for @doggonemad

[throughbamboo]

just bros being bros

Comments

[doggonemad]

[ cracks his eye open a bit. ]

This is why I didn't wanna tell ya.

[throughbamboo]

'Cuz I'd get angry?

[doggonemad]

Yeah. An' it don't matter now. Everyone who pulled that shit on me over the years is long dead an' gone.

[throughbamboo]

. . .

[his fingers deliberately touch a more scarred part of his back]

I'd get angry no matter what ya told me, bro. Tellin' me just tells me where t'send it.

[doggonemad]

They're all dead. I fuckin' torched the Hole myself.

[throughbamboo]

Ya did? Good.

[doggonemad]

Mm. It's all done with.

[throughbamboo]

Good.

[said a little quieter. He thinks for a moment, then]

. . . I won't ask ya to get into it. I wanna know, but that part's for whenever you feel like tellin' it, if ya ever do.

[doggonemad]

. . .

I think yer pretty good at readin' between the lines, bro.

[throughbamboo]

Yeah . . . I am.

[and even then, he probably still can't imagine the worst.

Fuck]

[doggonemad]

[ should i tell him about sagawa . . .

nahhhhh. ]

So. That's about it.

[throughbamboo]

Mmn.

Ya've been through a lot.

[doggonemad]

Ain't no more'n you've been through.

[throughbamboo]

Y'would say that.

[doggonemad]

Ya spent over half yer life in jail.

[throughbamboo]

[he wants to say doing a whole lot of nothing, but]

. . . 's a lot too.

[doggonemad]

That ain't our lives anymore, though.

[throughbamboo]

Yeah . . .

[thoughtful, just a touch uncertain, like - yeah, it actually isn't gonna be like that anymore, huh]

[doggonemad]

We can be whatever we want. We ain't gettin' fucked over by assholes now.

[throughbamboo]

. . . shit, that's weird.

[he'll say it]

[doggonemad]

I know. Took me a couple've years ta get used ta it. I was so fuckin' lost after Shimano died.

[throughbamboo]

[that's awful for so many more reasons now]

Yeah . . . I bet.

[doggonemad]

Let myself get fuckin' used an' then some by this turd when I got back into Tojo, just because I didn't know who the fuck I was without it. Took Kiryu-chan comin' back ta town like the goddamn human tornado he is ta really open my eyes.

[ as for who that turd was . . . well, that's not important. ]

[throughbamboo]

[he won't ask, but he will file that away for later]

Why ain't I surprised Kiryu was involved?

[doggonemad]

He did a good job of remindin' me who I was when ya weren't around ta do it.