A colorful AU!

[crab_rangoon]

The world is gray. Always gray. He had thought once, as a little boy, that the emergence of color would be a wonderful thing. He used to dream that finding that person, that getting to see everything in brilliant Wizard Of Oz technicolor would be something he would always cover until it happened.

But after Ishwari, after the betrayal and the loss, after Ajay and Lakshmana left to America after Mohan's failed assassination attempt, Pagan just gave up on that dream. Love, he decided, was just for those who have given up on themselves. Not worth the trouble.

Yuma became the face of Kyrat after that and Pagan stepped back, letting her handle the death threats and the rebels and all of the bullshit that he just didn't want to deal with. Pagan ruled from the back, tempering Yuma's impulsive bullshit with a cooler head, though no less ruthless. However, the arrangement left him free to roam the world, taking care of his business in Hong Kong and the mainland unmolested. His father might not have had the desire to rule the Triads, but Pagan sure as fuck does. Even if it means he has to go and do things himself.

It's this reason, chasing spineless Hong Kong assholes, that lands him in Japan. He has a small security detail that walks the crowd, but otherwise Pagan is by himself as he walks the streets, checking his phone for his victim's last location.

Comments

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan's laugh is warm and genuine and absolutely delighted. There's none of the usual malice, none of his reservations. "It's an English saying," he explains. "Doesn't really translate. But when you come from a country with a lot of goddamn elephants, it takes on a whole new meaning."

He sits back, watching him eat with fascination. He's never been one to care about table manners unless a lesson needs to be learned.

"It means there is something big we should discuss."

[lone_horse]

He eats like a starving animal, because between the orphanage, being a bachelor, and prison, when he's hungry? He doesn't want the food to disappear. Other than into him.

He pauses before attacking the second box.

"I'm listening."

What do you want to talk about, Pagan?

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan rolls his eyes. "This soulmate nonsense," he mutters.

What else?

[lone_horse]

“You said you were leaving. You also said I wasn’t… acceptable.”

He won’t look at Pagan. He also won’t eat.

It’s clear he’s keeping his emotions out of his voice. Because he sure as shit has feelings about that. But he won’t make Pagan deal with them when he clearly has no interest. They don’t matter.

He’ll survive. He always does.

[crab_rangoon]

"Oh stop all that," he says. "I never said you were unacceptable. I said I wasn't living with a dead man who works for the government. I also said I would stay for a while. I'm here a week, you know."

Does he know? Probably not, but a lack of information on another person's part has never been Pagan's problem.

"I also recall telling you that we should go out. I don't know you, but judging by today, I like you. You've got..." He switches to English. "Spunk. Charisma. And you're annoyingly handsome." And back to Japanese. "We have a week right now. So. Let's make the most of it."

Assuming Pagan doesn't just drag him back with him.

He really is handsome, dammit.

[lone_horse]

That’s… a complete contradiction from what he thought he heard but perhaps the man’s Japanese is just that bad. One week is better than one day, though. And he can’t complain about the mix up, being the monolingual of the two.

“You kept looking at the crowds. Unhappy. And your security detail…”

He was trying to be accommodating.

“There’s plenty to do here.”

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan is quiet for a moment, picking at his food at the mention of the crowds. There's something on his face that is more genuine than he would like to otherwise admit, but he pours himself a drink and tries to explain.

"I don't like the crowds. I don't like - the attention. I am a goddamn king, but my sister takes the lead on matters of the country because I don't like it. I have had oh - three or four body doubles in the past twenty years because of what happened."

He clears his throat, not looking at him. "The mother of my daughter had a husband. Her own - soul mate. But the man was an absolute piece of shit. He found out that the baby she gave birth to was mine- and well - look at her." He pulls out his phone and shows Kiryu a happy twenty year old woman with his eyes and his smile. "Can't mistake where she came from, hm? Well, naturally, he wasn't happy, so he tried to kill her. When he was still a fucking baby. We managed to stop him but - well, I haven't trusted many people since then. And I don't trust soul mates."

[lone_horse]

God.

God.

He can't help that his eyes prick not as Pagan mentions his distrust of soulmates, but at the sight of the girl. A girl Haruka's age. The idea of someone trying to kill her, the idea of someone attacking a baby-

A baby like Haruto.

