Take-Two [ Tragictrees & Annyeong Bunny ]

"Uh, no. What I'm feeling is more along the lines of disgust. Adrenaline is still hitting too, so that's fun. But we're not talking about me, buddy! This is your time to shine." Austin drawled, keeping the grin despite the comment the other man had made "I mean, thats why you're on that side of the table and I'm this one. So, you mentioned a master, right? Freaky. He can't cut any tongues while you're in here, and I'm dying to know who wants to stalk me this bad. I know I'm a hot commodity in many ways, but this is like, 2 steps further than anything else I've seen. Or....we can just continue sitting here until you DO tell me something. Either way, you're not leaving this room without spilling."
 
The crazed man simply gave Austin a knowing look as a smirk stretched out his lips. The fact that the detective across from him was humoring him made it all the better. "A stone stolen from the dead, and a rabbit who can't hop... emotional pain and suffering is what he uses as a tool. The mind can be twisted in many ways, so much that someone can reach powers of deities!" a laugh escaped the criminal's lips as he slapped at his thighs.

With a hostile grin, the man leaned forward, his eyes wide with a devilish glint. "He wants me to pass on a message... would you like to know?" the frail figure slowly held out a closed hand, keeping his crazed gaze on Austin, a taunting look in his eyes. Would the detective grab at it?
 
"Wow, you're absolutely batshit." Austin said after a moment, taking it all in. Now, it was creepy. There wasn't a way for it not to be; the guy was bonkers, and stalking them, as well as apparently knowing about the box situation. He supposed that could've easily gone along with stalking, but it didn't make it any better. He eyed the hand, weighing his options; a message was something. He could work with a message. "....Fine. Alright. Sure. I'll bite." He said slowly, gingerly reaching out. Best to be cautious, especially when in bad company.
 
Humming lightly, the inmate's grin grew the closer Austin got to his hand. Then, without batting an eyelid, he lashed his hand out, attempting to dig his long uneven nails into the detective's arm, his tongue swiping over his teeth. Whether hit hit his target or missed, the ghoulish figure cackled and pulled his hand back quickly, his bloodshot eyes still locked on Austin.

"Tell him that daddy was easy~" the maniac drawled as he spoke the message, his head tilting before guards rushed in, pulling the male's arms behind his back and shoving his head against the table. "Wait, wait, there's more!" he shrieked as he was being pulled away, struggling against the large men holding him. "Rabbits taste best on a spit!" the stalker managed to get out the final statement before being pulled from the interrogation room, leaving the detective alone...
 
It was, unfortunately, a hit, and it was enough to cause bleeding. Austin hissed, pressing a hand over the marks as he stood. He was pissed off, mostly at the comment towards his father, but also towards the fact he was stupid enough to reach out. His arm throbbed as he made his way to the door, slipping his phone from his pocket. He didn't know where Lee was, exactly, so he figured texting would be fine. He wasn't really feeling a whole conversation about the fiasco anyway.

Text From: Austin
Text To: Lee

finished up. he called the guy 'master' (creepy), says that he uses emotional pain and whatever (creepy x2), and apparently knows about the ring and the rabbit (creepy x3). highlights include: him mentioning my 'daddy' was apparently easy (ppl need to stop calling him daddy i swear 2 god), rabbits apparently being better on spits, and my arm bleeding bc he doesn't have a good nail care routine and decided 2 assault me

Text From: Austin
Text To: Lee

so like missions success ig
 
A few confused questions and explanations later, Lee excused himself from Chief's office. When he had brought up the whole situation, she was enraged that nobody had told her about it and that she would talk to the police that were on duty that afternoon. Thankfully, he was able to leave sooner than he expected. As he was about to walk down the stairs, he felt his phone vibrate and pulled it out, reading the texts. His stomach twisted a bit at the creepy clues Austin provided, but he also felt slightly infuriated at the fact that the crazy bastard assaulted him.

Text From: Lee
Text To: Austin

You gotta be kidding me. Okay, meet me in the canteen with a first aid kit and don't try to dip. I'll help bandage you up if it's bad.
 
Text From: Austin
Text To: Lee

u caught me red handed officer i was about to head back to my office

Text From: Austin
Text To: Lee

(get it the red handed bit is bc i'm bleeding lol)

Text From: Austin
Text To: Lee

Fine fine finefinefine i'll be there in a moment with the shitty little med kit they keep around here bc while im a big boy who can bandage his own wounds ill respect ur need to probably discuss the information see you thennnnn

Austin pocketed his phone with a sigh, heading to one of the cabinets around the area and opening it up. It took a bit of searching, but he eventually found the medical kit they kept around for emergencies, which was, in his opinion, terribly under stocked. He picked it up, shutting the cabinet once more, before heading down to the canteen. He glanced around, trying to spot Lee.
 
Lee read the incoming texts with an eye roll. It must not have been that bad if Austin was able text out a smart ass reply. On his way to the canteen, he felt his pocket buzz again and sighed, believing 100% that it was Austin again. However, he felt his stomach drop when he read his mother's name on the text.

