Archive of Our Own

The faux marble and weird carpet stains give the place a horrible liminal quality, as though there is no world outside these walls, just endless, gold lit hallways. It’s a cheap hotel, it’s cheap so they can trash it. He wonders where Kokonoi finds these places. He doesn’t care to ask though. Conversation with Koko doesn’t come easy to him. He’s not sure it comes easy to any of them. It comes less easily with the likes of Hakkai, Inupi, closed off and violent. These newcomers are not like Toman. New - god what a joke. He’s known Inupi longer than he knew Baji now. It’s sickening, really. 

Chifuyu takes stock, like counting cards. It’s more about what you can say, how free they can speak. Draken is staring, shirt undone enough to show where a gold chain sits across his collar, a fixed point he finds at these gatherings, clenches his jaw and checks out. He would talk to him, if Draken had any spirit left. His charcoal rimmed eyes speak to his sleepless nights, the constant set off his shoulders. 

There isn’t much left in him. 

Kazutora sits opposite, hair pulled around his shoulders, fingers interlaced and chin on them. Chifuyu doesn’t let their gaze linger and doesn't return the smile he gets, soft and crooked - sad, the way all Kazutora’s smiles are. The seat beside him was free but Chifuyu elected not to take it. It felt safer that way, to keep themselves apart from this. It was safer. Kisaki owned so many of them, inside these walls. They hadn’t told a soul about one another. 

It doesn’t matter, because Hanma takes the seat, ignoring how Kazutora physically bristles to shove a bag of gummy sweets under his nose. “Do you want one?” He says, shakes it. “This one’s a ballsack -” he looks closer. “Hah - no it’s a cherry, fuck ” 

“One goes out,” Kokonoi says, frigid, flicks a finger in Kazutora’s general direction. “Another goes in. Will we ever have a full set of Toman members? Or do you rotate in and out of prison?” 

Inupi shakes his head, impassive. “Koko” He chides. 

Their gaze meet, illicit feeling, over the table. Kazutora’s golden eyes give nothing and yet promise everything. All parts of Chifuyu’s life are now shrouded. He isn’t sure there was a single soul he wasn’t lying to about something, with the startling exception of Kazutora. They’ve become each other's safety and it’s strange, because when this all started, Chifuyu felt like he could never trust a man as much as he trusted Takemichi Hanagaki.  

He never thought he’d ever confide in anyone as much as he did him and yet, as the years unfolded and this fractious monster - full of secrets of the past - emerged, Chifuyu felt days pass where he forgot what he saw in Hanagaki at all. What he could've put his trust in. What he could have possibly called a partner. 

“Where’s the quote on quote “ boss ”” Takemichi hiccups, pulls out a chair next to Chifuyu, violently, pops the button of his blazer open and drops into it. “Late to his own ass-kissing, not like him” He finishes his dregs of his beer in one. 

“Take it easy, Hanagaki,” Draken says, a wince at his brow, bouncing a poker chip off the felt. “Not in the mood” 

“You made bail then” Takemichi says and waves over a waitress to their table. “Beers” he counts round the table “- do you, do you drink beer, Kokonoi? Want a cocktail?” 

Koko’s brows hit his hairline. “What does that mean?” 

Kazutora tilts his head, leans on his palm, considering, checks his phone with the other hand. “How much have you had to drink?” 

Hanagaki focuses a glare at him. “Why do you talk in that little fucking baby voice? Like whiny like that. “ how much you had to drink”, jesus. How much have you had to drink?” 

Chifuyu squeezes his eyes shut, breathes in through his nose. It’s one of those nights then. He can smell it on Hanagaki’s breath. He’s had a lot. Kazutora came for Draken’s sake, out of some sense of solidarity maybe, he hates these events - he hates the part he played in bringing it to this, he hates the people but most of all he hates Takemichi. He says so, in the quiet of the night; he doesn’t trust him, doesn’t like his brashness, his tone. 

“I did,” Draken says again, quieter. “Kisaki paid it” 

Koko smiles. “Oh that’s good of him. He said he was going to” 

Koko is a problem, Chifuyu realised early on. He’s unreservedly loyal only to whoever will protect him and he’s useful enough to get away with it. Talking openly - open in any regard - around him is a mistake. He did it once, and hadn't quite realised how much of it was going to be relayed back to back Tetta. 

"Speak of the devil," Kazutora says,  fingers trailing the condensation of his drink. 

Kisaki takes the stairs up to the table two at a time, slides his blazer off and hangs it over the chair. "Don't get up" He holds out a hand. 

"Really wasn't planning on it" Takemichi snorts. “I got everyone drinks” 

Kisaki quirks his brow, genuinely nonplussed. “I - Okay?” 

Sometimes Chifuyu thinks he would pay money to get Takemichi to stop talking to him. 

Draken clears his throat, turns to Kisaki and sniifs in once, awkward - entirely unlike himself. “Thank you, Kisaki, for paying -” 

Kisaki shakes his head, “Please, don’t mention it. Really, it was the least I could do” 

Kokonoi smiles at him then, an upside down thing, sneered but pretty, his gaze flickering to Takemichi. Kisaki smiles in return and says, softly “I’ll text you” 

Kokonoi smiles, sated. Chifuyu ignores how his gut twists, pretends not to have seen. 

“How much was the bail?” He asks then, because Kokonoi seems incapable of talking about anything that isn’t money. 

Draken physically tenses up, shifts in his chair, flares his nostrils like a trapped animal. 

