Bella Figura (pt. 3 of 4)
Title: Bella Figura
Translation: [Italian] Fine Appearance/ Impression
Series: Digimon Frontier/ Savers (crossover)
Character(s): Masaru D., Takuya K.
Genre: Romance, Angst
Rating: M
Warning: MasaruxTakuya, KoujixTakuya, ToumaxMasaru, hint of JunpeixIzumi
Summary: Admiration. That’s what Takuya thought when he saw Masaru for the first time. But as time moves forward and the familiar face appears more frequently in his life, his heartbeat skips… just as it would when feeling love for the first time (AU)
“That… was amazing, I never seen anything like it!” Takuya exclaimed, handing Touma a towel. Covered in bruises and dripping in sweat, the two exchanged grins to each other as Touma placed his hand on Takuya’s head. “Well, I’m certainly glad you enjoyed it… although, despite my calculations, Masaru is as unreadable as ever.” He mainly told himself as he stared back at Masaru, who placed his left hand on his right arm in victory.
“Ahahahaa~” Takuya turned to Masaru, giving him a warm smile. “Well, congrats on your-“ before Takuya could finish his sentence, he looked past Masaru and at the window, where the sun was starting to set. “Shit, it’s late!! I gotta go!” Takuya ran towards the door, but was stopped by Masaru.
“You sure you’re gonna be okay alone?”
All of those feelings he had about the street fighter came back into view, and the younger brunette waved his hands in front of his face, which was now a deep red. “D-don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine, I promise!” and with that, Takuya ran out the door and slammed it shut, leaving Touma and Masaru alone.
--
The shower curtains opened abruptly, startling the blonde. But seeing Masaru walk in calmed him down, but only slightly.
“Surprised to see me?”
“Oh no, it was just…” Touma ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “It’s just Takuya-chan, that’s all.”
“He left, remember?” Masaru pointed out, inching his way near Touma. It wasn’t the cold water running down his body that made Touma shiver vaguely, but the fact that now Masaru’s finger was tracing circles around his upper body.
“Don’t try to squirm your way out of this one.”
Touma, his face flushed a light shade of red, grinned and wrapped his arms around Masaru’s lower torso. “You may have won the match in the ring, but don’t get too cocky, Masaru-chan. I’m winning this one.”
--
Takuya couldn’t believe it!
Halfway home, he realized he left his shoulder bag in the locker room while he was talking with Masaru and Touma. He could only hope they were still in the gym so he could retrieve it.
“The teacher wouldn’t even believe me if I told him my completed homework was locked in the gym…”
Takuya could see that the lights were still on in the gym. He sighed in relief. “Great, that must mean that someone is still there!” But as he opened the gym door, the place looked a bit empty.
“H… hello? Is anyone here? Masaru?”
Takuya took a few small steps, noticing the tennis room, the weight room, and even the reception center was completely empty. He sighed and turned the other direction, noticing a few muffled sounds coming from the private boxing ring downstairs.
Uuh? Masaru and Touma are still-oh right, they must be… his face was flushed a deep red as he debated whether to walk into the locker room or not. Aww man, what if they were showering? Showering… means that Masaru’s… naked.
And Takuya wasn’t sure how he’d react to that.
But he still needed that bag.
Taking a deep breath, Takuya made his way downstairs, where the sounds were a bit more audible. It was still soft whispers, but he couldn’t quite understand what was going on, but he could hear the shower running and a soft voice. Touma’s soft voice.
“Read to give up, Masaru-chan?”
“M… Masaru-chan?”
Were they still talking about the boxing match? Were they rough-housing? Takuya had no idea what was going on, but his hand finally hovered over the door, he was starting to once again have second thoughts about going in.
But his body went ahead anyways and opened the door…
Only for Takuya to almost pull back in embarrassment.
Right in front of him was the lockers and a few benches. The furthest bench from the door had a couple of towels, Masaru and Touma’s spare clothes and, under the bench, Takuya’s school bag. But Takuya was specifically staring at what he saw on the right. Shower curtains open, he could see Touma’s back, but another pair of tanned legs implied that Masaru was right in front of him. Masaru’s weak arms lay on the blonde’s shoulders as Touma’s body grinded against Masaru’s.
