Chapter 4- Meeting a friend

 Ryuji and Tsuna walked down the asphalt road, it was damp with the morning dew, and yet there wasn’t an umbrella in sight, instead, they were taking the slow drizzle of rain as a chance to spin and dance with it, to act out some childish thought seen only throughout movies now entering the vista of real life. They were singing as their feet splashed in every small puddle that decorated the path. It was so wasteful, so energetic, freeing. Their first adventure out of their castle walls and they were out and about, exploring life itself in all of its facets.

The fear had been eating at Ryuji but he knew he couldn’t stay where he was. He despised his house walls so cripplingly. Now he was out away from the barricade of his home, he couldn’t find anything familiar if he searched for it now, aside from his wife.

Their first stop was to see Ryuji’s online friend Ado, he had been a close friend of his for so long and they had even planned to move in together after high school as many other friends did, but of course, plans fell through after he joined the military. Ado’s parents damn near forced his hand so Ryuji couldn’t blame him but he would be lying to say he didn’t sometimes think of what could have been. Tsuna leaned onto Ryuji, squeezing his arm and looking up at her melancholily brother.

“You're thinking about something Ryu.”

Ryuji looked at her smiling, lifting his hand to rest on her head and playing with her hair. Scratching it then moving his hand to her back picking her up, pulling her into a princess carry effortlessly.

“Yeah I am, we finally made it to Ado's town. It’s just being here feels so surreal. Thinking about how many plans we have made to meet up and this being the time where it might happen it's just, incredible, incredibly scary, but nonetheless incredible.”

Tsuna grabbed onto Ryuji’s shoulders, quickly picking herself up to wrap her legs around his neck, playfully squeezing as she let out in a smug tone.

“Why did you say might? We’re here aren’t we? We left that house so we could stop living by chance, so we could take life for ourselves, not leaving it to anybody else to decide which one of our whims we get to pursue.”

Ryuji smiled as he yanked one of her legs off of him, making her swing around his neck, taking the other off by herself, landing as he spoke.

“I guess you’re right, my brain has just seen a pattern and thinks it’ll repeat. Like, we have tried to meet up ever since high school, but I just couldn’t leave my reader base hanging for a whole week. The idea that even one person was waiting for the next chapter of one of my projects made it hard to take time off.”

Ryuji clenched his fist as he got a piece of paper out of his pocket writing something in extremely small text, presumably to save space on it. Tsuna looked over her brother's shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself up as she asked.

“What are you writing?”

Ryuji put the piece of paper in his pocket, grabbing Tsuna in a piggyback ride as he walked.

“Nothing, just some ideas for a story, I don’t know when I’ll be back but I know when I do I have to give my readers something that will shake the world to its core. So I’m documenting any powerful feelings I get.”

Tsuna blew on the back of Ryuji’s neck as she rested her head against his.

“You take things too seriously, I thought we were going to have an adventure.”

Ryuji leaned back, rubbing his cheek on her’s.

“We are, we are, it's just I gotta get in the spirit of it. We’ve been locked up in our house for the last 20 years. I'm gonna need some time to get adjusted.”

Ryuji unwrapped his jacket from his waist putting it on Tsuna’s back so they didn’t get too wet, laughing as he said.

“Wear it like that until we get to his place, we only have one jacket so it's the best we can do for now.”

Ryuji had been careful to put it on himself since he didn’t want to be the only one staying dry from the rain, so trying to be a gentleman he offered to give it to Tsuna, but of course she shared the sentiment. So they had just been getting wet due to their stubborn nature. She sighed letting her body relax, giving herself to her brother. Tsuna saying.

“Ok I can settle for this, it's better than you getting wet.”

Tsuna laughed to herself as Ryuji talked over it.

“You know it's covering you too, right?”

Ryuji clenched his jaw knowing he fell for it as Tsuna smiled devilishly.

“Nope, being this close arguably makes me wetter!”

Ryuji loosened his grip to make her feel like she was falling for just a moment before catching her. She hit the top of his head playfully.
“Is that really how you should be treating your wife, or little sister for that matter?”

Ryuji sighed, saying joyfully.

“Please, don’t remind me.”

Ryuji and Tsuna finally made it to Ado’s house as he breathed out nervously trying to take the time to gain his breath. Slowing everything down so he wasn’t a mess whenever he saw his lifelong friend for the first time in person. He opened his eyes ready to become an unshakeable force capable of whatever would be needed, that was until Tsuna reached from behind and pressed the doorbell before he could even process what was happening, leaving any preparation he had done utterly decimated.