A horse about to bolt. Or get shot. 

“Really -” Kisaki says absently, thumbing a text message out. “Money isn’t an issue” 

Koko’s phone buzzes. He checks it, middle finger tapping his screen alive, and forcibly blinks a reaction off his face. Still manages to look like a startled house cat. 

Bitches , both of them. He remembers Draken, Baji’s Draken, Toman’s Draken. Blood stained teeth and wild blonde hair and fully unbeatable. Chifuyu used to be breathless around them. Look at them now, washed out, sad. Adults. 

“Why?” He asks, bubbled righteously out of him. “Why even bother?” 

Hanma snorts. “You won’t be saying that when you’re in jail” 

“Is that how Tetta found you?” Draken sneers. 

Hanma downs his drink, holds his nose as he does it and makes a face, snaps his fingers for a waiter. “Nah, I was a male stripper” 

“We all make mistakes” Kisaki says to the table, his gaze lingers just a second too long on Chifuyu to feel anything but pointed. “It’s about what we do next. Toman’s always been about forgiveness, hasn’t it? -” 

“Shut the fuck up, drink your club fucking soda, Kisaki” Takemichi sneers, lights up. “No-one gives a fuck what you have to say. Toman, damn -  Where’s Mikey this week - fucking - Disneyland, probably”

That’s a name they don’t mention. The temperature in the room seems to drop. 

Chifuyu gnaws his cheek, puts a hand over the top of Hanagaki’s drink. “You need to slow down”  

“Can we-” It’s Kokonoi, he has his head in his hands, over the pile of poker chips he’s bleeding from everyone else.  “It’s your turn, Hanagaki - can we - just fold, please, Fuck” 

“Maybe I did it out of the kindness of my heart, Chifuyu” Kisaki pushes the lemon slice to the bottom of the glass, looks at him from under his lashes. “Consider that?” 

“Just think it’s a strange thing to do” Chifuyu returns. He’s not checked his cards, but he meets the bet. 

“Well” Kisaki clears his throat. “Not all of us here have ulterior motives”

Kazutora sweeps his hair back, smiles mildly. “I don’t think any of us have ulterior motives” 

“Keep sucking up to Chifuyu, Kazutora” Takemichi says from where he’s slumped back in his chair, gives him the okay sign, kisses his teeth. “Not gonna make him let you suck his cock anytime faster. Grow your hair out another inch maybe” He winks. 

“What the fuck man” Draken snaps. 

“Oh that was a good joke-” Takemichi throws his hand up. “Fuckssake, fine - alright, that was in bad taste. I know you’re sensitive, Kazutora” 

Hanma is biting his tongue, looking at his cards, the tendons of his neck sticking out. Chifuyu calms the genuine sense of panic crawling up his throat. 

“What’re you finding funny?” Takemichi points. 

He blinks. “You” and his eyes travel the room, as if confused why no-one is laughing. “We’re literally all laughing at you. You’re like the whole circus. That’s why we keep you around, Hanagaki” 

“Laughing?” Takemichi shouts and he leans across the table. “That’s fine, laugh at me. At least I didn’t fuck a  13 year old -” 

“ Woah -” Inupi hollers and it crashes, cacophonous against Draken’s; “Hey, hey, hey” 

The escalation Takemichi manages while drunk is always incredible, Chifuyu thinks. No holds barred, once Hanagaki gets drunk. It wouldn’t be that much of a problem, if Takemichi wasn’t always drunk. 

Kisaki seethes. “He didn’t fuck me you animal till I was - ”

Hanagaki puts his hands up. “Don’t care, don’t care about the details. Literally do not care, Kisaki” 

Hanma puts his hands in the air and laughs, a vibrant single ‘ Hah ’, kicks back on his chair. “You’re gonna need to stop speaking or I’m gonna kill you, Takemichi”

“Oh No,” Kazutora says blandly, swirling his drink.  “Please don’t kill him” He leans his cheek in his palm, sucks loudly on nothing but ice. 

“Don’t call me a fucking animal, Tetta. You of all people, You fucking snake” Takemichi points and it’s - annoying, Chifuyu thinks. Because It looks bad, with his drunken brashness and sausage fingers poked at Kisaki - wide eyed and slender, strand of hair askew and gaze all concerned. It looks so much like an attack, it’s probably exactly what Kisaki wants. 

“Okay - well, I’m not - engaging with this” Kisaki laughs through his teeth. 

“No, You will engage, you will fucking enage. We’re engaging” Takemichi shouts. “Everyone here knows it was a sleazy fucking move to pay for Draken’s bail -” 

“I don’t think that’s sleazy at all,” Kokonoi laughs hopelessly, sat back, arms crossed, with genuine confusion on his face. “I think - well, I’d never do that. No offense Ryuguji” 

Draken shakes his head, impassively. Checked out, arms crossed, sunk low in his chair. 

“And you know-” and then, Takemichi tears up and Chifuyu wants to scream, feels itchy right under his skin, feels acutely aware of Kisaki’s gaze on him. “Y’know Mikey would’ve loved this and he’s gone and none of you give a shit ” 

Kazutora laughs, sharp, sighs it out. “Mikey would’ve hated poker” 

And Draken snorts, a soft quirk of a smile. “He’d never have the patience” 

“Ah yeah, ‘cos you two are so close, Kazutora” Hanagaki snorts. "Laughing over there with your fucking 30 days chip like you know anything"

Kazutora’s gaze sharpens, he blinks, deliberately. “I’m sorry?”

