maayacolabackup

#

Ryo’d always thought, when he was young and still prone to dreams of heroic triumph and adventure, that he’d show up just in the nick of time and save a princess, or have some kind of swordfight with a villain that would determine the fate of the King.

Ryo had never, once, imagined himself wearing women’s skirts and tied up by his wrists as he wondered if his companion was alive or dead next to him, strung up and hanging limp as the fate of the entire city of North River was looking grimmer and grimmer with each passing minute. “This isn’t the way it was supposed to go,” Ryo said, and then he coughed again, because the black smoke was still thick in his lungs. “This was supposed to be easy.”

Ryo could imagine Junno’s sparkling eyes as he tapped Ryo on the nose while smiling widely. ”Nothing is easy, Nishikido,” he would say, and then he’d bounce back and forth on the balls of his feet, looking a bit like an excited child. ”But I do find challenges to be extraordinarily fun.”

“You’d better not be dead,” Ryo mumbled, and to his dismay, his voice sounded thick and soppy, and almost like he was about to cry, except Ryo wasn’t much of a crier and he wasn’t going to start now. “I’ve become quite attached to your nonsense.”

Earlier, Ryo had watched at all the people upstairs had come marching downstairs, carrying weapons and accompanied by those human-like automatons. Ryo was scared that maybe Junno would be too late, after all. If Junno was even alive.

Nakamaru and Koki, Ryo had noticed, were nowhere to be seen, and Ryo wondered, with a sinking heart, if they’d been captured or destroyed. Even if they were only machines, somehow, Ryo’d come to care.

A muffled groan startled Ryo, and then Junno was looking up at him blearily.

“My head hurts,” Junno said, and it sounding more like the croaking of a frog than Junno, but Ryo would take it.

“Probably because you got hit by a piece of metal in the back of your soft head.”

“Ouch,” Junno said, and then he realized they were hung from rafters by their wrists. “Double ouch.”

“We’re trapped here,” Ryo said. “I still have my gun- they didn’t notice it, I guess, or think to check for it, but they took your bag.”

“So we’ll have to get that back,” Junno said, and Ryo coughed again.

“We’re hanging by our arms!” Ryo repeated, unsure if Junno understood that they had been captured. The yell sent him into a coughing fit, and he could taste the smoke on his tongue. “I don’t know why I missed you; your head it so empty.”

“You missed me?” Junno asked, and Ryo sighed, refusing to answer. “Why are you coughing? My chest feels weird as well.”

“There was an explosion upstairs. Lots of thick, black smoke.”

“An oil fire,” Junno said thoughtfully. “Wonder what could have caused that?”

Ryo stared at him incredulously as the frustration and tears of a moment before ebbed away. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Thank you,” Junno said, before he looked back at Ryo again. “Wait. Is that a compliment?”

“No,” Ryo said shortly, and Junno laughed. “It is absolutely not a compliment.”

“Play nice,” Junno said. “I’m the optimistic person that’s going to get us down so we can go save the day.”

And then Junno had somehow turned himself upside down, legs on the rope, taking the weight off his arms. He wrapped it twice around his legs, and then slowly began the process of freeing his arms. Ryo watched in awe as the rope came unraveled.

“You’re like a circus monkey,” Ryo said, and Junno grinned at him.

“A free circus monkey,” Junno replied, and turned himself right side up and dropped the half meter to the floor. “Did you want to stay up there, or…”

“I’ll kill you,” Ryo said, and Junno laughed, and then winced as he rubbed his head.

“I shouldn’t laugh; I’m seeing two of everything.”

“You’re not dead, though.”

“Not yet,” Junno said, and a smile still teased at his lips, even as he took off his vest and started tearing at it.

“What are you doing?” Ryo said. “Get me down!”

“Working on it,” Junno said, and then he tore hard, and his vest separated from the lining and a knife fell out.

“You keep knives in your clothes?” Ryo blinked twice, letting his mouth part in surprise. Junno beamed up at him.

“Yes,” Junno said. “You never know when you’ll need a good knife.”

“I guess you don’t,” Ryo said faintly, and he wondered how he’d ended up in the entire situation.

When Ryo was free, he rubbed at his wrists, and then he looked up at Junno, walking quickly over to him and grabbing his face between his hands. Junno flushed, and his eyes widened.

“Hold still,” Ryo said, and then his fingers slid into Junno’s hair, pressing gently to his scalp until Junno yelped with pain. “Found it,” Ryo said needlessly. “I think it’s not as serious as I though it was.”

“It hurts,” Junno whimpered, and then Ryo kicked him in the shin.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again. I thought you were dead.”

“I’m not?” Junno said, and then he took a step back, like he was afraid Ryo was going to kick him again, and Ryo let his hands pull free from Junno’s hair.

“I know,” Ryo said. “But I thought I was going to die, and then I thought you were going to die, and then I thought everyone was going to die.”

Junno clenched his eyes closed, and then licked his dry lips. “When that gun was against your head,” Junno said, “I didn’t know what to do.” He coughed, making a face at the smoke in his lungs. “I never ‘don’t know what to do’.”

Ryo smiled, lightly. “I never do know what to do,” Ryo said.

“I noticed,” Junno said, and Ryo lifted his right foot threateningly, and Junno flinched. “Sorry, sorry…” Junno apologized, but his eyes were sparkling. But then he was looking at Ryo, hard, like he was trying to figure something out, and there was a sound from the stairs. Junno shoved Ryo back into the darkness, and then down, and Ryo fell to the ground, barely having a moment to wrap his mind around anything before Junno fell on top of him. More of the black smoke drifted into the room, and Ryo thought maybe it was another explosion.

Junno was heavy on top of him, and Ryo’s body reacted; he could feel himself getting hard, and for the first time in the history of his life, Ryo was damn glad he was wearing so many layers of skirts. “Get off of me!”

“Not until I’m sure it’s safe,” Junno said, and then he caught Ryo’s gaze. He licked his lips as their eyes locked, and his face was a deep red that made Ryo wonder if Junno found this whole thing, danger excluded, as… stimulating as he did. Blond hair fell into Junno’s eyes, and Ryo could see the way his eyebrows were knitted together as he struggled to listen.

