He Who Staked It All For Nothing [Tomomi/Cecil]

Cecil needed to check in with Tomomi.
As much as their normal meetups were fun, there were things to talk about today. Or, well...someone, mainly.
What were you thinking, Gabe?

CECIL: Hey, Tomomi, you home? Got something I want to talk about.

When the message came through, Tomomi was on his sofa-bed, writing carefully in his diary. The sudden noise of the text coming through  caused him a shock if nothing else, Tomomi quickly dropping his pen and panicking as he tried to pick it up again in a massive fumble of a motion. Eventually, Tomomi just gave up, setting his diary down half open, a slip of paper hanging out, and checking his phone.

A text... From Cecil...

Reading the contents of the text, Tomomi frowned, shaking his head to himself. This... Probably wasn't good news. Still, he could hope it would be positive, or at least neutral. Tapping away, Tomomi stood and walked to his fridge, phone in hand as he checked his current lemonade levels.

Tomomi: hi. i am home. i have enuff lemonade for a 2 glasses if you need. how long do you think youll be since i can always get more if you want

Cecil paced his path, eyes flitting about to check for traffic as he kept going on.

CECIL: A little while, but probably not too long. Got other people to meet up with.
CECIL: No worries about the lemonade. You eaten? Any preferences in fast food?

Tomomi: ive had a bit to eat but if you want to get fast food thats fine i can pay for my own tho
Tomomi: mind if i ask whats up or is this important and needs talked to face to face

As he sent the last message, Tomomi felt his hands shake a little. Was more bad stuff happening? It wasn't like Cecil to type in such an... Abrupt, busy sounding manner. Sighing, the boy got up and put his diary away. He couldn't really afford to have fast food but, he couldn't let Cecil pay for it either, so, it was another instance of just hoping he didn't have to skip work tonight.

Just what could be going on...?

Oh, Tomomi...well, that settles one thing.
Actually, come to think, he remembered the state of Tomomi's fridge...yeah, no way he'd had anywhere near enough. He still remembered the reaction when Dad insisted on him taking a bunch of his welcome feast home.
They'd loaded him up, alright.

CECIL: No way, Tomomi. Let me pay for something for once.
CECIL: And don't worry about it, really. Just wanna see you.

Hrm...now would be a good time to get something...

CECIL: Seriously, any preferences?

It seemed Cecil was insistent on this... Well, Tomomi wouldn't argue. It could stress him out, and those situations were never fun. Sighing to himself, the boy tapped back.

Tomomi: in that case can i have a mcronalds kiddies meal with the nuggets. i dont get to have them very often since they arent too good for you. thanks frend

With that, Tomomi set to cleaning up, waiting for his friend to show up, and not wanting it to be as much of a mess as, well, as it was.

CECIL: Done and done! One McRonalds coming up!
CECIL: See you soon, buddy!


It'd be just a little later when a smiling Cecil knocked at Tomomi's door, smiling away with a McRonalds bag in hand and his hair tied back into a ponytail.
It'd be simple enough for Tomomi to tell he was a little tense, though.

When Cecil arrived at the door and knocked away, Tomomi almost fell over, pink feather duster dropping from his hands and clattering to the floor as he rushed over to the door, excited to see his friend again. As he opened the door and saw Cecil smiling - and not a bitter smile - his eyes lit up, and a giddy, childish glee spread from cheek to cheek. Waving, Tomomi gestured inside and stepped to give Cecil room to step in. "Hey, hey! Welcome, welcome! And uh, t-thank you very much! Have a seat, there's some lemonade in the fridge so help yourself, and uh, you know, make yourself at home!"

Awaiting for Cecil to sit down, Tomomi sat down wherever felt right after his guest, before smiling, and gesturing to the McRonalds. "Oh, you sure you don't want me to pay you back for this by the way? I mean, I feel bad constantly mooching on you for food aha!"

...

The tension evaporated as Cecil burst out laughing, the giddy way Tomomi practically leaped about and fell over himself to usher him in far too much to witness while holding his tongue. Stepping in, he reached in and handed Tomomi his own meal, snickering away as he sat down with his. "That was twice, Tomomi. And besides, you deserve it. You put in enough work on dealing with me that I have to repay you somehow."

"Right, right, still! I don't want the score to be unfair, so, next time, it's my treat, okay?" The boy retorted with a giggle, opening his bag and giving it a cartoonish sniff with a grin, before getting out one of the nuggets and popping it in his mouth. Waiting until he'd finished eating that solitary nugget of tasty, Tomomi sighed, before tilting his head.

"So, I don't really expect flying visits, yet alone with McRonalds. Everything alright? What's up?"

One hand snaked into the bag to retrieve a juice bottle, and again to start plucking out fries. The other fished out a letter from one of Cecil's pockets, and put it down. "Well, there's this. You should probably burn it once you're done with it."
He sighs. "But...well, there's something else. You hear about Shotaro?"

Picking up the letter, Tomomi went to open it, before waiting, hearing that there was something else. At the mention of Shotaro, Tomomi tilted his head, confused by the serious tone in Cecil's voice, and the hesitation.

"Shotaro? The leader of the Playhouse right? Or, the face, or whatever. TV air wave highjack guy, kind of disliked by a bunch in the group due to being a bit... Over the top? Yeah, I know about him, but, I haven't really talked to him. Why, did something happen?"

He didn't know...

...

Cecil sobered, then.

No good way to say it. He...he should just be blunt with it.

"Gabe got caught. We were there just before it happened. It's the big news right now."

Blinking for a moment, Tomomi tilted his head. They were just talking about Shotaro, then suddenly, Gabe? That name... Mister Gabe?

The gears turned in the small boys head, gasping beneath his breath as he caught up, and responding. "Wait... Shotaro... Gabe... Like, Mister Gabe? Gabe Gatsby? The casino man? He... HE was Shotaro? And... He was caught? And you guys were there? How? How did you get away? Is everyone else okay? What happened? When was this? Oh god, I feel like I've missed everything, you and Nadia aren't hurt right?"

He nods. "Yup...I'm fine. Everyone else got out of that situation. It was just...him." Cecil shakes his head, running his fingers through his hair. "We were all meeting up for the Ronin thing. Gabe was the last...and he showed up in his TV famous garb, with another mask over his normal one. You know, because that would fool anyone." He groans. "Cadets got called in, he headed them off so we wouldn't be associated, and he...drops. His. Disguise. To bluff. The Cadets." He could still scarcely believe it. "Apparently he was pretty intimate with one of them, and he looked very similar beneath the disguise. He was so close. Just...not close enough for it to work."

Again, he shakes his head. "We managed to get outside the perimeter. Got sent off, assuming we were civilians that didn't immediately run off like everyone else did for some reason. But he stayed behind. And even if he had got out, they'd know who he was."
"And now, here we are."