The Dragon's Vessel

“We got to the pub and were told you guys had already left,” A pale woman with platinum blonde hair remarked, eyeing her co-worker up suspiciously as she watched her shuffle around her paperwork, pretending to look busy.

“Sorry, we had an altercation and my flatmates wanted to leave.” Kimi tried to explain, inwardly slapping herself for forgetting to call Masumi and let her know what had happened at the pub.

“Man, I was so worried as well.” Masumi scowled at Kimi with disappointment.

“I’m really, really, truly sorry,” Kimi apologized as she went back to finishing an email.

“So what exactly was this altercation?” Masumi asked and Kimi didn’t have to look up from her screen to know Masumi had a fine eyebrow raised.

“Um,” Kimi blushed, “this guy got too feelsy,” Kimi tried to explain without letting Masumi know too much. Masumi didn’t know about the odd life Kimi led and Kimi wanted to keep it that way. She adored Masumi’s company and thought she was awesome to work with but it was often easier to keep people at arm’s length, in case Kimi had to pack up and leave without warning.

“That’s disgusting! Was he reported?” Masumi asked, concern written across her usually ‘resting bored’ face.

“I’m not too sure, everything happened so fast and then I was whisked away,” Kimi laughed awkwardly, fiddling with a lock of her hair as she chewed the bottom of her lip.

“Whisked away? By that blonde man, I’ve seen in photos?” Masumi asked teasingly.

Kimi blushed and sunk low into her office chair, using the wall divider to block Masumi from sight in the hopes that her friend wouldn’t see how red she’d gotten. “Remind me to block you on my social media accounts,” Kimi teased, playing off the questions. “Besides, he’s just a flatmate.” Kimi insisted.

“You love my comments of “yas queen slay” too much to ever block me,” Masumi stood and looked at her over the divider. “It’s too bad though, I was gonna tell you all about Gray as well.”

Kimi immediately sat up straight, “you are really good at inflating my ego, the boys don’t thank you for that,” she teased, “so spill! Tell me all about your tall, dark and broody boyfriend,” Kimi insisted, excited for some girl talk.

“Equal trade,” Masumi suggested. “You have to tell me what’s going on with that electrifying blonde.”

Kimi swallowed her saliva so quickly she ended up choking on it, reducing herself to a coughing fit as she tried to calm herself down. Sometimes Masumi was way too perceptive when she had no idea what she was talking about, at least that’s what Kimi really hoped was the case. Quickly grabbing her water bottle Kimi downed a few gulps and gasped for air. “S-sure,” Kimi croaked, giving Masumi a funny smile.

“Gray’s amazing,” Masumi gushed. “He’s always so serious and cool, it really makes me feel like I’m flying when I’m with him. Do you know what I mean?” Masumi’s grey eyes light up as she mentioned the things she liked about Gray.

Kimi giggled, “yeah, I know what you mean,” she agreed wholeheartedly but not quite in the way Masumi meant. “How long have you been dating Gray now?” Kimi asked, noticing she had received a client email and quickly replying to it as she waited for Masumi to reply.

“Five months?” Masumi guessed. “I think. It’s hard to be sure, it’s like we were dating before we realized we wanted to.” Masumi eyed Kimi as she spoke. “Come on, your turn to share.”

Kimi ‘awwed’ but went silent as Masumi called Kimi out, “there’s nothing really to say,” Kimi muttered, “our relationship is… was,” Kimi corrected, clearing her throat, “complicated, we had conflicting differences and figured we’d be better off being just flatmates,” she tried to answer Masumi as honestly as possible without mentioning that the real reason was that Laxus’ augmentation meant if he wasn’t careful with how he fed from her he’d end up draining and killing Kimi. ‘Ah but what kind of life would a dragon and their vessel have without a little risk?’ Kimi thought with a sad smile.

“Oh,” Masumi floundered at that. “I’m sorry, I should’ve.. never mind, we don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to.”

Kimi laughed at Masumi’s apology dismissively, “don’t be, it was ‘young love.’ Him and Jin used to be regulars at the diner that I’d part-time waitress at, to help my older brother pay for the bills.” Kimi explained.

“I didn’t know you had an older brother!” Masumi exclaimed. “What’s he like?”

Kimi's eyes widened and for a moment she tried to collect her scattered thoughts, talking to Masumi was so natural she let her guard down momentarily but she decided to answer her honestly. "He was patient and kind, quick to forgive, he was always smiling, even if he was having a tough day, he always put our younger sister and I first," Kimi smiled fondly as she recalled what type of guy Zack was.

“He sounds nice,” Masumi smiled. “I can’t imagine what it’s like having a sibling. Must be a nightmare to have a protective older brother as you get older, right?”

Kimi felt her heart tug painfully but smiled at Masumi, "Zack was killed a couple of years ago, wrong place, wrong time is how the saying goes," Kimi turned to busy herself with a stack of paperwork. "Jin is like an older brother figure, so I guess it's kind of troublesome when he gets protective... but his heart is in the right place," Kimi rambled.

Masumi left her side of the divider to hug Kimi. “I’m sorry! I really seem to be bringing up bad memories for you today. Let me make it up to you?”

Kimi stood up to meet Masumi's hug, "no, it's fine really! I've never actually spoken about my past with anyone outside of my household, it's kinda refreshing in a weird way," Kimi pulled away and sat back down. "But I'm curious to know what you planned to do," Kimi grinned teasingly.

“Dinner date. You bring your boy, I’ll bring mine?” Masumi offered.

'Which one,' Kimi inwardly voiced, having to hold that back as she nodded. "How can I say no? I get to hang out with you and get a nice dinner," she replied gleefully. "I'll send you a text after I've talked to Laxus and let you know when we're free, he won't mind coming I'm sure," Kimi added.

“And I will drag Gray along if I have to,” Masumi said cheerfully. “I think you two will get along.”

"You think so? What makes you say that?" Kimi asked curiously.

“Well, you both like me don’t you? Common ground,” Masumi grinned cheekily, making Kimi burst out laughing. The pair were promptly hushed by their neighbouring co-workers and trying to stifle her laugh Kimi went back to her computer screen, busying herself with more emails as she continued on with her workday.