*All character endings have nothing to do with what happens in the original storyline, these are all 'what ifs' and 'what could have beens', but will also be taking place as if Y/N didn't attend the final fight.*
ㄒ卄乇 ㄒㄖ爪卂几 ㄒ尺卂丨ㄒㄖ尺
ㄒ卄乇 ㄒㄖ爪卂几 ㄒ尺卂丨ㄒㄖ尺
[Promises are the Sweetest Lies]
The sky overhead was dark, the moon tucked away behind a large cloud, blocking the natural glow of its light as your feet carried you down the narrow sidewalk towards the apartment building you resided in. Keys jingled as you swung them around your index finger, bag tightly slung over your shoulder, the small keychain with the pet store's logo printed across the front, jumped up and down with each step. Your phone was clutched in between your fingers in your other hand, thumb furiously typing away at a text for Chifuyu, letting him know that you had successfully closed up the shop since he had to leave earlier in the day.
Right as you were about to send the text, your screen froze for a split second before Chifuyu's name flashed across the screen, ringtone blaring out into the dead silence of the night. Quietly cursing to yourself, you stumbled over your feet as you tripped over a curb, keys almost falling to the ground if it wasn't for your finger quickly reacting and catching the key ring before they could fall. Sliding your finger across the screen you stopped in your tracks, taking a moment to hold the phone against your ear and fix your hold on your keys before continuing.
"Hey, I was just about to send you a text. I locked everything up and counted the money in the register, did everything like you asked me to." You spoke into the phone, hearing only the eerie silence coming from the other end before it erupted into an explosion of shouting and loud music.
"Y/N?" You could just barely hear the sound of Chifuyu's voice calling out your name through the speaker, "Heyyy, did everything go okay?" His voice was much clearer and sounded like it was a lot closer to the phone than he had been before. "You have a good night?"
"Did you even hear what I just said-" You let out a quick sigh, "I- You know what, what are you doing right now? Are you at a club?"
"Noo! I'm with Takemichi and some of the other boys, we were- we're just hanging out, ya know?" He slurred through his sentence, appearing to get farther away from the music playing in the background.
"Are you drunk?" You asked, stopping in front of the apartment building, "Do you need a ride home?"
"Kazutora said he was going to drive us home." A new voice chimed in, higher pitched in tone and softer in comparison to Chifuyu. Takemichi was leaning over Chifuyu's shoulder, head resting against his friends to hear your voice through the speaker.
"Kazutora? He's the one taking you both- I..." You paused, letting out an annoyed sigh, your feet beginning to move on their own into the building in front of you. With one hand holding your phone to your ear you helped balance yourself using the railing as you climbed the stairs. "You know what, just try to be safe tonight, and for the love of gods, don't do anything stupid like last time."
"We'll be on our best behavior tonight, Y/N." The third and final voice spoke, knowing that he was most likely smirking as those words left his lips.
You rolled your eyes, letting out a few quiet puffs as you climbed the final step, the lights lighting the hall flickering as it lit up the poorly painted red walls with a nasty yellow glow.
"Yeah sure you-" Your steps came to a slow halt, your eyebrows furrowing at the sight in front of you.
"Y/N?" Kaztora said, his voice sounding a little more concerned than he did a moment ago. Removing the phone from Chifuyu's loose grip he held the phone up to his own ear, hoping to hear you a little better. "Hey you there?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm here." You mumbled, words slowly coming out as you took a hesitant step forward. "Tora, hey, I'm gonna have to go." You pulled the phone away from your ear, finger mindlessly searching around to end the call while your eyes stayed locked onto the end of the hall.
"What? Is something wrong? Y/N? Y/N-" Kazutora was interrupted by the sound of beeping coming from the line, pulling the phone away from his ear. He looked at the screen displaying how long the call had been.
Shoving your phone into the pocket of your pants, you slowly continued to walk forward. With each step closer to your door, you could see that it was now wide open instead of cracked like you had thought it was. Stopping in front of the door, you quietly peered into the room, seeing that the lights were off and everything looked untouched.
All except for the couch cushions which seemed to have been thrown onto the floor, a pair of feet dangling off the side. A low voice slurring out the words to a song as their hands flew up into the air above them, pretending to play the drums.
Stepping into your apartment, you quietly grabbed hold of a vase beside the door, raising it above your waist as you continued forward. Freezing in your spot, your eyes shifted from the figure on the couch down to your feet, eyes widening slightly at the squeaky floorboard you had just stepped on, resulting in the other person to jump up from the couch.