From: Kang Lan Suk
To: Lee

Half tempted to block your number at this point. That rabbit is almost 40 years old and you had it ever since you were little when I passed it on to you. If that didn't answer your question, then try somewhere else. Bye.

The detective's gaze was glued to his phone as he slowly walked, running into someone on his way to the canteen. The text hurt. As much as Lee would hate to admit it, at least. He had gotten his answer though, so that was all he cared about. Once walking into the canteen, he waited a few minutes before he saw Austin who was looking around for him. "Over here." Lee called out, lifting a hand to grab his partner's attention.
 
Austin glanced over, grinning once he caught sight of Lee. He walked over to where the other man was, waving with the arm that wasn't injured, though his hand still had blood on it. "Hey there. See? Red handed." He said, referring to the text he had sent "He got me pretty good, but like, mostly my fault it happened. My arm looks like it was solely park of a murder, and I'll probably die of the black plague because of how unsanitary it was, but things could be worse. What's up?"
 
Lee suppressed a groan at the cheesy joke Austin made, shaking his head. He reached for the first aid kit and opened it, grabbing a few alcohol wipes absentmindedly. Glancing up at Austin as the other spoke, he raised an eyebrow and his mouth turned downward. "Disgusting. Maybe we should have done the whole bad cop good cop scenario." Lee muttered under his breath, his eyes moving to the scratch on his partner's arm. Motioning for Austin to sit in front of him, he got the wipes and bandaids ready.

"Nothing really important to mention. Chief had no idea about it, like you said, so I had to explain a lot of things to her. Also..." Lee trailed off as he grabbed an alcohol wipe, studying it as he trailed off. He didn't want to seem upset by what he was about to say, so he sighed and lifted his gaze to Austin and held out a hand to signal for the other to give it to him to clean. "I got a reply from the woman who gave birth to me. She let me know about the rabbit doll. You can read it if you want." Lee spoke nonchalantly and pushed his phone across the table to Austin, using the wipe on the other's arm. He refused to call the woman his mother, not after all the hatred she pushed onto him.
 
Austin sat, holding the scratched arm out to Lee. He tried to keep still as he picked up the phone, scanning the message. Well, he could see why the other hadn't used the word 'mom'; he wouldn't either, if this was the message he got after asking a question. He set it back down, looking back at his partner. "Well, she seems like a witch." He commented absentmindedly "But interesting that she knows about that doll. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it's interesting. I mean, I was hoping things would, like, get less complicated, but it's cool, I guess I just have to deal with disappointment."
 
"Right? I have a few ideas about our belongings that were found. That text from her kind of nailed it for sure now that I know it's mine." Lee spoke softly as he focused on the other's arm. He was still absolute shit at anything medically related, so he didn't want to screw up on the easiest thing. "Was there anything else that you might have noticed about the guy during questioning? Other than being an absolute lunatic, I mean."

Wiping at the scratch with one more wipe, he wanted to make sure there was no bacteria left behind from that crazy bastard. He was still annoyed by that, and a bit of his feelings were relayed onto his face. His nose scrunched lightly and he pursed his lips, gathering a few band-aids. He placed them carefully on Austin's arm and gave it the traditional 'slap' on his upper arm before gathering the small bits of trash. "You're not bleeding to death, so I guess that's a good thing." the detective leaned back in his chair with a sigh and crossed one leg over the other.
 
"Uh, no, not really. He drooled a lot, which was weird, but not really case relevant." Austin said, drawing his arm back, then leaning back in his own chair now that he could comfortably do so. "And you guess that's a good thing? I'm a little hurt, Lee. I'll be sure to bleed to death the next time around the nail-scratching block." He pulled out his phone, checking the time, before slipping it back into his pocket "I have 30 minutes before I have to run to an appointment, so, uh, what now?"
 
"Haha." Lee gave a sarcastic laugh and gave a small humorless smirk. He thought about the time they had left and tilted his head to the side, eyeing Austin. "I mean, you could start packing and I could go buy some supplies to make dinner." he felt slightly awkward being the one to offer such stuff, since it wasn't in his nature, but they had just been through a lot and needed to settle down. Since they had half an hour, it seemed pretty reasonable.

Lee stood from his chair and ran a hand through his hair, turning his dark eyes to the door of the canteen. "Unless you have something else in mind, that's all I've got." Grabbing gently at one of his sleeve cuffs, he also bit the inside of his cheek before turning back to Austin, one eyebrow raised cautiously. "What appointment?"
 
"Hey, I'm not gonna complain. That sounds like a fun time." Austin said, getting up, rubbing over his bandages a bit with a hand. At the question about his appointment, he grinned, rolling his eyes a little "I'm going to the doctor. For my meds. What, you wanna come?" He raised an eyebrow "It's super fun. Waiting in a lobby for a hour, then getting grilled about medical information. A good time for everyone."
 
Lee made a face and turned his eyes away as he began to walk from the canteen. "I'll pass. I had a feeling it was medical related, but I was just curious." he spoke nonchalantly as if to justify his curiosity. Once in the hallway, he turned to Austin and held up his palm, almost like a high five, but then pointed to it with his other hand.

