Of Idiots and Bruises [1/1]
Title: Of Idiots and Bruises
Chapters: 1/1
Author: yumemirunosekai
Pairing: Andou Ryuu (Ueda Tatsuya)/Kosaku (Kamenashi/Kazuya)
Rating: PG 15 (in general)
Warnings: adult themes, quotations
Genre: romance, angst, humour? (I dunno)
Synopsis: Ryuu really doesn't mind Kosaku. He really doesn't
A/N: Just because there isn't a single Ryuu/Kosaku fic in existence.
Ryuu is like the sea - unpredictable, wild, and will never lose (he hates to lose).
Underneath that rock hard mask of cockiness, narcissism, and taunting insults, is an even harder interior, fortified with layers and layers of shifting emotions that are like land mines - exploding when prodded and poked by incessant busybodies.
Ryuu actually doesn't mind Hatanaka Kosaku - the newbie that joins the gym early this spring. He can tolerate his loud comments, his obnoxious personality, even his usual irritating calls of 'Ohayo minna-san!" every morning.
To him, Hatanaka Kosaku is just another face in the crowd, a random boxer - joins one day and quits the next - like the rest of them. Sometimes, Ryuu wonders about Kosaku's level of retardation. That stupid loopy grin he flashes blinds Ryu every time he sees it, and if Hana didn't restrain him from doing so, Ryuu will have ripped Kosaku's face off the first chance he got.
Ryuu doesn't associate himself with other members. He keeps to himself, and only Hana bothers to even talk to him - Ryuu isn't surprised. Every word that escapes his lips is as sharp and jagged as a broken mirror, slicing his opponent down like waving wheat crops bending in the wind. He's good at keeping himself away from people, or rather, he's good at keeping people away from him.
Ryuu doesn't care. Stupid things like friendship and bonds weren't going to make him king of the world, were they? They were just incessant weights, dragging him down into the dirt, and Ryuu was fucking through with being in the dirt.
So he thinks that it's best to stay away. He focuses on his goal, and it illuminates his path like a beacon, clear and shining. But not all roads are easy to walk, are they? No, they sure are not, and Ryuu finally understands this one day when a certain scrawny thin body approaches him after training, face flushed and sweat running down his bare chest in rivulets.
Ryuu doesn't need to look twice to know who it is, because even if he isn't familiar with many people in the gym, it is impossible to mistake that goddamn smile than blinds him almost every morning.
"Andou-kun, spar with me please!" he requests, smile burning holes into Ryuu's retina.
Yes, Ryuu doesn't actually mind Hatanaka Kosaku, but he's probably going to have to reconsider that thought very soon.
///
"Will you fuck off?"
Ever since Ryuu rejected Hatanaka Kosaku's little sparring invitation with a flick of his wrist, the smily bastard stuck to him firmly, constantly hounding him throughout his boxing practises with childish whines and indignant pouts.
"No~ Not until Andou-kun agrees to spar with me!" Kosaku's obliviousness to the seething anger that is bubbling underneath Ryuu's tight expression is applaudable, and Ryuu thinks that he is perhaps the only person who has ever withstood his trademark glare.
"Seriously, I will help you reorient your facial features if you don't get lost. I don't fight weaklings, and you know it." Ryuu had made it clear from his first day that no one (maybe other than Hana) was worth his time, and those who tired to challenge Ryuu never made it past 2 minutes into the match.
Kosaku drops down into a crossed-legged position behind Ryuu as the latter continues raining punches at the innocent boxing bag in front of him. "I'm not leaving until you agree to spar with me!" pouts the smaller man decidedly, looking as determined as possible.
Ryuu shoots Kosaku another glare, which is easily rebuffed by that thick skinned brat, who grins stupidly back, and so Ryuu moves on to option number two: ignore the annoying ass.
Punch. The heavy boxing bag wobbles once more.
Punch. Ryuu tries to ignore the feeling of holes being bored into his back (which is something he doesn't feel comfortable leaving exposed in Kosaku's direction for some unexplained reason).
