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Chapter Text

Ryosuke was at the shop within five minutes of Takumi's phone call. His mind was racing and his heart thrumming a tune it hadn't in a long time. Keisuke had been doing so well and it was giving him a headache trying to figure out why he had jumped the gun and ran off to Tokyo again.

He thought those days were long gone, in fact he knew they were when Kenta swore on his father's grave that he'd seen Keisuke kissing Takumi in the back of the shop, away from prying eyes. Ryosuke had seen the smile lighting his brother's face each time Takumi entered the room, each time he brushed past him with a grin. Things had changed. They both had changed.

So why?

"Nakai." Takumi said when the man answered his shop phone. It was quiet in the background, which was odd.

"Takumi, what can I do for you?"

"What time is the race?" Takumi breathed calmly through his nose when he was silent, "Don't lie to me anymore, Nakai. I know what he's going to do."

The older man sighed, "Alright. It's in two hours, that's when he plans to confront DK. Keisuke and Riku are breaking in the tires on the road right now. After we tune it a bit, he's heading into Setagaya. It's out of my hands."

"Where in Setagaya?"

"Takumi. Whatever you plan on doing, it's too late. At this point, you'll just distract him."

Takumi gripped the phone a little harder, "He should've thought about that before he lied to me."

Nakai looked out at the road when he heard the BMW coming down the road, "DK and the crew meet at a parking garage in the south ward, it's hard to miss. It'll be lit up like Christmas. Whatever you're going to do, do it fast, they're back already. Bring whoever will come, you'll need help if things go bad."

Takumi hung up and jogged over to Ryosuke when he got out of the FC, clearly in a frustrated state. "We need everyone on board with us when we head into Tokyo. How much time do we have?"

Takumi swallowed, "Two hours at the most. Who should I call?"

Ryosuke pulled his own phone back out, "Everyone you can get. Call your friends back home, I'll get in touch with Nakazato and Sudo. Tell them where to be. Once the FD is tuned, you can go. We'll be right behind you."

Takumi nodded but before he went back inside he caught Ryosuke, "He was being followed. Over the past couple of weeks he kept getting calls and I knew something was wrong but I didn't even question it. I didn't think he would lie to me about it."

"There's no use lingering on it now. We just need to be there when it's done. I know Keisuke is headstrong and never asks for help, but he should have thought this through. He could very well be headed to his death tonight."

Takumi felt the fear settling in and it only made him angrier. Matsumoto called him over and explained how different the FD would feel but Takumi adjusted after one minute on the road. It was like a loose cannon as he tore through the city, finding the freeway and flooring it around the traffic that was building the closer he got to Tokyo.

Iketani hung up the phone and closed up the gas station as quickly as he could, "Itsuki, you're riding with me. Kenji will meet us on the road. We have to leave now if we're going to make it in time."

Itsuki jumped into the passenger's seat and buckled up, "I still don't understand what's happening!"

"Takumi said Keisuke is in trouble. He's running a race against a dangerous gang, trying to settle a final score. Something bad might happen and he needs all the help he can get. If Takumi needs us to be there, we're going to be there." Iketani gripped the wheel as his tires grabbed the road while he increased speed.

"But still, why is he going this far for Keisuke Takahashi? Can't his brother handle it?"

"I figured out why Takumi is so different now." Iketani nodded at Kenji when he started riding beside them. "They're more than just friends, Itsuki and we need to support them both. Being two men in love in this kind of world can be hard on anyone. Especially well known street racers with big reputations. They are clearly good influences on each other and I support Takumi's decisions one hundred percent. That's what friends are for. So don't you dare leave him in the dark on this, you got that?"

Itsuki nodded nervously as he continued to stare out the windshield at the road flying by. His best friend was in love with another man. But who wouldn't fall for a guy like Keisuke Takahashi? He was incredible. Even though it was a taboo thing, Itsuki would never let Takumi deal with anything alone. He owed him that much.

