Ship: Manami & Toudou Fandom: Yowamushi Pedal Major Tags: tags omitted Other Tags: tags omitted Original Work:here by hapaxlegomenon Word Count: 420 words
That was an amazing Pacific Rim AU but what really sunk its claws into me was the line about Toudou’s drift breaking. So. Here you go! Slightly creepy but I hope you like it anyway.
***
Toudou loved his drift partner. They’d yet to officially drift together but when they did, Toudou was convinced, they would be an invincible team. They’d be better than Arakita and Shinkai, better than Makishima and Tadoroko. They were synched so well together and even in appearance, they seemed to match with their bright blue eyes and dark hair.
In another life, Manami could have been his little brother but instead, Manami was his destined drift mate and together they would become the most popular Jaegar pilots in all of Japan. Maybe even the most popular in all of the world!
Manami was fearless. Over cups of hot water with just enough tea to flavor it, Manami had told Toudou about his childhood in hospital, about how convinced everyone had been that he wouldn’t make it to his teen years let alone become an adult.
“It changes you, growing up thinking you’re dying,” Manami had said with an odd smile. “You can’t be scared of something once you live it. It’d be like fearing your own skin.”
His lips were soft and full against the brim of the cup and Manami drunk down the weak tea like Socrates swigging hemlock, defiant and proud.
*
When they drifted, they both felt the same sense of urgency, the drive for speed. They wanted to get to the battle quickly, to launch themselves into the fight. It shook and looped between them, the hunger to be at the forefront, to go first but there was a bleakness in Manami’s mind that Toudou couldn’t touch.
His partner was broken, Toudou knew, but he wasn’t broken in a way that would make him break down. Not like Izumida had.
Besides, this was only a Drift Simulator. Once they were in the real thing, it’d be easier.
Once they were in the real thing, they would become one perfect being.
*
“Initiating neural handshake,” the bridge said and Toudou felt himself falling. The wide explosion of his mind, of memories and thoughts, it was all devoured by the black hole that was Manami’s mind. There was an endless darkness there, a peaceful black velvet embrace and Toudou tried to grab for Manami’s memories, for his thoughts, for anything that wasn’t the sense of already being dead but still there was nothing there.
He was dead and standing in the cockpit. He was dead and still breathing.
When his body and Manami’s started to seize, Toudou didn’t even feel it.
FILL: Team Prince of Tennis, T
Fandom: Yowamushi Pedal
Major Tags: tags omitted
Other Tags: tags omitted
Original Work: here by
Word Count: 420 words
That was an amazing Pacific Rim AU but what really sunk its claws into me was the line about Toudou’s drift breaking. So. Here you go! Slightly creepy but I hope you like it anyway.
***
Toudou loved his drift partner. They’d yet to officially drift together but when they did, Toudou was convinced, they would be an invincible team. They’d be better than Arakita and Shinkai, better than Makishima and Tadoroko. They were synched so well together and even in appearance, they seemed to match with their bright blue eyes and dark hair.
In another life, Manami could have been his little brother but instead, Manami was his destined drift mate and together they would become the most popular Jaegar pilots in all of Japan. Maybe even the most popular in all of the world!
Manami was fearless. Over cups of hot water with just enough tea to flavor it, Manami had told Toudou about his childhood in hospital, about how convinced everyone had been that he wouldn’t make it to his teen years let alone become an adult.
“It changes you, growing up thinking you’re dying,” Manami had said with an odd smile. “You can’t be scared of something once you live it. It’d be like fearing your own skin.”
His lips were soft and full against the brim of the cup and Manami drunk down the weak tea like Socrates swigging hemlock, defiant and proud.
*
When they drifted, they both felt the same sense of urgency, the drive for speed. They wanted to get to the battle quickly, to launch themselves into the fight. It shook and looped between them, the hunger to be at the forefront, to go first but there was a bleakness in Manami’s mind that Toudou couldn’t touch.
His partner was broken, Toudou knew, but he wasn’t broken in a way that would make him break down. Not like Izumida had.
Besides, this was only a Drift Simulator. Once they were in the real thing, it’d be easier.
Once they were in the real thing, they would become one perfect being.
*
“Initiating neural handshake,” the bridge said and Toudou felt himself falling. The wide explosion of his mind, of memories and thoughts, it was all devoured by the black hole that was Manami’s mind. There was an endless darkness there, a peaceful black velvet embrace and Toudou tried to grab for Manami’s memories, for his thoughts, for anything that wasn’t the sense of already being dead but still there was nothing there.
He was dead and standing in the cockpit. He was dead and still breathing.
When his body and Manami’s started to seize, Toudou didn’t even feel it.
Dead boys didn’t hurt.