.

The scar on his stomach ached and tingled with sympathy pain and his chest felt heavier than normal. No wait...something was on his chest.

At the knock on the door, he was awakened. Hakuryuu was sitting on his chest looking worried. He didn’t answer right away, still coming out of his sleep.

"Y-yes?" He replied with a sleep heavy voice.

[inappropriatelaughter]

Even weirder.

The door opened, cautiously, and Gojyo leaned into the room. "You okay?" He came closer, trailing blanket behind him. "You look like shit. You quit smoking?" he added, cracking a smile.

[stepford_smiler]

Hakuryuu left Hakkai's chest, but still remained on the bed to look after him.

Even though the dream was still lingering in his head, the memories of it came rushing back to him at once at the sight of Gojyo's face.

Mortification washed over him like hot sewage. He closed his eyes and put the back of his hand over his face.

He just let out a lamenting sigh.

"I had an awful dream"

[inappropriatelaughter]

"Yeah, me too." He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled his knees up to his chest. "Well, I guess it wasn't that bad for me," he amended lightly, "but it seemed pretty harsh for the other guy. I think I bit my tongue. That was about all."

He turned to Hakkai, patient, waiting.

[stepford_smiler]

Those green eyes of his widened with disbelief. Gojyo could see his dream? That was the worst, the absolute worst. Nothing could be worse than that. He would takes hundreds of ravenous demons over his best friend seeing such a horrid dream.

Hakkai groaned softly and pulled the covers over his head.

a few days later, Gojyo tripped over himself.

[inappropriatelaughter]

He'd had some weird dreams since that first one—nightmares, maybe, but nothing that really stuck with him throughout the day (except for the lingering feeling that he had to make sure a few people understood that he was normal, but whatever; most people were probably feeling that right about now)—and then this.

His arm didn't hurt where dream-Hakkai had twisted it, of course, but he was staring at it anyway.

Maybe that hadn't been the real Hakkai, he told himself. Maybe the bullshit was over.

'Maybe' wasn't convincing. And if it had been Hakkai, then he had to get up—now, right now; he was already sliding out of bed and heading into the living room—and look like he wasn't thinking about anything.

So less than a minute after he woke up he was busily making a mess in the kitchen. He'd chopped up a bunch of vegetable-things he had no names for; a pan was heating up on the stove.

At least he was only sort of dying for a smoke.

[stepford_smiler]

Hakkai had no idea what to make of Gojyo's dream. It started off calm ad pleasant and then took a turn for the weirder as dreams normally go. At least there wasn't murder this time.

Unfortunately for Gojyo, Hakkai had a really bad habit of over analyzing everything. It didn't matter what it was, really. And this was definitely no exception.

His thoughts started running through what Gojyo's dream could have signified. The psychology behind the vast ocean, the small festival, the shadowy figures and then a look on Gojyo's face that he's only seen sliver of on occasion. It was like the face he had been making was a manipulated photograph of something more real. He couldn't place his finger on it and it bothered him.

Not that Gojyo would know that anything was bothering him at the moment. His poker face wasn't only good for the poker table.

At the sounds of movement in the kitchen, he woke up and migrated there. Hakuryuu followed him out of their room and made his presence known to the redhead. He perched right beside him on the counter, wanting whatever Gojyo was making.

"Good morning" Hakkai greeted him as he normally did. Everything was normal.

[inappropriatelaughter]

"Hey," Gojyo replied, glancing in his direction but not at him.

Everything was normal!!

His thought process was hitting the same brick wall over and over again. Talk about it? Don't talk about it? Not talking about it was definitely easier. He held his hand over the surface of the pan and shifted his feet.

"You wanna try it before it's fried? I dunno if you want it fried," he said to Hakuryuu, holding a tiny piece of potato-like something over the dragon's head.

[stepford_smiler]

"Kyuuu!" the dragon replied with its wings outstretched. He didn't open his mouth to take the piece of potato-thingy, so that meant 'cooked please!'. Obviously.

Hakkai watched his dragon being spoiled with a fondness.

"Be careful not to let hot grease splash on you, Hakuryuu" Hakkai called out to him and the little pet took a few steps away from the stove obediently.

Hakkai's own brain was looping around similar thoughts. To bring it up or to not bring it up? That was the question. He felt that it was mostly Gojyo's responsibility. It was his dream, so it was on him, right? Ah, but he was conscious through the dream. So does that mean he's responsible? Was this like being the designated sober person while on a bar crawl?

"Do you need help with anything?" Not his responsibility. Nope.

[inappropriatelaughter]

"Nah, I'm good."

He trusted himself to fry stuff. He didn't trust himself to talk. He leaned on the counter next to the stove, staring into the sink.

The damn pan needed to be hot, already.

[stepford_smiler]

Hakkai made his way over to the table and sat down. He placed his hands onto the surface and folded them together. He had absolutely nothing to say. His head searched and searched for topics to bring up. He didn't want to be too trivial since that would only make things worse and he didn't want to bring up anything too serious because that was also worse.

As not only grew in length but also in thickness.

"How is your headache?" he spoke up, finally before the silent tension grew so thick that it was impossible to cut by societal standards.