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Hokuto found himself lying in an unfamiliar bed, his chest was about to burst out from a burning sensation, not to mention the pain he felt on his arm. He tried to get up from there but his body just wouldn't move.
"Oh, you woke up" his eyes were about to pop out by the realization of whose voice was that. When the said person came closer, he finally got a glimpse of his look; all he wanted to do was to run away from there.
"Don't even try to move yet, you got your arm wounded pretty bad" It was him, Jesse Lewis - his target, the one he should get rid off.
"I've got my friend to treat your wounds but you need some rest now, just stay there a little bit before you try to run away" before Hokuto tried to say anything more his body driven him back to sleep.
***
When he woke up again, Jesse was nowhere to be found. He was alone in a different room from where he woke up before, and there are food and some medicine placed on the top of a table close to his bed, it was for him he presumes.
Hokuto was about to leave when he realized he was wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants that were not his. All his belongings are nowhere to be found. Damn, that pocket knife was his favorite.
That bastard must have confiscated all his weapons.
Hokuto checked out the room, it has only one door and it was obviously locked. There was a small ventilation hole but he can’t get out from there.
He found nothing that could be used to pick the door’s lock either.
So Hokuto sat back on the bed, he was about to drink the water served there when he noticed there was a note on the table.
Eat first then take the medicine, you will get to go later
Of course he recognized the writings, nobody he ever met wrote as awkward
Okay so he was - like all his belongings, a confined here.
Hokuto decided to take the food and medicine, just after he finished, the door opened.
Jesse appeared with a box in his hand.
“Ah... you are awake” Jesse eyeing the tray to checked whether Hokuto has eaten his food.
“Good boy we have here, isn’t he?” Jesse smirked at him and he wanted to smack that face so bad.
Hokuto stiffened from his position as Jesse walked closer.
“It’s time to change your bandage. let me do it, okay” Jesse said, already opening what seems like a first aid kit.
“Just leave it there, I can do it on my own” Hokuto spit skeptically
“You can’t, it’s your right hand that was wounded” Jesse took a seat beside him, started to work on Hokuto’s bandage.
“Why don’t you stop this already?” Jesse said out of the blue.
Hokuto knew what it was about but he didn’t answer the question and kept staring at the wall in front of him.
“It’s your fourth attempt of killing me, you know nothing will work for me if it’s you who did it”
Hokuto sat still, unresponsive to Jesse’s words.
“Hoku…” there, Jesse pushed the wrong button.
“Don’t you dare to say my name!” Hokuto yelled at him and pulled his hand off, eyes dark with what looked like hatred and misery.
Jesse let out a sigh
“Okay okay, your bandage is getting messy, let me finish it at least” Jesse pleaded, trying to reach out for the bandage on Hokuto's hand.
“Just leave me die already!!” Hokuto finally looked back at Jesse, right into the other's eyes. Despite what he had said, he knew his whole expression might say otherwise. In the end, the reason why he hated Jesse so much was because Jesse dares to left him.
“You know I just wanted to keep you alive” there Jesse said it again, the cursed excuse that started all this fucking mess. The lines that had been haunting Hokuto and making him feel like a shit the whole time.
“You just saw me as a piece of baggage, didn’t you? That’s why you left without me” Hokuto could not hold his frustration any longer, so he just threw it out.
“You know it’s dangerous right? you stay there and keep living under their wings is the safest option. So please stop coming for me, go for another mission that doesn't include me. If they found out…” Before Jesse was done with his nonsense Hokuto cut him off, he jumped off to Jesse with all his weight and remaining power, screwed his arms! it can break whatsoever he cares no more.
“Stop talking nonsense, will you?! That was just what YOU think is good for me, have you ever considered my choice?! Hell, I don’t care if I had to make the worst enemies as long as I can stay by your side!” mad is such an understatement, Hokuto couldn't even describe how he was dying to bang the other’s head to the nearest wall, just so he would understand what Hokuto wanted all this time. He wanted nothing but Jesse.
Jesse is stunned by what Hokuto said. After Jesse left their base, Hokuto had been trying to hunt him down several times. Usually, Jesse would just leave Hokuto unconscious until people from the base took him back.
But their last fight was different, Jesse knew Hokuto had improved so much, he tried his best not to go too far, but in the end he got Hokuto wounded pretty bad.
No matter how much he had set his resolve, he couldn't find himself left Hokuto with those wounds, so this time he took Hokuto to his hideout. He left a message for his former boss, and make it looked like he took Hokuto as a hostage.
He still heard nothing from the base until the very moment, and rationally speaking that could only mean they already had found his play suspicious.
And now he had Hokuto combusted in front of him, Jesse's train of thought needs to wait.
Defeated, finally he let his body move as it wished. He embraced Hokuto with both of his hands, buried his face on Hokuto’s soft hair that he had been missing every single day.
They said nothing to each other, it was just comforting strokes and each other's heartbeats between them, but nonetheless they conveyed many things from these close contacts.
They stayed like that for a while, then Jesse brought them to get up. He made Hokuto sat properly and returned to fix the bandage on Hokuto’s hand.
“You sure about joining me?” Jesse asked, looking straight at Hokuto's eyes.
Hokuto saw worries there but there was also something else he couldn't explain properly - he hoped it was longing.
“Yes” Hokuto answered without a slight hesitation.
“You sure you want to live as a fugitive for the rest of your life?” Jesse asked once again.
“As long as I’m with you” now Hokuto answered with all his resolve.
Then Jesse looked at him with those dreamy eyes that Hokuto missed the most, the gentle and loving eyes he used to see daily. Now that it was back, right under his nose, somehow it feels surreal.
Hokuto reached out to cupped Jesse’s face, rested his hands on Jesse's cheeks - caressed it with his thumbs, enjoying how Jesse melted under his touch. He wanted to stop the time so they could stay like this a little bit longer - or for better, forever.
Suddenly the door opened “You lovebirds done there?” a slender figure appeared before the door, wearing a smirk on his face.
“Shit! Kochi!” Jesse jumped out from the sudden interruption.
“Sorry to disturb your reunion, but we gotta move. Looks like they've figured it out”
Hokuto understood instantly what was happening, it was started already, his new journey. Or escapades he might say.
“You two go with Shin, I’m going with Juri and Taiga. We’ll depart in... 5 minutes” Just like that, that Kochi guy left the room.
“You got a quite amusing comrade there” Hokuto chuckled
“Uh, just wait until you meet the rest of them," Jesse rolled his eyes, "So, let’s go?” Jesse stretched out his hand, Hokuto can’t help but to smile and reached out to take Jesse’s hand.
All the things waiting for him after this are all about the matter of life or death, but he had never felt so alive before.
If it were with Jesse then he is so fucking ready to become everyone’s enemy.
They were about to leave when suddenly Jesse turned around and stopped them, “Oh, but before that” the seconds later Hokuto had his mind full of Jesse and his soft-gentle lip.
“JESSE TWO MINUTES!”
“THE HECK SHINTARO! I KNOW”