Chapter Text
Quitting was, in fact, hard.
Riyo hit day three of her streak, and she was suffering. Like, actually suffering.
She’s been only smoking for a year, and Riyo wouldn’t say that her smoking habits were as bad as Enjin—who regularly went through a packet and a half in one fucking day. But she had her bad smoking habits.
And so far, giving them up was torture.
The first day wasn’t a problem, she wasn’t as heavy of a smoker as Enjin’s been, her limit was one smoke a day, if she’s really feeling like it, then she goes for a second, and sometimes a third if her day has been shitty.
But on day two, the problems came. Her usual habit of going up the roof on the start of her off days and huffing some smoke before showering came through, only for Riyo to realize she had thrown away all her packs and lighter—and she was reminded that she agreed to Enjin’s silly request of quitting.
Okay, no problem, she can handle this. She just has to make sure she’s around people and not think of how nice it would be to have a cigarette in her mouth all day.
The thing was, every long and thin object was suddenly—too reminiscent of a cigarette. At one point, Riyo started gnawing on a chopstick during lunch, causing her to get a wood pick accidentally on her tongue.
Not only that, but she was less friendly than she usually was. She got hit by the sudden aggression during a training session with Zanka and Frankie, and ended up fighting with the older girl over something so trivial.
She got in normal verbal tussles with Frankie, everyone was used to it. They weren’t the friendliest but when needed they worked together flawlessly.
And that day, Riyo chose to be a brat, having her nicotine dosage cut off abruptly since afternoon yesterday had been making her a little antsy. When Frankie threw a side attack with the wood end of her nun-chucks—Riyo manoeuvred with harsh movements and kicked the weapon back, forcibly hitting the older white haired girl in the face square on the nose with the blunt edge.
And it wasn’t an accident, Riyo meant to do that.
And Frankie knew that too, from how strong the impact on her nose was.
“What the fuck’s your problem, Reaper?!” Frankie had yelled, clamping Riyo’s nose between her fingers in an irritated manner. Zanka didn’t move to do anything or break the girls apart like he usually does, opting to stand aside and let them figure it out.
Usually, Riyo fought back against the older girl, but she was the one who pushed Frankie’s buttons. “Sorry… I’m just a little, a little off game today.”
Turns out, being respectful and kind with Frankie gets her to back off—and actually be concerned.
“Okay, what’s wrong?” The taller girl asked, letting go of Riyo’s nose and taking a step back.
“I’m having a little trouble, I guess with withdrawal or what not.”
“Wait, withdrawal?" Zanka piped up, giving Riyo a puzzled look, eyebrow arched. “Yeah, I’m trying to quit smoking, and I’m a little pissy since I haven’t smoked since yesterday.” Riyo nonchalantly admitted, Enjin had already caught her—so there was no use in trying to hide the fact that she indulged that kind of habit.
“Hold up! You smoke?!” Both Zanka and Frankie did a double take, and Riyo cringed inwardly.
“Used to I think is the proper—“
“You said you stopped only yesterday, you’re still in the first stages of withdrawal—girl, as far as I know, you’re still a smoker.” Frankie said, looking down at Riyo with squinted eyes. And her judgmental stare sort of made Riyo less guilty about hitting her on the nose earlier.
So, she tripped her up—and ran away when Frankie began chasing her to get back at her, and that was day two.
Then, day three hit. And the nicotine withdrawal was at its worst.
Today in particular was hard on Riyo. She woke up in a bad mood, only for it to worsen as she suffered a bad headache. One that left her unable to do anything. She just spent the day in the lounge room, lying like a dead corpse on the couch, and glaring daggers at Rudo when he came to check up on her.
“How’re you doing?” Rudo’s voice was small and gentle, he knew Riyo couldn’t handle loud noises. He crouched down next to the couch as he ran a gloved hand through her hair.
“Fucking awful.” Riyo responded dryly. And Rudo smiled apologetically at her, “you’re doing great, a week in and you won’t feel a thing. Hopefully.” He whispered encouragingly, placing a gentle kiss to her forehead.