“Really?” Hanagaki says and he points between them. “ Really? Who was actually there for him? When Draken was stabbed, when Baji died -”

“Kisaki, maybe?” Hanma says and then laughs, slightly hysterical. Draken is wound tight, so tight Chifuyu can see the veins in his temple. 

This is spiralling, faster than Chifuyu can save - and even if he could, god, it would only draw attention to him. 

“Does anyone want another drink?” Kazutora asks, hands pressed flat on the table, like he needs to see them in order not to use them. “I think I need one” 

“Consider this,” Hanma says, two fingers on the felt mat. “Mikey took a one way trip to hono- fucking -lulu to escape your whining fucking ass, Takemichi. He’s the real winner here” 

Kisaki rubs his glasses into his hair. “Well - obviously that’s not what happened” and then snider. “Before you book your flights” 

Takemichi turns his gaze, flicks a chip across the table and ignores Koko’s indignant hiss. “And you’ve given up then, have you?” 

And very calmly, given the situation, Draken takes a breath in his nose. “Don’t ever fucking tell me what I have and haven’t done, Hanagaki” 

“So you’ve taken your little bribe” He sneers. “Aw fuck you ” 

Kisaki levels his gaze and something cold settles in Chifuyu. “Hanagaki, I paid his bail. I didn’t save his life” 

And that’s a threat, Chifuyu knows, a retraction of help unless Takemichi backs down and Hanagaki is too blind to see it. To feel it. 

“Takemichi -” He puts a hand on his arm. 

“Mikey would’ve told me if he was going to Hawaii” Takemichi says, far too earnestly. Far too much like a boy Chifuyu could’ve trusted and not this drunken pig. “So absolutely suck my fucking fat ass, Hanma” 

And then, very consideringly, Kazutora asks. “So what did you do?” 

Takemichi seems to choke, whirling around. “Huh?” 

Kazutora shrugs gently. “When he went missing. What did you do to find him” 

Takemichi laughs then, deflective. “Wha - well, I had the capacity to fucking vote, hanemiya and I also didn’t kill his fucking brother -” 

Inupi’s nose curls, head shaken. “Don’t bring him into this” 

“Oh yeah-” Draken says, suddenly, abruptly. “Cos you’re only here - clinging to Shinichiro’s fucking coattails, jesus - Where do you get off, newbie. Takemichi can say what he wants” 

Hanma slaps his knee, laughs hard, delighted. “Who’s side are you on, baby?” 

Draken face darkens. “Not yours, Shuji” 

Kokonoi comes alight, snarls. “ Coattails? Oh spare me, Ryuguji, what exactly are you offering to Toman again?” 

Draken tilts his head. “Keep your fucking girlfriend in line, Inui” 

“Watch your tone” Inupi returns, equally unenthused, and keeps his hand on Kokonoi’s arm, white’s of his eyes showing. “Missing Mikey, hm?” 

Draken laughs, sharp. “Fuck, I’ve killed someone already, Sweetheart. Don’t think I won’t take you out -” 

Inui grits his teeth. “ Please, I invite you” 

“The first time we met, Takemichi, a really large part of me wanted to push your eyes back into your head,” Kazutora smiles. “And sometimes, If I’m honest, I wish I had” 

Kisaki taps his glass. “Can we - maybe all calm down, hm?” 

“Please” Chifuyu breathes, before he can help, as hysterical now as everyone else. “Like this isn’t exactly what you want” 

Kisaki's glasses flash as his gaze lands on him. "Hm, Matsuno?" 

The argument is too loud for their conversation to be audible. Hanagaki is shouting, though at what now it’s impossible to know, tears in the corner of his eyes. 

“Us” He breathes, because with their eyes locked across the table, Chifuyu finds he can’t find the words. “At each other's throats” 

Kisaki  frowns, puzzled, and leans on his hand, smiling a soft, simpering thing. “Why would I want that?” 

“ - Mikey trusted you, Takemichi, he didn’t love you” Kazutora is saying, almost imploringly, like he really doesn’t understand how they could believe it. “Tell him, Draken, please -” 

Draken closes his eyes,  puts his hands up in defeat before digging them through his hair. “Who knows what Mikey thinks - thought”

“You never tried to, Ken, ” Kazutora laughs, hopelessly, frustrated.  

“Never tried” Draken huffs. “Yeah, I was the real fucking issue, wasn’t I?” 

Kazutora goes grey. “That’s - I didn’t  - That’s not what I meant” 

“None of you” Takemichi slurs. “ None of you got him like I got him. I got him, man, me and Mikey - me  - we were -” 

Kisaki leans across the table, taps the back of Chifuyu’s hand and watches him startle. 

“Do you think we’re disordered? Since Mikey went missing?” And then, softer, he grips Chifuyu’s wrist as he tries to pull back, fingers cold. “Or maybe since Baji died?” 

He pulls back like he’s been scalded, far too obvious a reaction. 

“ Please ” Kazutora giggles, and then. “What was his favourite colour, huh Hangaki? - ” 

“I don’t -” Chifuyu chokes, and he feels so sick, his hands almost don’t feel like his own, like the world is tilted on its axis. Or, maybe like he’s seeing it clearly for the first time. Realising just out of his depth he is. 

