Chapter Text
"Red Sky" by Thrice
Kotetsu watched as Izumo checked his gear for the third time. It was like his little ritual before every serious mission. He checked his gloves. He checked his shoes. Everything had to be clean before stepping out–that was also important.
Meanwhile, Kotetsu was leaning against the lockers, as always, waiting for his friend to finish. It always annoyed everyone else, before it became just the two of them. Nobody wanted to wait. And everyone seemed shocked that Kotetsu had no problem waiting. They stopped being rude about it when Kotetsu made it known nobody could speak ill of Izumo.
Yet the air was different today. Kotetsu didn't like that he couldn't shrug off this mission like all the others and waltz into it like before. Something told him this wasn't an ordinary task, and he didn't like that it was making him tense. When was the last time he had felt this way, anyway?
When Izumo straightened up, Kotetsu slid right back into his lackadaisical grin and slackened shoulders. "Ready?" Izumo asked. But then he frowned, the familiar worry crossing his face. The subtle worry Kotetsu was certain only he could see.
"What?" Kotetsu asked with a forced smile.
"Are you alright?"
"Totally."
Izumo's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Kotetsu lied.
Izumo didn't look away.
Kotetsu waved his hand. "Really. I'm fine," he said, suddenly curious about how honest he could be. No that he doubted Izumo's trust in him ro ability to keep a secret. But the day was making him feel he had to say something, confess what he had always kept close and away before it was too late.
"Like or Like Like" by Miniature Tigers
Kotetsu felt a strange feeling bubble up in him. He glanced at Izumo as if the man would have answers to what odd thing was taking hold in him, but instead, he saw Izumo was wiping his hands with a napkin, checking to make sure his hands were absolutely clean.
Typical.
Kotetsu glanced around to see if maybe he had seen something but didn't register it fully. Except the streets were safe. It was a nice, summer evening. The perfect temperature as far as he was concerned.
Back to Izumo, he saw the man seemed satisfied with how clean his hands were now. They passed a trashcan and Izumo tossed the paper in it, careful to not get too close to the metal can. Which was, of course, clean. Like everything else.
"Where to next?" Izumo asked, smiling.
Kotetsu felt his heart skip a beat. "Uh. I dunno. Wherever you wanna go," he said, glancing away with a shrug.
"Alright," Izumo said cheerfully, unaware of whatever it was Kotetsu himself wasn't sure of. "Let's go check out that new tea shop."
"Yeah, sure," Kotetsu said, noticing Izumo's hand brushed against his.
"It's a Hit" by We Are Scientists
Izumo regretted coming out to whatever this function was for. The fact he couldn't be bothered to remember was a sign it was time to go–this was a terrible, dreadful day and it had become an even worse evening. The signs had pointed to just staying home. And he didn't.
He glowered over his drink, watching Kotetsu continue to be his charming, goofball self and felt a frustration bubbling in him. He saw how some of the guests were eying him–they were going to start competing for who would be taken home by Kotetsu.
Izumo huffed. They'd be disappointed to find out he had a roommate.
Except if Kotetsu really did want to go home with somebody for the night…Izumo realized he'd be walking home alone.
Why not get a head start on it?
Izumo set the unfinished drink down and turned to leave. He could slip out without detection–he was better than what many expected from his rank.
But he was barely halfway down the clean, empty street when he heard familiar steps. He could recognize the urgent pace of Kotetsu. He probably knew every type of footfall from the fool.
"Hey, Izumo," Kotetsu called out. The cheer from earlier was gone, and Izumo felt a pang of anger at himself for ruining his friend's evening.
Izumo kept walking.
"Hey!" Kotetsu ran faster. "What's gotten into you?" He asked, in front of Izumo now.
"It's nothing," Izumo muttered, moving past him.
Kotetsu grabbed him by the arm. "No, it isn't."
"It is."
"It's never nothing to me," Kotetsu said firmly.
"Strawberry Blond" by Mitski
"Do we have to?" Kotetsu whined.
"Yes." Izumo said, firmly. "C'mon," he held out his hand.
Kotetsu felt his brain skip like a record. Izumo offered his hand to him plenty of times–when it was time to get up, when he was defeated in a round; when he was hungover. Yet for whatever reason, the hand seemed more like a beacon of something unknown to Kotetsu. As if taking it would lead to something different and new.
It was the same hand. Same man–the same friend Kotetsu had known for decades now.
"Kotetsu?" Izumo asked, noticing the brief second of something not right.
"Ah, yeah, sorry!" Kottesu took Izumo's hand and jumped to his feet, not letting himself get closer than usual.
"The Moon Will Sing" by The Crane Wives
It was unavoidable with their line of work. But Izumo still couldn't accept what had happened. He had always hoped that if anything went wrong, it would happen to him.
He sat on the roof of the hospital, under the light of the cracked moon. His mind was unnervingly quiet. He tried to get it to plot revenge–but everything he had in mind always included Kotetsu. There was no tactic he could pull off…
No, that wasn't true.
There was no tactic he wanted to pull off without Kotetsu.
But he'd have to. And as he thought about how long, the more dread Izumo felt. Whatever was going to happen, he couldn't–didn't want to–think of it without Kotetsu. As if the man was the light that guided him and granted him his sight in such a dark world.
Izumo swallowed and pressed his palms to his forehead. Kotetsu had always been the more carefree one. Except when it counted. Which made Izumo's stomach cramp with anxiety.
He couldn't imagine moving forward without Kotesu, but he couldn't imagine not doing something. Anything. There was no Izumo without Kotetsu. he couldn't see himself being anyone or anything else if Kotetsu was gone.