"Oh," said Hyuk-jae, voice soft. Well, that was easier than usual — at least Ling knew about the epilepsy already. It was no wonder he'd had such a large seizure this last time if he'd had a smaller one while he was with her. He rubbed the back of his neck, waiting while she talked.

I treated you to lunch at Narook's Seaweed Noodlery

Well, that probably hadn't helped. Hyuk-jae wondered if he had been hungry and stupid enough to eat something with a lot of carbohydrates and stuff in it... the answer was most likely yes. He'd probably thrown the diet all off, which helped explain why he felt so jacked up and why the fit had been so massive this past time.

He was just making a note on the paper that had her address and number on it — mostly just to add her name — when her next sentence almost made him drop the pen entirely.

"I was also made aware of... ah, your other occupation."

"Shut the front door," he gasped, face suddenly burning. The shopkeeper watched him with renewed interested. Who COULD he be on the 'phone with? "I--"

"You agreed to see a client on Saturday. I didn't catch his name, but he was a larger sort, with beady, piggly eyes."

Obviously the day he'd met up with this girl had been just... awful, in all kinds of ways. Small fits, breaking his diet, seeing a 'patron' somewhere while he was obviously out in her company... Hyuk-jae needed a minute before he let out the breath he'd been holding. Idly he wondered if sheer panic and mortification could transmit through a telephone line. "Dae-ho," the young man murmured, yanking hard on his earrings. "I'm sure it was him. Th-- thank you." He would've been in trouble if he hadn't shown up. That man in particular seemed to enjoy hurting him sometimes, and Hyuk-jae didn't like to give him excuses.

"We agreed to a partnership of sorts — information in exchange for payment... are these conditions still acceptable to you?"

"Y-yes ma'am," he said, the manners from his parents kicking in, as usual. If he had entered into an agreement with this woman he would certainly not back down from it now. "Is — did you give me any specific thing to watch for?" Or did she just want information in general? If he had a topic or something, it might change where he went. Or did she just want him to hang out in criminal areas and pass along whatever he heard?

"I can't even begin to imagine how disconcerting this conversation must be, so please tell me where to go from here."

Hyuk-jae waved a hand in a conciliatory gesture, even though she couldn't see him. "Oh no, it's fine. I'm so sorry. I'm sure I've interrupted your day long enough. I'm sorry to bother you. I've taken notes so — this won't happen again, all right?" He paused.

"I'm not entirely sure if we can discuss these matters over the phone."

Ah, right. She was likely correct about that — they should be careful over the phone. Lines weren't private. Trying to figure out what to do, Hyuk-jae chewed on his lower lip. He couldn't ask her to come to his place. It was an embarrassing run-down mess of an apartment, filled with too many people. And he knew she'd just pity him if she knew he slept in the closet.

"Ah, yes. Have you eaten today? If not, we should meet up somewhere."

Eating. He could see that this was going to get complicated. "That's fine, but —" Twirling the cord of the phone around a finger, Hyuk-jae paused, trying to think of how to explain. "I — I can't eat any starchy things, okay?" Tapping the toes of one booted foot on the floor, he leaned on the wall. "The fits are worse if I don't eat a certain way... I must have been so hungry before that I didn't make good choices. No noodles, or starchy vegetables, or... really, it's easiest if I just eat meat. Or something. But —" he waved a hand again, talking with gestures even though she couldn't see him. "— you don't have to feed me. I'm fine. Really. We'll just, don't worry about that."

"I need to pick up something for my mother anyway, and just got home from work so I could use a little something-something."

"Okay," he said, "just... meet me on the corner of Larkspur Lane and Sixteenth street, okay? I need —" he looked down at himself. Ugh. "Uh, like, twenty minutes." The shopkeeper was waving at him to get off the phone. "I hope your mother is okay. And I have to go. I'll see you soon. Okay. Bye."

Hyuk-jae managed to slip out of the shop without getting entangled in a conversation with the shopkeeper. Going back home, he washed his face with the cold water that came out of the tap. The water didn't run hot in their block of apartments, little surprise. He still felt a little off, but mostly, he felt fine. Hyuk-jae didn't own that many pairs of clothes — he had two shirts, one pair of trousers, a vest, the boots, one sweater, and a winter coat — but he felt it necessary to change at least a little. Pulling his mostly-white shirt off over his head, he washed it in the sink and hung it up to dry before putting a nearly identical one on in its place. This shirt had patches at the elbows and was a little more ivory now than white, but it was clean. Black vest, same black trousers, same boots.

There was nothing to be done for his hair, but that was fine. He didn't care that much. The red leather bracelet stayed in place around his wrist and the silver earrings never came out — he almost always looked the same. Bringing along his pen and a scrap of paper, just in case, Hyuk-jae made his way to the street corner he'd named. He had no idea who he was looking for.

It was nerve-wracking, trying to meet up with someone he couldn't remember. Hyuk-jae was easily spotted, so tall and thin, leaning against the wall and watching all the people. He heard his name and looked in the direction the sound had come from. This very short person? This was the girl?

