“Jiro, you won’t stop me.” You say, an intense frown in your expression as you read from the script sitting on your podium. You’re careful to keep your face close enough to the microphone for it to pick up your words. “I have to do this. Let me go, save yourself.”
“No.” Came Killer’s firm, yet gentle reply, standing at his own podium several feet away from you. He too was in zone with his character, face set in determined lines. “Our kingdom’s fate shouldn’t rest upon one person’s shoulders.”
“It is my destiny.”
Killer’s head shakes fervently, and you manage to hold back your smile. Always so in character. You found it endearing. “To hell with destiny. I choose my own fate. And so should you.”
“The lives of thousands depend on me. You’re asking me to ignore my duty!”
“I’m asking you not to go alone.” He implored, eyes on his own script as he gestured to his chest. Then, he glanced up at you. “I will be at your side, until this twisted curse is lifted. I made an oath to serve you, and that is what I’ll do, until the very end.”
You scoff, reading the tonal notes beside your lines for guidance. “You’ve always been a selfish man-”
“Only with you, Princess.” Killer’s voice took on an amused, yet yearning tone. “Only with you.”
Reaching the end of your lines, the scene finished, you both waited a few seconds of silence, before the vocal director came on over the recording room’s loudspeaker.
“Good job, guys. You’re hitting it on the mark!” At the praise, you flashed Killer a proud smile, which he returned with a small one of his own. “Just a few things I want to touch on again, just some accent tones that would really drive home how emotional Jiro is in this scene…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was already night as you both left the recording studio, the city’s towering skyscrapers light and luminous in the dark sky. You let out a tired sigh, rubbing at your neck in an attempt to soothe your throat.
“You think the director makes us repeat lines 8 times just to mess with us?” You ask, and Killer gives a quiet laugh.
“We’re paid by the word, so probably not.”
“That’s true…Still, you can only say the word ‘no’ so many different ways.” You say, turning with him towards the parking lot of the recording building. As usual, the both of you managed to park right beside each other. It wasn’t even intentional, either. Your cars just always ended up adjacent when the lot got packed.
“Sore throat?” He asked, noticing the way your hand covered your neck.
“Yeah, a little, but it should be gone by morning.” You say with a smile, touched by his concern.
“Make sure to get plenty of rest tonight. I know they’ll have a lot for us to go over tomorrow.”
Courteous and kind, you couldn’t ask for a better vocal partner…or friend. Or even…You shook your head, telling yourself to stop with the wishful thinking. Killer was a professional, just as you were supposed to be. “I’ll probably just eat some ice cream then sleep.”
Killer’s head swiveled, as if searching for something, before pointing off in a direction away from the parking lot. “There’s an ice cream place just up the street. I wouldn’t mind some myself, actually. We could go together, if you want? I’ll buy.”
Some part of you, deep in your chest, grew lighter at his offer. Every chance to spend more time with him, you could never refuse. “Sure.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Father!” You cry, pulling every last bit of emotion you could out of your voice. You gripped your podium in a vice-like hold, letting the scene overtake you and fuel your tone. “You can’t leave me behind like this, you can’t!”
“Princess!” You heard Killer say with vindication. “We have to go. They’re closing in on the castle, we’ll be overrun in minutes.”
“I won’t leave him behind!”
“You must!”
“Jiro, I-”
Killer’s head bows, and his tone drops along with it. “I am truly sorry. Our king deserves more than this…this sacrilege, but we can’t stay here. I won’t allow them to take your life alongside his.”
With great skill, you spend a moment 'composing’ yourself, heavy breathing and choked sobs barely held in the back of your throat. You pull from your own heart, the way you’d feel if you had to leave your father to die in such a situation.
“Princess-”
“I will go.” You interrupt in a clear attempt at bringing your grief under control. After another small breath, you then glare hard at your podium. “But one day I will return, and I will avenge his death, and all who stand in my way shall bear witness to my terrible fury!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Exhausted, you grab for your car keys and push through the outer door of the recording studio, stopping when you saw the downpour of rain awaiting you. Sighing, you hold your purse over your head in a pitiful attempt at cover, before jogging towards your vehicle.
Your clothes are damp by the time you make it into your car, slamming the door shut behind you. The rain patters on the car roof, and it feels cold and muggy inside.
