Lingering Sound (RyoKame dorama crossover)

[lilly0]

Title: Lingering Sound
Pairing: Takano Kyohei/Aoi Ryosuke (aka KameRyo ^^), Yamanade/Orthros crossover
Guest appearances by the following people:
Yamanade: Takenaga, Yuki, Ranmaru, Noi
Orthros no Inu: Shinji
And in addition: Bido Granmarie (Junno’s character in Yukan Club), Akamatsu Keisuke (Maru’s character in Omoni Naitemasu) and Amamiya Kuniyasu (Ueda’s character in Konkatsu!) – yes, I squeezed them all in :D
Rating: PG-13
Beta: smile_arigatou
Genre: dorama crossover, romance
Summary: It’s all entirely Takenaga’s fault that Kyohei applied for a PhD study, he has basically forced it on him. On top of it, it’s literature! Unfortunately Kyohei doesn’t know anything about poetry or a haiku, nor is he interested in it. Weirdly though the new professor he is working with attracts his attention…
Warnings: Well, it’s set after the end of both dramas, so especially for Orthros no Inu there goes a SPOILER warning
Notes: Written for ladyc2 for kat_tun_library (exchange)
Note 2: Credits for the Haiku translations (+ research) and puns (for Taguchi) go to yourdictionary - also here. To classicaljapanesetranslations, tofugu and shadowpoetry.




“Can we finally leave?“ Takenaga asked, sounding pretty impatient once Kyohei arrived at the living room. “We always barely make it in time,” he continued his complaint.

It draws a chuckle from Yuki. “Always so tensed. You need to relax more, Takenaga-chan.”

Takenaga just shoots him a glare, one that Kyohei can read pretty easily. It’s something alongside the meaning: Easy said for a guy who just recently opened a candy store and doesn’t have any appointments. Ever.

“Let’s just go,” Kyohei says before Takenaga can in any way get into a fight with Yuki. However, once he passes the kitchen, he sees Yuki’s head bowed over a huge plate with cherry pancakes, including whipped cream. Damn it, Kyohei frowns and shoots the blond-haired cutey a glare at the way he is eating his perfect breakfast. He didn’t have anything to eat this morning – and this idiot here just eats all of it.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Takenaga says all of a sudden, like he guessed Kyohei’s sudden change of mood. Kyohei doesn’t know how Takenaga manages to do that – just read his mind and stop him from doing something before he himself even knows that he is about to do it.

Once they are outside they meet Ranmaru, dressed in black trousers and a random sweater with squares. “Where are you coming from?” Kyohei asks, grinning slightly when he sees Ranmaru’s smug smile.

“Been with my fiancée.”

“Uh-“ Kyohei makes a teasing sound. “Before you get married? How dare you.”

They both laugh slightly, ignoring the glare Takenaga sends them.


~~~

Takenaga has basically forced a PhD study on him. Until now Kyohei is still pissed that he accepted. What the hell did he think when he said yes? Stupid idiotic him! But Takenaga has just said in his calm voice that while he models part-time he could also continue his studies. Fuck Takenaga for being always so grown-up and considerate.

Annoying. In a nice way though.

Takenaga grins like he is guessing his thoughts. “Who is the professor you are working with?”

“A new one,” Kyohei yawns. “He is doing maths and literature.”

“And which subject did you choose?” Takenaga asks in surprise. “You hate maths and you don’t like literature.”

Kyohei shrugs, brushing through his thick hair with a lazy gesture. “Literature.”

“What!? Kyohei, you never read!”

“So what?” Kyohei asks lazily. “I was late with applying for a subject and it was the last one left.”

Takenaga grumbles something incoherent, his complaints growing when Kyohei forces him to halt at a coffee shop and catch two iced lattes. “Aren’t you worried about being late?” Takenaga finally can’t hold back his concern anymore. “Your new professor might be a real jerk, you know?”

Kyohei nods. He has already had similar thoughts. What if that new teacher-dude was a real pain in the butt? He shouldn’t have listened to Takenaga. He should have just looked for another part-time job instead of studying.

He doesn’t have more time to ponder though because out of the corner of his eyes he can see two very well-known light-haired figures approaching. One of them is Noi - and Takenaga’s eyes light up almost immediately. He is so easy to read, Kyohei thinks with a smile. The other is Bido, her co-assistant at the fashion magazine she is working for.

Bido is, without doubts, an idiot, but Kyohei weirdly likes him. He is not that much more stupid than Yuki and at least he doesn’t take life that serious like Takenaga. He is more like a cheaper second hand copy of Ranmaru. Not that witty, not that smart, not that good-looking. In general not a superlative at anything. But okay, he is nice.

“How are you guys doing?” Bido asks and tugs along like he is studying with them. It’s not like Kyohei minds much as long as he won’t get disturbed from catching something to eat. When Noi and Takenaga stop at a little jewellery shop and Bido throws out something alongside the words “Did you already hear that one joke about the dude who stumbled when he wanted to propose and dropped the ring in a gully?”, accompanied by a giggle from his side and an awkward glance from Noi, Kyohei has had it.

“I have an appointment,” he lies calmly. “You guys just go and have fun. Meet you for lunch.”

With that he disappears, glad that Takenaga is distracted enough by being annoyed at Bido.


~~~

Onigiri filled with tuna. Or rather the one with salmon? He hadn’t had some with fish eggs for a while either. Oh and one with egg. And-

“Are you going to eat them all or will you leave one for me?”

