Who: Katou and Anna What: Anna checks in on Katou When: A few days after Katou comes back Where: Chateau Katou Rating/Warning: High for hard drug use Status: Complete
It had been almost three years since Wendy had taken him off the streets and let him live in her house, and one of the first things that she had told him was that there would be no drugs under her roof. He could do them elsewhere, but he couldn’t bring them there, and he definitely couldn’t do them there. No smoking. No drugs. And, other than a couple of exceptions to the smoking rule, and one exception to the drug rule when his dad had died, Katou had abided by those rules.
But Wendy was long gone these days. Even Kanan had left. For the first time since he’d moved in all those years ago, Katou had the entire house to himself. He had thought about trying for another roommate, but had ultimately decided against it. Wendy might have held the deed, but this was his house. And now he had the freedom to do whatever he wanted.
And now he could truly enjoy that, without the weight of Rociel and the end of the world hanging over his shoulders. That had been taken care of. Rociel was dead, and Armageddon averted. Now, Katou could celebrate. A one-man party was clearly the way to go.
He was sprawled across his couch, The U.K. Subsblaring over his stereo, a lit cigarette dangling from his lips. On his coffee table, two brown lines of powder were laid out, a rolled up dollar bill lying next to them.
He wasn’t sure how long the doorbell had been ringing before he realized the sound wasn’t part of the music, but once he realized it he groaned and sat up. He nearly stood, before he remembered the mess on his coffee table. He grabbed the remote, turned the stereo down, and yelled “Yeah, yeah! Gimme a minute!”
It took him a moment to clumsily rewrap the tinfoil around the junk on his table, and once that was done, he shoved it into a drawer and stood up. He couldn’t imagine who it was who would be bothering him right now. He obviously hadn’t been expecting company. His long blond hair was tangled, and the t-shirt that hung on his skinny frame was dirty, the left t-shirt hanging empty off his shoulder, covering the frayed wires and cables where his mechanical arm had once been attached.
He opened the door, and then blinked down at Anna, surprised to see her. “Hey,” he said around his cigarette. “Ain’t you supposed to be filming some movie or something right now?”
Anna had tried calling and texting, but didn’t get a response. She’d gotten it into her head that she wanted to see Katou. If someone asked her how or why, she wouldn’t have been able to explain it, but she wanted to check in with her friend. The whole way there she was telling herself this was stupid; a foolish way to spend her day of. But then she arrived and he didn’t answer the bell. Or the second bell. Or the third. She rang two or three more times, waiting, then startled when he pulled open the door.
“Hey.” She said, frowning. “I’ve got the day off. Why don’t you answer your phone?”
Katou exhaled a breath of smoke over Anna’s head. “Batteries dead. It’s charging in my room,” Katou said, the lie falling out of his mouth easily. It was true enough. He’d heard the notifications going off from his bedroom, but he hadn’t really cared enough to get off the couch to go look at it.
He opened the door more, stepping aside so Anna could enter. “So what’re you doing here?” he asked. “You’d think you’d wanna go do something fun on your day off.” He smirked suddenly, and then waggled his eyebrows. “Unless you did come here to do something fun. I knew you couldn’t resist forever.”
Anna’s little face scrunched up at the smell of the smoke over her head. She lifted a hand to wave in front of her nose, even though he’d actually been kind of considerate in blowing it away from her. She gave a gentle scoff. “Don’t flatter yourself.” She said. Then pushed through into the house. “Not like you’re interested, either. And, oh yeah, I have a boyfriend.” She glanced around once she was inside and turned back to him.
“I just… wanted to make sure you were okay. I don’t know, I got this weird feeling… like… like you hadn’t saved my life recently. Nor I yours, and it just… doesn’t sit well with me.”
Katou set his face into a listless mask. No, he’d tried to save her life, he’d tried to save everyone’s life, but in the end it had been him, his power, that had cracked the Egg of Wormwood and started the apocalypse. He closed the door behind her.
“Sorry girlie, I’m outta the rescue business for good,” he said, crossing the room and flopping down heavily on the couch. “Wasn’t ever really my style. Anyway, we both been busy with our own things.”
“Yeah.” Anna had made a movie. And done some auditioning. And all these other things she’d done… she’d finished school? Honestly, so much of it was a blur of parties and getting her hair and makeup done. Oh, and memorizing lines. She felt like every day she was memorizing new lines for some script or another.
She moved into the room and looked around again, not sure what she was going to find. Then she sat down on the other end of the sofa. Perched, more like, ready to spring. “What do you mean you’re out of the rescue business? What if I need to be saved from like… zombies, or whatever?”
Katou shrugged. “You’re gonna have to figure it out yourself,” he said. He moved to kick his feet up so they’d be resting on Anna’s lap. “That Hyde of yours is pretty handy in a pinch. Get him to save you.”
Saying Hyde’s name even now made him feel a twinge of guilt, despite the fact that Katou had taken his drugs to kill that feeling. Hyde had been possessed by Rociel, maybe not directly because of Katou but indirectly. Katou hadn’t tried getting in contact with him since he got back. He hadn’t been able to, but also, he was sure that Hyde would want nothing to do with him after everything Katou had put them through.
“I’m the kind of girl who likes to save herself, rather than be saved.” Anna argued. Though, she hadn’t really minded--in retrospect--when Katou had done the saving. She’d really needed it then. Now? She felt a little more confident in her own abilities. But that didn’t mean she didn’t want Katou by her side. It was better to have him there than not at all.
Anna’s hands came to rest on Katou’s ankles near her lap. “So. What’s going on with you, then? Tell me everything.”
“See? You don’t even need me,” he said cheerily. It didn’t really come as a shock to him. Really, no one needed someone like him around.
“Oh, you know, the usual. Lost my memory for a few weeks, almost ended the world. What’s new with you?”
“That’s just silly. Maybe I don’t need you, necessarily, but I still want you.” Anna was so adorable and innocent that she didn’t notice what that sounded like. And then he was talking about almost ending the world? Her eyes went wide.
“Wait, what? What happened about almost ending the world? And you lost your memory??”
“I knew it,” Katou grinned, nudging Anna’s thigh with his foot. “Everyone wants the great Katou.”
His smile didn’t fade, not really, but it stretched a little more, taking on a sardonic quality. He raised an eyebrow at Anna. “What, you mean you missed the whole missing sun, earthquake scenario?” He asked sardonically. “That was all me, girlie. And then, you know. Lost my memory. Wandered around a bit. There really ain’t a whole lot to explain there.”
Anna gave a little huff, though she was grinning, and shook her head. She had no idea how he’d weaseled himself in--she’d hated him at first. And now he was… well, her friend. “This is me not dignifying that with a response.” She teased. Though, her non-response was, in fact, a response.
“Well… yeah… I mean, I didn’t know it was you. But you’re better now?” She asked, looking genuinely and deeply concerned.
“I’m hunky-dory,” Katou said with a shrug. Actually, he really was feeling pretty good now as the opiate high began to wash over him. A little drowsy, but thoughts of how badly he’d managed to fuck up flowed through his mind, not actually sticking around long enough for him to latch on to any one of them. If he just closed his eyes, it was as though he was floating away from all of life’s problems.
Anna watched Katou for a moment, frowning, then felt her shoulders relax as he closed his eyes. Things couldn’t be that bad if he was… what, sleeping? With his feet in her lap? She sighed and carefully extricated herself from under his feet. Satisfied that he was okay, she could leave. So she glanced around for a throw blanket or something to throw over him, and settled for a jacket she found nearby. Once that was settled, she headed out.