2873/Advise Me O Senpai

Advise Me O Senpai
Date of Scene:	02 December 2025
Location:	Mamoru's Apartment
Synopsis:	After 2869/Diverging Interests, Mamoru is none happy with left Hades, and Kazuo finds him brooding.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Kazuo Saitou

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
When Kazuo gets in, it's late; Mamoru took a crew to see Maryam earlier that day, and then he got home maybe half an hour, forty-five minutes ago. Usagi was going to be doing her homework here, but she's not here and her books are not here and her shoes are not at the door, and Mamoru is scowling on the couch.

Granted, he's scowling with Melinoe facing Charybdis paused on the screen, flipping through texts-- but he manages something like a smile for Kazuo, making his body unfold from the tight ball he'd managed to compress himself into in the corner of the couch.

He doesn't actually get words out yet though.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo considers Mamoru, nods thoughtfully - shifts to house slippers, puts his jacket away, and then heads directly for the kitchen. When he emerges, it is with two mugs. He puts them both down within the reach of someone sitting on the couch: one hot chocolate, one coffee. "I can get the hibiscus blend if you want it instead," he says aloud to Mamoru, "but I thought I'd start with the basics."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
While Kazuo makes things in the kitchen and Mamoru works over the idea that he's going to get to/have to talk about it, whatever the hell 'it' was, he finishes fighting Charybdis, then quits the game and turns off the console and the television. It's as he's starting to fold up into a tight ball of anxiety again that Kazuo comes back out of the kitchen, and Mamoru stops the folding in order to peer into the mugs.

He goes for the hot chocolate for the comfort instead of the coffee; he doesn't want to be up all night with school in the morning, so his hand snakes out and slides it over. "Less caffeine," he finally says. "She's mad at me and I don't really know why. I mean-- I don't know if she's mad, or disappointed, or I don't know what."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo takes the coffee and settles down beside him. "These things happen sometimes," he says. "The first thing to remember is that you two are already married. So eventually you'll both sort it out; the way you feel now is not permanent. The second thing to remember is that Usagi sometimes takes a little while to figure out what she feels about things, or why, so that might be part of the confusion. The third thing to remember is that if you already have those two in mind, you get to shove me, but warn me first so I can put my drink back down. What happened?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'm not going to shove you," murmurs Mamoru into his cocoa, closing his eyes and holding it up to his face, getting the warm on his nose and mouth and glasses. His slippers are on the floor in front of the couch, and he brings his feet back up to the cushion and curls his sock toes in, opening his eyes and looking blindly into his fogged up spectacles.

"I came home really excited because--"

Here his face crumples a little bit. "I didn't even get a chance to tell you about it yet. Siddig-sensei said that Candidus Cordis is an organization we can *join*. And that some mahoujin do, but they usually never stay after the Fade... but... we're going to stop the Fade, and, I thought, oh wow... and I have reasons but-- she got this look on her face when I said I wanted to join, it looked like she was moving in slow motion, so I thought, oh fuck oh no it's something that she doesn't like so much that she's letting it show while I'm excited like this, and I told her I didn't *have* to join it, it would just be useful, you know?"

He holds the cup in both hands, hoarding it, leeching its heat. "Then I asked her if she could tell me why she didn't like it, so maybe we could work toward a compromise if it was something fixable, and I told her all the reasons I thought it would be good, and she closed off and just said that yeah it would be great resources for me, for what I want as a career. I-- couldn't cope with that, that encouragement without meaning it, from her, so I said I was going to shelve it because there's plenty of time before I'd join anyway, and not bring it up until she was ready to talk about it... and that I was going to take a shower and get ready for bed... and she kissed me goodnight before she left, and she had her shields up."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo reaches aside and puts a hand on Mamoru's shoulder lightly as he speaks - not a pat or anything of the sort, just a little extra warm, a little extra pressure. Evidence that he's there and listening, even if Mamoru can't see him through the steam-condensation.

He's quiet for a few moments after Mamoru speaks. Considering. Listening. Thinking things through.

"... she thought you were trying to pacify her," he says, "and you thought she was trying to pacify you, and both of you got upset by it." A beat. "I wonder if she forgot you literally have a room for throwing and breaking things. Though - no, usually if she's angry she uses her words on that. I wonder if she was upset by her own reaction, and off-balance."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru almost says something twice, and sips his cocoa instead, thinking about it, thinking about what Kazuo's saying, trying to reframe what he said to Usagi in that light. "I wanted to make sure she didn't feel cornered or like I was trying to make decisions for both of us," he finally says. "I just did it wrong. And now I don't even know what actually upsets her about the idea of me joining."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"You both lost your heads a little," Kazuo says. "And both of you tackled the problem in ways that weren't good for the other one to deal with. So it's not just you who did it wrong." He considers the coffee in his hands, then actually takes a drink of it instead of using it as a heat source. Maybe he's not planning on sleeping.

