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The smoke from Majima’s cigarette left the tip and joined the smoke of the city’s houses. The moon was illuminating the parts of town even the clusters of neon lights couldn’t reach. People were still bustling outside, making the city seem alive: groups of friends were either enjoying themselves in arcades or drunkenly stumbling towards the next bar, poor office workers who could barely manage to keep an eye open just prayed to get home, and some school kids who thought being outside this late was cool until their wallets were stolen.
Majima guided the cigarette back to his lips and took another drag. He was standing outside on the balcony, the night’s breeze brushing against him. He inhaled the smoke deep into his lungs as far as he could and let it mingle there for some time before slowly exhaling it.
Goro looked over to the pair of futons on the floor, where Kiryu was sleeping on one of them. He was laying on his back, one of his arms sprawled all the way over to Majima’s futon. His face was peaceful, and he was breathing softly. Even the frown lines between his eyebrows had softened considerably. His usually slicked back hair had come loose and framed his face. Majima would love to tuck them behind his ears and watch them spring forth again, he didn't want to wake Kiryu however.
Majima remembered the first time he’d brought him over. Honestly, it had been more of a joke, so he’d been completely flabbergasted when Kiryu had agreed to it; as usual, Goro had been stalking through the streets, looking for the other. He’d then found him wandering Theater Square with Haruka tugging at his arm and begging him for Yakisoba. Naturally, he’d snuck up behind him and made his presence obvious with his usual cackle. Kiryu had already felt like bashing Majima’s skull in.
“Majima-san, what do you want?” he'd asked with a frown after he’d turned to face the other man. Haruka looked up at Majima and gave him a glare that was definitely supposed to murder him. she’d not forgotten about the kidnapping, and she’d probably never forgive him for that, which is quite the logical thing to do. It was when Goro had looked at Kazuma’s face that he’d noticed the dark eye bags under his eyes and the overall tired look on him. It must have had something to do with the explosion of the Millennium Tower everyone had been talking about; it doesn’t happen every day that money almost literally rains from the sky.
“Yo, Kiryu-chan, whatcha doin’ with your kid here? Takin’ her to arcades and stuff?”
“It’s none of your business,” Kiryu had replied in his usual cold demeanor.
“Aw, Kiryu-chan, why ya gotta be so harsh on me? You’re breakin’ my heart here,” Majima had sighed with an overemphasized tone of disappointment, “But you know what would bandage it right up? A fight with ya! So come on, get your fists ready!”
Kiryu had given a reasonably simple reply: “No.”
“C’mon, you can’t just leave a guy hanging like that. Ya want the people knowin’ ya as ‘Kiryu-chan the Heartbreaker’?” Majima teased. He knew exactly how to rile Kazuma up with just a little bit of teasing, but what he hadn’t expected was for him to deliver a punch straight to his face, no hesitation. Kiryu had most definitely broken his nose back then.
With the way Kiryu had been fighting, the battle had felt more like an absolute decimation rather than their usual, somewhat fair sparring. At the end of it, Majima had barely any strength to move a muscle. Snickering and sprawled across the floor, Goro had coughed out: “Shit, ya almost knocked the soul outta me. But really, ya suddenly gonna throw a punch like that without announcin’ it? Screams for compensation. So, why dontcha stay at my place?” Majima, in his mind, obviously hadn’t wanted for Kiryu to stay at his place, it had just been a little joke. His room was in a complete state of chaos; clothes had carelessly been thrown onto the floor — he was pretty sure a pair of briefs had somehow gotten into the fridge — and he didn’t even want to think about the sink that was barely managing to work through all the grime.
“… Fine, but only if Haruka does too.”
“What?!”
Majima snorted at the memory. He thought about how confused he must’ve looked on that floor, bloodied and bruised, looking at Kiryu with shocked eyes. He hadn’t taken back the invitation — he was just a little too proud for that —, so he’d led them to his apartment and, before they could enter, made them wait in front of the door in utter silence as he’d haphazardly attempted to clean the rooms. Majima had failed, miserably. At least the mold in the corners hadn’t been as obvious. The whole stay had been rather awkward; Haruka had hidden behind Kiryu, asking him questions about why they’d gone to a place that belonged to a “lunatic”, and Kazuma had calmly tried explaining that to her that it was just for the night, which, in retrospect, didn't make any sense to Majima whatsoever.
