Chapter Text
It’s after their first fight, after his first transformation, and Mitsuzane was buzzing with the sort of nervous energy that children so often picked up after an exciting or threatening experience. Kouta watched him move about the Gaim headquarters, feeling slightly sick to his stomach because he knew the feeling of that initial exhilaration, and of the painful realizations that would occur after.
Still, there’s a beauty to Micchi’s childish response that Kouta couldn’t deny, a slightly naïve feeling, but one still pure and untainted.
“It’s a rush, isn’t it?” Kouta asked with a grin, and Micchi stopped for a moment to nod properly.
“You probably don’t even notice it,” Micchi replied with a laugh. “You’re such an adult, Kouta-san.”
“I’m not that old!” Kouta protested weakly. “I’m only a couple years older than you.”
“Then you should be feeling bolder about all this!” Micchi’s face was still illuminated in a smile. “Stop worrying about what others have told you: think about all we can do with these things. Think about the possibilities!”
“That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking about.” And he had. The thoughts had kept him awake at night, running helter-skelter through his head and warning him of horrors to come, things that could hurt him or his friends.
Yet there was still that undeniable exhilaration to all this, to the threat of death or harm. He still felt the tingle throughout his body whenever he fought in the suit, the undeniable rush of the fight, the thrill of being so close to danger. There was nothing like taking on an Inves, nothing like coming that close to death and punching it in the face. Even the white rider, as much as he had terrified Kouta, had been a thrill. As scared as he was, even now, he could feel the rush throughout his body.
Micchi moved beside him, hands coming to rest on Kouta’s shoulders. “You don’t have to feel bad about using the belt,” he said. “You’re doing the right thing, helping us. We know the risks and we took them anyway.”
“True,” Kouta replied, glancing back at the other. “I guess you’re right.” Impulsively, he took Micchi’s hands in his, pulling the other along in a makeshift dance. “Then we’re gonna be the best rider tag-team this town has seen!”
“Yes!” Micchi crowed. “Team Gaim will be the best thing about this place!”
“We’ll get more stages, and when Yuuya gets back he’ll be so surprised.”
“His jaw will fall off and hit the floor,” Micchi said with a giggle, letting Kouta spin him around. “’Wow Kouta,’” Micchi spoke now in his best Yuuya impression. “’You’re such an adult!’”
“I couldn’t have done it without Micchi, you know,” Kouta replied, spinning ‘Yuuya’ once more. “He’s the best partner I could have hoped for.”
“’Oh really?’” ‘Yuuya’s’ eyebrows rose in surprise. “’I guess he’s kinda cute.’”
“He’s very cute,” Kouta said, dipping Micchi suddenly backwards and into a kiss.
The leftover energy from the battle hummed between them, tingling and burning through them like electricity. Kouta’s kiss was swift and consuming, perhaps a little more than he had originally meant to convey, but Micchi’s response was just as fiery, still tinged with the urgency of battle.
Kouta lowered his partner gently to the ground, pinning Micchi beneath him and deepening the kiss. Micchi’s hands moved to swiftly thread through Kouta’s hair, tugging insistently as though he could control the pacing of the kiss through that action alone.
Surprisingly enough it seemed to work or was, at the very least, enough to get Kouta to actually continue the kiss, nibbling at Micchi’s lower lip as he slid his hands up underneath the younger rider’s shirt to expose pale skin.
Micchi untangled one of his hands from Kouta’s hair and slid it to begin working at the buttons of his shirt, small fingers moving rapidly.
That was enough to bring Kouta out of the trance he’d fallen into. He pulled back, eyes wide.
“M-Micchi..!” he squeaked. “I’m so, so sorry, I…”
“You jerk,” Micch replied with a laugh, changing tactics and wrapping his arms around Kouta’s neck to pull him downward into a hug. “What are you apologizing for?”
“I-I….just got really excited,” Kouta said sheepishly. “Everything was exciting and then you were there and I’m such a stupid idiot I—“
“Kouta!” Michi smacked him lightly on the side of his head. “There’s nothing to apologize for. If I hadn’t wanted to…do that with you, I wouldn’t have.” He’s blushing, cheeks tinged with pink.
“Then..?” Kouta’s smiling awkwardly, but there’s laughter in his eyes.
“You’re so stupid sometimes,” Micchi said with a long-suffering sigh, as though he’d gone through this a thousand times (he had).
Kouta chuckled again. “Ah, well….maybe we should get home before dark.” He rose to his feet and extended a hand to help Micchi upward as well.
“I’m not going home tonight,” Micchi said bluntly. How could he, with a driver? There was something about this whole thing that excited him and scared him, but it was too much to deal with on top of Takatora, so he had decided that it was probably best to remain here for the night and fabricate some sort of story.
“Oh,” Kouta said. “Then, I can stay with you, to make sure you’re okay.”