[OOM] + EP - Working Hard

[zenigatcha]

[ A big not-so-private dick and a little prick in politics meet for drinks and casual threats. ]

It was a warm, wonderful day, which is why Zenigata was currently working outside. The dojo project was coming along again now that it was better weather and he had plenty of energy to work on it with. It was soothing - building something up, even if it was step-by-step. The flooring -- built on layers of support, a bamboo lattice building the support for the eventual slats and the final layer of flooring and tatami. The lumber for the walls had already been purchased, plans and blueprints studied, and all were tucked nicely away and covered for eventual use. 

It was a project, and Zenigata needed a project right now. In the moment, he found it very satisfying to simply work up a good sweat, pause for a drink and lunch, and keep his mind on things that weren't home.

Comments

[alongfallfromgrace]

"Baba, have you gotten so tired of the rest of us that you're building your own little house?" Wei Ying comes sauntering around the building site, eyeing the supports like he knows anything about construction beyond what survival training he's had and what he picked up from the Wens while they were building up the Burial Mounds.

[zenigatcha]

Tilting his head back, Zenigata offers up a relatively tame smile -- he's tired and a little bit soul-worn, but he's always happy to see his boy.

"Not hardly. I am building a dojo -- a practice arena, for fighting and meditation, with a little garden to dig up out back," Zenigata said, gesturing to the slowly forming platform raised up on bamboo. "It will be a humble thing, just two rooms, but it will be good to have around, I think."

[alongfallfromgrace]

"A room for meditation, and when you get bored of that, a room for fighting?" Wei Wuxian asks, laughing - he's always had a preference for one over the other, and that fact hasn't changed with time or bodies. "And a good roof on top for drinking."

And naps.

Look, roof-top lounging is awesome.

[zenigatcha]

"Yes, just like that," Zenigata said, before he paced around it, gesturing to the layout, squaring it up with his hands. "And a little garden in the back. THere'll be beds here and there, and a water feature. I don't know if we can grow lotuses here, but I should like to try."

Because his boy loves lotuses so he's getting fucking lotuses.

[alongfallfromgrace]

Wei Ying visibly perks up at the mention of lotuses, like a bird dog scenting prey. He also, equally predictably, tries to talk Zenigata out of the notion.

"Aiyo, you don't have to do that, they'd probably be very difficult to grow here, after all, it snows sometimes!" Look, one promise made to a man who was falling apart at the seams to get him to focus away from his ongoing trauma doesn't mean you have to torture yourself with plants. "Surely there's a more native plant species, if you want a water plant."

[zenigatcha]

"Ah, ah!" Zenigata starts to chide, clucking his tongue. Of course Wei Ying argues with him, because it is something Wei Ying wanted and now must deny himself. Zenigata knows how this works. "I said it will be done, and it will be done! Milliway's is full of magic, so it will work!"

[alongfallfromgrace]

"Don't come crying to me when they won't grow." Wei Ying huffs, as if he won't be out here doing his level best to encourage them along every step of the way. "That is the only warning you'll get."

[zenigatcha]

"Oi!" Zenigata sputters, because HONESTLY, son, RUDE. "Listen to you! You'll tend them when I'm not here, I know you will!"

Because Zenigata's not dumb. He's a detective. He knows how this boy works.

[alongfallfromgrace]

"Only because I don't want you to cry over the empty pond." Wei Ying retorts, crossing his arms over his chest. He may look even less like a Jiang than he ever did, but right now the familial resemblance between himself and Jiang Cheng is clear as day. "It would ruin your reputation."

[lupintrois]

Once he's checked to make sure no one's looking at him, Lupin makes a show of full ogling the man, watching the sweat glisten on the back of his neck and on his brow. He didn't find men pretty the way he found women pretty, but Zenigata had a certain...aura to him? An allure?

Look, his dick wanted it, and he'd interpret the nuances later.

"You ever get tired of ICPO, you'd make a great construction worker," he calls out, lounging against a nearby tree. "Do one of those fundraiser pinup calendars."

[zenigatcha]

That earned a laugh; Zenigata straightened up from his work, rubbing one furry forearm against his brow to get said sweat off it, and then looked up at his lover with a grin.

