Not for the first time in their long friendship, Ryouma wants to sigh and pull out his hair. Ren is looking at him with the closest thing to puppy eyes that the other has ever managed and holding a threadbare piece of fabric that is more like a dead rat than a hat. What he wants is plain as day.

"Why?" he prompts. Ren really just needs to buy a new hat. Ryouma watches Ren play with the pieces. He doesn't answer, of course not. Him and sentimental answers are oil and water. Still. "I can get you a better hat."

You shouldn't trust me to fix anything.

"I like this one; it blocks out the sun." Ren hands him the ratty thing after answering, almost all patches and pokes of broken stitches. He looks ridiculous without it. He needs a new haircut. His bangs look stupid. They've always looked stupid.

"Plenty of hats block out the sun."

Ren huffs. "Are you going to fix it or what?"

"I'm not good at this, as I keep telling you." Ryouma sighs. "But I'll see what I can do."

Ren rolls his eyes. "You know how to sew, don't be stupid."

The trouble is that he's not being stupid. He's being guilty and there is a huge difference. At least there supposedly is. Ren's not holding his breath on there actually being one.

Ryouma sits down at his dining room table. "Can you get the sewing kit from the cabinet?"

Ren snorts. "What am I, an errand boy?"

"You should pay me for this. Go on." Ryouma begins laying the pieces out. Lucky for Ren, the whole thing isn't rags, or Ryouma wouldn't have been able to fix it at all. As it stands, he's not going to be able to salvage it for much longer. He'll just have to drag him to the department store.

"Can you look at my phone while I do this?" Ryouma tugged at loose threads. "It's in my backpack."

"You're such a jerk." The words are half-hearted, playful even, so they don't mire his soul with crushing despair or guilt like he does to himself. No wonder Ren is sick of dealing with him.

Yet there he is, every day. There's always some excuse on his lips, some dastardly plan in his head. Just like before Quartzmon. Just like before he became the villain.

There's an after, and Ryouma doesn't know if he can live in it.

Ren saunters back in, dropping the sewing kit into his waiting hands. He snatches Ryouma's backpack and huffs. "How you manage to screw this thing up without even trying is behind you. It's like you're turning into a gogglehead or something."

"Taiki-san is plenty intelligent," Ryouma retorts, feeling his cheeks burn, as if he should take the comment as an insult. He probably should.

"That's not a gogglehead, that's a force of nature." Ren opens the battery case. "Tagiru is a gogglehead, hair gel, stupidity and all."

"He saved the world." Unlike me.

"Because he was the only one there." Ren snorts. "You give him too much credit. Don't give yourself enough."

Ryouma raises an eyebrow, looking up from his sewing. "Are you trying to be nice? Don't hurt yourself."

"Shove off."

Ryouma laughs, threading the needle. "Thanks Ren."

"Just stop brooding, and I'll never do that again."

Just for that, Ryouma is actually makes sure to salvage the hat.

A/N: Back to post a few more things. Not much!

Challenges: Digimon Non-Flash Bingo551 - item: hat, Advent Calendar challenge, Pairing Diversity Boot Camp (Ryouma/Ren) prompt 'denial', and Diversity Writing Challenge B30. Write about your brOTP. It's one of them!

Please review!