Ryuji jolted in fear, almost immediately slipping one of his hands away from Tsuna in an attempt to fix his hair, letting her droop off to the side slightly. When he saw his long-awaited friend’s hair through the crack of the door as it opened for the first time in person he instantaneously dropped Tsuna making her crash to the floor as he was dashing at him before the door even opened wrapping his arms around him with a stupid smile on his face yelling.

“ADO, IT'S YOU IT'S REALLY YOU!”

Ado’s face lit up the same as he wrapped his arms around Ryuji, pulling him fully into the hug and moving to jump with him in the air as the duo cackled with each other.

“RYUJI WHY ARE YOU HERE? OH MY GOD MAN, IT'S REALLY YOU! YOU SHOULD'VE WARNED ME MAN, THIS PLACE IS A MESS!”

The two pushed off of each other, giving Ryuji a clear view of Ado’s body. Finally, he was so much thinner than he imagined. He looked bad on the phone but in real life he had a real style to him. Seeing his legs and body at the same time honestly made him a little sick. His mind must have gotten so used to only seeing him from his waist up that it was odd to imagine he had anything else.

Ado shared the same sentiment as Ryuji. His green hair seemed more striking in the flesh than it had ever been in his dark lightless room. Even pictures of him on panels seemed less bright. He just barely stopped being surprised by the situation enough to ask.

“Wait, what about your readers Ryuji aren’t you worried about that?”

Ryuji melted.

“I’m trying not to think about it, I’m working on something greater than a simple story right now.”

Ado smiled, shaking his head.

“Is this another one of your stupid art decisions?”

Ryuji smiled in pain.

“I think so, unfortunately.”

Ado shook his head more aggressively, yanking Ryuji by the arm. Tsuna waited for a moment before following the two inside after taking one glance around the neighborhood.

Ryuji and Ado sprinted up the stairs. Ryuji went on all fours to get up as Ado lost his balance, having to push against the wall to prevent him from having to stop. Tsuna stayed downstairs walking into their kitchen and picking through the fridge to get some ideas for dinner later.

Ryuji and Ado had already entered Ado’s bedroom by this point as Ryuji looked around the place he would be spending the next weekend in. It was cramped and considering how little table space there was he was already dreading the fact of how easily he would lose things in this area. Though he didn’t care, he was here for the first time in his life, an accomplishment that encompassed multiple years of his life.

No matter what happened during this stay he would love it. During this thought he looked back at Ado and smiled subconsciously, looking him up and down slowly, starting from his legs and looking back up to his face, it was surreal. He already knew it, but that thought overlapped with everything he could think about.

Seeing the room he had only seen in the back of calls, his bed, and how it appeared that Ado threw everything on the couch as a makeshift laundry basket. Every time his mind lapped back around, to remind him where he was it made him nauseous before getting put back into reality. He was here, how in the world was he here?

Ryuji smiled looking around until he saw a family portrait. His smile slowly waned as he leaned forward. Ado, having just gone back downstairs to retrieve their bags, missed this fact. The people in the portrait were just him and his parents, it should have been normal but what about Ado’s little sister?

One of the things that gave Ryuji the confidence to take the leap and confess to Tsuna was Ado. He had a little sister who he had already been dating for quite some time, at least, that's what he thought.

“Ryuji! Ado! Get over here I made food!”

Ryuji looked around his best friend's room stuck, but under more thought he slapped his face and like clockwork, a smile appeared.

“Coming Tsuna!”

Ryuji dashed towards the stairs quickly sitting on the stairway rail and sliding down. He looked around the corner to see her surrounded by warm steam coming off a feast. Sweat came off her brow as Ado came around the corner seeing the food. The two bro’s swung their hands at each other and united them with a clap looking back at her saying unanimously.

“Thank you Tsuna!”

Almost without another word the three of them started to eat around the table with yale in one hand and seafood in the other. While the two of them had been yelling, drinking and telling old stories, Tsuna simply watched happily.

Though as with any good party, they had ended up far too drunk, ending up outside on the grass in the backyard. The two looked at the moon while spread out on the ground, letting the wind guide their breath, Ryuji asked Ado.

“So, where's your little sister man?”

Ado hiccuped trying to breathe deeply before he just ended up hiccuping again, cutting the drama he said.

“She’s on vacation.”

Ryuji took a moment and said.

“She isn't, is she?”

Ado looked up in silent thinking for a moment then sighing which was broken up by a hiccup.

“Got me.”

Ryuji looked to the side, his cheek pressed up against the blades of grass.

“Then why did you do it? Why did you lie to me?”

Ado looked to the side, his glasses falling off, he said with an idiotic smile, a tear falling onto his cheek.

“Because, if I didn't, would you have fought for your happiness as you did? You always talk about how many problems you’ve faced marrying your little sister, so I have to ask, would you have dealt with that pain with such unyielding confidence if you didn’t think someone else had done it before?”

