You and me, gamble [AraHika]

Words: 1600+
Series: Danball Senki Wars
Characters: Hoshihara Hikaru, Sena Arata

Notes: Weird AU inspired by the manga. In the manga, Arata and others went on a luxury cruise trip as a present for winning the tournament "War Time" (the manga changed many things from anime and game). For some reason he and Hikaru went straigth away visit the casino there and played some roulette. They pretty much lost their money and clothes. And Haruki had to take responsibilty for the whole thing.

Inspired by this all, I came up with this AU where they are something like 19-21 years old and for some reason Hikaru is working on a casino. Arata ends up there and... You can guess the rest. I'm really bad at cardgames and I'm not actually 100% about the rules of Blackjack, but it's the most easiest one I could use in this. Don't kill me please ;u;'' Anyway, I've got an idea for continuation, but I'm not really sure if I can get it out of my head the way I want it. Because that happened with this one. It was supposed to be a pretty serious gambling between Arata and Hikaru, but for some reason there ended up to be more AraHika than I actually planned. Lmao. But if I continue this, it would be more AraHika than this. Believe me, this is only the first half of the story, if I ever intend to continue it. Depends on if I have time or motivation. Or if I wasn't lazy as fuck.

This is actually my first writing I upload anywhere. The one I started last month is still not ready as I have to re-write some parts and think about stuff. Anyway... Enjoy and leave some comments, please. I'm mainly concerned about my grammar, as English ain't my first language. So if there's something, I'm all ears ready to listen.


"What are you doing here?" Hikaru asked from behind the table when he saw the redhair approaching him. One could tell that he wasn't that happy, as the words pretty much pierced Arata's ears.

"What's with that kind of welcome. I came to play, y'know", the young man sound all hurt.

The blond raised his brow and took a quick glance at the other one. The clothes he was wearing were so Arata-like and for some reason, fit the chilly and dark mood of the casino. He had to admit that he looked damn good. But why was he here? There's lots of other casinos in the city.

"So you came to play, huh?" his blue eyes met with Arata's violet ones. The redhead knew those eyes. They were inviting him to unknown, like challenging him. Intimidating, but beautiful. He had always liked Hikaru's eyes, but had never mentioned it. He decided to not to say it either this time.

Arata nodded and a huge smirk appeared on his face. "Yup. You better be ready to lose!" he announced, all full of himself. He sat down, staring at the blond dealer behind the table.

"I think I should be the one to say such a thing" Hikaru noted bluntly. He wanted to wipe that smirk off his face, but decided to bear with it. He was working after all and all customers had to be treated well. Even though if it was a big idiot like Arata. Idiot, that he had liked who knows for how many years now.

"Today we offer Blackjack. I assume you are familiar with the said game", he picked up a pack of cards and started to shuffle them, giving a quick look at the male in front of him.

Something in those words made Arata wince. But he wasn't going to back out, no matter what the blond would bring up. Then he noticed how the atomsphere was getting all heated up. He felt how a sweat drop was falling down his forehead. Nice. Now it was only the matter of time and money.

"Your starting bet, please" the dealer declared and kept on eye the readhead. The smirk appeared again on Arata's face, but it was different this time. He coulnd't tell why or what was actually going on, but he was eager to find out why he was here in the first place.

Before he even had finished shuffling the cards, the young man handed down a pile of chips. He can't be serious. The amount of the chips was so high that it was his first time seeing someone to start with such a high bet. It was very surprising and horrible at the same time. Was he that stupid? Or was it all on purpose? What was his goal? Or did he even have one?

Arata looked at Hikaru's surprised face. It was kind of amusing.

"That's pretty high bet, you know. You think you can win?" the blond collected himself and tried to not to lose the battle they had just started.

"Nah, I don't care. As long as I win", he leaned back on the chair and had his arms behind his head.

That sounded so wrong in Hikaru's ears. But he couldn't help it. It was Arata. He had to just do what he had to do and live with it.

"Hmph. Don't cry later."

Arata put his arms on the table and leaned, resting his chin on them while looking at the dealer shuffling the cards once more. It was something very mesmerizing to look at. He wasn't sure if it was the pro-like card shuffling or Hikaru itself who caught his attention to be honest. But he could have watched both of them the whole day. Especially the blue-eyed male.

