diatu | Say you'll stay with me tonight

Say you'll stay with me tonight

Who: Lea and Isa
Where: Isa's dorm room
When: October 12, a bit before sunset to potentially late evening
What: Isa's feeling rather lonely, so Lea foregoes ice cream to keep him company
Warnings: Possibly some angst and feels

Remarkably, Lea and Isa's latest study session had somehow resulted in a decent amount of actual studying getting done. It helped that Lea now had an actual reason to knuckle down and pay attention to certain aspects of magical theory, even if he still found it duller than a pair of kindergarten scissors in general. But he felt he was making progress toward his goal of creating emergency beacons for all of them.

But the angle of the sun through the dorm room window told him that it was about time to break up their study session. "Well, looks like it's almost sunset," he said, closing his book, "and you know what that means." He stood up and stretched a bit. "So, same time tomorrow?"

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"...Do you have to go?" Isa's voice is soft, and full of uncertainty.

Isa had seemed down during the study session, in a lower mood than usual. (Even if it's sometime hard to tell if Isa's actually is down in the dumps thanks to his usual dour demeanor)

Edited 2019-10-13 00:43 (UTC)

Lea had thought that Isa had seemed a bit down, but sometimes even he had a hard time discerning Isa's more subtle moods. And in any case he'd mostly put it down to the shortening days and cooler weather; with less sunlight and more time spent indoors, a lot of people were starting to feel some mild effects.

Thus the question, and more so the tone of it, caught him slightly by surprise. "Well, I don't really have to, I guess," Lea replied. "I just... usually do sunset ice cream with Roxas and Xion around this time of day, you know?" He shrugged slightly. Honestly, they should really start inviting Isa to their sunset get-togethers anyway; he kept meaning to bring it up, but once they got to talking, it was hard to find a place to slip the subject into the conversation without it being awkward.

"Why? Did you need something?", he asked. Long as it didn't take too long, he was perfectly willing to help his friend out, after all.

Maybe the weather was affecting his mood, dragging a low mood even lower. He hesitates before replying, trying to push his fear of showing vulnerability down.

Because if there's anyone he can be vulnerable around, it's Lea.

"I... I hate feeling lonely."

Ah, so that was it. Lea's expression softened for a moment before returning to a semblance of his usual smile. If Isa was willing to admit something like that, he must have been feeling it more than normal.

"Well... I guess they could do without me for one night," he said. "Lemme go down to the common room real quick and send them a note on the bulletin board so they're not waiting around for me and maybe grab us a few snacks from the cabinet, and I'll be right back up, OK?"

"Okay, that sounds good... hurry back..."

before Lea has a chance to leave the room, Isa adds...

"And... thank you."

Pausing at the door, Lea turned back briefly and gave Isa a slightly sheepish smile. "Eh, don't worry about it," he said. "What are best friends for?" He then continued on his way down to the common room.

A few minutes later, he returned, a selection of snacks in either hand. "You know what this place needs?", he said as he entered the room. "Pizza. And video games. This would be a great night for pizza and video games."

Isa laughs softly. It would be a great night for video games and pizza, he misses nights like that.

"I don't know about the video games, but... we could always try making a pizza on day." But not tonight... they can figure out a replacement for that.

Isa actually laughed! Clearly things were improving already.

"We probably could," Lea said. "I mean, when you get right down to it, pizza's basically just bread with tomato sauce, cheese, and other stuff on top. Might take a little experimenting, but it shouldn't be too hard."

"But man... I'd love to spend a night playing Super Marietti Brothers with you again, even if you always kicked my butt at it once we got past World 3," he said. They had both been pretty evenly matched in earlier levels, but once more patience and strategy started being required, Lea began to fall short. "Though I figure the original's pretty ancient now, as far as video games go. Wonder if we could find a remake or something, when we get back home?"

"A remake, a sequel, I'm sure we could find something, and maybe see if the Ultimate Illusion series is still around too."

As he replied, Isa grabbed the pillows and blankets off bed, and arranged them like a nest on the floor, they might not have had video games and pizza, but they could still pretend they were having a sleep-over.

"Oh yeah, that was an awesome series," Lea said. "The first one was pretty basic, but by the time they got to the third one, the stories were really interesting. If they kept up that trend and combined it with modern graphics, it'd probably be amazing."

Lea was quite willing to plop himself down on the floor, gathering a few spare pillows and blankets to add to the pile. "Video games like that had all the fun of fighting insane monsters and facing potentially world-ending crises, without all the actual injuries and real life drama," he said.

Isa sits next to Lea, gingerly leaning against him, his long hair cascading down Lea's shoulder.

"Hopefully, there will be a point where life becomes that simple again, where the only things to worry about are bills, grades, and beating the final boss..."

