#aratake

[pretty-setter-bois]

don’t forget ab the og femboy

his jealous bf

[animasmith263]

"That day I saw the sunset blush on your face"

It's Kiss Day in Japan so I did this for AraTake

Arakawa x Otakemaru

[anowa-kyoto-blog]

スペアミントを使ったモヒートがこちらです。 #demachi #elmo #herb #green #spearmint #mojito #jungle #aratake #summerjam (elmo　 - エルモ)

[strawnillas]

Breathe [AraTake]

another requested drabble!! this time its from emy, and dear...im so sorry you got this song,

Breathe by Lauv!

(i tried to not make it Too Angsty????????????? IDK)

◆

Takeru feels tired.

There’s no simpler way to say it. His limbs are heavy, his moves are sluggish, and his mind feels like it’s trying to solve abstract picture puzzles that don’t even exist.

And he’s really not up to deal with his boyfriend.

Arata has been... overly attached, lately.

Don’t get him wrong. He loves the attention from his boyfriend. He loves their talks late into the night, sneaking and sleeping in each other’s dorm rooms, texting each other when they’re not together, and spending time working on their homework with one another in the common room.

He loves when they help each other, when one of them is feeling down and the other cheers him up, when they have each other’s backs when it feels like the world isn’t

But lately it seems like every night Arata sleeps in his room, every day they spend either in front of the TV, working on LBXs, or walking around the Shopping District together.

With all the work Takeru has lately for his platoon, Arata is... suffocating him, for lack of better phrasing.

He realizes he never even had the chance to miss Arata, with how much time they spend glued to the hips.

So, he tells Arata they should take a break. From each other. Not officially break up, God no, but... they should spend some time apart, at least.

Arata seems to be taking it well, nodding his head in understanding. But Takeru really sees how he’s not fine when they’re in the Second World.

His redhead isn’t as vibrant in the field as he used to be, he can tell. Arata follows everything that Haruki seems to be telling him to do, and even then he seems to do them a bit slowly. He doesn’t fight with as much energy as before, and only wins because he tries his minimal best.

It’s breaking Takeru’s heart.

But, this is what they need.

In the dark of the night, as Takeru pulls the covers over himself because it’s so cold, he comforts his mind to distract from the lack of another’s body heat behind him.

This is what they need.

[tallemy]

Just One of Those Things

Fandom: Danball Senki Wars Warnings: dumb, like really dumb, in medias res Ship: AraTake Length: ~3000 words FF.net version II AO3 He wouldn't notice a thing. Just as he probably wouldn't notice the way he looks at him and how they always manage to find each other even in the most impossible situations. However, their journey was like a yet unknown song; half of it was secret, half of it was surprise.

Sometimes, it was hard to choose the most embarrassing option out of a hundred, yet Sena Arata seemed to have a special sixth sense that allowed him to defy the laws of statistics making him and his friends end up in terrible situations all the time. Sadly, Takeru had to accept this ability, if he didn't intend to end up in an asylum sooner or later due to impossible constantly becoming reality around Arata. Like participating in a dance contest and waltzing around each other to the melodies of some old piano.

 Prohibition Razzle-Dazzle

That was the name of the outstanding weekend's event, which took place in the Duck Manor with all of its virtual countries taking part in the game. Every dorm was cursed to suffer from a similar theme, while some were luckier than others. Tome-san, of course, immediately snatched away the era, which she thought had the least amount of damage and cleaning. The 1930’s. However, this also meant, that the boys were immediately caught by the idea of having mafia and gangster wars around the house, when finally each country in the Duck Manor adopted a historic family to relive the legendary era of information war and alcohol prohibition. But instead of pistols and revolvers they held LBX battles whenever there was a clash between the members. The main purpose of this was to accumulate more victories than anyone else in the hope of getting valuable prizes. Still, this wouldn't have been enough for the theme, smaller programs and races were organized around the dorm to keep the kids without LBX-addiction occupied.

