Kanan Jarrus (spectre01) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-11-09 15:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, kanan jarrus, yue katou |
Who: Kanan and Katou
What: Kanan asks Katou why he dislikes Nora so much
When: Early September (after this)
Where: Chateau Katou
Rating/Warnings Pretty Low; some nice warm feels at the end.
Status: Complete!
Kanan returned home later that evening a little puzzled by a text he’d received earlier from Nora.
Most of the afternoon he’d been out on assignment from Shepard (which had been moderately successful), so the night before, he’d asked Nora to pick up a few items from the grocery store. When he’d first hired Nora it had been with the idea that she’d run errands for him. She had literally come to his rescue the first time he’d attempted to go shopping on his own after being blinded. He’d become so overwhelmed by the noise and the presence of hundreds of people all concentrated in one spot, that he’d frozen up just inside the door. If Nora hadn’t been there ready with a shopping card to guide him to what he needed, he probably never would have gone outside again.
But she had been and over time as Kanan became more and more comfortable going out on his own, Nora’s duties as his assistant changed. She still ran errands for him, but instead of doing so so he wouldn’t have to go out himself, she did so when he was on assignment.
Katou didn’t like Nora, that much became obvious when Kanan had first mentioned that he’d hired her. The angel’s entire mood had changed and the rest of their conversation had been abrupt and mostly one-sided. Kanan wasn’t sure why. So far as he knew Katou had never met her before. He thought maybe it was because having Nora as his assistant meant she’d be in and out of the house and Katou, for all his bluster, was a private person. That was fair. However, Kanan trusted Nora. Everything about her presence on the Force told him she was one he could rely on. That she was on the network and Dreaming somehow just made things easier.
That hadn’t really seemed to placate Katou, so Kanan was surprised when he received a text message from Nora stating that she was working for Katou as well. Kanan had no idea what had transpired between the two while he was working, but given Katou’s feelings towards the girl, he wondered if this wasn’t some kind of passive aggressive way of getting her gone. Kanan wasn’t going to fire Nora, but he needed to understand where Katou was coming from, here. He was family and his opinion mattered.
“Yue?” Kanan called out after entering the house. He placed his keys on their hook and his cane by the door. “You home?”
Katou had been pissed off ever since Nora had barged into his house, crammed food in his fridge, and then attempted to ruin his life by texting Kanan. The girl was clearly completely off the rails. Vindictive texting and weird paranoid thoughts about “the wind" aside, there was something decidedly unsettling about her smile. Maybe Kanan just didn't know how obviously unhinged she was.
He had just finished watching a movie and was lying on the couch with biomechanical arm hanging off the edge of it. Damien was gnawing at his fingers, but Katou wasn't paying too much attention. He knew Kanan was coming home and he was trying to think up a way to explain Nora’s text. He suspected it had something to do with Katou hiring her to work for him on Kanan’s dime, so he was working on that assumption, but really, it could have said anything.
He sat up sharply when Kanan came through the door, eliciting a startled noise from Damien, and turned toward his housemate. “Yeah, I'm home,” he said. “I’m just chilling out on the couch. Welcome home.”
Damien had chilled out considerably in the months since he’d first appeared in Chateau Katou. Oh, he still liked to gnaw on Kanan’s knees when the Jedi attempted to meditate and he still hissed at strangers entering the house and brought all kinds of wildlife home to leave in bits and pieces on the front walk for Kanan (and visitors) to trip over, but he wasn’t nearly as violent or wild as he had been when he’d first arrived. The chewing on feet, knees and fingers was mostly playful -- as playful as a lothcat could possibly be -- and rarely drew blood anymore.
When Katou sat up on the couch, Damien jumped up onto the back of it, annoyed that his toys had been so rudely taken away from him. He lightly batted at the back of Katou’s head as if to say Hey! I wasn’t done with those yet! He paused to cast Kanan a look when the other man entered the room.
“Thanks.” Kanan made his way around the couch towards one of the chairs. He was familiar enough now with the layout of the living room to not have to walk with one hand cautiously out in front of him for fear of walking into the side of the couch or catching his foot on a table leg. The Force too, somehow, had made navigating smaller spaces like this a bit easier as well. “I got a text from Nora this afternoon,” he started carefully as he took a seat. He looked in the direction of Katou’s voice, eyes behind the aviators focusing just beyond the younger man. “I take it you met her earlier?”
“Cut that out you freak,” Katou sneered quietly at the cat, leaning forward on the couch. In truth. He’d grown to appreciate the cat since he’d come back. At least, he didn’t mind it chewing on his fake fingers. But he was already irritated and drew the line at it actually swiping at things that had feeling.