His fingers curl into fists as Pagan talks about the threat to his family, hard enough that the chopsticks snap between his fingers unknown. It's only when he gets to the end of the story, when he says that he doesn't trust soulmates, that he catches himself, his reaction, and nods, almost like he didn't understand any of it. But oh, he did. He just- he needs a moment.

He's been betrayed and attacked and gotten attention from people for the last twelve goddamn years and he hates all of it. By those rules, he shouldn't talk to anyone... and maybe that's why he is as he is now: dead. No one. Nothing but a puppet for the Japanese government, the same people, the same society, that told him he was nothing, worse than nothing for most of his life.

He grits his teeth and nods again.

He doesn't know what to say for a moment, until he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. He flicks a few times until he's at a picture of a beautiful young girl the same age, this one holding a baby in a blue shirt in what is clearly a hospital. There's a bandage around her head, but the baby looks fine.

He just passes it to Pagan before he says-

"That was three years ago."

[crab_rangoon]

The breaking of the chopsticks catch him off guard. He's used to sympathy or pity. He's not used to anger. It's - comforting. Pagan has so much anger in him on the subject that it turned to self loathing.

He glances to the picture, tilting his head to the side. "She's lovely. What happened to her?" he wonders, reaching out to point at the bandage.

[lone_horse]

He almost gives the basic explanation before realizing that of all people, Pagan will understand the true depths of the problem. He dips his head towards the picture.

"The baby's father is the spare heir to the Saio triad, or he was before I convinced Big Lo to leave and let him live his life." And blood was everything to that organization. The only one who could run it was a blood descendant, for one, which was why the youngest child had been sent away, treated as an orphan even if he was being kept in case of emergencies. And so much trouble was started because the original heir had decided on a risky venture that got him killed. That the grandchild existed was one problem. That he had Japanese heritage another. It was both a comfort and a frustration that even when it had nothing to do with him, his family was never safe.

"They were hit by a car. The only reason Haruto-kun survived is because Haruka-chan shielded him with her body. She was in a coma for weeks."

He keeps his voice steady. Barely.

"Her mother and I grew up together in the orphanage. Her soulmate tried to kill her, and their child, for political convenience. He succeeded with the mother. I took her in after that."

He knows just how poisonous some soulmates can be. Kyohei Jingu was all the example he'd ever needed.

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan certainly does understand. If his mother hadn't died, his father would have absolutely tried to have another son. A better son. And 'gotten rid' of Pagan in the process. He never wanted him to take over the Triad, third rate as it was at the time.

He swallows hard as he listens, keeping his own emotions pushed down.

Well. Sort of. He does reach over and lay his hand on Kiryu's. It's the most he's heard the other man talk and all of it is - so relatable.

"And you can't see either one of them."

It's not a question. And it's painful.

[lone_horse]

He shakes his head.

"The deal was that I died, and they would be kept safe. Haruka, Haruto, Yuta" the father, "and the others." Adopted, but no less his. "This city is the most dangerous... but also the most safe."

Because yes, he was known here. But he was also loved here. And the people here? Cared more about him than they did what the Japanese government wanted. There was a kook on every street, a weirdo in every alley, a shopkeeper in every shop, that owed him. That he'd bought from, tipped, looked out for, helped in a real way.

Even the bums on the street had more regard for him. And for good reason.

"I can't go back there. Here... is as close as I get."

[crab_rangoon]

"I sent Ishwari and Ajay and Lakshmana to America," he says. "For the same reason. Ishwari and I - it didn't work out. But the children were better with their mother. I talk and visit when I can but - "

Never enough. It's never enough time with his children.

"Do they know...that you're alive?"

[lone_horse]

He shakes his head.

Then he wobbles a hand.

"Haruka-chan has always been able to smell a lie. Since she was small."

She knows, even if she keeps that secret in her heart.

[crab_rangoon]

That must be a relief...and amazingly frustrating. He moves his hand from Kiryu's and thinks a moment.

"It sounds like you need a vacation," he points out after a long moment of silence. He's not dismissing him at all; rather, he's trying his best to stay with him. To keep him and his story close.

Goddammit, is this the mystical bond or is this real?

