Work Text:
Ryuki wakes up to his alarm exactly as usual, 5:30am. Most of his coworkers would cringe at the time, but he’s gotten up about that early for years, so he doesn’t mind. Once he’s up, Tama shuts off the alarm automatically, and he checks her charge - full - before putting her in. Once or twice (probably more, but he wasn’t asking her now) he’d gotten home so late that she wasn’t fully charged by the time he woke up, which meant he’d have to go on his run without her, which was… unpleasant.
He wanders into the dining room, finding the coffee maker with a full mug in it. He smiled to himself and poured himself his first cup. His housekeeper made it, had been making it for years. Ryuki’d hired the man when he was about 18, it wasn’t a huge house, but one teen can’t keep clean a house made for four. He hadn’t ever asked him to make the coffee, but it had become routine.
He’d been doing this long enough that the timing was exact - half an hour in the morning to drink coffee and get used to being alive again, then change and take a run. Once again, his coworkers would cringe at his schedule, but running was good for waking up, and it kept him in shape. It wasn’t quite like taking over some random rooftop and running through whatever urban crawl he could, but it was still good. Today, it was just 45 minutes, the timing down to a science.
Back in his house (empty) he made himself a terrible breakfast (Tama kept telling him to learn how to make something nice for himself, but in his schedule he didn’t really have the time to learn a new skill like that… maybe someday) and read the paper. Boss thought a physical newspaper was silly, but he liked how tactile it was, and Mr. Date sided with him on it. Finally, his schedule left him just enough time to shower (he dodges his reflection in the mirror, habitually) and get in the car for work, leaving at 7:30 left him time to get there 5 minutes early, perfect.
Ryuki’d never bothered to get a license, which probably would be embarrassing for anyone of his age, but at this point with his medical record they’d probably bar him from it, anyways. He’d meant to get one when he was a kid, but by the time he’d gotten old enough, there wasn’t really any point, (you’re supposed to be the responsible one, aren’t you?) there wasn’t anyone for him to drive around besides himself, and that was one of the problems he could throw money at to make it go away.
He didn’t like throwing money at his problems, of course. Tama had insisted that it was fine for him to do that from time to time, given how many problems wouldn’t go away no matter how much money he threw at them, but it still felt bad. He preferred to at least have it go somewhere meaningful if he was going to do something like that. (the housekeeper was well cared for, they’d be able to have a stable income all their life, he’d made sure of it)
Ryuki was happy to walk in the door exactly on time, as he’d planned, but -
Boss’ voice, out of nowhere. “Really? Late, again? Ryuki, you can’t be doing this all the time…”
He glanced at Tama’s view for a second. 7:55am, just as he thought. So, not real. No Boss to be seen either, of course. Tama was kind enough to not mention it, though she certainly did notice him glancing at the clock. She was probably writing that down in some sort of mental repository - one hallucination, before 8am even, a promising start to the day. At least he knew what time it was, otherwise the voice might’ve been more convincing. Tama had started displaying a clock - day, time, and year. They hadn’t talked about it, but he appreciated it. Made things like this easier, more verifiable if he started losing time again.
He hadn’t been, of course. Things had been better. She just had to make sure that the hallucinations weren’t more common than they should be, which was hard to verify. He’d lived just a little apart from reality since he was 17, and had grown quite good at making sure that nobody noticed when something incorrect happened. (nobody wanted a psycho cop helping them, they wanted a nice, well adjusted one)
Ryuki slid into his desk, already exhausted before he saw whatever Boss had seen fit to put on it. He’d been doing nothing but paperwork since he got back from the hospital, which he knew was an attempt to make things easier on him, but it ate at him. Recovery was slow, he knew that from everyone else, but he hated taking it easy with a passion. He had to do something, he couldn’t just be complacent (no forgiveness) and he truly hated letting evil run free (not ever) when he could be out there helping people.
Sighing, he looked over his (neat, organized) desk. It was a bad day today, and the last thing he wanted was to do paperwork that’d let his mind wander.
“Tama, anything engaging here?”
“Hmm… I know! Here’s the expense sheet Boss wanted you to write up for the party she threw last week! That’ll be entertaining, at least!”
Ryuki grabbed it from where Tama was highlighting it, and started looking over it. It looked as if Boss had gotten halfway through before getting bored and remembering she had subordinates she could shove it on. Why she even put in the effort to print it out, Ryuki had no idea. Still, Tama was probably right - it would at least be entertaining, though it wouldn’t fill up the whole day.