Kyohei turns around to face whoever just interrupted his very important choice for lunch. The guy standing behind him, eyeing the shelf with onigiri as well, is pretty young, maybe his age, black slightly messy hair and a kind look in his eyes. He looks a little earnest though and a bit helpless. Oh dear, it’s like Takenaga all over again – in a softer and shyer version though.

The guy shows him a careful smile. “So?” he asks and points at the onigiri which are currently all in Kyohei’s hands.

The latter pulls an eyebrow up and hands one of the salmon ones to the dark-haired dude. The guy beams a smile at him, takes the item and heads to the counter.

Is that really all he wants to eat? Young guys need more food, everyone knows that. They still grow – even in their 20s! “Hey you,” he hears himself say before he can even stop himself. He hands the guy two more onigiri and a package with seaweed salad. “You need to eat more. You know, you are still growing.” He pats the guy’s shoulder as he leaves for the counter as well.

~~~

“Aoi-sensei is expecting you,” the main-assistant of the linguistic and literature institute – a cutey named Anne – frowned. “You are late,” she explains and suddenly doesn’t look all that cute anymore.

“Come on, Anne-chan,” Kyohei yawns a little and drops down on his chair. “So what?”

“You can’t let your professor wait,” she explains calmly like she is talking with a kid. Kyohei wonders how the hell he ever went on a date with her. It’s been the time when he was still a college freshman and she was so different than the other girls. No squealing and kissing the floor he was walking on. So they went out on a few dates, kissed, had sex, didn’t stay together because they didn’t fit. Life’s like that. He still likes her though. Good friend. “Here,” he hands her one of his favourite tuna onigiri. “You’ve gotten too skinny, eat that.”

She smiles slightly. Any other guy she would probably have reprimanded for eating in front of the conference room but the mere fact that Kyohei shared his food with her, most likely calmed her down. “You are lucky,” she explains. “He is nice.”

“Who?” Kyohei wants to know and takes a bite from his food.

“Aoi-sensei.” She twinkles a bit. “And he is late too.”

Kyohei smiles slightly. Good, he thinks and secretly feels relieved. Means he can sleep a little.


~~~

“I’m so sorry for being late,” a voice pulls Kyohei out of his sleep. Kyohei’s eyes open a bit and he can see a dark-haired head bowing down a little, the guy isn’t wearing a tux, which comes pretty much to Kyohei’s liking – he hates formalities – and he is holding a bag with three onigiri and a seaweed salad in his hands-

Kyohei’s head snaps up in surprise. Wait a moment! Onigiri and salad? Can’t be! “You-“ he says and looks the guy in the eyes. “It’s you?” he says casually.

Anne stares at him in both bewilderment and shock. She probably realised he is in need for help because she is suddenly standing next to them, pointing at the dark-haired dude. “Yes, that’s Aoi Ryosuke-sensei. And this-“ she points at Kyohei. “Is your new assistant, Takano Kyohei. He just recently finished his MA degree. And he-“ she says rolling her eyes, “-has social deficits.”

“Hey!” Kyohei complains but she just throws a glare at him, remembering him that he is basically still standing in front of his professor. Well, here goes nothing. “Nice to meet you, Sensei,” he says and bows a little.

Aoi-sensei just chuckles. “Well, the pleasure is also on my side. After all you were kind enough to save me from starving,” he smiles. “I still need to grow after all.”

Kyohei smiles, ignoring the surprised glance Anne shows him.


~~~

Half an hour later they are sitting over two cups of coffee and a self-baked cake – “My brother went to a cooking class”, Aoi-sensei told him and Kyohei is glad that finally someone seems to share his addiction to food.

Another half an hour and two pieces of self-made bread from Aoi later, they start to stick to casual first names to call each other.

“We’ll be working together for a while,” Aoi-sensei, now Ryosuke-kun, has said with a warm smile on his lips.

“So, Kyohei-kun,” his young professor – seriously, how old is that dude? – finally asks after they just had some sushi. “Why did you choose to work on the literature subject?”

I like reading, would be an adequate answer, Kyohei figures, but he has never been adequate in his life, so also this time he only shrugs. “All the other subjects were taken.” It’s only when he said it, he realises that he is actually just insulting the guy he has to work with for a couple of years. “I mean-“ he pauses, wondering what to say now. Diplomacy hello! What would Takenaga say in such a situation? “Literature is good and all, just not for me.”

Wow, that’s even worse.

To his surprise Ryosuke only chuckles though. “Well then, I will try hard to make you love it.”


~~~

Ryosuke’s main subject is poetry. “I was actually a school teacher first,” he explains to Kyohei while they are putting his books into a shelf.

“Why did you change to university?” Kyohei wants to know.

For a moment Ryosuke stays quiet, unusually so. There is a deep frown on his forehead even but it’s chased away swiftly by a smile. That dude knows how to smile away any worries others might have. Just how real is his smile? Kyohei thinks. “A new challenge, I guess. I had enough of teaching for a while but I missed it suddenly. So I went back.” A pause. “Start anew.”

Kyohei frowns a little. Start anew? From what?

“Here look at that.” Ryosuke hands him a little book.

“What’s that?”

Ryosuke shows him an affectionate smile. “Haiku.”

“Haiku?”

For a moment his professor looks at him, a thoughtful glance in his eyes. It’s only then that it dawns on Kyohei that a Haiku is probably a very profane thing to know. And that he just came around as an idiot. But to his surprise the other man just laughs slightly. “You are going to be a challenge, Kyohei-kun, but I don’t mind. I’ve faced quite some challenges up until now, so, I might be ready for a new one.”

