Title: Cards
Pairings/Characters: Brian/Dom
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Fast & Furious
Word Count: 1,282
Disclaimer: All Rights Reserved. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made.
Beta: The absolutely wonderful khaleesian ! Without her, this wouldn't be even half as good. ♥
A/N: Okay, so this was written for prompt #14 - Cards over at story_lottery and it takes place after TFATF: Tokyo Drift. Mainly because I'm still trying to convince myself that even TD is really good and just hasn't enough of Dom (or Brian, for that matter). Anyway. Enjoy and tell me what you think. ☺

Dom eased off the gas pedal as the colorful lights of Tokyo slowly vanished behind him. Driving on the left side was surprisingly easy, considering he’d only done it for the first time after arriving in Japan. The buildings around him rapidly began to thin out and leave empty spaces, almost creating the image of an idyllic landscape under the moonlight. He wasn’t one of the people who constantly complained about the too tight spaces, too bright lights, too many people or the too polite Japanese. As far as he was concerned, this country was alright; he didn’t love it, but then he’d never really loved the USA either. Places didn’t really matter to him, people did. Tokyo had been good enough for Han; it was good enough for him.

Getting off the main road, he kept his eyes peeled for the badly-illuminated signpost and the two overly-complicated kanji which he had finally memorized. There were more on the sign and the old lady who owned the ryokan had tried to explain to him what they meant and that no, not everything was kanji, there were hiragana as well – but Dom had tuned her out two minutes into the conversation. He hadn’t come here for the language, he’d come here to find out what really happened to Han and the kid he had talked about during their last phone call.

He’d done both now; Takashi Kamata had been seen to and the kid… Dom grinned as he remembered the overly-eager teenager behind the steering wheel of his Nissan Silvia with his wide-eyed curiosity for everything Dom might know about Han and the sure way in which he drove.

He reminded Dom of Brian that way. Sean’s driving and drifting were reckless and just the right amount of insane to be good, and he’d gotten out of his car grinning, even though he had lost by a hairbreadth. Dom had almost expected him to call out, ‘I almost had you, dude.’ And then just shook his head, allowing himself a private smile at the memory.

The kid was alright. They’d talked after the race, his friends sitting around him and glaring a little at Dom; they had all obviously gotten more protective and insular after Han’s loss. It seemed all Sean had been interested in was hearing more about Han, what had happened before he came to Japan, how he had known Dom, what he had driven before he started piecing together his own cars. Dom had indulged him with a nostalgic patience, since he had a couple of important questions to ask himself. He wished the kid luck as he left, meaning it.

“You leaving already?” Sean had asked in disbelief.

Dom just nodded and glanced back at the motley crew, who lounged around on chairs with car parts strewn around them. Sean was on the best way to forming his own family, whether he knew it or not.

“Keep them around,” he said with a nod in their direction. “And look out for them.”

At that point, the girl – Reiko – got up and marched over, her forefinger stabbing Dom in the chest as she started to lecture him in rapid-fire Japanese. Dom just raised his eyebrow, he’d made it clear that he didn’t have the first idea what she was saying, but somehow, he understood her meaning and he had to bite down on a smile. This group would become a great team, alright. He nodded once more and then really left, getting on the way to the long drive to his temporary home. Reiko resembled Letty in an odd, Japanese-school-girl kind of way.

As he parked the Plymouth, he frowned a little, his thoughts once again occupied by Letty. It had been almost too much when he got the call about Han. He was still mourning Letty, really still trying to comprehend that she was gone and dealing with the persistent pain after avenging her, when the same wound was ripped open again by the news of Han’s death.

He mumbled something unidentifiable to the girl at reception and ducked his head a little when she bowed with a polite ‘Konban wa’. Slipping into yet another pair of shoes (if one wanted to call them that), he slid the door to the room open and entered without greeting. He glanced around the empty room, then went to the open terrace door. His eyes fell on the figure sitting alone in the dark. It didn’t seem like Brian had heard him return, his fingers were busy shuffling what Dom assumed to be the deck of cards Brian’d gotten from one of the stewardesses on their flight over.

If they were still talking about owing and collecting, Dom felt like the scale had by now tipped to Brian’s side. Dom had to give him credit for sticking with him through not only all the crap they seemed to somehow magically attract, but also all of the infinite variety of Dom’s foul moods. They didn’t talk about it, not really. Brian knew better than to press him for anything. He also knew better than to let Dom pull whatever shit he wanted and when it was time for him to push back as good as he got. Without Brian there to keep him vaguely in check, Dom would have probably lost it right then and there after that call.

He just stood in the door for now, watching Brian’s form slowly become clearer as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

“How’d it go?” Dom almost jumped at the unexpected question. Brian kept his eyes on the cards and began carefully dealing them on the ground in neat rows.

Dom nodded before he got up the energy to at least put the gesture into words since Brian refused to look up. Mia would have lectured him about bad manners, had she been here.

“I got what I wanted,” he said gruffly.

Brian nodded; he was accustomed to not getting full explanations from Dom on the first try. It would come up again later and maybe they would talk about it a little more then, but right now it didn’t seem important.

When Dom didn’t add anything else, just continued to watch Brian, the younger man finally looked up. While they stared at each other Dom couldn’t make out Brian’s face, but he heard the surprised intake of breath before Brian stood up. Cautiously, the blond took a few steps and stopped short of him. Blue eyes, dimmed by the dark, bored into Dom’s and he could practically feel them searching for that something, the something that had been there ever since they had been reunited, something that had kept them from ever touching, the something that had formed the unspoken vow between them.

Dom realized it at seemingly the same moment Brian did. The something was gone. The heavy veil of revenge and duty and mourning had been lifted; Letty and Han had gotten everything Dom had been able to do in their honor, everything he had left to give them, every debt repaid. The final farewells had been made.

Brian swallowed audibly and reached out a hand tentatively, giving Dom all the time in the world to bat it away or simply step back. Almost unconsciously, a smile began to form on his lips which broke out into a full grin as he cupped Dom’s cheek in his hand and Dom leaned into it, turning his head until he could kiss the fingertips.

It was the last step in this long ritual and they were both grinning like loons by the time their lips finally connected to seal it. The mourning was over.

.