Title: Respect
Characters: Namiashi Raidou, Shiranui Genma
Rating: T
Warnings: Expletives
Notes: Best friends are the people who abuse you when you need it most.
Genma was on his seventh slice of pizza of the evening, and Raidou looked at his slim friend in astonishment. He'd only eaten four slices, himself, and put the rest in the fridge for breakfast. But Genma? Genma had a hollow leg or something.
"I will never understand how you can eat like that. Aren't you afraid of ruining your girlish figure?" Raidou couldn't resist teasing Genma, occasionally.
Genma leapt up and set the pizza box on the couch before sliding his hands down his sides. "I do not have a girlish figure, goddammit." With a look of dismay, he glanced down to where his hands had come to rest on his jutting hips. "Okay, I might be lying."
"Might be." Raidou snorted, tracing the curve of his friend's slightly too slim body with his eyes.
"Hey, fuck you. It's not that bad." Genma patted his chest. "Look, no tits. God, if it was that bad, you'd be hitting on me, or something."
"Who says I'm not?" Raidou asked, grinning as Genma stopped cold, gawking at him in stark horror. "I'm kidding. I promise."
"You'd better be! Holy shit, Rai! Don't fuck with me like that." Genma blinked and picked up his slice of pizza, muttering something about very uncomfortable situations.
"I'll tell you something, though." Raidou set the nearly empty pizza box on the coffee table and put his feet up on the couch. "Even if you were a girl, I don't think I'd do you. I respect you too much for that. You're my best friend." He shrugged.
Genma lifted Raidou's legs and sat on the couch, dropping them in his lap. "You've gotta stop taking your morality lessons from me, man. That's the most fucked up thing I think I've ever heard out of you. I mean, I understand the sentiment perfectly but, damn. I've watched you. You need more than just someone to fuck." He shook his head and took a bite of the pizza, continuing to talk with his mouth full. "I mean, yeah, Aoba and I might not be the best examples in that regard, but, seriously, you deserve someone who gives a shit — someone who deserves your respect even more than I do."
Raidou scratched at the edge of the fresh scar on his face, where the skin was still peeling. "No one will ever deserve my respect more than you do, Genma. I'm amazed you'll still talk to me after that."
"You're my best friend, asshole. What was I going to do, bitch out on you because you wrecked on the track and took me with you? So fucking what? I'm just glad you're not dead." Genma picked up his soda and washed down another mouthful of pizza. "I'd be pissed as hell if you died on me. It's why I stayed right with you, you know? So I could threaten to punch the shit out of you if you died."
"If I died, I don't think I'd have noticed," Raidou pointed out.
"Oh, fuck off. It was the principle of the thing. I was out of my mind on painkillers. It made sense at the time." Genma pretended to sulk as he finished his slice of pizza and considered going after the last one.
"Thanks." The word was barely audible, issued just above a whisper as Raidou reached for the soda he'd left on the floor.
Genma raised his can of Jolt in a vague salute. "Here's to you and here's to me."
Meeting the can with his own, Raidou skipped to the end of the toast. "Fuck you, here's to me." After a brief weighty moment, they both dissolved into snickering fits.