With a startled scream and rush forward, you smashed the vase against the person's head, watching as they fell back onto the couch, their face catching the shitty yellow lighting from the hall before falling back into the shadows.
"What the fuck?!" You shouted, stumbling backwards towards the door, flipping the lightswitch on you, turning back around, eyes locking with none other than Shuji Hanma's. "What the fuck are you doing in my apartment?! Get out!"
Sitting up, Hanma rubbed at the spot on his head where the vase had hit him, swiping at the small cut on his forehead which seemed to prickle with tiny droplets of blood.
"Y/N it's been so longggg, I've misse-"
"How the hell did you find out where I live?" You took a step back when Hanma stood back up, his legs wobbling, trying to steady himself as he walked towards you.
"I've missed you so much, but you don't miss me." He whined, lips curled into a slight frown as he stopped in front of you. Your body tense as you held your hands behind your back, keys tucked tightly in between your fingers in case he were to try anything. "How come we aren't friends anymore?" He asked, head slouching against his chest, "Mannnn, I used to be in love with you, ya know? What happened to us, we were pretty great together." He admitted, legs giving out and falling back onto the floor, shaking the objects near him. Your defensive stance fell, hands falling to your side as you almost stepped forward to catch him.
"Hanma-"
"I thought we were going to stay together forever, hm? I mean we even got matching tattoos!" He held up his hand, the tattooed kanji of 'sin' staring right at you before it limply fell back to his side, eyes zoning in on your hand which was supposed to have the same tattoo only to find it gone. "Huh? W-Where'd it go?"
You immediately moved your hand behind your back, hiding the spot where the tattoo was supposed to be from him, "I got rid of it." You spoke, eyes narrowing in his direction. "Now, tell me how you found me and why you're here."
"You... Got rid of it?" He whispered, gaze falling to the floor as he went silent.
"Can you-" You set your stuff down onto the table by the door, where you had gotten the vase from, "Can you just leave. I really don't want to do this right now, and you're obviously drunk, so I think you need to go back to your home, or wherever you came from." You stood beside the door, arms crossed over your chest as you waited for him to make a move, but he didn't seem to hear your words at all. Stuck frozen in his spot, staring down at the ground in silence, small tears bubbling up in his eyes as he slowly looked up at you.
"I said I was sorry, Kisaki... He got in my head, ya know? He... He... He-"
"I really don't want to talk about this, Hanma. That was years ago, and I'm over it really, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to forgive you for what you did." Grabbing hold of the door you used your other hand to gesture him towards the exit, "Please just leave, I really don't want anything to do with the life you live anyways."
"But I love you! Why can't we just-" He was cut off by a rough cough escaping his throat, head falling back against the side of the couch, eyes closing as he silently sighed. "Why couldn't you just ever choose me?" He made no signs of getting up and following your request to leave, you went ahead and closed the door, sliding down the back of it until you sat on the floor. Glaring across the short space at the male who only seemed to ramble on about his feelings for you, leaving you to listen without being able to get a single word in, watching as he drunkenly let a few tears fall from his eyes.
The clothes he wore looked expensive, one that you weren't necessarily used to seeing him in, though it has been years since you had last seen him. Instead of the long, dirty, shaggy hair he had been sporting, it was now cut much shorter. Shorter on the sides while the top was a little longer, more streaks of blonde present in his hair than the old one strand in front. Presumably, his hair had most likely been styled before arriving at your apartment, hell, probably before he even got drunk to begin with, but now it was sunken down, flat and sticking up in some places around his head.
Tight fitting, black buttoned up shirt stuck to his chest, the first few buttons undone exposing the smooth skin of his chest. Peeking out from under the thin material of his shirt, you could just barely make out the dark color of a tattoo curved under his collarbone, letters too small to be read from where you sat. While most of his shirt was tucked into the waistband of his pants, the front flaps were left hanging out, the button and zipper of his pants undone as he slouched further back making his stomach poke out further.
While Hanma did seem more put together nowadays, it seemed that he had fallen off tonight for some reason. Consuming enough alcohol that you could smell his breath all the way across the room, his head bobbing with every word he spoke as he was on the verge of passing out.
