Multi-chapter: Family Matters: Chapter 1
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yume_to_ameTitle: Family matters ~ Chapter 1
Pairing: Jun, Masaki, Sho, Satoshi, Kazu (there are going to be additional side-characters though. No OCs.) I'm trying to give each of the five their well-deserves spot-light <3
Rating: PG
Multi-chapter
Beta:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lover_youshould
Genre: family!AU in which Arashi are brothers :-) slice of life, a little drama (and I'm trying to add some light-hearted, funny moments to it too)
Summary: Since they were little they were always close to each other. And when unfortunate events force them to live together without their parents, it's only natural that they try to make the best out of it.
Note: Chapter 1, 14/15 years after the prologue :-)
There is a weird scratching sound against the window first, followed by an almost too quiet knocking. Jun is awake immediately. He has never been a deep sleeper. A glance to his clock tells him that it’s way past midnight, and everything around him is pitch-black.
When the knocking gets more desperate and annoying, he sighs deeply. With a swift movement, he switches on the light and taps to the window. It’s raining, only a bit though. A typical rainy spring night. But even through the darkness of the night and the rain, Jun knows exactly who it is who is knocking at his window. He opens it and leans outside. The last pebble stone that was supposed to hit against his window hits his forehead instead.
“Finally.” He can hear the voice of his brother.
“Are you nuts, Kazu?” Jun huffs. “Use the door, you idiot!”
“The door?” Kazu sounds annoyed. “Do you know how late it is? Sho and Satoshi are going to kill me.”
Jun frowns deeply “Why is that my problem again?” he asks, feeling slightly annoyed. But nevertheless, he grabs the old rope-ladder from under his bed and throws it down for Kazu to climb up on. “The sheer amount of your stupidity is unbelievable,” he grunts when his older brother crawls through the window.
Kazu grins. “I’m young. I want to have fun.” He chuckles. “You know how to spell that, do you? Sometimes, it feels like you are way too serious.” Kazu sounds less teasing than he normally does when he talks with others. Probably, Jun assumes, because he honestly likes Jun. Now he drops down on Jun’s bed though and stretches lazily. His clothes are wet from the rain and he shivers slightly.
“You’ll catch a cold,” Jun says instead of arguing back.
Kazu is about to answer to his complaint, when they hear footsteps on the corridor all of a sudden. “Fuck,” Kazu curses. “No good. Jun, what now?”
Jun tilts his head first, before he sighs. “You want me to go and distract them, right? Why do I need to talk to them?” When Kazu pulls his eyebrows up and points at his wet clothes, he sighs once more. “You owe me!”
“Put it on the list!”
The reason why Jun helps Kazu out is probably because out of his brothers, he might just like him the most. It’s not like he doesn’t love the others, but Kazu isn’t only his brother but also his friend. Probably his best friend. He is the only one who truly understands him, even though they are completely different, the only one Jun can be himself with. He doesn’t need to hide or put on a mask, not when it’s Kazu. That’s why Jun doesn’t hesitate much and steps out of the door to the corridor.
He hopes that it’s Masaki outside or Satoshi, but unfortunately, it’s neither of them. It’s-
“Jun? What are you doing at this time?” Sho asks. He is carrying his bag in his hands. Apparently he has just come back from work. Even the mere sight of Sho already awakens the rebellious side in Jun. There was a time when he got along very well with him, but it’s so long ago that he hardly can remember. Recently he just feels like fighting him. Today though he swallows down a snarky comment. Kazu is hiding in his room after all and he doesn’t want to mess up and give him any problems (besides the obvious mental problems he has for being such a freaking idiot!!)
“Just going to the toilet,” Jun says casually.
“Ah.” Sho nods. And after a minute of silence between them: “How was your day?”
“Okay.” It’s silent between them again, until Jun coughs slightly. “And yours?“
“Oh, it was long, but quite good.”
“Hm.” Jun nods. “Cool.”
“Well then.” Apparently, the slagging atmosphere gets too much for Sho and he decides to retreat. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Awesome,” Jun says and it sounds only half as neutral and casual as he has intended to. He could have just said terrible instead and it wouldn’t have made any difference. Sho throws him a warning glance, but doesn’t say anything else.
When Jun comes back to his room, Kazu peeks out of Jun’s wardrobe. Apparently he was prepared for a half-catastrophe and decided to hide before anyone might get the idea to look into Jun’s room. He eyes Jun curiously, but Jun’s face must give it away, so- “It was Sho, right?”
“Yes. He just came back from work. I guess if you hurry you’ll make it to your room without anyone seeing you.”
Kazu doesn’t even think twice. He gets up, pats Jun’s shoulder and disappears out of the room. It’s silent around Jun again. He listens carefully, but he can hear no voices or any other sound, only a door being opened and closed very carefully. It sounds like Kazu made it without meeting anyone.