Junno’s thighs, on either side of Ryo’s hips, felt strong, and Ryo, who had no idea what to do with his hands, let them fall to rest along those thighs, palms flat against the tensed muscle. Junno jumped as Ryo’s fingers stretched across his trousers, and Ryo could feel the heat of Junno all around him, surrounding him. Junno smelled like oil and metal and something else that Ryo couldn’t identify, and it was a smell that made Ryo suck his lower lip into his mouth and bite down.

Junno exhaled after a few moments. “I think it’s okay,” he said, but he didn’t move. Instead, he looked down at Ryo, eyes lingering on Ryo’s face in a way that wasn’t helping with Ryo’s focus.

“What are you staring at, you idiot? Move. Of course it’s okay. It’s the same sort of explosion that happened yesterday.”

“Sorry,” Junno said. “I was distracted.” He put a hand up to the back of his head, scratching at the nape of his neck, before carefully probing his sore head, even as he stood.

“What could distract you from an explosion being over?”

“You’ve got a mole, just there-“ he stopped, and Ryo put his fingers up to his lips. Junno followed Ryo’s movement.

“You mean this one? I’ve always had it.” Ryo self-consciously frowned. “I’ve always wished it weren’t there, but…”

“I like it,” Junno blurted out, and then he looked away. He stuck a hand into his pocket and pulled out his watch. Ryo could see that there was intricate work done on the front of the pocket watch, but Junno’s thumb blocked his view. Ryo stuck a hand into his waistcoat and felt at his own. “It’s… attractive.”

“Oh,” Ryo said, and the feelings in his belly were starting to make a horrible sort of sense. “Thank you, I suppose.”

“We should,” Junno said, avoiding Ryo’s eyes and focusing on his watch, “get moving. We only have an hour until first light.” Ryo had no idea how many people awaited them upstairs, only that a large number had marched out earlier, while they were still tied up. But Junno had managed to get them out of every situation that Ryo had thought was impossible, so maybe he’d finally earned the trust Ryo had been inexplicably been willing to give him since the beginning.

“Right,” Ryo said, and he took a deep breath. “Let’s go.” He didn’t look at Junno, with his hair falling down into his face and his lips falling into a natural pout, because Ryo was sure that if he did, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from kissing him.

#

Junno insisted on searching the entire space they were in before they went upstairs. “I need my bag,” Junno said, and Ryo sighed.

“That woman took it with her.”

“Were you awake the whole time?”

“I passed out for a while, but I woke up in time to see people leaving. I didn’t see that woman, though.”

“So she’s probably upstairs.”

“Right.”

“Koki and Nakamaru?”

“Not sure,” Ryo said lowly. “They were gone when I came to.”

Junno nodded and furrowed his brow, before releasing a high-pitched whistle. “They’re very good at hiding,” Junno said, and Ryo felt himself grinning as Koki, and then Nakamaru, slinked out of the darkness and into the dimly lit room. The gas lamps were burning low, Ryo noticed, shadows dancing along Junno’s cheeks, showing his pleased smile. He was really…

Junno sighed, and stood straight, dusting off his loose shirt and trousers, and he turned to Ryo and grinned. “Ready for the last leg of our adventure?” He asked, and his eyes turned into crescent moons, and Ryo’s mouth was dry.

“Adventure?” Ryo thought about his sore wrists and Junno, unconscious and hanging limp like a corpse beside him, and the countless times they could have died. That, in combination with the confusing, sort of overwhelming feelings Junno had stirred up, just made Ryo angry. “Adventure?”

“I mean, I know it’s been dangerous, and that we haven’t one yet,” Junno hedged, maybe, for once, reading the atmosphere. “But I was… happy to have gone through this with you.”

Ryo almost caved at Junno’s earnest appeal, but when Junno reached out, pressing warm fingers to Ryo’s arm, Ryo felt something in his chest move, and it scared him.

“Oh yes,” Ryo said. “I’m ever so happy to be with you right now. You. The man who makes terrible jokes while I tromp around, wearing a dress, for god’s sake, in a situation I am completely unequipped for, while my friends, and my family, too, I presume, are out there, completely unable to move because someone thought it might be a good idea to stop the heart of North River. With you, you, who won’t even tell me what we’re actually doing, except for telling me vague nonsense about fixing an engine,” and Junno’s hands were twisted up in his blouse, which had come untucked from his trousers and hung loose around him, making him look impossibly young, and kind of like Ryo was kicking a puppy, “and dragged me along with you for god-knows-what-reason-“

“You demanded to come,” Junno said quietly, and Ryo felt himself deflate, and he spun around, enjoying the way his skirts flared with a small sense of satisfaction. At least he still looked appropriately dramatic. “I thought you’d be safer in the house.”

“So forgive me,” Ryo said, “if I’m not finding this all as fun as you are.”

“It’s not that it’s fun,” Junno said softly, and Ryo, despite the fact that his back was turned to Junno, could hear the peek of anguish in his voice. “It’s just that it’s better, because you’re here.”

Ryo’s chest squeezed and squeezed, and his pulse was moving too fast, making him lightheaded, and he bit down on his lower lip hard enough to make it bleed.

“Well, I, for one, can’t wait until this is over, if it’s ever over, so I never have to see you again.” He crosses his arms protectively around his chest, before turning back around. Junno looked like Ryo had punched him right in the gut.

He’s a grown-up, Ryo thought to himself. He’ll get over it.

“For some reason,” Junno said, and he wasn’t looking at Ryo, and Ryo found that something about the crushed look on his face made Ryo want to be sick. “I thought that you might like me a little.”

“Well, you thought wrong,” Ryo said, and ignored the voice in his head that kept screaming at him to stop; that it was enough already. Ryo ruthlessly shoved his guilt away, because he was tired of feeling out of control, and anxious at the way he felt at the mere touch of the other man’s hand. Ryo wasn’t supposed to feel like that. He just wanted them to fix the clock, or the engine, or whatever-the-fuck they were fixing, so Ryo could go back to his nice, normal, actor life, and hit on women in pubs, and wear fucking trousers, and not have to listen to Junno’s stupid puns or look at Junno’s stupid wounded animal expressions ever again.

