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saph-writes · 2 years

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The Touch of Velvet

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Summary: Free was never one to care about his appearance. He couldn't care less about the clothes he wore, or the state he presented himself in. He was a blader, not a fashionista. And so he didn't.

That was, of course, until he saw Lui's new outfit. More specifically a certain yellow stud earring he couldn't quite get out of his head.

Words: 5520

Free sat on the bench near the vending machine of the long halls that littered the WBBA stadium. Outside were the noises of crowds and cheers centered around the current matches, going up one after another.

Wakiya was of course holding another event, only this time he actually had the option of getting out of it, but opted not to. In the moment it was a wise decision, another chance of battling after the Tag Team tournament. But now, he couldn’t help but get a bit worn out, especially by the man in question.

Free sipped on his bottle of water. He was up next.

Just about ready to get up and do some quick training, the doors on the far end open, letting in thundering steps that echoed across the long hall. He didn’t have to look up to know who it is, knowing the only person it could be, arriving when the event had already long begun.

He did, however, spare a peek.

Lui looked slightly different as he made his way down the hallway. He still had the long scarf that reached down to his lower thighs, but this time his shirt was bordered with a deep candied red, and the teal blue has been replaced by a dark purple. His pants were also slightly different, this time a dark gray. The band on his left arm has been moved to the right.

But as he got closer, Free took notice of another difference, this time appearing on his left ear, a single yellow earring.

Lui stopped on front of the vending machine to enter in some cash and select a button. As it dispensed his order, Free decided to offer his stunning commentary.

“You got your ear pierced.”

Lui turned to look at him before bending down to grab the energy drink. “It’s a clip-on.”

“Same either way.” Free cocked his head curiously. Meanwhile, Lui scoffed and took a long gulp of his can.

“I can do what I want with my appearance. It doesn’t matter either way, I’ll still crush you in the stadium.” He gave Free a smug smirk before heading off to hall intersection, where the training rooms were located. Free gave him one of his own.

“Whatever you say.”

Free still thought about that interaction, however small it may have been, and the yellow bead he seemed fixated on. It’s such a trivial thing, something like an accessory to put attention towards, but for whatever reason, it didn’t seem to leave his mind.

Even during training, when his concentration is typically at its highest, it still occasionally drifted to the image. Free had dedicated himself to training even harder, since he did end up losing to Lui just as he said, but how could he when his mind was littered in distractions?

Standing in front of the stadium with launcher in hand, Free closed his eyes and concentrated on the slung noises of leaves and winds passing through the air, the birds chirping and the buzz of insects. He waited and waited for the static to engulf his mind, counting one by one for the thoughts to leave his head.

Thankfully, it worked. On the third beat, he opened his eyes and ripped his arm back as hard as he could, sending the bey to fly into the stadium. It landed perfectly.

As the bey circled to the middle, Free felt a familiar presence come close.

“Training is going great, I’m assuming?” He looked to his right, allowing himself time for this detour.

“Hey Valt.” To his surprise, Valt also looked slightly different since the last time he saw him, which was only a month or so ago. Instead of his hoodie’s sleeves reaching to his wrists, it was now shorter, and his shoes has been switched out for a different pair, still maintaining the same color with a different arrangement.

Valt grinned and jumped up to the platform of the concrete area Free was standing on, his typical place of the forest. Free paid close attention to his spinning bey as he spoke.

“I know you’re busy and all, but me and Kit were wondering if you would like to come into town with us? Kit wants to do clothes shopping so we’re going to the mall, but there’s also some really tasty food over there.” Free didn’t say anything at first, still maintaining his concentration on Fafnir. Normally, he would decline an offer like this one during his training, which is what he usually does when Valt asks him if he would like to head into town with him.

But as he organized his thoughts through the hypnosis of the stadium, the interaction with Lui still didn’t leave his mind. It made its way to the front always, and forced attention upon it.

Free sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to get any useful training out of being distracted. There was also this nagging feeling he couldn’t quite push away, one that felt infinitely more annoying than the stupid earring.

“…Sure.”

Valt widened his eyes slightly, but quickly responded with excitement. “Really?! Hold on, I’ll go tell Kit. Meet us at the entrance in 10!”

With that, he ran off into the dense collection of forest. Free’s gaze lingered at the spot he exited as Fafnir slowed to a stop. In a way, he couldn’t help but give a small smile of his own.