When Jun sits down on his bed, he sighs a bit. Kazu’s wet clothes have left a trace there. He shivers slightly. Cold. On top of that their cat Fat Oni has snuck inside, apparently when either Nino or Jun left the room, and has now basically captured all the place on Jun’s pillow. Age-wise Fat Oni is basically ancient – got his name from Jun when he was four and afraid of anything Oni-related. Apparently he had believed that Fat Oni was indeed a real demon – Sho had found it so cute that he convinced everyone to choose that name. It turned into Fat Oni later on, when Oni grew bigger and bigger.
He shoves Fat Oni to the side a bit and lies down as well, about to fall asleep again, when there is an almost silent knock at his door. “What?” he grunts.
“It’s just me,” Kazu opens the door and closes it silently. He has switched into his pyjamas, no signs of his nightly adventure left. Then he throws a pillow and an extra blanket on Jun’s bed. “Can you make room a bit?”
“Why? I want to sleep.” Jun originally wants to huff but he can’t help a chuckle escaping his lips. So he does what Kazu asked him to do and robs to the side.
Kazu slips under the blanket too and angles for something in the pocket of his sweatshirt. “Here,” he says and hands Jun a tiny bottle of Eristoff. “Out of Masaki’s secret inventory.”
“You want to drink now?” Jun asks in surprise, wondering once again what’s going on in his brother’s complicated mind.
“Drink and chat and exchange gossip.” Kazu smirks and opens his own bottle. He pokes Fat Oni a bit, probably to chase it away a bit but the cat has the calmness of a stone and doesn’t move. So, Kazu gives up. “Like in the good old days. It’s been forever since we did that.”
“Fine.” Jun grins and gives in. “What kind of gossip did you hear about?”
“I heard how Satoshi told Sho about some very interesting love adventures he had,” Kazu whispers. “Seems like he only looks boring but deep inside he is the walking and breathing Kamasutra.”
“Yes!” Jun nods, grinning. “I heard something similar. He said something about a nude model. But he is depressed that no one wants go on a real date with him. They all want to have sex, only.”
Kazu chokes on his drink. “You’re kidding!?”
“No, I heard all about it. He told Sho all the details. They didn’t know I was just around the corner.”
“Awesome work, J.” Kazu takes another sip from his vodka. “By the way, did you know Satoshi is into both women and men?”
“No way!”
“Yes way.” Kazu grins.
“To be honest. Hm-” Jun tilts his head, frowning slightly. “I already thought so. Are you sure?”
“Yes! I heard him talk about Sho with it. Whenever these two have one of their drinking sessions their guard slips down. They are so stupid!”
Jun grins. “What about Masaki?”
“I think he only likes girls.”
“Probably.” Jun closes his own bottle again and puts it to the side. “There is a young single mom always visiting his shop. And two of our teachers are regulars there too.”
“Does that mean he is into older women?”
“Maybe. Or older, dominant ones?” Jun jokes.
Kazu hides his laughter in his pillow, most likely to keep the noise down. “Leaves only Sho,” he says after he calms down.
“Sho is too boring.” Jun scratches his head, shrugging half-heartedly. “Can’t keep up with Satoshi being bisexual and having all kinds of adventures, and Masaki being a secret flirt and into older women.”
“We could try to set him up,” Kazu suggests.
“You seriously know a woman or a guy that would be able to survive his weird antics?”
Kazu kicks him under the blanket, then he laughs slightly. “You can be such a sadist. To imagine that a few years ago, you totally looked up to Sho.”
“It’s just-“ Jun shrugs. “-different now.” He hopes that Kazu gets his hint – mainly that he doesn’t want to talk about it right now. Gladly he does because his brother drops the subject immediately. Instead he goes for something else.
“How is your love life going?” Kazu asks curiously. “Anyone you like? Your class has the prettier students, seriously.”
“Not sure yet,” Jun asks honestly.
“Tell me when you are!”
“You too.”
Kazu nods. “Sure, I will.”
~~~
Jun takes long in the bathroom – everyone knows that by now, hence their older brothers assigned the upper floor bathroom to Kazu and him. It’s the easiest like that because Kazu hardly needs any time and it gives Jun enough room to do his hair and dress accordingly to his mood.
When he steps downstairs he is almost the last to appear in the kitchen. Only Masaki is missing. Satoshi stares at him for a while, scanning the tight black trousers and the pink-white motto shirt with some sort of suggestive saying on it. “You are not serious?” Satoshi mumbles.
“Any problem with my clothes?” Jun says calmly and puts on a black bracelet and a ring with a skull printed on top.
“You are not serious?” Satoshi repeats in what seems to be honest shock. “You can’t always go to school like you are a host!”
“Look who’s talking?” Kazu says calmly, with this hint of annoyance and the more than obvious dangerous snark in his voice – like always when he talks to Satoshi recently, a development that Jun can’t help but wonder about. They used to get along well. “Since when are you a fashion master? And on top of that so knowledged about host clubs? Anything we should know? Jun looks perfectly alright. Or do you want him to wear a potato sack? At least someone in this family looks presentable.”
