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Takeru Danma liked to think of himself as a very easy individual.
He liked being happy, and he liked making people happy, so he figured putting these two together would make him a good person.
Even now, after everything that happened, he started The Beach for this exact reason in the first place, to give everyone trapped in whatever the hell this place was something to believe in, something to put their hope toward.
Sure, by now his excellent self image had suffered a bit, but usually he had enough liquor in his system to ignore that.
Today however, was not like ‘usually’.
Takeru had ended the party going on in his suite earlier today, sending the few people he had surrounded himself with away with the excuse of ‘leader activities’.
He had given him that mischievous grin of his, ushering them out one by one with his hands on their back or shoulder, reassuring them they could continue at a later time using that joking tone he used when he didn’t want his words to be taken seriously.
It had been close to an hour since Aguni left for another game, and though rationally he knew that games could take longer than just an hour, he was still anxiously pacing back and forth in his room, fuzzy slippers dragging over the carpet with worry.
Of course he was worried, he was worried every time Aguni had to be sent out there, he trusted him to be able to hold his own, and he always brought one of the militants with him either way, but something about him knowing that he was absolutely powerless maddened him to no end.
He was about to look out the window again, staring at the entrance as if the other man would just materialise out of thin air, when finally, finally, there was a knock on the door.
As he swivelled around to face the entrance Aguni had already let himself in, letting the door fall closed behind him.
Normally this was the time when Takeru said something stupid to lift the mood, like teasing him for how long he’d let him wait, or maybe poke fun at the grimace his friend made whenever he came back from a game, but the big new bloody scar right over Morizono’s left eye left him speechless.
He had rushed over before he himself even realised it, staring in silence, almost afraid if he said anything at all the wound would somehow worsen.
“It’s not as bad as it looks…”
Aguni was the one who broke the silence, and Danma was almost glad he did, he felt like he was suffocating just staring at the blood on the other’s face.
That’s also when he caught himself, practised smile falling back on his face even if it looked a little unsure this time.
“Someone finally got you beat in strength huh?”
He was considering punching himself in the face just as the words left his mouth.
Aguni grimaced at him, walking over and sitting down at the couch, just leaning back.
“Doesn’t matter anyways.”
Doesn’t matter?
Takeru narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses and moved to sit down on the couch too, knees leaning against the other’s.
“Now, now Mori-chan, I can’t have you getting hurt, it’ll ruin both of our reputations.”
His arm had reached out almost subconsciously, landing on Aguni’s shoulder like always.
Said man gave a noncommittal hum before turning his head toward the Hatter.
“You can drop the smiling act if you want to, Takeru.”
And how Danma’s heart hurt at that.
Because could he really?
He built The Beach, he built even the Hatter on that smile, that smile that his face now subconsciously put on even if he wasn’t feeling like smiling at all.
Slowly, his expression fell and his palms reached up to cradle the other's face between them.
“I just can’t stand the thought of…”
…
Silence.
Aguni was looking at him still, that look in his eyes, the one full of so much trust Takeru sometimes guiltily thought about if he was the right person to direct that look to.
“...of losing you Mori-chan.”
He was quiet after that, this unusual vulnerability filling the room with all of its harshness and suffocating worries, the ones he kept pushing down with alcohol or drugs, the ones he usually didn’t have any time to think about, if he planned on keeping the small sliver of sanity remaining that this place hadn’t managed to pry out of him yet.
Pulling back his eyes fell to the floor, strands of hair falling in his face.
“Sorry, I-...that was weird, I shouldn't have said that-”
Aguni’s hand caught his own before he could fully retreat, and as Takeru looked up he swore there was the faintest of grins on his best friend’s face.
“So you do care about me.”
The corners of his lips tugged upwards at those words.
Aguni Morizono had always had that vibe about him, the one able to calm Takeru down when he was stressed, the one he used to curl up in and feel safe before Borderland had drawn a thick gap between them.
Though, now that he thought about it, he had drawn that line.
Takeru was aware he didn’t always make the best decisions, as much as he jokingly denied that to everyone else, he knew it was unfair for Aguni to be in this position of having to manage the brutalities of this utopia he had dragged out of the ground.
But he just couldn’t allow himself to fully face that, because of he did he would have to face how everything he did, every time he risked his life for this thing, every single action he had taken to get here had led him down the wrong path, and if there was one trait Takeru could never get rid of, it was his own stubbornness.
“Takeru?”
That voice ripped him out of his ever so spiralling thoughts and he looked up.
“Hm?”
“I can’t stand the thought of that either.”
Takeru stared, dumbfounded, one of his hands still firmly in the other’s hold, his warm skin a contrast against Aguni’s cool one.
“The thought of losing you I mean.”
And oh, if he had any less pride than he did he would have burst out in tears right there.
Instead a comfortable grin made its way onto his face, the bad thoughts taking a backseat for now.
“Aw, Mori-chan, you’re so cute today.”
There were words flying between them neither of them dared to utter, words Borderland just wasn’t made for, but either way, for today Takeru’s worries were mostly silenced.
It’d be fine, he’d worry about it another day.
“Tch, shut up.”
He grinned, and now the comfortable routine they were so used to by now could finally start, as Danma teased him about looking like Scar from the Lion king now.