"When I saw y-you the other day, I couldn't help but follow you." He said, breaking you out of your thoughts. Your eyebrows furrowed as you took a moment to register his words, "I knew I couldn't just let you go, I wanted to- I needed to see you again, to talk to you. So I followed you all the way back here, and- and- and that's how I knew you lived here." He finally answered your question, eyes closed as he let his body fully lay onto the floor, back pressed against the couch as he somewhat curled into himself. "I just... I don't know... I saw you, and I just thought about everything we've been through together, that we..." The few tears he shed had either dried against his cheeks or had been rubbed into the carpet underneath him when he basically flopped over.
His head resting on top of his folded arms as his eyes slowly opened, trying to focus on your blurry figure in front of him before closing right after, lips moving as he spoke a few more incoherent words.
You didn't speak as you watched him quickly pass out.
No.
Instead, you brought your kee's up to your chest, folded arms resting on them as you let your head drop, hiding your vision from his sleeping form.
You rapidly blinked back the tears threatening to fall from your eyes as your bottom lip trembled slightly, gaze barely raising, landing on the familiar tattoo on his hand before moving to look at your own hand. The look on his face when he saw that the tattoo wasn't there flashing through your head, making you feel just a tad bit guilty, but you wouldn't allow yourself to succumb to that emotion fully.
Pushing yourself up off the floor, you reached over, locking the front door to be sure no other intruders could get in, or... At least to slow them down. Taking a deep breath, you walked around the body on the floor, fingers wrapping around the throw blanket tucked over the back of the couch and half haphazardly draping it over Hanma.
Without any more thought you proceeded down the hall towards your bedroom, being sure to close and lock the door behind you in case he were to wake up before you and try to look for you, but a part of you really doubted that he would even be up before noon the next day.
Not wanting to be outside of the enclosure of your own bedroom, you stuck to a much simpler routine tonight. Opening the top drawer of your dresser you pulled out a half full package of face wipes, crinkling when you opened them and pulled out a wipe. The cool sensation swiping across your face as you removed the light makeup you had worn sent shivers down the back of your spine, a soft gasp escaping from in between your lips when you wiped away the contents of your face.
Letting the used wipe fall into the small trash bin beside your dresser, you reach into the package once more, taking one last wipe before setting it on top of the dresser. Closing the package, you put it back into its original spot and closed the drawer before moving to two drawers down, pulling out a random pair of shorts from inside. Setting them next to the wipe, you moved over to the closet, picking out a t-shirt, one you felt would be comfortable to sleep in.
Removing the shirt you had on, you let it fall to the floor beside your feet, doing the same with your shorts, you pulled on the clean clothes you had just picked out before grabbing the wipe from the dresser and moving towards your bed. Stopping to turn off the big overhead light hanging from the ceiling, instead you turned on the small lamp sitting on the bedside table.
Falling back onto the bed, you kicked your legs up, crossing on over the other as you leaned back into the fluff of your pillows. Fingers tightly gripping the wipe as you lifted your other hand, holding in the light for you to see. Shakily you connected the wipe to the back of your other hand, dragging it downwards, collecting the thick coat of makeup you had used to cover the tattoo which had seemed to disappear.
Wiping at it until it was completely gone, leaving just the bare tattooed skin of your hand. Setting the dirty wipe onto the table beside you, you couldn't help but stare at the tattoo, eyes following the broad lines of the kanji.
Remembering how you and Hanma had once been best friends.
And remembering how quickly that had changed.
~
Waking up in the morning, Hanma had a pounding headache.
One that really set him off into a bad mood, cursing at the feeling of his muscles tight, cursing at the sprawled out position he had slept in, and cursing the fact that he had no god damn idea where he was.
The last thing he could remember was going out to a club with some of the guys he was working a job with, ordering a round of drinks which he thinks he managed to drink all on his own while the others went to find a girl or two to keep them company for the night.
Looking around the room he was in, he slowly sat up, joints popping back into place as he shifted to glance around. Head spinning, clutching his stomach as it started to churn, a groan slipping past his lips, pain shooting through his hand making him look down. Noticing the bruises littering across the skin of his knuckles, his eyebrows furrowed, hearing a faint voice coming from a different room, the smell of food being cooked filling his nostrils.
Eyes darting around the room, he searched for some sort of clock to see what time it was, completely forgetting about the phone in the pocket of his pants until it went off. Chiming with a new text, one that startled him out of his little daze, and ultimately silencing the muffled voice from the other room.
Hand automatically moving to pull out his phone, he could hear the sound of footsteps approaching the room he was in, stopping in the doorway and peaking out at him. Ignoring you, Hanma looked at his phone, lighting up with about twenty texts from the guys he was with last night, along with his boss he was supposed to report back to.
