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“Hey.”
Such a casual, normal greeting. Except nothing was normal in Ryuji’s life, was it?
He instead stared at the person opposite him, mouth agape. Every emotion he felt was conflicting, hands trembling as both melancholic sadness and fiery anger rushed through his veins. There was silence for a while until his mouth finally started moving. “Goro?” he blurted out, the single word managing to make him breathless.
“Yes.” Goro sighed deeply, a sheepish smile on his face. “I…know this isn’t the best way to do this, but I wasn’t sure where to go. I just thought of you.”
Turning away, Ryuji all but crashed to the ground, head in his hands. “What the fuck is happening right now?” he whispered to himself.
His relationship with Goro was complicated, to say the least. Several weeks before his whole betrayal had been discovered, Ryuji had been…involved with Goro. Countless times. What could he say, maybe it was the constant defensive sarcasm that contrasted with the sometimes “tortured soul” thing he had going on that managed to pull Ryuji in, who knew?
The problem was, Ryuji had the shortest and most complicated relationship of his life within four weeks, which ended with a betrayal, a battle and Goro’s “death”.
Cautiously, Goro crouched down, using the gentle voice he liked utilising to get his way. “Look, I know this is complicated, but-”
“What the fuck-the fuck is wrong with you?” Ryuji threw a clumsy punch, which Goro dodged with ease because of course he did, throwing his hands up in mock surrender. “I cried over you! For like ages! And you think you can just come back? Like nothing happened?”
“You cried over me?” Goro asked quietly, almost in disbelief.
Ryuji looked up, an indignant scowl on his face. “Of course I did! I cared about you, and then all that shit came up but I couldn’t let go and then you-you died.” All the power faded from his voice as he curled into himself, blinking away the tears. “Of course I was upset.”
Upset was obviously an understatement. He didn’t leave his room for a full week; would’ve been longer if Morgana didn’t break into his apartment through the window and harassed him until he got up and did something productive with his life. And then it was almost two weeks until he managed to stomach being able to go to school. Hearing Goro’s fangirls gossip about why he hadn’t appeared on TV made him vomit in the school bathrooms, choking on sobs as well as his breakfast.
Ann had told him about twin flames and soulmates and all that crap once. It only made sense when Goro stepped into his life, for better and worse.
“I-I’m sorry. I think I underestimated the effect of everything-if it makes you feel better, I wasn’t exactly having fun.”
“Yeah?” Ryuji snapped, the power in his voice being negated by his sniffling. “Tell me then. Tell me you cried a river or something. That’ll help.”
Goro smiled, and despite everything it still made Ryuji want to smile back, just like they always had. The result was Ryuji made a strange facial movement while holding back, probably looking even crazier than he already did. Moving to sit next to him, Goro looked up at the sky. “I heard you through the barrier, you know, in the engine room. So many people were shouting, but I could only hear you.” Ryuji frowned, and Goro continued, still gazing at the sky. “When I heard your voice, I knew I couldn’t let myself die to a puppet version of me. I wanted to find you right after, but that would have put you in danger, you see?” He grabbed Ryuji’s hand, sighing. “Shido’s dangerous. I couldn’t have any loose ends that could end up hurting you.”
“So no more loose ends?” Ryuji asked weakly.
Goro shook his head. Smiling, he reached up and wiped the tears off Ryuji’s face, taking the opportunity to cup it in his hands, thumbs gently caressing his cheeks. “Will you forgive me?”
“Shut up,” Ryuji replied, laughing in spite of the situation. “Fine, but I want compensation.”
Raising an eyebrow, Goro gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. It was so easy to fall back into their routine, Goro leaning down to help him up from the ground, hands immediately latching on to hold the others. They walked down the streets of Tokyo, taking the already familiar route to Ryuji's house, so close to one another that their hips kept touching. There was no conversation, and even though heavy topics hung above their head, they managed to ignore it. Goro, not usually one to break the silence, muttered to himself, almost too quietly for Ryuji to hear.
“I’ll work my whole life to make this up to you. I promise.”
Ryuji didn't doubt it.