After a ten-hour trainride, Ira arrived in Dingro, only slightly worse for wear. He’d successfully spent most of the journey sleeping and was now feeling very well-rested. Though it was the middle of the night right now, nigh on midnight, Ira had absolutely no desire to sleep at all. Which was good, because he didn’t have a place to stay yet.
He had to find Xiao Wei first.
The process of tracking down Xiao Wei involved catching an automobile taxi on the street, sitting in the front next to the driver in order to give directions according to Ira’s fabulous map, picking up a passenger while they were on the way, letting the passenger off, the driver running away when he realized where Ira was directing him, Ira taking over the wheel before the car crashed, until at last, he arrived at his destination.
It was a seedy bar. The neon sign above the door simply spelled out As Below in cursive letters, and the fact that there was no bouncer just made it worse. Ira waltzed right up to the door, his pack still swinging over his shoulder, and pulled it open. He looked into the dark hallway, scrunching his nose at the smell, and entered.
The music was loud, the bass thick and crawling through the air. At the end of the seedy hallway in the seedy bar was another door, this one actually guarded. Ira strutted up to the bouncer and grinned, cheerfully saying, “My name is Ira. I’m here to see my fiancé.”
The bouncer’s eyes widened. He looked Ira over, curisosity clinging to his expressionless features, and said, “You’re expected.”
He let Ira through without another word.
The inside was… actually pretty clean. He entered right into a wide room, obviously the actual bar, and the lighting alone evaporated most of the bar’s seediness. Ira squinted for a moment as his eyes adjusted, then began to walk toward Xiao Wei. He veered straight toward the corner where he knew Xiao Wei was, ignoring the curious looks he was getting.
“Hello,” Ira said to Xiao Wei, stopping right next to the booth. Xiao Wei looked up; he was wearing a pristine dark grey suit, a hat on his head, his fingers fiddling with an unlit cigar.
Xiao Wei stood up, abruptly, suddenly, without warning. “Ira,” said Xiao Wei, voice soft and curling the sound of Ira’s name expertly. “You’re here,” Xiao Wei added, staring right at him, eyes wide and almost—were they watering? Whywere they watering? Was Xiao Wei sad that Ira had returned to him?
“I’m here,” Ira confirmed, ignoring Xiao Wei’s eyes. Since Xiao Wei didn’t seem like he had any intention to move, Ira directly pushed Xiao Wei back further into the booth, until Ira had enough room to sit down.
As soon as Ira sat, Xiao Wei dropped down beside him. Ira snagged Xiao Wei’s hand while Xiao Wei was distracted with staring at him, like the true delinquent he was. Threading his fingers between Xaio Wei’s, Ira gripped Xiao Wei’s hand tightly and turned to the other human man sitting across from them. Seeing a golden opprotunity to set the record straight, he instantly said, “My name is Ira. I am this guy’s fiancé.”
Xiao Wei made a peeping noise, snapping his mouth shut. He pulled on Ira’s hand, succesfully getting Ira’s attention. “Fiancé? You want to marry me?”
“Obviously,” Ira said, blinking. He tilted his head, eyeing Xiao Wei’s short hair slicked back, and the sharp cut of his suit. Ira was pretty sure there was a gun in there somewhere, and he wondered if he could borrow it. You know, for fun.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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The guy across them choked and started coughing. Xiao Wei just smiled at Ira and introduced himself, “My name is Angelo Smith.”
“Angelo,” Ira said, tasting the name. He smiled at Xiao Wei, scooting a little closer to him as he did so. “I like it,” he decided, understanding now that it was important to vocalise his likes and dislikes, so that others could better understand him. Or something like that. He wasn’t really sure. Human interaction was confusing.
The guy across them knocked on the table and snapped, “Angelo!”
Angelo glared at him, “What?” he snapped back, his foot nudging Ira’s. Ira nudged back, Angelo nudged him again. Ira’s eyes narrowed and he proceeded to retalitate. Clearly, Angelo was trying to start some kind of competition, and Ira would not lose.
“Angelo!” the guy snapped again, slamming his glass on the table. Angelo looked at him, silently, eyes dark below the hat, and the guy simmered down. He licked his lips, “I just meant, isn’t this a little time-sensitive? There are, you know… things involved.”
Angelo sighed and leaned back. “It’s no matter, Clark will deal with it.”
Ira’s eyes flew between them. They were emphasizing weird words… narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Ira asked, “Are you talking about killing people?” Just so that there was no misunderstandings.
“Yes,” Angelo said. He knocked his foot against Ira’s again and Ira narrowed his eyes further. He hummed, dragging the sound out longer than needed, and then smiled.
“Cool,” he said.
The dude across them gaped at him. “That’s—that’s it?! We’re talking about murdering people! Your fiancé has killed dozens of people, and you go cool?!”
“I mean,” Ira furrowed his eyebrows, “I’ve killed thousands. Possbily millions, things were a bit hazy there for a few eons, I had some anger issues to work out. So really, cool is about the only word I can think of. Plus, murder is fun.” He shrugged. The guy pointed at him, made several averted noises, and finally yelled in frustration.
“Ah, and, Mitch,” Angelo said, finally chiming in to their discussion on morality and ethics. “Don’t talk to Ira like that. I’d hate to have to kill you, you’re so good at your job.”