"Can you get out now?" He glanced back up at the voice, watching as they walked out from the doorway and fully into the living room, "I let you sleep here, now can you get out?"
He kept silent as he stared at you, eyes tracing the form of your body from head to toe in silence, finally realizing what he had done.
"Fuck..." He swore under his breath, head hanging low in almost shame, but the slight curl of his lips made you know that he was anything but ashamed. "It's been a while, huh? How ya been?"
"Can we not do this again, I really don't want to hear all your shit about how you missed me and how you were so in love with me. I'd really rather just leave all of that in the past and continue the life I have now." You crossed your arms over your chest, eyes narrowing down at the male as he slowly blinked, the smirk spread across his face only growing even wider.
"Oya? I told you I was in love with you, huh? How amusing..." He stood up from the ground, hand wrapping around the back of his neck, the slight twitch in his movements as he almost nervously scratched at the area. "I don't feel like leaving quite yet." He said, turning his back to you as he moved to sit on the couch, leaning back into the cousins before kicking his feet up onto the table in front of him. "You making breakfast?"
"It's lunchtime." You said, rolling your eyes at his actions, watching as he looked back down at his phone, finally noticing the time.
"...Shit." He whispered, instantly standing back up from the couch, his eyes locking with yours, "Let's hang out tomorrow, okay?"
"Uh, no."
"What, why?" Hanma whined, the childish attitude you were used to back then reappearing.
"You know why." You rolled your eyes, turning around and moving over to the door, unlocking it and pulling it open. "Listen..." You turned your gaze back to the male, "Even if I was somewhat interested in seeing you again, I wouldn't be able to do it. I just- I don't want anything to do with the lifestyle you live."
"What do you mean by the lifestyle I live?" He asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion, an almost offended look casted across his face.
"I... Listen, I honestly don't want to talk about this, please just, leave."
"No, tell me what you meant."
"You're obviously in more deep than you were when we were younger, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you were doing something illegal. But I really, just don't want to be a part of that life anymore, so please, don't try to contact me again." Once again, just like the night before, you gestured for him to exit the apartment, but instead he stayed deeply rooted into his spot.
"You won't be involved, just me." He said, looking over pretty much everything you had said. "So I don't see what the problem would be."
"I just don't want to be involved with anyone in that sort of life either, Hanma."
"Just once, that's all I'm asking for, please." He took slow steps forward until he stood in front of you, his eyes darting between the hall and you, desperation hidden deep within his gaze. "Just once."
"Just once?" You whispered, your glare seeming to soften the moment he rested a hand on your shoulder.
"Yes, just once." The calm moment was interrupted by the sound of his phone going off, ringing with an incoming call which he just let go to voicemail.
"You really hurt me, ya know?" You dropped your head, removing your gaze from his and pulling away from his touch. "Fine, just once, but I don't want anything to do with you after that."
"Great! I'll pick you up tomorrow night since I already know where you live." The neutral expression he had plastered across his face quickly flipped into a small smirk, narrowed eyes glinting with excitement as he patted the top of your head before moving past you to the hall. "See ya tomorrow-" Before he could finish, you had already slammed the door in his face, locking it right after. Turning around you leaned against the door, letting out a small puff of air in annoyance, face heating up slightly at the sound of his chuckles through the door. Waiting for his footsteps to fade, you rolled your eyes before pushing yourself off the door, going back to the kitchen to continue what you had been doing before he woke up.
Dreading tomorrow night when you would have to see him again.
ㄒ卄乇 ㄒㄖ爪卂几 ㄒ尺卂丨ㄒㄖ尺
At precisely six'o'clock the next evening, there was a pounding on your door, startling you from the puzzle you had been working on all day. The piece you held slipped through your fingers, falling onto the floor beside your foot, blending in with the carpet.
"Shit." You quietly swore to yourself, removing your surprised gaze from the door to the floor, eyes searching around for the puzzle piece. Your fingers brushed against the rough, cheap carpet, trying to feel around for the smooth outline of the piece only to stop when you heard the sound of your door being opened. Instantly standing up you tensed up, almost on guard as you look towards the intruder.
"You ever gonna answer the door?" Hanma asked, pushing the door open until it lightly hit the wall on the other side, "You're not even dressed yet?" His lips tutted out into a pout, eyes drifting down the course of your figure. Studying the way you looked in your pajamas which you still haven't changed out of since you woke up this morning.