He frowned at Kanan’s mention of the text. He’d been pretty sure that Nora had texted Kanan, but having it confirmed sucked. “Yeah, she barged in here like she owned the place,” he muttered, crossing his arms. “That chick’s got more than a few screws loose.”
Damien gave one final swat at Katou’s hair before giving up and ambling his way along the back of the couch and jumping off to wander into the kitchen, making those strange not-quite cat noises as he went.
Kanan listened to the cat wander off and made note that he heard the distinct sound of him leaving through the little cat door in the kitchen. The Jedi’s attention, however, remained towards the general area of Katou’s voice. He may not have been able to see the frown on the younger man’s face, but he certainly heard it. He would readily agree that Nora had a certain way about her that was unique, maybe even a little eccentric.
“I asked her to pick up a few groceries for me while I was working,” Kanan explained. “And I’m sorry. I should have introduced you to her before now.” He paused a moment to think, gather some errant thoughts that were making themselves known. “She’s a little odd,” he admitted, “but what’s the real reason you don’t like her?”
“I told you why,” Katou grumbled. “Because she's crazy and annoying and nosey, and a complete waste of money. Why the hell do you need to pay someone to buy groceries anyway?”
Kanan raised a skeptical brow. He’d always kind of been able to tell when Katou was giving him a line. These days, with the Force filling in for the sense he’d lost, Kanan found that he could tell when Katou was attempting to hide something from him. Just knowing wasnt enough. It was another matter altogether to get Katou to actually admit what was bothering him. No easy task for someone who was remarkably private.
Kanan let out a small sigh. “I needed someone to buy groceries because I couldn’t, Yue. I tried once doing it myself. It was the first time I went out on my own since losing my sight. I thought I could do it on my own, but I was wrong. I wasn’t familiar enough with the store. I didn’t know where anything was. All the sounds just confused and overwhelmed me. The entire world overwhelmed me. Everything I thought I knew was strange and completely foreign. I froze up just inside the store. I would have left, called York to come get me and bring me home and never would have gone out again, if it hadn’t been for Nora showing up with a shopping cart. She helped me and I wanted to help her.”
Kanan sighed. “You know I can tell when you’re giving me a line, Yue,” he said. “You disliked Nora even before you met her. Why? Is it because I’m paying her to help me?”
Even Katou wasn’t entirely sure why he hated Nora so much. Except for her stupid face and her stupid voice and her stupid job. But he wasn’t going to sit around and examine his feelings about the whole thing. But when Kanan asked, the answer came easily.
“Yeah, it’s because you’re paying her,” he said. “Fine, whatever, good for her for helping you out on your shopping trip. But I’m,” he hit himself emphatically in the chest, “home now, and I don’t see why you need to hire another fucking assistant! It’s a waste of money, and I -” should be good enough. He bit back the words before they managed to pass his lips. He looked in the opposite direction that Kanan was sitting in. “I’m home now. I can do all that shit,” he finished, less heat in his voice.
Now Kanan understood and he kicked himself for not realizing sooner. Some Jedi he was, right?
“Yue, you stopped being my assistant a long time ago,” Kanan said gently. “You became more then just someone I sent on random errands. Between you and Carolina, you’re the only family I have.” He leaned a forward in his seat, unseeing eyes trained in the direction of Katou’s voice. “I’m sorry if you feel as though I replaced you with Nora. That was never my intention. Nothing and noone could ever replace you. Do you understand? Nora may be my assistant, but you’re my family.”
Katou’s head swiveled toward Kanan, a little surprised. He hadn’t been expecting to hear that. While he knew that he hadn’t actually been Kanan’s assistant since Kanan changed jobs and Katou had been recruited by the Agency, a part of him had always thought of himself that way. In the not actually doing any work or getting paid at all capacity of assistant.
His eyes stung, and he rubbed them with the back of his right hand. He was glad that Kanan couldn’t see him, though once that thought crossed his mind he also realized that he’d been quiet for way too long. “Oh,” he said, his voice a little huskier than he’d expected. He cleared his throat. “I… You too.”
Kanan smiled faintly. He couldn’t see Katou, at least not the way he used to be able to, but he could hear the thickness of his voice. He should have told Katou earlier and he wouldn’t assume the younger man would just know things like this in the future. What sort of surprised him was that Katou felt the same way. Surprised, but very pleased.
“Thank you,” he said. Though he noted the husky quality of Katou’s voice, he knew better than to say anything about it. “Are we ok now?” he asked.
Katou nodded, and then immediately felt like an idiot. “Yeah, we’re okay,” he said. “I guess Nora can stay, if you really wanna keep her on your payroll.” And hey, if it meant Katou had to go grocery shopping less often, well, that was a plus.