#but y3 and y4 has biiiig chunks of tigerfish and ryuminedai | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dragon-business · 6 months

Text

Daigo’s kidnapping story – new and improved (part 2)

part 1

Ryuji will manage to fracture a bone in his leg in the last stretch of the journey – in the fight with the assassins. And of course he's going to valiantly hide it, like a dumbass.

So when Ryuji and Daigo finally managed to finally get to Ryuji's guys (his personal guys, who can be trusted and/or were confirmed to be safe) and have to deal with that family with the grudge before they make a huge ruckus and set Ryuji up, and fuck Omi over, before all that – Ryuji checked out from exhaustion and fever.

So yeah. Daigo had to take the reins and deal with all this shit on his own: manage Ryuji's people, settle everything. Because otherwise they all are getting killed, and the war with Tojo may get even uglier.

And everything has to be done quietly, too, while saving face, to avoid worsening the situation. The status quo is shitty right now, but they (Daigo) still have to uphold it. But he needs to (technically) help the enemy to do that. Gotta work with resources you have.

And Daigo's involvement in all this was known only to some of Ryuji's men, and even some of them think it was all part of Ryuji's plan from the start.

They do call Daigo aniki, though, and scramble around to help him in all necessary ways.

Ryuji wakes up in a couple of days, all bleary and crusty, and the hideout is clean, fridge is full of beer, Evanescence is blasting on the radio, Ryuji's dad has no idea all this ever happened. And Daigo is there, with a bowl of bland soup, all like: "You're welcome. Now slurp, bitch." Because Ryuji is not gonna die on him after all this work 😤😑 👉

Not gonna let his boys sneak him in fast food either. Only bland foods for recovery. Grandma taught him that, or nanny. Or tv shows, even. Broth-therapy. Grandmas and doctors agree – soup is the way.

And if Ryuji behaves, he'll maybe get some tasty stuff in his broth too. Like a cube of tofu 😌

Ryuji: this is torture Daigo: ok, 2 cubes

But the guy with a haystack on his head has no complaining rights. He looks like a creature. Unshaved. Scruffled. Darkly scruffled. The dark roots are very noticeable on his hair, too.

Ryuji's boys will be praying on Daigo no aniki, no one else is brave enough to sit on Ryuji's bed and force-feed him soups and medicine.

No one else probably dared to stay at the hideout all the time, but Daigo's technically a prisoner, so someone has to be there, it's their work… so they probably left one or two guys to hang out in the main room at night. But when Ryuji woke up, he just sent them scrambling, for being too loud at night.

He was gambling with this, because after this Daigo could up walk out at any point. But he didn't do it so far, so…

– Everything is annoying to Ryuji, because stupid health is stupid, and he feels weaker and he hates that. No control over his plans, his men, his clan, his body. It's all stretching thin. Unpleasant. Also his men seeing him weak is the worst. Especially with the control over everything slipping away.

And Daigo is feeling bad about it all too. After losing to Ryuji back in the day, when he got out of prison Daigo didn't want to show himself in front of his loyal subordinates… so it all feels so familiar. And very annoying, yes.

Ryuji, meanwhile, is missing staying in the forest. Because even with all the uncertainty and possible danger it was nice, with more hands-on stuff to do, more nature and creatures, and, in a way, a more clear plan of what to do.

Now that the rival family is dealt with Ryuji needs to lay low for a bit, until he more or less gets back on his feet, to get into the action properly without fainting or drawing suspicions.

Back in the forest it was way clearer who he could trust – there was only Daigo, and they had to work together. (And it could've happen a lot sooner, if someone wasn't a little bitch about it)

Now, back in civilization, Daigo can check out, walk out at any moment. There's even an opening left for him to do so, that Ryuji may or may not have put there on purpose will not admit to it either way. Ryuji doesn't think about these things, and doesn't examine them closely. It's a very intentional decision.

Daigo didn't walk out though. He also had a lot to think about, as we mentioned above.

