Michael Glass (towngoldenboy) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-04-13 17:10:00 |
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Entry tags: | michael glass, yue katou |
Who: Michael Glass and Yue Katou
What: Reunion and Michael gets ghostified
When: February 13th and 14th
Where: Michael’s house
Rating/Warnings: Medium
Status: Complete when posted
Katou’d had his memories back for all of one day, and already he was wishing that he could just forget everything again. Living as Kate hadn’t been so bad, really. Sure, he’d been sleeping on the streets and eating food out of garbage, but it wasn’t like that wasn’t anything he’d ever done before. At least she didn’t have many worries, and didn’t have the weight of nearly destroying the world weighing on her conscience. No, the only things she’d worried about was where to find her next meal or what shop had the best doorway for sleeping in.
But it wasn’t like he could go back to that. Kanan had brought him back. Maybe he should have been grateful for that, but why the hell would he be? He was a fuck up. He’d always been a fuck up, no matter what world he’d lived in. He’d spent that first night sleeping in the room that Kanan and Caroline had set up for him in their home. And now, well, he had a boyfriend. A boyfriend he’d said he’d come back to in just a few hours and had left for over two weeks. While there was a big part of him that wanted to see Michael again, he couldn’t exactly say he was looking forward to this.
He took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell, wondering just how angry Michael actually was.
***
Michael was sitting at his piano, hoping that the act of playing would soothe him the way like normal but his mind kept going back to that text from Katou - he was back but Michael still didn’t know exactly what the hell had gone on. He heard the doorbell and it crossed his mind to ignore it, to keep playing but a part of him knew he couldn’t, or maybe just hoped that it was his boyfriend on the other side of the door. And just maybe he’d finally get at least a few of his questions answered.
He wiped his hands on his jeans before opening the door, staring in silence for a moment at the man on the other side of it before stepping back to let him in, waiting until he’d closed it again to speak. “What the hell happened Kat?”
***
God, this silence was oppressive. Katou walked into the house, hands in his pockets, shoulders rounded. He’d looked at Michael’s face when the man had answered the door, but after that he’d averted his eyes and didn’t look at him again. He didn’t really know how to answer Michael; he didn’t know what he should and shouldn’t say. What would make Michael hate him and what wouldn’t.
“Would you believe me if I said I didn’t remember?” Katou asked, rubbing the side of his head.
***
Michael was fighting the urge to reach out and touch him as he watched Katou looking everywhere but at him. He knew if he touched him before getting some sort of an explanation from him he'd give up asking questions. At least for awhile.
“That depends on if that's the truth. If you can look me in the eye and tell me that.” He reached up to finger the earring he'd been wearing ever since his boyfriend had given it to him.
***
Katou frowned, and rubbed the back of his head. No, that probably wasn’t going to work, even if it was kind of a half-truth. “Like I said, it’s a bitta a long story. We should sit down. And pour a couplea drinks.”
***
A part of Michael had been hoping that Katou would take the out he was offering him but the majority of him was glad that he hadn’t. “You know I can’t cook for shit but I can throw together a couple of sandwiches for us if you want.” He offered, leading him towards the kitchen, stopping just long enough to put the cover down over the piano keys so they wouldn’t get dusty. He grabbed a couple beers from the fridge and a bottle of something harder before grabbing a couple glasses and the bottle opener. “I wasn’t sure what we might need so why not grab both.”
***
Katou would have prefered to take the easy out too, but, well, Michael probably deserved an explanation. Since he’d started dreaming, there really wasn’t any reason for Katou to keep it from him. “I can probably whip something up later if you got food,” Katou said, following Michael. Of course, it was just as likely that Michael’d want nothing to do with Katou once he found out that Katou and his dreams had nearly ended the world.
“We’ll probably need both,” Katou said, grabbing the bottle from Michael and unscrewing the top so he could take a swig. He headed toward the couch, and sat down. “So, you want the long version or the short version?”