“My clothes are my business,” Jun throws his five cents in as well, feeling slightly annoyed at that discussion. His style is nothing new and he even toned it down a bit. It’s actually only a pair of normal skinny jeans and a shirt – with that he is in the more fashionable league in school but definitely not in the over the top one. “We don’t have a school uniform and no one ever complained about what I wear. Or did a teacher or the headmaster ever call you about it?”
“No,” Satoshi admits and sighs a bit. “Guess you are right. Sorry for always being a prick about that. Guess I can’t quite live with the fact that you two grew out of being innocent babies so soon and into someone a little too attractive. Don’t quite like that.”
Jun chuckles. It’s pretty easy for him to get along with Satoshi. He is calm and straight-forward most of the time. But he isn’t fighting his principles so stubbornly like Sho or Jun himself do.
Kazu throws one last glare towards Satoshi but gladly doesn’t get to deepen the conversation anymore because Masaki pads into the kitchen, Fat Oni following him.
He yawns tiredly when he sits down next to Jun. “I had a weird dream,” he mumbles.
“Coffee?” Sho asks him casually without even reacting. Jun hasn’t even realized that he is back in the kitchen too.
“Yes, please.”
Satoshi waits for Sho to come back with the coffee, takes a bowl of rice and sits down next to Masaki. “What kind of dream?” he wants to know.
“I dreamt about Kazu climbing through Jun’s window.” Masaki chuckles and bites into his cake. He has always been into sweets, hence he is having his own little candy shop right now. The white sugar icing on the cake seems to be too sweet though, because he takes his fork now and scratches at it.
Gladly he is distracted because Kazu obviously needs some time to recover. He is taking a few breaths before a smile appears on his face. “You are weird,” he chuckles. “I can’t believe you are older than Jun and me. You are so unreliable, you should be the baby brother here!” He snickers. “But don’t worry, at least you are cute.”
Jun hides his grin at Kazu’s perfect distractions methods. And really, Kazu has been playing his cards right because Masaki immediately jumps on the last words, trying to defend his honour as the older brother between the three of them. “I’m much more responsible than you two!” he argues. “There are almost 8, okay 7, years between us!”
“Really?” Nino says nonchalantly. “Are you that old already? Woah, you are probably going to get wrinkles soon.”
It’s been an easy task to distract Masaki. It’s pretty obvious that he is much more interested in Kazu’s teasing than anything he might (or might not) have dreamed. Hence he continues his bickering with Kazu instead of asking more awkward questions.
Meanwhile though Jun can see how Satoshi and Sho exchange a glance. When Sho looks at him, Jun shifts his gaze back to Masaki. He is pretty sure that Sho recalls their encounter from last night and counts 1 and 1 together. He doesn’t say anything though. But one never knows for sure. Especially not when it’s Sho.
~~~
“This was close.” Kazu sighs.
“I don’t think we are through it yet.” Jun closes the zipper of his jacket. The wind is rather cold right now. “Sho got suspicious.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Kazu shrugs. “He didn’t say anything, so, why bother?”
“But it’s not like Sho not to say anything.” Jun argues.
“Maybe he thinks it’s a coincidence and doesn’t want to jump to any conclusion. Remember last month, when he blamed you for something you didn’t do. You got into a huge fight.”
Jun nods. He is still not really convinced though. “But-“
“He even got into a fight with Masaki because of it. He believed that Masaki covered up for you while Masaki just seriously believed in your words,” Kazu interrupts him. “Don’t forget that. Only Satoshi was able to resolve the whole argument. And Sho said things to Masaki like-“ Nino clears his throat, giving his voice a certain edge so that it sounds more hoarse. A little like Sho’s voice. “You are always spoiling them, Masaki. You are not strict enough! As an older brother you need to be more responsible!” He grins. “My favourite line was probably: When will you finally learn to be an adult!” With that he drops the act and goes back to his normal voice. “Sho really has the ability to make everyone feel like a 5-year-old kid again.”
“Yes, that’s true. School – responsibility – family, that’s basically his personal ranking. In exactly that order!” Jun muses, not sure if it’s a bad or good thing.
Kazu nods. “He really needs to get laid.” When Jun laughs, Kazu throws him a proud glance. Like he just achieved something amazing now. “See. I guess he still feels guilty and doesn’t want it to happen again.”
“You are probably right.”
Kazu halts all of a sudden and waves. When Jun turns to look into the same direction, he can see some bikers coming along. Some of them at Kazu’s age, some older - his so-called friends. “Excuse me in school?” Kazu asks.
“No,” Jun answers sharply. “Don’t drag me into your mess all the time.”
