Chapter Text
Misaki Yata was a cesspool of emotions. At 20 years old, he had been through a lot. At 14, he had moved in with his once-best friend into a small apartment. They lived together until they turned 16, when Misaki was betrayed. At 19, a man named Tatara Totsuka, one whom Yata looked up to, died in his arms. Later that year, a few months before his birthday, Yata had lost the king of his clan. A lot had happened in the year following and he was 20 now. Anna Kushina had become king, and as HOMRA's vanguard, he had sworn to protect her.
So why was it that now the redhead was staring at a spacious dorm for two? He had been dragged here literally kicking and screaming by Rikio Kamamoto and Izumo Kusanagi. Yata hadn’t agreed to this at all. The new red king and the blue king. Reisi Munakata, wanted to make amends and build an alliance. However, to do so, there was one huge obstacle in the way- and that was the rift between Yata and Saruhiko Fushimi, the "vegetable hating, psychotic, stupid monkey."
Out of the two, Saruhiko was the one who remained at a calm composure throughout the whole ordeal, his facial expression never showing the slightest bit of anger. Honestly, he didn't mind having to stay with the hot-headed skater in the same dorm room. In fact, he willingly agreed to do so when Reisi had ordered him to. But there was one thing that drove the blue clansman back, an idea that he completely disapproved of; the alliance of the two kings. Which meant he'd technically be part of HOMRA again with the same people that he once left behind long ago. So why did this have to happen now?
Scratching at the used-to-be HOMRA symbol near his collarbone, Saru blew out a sigh as he sat on the edge of the dorm room bed, watching the vanguard's actions closely from out of the corner of his eye. Getting along seemed like the least out of their options, so he had no clue how this would turn out.
"Misaki..." he continued. "There's no way you can get out of this. So you might as well give it up already."
Misaki was more irritable than ever and Izumo stared at the smaller male, clearly exasperated. "Yata-chan," he warned but for once, it didn't faze the other.
"No way! I refuse to stay here with that traitorous piece of shit!" Misaki pointed violently at the black-haired male, his eyes burning with anger. There were plenty of reasons that he didn't want to stay with Fushimi: he was a traitor, a fussy eater, and lazy. But worst of all, Yata was afraid of being reminded of happy memories they once shared from living together for a short time.
"I didn't even agree to come to this stupid college! I'm HOMRA's vanguard! Isn't it enough that I passed high school!? My job is to protect the king, not sit around playing house with a stupid monkey!" Misaki was shouting at this point, probably loud enough that the whole dorm could hear him.
All this yelling was starting to get on Saruhiko’s nerves. Saru wished Misaki would just give in already. He was aware that the brunette absolutely hated his guts because of his past betrayal of HOMRA but there was no other way to get out of this. He had no other options available. It was either agree, or be forced to agree. If only Misaki would have realized that by now.
Evidently enough, his words had no effect whatsoever towards the brunett, nor did it reach out to him. Either that, or he wasn't listening, or maybe he just chose to ignore. It all seemed very likely. Especially the last one. The clansman wanted to be heard, however, since in all honesty, Izumo wasn't all that helpful at the moment. Not one bit. The situation only seemed to have gotten worse as the two fought. All Misaki needed was some sense knocked into him. And he was the one who was going to do that.
With a raised voice, his tone of words were slightly harsh, all in hopes to get the attention of the smaller male, even if it meant yelling back. "Hey Misaki..! Quiet down. Did you even listen to what I said?!" Saruhiko huffed. The taller man stood from off of the bed to approach him, but also made sure to keep his distance just in case Misaki attempted to lash out on him. "Listen! There's no way out. You're going to have to stay with me whether you like it or not."
"Yata-san...calm down," Rikio tried intermittently but he was ignored. Izumo sighed heavily, watching the irritation in Fushimi arise. It seemed things would get worse before they got better.
Misaki flinched a bit at the harsh tone in Saruhiko's voice. Uneasiness was quickly replaced with a sharp glare at the tall blue. Misaki opened his mouth to argue and even raised his hand, red aura slowly wrapping around it. But a tiny hand gripped his other wrist and Anna Kushina shook her head.