“His favourite colour - fucking hell -” Takemichi’s laugh is bellied. “Are you off your fucking meds, Kazutora? Who made you the authority on Sano -”

“Stop it” Draken says, emptily. “Both of you” 

“Takemichi -” Chifuyu tries. I think we should go , on his tongue. 

“Who do you work for, again, Chifuyu?” He slurs. “Right, exactly. Shut up” 

Kisaki bites a smile back, Chifuyu watches the look he exchanges with Hanma; a secret little half grimace. They’ve both always known how to orchestrate Kazutora’s anger. Like banging on the cages to a big cat, being confused when it attacks. 

“I grew up with him,” Kazutora laughs but Chifuyu can see how his eye twitches, how tight he’s holding himself. Chifuyu tugs Hanagaki’s shirt. He’d beg, at this point, to get him to lay off.  

“He told me everything” Takemichi says then, and it’s violent, like a tornado, like no-one’s going to escape it. “Did you know he said he loved Keisuke to me?” a direct challenge at Kazutora. The table goes quiet , like the air has been sucked from it. 

“He said that to you?” Draken asks, tight, he seems to have to blink his own reaction off his face. He swallows, nauseously.  

Kazutora rubs his thumb under the vein on his eye. “Anyone with eyes knew he loved Keisuke” 

“Is that why you killed him?” 

Kisaki stands then, like a saviour - exactly what he wants. “Alright, enough,” He says. “ Enough . Let’s get you to your room, maybe Hanagaki?” walks round the table and puts a hand on his elbow. Takemichi wrenches him off, stands, wobbly.

“Did you know he said he didn’t trust you, Kisaki? He said that to my face , said you were bad news, so - why’d he put you in charge” He snarls. 

“He just said what you wanted to hear, Hanagaki, ” Kisaki says, though there is a waver in his voice. “Let’s maybe stop drinking, hm?” 

“Oh Shut up, You probably killed him” Takemichi hiccups. “You do that with all your exes right? When they realise what a freaky little creep you are” 

Kisaki snorts. “Okay, let’s - You’re literally talking nonsense now” 

“Like Hinata, yeah?” He gets close up into Kisaki’s face, breathing the words on him. Kisaki looks away to the side, sucks his cheeks in, bites on them. “Yeah, yeah, remember her?  -” 

“Back up, Hanagaki,” Shuji warns from where he’s stood up. Hand outstretched between them. 

“Can we really call them Exes? Do you get anywhere with them? Mikey was easy, right? Yeah, I know Mikey’s easy but Tachibana, she was too much for you right -” 

Kisaki’s gone very grey but he’s searching Takemichi’s gaze for something, like he can’t quite believe what he’s hearing, like he’s always needed to hear it. Takemichi is saying far too much, for what he should know.  “How -” 

“You should get checked, Tetta” Takemichi slurs. “Whatever Shuji over there is carrying from back in the day he was fucking Kazutora senseless for you -” 

Kazutora stands then, in one fluid motion, eyes wide before he seems to catch himself, blink himself into the present, he clears his throat. “Good luck in court, Draken. Cover your tattoo, don’t say anything overtly homicidal, You’ll be fine” and sweeps away with a glance back at them. 

And Chifuyu forces himself - for both their sakes - not to react. 

“I think you hurt his fee-fees, Takemichi” Hanma pouts, and pops four gummy sweets in his mouth, chews them loudly. “He’s off like a lil rocket” 

“You’re foul” Kisaki says, nose curled, and there is unfiltered malice in his tone, open in a way Chifuyu so rarely hears him but knows him and he agrees with him and absolutely fuck Takemichi for allowing that. 

“Am I?” Takemichi breathes. “What’s that make you, then - Fuck are you gonna cry?” He barks a laugh. 

“You make him cry,” Hanma smiles. “I will pull your fucking fingernails off and make you eat them” 

Hanagaki doesn’t take his eyes off Kisaki's. “Yeah? Will you, Hanma? Cos god forbid he ever does a thing for himself, right? Everyone else’s hands get dirty, ‘cept yours, right? Keeping them clean for Hina?” He leans forward, breathes into Kisaki’s ear, mouths. “She likes it dirty”

Kisaki’s slap is resounding.  Chifuyu squeezes his eyes shut, opens them to see Draken; Eyes wide. Kokonoi and Inui; Koko delighted, hand tight on Inui’s bicep. Hanma’s by far the most focused, lip pulled up into a barely there grin, gaze sedate like a hunting cat. 

Takemichi clicks his jaw, touches his jaw. “You hit like a girl” 

And then he takes Tetta by his skinny little shoulders, thumbs pressing into the dip of his collar bone,  and headbutts him so hard the momentum takes them both onto the table. 

Kisaki cries out, genuine shock in his tone and it would be satisfying if the situation was less wretched. As it stands all it sounds is cruel. Contextless it looks - awful for Hanagaki. 

Takemichi sprawls, knee between Kisaki's legs, who lies shocked silent and holding his nose underneath. 

The cards, the chips, the drinks - it all mixes in a wet pile. 

Hanma moves with so much force and Chifuyu realises, in a stupified sort of way, through the haze of shock and booze,  if Takemichi dies here it’s all over - the future, the past. 

“Alright” Draken drawls, bored. He stands with maximum effort “Alright, Takemichi enough” He takes his elbow. “Fuckssake enough” 

“ Enough?” Hanma spits, and his smile does nothing to conceal the ferality in his eyes. “An eye for a fucking eye, Draken” 

“‘S not a fair fight” Draken says. 

