rp log; yamato & akaya

[vermilionbeat.livejournal.com]

date; 9th of August. Hope that's okay with you Anne Marie?
rating; pg
summary; Yamato & Akaya get stuck in an elevator. Stupid conversations ensue.

It had been Yamato's idea that they get out together on the weekend. Their usual outings involved going outside to play, somewhere, like heading to a beach or on a hike. Part of this was to help Akaya control the energy that would otherwise build up inside him, part was because that way they could bring Luis with them, and the last part was just that they both preferred to be out in the open air when given the choice. This was not one of those times, however - they had gone to a movie theatre that was located on the top floor of a shopping center; the movie let out late which meant that by the time they were leaving, they were some of the only ones left filing out of the building. From the lobby of the theatre, they took one of the three readily accessible elevators down to the entrance of the building.

Or rather, they tried.

Both of them had been a little distracted, chatting about the movie as they left. Neither of them thought much about the fact that it was just the two of them getting in the elevator until the elevator came to a sudden halt half-way between the forth and third floor of the building, throwing Yamato off-balance and leaving them briefly in complete darkness before emergency lights kicked in. He was silent and still, making sure the elevator was not going to move again before he commented with a hint of humor in his voice, "It would appear we're stuck."

Normally, Akaya was difficult to scare. There was only a handful of things that could ever do it -- though no one could ever get him to admit to being afraid of them, at the most, Akaya'd say they made him nervous. Being stuck in an elevator, at night, when the possibility of being stuck till the very morning was too high for comfort, was quickly becoming one of them. For a moment Akaya ignored the older man in favour of stabbing the button that was supposed to take them to the ground floor.

Akaya took a deep breath, steadying his voice, "It's not funny, Yuudai," he said finally, still obsessively pushing at the button, but all too soon just that wasn't enough and the younger mutant couldn't help himself but punch the panel. Maybe that would work, it sometimes did... with older electronics. It most likely wouldn't work with an elevator, but nevertheless it was a comforting thought.

It was quite funny to Yamato - how often did one get stuck in an elevator, anyway? "There was probably some sort of power surge - I'm sure someone will get the power back online soon enough." It could have been anything - maybe it had started storming while they were in the movie and the storms had knocked out power in the neighborhood. He highly doubted that anyone was stalking the two members of X-Prime to an evening at the movies just to intentionally trap them in an elevator. Regardless, everything would be just fine and there was no use taking out frustration on the buttons that were, at that moment, not functioning.

He watched Akaya fuss with the elevator controls for a moment before seating himself on the floor of the elevator and saying, "We're on emergency power, I don't think violence is going to change anything, Akaya."

"I could blow up my way through..." Akaya commented grimly, flexing his fingers to get the energy itch out of the way. It wasn't a serious suggestion, just something for him to channel his nerves into. Of course it still failed to calm down his heartbeat or even make him feel better. The bright side was that he was stuck with Yamato, except right now that thought wasn't doing him any good either, mind preoccupied with the notion of being stuck in the first place. Before he wouldn't think of himself being claustrophobic, but right now... Akaya pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling slowly, "I'm envious," he said finally, coming to sit next to the other, knees pulled up to his chest. "You always stay calm, no matter what," it was as close to Akaya saying 'you're not afraid of anything' as it could get. His temper was better now, sure, but mostly when it came to people, not situations like this.

With a chuckle, Yamato touched one hand to the top of Akaya's head. He did always stay calm regardless of the situation with the occasional exception of moments of panic when Akaya was in danger. Thankfully, it was rare that the younger mutant got himself in a situation where he was truly in any sort of grave danger. But, the source of that calm was not lack of fear so much as confidence that things would work out - if he really wanted to, Yamato could stretch out his own powers and check around to see if anyone had discovered they were trapped, yet, but why bother? Humans made it out of these situations just fine and dandy on a regular basis without the help of mutant powers.

"Nothing to be envious of, I spend countless hours trying to teach our students to remain calm no matter the situation. Clarity of mind doesn't come naturally for most people." His hand slipped away and Yamato stretched his legs out, relaxing. "You've never told me you're claustrophobic."

