This was primarily a rant fic that turned into me actually getting to write some IV into this AU which I won't ever say no to I won't lie. Also these are never going to be in order as they're all little one-shots that I plan on making whenever I feel like it [its often] but I'm planning on doing an indication of when abouts in the timeline that a specific fic will take place using, Pre-Exp as anything before Yuma leaves on his expedition, Exp as during Yuma's absence and Post-Exp as once he's returned.
Summary: You'd think after six years people would learn to just let incidents go. At least Ryouga's got people who actually care about his troubles and a pretty annoying boyfriend that will go to pretty huge lengths to make sure he's okay. Exp.
In hindsight, Ryouga can't even remember why it pissed him off so much in the first place. He only remembers it beginning with a much needed Skype call with Yuma, who is overly joyful despite telling him of another near death experience he's forced both himself and Mihael through while on his expedition. He wants to tell him be careful, if not for himself than at least for Mihael, but he doesn't bother because he's not going to waste his breath on a notion that will just fall on deaf ears anyway.
Yuma manages to prod information out of Ryouga – you got a job teaching kids to swim? And you're getting HD's in your classes?! He's probably the only non family member he has that actually cares about things like his income and his grades and himself in general, but he finds it kind of comforting in a way that makes his overly domestic life seem not quite as boring.
He's almost cracking a smile at Yuma's comments and he can only question how Mihael puts up with him when two males from his block enter the common room he's sitting in. He scowls and goes to plug his earphones into the computer to block out whatever lame gossip seemed to be rampaging around campus when he stops, one earphone half in his ear.
"Did you hear that Ryouga Kamishiro is enlisted in the university?" one questions, followed by a who? From the other. "You know the one that got disqualified from Nationals a while back for cheating?"
Ryouga outwardly groans at the comment, removing his earphones from the computer and shoving them into his bag. "Give it a rest, it was six years ago!" he mutters as he slouches into the couch and folds his arms angrily.
"What's wrong, Shaaku?" Yuma questions as he tries to connect the dots as to what happened the year before they met.
Ryouga ignores Yuma in favour of listening in further because he can't help but be curious at the situation; how could they have not have seen him sitting in the very same room? He deliberates that it must be intentional, and he argues that if he was as outlandish or as upfront physically as he was when he was just a dumb, fucked up middle schooler he'd probably understand. But he's not now, he's considered very, very tame compared to then [he's sure it's because Yuma's been starting to rub off on him; his dumb ideals such as friendship and whatever have been sticking with him to the point where he caught himself whispering "kattobingu" to himself during a test a few weeks prior] so he's awfully confused as to the reasons why such an event was being brought up just after he thought people had finally begun to let it die.
"Wait, the name sounds familiar. I think he's in one of my classes?" the other male replies nonchalantly. "I hear he's super smart though, so I can see why. Class results were released the other day and apparently he got a HD in Bio." The guy sounds genuinely impressed and Yuma rolls his eyes because for the love of god please don't feed Ryouga's ego more, it's big enough as is.
The first guy leans closer to the first and tsks before letting out a comment that causes Yuma to growl so loudly Ryouga can hear it over the other two.
"Look man, as your friend I'm warning you to stay away from him. Who knows, he probably cheated to get those marks. You know what they say, once a cheater always a cheater."
"Shaaku..." Yuma whines, trying to get his partner's attention to distract him but deep down he knows there's no point, Ryouga's face is set in a scowl he hasn't seen since he was young and stupid and mentally fucked up. He murmurs a definitive 'goodbye, Yuma' to the screen and the pain that's evident in his voice almost breaks Yuma there and then. He barely has time to call "Goodbye Shaaku, I love you!" before the connection is abruptly cut off.
Yuma shuts the computer in frustration and just pushes it away because really, there's nothing else he can do. He wants nothing more to simply hold his boyfriend and tell him that they're stupid and its nothing to worry about – not that Ryouga is the type to worry about something such as what people are saying about him, so he's probably just left because he's sick to death of people bringing it up again and again.