Based on these informations, everyone thought that Arata is going to jump headfirst in the race to attack the ‘hostile’ families around the dormitory in order to help collecting victory points. Instead, as soon as he'd heard about the closing dance event on Sunday and its prize, he seemingly started scouting the possible candidates who could earn the prize with… or more like, for him. After all, who cared about the precious silver credits they could win by being victorious in the war when on the other side someone was giving out free LBX parts. Arata was simple and would rather choose winning items instead of earning money for better items, so all he wanted was the brand new part set. Not some lousy piece fished out from trash! No. These were the coolest gizmos anyone could ever get their hands on.

Or so Arata thought. From his perspective, they looked good, and this fact alone obviously meant they would certainly be useful during battles.

This in turn has given him newfound courage, what eventually drove him to the second-floor where most male Harness students (currently running under the name Outfit) resided. There, he did not budge until he recruited and dragged away the gang's conta é oro, known as the gang’s booker, who in this crazy commotion tried to keep track of their wins and defeats.

But here they were now, standing in Takeru’s room, being slightly confused about the whole ordeal.

"Remind me again, why is this good for me, Arata?" Takeru curiously raised an eyebrow, when Arata finally overcome his fear and took the other student's hand in his; trying to put the images he'd seen into reality.

"It’s simple. LBX parts, Takeru. Think about the LBX parts!" Arata explained, with immersive gestures, which were comical additions to his already resolute expression.

"I understand that much, but why do you need me? There is Yuno or any of the Jenock girls,” he slumped on his own bed. They were practicing for two hours, and his legs were giving up on him. Besides, it just wasn’t right. He felt out of place in his own room. "What's more, we are not even in the same team. Despite Harness and Jenock having a pact, the Outfit and the North Side gang were archenemies.

It looked like Arata didn't comprehend the last part of the sentence, or he simply didn't want to remember that lengthy lecture they had on Friday.

"Eh? Why wouldn't you be a good partner?" he shook his head in disbelief. “And I told you, that we will share the prize so it's two enemies fighting for the same goal. I'm pretty sure there were people in both families who liked to hang out together. Like Bonnie and Clyde."

“Yeah, that’s what we call a dream. Besides Bonnie and Clyde were partners-in-crime and never took part in the fights.”

“Sure.”

Arata once again extended his hand towards Takeru, with the expression the blonde has never seen on his face unless they talked about LBXs. He'd meant it. He was deathly serious about dancing together and the Harness student had no choice but to accept the offer and let himself to be pulled up from the bed.

"And what exactly do you want to dance? I don't think waltz would fit the theme."

A weird feeling bubbled in his soul. He kept the distance between them so well until now, but Arata just made his job harder with each passing day. Especially after working so much to develop the just friends picture. And there he comes, completely destroying everything within one afternoon. As if it wasn’t hard enough to behave normally around him anyway. Takeru still had the terrible habit of letting his gaze linger on Arata for too long or bringing him up on conversations but being around Arata was like letting the cat near the open fridge.

"Well, I thought of foxtrot." the red head beamed with confidence "Haruki showed me the ropes."

"And you memorized the steps?"

"But of course!"

Arata's knowledge was questionable on several points, especially because his alleged knowledge was probably collected right before he dashed through Takeru’s door, screaming about emergencies. And having talent seemed to be more impossible than winning the lottery. After all, Arata hadn't changed a bit and Takeru doubted he had a forte for dance. However, after he heaved a long sigh, Takeru finally decided to play along.

"Then show it to me."

The beginning of the song was simple.

They slowly walked forward side by side, sometimes taking a round around each other, while Arata desperately tried to recall the little bit of knowledge that Haruki taught him before he left their common room. Hand in hand, they tried to manoeuvre in the tiny space. The beds still posed serious obstacles for the wider steps so once or twice they joined the boys’ clumsy attempts.