“What was your last challenge?” Kyohei asks mostly to make conversation and distract his teacher from his previous slippery question.

For a moment Ryosuke tilts his head. He opens his mouth, like he wants to say something, but then he closes it again and only shrugs. “My brother,” he answers and Kyohei takes a guess that it’s the best answer he might get now.

It evokes his curiosity all of a sudden though because there is this new look in Ryosuke’s eyes. A little sad and melancholic maybe. It’s this look that rings a bell in Kyohei’s head. It’s like he knows that dude.

“So what’s a Haiku?” he asks again because the atmosphere gets a little too heavy for him and he prefers it to come around as an uneducated idiot instead of having to deal with these sad eyes.

“A form of Japanese poetry. It’s unrhymed. And it’s supposed to catch the moment. It only includes a certain amount of Kana and is written in three lines,” Ryosuke explains. “I think for now that’s all you need to know. This book has poems from Kobayashi Issa. Read it and tell me what you think about it next week.”

With that their conversation is basically over. When Kyohei is back outside, he frowns a little, looking up at the window of the room where Ryosuke has his study. He squeezes his eyes a little. It looks like Ryosuke sits at his table now, head buried in his hands.

Hm.


~~~

Kyohei doesn’t have much time to ponder over his meeting with Ryosuke though because he has an important photo shooting for a magazine and the photographer, a pretty almost feminine-looking brunette guy, is a pain in the butt with his perfectionism. He is not particularly bossing around anyone, but he has his way of wanting to see things and portray them. It takes them five hours and a lot of shifting around the whole set – including the two female models and Kyohei – until the photographer is finished.

“Good work today,” he says at the end of the day. “You worked really hard all of you.” The earnest expression is gone and he shows them all a smile. Looks cute all of a sudden. “The outcome will be worth it.”

The girls around Kyohei nod happily and Kyohei is sincerely happy for their distraction. He has had enough of these girls groping and touching him only because he is beautiful. That photographer guy basically saved his butt – quite literally.

“I’m Amamiya Kuniyasu,“ the light-haired man tells him when they leave the studio together. “It’s been nice to work with you, Takano-san,” he bows a little. “Thank you.”

“I have to thank you,” Kyohei says dryly. “You saved me from the girls in there.”

Amamiya chuckles. “I know, they were basically eating you up with their eyes.”

“Care for a drink?” Kyohei offers as a thank you. “I’m meeting up with two friends.”

“Sure, why not.”


~~~

Amamiya fits in perfectly. He has this calm seriousness which Takenaga likes and he is cute enough for Ranmaru to not feel disturbed by him. After three tequilas they loosen up.

“So, how was your meeting?” Takenaga asks after a while. “With your professor, I mean.”

“Ryosuke-kun is nice,” Kyohei explains casually and orders another drink.

“Ryosuke?” Takenaga pulls his eyebrows up. “First name basis already? How did you manage to do that?”

Kyohei shrugs. “He shares my liking for good food.”

“Ah,” Takenaga nods, apparently it’s enough of an explanation for him. “And what about his subject?”

Kyohei scratches his head. “That’s more of a problem. His main subjects are poetry, modern literature and urban legends. The last one is fine, I guess, but poetry?”

Ranmaru chuckles slightly. “Maybe you will start writing too, Kyohei?” he jokes and the others laugh and throw in the one joke about how Kyohei is too rustic and has no sense for art.

Kyohei decides better not to tell them about the poetry book in his bag. He won’t hear the end of it otherwise. He is almost relieved that Bido and Yuki appear too after a while and basically shift the conversation into a more ridiculous direction.

It’s when Bido looks at his drink with glazed eyes and cracks a few unfunny jokes about drinks and bars – the worst of it being: Horse walks into a bar. Bartender says, "So. Why the long face?” – that Takenaga decides they had enough and drags them all outside.

~~~

Later that night Kyohei and Takenaga are sitting at the balcony, sobering up, and Kyohei angles for the book in his bag. He is glad that Takenaga doesn’t say anything, most likely he is even relieved that Kyohei does take his work somewhat serious.

When Kyohei opens the first page of the book there is a dedication.

For you to move on,
For you to find peace,
For you to stop worrying about me,
Ryuzaki Shinji

Something inside his stomach tugs a little but he can’t quite put a finger on it yet. “I think I know him.”

“Hm?”

“Ryosuke-kun. My professor. I think I saw him somewhere before.” Kyohei explains.

“Want me to research on him?” Takenaga offers his help.

“No, not yet.”

Kyohei looks down at the lines again. For you to find peace. The tugging in his stomach is back and it doesn’t go away until the next morning.


~~~

The next day is a Saturday and he is free. Takenaga goes on a date, just like Ranmaru. Kyohei starts his day slowly together with Yuki – they have breakfast together. Muffins which Yuki made. Sweets are his forte.

“Any plans?” Kyohei asks while he chews on one of his five muffins with chocolate and whipped cream.

“Today?” Yuki chirps, curling his cute nose as he puts even more maple syrup on his plate. “Meeting Amamiya-kun for a little shopping spree. Wanna join?”

“No.” On his list of things he wanted to do the least, going shopping with these two fashion victims is right at the top. “Heading for the park,” he says instead and points at their dog – which Sunako adopted before she left for France. “Skull needs to go for a walk.”