That knowledge does absolutely nothing for Yuma, who places his head in his arms and just sits there as silently as he can possibly manage, only moving to change his seating so he legs didn't fall asleep. He wants to stand up for Ryouga [an overwhelming force wants to just punch the guy in the face and he realizes that Ryouga's habits are starting to rub off on him now as well], he just wants to be there for him and he thought he'd done it, thought he'd finally cracked Ryouga's walls – he's talking to people in the residences that aren't his roommate, smiling, making jokes – but he's just so far away that thinking he could actually maintain that was one of the dumbest thoughts he thinks he's ever had.
He feels so awful about not being able to support someone he cares about so much simply because of distance that he just sits there for half an hour, only occasionally moving his legs as he sits there and just dwells.
"Hey Yuma, are you alright?" Mihael calls after walking past the boy's still body for the umpteenth time.
Yuma nods his head in reply, turning and watching Mihael as he plonks himself into a seat nearby. "Kind of. Not really."
"Worried about Ryouga?" Mihael suggests and he nods because well, it's not really anything that's not completely obvious already.
"People have been bringing up the incident at Nationals, trying to use it as evidence that he can't possibly have gotten such good grades through legal means. It's probably not even affecting him at all; I'm just annoyed because there's nothing I can do at all to be of any reassurance." The words slip from his mouth and it's just something about Mihael's kind eyes and smile that just lets the words flow, and before long he's managed to rant about everything he hates about distance and how much it's really affecting him when he just wants it to be nothing at all, and to just kattobingu through the day.
Mihael gives a small "ahh" once he's finished, but it's no reassurance at all for Yuma. Mihael chooses instead to grip reassuringly at Yuma's shoulder as he tries to figure out what the right words to say. "Hey, you know it's only natural for you to worry about people you love, right? And yeah, there isn't really much you can do and it sucks, but you're still here for him when you can be, and that's really all either of you can expect from each other." Mihael pauses as an idea forms in his head. "Though, I have an idea, if you don't mind someone keeping your mind at ease?"
Ryouga groans loudly as he runs his hands over his face in annoyance, a loud buzzing noise reverberating through his room. He pulls himself to a sitting position and spies the time, knowing immediately that it was a message still buzzing through his phone and who it was from. He flicks the pass code into the phone, sighing as he saw the familiar name light up on the screen.
You better be getting ready for class!
"Get off my back, Yuma." He groans to himself, though he's kind of glad that he actually woke him up because it's been three days that he hasn't attended, he's just kind of lied there and not done much now that he thinks about it. What a pathetic waste of time.
He throws on his usual getup but throws on a larger jacket because the cold's starting to get to him and he's glad he did the second he walks out the complex's front door and is hit by the excessive wind that's infamous around here this time of the year. His phone starts vibrating obnoxiously as he's walking down the street and he opens his phone to find a message that almost makes him cringe.
You know, letting me know if you're alive or not kind of helps. :(
He feels bad but sue him for feeling in a shitty, non-talkative mood lately.
You're starting to sound a lot like Rio. I'm alive.
To be sure, he sends an identical message of I'm still alive to Rio and continues on his way, sliding his headphones on and ignoring anyone that was in his way. He wanders onto campus, realizing that thinking he was going to be late actually made him excessively early so he drops into a seat and takes out his textbook, hoping to squeeze in some last minute study before class.
He notices out off the corner of his eye someone slide into the seat across from him and he scowls because cant they see he's busy? He looks up preparing to tell them to piss off when the face that he connects with surprises him so much he slips out a nickname he hasn't used in years.
"IV?" he questions, shaking his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He realizes quickly that he's not and yes, that is Thomas Arclight sitting across from him; no matter how much time had passed and many different ways he'd styled his dumb two toned hair, Ryouga would be able to spot that scar etched on Thomas's face anywhere.
"I told you not to call me IV, its Thomas." They both reply in sync, though Ryouga's mocking tone overshadows Thomas's patronising one. "I'll let it slide this time." Thomas adds, flashing a quick grin. "So, fancy seeing you here? What's up?"
"Fancy seeing me at the university I study at." Ryouga replies mockingly. "Is this some sort of jab at the fact that I barely attend class? Because the people here are a piece of shit, just like in Heartland City."
