Round and Round [Shouhei/Cecil]

...well. It had happened. Shotaro - Gabriel Gatsby - was in custody. They'd done it that day. The Cadets had caught him.
It was...frustrating. For all he had been annoyed with his decisions, questioned what he did and hated the danger he'd put them all into, he was an important person. Not just as leader of the Playhouse, but in the lives of the other members. To them, he'd been the figure to look up to that he wasn't in Cecil's mind. And even outside of that...he'd been a good person in his daily life, to people he knew little of.
He should know. He'd been one of those people when he'd met Gabe on the coat drive and the man had encouraged him out on the karaoke trip.

He sucked at that. But it was good for him.
...at some point, he'd have to meet up with him again, and see who he was once the Cadets had finished toying with his mind. See what was left of the person he was.

With a sigh, Cecil shook his head and kept walking, headphones around his neck to let in the sounds of the city for once as his feet traced the streets the two had met for the first time on. With the anger of the moment gone, all he had was regret for what had happened on that day.

Meanwhile in Shouhei Kagawa’s headphones blared the song “Return of the Tres” by Delinquent Habits.  Simply put the Latin rap group was amping him up for his future endeavor.  America had a veritable cornucopia of foods, a mishmash of everything he couldn’t possibly taste in Japan.  It was one of the best reasons living here and made everything worthwhile.  Today’s visit, obviously, was for Mexican food.  He had heard of a good taco and tapas restaurant tucked away in the Backlight District.

Just as he was gleefully about to enter the restaurant, his hands almost brushed with another person’s.  Taller than he was, admittedly, Shouhei lived in the land of giants known as America.  This fellow had blonde hair, emerald eyes, and was a bit more heavyset than most.  Shouhei dialed down the volume on his music and simply said with a smile, “Excuse me.”

The sudden contact dragged Cecil out of his mind with a start, looking somewhat dazed. It took a moment for him to register the voice, mind slow to catch up clogged with worry and regret as it was. He laughed awkwardly, smiling weakly as he scratched at the back of his head feeling more hopeless and inept than he'd felt in a long while. "Aha, ha...sorry, about that."

Judging by this bigger man’s reaction it almost seemed as if Shouhei had hurt him.  His Japanese mannerisms came out reflexively as he bowed humbly for an apology.  “No, that’s my fault!  Don’t apologize; I was too geeked for Mexican food that I didn’t see where I was going.”

His eyes widened as suddenly the guy he'd crossed paths with was bowing to him, and he sputtered and started to wave his hands in the air in a desperate dismissal of the situation unfolding. "No, nononononono, I-agh, III, I wasn't paying attention either, you didn't, this isn't necess-" Half formed words and denials kept flowing forth, apology and absolution mixed together in a grand cocktail that spelled out 'my bad, not yours'.

From his time living in Japan, Shouhei knew where this situation was quickly going.  Instead of offering each other an infinite number of apologies he ended it right here and there.  Regardless he couldn’t help but smile at the situation.  “...All right, let’s just say we both messed up.  And as my form of apology, how about I pay for some of your tapas.  We good?”

The flow of apology cut short as the unfamiliar boy made his proposal, and a brief moment after Shouhei made his proposal, Cecil nodded. "Yeah. That sounds fine to me. Though, uhhh..." The blond lets out another awkward laugh. "I should probably come up with something of my own, all things considered. Feels off to have only one of us do anything if we're both at fault."

“Whatever you owe me, that’s up for you to decide at another time,” Shouhei trailed off for a moment to swing open the door for his newfound guest and gave a cheeky grin.  “You can make the rain check out to Shouhei Kagawa.”

Smiling, he sighs and shrugs as he goes through the door being held open for him. "Alright then, Shouhei. I'm Cecil Erinforth. He who pays little attention and has a rain check to pay out on."

The restaurant known as Taqueria y Tapas was fairly simple in design.  The front of the house was a lobby, a sitting area and a stand for the host to greet customers.  To the left was larger seating for bigger parties, eight person booths and tables.  Shouhei and Cecil were led to the right side of the restaurant, for smaller groups, and sat among the booths lined along its wall.  Its decor and design followed that of many Mexican restaurants- bright pastel colors weaved amongst intriguing and eye catching patterns.

“...So Cecil, you don’t look too old to me.  You wouldn’t happen to attend Seven Stars Academy by any chance, would you?”  Shouhei asked as he slid into his seat across from Cecil.

Cecil took a deep breath of the smells of the restaurant, enjoying the unique scents of the location. There was something to be said for the inside of a good restaurant - the aromas that permeated the spaces in which food was prepared and served were a taster of what was to come, a sampler for what you would find at the place you had visited.
It really was something to be appreciated.

As he sat down, the blond sighed and smiled at the question. "Are you asking because you also go, by any chance?"

Quite frankly, Shouhei asked mainly because he didn’t know how to properly start the  conversation with a complete stranger.  Also since he offered his name, he didn’t find Cecil immediately repulsed, given the rumors surrounding Shouhei at the Academy.  It was a test of sorts.

“...Maybe,” Shouhei’s blue eyes rolled towards the menus placed on the table, a sheepish smile on him.  “As a matter of fact I do.  And how rude, to ask a question from my question.  I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have offered to buy you food in the first place.”

Green eyes drifted away again with an awkward laugh at the response. "Ah, aha...sorry?" Shrugging, Cecil smiles weakly back with an apologetic expression. "I, uh, um...it just happens a surprising amount, honestly. Basically, uh...any time I talk with someone, really. You'd think I'd meet someone my age out in the city that doesn't go to Seven Stars, but uh...never really happens."It was...really quite odd, to be honest. He knew there were other schools - several in fact. He went to one of them before he transferred over when the academy opened. So...
Geez, that was weird, now that he thought about it.

“...Small world, ain’t it?” Shouhei laughed, thankful that Cecil hadn’t heard about him yet.  This was one of the rare times he was able to show he wasn’t some deviant and delinquent to one of his peers.  He hoped he wouldn’t botch this first impression miserably.  

“What year are you in?  Are you in a club by any chance?”

Quietly, Cecil sighed with relief that nothing more was going to happen over that. "No kidding. I get we're all holed up in one city, but it isn't that small inside the walls."
He could hear his stomach. It only hit him now how little he'd eaten today, too busy pacing and fretting over past events to notice, and the constant scents he was being barraged with weren't helping.
He shook his head clear before he got lost in his head again. "Third year. No clubs so far...visited one of them when I joined the school, but the club leader's kinda been absent. Not sure when that happened..."