Punch. He hits the bag harder.
Punch. His knuckles, even though are covered with several layers of gauze is starting to sting with the amount of strength he's putting into his punches.
Pu- "Andou-kun, you shouldn't put so much anger into your punches. You'll just end up hurting yourself~~~"
Fuck this.
Ryuu spins around, this time clearly incensed, as he snatches Kosaku up by the collar of his thin T-shirt, bringing the latter right up to his face.
This time, Kosaku looked genuinely shocked. "A-Andou-ku-"
"Get this through you head, numbskull." Ryuu begins, punctuating his words with a sharp shake. "Stop following me around during practise. I won't spar with you because it's a waste of my time. You are nothing but an amateur boxer who thinks he can box just because it'll make you look cool, but if you think you are a match for me, you must be more of a retard that I initially though you were."
He releases Kosaku's collar roughly, sending the man stumbling backwards. That should have been enough to send Kosaku on his way (any idiot in their right mind would turn tail and run if Ryuu did that) but apparently Hatanaka Kosaku was a different kind of idiot. Ryuu's jaw nearly fall open when Kosaku merely giggles, his face splitting into an infectious grin.
"Andou-kun is reeeeeally strong!"
Ryuu clearly underestimated the fool's placement in the hierarchy of idiots. Kosaku wriggles out of Ryuu lax fingers, easily dancing away before Ryuu can recover from his initial surprise at the former's lack of fear at him - which was a good thing, because any more and Ryuu would probably have had to break his rule of not sparring with weaklings and pummel Kosaku's annoying face in.
"I have to go now, Andou-kun! But I promise we'll talk more tomorrow, 'kay?" he lifts up a peace sign and shoots another one of his blinding smiles and skips out the door.
Ryuu stares at the empty threshold for several seconds after Kosaku leaves, is face one of disbelief.
"What an idiot." he scoffs quietly, his usual 'wtf' expression sliding into place before turning his attention back to the punching bag which becomes the unfortunate receiver of his fuelled punches once more.
///
Unfortunately for Kosaku, that 'tomorrow' doesn't come.
///
Ryuu is indeed like the sea - unpredictable, wild. So the news of him violently beating up five people close to death comes as a nasty shock for both Hana and the gym manager.
"A guy that can't even keep himself under control, ain't a boxer or nothing!"
Ryuu was prepared. He was calm - exterior unreadable. But even so, it still stings. But Andou Ryuu isn't someone who pulls out. He's the best. And he wasn't going to let some pot bellied old man tell him what he is and what he's not.
His face is as hard as diamond as he faces the gym manager.
"I ain't changing myself just for this!" Ryuu spits, and a worn pair of silver boxing gloves is thrown harshly on the ground. For the final time, Ryuu ascends the narrow steps which leads out of the gym.
Ryuu didn't take up boxing because he liked it. That was perhaps the last thing on his mind when he first wrapped his fists in alcohol-soaked bandages; when he first slid his hands into the tightness of the boxing gloves. Ryuu took up boxing because he decided that he wouldn't look like a victim anymore - he'd get the strength to live on his own. It didn't matter how, Ryuu just had to get stronger, in both aspects, physically and psychologically.
But it still stings - the disappointment.
The rejection.
That basically summed everything he was feeling when his licence got revoked. Ryuu didn't know whether he was in the right head space that night, but it felt good. Ryuu couldn't explain how fucking good it was to feel the bone snapping under his fists, to hear the pleas of mercy, and to feel the fear that radiated off their bodies. Ryuu didn't know those people he beat up that night, but it was exhilarating.
So he wasn't going to just stop being what he was just because of boxing. Ryuu was a survivor - and survive he will, with or without recognition.
He's on his usual route back to his apartment - not many people knew where he lived - possibly because he hardly had any friends, when Ryuu notices a certain trash can out of the corner of his eye than seemed to be moving. He stops, and as suspected, the wobbling steel can stills, unmoving and innocent.