She almost looked like a boy! Not that Hyuk-jae was one to talk. People said he looked very feminine all the time, and they were sort of right. He tossed his head to move his hair from his eyes. Unlike before, he wore no cap, just the shiny blue-black of his hair. After a large seizure like the one he'd had and the subsequent days of sleep required, he always looked a bit... worn. The Firebender was always thin and tall, but he had darker circles beneath his eyes than before, and the orange was somewhat glassy. He looked like he needed a bath, three months of sleep, and about twenty pounds of weight-gain. Pushing away from the wall with one foot, he came towards her, hands in pockets.

"I guess you're Ling," he said. "I'm so sorry about this." Hyuk-jae looked embarrassed, slanted orange eyes not quite staying on her face. He rubbed an upper arm with one hand. "I... we can go wherever you like. As I said, you really don't have to worry about me." He knew he was too much a hassle to be bothered with, especially if she was hungry and had an errand to run.

"Did you... need to go somewhere for your mother?" he asked. "If you'd like to, we can do that first." What else could he say? He couldn't remember the girl's temperament, and didn't know how she reacted to things. He didn't know how to talk to her.

Hyuk-jae was quiet. As Ling told him he looked terrible, he smiled, eyes sad. "I know," he said. The rest of her words were... a little shocking, to tell the truth. He knew, rationally, that his condition wasn't anyone's fault. It was just the luck of the draw, he'd been born this way. But that honestly didn't make him feel better most of the time, and definitely not when he was just a few days post-seizure and still waking up with his roommates telling him that if he caught anything else on fire, they were kicking him out.

"I'm sorry, am I making you uncomfortable again?"

She was worried about making him uncomfortable? His eyes widened with surprise, lashes standing out dark against his pale skin. "I — it's fine," he insisted, not used to having anyone be concerned about his comfort level. Hyuk-jae honestly didn't think anyone had ever asked him about pushing his boundaries. Even his parents had merely given him instructions and expected him to follow, not trusting him to make his own decisions about anything.

As she went on about what they'd spoken of and showed him the headline, he nodded. He remembered hearing about that heist from — ah, and he'd told her. Lee the Gentle. Gosh, he didn't even remember that headline. He must've lost an entire day.

"I asked around about this guy, but no one has a clear answer. Is there any chance you remember anything else? If not, it's okay — please don't feel pressured!"

"Oh," said Hyuk-jae. He paused. He really didn't want to take her to meet Lee, because then the man would likely be inappropriate with him in front of her... Lee wasn't really Gentle, and Hyuk-jae had no idea why he was called that. To be fair, with him, Lee tended to be much nicer than he was with other people, and he'd offered more than once to 'keep' Hyuk-jae if he wanted.

But the Firebender didn't want to be anyone's pet.

"Well..." Hyuk-jae worried his lower lip in his teeth. "He plays cards at the Wooden Eye on Thursdays. I can take you meet him if you don't think you can handle that, but I —" really don't want to "— I'm not sure how much you'd get out of him if I was there."

Hyuk-jae saw the look on the girl’s at the very mention of the Wooden Eye and sighed. He’d known that she wouldn’t like the idea of that place one bit – and with good reason. A guy could look all over Republic City and never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. People didn’t joke about anything at the Eye and unless one had connections, it was risky business rolling up without a plan.

"You don't really seem to want to accompany me, though.”

Well score one for Ling Yao. Of course he wasn’t eager to accompany her there! But he could, and he was likely to be much less trouble there than anywhere else. Lee the Gentle might not talk, that was the only problem. While the man was strangely talkative and comfortable with Hyuk-jae, the Firebender was aware that Lee never let anything slip when playing cards or handling other more dangerous pursuits.

"Tell me about the building itself, his usual table, and the kinds of folks that surround him instead."

Running a hand through inky hair, Hyuk-jae looked at the people around them for a moment before answering her. “It’s… Lee plays on the upper deck. You’d need to be really good with words if you wanted to get up there easy. I can go with you. He plays the red table in the back and there’s always at least one hired hand with him.” Well, almost always. Not in the bedroom. Hyuk-jae had spent plenty of alone time with Lee, who in turn had helped him pay his rent countless times. Who knew why, but the bastard had a bit of a soft spot for him... he thought. Lee the Gentle often got in touch with him to see how he was, which Hyuk-jae thought strange. A soft spot. Soft enough not to hurt him, anyway. Much.

"Can you have this?"

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten something sweet. “I can’t,” he said softly, “but thank you.” Rubbing his upper arm, he waited while she picked sweets. The thought of going to see Lee so soon after the last time made his stomach curl into knots. Even with his help, Ling would have to be really careful not to make it obvious that she was there for information. They’d have to come up with a reason for her to come in with Hyuk-jae. His going to see the man wasn’t noteworthy, but bringing someone else?

