damned_institute | Nightshift 30: M1-10 Hallway

"I didn't mean just now," Daemon countered softly. "I meant the other night. I made things more difficult for you, and had I been in control of my senses, I never would have done such a thing. Especially that, after what you confided in me. Something like that... shouldn't be used by force. That's what I'm apologizing for."

Renji didn't look up. He didn't really want to, trying to decide how to feel about much of anything. It was difficult.

He finally settled for taking one hand away from his head, so that he could strike sideways and punch Daemon in the face.

"Enough," he growled. "People ain't responsible for what they do those nights. So shut the fuck up."

Daemon lifted a hand to deflect the punch, taking it to his arm instead, grunting from the blow. "I needed to apologize anyway. I hate that you jump anytime I come near you now. Although you've a right to. I never meant to destroy your trust."

Renji just shook his head again. The entire... thing had been disturbing on so many levels, in some ways more so than what had happened to him before. He didn't know how to explain it, or if he even wanted to. He settled for saying, "I'm always kind of jumpy. Has to do with where I grew up."

Daemon shot the redhead a dry look, expression faintly exasperated. "This has nothing to do with how you grew up," he retorted wryly.

Renji gave Daemon a nasty look in return. "And how the hell would you know that?" he demanded.

...even if it was true, he still wasn't going to let that go without a fight.

He went back to massaging his temples. "I thought the whole point of me tooling the shit out of you was so you could stop apologizin'."

"Is that why we were doing it?" Daemon gave a strained laugh, rolling over on his side to stretch out behind the redhead. "I'd forgotten."

Renji made an exasperated noise. "Are you trying to drive me fucking crazy?" he asked. "Just... stop worryin' about it."

Daemon moved suddenly, the motion abrupt and quick, and then he was sitting up, leaning just as close as they had been when Renji had collapsed on him.

"No," he remarked, his voice a low purr as his golden gaze narrowed on Renji's face. "If I were trying to do that, I would have kissed you again."

Then his lips quirked faintly into a semblance of a half-smirk, half-smile. "And no, I can't do that. I'm afraid it's an unfortunate side effect of becoming someone I regard highly."

Renji didn't jerk back, but he couldn't stop the involuntary twitch of one arm, like he was about to block an attack.

Then he just stared at Daemon.

And stared at him.

And stared at him a bit longer.

"I... don't think I understand your crazy moon language," he finally said. Humor. Humor made everything make sense again.

Daemon chuckled, his lips curving further as he leaned against one arm, relieved that the room wasn't spinning any longer. Apparently whatever Renji had done had helped for the time being. "We were both speaking in the same language, last time I checked."

Perhaps he just had a strange sense of humor tonight. He wasn't quite sure why he was baiting the Shinigami, but that didn't mean he was about to stop, either.

"Sometimes I wonder," Renji said. "Sure, it sounds like words, but that doesn't mean it makes sense." He shook his head.

Why on earth would Daemon even joke about kissing him, or whatever else? It was a bizarre thought. And it pointed back to that extremely uncomfortable lust that he'd dealt with two nights ago. But, he told himself, it was a joke, so it had nothing to do with whatever personal issues he still needed to hash out.

"What didn't make sense?" Daemon inquired, arching an eyebrow in curiosity as he regarded the redhead, still propped casually on one arm.

This was not going anywhere good or useful. Renji mumbled something that might have been an answer, but was basically unintelligible. "I'd better go," he said. "Gotta get over to taichou's room." He made an attempt at standing, which didn't go as well as he'd hoped since he was still rather dizzy.

Daemon snorted and tugged the redhead back down on the bed. "Sit for a few minutes more. You'll not make it out the door in this state, not after healing someone. Don't look so disturbed. I promise not to bite."

He didn't have much of a choice but to sit. It made him a little nervous, though he realized he shouldn't be. This was ridiculous, plain and simple. Things were settled. At least as far as it went. The rest... he just didn't want to talk about. At all. Or think about. It was too weird.

"I'd hope that I wouldn't have to worry about biting," he muttered, resting his face in his hands again.

"I just said you didn't, didn't I?" Daemon returned with a faint quirk of his lips as he watched the redhead. "You should have saved your powers, I could have done well enough without a healing. That sort of destroys the point of you beating the hell out of me, doesn't it?"

Renji shot Daemon an annoyed look. "Want me to do it again, then?" he growled. "Next time if you don't want to get healed, don't look so fucking pathetic."

Daemon snorted. "I wasn't attempting to, believe me," he returned. "The loss of my craft caught me by surprise. It's weakened me. Either that, or there are still sedatives lingering in my system."

"Right," Renji said, with that special note to his tone that said no, he didn't necessarily believe him. It was mostly in jest.

He relaxed a little now that Daemon wasn't being quite so weird. "Maybe you should just stay in tonight, then."

Renji had relaxed a little and Daemon laughed at the comment, shooting the redhead a sideways glance, a teasing quirk tilting up the corner of his lips. "Why, Renji, are you worried about me?" he chuckled, warm amusement in his tone.

Renji gave Daemon a narrow-eyed look. "Why do you keep doing that?" he demanded. He didn't even know what exactly "that" was, but whatever it was, he wanted Daemon to stop it. It was... weird. And... other things he didn't want to think about. He scrubbed at his face with one hand.

Daemon arched an eyebrow as he blinked at him, face carefully expressionless other than a look of bemused curiosity.

"Doing what?"

"That. You know... that." Renji said. He was sadly lacking in the vocabulary he needed. Or not necessarily the vocabulary, but the desire to touch this one subject. "Like... you keep giving me this weird smile. What the hell is your problem?"

"It's the same smile I've always given you," Daemon replied, looking a bit more bewildered this time. "I don't have a problem. Am I not to smile at you any more?"

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