Eyes narrowing, he stops and turns toward the bin before walking purposefully to it. Resting a booted foot on it's rim, Ryuu shoves the metallic item roughly. The trash can tilts over and lands on its side with a crash, the lid springing open and its contents, which is strangely a messy haired man with knobbly elbows, is tipped out unceremoniously onto the pavement.
Ryuu is somehow, not surprised.
Kosaku groans loudly and rubs his backside with a comical look of pain on his face.
"What do you want?" asks Ryu, simple and straightforward. Hence, he expects a simple and straightforward answer, but that's never the case when it comes to Kosaku, and Ryuu has this all figured out during the times the annoying man would persistently hover around him in the gym.
Kosaku gets to his feet, his bottom lip jutting out in indignation. It was actually more comical than intimidating. "I thought Andou-kun wouldn't notice me! Stealth is my middle name after all!"
Ryuu raises a dark brow, but Kosaku isn't done yet. He is suddenly up in Ryuu's face, completely disregarding the fact that Ryuu isn't one to take lightly to those who intrudes upon his personal space. "Why?" Kosaku asks, his expression a mixture of frustration, confusion, and strangely, hurt. "Why did manager-san say you quit? You can't quit! You can't leave me, Andou-kun~!"
Ryuu stares unmoved straight into Kosaku's eyes, and shoves the latter away roughly - to his surprise, Kosaku doesn't budge. "What's it to you?" Its a rhetorical question and Ryuu says it in such a blithe tone that Kosaku's comical frown just deepens.
"Did you really beat those men half to death? Why did you fight outside the ring? Because if Andou-kun purposely got himself fired because of me, I-"
"Shut up." Ryuu snaps, his brows furrowing dangerously, and Kosaku's jaw comes together with a click. "Nothing I do has anything to do with you, or anyone else at all. I only do things for me, so don't flatter yourself."
Ryuu expects Kosaku to take the hint and go away, but the other man surprises him once again by releasing a huge sigh and dropping to his butt. "Jeez, I thought it was my fault Andou-kun got fired!"
Ryuu wants to laugh, and would have done so if he wash't feeling this angry. "Listen, brat." he demands, jabbing the tip of his boot into Kosaku's stomach. "I seriously think you should scram, because we aren't at the gym anymore, and I currently have nothing to lose, so if you don't leave me the fuck alone from now on, god help me I will hake sure you can never step into a ring again."
He was expecting another stupid comment from Kosaku, and maybe even tears, but certainly not a rekindled look of happiness that once again, caught him off guard. "Oh! Is Andou-kun finally agreeing to sparring with me? Yay!" he cheers, loud and obnoxious.
That was the last straw.
"What is wrong with you!?"
Ryuu grapples Kosaku's collar and smashes him against the wall of a building harshly.
"Take the goddamn hint and just fuck off already, you freak!" Ryuu punctuates his sentence by bashing Kosaku's back roughly against the rough brick, which is painful. "What makes you think you aren't any different from those assholes I beat up? You are nothing special, so don't go around expecting to be treated like it!"
This time Kosaku's eyes widen with something that makes Ryuu's heart clench tightly - a feeling that is completely foreign to him. For the first time, there's genuine fear in those bright eyes that Ryuu can't bear to look at.
Kosaku's button lips trembles slightly, and he blinks several times, as though hoping that by doing so, Andou would revert to his usual narcissistic self, because this Andou is not the one he knows. This Andou scares him.
Ryuu staunches the bubbling feeling of guilt that simmers up within him. Guilt was something he hasn't felt in ages, and he never wants to feel it again, because the acidic sting is more than he can bear. He releases Kosaku's collar roughly and the other man shakes unsteadily on his feet.
"You aren't Andou-kun." Kosaku suddenly declares, his eyes bright and voice a little too high pitched.
"What?"
"You aren't Andou-kun!" Kosaku shouts, and Ryuu is taken aback to see actual tears spilling out of the other man's face. "Andou-kun loves boxing, and he'd never quit, and Andou-kun may be a little mean but Andou-kun has never hurt me!"