The kiss felt nice, and Riyo sucked in a deep breath as she felt her body grow warmer at the contact. She turned her eyes briefly to Rudo, noticing the calm expression he had on, and it made her giddy.
He looked better when he was calm, and Riyo loved it.
One of the only reasons Riyo agreed to quit smoking was to ease Rudo’s worries over her health, she didn’t want to cause him constant worry—which is something she realized she did so many times without noticing.
She loved when he was relaxed, calmer. Being at ease looked good on him, the first time she saw him serene and calm was the first time she spent the night in his room, watching him work on fixing a small plush (that he gave to her, an adorable wolf plushy that reminded Riyo so much of him) and Riyo realized that it was the first time she ever saw Rudo without worry.
He looked so… gentle, and so beautiful. And it made Riyo’s heart flutter from how soft spoken he was when he spoke with her as he sewed the doll back to perfection.
Calmness looked good on him, and Riyo loved it, loved it even more if she was the one who helped ease his mind.
Riyo let out a sudden groan, her head pulsing more painfully as the lights hit directly into her eyes. And suddenly she felt the forefront of her head, feeling like a heartbeat was pulsing in her eyes as her ears started ringing.
“This sucks…” Riyo whined, lower lip sticking out as an arm draped over her eyes, keeping the lights out as it aggravated her headache further. Rudo let out a soft sound of amusement, “wanna go to my room?”
“Yeah…”
Rudo took her hand, and led her out of the lounge room carefully, being mindful of how wobbly Riyo was due to her headache.
They reached Rudo’s room, and he led Riyo inside. Helping her to his bed first, taking off her shoes and setting them aside before putting her legs up, “there we go, better?” The Spherite asked as he laid next to her, having kicked off his own shoes. He placed an arm underneath Riyo’s head, the other wrapped around her waist gently.
“Much better.” Riyo nuzzled into his chest, rubbing her face against his shirt. Arms wrapping around his back as she melted into his embrace. Rudo placed his chin on top of Riyo’s head, closing his eyes and relaxing against the warm body that pressed into him.
“I hope Enjin’s having a much easier time than I am…” Riyo’s voice was muffled against his chest, her voice heavy with sleep as Rudo’s warmth lulled her slowly.
Rudo felt Riyo go limp against him, a weak snore escaping her in the most adorable way. Rudo sighed, pleased that her headache seemed to have gone down since she managed to fall asleep.
Her breathing had become even, stable, mouth slightly open as she slept with her head resting on his arm. And Rudo’s lips turned upwards slightly, she looked so peaceful.
He pulled his head back slightly, just enough to be able to place a soft kiss to her forehead. And then he let out an amused breathless sound to himself, “I doubt he’s doing much better.” Rudo muttered against Riyo’s hair.
The room fell silent as the two teens cuddled, Riyo would occasionally wake up every couple of minutes, look at Rudo, and give him a wobbly and drowsy smile with a quick peck to his lips that made him snort in fondness.
“Stop fighting sleep,” Rudo said softly, brushing a stray hair out of Riyo’s face. She gave him another wobbly smile, “seriously, go to sleep. It’ll help with your headache.”
“…don’t wanna,” Riyo mumbled, her words barely audible, “you’re so adorable… wanna stare at you.” Even in her sleepy state, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tease Rudo.
“I’d argue that you’re more adorable at this second,” Rudo shot back, cheeks dusting with a slight red, a soft gleam in his crimson eyes as he looked at the redhead, “froggy.” The Spherite said, absent mindly.
“…come again?”
“What? You look like a frog.” Rudo quickly defended himself, “and from the photos I’ve seen, they’re adorable.”
“That is not the compliment you think it is, sunshine.” Riyo popped his nose, she was a little amused at the frog comparison, “how do I look like a frog?” She asked, running her finger gently over his eyebrow.
