Ah. Not Accustomed To Those. Genuine Compliments. For A Moment, He Stares Down At Her Through Obscuring

Big fan of Lee's "Stone might also be an orphan", but I always thought how insane it would be if Stone did have a family, a big one, he just chose Robotnik.

Can you imagine? The one abandoned by his own family being CHOSEN above somebody else's family? That'd be...the poetic cinema, truly.

he's tugged, led really. eyes flicked down, blurred and blackened around the edges. like straws narrowed in and zoomed in on the fact that the hand was still gripped onto his jacket. oh. no one had ever done that before. why was that so...? why was julius so focused in on that? he couldn't look away from that hand on his jacket, to the point where he did bump into him when they stopped abruptly.

julius stumbled back a step, muttering a quickly, flustered and spluttered, "er, s-sorry! i didn't mean to bump into you," finally tears his eyes away in order to look at the place. his eyes widened, a sucked in stuck breath at the sight. glory that had to be the fanciest looking building he's ever seen. "whoa." decent? julius wasn't sure his wallet could afford it from just looking at the building alone.

· 𓂃 ࣪˖🔪 ˖ ࣪𓂂 . "Mhmmm," hummed back before giving Julius' jacket a tug for him to follow. "There's this place just down the block." Assured as he makes his way down pavement, still not letting go of the other's jacket as he lead to the shop. Just to abruptly stop in front of the place so that they intentionally bump into one another. "Here. It's not the best place, but it's decent." They're in the nicer part of Gotham after all, so decent is good really. He's just a bit spoiled.

"i gathered as much," comes his short reply when ivo ( hells that is still so strange to adjust to thinking, knowing ) mentions what the name of the device meant.

what julius does not expect, however, is for the little drone to have been given an actual name. as though it were a living breathing creature and not a hunk of metal and bits of wire. "...of course you named it." he supposed that he may have done the same thing had he gone down a similar lifepath.

julius doubted that.

"i'll refrain, in that case." he moves to stuff his hands into his coat pockets. "well. i have a, no doubt odd question to pose: what do we call one another? i suspect you'd feel strange calling me robotnik, and i am not particularly fond of referring to you as ivo.

in this case, i believe it's best to figure out," he can't think of another word for it, but the syllable feels like sand coming out of his mouth, "nicknames, for each other."

"yes, badniks," ivo replied with a wave of his hand, his expression neutral despite the twinge of aggravation he felt. "it is a play on my last name, obviously."

he pauses then, looking at how one of his little egg-drones seemed to have taken a liking to julius, which was hardly a surprise. on the outside they looked the same, so he couldn't fault the little badnik at all.

"arcturus likes you, it seems. if you continue to indulge him he won't ever leave you be."

he was healing, of course, quicker than it'd scar. it'd need extended prolonged contact to do any actual lasting damage. julius is trying and failing to breathe properly, but stone's voice causes him to lift his head, hands still lifted up close to his face but no longer clasping or hiding. "talk to me, please."

how? HOW? he didn't know HOW to⸻ what to say⸻ how to explain⸻ if he should⸻ what if he fucked it all up⸻ what if⸻

"i'm here to listen to you and help." a hand on his shoulder. gaze flicks down to stone's hand. stares. julius focuses. exhales unevenly, focusing on his left hand, that feeling of warmth leaving his palm. his fingers twitch, but he moves to lay his palm overtop of stone's on top of his shoulder, eyes closing. inhales, exhales.

"....i can't lose you," the words are weighted: an ache and a sorrow and yet a guilt and regret and self-anger causing them to sound like even the very air from julius' lungs are burning, "i⸻ i can't, control.... s-sometimes, the energy," he falters, shamed, gaze now on the ground between himself and stone. unable to look at stone. not trusting himself to be able to handle whatever expression stone was making or whatever look stone was lobbing his way.

"it goes, haywire, a-and then my mind," fingers twitch slightly against stone's hand, pressing into his hand a tad more. as though needing to grip tightly to stone and never let go, "i start, having these⸻ thoughts."

stone doesn't flinch when julius suddenly grabs his wrist, though he does briefly knit his eyebrows together as he tries to figure out just why the man had done that. perhaps to ground himself? that was likely it, until...

he felt like his wrist was on fire, and just as quick as he had looked down julius had rescinded his grip and quickly backed away. what was more odd was the fact stone could have sworn he smelt burning flesh, the scent unmistakable to the former agent.

julius was... burning? mumbling to himself as well. stone doesn't move towards him however, simply choosing to remain where he was and just observe the other for a minute or so before finally speaking.

