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[ it's been a while since toji had something to hunt, so he makes a little game of it. he tracks cain, keeping quiet and out of sight, not his former levels of functionally invisible but well practice enough to manage. he waits for a good opening to get the drop on cain, literally, jumping down from some old sagging balcony of some stranger's house to box cain in some dead end alley. he lands inches from cain's back, spinning him around to pin him to the wall. ]

Miss me?

( he likes to think that his peripheral awareness is better than it is — but then he's never been trailed by an ex-merc before now, has he? he's had his moments when he's needed to lose some bastard or another that thought he owed them something, but that was back in the colonies, and things have always been a little bit different there.

suffice it to say, at the very least that he startles visibly when toji drops down behind him and moves to pin him to the wall, breath caught in the back of his throat and just short of throwing a right hook because you do not just sneak up on your idiot like that, sir. ) Je—fuck. ( he growls, though he relaxes instantly when he realizes who it is.

he's practically slumped against the wall when he raises both hands to brace them against toji's chest. ) What do I always say when you ask me that? ( yes. )

'Fuck off'? [ toji estimates, not actually remembering. he's not so good with the little day to day details. and it doesn't really matter what cain says, because toji knows what he means, and it's yes, it's always yes, it's the yes of someone who's been starved so long they don't even know what being full means.

cain braces his arms against toji's chest, and toji leans in closer for it, one forearm leaned casually against the wall just above cain's head, his other hand tucking cain's hair back, trailing indulgently over his cheek. ]

...I told you what I used to do for a living, didn't I?

Could start sayin' that. ( he grumbles, even though he knows he would never mean it, because it's fucking goddamned stupid how much he finds himself gravitating back toward him, again and again, and maybe it's more because he's never gotten this kind of attention from anyone else before than it isn't.

but sue him, he wants to keep it. he likes the feeling of being wanted, of being wanted around in a general sense and that's on him, so if it ever stops, he'll know when he needs to take his leave.

his fingers dig into toji's shirt, perhaps more because he likes keeping him close than anything else, but he's not about to admit to anything. much like he isn't about to admit he's going to nuzzle into the hand at his cheek. he shrugs, one-shouldered. )

Yeah. Maybe.

( like that matters? )

Yeah? Then don't waste everybody's time trying to hide from me. I'm inescapable.

[ it's not really a brag. toji doesn't say anything he doesn't mean, errs on the side of caution. he clocked himself as 'maybe' being able to take down the gojo satoru back in the day, and 'maybe' just about covered it nicely, he thinks.

he strokes cain's cheek in return for that nuzzle, absently kissing the top of his head. it all comes so naturally, what to do, how to do it. he's not left standing here afraid to touch cain in case he does something wrong, hurts him, breaks him.

he got this beautiful thing in pieces, and putting it back together doesn't scare him at all. mostly. mostly. ]

...talk to me, Alexei. What's wrong?

You'd know if I was actually tryin'. ( he says quietly, and it's true; if he wanted more than a snowball's chance in hell at keeping the other off his ass for even a second, he wouldn't have given him an inkling of where he could have found him in the first place. even when he'd gone to the trouble of making himself scarce, he'd known he'd catch up to him eventually.

sooner rather than later, but that isn't the point.

he leans into the kiss, feeling even more absurd than he already did at kicking up such a damned fuss about a couch that didn't even belong to him, and he huffs out a frustrated sound that sticks behind his teeth, not quite knowing how to answer that question without sounding. childish? is that how he'd put it? )

Nothin's wrong. ( he starts, wanting to tuck his face into the crook of the other's neck just because he's there, and that's yet another childish thing that he should probably get over. ) I overreacted about a goddamn couch. Just … drop it, okay? ( that isn't exactly a proper apology but. it's a start. )

No, [ toji snorts in return, folding cain comfortably in his arms with what muscle memory by now. ]

Don't care if it's an overreaction or not. It mattered to you enough to make a fuss, and you're gonna have to get used to shit that matters to you meaning something.

[ he pinches cain's nose, grinning. ]

Try again.

( toji pinches his nose, and it scrunches up at the very same moment he swats at his hand — this is becoming a recurring theme! — but then he's tucking himself into him like he doesn't remember how to do anything else, sighing in the back of his throat like it might do him some good.

it won't. ) That mean you care about anythin' I kick up a fuss about?

( that ... endears him more than he's willing to admit presently, if it's true. )

I never used to give a shit. ( come on, alexei, use your words. you're getting there. ) About whether or not somebody's shit got messed up. But Yuri— ( he looks up at him then, raising his eyebrows. ) She's gotta care about you enough to put up with your bullshit, right? She deserves some respect.

I guess that … goes as far as her furniture. And lotion.

The fuck do you think caring means? [ toji asks, pinching cain's cheek for emphasis. ]

She's just stupid, [ he goes on to scoff. however harsh the words, there's no insult to them. just a bland statement of fact that's edging on fond. ] Doesn't know how to assert herself. Doesn't know how to ask to be treated right. Doesn't know she can and should have better. She'll figure it out someday, and in the meantime I've got a place to sleep and dinner now and then.

Girls like her got me through most my life.

I will bite you. ( he grumbles half-heartedly, clicking his teeth at the very same time toji pinches his cheek, but there's no real bite behind it. if you keep reacting like this, you know he's just going to keep doing things that get on your nerves, right —

like he cares. it's kind of endearing if he's perfectly honest, but he's not about to be honest out loud.

he can sense fondness for what it is, he probably sounds much the same when he's talking about someone he's grown to like — will sound like that when he talks about you, old man — and so he doesn't say anything about the harshness of the words. he's never known toji to be anything but truthful when he's being serious. )

Takes a lot to learn shit like that. ( he says like he knows from experience, and it's anyone's guess if he actually does; there's never been a whole lot of speculation on how he thinks he deserves to be treated, or what he deserves in general, and if he's honest, again? yuri reminds him so much of abel with how kindhearted and open she is that it almost strikes a nerve, but maybe that's just another point of why he kicked up such a fuss. )

You get a place to crash and she gets a fucked up couch. ( he snorts, keeping his tone light. ) Great setup for you.

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after yuri's network post; action

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