When Free got to the large, arced entrance, Kit was busy texting on his phone while Valt was on lookout. As he saw Free walk towards them, he smiled and waved over.

“Alright, we’re ready to go! Kit, where’s that place you told me about again?” He didn’t get a response as Kit was still busying tapping away. Valt frowned. “Kit?”

“Hm?” He quickly looked up and seemingly just noticed Free’s arrival. “Oh, hey Free. What’s up?” Valt asked again.

“Kit, where’s that place you told me about? And who are you texting?” Kit quickly put his phone away. He began walking on the path, pointing forwards at a vague direction in a hastily manner. “It’s somewhere over there, near the café we went a few weeks ago I think.” Even with his attempt to brush off the second question, Free noticed the slight pink on his cheeks.

It seemed Valt did too.

“Is it the certain someone...“ Valt teasingly started, thought it had some air of genuine question before Kit cut him off.

“No, why would it be.” He walked slightly faster, leaving Valt to giggle as Free glanced between the two with slight confusion.

“Is there something I’m missing?” he asked with a monotone voice. Valt took the liberty of responding.

“He met this person on his last trip, and they exchanged numbers. I think their name was-”

“Don’t say their name!” Now instead of ignoring them, he was actively turned around and pouting, with the slight pink now turned into a deep magenta. Valt laughed while Free stifled a chuckle.

“Makes sense, he is getting to that age.” Free said. That only made Valt laugh harder. Kit, however, wasn’t as amused.

“I wasn’t texting them!” Of course they were no longer listening, and Valt had to balance himself on Free’s shoulder to not fall over with laughter. Kit crossed his arms. “This is slander.”

As they continued walking, Free looked around at the people walking all around them. Both Kit and Valt had moved on from the topic, though there were still some teases here and there coming from both sides.

Now especially the streets were filled with young people like them, teenagers, but there were also spots here and there of older adults and even full-on families. From the screaming and giggling of a kid being hoisted up by their dad, to the little boy jumping up and down in front of his mom, pointing at a window display of a Cinderella costume with bright hopeful eyes. Free could hear the disappointment in the little boy’s voice as his mom took him away from the window.

It didn’t take long for them to arrive to their destination, roughly 15 minutes had passed before they were in front of the doors to the local large mall.

Kit was the first to point where to go, leaving Valt and Free to simply follow his lead. As he told them the name of the store, he also expressed that they should get something there too.

“But I like my clothes.” Valt said, looking down at his outfit. Kit shook his head in disappointment.

“Valt, no offense, but you’re wearing the same outfit you wore when you were 11.” He said, putting emphasis on the very last word. “You don’t have much of a fashion sense.” Valt looked up, now appearing more offended than anything.

“I look great, actually. Besides, I’m a blader not a model.”

“Thank god.” Kit muttered under his breath. Arms crossed, Valt nodded towards Free.

“And how bout’ Free, you haven’t said anything to him.” Kit turned to look at him and took in a deep breath.

“Free is… a special case. To be honest, I’ve given up on him, but I still have hope for you!” He exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Wow, I feel so loved.” Free said sarcastically. Kit gave an empty chuckle while Valt muttered, “Gee, thanks.”

At that moment, they arrived at the front entrance of a department store that looked more like something out of a teen coming-of-age movie than anything set in reality, and yet here they are.

The store was divided up into 4 different sections. In the center front of the entrance taking up most of the space, were the racks of clothes categorized by men and women, with different youths and miss sections. On the left wall reaching to the far corner was an entire section dedicated to shoes. Right beside it was walls of furniture, and the right side were individual aisles with shelves dedicated to various things.

“On a serious note, if you guys actually want to get something, please do. I can pay for it.” Kit said. Valt shook his head and pointed towards him and Free.

“You don’t have to, we have more than enough to pay.” This time, it was Kit’s turn to shake his head.

“But I want to! It’s the least I can do!” Valt turned to Fee, as if he was asking for his input. Free just shrugged his shoulders.

“If he really wants to, then I guess.” Before Valt could answer, Kit took both of their hands and tugged them into the store, to the surprise of the two.

“Sick! Alright, I’ll be in the first rack. Meet me at checkout!” The two couldn’t even get a word out before Kit ran off with unusual excitement.

Valt exhaled. “He seems weirdly happy for something like shopping.”

