Always something going on

 

He’d expected some kind of chaos when he came driving up to the garage, but not quite like…

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOUR STASH?! THIS IS MY GARAGE!”

That.

“WELL, A SECRET STASH CAN HARDLY BE KEPT IN MY OWN HOME, CAN IT?! EVERYONE WOULD LOOK FOR IT THERE!”

“BUT WHY WHERE I’M LIVING?! ZORA ALREADY GIVES ME A HARD TIME ABOUT YOUR ATTITUDE, IMAGINE THE EARFUL I’D GET ABOUT HER FINDING OUT YOU STORE STUFF HERE WITHOUT HER PERMISSION!”

“WELL, I THOUGHT I COULD TRUST A FRIEND TO SAFEGUARD SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT. BUT CLEARLY YOU’RE NOT THAT GOOD OF A FRIEND NOW, ARE YOU?!”

“THAT FUCKING CLOWN FROM SECURITY ALREADY BROKE IN HERE AND STOLE CUP RAMEN BEFORE AND YOU THINK THAT’S A GOOD IDEA?!”

“WHAT?! I WASN’T INFORMED OF THAT PARTICULAR DETAIL! I RESCIND MY PREVIOUS OPINION OF YOU, YOU ARE COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT AND-“

“YEAH, YEAH YEAH, JUST GET YOUR STUPID RAMEN OUT OF HERE!”

“FINE! BUT IF I FIND OUT THAT BRUNO WAS THE ONE WHO ATE IT WHILE WE WERE GONE-“

“I-I didn’t touch any cup ramen! H-honest!”

Poor Bruno. They didn’t even notice Kiryu rolling up to the garage, clattering bones and all. All the better, he supposed. Maybe he could get done with things in pea-

“Aah, so you weren’t eaten after all! Great, great!”

…What.

“Hah? Who’s getting eaten?” Crow raised an eyebrow, apparently not sure whether to be confused at the sudden interruption or wondering when Rua had gotten into the garage.

“THE ONLY THING THAT WE SHOULD WORRY ABOUT GETTING EATEN IS MY PRECIOUS-“

“NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR STUPID CUP RAMEN, JACK!”

Right, then. Kiryu ignored them in favor of heading inside, although he did raise an eyebrow at Rua insisting that they should all listen to him, that something big was going on inside the garage. His suspicions were only confirmed at finding Nico and West staying close to Ruka, who looked unsure about the whole mess going on.

“D-Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure it can’t be as big a deal as Rua says…”

“Eh? But Ruka, didn’t you say that it did feel like an Earthbound? So what if it really is…”

Immediately, Kiryu stepped into the garage, garnering the kids’ immediate attention. He ignored their surprised cries at his presence, however, instead focusing on whatever clues he could find to figure out what had happened. A trail of spilled noodles and broth on the floor near them was what he’d found, and idly remembering the subject of the argument outside, he followed it. It led to under one of the tables in the corner, and as he kneeled down to investigate he didn’t notice Rua dragging the others inside.

“Yuusei?”

The spirit’s eyes had grown to inhuman size again, he noticed. With how small he was, it really did make him look like a small bug lurking in the corner, and Kiryu couldn’t help but remember him and the other Dark Signers constantly finding Yuusei hiding in the oddest places. Back then, he’d never really thought as to why Yuusei was always doing that, he’d chalked it down to curiosity back then, but…
Yuusei didn’t answer, and Kiryu reluctantly reached over to fish him out. Normally, he’d let him be, but with everything going on…it was better to get things straightened out as soon as possible. Yuusei didn’t resist being taken out, but he clearly wasn’t happy about it if the way his head flopped somewhat to the side meant anything. Still, by the time Kiryu stood up to look over Yuusei properly, his eyes had closed, the two curved glowing lines being the only indication that he was affecting a smile.

“Ah, you found me…I was just finishing this up, see? It was getting a bit noisy, and I wanted to eat in peace, so…”

Yuusei really was a terrible liar, Kiryu noted. Even back in Team Satisfaction, Yuusei was one of the more open of the group, heart always on his sleeve and passionate to the end despite his cool demeanor. How strange was it, then, that he didn’t notice these tells during his time as a Dark Signer. How could he fail to notice Yuusei tensing up every time he was snatched up, the hint of a waver in his voice as he searched for the right words to say without stepping on the god’s toes, or the unnatural smoothness that would sometimes happen if either of them spent too long on their thoughts? How could he never see the reason for Yuusei constantly squirrelling away? The way he was back then…would he even be unable to see this obvious farce, the invisible smile and tense body, holding an empty, crinkled, upside-down ramen cup that was barely bigger than him?

“Yuusei.”

The ghost blinked, eyes shrinking back down to normal in his surprise. Kiryuu could have almost laughed at such transparency, but instead chose to put a hand on Yuusei’s head, patting down the spiked hair and forcing the ghost to look directly at him.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to hide anymore.”

“…” Yuusei’s mouth dropped open, his small body starting to visibly shake. He bowed his head, dropping the ramen cup to the floor as he finally lost his grip on it. “I…I…”

Kiryuu held him close, and the spirit found himself burying his head in the man’s shoulder, the two oblivious to the others watching with different levels of unease, confusion, and realization.

And for the first time since he’d come out of the ground, Yuusei cried.

 

So yeah, about two weeks ago Starry managed to find some free time to introduce Tiger and Bunny to me. I never really watched anything new in the summer since that's a fairly busy time for me, so by the time I got around to watching it, I finished it all just in time to catch episode 24.

The fact that the very same night, Pixiv not only had a *fried rice* tag but had over 100 entries for it, pretty much cemented the fact for me that the Tiger and Bunny fandom is AWESOME and I gotta do something to contribute. Even if I'm as late as hell. ;-;

So far I've written two anon fics and drawn a generic fried rice picture to join the rest of them.