Rudo let out a soft breath, liking the way Riyo’s finger brushed over his skin. “Your eyes are large,” he began, focusing on her face for a reaction, “sometimes they go wide when you stare at something—you know? When you go silent and just stare at the first thing that’ll grab your attention, Enjin calls it a frog stare.”
“…wait, is it like this?” Riyo looked at Rudo intensely, a thin lipped smile crossing her features as she stared at the Spherite lying next to her.
Rudo was silent for a few seconds, blinking at Riyo as her eyes went wide and funny, it was a little unnerving having her stare at him so close and in his face.
And he almost broke, his gloved hand slapping over his mouth as an amused sound came out of him, “yeah—just like that.” Rudo managed to choke out after a second, shoulders shaking as Riyo cackled out loud, enjoying Rudo’s reaction.
“That my normal stare!” Riyo defended, feeling both amused and slightly offended.
“How would you know? You can’t know what your normal stare is!”
“You can! Just look in the mirror and go mindless!” Riyo exclaimed, hands cupping Rudo’s face, palms pressing his cheeks inwards and causing his lips to pucker forward. “You haven’t tried that before?”
“Why would I?” Rudo said, voice a little muffled as Riyo squished his cheeks still.
Suddenly, Riyo went quiet—blinking rabidly at Rudo as her fingers ran over the skin of cheeks, feeling his face up.
“Dude,” the redhead began, brows furrowed as she gave Rudo a little bothered look, “when’s the last time you moisturised your face? It’s ashy as hell.” Riyo complained, getting up slowly to sit up on the bed.
“…I actually don’t.” The admission got a loud gasp out of Riyo, but not one of shock—it was rather one of excitement. “Never?” She asked, pulling Rudo by the collar of his shirt to sit up as well.
Confused, the Spherite looked at his girlfriend with blinking eyes, truly feeling like a lost puppy. One second she was bothered about his face being ashy—the next she’s excited about the fact he never moisturised his face.
“Uhh, yeah. Never.”
Rudo’s shoulders were suddenly jerked as Riyo placed her hands on it eagerly, looking at him with the widest Cheshire grin ever.
“Let’s go to my room, shall we?”
…
This isn’t so bad.
That was Rudo’s verdict as he sat on the floor of Riyo’s room. Both he and Riyo were sitting crosslegged, facing each other as Riyo applied a nice cool layer of face mask on his skin.
Riyo had her hair up in a bun, her face already covered in the same gooey substance she was applying to his face, both of them had nice green headbands that held back their bangs back so it wouldn’t get into the mask and get sticky.
Rudo, who seemed to be sitting still with a blank stare on his face—was actually giddy on the inside. He was enjoying this immensely, especially that it seemed this simple thing was enough to keep Riyo’s mind off of smoking.
It brought a teeny tiny smile to Rudo’s face, the wide smile on Riyo’s face as she went on about her usual skincare routine—which was extensive, and Rudo was greatly fascinated by, was truly the highlight of his day (that has been shitty so far thanks to Enjin, he was worse than Riyo now that he’s going through withdrawal).
He loved her so much.
He just hoped he’d be able to work up the courage to tell her that.
They’ve been together for eight months, almost nine. And neither one of them had said the words I love you yet.
It’s stupid, really. You don’t date for eight months and think you’re not in love, but you also don’t date for eight months and not say I love you to your partner.
And what’s more stupid, Rudo knows even without saying it—that Riyo knows he loves her, and he knows it too without saying it that Riyo loves him.
It’s just, neither of them had said it. And for all his personal growth over the course of the year and a half since he’s fallen to the ground, some insecurities and fears managed to hold onto him still.
Mainly the one that made him believe that as soon as he told her those words, Riyo would see him the same way the tribefolks used to see him. That spilling his heart out to her fully will make her run to the hills in an instant.
It happened with Chiwa. The day he worked up the courage to give her that doll and try to be honest about his feelings to her, was also the same day he was framed for Regto’s murder and dropped into the pit. Of course, not before getting his heart trembled on by Chiwa, after he tried to plead with her to find Regto’s murderer and believe that he was innocent, which was followed by her saying the same thing as everyone else.