“Majima-san…”
Goro turned his back once more to see Kiryu who had just woken up. He rubbed his weary eyes and propped himself up so that he could look at the other. “Why are you awake?”
Majima gave him a little smirk and tugged at his cigarette. “Dunno, thinkin’ ‘bout shit or somethin’. Why are you awake?”
“I had a nightmare... but it’s also been getting hotter this week, might be that, too.” He was right. It was the end of July, and the temperatures had been continuously rising in Kamurocho. They weren’t scalding in any sense, but he’d noticed that sleeping in sweatpants was becoming more and more uncomfortable.
“Wanna smoke ‘n’ talk ‘bout it?” Majima asked, emphazising the question with a shake of the hi-lite cigarette pack he’d pulled out of his sweatpants. Kazuma answered with a quick nod and got up from the futon. He then leaned against the balcony, took one of the cigarettes from the packaging, and lead it to his lips.
“Could you give me the lighter?”
“Nah, come here, Kiryu…”
Majima gripped Kazuma’s shoulder, forcing the other lean forward, and pressed their cigarettes together. Almost dropping his own, Kiryu glarred at him for a fleeting moment before letting it go and looking at the cigarettes. He saw Goro’s tip touch his own, lighting it up. He didn’t know why this felt so intimate to him, maybe because of how close they were to each other, but when Kiryu looked up to Majima and he met his eye, he knew his face had turned red. Kiryu closed his eyes and took a drag of the cigarette, filling his lungs with the smoke and realizing how calm it was; just the two of them, smoking on a balcony way above this messed up city’s chaos, not caring about how the people thought of them. Even legends are just people.
“… So, ya wanna tell me ‘bout that nightmare ya had?”
Kiryu sighed. He breathed out the smoke, thinking about how to put his thoughts into words: “It was about a childhood friend of mine. Dreamed about us going to the disco like the old days, just having fun, not worrying about anything. For a moment, I thought I was back in the 80s when I saw him smile while we were dancing to Disco Queen. I was having fun. And then suddenly… there was an explosion. I saw his face getting enveloped, and he just smiled at me until there was nothing left of him.” He paused. “We’ve been together through everything, I had trusted him with everything. But now… he’s gone, and I still can’t believe it.”
Kiryu breathed in the cigarette smoke and looked down onto the city’s street. Majima was stunned.
“… I don’t know how it feels to lose someone like that, Kiryu, but I understand how it feels when someone close to you is gone. Listen,” Kazuma looked at him, “it’s completely normal to feel weird and empty and as if they’re still here with us. But don’t forget that there’s people here that need and love you — your kid Haruka, she obviously loves you too, and what’s she supposed to do without you? You’ve supported her in her dark times, so I’m sure she’ll do the same for you. And I’ll support you too. You’ve helped me through shitty times, even if you didn’t know it.”
Majima looked Kiryu into the eyes and gave him a small smirk. He cupped the other man’s cheek and brushed some loose strands behind his ear. “I’m sure you already know this, but,” he gently kissed him on the forehead, then made their foreheads touch so he could look him in the eyes, “I love you, Kiryu.”
Kazuma had at first raised an eyebrow at Majima’s drop of the dialect, but thought not too much about it. He then smiled. “I love you, too.”
Kiryu felt his heart slowly beat through his body, calming him, telling him that he’s here, that he’s alive, that he’s survived. He knew he wanted to live, and to fight on, even after all the losses.
After a while of silence, Kiryu calmy spoke with his arms crossed, starring off into the city's depths: “Didn’t expect to have this kind of conversation with you. Thank you for listening though.”
“Don’t even worry ‘bout it, of course I would. But, ya wanna do somethin’ else except talk?”
Kazuma thought for some time before answering: “… Have you heard of ‘cook-off’s?”
“Kiryu-chan, you’ve gotta be shittin’ me. Don’tcha remember the time I almost burned down my apartment tryin’ to open a jar of pickles? And it’s also four in the mornin’…”
“You were alone back then, and, if you’re that concerned, I can help if you somehow start a fire.”
At first, Majima wanted to object, but reluctantly gave in, “Alright, but you’ll be payin’ the hospital bills if I burn my dick off.”