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Ryu Tadera was never an honest man.
In fact, one could say he spent the majority of his life being… highly untruthful, to say the least. Even now, as he sat idly at the coffee table, the late afternoon rain dripping from the gutters of the apartment he now called his home. As he sat there, staring out into the humid summer air, he knew one thing for sure; he was falling for his own charade.
He had fallen in love with Hana Danno. Or perhaps been in love. For a very, very long time.
Ryu Tadera was never an honest man, and this included being honest to himself. He would do anything to delude himself into believing his feelings were just a product of his situation, of their fake family, of anything other than genuine desire– he wanted to believe that he was both omnipotent and an outlier at the same time.
But, the truth is, no matter how many times he told himself it was all fake, that he was a liar, Ryu Tadera was still a man, and Ryu Tadera was still in love. Hopelessly so.
A long exhale filled the dim living room as Dera grappled with this realization he had been running from, a far away crack of thunder resounding through the room as storm clouds slowly rolled closer in.
Hana had been working for him for so long, being by her side was second nature for him, and surely for her as well. So much so, that he had thought that this would be easy. They had already spent so many years together— as colleagues, as friends, and yet… this somehow all felt so new.
Dera knew it was a lie. One great big horrible lie that he would hate himself for for the rest of his life. But what he was even more scared of was the part of him that wished for it to be true… that wished for Hana, and wished for Hana to wish for him.
But Ryu Tadera was a smart man. He knew better than to earnestly entertain such delusions; or at least, that's what he wanted to believe.
“Man, I've really done it now.” He mumbled it to himself in the empty room.
Hana had been out running an… “errand” when she felt a few small trickles of rain hit her back.
“Ugh... the forecast didn't say it would rain today… Best I hurry up and finish the job as soon as possible.” The ponytailed woman huffed as she threw a large mound of now muddy dirt over her shoulder, filling the grave with soft earth.
"Okay." Hana wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead as she looked down at her finished work with a content expression. "Looks like I finished just in time.” She retorted as she began to pick up her supplies and head down the mountain trail out. “Now to get out of he– —SHIT”
There was a quick scuffing sound against the mud, followed by a loud thunk and then a short, pained yelp.
Now she had done it.
Now she had really, truly, fucking done it.
“Shit… I think my ankle’s broken…” She winced in pain as she held down on the injury, the smell of blood mixing with the dirt and progressively heavying rain. “I really am the luckiest woman alive, huh.” She said through a low grunt, grabbing her phone from the pocket of her track pants.
Right as Dera was about to get up from the table, he was surprised to hear his phone ring, and even more surprised to see that it was from Hana. It wasn't common that Hana would call him out of the blue unless it was for work or she really needed something. Knowing this, Dera answered right away, and immediately knew something was wrong when he heard the woman's desperate tone hidden behind a veil of attempted nonchalance.
“Hana?!” Dera answered, the panic clearly evident in his voice.
“Hey… um… I slipped. Bad. I think I broke my ankle. And it's raining.”
Dera’s eyes widened as he heard the woman speak, fumbling to keep the phone against his ear as he raced to the door, grabbing just his jacket.
“Are you on the mountain?” There was a rare sense of urgency in his voice that Hana wasn't used to hearing. But somehow, it felt a bit reassuring.
“Yeah. Right before the trail down. I can't walk at all.”
Dera nodded with a low grunt, “Stay on the phone with me. I'm on my way.”
“Mhm. Thanks.” The resignation in her tone is what worried Dera more than anything– He had to get there, and quickly.
About half an hour passed Hana by as she sat on the wet earth of the mountain, just holding her ankle and trying to apply as much pressure as possible, before she finally heard that familiar voice. That voice, that for once, just this once, she could say she was beyond thrilled to hear.
“Hana…!!”
Dera ran to her, completely soaked, with an expression both more terrified and relieved than she had ever seen before.
“Jesus, I'm glad you called me.”
“Who else would I call, idiot.” Hana retorted, trying to find some sense of comfort in their usual bickering.
“Yeah, Yeah. Now let me get you down this damn mountain.” Dera said as he carefully lifted Hana up into a tight carry, her head resting against his strong chest.
“Geez, for how muscle-brained you are, you sure are light.” Dera retorted, coyly.
“Don't make this any more humiliating than it needs to be, please."
“Sorry, sorry, I just can't help myself sometimes.”
They continued down the mountain for a while after that, with some light conversation, but mostly a long and steady silence. And, as much as Hana didn't want to admit it, in that moment, it almost felt like comfort.
It almost felt like… something she didn't want to approach.
Hana had told herself it was the circumstances, that she was just grateful, that it was just because he had made her feel safe this one time, that it was literally anything other than what it really was. Because, the truth is, if she even began to entertain what she was thinking, what she had known for quite some time, it would be like opening pandora's box.
And she was not the type of woman to let that curiosity be her downfall… at least that's what she told herself.
After what felt like the world’s longest, most embarrassing train ride home, they finally reached the Danno household. Safety.
Dera unlocked the door to the apartment, hastily laying Hana down on the couch, making sure to prop up her ankle.
“Stay right there, I'm going to find some gauze to wrap it with.”
“Ugh, you don't have to dote on me just because I got hurt. I promise I'll be okay, it's not like we're actually married or anything.” Hana felt an immediate wave of regret as soon as the words slipped from her mouth.
Dera stood there for a second with an unreadable expression, before replying in what seemed to be an almost wistful tone “Yeah… that's true.”
Before Hana even had a chance to decipher what kind of reaction that was, Dera had disappeared to look for some gauze.
A few moments passed until he returned with a first aid kit and the gauze.
“For now we should just wrap and elevate it. We can worry about the rest later.”
“Oh… Uh… Right.” Hana replied, partially dumbfounded by how straightforward he was being for once.
A surprised expression flashed on Dera’s face as Hana reached out for the gauze, which then led Dera to then lift his hand up with almost a taunting expression.
“You stay there, It's best if you don't move and just let me wrap it.”
As Dera knelt next to her and began to wrap her ankle, Hana felt the pull of pandora's box once again. She wanted to open it. More than anything she wanted to open it, and more than anything she was disgusted with herself because of that want.
“This is…” Hana stopped herself before she could finish her sentence.
Dera’s face creaked into a smirk, looking up at her with that cocky expression that she hated so much.
“What, I can't care for my wife now?”
Instant regret flashed on Hana's face as she furrowed her brow in attempts to distract from her slightly reddening face, which she convinced herself was surely only from exhaustion.
“Seriously…” She wanted to run and hide, to shove her face into a pillow and scream, to do literally anything other than look at Dera's shit eating grin, but he was here, tenderly wrapping her ankle, and that bastard was definitely enjoying every second of it.
Hana sat there for a moment that felt like a lifetime until she finally decided to swallow her pride and speak once again. Her voice came out shaky and slow, almost as if she was about to drift off to sleep. Which, to be fair to her, would make complete sense.
“Hey… Dera?"
He turned to look at her with a puzzled expression.
“Hm?” He questioned in an almost-tender voice, setting the remaining gauze on the table.
“Thanks. For today. For saving me.”
Dera stood there for a second, partially trying to decide if he was going to taunt her more or reply honestly, but Hana spoke again before he could reply.
“Thanks for being there for me.”
“Heh. It's the least I can do, hun.”
Before Hana could snap at Dera for using that awful pet name again, and perhaps before Dera could really register it himself, he bent over and placed a small kiss on her reddened cheek.
“Looks like you're coming down with a fever.”
Pandora's box was going to explode. It was just a matter of time.