“You really are a murderer’s son.”
“—yohoo! Ruddy? You with me sunshine?”
The ivory haired boy got startled back into the moment as Riyo snapped her fingers in front of his face.
“Y—yeah, I’m with you.” Rudo responded, pulling his face back slightly. “Are you done?” He asked.
“Yeah, I was just telling you that the mask stays on for 30 minutes.” The redhead answered, shifting her position so that her back was pressed to the edge of her bed for support. Riyo hugged her legs to her chest, resting her arms on her knees.
She looked at Rudo through a calm quizzical gaze, he was overly quieter than usual. Rudo was usually loud most of the time when provoked, but he was generally a calm and quiet person when no one teased him mercilessly or got on his wrong side.
“You got something on your mind?” Riyo asked, her voice was soft as one hand reached for Rudo’s hand, her finger dragging across the leather of his glove. “You can tell me, you know.”
“I know… I’m just thinking about some stuff.” Rudo gave her a small attempt of a smile, his eyes focused on the room's floor for a second trying to come up with anything besides the one thing that had been plaguing his mind for a good while now. “…it’s March.” Was what came out of Rudo’s mouth, and suddenly everything sounded stupid when he said it.
How do you go from thinking about how much you wanna tell your girlfriend you love her—to fucking saying it’s March?! I’m such a loser!
“Hmm, yeah, it’s March 4th.” Somehow, Rudo noticed that Riyo was amused, while smiling fondly at him. “Is there a reason why you brought this up?” Riyo asked with a lilt in her voice, head tilting to the side a little as she moved her hand from where it was drawing patterns on his glove to pop him on the nose playfully.
Huffing, Rudo returned the gesture, popping Riyo on her nose. But since his gloved finger was a little bigger, he ended up smearing a bit of the gooey mask off the side of her nose.
“Shit—didn’t mean to do that.” Rudo apologised, finger hovering over the smeared patch on her nose. “It’s fine, no harm done.” She assured him with a smile, fixing the smeared area.
Comfortable silence filled the room for a few seconds, before Riyo spoke up again, “so… is there a specific reason why you’re thinking about March?”
Rudo blinked at her question, suddenly feeling a little flustered because his flimsy excuse was somehow making Riyo curious.
“…April is after it.” Somehow, Rudo managed to make it worse.
Riyo was fighting off the grin that threatened to form on her lips, biting hard on her lower lip to keep the bubbling laugh at bay. “And, why’s that what you’re thinking of?” She said through a small giggle, becoming more amused as Rudo grew more flustered.
“Why are you teasing me!”
“Why are you getting flustered?”
“Beacuse you keep teasing me!” Rudo groaned, pulling away from Riyo and crossing his arms over his chest, back hunched forward as he huffed his cheeks in annoyance.
“Okay, okay. Forget about it—I was just pulling your leg sunshine.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to overreact.” Rudo apologised sheepishly, gloved hand rubbing the back of his neck as he straightened his posture.
Comfortable silence fell over them once again, they both laid on the floor tiredly. Riyo’s headache was finally gone, she rested her head on Rudo’s shoulder, careful not to get any of the gooey mask on his shirt.
Meanwhile Rudo laid down with a hand resting on his stomach, the other arm was tucked under Riyo, and the tiredness of the day finally caught up with the Spherite, now that he took a minute to relax.
“Rudo.” Riyo’s voice broke the silence, a hand coming to rest on his chest as she turned towards him slowly, still mindful to not get any of the mask on his shirt.
“Hm?” The Spherite hummed, turning his head slightly to look at the girl lying next to him. A hand carefully threading through her hair.
“Thank you… that’s all I wanted to say.” She said in a small whisper, eyes getting heavy with sleep as she gave Rudo a small tired smile. Rudo returned with a brief upturn of his lips.
“You’re welcome.”
And soon enough, sleep overtook the both of them, drifting away as they laid on the floor of Riyo’s bedroom.