Yuki pouts a little, complaining about how much fun it would be for Kyohei to join them but the latter just successfully ignores him.


~~~

One hour later Kyohei is at a calmer place of the park, sitting on a blanket on the ground and leaning against a tree. Skull is stretched out next to him, sleeping after he exhausted himself with jumping and running over the field.

Kyohei has been listening to music first, then stared into the nothingness of the sky for half an hour. Okay, he has no other excuse to avoid this, he thinks, when he reaches for the book in his bag. Get it over with and read it.

The poems are okay, he thinks after a while, glad that his friends don’t see him and can make jokes about how his uneducated rustic self is suddenly reading poetry.

The spring rains fall down,
And there are those left unfed,
The ducks are quacking.

That one is actually nice, mainly because it reminds him of where he is now. And it’s a little more timeless than some others. However, it would be too much to say that he is going to become a poetry fan anytime soon.

When Kyohei raises his gaze, he almost misses it, but at the path further away from his place, he can see a now well-known figure walking by. Ryosuke-kun has that very specific way to walk, he thinks, he is not too tall either and his hairstyle is always a mess. Kyohei grins a little, wondering how and why this guy even became a professor. Sounds like a rather boring job for such a cute and interesting guy.

Next to him though there is another guy. He looks pretty, even from that distance. His lover?

While Kyohei still wonders if he should continue watching them or just leave – hiding or approaching them is not an option – Skull suddenly jumps up and rushes towards the couple.

Fuck it!

Kyohei manages to grab Skull before he can basically jump the dog that’s walking between Ryosuke and his lover. Awesome timing, really. “Sorry,” Kyohei lets out a sigh. “Skull unfortunately loves to play around.”

“Kyohei-kun.” Ryosuke seems to be surprised but he doesn’t sound discontent. His gaze shifts to the dog. “I didn’t know you have a dog.”

“It’s not mine,” Kyohei explains calmly. “Belongs to me and my friends. We are housesitting and hence living for a cheaper rent at our landlady’s place.”

“You know each other?” it’s the other guy talking now. And Kyohei has to admit that he indeed is extremely good looking. Something between handsome and beautiful. He has that dark depth in his eyes, and it’s a bit scary how he is scrutinizing Kyohei.

“Yes,” Ryosuke comes to his help. “That’s Kyohei-kun, my student.” He smiles at Kyohei. “And this is my brother, Shinji.”

Brothers? Ah, Kyohei nods. He feels weirdly relieved. He is about to say something when Ryosuke suddenly flashes him such a bright smile that Kyohei feels like being smashed away by all the sparkling. It’s different than the friendly smiles Ryosuke has shown him throughout their first meeting, this one comes more from his heart. And he can suddenly weirdly sympathize with Sunako’s shining-creature-syndrome. He feels like nose-bleeding too by this pretty smile. Then however he sees what evoked Ryosuke’s happiness. The latter points at the book in his hand. “You are reading it?”

Kyohei wants to tell him honestly first that he just skimmed through it because he had nothing better to do, because it was work, but Ryosuke seems to be too happy. He doesn’t want to destroy that smile. “Yeah,” he manages to say.

“Like it?” Ryosuke asks and a sudden teasing glint appears in his eyes.

Kyohei shrugs and Ryosuke cracks a laugh. It sounds honest, like he is really happy. It surprises Kyohei because even during their first meeting Ryosuke seemed to be genuinely nice and smiley but seeing him laugh like this, makes him tell the difference. Shinji blinks for a moment, watching his brother, then a beautiful smile graces his lips too.

Uh, the cold look is gone from Shinji’s eyes. Brother complex apparently, Kyohei thinks with a secret chuckle.

“Do you want to join us?” Shinji asks finally. Kyohei looks at him for a while. The two of them are obviously trying to spend some quality time with each other, which means having a third person around might actually be against their original plan. Plus, Shinji doesn’t seem like someone who is too fond of company any way. Is his brother’s happiness really that important to him?

Judging by the glance Ryosuke throws his brother, he is not that surprised apparently. He even smiles mildly, a little frustrated look in his eyes, like he is annoyed for his brother’s undoubted brother complex.

“I don’t want to get in your way,” Kyohei asks honestly.

The brothers exchange a glance. “Why do you think that after I asked you honestly?” Shinji wants to know.

Manipulative bastard. Kyohei knows these mind games well enough. “Why are you still looking so hostile if you asked honestly?”

Shinji chuckles.

“Come with us,” Ryosuke says with a relieved smile. He shoots his brother a cute little glare. “And you, stop it.”

“Now he is angry at me,” Shinji analyses once Ryosuke went ahead with the two dogs following him. Kyohei smiles a bit.


~~~

They go for Takoyaki first. Shinji invites them. He doesn’t seem too fond of the food but apparently it doesn’t matter much to him because he throws the one or other slightly sarcastic comment at Kyohei’s and Ryosuke’s appetite.

When they both order yet another set of Takoyaki, he voices his surprise clearly. “Where the hell are you keeping that food?” he asks.

“It’s a very specific talent,” Ryosuke explains.

“Being gluttonous is a talent?”

“Yeah,” Kyohei agrees and angles for the pickled vegetable. He offers some of it to Ryosuke, who in exchange hands him some of his soya bean salad.

“We need to go for dessert later,” Ryosuke says.

“Hm,” Shinji sighs. “Apparently it really is a talent.”

It’s only because Shinji also treated him to cake as well that Kyohei decides that he needs to redo the favour. He invites them for the next weekend.