Not just for them, but for everyone.

Edited 2019-10-13 23:58 (UTC)

"I hear that," Lea said. "Though that does remind me that once things are settled back home, you and I'll probably have to find actual jobs. No more just going out and clobbering a few Heartless when we need some extra munny."

And he was quite willing to let Isa lean against him. Any physical contact in the Organization tended to be either out of necessity or meant to cause pain; after all, gentleness and gestures of affection would be wasted on those with no hearts, or so they'd been told. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed that sort of casual, friendly touch during his time with the Organization, and he found that he'd missed Isa's more keenly than most.

Though for some reason just then, he found himself sort of... staring at Isa's hair and the way it draped over his shoulder. There wasn't anything particularly unusual about it; it was the same hair Isa'd always had, and he hadn't dyed it or really changed how he styled it or anything. But for some reason, it was hard to stop looking at it.

And he found he kind of wanted to touch it too, even run his fingers through it. Yes, he'd done that out of necessity that time he and Isa had swapped bodies, but he wanted to see what it felt like in his own hands. And all the while he was trying to figure out what had brought that thought on, he was still looking at Isa's hair, for a long enough time that his staring was probably becoming rather noticeable.

To be truthful, Isa missed physical affection too,even if he still found it awkward at times.

"Real jobs?" Isa replied, "What would I even be qualified for? Doing paperwork...?"

Isa trails off when he looks up at Lea and notices that he seems completely lost in thought. Like his mind had decided to drift off elsewhere.

"Something on you mind, Lea...?"

Edited 2019-10-20 01:52 (UTC)

"Hey, at least that's more of a practical, adult thing than most anything I know how to do," Lea said. "I mean the only real skills I'm sure I'll still have back home are fighting and burning things. And I don't think anyone needs a professional BBQ lighter."

He startled slightly when Isa's question brought him back to reality. "Huh? Oh... nah, I was just..." -staring at his best friend's hair like a weirdo- "...I was kinda wondering if you'd ever thought about maybe braiding your hair? I mean, I used to help my mom do it sometimes, so I could show you how. You know, if you wanted to."

Darnit, why was he suddenly fumbling around like an idiot? And why did his cheeks feel so warm? Was he blushing? Why would he be blushing around Isa, of all people? Argh...

"Braiding it? Do you think that would suit me?"

He pulls away from Lea, combing his hand through his hair. He had picked up on Lea's awkwardness, and it was starting to feed into his own.

"I've been wondering if I should cut it..." Had Isa been a far more impulsive sort, his hair would've probably been all chopped off months ago, but every time the idea came up, he hesitated. It wasn't really like he wore his hair like this out of some sense of style, and anything that could distance himself from his past was a good thing in his eyes. But despite all that, it was still difficult for Isa to make the decision.

"What do you think?"

Edited 2019-11-05 02:52 (UTC)

Lea found himself strangely disappointed that Isa moved away. But then the whole situation was becoming strange. "If you did it right, I bet you'd look good with braided hair," he said. He honestly hadn't considered it before and had really only suggested it as an excuse for his staring, but now he was kind of thinking it might actually work. "Not all of it braided up, just maybe with the two bits of it that you wear in front pulled back and maybe a little more.... yeah that could work."

The suggestion to cut it took him slightly by surprise though, and he sat back a little, studying Isa's appearance as he considered and tried to picture what he'd look like as an adult with shorter hair. "Hmm... I don't know," he said. "I've kinda gotten used to you with long hair. And it's a good look for you; if you took your shirt off and posed dramatically with the wind blowing it, you'd look like one of those guys on the cover of paperback romance novels." Argh... no, why did he make that comparison? Stop being weird, Lea!

He gave a slight cough to cover up his awkwardness at that comparison. "Ahem... but anyway, it's your hair, so it's up to you," he said. "I know from being stuck in your body that it can be kind of a pain in the butt. And if you do cut it and decide you don't like it as well as you thought, you can always let it grow out again."

"R-romance novels?" That wasn't the sort of comparison Isa was expecting, he turned bright red despite himself.

"Shut up, don't be dumb. I wouldn't be on the covers of one of those things, I'm not--" Attractive? Handsome? To be honest, that was never something that crossed Isa's mind.

Still, Isa couldn't help but to be flustered at that comment, no matter how hard he tried to make it seem otherwise.

"I just felt like I needed the change, to show how much I've moved on..."

"I'm not saying you would!", Lea said, also blushing a bit. "Just that you... could. You know, if you wanted to."

Argh, how had he even gotten on this line of thought? Though now that he did think about it... "I'm way too skinny for that sort of thing though. Maybe I could be a quirky side-character, or..." Pause. "You know, I am just gonna shut up now." Before he managed to make things even more awkward.

