They're still in denial, but that five feet has vanished and everyone but them noticed (pt 3/4)
...
Despite having let Majima drag the lot of them out to the club, Kiryu noticed that Daigo seemed more interested in his phone.
He was smiling, the soft sort of smile one often didn't even realize was there. Something (someone perhaps?) had his attention, far more than the music or drinks, any of Majima's men or the hostesses.
Kiryu readied himself to get involved in something as he watched the younger man's expression cycle from smile to concern, his brow furrowing. Daigo flagged down one of the wait staff, leaning over the back of the free standing U-shaped booth-style seat, exchanging quick quiet words. The worker nodded before heading off towards the club's entrance.
The young Chairman was once more focused on his phone, fingers tapping impatiently against the back of the case. It was odd to see him so agitated these days, the hot-headed boy he'd been had grown into a much more level-headed man. Clearly something was bothering him. Kiryu hoped they were ready for whatever it was.
The staff member Daigo had spoken to earlier returned a few moments later, someone- oh, that was the girl from Daigo's kitchen wasn't it? Kiryu tilted his head slightly, as the man guided the young woman towards their table. She seemed tentative. Nervous and unsure. Skittish. Was this really the place, the people, to bring her around?
He watched her eyes raise to meet Daigo’s and it hit him then. The way they both softened and smiled.
The height of ill mannered, she darted across the table, and stopped in front of the chairman. The others expected an admonishment but the man just laughed, as she realized what she’d done and flustered.
Daigo reached up to tug her down off the low table, spinning her around so she landed on the seat between his knees. The way she immediately relaxed into him, his body bracketing hers, was telling.
These two really were oblivious.
(“Tha’re complete dumbasses, Kiryu-chan.” “Be nice, Majima-san.” “Naw.”)
The night continued on largely uneventfully. As much as these things go anyway. People would stop by to say something, and need to divert Daigo’s attention from whatever the girl was showing him on her phone. She stayed in his hold, and immersed in whatever she was looking at. Closed from the rest of the world. It really was like it was just them two.
It had been awhile when Kiryu noticed Daigo gently shift. The pair exchanged quiet words and the man slipped away. A nod to Kiryu and towards her, askance on his face. Kiryu nodded back, he’d keep an eye on her. Something like relief flitted across the younger’s face and he seemed to relax a bit, and Kiryu was almost taken aback by the gratefulness in his eyes.
He really worried, didn’t he? He cared. Of course, Daigo cared about a lot of people but this was… Something else.
Kiryu’s back tensed, before relaxing, as Majima planted himself between them. He might irritate her, but Majima would never hurt the girl. She was just as safe with him as with Kiryu.
“So. Princess,” the one-eyed man drawled lazily.
She jolted a bit at the designation, and Kiryu watched the way she seemed to curl into herself. Guarded. Nervous.
Majima ignored her reaction, “So what was all tha’ about?”
“I- I don’t know what you mean?” she seemed genuinely confused.
“Naw, no way girlie, y’all cuddled up like tha’? Jus’ friends huh? Yer not a very good liar.”
She withdrew further. Wilted almost, something hurt and fragile in her eyes.
She smiled at him, and Kiryu thought he’d never seen someone smile so sweetly with so much pain.
“It’s true though, we really are. Just friends. He’s the best friend I could ever ask for. I don’t deserve him.”
Majima seemed to freeze, then slowly tilted his head, like a dog trying to figure out what a sound was. Then he sighed, full body and dramatic.
“Yer an idiot.”
“I. You’re not the first to tell me so. And you’re not wrong. Did it really need said though?”
“Seems ta me, yah, it does."
Kiryu watched the girl's face do something complicated, and for a moment he thought she might actually snap at Majima. Something Majima also noticed. And revelled in.
“Ayy! Lookit there! There migh’ actually be a spine hiding in ya somewhere!”
She blinked slowly at him, “You’re. Something. Aren’t you?”
Majima cackled, delighting in her dry response.
A laugh that was cut off by a choke at her quiet “at least you’re pretty”.
“Are you harassing my sweet girl?” the chairman had returned, and eyed the older man with long suffering amusement.
The pet name went unremarked upon, but certainly everyone took note.
("Hmm wonder wha' happened to 'guest'." "It's really not our business, Majima-san." "Kiryu-chan, you're no fun!")
“Haw!? Naw, never!” he cackled again, the flush still visible on his neck and ears.
“I’m sure,” Daigo’s response as dry as the girl’s had been.
Majima picked up a teasing dialogue that Kiryu tuned out, but he knew the man was watching, examining the pair. He’d leave them to it. It wasn’t his business.
…
The night was wrapping up, the club clearing out slowly but surely.
The girl was nodding off in Daigo’s hold, and the man’s face stayed soft, content.
Looking at them, you'd think there was no one else in the room. An island in the sea of people.
There was an almost sacred intimacy between them. Kiryu wasn't sure this was something he, or anyone, was meant to be witness to.
Majima all but threw himself down in the now empty seat beside Kiryu, throwing an arm across the back, other hand swirling his drink.
He grinned wolfishly over at him, "Just friends, eh?"
The barest hint of a smile found its way onto his face as he answered, "Just friends."
"Ha! Idiots, the both of them," the man all but cackled.
"Be nice, Majima," he admonished.
"Am I wrong?" he raised a challenging brow.
"I didn't say that."
At that Majima did finally let loose a boisterous laugh.
(and yes, if you wondered, both of them completely missed the irony in this exchange)
(Kiryu would, years later, remember the moment, however, and vowed never to reveal the embarrassment it caused him when he realized)
(he and Majima really had no room to talk, did they?)