Kosaku runs away without looking back, and Ryuu can see pale pink spots that stain the back of his white T-shirt. He shouldn't have done that.
"…sorry."
Ryuu allows himself one moment of weakness; just one won't matter, before he has to go back to being Andou Ryuu again - the Andou Ryuu that doesn't give two fucks about who he hurts, as long as he isn't the one hurting, it's fine.
He's just fucking fine with it.
///
Ryuu doesn't see Kosaku for months after that incident.
Working for a loan shark had it's perks actually. He was earning a lot more than his part time job before had gotten him, and best of all - there was absolutely no chance of running into Kosaku at all. He was busy most of the day, and to a point, even enjoyed his job.
There was only one case where he lost his cool - the one with some good-for-nothing wants to sell of his sone to pay off his debts. Ryuu didn't think he still held on to that grudge so many years ago. He'd been what, eleven? Twelve? Ryuu can't really remember, but it was probably that incident that truly opened the floodgates to his past, a gate that Ryuu prefers to leave untouched and undisturbed.
"Good job today."
Ryuu is handed his share of bills. He flicks through the inch thick wad and glares up at the glasses man in front of him. "What's with this chicken shit? This isn't my full pay, you four-eyed weasel."
Ryuu is probably the only one who can mouth-off with the boss and get away with it.
"The job's not done. I have another for you. Finish that, then you'll get your full pay."
"What is it?"
Ryuu is handed a picture, which looks like a poor quality snapshot of a man who appears to be stuffing his face with bowls of ramen. Ryuu can feel his heart sinking and his throat go dry, because he doesn't need a clear shot to know who the youth in the picture was.
"Bring him to me. I want his organs harvested."
"Wait, what do you want with this guy?" Ryuu just thinks that this is such a bad joke, that it is impossible to be true. Kosaku, irritating, goody-two-shoes, obnoxious, innocent, forever smiling, and can never bring himself to cuss - Kosaku, would actually borrow money from a loan shark. It just don't make sense.
His boss raises a fuzzy brow. "He owes me money, and a reasonable amount of it too."
Now Ryuu doesn't get it. Why would Kosaku want money? Was the idiot desperate or something? "How much does he owe you?" asks Ryuu, his tone clipped.
The boss looks slightly surprised, and a little intrigued. Ryuu never asks this many questions. He'd normally just take the job and deal with it. No complication, no questions, no complaints. Clean and simple.
"If you must know, he owes me nearly two million yen."
Ryuu's eyes widen before he can stop it.
...two million yen.
Two million yen.
What the fuck did Kosaku want with that kind of money?
Ryuu does't ask any further questions, and snatching the debt log book off the table, stalks out of the room, but remembers to slam the door behind him.
///
It isn't hard to find Kosaku.
He descends the steps to the gym which he was fired from in disgrace months ago, and enters a familiar low ceilinged room with poor lighting.
Lying on his back and staring at the peeling paint on the ceiling panels is Kosaku, who jumps to his feet the minute he hears foot steps enter the room.
A face-splitting grin spreads across his face the moment he lays eyes on Ryuu, and rushes toward him, tripping clumsily over the boxing ring edges and falling face first onto the floor. But this doesn't deter him from getting to Ryuu, as Kosaku springs up to his feet once again, never mind bloody nose and split lip - he just wants to see that person who seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.
"Ando-"
The slap isn't something Ryuu planned to do. He had wanted to punch Kosaku, in all honesty. Punch him until he gets the fucking hint (something that hasn't seemed to have registered in Kosaku's thick skull) that Ryuu wants nothing to do with him.
Ryuu is a boxer, and so it is certain that the slap which is delivered across Kosaku's thin face is hard enough to make him fall to the floor, but it doesn't. There is a sharp click of muscle as the latter's head is forced harshly to one side, and the shocked look that replaces Kosaku's initial expression of joy is instantaneous.
