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[kappastrophe]

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(frozen)

[kappastrophe]

Yeah, I need your ass in that chair. Sit down, Hakkai, you're all fucked up too.

[He shifts a little, sitting up so he's propped against the back of the bed.]

Why'm I the only one in bed prison?

(frozen)

[knowsvinewhip]

Well, I tried with Goku, but it seems something in his blood this month has convinced him to run more than rest. I'm not sure why. I haven't spoken with any other coldbloods about it. You'd think that it would make the network news somehow, wouldn't you? But I haven't seen anything -

[Ah, there it is. The rambling. The worried carrying-on. He doesn't move to sit down. Just hands over the water.]

There's some painkillers here, if you need them. Though I'd prefer if you told me instead.

(frozen)

[kappastrophe]

[Gojyo sighs internally. Hakkai's deep in it. He doesn't see him like this too often, but he knows the signs.

Time to bring out the big guns.]

Ah--

[He winces, gripping his side. His voice drops low and he mumbles.]

Fuck. Hakkai, can you take a look at this?

(frozen)

[knowsvinewhip]

Ah! Yes, of course. What is it? One of your ribs?

[And he takes the bait, hobbling over to sit on the edge of the bed. He's already rolling his sleeves up.]

I'm sorry, I should have been in to check on you sooner, shouldn't I?

(frozen)

[kappastrophe]

Yeah, you really should've.

[Sucker.

Gojyo doesn't hesitate. He wraps an arm around Hakkai's waist and pulls him down, scooting a bit to the side in the same smooth motion. The two of them are side by side on the bed now, Hakkai's head pressed against the pillow.]

(frozen)

[knowsvinewhip]

What-

[Wow. He really should have seen this coming. He struggles, at first.] This isn't - Gojyo, please.

[But it's hard to really keep up the protest when he does, in fact, want to lie down.]

You didn't need me at all, did you.

(frozen)

[kappastrophe]

[He keeps his arm around Hakkai, half worried that the dumbass will try to get up again.]

'course I did. You gotta keep me company. By laying here and resting. After we both got the shit beaten outta us I'm sure you've been doin' plenty of that, right?

[You haven't, Hakkai. He knows you.]

(frozen)

[knowsvinewhip]

Keeping you company isn't the same as healing you... which is what I should be doing.

[So why isn't he getting up?]

[Oh, that's right. There's a pulse here. There's life. It's extremely reassuring. That has to be it. Nothing else.]

You really should let me.

(frozen)

[kappastrophe]

[Gojyo makes a non-committal noise.]

Nah. Your turn. You've been up and about since we got hurt. Who's lookin' after you?

'sides, you dunno. All kinds of things heal people.

(frozen)

[knowsvinewhip]

I'm fine...

[He really can't lie to someone like this. To this someone. Goyjo can read him like a book.]

... I couldn't do enough. That night. [I saw you dead - he can't get that image out of his head.]

So please let me do this now.

(frozen)

[kappastrophe]

[Gojyo doesn't need to dignify that first outburst with a response.

The arm around Hakkai is a loosens, but only enough to grab his hand. Like that night.]

Goku lost his shit, and you know I ain't a match for him. Had to keep him from wiping out the town. What else was there to do, man?

[Of course Gojyo isn't thinking of himself here -- why would he? He gets beat to shit all the time and comes out alright. He's probably invincible, he figures.]

(frozen)

[knowsvinewhip]

[He doesn't reply for a while. But he also doesn't pull away, either. He just sort of laces their fingers together instead.]

I did, as well. I lost all sense.

[He barely remembers the fight, especially once Gojyo went off the roof. One moment his friend had been thrown off, the next the Omens had arrived with limiters and salt water to save the day.]

If I'd been more - aware of what was happening... [You did CPR. I died? / I can't lose anyone else] I could have prevented your fall.

[Maybe not. But he's so sure it's his fault, in some capacity. He wasn't enough to stop Goku. He's never been that strong on his own. Why would Trench change anything.]

I should have.