“Is this really okay?” Shinji asks with a frown. “Aren’t we too old for you young folks?”

Ryosuke chuckles a little at that. “Don’t conclude from you on others. I’m still young.”

“Yeah,” Kyohei takes a sip from his lychee-soda. The one Ryosuke handed him with the words You need to try that – it tastes wonderful. “Besides that we are all out of college and working.”

“Hm~” Ryosuke tilts his head while he bites into his strawberry-macha-crème-filled crepe. “I’m 30, so it should be okay.”

Kyohei stares at him, not able to hide his surprise. “30? ONLY?” Hell, that dude is only a few years older than he is. And he is already a professor. “You made it that far already in your age? I can’t believe how plain my life is.”

“Sometimes plain is nice,” Ryosuke says and although he smiles, his eyes don’t.

“I guess we can take that invitation,” Shinji suddenly says. “Should we bring something along?”

“Oh,” Ryosuke nods all of a sudden. “Kyohei-kun, you should take Shinji on that offer. He just started a cooking and barkeeper class. He can mix some awesome cocktails.”

Kyohei only manages to nod. What the hell was with these two brothers? One of them a professor but keeping his life basically a secret. The other a hobby-cook and a perfect cocktail-mixer, with a brother complex? “Oh,” he says before Ryosuke can walk away. “I liked that one poem by the way. About the ducks.”

Ryosuke blinks for a moment, then he smiles. “Ah, the one about the changing of seasons. With the unfed. Yes, it’s a pretty poem.”

Kyohei thinks he hasn’t quite gotten the meaning of the poem right but apparently Ryosuke doesn’t mind. He can hear how Shinji mumbles something like Ducks? So simple-minded. But Kyohei couldn’t care less. That Shinji-dude has quite some issues any way.


~~~


“You made friends?” Yuki asks in surprise when they order in their dinner. “Since when do you know how to make friends?”

Kyohei rolls his eyes. “Are you stupid?” he asks. “Or did you already forget that it was me who brought Kuniyasu-kun along?”

“Hm~ He has a point,” Ranmaru agrees with him. “But then, Bido is also your fault.”

“No,” Kyohei chooses a king-sized salami pizza and hands the menu to Takenaga. “Bido just weirdly stuck to Takenaga and me.”

“Yeah, first I thought he was into Noi,” Takenaga says and chooses shrimp rolls and sushi. Classic like always. “But apparently he is just weird.”

“All in all he is okay,” Yuki says. “But it’s still the best when it’s the four of us.”

He is probably right. Kyohei rubs his head thoughtfully, thinking of Ryosuke all of a sudden. But sometimes an additional change was a nice thing too.


~~~

“So, where do you want me to put the cake?” Akamatsu Keisuke, one of Yuki’s closer friends looks around a bit. He studied art and his ability to work with colours and paint came with the ability to just make perfect frostings for cakes. “Last time I brought something along too early Kyohei accidentally ate it.”

“Then don’t bring it that early,” Kyohei mumbles and Yuki giggles a bit.

“Don’t forget to give me the money for Ranmaru’s present,” Takenaga interrupts their bickering. “I already paid the whole thing for you but Noi’s birthday is approaching too, so don’t forget to pay it back.”

Kyohei hands his friend an envelope. “Here,” he says. “I did a nude-shooting last week. Brought quite some money.”

“Was that with Kuniyasu-kun?” Yuki wants to know.

“Yep.”

“Really!?” Takenaga stares at him in surprise, blushing slightly. “Isn’t that… you know… weird?”

“No, why?”

“He saw you naked?”

“And?”

Takenaga opens his lips like he wants to say something but then he shrugs it off. “Nothing. It’s okay.”


~~~


Voices and laughter are being heard throughout the whole house. It’s filling even the furthest corner of it. Kyohei is truly happy for Ranmaru, happy that he is going to marry soon, happy that he has his engagement party and happy that he is enjoying his time so much right now.

Still, he hates the fuss and the noise and the huge amount of people. First he tried to stay with his friends, to be brave, but then he just had to retreat. He went to Sunako’s room first, all her weird furniture was still there. It helped for a while but soon people started to come into that room too, so he retreated again, this time to the top floor of the house, on the balcony.

Better.

When he hears a door opening behind him though he is really on the verge of jumping at whoever dares to interrupt his peace. Then he sees the person that is approaching him.

Ryosuke closes the door behind him and leans against it. “You know, Kyohei-kun, Shinji is lacking social skills, so he doesn’t mind. But I do.”

“Mind what?” Kyohei asks and turns around on his chair to face the other man.

“That you didn’t tell us that this is an engagement.” Ryosuke explains and Kyohei can hear the complaint in his voice clearly.

“It’s not that important,” Kyohei tries to reason. “Ranmaru likes it to have many people around. Takenaga and Yuki invited some of their friends too.”

“Okay,” Ryosuke still doesn’t sound happy. “Next time, just tell me.”

Kyohei watches the other man for a while, sees how he fidgets nervously. It’s only then that it dawns on him that he probably hates huge gatherings too. “I will.”

“Mind if I stay here for a while?”

“Not at all.” Kyohei points at the empty chair next to him.

Once Ryosuke sits down, he lets out a sigh. “Too many people,” he says.

“I know.” Kyohei pulls his legs up and rests them against the railing of the balcony. He smiles when Ryosuke hands him a bottle with beer. “Don’t you like huge gatherings?”

“Not really,” Ryosuke smiles nervously. “What about you? You are young, aren’t you? I thought you young guys all love parties like that.”

“My other friends do but I don’t really like it. Besides-“ he chuckles. “You aren’t that old either.”

Ryosuke looks down at the bottle in his hands. “It has always freaked me out to have too many people around me. It’s scary.”

Kyohei does understand but at the same time he doesn’t. It just sounds so weird how Ryosuke said it and again, he feels strangely reminded of something. He licks over his lips nervously. “I kind of think I know you,” Kyohei finally admits, not able to hold back anymore and tries to search his mind for hints. “I mean, I’m not sure but you looked familiar to me immediately. Did we meet somewhere before?”

Ryosuke looks sad all of a sudden. “It’s not been long enough ago, I guess.” He mumbles.

“Hm?”

“Nothing.” The older one shakes his head and takes a huge sip from his drink.

A few years ago Kyohei might have just shrugged something like that off but now he just can’t. He feels like something is seriously off. Especially when Ryosuke gets heavily wasted that night.


