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“So…you’re a ninja?” Ella asked, and Nobu leveled her with a glare. Well, Ella thought that it was glare, but she couldn’t tell– his resting faced looked pretty murderous, too. She’d only seen the man smile once, and it’d been at the prospect of causing bodily harm to another individual. “Look, I’m just asking, man, no need to get all Ice Queen with me.” Nobu only rolled his eyes, tuning out the little ticks of the toaster that sounded from behind him. He had no idea how this woman had managed to talk her way into his apartment, but here she was, unscathed and mildly amusing.
“You’re friends with Fisk,” he stated, and Ella’s eyes went wide as she vigorously shook her head. Nobu had it in him to be surprised. He didn’t think anyone other than close friends lasted long in that man’s life.
“I’m friends with Vanessa, and I tolerate Fisk, because that dude has some serious anger management issues that he needs to deal with. I recommended AAA– Angry Assholes Anonymous, but he politely declined. And by politely, I mean he flipped over a table,” Ella explained, trying for the life of her to gauge Nobu’s current expression. He was like a brick wall with a heartbeat.
“It is understandable,” Nobu acquiesced, having witnessed the man’s temper on more than one occasion. He suddenly had a niggling suspicion that he was forgetting something… He brushed the feeling off, and focused his full attention on the woman before him. She leaned against the counter, and was actually squinting at him, her nose scrunched up, and brow furrowed. It was…endearing.
“Yeah, well, people, am I right? And you never answered my question, so I’m just going to assume that you’re a ninja. Do you dress up? Do you have fancy swords, or do you go around in your suit to seek revenge and bloodshed? I mean, if you do it in the suit, I wouldn’t even want to glance at your dry cleaning bill–”
“I have attire,” Nobu said, cutting Ella off– she hadn’t take one breath during that entire inquiry. Without a word, Nobu turned and walked into the sprawling living room to retrieve his phone, knowing that business was awaiting him as soon as this impromptu visit was over. Just as he was walking back into the kitchen, with full intentions of passing Ella by in favor of the spacious sitting room, a loud pop rang out from next to him. He let out a string of profanity, and something much too close to a scream, then lurched forward, caught Ella by the waist and threw them both to the floor. He crouched over her in a defensive position, waiting to see what would transpire next.
“Oh my god,” Ella muttered from the floor, and his first thought was that shed been hit by whatever had made the noise. That idea was all but obliterated as soon as she began to laugh. Her whole body shook with the force of her giggles, until she was left gasping. Nobu growled and shot to his feet, eyes scanning the kitchen for potential danger, but finding nothing.
“The toaster,” Ella chuckled, pushing herself into a sitting position, “you lost your shit over the toaster, I can’t.” Nobu was still as stoic as always, except for the very, very faint rose blush creeping it’s way up his neck.
“You will tell no one of what has transpired here,” he hissed, grabbing Ella by her arms and hauling her to her feet. She then proceeded to double back over in laughter.
“Fearless Ninja takes on twenty men singlehandedly…and craps himself when the toast is ready,” she wheezed, wrapping one arm around her middle.
“No one will hear of this,” he muttered, escorting her to the door by her elbow. She simply gave him a thumbs up because she was severely doubting her ability to speak in that moment. Nobu deposited her in the hallway and then proceeded to slam the door– he had more important things to attend to, and fyi, he was not trying to forget about the toaster incident. Because it never happened.
It took a few minutes for Ella to sober up, but when she did, she shouted through the intricately carved mahogany, “Same time next Tuesday?” She was met with silence. Nobu stood on the other side of the door, not smiling, but his head was slightly dipped with something close to mirth. “I’ll take that as a yes!” Ella shouted, before he heard her footsteps retreat back down the hall. She showed up at noon the next Tuesday, and Nobu let her in without argument. Ella made no comment on the absentee toaster.