Summary:

Yusaku didn’t know what to think when he had pulled a faded blue hoodie out from in between his bed and the cracking bedroom wall. Cold and unwilling to leave the covers of his bed on yet another sleepless night, blindly reaching for the other blanket in a poor attempt to burrito himself further away from the world. He meant to grab the blanket that was kicked off to the side there, but settled on this instead.

For a second, he thought it was his and had sat up to pull it over his head. The color looks just a shade darker than the one he remembers in the low light. It was also a similar size, similar enough to the only sweatshirt he owned with a hood big enough to hide his hair.

But the two jagged slits in part of one of the sleeves that his fingertip grazed told him otherwise.

----

Yusaku finds a hoodie that's not his and discovers he, in fact, has Feelings™.

Day 2: Don't Touch Me // Cathartic Hugging

Word count: 1.250

TakeYusa/Firestormshipping

"I'm back"

That was the first thing Takeru heard when he entered Yusaku's apartment and met him after he had been missing for more than three months; there was a long moment of silence before Takeru could say anything.

Kusanagi had a copy of the keys to Yusaku's apartment, which he lent to Takeru every time he wanted to go to the apartment to clean it in case Yusaku ever came back. Takeru didn't like to lose hope because Flame taught him that he should never lose it, but he was already getting tired of the same routine and not receiving signals from his friend, or what he thought was his friend, in addition, entering his apartment and finding it completely empty, knowing that Yusaku never touched that floor for several months and maybe more, made his chest ache.

He really prayed for a long time for Yusaku to come back, there were nights when he stayed inside the place, all day waiting to see if Yusaku entered without anyone knowing, but he never had any sign of him. He even made it difficult to sleep again, he decided not to stay in his town because he needed to be there for when Yusaku came back and know, in the first place ...

Why did he leave him ?

Takeru was lonely. He had already lost a friend during the duel against Bohman, he didn't want to lose another again. And he didn't care if Yusaku did not consider him a friend, Yusaku became someone very important to him personally, he was no longer a hero, something platonic, losing him would end up destroying his heart.

There was no sign of either Ai or Yusaku. No one knew the conclusion of that encounter, even thinking that he could have escaped with Ai made him angry. At least he wanted Yusaku to have the consideration to tell him why he left, or to warn that he would disappear without a trace because Yusaku didn't give a damn what others might feel in his absence.

What he could feel in his absence.

Now he found him, rather, Yusaku decided to appear and ...

Takeru was not happy. 

“What kind of music do you like to listen to?”

Truthfully, Yusaku didn’t know how to answer the question that Takeru had asked. He didn’t really have any particular preferences as far as he could tell. Looking over his collection of pirated music it was a mix of random indie artists and more mainstream things. He supposed maybe the main commonality was that it was mostly things without lyrics. 

He wondered what Takeru liked to listen to, and if any of this would appeal to him. Ai had suggested making Takeru a mix tape or something, which Yusaku had to look up, because no one used tapes anymore--they were significantly before his time at this point. The only time he saw tapes referenced in the modern era was for backing up computer data, and that was an entirely different kind of tape.

But maybe the idea wasn’t so bad? Takeru had been asking a lot of these kinds of questions, about Yusaku’s likes and dislikes, looking weirdly awkward about it and then overly excited about whatever information Yusaku did give him. Maybe he would have fun with this. 

Digging through his drawer, he found a flash drive and plugged it in, going through his collection of music and picking out some things he liked more than others, and things that maybe Takeru would like--not that he really had any clue what music Takeru liked. 

Learning how to forge a connection was harder than Yusaku remembered it being when he was a kid. It had been so effortless when he was little, now it was a struggle and he hated it. He was stubborn though, and if throwing some music on a flash drive to give to someone that wanted to be his friend would build that connection, he would do it. 

After all, he wanted to be able to forge connections more than anything else, didn’t he? He wanted to be able to connect to people besides Ai--he loved Ai but he didn’t count. They were partners--it was different. 

And maybe, he wanted to see more of Takeru’s weird reactions. 

/ / /

“What’s this?”

“You asked what kind of music I liked.” 

Takeru was staring at the flash drive in his hands, holding it like it was something far more precious than it was. 

“Oh! Thank you, Yusaku!” Again, Takeru seemed too excited about this for what it was, but Yusaku couldn’t find it in himself to be bothered. 

“I’ll bring you something tomorrow too!”

Takeru reciprocating hadn’t occurred to Yusaku, but maybe it should have. In either case, while surprised, he felt warm more than off kilter. 

“Sure. I’d like that.”

---------------------------------

Officially announcing CONTRAST: A Firestorm Zine!

CONTRAST is an all ages zine dedicated to Takeru and Yusaku as a couple! Partly inspired by the EMOTION anthology, and also by how I Love This Ship Too Much, CONTRAST will be a love letter to Takeru and Yusaku’s differences, chemistry, and the infinite possibilities of them as a couple. Whether you just think they’re a cute ship, or they’re your OTP, consider applying! Both prose AND art are accepted!

This will be a print AND digital zine! 

Your organizer for this zine is Pachi, aka A Caffeine Crisis (@acaffeinecrisis).

Please note: This will be a not-for-profit zine! More information is available on our about page. 

Applications are open from September 5 through September 30!

The full timeline is available on the about page, and once you’ve read through that you can click here to submit your application!

VRAINS might be ending, but HEY let’s do something to honor it and this wonderful little ship it gave us! 

I look forward to your applications! Let’s celebrate firestormshipping!!

Don’t hesitate to reblog and signal boost~ tell your firestorm loving friends!