"Cherry!" Joe yelled, trying to get his attention. The race hadn't started yet, he'd made it in time.
Cherry turned to watch him approach, his expression cold calculation. He continued to watch silently as Joe caught his breath and straightened to his full height, his expression was full of worry.
"Oh look, the gorilla had forgotten how to speak," Cherry teased. The worry on Joe's face didn't suit him, no matter the feeling warm feeling his concern gave Cherry. "If it's about Adam, I'll ruin him."
"If you lose, I'll never let you live it down," Joe shot back his usual demeanour returning.
"Don't get frustrated and work out too much muscle brain."
"Don't act like you aren't even a little impressed."
Cherry glared back at him but didn't say anything.
"No comeback? You lost your game, pinky?"
Cherry crossed his arms and turned away from Joe, his reply was interrupted by Adam butting his way into their conversation. "How long will the flirting go on? Not that it isn't oh so entertaining to watch, but we have a race to begin."
"Please be careful."
"As if you need to tell me that." Cherry went to turn away but Joe reached out to stop him, grabbing him by the hand.
"I'm serious, Kaoru." Joe kept his gaze locked with Cherry's, he needed him to know just how serious he was about this.
Cherry was so shocked by the gesture that he even forewent telling off Joe for using that name here. He looked down at his hand, dwarfed in Joe's, and smiled softly, though it was hidden by his mask.
Adam interrupted again, coughing loudly and knocking his board obnoxiously.
"You can wait," Joe said, glaring at Adam. "You've waited seven years, what're a few minutes more?"
Joe took a step closer to Cherry. "I can't lose you to him."
"I'm not going to die."
"I'll hold you to that."
"If I'm wrong, at least I won't be around to hear you say I told you so."
Joe laughed softly but his mood quickly grew sincere. "I'm not sure if you still have feelings for him, and this might be hard to hear but you need to hear it. He won't hesitate to hurt you, Kaoru, he doesn't love you," Joe said, looking at Adam with an expression of disgust. Not like I do.
It took a moment of stunned silence between them and Cherry's eyes blown wide with surprise that Joe realised he'd said that last bit out loud.
"Oh, this is just wonderful." Adam clapped mockingly. "I've been waiting years to see this."
Cherry apparently still speechless, just blinked at the both of them.
"I did not mean to say that, but it's out there now. Sorry for dropping that on you at the worst possible time. I'll leave now. Just...good luck." Joe smiled and went to turn away, maybe he could go jump off a cliff or something to put him out of his misery. Cherry's hand shot out and grabbed his arm, stopping Joe in his tracks, Joe turned around to face him slowly.
Joe looked into Cherry's eyes and was shocked at what he saw there. A little bit of apprehension, determination, and the same look Joe used to see directed at Adam when they were teens. Cherry pulled his mask down with one hand, grabbed the front of Joe's jacket with the other and pulled the man to him, their lips meeting in a kiss. Cherry had kissed him. The always calculating, ever predictable Cherry, had kissed HIM. It didn't last very long, only a couple of seconds. But it had left Joe, and the spectators, if the collective gasp was anything to go by, in a state of shock, a happy dazed kind, as though he couldn't believe what had just happened.
"You are such an idiot," Cherry whispered as they parted. "Have I told you that?"
"You might have a few times."
He stepped back from Joe, pulling his mask back in place and getting into position by the starting line.
Joe smiled at him brightly. "I'll be waiting."
"Good." Cherry glanced back at him quickly before turning to Adam. "Let's begin."
The race had begun before Joe had even fully processed what had just happened. He stepped back into the crowd weaving his way through and heading towards the abandoned warehouse, he'd meet Cherry at the finish line.
When he finally arrived there, he saw Adam pull ahead on the screen and attempt to pull off the love hug. Watched with giddy excitement as Cherry managed to avoid it and pull ahead of Adam. But a creeping dread settled in his stomach as Adam seemed to pull back and Cherry pulled even farther ahead. Adam was planning something.
Cherry's board shifted form and Adam pulled ahead, though Cherry remained the picture of calm calculation. Then Adam began to dance on his board. The crowd was on edge wondering just what trick The Matador of Love would have up his sleeve.
Adam jumped off his board, taking it in his hands as he sprinted at Cherry. Joe's heart was in his throat, at the speed they were going would Cherry see it before it was too late?
Just as the board swung towards Cherry's face, Cherry bent low to avoid it, and though he'd avoided the board to the face, he hadn't managed to avoid Adam and crashed into him. Their bodies tangled together as they tumbled towards the corner, coming to a hard stop as they hit the corner wall.
Joe held his breath as he waited for them to move. "Come on, Kaoru, get up," he muttered as if he'd be able to hear him. And as though Cherry had heard him, Cherry was the first to disentangle himself and rise to his feet. His hair had come out of its ponytail and his mask had been torn in the tumble, but he was standing and that was a good sign. Adam quickly clambered up behind Cherry and the two glared at each other fiercely before they both dove to grab their boards and took off once more.
The intensity had risen and the two of them were neck and neck for a good stretch of the race until they came to the abandoned warehouse. The two took different routes, Adam taking the route Langa had on his first race with Shadow, and Cherry taking the route Joe had not thirty minutes ago. The beam that Joe had pushed was still swinging gently, Cherry launched himself over the beam, landing cleanly don't the other side. Then his board shifted type again, and he picked up speed as Adam landed beside him and the two pushed and pushed to get ahead.
Joe moved through the crowd to get to the finish line just in time to see Cherry push ahead enough to win. The race just as close as Joe and Langa's had been. The two came to a screeching stop and the crowd erupted in cheers. Chants of Cherry's name echoed throughout the warehouse. Joe launched himself at Cherry enveloping him in an embrace. "You did it, you crazy son of a bitch, you did it!"
"I did." Cherry laughed joyously.
"I can't believe you did it," Joe said again. "And you kissed me."
"Just figured that out there now have you?" Cherry laughed and placed a hand on Joe's cheek.
"Still trying to figure out what it means."
"It means I love you too, monkey brain."
"You do?"
"Yes." Cherry laughed heartily.
"What do you say I take you on a celebratory date then?"
Cherry reached up and pressed a quick kiss to Joe's lips before answering. "That sounds wonderful. However, I'm almost certain my arm is broken from that incident earlier with Adam, and I probably have more injuries."
"Oh my god, why didn't you say anything before now?" Joe said hurriedly, scanning Cherry's body for signs of obvious injury, and seeing Cherry's left arm bent in two places, and his knee looked swollen and possibly bent out of place from what Joe could see through the tear in his pants. "That is definitely broken," he said alarmed.
"The adrenalin is just starting to fade so I'm only feeling these now."
"You continued the race like this?"
"Calm down, I'm not dying, I've been injured worse, so have you. Just take me to the hospital."
"I'm not letting you walk on that leg." And before Cherry could voice his protest, Joe had scooped him up in his arms and started carrying him off through the crowd.
"Wait what about Carla?"
"I'll send one of the kids for your robot girlfriend, my priority right now is getting you to the hospital."
"Fine," Cherry grumbled. Despite his seeming protests to being carried off like a princess, he curled in tighter to Joe's chest, resting his head against Joe's shoulder. "And Carla isn't a robot she's an AI, it's different."
"Oh sure."
"And she's not my girlfriend."
"Uh-huh, whatever you say."
"I don't know why I bother explaining things to you, it just never sinks in your pea-sized brain."
"You love me, you said it yourself."
"I might just be regretting my decision."
"Oh, you absolutely will, I'm going to use it against you for the rest of our lives."