Koki walked up to him, clicking and whirring, and nuzzled his face into Ryo’s shin through the layers of his skirts, and Ryo frowned down at him and stepped away. “And I hate your toys, too.”

And Ryo hadn’t thought it was possible for an automaton to show emotion, but Koki looked sad, almost like his gears were pulling in on themselves to make him more hunched. The guilt bubbled up again, but Ryo swallowed it back.

“Let’s go,” Junno said, and his voice sounded strange, and distant. “Let’s get this done.”

Ryo wasn’t sure why, but a small notion in the back of his mind made him think he might have preferred the loud, obnoxious Junno, after all.

#

The final set of stairs was short, but they felt long, because Junno was quiet. All Ryo could hear was the tick of his pocket watch, and the flex of Nakamaru’s joints as he walked beside him, big nose down toward the floor.

Ryo would apologize, but it wasn’t really his style, and besides, Junno should have known better to take anything Ryo said seriously, anyway. They hadn’t known each other long, but the fires of adversity, or whatever Junno had said, were a fairly effective teaching tool.

“Junno-“ Ryo said, but then he pressed his lips together, holding back the sound. It wasn’t the time. Later, when this was over, he’d have a chance to apologize.

Junno stopped him on the last stair, pushing him against the wall and speaking in a low voice. “Be careful with yourself, up here,” Junno said, and his face was impossibly close, and Ryo wanted to kiss him. He didn’t, though, and Junno pulled back and then they were in the top room of the tower.

The room was filled with clockwork, puffs of steam shooting out of various holes and pipes in the machinery, and Ryo was in awe. It reminded him, in some ways, of Junno’s workshop, only all the parts were working together.

The heart of North River, he thought, was this entire room. “How do you move something like this?” He whispered, and Junno frowned.

“You rebuild the whole exterior portion, and then you move that.” Junno pointed to a smaller machine, round and about the size of Ryo’s torso, sitting in the center of the room, hooked up to the walls. It was still, and little jets of black smoke leaked from it. “You’d only have to stop the city for an hour, tops. If you did it at night, when people were sleeping, no one would be the wiser. Although, everyone in the city would be frozen, so who would care?”

There was a second, smaller, blackened machine next to it on the floor. The source of all the explosions.

“People notice when they miss hours of their day, though,” Ryo said, and Junno nodded. He felt at his pocket watch, and tried to remember. Junno seemed to be doing the same.

“I knew, for some reason, that you’d continue to be trouble,” a woman said, and Ryo turned, and it was her, the woman who’d found them downstairs. “Just like your parents.” She was looking at Junno, who seemed to be still studying the machine in the middle of the room. He didn’t turn to look at the woman, and Ryo wondered if Junno had even heard her. Koki sat back on his haunches, looking suddenly alert and angry, and Nakamaru was behind Ryo, stepping on the hem of his skirts.

But then Junno’s brow furrowed. “They were killed, then?”

“Yes. My father needed them to disappear. That way, there’d be no one to talk when we stole the technology.”

“Your father?” Mary walked further into the room, and Ryo watched her, since Junno’s eyes seemed locked on the engine.

“Yes. Johnny Kitagawa, of course.”

“You’re Mary,” Junno said, and finally, he looked up at her, and smiled. “Why are you doing this?”

“It’s an election year,” Mary said. “How convenient for Johnny’s Enterprises that the city’s main supply of energy stopped functioning this year, and had to be replaced with a JE invention.”

“Except you can’t make it work.” Junno laughed, and Ryo hadn’t heard that laugh before. “That’s why the city is still stopped.”

“We’re on our way to figuring out the problem. We just need to keep people from other cities out.”

“So that’s why you have soldiers,” Ryo mused aloud, and then Mary turned her eyes on him.

“They aren’t soldiers,” Mary said. “They’re just androids. Our newest generation of them. Don’t they look like people?”

Like Koki and Nakamaru looked like dogs. Just like that.

Ryo shuddered. “My dad never would have helped make that.”

“Oh, you’re Nishikido. I thought you looked familiar. Just like your father.”

“My dad was your lead inventor for years,” Ryo said. “Won you the war with his automatons.”

“And now he’s a clock maker,” Mary said. “Not hard to see who’s more successful. His ideals were always more trouble than they were worth, my father always says.”

“Depends on what you mean by successful,” Ryo grumbled, and glared.

“You have to restart the city,” Junno said, stealing a quick, surprised look at Ryo out of the corner of his eye, as if to say ‘you didn’t tell me your dad had invented the JE automatons!’ or something like that. Ryo shrugged and flicked his eyes to Mary, who was all of a sudden holding a gun.

“We knew if something went wrong, you’d be around to investigate,” Mary said. “We had a hunch you weren’t moving to the rhythm of the city.” Then she turned, so her gun was pointing at Ryo. “But you… we don’t have a use for you, and unlike him, we can’t spare the effort of keeping you quiet.”

Junno’s breath hitched beside Ryo, and Junno exhaled heavily enough that it blew some of the steam away from their faces. “If you kill him I won’t help you.”

“Yes, you will,” Mary said. “Because you don’t want this whole city to die.”

“Help my family,” Ryo said quickly, desperately, turning to Junno, who looked terrified and angry and there it was again, that weird something Ryo had been seeing in Junno’s eyes, and Mary laughed, and the sound was swallowed by the whir and click of gears.

She aimed the gun directly at Ryo’s heart, and Ryo closed his eyes, knowing he didn’t have enough time to retrieve his gun before she fired, and wishing he’d done so while she was talking. Ryo was new to this heroics stuff, so he hadn’t known to take advantage.

Ryo had never wondered what it might feel like to die. Though he’d been sickly, as a child, he’d never really considered what it would be like, to actually die. Ryo wasn’t sure many people actually sat and thought about that sort of morbid thing, but as Mary fired the revolver, the world seemed to slow down, just enough for Ryo to wish he had, so at least he would have been prepared.

