"Because that's the point we in the industry call 'tipsy'," he says, and it comes out surprisingly concerned rather than patronising. "And when you hit that point, you can stop, enjoy your buzz, have some harmless fun? And not get a hangover. If you keep going..."
His hand moves higher, to try and coax some of Jedao's bed head back to Earth with gentle combs of his fingers as he talks. "You get this. You don't know when to stop, and you might get hurt. Or hurt someone else, but not realise it because you're too drunk to remember."
"Hey, hey hey, easy-" He stops brushing Jedao's hair to grip his shoulder again, giving him a firm, if worried, look. "Deep breaths, champ, relax. What are you talking about?"
Eiffel's eyebrows go right up, and he pulls his hand back to cover the shitty little smile on his face. There's a lot of conflicting emotions here, but part of him can't help the biggest one being Get it, Buster Brown.
"Is that right?" He manages to wrangle his smile into something more appropriate to the mood, but now he's invested. "Who's the lucky guy saying yes to your moves?"
"I can still tell," Jedao mutters, gesturing at the futility of Eiffel's hand over his mouth, while turning, if possible, even brighter pink. He's so torn, because Eiffel is careless sometimes, and it's private, and it's probably going to all fall apart before it really starts when Jedao can force himself to confess, but - but -
It feels so normal, gossiping to a friend, a kind of normal he's never had but has a nebulous sense of nontheless, and Eiffel doesn't seem to think it's a disaster anymore, and - he just wants to. He wants to tell his friend.
"Um. Gonou."
(Fuck. He knows they're friends. Is he going to lose Eiffel too, when it all goes down in flames? He should want Gonou not to lose anything else to him - after everything you took from me - he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, banishing Dhanneth's last accusation.)
That gets a surprised blink, and a moment's pause as he has to do some quick mental refiling of Gonou. Nothing bad, just... different.
"Well, I dunno who I was expecting, but hey. As long as you were both into it." And at least they're the same actual age, part of his brain pings helpfully, and Eiffel's own cheeks flush a little. "S-so, does that mean you two are a thing now? Or was that just- y'know, testing the waters." He gives Jedao a look that's meant to be a stern sort of dadly look but falls a bit short. "You're not a heartbreaker, are you?"
He thinks both of them are fairly - invested, although the thought doesn't make it to his mouth.
As long as, indeed. Jedao tries once again to banish thoughts of Dhanneth, but then Eiffel asks if he's a heartbreaker and he can see the twisted ruin of Dhanneth's face, feel the hot blood spattering on his own -
"I'm going to take a shower. You do something useful." He stands up. "Water the plants."
He walks to the door into the other rooms, and adds without looking back, "Not too much."
"Wh--?" But then Jedao's already gone, and Eiffel is left alone in the lounge with no idea what he did wrong. The conversation had been going well, he hadn't even gotten a chance to do any real teasing yet!
...also he has no idea where Jedao's watering can is, so. When he hears the shower start he's gonna give the lounge a quick poke-around before he tries maybe the kitchen instead?
The kitchen has the particular pristine quality of a room that has never been used, except to make tea. The red-and-gold tea set clashes with the dappled greens of the decor, beautiful with filigrees and flourishes but still having an unmistakable air of being a mass-produced standard set.
There are a few staples in the cabinets that have never been opened - a full bag of rice, jars of pickled cabbage in the fridge. The only thing that has been opened is a box of Kel ration bars, with labels in a script that resembles, but isn't, hangul.
Jedao is back in two minutes, covered again from chin to wrists to ankles as always, finger-combing his wet hair. He grabs one of the ration bars and scarfs it down in about three bites.
Okay that was an unfairly fast shower, and Eiffel jumps like he got caught with a hand in the cookie jar. Because maybe he did pocket a ration bar to try later, you don't know that.
"Engine-? Oh, yeah--" right the entire reason he called "--uh, yeah, big red flashing light of doom and despair on the door, maybe twenty minutes ago?"
But he makes sure to grab the drink bottle again for Jedao before he leads the way to the elevator; inside which is already thrumming gently from the vibrations lower down, and by the time they step out it's tangible in the floor, and Eiffel grimaces at the bass thrumming.
"Ugh, you can feel that in the goddamn bone," he mutters, rubbing his jaw with his free hand as he moves towards the engine.
"She's panting like a dog," Jedao murmurs, his hand trailing along the wall as if to soothe the barge itself. He doesn't know why he said that, either, since he doesn't know anything about dogs.
