messianic | IC

I knew you would. But it doesn't hurt to have more help.

[He's maybe a little extra concerned after the forest stuff, too. A real teacher is necessary...]

[Guren is a good dad...]

You're right. I'm definitely grateful for it.

[... Hmmm...]

You went into the forest with Midoriya-kun's expedition thing, right? [Minato's pretty sure he saw Guren there.]

Are you okay?

I'm fine.

[...He may have secretly spied on Minato at some point and saw that he was Alive and Well, and that's his only reason for not asking now. It's his cool cover up. Look how believable he is.]

[Still a cool dad.

Minato doesn't mind, at least; he's pretty used to people not asking, since he's also pretty good at generally being Fine.]

That doesn't really say much about what you experienced, or your actual state right now...

[His actual state is overworking himself because all of his friends are not so great. He wants to open up to let Minato talk to him more, but that also means talking more about himself, with how Minato flips things back on him. Ugh.]

I'm busy, I don't have time for that. Go talk it out with Ryoji.

[Minato had appeared through that archway for Ryoji, so it only makes sense that they're close, right? That way, they could share with each other, and Guren could continue to stress out on his own... Searching out people who can help each other while hiding himself in his own room, pinpointing where he went wrong and wondering how to best fix it.]

[... Well.

That's... That's something. He hasn't heard yet from Ryoji what happened on his trip, though it's pretty clear he needs to ask him, but...

... well, he supposes it's not any surprise that Guren knows they're close, since that's how Ryoji is, but still, did he really talk about it at a time like that?

Hm...]

I didn't realize Ryoji brought me up... [Still, not important.]

What are you so busy with? Checking up on everyone?

[Hm. He pointedly doesn't reply to the first part, and the second part gives him a pause. What part of "I'm busy" says "reply to me?" Ugh. His cold replies don't even work...

Checking on people? Kind of. He's seen how everyone was in whatever way he could, he's got people he's worried about, one of his own group included, and he's sending out these sparring and teaching match ups again. He takes a little long to reply.]

Don't worry about it. I was only on here to send out those match ups.

[Ugh, but what if Minato is lingering because he really needs help himself? What if it was just less obvious? Guren wouldn't be able to forgive himself to end the conversation there, so he adds on.]

Are you doing alright?

[Pretty much all of it, when it's Minato. Until Guren stops responding, he's gonna go ahead and keep pestering.

The response does take awhile, though; Minato's not sure that Guren's even going to offer up an answer until that response comes in.

And it's... oh. He really is concerned, isn't he? Guren really is a good person, constantly looking out for others.]

If you say so. I'm fine, Ichinose-san. A little tired, but nothing that bad happened to me.

[... That said...]

But I know that bad things happened to other people out there. So I can't help but worry.

[Tired is fine. If he waited this long and said nothing, then it really is just exhaustion, right? Guren stares down at his hands over the keys for a while.]

Nothing bad happened to me, but I should have sent them both back. Talk to Ryoji if you want to know what happened. He had a close call.

[...Hm.

So not physical pain, then, but rather--]

I'll check on Ryoji. I won't ever leave him alone. [Not after everything they've been through.

But that's not his focus in this conversation.]

And you don't have to tell me what happened. But it still doesn't really sound like you're okay after all of that.

[To that, he doesn't know how to respond. He doesn't think him talking about what happened will help at all. But if Minato hears it from Ryoji and comes back— he'll give him more then. Right now, though, he's staring at a computer screen on so little sleep, and there's so much more he needs to do.

It's mean, and Minato doesn't deserve it, but Guren doesn't reply. He's just like that when it comes to himself.]

[Well.

Fair enough. It's a line drawn in the sand, and for now, Minato will respect that boundary. But later... later, he's going to have to go check and make sure Guren's okay, isn't he?

It's just a quiet note to himself, though, and then he leaves Guren and the laptop both alone.]

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