Misaki seemed to deflate, having been told to stop by his new king. Wordlessly, he flopped back on the bed and his clan members...his family...they left him alone in a room with the person he hated most in this world. The only sound for some time was the soft ticking of the wall clock. Misaki had always been a chatter box when they had lived together but this was different.
Cyan orbs pierced forward, shooting a cold glare back at the hot-headed vanguard. His words did indeed get the brunette's full attention, and it was exactly the way he wanted it to. A devious grin immediately crossed over the Blue's pale lips, one that was from ear to ear. He loved it more than anything when Misaki got pissed, especially to the point where he wanted to kill Saru with real intent. It was easy to anger the elder, and it was quite enjoyable too.
But as soon as the new Red King stopped the angered male, a feeling of disappointment overcame him, causing him to click his tongue distastefully. She had ruined the fun that could have been. Not that he hated Anna or anything of the sort... but now the vanguard was back to his usual self again, all thanks to her. Sure, he could just piss Misaki off again. It wasn't that hard to do. But he knew for a fact that they would come back just to calm the arson down again. This was going to be a real pain.
Misaki waited for some time before standing. He knew the next few years would test his patience. Well, that was under the assumption the former friends didn't kill each other within a week's time.
Misaki huffed loudly in annoyance as he began unpacking his boxes, half-haphazardly tossing clothes on his bed to be hung up as well as a bag of toiletries, a pillow he'd had since middle school, and the blanket that had always been used by Totsuka. To say the least, the young man was still quite sentimental.
He was also choosing to ignore his roommate's presence as much as possible. This would be the only good way for him to not want to burn the building down. He just needed to go to his classes, find a decent club, make friends, maybe get another job, and go about his life. He only needed to cook meals for himself. He certainly didn't care if that idiot ape died from malnutrition or ended up with diabetes from his poor diet.
With crossed arms, the ravenett darted his cyan hues off to the side, huffing loudly almost at the same time as the vanguard. He couldn't believe he even agreed to do this. Now, Saruhiko was regretting it more than ever. But it was the Blue King's orders after all... so he couldn't really disobey. Even though he wished he would have.
Letting out an irritated sigh, he silently watched as the chestnut-haired male unpacked all his boxes and whatnot, clicking his tongue in annoyance at the mess Misaki was already making. That was the least of his worries, however, and neither was unpacking his own items. It was already quite obvious by now that the other was ignoring him, and all Fushimi wanted at the moment was Misaki's attention. He wanted Misaki to at least get pissed at him because nowadays that seemed to be the only way to ever get him to notice Saruhiko. Not that it mattered; Saruhiko enjoyed it to say the least.
"Oi, Misakiii… you don't honestly think you can ignore me forever, right? You know that's impossible. We live in the same dorm room, after all. So why don't you act like it?" he continued to taunt him. "Honestly... Misaki... just think things through for once in that small head of yours so that I don't have to tell you all this."
Misaki was slowly working on collapsing empty boxes so he could take them down to the incinerator. Ignoring the elephant in the room...or in this case, the Saruhiko Fushimi, wasn't going to be easy. And he certainly couldn't do it for a number of months straight, let alone years!
Misaki's avoided looking at Saruhiko when he finally spoke. He had half a mind to go off the handle and beat the other to a pulp. But frankly, he didn't have the energy for that. He didn't have the energy for a lot of things: eating, sleeping...even those seemed like a pain since he had lost another person close to him.
"Yea, I'm pretty stupid, huh?" Silence swelled in the air as he gathered the boxes under one arm. The redhead spoke after another moment. "If its attention and my anger you want, try something better than insulting my intelligence, shitty monkey. At the very least, I can hope you're in some fucking smarty-pants classes and away from me."
"Ahhh... you're right. Maybe I should try something better." The taller let out a flat, brief chuckle, shrugging his shoulders as if saying he didn't care one bit. "How is it possible to insult your intelligence when you don't even have any? I mean, honestly. At least you figured out that I was trying to get your attention. However, You didn't even stop to think that I did get what I want after all."