Ado looked up, his voice breaking as he hiccuped multiple times consecutively.

“I lied, I don’t have a little sister, I don’t have a wife, nor have I found love yet. I just wanted to guarantee that you found yours, even if I had to lie to you. As long as you found happiness I didn’t care.”

Ryuji turned to the side winding up a punch that he tried to follow through with, but it went soft. All he could do was press it against his chest, tears quickly falling to Ado’s shirt staining it a moment later.

“Don’t be fucking stupid, if I know that my happiness is at my best friend’s expense how do you expect me to stay happy?! Why are you so stupid?! You were always like this, sacrificing yourself without asking anyone else what they think about it! Why are you so fucking dumb?!”

Ryuji fell onto Ado’s chest gripping his shirt, his glasses fallen to the ground out of sight by this point. He stood up, wiping his tears off more, replacing them and offering his hand to his friend.

“Get up idiot, I’ll be damned if this is how the first night of ours is going to end.”

Tsuna was inside watching this unfold from the window. While she wanted to comfort Ryuji she had to trust Ado. While he wasn’t her friend, he was Ryuji’s and that was more than enough for her.

The two eventually fumbled into Ado’s bedroom, Tsuna following closely behind. Tsuna and Ryuji got the couch right next to Ado’s bed since he was not confident that the two could hold off for the night if they had the option so precautions were taken.

Though it was far from over, the night might not have been young but the atmosphere had been as lively as any boastful rookie. They played some stupid-ass 2D fighting game that Ryuji hated but the other two seemed to be having fun. Tsuna caught on quickly picking a character just because Ado said that they had an easy combo. Ryuji was not so lucky; he simply picked the most silly-looking fighter out of them and pushed buttons that seemed to do moves that would be advantageous to him but the functionality felt sporadic at best.

While Tsuna and Ado played, Ryuji sat on the couch reading some manga about pirates. Though while he did so he kept a conversation between him and Ado. No matter what he did he couldn’t find a place that he could fit Tsuna in. The thought of her being left out made it nearly impossible to read despite having an open book in front of him. So he just kept the talk going trying to get Ado and her closer with varying degrees of success.

Ado just kept winning over and over, Tsuna and Ryuju even having to switch controllers every so often so the defeat didn’t start to wain on them. Each time exchanging happy glances, though Ryuji didn’t understand how she could look so happy. He had been ignoring her for this entire stay, she had helped him in so many ways, she should have some form of resentment in her eyes but there was nothing. She was joyful, every time she looked at him her smile grew a kind of bright he had never seen before, her yellow hair shining despite the lack of something to cause it. God, he loved her more than he could say. She managed to say something.

“Are you getting tired big bro?”

Ryuji nodded as she smiled looking over Ryuji to look at Ado.

“Hey, would it be fine if we actually slept on the couch down stairs?”

Ado glared at the two of them, the bags under his eyes being more apparent the more he squinted.

“As long as there's no funny business, alright?”

Tsuna looked at Ryuji who could have been blown over at this point.

“I don’t think he could perform any funny business in his state, so don’t worry.”

The two siblings went down the stairs and onto the couch falling flat onto it. The two embracing one another as Ryuji asks, tears falling down his cheeks once again.

“Why did you take me down stairs?”

Tsuna went up putting Ryuji’s face in her chest licking his forehead.

“Cause the only one who gets to see my big brother in such a vulnerable state is me.”

Ryuji asked, his fist curling up into a ball, gripping the back of her crop top.

“How did you know I was gonna cry?”

Ryuji felt Tsuna smile off of his scalp whispering.

“I’ve been with you for as long as I’ve been on this earth. I would be a fool if I couldn’t see that my soulmate wasn’t thinking about himself. How many times in that writer's mind of yours did you describe me, my body, my possible emotions. I’m sure plenty, knowing you. I don’t think you even realized how much fun you had tonight. That's why I smiled as I did, it was because today I saw my big brother free again. You did exactly what you promised me, you took me on a journey that only you could take me on.”

Ryuji hugged his sister as his cries grew to whimpers, his toes curling instinctually. He was happy, happier than he had been for a long while, he loved art but art had felt like it had stopped loving him. No solution may have been made but a story had and that was enough for their hearts.

“Thank you big brother, I love you”

Afterword

I'm back from my vacation and I'm gonna squeeze another chapter out soon and I'm tired and sick right now so I'm gonna keep this brief. Thank you for reading, the support on my little train of thought writing is insane and I honestly can't believe it. We are almost to 500 viewers on this silly project so I just wanted to say thank you. Comment your thoughts, follow the twitter, please like and follow. And for last Nia Night I'm goin to bed.