***
“I think there's probably a few things in the fridge you can use,” Michael told him, following him into living room and sitting down on the couch turned towards him as he took a drink of his beer.
“Long version. Might cut down on the number of questions I have.”
***
Katou sighed, and ran his hand through his hair, pulling his long, blond hair back from his forehead. “Alright,” he said, thinking about where to start. He removed his hand from his head and picked up his beer, then took a long swig.
“Okay,” he said. “So, back when I was in high school, I started dreaming. Fucked up shit with angels and fighting against Heaven and Hell, and going to kill God. You know, whatever, dream shit. Anyway, they ended about two years ago, a little bit after I kicked off the apocalypse in them, using this Egg of Wormwood thing. When I finished my dreams, I woke up with that thing here.
“A little afterward I got a job with the Agency. They’re this government agency that keeps track of the Dreams, so I basically got paid to run around and kick the shit out of whatever creatures crawl outta people’s dreams. A coupla months ago, the Egg got stolen, and I’ve been trying to track it down since.
“It turns out this creep from my dreams took it. He spent a couplea months moonlighting as a serial killer, then brainwashed a buncha people with this video game.” And both those things were entirely Katou’s fault. So far, he’d managed to maintain his Devil may care attitude, but now he needed another gulp of beer and he kind of wished he had a cigarette. Why hadn’t they decided to do this outside? “Anyway, long story short, we found him, I nearly ended the world again, and then I lost my memory and wandered around as a homeless chick for a couplea weeks until Kanan found me. And now we’re here.”
***
Michael waited until Katou finished and just stared at him for a moment before reaching out for the bottle of hard alcohol he’d grabbed for them and drank from it, ignoring the glasses he’d brought out. It took a few extra seconds for his mind to finish filtering it all and then he gave him a half smile. “So...you work for the people that cover all the crazy shit up so that we can live what passes for peaceful lives here? Don’t think that’s going to make me quit fighting it so hard when you have to get out of bed for work.” He got serious after a moment.
“A homeless chick huh? Gotta say a part of me wishes I’d seen that but...I’m glad you’re back now safe and sound. Well mostly. I’m guessing the fight is how you lost the arm?” He’d noticed it when Katou came in but hadn’t said anything about it yet.
***
“Worked,” Katou corrected him. Katou hadn’t exactly put in his notice - he’d only been back for a couple of days, but even if he’d been back for longer, it wasn’t likely that he’d put in his notice anyway. But, how could he go back to work once he’d so monumentally fucked up?
“Yeah. I guess I must’ve seen her in the aftermath and borrowed her face.” He’d had the same dream nearly every night when he’d been on the streets. Of the girl, wondering why he’d had no face. At the time, he’d thought that he’d been dreaming in third person, but he knew now that she hadn’t been him. “And yeah. Blew it clean off. The old man took it for safe-keeping.” At some point, he might have to get someone to reattach it. But for now, well… what was the point?
***
Michael took a sip of the bottle before holding it over towards Katou. “So what are you planning to do now that you aren’t going to be working for them anymore?” He asked. No judgment in his tone but curiosity. And maybe a little concern.
“Just promise me you aren’t going to borrow mine alright? That’d be a little too weird. Even for me having seen what I’ve seen around this place.” He stared at him for a moment. “You okay with it right now?”
***
Katou took the offered bottle and drank deeply. “Who knows,” Katou said. He really hadn’t put much thought into it, and he didn’t plan on putting much thought into it until he had to. The Agency was the best job that he’d had, and anything else paled in comparison. But he’d nearly ended the world. It wasn’t like he could keep pretending that he’d been doing any good out there.
“What, you’ve never wanted to fuck yourself?” Katou asked, grinning. Although yeah, taking on Michael’s face probably would be kind of weird. Besides, Katou didn’t like to shift his face too much. It was a lot of concentration to maintain any face - he had keep it in focus at all times, every hair on his head, every nail on his finger - but at least he knew his own looks well enough that he didn’t need to think too hard about it.
