route_1065 | //itsu no ma ni ka bokura nanigenaku deatta

Entry tags:

//itsu no ma ni ka bokura nanigenaku deatta

Who: Hal Emmerich, Liquid Snake
Where: Azalea Town
When: Midday, October 10th
Summary: Hello, I am a crack pairing between two socially awkward people.
Rating: idfk, T or something
Log:
What had he been thinking? What had possessed him to offer to find a restaurant with Liquid? Sure, his cooking was a nightmare (and Otacon planned to bring back something nice for Heather to make up for it), but this was Liquid.

...as he got ready to leave, he idly wondered if Snake was alright wherever he was. Otacon was worried sick, though he hid it the best he could. His first and closest friend was in pain, possibly even dying and there wasn't a damn thing Otacon could do. To say it upset him was an understatement.

But this wasn't the time for that. He'd promised some food that was actually edible, and that's what he'd get them. If there was nothing he could do to help Snake...then he'd just wait and worry in silence.

"Ready, Liquid?" he asked with a smile, recalling the angrily hissing Kotai and slipping her Pokeball into the sleeve of his kimono--what her problem was with him, Otacon wasn't entirely sure.

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"Guess not," he remarked absently, pouring both of them a glass. "I have to wonder where they get the fish for sushi, though."

"I choose to believe that somewhere there are normal, non-Pokemon fish."

He'll just happily live in that delusion, thank you. Because otherwise they had to start questioning where all of the meat came from.

Otacon simply made a vague sound of acknowledgment in response, staring out the nearest window. The engineer really couldn't help but wonder what Snake might have been doing right about then.

Liquid was glad for the alcohol-- he needed it.

"If you're so worried about him, go with him."

He cared for Snake far more than he cared for Liquid, after all; not that it was surprising, considering that he had known his brother far longer than he'd known him.

And, of course, Snake was superior. It was only a matter of time before Otacon got over the novelty of traveling with Liquid and went back with the person he'd prefer to spend time with.

"..."

When the answer finally came, it was spoken in a quiet voice--Otacon still staring out the window.

"I don't want to leave."

Otacon took a drink, noting in the back of his mind that maybe he needed it.

"..."

Something weird had been going on between him and Otacon, and... well, Liquid wasn't sure what the hell it was, but he felt like this had something to do with it.

"...why not?"

"I don't know." Really, he didn't--there was no clearer answer.

"I just...we're friends. And I kind of like being around you." Still Otacon stared out the window, stubbornly avoiding eye contact.

Otacon was a confusing man.

"..."

He didn't want the engineer to leave, either. He shouldn't have minded so much-- he didn't when Heather left to do whatever it was she did when she wasn't traveling with them. It was just having Hal leave that he didn't like.

Maybe a little more alcohol would make things clearer.

Maybe it would. At this point, it seemed like as good an idea as any.

"..."

Boy, was this awkward.

"..."

Down the hatch.

He gestured vaguely towards the reserved rice balls.

"...we should probably get those back to Heather soon."

"Huh? Oh...right. Yeah."

Otacon sighed, taking another bite of sushi and draining his glass.

Liquid will just wash down one of those rice balls with more sake. At least this stuff was better than the rotgut he'd made before; it was amazing the difference decent equipment made in the quality of alcohol.

"..."

This silence was almost painful in how awkward it was. He had to say something, didn't he?

"...If you don't want me around...you could just say so. Don't just try to insinuate I'm not here because I chose to be."

"If I didn't want you here, I would've already said so."

Wanting him around was what was giving him problems.

"...I kind of figured that somehow." he remarked with a slight smile.

"Tch. Then why did you say such a stupid thing if you already knew that?"

"Just making sure."

Otacon didn't speak for a few minutes after that, face flushed slightly from the alcohol he'd been drinking. As always, he was a lightweight to almost impossible levels.

"...y'know, you're kind of fun to hang around with."

For some reason, having Otacon say that he was fun to be around was... pleasing, somehow.

"...hn. You're mad, Hal."

"I've been called worse."

"You're a very special kind of mad."

The kind that was only mostly harmless. Mostly.

"If I'm crazy, I don't mind it too much. I get by, at least."

"Not without tripping over something."

He didn't go by anything, it seemed, without tripping over it.

Liquid was idly picking at the onigiri and sipping alcohol, just waiting for Otacon to finish whatever he wanted. He's certainly not blushing, and even if he was, it wouldn't be because of the sake or because of the engineer. Really.

"Well...isn't easy, y'know. Traveling outside and all that kinda stuff."

Whoops, one too many glasses of sake.

"I'll get used to it."

For Otacon, 'too many glasses of sake' was a number somewhere between zero and one.

"Walking usually isn't very hard."

He'll just be edging the engineer's glass away from him. They didn't need another hangover fiasco like before.

That it was indeed.

"...Ready to get the check and get out of here? M'gonna need to get a job again, keeping everythin' stocked is kinda leaving me flat broke."

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