“Come on.” Kazu tugs at Jun’s sleeves, pretending to pout. It reminds Jun of the times when Kazu was seven years old, and Jun six, and Kazu pulled him into all possible kinds of problems, pranks and cheeky plans that mostly resulted in them getting scolded by their parents afterwards. The memory of these annoying but also peaceful times hits Jun so suddenly that he can only nod at Kazu’s wish. It hurts so much to remember these days long ago, when everything was still alright, when their lives didn’t change so drastically like they did three years ago.
But Jun is not ready to give in to Nino’s demand completely yet, hence he crosses his arms and stares at Kazu for a while. “Let’s make a deal,” he finally says. “I’ll tell them you aren’t feeling well. However, you’ll come home at a normal time today!”
Kazu brushes through his dark hair thoughtfully and sighs. “Fine. You won.” He grabs one of the motorbikes, waves Jun a goodbye and disappears. Jun feels bad and pretty annoyed all of a sudden. First, he hates lies. Second, he’s always lying for Kazu. Third, his family believes he is the rebellious one, while they think Kazu is pretty boring. It’s not his fault that he was born with such a frivolous, edgy face, damn it! Fourth, he should probably feel guilty for letting his brother, even though Kazu is older, do something so dangerous. If one of the others found out, they would probably be mad at him too for not telling them – and they’d be right. And last, he is sure that Kazu won’t hold his promise.
“Well,” he sighs. “What’s done is done.”
~~~
“Jun-kun,” his teacher hands him his papers back. “This was very well written. As expected from you.”
Jun nods slightly when he takes the paper. When his classroom teacher doesn’t let go, he looks at him in surprise. “Is there anything else, Nagase-sensei?”
“I want one of your brothers to come for parents-teacher-day,” he says insistently. “I haven’t seen them in a while.“
Of course he hasn’t, because Kazu hasn’t ever told anyone (out of obvious reasons) and Jun doesn’t see why he needs someone to ask how he is doing in school. It’s enough that he himself knows that he is doing well.
“My brothers are pretty busy most of the time,” he explains calmly. It’s only half a lie, because at least Sho is very busy. Masaki on the other hand could close his shop for a day. And Satoshi-
“Isn’t one of them an artist? He can manage and organize his schedule and free times for sure.” The teacher grins when Jun is at a loss for words. “Awesome, so it’s set. I’ll expect to see one of them next week!”
When his teacher has left, Jun lets out an annoyed sigh. “Fuck it,” he mumbles.
“Why so mad?” his friend, Shun, appears behind him and looks at the paper in his hands. “Can’t be your grades you are upset with.”
“Nagase-sensei got me,” Jun explains. “Now I have to get one of my brothers here next week.”
“So, where is the problem? You have nothing to hide.”
“Hm.” But Kazu probably has, he thinks.
When they come back to class, Mao and her friends are leaning against his desk. When she waves, he nods at her friendly. She smiles, while her friends giggle. “You should ask her for a date,” Shun suggests. “She is so pretty. I mean, she already works as a model in her free time. Wow. Remember the times, before your family moved away for a while, when you were childhood friends? That’s your chance, Jun, you are here again and she obviously thinks you are hot.”
“Everyone thinks he is hot,” his other friend, Toma, intervenes calmly. “It’s nothing special. Nothing new.”
“Yes, but Mao-chan is not everyone,” Shun argues.
Jun interrupts their bickering by making a dismissive gesture with his hand. “I’ve no time for a date.”
“I can’t believe it,” Shun complains. “Is playing hard to get what makes you popular? Maybe I should try that too!”
Toma laughs. “Like you would ever manage to do that!”
Jun only grins at that, glad that his secrets only belong to him. He just wished he could load some of his problems on someone else too. How the hell is he going to get Kazu out of this mess?
Before he can ponder any more about things, the door to their classroom opens again. It’s Nagase once more and for a second Jun is almost afraid that he will bother him again about something concerning Kazu – but to his surprise he is tugging an unknown guy along. Jun hasn’t seen them before. When he eyes Shun, the latter just shrugs too.
Nagase looks around, until his eyes meet Jun. He waves a bit and Jun steps forward. “This one is new. Just arrived here yesterday,” he says casually before he points at Jun. “Jun is the class president. He will show you around.”
The guys smirks and bows a bit. He is pretty tall and has that certain look that would totally tick Satoshi off, Jun thinks with a secret grin. He dresses exactly like Jun does, on top of that he has that rebellious aura around him – and he has that dangerous hair style and a piercing in his ear. Awesome. “Matsuda Shota, nice to meet you.”
There is something, something about Shota that makes a bell ring in his head. He looks and moves like him. The ringing gets stronger until it reaches his ears and Jun can only ask. “Matsuda? Is your father probably a doctor?”
“Yes?” Shota says in surprise. “How did you know?”
It’s hard to regather his mental balance, but he manages somehow. “I just heard someone talk about it,” he lies.
“Well then,” Shun mumbles silently as he and Toma approach Jun and the two new guys. He throws Jun a secret glance like he just felt his discomfort. “This could actually become an interesting year.”