“Don’t think… I’m giving up… just yet, Touma-chan…”
“… just what I was expecting to hear.”
That was enough.
As the oblivious Touma continued his actions, and Masaru’s moans grew louder, Takuya just couldn’t take it anymore. His heart torn and his eyes stinging from the forming tears, he ran out of the gym, not even daring to look back.
--
“Oi, Touma-chan!”
Touma’s face emerged from the towel he had over his head. “Yes?”
“Takuya’s bag is still here.”
Masaru, now fully clothed, picked up Takuya’s bag from under the bench and slung the strap over his left shoulder as Touma prepared to clothe himself. “I could send it to him; it looks like a bunch of school books, and I’m sure he’d need it for tomorrow.”
Just as Masaru finished the sentence, something in the bag vibrated. Immediately searching through the bag, Masaru pulled out a red phone (decorated with a phone charm of Yamato Ishida from the “Teenage Wolves” band, Masaru noticed. Gotta give him props for having good taste in music at least, he thought. ) On the phone was a screen on the outside, reading “Kouji”.
“Who’s Kouji?”
Touma shrugged as he took the phone from Masaru and flipped the phone open. “Perhaps a relative or something?” he pressed the talk button and raised the phone to his ear.
Before he got a chance to formally answer the phone, Touma was met by Kouji’s voice. “Takuya, how about answering the phone when your mom calls, she’s worried sick!”
“…” Touma’s puzzled look gave Masaru the sense that something was wrong. He grabbed the phone from Touma’s hand and spoke. “Hello? Who the hell is this?”
“… how rude.” Was Kouji’s answer. “I should be asking you the same question.”
“You mean to tell me you don’t know who I am?” Masaru demanded, pride in his voice.
“Shut up, Masaru.” Touma could hear Kouji answer. “This isn’t your phone to start with… hello?”
“Uhh… where is Takuya?” Kouji asked in confusion.
“He was with us at the gym.” Touma answered. “And he left his stuff here by accident. You mean he hasn’t arrived home yet?”
“WHAT??” both Kouji and Masaru exclaimed. The street fighter, with his fists clenched, punched a nearby locker, leaving a decent dent. “Dammit, I knew I should have walked Takuya back home!”
Just then, Kouji hung up the phone, leaving Touma with an angry Masaru, who suddenly ran out of the locker room.
But Touma noticed more than that. He noticed that Masaru had just… ran out the door. The door that was left wide open. Wasn’t the door closed? he thought, remembering that Takuya slammed the door in a hurry. But for the time being, he pushed those thoughts aside and decided to hurry after Masaru.
--
“Wait… You know Masaru?”
Takuya had no idea what was going on. After seeing Touma and Masaru in the locker room, he ran out. He couldn’t even think clearly as he ran home, but as he made a turn, he ran into a taller man with short dirty-blonde hair. He looked about Masaru’s age, if not a bit older. Behind him were a girl with long brown hair and a purple dress and a boy with blonde hair. In Takuya’s eyes, he looked a lot like Touma.
“Ahahahaa~ This is perfect!” the leader exclaimed. He knelt to Takuya, who was still on the floor, and grabbed him by the cheeks. “Y’see, I have a bone to pick with this ‘Daimon Masaru-sama’ kid. And…” he leaned in closer, making Takuya’s heart sink to his stomach. “I heard you were messing with one of ours. Y’see… when you mess with Katsuharu, you mess with me. And you wouldn’t wanna mess with me, now would you? You’re asking for a death wish there, kid.” The leader whispered in a low tone, sending chills down the brunette’s spine.
It was unbelievable. First he finds Touma… basically screwing
Masaru like a bunny, and now this?
Couldn’t get any worse than this, he figured.
“Hey, Kiriha…” it was the girl this time. Tucking her long hair behind her ear, her finger was pointed past the leader and Takuya, where a figure was running towards them. “Isn’t that…”
As the leader turned around, a fist struck his cheek, sending him flying back, knocking right into Kiriha and the girl.
“Tsubasa Kouki, if you put one hand on Takuya, I’m gonna make you regret it!”