Well, it hadn’t ever happened before.

"I don't really remember the last time I was allowed to eat something like that," said Hyuk-jae in what he hoped was a soothing manner, "so I don't really know what I'm missing. It's okay." He watched her pick and choose among the chocolates, making cute little gifts for people. It seemed like such a nice thing to do. The whole shop smelled incredible — sweet, smooth, rich. He wondered if it tasted as good as it smelled.

"I know a great skewer-and-noodle place. Noodles are optional; you said you can eat meat, right?"

"Yes ma'am, but I also said you don't have to feed me." It was as if the two words were connected, the way they tumbled out of his mouth together! Even though Ling didn't look like a "ma'am" that much, he still had to be polite to her. Right? He thought he had been clear over the 'phone that she wasn't obligated to feed him at all. He didn't want to feel beholden to her in any way.

"I'm a decently good card player. Remember how I said my sister and I started a detective agency? Most of the money to sponsor it came from my thrice-weekly card games."

"I'm sure you are," he said, "but —" Hyuk-jae was strangely disturbed by the sparkling-eyed girly look she presented him with. He didn't like it on her — it seemed so out of place! He stared for a moment, about to tell her to stop doing it when she put her hair back up. "Oh, thank you," he said quickly. "It's weird and creepy. I'm sure it works, but still." Weird and creepy. She seemed like such a boyish, straight-talking girl. Did she secretly own a fluffy white dress, too?

Bizarre.

"But — being cute won't work on Lee the Gentle," Hyuk-jae said softly, "because you're not a boy and he doesn't play with people randomly. It's hard to get to the upper deck on your first day. Some of the people who play at the Eye are... pretty serious." He followed to her to this food establishment, where she insisted yet again that he eat something. Feeling a little frustrated and unsure, Hyuk-jae ran a hand through his hair.

"Why are you doing this?"

Hyuk-jae smiled a little. Of course she was into girls — he wouldn't expect anything less from her... but her answer as to why she wanted to help him was frankly astonishing. He was sure it showed on his face, because he had no reason to hide it from her.

"Look at you. You're not well, what with your fits, and you don't have meals regular-like."

Look at him? What was that supposed to mean? Hyuk-jae knew he was reasonably attractive! Some people said 'pretty', even! "I've always been skinny!" he protested, a little annoyed. His father was thin and tall, too, and his mother was a slight woman. Even if he ate three square meals a day, he'd still be skinny! Well, probably not as thin as he was. That was fair. He was a bit waif-like, especially for being so tall. But hey, it made him good money sometimes.

"Don't think I haven't noticed that you get beat up, too. You flinch entirely too much at yelling."

Oh, please. That was just Mr. Gil. No way around it, and it wasn't a big deal. Violent clients were something else, but usually they followed ground rules. So... Hyuk-jae just didn't like yelling. He didn't like most loud noises. "I don't like loud noises," he said, "it's got nothing to do with anything else." As for the rest of her talking... he didn't know what to say. His parents had always kept him out of public and tried their best to make him aware that he was responsible for himself and for keeping other people safe. He wanted to depend on himself, even if it meant he had to do crap work and put up with a lot of ... pain from other people to do it.

At the same time, he was also used to making other people happy. She obviously really, really wanted to feed him. As they entered the shop, he sighed. Hyuk-jae stared at the meat, trying to figure out what he could eat. The plainest thing was likely best. The cheapest was definitely best. He had a feeling that while she liked him now, she wouldn't like him so well if she saw a full fit, or the Firebending damage he could do. He'd had plenty of roommates who had liked him well enough in the beginning to know how quickly things could take a turn for the worst. Likely, he wouldn't have to appease her long before he would upset her, and then it wouldn't be an issue any more.

Hesitantly, he chose the plainest, smallest, cheapest meat option there was.

Hyuk-jae sighed, toying with a water glass. "Okay," he said, trying to appease her. "I said I would take you to meet Lee." Didn't that count as services? He thought it did. After sitting quietly for a minute, he cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry," Hyuk-jae said, "I'm really not trying to be difficult." He rubbed the back of his neck, the red bracelet sliding down his wrist a little. "It's just that I'm used to... well, I'm not used to just being friends with people." He laughed a little, knowing it was ridiculous. "I didn't go to school or anything, growing up. So I... didn't learn how to make friends when I was a kid." He'd mostly socialized with his parents. Hyuk-jae knew that he didn't know how to be friends with people the way that many others did.

When the food came he ate it slowly, again, as if he thought he wouldn't have anything similar for a long time. It was so much better than what he usually ate. Closing his eyes, Hyuk-jae just... tasted it for a moment. It was perfect. It might be plain but to him it was incredible. Like before, he ate very slowly, making sure he wouldn't get sick.

Glancing at Ling, he smiled. "Thank you," he said. "Really. I wouldn't mind being friends." But no matter what she said, she still didn't know everything — about the fits, the Firebending. It was really the Firebending that was the game changer. It always was.