"Are you an idiot?" Ryuu then realises that this may have been the wrong question to ask, because hell, Kosaku's classification in the hierarchy of idiocy has been decided since the beginning of time. "Why did you borrow from a loan shark?"
Kosaku is holding his cheek that is bright red and sore. There. There is that twinge again. Ryuu insictively squeezes the fabric over his chest.
"Why do you need the money so bad?"
Kosaku blinks, and he tries to force out a smile, that is all wobbly and not like his usual smiles at all. "I… didn't need the money…" he admits in a small voice, a voice that Ryuu doesn't like at all, because Kosaku never speaks in a small voice. He is Hatanaka Kosaku - the obnoxious idiot after all.
"Then what?"
"I wanted to see Andou-kun."
Plain and simple. But Ryuu is still dumbstruck, his eyes widening such for the second time that day.
"Excuse me?"
"I found out that Andou-kun is working for some bad, bad people! So I borrowed from the bad, bad, people because the people I asked says that if I don't pay up in time, Andou-kun will appear to- to-"
Kosaku struggles to continue. Ryuu knows that Kosaku would have like to continue on, but not if it acknowledged the fact that Ryuu was the one to beat the crap out of those poor people, squeeze the life savings out of them.
"Is Andou-kun here to beat me?"
Ryuu stares at Kosaku.
"What?"
"I asked if Andou-kun was sent to beat me?"
Ryuu pauses. He hadn't been asked to beat Kosaku. "No."
Kosaku swallows.
"I've been asked to bring you to the boss, for your guts to be harvested."
Okay, maybe that was a little too structured for Kosaku's pea-sized head to register, judging from that clueless expression.
"I said, I have to bring you to be gutted like a fucking fish, you idiot!"
Ah, now he gets it.
Kosaku's face pales horribly, and Ryuu just wants to run away.
"W-What?"
"You think the people I work for are fair? This isn't a fucking boxing match, alright? There's no such thing as 'fairness' here, and there's certainly no qualms about killing,"
Kosaku is quiet, and Ryuu just sighs. "Have you used the money?"
Kosaku blinks and shakes his head.
"I told you… I don't need it. I just wanted to see-"
"Give it to me." Ryuu's tone is cold.
"Huh?"
"Give it to me. They'll probably let you off if I return it."
Kosaku just nods weakly and points to a bulging gym bag. Ryuu walks over and unzips it, cussing at the sight of packets and packets of bills. He re-zips the bag and tosses it over his shoulder. "Go home, and don't come looking for me again."
Ryuu ignores the feeling of something acidic that slides into his gut as he turns his back of Kosaku.
"If I didn't have the money with me, would Andou-kun have beaten me up and given me to his boss?"
The question is like a shot in the dark, which stalls Ryuu immediately. He doesn't turn around, but he doesn't continue on either.
"Would Andou-kun have done it?"
Saying yes would get Kosaku off his back for good; saying no would just give the idiot more encouragement.
Ryuu chooses neither and walks away without another word.
///
"Why have you become so useless?"
Ryuu doesn't expect the boss to be pleased at his actions, but he wasn't going to let that kid's dad sell him off for money either.
The coffee shop is empty save for the unconscious bodies of his boss's cronies and the slight hum of the fans.
"I tell you to bring me that boy's organs, and you did not; now you save some kid's stupid hide out of pity? maybe you aren't as ruthless as I though you were."
The gun is pointed at Ryuu chest, and he's actually very tired. He knows he can't dodge the bullet, but he isn't afraid either, because he knows that the fool in front of him won't shoot.
Resorting to a gun, is an act of cowardice for a mob boss like him. News of him unable to apprehend a mere kid with a gangful of henchmen wouldn't do him wonders at all, so Ryuu wait from the bastard in front of him to finish rambling, then he'd-
"DON'T YOU TOUCH ANDOU-KUN!"
