#🩷 ❝ 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙣𝙤𝙣𝙚 ❞ ; seishu

[sincerelyaudri]

Audrey. I have placed a rose corsage upon my wrist, and I humbly offer my hand for you to use as a replacement for that beloathed toy of yours.

— @sayshoo

to: sei☀️🌊🤍

meet me in my room in ten?

[sincerelyaudri]

Kanon is a shit sleeper.

Inui first thought it when the man had bulldozed his way into Audrey’s bed and knocked out in five minutes with the stench of brandy on his breath (she had pushed for the guest room, but an offhand comment about seeing just how hard Kaji could bite had her relenting to keep the peace), and he thought it again when he got an elbow to a kidney just as the sun had begun to rise.

He’s been awake ever since, Audrey to his left and still, somehow, sleeping, and Kanon sprawled out on the floor below thanks to Inui’s short fuse when it came to his comfort, and Audrey was, through no effort on her part, his comfort.

It was the reason he had been distancing himself as of late, burying himself in work that loved him more than he it; runways, photo shoots, brand deals, talk shows, interviews. It was tiring, and there more days than not where he found himself succumbing to exhaustion midway through the day, only to be up that same night and repeating it all over again.

He rarely had a moment to stop and think, which was welcomed since his thoughts were always centered around her. What’s she doing right now? Has she eaten or did she skip another meal in lieu of catching up on assignments? How were her classes going? Her shop? Her life? Her love life? Was she happy? Was she lonely? Does she miss him? Does she think about him like he does her?

It was tiring.

It was dangerous.

Audrey drove him to places that he hadn’t been since his youth - since he had gone “Hollywood”, as she so often teased. She made him regress to old, nasty ways of thinking whenever he scrolled past a picture of her with another man. I could get rid of him easily, he always thought without fail. He had acquaintances that would be more than happy to get rid of the mess—or he could do it himself if he was offended enough, if they had touched something that he deemed as his and his alone.

But he can’t think like that, not anymore, and he certainly can’t act on it. He had left that behavior behind when he left Bonten behind, when he had decided to give something different a try. Modeling hadn’t been the first thing on his mind, racing had been on it a few times, but then she had held his face in hands that felt like something adjacent to heaven and sung him praises that went straight to his head. She had gifted the world with him -she was his creator, in a way- and doomed it all in one breath.

Audrey stirs in her sleep from beside him but doesn’t wake, and Inui lets his gaze fall on her. She’s lying on her side as she faces him, and he softly exhales through his nose, eyes greedily taking in the face he’s been longing to see ever since he parted from it. He reaches out to touch her, to make sure that he’s not passed out in his own bed and in his own home instead of hers. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Skin meets skin and he blinks, thumb stroking at the curve of her cheek, and he’s nearly dozing back off until a glint on the nightstand catches his eye. His hand leaves her face to instead brace beside her head on the bed, and he leans over to get a better look, a muscle in his jaw ticking as he does.

It’s a men’s watch, cheap, by his standards anyways, and a bit too bulky for his liking.

Inui tries to reel himself in.

It’s none of his business. They’re not together. She can do what she pleases. Hell, it could be Kaji’s, or even Baji’s. He has no place to feel as annoyed as he does, as pissed as he does, as jealous, as possessive.

Inui fails to reel himself in.

“Audrey,” his voice is soft as he calls her, a stark contrast to the feelings twisting in his gut. “Baby, wake up.” He curls a hand on her waist, the shirt she had gone to sleep in having ridden up. His nose pushes into her cheek as he places a kiss on her jaw. “C’mon, honey, get up.” She flips to her back, and he adjusts himself so he’s hovering, hands adjusting her so her thighs are on either side of him.

“I need to ask you something.”

Dreams don't come to Audrey easily. When they do, they're often in the form of nightmares.

After running around for the entire day in stilettos and a pearl drape dress, she'd assumed her mind would be too tired to overwork itself. By the time she came home her shoes lay in Seishu's hands, head piece twirled around Kanon's fingers, jewelry decorating her descent from the doorway to her bedroom. Slumber beckoned her with grace, encouraged her clothes to the floor, and by the time she'd curled into the first shirt she could put her hands on and padded to her bed, it didn't matter what went on around her. Head met pillow and darkness greeted her with a kiss.

She thought that was it.

Instead, her mind took her to different places. At first she sat on the pier near her home, bare feet grazing the dark waters. Behind her stood a presence familiar - one she, at one point, considered home. Tears rolled off her bottom lashes, their voice carried through the salted wind, bitter to the taste as was their tone.

"I need to ask you something."

The memory fades and reformulates into another. She's stood in a kitchen, one hand precariously curved around a knife's handle, the other attempting to hold a pepper straight. There's someone else whose joined her, a blur of porcelain skin and dark hair when she looks up briefly. She's called for their attention, and presumably, they answered.

Something bitter churns in her gut. "I need to ask you something."

The dream shifts. This time, she's on a boat. In the distance she can see her house. It's ransacked, windows smashed open, curtains drifting outside in the cold air. A storm rolls off of the horizon, dark waters thrashing deep, crests of waves foaming white at their tops. The boat she's on creaks with their weight, soft palms dragging against cold wooden hull. Her cheek is hot, something pours out against it warm and wet. Her eyes look up in horror but she doesn't see a face - not one she recognizes, anyway.

The figure stands over her foreign. Dressed in black, save a white shirt rolled up to their elbows. The moonlight passes through the clouds for a moment, enough to dimly illuminate a chain around his neck. There's a pendant at the end.

There's also a gun in their hand. A gun freshly fired. The bullet is tunneled into Audrey's thigh.

She's too stunned to cry when they finally start to speak. Her throat runs dry.

"I need to ask you something."

The blur of daytime tells Audrey moments later that she's no longer on that boat. It's grounding - there's the gentle squawk of seagulls in the distance and a soft crash of accompanying waves that she's grown accustomed to. She's reminded that she's home, lashes fluttering when she blinks rapidly, heartbeat elevated into her throat. She rarely wakes up startled anymore, these dreams so frequent they rarely scare her. Rather they exhaust her, characterized by puffy dark bags and the absence of light in coffee brown eyes.

Seishu stares back at her. It takes her a moment to find her tongue, but she's happy peace comes along with it. He's familiar, unlike the last presence in her dream, though Seishu's presence is accompanied with his own aches.

She blinks wetly and hums soft. "Sei? What's the matter? Is everything okay?"