doggone

[repeatedprayer]

[In the time following his departure from Tabito and Manabu's company, the alias "Grey" has wound up sticking.

Not that everyone calls him that, he's used a few other aliases since then, but it's what he's wound up thinking of himself as. If Grey had taken the time to think about it a bit more he might have picked something with a little less connection to Rezo's name, but it's still leagues better than thinking of himself as "Rez- wait, no, just a copy." And maybe that's why he's felt significantly calmer since he left Sairaag.

By his own standards, Grey has been laudably well-behaved; sure, he's been mostly doing under-the-table psychic work, often on behalf of criminals, but! He's been trying to keep a low profile so it's usually things like clairvoyant spying rather than anything violent, and he's been making a point of not doing anything that directly impacts the galaxy railways.

It would be extremely awkward if Manabu Yuuki had to try and arrest him, after all.

He's found himself frequently thinking about Manabu, much to his annoyance. He has no serious expectations of ever seeing Manabu again, so it's simply a waste of mental bandwidth to find himself wondering what Manabu is doing right now or where he is, or to reminisince over their incredibly brief acquaintanceship. Grey can only suppose that because Manabu was the first reasonably normal person he got to know after leaving Sairaag that Manabu is going to stick out in his mind for a while.

And it's probably because of the real estate that Manabu is hogging in Grey's mind that he's been very aware of every mention of the SDF that crosses his path. He hasn't exactly been tracking the SDF's activities deliberately, but he does pay attention to the news and the SDF frequently winds up in there, even if Manabu's name in particular isn't normally dropped.

Until the day it does.

SDF Officer Taken Hostage By Pirates]

* * *

[It's taken several weeks of investigating, but Grey has been able to track down The Huntress's client, a Dr. Parish and associates. It must be a small galaxy, because Dr. Parish is someone Grey knows. Sort of.

Rather, Dr. Parish was a colleague of Rezo's who collaborated with the man on chimera research (and other unsavory things) in the past. Not only that, the man was an ardent admirer of Rezo's superior psychic prowess, and desperate to improve his own meager abilities.

He'd had quite a shock when Grey approached him in town, but after the initial surprise it had been sickeningly easy to convince Dr. Parish that he was the real Rezo. Grey can only surmise that the man wants to believe too badly to let himself be properly suspicious. It had only taken a day for Grey to be invited to tour Parish's laboratory.

The lab's located on the grounds of a former Marquess's estate, a ways out of town and secluded by trees, a high wall, and a long drive. Grey's done a little recon before, but actually being here is different, especially since he has to navigate by cane at the moment. Grey is doing his best to politely nod and smile as Parish guides him from room to room, explaining their work and occasionally handing him things to examine himself.

But evidently Parish realizes that "Rezo" isn't entirely interested, because he stops partway through an explanation of some stem cell experiments he and a few others have been working on to say "Of course, the really interesting specimens are kept in the basement floor."

Grey already knows this. He hopes his expression seems the right sort of eager.]

Interesting?

["Something along the lines of what we did in the past. Would you like to see them?"]

Nothing would please me more.

[Grey can practically hear Parish's delighted grin. To soothe the surge of irritation, Grey reminds himself that he's going to kill this man before the end of the day and allows Parish to guide him out into the hall and to the basement entrance at the back of the building.]

Comments

[repeatedprayer]

Hardly.

[Grey's practically glaring at Manabu, his gaze is so intent.]

I may not be- close, to many people, but I've still known plenty of people. [Or at least, Rezo has.] And you, Manabu- you're extraordinary.

[siriusly]

[he looks mildly surprised at that for a beat, then his mouth twitches, brow knitting. it's hard to fight the want to look away bashfully, but he tries. it's the least he can do, right?]

Hopefully that means, at some point, you'll trust me to help you with whatever's weighing on you.

[repeatedprayer]

Manabu...

[Hell. What does he say to that? Grey's gaze softens. Manabu really never yields... Grey leans in and kisses Manabu's forehead. Afterwards, he pulls back and lets his arms fall away.]

Well. You were saying something earlier about us having work?

[siriusly]

[huh? work? rebooting...]

...Oh! Right. Mn. If you can still do that thing with your powers, we need to stake out the campus again. Learn some names and faces, you know? I can look up the staff from here, but any important others who might not be on there...

