damned_institute | Day 37: Men's Showers

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Day 37: Men's Showers

I wouldn't really call this a locker room. More like a bathroom with lockers. The place was uncomfortably crowded, with almost every adult male patient being hustled into the showers at once, but Phoenix wasn't as annoyed by the claustrophobic, milling throng of bodies as he might have otherwise been. Every extra person was one more person who might end up standing between himself and Edgeworth.

He knew that the prosecutor would have a fit if he found out about this. He'd known since he'd tacked that first response up on the bulletin board. And in a way, he couldn't blame him. Phoenix knew that he jumped into things all-or-nothing more often than most people. At the same time, he had some kind of reality testing. He wasn't going to learn the basics of how to defend himself and suddenly decide that he was Rambo.

He found an unoccupied locker in the southwest corner and glanced around, trying to gauge how long he could possibly stall in a locker room, looking as if he was expecting something, before people started looking at him strangely. It would have been easier if he'd known something of the description of the man he was supposed to be meeting. As it was, all he had was handwriting and a military rank, neither of which guaranteed any particular appearance.

It's not as if there was a better way to plan this, though. "Yeah, meet me by the lockers. I'll be wearing gray and a smiley face, just like about a hundred other guys."

[for Hughes]

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"Can I." Though Yue sounded just as grouchy as always about the whole thing, he was actually more annoyed by the fact that he found himself pleased that Fai had actually asked him to go along rather than wander off again by himself. Every time he tried to pull himself away now, there was something dragging him back again. First Subaru last night, when he'd gotten himself injured in the library, and now Fai, who'd likely end up the same way without someone to protect him.

Yue closed his eyes for a moment, willing himself to stay calm. He was abandoned by both masters and utterly alone, and yet there were still people who needed him. It was impossible for him to deny who and what he was, the purpose for which he was created, even if the one for whom he was created no longer wanted him. He drew in a breath and held it for a moment, then finally nodded once as he opened his eyes again. "Very well." And with that he drew back into himself, allowing his other self back to the fore as he focused on his own thoughts.

Yukito was beginning to become accustomed to the guardian's abrupt comings and goings in their new situation, and only wobbled a little as he found his balance again. After half a second, though, he abruptly yelped and reached for the shower controls to turn the water a bit warmer than what felt like straight snow-melt.

Yuuhi didn't waste breath pointing out that it was a request, not an order, and if Yue didn't want to go, he didn't have to. It was hard enough not to tease him as it was. He managed though, and was honestly relieved when there were no further questions.

The uncharacteristic squeal was enough to tell Yuuhi that he was probably no longer talking to Yue. He reached over to check the temperature of the other shower, putting his hand into the spray for a moment as Yukito fiddled with the knobs. It was nice and cool, colder than his own, but not much. Maybe the shower was just having problems.

"Everything okay?" he asked, raising a curious eyebrow at the other boy.

Yukito laughed a little, sounding slightly embarrassed. "I was just a little startled," he replied, once the water was up to a more comfortably warm setting. "I'm not...well, Yue-san doesn't like to give me warning when he leaves." If he just left it at that, it would probably be sufficient. Neither one of them were terribly accustomed to the way things were for them now anyway, so. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better, though, Fai-san."

And now that he was paying more attention, Yukito could see part of why the other was so irritated just at the moment. He could just imagine that the stubbornly prideful guardian would be less than pleased at the idea of a communal shower like this. But still, it was better than nothing, he supposed.

Yuuhi didn't think much of the switch. It seemed to be happening more as of late, though neither Yue nor Yukito appeared bothered by it. As far as he knew, it was normal for them to change places. Yukito, at least, was much easier to deal with.

"Eheh," he smiled a little wider, giving a short laugh, "I thought maybe I upset him." He wondered if it would be rude to ask if it was difficult to live with two people in one body. Especially when they were as different as night and day.

"Yeah, I didn't do much the last day or so, so I feel a lot better. What about you? Didn't get into too much trouble last night, did you?" he cast a glance at the wound on Yukito's leg, one that looked fairly recent and while it wasn't terrible, it didn't look fun either.

"Oh, no. It wasn't you, it's just kind of how he is. Especially lately." Yukito was quick to reassure Fai, but abruptly halted when he realized where he was going with that train of thought. He didn't particularly want to go into the events of the other night, and Yue especially din't want him talking about it.

After half a second's blank distraction for the pair's silent exchange, Yukito blinked and smiled brightly. "Oh, it's not that bad, really," he replied, with a dismissive shrug. It really wasn't, especially compared to Sumeragi-san's injuries, for which he still felt a little guilty. It did give him a chance to change the subject, though. "But that reminds me! Yue-san went to the library last night and found a strange hidden door. We didn't get to see where it led, though, because it was apparently guarded."

