bakerstreet | ( they're bleeding! oh no. they are dead. )

( they're bleeding! oh no. they are dead. )

You or your meme partner has been hurt, but don't worry! This time around it's not that bad. You can still limp your way out of this mess.

INJURIES.
1. Sprain/strain. How did you screw up walking?
2. Broken bones. Simple fractures still hurt.
3. Cuts. Hopefully one of you has a sewing kit.
4. Burns. Location, location, location. Let's pray this one isn't on your ass.
5. Concussion. No, they're most likely not holding up fifteen fingers.
6. Other. I'm not a doctor.

HOW'D IT HAPPEN.
1. Stupidity. You did this to yourself.
2. Accident. Is an unintentional attack still an attack?
3. Attack. Don't lie, you deserved it.
4. Other. It's probably still your own fault.

WHERE'D IT HAPPEN.
1. Home. Did you remember to invest in a first aid kit?
2. School/Work. This should be excellent for getting you out of doing stuff!
3. Outdoors. Predators like the smell of blood. Clean up asap.
4. In the water. Hopefully there aren't any sharks!
5. Other. Like a hospital. That'd be handy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

If she weren't holding on to him, it likely would've gone completely unnoticed. Which is part of why she doesn't comment on it - it's nothing big enough to warrant comment when she's fine with moving their conversation along. And she has some amount of interest in hearing about Shizuo through conversations like this.

"If I was going to ruin someone's day on purpose, it definitely wouldn't be yours." It's stated simply, because Shizuo doesn't fall into the surprisingly short list of people she's considered poisoning or maiming. Not because of the minimal favoritism she's shown toward him. (Of course not.) She moves on before giving it more thought than necessary. "Mm, a boring day would be better than this, yes."

Admittedly, most of her days are run of the mill and boring enough. She's still wary, but it's obvious that her level of suspicion has fallen slightly thanks to the usual routine and this may have been Izaya's way of reminding her of the type of person she works for. It's still reason to consider choking him on Monday, but she won't make the mistake of going into another meeting as easily as she did the one earlier.

The comment earns a nod toward the corner they're approaching. "Almost. We turn here and my building is on the next block," she answers, glancing over at him afterward. "I'll make it. Do you know what a burn feels like?"

"Good to know I've got that going for me, at least." It's an answer that's more wry than anything. But somehow Shizuo doesn't have much trouble believing that Namie would be more than capable of ruining somebody's day if she actually tried, either--and probably in a way more practical than getting herself burned in order to inconvenience someone else. She has a rather dry and steady personality, but she's also pretty good at cutting to the chase of things; the kind of bluntness that can get pretty sharp, or something? Plus she knows medical things, he muses, and doctor types always seem to have something unsettling going on, on top of knowing a dozen different ways to mess people up. Just look at Shinra...

Not that it really worries him, nor has he found Namie particularly unsettling in any way as of yet. She's somehow still putting up with him even after the misfortunes they've both had so far, after all. Things will be a different story for her boss, he supposes, and as far as he can tell that guy deserves whatever he gets anyway.

Shizuo nods to himself as Namie confirms the area, faintly pleased at himself for getting it right after all. Right, turning at that corner...that might have even been the same corner he turned last time, carrying her around in the rain. Shizuo glances down at the sidewalk for a moment, half-expecting to spot traces of the blood he'd been trailing around at the time or whatever--but no, that would be silly. That was awhile ago, and it was raining besides. --Namie's question sinks in after a second's delay, though, and Shizuo looks up.

Burns? "What? Hey, what kind of question is that?" He regards her with something between surprise and something vaguely indignant, his frown setting back in. "I've been burned before, yeah. Just because I don't feel them now doesn't mean I never used to..."

She likely didn't mean anything by it, though--and Shizuo knows this, and pauses to remind himself. He shrugs it off with a sigh. "Messed around with the stove without paying attention once, when I was a kid. I remember. Hurts like hell, right?"

Edited (i know how to use pronouns i swear......) 2016-04-06 21:49 (UTC)

The question isn't asked with any amount of sarcasm or doubt behind it. It's offered plainly enough that there's no hiding the look of surprise she gives him over his reaction to it. She does belatedly realize, though, that maybe her phrasing could have been better. Have you been burned before likely would've come across less... she's not really sure how her initial question came across, but she's sure it would've come across better than the first.

