This one takes place after the events of episode 24 - the one with Rantaro vs. Valt and Hoji vs. Wakiya.
I have a lot of feelings...

Losers

Head sufficiently in the clouds after a long and mildly disappointing day, Rantaro doesn't notice that he's headed for the beystadium in the park until he nearly trips over it. He stares down and takes a step back so he isn't in danger of toppling forward. Busy wondering why he didn't trip over the few steps leading up to it, he doesn't realize he's not alone until he looks up.

"Oh."

Hoji lifts his head and looks his way from the other side of the beydish. Horusood is in his hand, like maybe he'd been thinking of using it, but he doesn't have his launcher out.

"Are you using this?" Rantaro asks, echoing the question he had asked only yesterday.

Hoji smiles. It's a little bit sad looking, Rantaro thinks, but he knows how that feels. Today has kind of been a let-down for both of them, after all.

Half a moment later, and the two of them are sitting together on a park bench a little ways away.

"I was thinking about getting in some practice," Hoji explains. He's still holding Horusood, and he runs his thumb over the bey and turns it over and over between his fingers. "But…."

"Well. Now that your battle with Wakiya is over, you might as well just train with him again, right? In his fancy personal training room." Rantaro stretches until his back pops, then rests his elbows on the back of the bench. His knees are splayed wide, but Hoji doesn't seem to mind him taking up most of the space.

"Yeah…" That tiny smile is back on his face, but this time it looks peaceful. "Even though I lost quickly, he still considers me to be a worthy opponent. I'm glad."

Rantaro scoffs, but only because he knows Hoji won't take offense. "It's the same with me and Valt," he admits.

"At least you put up more of a fight than I did," Hoji says, finally tucking his bey back into his pocket. "Horusood didn't even touch the stadium before Wyvern burst it."

"Hey, hey!" Rantaro protests, sitting forward and turning a little so he can look Hoji in the eyes, "your strategy was perfectly sound! And besides, I only got a point because Valt was stupid. He crushed me in the end."

Hoji fixes him with a strange look that seems to be one part grateful and two parts amused. "Guess we're both losers, then," he says, but there isn't any real sadness in his voice anymore.

"Guess so!" Rantaro sags back into his previous position on the bench and stares up at the clouds. "I really thought I had him this time, though."

"Me, too."

The conversation lapses, then.

Rantaro wonders what Hoji is thinking about, and if it's anything like the thoughts that have been swirling around in his own head all day since his battle. He'd tried so hard, and he really thought he was ready, but then….

"Argh!" he growls, pushing to his feet and stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Boss?" Hoji questions, looking at him with a small, concerned frown.

"I can't stop thinking about losing!" Rantaro explains, rooting around in his left pocket, digging past lollipop wrappers and manga volumes and his hair comb. "It's depressing!"

Hoji is still watching him with that little frown, but now there's a confused furrow to his brow.

Finally finding what he's looking for, Rantaro pulls his wallet from the depths of his pocket, careful not to dislodge any other debris. "Aha!" He grins, accomplished, and turns to Hoji. "Want some ice cream?"

The worried downturn of Hoji's mouth becomes an amused upturn. "Okay. Yeah."

There's an ice cream shop not too far from the park that doesn't take them too long to walk to, and Rantaro swats Hoji's hands away when he tries to pay for his own.

"Nuh-uh! I invited you," he insists, pushing Hoji's money back towards him, "I'm buying."

Hoji's grin is over-indulgent this time, and looks too much like the one he uses when humoring Wakiya. (Rantaro refuses to believe he's that difficult to handle.)

"If you're sure…"

Hoji is still trying to inch closer to the counter to drop his payment, so Rantaro elbows him out of the way and physically blocks him. "Yep!" he says, "I just got my allowance, so it's fine."

They get their orders and head back to their bench, eating as they go. The lollipop in Rantaro's mouth is hastily crunched between his teeth, and he tosses the stick into a nearby trashcan, hanging onto his strawberry cone with his other hand.

"How do you eat chocolate on chocolate like that?" Rantaro asks once they're sitting down again, eyeing Hoji's dish of chocolate ice cream covered in hot fudge. "Isn't that too much chocolate?"

"I like chocolate," Hoji explains with a shrug, good natured as always.

"No kidding…."

Most of their attention is taken up by finishing their ice cream before it melts, but by the time Rantaro is biting into his cone, Hoji has something to say again.

"I guess all we can do now is try and improve." He's staring almost morosely into the last melted bits of his double chocolate ice cream as he swirls them around with the plastic spoon. He looks pretty deep in thought, and not necessarily about anything overly happy.

Ah well. The ice cream was a good distraction for a little while, anyway.

Rantaro swaps the remains of his cone into his left hand so he can deliver a friendly slap to Hoji's back with his right, trying to boost his morale. "We'll get 'em next time!" he vows, because he isn't about to let the mood slip back into melancholy so easily.

Hoji doesn't even flinch under the force of Rantaro's enthusiastic pat, and he's got that genuinely happy smile on his face again. It's small and pleasant, especially in the light of the setting sun. "Next time," he promises.

"In the meantime," Rantaro adds, "we'll do all we can to cheer on our friends!" He stuffs the rest of his ice cream cone into his mouth all at once, and then promptly starts unwrapping another lollipop.

That little grin on Hoji's face grows as he agrees. "We're good at that, after all."

...This fic continues to be super self-indulgent. I love these two and the way they bonded over similar experiences! Also, they both deserve something nice because they did their best and I'm proud of them,

Thanks for reading!