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kazuichi didn't really know how he got into this situation, but here he was. backed into a corner of jabberwock's library, forced to listen to gundham's incoherent rambling combined with their weird obnoxious phrasing. of course. just his luck.
just around ten minutes ago, the mechanic was enjoying his day, and it was a fairly normal afternoon. until gundham pulled him aside, in here, for what felt like hours of awkward incomprehension.
'i would like a word, privately.' yeah whatever man... souda began to recall how exactly he ended up here. he was at the beach, right... wrapping up a talk with hajime about... something. it wasn't important anyways.
then, as he was walking away, the breeder seemingly appeared from nowhere, asking, more like begging him to have a "much needed conversation," and now they were both―kazuichi reluctantly―here. why did he agree to this?
but he had never seen them this flustered before. it was strange. somehow he understood even less than usual.
"must i repeat myself into my grave?" gundham started. "once again,"
overdramatic freak... maybe drop the pretentiousness and i could just get it in one sentence... kazuichi's thoughts wandered again. it didn't really matter if he paid attention or not, due to his current inability to take in a word from gundham. he zoned out, missing basically the whole sentence.
"i uhh... i still don't get it," he murmured, in a somewhat impatient tone.
as souda said that, it felt like what he heard next was the millionth long sigh in this conversation.
gundham's eyes temporarily flicked down to souda's lips, brief enough to go unnoticed, but it gave them an idea. not a very good one, but maybe it would get through to the mechanic.
not yet.
"as i've stated, i have found myself... drawn towards your energy, in an indescribable way. i-"
"well i don't know what that means!'
despite the many rewordings and attempts made to communicate, the mechanic couldn't understand a word from this... weirdo, to say the least.
there was a deep, deep sigh. it was almost a growl. "y- i- how many times must i reiterate!?-"
"i dunno man, maybe speak english!"
gundham had always been weird. weird hair, weird attitude, weird speech pattern, just weird. but souda's train of thought was interrupted when he subconciously realized they had started going on about some bullshit because of kazuichi not understanding them. great.
"and i- i cannot fathom what part of this is so... difficult to grasp!"
the way they frustratedly sputtered out and sighed over their words was... kind of cute, in a way.
wait. what? no. no it wasn't, why would he think that? absolutely not. what the hell. why would he ever think that in a million years. he hated gundham. they were enemies.
kazuichi was into sonia, sometimes fighting with gundham over her. gundham tried to make it clear they were in no way romantically interested in her, but kazuichi didn't believe them. why should he? the two were almost always together. how could they not be into eachother?
gundham had weird corny nicknames for her, sonia was able to make them blush, and on top of it all, they always synchronized their speech. hell, back in the neo world program after gundham died, sonia got to take care of his "four dark devas of destruction".
the mechanic was envious. of course he was, he had devoted basically the entire past year, killing game or not, to pursuing sonia. despite her attempts to deter him, he kept trying. annoyingly, from sonia's point of view.
though recently, gundham had―for whatever reason―stopped being as aggressive towards souda. it was strange, but at this rate it's not like kazuichi is ever getting a reason for it.
the breeder was still going on about... whatever, while souda zoned out. really, why did they have to talk so weirdly all the time?
the mechanic sighed as he spoke up again, deciding to try and piece together a coherent thought of what they had said.
"so... you're 'drawn to my energy', and 'harbor a thirst' for... whatever that word was..." he started.
huh.
"that's kinda gay, dude."
for a second, gundham just.. stared.
alright. that's it.
god, there was no way he was seriously this dense.
before souda could get another word out, he felt himself get yanked forward, and before he could protest, he felt... he felt his lips press against gundham's.
what the fuck?
everything became a blur. kazuichi felt like he was going to have a heart attack with how fast his heart was beating.
the mechanic snapped back to reality as he felt the other's hands come up to cup his face, gently holding him. somewhat reluctantly, souda reciprocated.
as they both stood there, lips locked, kazuichi slowly pieced everything together.
oh.
oh.
now it all felt insanely obvious. the stuttering, the circumstances, the... everything.
souda would be lying if he said he wasn't into it. though, just as he tried to deepen the kiss, gundham pulled away for air. neither of them realized they were holding their breath.
but just as soon as they parted, they both immediately dove back in, the breeder's arms wrapping around kazuichi's back, pulling them both towards the wall while they stumbled over eachother onto the floor.
everything was messy and uncoordinated, but felt like pure bliss. as if a massive weight got lifted off their shoulders, or if a water balloon was filled to the brim and finally popped. something like that, maybe.
mouths connected, souda's hands traveled back up to lift the other's head, shifting both of their faces slightly as to intertwine themselves deeper. nobody was thinking clearly, the only things focused on were the grabbing of hands everywhere and the desperate entangling of tongues.
they both laid there―well, kazuichi was more kneeling―for a good few minutes, occasionally retracting to breathe. until one pullback, they just stared awkwardly at eachother after withdrawing.
the mechanic was the one to break the agonizing eye contact, bringing his hands up to his chest fumblingly. neither party was ready for the oncoming conversation, obviously.
and so they sat there in the worst silence of both of their lives. until souda finally spoke up.
"so uh... what was all that about?"
"i had no choice but to resort to... drastic measures."
"y-you couldn't have just- i dunno, told me normally?"
now kazuichi was the one sputtering.
"i did. many times, infact. yet your feeble mortal mind proved too dense to comprehend."
back to the pompous insults i guess... whatever, theres bigger things to address.
"s-so... i'm assuming that was all an elaborately worded love confession?"
"you would be correct, yet i still cannot discern what was so hard to understand."
"well... why me in the first place? why not... why not sonia or... basically anyone else?"
"love is a strange concept, a mortal weakness even. it cannot be explained."
yeah, thats probably the only explanation i'm getting. typical.
souda shifted downwards to set his head on the other's chest, the breeder wrapping their arms around the other―yet again.
"so are we like... what are we after- whatever that was?" kazuichi felt like crawling away into a hole with how embarassing that oh so simple question was.
"i suppose 'partners' would be a fitting term... if you return these feelings."
"y-yeah.. i think im good with that..."
they both laid there in silence once again. but the mood was noticably different. the silence wasnt uncomfortable or excruciatingly long, just... comforting, almost.
nothing else really needed to be said, and that was fine. gundham pulled the mechanic in further as they rested their head on his, both of them closing their eyes.
maybe being "dense" isn't necessarily the worst thing sometimes.