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Kazuichi and Gundham made their way to the skating rink, the cold air making itself evident as a breeze made its way through the bright blue sky. The two of them, despite having officially declared the other as their boyfriend, were still somewhat anxious. They headed inside the retro looking building, got the tickets and skates from the lobby, and made their way to a tacky carpeted bench.
“Have you gone skating before?” Kazuichi asked, lightening the mood between the two of them.
“I have once, however I was not good at it.” Gundham responded
“I’ve only been a couple of times, but I never quite got the hang of it either.”
Once their skates were laced up, they went onto the worn out wooden skate floor. Gundham was hugging the railing and Kazuichi was trying to keep himself upright, coping as best as he could with the lack of friction. Many people, most likely regulars at the rink and/or fellow couples, stared at the two of them trying to balance themselves.
After about an hour of last year’s top 100 pop songs and a helpful stranger, they get into a rhythm. It’s somewhat slow, but at least they aren’t falling on their asses anymore. The two of them have their pinkies weakly interlocked and Gundham is still ready to grab the bar at any moment. Several people pass them, but regardless of the crowded state of the roller rink, they’re enjoying their Friday night.
One couple wasn’t too happy to be behind Gundham and Kazuichi. The man of the couple could’ve sworn that he recognized the pink haired man in front of him.
Then it hit him.
“That’s the guy I used to be friends with in middle school!” He whispered over to his girlfriend as she snickered. “Watch this!”
“HEY LOSER!” he yelled out. “THIS IS FOR THAT F BACK IN MIDDLE SCHOOL!”
Before Kazuichi could look over his shoulder, he started falling. He puts his arm out in an attempt to catch his fall.
Kazuichi heard a sickening crunch, and then felt a level of pain he’d never felt before in his left wrist. He sits himself up, trying not to move his injured arm. His breath was hitching and tears started to well up in his artificially pink eyes.
Gundham falls to his knees next to Kazuichi. A crowd begins to gather around the polar opposite couple.
“I told you that all you’d be is a pathetic nobody!” the guy, who Kazuichi now recognized as one of his old bullies, yelled out, both the guy and his girlfriend started laughing at the misfortune he had caused. The Devas scurry out of Gundham’s scarf and subtly tie the guy’s laces together.
Gundham shoots a death glare at the not-so-former bully and then looks at his boyfriend’s arm. Rolling up Kazuichi’s Monster Energy hoodie sleeve, the pink haired man yelled out in pain. It was swollen, bruised, and his wrist was in a position that nauseated Gundham at the sight of such an unnatural bend. If Kazuichi wasn’t crying before, he definitely was now with Gundham poking and prodding at it.
“We are leaving, my love.” Gundham says, trying to sound soothing whilst seething with rage.
“I’m fine, trust me.” Kazuichi instinctually tells Gundham through his tears. The man’s past trauma with the bully was starting to resurface.
“I am not intending to call you a liar, but you certainly do not look ‘fine’. Your wrist is bent in an unnatural direction and you yelled out when I merely moved your sleeve.”
“I’m telling you, I’m okay!” Kazuichi said, voice breaking from trying (and failing) to hold back his tears. He moved his wrist slightly, but immediately screamed out in pain.
“I am calling an Uber. We are going to the hospital.”
Kazuichi no longer had the strength to argue against the stubborn brick wall that was Gundham Tanaka.
Untying and removing his boyfriend’s skates and then his own, Gundham helped Kazuichi to his feet.
Kazuichi continued crying, breath shaking as every step he took jostled his body. Gundham sat his boyfriend down, grabbing both of their shoes afterward. The bully skated away with his girlfriend, but instead of gliding across the wooden floor, he fell straight onto his ass. Gundham chuckled at the sight of the delivery of poetic justice, courtesy of the Four Dark Devas of Destruction while Kazuichi was too busy trying not to pass out from his vision fading in and out.
Once he had helped Kazuichi put on his shoes, he put his own back on and the two of them walked out the door of the roller rink, Gundham holding open the doors. The Uber driver pulled up a few minutes later and the two of them departed.