"I never thought I was," Akaya wrinkled his nose. Normally, he wasn't fazed by small spaces, but usually then there was a way to get out -- door, window, whatever... really. But right now? Right now that wasn't exactly the case. "It's the first time I get stuck someplace with no way out," he swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck in an attempt to calm down. "And it's just... unsettling," not to say 'scary'. No, it wasn't scary. Unnerving, maybe.

After a longer moment of silence Akaya couldn't help but ask, "You sure we aren't gonna be stuck here till the morning?" Yamato had a way with words that helped as often as it made Akaya want to bang his head on the wall. Or rather, that was the case in the past, not so much these days and Akaya suspected the man must have been rubbing off on him. Pity that his calm didn't rub off together with everything else.

Until morning? Probably not, someone was bound to find them before then... or Akaya would blow up the elevator, one or the other. "There were other people using the elevators when this one stopped - they must know that people are trapped in here. I'm sure they're working diligently to get us out. If there was a power surge, we'll just have to wait until those repairs can be made." Even if they were trapped there until morning, it would not be the worst thing that could possibly happen to them. At least it would be good company for the wait. "Try closing your eyes and imagining yourself somewhere else - like at the beach looking out at the ocean."

That answer didn't work, Akaya thought but closed his eyes obediently -- he knew better than to try to argue. Beach, huh? It wasn't that hard, they went to the beach often enough. Akaya always really enjoyed these trips, and to the mountains too. He sighed, trying to relax against the wall of the elevator. Like during his daily meditations, just without the part where he screwed around with his energy. And this was helping, somewhat. Akaya was still a little too aware that he wasn't on the beach he was visualising, but trapped in an elevator, but the images in his mind eased the tension and apprehension this situation brought up.

"Okay, this works," he said with a small smile, letting his eyes to remain closed.

Yamato continued quietly, "Imagine the blue sky stretching above you, warm sun... kids splashing in the water just a ways away, the warm sand beneath your feet..." If he closed his own eyes, he would be able to picture it perfectly... when they got out of the elevator, a trip to the beach might be in order. It was the middle of the summer, after all, best to enjoy everything the sunshine had to offer. With a coy little smile Akaya could not see, Yamato added, "Little crabs coming after you to pinch you." With that, he pinched Akaya in the shoulder, ready for the inevitable recoil.

And at that pinch, Akaya yelled something incomprehensible, jumping away from the older man. "What was that for?!" And he was already calming down too, enjoying the non-breeze and imaginary sun, but Yamato had to go and... pinch him. Akaya fumed, glaring daggers and cursing the fact that Yamato wasn't ticklish (as that was his first idea for retaliation on the man for what he did). Finding himself with no other idea, he sat on the other side of the elevator. It wasn't exactly far, but far enough to show his point. He was displeased (or sulking, rather), and Yamato was supposed to make it up to him now.

The older man laughed, leaning back against the elevator. "Be careful of the crabs, Akaya," he said jokingly, leaning his head back against the elevator wall behind him. Even a death glare from Akaya, by no means ineffective, could not upset Yamato. It was good to see that the other mutant was not fixating on the situation, anymore.

Akaya quirked an eyebrow dubiously, glare still in place, "Or maybe of one particular crab, eh?" This distraction technique was successful, but not for long. Slowly Akaya was becoming aware again of his real surroundings and the real situation, so he closed his eyes. Keeping himself in check was more important than glaring at Yamato, after all. Beach, not a crampy and not working elevator.

"Geez," Akaya muttered, keeping his breathing steady, "How often do people get stuck in elevators anyway...?"

"It's fairly routine," the older mutant offered helpfully, stretching his arms above his head. "I heard that in New York City it happens frequently enough that they actually had to add a specific emergency line just for elevator emergencies - those old apartment buildings are regularly inspected, but the equipment is aging." Not that he could remember where he heard that or if it was even reliable information, but it did take the edge off of this situation if they were just one of many that faced this very same problem. "We'll have to ask Yukimura-kun about it; I don't know how reliable my source was." He chuckled, dropping his arms back and closing his eyes.