"You'll find that they're like that everywhere, Ryouga." Thomas insists, leaning forward and placing his chin in his hands. Ryouga takes his word for it because sure he's done travelling with Yuma and crossed dimensions and all that crap, but Thomas is older and done a lot more conversing with people internationally, so he's probably a better source of info then most people.
"Which reminds me, what are you even doing here? Last time I checked, weren't you doing some fancy tour or something?"
Thomas shrugs, drooping his head a little. "Apparently spending a few weeks at a university helping to teach university students how to duel. 'It'll look really good in the press!' someone said at one point, so my manager latched on it and here we are."
Ryouga laughs at him, giving the least reassuring shrug he can manage. "Hey, that's your fault that you want to pander to your fans so much. Have any serious contenders?"
Thomas groans, placing one hand on his forehead. "You talk as if that's even a possibility. I literally have to struggle to not one turn KO everyone who challenges me." Thomas looks up, an idea forming in his head. "I have to go back in ten minutes. You're free right? Come duel me, show these loser twerps how it's done."
Ryouga rolls his eyes. "Yeah I'm free. But do I really want to put myself in a situation where more people can try and accuse me of cheating when I beat your ass? Hardly."
"More people?" Thomas frowns in confusion, ignoring the jab at his self esteem. "Are people still giving you shit for nationals? Come on, that was six years ago."
"That's what I said." Ryouga agrees, shutting his book in annoyance. "But you know what they say, once a cheater, always a cheater, right?"
"What a load of horseshit." Thomas argues with a roll of his eyes. "Explains a lot really."
"What does it explain?" Ryouga questions in curiosity.
"Explains why Mihael was all 'go see Ryouga and hang out with him' ra ra ra, you know what he's like." Thomas murmurs as he brushes his hair from his eyes. "He's just like your idiotic boyfriend, always worrying. I have to send him a message every day, whether it's something just really stupid like 'I'm alive' so he'll get off my back."
Ryouga chuckles. "At least I'm not the only one who has to suffer through it every day."
Thomas smirks, leaning back and stretching his arms wide. "Well, if you want someone to talk to about it, I guess I can lend an ear or something."
Ryouga groans ironically, trying to bite back a bitter laugh. "It seems almost weird to disclose my angers about people still going on about the incident that ruined my life with the person who was the reason my life was ruined, you know?"
"Hey hey, are we really going to play the blame game here? Because I'm pretty sure it was your Barian friends that started that shit anyway."
"They were never my friends." Ryouga growls angrily in warning.
"Comrades, whatever." Thomas dismisses the comments with a wave of his hand. "It's not the issue here. The issue is do you want an ear or not? I'm sure it'll be much more interesting than marine biology."
"I don't know..." Ryouga trails off, staring at the textbook in his hands. "The deep ocean is really fucked up. Pretty interesting to read up about."
"Okay then..." Thomas trails off, looking at his watch. "Well you've obviously got some pent up frustration, and I know the perfect place to get rid of it." He gestures to the d-pad still stuck to his arm. "Come on, what's more fun than crushing the dreams of novice duellists?"
Ryouga sighs, getting to his feet. "Fine, fine, I'll come with you."
Thomas grins as he gets to his feet and watches as Ryouga collects his belongings. "If anyone says anything I'll just tell them that I set your sister on fire and that makes us even."
"I don't like how nonchalantly you can say that." Ryouga comments as they make their way across the quad towards the gym where the lessons where being held.
"Hey, it's my deal with Rio, not yours, chill." Thomas dismisses Ryouga's raised eyebrow. "I've got to admit though, Rio's pretty attractive. What chance do you think I have?" he laughs at Ryouga's visible growl as they enter the stadium doors. "Relax, I was joking. Mostly."
Even if everything had changed about Ryouga, his overprotective instincts where one that hadn't. He sighs, knowing that this is Yuma's fault and he should actually thank him because yeah, it's not actually that bad seeing his old tag team partner again and he's got a friend who actually understands and can joke about it, so it's not quite so painful anymore.
He adds it to the ever growing list of things he has to pay Yuma back from when he gets back from his expedition.