Chapter Text
Yoru woke up to the gentle breathing of another person. His chest shuddered, body racked with minute tremors. His fingers ran down himself, wrists moving free of chains and felt each part of his body. They felt over the scars on his wrist - especially the ones encircling his thumb - and tentatively tracing the one on his stomach.
But he wasn't freaking out. He breathed in deeply for two seconds, held it for two seconds, let it out for two seconds, and didn't breath for another two. Once, he would've called the breathing exercises Sage had given him stupid, but after one too many nights waking up feeling like he was being choked again, he exercised them gratefully.
Next to him, Chamber had awoken. Or...Vincent. Yoru and Chamber were dead - aliases given for people who had suffered and endured enough torture to last a life time. They'd both quit working at Protocol, deeming the world 'safe enough' without their existence as members of Protocol. It sounded stupid for Ryo to say, but there was a whole world he wanted to explore now with Chamber. He wasn't taking it for granted anymore.
For Vincent, it meant dropping a life of structure and in built mechanics. He woke up easily and fireworks triggered the reflex to summon the weapons he'd burnt into his skin to kill. The military as a young boy and man, Kingdom as a young adult and Protocol after had engrained and rewired the inner workings of his brain to be an efficient killing machine.
But he was still the soft, sweet talking, flirtatious idiot that Ryo loved under all of it.
Silently, he stirred, his own heartrate rising as he felt Ryo. His warm, large hands grasped Ryo's thigh as he rolled over. Like the sunset slipping over the horizon, Vincent's golden eyes peered open.
"Good morning, cheri," he rumbled, sitting up to run his hands up Ryo's sides and back down his shoulders and biceps. In his sleepy state, he was diagnosing Ryo's being, making sure he was alright. Ryo just let him, he was never going to complain about Vincent touching him.
His hand finally stopped over Ryo's heart, feeling that he was breathing - albeit a little rushed- and his heart was beating. As soon as he'd been back in Vincent's arms, his boyfriend had started doing it every time he was the slightest bit worried that Ryo was dead.
He hadn't used to be anxious, but Ryo hadn't used to wake up screaming or stopped breathing, or had debilitating, vicious flashbacks that seemed to freeze him in time.
Settling as soon as he assured himself Ryo was breathing, he laid back down. Ryo smiled, huffing air upwards to blow hair from his eyes. Vincent's eyes closed and Ryo had to suppress a laugh. He had been half awake when he'd checked him, body relaxing and telling him to go back to sleep when he was alright.
Ryo breathed in deeply and laid back down with him, eyes closing. They didn't have anywhere to be, no reason to wake up early to go to a meeting or to do training as fast as possible. Sure, Ryo missed it. He knew Vincent did too. But it was only because it was familiar to the both of them.
The feeling of bullets whirring, deeply breathing in gunpowder and smoke, and knowing that all you had to do was aim and squeeze a trigger. But now the fire of a gun triggered Ryo to remember a woman turning the gun on herself and firing. The smell of gunpowder filled his nose with the smell of burning flesh. The flash of light replayed the glint of sunlight along glass,
He missed it, but only because he missed the man he had been.
Ryo closed his eyes to hope for the dreams that didn't haunt him.
It was hard for Vincent to leave Ryo in bed. He didn't want to wake his sleeping lover - not with the peaceful look on his face that told Vincent that he was finally experiencing sleep not plagued by nightmares.
He gently brushed naturally black hair from Ryo's face - it hadn't been redyed yet, because Ryo was thinking about going a different color for the first time in years. Vincent let his hand fall down to Ryo's chest, and - satisfied with the even rhythm - removed his hand.
Gently pressing a kiss to Ryo's forehead, he pulled up the sheets to make sure his lover was comfortable to make himself something to eat.
Vincent was vaguely aware of waking up to Ryo steadying his own breathing a few hours earlier, but he had simply checked he was alright and gone back to sleep. Ryo, even a year and a half later, was afflicted with guilt. But it meant that he didn't like being coddled all the time.