Takumi weaved through the streets until he was coming up on the parking garage Nakai told him about. He was a block away when another car pulled in front of him and slammed on the brakes forcing him to stop.

Riku got out of the driver's seat and met Takumi at hood of the FD, "Takumi, you have to let him do this."

"I know he's going to regardless."

"Then why are you here?"

Takumi looked off down the road when he heard the rumble of engines in the distance, "I'm here to win the race if he doesn't."

The shock was clear on Riku's face. He glanced back at the sound that was getting louder. The race was starting, just ten seconds away. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea. If something happened to the BMW, Takumi could take down the DK himself. And who was he kidding? He knew if DK couldn't tamper with the car, he'd have another plan down the road.

They heard the cars taking off, the tires squealing. Riku's heart pounded with his desicion, "You know the rules?"

Takumi nodded, "Nakai explained. Anyone can join the race, anyone can take DK's reputation, but they're all too scared to race against him."

Riku turned back to the his car and pulled out a headset and tossed it at him, "Plug it into your phone, put the headset on and I'll call you and talk you through it. We need to go, now."

Takumi jumped back into the FD and floored it after Riku took off after the racers.

The phone rang and Takumi listened to him talk in his ear, "Do you know the course already?"

"Well enough."

"Good. But the traffic is unpredictable so keep your eyes open. Anyone could blindside you at any moment. Don't worry about cops, if you're going fast enough they can't catch you and they won't try."

Takumi cut the wheel and drifted through an intersection like it was an afternoon nap. The streets were so different here. Smooth and full of moving obstacles, but it was like it was in slow motion, like it always had been when he drove. Riku had amazing skills as Takumi watched his tail lights thread through the cars with ease.

Takumi followed, never losing a second.

"Alright, we're coming up on the freeway. This is the tricky part. We'll catch up to them a bit but not by much. At the other side we have to go up the entrance ramp with a u-turn and hope there isn't a car on it's way down. But don't sweat it if there is, just pick a side and they usually dodge to the other."

Takumi huffed, "Usually?"

Riku chuckled, "Yeah, I can't count how many times there's been head-on collisions right there."

"That's reassuring."

"Relax, man. Alright I can see their lights, they're making the turn. We're about seven seconds behind. Get ready."

Takumi shifted down and saw the moment he needed to whip the wheel around before it even happened. He pulled the handbrake and barely missed the car that was already avoiding Riku. His heart was in his throat when the reached the main road, heading straight into the heart of Setagaya. The traffic was immense and he couldn't even see the two cars ahead of them anymore.

"Where did they go?"

"They hopped the sidewalk."

"What?"

Riku was tempted to follow suit but he didn't want to risk it, "We have a chance to get close again after the next three lights. The traffic pretty much fades out and the road is empty for three miles once we hit the old bridge. No one uses it anymore."

"You sound like you've done this before." Takumi noted and listened to him breathe.

"I've never driven it. I've been watching these races for four years, learning, taking note of the traffic patterns, trying to find a weakness in DK's driving." Riku gripped the wheel tighter when they broke through the traffic.

"Does he have any?"

"No." Riku deadpanned and he heard Takumi sigh, but he never wavered in his rearview. "But this is where he likes to pull something off. Either an overtake or something a bit more dangerous."

Keisuke had never felt so restless, but at the same time he was calm. He knew how DK drove because he was by his side for a year and half on these streets. There was nothing the guy did that Keisuke couldn't recover from or counter.

Everything except what he did next.

It was all so fast but he saw it happen slower than the beat of his skipping heart. So slow. Slower than the way Takumi had kissed him on a cold Autumn night.

Keisuke caught his eye when he glanced his way just as they were neck and neck and he was about to pull ahead as the old bridge neared. The same one he'd considered jumping off of once upon a time.