Hanma lungres then, with speed, for Takemichi’s neck and putting space between them hurts. He catches Hanma’s hand, forcing himself to bear the brunt of the momentum. 

“ Oh Matsuno” He breathes, grin not reaching his eyes. “We volunteering for a fair fight ?” 

Takemichi is spitting profanity, drunken and incomprehensible white noise. 

“Hanma” It’s soft, croaked. “Enough”

Kisaki’s eyes are on him, watching him with cold concealment, nose running red down his lips. He stares and stares . And he realises then, like a knife to the throat, like if he moves an inch everything unravels; that Kisaki knows, that his loyalties have been laid. That he’s going down with Takemichi, whether he wants to or not now. 

“Hey” Draken says, from where he’s holding Hanagaki up by the arm. He holds Chifuyu’s gaze, like he knows too.  “Someone check on Kazutora” 

It’s the sweetest thing Draken’s ever done for him, he thinks. 

He finds Kazutora the toilets, all black tiles to hide a multitude of sins, a condom dispenser in the corner, an overbearing chemical smell to hide something worse. He’s bent over the sink, hands clutching the white ceramic, hair falling in waves over his shoulders. 

“Come to check I haven’t snapped?” He laughs weakly. 

Chifuyu winces. No, of course not. Not him. They - and by they he means those who know his past - they treat Kazutora like glass, like a precious reminder of a past they can’t forget. They’re precious with him, precious in a way that - at least at first - Chifuyu didn’t have the capacity to be. 

It’s probably what drew them so irrevocably close. 

“I’m sorry” He reaches out, scratches a hand through Kazutora’s hair, rubs patterns with his blunt nails. 

“Sorry? For what? You did nothing” And he bats Chifuyu’s hand off, crosses his arms and puts some distance between them. “Give me a second - I just need -” He shakes his head. “I need -” He swallows, forcefully, bites his lip and shakes his head. “You can’t trust him, Matsuno” He breathes. “Not with any of it” 

Chifuyu knows, of course he knows that now. Tonight was the nail in a coffin of a body long dead. Chifuyu can’t trust Takemichi with any of it. Not the investigation, likely not even Tachibana’s death. For a while though, they were all the other had, they were everything to each other and it hurts, to think someone could change this much, so fast. 

“He hates Kisaki” He tries, though it’s weak to his own ears, a last ditch attempt to convince himself of something other than the truth. 

“Draken hates Kisaki, I hate Kisaki,” Kazutora says and moves forward, closes the distance between them and says, with startling finality, cups his cheeks in both his hands and says; “Keisuke hated him too. You think hate makes you safe from Kisaki Tetta? it makes you his. He has Hanagaki exactly where he wants him -” 

He shakes his head then because Kazutora sounds hopeless, like Kisaki is inevitable and his plans unstoppable and Chifuyu can’t - he can’t believe that. 

“Chifuyu” He says and it croaks in his throat desperately. “You’re going to get yourself killed protecting him” 

“I won’t” he promises, over the top of Kazutora, because it hurt to consider. Takemichi wouldn’t, he would never let it come to that, regardless of how far gone he is - they both were. “I won’t” 

Kazutora just looks defeated, there is no relief in his face, no real acknowledgment of the promise. 

His phone buzzes. It’s Tachibana Naoto and Kazutora moves forward, covers his hand, the number. “Don’t answer,” he pleads. “Not - not now” 

Chifuyu puts it away, nods. “Alright” He kisses Kazutora’s cheek, just where the seam of his lip starts. “Alright” 

Kazutora searches his gaze for a moment before he fists his shirt, drags him close, kisses him violently. Catharsis, Chifuyu knows, a place for all that itchy energy Kazutora has burning under his skin, that make his smile so tight and his eyes so wide. He fights impulse so hard, until he knows an outlet can take it. 

“ God -” He breathes. “I -” 

“I know,” Chifuyu says. “I know” 

And he backs them into the seclusion of a stall, locks it behind him and then locks their lips. Kazutora nuzzles against his ear. 

“I miss you,” he says. “When I watch you with them all. It’s like - someone else” 

Chifuyu kisses him, against his temple, and draws back. “I’m always me, Kazutora and fucking Kisaki Tetta won’t -” 

Kazutora lurches forward then, gaze to the side and covers his mouth gently, pushing them both up against the flimsy partition wall. The door swings open then, Chifuyu’s voice caught just in time in the palm of his hand . He has these cat-like instincts, Chifuyu notices, especially in situations like this. How he even heard someone coming to the door he has no clue. An instinct, perhaps, one you get locked up - where privacy is scarce and safety scarcer still.  

“God - god -” He hears a seething whisper, muted and muffled. “Look at me, I’m shaking” 

It’s Kisaki, his Oxfords make a discernible noise on the lacquered floor tiles but his voice is muffled. Chifuyu squeezes his eyes shut while Kazutora rubs a pattern on the bridge of his nose, whether for Chifuyu sake, or just self-soothing. It's hard to know. 

“I hate him” 

And he’s never heard Hanma sound like that. It’s flat, it’s empty, it’s just a truth, breathed into the night, there is a startling lack of humour. 

“Oh -” Kisaki tries, chokes on it. “Don’t - not on my behalf, he’s really not worth it” 

It’s quiet for a moment. 

“Is my nose broken?” Kisaki asks, a reedy little murmur. 