***
Michael had just taken a drink from his beer when he heard Katou’s question and he almost choked on it thanks to trying not to laugh right then. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure that desire never crossed my mind.” He said, leaning his head back against the couch. “It would be way too creepy for me.” He turned his head to look at him.
“You know if you want I could try and help you look for something else when you’re ready.”
***
Katou didn’t really want to talk about his arm. He didn’t really want to think about it. As far as he was concerned, losing his arm was the least that he deserved after everything. So, instead of answering, he got up and made his way to the kitchen. Since coming back, he hadn’t cooked yet, and it wound up being more difficult than he’d anticipated with only one arm, but he made Michael help out and in the end they’d put together a pretty decent meal. And, not long after dinner, they went to bed, and, despite feeling a little guilty about how good it felt to be back in Michael’s arms, Katou managed to fall fast asleep.
***
Michael was being greedy and he knew it but after everything that had gone on - the weeks without his boyfriend - he just wanted to enjoy getting to have him there. Just getting to hold him again while they slept. And yeah it was a little weird with the arm missing but not enough to keep him from falling asleep.
And into one of his dreams - that fucked up town run by vampires that he hated dreaming about. He was trying to get a roommate for his house, trying to help cover the expenses since he didn’t have a patron to cover them (because to hell with the idea of selling himself to one) and he thought that the guy at the coffee house who came up to talk to him after his set was harmless. He was new to town, needed a place to stay and Michael had invited him to come check the house out.
He should have thought more about it which he realized as soon as the man managed to struggle through the front door. Even before the man had sunk his fangs into his neck, draining him dry and trying to turn him - and failing. That would have been the end of it. It should have been the end of it except - somehow he came back that night. His body having vanished from the floor at the front door. He tried to walk out onto the porch and felt something tugging at him, trying to pull him away, to drag him loose from the earth and he panicked, forcing his way back into his house and that was when he woke up. Sitting upright in his bed, breathing hard as he tried to make sense of what he’d just dreamed. He’d died. He knew he had but he was still somehow...there. Still somehow living inside his house.
***
Katou had slept soundly and, happily, dreamlessly. It was definitely a plus compared to the last few weeks that had been plagued by nightmares. He wasn’t woken by anything in particular, except for the slowly dawning realization that he was no longer enjoying Michael’s body warmth.
He cracked an eye open, blearly saw Michael sitting there next to him, and closed them again. “Lay back down,” he grumbled, voice heavy with sleep, and went to pull him back down. The problem was, where he was fairly certain he was supposed to come in contact with Michael’s torso, his hand encountered no resistance. He opened his eyes again, and tried again. “What the actual fuck.”
***
It definitely felt weird when his boyfriend’s hand went through him and he kind of gasped a little. “Okay. I think we need to just agree not to do that anymore.” He said, turning to look at him. “It’s got to have something to do with the dream I had. I kind of...got murdered in it. But stuck around as a ghost.” He said, trying to lay back down because then he’d be okay except his head tried to go through the pillow rather than stopping and he sat back up. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. No. Being a ghost should not be what crosses over from my dreams. This is bullshit. How the hell am I supposed to do anything? How the fuck am I supposed to play my guitar as a damn ghost?!?” He said, his mind automatically jumping to how it was going to affect his career.
He was trying to think about what his dream had shown him about his...new condition, running through it in his head to try and figure out if there had been anything that would help. “...I could touch stuff after dark. Once the sun went down I’d have a regular body again so....maybe that’ll happen here. Then we can still have some kind of...normal life.” He hadn’t meant to say we but he had and now it was out there and he wasn’t taking it back.
***
“Yeah, agreed,” Katou said, and then, just once more, put his hand through him because what the fuck. “Done now.”