“Reminds me of you.” Free smiled. Valt smiled back and placed his hands on his hips.

“Maybe. Anyways, where are you going to head to? I have to go buy something for Shu’s birthday, so I’ll probably be searching alone for a bit.”

Free suppressed the urge to make a comment and simply shrugged his shoulders. He surveyed the rows of aisles and shelves. “I’ll be in the technology section.” Valt nodded.

“I’ll try and find you when I’m finished. See ya.” He waved slightly before walking away, as they headed in opposite directions.

Free was never a big fan of shopping, especially when it comes to clothes. He vaguely remembers a few times when Kris tried to push him to have a nicer outfit, trying to say in the kindest way possible that his tank top was shit. But he never really cared.

He was a blader, he didn’t need to focus on his appearance.

As Free scoped across the rows of various technological devices, filled with different brands of earbuds and chargers, boring by the way, his eye was caught on a glimmer from the next aisle. By some coincidence, the technology shelves were right next to an entire aisle dedicated to accessories, and it was right at that moment that Free realized he hadn’t been thinking of the stupid yellow earring.

He thought quietly for a minute and eventually gave into the temptation.

Setting down a charger he was looking at for his laptop, he walked over to the expansion collection of shiny objects. The store was quiet, so luckily there was no one there, giving him time to search in peace. The shelf was neatly organized, divided into sections like necklaces, bracelets, headwear, and earrings.

They all glimmered from the overhead lights, sparkling in all sorts of different colors and types. Gold, silver, even a few with fabric made into it. The earrings were the most diverse of them all, varying from size, color, design. There was even one that was the same yellow bead he saw Lui wear, clip-on and all. His fingers grazed the shiny gold.

He didn’t realize how long he had been looking until he felt Valt come close by. “Oh, there you are!” He went over to where Free was searching and peered over to take a look. “Woah, these look so pretty.” He said with an awe in his voice.

He reached down and grabbed a bracelet that sat in one of the containers. “I think I have one like this…”

As Valt joined him to marvel at the pieces of jewelry, Free looked up once again to have his attention caught by a blue and pink ribbon earring. Unlike the others, the second hole was empty, meaning that this only came with one. It looked like it got stolen or ripped off somehow.

He reached over and touched the tips of the ribbon. It was velvet.

As if on cue, Valt looked over to where Free was studying the earring. “I like that one. Looks really nice.” Even though his voice was quiet, each word felt loud enough to echo in his mind.

He made up his mind. Free took the earring off the rack it was hanging on and held it in his hand. “I’ll grab this one.” Valt smiled and was ready to say something when another voice interrupted him.

“THIS is where y’all been, Jesus. You should’ve told me, I was waiting at the entrance for like ever.” Kit stood at the end of the aisle. He went up to where the two were huddled and took notice of the item Free was carrying. “Oh, you’re getting an earring? You know, you’ve never struck me as the type to try on jewelry.”

Free set it in the full basket Kit was holding. “First time for everything.”

Kit picked up the pink and blue ribbon earring, looked at Free, and then at the rows of accessories. “You should wear something else to go along with it. Like a necklace or a bracelet. Or maybe…” He bent over and scrambled through the collection of headwear and scraps of fabric on the shelves sections before eventually getting out something. It was a navy-blue band that had an upside-down triangle in the center, similar to the WBBA symbol.

Valt glanced over. “A headband?” Kit glared back at him.

“It’s a CHOKER. Like the one that goes around your neck.”

“Oh. It looks a bit plain, you sure this would go along with it?”

“Duh, of course I am. It’s called style.”

“I dunno if Free would-“

“I’ll take it,” Free interrupted, taking the choker from Kit’s hands.

Kit looked over at Valt, who also seemed to be carrying something, only it was already in a plastic bag.

“You already paid? But I said I was going to pay for it.”

“Sorry, I forgot.” Valt said, giving a nervous chuckle. Kit shook his head and sighed.

“You really are something else.”

As they walked up to the checkout, Free was put in charge of setting the items on the counter to be paid for. Their cashier was an older lady, looked to be in her 30s, and gave Free a warm smile. He did his best to give one back.

Both Kit and Valt were busy, or rather distracted, with a food stand that sat in front of the store. Since it was a mall, there were many across the building. They both ran off, with Kit suddenly remembering to give Free the money just as he disappeared.

