Hades finds her in the crowd, and with little warning suddenly spins her around and kisses her. A dramatic lover's kiss, and he looks inordinately pleased with himself as he pulls back.
It's hard to fathom with how much she loves to flirt, but Irhya has never looked quite so scandalized in her life. It takes her too much time to process what's happening to properly reciprocate -- and truth be told, her first instinct, far before the blank confusion, is to double back and knee her would-be attacker in the stomach.
But she doesn't do that, clamps down on the impulse before it can come to fruition. She's still wide-eyed and uncomprehending even as she slips an arm around his back, eventually parting for breath and staring at him, her face a complicated shade of red.
"What-- What was that for?! I thought you were still annoyed with me!"
She deflates a little. So it wasn't about her at all, but as a means to prank someone else? At first, she's ready to chew him out, but when he puts it that way...
All right, maybe she can play along. For now. Her mischievous side is pressing for it too hard. She draws her face close, cups his chin, and then whispers into a kiss, "You are such an arse."
Something must be putting him in a cheery mood for him to readily admit it. He loops his arms around her waist and kisses back leisurely, putting aside Hythlodaeus' spluttering to enjoy the kiss for what it is. And then...
"After this, I will owe you a more sincere kiss," he says when next they part. "But I think that shall be enough with which to fluster my old friend."
"At least you acknowledge it," she says with a sour look, only having decided she'd wanted that after it was apparently over and done with. Then, she waits a few beats. "So... did it work? Can you tell?"
He tilts his head and his gaze turns inward, as though listening to something. It doesn't take long for the smile on his face to fade, the lightness in expression to tighten. He releases her and looks to his phone, switching it off.
"He always used to make such jokes to us in private," he mutters.
And here she figured it'd be a novel trick between friends, if a slightly forward one. Irhya blinks, confounded by his wilting.
"...Not good?"
It's actually a little concerning. Did he maybe make a mistake that Hythlodaeus is annoyed at him for? It's understandable, perhaps, flaunting his lover(s) in front of him when the other has none...
"Hey, what happened?" she presses, grabbing his hand.
She lets him take his hand back, but squints at him in the meantime. "He didn't like it," she says, and it's not a question. "In that case, stop sulking and apologize to him."
After thinking on it a moment, she is struck with an idea. "If physical sensation travels to him... would it help if I hugged you? Two birds, one stone, right?"
As is the norm when he closes off, her suggestion gets a flash of irritation.
"No. I already switched off the program. It wasn't the kiss which offended him."
Why would he call it cruel, he asks himself. Was the idea of lying with him that reprehensible? Did he misjudge Hythlodaeus' willingness to put words to action?
Something like realization sweeps over her face. She'd thought it strange at first, but was her intuition really that close to the mark?
"Well, in that case," she says reasonably, "he must have been offended at you flaunting that you have a lover over him, right? Is it-- Do you think it's at all possible he's jealous?"
Of what, she isn't as sure of, but even if it's not the jealousy of a third wheel, it could easily be the jealousy of someone who has not towards someone who has. Though it's hard to imagine someone so easygoing slipping into a nasty emotion like jealousy so easily...
"Jealous?" he says disbelievingly. "Hythlodaeus has not a single jealous bone in his body. He was the one who would oft make outrageous claims purely to embarrass me, and leave inappropriate notes in his letters."
"...Hades." Irhya crosses her arms, quirking a brow. "That sounds a lot like someone who might become jealous of his friend getting a new lover or two, don't you think?"
Sure, it sounds ridiculous on a surface level, but that doesn't mean the man is incapable of any negative emotions. Little clandestine signs of love that he never took seriously, that Hythlodaeus was content for him to believe were all in jest...
She doesn't even really know him that well at all, and yet it's fully understandable when she thinks about it that way. It would hurt. How else can it be explained?
"Perhaps you were rubbing it in a little too hard," she adds, shifting her weight. "This is all just speculation, but now that you mention all that... it's awfully hard to deny. I just wonder whether it's jealousy of you, or jealousy of me."