Hanma laughs, fond, gentle. “No, you’d know if it was broken. I think it’s bruised” 

Kazutora’s gaze is on him, the door locked, their clothes ruffled. They stare at one another, trapped now, chests just touching. 

The tap runs. “God, who does he think he is. So stupid, he’s always been stupid though, since the begninning. Tsch, like he even knows who I am past - his boss. And - I am his fucking boss. Why does he make me want to cry ” and then much softer. “That’s sad isn’t it - all these years and he still makes me feel like a child - ow - fuck -”

Hanma, graciously, soft - God, what a tone. “It doesn’t show, Tetta” 

“Doesn’t it?” 

It’s strangely raw, Chifuyu thinks, in a distant sickly way. 

“You hit him over a woman” Hanma grin is a sound of its own. “ Very righteous ” 

Kisaki sighs, shaky. “Yeah, I - Well, I should’ve - -” it fades. He tuts. “I don’t know why he frightens me” 

Frightens. Chifuyu hates the word. It’s so dangerous. Kazutora was frightened of Mikey, it was the word he used, a childish desire to make something just stop . Chifuyu understands then why Kisaki’s hate is so ravenous, so destructive. Fear is a destructive thing, incomprehensible. 

He hears footsteps, squeaky across the floor, the sound of fabric and a long dragged in tense breath. The timbre of it is muffled, pushed. It’s the sound of breath in the crook of someone's neck, intimate and soft. He can imagine it because he wants it too; to bury his nose in Kazutora’s collar and breath him in, let him take the tension out his shoulders. It’s a hateable comparison to be able to make, when you’re praying for their downfall. He doubts Kisaki has ever had an ounce of empathy for either of them. 

“Lemme see” Hanma says and the concern in his tone makes Kazutora’s breathe hitch, audible in the little space between them. 

It’s intimate. 

Too intimate for them, too intimate to be something that can be heard without consent. They’re intruding now. 

“Oh” He breathes. “Barely a bruise -” 

Kisaki makes a noise, a weak thing, escaped from his throat. “ Stop” he demands then. Chifuyu can’t imagine what he might have done. Kazutora can, clearly, from how he bites his fist. 

“I’m feeling possessive,” Hanma chuckles. “It’s been years since I let anyone land a hit on you” 

“Then” Kisaki says, soft, teasing. “You should feel like a failure, shouldn’t you?” 

Hanma breathes a laugh and then, rawer. “If he’d broken your nose, He’d be dead” 

Kisaki tuts, like he’s angry with himself. “It’s - embarrassing, actually” he says, consideringly, like he doesn’t allow self-reflection often. “How safe that makes me feel” 

“Aw, That's the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me” 

“Shut up” 

He’s strangely breathless, half experiencing the kind of release he so desperately wanted. Flushed up against Kazutora, who’s hidden his face in the crook of Chifuyu’s neck, breath white hot and wet against the skin of his collar. 

The sound of their lips is audible, their whispered moans and soft sounds, uncanny almost to the noises they themselves were making minutes ago. 

“Check the stalls” Kisaki pants. 

“You’re paranoid,” Hanma murmurs. Chifuyu listens to their lips meeting again. Kisaki makes a noise, a hum in the back of his throat.  

“Check the stalls or I won’t -” 

“Let me suck your dick?” Hanma says and the silence has a quality to it, Chifuyu can picture Tetta’s petulant little face. “Yeah, alright, Princess. Checking”

Kazutora pushes him then, till they hit the toilet, motions a finger up just as a foot impacts the door. 

“Locked?” Tetta asks. “Check for feet”

“You’re gonna make me get on my knees on this floor” Hanma whines. 

“You’re getting on your knees anyway aren’t you?” Kisaki snipes. 

Chifuyu stands then feet silent as he tries to maneuver onto the toilet seat, feeling Kazutora’s ragged breath, as he backs them against the cistern, crouched over one another. 

They watch the shadow of Hanma’s hair, the sound of his earring on the tiles. “Empty” He declares. 

“Then why is it locked?” Kisaki asks. 

A beat. 

“You gonna ask me to crawl under there now?” 

Kisaki’s voice is closer now. “You would, you’re desperate enough” 

“Hey” Hanma murmurs, slightly choked. “You’re a real bitch tonight, you know that?” 

“I’ve had a bitch- inducing evening” he murmurs. 

“Too right,” Hanma chuckles.  the quality in the air changes, electric, as Hanma must push him against the wall in the adjacent stall. Chifuyu squeezes his eyes shut at how the structure trembles. 

“Oh - you’re - Tsk, I didn’t mean that - Ah  ” Kisaki’s voice is weaker, a slip in his own control. Hanma has stamina and an uncanny ability to remain calm until he goes on the offensive. Chifuyu has  seen him fight. He wears you down till you can't bear the thought of another round, he’s seen men die to that . Kazutora’s gaze has gone hazy, teeth clenched, cheeks flushed. Chifuyu is trapped between churning, hopeless attraction and frighteningly cold jealousy. 

A strand of hair, yellow and black, a little sweat damp falls across Kazutora’s cheek. 

“ Fuck -” Kisaki’s hand slams the stall wall, squeaks as it slides down. Kazutora’s eyes flutter shut. The reaction seems to be almost pavlovian, Chifuyu watches how his knees tremble. 

And Chifuyu will be damned if the two of them take this too, the only thing he currently has for himself. He tips two fingers under his chin, forcing their eyes to meet. He can see his own dilated pupils reflected back in Kazutora’s eyes, like an eclipse, a little ring of blue left. 