Junno was shouting, loud enough that Ryo would have snapped at him if this were any other time, and Ryo could imagine his eyes, shimmering and shining with unshed tears, mouth parted in alarm, that too-expressive face looking with dread between Ryo and a bullet that he couldn’t protect Ryo from, like he had the rest of this adventure of theirs. Koki and Nakamaru were whirring and buzzing, and Ryo could feel Nakamaru next to his leg.

In that moment, before the bullet hit his chest, Ryo thought that the thing he regretted most, aside from never seeing his parents and brothers one last time, was that he hadn’t taken a chance and kissed Junno at the foot of the stairs.

It burned, when the bullet hit his chest, and there was a loud crash of metal that rang in Ryo’s ears, and Ryo felt himself falling, and it hurt, when his back hit the ground, but not as much as his chest hurt.

Ryo gasped, and waited to die. He felt Junno fall to his knees beside him, hands coming to rest on Ryo’s cheeks, and Ryo liked the warmth of them.

Only Ryo’s breath wasn’t slowing, and the pain was fading to a dull ache. “Junno,” he whispered, quietly so that Mary couldn’t hear, and that hurt, where the bullet had pierced into his chest, “why am I still alive?” He opened his eyes, and Junno was looking down at his chest in shock. Ryo looked down too, and was surprised to see barely any blood.

“Get up,” Mary said. “I don’t have time for you to sit there and cry over your girlfriend.”

‘I’m not a girl!’ Ryo wanted to shout, but instead he looked up at Junno, as the shock faded out of his limbs and he began to feel almost like normal, except for the pain in his chest that felt more like a surface wound than a bullet hole.

“Give me a moment to mourn,” Junno said, sounding choked up, and there were real tears on his cheeks. “I can fix the engine.”

As he spoke, Junno’s fingers were tearing at Ryo’s blouse, enlarging the tear created by the bullet, and the clasp on his waistcoat had broken long ago, so it hung open at his sides. He didn’t make a big hole, just large enough to look, and his eyes got even rounder at whatever he found beneath the layers of shirts. He reached in, and pulled out the bullet, crushed flat.

“It’s metal,” Junno mumbled. “Underneath your skin is metal.” He leaned down, closer, and Ryo wondered what he was looking for. “My father’s metal. My father invented this metal. Stronger than platinum.”

“What?” Ryo whispered, and it was swallowed up by the noise in the room, and Junno was looking at him in awe.

“I think you’re…” Junno leaned down, and rested his cheek to Ryo’s chest, as if listening for his heartbeat. “Your heart was weak, as a child?”

“Yes,” Ryo mumbled. I almost died, but I had surgery, and then things were better-“

“Your heart was the first prototype. Before my house. Before the city’s engine.”

Ryo closed his eyes again, and listened to his own body.

“Your heart is ticking,” Junno said, and he looked at Ryo like he was suddenly amazed. “That’s miraculous! And also why your heart didn’t stop! You’re an independent system!”

Ryo swallowed, and Junno grinned, so wide and free that Ryo felt like his heart couldn’t be a machine, not with the way it warmed as Ryo watched him. Junno looked giddy, and Ryo was alive, so he felt a bit giddy too.

“You’ve had enough time,” Mary said. “To the machine. I know you can fix it. You came here to fix it.”

“You’ll have to forgive me, my lady,” Junno said in a hushed tone to Ryo, as he slipped his hand up Ryo’s skirt. “I swear my intentions are pure.”

“You’re lucky I’m pretending to be dead,” Ryo said, trying not to blush as Junno’s fingers danced up the skin of his thigh, “or I’d be kicking you somewhere it would really hurt right now.” And then Junno’s hand wrapped around Ryo’s revolver, tugging it free from the holster. “There’s only one bullet,” Ryo said. “Make it count.”

And then Junno pressed the weapon into Ryo’s hand, and winked. “Well then, Ace, maybe you’d better take the shot.”

“I’m sure billiards would have pulled through for you,” Ryo said, and then he sat up quickly, ignoring the pull in his chest, and fired.

Mary fell to the ground, her own revolver skidding out of her hand, and Ryo swallowed around the terrible feeling his stomach of nausea and misery to look over at Junno. Junno’s hands had found their way back to Ryo’s face, fingers toying with the longer bits of hair that kept falling into Ryo’s face.

“So, you know how I said I didn’t really like you?”

“Yes,” Junno said, taking a step back from Ryo, like he thought Ryo was going to say something about the way Junno’s hands had pressed anxiously to Ryo’s cheeks, or the way Junno had started to cry when he’d thought Ryo might die.

“I didn’t really mean it,” Ryo said, and Junno’s face blossomed into a smile so big Ryo thought it might be bright enough to replace the sun. “You’re all right, I guess.”

“That’s a pretty big compliment, coming from you,” Junno said.

“Don’t let it get to your head.” Ryo dusted off his skirts, and wished again for a pair of trousers, despite knowing there were more important things to worry about. He looked over at Mary, who lied still on the ground… as still as all the people outside. He pressed he hand to his chest, and now, suddenly all he could hear was the ticking. “We’ve got to fix the heart,” Ryo said. “The one your father built, not the blackened, creepy one. We’ve got to save North River.”

“Right,” Junno said, and he walked toward Ryo, and tentatively rested his hand atop his, right over Ryo’s heart. “You were destined to help save North River, weren’t you?”

“I guess so,” Ryo said thickly, and thought about his father, and the way he’d made sure Ryo always knew how to repair a clock. His heart kept ticking, and as Junno wrapped long fingers around Ryo’s wrist, and tugged him up, he thought Junno’s touch might make it tick a little bit faster, even if it was only in his imagination.

#

“They’re bent out of shape,” Junno said. “When they pulled out the pipes, they broke the screws, here. The gears are made out of a special metal,” and his eyes flicked down to Ryo’s chest, where Ryo had pulled his blouse and shifts back together as best he could, “but the screws are just regular old iron.” Ryo looked at the five screws in Junno’s palm. They were tiny—tinier than Ryo’s pinky nail in length, and so thin Ryo wondered how they had even been crafted. He also was shocked that something so big was made out of parts so tiny. “I don’t know if I have any this small-“

And then Koki walked up, dragging Junno’s leather bag in his mouth, dropping it with a pleased whir next to Junno and then looking up for praise.