(frozen)

[kappastrophe]

I went off the roof all by my own dumbass self. I knew I was no match for the monkey when he's like that. I went in anyway.

[He had to. The tradeoff was everyone dying, basically. Hakkai dying.]

You were our only shot. I needed you to stop him, had to do what I could even if it cost me.

[A beat. If he wants Hakkai to be honest, he's got to give at least a little of it himself.

Then, more quietly.]

Couldn't just watch him beat the shit outta you, man.

(frozen)

[knowsvinewhip]

And you expect that I'm comfortable doing the same?

[They're not accustomed to seeing each other beat to hell and back. Usually, they're the ones beating things up. With a few singular exceptions, that was. Even the times Goku had lost his mind...]

[... Gojyo had never died. Had never been that bad off without some way of putting him back together. And with all the power he'd been throwing around, he hadn't had enough left.]

Or... maybe this is some sort of karma. For what I did to you back in the street that day.

[Why are you making that face.]

(frozen)

[kappastrophe]

Oi, none of that shit. This ain't because of something you did, or didn't do, or thought, or had a bad dream about.

[He exhales. Damn could he use a cigarette.]

From what I hear this kinda shit just happens around here. People get turned into monsters and beat up people they care about.

[Which was fantastic news. Really great. At least he could take a beating. Was good at it, even.]

Best we can do probably is try to keep that to a minimum. Corruption shit makes it worse, yeah? So...

[He uses his free hand to bop Hakkai lightly on the forehead.]

Gotta keep that guilt to a minimum. Follow all that advice about keeping corruption free, yeah?

(frozen)

[knowsvinewhip]

[He seems to curl a bit more in on himself. Like that's going to help. Like it's going to make this not be as weirdly upsetting as it is this time.]

I know that. [Quietly. Bitterly.] I know it happens. I... I am already a monster. I have been one for years now. Shouldn't I be better equipped to deal with it?

[That's not great logic. It's barely even logic. But it's been circling his brain like water down a drain. Not even the head-bop really does it.]

[Though he does make a quiet, amused little noise.]

I'm sorry. I'm not doing a very good job of that, am I?

(frozen)

[kappastrophe]

[He squeezes his hand without really thinking about it, absently comforting. Reaching out to the person who has easily been the most constant source of comfort in his own life.]

I know you think being youkai means you're the worst ever, but you gotta know not everyone thinks like that. I don't. My brother is how I got through being a kid and he was a monster. Being a monster don't mean shit about who you are as a person.

So no. I don't think you should know how to manage being possessed by a fucked up town and manipulated into hurting your friends. Don't see how anyone could ever be.

[He grunts a little in the affirmative, ruffling his hair now in lieu of hitting it.]

I can smell the wood burning up there as we speak. You always think too much, you know that? Get caught up in that rats nest of yours.

(frozen)

[knowsvinewhip]

[That feeling is mutual. As much as he feels there is no way he deserves the support. The comfort of someone who is so much better of a person than he is. He's selfish enough to take it. Selfish enough to squeeze right back.]

I'm not sure you can compare your brother and myself... our circumstances are different, after all.

[Born versus turned. Mass murderer versus one in defense of a child. There's so much difference. He wouldn't dare compare himself to Gojyo's brother.]

That's probably wh- [Whatever he was going to say gets muffled with an indignant noise.] - Excuse me? [His what now.]

(frozen)

[kappastrophe]

[Gojyo wasn't one to get hung up on details. Sure, what Hakkai did wasn't ... great, and how Gojyo felt about it was complicated. It was also super irrelevant. What was in the past was in the past, and as far as he was convinced there was no real point in dwelling on it. All you could do was look forward.

Of course, he knew from experience that looking back was one of Hakkai's favorite past times.

But he grins when his ribbing hits paydirt.]

You know, your rats nest. Tangled web of thoughts you always drown in up there. Circlin' around, makin' yourself comfy in your own misery.

[He's ruffling your hair again Hakkai, and you're gonna have to take it.]