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The ride over to the emergency room was absolute hell for both of them. On top of Kazuichi’s car sickness, every bump and pothole on the road the Uber driver drove over sent the mechanic into a wave of pain. Gundham couldn’t bear to see the one he loved in pain. He started rubbing small circles on his boyfriend’s back and tried to help Kazuichi control his breathing.
The back of the car was filthy, fast food wrappers littered the floor, and the driver was smoking a cigarette. Gundham opens the back window as far as he could for some resemblance of fresh air.
The rest of the drive was composed of Gundham trying to calm Kazuichi down and Kazuichi trying not to either pass out or eject the contents of his stomach in the stranger’s car.
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After what felt like an eternity, the two of them left the emergency room. Kazuichi’s wrist was now covered in a thick neon pink cast that went from the upper palm of his hand to his elbow. He makes brief eye contact with Gundham and then shifts his equally bright pink eyes to the floor. Gundham holds out his hand to hold Kazuichi’s, but realizes his mistake fairly quickly:
His right hand normally holds Kazuichi’s left.
He retracts his right hand and instead offers his left, which Kazuichi accepts.
The sensation of holding each other’s dominant hands felt strange. Both of them were at a disadvantage if they were to get attacked, Kazuichi especially now that he won’t have a free hand for the next few months.
The two of them walk for about a block and a half until they come across a small park. Kazuichi stops and faces Gundham.
“I’m sorry I ruined our date night…” Kazuichi laments, looking down at his immobilized left wrist and then back up to Gundham.
“My paramour, you did no such thing.” Gundham responds while looking at the display time on his cell phone, the brightness being a direct contrast to the deep purple color of the dusk night sky. “The night is still young. We can still have a date night.”
The two of them walk over to the playground. It was completely empty. The two of them looked over at the other and nodded in agreement.
Gundham begins climbing up to sit on top of the monkey bars, emulating the “cool kids” from when the couple was younger. He looks down, only for his heterochromatic eyes to meet with Kazuichi’s artificially pink ones from the wood chips below. He then promptly had another realization:
Kazuichi can’t climb up by himself...
Gundham climbs back down, feeling kind of bad for not thinking about something like that. He gestures for Kazuichi to get underneath the metal play structure, which the pink haired man obliges.
Gundham picks the mechanic up with relative ease. With his good hand, Kazuichi grips onto one of the bars for dear life. Once the lower half of him is secured as well, he waits for his boyfriend to now climb up.
Gundham climbs up and sits across from Kazuichi on the next bar over. Their legs intertwine with one another and the two of them lean into one another.
“Lean back.” Gundham instructs
“Are you sure I won’t fall? I don’t wanna break any more bones tonight.” Kazuichi responds, nerves panging through his speech.
“I promise you that you will be fine.” Gundham reassures
Extending his left hand, Kazuichi grabs it with his right and leans back. The bar he was once sitting on was now the home for his knees. He sits back on the next bar over. Gundham sits next to him and wraps his arms around Kazuichi’s shoulders. The other man follows suit and wraps his right arm around Gundham’s waist and rests his left on his lap.
“I don’t know if it’s the painkillers or being with you, but I feel wonderful right now.” Kazuichi cooed, shifting his weight to be into Gundham’s side.
“If you do not mind me asking, what happened while I was in the waiting room?” Gundham asked.
“Well, they gave me enough painkillers to knock out a horse, I got some x-rays of my arm and once they saw where the bone was broken, I got this snazzy thing put on!” Kazuichi explains, drawing an imaginary line with his finger on his cast at the location of the break. “Anyway, how’d you keep yourself busy while I was gone?” Kazuichi smirked as he asked the question.
“I had read a magazine, and a woman with an angled bob was glaring at me across the room. Her daughter was looking at me as well, but in a very different manner. The daughter had come over to me, wishing to pet the Devas. The Devas took a liking to her, so she must not be a mere mortal like her mother.” Gundham responded, intriguing his boyfriend with the story of the little girl.
“I wish I would’ve been there to see that! Too bad I was stuck inside a boring office!”
“I know something that will keep both of us busy.” Gundham flirted, cheeks heating up. He proceeds to pull Kazuichi in for a kiss under the dim moonlight.