[ He almost interrupts at the sixteen year old boy comment, but instead he bites down hard on his tongue and waits for Hakkai to finish. Because Hakkai doesn’t want to hear what he has to say. He doesn’t want to talk. He just wants to be right. Chikusa stalks him, restrains him with a borderline, attacks him, demands to know the most intimate fucking details of what Gojyo’s heart is feeling… and Hakkai thinks Gojyo’s the problem. Chikusa hits him with a borderline in the middle of a meeting, dozens of witnesses to testify that Gojyo hadn’t so much looked in his direction beforehand, but when Gojyo tries to get him to drop it, that’s the attack. That’s the problem. It’s always him – he’s the one who’s wrong. Never Chikusa.

Never Hakkai.

He’s so mad he can barely see. ]

And of course you’re always right. [ He’s not turning around – he’s not sure what his face is giving away, if his eyes are burning from smoke or from anger or from tears, and whatever the cause he’s not going to let Hakkai see that. His voice is level and low, but so full of animosity that it hurts his throat to speak. ] Stupid Gojyo, trustin’ his own ears and eyes. I shoulda been comin’ to you from the beginning, askin’ you to make all my decisions for me, verify what I was thinkin’ and feeling. [ He coughs out a laugh. ] But that’s not you wantin’ to be the boss, no. That’s just comin’ from the goodness of your heart because I’m always so goddamn wrong.

[ How could I love somebody I thought I was better than. What a telling goddamn statement. ]