—xXx—
If Riyo was in front of him right now, Enjin would kill her.
And if Rudo was in front of him right now, he’d run him over with a car if he could.
Quitting smoke was the most agonising thing Enjin had ever tried doing, it was especially hard since he’s been smoking since he was thirteen, nearly sixteen years of his life he’d spent smoking.
Quitting it suddenly was doing things to him.
The first day was a little okayish for him, he struggled a little around bed time since he usually huffed one out before he turned in for the night.
But as soon as he reached for the drawer where he kept his packs of cigarettes—Enjin was overcome with the realization that he threw everything out.
Alright… he can handle not smoking before bed, easy. No problem.
Then day two came. Problems came.
Smoking had become more like a second nature for him, he smoked after getting out of the shower, smoked after breakfast, after training, before a job, on the way back from a job, and before he turned in for the night.
…somehow, Enjin never realized how much of a worrying issue his nicotine addiction was.
Enjin hadn’t truly realized how much he’d been smoking, or how excessive it was until he was forced to quit.
“You normally finish a pack and a half each day. You know that, right?” Semiu had reminded him as she found the pathetic man sprawled out on the lounge room’s couch.
Enjin just scowled, holding his head in pain as it throbbed immensely. “I actually didn’t notice…”
“‘Course you wouldn’t.”
Enjin wasn’t a fan of the tone Semiu talked to him in, but he kept his dislike to himself.
He knew if he said anything the white haired woman would verbally incinerate him, and Enjin was not looking forward to that.
He spent half that day wasted on the couch, occasionally both Gris and Semiu checked on him. Leaving him a bottle of water and some snacks along with painkillers for his headache.
The other half was spent in his room, where Enjin tried and failed to fall asleep.
When sleep didn’t come easily for the blond, he decided some training session would do him some good.
Spoiler alert, it didn’t.
Turns out a headache and a bad training session that consisted of a bickering Rudo and Follo don’t mix well. So Enjin ended up smacking them both on their heads, made them stand outside in the training grounds holding two buckets of water as punishment.
So yeah… day two. Not so fun.
Day three was harsh, his headache was worse, his attitude was trash, and his mood was in a constant decline.
Doing his job on a nicotine withdrawal was impossible as well.
But Enjin learned that it also proved to be the kind of distraction he needed from it as well.
Beating up trash beasts gave him a bit of an outlet for his frustrations, mainly the ones that had to do with smoking.
And making Rudo the verbal punching bag for his sour mood was mildly helping him too.
To be fair, the Spherite is the reason he was in this predicament to begin with. It was his fatass that pushed the too concerned with Riyo’s health bullshit that led Enjin into this situation.
“Why am I the one driving?!” Rudo protested, glaring at the tattooed blond with an aghast expression. It was an unsaid rule that Gris put in place a few months back after both him and Enjin taught the younger members of Akuta how to drive, that when adults are around, none of the younger members should be put to drive.
But Enjin didn’t care about that rule, Rudo could use the experience driving on shitty roads, he was a capable driver.
That, and Enjin was nursing a bad headache.
“Cause’ you’re a piece of shit, start the car.”
“But I’m tired!”
“Yeah?! Well, my head feels like it’s about to snap in half—and I have not had a single huff of nicotine in three days, don’t test my patience, cause you are on thin ice brat!”
Rudo started the car, grumbling about how unfair it was that he was the one that did most of the work taking out the trash beasts and Enjin was sitting on his ass forcing him to drive them back.
Now Enjin was a complainer, but the nicotine withdrawal dialled up his whinny attitude by a two hundred percent that Rudo could barely handle.
The Spherite was glad that Tomme was with them as a mediator, or else he’d have bitten Enjin’s head off ages ago.
“Don’t take too long brat, I wanna get home and nap, maybe it’ll help with my nasty ass headache.” Enjin grumbled with closed eyes, leaning back in the passenger seat. Rudo made a quick stop in the town near HQ, Enjin didn’t question why the boy wanted to suddenly hit a shop in town—because he didn’t really care.