~~~

Kyohei drags Ryosuke to his own room and makes him drop down in his bed. The latter smiles a bit. “You are nice Kyohei,” he mumbles, eyes clouded slightly. Still it makes Kyohei feel weirdly happy to hear him say his name without any suffix. “And see-“ he takes his hand. “Nothing happens. It’s not going to happen anymore. It’s not going to come back. It won’t…”

What?

Kyohei blinks a bit when he hears that but doesn’t ask anything. He waits for Ryosuke to fall asleep, more patient than he normally is. Then he goes to look for Shinji.

He finds the latter together with Bido and Takenaga. Obviously also Bido has drunk too much because he comes right at the point when Bido nods towards Takenaga and says something alongside the lines “He has a photographic memory, you know Shinji-kun, but he never developed it. Haha.“

Takenaga just rolls his eyes. “I need another drink,” he mumbles.

“You know what they call a person rabid with wordplay?” Bido follows him. “An energizer punny.”

Shinji’s eyes follow Bido’s blond-haired head for a while, then he turns towards Kyohei. “You have interesting friends,” he mumbles.

“I think the cocktails you brought along might have increased that effect,” Kyohei argues and Shinji smiles. It reminds Kyohei of why he went to look for him. “I think your brother isn’t feeling well,” he finally says diplomatically.

“Ryosuke?” Shinji asks in surprise. “Where is he?”

Kyohei doesn’t answer that question, instead he simply leads Shinji upstairs to the third floor and into his room. Ryosuke is deep asleep, looking almost peaceful, and Shinji seems relieved.

“I’m sorry,” Kyohei says like it’s his fault. “He didn’t even drink that much.”

“Don’t worry,” Shinji chuckles softly and takes his brother’s hand into his affectionately. “He is really bad with alcohol.” He looks around a bit. “What now?” he asks.

“Well, he can stay here,” Kyohei offers. “The others are definitely celebrating until morning anyway. So, he doesn’t even need to feel bad about it.”

“Hm,” Shinji nods. “Thanks.” He looks around a bit, almost helpless and Kyohei decides to help him out.

“Don’t worry, I’m here anyway. You can go to your place anytime.”

Shinji tilts his head a bit. “Hm, thank you,” he says. He is about to leave the room, when he turns his head. “You know, Takano-kun, life wasn’t always nice and gentle towards us. That’s why-”

He doesn’t finish his sentence though, much to Kyohei’s surprise. That’s why… what?

~~~

Damn it, Shinji’s last words and Ryosuke’s weird behaviour did evoke his interest, he can’t deny that. Kyohei is still pondering over the recent happenings when something hits his mind all of a sudden. He angles for the book Ryosuke borrowed him and opens the first page of it.

For you to move on,
For you to find peace,
For you to stop worrying about me,
Ryuzaki Shinji


Ryuzaki Shinji. Ryuzaki? Isn’t Ryosuke’s surname Aoi? He didn’t even know that the brothers have different names. He clicks his tongue. Fine, he needs Takenaga’s help with this.

“Kyohei-kun?” Kyohei raises his head and to his surprise Ryosuke is awake, sitting up in his bed. How many hours have passed? “It’s late,” he says. And: “I’m sorry.” For a moment they both keep quiet, then Ryosuke smiles a bit. “Why don’t you go to sleep too?”

He should probably not agree to it, Kyohei thinks but he can’t help it. It’s just so promising. Ryosuke has this soft smile, these warm eyes, he just gets engulfed by it too easily. He wonders if he felt like that with Sunako when they dated a few times or with Anne. But he is sure he hasn’t.

When he crawls into his bed too, Ryosuke’s body feels a little cold. The latter rests his head against Kyohei’s shoulder. “This is probably a mistake,” he mumbles before he drifts to sleep again.

Kyohei has no idea what he means.


~~~


The next day Ryosuke leaves with a polite bow and his typical smile, the one that’s not real enough for Kyohei to believe it. He doesn’t say much about what happened last night but there is a frown right between his eyebrows. He looks almost too bothered.

Kyohei is at a loss of words. He wants to tell Ryosuke to stay for breakfast but the many question marks and doubts in Ryosuke’s eyes keep him from doing so.

A moment later Ryosuke is already away and he has missed the chance to spend the morning with him.

Fuck it.

When he goes back into the villa and the living room, he meets Keisuke and Takenaga there, both of them hovering over a huge cup of coffee. “What’s with you?” Kyohei asks in surprise.

“It’s been those ten tequila I had last night,” Keisuke mumbles and rubs over his head. “Next time keep me from drinking that much,” he says towards Takenaga.