They tried to follow the other with awkward tiptoeing and no one would've been able to tell who leads who in this crazy foxtrot. When Takeru stepped to the left, Arata took a step to the right, and vice versa. It only depended on the moment who pulled the other after himself. For this reason, they comically pulled away from each other or collided, giving awkward smiles to the other, before they hurriedly jumped after the music again. Soon, they found the right beats, that tiny barely audible rhythm they could both follow and they stayed on that path for a while.

As the continued the dance, uncertainty took over their hearts. The melodies attracted them closer and closer to each other, slowly destroying the remaining obstacles. Still, the dance was graceless, neither of them knew what should they do or how, what kind of steps existed and what was acceptable in foxtrot. But after a while it was not relevant anymore. Lost in the music and each other's company, as they shoulders slowly met, they didn't jump away, just swam with the waves.

However, the magic spell broke, when Arata's brain automatically followed the memorized pattern he'd stolen from movies. His hands almost instinctively crawled up on Takeru's back, holding him closer as they spun in the room once again. The cosy rhythm was gone and they shied away from each other like terrified birds.

The first who came to his senses was Arata; he almost immediately dived in to save the embarrassing situation.

"So-Sorry! My hand just slipped and I thought..." he stammered to the blond, who had been panic-stricken from the sudden closeness. He opened and closed his eyes slowly, feebly keeping Arata's other hand in his.

"It was only an accident. I guess you… we got captivated by the music," he smiled finally, however behind his expression there was an indescribable emotion. "But perhaps I'm starting to understand why you’d choose this dance. Simple, yet there is something in it that I can't really put into words. And in any case, I like the technical part.

"Really?" That was all?

"Really. But gotta admit, we're horrible."

"Sill, we are going to win!"

"Do you think this worth the suffering? What if not only the theme is about the thirties, but also the equipment. Is it good to destroy your infamousness even more?" Takeru's voice sounded sceptical, but he followed Arata as they continued their dance, step by step between the beds. He was sure that this wasn't foxtrot, but he never tried to correct it.

"Oh, so negative! Even if we don't win anything valuable, we will have fun."

"Fun..." Takeru repeated. "Arata, I don't think that members of two different mafia families should be having fun together. Or the North Side's like it that you are preying upon the Outfit's accountant?"

The music caught up with them again, but this time it was Takeru’s turn to take control. His words became bolder, like a cat prowling around a milk box, he leant closer and closer to Arata. He lured him into a trap without effort. Right after that, the upbeat song ended and was replaced by a slow ballad, which gave space to thoughts.

"But wouldn't it be strange if we suddenly stopped talking?" Arata protested. He was about to reach for the beaten cassette player to search for another song. The softly humming singer in the background started to frustrate him. Partly, because Takeru got dangerously close to him in the meantime.

Arata defensively took some steps back, dodged the blonde's every attempt to get closer. "Nobody said that our families are in war."

"Ah, you know, sometimes it wouldn't hurt to do a little research. But yes, we never had any confrontations. But people will speak if they see you with me now." Takeru steadfastly pursued Arata until he cornered him in the tiny empty space between the two desks near the windows. "As far as I know, you don't want people to gossip. You told me this a lot in the past. Or you need to be reminded how last time you even refused to sleep in my room and went back at 3am?"

"Takeru, that was last time! Furthermore, this is the mafia weekend!”

"Oh and what happens on the mafia weekend, remains on the mafia weekend?" Takeru's lips formed a mocking smile, a mischievous idea flashed through his face when he gave Arata some space to move freely.

"Exactly!" the boy chirped.

As if he just got some kind of approval, the blonde grabbed Arata’s shirt and pulled him closer. After that, his lips quickly found their way. The Jenock student protested a little, trying to voice his displeasure, but his thoughts were quickly suppressed by his loud heart, what kept pounding in his ears. Perhaps the worst part of it was that he didn't even try pushing Takeru away from him. The kiss completely made him unable to move or react. He let his soul soak in these feelings, instead of trying to understand the sudden turn of events.

His alarms had failed him.

His own mind had failed him.

Takeru inched back, when the recorder reached the end of the tape and asked for attention with a loud click, pulling the boys back into reality.