He just wanted to get home so bad.
“So…. Is there a reason you've been in a pissy mood recently?”
Enjin was roused slowly from his half slumber as Tomme’s careful voice filled his ears.
He looked back slightly to the brown haired woman in the backseat, shot her a quick apologetic look while scratching his forehead sheepishly.
“Yeah—it’s been a rough couple of days.” The blond spoke through a sigh, rubbing his eyes tiredly. His pointer and middle fingers tapping gently on his chapped lips, a recently developed habit due to attempts of quitting.
Tomme hummed, tapping the back of the driver seat’s headrest. looking out to the right window, trying to spot Rudo through the shop’s window.
“Is it because you haven’t smoked today?” The brunette asked in a timid tone, tilting her head to the side to get a better look at the agitated Enjin. And Enjin let out a weak chuckle, rubbing his face tiredly.
“Yup,” he answered, lips thin as looked out to the right as well, trying to spot Rudo too. “I’m trying to quit.”
“Oh! That’s—wow! Really?!”
Tomme’s reaction got a genuine laugh out of Enjin for the first time in two days. “Is it really that shocking?” He asked in a drawled tone, the headache still ever so present and annoying as hell.
The supporter let out a soft amused sound, placing her elbow on the back of the headrest to the passenger seat, letting her chin rest on the back of her hand. “It’s unexpected,” Tomme said, “I’ve known you for almost four years now. Never thought you’d ever quit smoking for anything, what changed?”
It took Enjin a moment to debate whether or not to tell the brunette his cause for quitting, he didn’t know how many people were aware of Riyo smoking or if she even wanted people to know she used to.
She probably didn’t care, but he didn’t want to out the girl out to anybody, just in case.
With a small nod, Enjin answered, “I just… thought it was about time I thought of my health seriously, nearing my thirties and all...” A small pause, filled quickly by Enjin again, “and, I need to set a good example for the kids. Whether I like it or not, they look up to me, and as their leader I need to start showing them my good qualities.”
Damn, I sound like a fraud. Enjin grimaced inwardly, hating how forced his words sounded to him.
In truth, prior to finding out Riyo was smoking, he had never truly cared if any of his team members mimicked his bad habits. They were all old enough to know right from wrong, and he wasn’t their fucking father—he didn’t have to tell them what to do or that they shouldn’t look at him for a role model.
“I think that’s admirable.”
Tomme’s words do something to Enjin, not in a strong way, but they make his chest slightly warm. And he has to fight the small flush that’s creeping up his neck, he’s not used to being complimented for something, much less something good.
“It ain’t much… nor do I think it’s a big thing,” the blond starts, weirdly nervous for some odd reason—damn it! When’s that brat coming back! And why the fuck am I getting flustered for?—“but they deserve a good example… I guess?”
“You sound so unsure.” Tomme teased with a smile, she straightened herself properly, back resting against the backseat cushions comfortably, “I think it’s admirable still, don’t sell yourself short.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Their conversation came to an end, and Enjin found himself in a slightly better mood. Maybe today wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Eventually, Rudo came back after taking his sweet time in the shop. A small white bag in his clutch.
“Sorry I took so long, it’s just that I had to talk to the owner cause he thought I was a shop lifter, and then they had to call—you know what? It’s boring details. Anyway, I got what I want.” Rudo explained, holding up the small bag to both Enjin and Tomme’s gaze.
And in true fashion, Enjin immediately reached for the bag trying to snatch it from Rudo’s grasp. Only for Tomme to surprisingly snatch it first before him.
“H-hey! Give that back!” Rudo groaned loudly, getting held back by Enjin who shoved his large hand in the boy’s face, the other hand held at his right hand that tried to reach back into the back row for Tomme.
“I’m just taking a quick glance, after all you parked outside a merchandise store.”
“Relax, brat! We’ll just take a quick look, that’s all!”