Lately, after floating along in life for so long, after becoming a failure and a disappointment, and having decisions taken away from him, Daigo didn't see the point of doing anything, really. And after all that, getting to have good fights and real things to do was so good.

Managing the shitty dumb problem with Omi set-up, watching over Ryuji's recovery, being able to take control of things that may be small but are necessary to do, being useful. It was so freeing. Just as being able to bite back, and not forced to nod and be grateful for whatever bullshit people push on you.

And back in the forest Daigo did spill some of the bitter, angry, frustrated thoughts he never really told anyone. That he couldn't tell anyone who actually knows him, because that'll make him more of a disgusting disappointment.

"Sharing stuff with this guy works, tho, because he doesn't care." – both of them, probably.

Can't make it worse at least, so it's actually reliving – don't have to pretend so much about everything. The secret is to not think there's a whole world beyond the forest. Oh it's a classic blender. A trap.

little apartment getaway

Hideout they are at is an apartment that's partially used as an office/hangout spot. There's the living room with the exit and an open floor: lounge area with the couch, armchairs, tv, and the table, small kitchen with an counter in the corner, all the jaz. There's also a door to a little corridor with the doors to the bathroom, closet, and to the separate room. It’s small, but furnished, nothing too fancy, just a western bed, desk, and stuff.

Ryuji with his IV and provided by the boys pillows is taking up the bed in that separate room.

When boys were still nominally watching over him, they hung out in the living room at night on the watch, and Daigo slept on the old uneven couch in that separate room.

– This all is so funny. Technically Daigo could've killed Ryuji or at least left at any moment after they left the safehouse. The pretence of needing Ryuji around on the Omi's territory to not get killed is a bit too stretched.

Daigo could've left Ryuji wandering, lost between the trees after going for a leak, or nicely shibari-ed at evening for educational purposes, and just. Walk away.

Thank you, goodbye, good luck. – Think of Daigo in some random ass clothes in the hideout, because all the camping clothes go to hard drycleaning. So he wears something cheap, bought by Ryuji's boys, a couple sizes off on the bigger side. The marshmallow jacket created visual enhancement.

– Boys brought Daigo a futon, but he wouldn't be fucking sleeping in the living room, where they watch tv for half of the night. And the small room wasn't good for it either, even after the boys cleaned the floors there.

So after they get banned to only appear only occasionally, Daigo would not stop complaining about the shitty couch with uneven cushions he has to deal with.

And Ryuji is like: Why do you sleep on it then? You can take the one in the main room. And Daigo is like: The couch in the other room. the room with the door. And many windows. Where none of your men will be at night. That couch in that room? Ryuji: Daigo: That bitch is also uneven like the sea at storm.

So yeah, I'm just saying that there's a chance, an opening to bully Daigo into sleeping on the bed too. Because who cares after the forest anyway.

Ryuji: This way, if you'll try to leave at night, I'll wake up ☝😌 Daigo, thinking about the offer to get the living room couch: Mhm. Daigo: And what are you gonna do about it, mister "I will totally not faint in the bathroom", hmm? Bite me on the ankle, so I will have to drag you around? Ryuji: Don't have to do anything >C You're so scrawny, I can just lay on you, and you wouldn't be able to move 👉

(Our favourite genre of bullying Daigo: littlest, tiniest man. In a big jacket. So smol.)

After the forest and the shitty couch, Daigo will be blacking out instantly on what's most likely this office work hours fuck bed with dozen pillows.

And when the boys accidentally put Ryuji and Daigo on the spot, they both lie and pretend Daigo is still sleeping on the couch.

They don't really talk about it. Maybe just a little, for mutual understanding that, even with all the boys' mutual reverence for Daigo aniki, this kind of implications shouldn't be spread, or it's gonna bite them both in the ass. Even with all the awkward queer solidarity about dumb social norms, there's also political subtext to consider (what's the flag for "not laying with the enemy"? 👉👌🙅‍♂😤✊👉👉👉)

And all this probably leads to the fact that they are both in the positions to heavily influence what's going on. Maybe even stop it. Or slow it, or, at least, have less casualties. Perhaps, Ryuji can NOT go and fight Kiryu, after Daigo spent so fucking long trying to keep him alive and healthy? This is kinda annoying.

