savetheearth | ACTION

And now it was Kenji's turn to stare in disbelief as Tadashi was dunked under the water's surface...and didn't resurface. Why didn't he come back up? Couldn't he swim? How the hell could anyone from a port town not know how to swim?

Whatever the reason, that did appear to be the case, so after peering through the murky water for a moment, he caught sight of Tadashi's stuggling form not too far below the surface. Taking a breath, he dolphin-dived down, and in a few strokes reached his flailing friend. He hoped Tadashi was still his friend after this clusterfuck, anyway.

Nonswimmers were usually the most dangerous rescue as they tended to latch onto the rescuer, which had the potential to drown them both. Hoping to avoid that possibility, Kenji reached out and grabbed Tadashi by the collar, attempting to keep him at arms length. When he had a firm enough hold, he kicked off once more, clawing his way back to the surface with Tadashi in tow.

Edited (Tadashi, dammit, not Kimishima--reincarnation are hard) 2013-06-13 17:38 (UTC)

It was more wet and tangling clothes felt like an anchor. It was more that no matter which way he looked seemed to be the wrong way. So when Kenji DID grab a hold of the back of his shirt and started dragging him for the surface, he did in fact, spend a moment, looking for something - anything - to hold onto...

The sweet rush of air on his face caused an explosive gasp of air and a thankfully dry splutter. It takes a few seconds of flopping around a bit like a startled chicken before he seems to get his wits and just lets Kenji drag him.

"H.. holy shit."

Holy shit, indeed.

Once they broke the surface, Kenji allowed Tadashi to flail around a bit, although he kept a tight hold on his shirt in order to prevent him sinking again. Once Tadashi had calmed down a bit, he continued dragging his friend toward the shore.

When he reached the shallows, he got his feet under him and released his hold on Tadashi's collar. "You should be able to stand up here."

The relief is ridiculously visible on Tadashi's face as he gets his feet back under him, one hand coming up to clutch over his heart. "That was..." And the next wave comes through... more than a little hurriedly, he trudges his way through the push and pull of ocean water to the beach. He splashes down in the wet sand and sits, staring out at the end of the dock.

He just sits and breaths for a moment, before levering a look up at Kenji. "Man... I don't know whether to hug you or punch you."

As he waded to shore, trailing behind Tadashi, Kenji was struck by an unsettling sense of deja vu. Something about the past several minutes seemed sickeningly familiar to him...

Suddenly, a grey mist blurred his vision, the pulsing of a giant heart ringing in his ears. He felt hollowed out, filled with emptiness, and strange--but somehow familiar--images filled his head.

Speeding through the streets of an unfamiliar city. On the run again--it was getting to be a habit. A gateway closing, trying to trap them. Like hell they would!

"Faster, Kimishima! We're going for it!"

"Please tell me we're not!"

"Yes we are! I think it's time for Annihilating Second Bullet!"

As reality tentatively reasserted itself around him, he plopped down onto the sand not far from where Tadashi had landed. At Tadashi's comment, he forced a weak laugh as he raked a hand through sodden hair, pushing it back off his forehead. "I damn near killed us both, so go ahead and punch me if you want."

Right now, he doubted he'd even feel the blow.

Tadashi grabbed the front of Kenji's shirt and dragged him closer. "Damn straight I should! Do you know how many times it's been now?" A strange white noise filled his ears even as he shook Kenji. For a moment, there was no lines between the memory and the situation going on here... "How do you even bring this kind of car luck? Is it some new extra alter? Can you have two?!"

Position or presence hardly mattered, he was JUST going over what he'd need to convert the jeep. Maybe into something a little more compact. Maybe if he reinforced the rollbars it would sustain crushing force a little better. How the hell do you stand up to a TANK falling on it anyway? The fact the engine block survived at all was...

... Was... wrong? It was waterlogged and...

"... Uh." He let go, slowly, awkwardly.

Kenji made no attempt to pull away when Tadashi grabbed at him. He had told the other teen he could hit him, after all--and for a moment, it looked as if Tadashi had every intention of doing so. When the expected blow didn't come, however, and Tadashi released his hold, he blinked, confused. "...I dunno," he replied, "Has it been more than once?" That sounded right, for some reason, although he could recall no other specific incidents.

With a sigh, he rubbed absently at the back of his head. "Sometimes I can't keep this shit straight. It's all jumbled up in my head."

"It's ... a lot." He finished, lamely. He knew, or felt that he would have known, exactly how much just a few moments ago. "I think I'm getting you there, man." It was startling. The first time it happened, he KNEW it was something different going on... this? Is that what going crazy felt like? Not knowing what reality you're in?

He looked back out at the water and then at the sodden, smeared documents in his hand.

He really couldn't claim it, could he? There's no mechanic he could take it to that wouldn't have questions about that steering column... Just bringing it in would put himself and Kenji at risk.

Tadashi shredded the mushy papers and then threw the remainders out into the water. "Come on, it's gonna be a long walk back."

Kenji looked from Tadashi to the water lapping against the shore, his gaze following the arc of the ruined papers as his friend tossed them out to sea. There was something disturbingly...final about the gesture, and he had no words, no idea of what to say. Was there even anything to say? Try as he might, he could think of nothing that would salvage the situation, so with a heavy sigh, he nodded and levered himself up from the sand to follow the other teen back to town. "Yeah...," he replied despondently, "I don't suppose they'd let us on the bus like this..."