As each item was scanned, the older woman attempted to make small talk, even with his one-word responses.

“Hello! How has your day been?”

“Good.”

“That’s lovely. Would you like this in a bag?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. Today’s been a quiet day, so we love seeing you young boys enjoying the store.”

As she moved through the items, she landed on the earring that Free picked out, holding them up before scanning.

“Oh my, this looks beautiful! Which lucky girl will be getting these?”

“None.” Free tapped his foot on the ground, wishing she would just move along, and to his relief she did, scanning it across the screen.

“Would you like to get another pair? It seems that this is missing a second.” He shook his head.

“No thank you.” She gave him a bright smile and put it with the others, packed into a large bag.

“Alright! That’ll be €106.64.”

He looked through the money given to him by Kit and chose out the amount he needed. She entered in the cash and just as she was about to give back the receipt and change, she leaned over and spoke in a low voice.

“You know, there’s a nearby salon, Leisa Beauty, that offers ear piercings. They’re real cheap too. I would head over there before they close at 4.” She gave him a wink and went back to give him the bags. As Free exited the small store, he kept the lady’s words in mind.

The department store was coincidentally not too far from the food court, and sitting at a table a few feet away from the food stand, was Kit and Valt hunched over a phone, deeply invested. In front of them was a pizza and 2 packs of fries. He went over and sat in one of the table’s four seats, settling the bags on the floors. Valt looked up.

“Hey, Free. There’s a title match going on right now, and it’s really heating up, you wanna see?” Although he was very tempted to watch the battle and study it, he shook his head, instead opting to take a fry from the table.

“I’m going to go off for a bit.” As he stood up, Kit took his eyes off the screen.

“Where you heading off to?” Free didn’t bother responding. He reached down to grab the ribbon earring from the store, and began walking towards the direction the lady pointed to.

“Wait, how long are you going to take?” Valt called out. Free stopped for a minute and turned.

“Dunno, maybe 30 minutes?” With that he was off, hearing Valt yell out, “Call if you need anything!” before he was out of earshot.

Free searched across the names of the various stories on either side, all of which varying from clothing departments to technology-based markets. As he reached the end of the hall, where an entrance wasn’t too far, he finally found the name of the salon. Leisa Beauty.

The name hung in the front of the doors, written in a cursive font and bordered with a light pink, a stark contrast to the dark colors of the actual lettering. He stood in front of the double doors that would lead into the large salon, slightly hesitant to go in. He rubbed the velvet of the ribbon in his hands, and slowly went in.

The cold air of ventilation swept through his skin, making the hairs on his arms go up instantly. It smelled of perfume, a sweet scent that settled across the counters. Luckily, like the other clothing store, it was a quiet day, and there was a single lone employee at the counter, an older boy with curly hair and a bored expression. He went over as he catches their attention.

“Good afternoon, what would you like today?” Like Free, his eyes were naturally slung low over his irises, and he spoke with a flat voice.

“An ear piercing. Please.” He remembered to add the last part. The boy tapped something into the screen in front of him.

“Both or one?”

“One.”

A few more taps later an amount popped on the small device on Free’s side of the counter.

“That’ll be €34.06, would you like to pay with cash or card?”

“Cash.”

Free handed over the money. A ding ringed from the cash register and he handed back the change and receipt. “Hold on, our piercing lady is running a bit off schedule, VAL!” He called over behind him, towards the door that stood behind the counter. A few seconds passed before a response came out, a faint, “COMING,” from behind the walls.

The boy sighed and turned back to Free. “Sorry, she’s usually pretty organized. In the meantime, you can choose out a starter earring.” He motioned him over to the other side of the store, where there was a glass encasing filled with many pieces of jewelry lying inside, including earrings.

Before the employee could start pointing at the various stud earrings, Free spoke up. “I want this one.” He held up the velvet ribbon earring. The boy frowned.

“Sorry, we can’t accept outside starters, you’ll have to choose from the approved list we have here.” Free didn’t let up, and held the still packaged earring up in front of him.

“I want this one,” he repeated. “I don’t want another.”

“Look, you’ll only wear the starter for around 6 weeks, and then you can wear whatever you want, but until then, pick from what we provide here.” He tapped his finger on the glass, clearly getting impatient. But Free was stubborn.

“I don’t want any here. I want this one.” The boy pinched his nose bridge and just as he was about to come up with another explanation, a noise suddenly come from the counter behind them.

