Chapter Text
It was hard getting ahold of where Ronin lives, but it was worth the effort. After all, he's a criminal, it wouldn't be the best idea for him to have his address out in the open, right? But that’s another problem, you’re the Brown Ninja, a force for good and Ronin is… Ronin.
But regardless you really need to get this sorted out.
Every night for the past however-long you’ve been having dreams, and they all have Ronin in them. You can’t get him out of your head, and you feel oddly attached to a man you’ve only spoken to once, or twice. Stopping in front of the door, you take a deep breath. After so many hours in front of the camera, no one would guess you still have a bit of stage fright, but here we are. The wooden door is a bit off it’s hinges, and covered in filth. Looking around, the rest of this place is too. Is it safe for him to be living here? There’s probably rusty screws everywhere, and you wouldn’t be very surprised if there was still asbestos in the ceiling. It’s not a healthy environment, you should probably-
And there you go again, feeling and thinking things you really shouldn’t for someone who you barely know. You collect yourself, and knock on the door. You really, really hope he’s home.
…
*Knock Knock Knock*
You wince at the sound of someone at your door, and you hope to god it isn’t the cops. You just moved again, and those idiots aren’t nearly competent enough to find you this quickly. The ninja maybe? No, they wouldn’t have bothered with knocking. You didn’t order any food, and you don’t get mail. Landlord maybe?
You fold the newspaper in your lap and set down the coffee you were drinking, and walk to the door. Looking through the peephole, your heart stops. Your mouth is dry. You can feel your eyes widen, and you take a step back.
It’s Dareth. How, how could he have found where you lived? Why is he here, and now? Could he- no. No it was impossible. There was no way he had been feeling similar to you, right?
You look at him again, and he seems so… small. Nervous, rocking back and forth on his heels, worried expression on his face. Kinda cute now that you think about it, no, no wait that is the last thing you should be thinking about.
You hesitate for a moment, and open the door. His head jerks up and his eyes widen for a split second, but he immediately relaxes into a stage demeanor.
“Hey there, Ronin. Now you might be wondering, what is the brown ninja doing at my door? Worry not, I have no intention of turning you in, but I, the great Dereth-” He pauses for a moment, expression dropping a bit, “Really need to talk to you about something.” You wordlessly step to the side. It’s obvious how nervous and awkward he is, even through his fake TV act. After all, he’s always been bad at hiding things from you. ‘
Aaaand there’s another odd, misplaced thought about the man who just walked into your home. You don’t know him, and yet, you feel like you really, really do.
…
You’re pretty surprised that he just let you in like that, but it doesn’t do anything to alleviate the tension. You walk over to his couch and sit down, only to immediately be greeted by a cloud of dust rising from it. You hide your cough, not wanting to offend him, but he really needs someone to take care of him, doesn’t he? Never very good at self-care.
He closes the door, turns around, and plops down on the couch next to you. He’s, uh, really close to you, and you feel your face heat up a bit.
“So, brown ninja,” he begins, “what exactly was it that you needed to talk about?”
Cool as a cucumber, like usual, but you can feel that he’s as nervous as you.
“Well, uh, this is gonna be kind of hard to explain.” you begin, and already you’re very aware of how much you’re exposing yourself, emotionally that is. You even dropped the stage voice you always do. “But, well. We don’t know eachother that well, right? But, and this is gonna sound pretty weird, I feel like somehow we do? And I keep-”
“Having weird dreams? Feel like you’re missing a chunk of your memory? Feeling things that aren’t really things you should be feeling?”
You stop, and stare for a moment. How… un-unless…
The way Ronin is looking at you right now makes your heart jump in your chest. He looks so desperate, body clenched, leaning forward slightly, lip trembling a bit.
“I-I-... I guess it isn’t just me.” you laugh nervously and look away, not wanting him to see the way your face heated up. You feel a hand on your face and you freeze, and your head is turned to face Ronin. The atmosphere of the room is totally different now, and you have a feeling you look like a tomato.
“Well, then, I guess we have a lot to talk about. I guess I’ll start.”
…
You have no idea how long you’ve been talking with Dareth, exchanging eerily similar dreams, as well as talking about what you know about the other. Turns out he knows some things about you that, to your current knowledge, you’ve never told anyone, and according to him the opposite is true as well.
You also managed to sneak an arm around him about five minutes ago, and are relishing in the warmth that your victory has brought you. Obviously there’s a lot going on you don’t understand, so why not act on your urges? Plus, from the way his head is resting on your shoulder, he doesn’t mind. It almost feels natural, to be like this. You’re willing to admit he’s cute now, and god his hair looks soft. You know, you should really see whether or not you’re right about that. For science. You reach a hand up and holy sHIT. You’ve hit the jackpot.
It’s like what you imagine clouds would feel like if they were as soft as they look, or cotton candy if it were made out of feathers instead of sugar. His face does that cute embarrassed thing again and swats your hand away from his head.
“C’mon, we’re trying to talk about something serious right now Rony-”
You both freeze. Rony. That’s what he called you. Rony.
Why does it feel so normal for him to call you that?
And suddenly, everything comes flooding back, you two growing closer, starting to date, the djinn, the mission, and finally Jay’s wish.
Making direct eye contact with Dareth, you smash your lips into his.