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"You could always just.."
Neku took a quick glance at himself in the mirror, noting the slight bags under his eyes, but then sequentially deciding that he looked fine and it wasn't anything to be worried over.
"Come with, you know."
Just a little bit of RG showing on him, that didn't in the UG. His eyes also seemed much less blue, his skin a bit paler, and his hair more faded.
Maybe it was so long spent in Shinjuku that made the change between planes so rude to him. But this wasn't something that he was unfamiliar with happening- just the first time he had seen it with his own two eyes happening to himself, specifically.
Just like Joshua, who was heavily affected by the change to the RG, moreso than anyone else he had met.
Kariya had the same amount of change in his appearance as himself, roughly, Uzuki a bit more, but Joshua- he seemed like a whole new person.. and not in the best way.
His ashen blonde hair was much darker, faded to the point of looking like a dark gray, primarily at the roots. Those eyes of his went from a bright violet into a similar color as his hair, dark and unreadable, colorless. His skin was so unnaturally pale, he looked like a walking corpse. Which- he was, to some degree. Or.. maybe a ghost would be more accurate?
He also had his own pair of eyebags to sport, the few times that Neku had the pleasure to see him in the RG. His skin even seemed sunken in more places than that, and dare he even say, he was entirely skinnier. He was never particularily plump in any way, but the boniness that he wore in the alternate plane was genuinely unsettling.
It was nothing to be helped, though. And the closer he stayed to the UG while still being able to materialize within the RG, the changes were much less drastic.
So, maybe it wasn't always the nicest to come to the RG.. but it sure wasn't the worst. And Joshua had the gift to be able to keep some of his powers, keep much of his overall beauty, that Neku wasn't so lucky with.
Besides, it was a very open secret, how much the blonde loathed watching the orange-haired go. It was why he woke up with the other in his bed in the first place. He had been very clingy since Neku came back to Shibuya.
He tore himself away from criticizing his physical appearance (he looked fine, and it was going to be okay. No use beating himself up over what he couldn't change), and poked his head back into the bedroom of his small apartment.
On the bed, just like he was before, sat the Composer. On his stomach and with his phone in his hand lazily scrolling through whatever, Neku could easily read that he was upset.
He didn't have the intense synthenasia the other had, but between their pact and so long spent being able to read physical Souls, he had gotten much better at reading Joshua in the last three years.
His expression was gentle, his voice matched. "Did you hear me, Josh?"
"..mhm."
Neku made his way through the room, then onto his bed beside the other, his attention undivided. "Tell me, what do you think?"
"..I don't think that's a good idea. Minamimoto is still out there, I don't think a shift in Composer would be good for Shibuya right now, and after everything that happened. It's worse than just 'not a good idea'."
That wasn't a real excuse and they both knew it. Sho was no genuine problem to any of them as of late, and the RG in general was as safe as anywhere for Joshua. It was just that- an excuse.
It was an excuse of weak reasoning they both knew was flimsy as could be, but regardless it was what the blonde was sticking with instead of saying his real reasons for wanting to avoid the RG like the plague.
Another battle, one he knew he would have to have with Joshua eventually. So be it.
"But I want you there."
"..no, you don't."
Neku smiled at the sheer idiocy of the statement, lightly sighing, watching how his partner rolled his head out of view to avoid the inevitable argument even more.
"..C'mon, Josh. Just because I'm going to see friends doesn't mean you aren't important to me."
The other half-joked back, rolling over and onto his back instead, and wearing the faintest pout on his full lips. "Yes, it does."
"I think that they would want to see you. I know that they want to say "thanks" about you helping Shoka."
No response or waver from the other, even when presented with evidence to back the claim. He only shut his eyes and huffed.
"In fact, they're excited. They think that you seem nice, because of how you did that for her, and them."
"I was afraid of that. My good heart just got the best of me, was all."
Another creak of Neku's old, rickety bed when the Composer adjusted, moving the blanket underneath him that bunched uncomfortably at the crook of his spine. "And that's only because they won the little game. They could have easily lost and it wouldn't be the same situation."
"..heh. I think we both know that wasn't possible." His gentle expression didn't falter, bringing a slight touch to the other's broad shoulder and rubbing a small circle with his thumb. "C'mon.. Come with me."
A quiet but heavy exhale was more than enough for the red-haired to know the action was adored, regardless of the lack of any visuals to show it.
Almighty Composer, but he had the same insatiable need for attention as a newborn puppy. He was so complex, but only to a point. After all this time, never physically together, but feeling Josh's soul along with him and his intense, divine power quietly lending a hand more times than he could count, they might as well have spent those three years locked in a lover's embrace.
Neku made the mistake of assuming that a pact would go away after the Game was over, but it doubled, tripled, multiplied again and again, and some days it physically pained to be seperated.
Nothing they ever discussed, but was as painfully obvious to the both of them as a slap to the face.
Never more obvious than in a moment like this, feeling the way that the blonde melted when the human boy's hand was raised to his cheek and brushed his thumb across the smooth stretch of skin just beside his lip.