Someone's gotta drag you outta there once in awhile. Stop overthinking stuff. Listen to your gut. That kinda thing.

(frozen)

[knowsvinewhip]

[It's hard to stay buried in your guilt and shame when someone won't stop messing your hair into your eyes.]

I assumed you were speaking in regards to my hair. Which is fine -

[He huffs that as he rolls over to better lecture his friend. Which was fine, in theory. A perfectly rational theory. Except, then, when he rolls over, he is face to face with red eyes. Red hair.]

[It's incredibly hard to hold onto his train of thought all of the sudden. Realizing abruptly where they are. That he's still holding Gojyo's hand. So incredibly close. He swallows.]

- though maybe... we should trim it.

[You know, I miss my wife - we're not like spouses - ]

(frozen)

[kappastrophe]

[There's a beat where instinct seems to drive Gojyo. His smile freezes on his face, and that something comes back. That tickle at the back of his mind, a swirling in his gut that tells him there's something here that he's not seeing. That gut he was telling Hakkai to listen to.

He's good at reading scenes, at identifying what's happening between two people. Especially when he's one of those two people. It's how he's survived, occasionally kept a roof over his head and kept food in his belly. It's how he got people to like him.

So why couldn't he read this?

His eyes searched his like he was seeing him for the first time.]

Yeah? I could try.

[He smiles slowly even as his eyes soften.]

Last time I cut my own hair you hated it, though.

(frozen)

[knowsvinewhip]

[He'd thought the red was for blood. For some kind of penance. For the longest time... it seemed as good a comparison as any. Until it was more like fire. Like some living thing - some source of life. And it's true, isn't it? If not for this man, if not for his best friend, he wouldn't even be alive.]

[Wouldn't want to be alive.]

[This, right here, as uncertain as this moment suddenly is - is the reason he's still alive.]

I trust you.

[It comes out so much softer than he really meant it to. Layered with so much more than just the surface words. Not just hair he trusts Gojyo with.]

[Blood, fire - they're not the only things associated with red. I trust you... I care for you. I want you to be part of my 'we'.]

(frozen)

[glutton_monkey]

[The door swings open loudly.]

HAKKAAAIII! I finished deliv--

[And then Goku freezes in the doorway, eyes wide as he stares at the scene in front of him. Gojyo and Hakkai cuddled up on the bed, facing each other from inches apart, hands locked and fingers twined. It's not hard to figure out what's going on here, not even for Goku. He's weirdly perceptive like that sometimes. He can tell he's walked in on something private. Intimate.

But also--]

Oi oi!! No pervy stuff 'til you're both fully healed!! Not even kissin'!!

[There's not enough blood there to be "CPR", so he won't be fooled by that excuse!!]

(frozen)

[kappastrophe]

[It's magnetic, isn't it? Whatever this thing is, this thing he can't name. Intoxicating. It's like there's a string in his chest and Hakkai keeps tugging it, willing him forward. Closer. Closer. He needed to be closer.

Unbidden, his body follows the command. His tongue darts out to dampen his lower lip. He---

A moron bursts through the door.

Gojyo's heart leaps ten feet in the air and the rest of him does its best to follow. He's still holding Hakkai's hand, but the other is now pressed against his chest.

His cheeks are uncharacteristically pink.]

W-what the fuck are you talking about, you dumbass shitmonkey!?

[There. That was smooth.]

(frozen)

[knowsvinewhip]

[He hasn't realized he's moved. He's inched forward as well. Tilted his head ever so slightly. It's hard not to, seeing what Gojyo does. That he hasn't pulled back, either. That he's still there. Maybe being a coward as he has been... maybe that isn't necessary.]

[Maybe - ]

[Maybe Goku is going to bust in. And Hakkai is going to practically yeet himself onto the floor, even if he lands on his ankle funny. Which he does. Which is absolutely why he stifles a noise in his throat. Only then does he end up letting go of Gojyo's hand entirely - to clamp his hands down on it.]

I don't know - what you're talking about!

[That came out a little too loud.]