He can only stare at her. Hythlodaeus - jealous? Preposterous. All that ridiculous teasing had been simply that: teasing. His friend had never made any suggestion they meant a single word of it, although Hades acknowledge he likely would have passed over it anyway with the amount of nonsense that came out of their mouth.
"That cannot be right," he says flatly. "In all the centuries we knew each other, Hythlodaeus never once made mention that he felt anything deeper than friendship. He knew such comments would incite a reaction from me. It grew to a point where I would try to ignore him to deny giving him a reaction at all."
"That is an awful long time to beat around the bush," Irhya agrees reluctantly, "but is it not also possible he did all of that because he knew you wouldn't take it seriously? That there was safety in normalcy? And now that you've gone out of your way and done something out of the ordinary--" she gestures strongly, "that it's disrupted the whole routine?"
Or maybe she's just thinking too deeply about it all. Either way, it may be worth asking the man himself about it, or at least offering him an apology for her part. In retrospect, perhaps it was an insensitive move to make.
He continues to stare, but this time he's not really seeing her. Part of him continues to vehemently deny her words. After all, doesn't he also wish to preserve some of the status quo in his own way?
(If he truly wished for that, though, why did he not simply endure the teasing and refrain from provoking Hythlodaeus in turn?)
It's a question he's not comfortable acknowledging just yet.
"...Don't be ridiculous," he says finally. "If he loved me then there wouldn't have been such disgust when my thoughts turned towards taking him to bed."
After brooding silently for a short span, he reluctantly says, "He jested that the slap he had given me earlier by proxy placed me in a favourable mood. Naturally, I thought of...us, in response. However, I must have also included him in my imaginings. He beheld them, and called me cruel for it."
A subconscious mistake, then; not something he meant to include. A mystery that grows deeper and deeper by the second...
"Then, why include him at all if you've no romantic inclination towards him?" she says carefully. "If you didn't do it on purpose, why would your thoughts veer that way? This is starting to sound like unrequited pining on both sides."
Scowling heavily now, he crosses his arms whilst refusing to meet her eye. "Have you not been listening? Every other word out of his mouth is one made in jest. His response just then confirmed what I have always believed - that his pestering me was only ever a game to him. I've no interest in someone who cannot take anything seriously, least of all affairs of the heart."
The words are harsh yet they seem to hurt him more to say. He slams down a stony mask, fingers digging in.
Irhya opens her mouth to counter, furrowing her brows with full intent to argue, then seems to think the better of it, especially after that last line. This isn't his pride talking, is it? Would hearing he was sincere the whole time change his mind, or make him angrier?
"Fine," she ends up saying in defeat, deciding not to mention her intent to get the story straight from him as soon as she can. "But that doesn't change that he cares about you, or that we hurt him with that kiss."
"Ahah... apology accepted," she says with a laugh. "Though sometimes spontaneity is a good thing! Maybe you should try it more often. Just... not while transmitting, yes?"
On the other hand, it does give her some naughty ideas on ways to tease the living daylights out of him when they're apart, but she'll think more on it later.
"Yes." He takes a deep breath and lets it out, closing his eyes for a moment. What had he been thinking, doing that on the spur of the moment? And to Irhya of all people. It isn't like him.
"...May I kiss you again? I know you do not think very highly of me after our last conversation, but I cannot easily put aside how I feel towards both you and Felih."
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omnicrafter) wrote2020-11-10 05:45 am
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Hades finds her in the crowd, and with little warning suddenly spins her around and kisses her. A dramatic lover's kiss, and he looks inordinately pleased with himself as he pulls back.
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But she doesn't do that, clamps down on the impulse before it can come to fruition. She's still wide-eyed and uncomprehending even as she slips an arm around his back, eventually parting for breath and staring at him, her face a complicated shade of red.
"What-- What was that for?! I thought you were still annoyed with me!"
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"Humour me. These devices can transfer physical sensation, it seems. Hythlodaeus deserves it after all these years."