‘That’s a good boy,” Ryo said, and Koki’s many-jointed tail waved with pleasure.

Junno grinned at him, before frowning down into the contents of his bag. “I don’t know what to do,” he said. “Screws that small are usually only used for-“ He stopped, and then he scrambled around in his pockets, emerging with his pocket watch. “That will do,” he said.

He unscrewed the four screws that held his watch-frame together, one by one screwing them into the heart, which started to pulse again even as he inserted the third screw, connection once again reestablished between the two central gears by pressure from the shell.

After removing the fourth screw, he placed the pieces of his watch back in his pocket, and added his last screw to the hull. “There’s one missing,” Junno said. “It won’t work without a fifth.”

Ryo reached into his pocket, and wondered. “Will these screws work?” He asked, offering his own pocket watch to Junno, who looked at it with wide eyes.

“Where did you get this?”

“My father gave it to me,” Ryo said. “A long time ago.”

“Fate works in mysterious ways,” Junno said, and he took the watch from Ryo’s hand, their fingers brushing, and it sent a jolt through Ryo that made him want to pull back. Junno stared at him, for a moment, before returning to work.

“Is it fixed?”

“Now I just have to recalibrate it,” Junno mumbled distractedly, and Nakamaru tugged on his skirts, pulling him backwards and out of the way.

“How do you do that-“

And Junno raised one long leg and kicked it, and Ryo felt North River come to life. He could feel it in his bones as the whole tower started to shake, that low hum growing louder, loud enough that the whole room seemed to overflow with sound, and the uneasiness hat had been eating at Ryo eased.

“Like that,” Junno said, and then Ryo looked at him, and picked him up by the waist and spun him around, and Junno looked shocked, before that big smile found it’s way back to his face. ‘That might have looked more dramatic with your skirts.”

“I’m no lady,” Ryo said, and Junno looked at him with hot eyes, and then pulled him into a tight hug that said even more.

“I know,” Junno said, and Ryo shivered, and a weird sense of anticipation crawled up his spine as they separated. Junno looked like he wanted to.... “Let me fix your watch.”

“Eh?”

“Come home with me,” Junno said, “and let me fix your watch.”

“All right,” Ryo said, and Ryo let his hands fall to his sides, and tried to catch his breath. “That sounds. All right.”

“It’s dawn,” Junno said, and Ryo was looking forward to the light.

#

People stared at them, as they walked back to Junno’s towne-home in the early light of morning, but Ryo didn’t mind, because he preferred it to the glassy-eyed emptiness of the previous night, and because he knew that he’d helped save North River, so a few stares were nothing in comparison to that kind of heady rush.

He peeked over at Junno, through the corner of his eye. There was a smudge of grease across his nose, and his hair was stuck to his head with perspiration and even more grease, but he still looked… handsome, and Ryo’s palms were sweaty when he remembered that hug at the top of the clock tower, when he’d thought Junno might kiss him.

Koki and Nakamaru trotted at their sides, earning a few stares of their own, but Junno didn’t seem to notice any of that, walking at Ryo’s side with a cheerful smile on his face. Every time their arms brushed, Ryo fought down a blush, and then fiercely reminded himself that he wasn’t an adolescent girl.

Ueda buzzed around Junno when they entered, checking for injuries and pinching at his cheeks and clothes until Junno was laughing. “I’m fine,” Junno said, and Ryo offered the blasted thing a half-smile as it sized him up, nodding like Ryo had passed some sort of test when he was done.

“Come upstairs,” Junno said. “Let me get a replacement screw for your watch.”

“Okay,” Ryo said, and he followed Junno up to the second story. The stairs’ creaking seemed a lot less ominous with the hum of the city around them; far more charming than it out to have been. Ryo thinks maybe they’re a bit like Junno… at first seeming too noisy and too much, and then one moment, you realized that it was exactly right.

Ryo flushed at the sappy turn his thought were taking, and shook his head to clear it. “Are you feeling well?” Junno asked, as he turned and waited at the top of the steps. “You look red.”

“Just tired,” Ryo said. “We had a crazy night.” Ryo rubbed his hand across his chest. It stung, like a scrape, or a cut. He’d been shot.

“I’ll say,” Junno replied, and Ryo wondered if Junno would mind, if Ryo stepped just a bit closer to him. “Hand me your watch.”

Ryo did, and then followed Junno over to the table. Junno took his goggles off his head, and replaced them with glasses that made his eyes look magnified. He reached into his tool chest, and pulled out another tiny screw, just like the one he’d used from Ryo’s pocket-watch to fix the engine.

“There aren’t very many of this type of screw,” Junno said. “I’m pretty sure my father only made a few of them.”

“I see,” Ryo said, and he watches as Junno’s thin hands carefully inserted it, before he wound it through a few times to make sure the mechanism was smooth. “Thanks for fixing it.”

“You were meant to come along with me, after all,” Junno said, and he looked up, and there was a rose-tinted hue to his cheeks, and a strange shaking in his hand as he held the watch out toward Ryo. “Here you go.”

“I’m going to be going, now,” Ryo said, and he licked his lips, trying not to think about what a mess he must have looked, standing there it a stage costume and trying not to give anything away as he said goodbye.

“I suppose we are done,” Junno said. “You don’t have to spend any more time with me.” His eyes found a resting place on the wall of his workshop, a little to the right of Ryo’s face, and Ryo’s heart, for all that it was made of metal and gears and the tiniest screws, felt impossibly warm.

“You know how I said I was looking forward to never seeing you again?” and Junno’s eyes shifted, and caught Ryo’s with surprise, and a little bit of hope. “I was lying about that, too. I do that. About feelings.”

“I see,” Junno said, and then a tiny smile tugged at the corner of his lips, like he was fighting a bigger one back as hard as he could. “So you have… feelings? About me?”