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey gives Manabu a wry look. "If you can still do that thing with your powers." Pfft. Who does Manabu think Grey is?]

More spying it is. There's surely a few new faces around this time of day.

[Whether or not they'll be important faces is another thing, but hey. Even then, it'll be good to familiarize himself more with the campus layout.]

[siriusly]

Mn. I can listen for any names as usual, too. [at least until he gets bored and goes to make food or something.]

[repeatedprayer]

Right, then. You get the tablet, and I'll lie down.

[Of course, Grey says that, and then immediately stands up and walks over to the kitchen.]

Oh yes, here-

[Because speaking of food, Grey grabs a box of crackers from the cupboard and tosses it Manabu's way. Catch, boy!]

You need to replenish yourself after being sick earlier. Get something to drink as well.

[Stakeout now comes with snacks!]

[siriusly]

D'ah-!! [he catches, fumbles, but there's nowhere for the box to go but into his lap anyway. saved.]

Er, ye-yeah. I will!

[not really a hard ask: sit there, eat something, write funny names and numbers...how hard can it be?

spoilers it's very hard because it involves a whole lot of sitting around and BEING VERY BORED and also distraction via reading on a tablet just makes him VERY SLEEPY. but!! Manabu will soldier on, because he is a soldier.

...he will also get up and make some lunch out of what's left of groceries when enough time has passed and he's sick of crackers and Grey hasn't mumbled anything new for a bit. a plate of that will be waiting for Grey when he snaps out of it...Manabu will not. he'll be out like a light, snoozing sitting up, propped up against the headboard with the tablet in his lap.

he tried, okay.]

[repeatedprayer]

At ease, Manabu.

[With a smirk at Manabu's fumbling, Grey returns to the bed and lies down. Off he goes!

This particular scouting session feels like it goes significantly better than his last one, since this time around Grey isn't struggling with unresolved sexual tension and the guilt of breaking Manabu's delicate maiden heart. He gets a few names and describes various noteworthy details about the campus in case Manabu does wind up tagging along after all.

There's a professor named Dr. Fiddler who strikes Grey's interest for having a familiar voice (Or is that his imagination?) and teaching a class in the medical faculty. There's a Mr. Kovalyov in charge of campus security. Several plaques bear the names of various donors to the school: Raimondo Rizzo, Angelo Sebastiani, Olivia Gioconda, etc.

After a while Grey starts to get hungry, and he can feel his body getting stiff back at the apartment, so he returns with the usual jolt and stretches, blinking a little as he adjusts.]

I'm back. Manabu, have you got anything? Manabu...?

[...The dog is asleep. Grey stares.

He's torn between exasperation because Manabu was supposed to be keeping watch!!!! ...but also affection because Manabu looks cute when he's asleep. And he does need to be resting as much as he can, since he's also supposed to be in recovery.

So instead of waking Manabu, Grey takes the tablet from his lap and spends some time typing in corrections and additions to whatever Manabu was able to get down before conking out. He spots (well, sniffs, then spots) lunch at the ready while he's typing away, so that also helps pass the time while Manabu sleeps.

...And if Manabu's still asleep by the time Grey is done, Grey will entertain himself by cracking open the package of playing cards he bought the other day and stacking cards on Manabu's head. Better than scribbling on his face than a sharpie, at least!]

[siriusly]

[something funny sticks out in all the research on that tablet - not the notes, no (though his spelling guesses can be egregious as hell), but where he was searching databases. amidst looking up activity on the college, on the research facility, on local city news, the search history has a brief blip about safe sex? huh. no comment on that, the dog is asleep!

at least until some of those cards start tickling at his ear, making it twitch and stir him out of his nap. he snorts, then startles as he feels things graze his nose.]

Buh! Wuh! Huh-?! [OH SHIT--] Grey! Are you still--huh? [he moved! he's over here!

...what's with all the cards.]

[repeatedprayer]

[Since the dog is tragically asleep, he'll miss the way the expressions on Grey's face play out at the discovery- the slight furrow of the brows at the "This doesn't look related to-" followed by the eyes bugging out at the realization of what it is, and the swift reddening of the face as Grey quickly works out why Manabu was (probably) looking into this.

He honestly thinks it's quite sensible of Manabu! But he is also stowing it away for potential teasing ammunition later. (Nevermind that he got flustered when he noticed it.)