"Did you just..." Your sentence drifted off, eyes darting between him and the door which you know for certain had just been locked. "Did you just break into my apartment again?"
"Yeah, so?" He shrugged his shoulders, walking further into the apartment, weakly closing the door behind him before striding over to the couch where you sat. Peering over your shoulder from behind, his lips curved up into an amused smirk, "Hello Kitty puzzle, hm? Interesting choice." He mused, walking around the back of the couch and taking a seat on the other side of you.
"What are you doing here?" You grumbled, removing your eyes from him and back onto the puzzle, completely forgetting about the piece that had fallen to the floor.
"Did you forget that we have a date tonight?"
"It's not a date." You said, scooting further to the other side of the couch, seeing out of the corner of your eye how he continued to move closer and closer to you. "And I honestly didn't think you would show back up."
"Well I couldn't stay away from my number one girl now, could I?" He cooed, his face inching closer to yours with a cool smirk, his eyes observing your reactions as he placed a gentle hand on top of your thigh. "I'm not complaining if you want to stay here, I'm sure we could come up with something much more fun to do than the dinner I had originally planned." His lips were brushing against your ear, chills running down the back of your spine as he whispered into your ear.
With your lips scrunching up in disgust, you pushed his body away from yours, standing up from the couch and taking a couple steps back from the male, "No thanks, I think I'll just go get dressed now." You said, annoyance ever so present in your tone as you turned to walk down the hall, desperately trying to ignore his wandering gaze. "Stay there and don't move."
He held his hands up in surrender, chuckling lightly as he leaned back onto the couch, eyes following your figure as you disappeared down the hall and into your bedroom. Listening to the sound of your door being shut behind you and locked, he waited a few seconds before standing up from the couch and rummaging through your belongings in the living room.
Unintentionally knocking down a few more pieces of the puzzle onto the floor after bumping his shin against the edge of the table. Moving over to the desk in the corner of the room, his eyes scanned across the papers littered across the surface before digging through the drawers.
Hidden under a stack of blank printer paper was a secret compartment, storing your savings which you had worked very hard to get. Contemplating to himself, Hanma stared at the cash, debating on if he should take it or not.
Knowing that if you didn't have it then the chances of you turning to him when in need would be just a little bit higher.
"What are you doing?" Using his hip to nudge the drawer closed, he pretended to look at the photo on your desk, framed in a cheap plastic which you had probably found from a thrift store years ago.
"Was just looking at this." He said, hand reaching for the picture which he had no idea what it was until his eyes landed on familiar faces. "Huh, you kept a photo like this?" Removing his gaze from the photo he glanced up to you, mindlessly setting the frame back into its place with a clearly irritated look on his face.
The photo, in which he was talking about, was none other than one you had taken with Takemichi and Chifuyu during your days as a trio, working together as a team to create the best future possible.
You stood in the middle with your arms wrapped around each boy's shoulders, tugging at their cheeks in an attempt to get them to smile for the camera. Hinata even tried to tell jokes to get them to laugh as she steadied the camera in his hands, focusing the lens onto the three of you before snapping the photo.
"Well yeah, they're my friend's. Why wouldn't I keep a photo like that?" Your face twisted into one of confusion as you spoke, eyebrows raised in suspicion as you watched him set the frame back down without saying anything more.
"So you're still friends with them?" He asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants so you didn't see the way they clenched, knuckles turning white in anger. Watching you nod your head to his question he let out a sharp sigh, shaking his head slightly before moving towards where you stood, a small hand purse clutched between your arm and side. "How bout we get going? The reservation is soon."
"Huh? Res...ervation?" You spoke slowly as you finally looked at the outfit he wore, seeing it was much fancier than the one he wore last night when he drunkenly broke into your apartment. "Reservation?" You watched him walk past you, heading towards the door while pulling out a set of keys and jingling them in his hand.
"You think I'd take you out and not treat you nice?" Stopping at the door, he pulled it open before turning back to look at you with a hint of a smirk. "What kind of man do ya take me for?" He held the door open, standing off to the side as he gestured for you to head out first.
Your eyes narrowed at the cocky male, grumbling quietly to yourself as you shoved yourself past the male and out into the hall. "I didn't think you were much of a man to begin with..." You whispered to yourself, unknowing that he had heard you and rolled his eyes, removing something small from his pocket, a keychain which he had already removed from his keys prior to arriving. Making sure you weren't looking he threw it over in the direction of the couch, watching it bounce on the cushion before falling to the floor.