“Hey, Tama, after work…”
“Ryuki, I can’t read your mind, just spit it out!”
“Let’s go to some rooftop in the middle of nowhere. I need to stop thinking, and before you say anything, I don’t feel like getting tied up today.”
“Awww, really~? Too bad. But sure! Just get through today, alright?”
He started working on the report with a silly smile on his face. Getting through today would be fine, no worse than any other bad day. (this wasn’t even bad, and he knew it. This was bad for this version of him, not the version that had spent 612 years drowning alive)
He passed by the psync room on the way to passing a few reports to Pewter. Honestly, he was pretty sure that psyncing was one of the few redeeming things about him at ABIS. At the end of the day, he’d only gotten into this department so young (the Mizukis were both here because of family, objective nepotism, but it made sense for a department so secretive) because he was simply good at psyncing.
He had his theories about that.
Everyone at ABIS was strange, objectively strange. It really shouldn’t be as functional a police department as it was, given the personalities of everyone here. And it wasn’t like that didn’t include him, even as he tried his best to be personable and trustworthy. Really, out of everyone here, they all knew that he was by far the most broken.
Tama didn’t like when he talked like that. But he was almost certain that that’s why psyncing worked the way it did for him. He hadn’t ever told anyone, but anyone could tell he was more confident in somnium than anywhere else. It was simply easier - there was no need to verify reality in somnium, none of it was real in the first place. How could any person not be more confident when they were sure of the ground beneath their feet?
It was all about symbolism and whatever reality was within a person’s head. Even if it wasn’t like actual reality, it was the way the world worked for them, which was basically the same thing as their version of reality. Most people didn’t think like that, Ryuki knew that, but he’d always been able to tell that reality meant different things to different people.
His reality was just a little apart. Not that he’d ever been able to do anything about it. The best he could manage was making sure that he looked like he shared their reality, like everyone else did.
It wasn’t a great day, but it was over. Tama wasn’t exactly enthused about going out to run around in the dark (still getting dark early, but not as bad as it was a few weeks ago) so they’d decided on an arena he was familiar with. Probably a good idea anyways, he hadn’t done this since he got out of the hospital.
Nobody was around, as far as Tama could tell, so he left his kit (water, bandages, the works) sloppily hidden. If somebody took it, his philosophy was that they probably needed it more than he did, and oh well.
He was honestly expecting to be more nervous than he was. During the past 6 years he’d gotten rather out of practice, and being in the hospital wasn’t exactly nice. But he’d been doing this for much longer than that (c’mon Kuruto, isn’t it fun! Follow me!) and he was always in his element out here. Nobody needed impressing, he just had to keep himself from falling and breaking something.
He set his sight on his first goal: getting up. Ground level to whichever roof looked most interesting. He started out in a familiar place, right next to an old dilapidated fire escape (out of code, dangerous, do not use) and took a few steps back, before launching himself up it.
Yes. This was it. Pull up, over the edge, use the railing as a stepping stone to the window across the way, push up, off the wall, up to the next railing, and there’s the momentum he needs to keep on going up, up.
Not the rooftop he was aiming for, but this one was shorter, so he pulled himself up it, scanning across. Chimney above the next roof, he charges towards, up, off, over the gap (at least a 6 meter fall) and rolls to keep on moving, that’s a larger gap between these two, but he’s sure he can make it.
His lungs are burning (not like getting shot, not anything like that) but it’s good, his whole body burns, he’s not as strong as he used to be, and he keeps all his limbs moving by force rather than any sort of grace. He launches himself across the gap (towards Mr. Date, so so aware of the gun pointed at his ba-
He gasps as he lands on his knee, fuck that hurts, pushes himself up keep moving, need that momentum for the next roof. He’s not limping, the burn feels just as good as everything else. Around the next corner, he swings with one hand on some drainage pipe, he needs to conserve momentum no matter what otherwise he won’t make it over the next roof, and what the fuck a person?
As fast as he can he shoves himself over so he doesn’t trample them, slips, and finally goes down rolling on his back. Why was a person here? At least he didn't run into them. His lungs were gasping, and yeah that was worse than usual, worse than before. Consequences of getting shot, he supposes.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
What.
He pushes himself up to something resembling sitting, seeing right before his eyes one Bibi Mizuki Kuranushi.
“Uh..” (so eloquent!)