DK, Touma, rolled his window down and pointed a gun at Keisuke's wheel, giving him a shit-eating grin just before he pulled the trigger. Keisuke couldn't react fast enough when his tire blew, couldn't stop the car from veering off wildly into the concrete median. His stomach was in his throat when he felt the weightlessness flood his body as the car flipped, then the painful jolt of the seatbelt holding him tight when the car came to rest on the hood.

He tasted the blood in his mouth from where his teeth had caught his lip. He yanked the seatbelt loose and caught himself on his elbows before he kicked open the door. His ribs were bruised and it was getting harder to breathe.

He lost his breath entirely when he pushed himself to his feet and felt the wind coming off his FD when it flew by at breakneck speed.

"Takumi!"

Takumi couldn't comprehend it when he saw the car in the air, nor could he stop. He was too close now. "Riku! Make sure he's okay!"

"I'm on it!"

Riku hit the brakes. Takumi gunned it harder, as hard as she would go.

Keisuke was holding his side as he limped over and got into Riku's car, "What the fuck is he doing here?!"

"No time for questions." Riku peeled off down the pavement after the FD's tail lights.

"Give me that headset!" Keisuke didn't wait for him and snatched it off his head, "Takumi, please! I know you're mad at me but this isn't worth it!"

"It's not worth it?! It's worth it if it means that this guy stops dragging you back into things you have been trying to let go of! It's worth it if it means you don't have to lie to anyone else!" Takumi slung the headset off into the floorboard and pulled a hard drift. DK was only a second away.

Half a second.

There.

"Holy shit . . ." Riku whispered when he felt the aura coming off of the FD, a blue glow that radiated with his pure skill. Takumi braked and cut the next corner, fitting perfectly between two rows of cars in the opposite lane, drifting flawlessly through a gap and back onto the right side of the road in front of Touma and across the finish.

Takumi slid to a stop in the immense crowd around the parking garage and his feet were on the pavement, carrying him toward DK. The second he saw the gun in his hand Takumi gripped his wrist in one hand and punched him square in the face with the other, knocking him onto the pavement; stunned.

"That's for everything you ever did to Keisuke, you asshole." He let out the breath he was holding, finally feeling the adrenaline wearing off. His fingers started to shake. "For Kaito and anyone else you've killed for the sake of your precious ego."

Touma was breathing hard on the ground, wiping his lip as the crowd whispered frantically around them. It was like he was waiting for them to step up and defend him, but they didn't know who's side they were on. It made him furious.

The second Takumi turned around to leave someone ran at him from the crowd, barely getting a hold on his shirt when heavy footsteps came at them from the side. Keisuke grabbed the guy by his shirt, lifting him in the air before he shoved hard, sending him flying back into the dense crowd, "Touch him again and you'll be swallowing your own teeth!"

Takumi's heart wouldn't stop racing and his blood wouldn't stop boiling. The two of them stood there in the middle of the road, staring at each other and a part of Takumi wanted to ask if he was okay, if he was hurt, or if he needed to go to a clinic. But the other half, the half that was winning, wanted nothing more than to shove his fist into his face and bruise him even more.

After everything, Keisuke had still lied.

Keisuke took a step forward and knew it was over when Takumi took a step back. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and dared to reach a hand out, "Please, Takumi . . ."

Fuck, he sounded so desperate. He didn't care at this point. "Let me explain."

"You lied to me, Keisuke. That's all I need to know." Takumi turned and he felt familiar fingers on his forearm. It took him back to that night on the mountain when Keisuke first started teaching him about the FD, the first time he noticed how much he'd changed, and how goddamn pretty his hands were.

Keisuke tugged and Takumi spun, slapping him hard. The sound reverberated off the crowd before he shoved him away, feeling hot tears, "You fucking promised me, Keisuke!" He voice shook as he took deep breaths, ". . . you promised me."

Keisuke nodded, still holding onto his sore ribs, "I did . . . but would you please just let me tell you wh-"

"No."

"Takumi." Keisuke watched him start to walk away, "You can't leave . . . Tokyo is yours now. You're the new DK."

