IC INBOX / BUSINESS CARD ( ARCHIVE AS OF 12/13 )

[manuscripture]

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[ Somewhere around town-- at the bookstore, the Tomoe-Kaname Bakery, attached to posts and notice boards --you find a small white notecard. On it is printed a little message and some numbers in ornate lettering. If you look closely, it reads the following: ]

Rohan Kishibe, Mangaka & Visual Artist
Owner Pro Tempore of Ebony Threads Tailor Shop
Highly Experienced.
Commissions & Advertising For Hire
Pay Negotiable.
Contact At: 512.66.730.91 for inquiries
Castle Lüvchaque - Directly North of Bavan per appointment ONLY.

(( feel free to use this as an action-based prompt too. any random interactions will MOST LIKELY take place in the form of walk-ins at the tailor shop unless it's pre-planned. just drop a starter in here! ))

Comments

[manuscripture]

[ First and foremost: No one needs to be set on fire here. They may have been lovingly discussing lighting up the wendigo who started the whole mess but there is no reason to try that out on each other.

For Rohan, he hasn't had any 'weird' kisses (barring Mitsuhide). Kisses have always been kisses and they were nothing but uneventful. Things in passing, things he had to do for making his writing ~real~. Rohan is too much of a handful for anyone to keep around and he has never wanted anybody to stick around. People cause problems. Kisses cause people to be problems. Jotaro is not a problem by any definition. Nor has he been one.

Whatever the case, this was bound to happen at some point and here they are. The catalyst that finally set things up could not have been worse, and yet... Neither of them have pushed or pulled away. There is more to work with than what he is choosing to use. He could put his other hand somewhere-- he doesn't. The other one stays where it is until it needs to be moved again. Totally still. The one thing he does do is feel out the pause before he leans into the touch of their lips a bit more.

It's kind of a real kiss.

It ain't that bad either.

A tiny clearing of his throat interrupts him, making a little out for Rohan to take a breath that is not far enough that he has to raise his voice over a whisper. Boy, that happened. ]

Have you decided?

[starmark]

I still think you're hard to say no to.

[Which isn't what he's being asked, and maybe it's sort of an asshole answer anyway, because of how it leaves ambiguous whether or not he would've said no in the first place. Actually, it completely leaves any and all of his feelings out of it, which is probably unsurprising coming from someone like Jotaro, but that doesn't make it fair or right.

There was another time he'd done that, wasn't there? Someone had asked him a question, and he'd resorted to deflection and ambiguity.

Why did you risk your life to save me?

He'd known, or at least he'd had a pretty good idea. He'd said he hadn't, and turned away instead.

(He hopes Kakyoin wasn't waiting for that answer. He never did get it, did he.)

So even though it's awkward and discomforting and he doesn't like it a single bit, he makes himself dig for something better anyway. It's hard to say what he even thinks is likely to go wrong if he does reach for his feelings to try to express them; it's not as though he's worried about being laughed at or scorned. Maybe it's just that he's so unused to offering them that he doesn't typically want to contend with the frustration of fumbling through bringing them to the surface.]

...Don't — don't ask me if it meant something. That. I can come up with an answer to that, maybe, but. It...might take me a while.

[He licks his lips absently, like he's still tasting the phantom remains of the kiss lingering there.]

...I don't regret it. And I'm not going to. For what that's worth.

[manuscripture]

[ Don't ask me if it meant something.

Okay. Rohan cannot tell if he's offended or if he's fine with having the answer up in the air for a later date. He is not being denied an answer at all if Jotaro says he will come up with one. It doesn't stop him from wanting to drive his teeth into his lower lip and crinkle his nose in childish retort. He decides not to in favor of shrugging up his shoulders. Throughout most of this time, his tail has slipped over and busied itself with curling around Jotaro's ankle.

Pursing his lips for a moment is a better choice than licking them out of reflex. Another buzzkill: His whole tongue falling out of his mouth because he isn't paying attention. The corners of his eyes have softened up as fondly as they can. ]

You're not the one who started it. You shouldn't be regretting anything. [ Correcting him, yes. ] I don't regret it. [ It doesn't feel like he should. It feels like he should bite the bullet and do it one more time to make sure it's all real or that it might have meant something. A something that doesn't need to be said.

He waits, however, to see if Jotaro will do anything about that or send himself on his way. Either option works now that they're both on the table. Rohan wants to see him react. He wants to see him react to something that will not be winding up in his manga. It will make it to paper, but not THAT... ]

It's worth a lot in any case. It's the most concrete thing I have experienced in a long time.

[starmark]

[He shouldn't have pursed his lips. He really shouldn't have. Because from where Jotaro is sitting, pursing his lips looks like the same kind of instinctive reaction that licking at his own was for him, and it's got him focusing in on Rohan's mouth again. And at this point, it's hard to imagine how justifying two kisses could possibly be more difficult than justifying one, and he's already going to have to figure out how the hell he's justifying one anyway.

So. Nobody's regretting anything. He's not, and Rohan's not. Good. Good. Then he can keep on not regretting anything a little longer.

The second kiss is unlike the first. It's not particularly soft, and it's not particularly careful. It's rougher, for one thing; for another, it's one he controls much more confidently. And control is really the word for it; though he may be hesitant and awkward and fumbling when it comes to articulating the feelings behind it, the physicality is something that comes more naturally to him, and he applies himself skillfully to it.

He's a fairly damn good kisser, in other words. And for a few seconds, he lets that be everything he needs to be.

When he does finally draw away, it likely comes as no surprise that he recedes farther than he had before, body shifting like it's implicitly searching for space without quite letting his hand slip free of where Rohan's is covering it.

He's hard to hold on to, Jotaro Kujo. But if he really wanted to create a solid complete divide, he could — and so maybe what's most telling of all is that he's not.]

...There. One to get rid of Mitsuhide. And...one not because of Mitsuhide.

[manuscripture]

[ Those few seconds are all that Rohan needs to stay raveled together. His unoccupied hand has found a spot on a far side of Jotaro's chest near on of his shoulders if not only to have it somewhere that isn't hanging awkwardly at his side. It gives him something to brace against when he steals a nuzzle against Jotaro's mouth that might have clanged their teeth into each other if he hadn't drawn away.

Done and done.

His chest swells with a breathy sigh-- ]

Good. Thank you. [ For what? Well, he's not gonna say because he's not supposed to ask either. Another time. Make it teaser. Rohan likes hearing himself talk but he is at a loss for too much to say. ]

I need to... [ UH... His tail lets go of the gargoyle's ankle and his eyes dart to his side table across the way behind Jotaro's shoulder where a book sits. His gaze flickers back to meet the other man's. ] ... Draw. Just for a little while.

[ For the first time in what might have been the past hour, Rohan shifts to start climbing his way out of Jotaro's lap and onto his blankets. The smooth sliding of his scales pauses once or twice in reluctance. He knows where he wants to go and there is no stopping him, but he isn't going to look hasty. ]

I will come back out when I'm done. I need to finish Miss Hiiragi's portrait. [ He is already making the reach for his book and the pen beside it. ]

Privacy, please. Jotaro.

[ It's demanding in 'The Rohan Way' that is so well-known around here. Not rude, but telling that he needs a little bit to get readjusted. This is quite honestly not awkward at all.

If it were awkward, he'd be more caustic about it. ]