With a huffed breath, you set your things into the passenger seat and slot the keys into the ignition.
It turned over a few times but…nothing.
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.” You mutter, trying again, hoping for the engine to spark to life. “Come on! Not today…”
Over and over you heard it turn, always just on the verge of catching, but never falling through. After the fourth or fifth time turning it over, you release the key and fall back into your seat with a groan. This was just your luck…
Your head lowers to your hands, and you rub your eyes to try calming yourself down. You’d seen the check engine light come on not long ago, but it had gone away, so you’d thought nothing of it. Well, turned out there really was a problem-
“Y/N?” You hear from the other side of your driver’s side window, followed by a few taps.
Looking up, you see Killer standing there, head cocked as he looked into your car. His umbrella kept him dry in the rain, and since he was standing directly in front of the window, you were able to roll it down without getting rain on the inside of your car.
“Everything ok?” He questioned, concern in his expression. “You’re looking a little stressed in there.”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just…” You gesture helplessly at your steering wheel, letting you hand slap back down on your thigh afterwards. “My car won’t start, and it’s pouring rain. Just not a great end to my day, you know?”
He turned to look at the hood, then glanced back at you. “I’m not that familiar with cars, but I can take a look at it if you want.”
“Would you? I appreciate it.”
He gave a nod, switching his umbrella to his other hand and walked over to the front of the car hood. You reach down and pull the lever that allowed the hood to be lifted, Killer disappearing from view as he does so.
You sit in the cold of your car cabin for several minutes, head sticking out the driver’s side window to catch glimpses of him as he leans across your engine, searching for any reason as to why it wasn’t starting.
“Try it again!” He calls, and you once more turn the key, only to be met with the same frustrating turn over.
“Nope, nothing!”
You flashed him a rueful smile, watching as he closed your hood and approached your open window again. “Sorry, but…I can’t tell what might be going wrong. My friend Kid might know, but he’s working right now.”
“That’s ok. You tried, which I’m still thankful for.” Your smile widens, showing him that his offer to attempt something he wasn’t overly skilled at meant a lot to you. He shuffled in place, glancing away.
“Well, seeing as you’re stranded here…want me to drive you home?”
“Oh, you don’t have to.” You say, feeling like he’d already done enough for you. “I’ll probably call my sister and have her come get me, or maybe I’ll quit being a baby about getting wet and walk to the bus stop on the next block.”
“Really, it’s no trouble.” He pressed, stuffing his free hand in his jacket pocket. “I think you said you live on the east side of town, right? You’re not far from me anyway.”
You sigh, raising a brow. “Are you sure? I feel like such a hassle right now.”
“Y/N. It’s fine.” He chuckled with a shake of his head. You relished the little smile that he gave you, committing it to memory. “I promise.”
“Alright, then let me grab my stuff.” You say, rolling your window back up and taking the keys out from your ignition. Stuffing them into your purse and grabbing everything you see, you open the door and step out beside him.
Your chest feels warm and fuzzy when you realize that he holds the umbrella over you, so you don’t get wet. Even at the expense of his own clothes getting rain on them. Such a gentleman…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You live a good half hour away from the recording studio, a fact that didn’t seem to bother Killer whatsoever when you’d admitted it to him.
At first, he tried filling the cabin with music to help alleviate any awkwardness that might be there. It was the first time either of you had ridden in the car with the other, and you could tell Killer was having a hard time looking at you. Your wishful thinking hoped that meant something.
But over time, as the stations grew fuzzier, thanks to Killer’s radio that was on the fritz, he turned it off entirely and gave a sigh.
“Sorry, I keep meaning to get it fixed, but it always slips my mind.”
“Well, that just means more time I get to spend talking to you.” You reply with a smile, leaning on your left side on the armrest of the chair, hand propping up your chin.
“That’s all you do everyday. We’re practically paid to talk to each other.”
You chuckle, smile widening. “It’s great, isn’t it? Best job I’ve ever had.”
“Yeah…same here.” His throat clears a little, before he glances your way for a second. “I meant to tell you…that was some really great acting in the booth today.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. The scene with her father dying, just watching you take on the emotions of Princess Ai was moving. It was obvious you put everything you had into the performance.” Then, you saw a tiny shake of his head as he shrugged. “It’s obvious which one of us is the more skilled voice actor.”