"Mm, well, this place doesn't really bring out the best in people, I guess," Yuuhi shrugged, deciding not to pursue it. As long as he wasn't really mad, then it was okay. He knew he couldn't say much in his own defense if push came to shove on that matter.

The rest of what Yukito mentioned though, was a lot more important. He'd heard about the secret door in the kitchen, but he hadn't heard of one in the library. Maybe that meant it hadn't been found before? If that was the case... "A door? Ah- that's- that's really neat Yuki! We should find out where it goes!"

The fact that Fai didn't decide to pry further was a bit of a relief to Yukito, though he heard a faint drift of thought from Yue that suggested the other wasn't too surprised. After all, Fai was reluctant to say anything about himself as well, so he probably was used to people not wanting to talk about things.

But still, Yukito was highly curious about this hidden door, and Yue was still disappointed that he hadn't had the chance to look into it. "I think it's probably opened by pulling a book off the shelf, but...Yue-san was pulling all the books off the shelf at the time so I'm not sure which one." He paused to consider a moment. "I think we'd want more people next time, though. We were attacked by several creatures last night."

The door did sound promising, but it wouldn't be an option for him tonight. Maybe not tomorrow either. "Hnnn, we should probably take a day or so to plan something like that anyway," he nodded.

"Put together a good group, make sure there's a plan this time, right? Eheh... since just running outside and throwing things at the roof didn't work so well."

"It didn't?" There was a brief pause, then Yukito's eyes widened slightly as he found Yue's memory of the night in question. "...oh. I guess it really didn't, did it," he said, slowly, sounding a little stunned. So that was the kind of thing Yue did at night. No wonder he'd found himself in dangerous situations like he had a couple times now.

"Ah, yes, I think we should plan it out with the others. I guess I...well, I haven't met most of them, have I?" Another pause, this one slightly more uncomfortable, as Yukito considered that idea. "I talked to Ururu-chan yesterday, though she was confused about why we were both in the same body. I don't blame her, it's strange for us, too."

Something seemed off about the way Yuki replied. Wouldn't he remember things too? Meeting people or the night's adventures. Not that Yuuhi could say he really understood how it worked with the two of them in one body. "I don't really get it either," he admitted, "but I haven't really seen you looking like... well... looking like Yukito for a little while now." He didn't ask questions, didn't pursue it, but left it up to them if they wanted to say anything. It wasn't like it made a huge world of difference, or at least it didn't to him. They were still Yue and Yukito, even if it was a little harder to tell them apart.

He finished rinsing out his hair, noticing that it was getting a little longer than usual. He should probably cut it soon, before it got to be a bother. At any rate, he was finished, and unless they wanted to stand around naked talking (not that it really bothered him either way), they should probably continue the conversation elsewhere.

"Finished?" he asked, moving to turn off his shower. "We can go somewhere else, if you still want to talk."

"No...not since that night." It was rather hard for Yukito to forget the last time he'd been himself, and even easier to remember the first time he'd woken up in Yue's body. To be honest, he wasn't even entirely certain they could change back at this point, since he wasn't sure just what had been done to them to make them like they were now.

That wasn't a very pleasant thought, though, so he quickly just shook his head a little to dismiss it and forced his smile to return. It wasn't Fai's worry, really, and getting into that kind of thing would only be depressing for both of them. Best not to think about it.

At Fai's suggestion he nodded quickly and grimaced as he squeezed some of the water out of their hair. It would have been so much easier if he'd been himself here, he thought, with an inward sigh. Yue just had far too much hair to deal with. "I think I'm about as done as I can be," he replied, sounding amused despite himself.

Was that what he'd noticed the night before last? Some kind of change? He didn't want to pry, so he nodded as if he understood somehow, shaking out his hair a moment later as he moved to grab a towel. At least he didn't have the long, long hair that Yuki had to deal with. His could dry off pretty quickly with a towel and some vigorous rubbing. He did just that as soon as he found a second dry towel, and ran his fingers through it a few times to fix it. It'd always been pretty messy, so he didn't bother taking time to style it.

Getting dressed only took a few moments as well, with how simple the clothing here was. Everything just pulled right on. No buckles or belts or ties or hooks, all just as simple as could be. While the nicer clothing looked pretty, he couldn't complain about how comfortable these were. Be nice if the pants were just a little longer, but he'd always been tall to fit.

It took Yukito a bit longer to dry off, since he had to deal with towelling off the rather significantly long and thick fall of hair before he could get dressed. It certainly wasn't going to be dry any time soon, so he finally just settled for putting it in a damp plait to keep it out of the way (fumbling awkwardly at the process until Yue finally gave a faint sigh and pulled himself away from his brooding long enough to take care of it, ignoring the cheerful thanks from his other half).

With that taken care of, and a glance to make sure Fai was ready to go as well, he headed off for the Sun Room again.

[and going here]

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Day 37: Men's Showers

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