A/N: Well, how about that Legion Mate? Gaillard and the rest of the Quarte Knights are shaping up to be really interesting characters, can't wait to see where they go with them. To celebrate, I wrote a quick story taking place in Season One. Y'know, that time when all we had to worry about was what the fresh hell was up between Ren and Kai and why Aichi was suddenly hearing voices in his head. Fun times, fun times. Also, this is probably the most self-indulgent thing I've ever written, it's three minutes after 3 A.M., and I hope to every god there is that everyone's still in character. Because, y'know, that's like the point of everything I end up writing. Aside from breaking my favorite characters emotionally for some reason. That's a reoccurring trend too. Also, grammar. I really hope I didn't mess up the grammar anywhere. Oh god damn.
Anyway though, yet again, Bushiroad owns Cardfight! Vanguard and all characters or concepts depicted within this work, I'm just a kid that has nothing better to do with my time than examine every single nuance in their show that I can find.
No real warnings this time, except for angst. Because there's a lot of that. And I guess you can interpret this as shippy or not, whichever you want. I kinda left it open for interpretation on purpose, since I don't really care either way. This pretty much takes place not very long after Kai and Ren's fight in Season One, since I now realize that I was being exceedingly vague in that aspect.
Miwa had found himself in a very strange situation.
Certainly not a bad situation per se, but…it was strange to say the least. He was sitting on the floor in his best friend's apartment, leaning back against the front of his bed, while said best friend was effectively using him as a cushion. Kai Toshiki, somebody who normally wouldn't even make eye contact with someone if he could help it, was fast asleep against his chest, arms loosely wrapped around his waist in a hold that Miwa would have easily been able to escape from if it weren't for the fact that Kai was currently leaning hard enough against him that he'd had Miwa pinned to where he sat. Not that getting away was the highest priority in his mind – far from it, in fact. Considering the series of events that had led to where the two of them had ended up, Miwa was more than happy to let Kai cling to him all night if he needed to, even if it's exceedingly difficult to breathe with a hundred-something pounds of Kai on his chest.
Simply put, Kai had broken. Hardly fifteen minutes ago, he had been holding onto Miwa as though his life depended on it, sobbing hard enough that his shoulders shook with every shaky gasp and choked whimper that escaped him. It was so sudden that Miwa barely had time to process what was happening or do much more than hold him just as tightly, but now that Kai had quieted down he was able to put more thought into what in the world could have brought this on. Miwa had invited himself to Kai's apartment because Kai had seemed more distant and lost in thought than usual, as though something had happened. Whenever Kai seems upset – in that way where he tries to hide it and thinks nobody will notice, but Miwa recognizes immediately – that's what he does. Usually he's to cheer him up a bit, or at least annoy him until it gets his mind off of whatever's bothering him, but…clearly that didn't work this time.
The fact that Miwa had no clue what had happened to Kai to make him crumble the way he did was starting to scare him. The only thing that Miwa knew for sure was that ever since Kai had moved back, he had changed in a way that only somebody who had gone through an unimaginable amount of pain could. The more he thought about it, the more Kai's breakdown started to make sense to him. Whatever emotion he'd been suppressing all this time must have finally broken through his stoic façade for one reason or another. Whether something had happened to cause those feelings to resurface or if he had simply finally collapsed under whatever emotions had been festering in his mind all this time, Miwa was glad that he was able to be there for Kai when he needed him, at the very least. As long as he was able to make sure Kai was alive and well, the answers to all of the questions that he's wondered about were insignificant.
Miwa's train of thought was broken when he felt Kai shift in his arms. He still seemed to be asleep, as he didn't do much more than turn his head to the side from where his face had previously been hidden in the fabric of Miwa's shirt. He craned his neck to look at him, and was taken aback by how much younger Kai looked like this – in such a deep sleep, without his usual serious expression. It was kind of adorable, really. Miwa chuckled a bit to himself, which elicited a tired grumble from Kai. He grinned, amused by the fact that Kai was able to tell him to shut up even in his sleep, albeit nonverbally. Allowing himself to relax finally, Miwa decided to stop thinking about all of the unanswered questions that what had happened tonight had brought to the surface of his thoughts. By tomorrow, he'd probably have a terrible crick in his neck and Kai would more than likely avoid him for the rest of the week out of embarrassment.
But, at least for now, everything was fine.