They turned to see a girl, looked to be in her late teens, nearly fallen to the floor and grabbed on tightly to the open door. Her jaw was wide open. “F-Free de la Hoya?!”

She blinked and seemingly noticed the two staring at her. Stumbling over and hastily standing up straight, she ran over and grabbed the boy’s arm, much to his protest.

“Hey, the fuck, I was doing just fine-?”

“HAHA- excuse me for just a sec,” she directed towards Free while snatching the other employee to behind the counter. He didn’t have to strain his ear to hear what they were saying clearly.

“Do you KNOW who that is, Arlo?”

“Uh, our customer that you made a scene in front of?”

“It’s FREE DE LA HOYA.”

“…And? Am I supposed to know who that is?”

“Are you fucking stupid, how can you not know the name of the 4TH ranked blader in the world?!”

“Dunno, maybe because I’m actually focused on making a living than some kid’s toy game?”

“Isweartogod, Arlo, that boy makes more money than you and I will make in our lifetimes COMBINED. Just leave this to me.”

“Fine.”

The two employees got up from the back of the counter and walked over to where Free stood, who was wondering why they didn’t just go to the back. The girl put on a smile and shoved her elbow in the other to do the same.

“Welcome! We are so honored to have you in our salon. We offer the best service around so don’t be afraid to tell us anything, just leave it all to us!” The boy beside her muttered something under his breath, but she was quick to jab in his stomach with her arm. He doubled over in pain.

Free just stared at the two and held up the earring he held in his hand.

“I’ll like to get my ear pierced, can I use this as a starter?”

She beamed. “Of course! Just come right this way! And sorry for the other, he’s a bit new.” The boy gave her a nasty look as he went to the back room, still holding his stomach in his hands.

All of this didn’t come to a surprise to Free, where interactions like these were typical at BC Sol.

She led him to a seat near the very back and began grabbing her tools.

“So! What brought you here to get an ear piercing? A new look or something?”

Free pondered. He hadn’t thought about that, it was just a nagging feeling that sat in the pit of his stomach ever since he first saw Lui a week or so ago. But even before then, there was still an odd sensation that plagued his face and reflection. He told himself he was a blader, that he didn’t care about his appearance, and even made a point to wear a tank top constantly, to show he didn’t care.

That was, until around last year, when Kris showed him a skirt she brought recently, and asked if he would like to try it on. It looked more like a kilt than anything, but still he was drawn to it. When he tried it on, it fit perfectly, and looking at the mirror felt like a piece falling right into place. He wore one ever since.

The earring was small, barely bigger than his palm, but now was the same feeling. Another piece, ready to be fit into its slot, a bigger change than anything, held right in his hand.

“You can say that.”

He wasn’t used to the heaviness that came with having dangling earrings, constantly reaching to touch them at any instance. Kit and Valt walked right beside him as all three of them exited the mall, with the two of them happily chopping on salted pretzels, and Free with his own pack of fries.

“I can’t believe that we couldn’t grab any churros.” Valt complained. Kit took a bite of his pretzel.

“That’s because YOU wanted to continue watching the title match, so the stand closed before we could get there,” he said, clearly still slightly bitter.

“But it was so intense! Free, you should’ve seen it, it was incredible! Man, after seeing a battle like that, I wanna head in there too!”

Kit took another bite. “You should, no doubt you’d win after how long it’s been.” Valt laughed.

“Nah, Aiger improved a lot since our last battle, it would be close. But doesn’t mean I won’t try.” He took a bite and turned to Free, speaking with his mouth still full.

“How was your trip at the place you went? I’m assuming it was a salon…?”

Free nodded. “It was fine, very noisy though.” He popped in a fry and instinctively reached for the ribbon on ear. The velvet was soft and nice to touch. Valt smiled.

“You seem very happy with it.” Kit peered over and nodded as well.

“He’s right, you’re smiling more. Usually you’re all tired and shit, but it’s nice to see you happy for a change.”

Although Kit can’t quite tell the emotions of Free quite like someone like Valt can, he still smiled because he noticed it too. A warm feeling that rushed through his fingertips with every graze, and the spark as it dangled across his neck.

“We gotta wait until we get back so you can try on the choker, then the look will be complete.” Kit said, crumbling up the paper of the pretzel as he licked his fingers. “I never thought I’d see the day when Free De La Hoya gave thought into his appearance.”