“Maybe,” Ryo said, noncommittally, but his hands clenched into fists, and he didn’t look away from Junno’s intense stare. “That wouldn’t be the worst conclusion you’d ever made.”

Junno’s grin became full-fledged. “I thought you might have gotten just a little bit fond of me, at the end there.”

“Don’t let it get to your-“

“Now it’s your turn to shut up,” Junno said, and then Junno was in front of him, both hands clutched in Ryo’s blouse, and he suddenly looked uncertain. “May I-“

“You are so dumb,” Ryo said, and he kissed him.

Junno kissed like he did everything else; loudly, obnoxiously, and in a manner Ryo found completely overwhelming, but Ryo didn’t think these were bad things, by any stretch of the imagination, and he clung to the tatters of Junno’s shirt for dear life as Junno moved them backwards, until Ryo had slammed into the wall of Junno’s workshop, dislodging what felt like hundreds of tiny little machine parts that rained down on them from above.

“You’re hopeless,” Ryo gasped against Junno’s mouth when Junno pulled back just a bit to laugh, and Junno pressed a sloppy, messy kiss to Ryo’s nose.

“What does that make you?” Junno asked, but he didn’t give Ryo a chance to answer, reclaiming his mouth with a fierceness that made Ryo’s knees feel like buckling, even if that would be a totally be a not-Ryo thing to do, because Ryo is no damsel in distress, regardless of his sartorial choices.

“An idiot,” Ryo said, and Junno ignored him, kissing down the column of his throat. Ryo looked up at the walls, at all the samurai toys, and wondered why he’d tried so hard not to feel this.

“I’m going to keep kissing you,” Junno said, and his thigh slid between Ryo’s, firm and delicious, and Ryo groaned.

“You’d better do more than kiss me,” Ryo said, and Junno chuckled, and it was surprisingly sexy. He bit, lightly, on Ryo’s neck, and Ryo choked back a gasp.

“Well, you did come here for a screw,” Junno said, and Ryo laughed, despite himself, at the smug pride in his voice.

“Were you dropped on the head a lot as a child?”

“I was very into acrobatics,” Junno replied, and then he was kissing Ryo again, tongue slipping in between Ryo’s lips, licking along the backs of his teeth and tasting the insides of Ryo’s cheeks. Ryo kissed back, pushing forward until their teeth clanged together, and Junno grunted, hands running up and down Ryo’s side.

“Am I hurting you?” Junno asked, his hands skirting around the area where Ryo had been shot, and Ryo snorted.

“No,” Ryo said. “You got hurt worse than I did. Still seeing two of everything?”

“Two Ryos isn’t so bad,” Junno said, and Ryo laughed. “At least you still only have one voice to say mean things to me.”

“I can say nice things, too,” Ryo replied. “If you earn them.”

Junno pushed him harder against the wall, and Ryo ripped at the closures of the neck of Junno’s his shirt, revealing a v of smooth, pale chest down to his navel. Ryo dragged his fingers along the skin, and Junno exhaled shakily. “How do I earn them?” Junno whispered, right in Ryo’s ear, before he sucked Ryo’s earlobe into his mouth, biting down slightly as he did.

“You’re on the right track,” Ryo said, and Junno’s skin was warm beneath his exploring fingers as he circled Junno’s nipples, enjoying the other man’s purr. Junno’s muscles, as his hands ventured lower, clenched beneath the skin, and Ryo liked that too. He liked most things about Junno, really, even if he wasn’t the sort to say so aloud.

Junno’s hands tightened on his waist, and Ryo could feel the other man’s erection digging into his hip, through the skirts and Junno’s trousers.

“I hope I’m not being to forward,” Junno said, “but I’d quite like to take off some of these clothes.”

“Definitely the right track,” Ryo gasped, and then he was pushing Junno back. Junno seemed surprised, and then Ryo was pulling at Junno’s shirt, and Junno tore it over his head before moving back towards Ryo, eyes glimmering in the workroom’s lights.

“I meant your clothes,” Junno said, and Ryo clicked his tongue, running his hands across now exposed shoulders. Junno was lean and strong, and Ryo liked the way he felt beneath the pads of his fingers. “Always with your vague explanations.”

“Let me be specific,” Junno said, and then he tore Ryo’s blouse, straight from the bullet hole all the way down to the waist of his skirt.

The he was peeling it off, revealing Ryo’s under-shift, and the short-bone corset that started halfway down Ryo’s ribs and then disappeared into Ryo’s skirt. He pushes the ruined halves down, and the waistcoat fell with it, revealing Ryo’s bare arms. Junno’s hands slid up along the skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake, despite the hot weather, and Ryo was having trouble catching his breath, and he didn’t think it was the corset’s fault.

“Your skin is soft,” Junno said, and Ryo watched the way his adam’s apple bobbed, soft blond hair falling into his eyes, accentuating the aquiline nature of his nose, and the way Junno licked his lips.

“Not really,” Ryo said, words leaving him as he reached his arms up and linked them around Junno’s neck, pulling him down and kissing him again, hard and slow. Junno groaned loudly into the kiss, and he was so noisy, but Ryo reacted to the sound, feeling himself getting harder as Junno’s thigh slipped back between his legs.

And then Junno was fumbling with the corset, pulling at the knotted strings. “I hate this thing,” Junno said, tugging with mild curiosity and impatience at Ryo’s corset. Ryo tried to help him, reaching his hands around behind him to pull at it, but his fingers couldn’t seem to get the laces undone, either.

“Not as much as I do,” Ryo said fervently, and Junno laughed, loudly, delightedly, in a way that would have been inappropriate at a time like this with anyone who wasn’t Junno, but this was Junno, and his little touches of madness were quite surprisingly charming. Junno leaned forward, dropping a kiss on Ryo’s collarbone, and pulled a knife out of nowhere.

“I’ll rescue you,” Junno said, half a giggle still in his voice, even though his eyes were more like molten lava than any sort of amusement. Ryo felt like he was on fire, and Junno bit down on his lower lip, eyes studying the corset with interest.

“Never know when you’re going to need a knife, huh?” Ryo said, letting his fingers fall from the laces.