"5 o'clock. That's when food and everything will be ready, so don't slack off." Lee threatened lightly as he raised an eyebrow. "It's not like we have curfews or anything but food's best served hot." and with that the detective turned on his heel and kept his hand up in a lazy parting gesture. "Good luck, let me know how it goes." with a bored look, he left Austin, but he was also thankful deep down that he might be able to get some sleep. Why? He wouldn't admit why.
 
Austin nodded, and then left for his appointment. It wasn't long before he sent a text, which was simply an image of him holding Muffin up, so their faces were right next to each other. In the background, Evelyn was at the wheel of the car, her forehead against the wheel. It was captioned only with:

double doctor visit with 2 beautiful ladies who actually wanted 2 join me at the office unlike some other ppl :)

Then, at around 5:02, he made his way to the apartment. He had a backpack of things, ready to stay the night in what was apparently his new home for a while, but hesitated briefly. It would turn out fine, he was sure, but he was still cautious. Living together sometimes made people insufferable to each other. However, he soon got over himself, punching in the code and walking in. "Honey, I'm homo!" He called jokingly into the area, grinning "And only two minutes late, too. See? I can handle a curfew."
 
Lee was in the grocery store when he got Austin's text. As he looked at the picture, he snorted a bit and rolled his eyes, a reaction he hadn't had in a long time. He felt slightly childish in wanting to reply, so he grabbed a jar of fermented fish and cheese and made a forced smile straight into the camera to mimic Austin. He sent the picture to him along with his reply.

That's fine. This can be your dinner then.

Soon enough he was back at his flat and was cooking the actual food, which happened to be carbonara with a side of tomato basil soup. Lee had been craving the combo for a few weeks, so Austin's move-in just gave him an excuse to cook it. He was starting to plate the food when he heard the number pad and Austin's grand entrance. Rolling his eyes, Lee continued to plate, shaking his head. "Yes, of course. Leave it to you to be a few minutes past the given time. A real rule-breaker." the detective spoke in a sarcastic and slight teasing tone before looking back up at his partner. "Did you bring everything you need? If you need anything, let me know. I should have it. It'll be added to your rent though, so be careful" the humor continued as Lee pushed Austin's plate forward, the humor not matching his features as he had a lifted eyebrow and pursed lips.
 
"Why, officer, I don't believe this is the fermented fish I was promised. Thought you were a man of your word. I guess not. A little betrayed, but I guess not everyone can appreciate rakfisk and it's troll-scaring properties." He said, eyeing the soup a moment, before looking at Lee "In seriousness, it looks great. Also, yes, I do have everything I need, including $500 in cash because you didn't tell me how much rent was going to be." He took a seat, patting his bag "And also, if I don't have something, my office is like 10 minutes away by car. I can get there and back easy."

He took off his shoes, placing them by the door, along with his bag, as he wasn't sure where else to put it. Then, he walked over, taking a seat. "So, chef lee, walk me through the meal we have here. I'm curious. Treat me like one of those master chef judges." He said once he settled down, grinning "I'm Gordon Ramsey and you're a house wife from Louisiana with an epic food-related sob story and a broken dream of being a chef."
 
"At least you pack light. I don't know what I'd do if you came in with bags like a Kardashian. There'd probably be another murder case." Lee placed a spoon in Austin's bowl and a fork on his plate before doing the same for himself. Then the silliness began. Lee knew it would happen in a matter of time, but he couldn't help but scoff at Austin's request.

"You can't be serious." Lee groaned lightly and rolled his eyes, giving off vibes of disinterest. However, as Austin continued to plot out the make-shift skit he wanted to see, the detective put a hand on his hip and lifted an eyebrow, giving the other a look of 'you really aren't kidding'. So, Lee cleared his throat and immediately felt embarrassed. He wasn't used to making a fool of himself. However, he had plenty of people he worked with from Louisiana, so he was sure he could pull it off... right?

"Now listen here, boy." Lee felt a bit awkward at first with trying the accent, but he continued nonetheless. "This here is better than mama would'a ever done made for you, sweetie. One bite is gonna send you straight to God himself, lord Jesus!" feeling more in character, Lee held the ladle in one hand in a sassy manner, while putting his free hand on his hip, popping it out like a natural. "Don't you dare question mama's good cooking, baby, cuz down in the South, it'll make you holla for more!" the accent... was all over the place, to say the least. Lee felt so embarrassed that he wanted to crouch behind the counter and die in a hole. Why the hell was he even doing this? Then, in his own voice, he dropped the pose and cleared his throat, suddenly becoming serious again. "And then my dad's best friend's cat's older sister died when I was 12, so it's only me and soul food." After his performance, Lee slowly placed his hands over his face and groaned, his ears lighting red. "Oh my god, what the hell am I doing? Just eat the goddamn food!" a laugh escaped Lee's lips as he rubbed at his face, keeping a hand on his forehead as he glanced at Austin.
 
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