He stared at Michael for a moment as all of that finally sunk in. It wasn’t like Katou really had any great desire to go on public dates and tell the whole world that he and Michael were dating, but to not be able to go out with Michael at all was a little much. Not to mention the rest of it. Not being able to touch him, or feel him, except when the sun was down…
“We ain’t never going to have a normal life so long as we’re stuck here,” Katou grumbled venomously. First Katou had ended the world, and now his boyfriend was a fucking ghost. His mind suddenly reeled back to what Michael had said before. “Wait, you got murdered? Are you okay?” he asked. Which, in retrospect, probably a stupid question given the fact that he was now just… floating around being ghostly. But Katou had died more than his fair share in his own dreams, and while dying was probably the best thing that could have happened to him, he could have done without the actual being killed part of it.
***
“Jackass,” Michael said, almost growled really as his boyfriend stuck his hand in him again. “You sure? You don’t want to stick it in there one more time?” He said, one eyebrow raised as he looked at him there beside him.
He took a deep breath, old habit he guessed. “Yeah. I was looking for a roommate and invited some older guy back to the house to check out the room and it turns out he was a vampire. Just my luck really - I grow up in a vampire town in the dreams and despite knowing it, knowing not to trust anyone, I still got killed by one that I invited in. Smart move huh?” There was a little note of bitterness in his voice and he heard it. But he couldn’t bring himself to be bothered about it. He just had to hope Kat knew it wasn’t really directed at him. It was at the situation.
“I can still feel it you know. The pain of dying. And really hoping that wasn’t the last of my dreams. Because I do not want to be stuck as a ghost you know? Definitely don’t want to be stuck not being able to touch anything for half the day.” Not being able to touch his boyfriend, his instruments, anything. This was going to suck.
***
“Naw man, I’m good for now,” Katou said, grinning roguishly. Really, all sticking his hand through Michael done was reinforce the idea that katou couldn’t actually touch his boyfriend.
A notion that was really driving home the fact that he couldn’t do anything for him. Katou’d never been very good at the whole emotional comfort kind of thing. He didn’t really know what to do about Michael saying that he could still feel the pain of dying other than to pull him into his arms and try to kiss away the memories, but he couldn’t even do that right now. “Well, our dream selves can make some pretty dumb fucking decisions sometimes,” he said. “I guess getting nights is better than not getting nothing at all though.”
***
“Good because - that felt really weird. Normally I like you sticking things in me.” Michael said, trying to make a joke because it was better than the alternative reaction.
“Yeah. I’m learning that. ...This mean you gonna come over more to keep me company? Since I’m housebound?” He asked, turning his head to look at him.
***
“Normally I like sticking things in you too,” Katou said, with a bit of a weak smile. It wasn’t much of a joke when he thought about it, given the fact that his boyfriend had apparently died last night. “But yeah, I’ll come by more often if you want me too. You know, to keep you company. Among other things.” Katou tried to tell himself that it wasn’t too much of a drag. It wasn’t like the two of them had gone on a whole lot of dates in the first place.
***
Given a choice between bad jokes and giving in to the panic his dream, and subsequent ghostness had given him, Michael would pick the jokes every time. He gave his boyfriend a weak smile of his own. “Other things after sunset of course. We can handle this right?” He asked, forcing his voice to stay mostly calm as he asked the question.
***
Katou wasn't entirely confident in his ability to handle much of anything these days. He’d tried to handle the whole situation with the Egg of Wormwood but he’d fumbled that so badly that the world had nearly ended. He’d never been that good at relationships. Hell, he’d avoided anything serious for most of his life until Jin had shown up and then just as quickly left. He’d always been too selfish, and he tended to show most of his affection physically, and he didn't know how that line up with not actually being able to touch Michael for half the time.
But Katou liked Michael. He wanted him and he wanted to make it work and he wasn't willing to call it quits just yet. So he plastered a grin on his face and said “Oh yeah dude. We got this.”