"What happens on the mafia weekend, remains on the mafia weekend" he repeated Arata's words and a faint blush appeared on his face when he thought about the last few seconds.

"H-Hold on! What the hell was that?! Takeru, you said that you don't want anything from me."

"Hiring the conta é oro has its price, especially when he is not from your own family. Oh yeah, and this way we have an explanation for of why we have two boys in pair-dance. You know what their first question will be when they see our names next to each other.”

As if anyone would be interested in why Arata and Takeru hang out together, even during a small dorm event like this. They were like peas in a pod. To the point, where seeing them intensely discussing LBXs together was one of the normal sights around the Duck Manor and no one really questioned their reason for enjoying each other’s company so much. Even Harness students learned to tolerate Arata constantly staying on their turf in the dorm.

So, it made no sense why Takeru suddenly wanted to explain everything they did.

"Taaakeru!" Arata whined, proud that he was finally manage to say something. "That does not explain why you... well..."

"Perhaps the music? The atmosphere?" he shrugged, yet refused to look into Arata's eyes and dropped his gaze straight down. Like a child who was caught stealing snacks. "Maybe because you asked me for a dance? The average Takeru never has to deal with these kinds of happenings, but the booker Kojou Takeru is different. You know, he actually gets asked out, so I'm sure he can afford this much, especially when a thousand year old recorder keeps rooting for him from the background."

"Wait, wait, wait, so then does this means what I'm thinking it means? You LIKE me?! Or is it just for the booker role?"

"Arata what else could it mean?"

"How should I know? Takeru, I no longer understand a thing. I mean, we've had a plan. Not necessarily a good plan, but let's not go into the details. We are trying to practice, everything goes well and then-" before he could’ve finished his rant Takeru interrupted him by putting his hand over Arata's mouth.

"Well, Arata, ask yourself. Did you enjoy it?"

Arata nodded, staring intently at Takeru.

The Jenock student started to fall apart bit by bit. He was even secretly thinking about leaving the island for a tinier deserted one just to escape from his responsibilities. But when Takeru pulled away from him, he started to come to his senses.

"We do not have to continue this, if you don't want to..." the blonde suggested.

"The dance or..?"

"Both." he sighed. "I know it sounds crazy, but I know you well enough and I don't want you to dwell on this and be uncomfortable while being around me. I’m not sure I want to repeat the whole process... It's just.., I've been waiting for the best moment to tell you, but it never--

He couldn't even finish the sentence in head, Arata bluntly grabbed his shoulders and pulled him closer until his face was just a few millimetres from touching Takeru’s own. Uncertainty lingered in his mind, seemingly he still hasn't fully digested what happened to him because he steadily analysed Takeru's reactions with each passing second, as if he was waiting to get a green light. He clumsily tried to imitate Takeru's previous actions.

He barely grazed Takeru's lips before he turned tail.

Takeru was bolder again. However, this time, he didn't even think about the consequences the innocent kiss could bring. He allowed himself to drift away with the flow of melodies.

For the second impression, he tried to collect every drop of love he had, without the element of surprise. It was not perfect, but he enjoyed every moment of it. However, the magic quickly faded when he head footsteps echoing down the hall, gradually growing quieter as the distance increased, until the sound eventually went lost in the afternoon silence.

Arata sat in unusual silence, his hands never moving an inch from Takeru’s face. Once again, he was waiting for a sign, while enjoying Takeru’s closeness.

"Takeru," he began hesitantly as he sat a little farther on the bed. "So the situation is, and I know this will sound very strange, but the thing is… that I actually haven't really asked the others to practice with me… Because the truth is, when I heard about the teacher's plan, you were the first person who came into my mind and at first I had no idea why. Like, why you? Then, it dawned upon me that I always rush to you, whenever I need something even if it's just talking about LBXs."

Arata felt his face burning up, but they'd passed the point of no return. He couldn't throw in a typical ‘leave it’ or ‘whatever’.

