Fault Line (Joe Tazuna x GN!Reader)

Day Three

"I absolutely will not eat this." Alice said. You and Joe emerged from his room groggily. You could see Alice sitting on one of the sofas with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at Safalin who stood parallel to him, shaking slightly.

"But.. I thought you said you wanted stir fry..?" She responded quietly. She hugged her arms, and Alice crossed one leg over the other.

"No, I asked for fried rice. Not stir fry."

Safalin sniffled, "Isn't that... a bit heavy for a breakfast?"

"As if stiry fry is any lighter?!" He huffed, "I can't eat such... bitter food in the morning."

"But many adults use bitter coffee as a way to wake themselves up... You would think something like this would help prepare you for the day ahead of you."

"I don't drink coffee!!" Alice argued back.

You and Joe walked into the library, taking both their attention away from each other.

But only for a moment. Safalin turned back to Alice nervously, stating, "If you don't finish it... you'll be given a penalty." Then ran off.

Alice made a sound of disbelief, just watching as Safalin ran away. Joe began to lead the two of you to a seperate room but Alice shouted, asking you to wait.

"If you guys will eat the green bits, I'd be willing to entertain a conversation. Come, sit." He motioned to the couch opposite of him.

You looked at Joe, "Are you hungry?"

"...Yeah. Are you okay with this?"

"I don't mind."

~ * ~

Alice had left the two of you in the library with a magazine from two years ago in your hands. It described Reko's sour feelings towards her at-the-time band that had included Alice, stating that she wouldn't ever be able to sing their songs again. Your heart broke for them. But your heart broke more for Alice, who had convinced himself that she wouldn't be willing to listen to him, even if it really didn't seem that way on Reko's side of things.

Rather than tossing it out like Alice had asked the two of you to do, Joe folded it up gently and placed it in his pocket.

You and Joe went to do an attraction, and upon reentering the lobby again, Q-Taro, who had been sitting on the couch, stood up and hobbled over to you two.

"Do you guys have any tokens left? Or did you trade them all?"

Joe looked at him strangely, and you began to feel sick. "Yeah?" Joe responded.

"Yeah, what?" Q-Taro asked, raising his voice slightly, "Yes you have tokens? Or yes you traded them all? Joe." He took a few steps towards the two of you, and you both tok one back in turn.

"I have... tokens." As soon as the words had left Joe's mouth, you could see the regret.

His face lit up, "Do you guys want to trade? I just need twenty tokens. Or ten from both of you. I'll give you each twenty in return. Good deal for you, huh?" He said quickly.

Joe took another step back, slightly placing himself in front of you. "Why are you acting like that?" He questioned suspiciously.

"I'm not acting like shit," He said coldly, complete 180 from where he was before. "I just wanna trade."

"But it's so uneven."

"My own tokens don't matter. I might as well give them away." He pulled tokens out of his pocket and held them out to you, "Please."