Glass Heart Casket [Kaede, Sora]

He didn't answer her explicitly, but, he handed her a helmet. Testing it out, she slipped it over her head. Sure enough, it blocked out a lot of the sound in the immediate area, to the point where she almost didn't hear him ask her where she wanted to go. Then, she also realized that...he didn't put one on. Immediately, she pulled the helmet off in a panic and held it out to him, her eyes flaring with an unusual stubbornness and resolve.

But, that resolve was quick to fade as she thought about his question. So, if he didn't take the helmet from her hands, she'd just hold it in her lap, looking down at it, seeming...confused.

"...I dunno. I don't wanna go back to where I've been staying, but...I don't have anywhere else to go."

Sora grabbed the helmet and put it back on her head. Placed his hand over the top of the helmet, he held it there, giving her a stern look as she explained where she didn’t want to go. There were a couple of group-home places he knew of, but she didn’t seem like the type to handle crowds well. He also had this sinking feeling in his gut about leaving her somewhere strange. He could never forgive himself if he woke up tomorrow and saw a news report about her suicide… “My place?”

Despite her silent objection to him riding without a helmet, he put it back on. At first, she puffed her cheeks out and turned to the side. But, then she caught that stern look, something that immediately caused any semblance of bratty poutiness to vanish. Her expression shifted to one of fear, looking back down at the seat of the motorcycle.

"...Sure. I hope it's okay that...I stay there for a little bit. I'll be gone in the morning, promise."

“Stay as long as you need,” Sora said as he turned his bike on. “Hold onto me.” He waited for her to grab on, not daring to move the bike until she was. Any stubbornness was met with another stern look; he was starting to get that she responded decently to that. Once she was holding on, he revved up the bike and started off. He did not speed off or do anything that might scare her, and he notably followed the speed limits and any other laws of the road.

His place was about a ten minute drive. He parked in the basement parking garage and led her to the elevator. If she ever hesitated, he gestured for her to follow him. The building wasn't in some luxury side of town, but it was one of those enclosed apartment buildings, not a complex. His place was on the third floor, room 306. He used his keys to open the place, and gestured for her to step in first. His place wasn't the greatest, but it was pretty clean, excluding a couple of dishes in the sink.

"You hungry?"

She heard those words, but it didn't register. To her, it wasn't about what she needed -- it was to keep herself from inconveniencing people as much as possible. Slowly, carefully, she slipped her arms around Sora's waist, holding onto him tightly. With the situation dying down, Kaede found herself leaning against him more, her eyes fluttering shut for a small time.

Despite how loud the motorcycle was, the helmet muffled it well enough that she could relax a bit, her arms still firmly wrapped around Sora. She only sat up when everything came to a stop, and she looked around. It was a parking garage, an underground one at that. She slid off the bike, groaning softly to herself as she took the helmet off and set it on the seat.

She followed, but still kept a bit of distance until they got to the elevator, keeping herself practically glued to the wall and looking at the floor as they went up. As they left, she followed him, quietly stepping in first and taking a look around. It was a nice place. Then again, her standards of 'nice' were so warped that she'd think anything that a normal person would view as 'okay' was practically luxury.

"Mmm...a little."

An obvious lie, one that betrayed her the moment Sora took a glimpse at her.

Sora walked to the kitchen and looked in the fridge. He did have one of those stereotypical ‘guy’ places, where there wasn’t much furniture and he likely ate a lot of takeout. So, where wasn’t much to cook a woman. He pulled out a couple of beers and gestured one toward her. If she took it, great, if not, he put it back. Popping the top of his, he picked out his phone and speed dialed a contact. As it rang, he took a drink and walked over to the couch to sit down.

“Yeah, my usual, but also a…” Sora looked to Kaede. The person on the other line obviously recognized his number. “You alright with pizza? They got wings too.” Sora was impressed she actually had something she wanted to order. Too many women tried to pull that eat like a rabbit shit; it drove him nuts. A smirk came to his lips as he ordered her Garlic Parmesan Wings. It wasn’t the healthiest thing, but pizza places were pretty damn universal for being liked, so it was an easy choice.

"Alright," Sora said after paying with his card and hanging up the phone. He pointed across to the hall at a door and then raised his hand higher to gesture farther than the first door. "Bathroom... Bedroom. You got anything to clean up with?"

Kaede looked around a little, noting how minimalistic the place was, but was quickly pulled to the beer that Sora held out to her. Out of politeness, she took the bottle and opener, popping the lid off, and, while hesitating to take the first sip, eventually did, wincing at the bitterness. She sat down a little way's away from him on the couch, her eyes brightening at the mention of wings, but she was quick to temper her excitement, quietly asking for garlic parmesan.

She leaned over to look a bit further down the hallway as he pointed down, making note of the locations he was talking about.

"Um...like, shampoo and stuff? No, I-I don't. You don't have to get me any, i-if it's okay, I can just...use a little bit of yours? I wouldn't use much, I swear! B-Besides, I'll leave in the morning, so I can just find somewhere else!"

Sora saw the wince, but would wait to offer something new until the pizza was ordered. Specifically, he added a couple of sodas to the order as well, along with a couple bottles of water. They would be here in about thirty minutes, so he got up from the couch and walked to a hall closet. He pulled out a large towel and a cloth. He then went to his bedroom, grabbed a clean shirt of his. Coming back out, Sora went into the bathroom and set everything down on the counter.

“Take a shower. Door has a lock,” he said. He knew she wouldn’t be comfortable showering without some semblance of safety, so he made sure she knew a lock was there. He went and sat back down on the couch and turned on his PS23.

Kaede swung her legs idly, taking a few occasional sips of the beer as she waited with Sora for the food to arrive. She stopped, however, when she noticed him getting up in the corner of her vision, causing her to turn her head and watch him as he walked around the house. Her head canted to the side as he pulled out a towel, then disappeared for a minute as he slipped down the hall into where he said his bedroom was.

Then, he went into the bathroom, setting the bundle of stuff on the counter. Kaede immediately froze, before finding the wit to shake her head.

"I-I took a shower this morning! I'm not homeless...at least, not right now. I-In any case, I don't need one right now. But...the lock is nice to know about."

Her attention quickly shifted when he turned on the game console, her eyes lighting up and focusing immediately on the TV.

"What kinda games do you have on this!?"

“Voidbreaker,” Sora said as the game started up. It was a well-known musou game focused around Quincy and their never ending battle against hollow and shinigami, while also trying to prevent Demons from re-entering the world after World War 4. He started up his game and jumped right back in.

“You should shower,” Sora said with his usual bluntness. It’s not like he could tell how dirty she was, but he did find her on the edge of a bridge after having been mugged. Who knows what the bastard that snatched her shit had on him? Besides, he wanted her clean before taking over his bed and pillows.

“You can try after, if you want. Pizza will be here by that time.”