"hey... what's happening? talk to me, please. I'm here to listen to you and help," he says softly as he kneels down in front of him, reaching out a hand to rest on the man's shoulder in an act of comfort.

how rude. he stares across at her, but doesn't have it in him to be snide. much as her comment stings. julius never could be mean, not to her. least of all because of what she represented, in his mind. "i'll take that as a compliment," & with an overexaggerated flourish of his left hand, julius bows, smirking somewhat.

"it seems like no matter the name he goes by- my cousin is always odd."

What kind of relationship does your muse want with mine?

❤️ romantic 💛 platonic 💙 family 💜 mentor/mentee 💞 friends with benefits 💕 unrequited love [specify who] 💚 rivals 🖤 enemies

ANONYMOUSLY TELL ME YOUR HONEST OPINION ABOUT ME. I CAN’T REPLY/COMMENT, JUST PUBLISH.

"as can i," he motions with a slight grand sweep of his arm, "& yet here we are."

quiets as he lets the echidna stew on his former question. honestly julius doesn't expect an actual response. at most he figures the echidna will dismiss him or laugh outright in his face. tell him it's none of his business. julius knows it's what he would have done.

colour him surprised when the warrior actually opts for honesty, vulnerability. hmph. he respects that. enough not to mock him. it'd be easy to do, but julius refrains.

"for whatever it is worth to you, i am sorry for your losses. losing a family is one thing, but an entire tribe? i can't begin to fathom that. so while i can't say i completely understand your," he motions to the broken pipe, "peculiar way of dealing with problems. i won't chastise you for it, from this point onward. unless you piss me off."

@drrobctnik xxx

a sputtered clipped laugh punches out of him immediately at the echidna's confession about the 'fixed' phone. ah yes, of course. how stupid of julius to think elsewise.

"you do realize you can stop and think before resorting to brute strength, yes?" how hypocritical of julius to say. especially considering whenever he did lose his composure and his calm, julius would be the first to resort to and praise violent or physical methods. that being said, julius drew the line at trying to 'fix' menial tasks using sheer strength alone. even he wasn't that desperate to resort to such violence. he wasn't some mindless barbarian. "i know you are not that daft, echidna. what is the real reason you want to constantly 'fix' things using only your fists alone? what is it, some nonsense about fear of not being acceptable enough or worthy enough if you're not the strongest of the bunch?"

He fails to see what's funny about malfunctioning devices, particularly those that are the creations of humans- a tribe which the man hails from. Perhaps this is a case of laughing at oneself? Humility doesn't suite the other well. Not even the slightest.

The suggestion is met with a short puff that seems to fuel the trajectory of his gaze as it rolls. Advice. Like he asked for it! "I can think...of better ways to spend the time."

He's adjusting the cuffs of his boxing gloves when his critic based company continues to pry into nothing more than an instinct on his part, but he's annoyed enough by the fact the man probably thinks that's all it boils down to even though he'd blindly agree with his short fused patience. Glove creaking as he squeezes the tension out of one, he shakes his head with the intent of knocking the dreaded quills falling cross his gaze back. "It is all I had. Relied on. Since I lost everything."

A response like rumbling thunder despite how plain of an answer it is. There is nothing more to say about something so clear cut. So he does not.

"sorry, i didn't realize this seat was taken," julius gave a softer smile, shuffling and moving his bookbag off the seat he'd set it on. his gaze lingered on the man in front of him, enjoying the way that his hair accentuated his face, and those eyes were beautiful too. he wondered if he had ever seen him around the eden club. julius cleared his throat, "are you, here with anyone, or are you waiting on someone?" realizing how bold that sounded, julius quickly clarified, "n-not that i'm! trying to, flirt or anything. i just thought if you had a moment, maybe we could try getting a coffee?"

starter. for roman (@blckfckinmsk) BASED ON THE PREMISE THAT JULIUS & ROMAN START DATING (before becoming bitter exes).