Ryuu nearly gets a heart attack, when a thin body throws itself onto the gang boss, latching onto his throat and squeezing. The gun goes off and ricochets off a lamp and Ryuu ducks. He gapes at the sight of Kosaku pulling and ripping at the gang boss's hair, the latter trying to fling his thin body off.
The scuffle ends when Kosaku steers the gang boss into a wall, successfully blacking him out.
It takes awhile for Ryuu to come to his senses and actually register the fact that Kosaku the idiot was being twice the nincompoop today.
"Andou-kun! Are you-"
"IDIOT!"
Kosaku flinches and cowers from Ryuu's form, which towers over the former angrily. "What the hell do you think you are doing?!"
Kosaku whimpers. "I- I just didn't want to see Andou-kun get hurt! That person was trying to kill you! And I'm not going to stand by and take this bullshit!"
Ryuu blinked. Kosaku would never cuss. Even saying the word 'stupid' was hard enough.
"I don't care if Andou-kun hates me, but please, just look after yourself!"
Ryuu is silent and so is Kosaku. All he can hear is the quiet 'thump' 'thump' of his erratic heart.
Kosaku in turn keeps his head bowed, because one: he was shocked at himself. Had he actually cussed? Two: he was wondering if Ryuu was going to hit him, after all, this wouldn't be the first time.
Ryuu flicks Kosaku's forehead sharply, and there is a surprised 'itai!' in response. Kosaku stares up with wide eyes at Ryuu, and is greeted by a a weird expression on that face that is supposed to be ensconced in masks of iron and steel.
"You really are an idiot, you know."
There is no spite or irritant in that voice, and Ryuu is surprised at himself. Sighing he gets to his feet, dusting bits of broken glass off his shirt and extending a hand to Kosaku, who takes it was a frozen expression on his face.
He spins Kosaku away from him and glances around the messy coffee shop absently. He then turns back to Kosaku, who is still in a state of bewilderment.
Ryuu raises his fists and holds them close to his face.
Kosaku raises an eyebrow instead. "Andou-kun?" But Ryuu doesn't wait. He strikes out, and Kosaku dodges away in time, stumbling to a side.
"You wanted to spar with me, right? Well, I accept. Are you going to defend yourself, or are you going to forfeit?"
It takes awhile for Kosaku to wrap his mind around the situation, but when he does, Ryuu wants to sing out loud along with his heart, because just to see that smile that used to blind his eyes is the best thing Ryuu has ever laid his eyes on in months.
///
The fit he throws when he loses - actually fucking loses - to that smiling, snivelling… thing, is expected.
Kosaku is grinning from ear to ear, expertly dodging Ryuu's punches of frustration. "Andou-kun, I think you shouldn't have left the gym for so long~ You are getting rusty!"
"Shut up! I've been in real fights! There's no way I am rusty!"
"But you said it yourself, the ring and the real world are two very different places! Andou-kun may be ruling in the real world, but in the ring, there are rules!"
"Fuck this." Ryuu grits, when he fails to punch Kosaku once again. Perhaps its because he isn't actually serious about hitting him, perhaps he's actually rusty, he doesn't know.
"I think Andou-kun should come back." Kosaku grins.
"Right." scoffs Ryuu. "I case you forgot, I quit a long time ago."
"So did I!" Kosaku poses with a peace sign and smiles wider. "I quit the day you quit!"
Ryuu is sick and tired of being surprised by this chipmunk. . "And why did you go do that?"
"Because Andou-kun did. Anyway, I joined another gym, and Angela onee-chan is super awesome!"
"Angela onee-chan? What are you, five?"
Kosaku ignores the comment and fumbles around in his satchel at Ryuu just notices and pulls out a pair of very familiar, worn silver boxing gloves.
"I want to spar again, with Andou-kun. Properly. In a ring."
///
Ryuu is like the sea - unpredictable, wild, and will never lose (he hates to lose).
But recently, Ryuu thinks it's okay to lose. Once in awhile, if that meant getting to see that idiotic chipmunk's ridiculous smile every day.