Pairing: Jun, Masaki, Sho, Satoshi, Kazu (there are going to be additional side-characters though. No OCs.) I'm trying to give each of the five their well-deserves spot-light <3
Rating: PG
Multi-chapter
Beta:
lover_youshouldGenre: family!AU in which Arashi are brothers :-) slice of life, a little drama (and I'm trying to add some light-hearted, funny moments to it too)
Summary: Since they were little they were always close to each other. And when unfortunate events force them to live together without their parents, it's only natural that they try to make the best out of it.
Note: Chapter 1, 14/15 years after the prologue :-)
There is a weird scratching sound against the window first, followed by an almost too quiet knocking. Jun is awake immediately. He has never been a deep sleeper. A glance to his clock tells him that it’s way past midnight, and everything around him is pitch-black.
When the knocking gets more desperate and annoying, he sighs deeply. With a swift movement, he switches on the light and taps to the window. It’s raining, only a bit though. A typical rainy spring night. But even through the darkness of the night and the rain, Jun knows exactly who it is who is knocking at his window. He opens it and leans outside. The last pebble stone that was supposed to hit against his window hits his forehead instead.
“Finally.” He can hear the voice of his brother.
“Are you nuts, Kazu?” Jun huffs. “Use the door, you idiot!”
“The door?” Kazu sounds annoyed. “Do you know how late it is? Sho and Satoshi are going to kill me.”
Jun frowns deeply “Why is that my problem again?” he asks, feeling slightly annoyed. But nevertheless, he grabs the old rope-ladder from under his bed and throws it down for Kazu to climb up on. “The sheer amount of your stupidity is unbelievable,” he grunts when his older brother crawls through the window.
Kazu grins. “I’m young. I want to have fun.” He chuckles. “You know how to spell that, do you? Sometimes, it feels like you are way too serious.” Kazu sounds less teasing than he normally does when he talks with others. Probably, Jun assumes, because he honestly likes Jun. Now he drops down on Jun’s bed though and stretches lazily. His clothes are wet from the rain and he shivers slightly.
“You’ll catch a cold,” Jun says instead of arguing back.
Kazu is about to answer to his complaint, when they hear footsteps on the corridor all of a sudden. “Fuck,” Kazu curses. “No good. Jun, what now?”
Jun tilts his head first, before he sighs. “You want me to go and distract them, right? Why do I need to talk to them?” When Kazu pulls his eyebrows up and points at his wet clothes, he sighs once more. “You owe me!”
“Put it on the list!”
The reason why Jun helps Kazu out is probably because out of his brothers, he might just like him the most. It’s not like he doesn’t love the others, but Kazu isn’t only his brother but also his friend. Probably his best friend. He is the only one who truly understands him, even though they are completely different, the only one Jun can be himself with. He doesn’t need to hide or put on a mask, not when it’s Kazu. That’s why Jun doesn’t hesitate much and steps out of the door to the corridor.
He hopes that it’s Masaki outside or Satoshi, but unfortunately, it’s neither of them. It’s-
“Jun? What are you doing at this time?” Sho asks. He is carrying his bag in his hands. Apparently he has just come back from work. Even the mere sight of Sho already awakens the rebellious side in Jun. There was a time when he got along very well with him, but it’s so long ago that he hardly can remember. Recently he just feels like fighting him. Today though he swallows down a snarky comment. Kazu is hiding in his room after all and he doesn’t want to mess up and give him any problems (besides the obvious mental problems he has for being such a freaking idiot!!)
“Just going to the toilet,” Jun says casually.
“Ah.” Sho nods. And after a minute of silence between them: “How was your day?”
“Okay.” It’s silent between them again, until Jun coughs slightly. “And yours?“
“Oh, it was long, but quite good.”
“Hm.” Jun nods. “Cool.”
“Well then.” Apparently, the slagging atmosphere gets too much for Sho and he decides to retreat. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Awesome,” Jun says and it sounds only half as neutral and casual as he has intended to. He could have just said terrible instead and it wouldn’t have made any difference. Sho throws him a warning glance, but doesn’t say anything else.
When Jun comes back to his room, Kazu peeks out of Jun’s wardrobe. Apparently he was prepared for a half-catastrophe and decided to hide before anyone might get the idea to look into Jun’s room. He eyes Jun curiously, but Jun’s face must give it away, so- “It was Sho, right?”
“Yes. He just came back from work. I guess if you hurry you’ll make it to your room without anyone seeing you.”
Kazu doesn’t even think twice. He gets up, pats Jun’s shoulder and disappears out of the room. It’s silent around Jun again. He listens carefully, but he can hear no voices or any other sound, only a door being opened and closed very carefully. It sounds like Kazu made it without meeting anyone.