“You’re a little late.” Kiriha answered, his arms crossed.
Masaru, after dropping the bag next to Takuya, quickly turned his head in Kiriha’s direction. “What was that, you little punk?”
“Simply put, he’s weak.” Kiriha answered. Masaru, his fists clenched, marched his way towards the blonde as he continued. “He’s intimidated by Kouki. And he couldn’t protect himse-“ before the boy had a chance to finish, Kiriha was knocked to the ground by Masaru’s punch as well. He turned to the girl and scoffed.
“Nene, you’re lucky you’re a girl. A real man doesn’t hit girls. But-“
“Spare me the talk.” Nene interrupted in a cold tone. She searched past Masaru and at Takuya, who was still trembling, but managed to stand. “Kiriha-kun takes things to literally. Kouki-san never punched him. He may have squeezed his cheeks, but that’s about it. No harm in that, right?”
“Che. You can spare me the talk too, Nene.” Masaru sneered. He then turned to Kouki, who stood up in anger. “I did say ‘one hand’, didn’t I? Then as far as I know, your hand was on Takuya. And that’s unacceptable.”
“You want a fight?” Kouki grinned, cracking his knuckles. “You came to the right place. Come and get some!”
While Masaru and Kouki exchanged fists, Takuya stood there, not knowing what to do. He wanted to stop this fight, but he had a feeling that not only was Kouki waiting for this moment to come, but so was Masaru. They just needed a reason to go at it.
But Takuya also didn’t want to see Masaru. Not so soon.
“Takuya-chan.”
The brunette turned to the voice behind him, where Touma held out his cell phone. His face red, he slowly took the phone from him and stuffed it in his pocket.
N… no way, did Takuya- Touma’s brows were raised, remembering the opened locker room door. And the look on Takuya’s face, those awkward silences, the happiness on Takuya’s face when he sees them…
“… it’s Masaru-chan, isn’t it?”
Holding back tears, the boy grabbed his bag sitting next to him on the floor and ran, brushing past Kiriha, Nene and the two men who were still throwing punches at each other.
Touma sighed, his hand on his face. Sometimes, he hated when he was right.
--
A figure was running towards Takuya when he reached his neighborhood. As it came closer and the street lights shined in his face, he could tell it was Kouji. He looked distressed, but he instantly had that look of relief on his face when he recognized the brunette.
It couldn’t be helped.
Takuya ran into Kouji, gently pulling on his shirt as he let out a disheartening sob. His blood boiling, Kouji tightly embraced Takuya as they both knelt to the ground.
“What happened, are you hurt? Who did this to you? I swear if it was that ‘Masaru’ kid…”
Takuya shot his head up and vigorously shook his head. “I…” At that moment, he didn’t care anymore. Kouji could say whatever he liked. He could say he told him so. He could claim that he was right.
But that wasn’t going to mend his broken heart.
“I loved him.”
“Oh no…” Kouji squeezed Takuya tighter as the brunette buried his face deeper in Kouji’s chest. He didn’t know what to say. Although he tried so hard to deny it, he could tell he loved Masaru. Through all of those mixed feelings, Takuya always tried to keep it cool. But something happened. And Takuya fell apart.
Kouji couldn’t bear to see him like this.
--
“WHAT?!!”
His arms crossed, Touma raised a brow. “You mean to tell me you ran out, not realizing that Takuya had slammed the door earlier?”
“Yeah, well, I mean… I thought maybe you had opened it.”
“You left the shower before I did, remember?” Touma pointed out.
Masaru frowned. If what Touma said was true, then it’s possible that Takuya saw him and Touma having sex in the shower. But what he didn’t realize was how… attached Takuya was to him. Now that Touma had pointed it out, it seemed logical.
“How could I have been so stupid?”
--
“Don’t say that, Takuya. You’re not stupid.”
“But he hangs out with Touma so much, it’s-“
“-an easy misconception.” Kouji finished. “They could have been best friends.”
That comment made Takuya feel somewhat uneasy. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but it did. And as he lay there, his head on Kouji’s lap as he played with the brunette’s hair, he couldn’t help but feel that maybe what Kouji had said outside… was right.
PART IV