Friends With Benefits | Chishiya x Reader

Chapter Seven

☆ In which one game ends and another begins. ☆

"How was your game?" You ask Chishiya as he appears in the rooftop doorway, the doors swinging shut behind him. He comes to sit beside you, brushing his hair back behind his ear as it falls over his face. 

"Nothing special," he murmured. "Six of Diamonds. Barely a challenge."

You blink and fold your fingers together. Chishiya really is a Diamonds player to the very core. 

"I don't think I'd be able to survive a Six of Diamonds alone," you admit, thinking aloud. "Diamonds games are so confusing." 

"I could've told you that myself." Chishiya smirks, and you poke him. 

"There's no need to get sassy." You let out a sigh and rub the back of your neck. You hadn't been exactly anxious waiting for Chishiya's return, since the man appears to come out of every game unscathed, but the probability of dying in the Borderlands is never zero. You lift your arm towards him, palm up, and he eyes it apprehensively. "Hey, can you give me your hand?"

"Again?" Chishiya gives a sigh that matches your own, but offers his hand up. "Is this another friend thing?" he asks drily, as you gently intertwine your fingers with his. 

"Yes," you say with a laugh, reveling in the warmth of his hand. You study the way it seems to perfectly fit with yours and marvel at the flutters it sends shooting up your arm. "Lots of friends hold each other's hands or hug when they need comfort." 

"I don't need comfort."

"This is more for my benefit," you tell him. 

He scoffs, but doesn't pull his hand away. Tonight is your victory - you give him a triumphant grin and turn away to face the Tokyo lights. A peaceful silence settles in as you sit together, holding Chishiya's hand under the glow of the moon. His touch collects little tingling stars in your palm and you can feel the colours, blue and pink and purple like sugar crystals. You can tell his mind has drifted elsewhere after a while when his thumb rubs absentmindedly against the side of your hand, and you can't help the soft smile that begins to bloom over your lips. 

This time you and Kuina are not as lucky to be playing another game together. The team number scrawled on your paper is 13, and the one on Kuina's reads 10. 

"Ah well, it can't be helped," Kuina says, gazing mournfully at her piece of paper. She sulks for all of three seconds before she looks back at you with rejuvenation, and you hold your hands up for her to clasp. The stars from last night had long fallen from your hands. "May the odds ever be in your favour," you repeat in unison with the dreadlocked woman, and she grins. "Come back safe, yeah, honey?" 

"You too, Kuina." 

This is the kind of promise you can never be sure you will fulfill, and you both know it - but the easy words fall from your mouth without much thought. With another mischievous grin tossed over her shoulder, she lets go of your hands and you walk to your separate cars. 

You scan the group 13, and you are taken aback when soft eyes meet yours. 

"Setsuko, was it?" The woman from your last game stands quietly to the side, distanced from the others gathered around the car. You smile gently at her and she too offers a genuine smile back, the relief of seeing a familiar face apparent in her eyes. You never paid much attention to her appearance the last game, and so you examine her now. Setsuko is blonde, but her eyelashes are a dark black. Another dyed blonde; you think back to Chishiya and resist the urge to snort. Setsuko's hair dye is most likely the result of a new year's celebration, a decision made on a whim to 'shake things up' that ended up sticking. 

"I'm sorry, I never caught your name." She looks at you regretfully and you introduce yourself. "That's a lovely name," she says in response. Her dark lashes lower as she speaks and the edges of her smile soften. "My daughter had a friend with the same name as you."

"Ah, is that so?"

 Out of the corner of your eye you see a figure hooded with white, watching from the sidelines. You simply nod, and lead Setsuko into the car.