"I hear a dog hawking up a lung like this, I'm calling the ASPCA," he mumbles, falling in half a step behind Jedao on sheer autopilot. "When I made noises like this I needed a hole popped in my lung."
"I'm not-" He looks faintly offended, under the thick top layer of guilt. "I'm not being mean, I'm worried. I've- I know she's not the same as Hera, but I've seen Hera pull stunts like this and it was bad for her."
He brushes a hand on the wall between two cabins, apologetically.
"And I'm not gonna make you," he assures quickly. "But right now, I'm still the guy who knows it best besides you. Or maybe Xigbar. You'll have plenty of options when we're clear of imminent doom and destruction."
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His hand moves higher, to try and coax some of Jedao's bed head back to Earth with gentle combs of his fingers as he talks. "You get this. You don't know when to stop, and you might get hurt. Or hurt someone else, but not realise it because you're too drunk to remember."
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"No! I didn't - he wanted to, he said so, he - I remember, I remember it!"
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"I didn't hurt anyone," Jedao insists, not at all relaxed, but at least slightly quieter due to sheer mortification. "We just kissed, it was nice."
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Eiffel's eyebrows go right up, and he pulls his hand back to cover the shitty little smile on his face. There's a lot of conflicting emotions here, but part of him can't help the biggest one being Get it, Buster Brown.
"Is that right?" He manages to wrangle his smile into something more appropriate to the mood, but now he's invested. "Who's the lucky guy saying yes to your moves?"
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It feels so normal, gossiping to a friend, a kind of normal he's never had but has a nebulous sense of nontheless, and Eiffel doesn't seem to think it's a disaster anymore, and - he just wants to. He wants to tell his friend.
"Um. Gonou."
(Fuck. He knows they're friends. Is he going to lose Eiffel too, when it all goes down in flames? He should want Gonou not to lose anything else to him - after everything you took from me - he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, banishing Dhanneth's last accusation.)
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"Well, I dunno who I was expecting, but hey. As long as you were both into it." And at least they're the same actual age, part of his brain pings helpfully, and Eiffel's own cheeks flush a little. "S-so, does that mean you two are a thing now? Or was that just- y'know, testing the waters." He gives Jedao a look that's meant to be a stern sort of dadly look but falls a bit short. "You're not a heartbreaker, are you?"
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As long as, indeed. Jedao tries once again to banish thoughts of Dhanneth, but then Eiffel asks if he's a heartbreaker and he can see the twisted ruin of Dhanneth's face, feel the hot blood spattering on his own -
"I'm going to take a shower. You do something useful." He stands up. "Water the plants."
He walks to the door into the other rooms, and adds without looking back, "Not too much."
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...also he has no idea where Jedao's watering can is, so. When he hears the shower start he's gonna give the lounge a quick poke-around before he tries maybe the kitchen instead?
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There are a few staples in the cabinets that have never been opened - a full bag of rice, jars of pickled cabbage in the fridge. The only thing that has been opened is a box of Kel ration bars, with labels in a script that resembles, but isn't, hangul.
Jedao is back in two minutes, covered again from chin to wrists to ankles as always, finger-combing his wet hair. He grabs one of the ration bars and scarfs it down in about three bites.
"You said we had an Engine Room situation?"
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"Engine-? Oh, yeah--" right the entire reason he called "--uh, yeah, big red flashing light of doom and despair on the door, maybe twenty minutes ago?"
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"Okay, let's go."
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But he makes sure to grab the drink bottle again for Jedao before he leads the way to the elevator; inside which is already thrumming gently from the vibrations lower down, and by the time they step out it's tangible in the floor, and Eiffel grimaces at the bass thrumming.
"Ugh, you can feel that in the goddamn bone," he mutters, rubbing his jaw with his free hand as he moves towards the engine.
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He brushes a hand on the wall between two cabins, apologetically.
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They get to the door and he touches the red light with careful fingertips. It's a little bit warm, but he doesn't feel -
Hello? Barge? Are you okay?
She never answers him in words, like Revenant did, but he can feel her trying.
"I think this is from...them, not her. It doesn't feel like - distress. It feels more like...flagged for inspection, not Help I'm Broken."
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They're not fine. But denial and bravado are a lot easier than facing the reality he is acutely aware of.
"Let's just give it a quick look, see how her indigestion's going."
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