"You wound me, Y/N. And I thought we were going to get along tonight." He said in faux sadness, hand pressed against his chest as he sent you a mischievous pout.
"I never said I was going to be nice." You replied, nudging him to the side after he had closed the door, using your key to lock it. "We won't be seeing each other after tonight, so I don't have a reason to be nice." Ignoring the way his face fell, you began your walk down the hall, leaving Hanma stunned in silence still by your apartment door.
The frown on his face slowly turned upwards into a smirk, and with the slight shake of his head he followed behind you, knowing full well that this wouldn't be the last time he sees you.
Because after all, he now had a reason to come back to your apartment.
~
Hanma.
Fuck him.
That was all you could think of at the moment.
Sitting in the passenger seat of his car as he drove you back to your home, the song playing over the radio turned down just enough that you could barely hear it over the consistent mixture of Hanma apologizing and laughing.
"Come on now, I already told you that you were fine." He laughed, removing his gaze from the road to look at you, one hand on the wheel while the other inched closer to your thigh.
"Shut up." You said lowly, arms crossed over your chest as you turned your body away from him, instead choosing to focus on the scenery moving quickly outside the window.
You should have known.
Really, you should have.
You couldn't help but look down at the outfit you had worn to the restaurant, lips curved down into a frown, remembering the difference between you and the other's dining.
You should have known from the way Hanma was dressed, not really noticing that he had dressed quite nicely until you had arrived at the restaurant and realized just how fancy it truly was.
How different it was from what you were used to.
"...I can't believe you let me go in there wearing this." You whispered, frown deepening when he only laughed in return.
Of course, you hadn't dressed up as much as you would have thought to, not really thinking he would be taking you to one of the most expensive restaurants in all of Tokyo and spoiling you with whatever you wanted, no matter how expensive.
"I already told you, you looked beautiful." He sighed, the hand not on the wheel finally reaching the outer shell of your thigh, index finger raising and brushing against the fabric of your pants, pulling his hand atop your thigh and giving it a gentle squeeze. "You could have gone in your pajamas and you still would have looked absolutely beautiful."
Shifting your body, you fixed yourself to sit forward, hand grabbing hold of his before directing your gaze to meet with his surprised one.
"Hanma..." Your features softened, lips slowly curling up into a sweet smile as you carried his hand over to his own thigh, letting it fall to his lap along with your smile. "What did I tell you about touching me?" You glarred, his shocked face falling into his usual expression, chuckling lightly as he nodded his head.
"Yeah, yeah. I won't touch you... Yet." He laughed, pulling the car over to the side of the road, parking right in front of your apartment building which glowed with the new, bright street lights which had just been put in.
"Whatever, thanks for driving me home." You said, unbuckling your seatbelt and gathering your things from the floorboard beside your feet, hand moving to open the door, but Hanma had stopped you before you could get out.
"Ah, wait a moment!" Removing his own seatbelt, he jumped out of the car and jogged around the front before opening your door for you. "Here we go." He held out a hand for you to take, a smile on his face as he prepared to be praised for being such a gentleman.
You dumbly stared at him for a moment, glancing between his hand and his face before getting out yourself, ignoring the hand which didn't seem to budge. "I can get out by myself, thanks." You rolled your eyes, reaching into your purse and pulling out your keys, turning around to look at the male who was closing the car door. "This was an awful night, I guess, but it won't be happening again. So I hope you got your fill."
"Wait, let me walk you up. Never know if someone could be lurking in the halls, ya know?" There was a bounce in his step as he strode towards you, hand placed on your back as he guided you into the building and up the stairs.
"Why are you being so- so...." You trailed off, eyeing him suspiciously as you inserted the key into the lock, twisting it to the side before opening the door. "What are you planning?"
"I'm not planning anything." He smiled, hands tucked into the pockets of his pants as he rocked back and forth on his feet. "I just wanted to prove to you that I've changed."
"That's not-"
"I really mean it when I've changed, Y/N. I want to fix things between us, I want us to be close like we were back then... I don't... I don't ever want to hurt you like that." You could see the genuine emotions swirling through his eyes, but you were still weary, "I just don't want to lose you again."
"Hanma... I-"
"Shuji. I want you to call me Shuji, please."
Your breath hitched, eyes widening slightly as you watched the male in front of you practically beg with teary eyes. Your lips were pressed together, words stuck in the back of your throat as you continued to gaze at him.