“That’s not true, what about the first time Free wore his skirt?” Valt said, mouth still full.

“Kris offered, so of course he took it. This was completely unprompted. And besides, it didn’t look that good anyways...”

Free pouted. “Rude.”

As the three of them walked along the walkway through town, Kit threw his crumbled-up napkin into a passing trash can, prompting Valt to do the same, still licking his lips. Free continued eating his fries and the three of them launched into a conversation about upcoming matches, their talk quickly devolving form there.

Now they were just speaking whatever came to mind, which gave Kit an interesting thought.

“Hey Free, have you been online at all?”

He shook his head. “I’d rather not. Training’s more useful.”

“Well, you know, there is a saying about men who get a single ear pierced….”

“Kit!” Valt reprimanded, shooting a glare at the younger boy, who only giggled to himself. Free thought for a minute and suddenly realized what he meant. He gave a small smirk.

“Actually, he might be onto something.”

That stopped the two of them in their tracks. Free continued proudly walking, as if nothing happened, making the two boys even more confused.

“Hold on-“

“WHAT.”

They ran up with question after question.

“Wait- since when??”

“When did this happen-?!“

“You can’t just walk away without explaining!”

Free just smiled to himself, as he popped the last fry into his mouth.

Free did try on the choker and finally looked into a mirror for the first time since getting his ear pierced. He was always perfectly fine with his appearance, having no major grievances when looking at his reflection, but taking a glance at what he looks like now, it’s different. It feels different.

It actually felt like looking in the mirror.

The reaction from his teammates were also interesting. While Free much preferred keeping the changes on the down low, both Kit and Valt made an effort to show it off to everyone else.

The younger bladers loved the earring, looking at it in awe, exclaiming how pretty he looked.

Silas was off on a trip, but Cuza had just come back, and he responded similarly. “Woah, I can barely recognize him!”

“I know right!” Kit said.

Sasha was also there, and she gasped when he came into her view. “Oh my god, those look so pretty!” Kit and Valt beamed. Free was about ready to get this over with.

Eventually they found Kris, who by some stroke of luck was actually in her office. As they entered the room, she was typing on her desk when she looked up.

Considering how long they have been friends, and how Kris was the first to offer a new style of clothing to him, Free didn’t expect much of a reaction.

But to his surprise, she went dead silent as her eyes scanned his new appearance. She quietly stood up and walked over to her childhood friend, putting her hands over her face.

“Oh, Free…”

Her eyes glimmered. Instantly, she wrapped her arms around him, giving him a felt, but gentle, hug.

Free stood still for a minute, surprised by Kris’s sudden outburst, but the more time he spent in her arms, the more it really began to weigh down on him. It wasn’t long before his hands reached over to squeezed her back, and tears found their way dripping down his face.

The ribbon, softly grazing his cheek.

Free waited by the entrance to the stadium, ready any second now for his name to be called.

Recently Valt got a new student, an energetic kid with a similar spunk to his mentor, and apparently a big fan. It was actually fun seeing the denial the boy was in, especially with how much he clearly looks up to Valt.

After a few weeks of training, Free got challenged by the boy to a match, located right here in El Astro, and naturally he accepted, curious to see the skills of someone called Valt’s successor.

No matter what though, he was ready to head out win, of course.

As he stood by the doorway, Free spotted a familiar flame of blue hair enter the halls, walking right in front of him.

“You’re here early,” he said. Lui looked over to where Free was standing.

“I’m just saving a seat for the meeting.” He stood for a bit longer, seeming to be studying something on Free’s appearance.

“You got your ear pierced.” He gave a smirk and began walking away.

“That’s funny, did you say that people can do whatever they want with their appearances?” Lui stopped and turned over once again to looked at Free. The two engaged in a staring match before Lui let out a laugh.

“I did. And naturally I am right.” With that he walked away, his footsteps echoing the halls once again. At that moment, Free's name was called from behind him, signaling for him to come out. Touching the tip of the ribbon on his ear, and hearing Lui’s first words again, he let out his breath.

He’s right. They never did.

He lingered on the touch of velvet, and opened the doors before him.

#crossposted #beyburst #beyblade burst #my writing #fic #5000-10000 words #valt aoi #free de la hoya #kit lopez #kristina kuroda #lui shirosagi

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