But back to the present; Grey scoots back when Manabu stirs, anticipating potential flailing. The startle still makes him flinch, but by the time Manabu's spotted him Grey's expression has smoothed out entirely. He looks calm, professional, not at all like he was doing weird shit while Manabu was asleep.]

Oh good, you're awake.

[Manabu will have to ask directly about the cards if he wants an explanation, but it's probably not hard to make a connection between the playing cards scattered across Manabu's lap and the bed, and the remainder of the deck that Grey is still holding in one hand.]

[siriusly]

When the heck did I... [he shakes his head, another card fluttering off the dome.] What the heck is with all the cards, huh?!

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey starts to gather up those scattered cards, and also explain himself.]

I didn't want to wake you- [Although he kind of did, but ANYWAY...] -and it helped pass the time while you were asleep. I was up to eighteen before you woke up.

[Not that big a number, really, but in Grey's defense he was trying to stack them without waking Manabu, and they kept sliding off each other.]

[siriusly]

[he squints, blushing.]

That's...not how you use cards, you know.

[repeatedprayer]

Cards are very versatile. You can use them for all sorts of different games. [Grey retrieves a card from Manabu's lap and holds it up. Ten of spades, so tragically no handsome space pirates illustrating this one.] This was more entertaining than trying to learn solitaire.

[siriusly]

Jeez... [he picks up the ones scattered around him.] So? Did you catch anything good?

[repeatedprayer]

Mm. I've taken note of a few landmarks that might help you navigate the campus if you have to infiltrate it yourself. [Although he hopes that won't be necessary!] I also have more names for you.

[Once the rest of the playing cards are gathered and safely returned to their box, Grey goes and fetches the tablet and holds it out for Manabu.]

I've separated it into three groups- faculty members, security staff, and donors. The donors are worth looking into in case any of them are also the benefactor for Parish and company. And the individual members of the security staff probably aren't worth memorizing but- [Grey shrugs] -data is data. I've already gotten a strong idea of the routes security takes, and where the security is heaviest.

[siriusly]

[so those were all the names... Manabu blinks, not recognizing some (that's because the spellings are fixed on some of them, bud).]

Oh, man... [again: where's a Spica girl when you need her?!] Looks like I have a lot of followup to do between strength training...

[repeatedprayer]

[Manabu's getting to train not only his physical strength, but also his attention span! That said:]

We can work on the research together. I'm sure it'll be faster that way. [Grey can just take over whenever Manabu goes into a boredom-induced coma.]

[siriusly]

Are you sure? [he frowns a little.] You just did a whole lot already...

[repeatedprayer]

And I did it all lying down. [Grey makes a dismissive little hand gesture.] This much is nothing to me. [Pls be in awe of how cool and smart and tough your boyfriend is, Manabu.]

[siriusly]

Ehhh... [he'll get a mild awe-sound, if that pleases him.] Mn, okay then! Let's do that.

[...]

But I do want to stretch first.

[it's not homework avoidance it's HEALTHY


and also homework avoidance.]

[repeatedprayer]

[It does please Grey! Enough that he has to suppress the urge to preen. And he's in a good enough mood to not call Manabu out on his homework avoidance afterwards.]

Very well. More vestibular exercises?

[Grey asks, because if it's not something Manabu needs help with then he may as well get started on the research.

But if it is then he gets to manhandle Manabu some more and that's good too.]

[siriusly]

A--oh. Right. [the head thing. it's still embarrassing on a few levels, but...he has to do it, right? he was kind of hoping to do some squats instead, get his legs back in shape...

but he won't fuss; he'll situate himself where he needs to, though he does need to be chided for moving too fast again, but he's impatient! he had a nap, so the energy's back, and now it's Grey's problem to wrangle into productive avenues.]

[repeatedprayer]

[Wrangle he shall! Grey already more than knows enough to expect this from Manabu, and he's fortunately more stubborn than Manabu is impatient- more stubborn than he, himself, is impatient, really.

Though when the exercise is done and Grey releases Manabu's head so he can sit up, Grey does have a comment to make.]

You certainly bounce back quickly. With how energetic you're being, few would guess how ill you were earlier.

[It's not entirely a good thing, though, if it means Manabu pushes himself too hard.]