He's annoyed that he doesn’t know. "How do you feel about the mountains?"

[lone_horse]

"I've heard they're nice," he says honestly, because this feels very hypothetical. He's so used to the situation that is his life at this point that the idea of a way out is... he can't even think of one.

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan takes a drink, never moving his eyes from Kiryu's face.

"Come back with me," he says. "To Kyrat. Just for a while. I'm not asking you to give up anything here. But I will be going in a week. A few days. Whenever I get bored. And you. You should come with me. See the mountains. Swim in a waterfall. I don't know." He gestures broadly. "Drink with me in a palace for a while."

[lone_horse]

Kiryu looks surprised, then longing... and then, Pagan will get to watch in real time as he shuts down the very idea.

"I don't have a passport. And my contact... may not approve."

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan shooes away those thoughts with a wave of his hand. Because he hates that look on his face.

"Oh, that's not for people like me. A fake passport will get you far enough. Besides, I wonder if your contact will have something to say to the goddamn King of Kyrat. I'm sure we can work out something."

[lone_horse]

There's a part of him that kept glossing over that fact but now that Pagan's repeated it, his eyes go a little wide. A king.

A king. And he's...

Well, he's been involved with a few international incidents. He's unsure of how this is all going to play out, if this is going to end well or-

Or not well. His luck would say 'not well'.

So he swallows.

"He might."

[crab_rangoon]

"Dictator" is still the common moniker for Pagan, but he doesn't like to throw that word around for no reason.

"Good. Get me a meeting," he says idly, inspecting his fingers. "Now, that's settled." Because Pagan cannot imagine a scenario where he wouldn't get his way.

[lone_horse]

He watches Pagan for a moment, watches him inspect his fingers, and he straightens his shoulders a little. Pagan is a king. Pagan... is a great big block of concrete in the little pond that he's managed. He can either be a centerpiece... or throw everything into disarray.

"I can do that.

"After you tell me what your intentions are."

You don't get to throw his arrangement into chaos and potentially endanger his children on a whim. This isn't a vacation. If they're going to make this known to anyone besides the two of them, he's going to need guarantees.

He knows his reputation: he's never doublecrossed anyone. He's never betrayed anyone.

He can't say he knows Pagan's on that score.

[crab_rangoon]

Oh he likes this. Pagan grins, a playful sort of expression, and steeples his fingers.

"My intentions are to figure you out, and I can't do it when you're on your home turf." He does know his reputation and he knows his own. Not as ruthless as he could have been, had Mohan accomplished what he set out to do, but Pagan's path to the crown is soaked in blood. There is no civil war under Pagan and Yuma, as Mohan's attempted infanticide effectively killed the Golden Path before it could take root, but there's no denying that Pagan and Yuma keep the country under strict guidance.

Besides all that, Pagan the Triad leader has his own reputation outside of King Min. Serving up his own father's head to the other bosses certainly made a point, after all. He's not the underhanded sort, preferring everything be upfront. Clean. He has his own motivations, but they're hardly secret.

So he doesn't have anything to hide when he answers. "And you have seen me...like this. But this is only one side. If we want to do something about this, you need to know me. And I need to know you. In whatever form that takes. Of course, there's always the quick and dirty way, if you don't believe my words."

He spreads his hands out. "You mentioned it earlier. A little old fashioned, but - well. Who am I to judge?"

He knows exactly where a fight will lead, but he's willing to put in the effort.

[lone_horse]

"If you can't do it here, you can't do it anywhere," he says back, "what you see is what you get."

Just to be clear: he is who he is. And he's always been that man, from the 20 year old who took on the whole Tojo Clan in his rage and his grief to the 'bodyguard' who defended Watase and his own adopted son while they dissolved everything he'd worked for for the last fifteen years. The world might change, but he doesn't.

He looks Pagan up and down.

"I won't hold back."

It's probably the most polite way he could say 'I'm going to beat the shit out of you' he possibly has.

[crab_rangoon]

But Pagan doesn't know that. And he's not taking chances with an unknown person. He knows the stories he's heard of this man, but they're exaggerated and hardly worth looking into.

He wants to see.

He takes a drink, unconcerned with the warning.

"Well, I sure as fuck hope you don't. It wouldn't mean anything otherwise."