Thirty-Fourth Theory [Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

Filtered to Raine Sage || Unhackable

Professor Sage... I won't be coming back to school in January.

Comments

[i_speak_softly]

Are you spying on me, Raph?

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

What? No! I was just gonna ask you what you wanted for dinner and I heard you guys talkin'.

[Okay, maybe just a little.]

[i_speak_softly]

I just wanted to ask her a question.

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Right. [You're lying. He can tell.]

[i_speak_softly]

[He is not lying. He reaches back into the drawer and pulls out his heavy grammar book, dropping it on the desk with a purposely loud thump.]

Regarding the difference between participles and gerunds. It's been bothering me for weeks.

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Uh-huh.

[He pushes himself off the bed.]

You want mac n' cheese or tuna casserole? I'm too lazy to make anything else.

[i_speak_softly]

Either one is fine.

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[Tuna it is, then. He opens the door and walks out. If Don's got anything to say, he can come find him.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Later, after dinner...]

[Don hesitates in the doorway of Raph's room, a little surprised to see his brother already going through the motions of bedtime.]

Oh - are you going to bed?

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[He's undoing the knot of his mask when Don appears, pulls it off and tosses it on the nightstand.] Huh? Oh, yeah. Was out in the cold all day. I'm beat.

[i_speak_softly]

Where did you go?

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[He sits down on the bed and starts undoing the buckles on his kneepads.] Oh, the woods. Winry's. All over. Tree had to come from somewhere. Thought she'd want one too.

[i_speak_softly]

Do you still see her much?

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I stop by her house every now and then. We ah, got in a fight a while ago. Guess I'm still makin' up for it.

[i_speak_softly]

I think you mentioned that. [And didn't want to talk about it.]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

[He dumps his knee pads on the floor and works on the elbow pads in silence. He's hedging about telling Don what happened between them, but he doesn't know if it'll come out right if he tries.]

[i_speak_softly]

[He won't ask. It's not as though he has any leverage at the moment.]

Do you mind if I sit in here for a while?

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Go ahead.

[He clicks on his electric blanket and crawls into bed.]

Want me to leave the light on?

[i_speak_softly]

[He shrugs vaguely, and takes up a position by the window, looking out into the darkness.]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[Fine. Off the light goes. He turns over on his stomach and tries to fall asleep, but his head's too full of Winry now, along with a slight bit of worry for his brother.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don knows he won't sleep tonight. Probably not tomorrow night either. The worst part is that it's not even related to the things he'd rather not think about, but he won't be able to stop himself from thinking about them anyway.]

[Sunrise will be a long time coming.]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[Raph drifts off for a while between the worlds of sleeping and waking, a whole mess of memories and emotion running through his head. But eventually, his mind traces its way back to that day by the lake, eating salami sandwiches in the rough grass, the feel of her skin against his lips.

He opens his eyes, swallows, tries to quiet his racing heart. For a while, he lays there studying his brother's silhouette in the window.

Finally, he works up the courage to say something.]

Can I ask you somethin'?

[i_speak_softly]

[It takes him a while to register that someone is talking to him. He doesn't know how much time has already passed.]

Hm?

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

First, you gotta promise you're not gonna act weird about this.

[i_speak_softly]

[He sighs heavily.] I'll do my best.