As he trailed along behind Tadashi, he lapsed back into silence, figuring that under the circumstances, it was probably better to keep his mouth shut for the time being. Still the incident weighed on his mind, and he couldn't help but eventually give voice to the admittedly insane hope that this could all be...fixed. Somehow.

"Uhh...your car," he said, glancing back down the beach in the direction they had come from, "Think there's any chance of fixing it?" His gaze flicked over to Tadashi, then darted away again, "I mean...maybe there's a mechanic on the network..."

"It..." Tadashi's shoulders slumped and the sigh had a bit more weight and length trying to blow off some of the stress and frustration. He hadn't even thought of that, his mind still wrapped up in what he'd tell his parents... and then what he'd tell police when it got pulled out the drink. Maybe he should get it towed out... maybe reported stolen. It was getting more and more complicated...

It was just strange, there was just this lingering feeling of normalcy around it that cooled his temper. He almost didn't understand himself, he really should still be swinging at Kenji, or at least shouting, but he can't quite the the emotion over the hurdle of "why bother?" that was suddenly in place.

Added onto that the situation as it was, and the fact that the question Kenji just asked... he couldn't answer. It was a churning sort of frustration that he couldn't. He KNEW that somewhere in his stupid head that had never kept much in it, there was the knowledge, but he couldn't get to it.

"Yeah. I guess I can try that." He reaches up and shoves wet bangs back out of his own face. "... Maybe I should just wait though..."

"Wait? For what, man?" This entire disaster had pretty much shut down any ability to think clearly--not that Kenji was overly rational to begin with. And this...this was way beyond his capacity to deal with right now.

"I don't know! None of it seems like good options." He just kept walking, chewing over possibilities. As much as just leaving it seemed like the easiest option, it was the least palatable. But there were other practicalities involved.

After the events of the day, Kenji was still on edge and jumped slightly when Tadashi raised his voice. "Okay man, just...uh...just asking."

Despite the fact that Tadashi hadn't really answered his question, he decided that probably the best thing he could do right now would be to shut the hell up. So, as he still had absolutely nothing of any value to contribute, nor any brilliant plan to suggest...he once more trailed off into silence.

It probably wasn't the best of choices, because it just made the nearly timid jump a little more stark and resounding.

Tadashi's hand came up to rub at his face. He could hear the blood pound in his ears and the beginnings of a headache starting. He had limits too. He was not the irrational one here. There was no reason to-

Actually. No. He WOULD be the irrational one here. As soon as he decided it, the tension started draining out of his shoulders and neck. "Hey. Kenji. Do me a favor.

Hold still a second."

Given the circumstances, Kenji would have eagerly thrown himself from the top of Tuning Towers, if it would allow him to make amends. So when Tadashi made such a simple request of him, he didn't really stop to analyze it, but just stopped in his tracks, a faintly curious expression on his face.

"Uh, yeah, sure. What's up, man?"

A deep breath in, a deep breath out. He claps a hand briefly on Kenji's shoulder. "Thanks, man. This is gonna make me feel way better." Before throwing all of his weight into a good solid right hook.

In retrospect, he should have expected it, really. After all, who the fuck asks permission before socking their friend in the eye? Apparently, Tadashi did, and as the punch connected, Kenji's head rocked back with the force of the impact, and he stumbled back a few feet, his arms flailing comically as he tried to keep his footing. Due to the slippery footing, however, this was pretty much a lost cause, and he fell ass-first into the wet sand.

For a moment, he simply stared up at Tadashi, blinking owlishly. Dazedly, he reached up to touch the skin around his right eye, already beginning to swell. When he withdrew his fingers again, there was a smear of blood on his fingers from a small cut on his cheek. As he stared at his red-stained fingertips, a hoarse chuckle bubbled up over his lips. Perfect. The crowning moment of an absolutely perfect day!

Everything that had happened, the driving lesson from hell, the skid off the side of the dock and subsequent sinking of Tadashi's car, nearly drowning his most-likely former friend...and now this. It was so fucked up, so over-the-goddamn-top horrible that somehow, everything slid right over into slapstick territory. Seriously, what was next? Spontaneous combustion? The way things were going, he wouldn't be at all surprised.

His body shook as wild peals of laughter ripped free, startling the seagulls circling and diving near the water's edge, leaving him gasping for breath. "Perfect end...to a perfect day."

That wasn't the reaction he was expecting. Not even in the top ten of reactions he was expecting. As a result he ended up staring while Kenji had his hysterics, not exactly sure what he should do.

In the end, it was more of an impulse than a deliberate thought. He reached down and offered a hand up. "Dumbass." He couldn't help but laugh a little at that. The tone is... teasing...? "If I have to clock you a second time, I might actually feel bad about it."

Still snickering, Kenji took the offered hand, levering himself back onto his feet. At Tadashi's "threat," his mouth twisted into a lopsided grin. "In your dreams, man," he snorted, reaching out to lightly thump Tadashi on the shoulder. "You only get one free shot. Anything after that'll cost you."

"Cost me? You're lucky I don't make you carry me back." The stumble was exaggerated, naturally, as much as the wide, indignant gesture. "By the way, once I get that out, you are hereby banished to the backseat of my domain henceforth, no bitching allowed."

In his own defense, Kenji had warned Tadashi about the most likely outcome of putting him behind the wheel...but decided it probably wasn't prudent to mention it at this time. Instead, he threw his hands up in surrender. "Pff! You really think I'm gonna argue with that after all this shit?"

Bad at driving is one thing. Being reviled by the car gods is another. THAT DISTINCTION WAS NOT MADE. "I still have no idea how you even managed that. Something must have given in the transmission..."

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