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She deflates a little. So it wasn't about her at all, but as a means to prank someone else? At first, she's ready to chew him out, but when he puts it that way...
All right, maybe she can play along. For now. Her mischievous side is pressing for it too hard. She draws her face close, cups his chin, and then whispers into a kiss, "You are such an arse."
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Something must be putting him in a cheery mood for him to readily admit it. He loops his arms around her waist and kisses back leisurely, putting aside Hythlodaeus' spluttering to enjoy the kiss for what it is. And then...
"After this, I will owe you a more sincere kiss," he says when next they part. "But I think that shall be enough with which to fluster my old friend."
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"He always used to make such jokes to us in private," he mutters.
Maybe the joke wasn't taken well...?
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"...Not good?"
It's actually a little concerning. Did he maybe make a mistake that Hythlodaeus is annoyed at him for? It's understandable, perhaps, flaunting his lover(s) in front of him when the other has none...
"Hey, what happened?" she presses, grabbing his hand.
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Eventually he tries to tug his hand out of hers. "I would rather not talk about it."
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After thinking on it a moment, she is struck with an idea. "If physical sensation travels to him... would it help if I hugged you? Two birds, one stone, right?"
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"No. I already switched off the program. It wasn't the kiss which offended him."
Why would he call it cruel, he asks himself. Was the idea of lying with him that reprehensible? Did he misjudge Hythlodaeus' willingness to put words to action?
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"Well, in that case," she says reasonably, "he must have been offended at you flaunting that you have a lover over him, right? Is it-- Do you think it's at all possible he's jealous?"
Of what, she isn't as sure of, but even if it's not the jealousy of a third wheel, it could easily be the jealousy of someone who has not towards someone who has. Though it's hard to imagine someone so easygoing slipping into a nasty emotion like jealousy so easily...
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Sure, it sounds ridiculous on a surface level, but that doesn't mean the man is incapable of any negative emotions. Little clandestine signs of love that he never took seriously, that Hythlodaeus was content for him to believe were all in jest...
She doesn't even really know him that well at all, and yet it's fully understandable when she thinks about it that way. It would hurt. How else can it be explained?
"Perhaps you were rubbing it in a little too hard," she adds, shifting her weight. "This is all just speculation, but now that you mention all that... it's awfully hard to deny. I just wonder whether it's jealousy of you, or jealousy of me."
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"That cannot be right," he says flatly. "In all the centuries we knew each other, Hythlodaeus never once made mention that he felt anything deeper than friendship. He knew such comments would incite a reaction from me. It grew to a point where I would try to ignore him to deny giving him a reaction at all."
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Or maybe she's just thinking too deeply about it all. Either way, it may be worth asking the man himself about it, or at least offering him an apology for her part. In retrospect, perhaps it was an insensitive move to make.
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(If he truly wished for that, though, why did he not simply endure the teasing and refrain from provoking Hythlodaeus in turn?)
It's a question he's not comfortable acknowledging just yet.
"...Don't be ridiculous," he says finally. "If he loved me then there wouldn't have been such disgust when my thoughts turned towards taking him to bed."
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"I guess," she says, though she doesn't sound convinced. Then, a moment later, "But why think that at him in the first place? Were you not joking...?"
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"Then, why include him at all if you've no romantic inclination towards him?" she says carefully. "If you didn't do it on purpose, why would your thoughts veer that way? This is starting to sound like unrequited pining on both sides."
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The words are harsh yet they seem to hurt him more to say. He slams down a stony mask, fingers digging in.
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"Fine," she ends up saying in defeat, deciding not to mention her intent to get the story straight from him as soon as she can. "But that doesn't change that he cares about you, or that we hurt him with that kiss."
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"I suppose. And I suppose I owe you an apology for kissing you out of hand," he says grudgingly.
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On the other hand, it does give her some naughty ideas on ways to tease the living daylights out of him when they're apart, but she'll think more on it later.
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"...May I kiss you again? I know you do not think very highly of me after our last conversation, but I cannot easily put aside how I feel towards both you and Felih."
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