Title: No Yelling
Fandom: Ronin Warriors
Characters/Pairings: Cye Mouri/Kento Rei Fang, Ryo Sanada/Rowen Hashiba
Rating: PG
Warnings: Post-series, spoilers apply. Alluded to past capture/torture (canon).
Notes: N/A
Word Count: 1,142
Summary: Kento is pining for Cye. A talk with Rowen gives him the push he needs to stop pining and start acting.
--
Kento didn’t have the best memory on the planet. And why should he? He was best buds with Rowen, who could remember everything for him. And besides, he knew the important stuff. For example, the moment when he realized that he liked Cye as more than ‘just a friend.’
--
It wasn’t anything dramatic or magical or whatever those romance novels that Sage secretly read would have called it. It’d been a typical day and Kento had been in a typical bad mood. Everything was just setting him on edge—and the comments about how he was such a hot head, hardy har har, did not help. To make matters worse, he knew that his friends didn’t mean any harm, so he couldn’t snap back. He could, however, grumble and stomp off into the kitchen to look for something to eat to get his mind off of things.
Cye greeted him with a glare. “I thought I made it clear that I cook alone… Kento, you look terrible.” Any sourness in his expression was replaced with concern. “What’s wrong?”
For some reason, the concern was worse than Cye yelling at him. “I just want a snack,” Kento rumbled.
Cye didn’t look entirely convinced, but he headed to the fridge nevertheless. “I think we have some fruit in here somewhere.” He peeked inside. “Ah, good. Blueberries.” He took the aforementioned berries, rinsed them off, and put them in a bowl. “There we go. It’s not much, but it should tide you over until dinner.”
Kento took the offering. “Thanks,” he said before shoveling them into his mouth.
“Good. Now that you’re no longer hungry, you can tell me what’s wrong.”
Damn. Cye was sneaky when he wanted to be. “It’s nothing. It’s everything. I don’t know.” He waited for Cye to scold him for not actually giving him an answer.
But Cye simply took him in, expression thoughtful. “So, in other words, you’re having a bad day but it’s not time to crawl into bed just yet.”
Yes. That was it exactly. “How did you just take how I feel and put it in words likes that?!” Which, okay, really did make him sound like the hard head that everyone accused him of being, but this was surreal. Cye knew him better than he knew himself…
Cye smiled slightly. “I’m your friend,” he said as he poked Kento gently in the arm. “It’s my job to know what’s going on with you.”
As for Kento, warmth blossomed in his chest, and from that moment he knew that he was doomed.
--
“Hey, Kento… wait.” Rowen stopped in his tracks. “Since when do you smoke?”
“Since I need something to steady myself,” Kento replied. He’d hoped that would be the end of it, but Rowen looked so damn concerned that Kento harrumphed, took one last drag, and put it out. Then something occurred to him. “Hey, Rowen. Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
Everyone insisted that Kento was blunt and spoke without thinking, but he had to fight to get out the words. “Um. How did you and Ryo get together? No offense, but he’s hot-headed and passionate, while you’re—”
“Not hot-headed and passionate,” Rowen finished for him pleasantly. But then his expression grew somber. “I’m willing to divulge the information, but it’s not a happy story. We became a couple while you three were—”
“Kidnapped.” Now Kento was finishing the sentences. It was fine. He was (mostly) over it. But wow, he wished he still had that cigarette. “There’s no point in dancing around that. So, go on, spill. Tell me how you won Ryo’s heart.”
“It was right after Talpa paraded you like sick trophies.” Rowen’s voice was so raw that Kento almost offered him a smoke. “And, well, you know how Ryo takes things. He kept going on about how it was his fault, and that he should’ve known better than to let us split up, and that he needed to save everyone right now—and he was not happy with me when I told him that was impossible.” And it was clear from Rowen’s tone that he had felt the same way.
“Damn,” Kento breathed. “Yeah, being kidnapped sucked, but you two suffered as well.”
Rowen merely shrugged. “I did my best to talk him down. To tell him that we were going to rescue you three; we just needed a plan. Then he told me I was being heartless, which I’m not proud to say angered me. I shot back that I very much have a heart, otherwise it wouldn’t be breaking over the three of you.. or that I couldn’t help the one I cared for.” Rowen almost smiled. “Not the best way to confess.”
Kento let out a low whistle. “So, cool-headed Rowen basically screamed ‘I love you’ at Ryo. And it worked.”
“Somehow, yes.” Rowen sighed softly. “I don’t know what he saw in me in that moment when he kissed me. Sometimes, I’m still not sure what he sees in me. Although it was a little awkward at first. We both needed to discern how we felt, but we didn’t have the opportunity to do so, considering the circumstances. So, it wasn’t until the battle was over that we really got to talk. I told him that despite the headaches it gives me, I can’t get enough of his antics. He said that I’m the first person to make him feel calm.” He shrugged again. “Which is how I suspect you feel about Cye.”
“H-How did you know I was thinking about Cye?!”
Rowen gave him a Look. “Because I have basic observational skills, Kento. You two have always been close, but recently you’ve been moping over him. In fact, you’ve been so busy moping over him that you haven’t noticed Cye moping over you.”
“… Really?” This was—no. No. Things this good didn’t happen to people like Kento. “You’re lying.”
“Kento.” There was a touch of steel in Rowen’s otherwise gentle voice. “I don’t lie, especially to my friends. You know that.”
“I’m scared,” he finally admitted. “I’m scared that even if Cye feels the same way, I’ll screw it up like I always do.”
“That may happen,” Rowen conceded. “But I can tell you for sure that you’ll still be miserable if you don’t at least try.”
“… Okay. I’ll try.”
--
“Cye?” Kento ignored that his whole body was shaking. “We need to talk.”
“We do,” Cye said, taking Kento’s hand into his own. “But don’t worry.” He smiled warmly. “I feel the same way.”
Kento was so relieved, he was half convinced he was going to pass out. But it had worked! Hell, it hadn’t just worked, he was in the middle of the best case scenario! He didn’t even have to yell like Rowen had with Ryo.