So moved by his critique, your head cocks to the side and you struggle to find something to say for a moment. “Killer-”
“Don’t take that as me putting myself down or anything, I’m not.” He rushed to say. “In fact, seeing you work everyday, it pushes me to do and be better. I want to be able to do it like you do, to become the character rather than emulate them.”
“You already do.” You tell him, reaching up to poke him in the shoulder playfully. “I can see it in how you move and the expressions you take on. You know what you’re doing and it shows.”
“I’m not so sure…” He says incredulously.
“I wouldn’t lie to you! I’ve lost count of my previous partners who weren’t any better than someone they grabbed off the street and stuck in front of a microphone. And trust me, you aren’t one of them.”
“Well, hearing it come from you…I guess I’ll try to believe you, Y/N.”
“Good. Because you’ve got me, the best in the business, telling you!” You say cheekily, sticking out your tongue to show that you didn’t actually mean what you’d said.
“Yeah. I guess I do.” He said, though you felt there was more in his tone than what you were expecting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“That one’s mine.” You say, pointing to the apartment building coming up on the left. The heavy rain makes it difficult to see, but Killer’s wipers clear just enough to see it for several seconds. “You can pull into that parking lot there.”
Nodding, Killer maneuvered the vehicle to park right alongside the sidewalk leading up to the building’s entrance. Slowing to a stop, he shifted into park and looked at you. “Looks like the rain’s gotten heavier. Stay there a second.”
Before you could reply, Killer opened his car door and stepped out, struggling to open his umbrella as the rain came pouring down on him. You watched as he walked around to your side, finally getting the damn thing open, before holding it above the car door as he pulled it open.
“There, not you won’t get soaked.”
“I can’t take your umbrella though.” You say, grabbing your things and rising to stand from your seat.
“I’ll just walk you to the door then.”
“Oh. Yeah, ok.” You say, realizing how close your faces had become as you stood up. Swallowing your embarrassment and excitement, you maneuver around the door and close it with a clunk, staying close to the man you had such strong feelings for.
“Thank you for taking me home.” You say, keeping pace with him, despite getting the feeling that he was keeping pace with you. “You didn’t have to do all this for me.”
“No trouble. If it’s you, I don’t mind at all.” He said.
You glanced up at him, and he cleared his throat, perhaps realizing what he’d said based on the surprised expression he now wore.
Lucky him, you both arrived to the outer door and he stuffed his free hand in his pocket. You shuffled in place, trying to locate your keys again from the bottomless pit that was your purse.
“Sorry, I’m…so disorganized.” You say with an embarrassed chuckle. Your slowness was keeping him here, seeing as he was waiting for you to get inside the building. There was no protective awning above the door to shelter from the rain. A clear oversight on the architect’s part.
Finally, you felt the metal of your keyring and pulled it from your bag. In your rush to let Killer get back to his car, the keys slipped from your fingers the moment they came away from your purse, landing on the concrete between you with a metallic clatter. “Shit, sorry…”
“I’ll get them.” You both said at once, already moving to grab them from the ground.
Your hands touch, his already grasping your keys as he’d been a split second quicker than you in retrieving them. Though, somehow, neither of you moved your hand.
Your heads lift, faces mere inches apart. You feel your cheeks flush, no doubt they would be red in a matter of moments. Your heart was doing that annoying little flutter every time you got particularly close to him. Granted, this was the closest you’d ever been, causing your chest to ache something fierce.
But what surprised you most was the way Killer’s eyes dropped below your stare, to a spot remarkably near where your lips would be-
“Here.” He said, breaking the moment in a gravelly whisper. He stood and presented you with your set of keys, causing you to straighten back to full height.
“Thanks.” You mutter, kicking your mind back into gear to think of something to say. “And thanks for taking me home.”
The bewildered expression he’d been wearing slipped away into one of amusement. “You already said that.”
“Oh. Right. Yeah.” You laughed, covering your embarrassment by trying to locate the key fob to scan across the door’s electronic pad. You grab it and wave it in front of the little square sensor, the door clicking open as the lock disengaged.
“Well, um…drive safe and have a good night.” You say, opening the door and stepping into the threshold out of the rain. He holds up his hand and backs away.
“You too, Y/N.”
ns 15.158.61.42da2
