thehirotriumphant:
Keep reading
“Hah.”
His laugh is short, dry. Every bit of mirth that Yamato could have ever drudged up contained within it. Its uncomfortably calculated. Displays of humanity or rather displays of some form of friendly affection, while it was not beyond Yamato was still all too foreign. But it would be an insult to feign as if after forsaking everything he’d simply turned over a new leaf as they say.
No, he is the same.
Yamato Hotsuin remained as he was before. The same as Hiro, who persisted in every act of folly. Who persisted in deflecting everything from himself , who made sure that what praise he got never seemed to affect him as much as others wanted. Just like the world around them, they are both the same as the started.
But if there is one thing that Yamato can accept staying the same, then it is the person across from him. The world itself could be so infuriatingly rotten and stagnant but Hiro who had bested him, who had bested every trial and tribulation written within the stars for him. That Hiro remained. And perhaps that was enough in some way.
To see that Hiro remembered. To know that the world’s nigh destruction and miraculous return to normal had not destroyed him the way it might have destroyed other people. Such a thing is a comfort, vague as it is.
“I’m quite convinced that the others would argue about giving me such credit.”
Yamato does not call Hiro forgiving. He is not. Rather, he is simply and perfectly adept at moving on.
“My sacrifices do not deserve to be mourned, much less thanked. It is only natural to discard such things so that someone like you may rise above the rest.”
Though the loss had most assuredly stung when it happened, if there were one remarkable skill of all Hotsuin’s it was knowing when one should set themselves aside. Hiro won, that was the fact of the matter. Yamato’s ideals, everything he had worked for up until that point. Everything that Yamato had prepared. It was nothing in the face of someone both powerful and worthy. In the face of his only equal, his only friend, Yamato was outmatched.
He watches the tiara snap, the gesture having far more meaning than either of them were going to put into words. But they knew, some part of them had to know.
So Yamato does not disturb it, nor the cup. Instead the smile stays in place, as perfectly composed as the young man himself.
“As expected your sentimentality remains as strong as ever; but the sincerity of your gift and your intentions however are noted and appreciated.”
Appreciated, accepted, but not entertained. So he is grateful as Hiro’s love for the dramatic and cryptic makes itself known and the conversation comes to a short lull. The moment comes. The moment passes. The conversation moves along to something else, something more lighthearted.
May Hiro never change.
“My security is quite suited to what its supposed to keep out I assure you, it is you however that’s an outlier they aren’t trained to handle. After all I have yet to hear of anyone else that has made repeated breeches into this facility. “
“Much less one who then proceeded to speak face to face with the man behind it. But I will keep your concern in mind, perhaps I should hire you to test the facility security.”