Getting back to haircuts though... he considered for a moment, sitting back slightly for a better perspective as he tried to picture an adult Isa with short hair. "Well, if you feel like it's important, then sure, go ahead and try it," he said. "Like I said, your hair, your decision. Though maybe don't go too short? Like I just can't picture you with a buzz cut or something."

Isa laughs softly, it could almost be mistaken for a sigh.

"Oh, come now, Lea, when have I ever worn my hair that short?"

It was silly, this whole conversation was silly, hearts were silly. But Isa wouldn't have it any other way.

"You know," He eventually mused, "There are some days where I find it hard to believe things like this weren't the norm for nearly a decade. That there was a time I couldn't call you my friend. It just seems so wrong, and this so right..."

Lea chuckled himself, his own laugh more obvious than Isa's. "Hey, you said you wanted a change, and that'd be a pretty big one," he said. "Just figured I'd nip that particular hairdo idea in the bud." This was easier to talk about than... whatever that other line of thought had been. It made sense, even if it was a bit ridiculous.

He too became a bit more thoughtful at Isa's musing though. "Yeah," he said. "Seems kinda nuts now, doesn't it?" He paused. "Kinda reminds me of a song. I think it was from a movie we liked, or something? I don't remember the whole thing, but I'm pretty sure that part of it goes...
Together again
Gee, it's great to be together again
I just can't imagine that you've ever been gone.
It's not starting over,
It's just going on."

"Remember that one?", he asked. Despite what Lea would protest if asked, he actually was a pretty decent singer. Though his singing voice was rather rusty. "...And also wow, how long has it been since either of us sang anything?"

Isa can't help but smile at Lea's singing, especially since the last time he recalls Lea singing was when they were children.

"Too long...

Though I suppose it's hard to sing when your heart literally isn't in it."

"Yeah, I guess," Lea said. "Hard to appreciate anything artistic with no heart really. And even if it wasn't... well, there wasn't really much to appreciate as a Nobody in The World That Never Was. Like, everything about it was designed to hammer home the whole 'empty' and 'unnatural' thing."

"I mean, I swear, everything in the Castle had to have been designed to be just slightly of kilter in a way that just grated on your senses, heart or not," he said. "Like it looked fine, but your brain could still tell something was off, even if you couldn't put your finger on it." He sighed. "I dunno man; maybe that was just me."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that was deliberate." Isa replied tentatively.

"Everything about the Organization was meant to demoralize and... dehumanize us to further Xemnas's goals."

"Deliberate or not, it worked," Lea said. "I mean, looking back it seems obvious, but at the time? If not for Roxas, Xion, Sora, and his friends... all of us would have probably kept marching along to Xemnas' drum without ever realizing we were being manipulated. Or at lest, how much we were being manipulated; I don't think anyone had any illusions about Xemnas' goals being exactly altruistic."

"You were lucky, Lea."

He looks down, fiddling with his own fingers.

"I still wonder how things would have gone if I had handled things differently..."

"Yeah," Lea said. "Or if I hadn't been so dense. Or if any one of a hundred things had happened differently." He sighed. "I dunno. Maybe we were just all screwed from the get-go. Just a couple of dumb kids from Radiant Garden getting mixed up in stuff that's way over our heads."

"I mean, I know I sure as heck don't understand half of what's going on back home," he said. "It all seems so crazy when I stop an think about it. I mean, we were going up against what amounted to a cult led by an ancient psycho who literally wanted to end the world. Even now, knowing we beat him, I still can't get my head around it. It's too insane. Too huge."

"That's why I think I opted to stick to just the fighting angle," he said. "Yeah, I needed to train, but more than that... fighting is something I can understand. I just have to let someone smarter than me point me in the right direction."

"Looking back on it all, I do know one thing for certain, I was never truly second-in-command..." Isa scoffs.

"In trying to rise through the ranks and get closer to whatever Xemnas was hiding, all we accomplished was giving Xehanort a vessel on a silver platter...'

There's a pause, before he adds, softly.

"Of course something like that would happen to the one who was branded twice..."

"Yeah," Lea agreed. "That dubious honor probably goes to Xigbar, if we can really say that anyone was Xemnas' second, given that he planned to screw us all over." Xigbar, at least had been aware of Xemnas plan seemingly from the start. Who knew what he'd hoped to get out of it?

The comment about being branded twice caught him by surprise though. "You mean the scar was a separate thing that happened?", he asked. "Far as I can remember, you had it from the first time I saw you as Siax, so I just figured it happened somehow when you lost your heart." He thought back, trying to recall their early days with the Organization and if Siax had always sported that scar. "But then, things were pretty crazy then. Not sure I could miss something that obvious, but then I'm me, so..."

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Say you'll stay with me tonight

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