One purple iris peeked back up at him, encouraging far too saccharine words. "It would make me really happy."
Finally, the blonde gave in- but only as far as accepting that one of the six (the one he had been exclusively with, mind you) didn't completely despise him. Progress, however small, Neku celebrated.
"..they don't want me there."
A slight sigh. His patience had grown much thicker, thankfully. If not for that, he would have given up long ago, not only on this specific talk, but on the Composer in general.
To say Joshua was a lesson in patience was an understatement- but, their progress had already been magnificent. After all, here they were, loving touches, honey-laced words and sweet glances far more often than the overwhelming frustration they used to be.
The transition from the unique relationship of ex-proxy and puppetmaster had been the most uncomfortable experience of his life, and even the next step of occasional fuckbudies wasn't much better, but he was grateful for sticking through it all in the end.
Joshua did not allow himself to be dragged easily into any other step, it truly was kicking and screaming the whole way, even now. They were something nice in private, but in public? Meeting Neku's friends? Actually allowing himself to become a part of Neku's life in the eyes of those he knew and loved, as well? Now.. that may be asking a little much.
"They want to meet you. I know they want to, because they keep telling me."
He offered, as the soft pad of his thumb brushed down the other's lower lip, tugging just enough to catch a shimmer of teeth behind.
"I'll treat you to somewhere you want, afterwards. Just us two. We could try Ken Doi's curry, I know you've been wanting to."
"Mm." Still upset, obviously so, but he pressed a light kiss onto the tanner boy's thumb regardless. "..I don't even like curry."
"Heh. That's not what I remember you saying when you first learned about his new place."
"..you don't give up, do you?" Another kiss, one that didn't match his words, but instead his tone, an underlying understanding of playful banter rather than any sort of actual spite. This could be going much worse, even if it was gratuitous. After all, no bullets was a good start. "I hate when you're stubborn."
"Yup.. and I'm not giving up." No amount of cheeky grin could save him from having his thumb lightly bitten, enough to make him pull his hand back with a slight wince.
At the Composer's victory, and in a display of his own lack of ability to budge, he crossed his hands over his chest, firmly. Alright.. time to work a little harder if he wanted this to go his way.
It wasn't what he pictured years ago, that his future relationship would occasionally require double the amount of stategy as most battles he'd been through, but that was just another piece of a puzzle that he really enjoyed to have. Besides, three years ago, he would have peed himself about most of the stuff that his current self goes through in a day.
Bravely, he laid down beside Josh, knowing that he was putting himself at risk for being fought tooth and nail when he would inevitably have to get back up. Neku placed a hand delicately on the other's chest, and the other going for the softest part of his neck, massaging the most vulnerable parts of it in an affectionate move that usually made the past pianist more likely to give in.
He hovered enough to press his lips against the other's sharp jaw, matured especially nice with time, truly taking on a masculine shape. Then, another peck, and one more, a third, until he felt the Composer's lips finally twitch in a coy and tight smirk.
He broke out his secret weapon, taking to nibbling on the shell of the blonde's ear, "If you come with, I'll make it worth your while. How's about that?"
Quietly, Joshua gave him another huff. Should he be any closer to the RG, surely said ears would darken in a red tint, they had a habit of doing that. But he must still be far enough into the UG that he can both be interacted with physically but not completely at the mercy of physical sensations. "..I hate you. I really do."
Neku could see that resolve, after enough chiseling and sanding away, wavering visually as the offering sat in front of him, made the ethereal being consider it as he was gifted with another open-mouthed kiss against the side of his porcelain face.
"..you make me do so much for you." Joshua complained, with a slightly labored breath following the latest huff. Success was eminent after a shudder like that. "So needy, all the time.. You're exhausting."
"Yeah. I am." He almost laughed at the irony, but scarcely bit it back. "But you are here with me, anyway."
"I guess I'd hate if you got lost, or something.." With a roll of violet eyes, he adjusted, placed his hands on Neku's chest to push him off, working himself to sit up. "..because you're useless without me."
Neku's cheeks widened in a genuine smile, reveling in his victory, even if he knew it was inevitable.
He watched his pouty ethereal partner get up, meander throughout the miniscule studio apartment, and find his shoes that had been discarded somewhere.
Patience was hard, sometimes, but it was absolutely worth it in the end. He whipped out his phone, purple phonecase one of the only constants in his life since the first Game he played, texting Rindo an excited message about finally getting a certain grumpy Composer to come along and meet them all.
As the blonde pulled the white canvas over his ankles, no doubt read whatever the other was writing through some snoopy telepathy and rolled his eyes internally, he made sure to milk whatever else he possibly could out of this favor he was doing for his partner. "..you're buying me curry after, too. I changed my mind."
Neku took just another second to watch the three moving dots of someone typing back, before reading Rindo's excited but anxious message back.
He sent his last one, a word of encouragement, before hopping up and joining the blonde, as they gathered in front of the door.
"Heh.. Alright, Josh."