“Oh, I will but only if I’m not too busy with keeping myself from getting wasted,” Takenaga retorts and his voice sounds weirdly hoarse. He tilts his head a little, eyeing Kyohei through small, tired eyes. It’s a rare sight to see Takenaga that spent. Kyohei grins and decides to keep this image in his memory forever. Priceless.

“Where have you been later at that evening?” Keisuke interrupts his trails of thoughts.

Kyohei shrugs. “Was here. Gatherings are not so much my thing.”

“Ah, you retreated together with Aoi-kun,” Takenaga nods and takes a sip from his coffee. He grimaces, looking almost pained for a moment before his features relax again. “His brother told me, he doesn’t like huge gatherings much either.”

Kyohei can’t help a small smile at that. At the same time it reminds him of his original plan. “I need to take you up on your offer from last week, Takenaga. Need your help,” he says before he forgets it again.

He must have sounded very serious because his friend just looks at him for a while, all serious, and nods. For now though they both drop the subject. Kyohei because he doesn’t want anyone to read through his feelings too much, Takenaga probably because he has already taken a wild guess anyway.

They are lucky that Keisuke is too bothered with his hangover to annoy them with questions.


~~~


“He is going to be here in a minute,” Anne tells him for the hundredth time. She is probably a little annoyed because Kyohei asked her the same question over and over again. But Kyohei doesn’t care. He is even more annoyed. He has arrived here one hour ago, seen Ryosuke just very briefly in his office before the latter forced a ridiculous work in the archive on him. Like he wanted to avoid hm. With his perfect wax-like smile of course, and a slight blush.

Kyohei sneezes when he tries to put these boring poem books into an order into, a huge amount of dust suddenly covering him.

“Oh,” Anne blinks and grabs one of the books. “I haven’t seen that one around. It must be new.”

Kyohei frowns and takes the offered book into his hands. It’s a simple cover and the pages are yellowed. “Doesn’t look new to me,” he mumbles. He turns it over a bit, it’s an urban legend, something about some sort of tiny town with brothers that have a certain gift… or rather curse. “Care if I take that home to read it?”

“Not at all,” Anne smiles. “Aoi-sensei doesn’t mind us taking some of the books if we want to read them. As long as we return them.” She chuckles. “He is cute, isn’t he?”

Kyohei grins a bit. “Yeah, but not Yuki-cute. Rather-“ Hot, he wants to say, glad he doesn’t make it to it as they get interrupted.

“Who is cute?” Ryosuke’s voice can be suddenly heard behind them.

Anne and Kyohei exchange a glance. “Well,” she says. “I’m taking these books to the storage room.” With that she leaves.

Kyohei stays silent.

“Who is cute?” Ryosuke asks, clear curiosity in his voice. When Kyohei just shrugs, the other frowns. “Are you ignoring me?”

If he was still 15, he would probably believe this was a game but the mere innocence in Ryosuke’s question makes him blink in surprise. Kyohei grabs Ryosuke’s arm and pulls him deeper into the archive, into a corner where they keep some of the original book-paintings.

“You are ignoring me,” Kyohei says with emphasis on me.

“I’m not-“ Ryosuke starts but apparently he just sucks at lying because he blushes before he can even finish his sentence.

“The hell with it,” Kyohei curses and before Ryosuke can even react he presses him against the shelves, kissing him demandingly. For a moment the other man seems to be too shocked to react but soon he can feel one hand against his back, one on his arm. There is some dust from the shelve trickling down on them as some books drop out of it and there is a spider web that gets caught in Kyohei’s hair but he couldn’t care less right now.

Ryosuke tastes sweet, like he has just eaten watermelon mochi. He needs to get back on him for having perfect dessert without him.

“I hope you still have some of these mochi,” he complains when they take a pause to catch for air. Before Ryosuke can answer to his stupid demand, Kyohei goes back to kissing him. He has always been more of the head-into-something guy, more of the one that just does and shows instead of talks. Might come to his advantage sometimes, like now, because Ryosuke even allows him to draw him closer to his body, closing that little gap between them. It’s only when Kyohei’s right hand wanders under Ryosuke’s shirt that Ryosuke draws back a bit. “Not here,” he says with a tentative smile.

“So, somewhere else?” Kyohei pulls his eyebrows up. “This means, you want to meet somewhere else. Meet again – to deepen that,” he just voices out without pondering over it. He needs to know his current position in that drama right now.

“I’m difficult, Kyohei,” Ryosuke says without using any suffix. Again. “I’m not good with these things. I’ve never dated much.”

Kyohei shrugs. “So what?”

“I can’t even drink two bottle of beer without getting spent.”

“Well, and I like horror movies, fake blood and skulls. And I can’t tell apart a Haiku from a children’s birthday song.”

For a moment Ryosuke pulls an eyebrow up in amusement. “Fake blood?”

“Yeah, and haunted houses and Halloween. Is that a problem?” He can see how Ryosuke frowns at his question before he lets out a sigh. He moves away from Kyohei now and points at his bag.

“It’s not that simple. Read the book that you borrowed first,” Ryosuke says calmly. “And then I might continue that talk.”



~~~

The urban legend is a weird one about two boys that are cursed and are born with either the ability to kill or heal with a touch. Completely weird. Most of the time the one with the killing ability gets killed as a child so that nothing bad can happen.

Kyohei doesn’t quite get it. He takes one of the jelly rolls. What has that book to do with Ryosuke?