The poor boy turned beet red as the two glanced inside the bag, his embarrassment doubled as he heard the small ‘aww’ coming from Tomme, and the small snicker that came from Enjin.
“Aww, Rudo. Did you buy this for Riyo?” The brunette supporter asked, a wide smile forming on her lips as she reached her hand to ruffle Rudo’s fluffy hair. “It’s so adorable, I have no doubt Riyo will love it.”
“Is that the new limited edition they’ve just released?” Enjin asked, chuckling as Rudo pushed his hand away from his face.
“Y—yeah. I’m not sure if Riyo actually wanted it, but… she does have some merch, so I thought… it’d be a nice gift and all.” Rudo sheepishly grumbled out, rubbing his red face to try and calm his racing heart down. “I just—her birthday’s around the corner, and I already made her something. But I thought another gift would be good, just in case.” She doesn’t like it went unsaid by the boy, but Enjin caught on to it.
“Relax, she’ll love it. Even more since it’s you that bought it for her.” The blond quickly reassured with an easy going smile. His words were backed by Tomme as well, “I have no doubt she will love it so much, she cherishes everything you give her, you know that already.”
“And~ you’re already ahead of everyone pal,” Enjin grumbled, scratching his head in annoyance, “I legit forgot about Riyo’s birthday until now. You say you have two gifts already? My count’s zero.”
“I already bought mine~” Tomme boasted happily, causing Enjin to grumble again.
“Show off.”
“Anyway, let’s get back home, shall we?” Rudo redirected the conversation, snatching back his bag quickly from Tomme’s lap. And turning the car back on.
“Yes, please!” Enjin cheered tiredly, resting his head back on the headrest, his body growing wary again now that the little rush of fun washed over. He felt his headache come back a little stronger than last time, “I really, really need to sleep this headache off.”
Rudo didn’t complain, he was actually antsy to get back home to Riyo (to cuddle).
—
Day four was the beginning of Enjin getting used to the headaches.
They were manageable now, and he found the best counter for them was coffee.
Lots of coffee.
And he spent most of the day with Gris, who had been a great help so far in his quitting journey.
“Wanna hit the bar later?” The tattooed blond asked, looking over to the other blond next to him. “Yeah, sure—how’s your headache though?”
“Decently manageable, surprisingly.” Enjin answered, taking a sip from his coffee mug. He ran his fingers through his hair, which he forewent styling in his usual hairdo today.
“That's good.” Gris beamed, giving Enjin a rough pat on the back. “Have to give it to you man. I thought you’d kneel over and just say ‘fuck it all’ and relapse by day two.” The scarred blond chuckled, he leaned back onto the wall behind him, giving Enjin a small grin, “but you proved me wrong, you’re taking this seriously. Not just for Riyo’s sake, but for yourself as well.”
There was a small pause, where both men continued drinking their coffee for a bit, before Gris broke the silence again with another smile.
“I’m proud of you man.”
If anyone asked, no, Enjin did not grow warm and giddy at Gris’ words.
He did not.
Getting excited and giddy over these kinds of things was Zanka’s gag, not Enjin’s.
He’s twenty nine damn it! And here he was getting a little flushed in the face over a few damn words of encouragement.
But Gris’ words got to him.
“Uh—yeah, sure.” Enjin stammered, hiding behind his cup of coffee. “Thanks.”
I’m fucking pathetic.
“Hey, there you are.” Enjin whipped his head to the side immediately as he registered Semiu’s voice. He hoped the little flush on his face wasn’t as visible as he imagined it would be.
“Yo, what up girl, what ya need?” He answered her quickly, running a hand through his hair to push the bangs slightly out of his field of vision.
“I have some disappointing news for you.” The receptionist began, giving him a tight lipped look.
“… and it’s?”
“Guess who Rudo and I found in a closet room, smoking?”
Feeling his eyes twitch, Enjin’s hand that was holding onto his coffee mug tightly, set the ceramic cup down with an exasperated sigh.
“If you say Riyo—”
Unfortunately for Enjin, it was in fact, Riyo.