maskormenacelogs

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WHO: Maya and Ken
WHERE: a crepe place in Nonah
WHEN: sometime between Christmas and New Year's
WHAT: Ken invites Maya out while she's staying over at Nonah 5
WARNINGS: talks about family death, some others? nothing huge.

Maya has been at the house because of... something. Ken didn't ask when she came in, and Ken didn't really say anything when she ended up in Kaneda's room either. He did almost scream when that ended with Kaneda crawling into his bed, but even that he accepted after a punch or two. Koromaru has taken up the task or rolling around on her lap whenever she needed something fuzzy, and the cats have done their cat thing. Today, Ken strolls up to her and taps on her shoulder.

"I'm going to get lunch at the crepe place a few blocks down. Do you want to come?"

He says, casually, but while his expression isn't quite intense she might be able to recognize the you will, right? look he has in them by now.

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"Is that what he told you?" Maya asks, not quite intending to avoid the question about Edgeworth, but seeming slightly incredulous.

She laughs, a bit more sincere about it now. "Kaneda came and found me. Don't let him make you think he's not a big softie."

But after a moment (as she's had a moment to think, by now) she passes a hand through her hair and nods.

"I think... in a little while, I'll talk to him again."

But not right now, not when she could be focusing on Ken and Kaneda and Bull.

"Him? Fool me? He wishes."

Kaneda knows better than to even try anymore. Not that it stops them from bantering. He doesn't say anything about it, but he rests his chin on her shoulder for a moment and smiles to himself. Even if Kaneda did come to pick her up, Kaneda would have given her the choice of coming with him or not, he likes to think. Kaneda was complicated but also sometimes very simple.

After a few seconds, he lets himself pull away and smiles at her, a carefully created but firmly genuine expression.

"We have enough space, so you can stay with us as long as you need, Maya-san. I... um."

Then he looks down, looking a little sheepish as he fully steps away and raises a hand to his head, rubbing the back of his neck and pulling some of his hair into his face. He can totally hide behind it, right?

"It's hard, isn't it? When people call you a liar because of powers they don't understand? I kind of understand. So if you need to talk about it to anyone..."

Maya watches Ken's face with curiosity, raising a brow when he starts to act sheepish. Ken's an enigma; truthfully, she has no idea how old this kid is. Sometimes he speaks with the grace of an aged soul, and then he does adorable things like this.

"You know how it is, huh?" she asks, tilting her head and wiping at her face-- she hasn't quite cried, but she still feels like a mess anyway. "It's... kinda common where I'm from. I don't usually get so mad about it..."

...But Edgeworth tends to go hard, okay.

"Mm, yeah."

He can only imagine how sharp Edgeworth's tongue had gotten. He's had a few debates with him that got heated -- or, in some cases, icy -- and knew that the man had a way of stabbing into you. With something as personal as this, it must have hurt like no other.

"I have powers that nobody in my world knows about. It's just me, and the people involved... usually it's okay, but sometimes it's hard." He shakes his head, steps back, and pushes the smile up higher on his face as he holds out his hand.

"Let's go. They get crowded if we get too late."

"Oh-- sure!"

Taking Ken's hand, Maya gets to her feet and dusts off her lap, nodding. Before they set back off, though, she adds, "You know, that whole talking thing? It goes both ways.

I'm here to listen if you ever need it, too."

He doesn't immediately pull his hand away, though she's free to let go if she wants to. He links, surprised by her offer despite what he told her, then looks away with an embarrassed expression.

"I'm..." he starts, then bites his lip.

"Yeah. Um -- it's long past for me. But I guess that doesn't mean you move past it. It's embarrassing. Even though I wanted to support you, I keep thinking about myself, too."

"...Why's that embarrassing?" Maya asks, raising a brow. "Isn't it better for you to say stuff like that if you know how it feels?"

She doesn't let go of his hand either, looking at him with that questioning tilt of her head.

"I mean, y'know. Empathy and all that. Even if you're thinking about yourself, that doesn't mean you weren't thinking of me too, right?"

"Ah., yeah."

He nods, but he still turns his head to look ahead of them as they walk, cheeks flushing. What she's saying makes sense, but he's still cautious, knowing that he's grown into the habit of being listened to. He doesn't want to take the attention away from her, because he knows that given the opportunity, someone like her would want to help him more than be helped, too.

"Um... It's stuff like this, you know? You're a really kind person, Maya-san. The things you do, like this, say more about who you are than anything someone else might tell you."

"You think so?"

Maya's quick to dismiss it. How she acts-- it's not any different or better than how anyone else does, right? But Ken's right; it's practically instinctive how tempted she is to turn the attention back to Ken.

"...Thanks. I guess I just... I was more mad about my sister and my mom than about myself, really.."

There. With that admission, at least she isn't changing the subject entirely.

That sounds like something Maya Fey would do, but Ken doesn't say that. He doesn't know her that well, and even if he did, it's not necessary to say it out loud and point it out to her. She knows. Most people know what their own typical behaviors are.

Ken glances at her, then glances away back down the street. He can see the place just a couple blocks away. Soon, they'll have to end this conversation.

"I think that's fine," he responds. "It's harder to get mad for yourself, and you care about your family a lot, right?"

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