Yusei waited until no one was around before calling Kiryu. He didn't want anyone else to hear what he wanted to discuss with his former leader.
"Hey Yusei, long time no chat!" Kiryu answered his phone cheerily.
"Kiryu, is anyone else around?"
"No, Nico and West are at school. It's just me here. Why?" Kiryu replies, a little anxiously.
"I… I"m having those…. thoughts again…" Yusei's voice chokes up. Kiryu frowns on the other side of the call.
"Yusei, it wasn't your fault…"
"I miss him. So much."
And here came the tears.
This had been happening periodically, ever since Yusei saved the city.
Ever since he lost Bruno.
Yusei would call up Kiryu and cry, and as much as it hurt Kiryu to hear Yusei being in love with someone else, he always comforted him. It was the least he could do to repay Yusei for everything he's done.
"Bruno would want you to be happy, Yusei," Kiryu assures him, "He'd want you to move on."
It broke his heart to hear Yusei sob like that, and he couldn't even wrap his arms around him in comfort.
"I…. I know…" Yusei sniffs. And then after a bit of silence, Yusei says quietly, "I miss you."
And Kiryu knew where this was going.
"I miss you too, Yusei."
"Please come to the city. Come stay with us."
"I can't just leave my own town. I'm the sheriff."
"Come live with me."
Kiryu sighs.
"I can't Yusei. It wouldn't be fair to either of us."
And this was where it would always turn weird. Because this, what they were about to do, was really unfair to Kiryu, but he did it for Yusei anyway. He owed him this. Owed him everything with nothing in return.
"I want you, Kiryu. I want you rough and hard. I want your satisfaction, just like when we were teens." And Kiryu knew Yusei's hands were down his pants, touching himself to make the pain go away. And as always Kiryu was sucked in to this charade, and his hands found their way into his own pants.
"Then I'll give it to you. I'll make you moan and sweat and beg for mercy."
"Oh god, Kiryu…"
And the dirty talk would go on until suddenly Yusei would gasp sharply, sometimes moaning Kiryu's name, sometimes moaning Bruno's. And Kiryu would follow shortly, Yusei's name spilling from his mouth as hot seed spilled over his hand.
And then they would always grow silent. And the silence would stretch on and on, sometimes for a half hour, until Yusei finally hung up without a word.
But not this time.
After moaning Kiryu's name and coming hard, when Yusei regained himself he said, "Kiryu, please come live with me."
"What?" Kiryu gasped in surprise. He hadn't been expecting Yusei to say anything at all, let alone to ask that.
"Live with me. Here. You can be my lab assistant."
"Yusei…"
"Please. I love you."
That had been the straw to break the camel's back.
"You love me?!" Kiryu snorts, "You love me?! Last week when you called asked me to pretend to be Bruno! I'm not fucking stupid, Yusei. Go huff his jacket and jerk off to that from now on! I'm not having phone sex with you anymore, no matter how many times you save my worthless life!" He slams the phone down and grabs a fist full of tissues to clean himself up with. A minute later the phone rings again but Kiryu ignores it.
For ten straight minutes the phone rings. Yusei knows him too well.
"What?!" he snaps, finally answering the phone.
"I'm sorry, Kiryu. I'm so sorry."
Yusei is sobbing harder than ever, and it's hard to stay mad at him.
"It's… it's alright. Forget it."
"I really do love you."
"I know…"
The crying goes on for a good five minutes before Yusei calms down.
"I want to come see you," he sniffs.
"Yusei, I don't think-"
"I want to see you. Bruno's gone. He's gone and I accept it. But you're here. You're here and real and you've always been here."
Kiryu sighs.
"You have a lot of making up to me do," he finally says.
"I know. I'm a horrible person."
"You're not a horrible person. You're just… broken."
"I'm coming up this weekend, alright? And I'll make everything up to you. Everything. I promise."
"Whatever you say, Yusei."
They hang up, and Kiryu isn't sure how he feels. Jealous that Yusei fell so hard for Bruno, angry that he had been used, sad that Yusei is suffering, happy that Yusei really does care about him.
Hopeful that maybe this is the start of Yusei's recovery. The start of a new relationship between them.
I'll make him forget all about that Bruno guy, Kiryu decides, I'll make Yusei fall in love with me all over again.