His reaction doesn't make her worry, but her own lips settle into a small frown as she looks away from him again, her grip on his arm loosening as she does. He continues and she acknowledges it with a nod. "It does."

After a few moment of silence, she lets out a quiet huff, like it bothers her that her question managed to bother him the way it did. It's more than this bothers her at all, that it doesn't just roll off her back like most things regarding other people do.

"I should've asked if you'd been burned before." It's offered after a little longer, a belated correction to her own question. She doesn't look at him again as she speaks, realizing he's gotten more apologies in this walk alone than she's genuinely offered to anyone in years, she's sure. "That was what I meant with my question. I'm sorry if it sounded... worse than that."

She's still not entirely sure how it sounded, but she leaves her apology as it is, the frown still present as they make their way toward the second block and her apartment building.

Really, it's not as if he's never been asked questions phrased like that before anyway. Because he has been, plenty enough times, with a gradient of reactions towards them in turn. And, in further honesty, he usually does respond a lot more poorly to those sorts of questions--and the phrasing inherent that he isn't a normal person who's had normal experiences like feeling pain in some sort of way in the past. That's a pretty rude assumption to make, after all, and some people are just rude like that.

But Namie, frank and straightforward person that she's established herself to be, does not seem like the sort of person inclined towards those kinds of insults necessarily. At least, not as far as Shizuo can assume; and she does seem visibly bothered by her own phrasing, after the fact. Shizuo blinks down at her, surprised at this reaction despite himself (even though he'd brought up the tactless phrasing of her question in the first place), and as she speaks he shakes his head, waving off her words with his free hand a little more gently this time.

"...Yeah, you probably should have asked that instead. Wouldn't have sounded as bad. But it's fine. Pretty used to it." They start on the second block now, and Shizuo turns his attention forward, beginning to guide both their steps around the corner. His own frown, while still present, already lightens marginally. "Besides, I'm guessing you don't talk with people like this a lot, huh?"

His reaction shouldn't be so surprising when it's obvious that most people regard him the same way Izaya does - as some kind of monster. Or, in the case of a lot of the idiots on the street, a myth they see as a challenge. So, it is understandable that Shizuo would be defensive about things like this because, from what she's seen of him, it seems like it's more surprising for him when anyone is willing to treat him like a normal person.

Which is what she considers him, in all honesty. He has trouble controlling his anger and his body has built up a ridiculously high tolerance for pain and wounds, but she's seen how awkward and embarrassed he can get, brief moments of amusement, and that stupid concern that he seems to have more of than he should. If anything, he's more normal than she is. And he manages to hit the nail on the head with his question after he waves off her apology, which she lets go with what he says so the subject isn't dwelled on longer than it already has been.

"Not really, no." Izaya doesn't really count for much and, outside of him, she has little contact with anyone on a regular basis. Even seeing his sisters was just a business agreement and involved little to no conversation outside of what needed to be discussed. After a moment, she amends her answer, "Not at all, honestly. I guess that's strange, isn't it?"

Shizuo nods slowly at her response, half to Namie and half to himself; he doesn't look particularly surprised when she confirms it, but instead there's an oddly thoughtful bent to his expression now, as he considers it.

"It's probably strange, yeah. For most people, or whatever. ...I sort of figured, though...it's kind of familiar. I'm still not too great at talking to people like this either." He keeps his eyes on the street ahead in favor of looking over to her, still, but it's not necessarily out of any sort of aversion now. They turn the corner, and he starts scanning the buildings next to the sidewalk, still absently thoughtful. "Finding the right people is hard, isn't it? I've found a few now, but it's taken awhile. And it takes a lot of getting used to. But it seems like the sort of thing you get better at with practice, at least..."

Shizuo still considers himself strangely lucky to be able to get in as much practice as he has, honestly. He'll probably never really understand just why the few friends he does have hang around so persistently the way they do--despite everything he does, and everything he could to. It's something to be thankful about, but also more than a little baffling. And so, certainly, he has no judgment to pass on Namie about having decent people around to have decent conversations with.

A familiar building face catches his eye, and he perks up a little, turning to indicate it. "Oh, that's the one there, isn't it? Your apartment place?"

It doesn't seem like normal conversation should be that hard. But being around someone she doesn't need to manipulate or feel hostility toward makes her realize just how little normal conversation she's had. That may be the strangest part of it, though - that Shizuo has managed to fall into some mysterious category that falls somewhere between neutral interest and Seiji. The kind of category that apparently makes him worth apologizing to when she says things that seem to offend him.

"I've never looked for the right people," she admits, her gaze still fixed ahead of them as well. They're close enough that she further loosens her hold on his arm, knowing it won't be long before they're inside and she'll be able to lean against the wall of the elevator on their way up. "I've always been too focused on other things, I suppose." And she doesn't usually make it a point to help people she barely knows - or accept help from those people - but that's something she knows she's already said to him.

The turn brings her attention over and she nods her confirmation, somewhat surprised he manages to remember the building considering how he ended up in it the last time. "That's it."

She considers offering the option to leave again, but it's not as if she's forcing him to come along. Because once they near the building, she completely releases his arm so she can walk the last bit of distance without help, remaining beside him as she does.

Shizuo will probably remain unaware of the actual significance of her apologies and general attitude towards him for awhile yet. He's still not even over being surprised that she's been consistently willing to put up with him more than strictly necessary already, after all--it doesn't leave room for questioning much else, at least not yet.

"Yeah? That makes sense, I guess..." She does seem like the sort that's almost happier working by herself than others. Shizuo couldn't really grasp that kind of idea without the context of being actively dangerous to others in the first place--which is the reason he doesn't reach out to many himself--but he's not going to discount the possibility of other reasons out there. To each their own, or however the saying goes.

Her grip on his arm loosens and leaves, earning a startled blink on Shizuo's part as Namie makes for the building entrance--over the course of the walk he'd almost gotten used to the feeling of it, and the negligible warm weight at his side. But, they are at her apartment now, so it only makes sense...Shizuo trails alongside her, slipping his hands into his pockets instead.

At least the lobby's almost empty right at this moment. There's only a singular man, emerging from the elevator as they approach it; he blinks and stares in surprise at the two of them walking up, but Shizuo levels him a silent glare over Namie's shoulder, and he quails. Evidently recognizing Shizuo at least, he almost trips himself in his haste to move around them. --But now they're close enough to slip inside the elevator doors before they close again.

She doesn't consider the time they've spent together so far to be putting up with Shizuo. He doesn't actively do things that get under her skin, so there's honestly nothing to put up with. Which may be why she doesn't push for him to go now that they've arrived at her building. Like she said before, she doesn't mind his company. It's more than can be said for most people.

There's no attempt to elaborate on the things that kept her busy enough to avoid making friends for most of her life. They haven't delved too deep into conversation about one another and she's got little urge to be the one who tries to push them in that direction.

And she has other things to focus on, like getting inside and to her apartment. The man is only worth a quick sideways glance for Namie and she says nothing until they're in the elevator and the doors have closed.

"Has anyone told you that you'd make a decent bodyguard?" She asks the question as she hits the button for her floor and leans back against the wall nearest to the button panel, taking the time to carefully fish her keys from her bag while she looks his way. The man stumbling on his way around them was a hard thing to miss, after all.

They're inside the elevator and Shizuo's leaning against the wall opposite of Namie himself, watching as she punches the floor number into the panel. Out of the deepening evening outside and in the brighter lighting of the elevator, her burns are a lot more visible now, and hardly look any more pleasant for it.

Ah, does he really remember how to help with burns so well? Shizuo suddenly isn't as certain--it's been a very long time, after all--but well, no, it shouldn't be too hard...and he's already committed to this anyway. Helping her out, with something like this sort of injury. She's done it enough times for him already, so this is really just another favor to return, if not a bit more unconventional. (That's what he's been telling himself, anyway.)

Namie's words pull him from his thoughts, though--expression almost preoccupied until now, his eyes snap up from the burns of her legs. "Huh? ...Oh, yeah. Tom-san says that a lot, actually. ...Guess I technically am his bodyguard most days? Since clients get unruly a lot, or hold grudges and stuff." Shizuo shrugs against the elevator wall, glancing down to the floor now. "...Still not sure about it, though. A bodyguard just as likely to hurt the guy he's guarding...doesn't sound like a very good one, does it?"

She makes it a point to avoid looking down at her burns again, all to aware of them thanks to the pain. The lack of steady movement seems to give way to more pain in her leg, but she can't say if that's her imagination or something that's honestly happening. Regardless, she focuses on her keys and Shizuo, knowing she's close to getting some amount of relief soon enough.

"You should give yourself more credit." She glances up at the small screen above the button panel, watching the numbers change for a second before she returns her attention to him. "You worry about hurting people more than some of the people around you worry about it. I doubt this Tom-san would spend so much time around you if he didn't trust you and the same probably goes for the other people in your life."

The elevator slows to a stop as she's speaking and she pushes herself away from the wall, key in hand as she steps out of the doors and glances over her shoulder, giving him a brief look as she issues a request. "Come help me take care of these."

Mainly for the sake of proving he's entirely capable of helping instead of hurting and not because she honestly needs it.

Shizuo almost seems to shrink against the wall a little more, at her words. They're not unfamiliar--and maybe they're not untrue, either. But it's not quite enough to lift his eyes from the floor.

"--Hm. Tom-san's learned how to get out of the way really fast when things get bad, I think." The words are fond, if not also a little wry. But maybe there will be a day when Tom-san can't move fast enough-- That part goes unsaid, though it hangs in the pause between his words anyway, some unpleasantly likely phantom of the future. Shizuo sighs, a very small and soft sort of breath. "Guess some people do trust me though, yeah. For some reason. ...I just don't really trust myself yet."

And that's the sticking point, isn't it? Or maybe it's just being practical. The difference is probably somewhere in there, but Shizuo has yet to get around to finding it. Still, that doesn't stop him from admitting it; it's the truth, and hardly something particularly worth hiding.

Gravity shifts and settles under their heels, and the elevator doors open, and Shizuo finally looks up--just in time to catch Namie's brief look as she steps out first and gives him her request. ...It gives Shizuo some pause, despite himself, staring after her a little. Even though he'd just resolved to hang around and help anyway just a minute ago...but after their small exchange just now, it's difficult to miss the reason behind her request with this sort of timing.

The elevator doors are set to close soon, at least, and that spurs him a little too. Shizuo nods, and steps out after her just in time. "Alright," he says, as if this is the first time the idea of helping her burns has occurred to him or something. And he follows a little closer to Namie than perhaps strictly necessary as they move down the hall to her door, mostly to make sure she doesn't have any trouble making the walk there.

It's obvious that he lacks the amount of confidence in himself for trust. It's one of those things she can't entirely understand given that she's likely got enough confidence for both of them combined, but she knows better than to make any comment on it. Nothing she says it going to change his level of trust in himself anyway, not in one conversation.

She offers a slight nod at what he says, at the acknowledgement of the lack of trust he has in himself, and leaves it at that. Because while she might be letting the conversation end there for the sake of avoiding roaming into more prying territory, she does intend to show him that she trusts him, for whatever that's worth.

The trip from the elevator to her door is the easiest of the walking she's done since getting burned in the first place. Her goal being right in front of her is enough driving force to keep her walking with minimal issue, ignoring the throbbing in both her leg and arm in favor of reaching and unlocking her front door to let the two of them inside.

And once she steps in, her shoes are toed off and her keys are dropped back into her purse, which is deposited on the floor by the doorway to the kitchen as she passes it. She doesn't stop until she disappears from sight, turning the corner into the hall so she can pause and get her tights off, wincing as she carefully pulls them away from the burn on her leg. Her shirt probably needs to go as well given the burns on her arm and shoulder, but she's willing to hold off on that a little longer since her sleeve is torn and not bothering the burn nearly as much as her tights were.

With the fabric balled up and ready to be thrown away, she steps back out of the hall with a soft sigh. "The bathroom would be best for this."

The short trip down the hall passes without incident, and then they're stepping into her complex. Shizuo follows Namie inside, and this time he does pause to toe off his own shoes too--since it's the polite thing to do and he isn't tipsy on blood loss this time. Ah, a lot of things are pretty different this time...but the layout of everything is still the same, as Shizuo notes when he straightens.

By the time he's finished with his own shoes Namie's already walked past the kitchen and turned into the hall; briefly preoccupied with considering her apartment in a not-recently-bleeding-out light for once, it's a few moments' delay before it occurs to Shizuo that maybe he ought to follow her. Right...but--turning the corner after her, he ends up catching her halfway through working off her tights, and decides abruptly that maybe he ought to just. Wait outside the hall a little longer after all. Which is what Shizuo does, stepping sharply backwards behind the corner again before he sees anything else he really shouldn't and rubbing at his face a little. Man, he really needs to remember to be more considerate in this sort of situation...

But, again, he's never ended up in this sort of situation with a woman before. With burns involved...well, of course clothing around those areas would be a problem. Where else was she burned? Her arm at least, he's pretty sure--maybe her shoulder too? Which means either they'll have to cut off her sleeve or get...the whole shirt off too....oh.

Namie emerges from the hall shortly, cutting off these musings abruptly--still standing close to the hall entrance, Shizuo draws a startled step back at her seemingly sudden reappearance, but attempts to arrange his expression into something not embarrassing. Or at least less embarrassing. He rubs at his neck instead. "--Oh, yeah. We need water to soak the burns for a bit, right?"

She hears his footsteps approaching the hall as she's getting out of her tights and, while the thought to say something to stop him from rounding the corner does cross her mind, she's honestly not so worried about it to bother. Her hands are out from under her skirt before he sees her, so he's spared the sight of anything that might further his embarrassment - something she already knows to expect the moment she catches sight of him appearing and disappearing from the edge of her vision. If his own near nudity was embarrassing for him between the two of them, she can only imagine what the eventual loss of her shirt is going to do to him, even when she has every intention of keeping herself covered up in front of him.

There's something almost amusing about his reaction to her when she exits the hall, maybe just the look on his face coupled with the knowledge that there are people out there who are scared of him. It's a little hard to believe when he looks like that.

Namie nods as she moves to lead the way to the bathroom, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Shizuo's actually following her and that he hasn't decided that he suddenly has other places to be. "Everything we need is in the bathroom and it's the easiest place to get to water and towels."

The end of her statement comes as she steps into the bathroom and switches the light on, taking a moment to get things out from the cabinet under the sink and the closet before she settles on the closed toilet. And, once there, she pulls at the rip in her sleeve to get a better look at the burn on her arm, rolling her shoulder with a slight wince.

True, Shizuo in his calmer states really isn't very scary in the least. Some people meeting him for the first time often find it hard to believe he really is the same guy that's built such a reputation for violence. (Though, generally, people also usually expect--someone rather larger.) But Namie has been quite fortunate to encounter him more often in his calmer moods than not.

Then again, she doesn't give him many reasons to be angry in the first place. --But it's even rarer to catch Shizuo being particularly embarrassed about things, too, and Namie has somehow managed to achieve this multiple times as well. At least it isn't intentional, on her part. Probably. Is that even normal, though, or is there some other reason...? Shizuo still couldn't explain it to himself if he tried.

Either way, Shizuo still follows Namie regardless, though it'd be lying to say he doesn't have some very vague second thoughts about the whole thing. But that shouldn't matter, he reminds himself as he steps into the bathroom, because it's not like he's going to try to make this weird anyway. Just keep things quick and painless. ...Well, as painless as it's going to get, with burns like these...

He lets Namie settle on the closed toilet, drifting over to the sinktop instead where she's set out things. Shizuo tugs off his sunglasses and tucks them into the usual waistcoat pocket before switching on the faucet, taking up a towel and starting to soak it. But he ends up glancing Namie's way as she tests her shoulder and winces like that, too. Right, looks like that counts for a burn on the shoulder for sure... "So, if I remember right--guess we should probably clean those burns up first. Which ones feel the worst right now, do you think?"

Honestly he half wants to ask what she'd like to do about her sleeve too--and her shirt in general, which already now feels like a miniature elephant in the room between them. But for some reason Shizuo can't seem to track down the right words to actually bring it up yet...and so he glances down to the sink instead for the moment as he debates this, frowning at the towel between his hands.

She does seem to have an issue with embarrassing him. Or they just have the misfortune of ending up in situations that are embarrassing for him, really. It's not something she aims to do considering how awkward it makes him, but she has some kind of knack for it, even without saying a word at times. Which is amazing, given that it's usually her bluntness that bothers people the most.

The bathroom isn't tiny, but having two people inside of it seems to make the room feel smaller. Probably because it's the first time she's been in it with anyone else. It's then that Namie realizes she's seen Shizuo more often than she's seen her own brother as of late and that's. Well, that's a strange things to consider. And it's stranger that she doesn't particularly mind it.

That's something she's willing to put on the pain that comes along with the burns, though. His question earns a look up toward him and there's no real consideration before she answers, "All of them."

But that's not a good answer and she knows it, so she pushes herself up from her seated position and reaches over, carefully pulling the largest dry towel from the stack before she motions to him, swirling a finger away from her. "Face the door for a second."

And then she's unfolding the towel and putting it down on the toilet seat so she can reach for the hem of her shirt, sure that the movement alone even without the show of skin will make him turn away if the request doesn't immediately work.

Shizuo honestly appreciates her bluntness quite a lot, if nothing else--being a pretty blunt person himself, at the best of times. Genuinely straightforward people are surprisingly difficult to come by, as far as he can tell, so it's almost refreshing when it does happen...as if conversation's easier, somehow. It'd almost be pretty ideal with Namie, really, if it weren't for that--inexplicable awkwardness she keeps seeming to set off in him, at the exact same time...

Lanky as he is, his height probably doesn't help the mild sense of crowding in the bathroom at present, even if Shizuo has already been folding his frame a little in his habitually innocuous sort of way since entering. But ah, speaking of bluntness...in retrospect, he supposes that maybe his question just now likely was. A little unnecessary. One burn probably does feel about the same as the other to most people, right? (And they all hurt like hell, as he and Namie have mutually established in earlier conversation...)

Before Shizuo can begin to properly feel chagrined about this or venture an apology, though, Namie is standing up and reaching for a towel all of a sudden. This earns her a startled blink, on Shizuo's part, before she motions for him to turn around and her intention finally clicks. Ah.

Well, that does resolve the tiny elephant in the room now, doesn't it? Shizuo at least has the presence of mind to fumble the sink's faucet into turning off, and moving the damp towel he'd been working on to the counter before he draws a quick step back.

"--Oh. Right." Another step away, and then he turns to face the door, one hand on his hip and the other at his face again. He sort of wishes he hadn't taken off his sunglasses now...but at least turned away like this, he doesn't have to worry about whether the slight heat creeping into his cheeks will translate to anything visible for Namie. --Not yet, anyway. Shizuo feigns a great interest in the doorknob. "Just--let me know whenever you're ready, yeah?"

She could've been a little more helpful in regards to the question of her burns, but she doesn't see much point in delaying what's inevitably got to happen when the one on her arm feels like it may be the worst of the three. That's what leads her to standing and to motioning to Shizuo and it's as she turns her back to him in return - a secondary measure of privacy just in case something leads him to looking back at her, as unlikely as that is - that she realizes she should've done this and then had him follow her in. More for his sake than for her own.

Taking her shirt off is more of a pain than she's willing to admit and it's with great care that she manages it, a frown on her face the entire time. Her bra follows before she wraps the towel around herself, securing it so she's covered before she glances back at Shizuo then at the clothing that's been removed, covering her bra with her shirt before dropping them in the nearest corner to save him from increased embarrassment.

Then she reclaims her spot on the toilet, careful that she's not pulling at the towel and making sure she's as covered as she can be like this before she speaks up. "I'm ready."

Her eyes are fixed on the back of his head as she speaks, waiting for him to turn around so she can catch a glance of his face just to see if he's as embarrassed as she thinks he probably is. It really would be closer to amusing without the burns involved.

Her doing this inside the bathroom while he's still outside probably would have been...marginally less awkward, yes. Being in the same room like this makes it very difficult not to hear the rustle of Namie's shirt and not envision exactly what she's doing with it about now. Not to mention, now he's thinking about it...it feels incredibly improper being in the same room at all for this sort of thing, even if Shizuo has absolutely no intention of trying to cop a peek or anything of the sort. Maybe he should have tried to excuse himself entirely for a bit...that would have been the polite thing to do...why hadn't he thought about that? He'd been pretty distracted, he supposes, but that's not really a very good excuse and now he's in this sort of situation anyway--

By the time Namie's finished, Shizuo has tucked his hands in his pockets for lack of anything better to do with them, the circle of his thoughts culminating into a heavy frown half at the doorknob and half at himself. When she speaks up he straightens, but there's still a very small pause of reluctance before Shizuo does turn around.

It's not a very surprising sight, at least, since Namie had made her intentions clear enough between asking him to turn around and taking up a towel. Shizuo makes sure to keep his eyes to her face, when he does look at her, before stepping back over to the sink and bending his attention back down to the damp hand towel he'd prepared a little earlier. He's clearly keeping his expression schooled in a neutral frown (this takes some effort), but Shizuo can still feel the heat in his face and a glance at the mirror confirms the color in his cheeks to match it; he wrings out the towel a little and turns away back to Namie. --Whatever, this is fine. This is fine! She's not making a big deal of it so he's not going to either. Quick and painless, right...

"Okay, so." He looks to her arm and shouler now, out in the open without the shirt, and the burns do seem rather bad there... "Looks like your arm's got the worst of it. You've got some burns on your legs too, right? But your shoulder might be a bit trickier to reach, I guess...you think you could work on cleaning up your legs while I wipe up your shoulder? Here--" He offers her the damp hand towel. "You use this one while I soak another, huh?"

Lucky for Shizuo, she's not interested in polite in this situation, otherwise she would've requested he step out of the room herself. She's seen enough of the way he reacts around her to know he's not going to try to look once asked to look away and that's all she really needs. It's more for convenience than anything else, otherwise she would've put a little more effort into making the situation easier on him.

But she finishes quick enough and she's not surprised by the blush, the frown, or the way his eyes remain at her face when he looks over at her. It's something she almost wants to comment on, but she's started to consider his reactions to the things she says and she knows it would only earn more embarrassment and awkwardness if she were to say something now.

So she remains quiet instead, the arm that's still in good shape folded across her midsection as she looks down at her other arm. It's when he turns toward her that she looks up again and the small movement is enough to make her realize her hair will be in the way soon enough. She lifts her hand then, after pulling her arm away from middle, and reaches behind her head to hook her fingers around her hair so she can pull it over her shoulder to keep it away from the opposite one. And it's once her hair is out of the way that she's paying attention to what Shizuo is suggesting, nodding at the offer of both of them taking care of the burns. It's a good idea on more than one level - he can get to her shoulder with less issue and the two of them taking care of them means this should go a little quicker.

"Thank you," she replies as she accepts the towel, leaning forward in her spot so she can begin carefully cleaning her burned leg. Her attention remains on her leg as he moves to soak another towel, but she decides against leaving silence over the two of them again when she thinks he might appreciate the distraction of conversation.

"Have you always lived in Ikebukuro?"

She pulls her hair to one side, clearing the burn on her shoulder of any interference and also exposing the curve of her neck. That's pretty, he muses to himself--and then he has to grab that thought by the metaphorical collar and haul it backwards. What? Well, her hair is sort of pretty, but--no, what kind of thought even was that? This isn't the time for that sort of thing at all. Whatever that even was. Shizuo looks away and bends his focus on taking up another towel, instead, soaking it in more cool water as he attempts to distract himself from further thoughts about prettiness and Namie's apparent capacity for it.

When he wrings out the towel and turns to Namie, it's to inspect the burn he's assigned himself more closely this time, noting the angry red of it. The memory of how a burn feels is pretty vague by now, sure, but that doesn't keep Shizuo from pressing his towel over it as gently as he can, as he leans down a little to apply it. His free hand ends up settling further up the curve of her shoulder, very gingerly, half to keep Namie steady and half to keep himself steady too.

It's times like this he worries a lot about this strength and his control of it, after all--when it comes to more delicate things like this. He has to bend all his focus into making sure the hand with the towel doesn't inadvertently press too hard, or something, and the tension this concentration brings about is probably already visible in the set of his frame. But Namie speaks up with a question, and Shizuo still leans into that sort of distraction a little thankfully anyway, even if his face doesn't show it. The silence has been starting to stretch a bit...

"Ah, pretty much, yeah. My parents' house is more out of the way, but we've never been too far out. --Went to Raira when I was in high school." Shizuo pauses, lifting the towel away for a moment to fold it and press a new clean spot to her shoulder. This is still a little preoccupying, despite the vein of conversation. "...Hey, let me know if this starts hurting too much or something, alright?"

The reaction to the movement of her hair isn't something Namie picks up on with her focus fixed on her leg. Thinking about it, she's not sure she's ever dealt with burns like this in the past. Not so much the pain since these feel very similar to the smaller burns that happen on occasion when she's cooking, but the size is definitely more than she remembers dealing with before. And the size is what makes them a pain to deal with. While none of them are huge, they're not the kind a person gains from a small brush of a finger against the side of a pot.

But the towel on her leg helps. It's cooling and that gives her some relief despite the heat in her arm and shoulder. Heat which Shizuo is soon helping with and she finds herself glancing over then, looking at his hand then up at him.

Suddenly, she understands the awkwardness that came from her being so close to him when he was barely dressed. Having a hand on her makes her realize just how close he is and, while she doesn't feel quite as awkward, it's enough to make her all to aware of the fact that he's seeing more skin than anyone has in some time.

She's considering that as she watches the look on his face, taking in the concentration even as he answers her question. The tension is clear and she knows what it comes from, which is why she finds herself lifting her hand, the one closest to his arm, to carefully rest it against his arm without actually grabbing hold of him.

"It's helping." It stings, sure, but that's to be expected. The coolness of the cloth is a vast improvement to the angry heat she's been dealing with since being burned. Her hand doesn't move away from his arm, though, and the beginning of their conversation is momentarily put on hold. "Relax. You're not going to hurt me."

Absorbed as he is with cautiously dabbing at her shoulder, Shizuo doesn't notice her hand reaching up until it's resting on his arm outright, faintly warm through the fabric of his sleeve. He pauses then, glancing over to Namie with a startled expression.

But then her words register, and the surprise gives way to something more wry. Shizuo huffs a small laugh that comes out more like a sigh. "It's that obvious, huh? ...I don't want to hurt you, yeah. But, also...I don't do this sort of thing a lot."

His arm is as solid as the rest of him generally is, more so with his initial tension so at odds with his painstakingly gentle application of the towel. Shizuo glances away from her again, back down to the burn on her shoulder; he lifts the towel away to eye it properly, though, and the line of tension in his arm does start to relax at her touch anyway. Just a little.

Still, though... "Did you know, Shinra has an entire cabinet full of steel cups in his kitchen? Specially ordered them from overseas, I think. Just in case I stop by his place and he wants to give me a drink." Shizuo shifts his position a bit, focus moving down to the burn on her arm now. Refolding the towel to another clean segment, he starts dabbing that spot too, his other hand slipping down from her shoulder to curl very lightly over her upper arm instead, fingertips just barely brushing over skin. This takes a fair amount of focus, too. "I don't know why he keeps trying."

"You're tense. That gives things away," she comments, tilting her head to watch his hand again. He's infinitely more gentle with things than she would be even with herself. And while she knows it's coming from effort on his part, she doubts that relaxing is going to end with her arm in a vice grip. Short of saying something with the intention of angering him, she knows she's fine in his hands. "You'll have more practice under your belt after this."

The comment is somewhat teasing as her fingers curl to rest on his arm, her gaze following the move to begin on the other burn on her arm as she listens to him, slightly distracted by the brush of his fingers against her arm. The touch shouldn't earn a second thought, but it does and it's cause to make her forcibly return herself to what's being said.

"I'm sure he tries because he likes you." That much seems obvious about any of the people Shizuo mentions and she's sure he knows it. She gives it a moment before she continues, looking up at him again as she arches an eyebrow at him. "Does he irritate you every time you end up there? If you ruin cups because of what he's saying, he should know better, shouldn't he?"

The burn on her leg is left as it is as they talk, the towel she was handed still resting over it to keep it cool as she allows Shizuo to focus on her arm. It's something she can get to afterward, when there's more space between them again.

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god like three-fourths of this tag is just him being a giant nerd im so sorry...

giant nerd shizuo is my favorite, tbh. pls never apologize

wipes away single tear

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