"Please... Don't let this be the last time we see each other." You watched as a single tear slipped from his eyes.
A tear.
Shuji Hanma was crying.
Something you were not used to.
Something that you had barely even witnessed when the both of you were still friends.
This was new.
He told you he had changed.
The question is... Would you believe it?
ㄒ卄乇 ㄒㄖ爪卂几 ㄒ尺卂丨ㄒㄖ尺
Just like Hanma had planned, he had convinced you to see him again, making up the excuse that he had left something at your apartment, which you found hard to believe until he strode right in and went right to the area where he had thrown his keychain. Chuckling when he saw that you hadn't even bothered to touch the puzzle since that day, and at the expression on your face.
But even with that small little meeting, he had somehow managed to get you to agree to another... what he would call a date.
And another.
And another.
And... Another.
He had somehow ended up weaseling his way back into your heart by consistently showing up at your apartment at the most random times, claiming that he had something big planned and needed you to go along with him. Only to take you out to the most fanciest places you had ever been, spoiling you with food, clothes, jewelry, whatever you could possibly think of.
But you didn't want any of that.
What you truly wanted was to know what Hanma wanted.
Why he kept coming back to you?
~
You sat on the couch, bottom lip tucked in between your teeth as you stared down at the table in front of you, eyebrows knitted together in concentration. You could hear the door being opened, the familiar rhythm of footsteps bouncing into the living room.
"You're still working on that puzzle?" You could hear the amusement in his voice, as he leaned over the back of the couch, face settling right beside yours. "Looks like you're missing some pieces." He said, noticing how the few pieces you had left were not the same color of the part you were currently trying to figure out.
"No, I can't be. I picked up all the pieces you dropped, and I didn't find any other's down there." You shook your head in disagreement, reaching across the table and grabbing a piece before trying to fit it into a spot. "Damnit..."
"Well, anyways, come on, I need you to go somewhere with me." He stood back up, flicking the back of your head to knock you out of the puzzle solving trance you were in.
"No, I don't feel like going anywhere." You said, swatting his hand away when he continued to mess with you.
"I won't be taking no for an answer, come on."
"Why?" You asked, turning around in your spot, head tilting up as you locked eyes with the male.
"Because I want to go out with you, come onnnn, let's go do something fun." He whined, shoulders slumping in impatience.
"No, why do you keep taking me places? Why do you keep coming over here and dragging me around to spend money on me? I don't get it." You started, watching his expression fall serious, his feet carrying him around the back of the couch and to the front, taking a seat in the open space beside you. "I've told you time and time again how much you've hurt me, how much I didn't want to in my life, to be involved with someone still working in that type of business."
"But I-" Hanma spoke, his words dying on the tip of his tongue at your expression, frowning in return. "I love you Y/N, I always have and honestly, I always will. I just don't want to lose you again, so I guess that's why I'm so persistent to always see you..." He looked down in slight embarrassment, not knowing that he would be getting called out on his actions today.
"I don't think we should see each other anymore... Before things between us get farther we should just end-"
"No!" He jumped up to his feet, staring down at you with a crazed look, his eyes watering in response to your words. "No, I don't want this to stop... Please, I'll do anything."
Pushing yourself off the couch, you could feel your heart drop at the look on his face... So sad... So desperate.... So... Deceiving. "But Hanma, I don't want anything to do with the-"
"I'll quit."
The room fell silent as the both of you stared at each other in shock.
You, in shock that those words had actually left his lips.
Him, in shock that he had even spoke them.
"I... I'll do it, if you want me to." He spoke slowly, voice quiet as he averted his gaze to the other side of the room. "I really do mean it when I say I love you... And I know you don't feel the same, but I'm willing to do anything to be with you, Y/N." He took a step towards you, his hands shakily coming up to cup your cheeks, thumbs brushing against the skin under your eyes. His face slowly inching closer, taking your shocked silence as an acceptance to continue his small movements. "You're," You could feel his breath fanning against your lips, the new feeling making your eyes grow wide, "The only one I want."
His lips molded with yours, clashing together as you finally broke from your frozen state, arms immediately wrapping around the back of his neck. His hands found their way to your hips, pulling you closer to him, savoring the sweet kiss you had finally granted him. Inching up the hem of your shirt, his fingers danced across the bare skin of your waist making you break away from the kiss, your head pounding in confusion while your heart sped up from his words.
"You'd really quit... For me?"