He pushes forward, brings their lips together violently, recklessly and fuck, it does feel good to be reckless. Kazutora’s whine is muffled by his mouth, silent compared to the gasp Kisaki makes. 

Kazutora has to brace, both hands splayed on the walls as they lurch forward, crouched awkwardly, pulled taut. Kazutora throws his head back, breaks the string of drool that’s keeping them together and pants silently. 

“ Shuji -” It’s helplessly breathless. God, how dare they, Chifuyu thinks and it spurs him - watching Kazutora’s dewy cheeks flush, his liquid gold eyes go black, the shape of the ink on his neck as he swallows. How dare they be able to have each other when he has to fight so hard for even this with Kazutora. 

  Shuji - fuck, how good much you be to make a man like Kisaki Tetta sound like that and it’s detestable, really, fucking detestable to know those same hands touched Kazutora. He mouths along the line of his jaw, listens to how hard Kazutora’s breath stutters. He tilts his head, though, accommodating Chifuyu. He’s always perfectly accommodating. 

“Damn you’re wound so fucking tight, Tetta” Chuckled into the damp, sex drenched air. 

Kazutora shudders, features pinching tight, breath skittering out his chest.

“Shut up” Kisaki pants. “G- get on your knees” 

Chifuyu finds himself unable to blink, hand snaking into Kazutora’s undone slacks, staring at the minutiae of his reactions; the way he bites his lip with his two front teeth, jaw slack, how his lashes flutter, cast shadows in the harsh bathroom light down his cheeks. He’s so hard, damp and desperate, hot in his pants. He refuses to allow Kazutora to be ashamed of it. 

He needs something to - ground to. Something to control; the speed of his hand, the twist of his wrist, the tenor of Kazutora’s bitten of moans. It’s enough to make him forget the night, enough to make him feel whole, not so scattered, not so broken. 

He thinks that’s where Tetta finds respite too. Their moans, through the flimsy plywood partition, feel like his own. As Kazutora bites his collar to stifle his own moans, as Chifuyu takes pleasure from watching Kazutora’s; It’s hot, hopelessly so. It shouldn’t be, but everything in Chifuyu’s life is illicit now, sacrilegious. This, at least, feels like supplication.

“ I -” Tetta’s voice breaks, pitches up. 

Hanma’s, murmured, controlled. “I gotcha” 

Kazutora’s teeth dig harder into Chifuyu’s collar, a choked bitten off whimper hitting the skin. 

He strokes through Kazutora’s hair with his free hand, cups the back of his head, comforting against the sinful noises he’s dragging from him with his other hand. 

He feels how close he is, like a spring coil, wound far too tight. Kazutora shudders violently, And Chifuyu finds all he can do is watch, gaze tracking the line of sweat down the column of his neck, making that tiger cry. 

He throws his head back then, biting his lip, hair falling in curls off the curve of his shoulder, a strand caught in his lips. Chifuyu kisses his chin, down his neck, tastes the salt. 

“Cum” Hanma murmurs, carried, echoing through the tiles. “Cum for me, Tetta” 

And Kazutora arches, like he might too, on command. Chifuyu grabs his jaw, forces their gazes together, tightens his grip on Kazutora till he winces, cock jumping in his grip. A violent lash of green whips through Chifuyu, unholy in it’s ferocity. 

“Do not” He mouths a whisper of a breath against Kazutora’s kiss plump lips. “Don’t you dare” 

If Kazutora’s legs give, he considers, with whatever ounce of rationality is left in his head, they’ll be had but he really can’t bring himself to care. He’ll hold Kazutora up through nothing but will power if he needs to. Drool trips off his lip, hits the white plastic under them. Kazutora looks up, shakily, imploring. Chifuyu holds his chin, gaze downward. 

He slots their lips together, as Chifuyu loosens his grip, soothes the white-hot velvet skin, down to where his balls are drawn up, painfully tight. Kazutora chokes, moans into the safety of Chifuyu’s throat. Mercy and his own blinding arousal acquiesce. Chifuyu grips him again, feels him shudder in cold-sweats and bitten off gasps. 

And the world is just him, the curve of his jaw, as it trembles, dropped in silent cry. He thinks he’d be mad by now, without him and a confounding amount of emotion spreads through his chest. 

“I love you” Chifuyu whispers, soft, into the shell of his ear. Kazutora hiccups, bitten off and cums into his hand, thick ropes across his knuckles and wrist. He let’s him rest in the crook of his neck, trembling and heaving breaths in. 

Chifuyu looks at his fingers, brings them to his lips, and sucks them clean. He thinks he loses himself in it, in the taste, the ownership. The idea that he’s now the only man who gets him like this; flushed and sweet. It feels like ownership, and yet, so much like home. 

“Hi” Drawled and soft, directly above him. 

Chifuyu looks up, startled stone cold sober in a second at the voice, arousal dowsed like a flame. Kazutora pants against him, shirt half undone up the bottom, and slacks unbuckled, pants soaked through. Chifuyu’s hand, his sticky fingers, still in his mouth. 

“Watcha doing?” Hanma asks, chin leant on the half an inch thick partition wall, grin perfectly lazy. 

Kazutora seems a second behind reality, still trying to drag shuddering breaths in, knees weak from his release. 

Kisaki pokes his head over. and there is something strange about seeing him so flushed, blinking like he’s just woken up, hair mused and lips shiny. “Jesus - Fuck -” he breathes, and disapears. “You said you checked the fucking stalls” 

“I did, I said there was a door locked” Hanma smiles, gazing at Kazutora. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, you are” he winks. 

