What matters now is that we've survived

[saxsongs]

Who: Ren Jinguji (saxsongs) & Crow Hogan (darkenedgales)
Where: Cerulean City
When: Backdated to June 9th
Summary: It's time for the most serious discussion Ren and Crow have had (and most likely will ever have).
Rating: PG, since they discuss things like death?

[If there was something Ren wasn't good at, it had to be talking seriously with other guys. He was good with talking to girls about almost anything, but when he needed to actually sit and talk about something with a guy? Yeah, that wasn't something that went so smoothly.

Though he was pretty sure today's topic wouldn't be easy at all. It was also something he never thought he'd had to talk about... or would have a chance to talk about: his own death. What had happened on that weekend that he didn't remember and how would it affect things from now on? Ren couldn't even begin to start thinking about an answer to that.

That's why he was waiting for Crow. It was clear that the two of them needed to talk after the duelist had contacted him, so they had arranged to meet in Cerulean City, where Ren was. Today was the meeting day, as Crow had contacted Ren and now they were supposed to meet in front of the Pokémon Center. ]

Comments

[darkenedgales]

[Under normal circumstances, Crow would've reached Cerulean within a few hours since making the call, that's for sure. And even if not hours, a day at most. "Normal", however, was a lot to ask of that world, and traveling across the glitched land of Kanto proved to be rather challenging. Not that details like that could stop the duelist. Not now.

All things considered, he was pretty lucky to reach his destination in less than 48 hours without ending up in Cianwood or some shit like that on his way there. Perhaps some other time he'd give himself a pat on the back for the achievement, but he had better things to do. As soon as he saw the roofs of Cerulean in the distance, Crow sent Ren a quick message with a request (it was more like a demand, really) to meet him in front of the Pokémon Center.

It didn't took him terribly long to get there himself, either, even though he'd gained a lot of stares and surprised looks from the people passing by as he stormed down the streets. When finally there, he stopped not too far away from his friend, fighting desperately to regain his breath, and by extension, the ability to speak.

No such luck.

Instead, he made a dash to close the distance between them, and then threw his hands around Ren's waist, burying his head in his chest.

Because that's not an awkward thing to do or anything.]

[saxsongs]

[When Ren spotted Crow he was ready to just casually greet him with a wave of the hand. At least that was his plan, but his friend seemed pretty exhausted so he waited for him to catch his breath instead.

It was pretty alarming to see Crow this serious. Ren was used to seeing his friend act all carefree and relaxed. Now he was basically running a marathon to get to him. Well, he had been worried about Crow because of their video call a few days ago, but he... was still taken aback by this.

Finally, it seemed that Crow would be moving, so Ren was about to say something like 'hello' or 'yo' or something - only to be stopped by a sudden hug.

A hug. From a guy.

Give Ren a second to actually realize what was happening and deal with it.














Make that a minute, because how are you supposed to react?! He hadn't been hugged by male friends before! At least not... this way.]


Crow...?

[darkenedgales]

[It might seem to have come out of the blue, but after everything that had happened at the end of last month, the duelist simply had to make sure he wasn't dreaming and his friend was really there... even at the risk of making him uncomfortable, though that hardly mattered to him at the moment.

As Ren took his time trying to comprehend the situation, Crow remained motionless, failing to respond even to his own name. Finally, he pulled away, quickly (albeit not very subtly) wiping off the tears from the corners of his eyes, and grinned cheerfully.]

Good to see you again, Mr. Casanova!

[saxsongs]

[Again with the tears? Ren still couldn't quite understand how someone could cry for someone else... especially a guy for a guy. Maybe he had just missed out on something in life like a real bromance.

At least Crow finally showed a happier face and called him by the nickname he had gotten a long time ago. That was a good sign.]

It's good to see you too.

[It had been quite a while for Ren, but not so long for Crow...]

How are you?

[darkenedgales]

[Even if Ren had obviously missed out on some of the greatest aspects of life like a real bromance, Crow was sure to make it up for him.

The duelist's smile faded a bit at the question, though it didn't disappear entirely; if given the choice, he'd rather avoid answering that. For the past week or so, he'd been frantically running around the Kanto region with little time to rest, which probably wasn't a good idea given he'd recently been in a Duel of Darkness.

Naturally, there was only one way for him to respond.]

... Been better.

[Determined not to sound like a downer, he gave Ren a friendly (or such was his intention) punch on the shoulder.]

Never mind that! What's up?

[saxsongs]

[Crow did look really tired, though as to why he looked like that, Ren had no idea. It's not like Crow told him about searching him that desperately or anything (to be honest, he wouldn't have mentioned that either).

The friendly punch on the shoulder thing wasn't something that surprised Ren. It's not something that had happened to him a lot (the punches he's had were directed at his face, usually), but he did understand this happened a lot between guys... even if it did hurt more than he would have expected, but he didn't show that.]

Not much. We've been waiting for some of our group members to return...