Everything is annoying, really, and tense, and things are slipping out of their control but they can have some of it back? Because it's alright now. Ryuji is not dead, recovering. Kiryu is not dead. And Daigo is feeling more alive, and there's vague hope that maybe all of this can be kept this way.

It's all a possibility. A chance that's halfway there, that you kinda maybe want to believe in. Daigo wants to, deep down (even with the clear Kiryu-boners, and Ryuji's stubbornness).

For Ryuji though, considering backing away will feel like a weakness. Like running away. From his plans, his destiny and all.

He does consider it though. Because after the whole forest trip, after waking up to the sound of rain tapping on the window with someone drooling on your arm felt better than doing that whole coup plan. It felt like something he's been missing. Like some things that are right to do no longer fit into his life for some reason.

All of this hangs in the air.

– Sometimes I think about the almost melodramatic stubborn way Daigo and Ryuji didn't talk about how they felt in that hideout. Because denial and plausible deniability. No admitting you care about each other, nope.

But maybe they were also postponing it. Somewhat knowing it's unavoidable with all the talks about leaving, rainy days, take out, watching over Ryuji's training walks around the apartment, napping on each other's shoulders – they still skittered around.

Both for denial purposes, aaaand to pretend there's still time left to do nothing and be at ease.

Understanding enough to maybe feel like they're on the same page at the moment, but to retroactively doubt it and be unsure, after everything blows up.

Oh, the fear of the unavoidable. No commitment or even talks about it, no admission of the attraction out loud, so nothing was there at all, right? No hard feelings then.

Oh, the fear of wanting something you shouldn't, even if it feels good.

Oh, the understanding that if you admit it, it will mean you were probably making a lot of mistakes before this moment. Oh the inevitability of it coming down like a plane falling from the sky, of maybe falling in love. Oh, wanting to just prolong the free fall, and sit on both chairs for as long as you can, because it's terrifying. All of it.

Oh, Daigo standing in front of the window opened into the chill night, and Ryuji saying "go to bed" to his back instead of coming up to him, or pulling him in, like he wanted. Oh, Daigo just laying down to sleep on his shoulder instead of kissing him, or even just touching his face.

Oh, the feeling of "well, next time-", of "well, tomorrow this may not hold off".

Oh, one day "tomorrow" not coming at all, because that's it. Time ran out.

Because one morning, a day after Ryuji contacted Takashima and some other people briefly, Ryuji wakes up to only his boys in the hideout. Because when they came, apparently, other Omi men took Daigo somewhere because of some plan that was approved from above.

– Daigo being re-kidnapped *dabs*

Majima's voice from the background: I did that! A classic. (with Haruka, according to RGGO) Ryuji: I didn't kidnap him the first time either >c

It was the only morning since Ryuji started his meds when Daigo woke up first.

– But okay, okay it was some other, let's say (with a stretch) Ryuji's men. Who, upon bosses return, decided to win the favour by using Daigo as bait to lure Kiryu into a trap to capture or kill.

And, well, yes, they may have been directly encouraged by Takashima. It’s not like anyone can tell by this point though. The guy is real good at this game.

And that's the story of how Daigo gets taken to Tokyo in the trunk of a car, and stuffed in a room in the wrecked bathhouses. Kiryu saved him the same night, and Daigo was very tired and hungry, because he didn't even have breakfast. And then things happen very fast.

Perhaps, Ryuji scrambled back into the groove of things, and managed to cut the crazy idea of the guys actually trying to kill Kiryu or attempting anything else crazy. Because it's Ryuji's duty and destiny or whatever. Mhm.

But, being busy with all that, he couldn't get to the bathhouses before Kiryu. He could just give orders and scold people over the phone.

Majima family guys found out where Daigo was kept, right? And they found out because the bathhouses belong to Majima now. So maybe Daigo was relocated there from the actual trap location, specifically so he can be found and rescued faster.