“Now you’re learning,” Junno said. “I’m afraid I’m terrible with these contraptions. Do you mind?” Ryo considered the destroyed hem, and the shift with holes as big as his fist, and the blouse, which would never be white again, and had been ripped straight down the center from a bullet hole. It would never be wearable again, and so Ryo felt absolutely no guilt shaking his head in the negative.

“Be my guest,” Ryo said, with a smile, and Junno spun him around, pushing him toward the wall. Ryo caught himself with his hands, pressed flat against the maps of tacked up parchment that left ink smudges on his fingers, as Junno slipped the knife up between Ryo’s shift and the corset, and cut Ryo free.

Ryo gasped, though he wasn’t sure if it was from the freedom or from the way Junno’s hands wasted no time finding his nipples, rubbing thumbs across them through the fabric of his shift as Ryo struggled to catch his breath.

“More clothes,” Junno said, disappointed. “Ladies sure have it rough.”

Ryo pulled the shift over his head, and as he threw it to the floor, Junno licked his lips. “I don’t, you know, dress like a woman very often,” Ryo said, a bit of warning in his tone.

But then Junno was running a flat palm up Ryo’s abs, fingers dipping into the lines formed by muscles, and dragging his shift upward with his hand, and he grinned. “That’s good to know,” Junno said, “since I’m afraid it took far too long to get you undressed.” He giggled, pulled Ryo’s shift off, and then leaned forward so that his forehead was leaning against Ryo’s.

Ryo looked up into Junno’s eyes, and they were twinkling. He could feel Junno’s hands lingering at the skin of his waist, and Ryo thought that his heart must be as loud as North River Tower clock right now.

“I don’t think your jokes are funny,” Ryo said, and Junno kissed his nose.

“I know,” Junno replied.

“I think you’re loud and obnoxious and reckless,” Ryo continued, and Junno kissed the soft skin underneath Ryo’s eyes on both sides.

“You’ve made that pretty clear,” Junno said, and there was still amusement in his voice.

“So you’d better kiss me before I remember all that, and you miss your chance,” Ryo said, and Junno did.

As they kissed, Junno dropped his knife to the ground, and Ryo wanted to chastise him because that was dangerous, but then Ryo was being picked up, and he was too flabbergasted to remember about the knife.

“Put me down,” Ryo said, and Junno shifted so that he had one arm behind Ryo’s back and the other beneath his knees.

“Is one princess joke going to make you go home?” Junno asked, and his teeth were white and straight, and Ryo meant to say no, but he kissed Junno instead.

Junno broke the kiss, eyes carefully focusing on the door, and he walked with Ryo out into the hallway, stumbling forward as Ryo shrieked until they got to a closed door. Junno kicked it open, and walked forward before he dropped Ryo on the bed.

Then he straightened, his eyes going hazy for a moment, and Ryo sighed. “How many Ryos are there now?”

“I’m losing count,” Junno said, but he didn’t seem worried. Ryo struggled to get his legs over the side of the bed, but he was trapped in his skirts. “Forget this,” he said, and then he reached down and unlaced his boots, fingers fumbling with the strings but managing to move rather quickly. He pulled his left boot off, and then his right, and Ryo flexed his toes at the freedom as Junno looked down at him in amusement. He undid the buttons at the waist, and pushed the skirts and his undergarments down too, shimmying free of them and tossing them aside. “Now I kind of wish there were a hundred Ryos.”

Ryo stood up, naked, and walked over to Junno, grabbing both of his hands, pulling him along and them pushing him down into a seated position on the bed.

He untied Junno’s boots, pulling them off, and then he straddled him, leaning forward and kissing his forehead, his nose, and then taking his mouth again. Junno was eager, lapping at his mouth like a puppy, and Ryo kissed him back as hard as he could, enjoying the way Junno’s fingers dug into his back hard enough to bruise as Ryo slowly rocked his hips, rubbing their erections together. “More,” Junno said, and Ryo pushed him back, not hard enough to do anything, but hard enough that Junno knew Ryo wanted him to lie down. He did, and Junno licked and nibbled a trail down Junno’s stomach, leaving tiny marks and a wet trail of saliva down the center of his lean torso. Ryo stopped, for a moment, at the waistband of Junno’s trousers, nipping at the skin there, as Junno wriggled beneath him, and then Junno was panting as Ryo pressed his open mouth along Junno’s erection through his material.

Ryo reached up and unfastened Junno’s trousers, dragging them down Junno’s long legs, letting his lips and hands linger along the flesh of Junno’s thighs. Junno tried to sit up, as Ryo pulled them all the way off, but Ryo slapped his thigh, and Junno chuckled and easily gave up. “Bossy.”

“Yes,” Ryo said, and then he slid back up Junno’s body, stopping at his erection and licking his lips.

“You don’t have to-“ Junno stared, and Ryo looked up, and Junno was on his elbows, watching him with heavy lidded eyes. It made Ryo burn hotter, his own neglected erection brushing lightly against the blankets, and then he barreled ahead, taking Junno into his mouth without pause. Junno threw his head back and whined, muscles in his thighs tightening under Ryo’s hands, and Ryo tried not to choke as Junno’s hip bucked upward toward his mouth. “Hot, hot, hot,” Junno said, and Ryo couldn’t help but smirk as Junno looked back down at him. Ryo waiting until he was watching, and then circled the head of his cock with his tongue, tasting the salt there and liking the dull red flush that climbed Junno’s neck and cheeks as his eyes stayed trained on Ryo’s actions.

Ryo lifted his head, letting Junno’s cock spring free from his lips with a slurp, and lie slick against his belly as Ryo kissed his inner thighs, slowly pushing Junno’s legs apart to make space for himself between them. When he settles, flat on his belly, against the blankets, he pressed his lips there to Junno’s entrance, and Junno stiffened.

“I trusted you, didn’t I?” Ryo said, loud enough for Junno to hear, and Junno laughed, relaxing as Ryo reached up and wrapped his hand around Junno, stroking him up and down a few times and drawing a hiss from the other man’s lips. “So trust me.”