Now, he had to finish what he started.

"And what did you find out?" Takeru seemed to understand where their conversation was heading.

“Wait a minute. First thing first, I'm going to finish this, then I'll tell you the reason why I even started explaining myself." his voice was shaky. "I found out, that when I'm with you I have fun and not in the sense you think..."

"Arata, to the point."

Takeru tried hard to understand Arata's failed reasoning, but he lost it after a few attempts, so when Arata continued his lecture he had no idea what the other was talking about. Even though Arata described everything earnestly, going into details, bringing up events a normal person would not remember. Surprisingly, in the end his clustered thought seemed to form an answer-like being.

"But the best thin in this, that I want to be with you. Like being closer than to the others and then, I started thinking that probably this is not normal. I mean, if you can't get someone out of your head. Then I found out! It's because I'm in love with you."

In the middle of the blabbering the conclusion struck Takeru in the heart, mostly because he knew that Arata's honesty and outspokenness knew no boundaries, yet he did not expect him to call forth this bad talent in a situation like this. Now it was his turn to take deep breaths. He was so lost in his own goals that he had completely forgotten about Arata.

Suddenly, thinking back about the previous months, every little misunderstanding made sense.

"I'm already scared of the future," he finally managed to say, but behind his troubled sign there was a proud smile, which forced its way to his face. “Because I love you too.”

Sena Arata goofy, slow, a bit scatterbrained, but his.

What couldn't be said about the prize of the competition. While their performance was somewhat good, Yuno and Haruki mercilessly danced their way towards the first place without any serious effort.

[tallemy]

Oh, Aratake & 19. “The paint’s supposed to go where?” ? (´∀｀*)

I hope this will make some sense. ////

“I told you, nope, absolutely nope. I’m not going to give any silver credits for this,” Takeru fumed and he was slowly starting to lose his calm and that infamous, smiling mask. His patience was running out as they debate went on ever since they arrived to the small hobby shop.

“But it would look so cool!” Arata told him, taking up the red and orange enamel paints from the shelf, wearing a wide grin on his face. The shop had way too many colours to choose from, almost four different shades for each main colour. Even plain gold had metallic, antique and clear variations.

“Arata, no!” However, as soon as the red head held the paint to his eye level, Takeru snatched away the tiny red paint container. “Don’t make me repeat myself. No flames on my LBX. I asked you to help choosing one colour, not to tell me how to paint a Van Gogh pattern on them.”

“Come on! Don’t be like this!” he reached out for the stolen container.

“This is for war time, not for a tournament. I told you, I don’t want gaudy LBXs.”

“This didn’t stop you from putting a cat head on your units, though,” Arata snickered, but decided to put back the paint in the end.

“Design choices and painting are two different things. Besides it’s my trademark.” The remark seemed hit the nail on the head as Takeru glanced over at the various modelling tools refusing to show his obvious fluster.  While he hardly ever shown it, he hated the negative sounding comments that his vampire cat units got from other players, and sometimes his own platoon members.

Arata seemed to think about something as he watched Takeru’s profile.

“Then let’s just paint black flames on it.” He said, with less force this time.“Arata, no.” Takeru groaned again. “It’s going to be dark green and end of discussion.”

“Hmpfh. Whatever you say, but don’t blame me when Harness gets owned even by Porton.”

The Harness student saw through him almost immediately.

And just like always, Takeru had to admit that proper reasoning just doesn’t work with Arata, especially when he gets too invested in something.

Not like it ever did.

In the end, just like always, he gave in. It was extremely hard to argue with his overexcited companion.

“Let’s make a deal. If you manage to get through at least ten missions without breaking Dot Blastrizer, then we can talk about you getting some extra design elements on it.” He looked Arata in the eye, then continued.

”But the moment Sakuya has to do any serious repairing, you have to start over. Deal?”

“Hey, that’s pretty unfair especially from you.”