"That must suck," Akaya commented simply, mulling this information over. Lucky him for living in Japan where this ... didn't happen all that often. It was actually the first time ever he got stuck in an elevator. Granted, Japan had earthquakes, which Akaya wasn't overly fond of either. And now that he thought about that he could only hope that one wouldn't catch them while they were stuck in a goddamn elevator! The possibility of that was probably very low, but it was there... and it only made Akaya nervous again. He opened his eyes, looking at Yamato for a second, before he made up his mind and shifted to sit next to the man once more. This time he sat closer though, almost shoulder-to-shoulder, thigh-to-thigh.

Recognizing that Akaya was nervous, Yamato lifted his arm, resting it over Akaya's shoulders and resting his hand on top of Akaya's head with his fingers tangled up in black curls. In all the time that they had been friends, it was not unusual for the younger mutant to seek out his older friend for comfort or wisdom, even if he would not admit that he was doing it at the time. Their relationship had been everything from mentor and student to underclassman and upperclassman to best friends, but fundamentally it never changed. Ridiculous as the situation was, this was comfortable and normal.

Quietly, he commented, "The most interesting things happen to me with you. I can't imagine how horribly boring life would have been if we hadn't met."

A bark of laughter escaped Akaya at that, he didn't ignore the hand in his hair, but neither did he act as if anything was out of ordinary. And it wasn't, really. Normally Akaya was quite strict about his personal space not being invaded, but it was a whole another story with Yamato. With the man it was natural, and soothing. "Of course," he said with a cheeky grin, "Probably a half of 'em is my own doing too." The thought of an earthquake happening right now still lingered, but he managed to relax at least a bit against the older mutant.

More than half, Yamato mused to himself, but he did not voice the thought. This particular problem was probably just a blown fuse or a power outage - nothing to be too worried about. It was rarely more than forty-five minutes before someone responded and had the power up and running, again. Last he knew, Akaya could not cause power outages single-handedly unless he took out a transformer with his powers, or something along those lines. His power did not disturb regular, healthy circuits; it was not electric in nature. Wouldn't it be funny if they did get out of this only to find that it really was Akaya's doing, somehow? Well, funny for everyone but Akaya.

"I'm just as prone to causing trouble. I wonder how many things have been just pure chance." The older mutant chuckled at the thought. He had a feeling that the answer to his question was very little - the freak power outages aside.

"Between the two of us?" Akaya questioned, eyebrow quirked as he threw Yamato a sideways glance, "I'd say not that many." They were a match made in hell, one could say, both enjoying causing random mischief much too much for the sake of others. "Maybe from now on we should list the things that happen to us... two columns," he said, amusement seeping into his voice, " 'Caused by us' and 'pure chance'. We could start with this one," Akaya motioned with his hand to the elevator, "Because this certainly isn't my job..." Pause, and Akaya couldn't help but give Yamato a suspicious look, "Unless it's yours... somehow."

Laughing, Yamato said, "No, I couldn't orchestrate an elevator losing power if I tried." Pretending to be thoughtful, he corrected, "Well, maybe if we got the team together..." He flashed a bright grin at Akaya and considered the proposal, even if it was made entirely in jest. If there were the problems caused by them, and those caused by pure chance, there was still the matter of who was the troublemaker between the two of them. "We'll need three columns - one for 'pure chance,' one for 'Akaya,' and then one for 'Yuudai.' Then we can get to the bottom of this nonsense."

Akaya nodded, laughing himself and then, in retaliation for earlier, sneaked a hand to pinch Yamato's side. "Fair enough," this whole idea was silly, and crazy, but at least it was amusing (and it did a good job at making Akaya think of something else).

Yamato jolted a little at the pinch, but only laughed more. Flashing a devilish grin, he commented, "That's one for your column, I think."

