Half time Old
Author's Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of Shadowverse.
Pairing: Hiro x Kazuki.
Summary:
"This whole Seven Shadows thing is rough."
"Ha ha! I knew you could do it, Kazuki!" Hiro can't resist a laugh at Kazuki fighting and making it through his exams. Leading the Seven Shadows demanded insurmountable bearing and authority. A stern voice he crafted from sucking in his chest, far removed (far enhanced) from the elastic bounce of his natural speech, which he was glad to finally pull back on now that he was with someone who actually knew him.
It was more than the few moments he got in private with Luca between meetings, and even then, Luca's presence was a double-edged sword, much like the Vampire class. When Luca approached him, Hiro would forget his guise and drop his mask briefly (not in the literal sense), before reassuming the seriousness his role warranted a second later.
The Seven Shadows were selected solely for their talents playing Shadowverse. Hiro would have selected the obvious candidates had he and Luca's positions been switched, and had the privileged five not been busy with their own lives.
Kazuki's name was the first name that flashed in his mind like a lightning bolt. The first name to leave his lips in his discussion with Luca, and the name standing in for the group.
"We can't just hang out forever. That's what he's saying."
Mauro's last words.
Okay, not really. These weren't Mauro's last last words prior to the big farewell after the national tournament. Mauro wasn't dead. But they were both a curse and a countdown, as was befitting Mauro's playstyle.
On some level, Hiro didn't desire proof their paths were set to diverge.
On some level, they needed to hear it, rough though the reality may be. To evolve. To truly begin to move forward and…
For everything else to begin? I said that, didn't I?
True connections were hard to come by these days.
Truth…The Arc…The World Ranking…The Shadow Area…Amidst the plans and the phases and the lessons pending, Hiro was just relieved to escape and reconnect, if but for a short rotation on the dial.
Another form of escape had ignited around them, disturbing the axis of power. Legitimately connecting was becoming increasingly difficult, not helped by Enigma selling people on abandoning their physical bodies and joining the digital world.
While Andrea may have been less uncomfortable shutting out people entirely, Hiro was the opposite. The thought of a contactless existence frightened him; especially one without verbal contact, in the case of others other than Kazuki, and especially one without verbal and physical contact, in the case of Kazuki.
Secrecy insofar as their part in saving the world Hiro could manage no problem, but Hiro didn't want to merely take up office space after effectively rewinding the world's calamitous end.
At a time when Alice returned to her idol career, Mauro was off on a journey of discovery, Kai was cooking for Marufuji Cafeteria, etc., what was Ryugasaki Hiro doing?
The man. The myth. The legend. The former holder of a legendary card.
Most of the time, Hiro was seated (or sleeping/daydreaming) at the table, delivering cryptic one-liners only the other Seven Shadows would ever hear.
If they were being honest, Luca's grasp on "dark and mysterious" absolutely overshadowed his synthetic take, easy.
Yet everyone who brought Hiro to his current point was necessary. The friends. The opponents. The friends who were also opponents.
Rivals. Nemeses. Family.
Followers. Spirits.
Those he hadn't battled yet.
Those he'd battle imminently.
Possibilities.
Contact and connections…
Even when the world was ruined and reduced to a shadow of itself, Hiro broke away, rejecting Leon's hate-infused Shangri-La. Succeeding where his father Eiji lost himself to despair and the Tree of Woe. Seeing the bright side and the bright future ahead, and in archetypal Hiro fashion, calling Shadowverse fun. He still believed the card game was and could be that for many a heart.
As a matter of maintaining his image as the dragon the chosen ones must achieve victory over, Hiro tried exceptionally hard not to repeat his favourite phrase as often as he once did.
This Hiro was older. He was supposed to be wiser (or at least act wiser to satisfy Luca's passive-aggressive smirk out of the corner of his eye).
"Hiro, the mask is cool and all, but it's keeping me from your face, y'know?" Kazuki wails childishly, and Hiro finds himself laughing again.
Kazuki and Hiro are slacking off during their respective jobs, and the kitchen is getting backed up. Kai is resisting simultaneous urges to jot down notes and hit Kazuki with a spoon.
Only because it's Hiro and because Kazuki's siblings are covering for Niichan, Kai allows Hiro and Kazuki to continue, to nilpotent fanfare.
He makes it known his patience is waning, however, doing "scary shiny glasses," to which Kazuki quickly panics.
Ah! Like old times! Kazuki was still Kazuki as Hiro remembered!
Hiro's phone lit up and dinged.
Smartphones. Shadowverse. So capable of connecting people. His, the artifact that began everything. His portal higher into the sky.
"Who is it?" Kazuki asks.
"No excuses," Hiro reads the simple message. "Luca's coming to get me."
"He did promise to do that, y'know?"
"I know," Hiro was referring to Luca's past promise and Luca's present mission. "But he doesn't have to bite my head off!"
Kazuki grabs the sides of Hiro's face and gives him one last kiss, before Hiro has a chance to put his mask back on. They breath the oxygen together. Its conflagration. Hiro inhales his fate. The wind that kept him afloat infinitely better than any OOPArt's technology.
An overflowing, infinite flame.
Nothing in Shadowverse is inevitable, but Kazuki was. Hiro's blessed place of rest where he could stop and not be alone. Where he could connect, understand, be gentle to Kazuki, and burn out the limits of his perception.
"I dig a man in a cape!" Kazuki proclaims shamelessly.
That…That Kai had to hit Kazuki for.