Red

Fandom: Diabolo

Author: resu'nik

Rating: T; o-o Just to be safe?

Summery: Rai has a way of using his pain.

Pairing: RaixRen (one sided, I guess)

Notes: Everyone should love Diabolo. Songs by Linkin Park (Der) and JEW - Linkin Park was used cause I've seen WAY too many angst fics using that song... JEW because that line was stuck in my head. What amuses me is that out of the (now) 16 fics of Diabolo up on FFnet, there are only two humorous ones, and both are written by me.

Disclaimer: Don't own them. I also don't have pants on. No one cares.

Red. So much red.

The pain - to Rai - was unbearable. The pain of living; the pain of fearing death; the pain of loving someone who wasn't that way (or at least Rai was pretty sure he wasn't...); the pain of stubbing his big toe on a park bench (it started bleeding even though he had shoes on - that was how hard he'd stubbed it); the pain of when Ren accidentally slammed a two by four in his face because he'd startled the blond.

In Rai's opinion, he lead the most painful life in existence - next to a live science experiment specimen, that is.

And the only thing that cured it, the only thing that made that pain bearable enough for him to continue living and searching for Mio (he was hoping to heaven she hadn't grown up to be a prostitute or anything) with Ren, was to focus that pain. To turn it into something he could use against the world that made it; there was a kind of irony in that. It was all he could do, and all he would do... he was helpless, in a way, and it drove him insane.

He sang along with the song, softly, under his breath, almost unconsciously.

"Crawling in my skin, these wounds they will not heal..."

It was rare times indeed that he could indulge like this - to set himself free and forget everything - that he wasn't like other kids; that he was losing his soul, his mind; that he had a major thing for his best friend and often had naughty dreams about him (not that he'd ever - ever­ - tell him); that he was searching for a girl that might not even exist; that the people he tried to save sometimes didn't want to be saved, sometimes turned into monstrous creatures, sometimes liked becoming inhuman; that Bill Gates was such an asshole.

Forget.

Everything.

And maybe pretend he was happy.

"Fear is how I fall...confusing what is real."

And now.

The final touch.

When Ren got back to the house they were staying at (an old man picked them up at the park last tuesday and gave them a place to stay in exchange for helping him around the house and running some errands for him) a scent terrifyingly familiar greeted him. A second was all it took for his face to register first shock then explicit terror - he dropped the groceries (a loaf of bread, a few apples and some celery - the kind of stuff that's always in dropped grocery bags in the movies) and tore through the hallway, across the living room, and into the kitch-

Jesus.

Ren swore under his breath, eyes wide in near horror (it was more like a mixture of disbelief and complete refusal to believe the truth even when it was right in front of him, really - a hope that maybe he'd eaten something with hallucinatory properties) as he stared at the scene before him.

"Do you WANT us to get kicked out?" Ren said, accusingly, before taking another step.

He wanted to keep as much distance between himself and that pink concoction sitting on the table, a little towards the edge so it was easier to reach as Rai carefully added the white icing.

Rai looked up and smiled congenially, replying, "Welcome back, sweetie."

Ren hemorrhaged at the nickname and blood spurted out of his nose. Rai had expected that, though, so went on to finish the cake (three tier vanilla with strawberry flavored pink icing and a white trim) calmly and effectively.

By that time, he'd switched to another song.

"It takes my pain away! Never mind, these are horrid times, oh, oh, oh..."

And then the old man, Ken Ishitaka, walked in, eyes lighting up at the sight of the sugary treat. "My! It's been such a long time since I've seen such a beauty!"

Rai beamed.

Ren got over the nose bleed.

Rai said, "Have at it, sir!"

Ren screamed, "DON'T TOUCH IT! EVERYTHING HE MAKES - IT - IT - IT'S LIKE IT HAS EX-LAX IN IT!"

Ken looked at the short blond in surprise...

... but only for a moment. He smiled, said, "Well looks like I don't need to be eating any more prunes for a while."

And Ren gave up and slammed his head into a nearby wall.

THE END

Same thing as last time - make me smile, people. Hopefully I did the same for you.