Hikaru stopped shuffling the cards and looked at Arata, who nodded in response. Then he handed two cards to him, one by one revealing each of them. A King of clovers and a hearts 10. Shit. That made his summary of cards 20 out of 21.

"Dunno if you hear this often, but those clothes of yours look good" the redhead managed to get out of his mouth. He didn't want to actually say it aloud, but his body was thinking otherwise. Maybe it was actually a good thing.

Small blush appeared on his face. "W... What?" the blond asked all confused and took two card for himself, revealing the other one to the player. It was a hearts 2. His heart skipped a beat. What a great way to start.

All nervous, he took a quick glance at his other card, which was a Jack of spades. His card summary was 12. According to the rules, as the dealer he had to take more cards until the total was 17 or more, but not over 21.

The blond took a deep breath and looked at the other one.

"So, why did you come here?" he asked. The eyes he was giving at him demanded answers.

The redhead stared at his cards.

"I came to play, like I said. I've heard that this is the best casino of the whole city, so of course I had to check it out myself." He was lying. But he said that all in a way that most likely irritated the other one instead of making him question the veracity of his words.

The dealer clenched his fists, but remained calm for many reasons. If he weren't at work now, he would have punched Arata. He closed his eyes for a moment to collect himself, before opening them to see the redhead again.

One could tell that Arata was clearly thinking. He was such an airhead but when he was serious about something, he was seriously serious. Hikaru knew it better than anyone else. This time though, he wasn't sure if the former teammate was thinking about what to do with his cards or if there was something else going on. Well, his card summary was 20 so he actually couldn't do anything unless if he wanted to try to get an Ace if he wanted higher chances to win. Anyway. Most of the times Arata was so easy to read, like a book, but in rare occasions it was impossible. This was one of those times. He could just assume that he was thinking of some kind of strategy. Probably.

"I will stand", the redhead announced, waiting for the dealer's next move.

Hikaru let out a sigh and took himself third card, because the summary of his cards was too low. It was a clovers 7 that he pulled. Now his card summary was 19 out of 21. Goddamn it.

"Stand", the blond said and showed his other two cards. He saw how Arata's eyes went all bright in a split second and he was full of excitement.

Hooray.

"It seems that I won this round", Arata said in a teasing tone while staring at the dealer.

He had got lucky this time, Hikaru admitted. A moment ago he had wished for the other one to win, but now he wanted the exact opposite. He so swore that he would make the redhead cry and beg for his money when he would win the upcoming rounds. Well, if he was able to win. It was all up to luck after all.

The blond picked up chips worth of the player's bet and handed down them. Then he got the cards and shuffled them once again. Arata handed down his bet, a few chips higher than last round. Idiot.

A silence grew between the two.

"Umm, hey" he heard Arata starting and raised his brow. The other one looked kinda nervous suddenly. What could be in the other one's mind? The blond handed two cards to him, revealing them.

"Are you free today after work?" the redhead asked, scratching his cheek.

"I just started about an hour ago. My shift ends at 2AM..." Hikaru took two cards for himself and checked out them, before revealing the other one. He didn't want to sound so cold, but he couldn't say it in a better way. He was sure that the revelation pretty much ruined the other male's plans anyway.

A small 'oh' escaped from Arata's mouth. He was surprised and felt actually a little bit bad for his friend. Well, friend. He actually considered the blond as his crush, but no-one knew about it. Not even Haruki or Sakuya.

"Don't feel bad. It's my work and my problem", Hikaru said in monotone, looking up at the other male. "Why did you ask?"

"Errr... Well... It would have been nice if we could have gone for a walk or something. To just chat and spend some time together? Like, it's been a while since we last time saw each other. You are busy with your work and stuff."

The blond was stunned. He couldn't believe that Arata would say something like that here. But it was kind of... Heartwarming? After all these years he still cared about his former teammates even though they weren't in touch that often anymore. Well, it was Arata after all. He shouldn't have been this shocked, but such a happy thing was a big surprise and opposite to the dark and serious mood of the casino. He bit his lips and tried to process the whole thing in his head.

Arata was a little bit confused, but he decided to stay quiet and wait for the other one's response.

"Even though I have work to do, I will always have time for my friends", the dealer said and stared the other one's violet eyes.

The redhead smiled. "Glad to hear that. So, you up for a walk later?" his bubbly character was all excited once again. He tapped the table lightly with his finger, asking for a third card.

Hikaru nodded and handed the third card.