“Kyohei!” Takenaga suddenly interrupts his trail of thoughts as he appears at their favourite place on the balcony. “Here, I found something.”

“Found what?” Kyohei needs a moment to get what his friend is talking about. Then he remembers their talk after the party. He checked on Ryosuke. It doesn’t feel right but Kyohei needs to know and most likely Ryosuke is not going to tell him the truth himself. “So what do you know?”

“Well, it was pretty difficult to find because the police or whoever deleted most archive material but there is one tiny snippet of a newspaper. Here-“ He hands it to Kyohei. The latter frowns, it’s really tiny, maybe that’s why the police forgot to destroy it. On it there is a very short article about a dude that can save people and heal them with only one touch. He frowns a bit. Sounds painfully known. When he checks the blurred picture attached to it, he blinks. It’s Shinji. “That’s-“

“I know,” Takenaga interrupts him. “Shinji-kun. I researched a little more but I only found very few information. I remember myself though that there was something going through the media when we were in school. But it was called off as a weird rumour or a publicity stunt from an ad campaign.

“So what happened?” Kyohei wants to know.

“Apparently Shinji was able to heal everyone but he hated people because he was held captive for years. And Ryosuke could kill someone with a touch but hardly ever used his ability. They broke the curse though and are without their powers now. Normal.”

“Hmm,” Kyohei nods. “Cool. I never thought I would meet someone with such a talent. Sounds like out of a horror movie.”

“I knew you would say that,” Takenaga grins. “A pity that Sunako isn’t here. She would have loved that story too.”

“Do you believe it?” Kyohei wants to know.

Takenaga shrugs. “Part of it might be true, I guess.”

“And do you mind it?”

His friend only takes one piece of the jelly roll between his fingers. “I have my own problems to mind,” Takenaga finally says with a grin. And Kyohei has to laugh. “Beside Sunako’s problems were a lot worse.”

“Why do I always get these weirdos?” Kyohei asks and also thinks of Sunako for a moment.

“Probably because you are weird yourself?” Takenaga prompts. He chuckles when Kyohei smacks him.


~~~

He writes a message to Ryosuke.

I’ve read it. I think you are making too much drama out of it.

How can you say that? Ryosuke answers almost immediately. When I was able to kill with one touch. I even did it once.

Accidentally.

Maybe. But it’s not that simple, Kyohei.

Kyohei sighs. People are complicated, he thinks. Maybe he is particularly simple-minded but isn’t that better than dwelling into once past too much? If he would be still dwelling in his past he would already be in an asylum for always thinking about his mother.


~~~

Kyohei does some research. Not on Ryosuke but on poetry. He decides he needs to find some other examples for Haiku, otherwise he might never understand Ryosuke’s liking for it. Poems apparently made Ryosuke feel at peace.

He read through tons of boring or meaningless poems. Then there were quite some he didn’t understand at all.

It’s when he is about to give up that he finds this one.

Untitled by Katsura Nobuko

My mother’s soul
viewing the plum blossoms,
returning at night.

He looks at these few lines for a moment before he puts the book aside again. He needs a break. It only lasts a few moments though before he grabs it once more. And rereads it. Then he rereads it again. Head spinning.


~~~

The brothers live at a smaller house. Kyohei assumes that Ryosuke’s income is quite good and that the state might have given them quite a compensation for what they went through. When he knocks, Shinji opens.

“Hi, God’s hand,” Kyohei says randomly. Shinji grins.

“I never had a God hand,” he says. “It was just a power I had that I never liked to use. I was the devil.”

“Yeah, I guessed so much,” Kyohei enters the house once Shinji steps aside. The latter offers him some coffee and self-made pralines. “You kind of look like a sadist.”

Shinji smirks. “I kind of knew you would say that.”

“You are taking it easy,” Kyohei analyses. “Ryosuke is more difficult.”

“Ryosuke is a good guy with a kind soul,” Shinji explains. “That’s the problem.”

“I don’t see that as a problem,” Kyohei argues and dips one praline into his coffee.

“Tell that to my brother not me,” Shinji intervenes, frowning as he watches how Kyohei repeats to dip the chocolate into his coffee.

“I already did.”

“Then do it again.”

Kyohei takes a bite from the chocolate. It’s watermelon filled. So that’s what Ryosuke ate when they kissed. “Fine,” he says.

~~~


“I found a poem.”

Ryosuke looks up when Kyohei closes the door behind him. Ryosuke’s study is pretty big and full of books. He really needs to work harder to fall in love with literature too. “Sorry?” Ryosuke asks.

“I found a poem,” Kyohei repeats and hands it to Ryosuke. He has written it on an extra sheet of paper to bring it along.

Ryosuke stares at it for a while. “It’s beautiful,” he says carefully.

“My mother hates me though I always loved her,” Kyohei explains. “She hates me because I was born beautiful. There were always girls chasing me and molesters. I even got kidnapped. All because of my looks. We were never in peace. She got depressions from it and blamed me for it. I left home before I turned 16.”

Ryosuke looks at the poem again. “Your mother’s soul is returning at night,” he concludes.

“Yes,” he nods. “Sometimes at night I dream about it and the things she said and how she hurt me. How I hurt her just because of the way I was born. Because I was born at all.

“Being beautiful is not your fault, Kyohei,” Ryosuke says and a warm, beautiful smile graces his lips. “You cannot be blamed for being born like that.”

“It’s a curse,” Kyohei argues. “Just like yours. