[ He doesn’t expect that response. It silences the misplaced anger and frustration brewing beneath the surface of his skin, leaves his chest tight with an emotion he doesn’t want to name. ]
Thanks, Itachi. That means a lot.
[ Then, before he can lose his nerve, he asks the question that’s been bugging him since making planetfall. ]
Do you want to room together? I mean like get an apartment or something. And live there. With me.
[It takes him a moment to understand the request as Stiles breaks it down, piece by honest piece. He can see it for the invitation it is. Confusion trickles first—shocked that Stiles would wish to—followed by a leaden, sinking dread as he immediately recognizes the correct answer.
True, he had agreed to share housing with Sasuke in Aefenglom, however short-lived an experience it became. But that was an arrangement he can’t replicate here. And, worse, he won’t be able to give Stiles an explanation.]
I don’t believe it would be a good idea.
[Living with someone else... he’s grown more accustomed to the idea in theory. With Stiles, he may even be able to tolerate it—the fact he could fall asleep with the boy in the same room speaks to that. But it absolutely cannot happen.]
But I’d like to know where you do choose. [All the better to monitor from a distance...] Ideally our locations could be nearby.
[ Though insecurity and doubt had him expecting this answer, it still comes as an unpleasant shock to his system. Stiles feels both too hot and cold, the warm rush of humiliation washing over the chill of disappointment and heartbreak. What an idiot he is. After what happened in the storage closet, after Itachi just left without a word, he should have known better than to even ask. Swallowing past the bile crawling up his throat, he types out various half-conscious responses before deleting them all in turn, mind preoccupied with self-pity and -loathing.
Eventually, he manages to manufacture a basic response, stripped of his usual personality. ]
Cool. I’ll let you know where I end up then.
That’s all I wanted to talk about [ – It’s not. ] so I’ll let you go.
For the first time in knowing Stiles, he finds himself at a loss for how to continue the conversation. And with that comes a keen, dawning realization he does want to continue it. In the past, he might have felt satisfied—relieved—to be done.
Now...]
Did you take my shirt?
[It’s the first thing that comes to mind; small talk is not his strength.]
[ The lie is sent before he can second guess himself. If Itachi wants the damn shirt back, that’s too bad; Stiles has already laundered it and intends to keep it.
Yet it does beg the question – how does Itachi know it’s missing? Obviously the man left the storage closet without it, but did he return for it later? Why did he return? Just for the shirt? Stiles could ask these questions, except he finds himself paralyzed by cowardly fear of how the shinobi will answer. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Thanks, Itachi. That means a lot.
[ Then, before he can lose his nerve, he asks the question that’s been bugging him since making planetfall. ]
Do you want to room together?
I mean like get an apartment or something.
And live there.
With me.
no subject
True, he had agreed to share housing with Sasuke in Aefenglom, however short-lived an experience it became. But that was an arrangement he can’t replicate here. And, worse, he won’t be able to give Stiles an explanation.]
I don’t believe it would be a good idea.
[Living with someone else... he’s grown more accustomed to the idea in theory. With Stiles, he may even be able to tolerate it—the fact he could fall asleep with the boy in the same room speaks to that. But it absolutely cannot happen.]
But I’d like to know where you do choose. [All the better to monitor from a distance...] Ideally our locations could be nearby.
no subject
Eventually, he manages to manufacture a basic response, stripped of his usual personality. ]
Cool. I’ll let you know where I end up then.
That’s all I wanted to talk about [ – It’s not. ] so I’ll let you go.
no subject
For the first time in knowing Stiles, he finds himself at a loss for how to continue the conversation. And with that comes a keen, dawning realization he does want to continue it. In the past, he might have felt satisfied—relieved—to be done.
Now...]
Did you take my shirt?
[It’s the first thing that comes to mind; small talk is not his strength.]
no subject
[ The lie is sent before he can second guess himself. If Itachi wants the damn shirt back, that’s too bad; Stiles has already laundered it and intends to keep it.
Yet it does beg the question – how does Itachi know it’s missing? Obviously the man left the storage closet without it, but did he return for it later? Why did he return? Just for the shirt? Stiles could ask these questions, except he finds himself paralyzed by cowardly fear of how the shinobi will answer. ]
I gotta go. Talk to you later.
no subject
Or maybe Stiles is busy and he's being paranoid. That possibility burns in his self-awareness, guilty and sore. He should trust Stiles.]
All right. I will contact you if anything important changes.