Even Arata knew that surviving ten missions was impossible even with the specs Dot Blastrizer got from the mechanics., but maybe that was the trick of this deal. Its impossible nature urged Arata to take better care of his own LBX.

“Think of it as a challenge,“ Takeru gave him a confident smile, then patted Arata on the back.

"I think I deserve more for that achievement. An ice cream at least.”

Takeru gave a short answer, “First reach it, then we can talk about the possible prizes.”

[tallemy]

Restless [03]

Fandom: Danball Senki Wars Warnings: dumb, like really dumb, in medias res Ship: AraTake FF.net version II AO3 An Etrian Odyssey AU! You don’t have to be familiar with the game to understand it, tho. People earn their living by exploring a huge labyrinth while trying to solve its secrets. That’s it. This started out as a drabble, then became too long for the drabble category. The main idea is why not to take requests from Kaito, especially when they involve slaying beasts for rare items.

Arata fell face forward on the inn bed without warning, letting his legs and arms hang on the edges. The word tired was not enough to explain his current feelings, as anger and exhaustion were both present. He must’ve lost his armour downstairs (or more like dropped it as soon as he stepped into the guild house), because he was only wearing his blue shirt and the black trousers. Everything else, even his sword was gone. "I'll never ever going to accept a request from that snob!" he groaned into the sheets, kicking off his boots. He’d been had, again. And this time his failure was seeping into his generally cheerful attitude tainting it with the memories of nasty remarks he got from Kaito. Takeru poked his side with his foot in response, glancing up from the book he was reading. "You will accept their request anyway," he chuckled quietly. "Because you can't refuse a challenge from Kaito." "I can! I refused their request last month…" Arata murmured ruefully. "And, accepted the same dumb request one day later because it ‘paid well’ according to you. You should’ve noticed it already that they rarely pay. Especially when Kaito is in charge." Arata groaned again, then buried his face deeper into the blankets. There was some truth hidden in Takeru’s words, he indeed loved challenges and missions what paid well because they meant that he could spend more money on useless luxuries like snacks and candies. He would’ve probably spent all of their money if Haruki and Sakuya didn’t take over their finances the moment when Arata almost caused bankruptcy in their team. With no medic in sight, the only way to treat their injuries was to visit a clinic, what obviously took money out of their pockets. "Mock me all you want, I only accepted this because of the reward," He looked up, before letting his head fall back with a depressed sigh. He always used this as an excuse whenever he was fooled. "Then that reward didn't worth it," Takeru announced simply, yet he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of reward could be so tempting to pit the redhead against the labyrinth dwellers. The next moment he closed the book and shifted next to Arata to take a look at his torn clothes. Maybe at the possible injuries he’d collected in the second stratum. From the obvious holes in the boy’s shirt, he’d presumed that his partner was stung several times, before he fell, collecting mud and scratches all over his body. And damn, Arata seemed to do everything to make his life as a medic even harder, like tending his own dimwit guild wasn't enough for him. The young knight rushed into battle without ever taking a second glance at his enemies and it took them weeks to make him understand that their team was heavily dependent on teamwork. It was a highly dysfunctional team. But in some way, Takeru loved their company. Haruki and Sakuya were both reliable as the leaders of the team, while Hikaru and Arata served as juggernauts, who needed to be kept on a short leash whenever they headed deeper into the labyrinth. They had a healthy rivalry going on, but while Hikaru was able to keep his cool, Arata liked to show off with his skills. However, even when he was seriously injured Arata just couldn’t shut up and seemingly used up all of his time to share everything with Takeru. He wasn’t especially chirpy, but whenever he got really into telling a story there was no way of stopping him or asking him to turn around, because Takeru couldn’t reach the rest of his wounds. However this time, his cheerful attitude was almost gone. "Oh no, that reward did worth it, if it wasn't for that liar snob," he huffed into the sheets. “Just when I finally get that Toxic Barb he says he's changed his mind! Can you believe this? Like really, Takeru, this is just low!" "You say this like Haruki and Hikaru didn't warn you enough times. Also no one ordered you to get a toxic barb. You could’ve died if that scorpion paralyzes you, you know?" his voice held no emotions, but this was just the way Takeru usually scolded Arata when he did something stupid. They just couldn’t be overdramatic and loud about it, and it seemed that Arata had an easier way of understanding the problems when they weren’t thrown at his head. Without any further question he reached for his bag and took out his trusty tweezer. Now, the quest for a toxic barb explained why Arata had stingers in his shoulder. The scorpion beast always went for the neck of their prey, but probably couldn’t reach the main artery or missed. Furthermore, ragged breath and his unusually tired rant