Junno, in response, spread his legs even further apart, and Ryo found his puckered entrance, circling it with a finger, slow and steady until Junno relaxed. Then he leaned forward, and repeated the circle with his tongue. Junno made a surprised whine, and Ryo soothed him by lapping at the space between his balls and his hole, stroking Junno again with his right hand, which was still wrapped loosely around Junno’s erection.

Then he brought his tongue back to Junno’s entrance, letting it dip inside, then circling again. Junno slowly melted into the touch, alternating between pushing back toward Ryo’s hand and up into Ryo’s grip, whimpering as Ryo mercilessly delved inside of him, stretching him bit by bit with the meat of his tongue. Ryo let go of Junno, bringing his hands down so he could cup Junno’s backside, lifting him a bit for better access, and that was better, he thought; he hadn’t thought about angle, before, but it was enough.

“Do you have-“

“Yes,” Junno said, and Ryo didn’t look up, but a small jar of something was thrown down to the end of the bed, landing at Ryo’s elbow. Ryo pulled back just long enough to open it, letting the slick substance dribble onto his fingers, and then his mouth was back, licking into Junno again, Junno falling apart beneath his tongue.

Junno was loud, growls and moans filling the air, but that was okay, because Ryo liked things that were loud, like theaters and music and fistfights at the pubs down by the river and the buzz of North River City every day as he walked down the street, and the sounds Junno made were much sweeter and much more addictive than that.

Ryo slipped a slick finger in to replace his tongue, and then another, and then he slowly worked two fingers in and out, crooking them up to find a spot that made Junno’s moan crackle and break, and Ryo got up onto his knees so he could watch Junno tremble around his fingers.

Junno still had that smudge of grease across his face, and his hair was still gross and sweaty, and Ryo was sure he was a mess too, but Junno looked so handsome, like this, thighs quivering and cock slick with Ryo’s spit and bouncing against his belly as he thrust himself back and forth on Ryo’s fingers.

Ryo pulled his fingers free, and Junno looked up at him with hazy eyes. “Turn over,” Ryo said, and it came out as more of a growl, and Junno, despite his desperate breaths and heaving chest, grinned.

“You seem pretty athletic to me now,” Junno said, and Ryo slapped his thigh, and Junno rolled onto his stomach, and then clamored up to his knees.

“You talk too much.”

“You like it-“ Junno started to reply, but then Ryo had three fingers in him, pressing down on the spot inside Junno he’d found earlier, that had him squirming and panting, hands balled up in the blankets as Ryo slicked himself with his other hand.

And then he was pushing in, and Junno was screaming and his hands were slipping, and Ryo waited for Junno to regain his balance as he adjusted to the hot, slick heat.

“Move,” Junno said, his voice a harsh whisper, and then Ryo was moving, pressing his chest to Junno’s back, the hole in his skin stinging and burning, and maybe he should have bandaged it, but there will be plenty of time for that later, after, because right then there was only Junno and his loud, obnoxious voice, and his long, lean body hot and tight around and beneath Ryo. Ryo grabbed ahold of Junno’s erection, pumping it as he thrusted, and he was off sync, hand moving at an uneven tempo as he tried to keep his balance, but it didn’t seem to matter, because Junno was whining and thrashing between him and his hand, and then spilling all over Ryo’s fingers, and then Ryo was coming, and everything went still, for just a moment, like time had stopped again. But then Ryo was pulling out, and Junno was lying next to him, one arm around his waist.

When they had caught their breath, Ryo rolled over onto his side. “My friends are probably wondering where I am. They are still in the middle of a performance.”

“It’s been an hour,” Junno said. “I hope your show wasn’t that long.”

“One of the leads is missing. It probably didn’t continue.”

“It’s also morning, now. There was probably too much confusion.”

“Yoko was probably freaking out and Ohkura was probably hungry.” Junno didn’t respond. “I’ll introduce you to them. You’ll like Ohkura.” Junno was staring at him, when he looked over, and Ryo felt flustered. “What?”

“You’re soft, right now.” Junno dragged his hands across Ryo’s stomach, and Ryo shivered. “Introduce me to your friends, huh?”

“Only if you want me to,” Ryo added quickly, and Junno’s hand didn’t pause.

“I would,” he said softly. “I’d like that a lot.”

There was a long minute of silence. He could feel Junno’s heart beating against his side.

“Today was ridiculous,” Ryo said.

“You mean last night,” Junno said. “Today has just started.”

“Today, I’m going to sleep,” Ryo mumbled. “Today doesn’t exist.”

“You went into a tower on an ambiguous quest with a madman and you survived,” Junno said. “You should be proud”

“We’re not in the clear, yet,” Ryo said. “I’m pretty sure Johnny Kitagawa is going to notice when his daughter doesn’t come back.”

“Mmm,” Junno said, kissing Ryo’s shoulder, and Ryo lost track of his thoughts for a moment as he focused on the skim of Junno’s lips across his skin.

“And I’m pretty sure…” Ryo tried to say, as Junno opened his mouth and started sucking on his clavicle, and Ryo thought it was impossible to like someone he’d only just met this much. “He’ll want… revenge…”

“I’ll protect you,” Junno said, in a low voice, as his hand lazily encircled Ryo’s cock with his long fingers.

“Maybe I’ll protect you,” Ryo said. “And next time, I’m wearing trousers, and you can wear the dress.”

“Fine with me,” Junno said, moving until one of his legs was thrown over Ryo’s, thrusting slowly, languidly, against Ryo’s hip. “Any bullets left in your gun?”

Junno’s breath came steadily in time with the ticking of Ryo’s heart, and the city of North River purred beneath them, as Ryo brushed Junno’s hair out of his eyes.

He looked over at the remains of his costume, only a few parts of it having made it to this room, and snorted.

Yoko was going to kill him.

Junno flicked his wrist, perfectly, and Ryo groaned loud and low, and Junno grinned triumphantly. That was, he thought, if Junno didn’t kill him first.

“That was an awful joke.”

“Still going to sleep?” Junno asked lightly, and Ryo glared at him. “I didn’t think so.”

“Shut up,” Ryo said, and then he made him.

END