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Madara is not entirely surprised to see Rei. Maybe he had been hoping to see him here. Nothing separating them but the clear floor of the airport, a delayed flight and their own reservations.
Long days at Rei’s house when he couldn’t bear his own or his home couldn’t bear him, learning his new role as well as-
(pressed, skin to skin, on Rei’s bed, breathless after another round of competition that Rei would never quite let him win, coming up second at the finish line and still being rewarded a laughing kiss that they both pretended didn’t matter)
-Other things… were all continents separate from them. A world away. It was tucked away on Rei’s bed, under his pillow and between the sheets that Madara knew still carried his scent come morning. The dawn would creep through curtains and illuminate a lazy smile and lingering touches and three words never spoken between them.
It was dusk now and Madara could see warm orange hues succumb to indifferent darkness.
He could see Rei.
He looked… smaller. Not in the way that the eyes of a monster could only see others in terms of how easy they were as prey. Instead it was in the hunch of his shoulders. The sweat on his skin. The tremble in his walk. The most human ways of expressing that you were near done with it all.
Defeated.
Madara had never seen Rei look defeated.
It is inevitable that they will collide paths. Inexplicably, that makes his stomach pull taunt with anxiety. Would Rei want to see him?
For a second, Madara thinks they will just about miss each other but Rei manages to spare him a glance that has Madara rushing over. The wry smile that would usually go with it is missing.
Madara’s voice is far more gentle than usual but his enthusiasm still remains. “Rei-san, Rei-san, Rei-san~”
Ah, there it is, the smile he missed, weaker but still amused. “Mikejima-kun~. Fancy seeing you here.”
“It’s only to be expected of your successor Rei-san! There’s always somewhere to be!”
“Mm, now ain’t that right…”
He gazes out to one of the open windows of the airports. In the brief seconds of Rei’s distraction, Madara takes in small details - his hair has lost its shine, his shirt is buttoned haphazardly, the nail polish he made a point of maintaining is chipped, there are heavy bags under his eyes, he looks just that bit more gaunt…
“Where are you off to now?” Madara says it gently as if he could break this mirage of Rei with just his words.
“Spain. Got more issues goin’ on ‘n’ they need me to fix ‘em.” He yawns nonchalantly. “Way too tirin’.”
A warm climate with the sun bearing down directly on him? When he was already in this state?
“Are you really up to going? Seems like a lot!”
He shrugged. “If not me, who else?”
Me. It could be me.
But he already knew the answer that Rei would give to that.
“Yeah, I can imagine! It’s a good thing Mama is here to listen to aaanything you want to say~! It isn’t too easy being Rei-san, is it?”
“Yeah… I guess so…”
Rei’s body seems to deflate. Finally, finally, his head falls onto Madara’s waiting chest. He can feel the weight of just Rei’s breaths, feel every shudder and places a soothing hand placatingly on his shoulder.
It was his chance. To, for once, comfort Rei, understand Rei, take care of Rei in the way he never let him do before, to finally help him carry the burden-
“But it ain’t so easy being Mikejima-kun either, is it?”
Madara is shocked into silence. Rei rises from his embrace like the dead, forcing Madara to succumb to his gaze. There was no x-ray at the airport that could expose Madara like this - every last weapon in his arsenal is calmly disarmed before being he can set off any bombs. He can only watch his defenses fall away-
He thinks he only wants to watch them fall away.
Or worse, help with the process.
But of course he manages to recover because it was Rei that taught him these tricks. He wouldn’t give himself up so easily. And even then, he can tell his laugh sounds strained. “Were we competing, Rei-san? I would definitely want to win if it helped your situation improve!”
“Yeah, yeah, sure ya would. Don’t doubt it for a second but-” Another yawn. God, he looks so tired, when had he last slept somewhere that wasn’t a plane seat- “I’m good, Mikejima-kun. ‘M being serious. Don’t go barkin’ up any trees that no one asked ya to uproot, get me? Even if ya like to flaunt that strength of yours.” His smile is grim. “That’s for me to do.”
“... Rei-san…” He leans in closer. He can’t help it. “You know that if you wanted me to do anything, anything at all-”
“Nah, I know, Mikejima-kun. I could say the same to you but ya would give me the same reply you’re expectin’ from me, right?” It’s a smile so bitter that Madara can feel it on his tongue. “‘Everythin’s under control. I don’t need help, I promise.’ Everythin’ is fine, Mikejima-kun. Everythin’s fine.”
It is taking in this wobbling frame that seemed to be held purely by- by- by- barely anything, Madara was realising, this was a Rei who had his very framework ripped away from him and fed to the masses to satiate their unending hunger, a Rei starved of comfort to feed all but himself. This patchwork, genius, lonely man who taught him perfectly the art of being a monster while being nowhere near that himself because he’s just too good, purely and honestly good in a way Madara could never be- the one whose eyes didn’t cling to him with desperation, asking for the end from the crunch of the jaws of the beast to be quick but with an exhausted resignation just asking for an end-
It is in taking him in that Madara feels the purest surge of hatred and love he has ever felt.
Because he wants to put whoever has done this to him into the meat grinder. He wants them to pay and suffer for what they’ve done to someone who could take his hand and not be hurt when it squeezed. God, he wants to hunt them down and see their world fall to dust and leave them to stumble on blindly, just as Rei is-
And yet, there is no one in sight for the monster to hunt down, only Rei and his fleshy, tiring form with solemn, tired eyes and Rei comes first so-
He crushes him into a hug.
There is a surprised inhalation on Rei’s part. Still, Madara does not relinquish his hold on him.
“… Mikejima-kun…” A soft quaver. “We’re still in public.”
The shiver that Madara feels from Rei tells him just how intimate the murmur in his ear is. “It's an airport. No one will notice.”
That is all the permission Rei needs to cling to him. Madara can only cling back. It is entirely different from the collapse from just a second ago - there is comfort and safety in each other instead of just one. In this one area where people become suggestions and their masks become just the same as that, they reveal themselves to each other. If only for a moment, if only just before another day away from home.
He is breaking in his grasp but he is perfect. He is perfect and he is more than Madara has ever dreamed of or hoped for and Madara knows he will have to let him go soon but-
“I can think of something else no one will notice.”
Rei pulled away with a wet laugh but still, he kept his arms where they were. “Oh, don’t tell me you’re askin’ for a kiss when I’m wrecked like this. Ya got shit taste.”
“I would ask you for a kiss anyday. I guess this isn’t my preferred spot but… I don’t know when I’m going to see you again.”
Or how much smaller you’ll be once I make it back.
or if you’ll be there when i make it back
It’s telling that Rei does not try to reassure him.
It is telling that it is Rei who tiptoes up to press his lips to his.
The touch is nothing like the exhilaration of their last. There’s not enough energy between them for that. Instead, it is a quiet wish. While a promise feels too lofty, Madara can still beg for that wish to be answered, even if nothing had ever been answered before.
This is a transitory area. People are not meant to meet here and remember. People are not meant to come home here. But Madara will and he did and he wishes-
He wishes that the next time they meet, Rei will be in one piece.