"Pfft," Akaya snorted inelegantly, mirroring Yamato's grin, red eyes shining with amusement, "And that crab from earlier will go in yours." He shifted a little, leaning a more into the older man -- this was natural. Physical affection was easy with Yamato, especially in private (though it didn't mean Akaya was ever shy in public either -- maybe sometimes, but not always).

"I can't do anything about the crabs," said the older man sincerely. "They pinch." With the hand that was not rested over Akaya, he made a pinching motion to back up his words. Though he did not voice the thought, he mused to himself with no short supply of amusement that Akaya would be in his lap if he moved much closer. It was most likely for comfort - no matter how much fun they might be having, they were still trapped in an elevator.

"Sure they do, but," a pause, as Akaya in one quick move caught Yamato's hand -- the one he motioned with -- then continued, "Last time I checked you were no crab." And he gave Yamato a pointed look, though he couldn't stop his lips from quirking upwards further.

Yamato used the fingers of his free hand to very gently pinch Akaya's shoulder, really only hard enough to move the cloth. "Pinch, pinch," he teased softly, unable to help but smile back at Akaya. Some distant part of him was thinking, I think I saw a doujinshi like this, once, but the thought was dismissed as it would generally make the situation just plain awkward.

Akaya tried to hold back his laughter in vain, "You're impossible," he shook his head, still holding Yamato's hand. "It still goes in your column," and to make his point, Akaya knocked the finger of his free hand on the older man's chest.

"Well then," the older mutant began thoughtfully, running over the tally so far in his head. "That's one in your column, one in my column, and one in the column for pure chance for the elevator." He really would have to post this table somewhere when they got out of this mess and were able to get home. He could put it on his fridge so Akaya would have to see it eventually or perhaps some common area where all of X-Prime would eventually pass by. Or he could just keep the chart in his journal and remind Akaya whenever a point was added to the Akaya column.

"Mmhm," Akaya nodded, "So everything is even." For now, he added in his mind. Knowing them? It'd soon fill out with plenty of other points, some more crazy than the others. Akaya relaxed further against Yamato, closing his eyes for that moment. The older man was always comfortable, always warm and always safe. He was perfectly aware that the feelings he had for the man went far beyond that of simple friendship. But things were okay the way they were, and Akaya wasn't about to destroy everything with his selfishness.

The warmth and weight against Yamato's side was pleasant, and he was quite content to just let them lapse into silence and enjoy the moment. Careful not to disturb Akaya, he went back to resting his hand in the younger mutant's hair, fiddling with curls, wrapping them around the top knuckles of his fingers gingerly. For as much of a mess the curls were, the hair was not wirey or coarse; it was actually surprisingly soft to the touch, but that was not new information to Yamato.

This was comfortable. Yamato was probably the only person in the universe with whom silence could be this comfortable. Akaya smiled at the thought, enjoying the touch to his head -- again, the older man was one of the very few people who got away with playing with his hair. It was no surprise to him, really, that Yamato was the only one for many things -- as stupidly cheesy as it sounded. But Akaya was jostled out of his thoughts when the elevator moved again, proper lights went on (instead of the emergency) and it started descending again. "Well," he said, not moving just yet, "We're not staying here the whole night, thankfully." As much as he enjoyed the company, this was much, much better.

With a chuckle, Yamato shifted a bit, stretched, and said, "There was nothing to worry about, after all." However reluctantly, he wiggled away from Akaya and got slowly to his feet, rolling his shoulders to work out kinks that were developing there. It was a bit disorienting to stand while the elevator was moving, but he was able to find his balance before they reached the lowest floor. He offered a hand to Akaya to help him up.

Akaya accepted the hand -- were it anyone else, he'd get up on his own, "Yeah, seems so," he nodded, dusting off his pants, then stretching. When the door opened, Akaya was more than grateful to step out of the elevator into a much, much bigger space. That was better. "Home now?" He tilted his head up, eyebrow quired in question. If not home just yet, then Akaya hoped Yamato would pick a place on the ground floor. He had enough of elevators for today.

"I think we've had enough excitement for one evening," Yamato agreed wryly.