The ebony-haired male was having way too much fun taunting the other with insults; a little too much fun, though. Despite not really getting the reaction he had hoped for, it at least suppressed his boredom. And not only that, but it also filled the blues’ sick, twisted mind with pleasure.
It wasn't quite enough, however. And he came upon realization that Misaki wasn't looking at him for once, even though Saru obviously knew that from before. Maybe that's why Misaki wasn't as angered. It easily irritated the taller male, his brow twitching slightly in response. He had to get Misaki to look at him. He had to.
With the chestnut-haired vanguard already looking away, it was his perfect chance. As Saruhiko silently snaked his way over, he came to stand behind him. Whilst keeping his distance, one calloused hand reached out to touch the arson's shoulder to get him to turn around, knowing full well he'd react at the sudden contact.
Misaki sighed loudly, a mixture of annoyance and fatigue. At his side, he kept clenching and opening his fist, red sparks occasionally dancing in his palm for a moment. Self-control was proving difficult but he had promised the others he would do his best.
Misaki had just been reaching for the door when he felt slender fingers grab his shoulder. The smaller had a hunch as to what the other wanted but he chose to oblige, just this once. He could have smacked the hand away without even glancing but instead he turned around.
Across the room it was hard to tell but up close, if one knew the vanguard well enough, it was clear he had changed. He was thinner, though his baggy clothes mostly hid this fact except in his face. His eyes lacked any of the feistiness that seemed to define Misaki Yata. He looked up at Saruhiko, not with a glare but sheer boredom. Misaki certainly hadn't learned self-control, he just didn't seem to care. He wasn't himself lately and it wasn't a secret to anyone. In his own way, he hoped living with this traitor would bring some of the excitement back into his life.
"Geez..." Saruhiko continued, his tone of voice low and sharp. "Don't ignore me when I'm talking--" As soon as the redhead turned around to face him, he stopped abruptly, surprise and shock immediately washing over him in a violent wave. His former friend looked just plain awful. Knowing him well, he could already tell that he hadn't been taking care of himself properly for the last couple of months.
Staring down at the smaller male, Saruhiko still couldn't believe what he saw. His gaze was cold to begin with behind those rectangular frames, yet a glint of pity could barely be seen in his cyan eyes.
"…What the hell happened to you?" Saruhiko asked, almost sounding concerned, shaking his head in disbelief for a moment. "Tsk. Just look at yourself..." With a slender hand he touched the side of Misaki's skinny waist, noticing it had gotten a concerning amount thinner. Misaki had always been slightly pudgy, not that anyone had ever really known. But now, he was all skin and bones that “cute” baby fat lost. Misaki’s hair lacked any life or luster and it looked a little greasy. Everything about him just seemed dull and lifeless.
Misaki sensed the look of pity in Saruhiko's eyes and furrowed his brow in frustration. His glare didn't hold even an ounce of its usual ferocity. Misaki could detect a hint of disappointment in Saruhiko's voice and he swallowed hard.
He suddenly felt like crying. He wasn't sure why...It was taking every bit of his self-control to push back tiny tears that burned at the corners of his golden eyes. What set him off at last, was a hand grazing his waist. The shorter male quickly swatted the pale hand away. "Don't touch me! And...Don’t talk like you know me..."
Before Saruhiko could even react his hand was soon quickly swatted away from the chestnut-haired male's petite waist. He sighed heavily, a frown taking place on Saruhiko's thin, pale lips. Not only did he seem lifeless, but it seemed as if he was starving himself, too.
It was obvious to Saruhiko that the other was on the verge of crying by the way he held back. Misaki was too easy to read. He was always like an open book. It was never difficult for Saru to figure out what the wild crow was feeling or even thinking. However, it completely baffled the Blue to think that he would be crying over something like this. Misaki had always been a crybaby when they were younger but this was different.
Misaki gathered the trash under his arms and turned on his heel quickly. He threw open the door and stumbled out before breaking into a run. He wanted as far away from those knowing blue eyes as possible.
Saruhiko couldn't even bring himself to speak at this point. It was already too late. He watched as Misaki ran off on his own, leaving Saruhiko in the spacious dorm room alone to wonder whether or not he should follow Misaki.