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[discard]

"I am not interested in speaking with you. Stop pestering me."

[ Wow, what a friendly person you're trying to contact on this fine day!! ]

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Comments

[discard]

[Hm... it's just like Stahn to lavish praise on someone.]

How long were you already in there? [DID YOU WASTE THAT MUCH TIME ON THIS...]

[majinken]

Um...

[he pauses to think about it.]

I found what I wanted for myself, but... I think it was about 45 minutes before I paid for everything.

[discard]

[... He quirks a brow at that.]

Why did you waste so much time looking for a book for me? I assume that was what delayed you so much.

[majinken]

I thought you'd like to have something to read, that's all. I was already there for myself, but... I'm not really too good at picking out those kinds of books.

[he just wanted to do a nice thing.]

[discard]

... You are still far too sentimental.

[But... he appreciates it even so.]

Whatever. I will read it.

[majinken]

Is it really that sentimental? I just didn't want to mess it up...

[discard]

You spent a sizable portion of your time searching for a book that I would enjoy.

Of course that is sentimental.

[But he's still holding that book closely, you can pry it from his COLD DEAD HANDS.]

[majinken]

If you say so... I just didn't think you'd like the books I got for myself.

[he won't try to take anything away from leon, it's fine.]

[discard]

Probably not, no. The books you read are somewhat too juvenile for my tastes.

[Leon don't be rude.

Except, well... he can't help it, he doesn't even mean it in an insulting way this time.]

[majinken]

...They're not kid's books, you know.

[it's still kind of insulting, even if that's not how he means it.]

[discard]

I did not say they were.

[He said they were juvenile. There's a difference!]

[majinken]

...Then why are you calling them juvenile?

[he doesn't know the difference, okay...]

[discard]

They can be juvenile without being meant solely for children.

[A beat.]

They can be meant for childish adults, too.

[Thanks, Leon.]

[majinken]

...Have you even read anything like that to decide it's "juvenile?"

[because to stahn, it makes literally no sense to say that at all. he doesn't get it.]

[discard]

I do not have to read anything like it.

[Hmph!!]

I can tell by the cover and the back.

[majinken]

Leon...

[stahn's making a face, because that sounds dumb as hell.]

[discard]

[...A-ahem.]

Regardless. I have reading material now, so this is fine.

[majinken]

Ah... right. Well, if you like it, I can try to find other stuff next time I'm at the bookstore...

[discard]

... Do not go out of your way.

[But.

Yes.

Yes he'd like that.]

[majinken]

I won't. I go there sometimes anyway to see what they have, so it's really not a big deal!

[he'd go out of his way though anyway, even though he says he won't.]

[discard]

Honestly. Do you ever have a single concern in your head?

[But...it's said more fondly than anything at this point--wry, fond exasperation.

Stahn seems so carefree like this, and...honestly, it's a good thing.]

[majinken]

Huh? Sure I do!

[but stahn's not taking it too seriously either—for the first time in a while, he's taking things in just as lighthearted a way as he would have before. it's a little more carefree, though... maybe not perfectly so.

but it's clear right now that stahn is the one offering an olive branch here, trying to bring things at least a little closer to what they were.

he misses it.

he misses it a lot, the way they were as friends before, after all.]

[discard]

[And... Leon will accept that.

Quietly, and without fanfare, he nonetheless simply... nods, and glances away. But his tone isn't as acerbic, and simply... Leon being Leon]

I suppose that is what I should expect from you by now regardless. I do not know why I even bother to be surprised.

[But... it's not "all he should expect". It's not derisive, this time.]

[majinken]

That's right! I don't think that's really ever going to change.

[so he shouldn't be surprised at all. he'll just offer leon a bright grin... because honestly, this is a step in the right direction even if it's over something as minor as this.

but that's why stahn had gone out of his way to get something for leon too. he's trying really hard here to fix things. because the last thing stahn wants is for things to go wrong and they don't even resolve things properly in time.

(he would have too many regrets that way for sure.)]

[discard]

No... it wouldn't. You aren't the sort of person whose core self would change.

[Which... is a good thing. Stahn will be Stahn will be Stahn, and Leon is glad and grateful--because he depends on Stahn to always be himself, and feels entirely thrown off when he's not.

He hadn't realized for himself just how important that was to him until Stahn had seemed off or not like himself before.]