When Jun sits down on his bed, he sighs a bit. Kazu’s wet clothes have left a trace there. He shivers slightly. Cold. On top of that their cat Fat Oni has snuck inside, apparently when either Nino or Jun left the room, and has now basically captured all the place on Jun’s pillow. Age-wise Fat Oni is basically ancient – got his name from Jun when he was four and afraid of anything Oni-related. Apparently he had believed that Fat Oni was indeed a real demon – Sho had found it so cute that he convinced everyone to choose that name. It turned into Fat Oni later on, when Oni grew bigger and bigger.
He shoves Fat Oni to the side a bit and lies down as well, about to fall asleep again, when there is an almost silent knock at his door. “What?” he grunts.
“It’s just me,” Kazu opens the door and closes it silently. He has switched into his pyjamas, no signs of his nightly adventure left. Then he throws a pillow and an extra blanket on Jun’s bed. “Can you make room a bit?”
“Why? I want to sleep.” Jun originally wants to huff but he can’t help a chuckle escaping his lips. So he does what Kazu asked him to do and robs to the side.
Kazu slips under the blanket too and angles for something in the pocket of his sweatshirt. “Here,” he says and hands Jun a tiny bottle of Eristoff. “Out of Masaki’s secret inventory.”
“You want to drink now?” Jun asks in surprise, wondering once again what’s going on in his brother’s complicated mind.
“Drink and chat and exchange gossip.” Kazu smirks and opens his own bottle. He pokes Fat Oni a bit, probably to chase it away a bit but the cat has the calmness of a stone and doesn’t move. So, Kazu gives up. “Like in the good old days. It’s been forever since we did that.”
“Fine.” Jun grins and gives in. “What kind of gossip did you hear about?”
“I heard how Satoshi told Sho about some very interesting love adventures he had,” Kazu whispers. “Seems like he only looks boring but deep inside he is the walking and breathing Kamasutra.”
“Yes!” Jun nods, grinning. “I heard something similar. He said something about a nude model. But he is depressed that no one wants go on a real date with him. They all want to have sex, only.”
Kazu chokes on his drink. “You’re kidding!?”
“No, I heard all about it. He told Sho all the details. They didn’t know I was just around the corner.”
“Awesome work, J.” Kazu takes another sip from his vodka. “By the way, did you know Satoshi is into both women and men?”
“No way!”
“Yes way.” Kazu grins.
“To be honest. Hm-” Jun tilts his head, frowning slightly. “I already thought so. Are you sure?”
“Yes! I heard him talk about Sho with it. Whenever these two have one of their drinking sessions their guard slips down. They are so stupid!”
Jun grins. “What about Masaki?”
“I think he only likes girls.”
“Probably.” Jun closes his own bottle again and puts it to the side. “There is a young single mom always visiting his shop. And two of our teachers are regulars there too.”
“Does that mean he is into older women?”
“Maybe. Or older, dominant ones?” Jun jokes.
Kazu hides his laughter in his pillow, most likely to keep the noise down. “Leaves only Sho,” he says after he calms down.
“Sho is too boring.” Jun scratches his head, shrugging half-heartedly. “Can’t keep up with Satoshi being bisexual and having all kinds of adventures, and Masaki being a secret flirt and into older women.”
“We could try to set him up,” Kazu suggests.
“You seriously know a woman or a guy that would be able to survive his weird antics?”
Kazu kicks him under the blanket, then he laughs slightly. “You can be such a sadist. To imagine that a few years ago, you totally looked up to Sho.”
“It’s just-“ Jun shrugs. “-different now.” He hopes that Kazu gets his hint – mainly that he doesn’t want to talk about it right now. Gladly he does because his brother drops the subject immediately. Instead he goes for something else.
“How is your love life going?” Kazu asks curiously. “Anyone you like? Your class has the prettier students, seriously.”
“Not sure yet,” Jun asks honestly.
“Tell me when you are!”
“You too.”
Kazu nods. “Sure, I will.”
~~~
Jun takes long in the bathroom – everyone knows that by now, hence their older brothers assigned the upper floor bathroom to Kazu and him. It’s the easiest like that because Kazu hardly needs any time and it gives Jun enough room to do his hair and dress accordingly to his mood.
When he steps downstairs he is almost the last to appear in the kitchen. Only Masaki is missing. Satoshi stares at him for a while, scanning the tight black trousers and the pink-white motto shirt with some sort of suggestive saying on it. “You are not serious?” Satoshi mumbles.
“Any problem with my clothes?” Jun says calmly and puts on a black bracelet and a ring with a skull printed on top.
“You are not serious?” Satoshi repeats in what seems to be honest shock. “You can’t always go to school like you are a host!”
“Look who’s talking?” Kazu says calmly, with this hint of annoyance and the more than obvious dangerous snark in his voice – like always when he talks to Satoshi recently, a development that Jun can’t help but wonder about. They used to get along well. “Since when are you a fashion master? And on top of that so knowledged about host clubs? Anything we should know? Jun looks perfectly alright. Or do you want him to wear a potato sack? At least someone in this family looks presentable.”
