AN: Mikado/Anri/Kida is totally the only OT3 I have. Maybe, anyways. It was the first I wrote.
This fic is probably more of a friendship fic than romance, but interpret as you will. It will be marked as complete but I may add on additional oneshots if the mood strikes. Enjoy!
I don't own DRRR!
He hoisted the bag over his shoulders. It wasn't heavy at all - he'd packed his favorite hoodie, a couple pairs of pants, socks, boxers. The only thing weighing him down were his own emotions.
Guilt. Anxiety. Fear. Loss.
He betrayed not a flicker of these emotions. To the outside world he was just another teenager, cocky, thinking he was invincible. They wouldn't have thought that if they had seen the pool of blood, the bar he'd been struck with, the passage of time between him fainting and him awakening. His head still throbbed every now and then but he could venture out into society and play the part of a normal teenager. Or, he mused, the world just didn't care about one more broken soul. Who cared if he had nightmares so vivid he'd wake up searching for blood and missing teeth? Who would notice if his smile was forced, and his jokes hard-pressed? Who would be there?
They would. And that's why he was leaving.
The ticket was like a cement block in his pocket. It was almost as distracting and heavy as his emotions. He'd bought it a week after being discharged from the hospital and since then it had stayed in his pocket. Just to make sure, he patted it down, feeling the bends and ripples of the flimsy paper. He'd folded it, unfolded it, fiddled with it so much that the type had almost worn off. As it was, he could just barely make out the words printed on it. He thought wryly of what Mikado would have made of it, his eyesight steadily getting worse and worse. If he didn't watch out, he'd need glasses soon. The thought provided some satisfaction - Mikado would look cute with glasses, he decided. Kida just had to make sure he didn't spend so much time on the computer anymore.
He stopped. An elderly woman behind him cursed and pushed past him, but everyone else simply walked around him. Some were on their cell phones, others eyes on the ground. A couple were talking to each other. His eyes followed a trio of children. They were all smiling and holding hands. They were full of color. The sight made him gulp back a groan. Was this going to happen every time he thought of them? This terrible aching feeling building up in his stomach and extending through to his chest? If so - he'd rather be pummeled by that bar anytime. Averting his attention, he continued walking on, hurrying to bypass the children and the square that was coming into view. This area of Ikebukuro had been a particular favorite at one point in his life. Here he'd met Saki. Here, he'd become king - only to be toppled.
The train station wasn't much further. He knew, because he'd visited it almost every day after school. Mikado would watch him walk away far before his split to his house, while Anri would assure him that he just needed time, space, blah, blah, blah. Bless her soul, she was trying to help them, but every time he heard her excuses he wanted to run back. And not like he was now. He wanted to run back to them.
The train station wasn't anything fancy. It did its job and not much else. There were seats for passengers, ticket booths, bathrooms, even a couple water fountains placed here and there. The only thing that had kept his attention for long were the flickering lights that lit up, changing destinations and names just slow enough for him to read. He'd made it a habit, to look for his train, his destination, his time. He caught it every single try.
He sat down on the bench and watched the lights. He had twenty minutes. Twenty minutes more and he'd be off. He wouldn't be Masaomi Kida, former leader of the Yellow Scarves, flirt extraordinaire, or best friend of Ryuugamine Mikado and Sohohara Anri anymore. He would be a shade of grey, with a new identity that no one cared about, and no one worried about, but those two friends he'd left behind.
They came while he was watching the lights.
"Kida!"
"Ryuugmine-kun, he's over there."
He had just enough time to brace himself before Mikado's fist came slamming into his mouth. He'd been hit harder, much much harder, but the sheer rage that was being directed at him made him choke, his words and his physical strength failing him. He patted his cheek, feeling the slight swell. There was screaming, there was lights, there was noise and color, so much color, but all he could concentrate on was that Mikado had hit him.
Mikado.
His Mikado?
Anri was restraining him, trying to keep them separate. Mikado was thrashing and for the second time in a lifetime, Kida saw anger so heated in his friend's blue eyes he could have sworn he'd been scorched. Anri wasn't pretending to be sympathetic either - she held Mikado back but he saw her shake her head at him. It said, "You should have seen it coming," almost as plainly as Mikado's fist had hit him.
"Why?"
"...Why?" His voice was strained from the hit, his cheek going numb.
"Why are you here? Why did you pack everything up and come here?"
They knew.
"I don't belong here anymore. Ikebukuro is your home now - not mine."
"That's not true."
"Listen to her! She's telling the truth. This has always been your home!"
Kida looked down. It was hard just to watch them. They were so perfect together. Anri was silent and standoffish sometimes, but she made Mikado happy, made him smile and blush and fidget like a boy in love. Mikado wanted to protect her and worship her, but he treated her like she was her own person and not like she was a fragile doll. Where could he ever hope to fit into this, this world? He didn't think he ever could. Not when he'd endangered it, not when he'd come so close to having their world ripped apart, stomped on, destroyed.
He tensed when he noticed Anri release Mikado. So far, no one around them had commented on the punch. He was thankful. Mikado was a good kid, he didn't deserve any more trouble. Kida stayed in place, for just that reason. If Mikado wanted to punch him, well, he deserved the right to.
He didn't think he deserved the bone-crunching hug he was bestowed instead.
"Don't leave, please don't leave Kida."
"He's right, Kida-kun. We don't want you to leave."
"But...but why?" Mikado was still holding onto him, his nails digging in. It was easier to focus on that, focus on the physical pain, than to watch his two friends gradually wither away. "You were almost killed because of me. You, you could have died because of me! And all the lies, the lies I told...!"
"We told lies too, Kida-kun. We are all guilty of that, not just you." Anri appeared over Mikado's shoulder, placing a tentative hand on both of them. "Running away will solve nothing."
"We'd just have to hunt you down and take you back."
Mikado...Anri...
He returned Mikado's hug finally. His friend wasn't so little anymore, not so fragile, as he'd once been. Once upon a time, he'd been a crybaby, and a weakling, but now he was just a bit stronger, just a bit more weighted to the ground and not the clouds of fairy tales that could never be real.
"Let's go home, Kida."
He stood. Without a word, Anri scooped up his bag. She was a woman of little to no words, so he wasn't worried, and instead shot her a grateful half-smile. She returned it.
He let his friends lead him, not to his house, but to Mikado's. It was almost like they had planned it...knowing them, they probably hadn't. But that was a good thing, he guessed.
They stayed up all night. Mikado told Anri stories of when they were kids, Kida stole Mikado's clothes and ran around the house, and Anri laughed, and shared stories of her own, about Mika and her parents, all in that soft, soft voice of hers that finally lulled them to sleep. And the next day, none of them showed up to school because they were still sprawled out on Mikado's futon, Mikado falling off the right, Anri on the left, and Kida in the middle.
He sighed to himself. His friends were bothersome. His life was unsteady. He sometimes felt like shit and got stuck in painful memories.
But he was safe right now. And as he opened his mouth and let loose a shriek that woke both his companions, he thought "I'm home."