Work Text:
🚨🚨🚨
2:37 A.M.
A time that no individual should be awake.
And yet, Go Shijima was.
Insomnia wasn’t anything new to him, of course. He had long been the victim of sleepless nights even before he became Kamen Rider Mach. The fact that he was now homeless and sleeping on a park bench under a blanket made of newspapers definitely didn’t help. The fact that he was practically starving didn’t help either. And the fact that it was 15 degrees Fahrenheit outside was the worst fact of all.
Gou, restless as ever, got up from his bench and got on his motorcycle. He didn’t know where exactly he was gonna go, but he was sure that it would be better then just laying on a bench. Gou drove around in the dead of night until he saw a restaurant that had a sign which read “Open 24 Hours”, he felt bad for the employees in there working so late at night, but he was still hungry.
Gou sat in a booth and ordered a coffee, some hash browns, and some pancakes with the little money he had left. When the meal got to his table, he began scarfing them down, oblivious to all of his surroundings, including someone else entering the restaurant and sitting on the chair across from him in the booth. He only noticed when said person spoke up.
“Why are you still awake, Gou?”
The deep voice scared the shit out of him, he nearly spit out his coffee. Who could it be? A roidmude foolishly messing with him before attempting to kill him? A police officer who’s acquainted with his sister and big bro? Gou looked up and-
“Motherfucker.”
Chase was sitting there in front of him, expressionless as ever. Gou sighed.
“What do you want?” Groaned Gou.
“I have observed that humans function much more efficiently when they’ve gotten at least 7 hours of sleep. The earliest in the morning I have seen you is 8:21 A.M. Estimating that it takes you an hour to shower, brush your teeth, and get dressed, I can guess that you wake up around 7:15 A.M. But given that it’s now 2:58 A.M., you will be unable to receive 7 hours of sleep and will not be functioning at your best. I wish to know why you are not asleep.”
Gou was shocked and a little scared by how close Chase was, but he wasn’t about to tell him that he was right, nor was he about to tell him that he can’t sleep.
“It’s none of your business.” Gou looked away from Chase like he was a tsundere anime girl. Chase stared at Gou for a solid 10 seconds before he spoke back.
“Give me your hand.”
“W-what?”
“Please allow me to grab your hand.”
Chase abandoned asking and grabbed Gou’s hand. Gou pulled back, but not only was Chase much stronger than him when they weren’t transformed, he was also surprised by how soft and warm Chase’s hand was. Unfortunately for him, Chase very quickly let go.
“I see, you are unable to sleep because you are cold. Please allow me to assist you.”
Before allowing Chase to “assist” him, Gou had a few questions of his own.
“How are you so warm?!”
“I am a robot.”
Yeah, that adds up.
“Also, what do you mean by assisting me?”
“My current plan is to bring you to a hotel so you can sleep in someplace warm”
“How can you…afford that?!”
“Every time we defeat roidmudes, I collect their leftover parts and sell them on the internet.”
Fuck. That’s genius. How didn’t he think of that?
“So, would you like to accompany me to the hotel?”
“…Fine.”
Gou was lucky that he had already paid, because Chase quickly grabbed his hand and started walking towards the parking lot. Gou didn’t resist, strangely enough. For some reason, he really didn’t mind holding Chase’s hand.
“Would you like to drive, or should I? We can’t just leave your motorcycle here.”
“…You can drive, I guess…” Said Gou reluctantly.
Chase got on the bike and Gou got on behind him, their bodies pressing against each other. Normally, Gou would be disgusted, but the combination of his tiredness, how cold he was, and how warm Chase was made him lean even further into Chase.
They drove to the hotel in complete silence. When they finally got there, the Ride Chaser was already parked outside.
“You’ve already been here?” Asked Gou.
“Yes, this is where I currently reside, and I will continue to reside here until we’ve gotten rid of every other roidmude.”
Before he could say anything, Chase once again grabbed Gou’s hand and dragged him into the hotel. They got in the elevator and headed to the top floor, both men staying silent the whole time. Finally, they arrived at Chase’s room: room 237.