They both stare at each other for a moment, before she sighs and reaches down to help him up. Arms crossed, she looks exactly the same as usual, while he’s sure he looks terrible. He glances down at his skinned knee, just to make sure it’s not bleeding too badly - it isn't. Probably nothing some half-might themed band-aids can’t fix. (Tama wouldn’t leave him alone for that, but he thought they were fun, so sue him!)
“So.” Bibi got his attention again. “Seriously, what are you doing here running around like a bat out of hell on some random rooftops?”
He chuckled awkwardly. He really was terrible at this. “I was just… doing some parkour? Uhh.. what’re you doing here, anyways?” Suddenly he remembered Boss calling her a “personal ninja.” That was probably it..?
“Actually, it’s usually pretty calm around here. Nice to watch the traffic and lights.”
Oh. Well that was worse than he thought. He’d interrupted her peaceful evening without a thought… He could already feel the thoughts he’d banished creeping back, speeding up to their usual rushing pace.
Bibi just sighed. “Before you get all weird about it, it’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting company to come rushing past me like that. Thanks for not hitting me, by the way. Probably would’ve been worse for you than me, but it’s the thought that counts..?”
He really wasn’t sure how to respond to all of that. Habitually his hand came up to scratch at his head - nervous habit he’d never been able to suppress, he could already hear Tama laughing at him for being 30 and still acting like a teenager around a crush.
“Well uhh.. You’re welcome? It is pretty nice around here, nobody to bother you… glad I’m not the only one to appreciate it, I guess?”
As he said that he saw something click in Bibi’s expression, suddenly quizzical.
“Wait a second. How’d you even get up here? I just tend to, y’know, jump up, but you definitely can’t do that.”
“Oh, I just… climbed. I mentioned I was doing parkour, right? It’s a little embarrassing, compared to what most people do for fun, but it’s pretty nice if you need to chase someone through any place more crowded than normal.” He ducked his head away. A complete failure to suppress the urge to justify everything he did a thousand times over. “Not that you really need to do that, what with your…” He trailed off, unsure of how to talk about her superpowers.
He hadn’t really ever talked with Bibi normally, given that she was at first a secret, and then things got... complicated. He had to admit to himself that he’d been avoiding her (and Mizuki, and Date before he and Tama had conspired to catch him and talk to him) and now that they had to talk he had no idea what to say.
Bibi sighed, and Ryuki knew instantly that he’d been read. Despite all efforts, everyone at ABIS knew him too well to not realize when he was overthinking. Her expression was familiar to him, the conflict of not knowing what to say to… that couldn’t be right, though. (she had no reason to care)
It was the expression he had made so often when he could still look in the mirror. The expression he made from before he was a half. It made perfect sense, despite how much he rejected it. Bibi was just like him, in those ways.
The second he saw her next to Mizuki, he understood. Everyone he knew was whole, they had their other half. Mizuki and Bibi had each other, Amame and Shoma, and (half to whole is the name of her song) Kizuna and Lien. His other half was gone, and it was only thanks to Tama that he hadn’t reduced it to no halves of the person he used to be. If he was here, it all would’ve been fine, but…
Bibi’s expression was just like his, those days Ryuki (no other Ryukis lived, so why not take the name as if it was his first name) tried to take care of him (you’re supposed to be the responsible one, aren’t you?). He would look in the mirror knowing that they only had each other, so why not take on more responsibility for his sake? Ryuki’s dream was to see his brother fulfilled and happy, so he’d taken on the responsibility of the dream himself, in the end. Just one more way to take care of him (dead. gone. you can’t take care of a dead person, should’ve been y
“Look, Ryuki, I don’t hate you. I’m still kinda mad, but… at the end of the day, I get it. I probably would do the same for Marco, and you have… it’s just Tama for you, right?”
He looked away, as much as he could. “... Thanks, Bibi. You’re right, as always.”
“Okay, great! Now stop being stupid and show me how you got up here.” She walked over and ruffled his hair forcefully. (how long has it been since he was touched casually?) “I can get up here because I’ve got superpowers, but you’re just normal! So you’re gonna show me how you do it.”
“Uh, alright?” He managed to sneak away from her and fix his hair, as much as his hair could ever be “fixed.” “Let me just, uh, fix up my knee first. But if you really want to learn, and you’re sure you want to learn from me then… we’ll do it!”
They really were alike, huh. For once, on the way down from the rooftops, the silence was filled by awkward laughter, and not his own thoughts.
It wasn’t so bad.