It had taken a while - too long, really - for Vincent to give him space. He didn't want to let go, far too afraid that Ryo would be snatched away again. Time had been the best medicine. And a few heated comments and shouts from Ryo, to remind him to just...breath.
So he'd gone back to sleep, shoulder against Ryo. His lover knew him enough to know it was more than okay if he woke him up. Vincent would accidentally wake up if he thought Ryo was in distress anyway.
Vincent walked through their home. It had taken a while to get used to the idea. Their home. And it wasn't a small apartment room, with a communal kitchen and gym and eating space. They didn't wake up to meals cooked by their friends, dishes and recipes from all around the globe. They didn't eat in a loud room, practically having to shout over meals to be heard but enjoying it all the same.
Instead, they cooked their own meals - sometimes from different cuisines - and could hear each other perfectly well. Vincent tried to pretend he didn't miss the old ways. He liked the community of it; the conversations, the structure of having planned days, the comfort of doing the same thing over and over again. But it was about time he did something different.
He loved Ryo. More than anything.
Their old friends could still visit, they could still share the old conversations over meals. It was never going to be the same, but it didn't mean everything had to end. A common conversation they used to have was about their futures: none of them could continue working at Protocol forever.
It just the way out that changed.
Most agents wanted to retire quietly. Pass on a legacy. They hoped.... Some wanted to fade into the background completely. Others wanted to explore thing they'd missed. Vincent was still guilty about bringing Tala into it so young.
Vincent had never seen himself in any of the options. For someone so meticulous in all his options, with all his plans and scheming - with his twin and with Kingdom - he had never seen anything by an early grave after he'd completed it all.
But it was all done and he was still breathing.
For once, Vincent was glad there was nothing left to do. He could just...enjoy it. His life was no longer a list of boxes to tick - an endless tower he seemed to climb to the top until he watched over everything, and found there was nothing to observe from above the land he had conquered. He could begin the slow, quiet crawl back down to observe it up close, with Ryo.
Vincent began brewing coffee, their coffee machine humming and buzzing away after a gentle press of a few buttons. They were rebuilding their lives slowly; two people who hadn't known where to start but were putting the blocks together slowly now. Methodically working through the steps of making toast and two cups of coffee, Vincent receded into his thoughts.
Ryo had the habit of forgetting to eat if he didn't cook, sliding back into old habits from his days on the streets where he only ate when necessary. Back at Protocol - a month before they'd quit and when Ryo had gotten off of his IV drip - it had been it's worst and Vincent hadn't seen it. He'd been too busy seeing the scars and the afraid look in Ryo's eyes when he thought Vincent was his own brother. And he'd disappeared into his mind and blamed himself.
Until Ryo had feinted during training - the training which he'd assured everyone he'd be more than okay to do, because he 'wasn't even injured anymore. He had frozen in place, eyes running in the air, seeing something - someone else- hands twitching and eventually shaking until his gun had clattered to the floor.
Ryo wasn't weak, though. No. Vincent would never believe that. No one kept going like he still was if they were weak. He'd witnessed his parents die and continued running. He lived on the streets and learn to fight, but he hadn't given in. He'd been hurt by his powers but he continued using them for good. He was shot at and stabbed and hurt and he continued getting back up.
He always got back up.
That's why Vincent would never call him weak.
As Vincent finished in the kitchen, he walked back to the bedroom. By now his heart had settled, paranoia diminished as he understood that Ryo was okay whilst he was gone. He nudged the bedroom door open, eyes immediately searching for Ryo. He was awake and sitting up, coffee brown eyes unfocused and glassy, staring - unblinking - into the wall. Slowly, Vincent approached. He set down the two glasses and plate.
"Ryo, mon cheri." he said softly. His thoughts were telling him that Ryo wasn't breathing. Slowly, he knelt on the bed, warm fingers pressing to Ryo's chest. The even thump of a heart that belonged to a very much alive person. Flinching, Ryo snapped back to it, his hand darting up - fingers curling around Chamber's hand - and holding on tight.