“My clothes are my business,” Jun throws his five cents in as well, feeling slightly annoyed at that discussion. His style is nothing new and he even toned it down a bit. It’s actually only a pair of normal skinny jeans and a shirt – with that he is in the more fashionable league in school but definitely not in the over the top one. “We don’t have a school uniform and no one ever complained about what I wear. Or did a teacher or the headmaster ever call you about it?”
“No,” Satoshi admits and sighs a bit. “Guess you are right. Sorry for always being a prick about that. Guess I can’t quite live with the fact that you two grew out of being innocent babies so soon and into someone a little too attractive. Don’t quite like that.”
Jun chuckles. It’s pretty easy for him to get along with Satoshi. He is calm and straight-forward most of the time. But he isn’t fighting his principles so stubbornly like Sho or Jun himself do.
Kazu throws one last glare towards Satoshi but gladly doesn’t get to deepen the conversation anymore because Masaki pads into the kitchen, Fat Oni following him.
He yawns tiredly when he sits down next to Jun. “I had a weird dream,” he mumbles.
“Coffee?” Sho asks him casually without even reacting. Jun hasn’t even realized that he is back in the kitchen too.
“Yes, please.”
Satoshi waits for Sho to come back with the coffee, takes a bowl of rice and sits down next to Masaki. “What kind of dream?” he wants to know.
“I dreamt about Kazu climbing through Jun’s window.” Masaki chuckles and bites into his cake. He has always been into sweets, hence he is having his own little candy shop right now. The white sugar icing on the cake seems to be too sweet though, because he takes his fork now and scratches at it.
Gladly he is distracted because Kazu obviously needs some time to recover. He is taking a few breaths before a smile appears on his face. “You are weird,” he chuckles. “I can’t believe you are older than Jun and me. You are so unreliable, you should be the baby brother here!” He snickers. “But don’t worry, at least you are cute.”
Jun hides his grin at Kazu’s perfect distractions methods. And really, Kazu has been playing his cards right because Masaki immediately jumps on the last words, trying to defend his honour as the older brother between the three of them. “I’m much more responsible than you two!” he argues. “There are almost 8, okay 7, years between us!”
“Really?” Nino says nonchalantly. “Are you that old already? Woah, you are probably going to get wrinkles soon.”
It’s been an easy task to distract Masaki. It’s pretty obvious that he is much more interested in Kazu’s teasing than anything he might (or might not) have dreamed. Hence he continues his bickering with Kazu instead of asking more awkward questions.
Meanwhile though Jun can see how Satoshi and Sho exchange a glance. When Sho looks at him, Jun shifts his gaze back to Masaki. He is pretty sure that Sho recalls their encounter from last night and counts 1 and 1 together. He doesn’t say anything though. But one never knows for sure. Especially not when it’s Sho.
~~~
“This was close.” Kazu sighs.
“I don’t think we are through it yet.” Jun closes the zipper of his jacket. The wind is rather cold right now. “Sho got suspicious.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Kazu shrugs. “He didn’t say anything, so, why bother?”
“But it’s not like Sho not to say anything.” Jun argues.
“Maybe he thinks it’s a coincidence and doesn’t want to jump to any conclusion. Remember last month, when he blamed you for something you didn’t do. You got into a huge fight.”
Jun nods. He is still not really convinced though. “But-“
“He even got into a fight with Masaki because of it. He believed that Masaki covered up for you while Masaki just seriously believed in your words,” Kazu interrupts him. “Don’t forget that. Only Satoshi was able to resolve the whole argument. And Sho said things to Masaki like-“ Nino clears his throat, giving his voice a certain edge so that it sounds more hoarse. A little like Sho’s voice. “You are always spoiling them, Masaki. You are not strict enough! As an older brother you need to be more responsible!” He grins. “My favourite line was probably: When will you finally learn to be an adult!” With that he drops the act and goes back to his normal voice. “Sho really has the ability to make everyone feel like a 5-year-old kid again.”
“Yes, that’s true. School – responsibility – family, that’s basically his personal ranking. In exactly that order!” Jun muses, not sure if it’s a bad or good thing.
Kazu nods. “He really needs to get laid.” When Jun laughs, Kazu throws him a proud glance. Like he just achieved something amazing now. “See. I guess he still feels guilty and doesn’t want it to happen again.”
“You are probably right.”
Kazu halts all of a sudden and waves. When Jun turns to look into the same direction, he can see some bikers coming along. Some of them at Kazu’s age, some older - his so-called friends. “Excuse me in school?” Kazu asks.
“No,” Jun answers sharply. “Don’t drag me into your mess all the time.”