Chifuyu feels something in himself snap and it must show viscerally on his face because Shuji chuckles. 

“Relax” He grins and tangles his left hand over the stall wall. “I’m a taken man” 

He wriggles his ring finger, where one of his Gummy ring sweets sits, in his face.  

The door of the stall beside them opens so violently it hits theirs. Kisaki knocks violently on the door. “How much do I need to pay you to keep this to yourself?” 

Hanma snorts, looks down at them. “I think they should pay us” He winks. “Given the fun they’re having” He disappears again, loafers clipping along the floor. 

Kazutora's breath has evened, though his cheeks are still flushed, he stumbles out their half baked embrace. “We were here first,” He calls. 

“Kinky,” Hanma purrs. 

Chifuyu straightens his tie, runs his hands over Kazutora’s shoulders to smooth his blazer and reaches past them, unlocks the door and feels instant, bottomless humiliation at the sight of those two. Kisaki flinches back an inch, his blush and bruise making his nose look like a girl with too much blush on, his glasses are sitting on it, probably rather painfully. 

“It was -” 

Kisaki’s pupils are pin-pricks. “A forgettable experience for all four of us, yes?” He sounds like a rubber band pulled very, very taut. 

“ Calm down” Hanma smiles, chuckling, he drops an arm around Tetta, who instantly rebuffs it, stalks away to wash his hands. “Who’re they gonna tell?” 

Kazutora, gently then calls to him. “Kisaki. Is your nose alright?” 

He watches his back tense, tight across his shoulders. “It’s fine, Hanemiya” 

“Matsuno” Kisaki says then, tight in his throat, bent, white knuckled as he breathes out.  “A word?” 

Kazutora bristles beside him, breathes out a sigh that could be a hiss. Hanma puts both hands on his shoulders, squeezes in a facsimile of a massage. 

“Easy, tiger,” he smiles. 

He gives Kazutora a nod, acknowledgement of the concern. He’ll be fine though, Kisaki won’t kill him here.  Kazutora nods back, honey eyes wide with concern. He acquiesces  into Hanma’s grip and there is something horrifying about watching them leave together. The door swings shut, leaving the two of them alone. 

An uncomfortable silence falls between them. 

“I know,” Kisaki says finally , blue eyes unblinking. Chifuyu doesn’t react - a survival instinct more than a power play. He shuts down a little, heart in his throat. Their gazes meet, matching almost; the colour of the sea under different qualities of sun. 

“Know what?” 

Kisaki sneers, eyebrow tilting; pitying and mocking. “Don’t play coy, Matsuno. It doesn’t suit you” 

Chifuyu leans back on the sink beside him, crosses his ankles, inwardly chastised. The silence between them spreads, dissipates through the little ‘hiss’ of hourly air freshener. 

“Right now I don’t care,” Tetta continues breezily and now, after listening to him pant and moan, it’s hard to know what’s real and not; if this callousness is affected. It’s more dangerous, Chifuyu realises, to have seen an ounce of humanity in him. “Really” He adds, because he has to differentiate honesty from dissimulation. 

Chifuyu frowns. “I don’t -” He forces a laugh. “What’re you getting at?” 

“I keep a close eye on Hanagaki,” Tetta explains. “So, by extension, I end up with a close eye on you. Sometimes, I think what you get up to is much more interesting” He shrugs, tilts his head, almost imploring, promises; “I haven’t looked” 

Chifuyu feels cold. 

“But I can,” Kisaki says, and then. “And every headbutt, every snarky comment your boss gives me, Chifuyu, brings me an inch closer to” he steps close , shrinks the distance between them. “Fuck who you want. I don’t care about Hanemiya. I can keep that secret for you” and he laughs, a hiccup in his throat that tastes like derision, like Chifuyu is an idiot. “But In terms of your secrets, I’d say he’s a fairly innocuous one” 

“You’re threatening me” He swallows. 

Kisaki blinks. “God no, no . It’s not a threat. I’m just explaining the situation to you. My feelings towards Hanagaki don’t need to reflect my feelings towards you” He pats Chifuyu’s shoulder. “Just keep Takemichi out of trouble. For both our sakes” he smiles, youthful still, boyish. He sometimes forgets that they are the same age. “Chifuyu. You’ll know when I’m threatening you” 

“I like Kazutora” He says then, and seems to puzzle over it a little.

“Hanma’s sweet on him” he bites, just to watch the green in his eyes, reflected in Kisaki’s. 

Kisaki laughs, soft. “I know” 

Another uncomfortable second ticks by.  “I think you know, as well as I do, that Takemichi is too far gone. Consider this -” Kisaki makes for the door. “A final warning, for Hanemiya’s sake maybe. He’d be heartbroken without you ” 

The door swings shut and Chifuyu is alone. Kisaki’s presence leaves with him, like a pressure of your chest. Chifuyu deflates against the sink edge, runs his hands into his hair and fights a desperate urge to cry. 

He could give up, take Kisaki’s advice, and take Kazutora. But he just hates, so bottomlessly. Alone, it feels like it’s eating him alive. He thinks of Draken, of Baji, of Mikey, wherever he is.

His phone buzzes again, harsh in his pocket, inspires an anxiety in his chest he’d momentarily forgotten. 

It’s Naoto. 

He takes it for Toman’s sake.