Chase opened the door and beckoned Chase inside. The room was incredibly clean, if Gou didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought that nobody was staying in it.
“Here,” Chase opened the door to the bathroom, “go shower, I’ll wash your clothes for you.”
“Oh, ok.” It took a while for what Chase said to fully register in Gou’s mind.
“WHAT?!?!?!” Gou exclaimed, “I’m-I’m not gonna get naked with you in the same building!”
“Why not?”
Gou couldn’t come up with a good reason, he didn’t know why he felt so weird about showering in the same building as Chase. If it were Kiriko or Shinnosuke, he wouldn’t care, so what makes Chase so different…
“Ugh, fine.” Gou decided to take a page from the book of his big bro and be done thinking about it.
Gou entered the bathroom, shut the door, and stripped down. He looked in the body and saw that it was covered in all sorts of cuts, bruises, and scars from fighting roidmudes, not like this was anything new to him, though. He turned the faucet to its hottest possible temperature and stood in the shower, the hot water splashed against his cold back and he felt refreshed. As he cleaned himself, he thought about Chase. He thought about his annoying lack of emotions, his flat voice, his cute face, his beautiful eyes, his-
Gou’s increasingly homoerotic train of thought was interrupted by a knock at the door.
“I’m gonna leave your clothes on the sink, Gou.”
“O-okay…”
Chase left Gou’s clothes on the sink as he said he would. As soon as Gou heard the door click, he shut the faucet off, dried the water off of him as fast as he could, and put his clothes back on. Gou was very confused by the feelings he felt before Chase knocked on the door, why was he thinking of Chase like that? He doesn’t even like guys…does he?
Oh well, he’ll think about that some other time. Gou exited the bathroom, hair still damp, to see Chase lying in bed…the only bed.
“Oh, that was fast, alright, goodnight Gou.”
Chase turned away and closed his eyes, much to Gou’s dismay.
“Chase…where am I supposed to sleep?”
Chase turned back around to Gou.
“I imagined that you and I will sleep in the same bed.”
Gou nearly dropped to his knees in shock.
“I…I…”
He was too stunned and stressed at the idea of sleeping in the same bed as Chase to speak.
“If you don’t want to sleep in the same bed as me, I will sleep on the flo-“
“No, no, it’s fine, I don’t care.”
He wouldn’t give a shit if he had to sleep in the same bed as Kiriko and Shinnosuke because they’re his friends (and one of them is his sister), Chase is…well he’s not a friend of Gou’s but he’s technically not an “enemy” either, so there’s nothing wrong with sleeping in the same bed as him, right?
Gou reluctantly lied down as far as he could from Chase and asked him one more question before he had to sleep.
“Chase, do roidmudes even need to sleep?”
“Yes, at the very least, I do. It is recommended that we rest for at least 6 hours every night to do our best the next day.”
“…I guess that makes sense.”
After a short while, Gou noticed that Chase had fallen asleep. Out of curiosity, Gou slowly inched closer and grabbed Chase’s hand. It felt incredibly warm, like clothes that had come right out of the dryer. Holding Chase’s hand brought Gou a strange sense of comfort. It made him feel safe, protected. It made him feel like even though his life may be scary and unpredictable, he’ll at least have a bastion of predictability and warmth to shield his loved ones. Maybe one day, he’ll allow himself to be shielded, too.
“Goodnight, Chase.”
Gou slowly drifted off to sleep, and Chase only began to speak when he knew for certain Gou was in the land of dreams.
“Goodnight, Gou, I’m sorry for lying to you.”
Chase was lying, roidmudes didn’t have to sleep, he just wanted to make sure Gou doesn’t try to sneak off anywhere. Gou holding his hand was an unforeseen benefit.
Chase left the hotel room he had rented for Gou. The fight against roidmudes isn’t gonna stop no matter what time it is.
As Chase rode off to search for leads on roidmudes, there was one thought that lingered in his mind, a fact he couldn’t forget even if he wanted to.
“I love you, Gou.”