could be all connected to the scorpion's venom. Mother Nature made sure, so Assassins got a terrible ability to leave their stingers in their prey, causing them paralysis and agonizing pain. The venom alone couldn’t kill anything bigger than a Moa, but its side effects were terrifying if it wasn’t treated in time. Fever, hallucinations, nausea tortured the prey until the Assassin’s venom started acted like an everyday poison, causing the body’s vital organs to start malfunctioning until the injured person passed away. Since Arata's team lacked an all-purpose healer, or any kind of healer. If anyone got hurt, they had to bear with it until the team was back in town not knowing when would a chance like that occur. However, when Takeru was around it got better, as he could prevent these kind of tragedies. As Arata continued his complains, the blonde took advantage of the distraction and pulled out another yellow needle through the hole the creature made on the shirt. "Ouch!" Arata turned toward Takeru, furrowing his brow. "You'll thank me for this," the blonde began as he pulled out another one that got stuck deep in the flesh. Of there was one thing he hated more than this, it was patching up open wounds. "Were you stung somewhere else?" he asked, as Arata sat up on the bed. He indeed looked extremely tired. "Nope. It used Venom only twice, but it sure hurt like hell. And then Kaito just refuses to hold his end of the deal! " He was still hung up on that. "Don't let him get to you," Takeru said, wiping away dried blood stains from Arata's cheeks. "He has his own asshole-ish ways of dealing with life. I bet he only sent in the request to catch you off guard and cause trouble again." "Well, he did it. But that reward was too sweet to pass on it!" "Uhum. And your reward now is to get patched up by someone from Harness,” he hummed. Arata was about to open his mouth to say something, probably extremely stupid or to make a remark about this being a reward too, but Takeru cut him off. “So what was it?" Arata's lips formed a wide smile, he looked like a kid who is about to proudly announce his mother how he collected every snail in the garden. But instead of a loud, obnoxious statement, Arata's words came out gentle, "An angel robe." Takeru gave him a surprised look. Angel robe. The most recommended armour for those, who specialised in the art of healing. It was not only light and thin, but also protected its wearer from most physical attacks and binds. Basically, it was the Holy Grail for medics, which required slaying a Formido Oppugnatura Exsequens named Iwaopeln and obtaining ingredients from it. Since the gargantuan bird dwelled deep down in the 4th stratum getting near it was almost impossible for them yet and even then, hunting down a beast like that would require a full team. Not just some random explorers. On the other hand, he couldn’t blame Arata for falling into Kaito’s trap. It was a sweet reward for a petty price. "Whenever you come with us you always end up getting injured,” Arata explained, failing to look into Takeru’s eyes. “Because I lose my mind in the heat of the battle and rush forward. So, I wanted something that could protect you since I, the knight, obviously can't do that." "Oh, I think you’re doing a fine job with being my knight and all. I seriously had it worse," said Takeru. He wasn't the type who would openly complain about his own partners, but having only a survivalist and a knight put some extra weight on his shoulders. “Now take that shirt off. ” Arata’s mouth opened in surprise. “I bet there are more injuries and I don’t intend to hold your hand all night if that Assassin used venom on you three times,” Takeru snorted and Arata watched him take out the regular medical kit. “But I told you it only hit twice! Why won’t anyone believe me?!” “You say this with cakes too, yet everyone knows that you will eat one more.” “Sweets and injuries are completely different,” Arata complained, but when Takeru gently patted him in the back and even that tiny contact made him yelp from pain. Honestly, it was like treating a kid who refuses to admit that he hit his ankle when he fell. “I’m obviously not the one who needs to be protected here,” he said out loudly when he saw Arata’s skin. Blue and red bruises everywhere, just like Arata was, compared to the two holes in his skin, the redhead was fine safe for the low hit Takeru delivered with his comment. When Arata appeared hesitant to reply, he spread salve on the bruises, silencing the pain. “So that’s why next time you have to take me with you.” “Huh? But…” Silence fell between them for a few moments. Takeru reached out to touch him, but with a sulky expression he stopped his hand mid-air, before resting his hand on Arata’s shoulder. “I don’t want you to die down there and the others can’t be always there with you.” I won’t die, he wanted to say, yet something prevented him. Even Arata realized it would be an empty promise. “Roger,” he told Takeru at last wearing an apologetically nervous smile. He flinched when the warmth disappeared from his bare shoulder. “Alright! How about wandering around a bit to kill some time? Sell those toxic barbs at the general store, then let’s eat something!” Arata turned to him first, he didn’t believe his ears. Wasn’t this a bit too much change from their previous seemingly serious conversation? But his disbelief quickly faded and was replaced by a ticklish emotion when he looked at that million-dollar smile. The medic really knew how to get him back on his feet. “To the square then!”