“Come on.” Kazu tugs at Jun’s sleeves, pretending to pout. It reminds Jun of the times when Kazu was seven years old, and Jun six, and Kazu pulled him into all possible kinds of problems, pranks and cheeky plans that mostly resulted in them getting scolded by their parents afterwards. The memory of these annoying but also peaceful times hits Jun so suddenly that he can only nod at Kazu’s wish. It hurts so much to remember these days long ago, when everything was still alright, when their lives didn’t change so drastically like they did three years ago.
But Jun is not ready to give in to Nino’s demand completely yet, hence he crosses his arms and stares at Kazu for a while. “Let’s make a deal,” he finally says. “I’ll tell them you aren’t feeling well. However, you’ll come home at a normal time today!”
Kazu brushes through his dark hair thoughtfully and sighs. “Fine. You won.” He grabs one of the motorbikes, waves Jun a goodbye and disappears. Jun feels bad and pretty annoyed all of a sudden. First, he hates lies. Second, he’s always lying for Kazu. Third, his family believes he is the rebellious one, while they think Kazu is pretty boring. It’s not his fault that he was born with such a frivolous, edgy face, damn it! Fourth, he should probably feel guilty for letting his brother, even though Kazu is older, do something so dangerous. If one of the others found out, they would probably be mad at him too for not telling them – and they’d be right. And last, he is sure that Kazu won’t hold his promise.
“Well,” he sighs. “What’s done is done.”
~~~
“Jun-kun,” his teacher hands him his papers back. “This was very well written. As expected from you.”
Jun nods slightly when he takes the paper. When his classroom teacher doesn’t let go, he looks at him in surprise. “Is there anything else, Nagase-sensei?”
“I want one of your brothers to come for parents-teacher-day,” he says insistently. “I haven’t seen them in a while.“
Of course he hasn’t, because Kazu hasn’t ever told anyone (out of obvious reasons) and Jun doesn’t see why he needs someone to ask how he is doing in school. It’s enough that he himself knows that he is doing well.
“My brothers are pretty busy most of the time,” he explains calmly. It’s only half a lie, because at least Sho is very busy. Masaki on the other hand could close his shop for a day. And Satoshi-
“Isn’t one of them an artist? He can manage and organize his schedule and free times for sure.” The teacher grins when Jun is at a loss for words. “Awesome, so it’s set. I’ll expect to see one of them next week!”
When his teacher has left, Jun lets out an annoyed sigh. “Fuck it,” he mumbles.
“Why so mad?” his friend, Shun, appears behind him and looks at the paper in his hands. “Can’t be your grades you are upset with.”
“Nagase-sensei got me,” Jun explains. “Now I have to get one of my brothers here next week.”
“So, where is the problem? You have nothing to hide.”
“Hm.” But Kazu probably has, he thinks.
When they come back to class, Mao and her friends are leaning against his desk. When she waves, he nods at her friendly. She smiles, while her friends giggle. “You should ask her for a date,” Shun suggests. “She is so pretty. I mean, she already works as a model in her free time. Wow. Remember the times, before your family moved away for a while, when you were childhood friends? That’s your chance, Jun, you are here again and she obviously thinks you are hot.”
“Everyone thinks he is hot,” his other friend, Toma, intervenes calmly. “It’s nothing special. Nothing new.”
“Yes, but Mao-chan is not everyone,” Shun argues.
Jun interrupts their bickering by making a dismissive gesture with his hand. “I’ve no time for a date.”
“I can’t believe it,” Shun complains. “Is playing hard to get what makes you popular? Maybe I should try that too!”
Toma laughs. “Like you would ever manage to do that!”
Jun only grins at that, glad that his secrets only belong to him. He just wished he could load some of his problems on someone else too. How the hell is he going to get Kazu out of this mess?
Before he can ponder any more about things, the door to their classroom opens again. It’s Nagase once more and for a second Jun is almost afraid that he will bother him again about something concerning Kazu – but to his surprise he is tugging an unknown guy along. Jun hasn’t seen them before. When he eyes Shun, the latter just shrugs too.
Nagase looks around, until his eyes meet Jun. He waves a bit and Jun steps forward. “This one is new. Just arrived here yesterday,” he says casually before he points at Jun. “Jun is the class president. He will show you around.”
The guys smirks and bows a bit. He is pretty tall and has that certain look that would totally tick Satoshi off, Jun thinks with a secret grin. He dresses exactly like Jun does, on top of that he has that rebellious aura around him – and he has that dangerous hair style and a piercing in his ear. Awesome. “Matsuda Shota, nice to meet you.”
There is something, something about Shota that makes a bell ring in his head. He looks and moves like him. The ringing gets stronger until it reaches his ears and Jun can only ask. “Matsuda? Is your father probably a doctor?”
“Yes?” Shota says in surprise. “How did you know?”
It’s hard to regather his mental balance, but he manages somehow. “I just heard someone talk about it,” he lies.
“Well then,” Shun mumbles silently as he and Toma approach Jun and the two new guys. He throws Jun a secret glance like he just felt his discomfort. “This could actually become an interesting year.”