Ryo breathed in deeply, taking a few moments to just breath. Vincent let him, sliding into their bed and adjusted the pillows with his spare hand. When Ryo let go, his breathing and heart rate steady, Vincent leaned over to kiss him.
"Morning." Ryo said softly when they parted, breathing in deeply. "Sorry," he added, even though he didn't have to. Chamber only smiled a little more and passed him his coffee and toast. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he responded, pulling out his phone to find a cat video to show Ryo. He was planning to buy a cat for Ryo for his birthday later in the year - an addition to their two person family.
Ryo leaned on him slightly, humming a few notes of a song in the back of his throat. It was one that Chamber had started accidentally started repeating himself, but Ryo had laughed the time he'd heard him so he continued doing it.
Showing him the video, Ryo laughed and smiled and Vincent was caught up in the fact that Ryo had some similarities to the black cat in the video. Cute. Ryo chewed thoughtfully, turning to Vincent to mumble, "we should get a cat."
Vincent had to hide his smirk.
"Of course, mon amour, whatever you want." He kissed the top of Ryo's head, and the smaller man sat his plate aside, laying on him whilst sipping his coffee. He tapped the ring on Vincent's finger.
"We should get married," he finally said.
One of the things about living away from Protocol, is they could talk about whatever they wanted. They weren't stuck in the same loop of complaining about Brimstone or Viper, or discussing gun upgrades, or making bets on training or amounts of kills. They both felt like normal people for once.
Sometimes their topics of conversation were slightly random.
Vincent choked on his coffee, Ryo tensing before he started laughing. He guided the drink from Vincent's fingers, to pat his back lightly. Vincent recovered quickly, turning to ask Ryo a quick, "where did that come from?"
Ryo shrugged. "I mean...why not?" Vincent nodded. It really was the perfect argument - not that he wanted to argue against it in the slightest. He laughed lightly, content with the idea. "I don't have the smallest fucking clue who would come to the wedding," he laughed louder, happy to laugh about it, having come to terms with the circumstances that he was an orphan and Vincent's mother was dead and he hated his father.
"Who says anyone has to come?" Vincent smiled, although they both knew all their friends from Protocol would kill them if they eloped. Ryo grinned. He had shifted onto Vincent's lap partially, Vincent's fingers sliding up his oversized shirt.
"It's a date then," Ryo laughed softly, leaning in for a kiss. Vincent kissed him back softly, eyebrow raised slightly. He hugged Ryo to his chest.
"Oh so we're just getting married now?" he murmured into Ryo's mouth, knowing Ryo was rolling his eyes without checking.
"And you're objecting?" Ryo said back and Vincent shook his head immediately.
"Not at all, but don't you want to be asked...somewhere nicer?" He knew the answer was no already. In all his time dating Ryo, he knew that the Radiant didn't want his love to be paid for. He always preferred a proper gesture over a heartless one paid for with money.
"This is nice. In bed, with you. In our home."
God, Ryo's words were making him giddy. A reminder that this was their future and they could do whatever with it. "Alright then," he breathed, head dropping to Ryo's chest to hear him breath in softly. He found Ryo's hand, looking up as he held it to his chest. "Ryo Kiritani, will you marry me?"
Ryo had never grinned wider, and Vincent was memorizing this moment forever. "Yes-" Ryo said immediately, Vincent feeling his face split open with how much he was smiling. He was sure Ryo was alive and breathing because he could feel the racing of Ryo's heart. "Of course yes." He looked Vincent in the eyes, coffee brown eyes melted with love.
Vincent was about to have a heart attack.
"I love you," he uttered softly. After everything...fucking everything...they were okay. They would always be okay. Ryo breathed in deeply, eyes closing, a soft smile on his face.
"I love you," he whispered back. Vincent leant back against the back of the bed, holding Ryo's close as he closed his own eyes. "Are you sure we can't sleep more?" Ryo asked softly, and Vincent nodded.
That sounded like a great idea. They didn't have anywhere else to be other than in bed, with each other.