[tallemy]

Thousand [23]

Fandom: Danball Senki Wars Warnings: extremely angsty Ship: AraTake FF.net version II AO3

Crying can help you to get through so many things. Loss, pain and grief. Silence, however, has the ability to slowly poison your tears until it starts killing you from the inside.

Tick tock.

In the white room only the clock keeps walking its monotonous route, ending up at twelve with each cycle. Yet time itself stands still.  He swears, he can feel it how the clock's hand pushes down his heart until it sinks into despair, drinking up the emotion like a too sober sailor.

Time passes slowly, but the form sleeping on the bed refuses to move.  His chest slowly rises then falls back without a single word or emotion. And with each silent breath Takeru dies a little.

This state is not normal. He is not used to it. Mostly, he is just not used to Arata being so silent, so still and it slowly drives him mad. And within the despair he notices something else that might be a weird mix of fear and helplessness.

"I already finished everything I promised to you," he blurts unexpectedly at one of the visits, wearing a tiny smile. "Vampire Cat Militas is waiting for you to test it in battle. And I did some pretty cool readjustments. It not only has better balance, but I managed to do something with that awful sound you kept complaining about." He tries to smile, but his voice grows hoarse as he forces out those last words. That tiny little LBX holds so many memories, it's hard to count and as he looks at Arata he can't help but imagine those times when they were trying to make it work, Arata constantly bombarding him with impossible ideas regarding the tiny robot.

But now there is no one who would look at him with so much adoration. That gleeful smile is quickly fading from existence and he is back at the Start, where his knowledge is special, but nothing to boast about it. Everything he does is pretty much what others expect him to do.

He misses being praised. But not only the overly excited words, he misses Sena Arata as a whole.

"You should really hurry," he breaths, fidgeting with the sheets on the bed. "Or else I'll finish him without you."

He knows it well how empty those threats are. Takeru could never do that without Arata being there to see his masterpiece finally working. But he had the feeling Arata could never be there to see it. He chokes down a sob as a painful feeling claws its way into his soul. Because it’s becoming more and more obvious how things will never go back to how they were.

"Arata, I changed my mind... you don't have to hurry," Takeru bows his head down in defeat, looking at the expressionless face in front of him. Even if it’s been months, he just can't get used to this state. "Just wake up. Vampire Cat Militas… will wait for you."

A drop of water plops down in front of his shoe. "And so will I."

After that the room goes silent again, and his words are once again replaced by the empty ticking of the clock. Takeru sighs, before he takes a seat next to Arata as if that would be enough to protect the boy.

He would live through thousands of deaths for a tiny little ray of hope.