Ira nodded. “What he said.”
…Okay. Now he’d confused himself.
Whatever.
Ira picked up Xiao Wei’s glass and sipped at the alcohol, the poison having no affect on him whatsoever. Ira was cool like that; was superior like that. Also, this alcohol was disgusting, and he spit it right back into the thick glass, raising a hand to wipe the liquid on his lips. “Gross,” he muttered, pushing the glass back to Angelo.
Angelo picked up the glass and drowned the alcohol in one go. Ira winced, turning away so he wouldn’t have to see that abomination. Angelo’s hand landed on his shoulder and he asked, “Are you hungry?”
“Yes.” Ira perked up. He turned back to Angelo and said, “I haven’t eaten anything in almost a whole day.”
“Why?” Angelo’s eyebrows furrowed, and he looked Ira over from head to toe (well, what was visbile where they were sitting). His eyebrows furrowed deeper and he said, “You look thin, you haven’t been eating well? Is something wrong?”
“I have no money,” Ira declared. Then, after two nanoseconds of thought, he added, “I need you to pay my rent. Or let me move in with you. But in that case, you also have to move my best friend Ren here. And possibly also a little kid, I don’t what we’re doing with that thing yet, I left before it got sorted out.”
Angelo blinked at him chock, seemingly startled at the rush of information Ira all of a sudden provided. Finally, he said, “Move in with me.”
Ira narrowed his eyes, not about to fall for a trap. “Give me money first, I need to send it Ren so they can get a ticket here.”
Angelo pulled out a wallet and took out a thick wad of cash from it, slapping it down before Ira. “That should cover it. You’ll move in with me now?” Ira spirited it away into his own wallet within about a single second.
“Sure. We’re getting married, after all, so it’s not inappropriate.” Ira shrugged again, grabbing Mitch’s glass and taking a sip from it. This drink was just as disgusting as the other one’d been, and he spit it out again, sputtering weakly. “Alcohol is gross,” he noted. But he could have sworn he’d drunk alcohol before and been just fine… had he turned his sense of taste off? Did different alcohol’s taste differently? What had he been drinking, then?
Ira frowned. Mitch eyed his glass with stinking eyes, pushing it away to the edge of the table and glaring at Ira. Angelo kicked Mitch’s leg, and Mitch instantly deflated.
Ira giggled. He rose from his seat and stretched out his back, feeling it pop as he moved properly for the first time in a while. His clock told him a whole hour had somehow passed by while he’d been talking to Angelo, which made no sense at all. And also, he was still really hungry and was getting tired of this growling sound coming from his stomach. Annoying.
“Take me to dinner,” Ira order Angelo, already picking up his cane from where he’d dropped it on the floor and shaking off the dust. It was a thing he both did and did not need; he was fine right now, but his knee might stop working at any time. He honestly had no idea, there was just something wrong with this body, he supposed.
And sure, he could figure out what the problem was, but he couldn’t repair it. Ren already knew about it, so as long as he stuck around them, there would be no fixing it. Such a power simply didn’t exist in this world.
Ergo, Ira could not interfere.
Angelo rose as well, pulling on a coat that had been hanging on the booth’s backrest. He held an arm out to Ira and Ira gratefully took it, leaning most of his weight onto it. He waved a cheerful goodbye at Mitch, whoever that was, and together they left the shady bar.
In the fresh, outside air, Ira breathed in deeply. He glanced at the cars parked on the road and wondered vageuly if they’d be taking one of those, but Angelo walked right passed and so Ira did as well. “Know where we’re going?” Ira sked, looking at Angelo’s face out of the corner of his eyes.
Angelo was almost frowning, his gaze slipping between the view before them and Ira. It was kind of flattering, but Angelo also didn’t look very happy when he looked at him, and that was annoying. Eventually, though, Angelo responded, “Yes, I know a place. It’s lovely; I think you’ll love it.” Then he smiled at Ira and said, “They have delicious deserts.”
Ira grinned. He squeezed Angelo’s arm tighltly and bumped their bodies together. “Thank you,” he said, feeling a well of smugness pool in his stomach. Coming here had been the right deicion. Angelo, Xiao Wei, whatver his name was… he made Ira happier.
Fuck, that was such a mushy thing to think. Ira almost flinched at his own thougths, trying fruitlessly to curl away from it. He just ended up curling against Angelo instead, which was not that bad a deal. Angelo was warm in the night air, and he laid a hand over Ira’s resting on Angelo’s arm, the warmth seeping below Ira’s skin.
Like it was trying to burrow all the way down into his soul.
A thought occured to him. “You do remember who I am to you, do you?” he asked, glancing at Angelo.
Angelo stopped, turning to face Ira. He bent down until his forehead rested against Ira’s, their breaths mixing between them, the stars clear in the nightsky, the streetlamp blearily lighting up the dark around them, and said, “I always do.”
A/N: Excuse my typos, my fingers aren’t having the best of time lately.
Thank you for the update. Do be sure to rest both Physically and mentally author-san
Thanks for the chapter
Thanls for the chapter~~
Thanks for the chapter ❤️
Read this on Tapas, but commenting to fill out the comments.
… So how are you doing today?
😋
I’m doing pretty well! (Made some very tasty muffins 😊)
so sweet. I love their interactions
God, Ira always has be cackling.