"So there are intertwined problems. She didn't like it and tried not to say it. I suspect that your backing off made her feel guilty over spoiling your excitement - or possibly made her worry about other things; she's more - I don't know how to put it - more formal about relationship dynamics, maybe? more idealistic about them? - and when her conceptions of how things should work and reality don't match, she gets a little upset. So she layered more upset on top of not liking it in the first place, and possibly not liking why she didn't like it. And still didn't use her words.

"You asked her to tell you why she didn't like it, which was good, and said maybe you could work toward a compromise, which was also good. But then giving her your reasons without waiting for her answer... was probably not the best of choices."

He pauses for a moment.

"-- hell. I apologize. I just realized that I put together a heuristic for dealing with Upset Usagi by basing it on how I deal with upset Izou. And she is not him, and you are not me."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's a pause and blink, then a low laugh. "She is very not him. She won't claw out my eyes and drown me to death if I misstep on a bad day," Mamoru says, smiles into his cocoa, then lifts a hand to take off his glasses. He half-unfolds to put glasses and cocoa on the coffeetable, then slowly topples over sideways to put his head in Kazuo's lap.

"You're right. I panicked. I tried to sell her on it without waiting for her answer, I talked over her," he says, both hands dragging down his face now. "How long should I wait before texting her? Fuck."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo leans past him to put the coffee down, too, rather than risk spilling it in Mamoru's face - that would be the capper on today, today - and ruffles Mamoru's hair gently before patting it down again. "Probably exactly as long as it takes you to figure out what's really important to say. Unless you figure out it's really important to let her sleep first, too."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru sighs out a tiny little sigh and drops his arms dramatically, one of them flopping across his chest and the other dangling off the couch. He accidentally whacks the back of his hand on the coffee table as he does it, and pulls his hands back with a moue of offense, hugging the whacked one to his chest.

"Probably after she sleeps. Probably after morning classes. I'm gonna get left on read, Kazuzu. Kazun. Kazukazu. She's never going to speak to me again," he says dolefully, making it clear he doesn't believe what he's saying. Kazukazu.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Kazukazu," Kazuo repeats to the ceiling. "He's so upset he's speaking in binary now." Oneone, firstfirst. Lucky him. "And of course she's going to speak to you again. Could you imagine how upset her streaming fans would get if The Fiance just disappeared?"

... his hand sneaks over and pets the side of the whacked one, anyhow. Little fingertip reassurances.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Well some of them would throw a party and propose to her probably," Mamoru says, squinting one eye open. He looks tired. He looks emotionally tired. "If apologizing makes it worse, I'm going to do the second most awkward thing in the world by asking you to do the most awkward thing in the world. Asking her for me what the problem is with me joining."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"In which case I will get Izou to help me hunt them down so I can kick their asses," Kazuo says easily. He touches two fingers to his lips, then to Mamoru's forehead. "For you, I will brave even the treacherous and tangled landscape of human emotions. Also of risking throwing my back out by carrying enough baked goods to make Usagi put up with the conversation."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru reaches up with his previously injured and patted hand, and looks up and up at Kazuo's face as he brushes long silver-white hair back behind Kazuo's ear, then cups the side of that face and runs his thumb over his Firstfirst's lips. "Only if I make it worse first. Which would be suboptimal. But thank you. I feel very twelve asking for an intercession when there's not even really a fight."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The thumb is kissed at lightly, and Kazuo leans his hand gently into the poor woeful hand. "There are miscommunications," he says. "No shame in asking for help untangling a knot that's too complicated to handle alone. Let me know if you need me to chat with her."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Okay. I hope you weren't planning on going to bed tonight, you're stuck right where you are. I'll just heal the crick in your neck," Mamoru says comfortably, brushing his hand through the hair on the side of Kazuo's head after the little lean, then letting his hand drop and just smiling. He almost says something else twice, but then shakes his head, smile still there, eyes blinking slowly. "Thank you," he says. "You two should probably gossip and/or commiserate about me if you don't already. It might be beneficial. Cathartic."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Oh. My poor neck. How terrible." Mamoru's hair's turn to get lightly fingercombed. Slower, this time. Rhythmic. Tuned to the speed of Mamoru's slow blinks. Maybe lulling, just a little. Kazuo admits, after a couple of moments, "It's not a bad idea. I don't have anything that needs commiserating about, except occasional whining about your adrenaline habit getting the better of you, but it might get her talking."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's eyes do, in fact, close; his arms lay loosely across his midsection now. "You may think you are an island unto yourself, but who else knows as many secrets and annoying things about me? You can tell her anything about me. Anything at all. Even things you haven't told me," he sighs out, then falls silent. He really is going to just sleep there.