"Yes." He said, his lips curling up into a smile, one that made butterflies erupt in your stomach, but also sent chills down the back of your spine. "I promise I won't ever hurt you again." He whispered, pulling you back into his arms, holding you close to him, feeling let out a steady sigh, allowing yourself to fall.
Fall for him.
Fall into the arms of a man who had once betrayed you.
If only you had remembered that promises were the sweetest of lies.
~
With you now by Hanma's side, he felt that everything had fallen into place.
He was finally living the life he had always dreamed of.
But even so, after becoming official with you, moving in together, hell, even proposing to you and getting married... He still felt that something was missing.
And that was the life he had given up to be with you.
The excitement he had felt whenever doing a new job was now gone, and the money he had saved from before quitting was slowly dwindling down to below what he would have liked.
Of course, he had gotten you, but he had also given up a part of himself to be with you.
And you...
Poor... You.
You couldn't have expected Hanma to keep his promise, could you?
Giving up what he enjoyed most, that was truly out of the question for him, even if you were to ask him.
But what you didn't expect was for him to come back home late in the night with bruises littering the skin covering his body. Small splatters of blood at the bottom of his white button up shirt which one wouldn't notice unless they were to look close enough.
And you did.
Look close enough.
Close enough to see the blood, the see the cracks in his knuckles, and his bloodshot eyes as he walked into your shared bedroom.
Climbing into the bed, laying his head on his pillow as he heavily exhaled, filling the room with his alcohol breath before he began to drunkenly rant about his night.
Telling you every single detail.
From the way he went to a meeting which ended up turning into a drug exchange before him and some other went out to some club, drinking himself blind.
Telling you about the cute girl he saw at the other side of the bar, and how he bought her a drink before taking her into the bathrooms and fucking her raw.
You heard every single detail come from his own mouth.
And all you could do was sit there and listen, pretending to not be hurt because you remember what happened the last time you tried to say something about his actions.
So instead you would wait until he talked himself to sleep, before crawling out of bed, the long silk robe he had gotten you as one of your many presents for being with him clung to your body. Trailing along the floor as you walked on shaky legs to the bathroom and locking the door behind you.
Your back sliding against the door until you landed on the ground, hands cupped over your mouth, muffling the sobs trying to escape from your throat. Tears pooling down your cheeks, as you choked on your own breath.
Remembering how much he said he enjoyed the other women he had been seeing, how much fun they were.
How they knew all the right things to do to him.
How pretty they were.
How good they smelled.
And fuck... You could smell their perfume lingering on his shirt everytime he flipped over in bed.
He was right.
They did smell good.
Composing yourself, you would open the bathroom door, standing in the doorway for a moment. Contemplating on whether or not you should just leave, pack a bag and completely disappear from everyone... From everything. But the sight of Hanma flipping over onto his side, hand feeling around for your body before letting out a muffled groan, lazily pushing his body up from the comfort of the mattress, eyes searching around for you.
"Hey," His voice was raspy, in desperate need of a drink of water from the few hours he had been asleep. No doubt he had sobered up by the expression on his face, most likely a splitting headache making its course through him as his eyes landed on your figure. "What's wrong?" He asked worriedly, hand gripping the blanket, prepared to throw it across the bed and get up for you.
"Nothing's wrong," You stated, a soft smile appearing on your face as you moved towards the bed, his panicked expression quickly slipping from his face as he sighed out in relief, "Just needed to go to the bathroom." Pulling back the blanket on your side of the bed, you slowly climbed in, heaving out a heavy breath as you finally managed to comfortably lay on your side, back facing Hanma.
"Good, you had me worried." He said, scooting his body closer to you, wrapping an arm around you, hand laying flat against your stomach. "The baby okay too?" You nodded your head, letting out a quiet hum in affirmation, hand moving to rest on top of his. You didn't receive anything more after that, only the sound of his breathing slowing down once again as he fell back asleep.
Hanma says he loves you.
And he really does.
But he's not ready to settle down and stop having fun.
Even though he had you waiting at home, he still finds himself getting into risky situations which could wind him up in jail if caught and indulging himself in other women... Even though you're at home, laying in the pitch black room you shared, cradling your stomach which was heavy with your unborn child. Huddled under the blankets, waiting for him to come back like he had promised he would, but you still find yourself waiting.
Waiting for the love he claimed to have for you.
ㄒ卄乇 ㄒㄖ爪卂几 ㄒ尺卂丨ㄒㄖ尺