Yet another Majima/Kiryu bromance ask from tumblr :)

Time

For as long as either of them could remember, they'd thrived off of shared lighters and broken cups filled with cheap whiskey. The alcohol always burned better after a well-earned victory in battle. Majima would clap Kiryu on the back and they'd go to New Serena or Bantam, the eye-patched man asking him for cigarettes because he always forgot his back at the Millennium Tower offices.

They'd ram shoulders and laugh like young men. Older though their bodies were, in their souls, they were still shining with youth. The vigor with which they lived outshone most of the lads of this era. Deeply saddening as it was, it was true. It reminded the men that the world was changing too fast. It was blurring itself before their eyes, becoming nothing more than a faded canvas of the city they used to know so well.

They couldn't do anything more for Kamurocho… Maybe if they waited, maybe if they clinked their glasses together and offered them to the lords of the sky, they'd grant them their final wish: to keep everything the same, now and forever.

Of course, neither of them were that stupid.

Nothing was everlasting. Pain was ephemeral as were their lives. The Dragon of Dojima and the Mad Dog of Shimano were nothing but names, names that masked the fleeting years that slid through their scarred fists.

They watched the ripples in the alcohol they bought, its musky odor washing over both their senses. It crippled and confused them, making them feel like everything was all right. As long as they were around, perhaps everything would be.

They were united in one thing-the sadness in their smiles. They shared that moment of heaviness, remembering that the next storm on the horizon could very well be their last. In this life, they were lucky to have survived as long as they did. To be yakuza meant giving up one's life in a single burst of passion, of belief for they way they existed. It meant having hope, having dreams and regrets and being there for friends…

And that was enough to bring the pair back to earth. The cold, hard concrete yielded to their footsteps as they roamed the wild urban landscape. No matter the trouble or cost, no matter what happened, they would be just fine.