Ryuji and Daigo did get each other's contacts before all that but they do not meet after this in private (the scene on the funeral is double-wild with this backstory: oh, Ryuji). But sometimes after the bomb threat on Kamurocho gets resolved, but before the fight on the rooftop, Daigo gets a phone call.

On the other end of the line, Ryuji is silent, because, in a super melodramatic fashion, he called just to hear Daigo's voice. Daigo realised it was him, though, because bitch, and said his mind. Something in the silence gave Ryuji away. Not speaking, letting the silence linger like an asshole in a really distinct way.

Daigo probably talked about some other place they could go to for a great view. That tower is unfinished anyway, just wind up there and ugly skeletons of construction.

Maybe, when Ryuji realised that Daigo was about to ask him to not go through with his plan, he hung up. After a long pause, just after the "please-". Because it was terrifying.

He already nearly slipped from his resolve not long ago. Gotta control this stuff. The things.

– Dang, this is such a raw relationship, coming from poking each other's most sore spots from the get go. And paradoxically finding comfort in that, because when you start from this kind of mess, there's nowhere to go but up.

All the parallels to each other's hang ups and traumas. It's rather uncomfortable, almost to the point of teenage rage, to know that you're not so unique.

the tower

And in the end it still went as it did – Ryuji went up on that tower to fight Kiryu and to die. To finish what he started, and to not back down, and for a million other things that seemed important and good enough. It felt like the only right thing to do by that point. And Daigo had to live with that.

Well, Ryuji too, in the end.

Kaoru took Kiryu down, and while doing so, called for someone to go pick Ryuji's unconscious body and take him someplace safe. So even if Daigo came there afterwards (for Kiryu, of course. Yes, only for him) the top of the building was empty and off limits.

And there was no time to dwell on the past for Daigo after that, he had his hands full with Tojo on fire and the crazy cat on the loose. But it's all gonna come back around in a year or so. Ryuji’s gonna be crawling back to Kamurocho after his soul searching journey, and finding new ways to apply dumb suffering and existential crisis in his life. Prepare to see the story continue in y3 and for the bigass logs on ot3 for y4 (we went off on those).

their conflicts

Thinking about how Daigo was gradually understanding Ryuji, but not fast enough to respect him fully without regards to his strength. About how only after Daigo decided he can never be enough for Ryuji (or Kiryu, but that's another story) and started to build his life and strength separately from that, Ryuji started to look at him with real respect too. It's a long process.

Ryuji going to explode on Majima's building with Kiryu was the point where Daigo decided that that's it. He's done.

And in Ryuji's head his two brain cells clash: one is hyper-focused on Kiryu, and the other is responsible for whatever it is that's slowly happening with Daigo – much more fragile and uncertain, and not comfortable for the fast and decisive man like Ryuji. And as much as we make fun of Ryuji having a crush on Kiryu, let's face it: Daigo being affiliated with Kiryu in a personal way doesn't help this mess at all.

It all boils down to the fact that Kiryu-stuff is the brighter and more existing fruit dangling in front of Ryuji. He gained his experiences in life, but he's still not very mature.

Kiryu is Ryuji's burning car.*

But he's off to Okinawa now. Sayonara, goodbye, good luck with the concussion.

– * There’s this anecdote, it goes something like this: “The bear was walking in the forest, and saw a car on fire. And he, well. He got into it and burned”.

I love it, “got into the burning car and died” is the perfect metaphor for all the absolutely unnecessary self-sacrificing our little blorbos like to do. And Yakuza is full of people getting in burning cars, it’s insane :’D

– before / navigation / next

#yakuza #kiwami 2 #ryudai #dojima daigo #ryuji goda #kiryu kazuma #this is canon now #this is looong #not sure if people here read the long posts #but there's still lots of stuff to share left #:3 #it'll be back to kazumaji till the and of k2 #but y3 and y4 has biiiig chunks of tigerfish and ryuminedai #they give us so much life #<3

5 notes · View notes