"Like hell he is!" Touma was storming their way but slowly, one by one, Ryosuke, Kenta, Iketani, Takeshi, and countless others made their way out of the crowd and stood between Touma and Takumi, Keisuke at the front.

"It's over, Touma. You're done." Keisuke sucked in a painful lungful of air and took the shoulder his brother offered. "Get the hell out of town, no one wants you here anymore. You've killed off more people than you can count on one hand and bullied everyone else into following you."

"No one here will agree with your punk ass. That's all you ever were, Keisuke. A little brat who followed my orders because he had nothing better to do." Touma sneered, his dyed red hair glowing under the street lights. "You really think they'd rather follow you or your emotional boyfriend over there?"

"He kicked your ass didn't he? I'd say that's a guy worth following." Keisuke grinned when the crowd gave a faint cautious laugh. Touma looked around, his anger swelling even more.

"What are you fucking booster seats waiting for?! Get this trash out of my sight!" He ordered, but no one budged.

The longer the silence drew on, the more scared he looked. It escalated when a few guys stepped onto the road toward his car, the silver Skyline. A girl pulled out a pocket knife and ripped a hole in one of his tires, "That's for my cousin."

Another guy slashed at the other tire, "My uncle."

Another racer, another tire. A broken windshield. "My sister."

Riku walked up to him and with a swing of his arm, his elbow met his skull, knocking him out cold. He spat on his shirt, "That's for my brother, you worthless peice of shit."

Keisuke was in pain when he felt something clink at his feet. He looked down to find his keys to the FD by his shoes. His eyes searched for Takumi's and found them watching him, empty and emotionless as the day he met him. Seemed like decades ago and it hurt more than he thought it would.

"Tokyo isn't mine, it's yours. Looks like your past became your future." Was all Takumi said and then he left, melding into the crowd that was steadily tearing apart Touma's Skyline. The crowd that immediately accepted Keisuke as the new drift king, the new leader of the Tokyo nightlife. The one thing he never thought he'd be a part of again. The one thing he promised never to go back to.

Keisuke tried to follow him, but Ryosuke had a firm hand on him, "Let him go. You know once his mind is made up, it's almost impossible to change it."

"That's why I need to try and change it now."

Ryosuke gripped him harder, "Listen to me, Keisuke. He needs time to settle down and so do you. So much has happened tonight and we need to clean things up here before you try to sort out the biggest mess you've ever made."

Keisuke clenched his jaw and immediately regretted it, his head pounded but he gave him a resigned nod. "Alright."

"Don't think I'm disappointed in you. These people are free from a tyrannous leader and it's all thanks to you."

"And look at the price I paid."

Ryosuke let his tone drop into something more sympathetic. He could feel the pain in his brother's eyes as he kept his feet from running after the other half of his heart. "You know it didn't have to be this way, Keisuke."

A lump formed in the blonde's throat. He tried to speak but it came out in a strained whisper, "I just didn't want him to get hurt. Is that so fucking bad?"

He let his feet carry him into the night life, back into his past to sort through his thoughts and what to do with the city that he now held on his shoulders. It was a weight he knew he couldn't carry because the only thing that held him up anymore was gone.

It was his own fault and maybe he deserved it. Maybe he deserved to be in so much pain with his brother stitching him up in a shady part of town like the backalley punk he was.

"It's not over, little brother."

Keisuke lifted his head and watched his brother work diligently at the cut on his arm, "It was over the moment I kissed him goodbye."

Ryosuke hummed to himself, "Give it time."

"You keep saying that and I keep getting deja vu."

Ryosuke stood back and gave his brother an affectionate pat on his face, being mindful of his bruises, "And I'll keep saying it, until you learn that patience is key. Especially when it comes to Fujiwara. Because he doused the angry flame inside you like I knew he would, but you lit a fire inside of him and I have faith it won't die out any time soon."