"Quit plotting my retirement already," Zenigata said. "I have plenty of years of chase left in me."

[lupintrois]

"Hey, is it bad if I'm thinking about your future?" Another faux-pout, another quick look around, and then Lupin steals a kiss from his lips.

[zenigatcha]

"I think too many people are thinking about my future, lately," Zenigata protests gently, but gestures for Lupin to join him in the grass. He can take a break, and soak up good company as he lets himself rest for a time.

[lupintrois]

"Hey, you want to settle down, become my cute little househusband, I'm sure I can steal enough money to support a family." Lupin lounges next to him, going on about how Koichi looks adorable in an apron and is probably a better cook than him anyway.

[zenigatcha]

"Ah, but Ami will be off to college before you can blink. Or chasing around with you, one or the other," Zenigata said, briefly considering the idea of him as a househusband. It's not so bad an image, until he remembers how much he hates being idle. "Either way, I'd be tending an empty nest with a gadabout husband having adventures without me, and would long for work and the chase soon after!"

He is firmly, however, ignoring that 'husband' got tossed about instead of something like 'kept man.' Just gonna sit here and not say anything about it. It's too nice to ruin.

[lupintrois]

"We could take you along with us! Someone to cook when we're coming back from a nice long day of thieving--speaking of, really ought to take you drinking with the guys one of these days, if we keep this up." If.

[zenigatcha]

God, why does he make this so hard.

Zenigata is just thrumming with pleasure at the completely silly idea of being a househusband for a pack of thieves, but it plays right to his craving for intimacy.

("What we have on each other," Albert said as he leaned back in his chair, "is a version of the truth. The fact that you don't know tells me you're not half as in the know as I thought you might be, which-- frankly, is a relief. I was worried that you were someone important, for a hot second -- turns out you're just a dick in a trench coat. Amusing, but ultimately just there for entertainment value. Not like his beloved Fujiko.")

Pleasant warmth was snuffed out like a pinched wick, and tension slowly crept up his spine to straighten him out a little.

"S'something you used to have? Somebody you came home to, like that?" he asks.

[undead_radish_seller]

Wen Ning doesn't even ask what Zenigata is building, he bypasses 'Hello' and goes straight to, "Oh, let me help, Zenigata-qianbei!" as he comes bouncing up the path towards the future dôjô.

[zenigatcha]

That is because Wen Ning is a very good boy. Zenigata grins and looks up-- he always treasures the ones who have his same helper work ethic.

"Would you like to learn some carpentry, then?" he asks as he pauses in his work. "And U can teach some old traditional building techniques, too!"

[undead_radish_seller]

"Whatever I am the most useful at!" Wen Ning says cheerfully. "Remember, I'm very strong and can easily hoist around beams."

[zenigatcha]

"Ah, we're not to the beams yet! We don't even have the floor laid up," Zenigata said with a hearty laugh. Wen Ning is always so eager to help - much like his Wei-gongzi. "Here, let me show you..."

[undead_radish_seller]

"Yes, show me!" Wen Ning says. "I like to be useful to my friends!"

At least he accepts these people as his friends now instead of thinking himself unlikeable because of hie aliveness status.

[zenigatcha]

"Right. So we're building a framework here," he begins, pointing out the bamboo lattice that is taking place, lashed with modern ties instead of tough, dry grass. There's plenty to explain; why there needs to be give, but not too much, how the timber will lay over that, and how the tatami will lay over that in turn.

"So you can help me by aligning the stalks, and then tying them down," Zenigata says, as he gestures to the last one he tied dow. "Not a lot of heavy lifting, but it needs to be done."

[undead_radish_seller]

"Oh yes, I would like to do that," Wen Ning says, after carefully observing the process. "How much of this do you need?"

[zenigatcha]

Rising, Zenigata gestured to the staked out land. -- it wasn't going to be a huge dojo, but neither would it be small. There a main hall, and a smaller, off to the side building -- likely for supplies, or meditation, and little areas dug out for garden beds behind the set up.

"We'll start on this one first," he said, gesturing to the large of the two, "and work on getting that down before we move off to the second building."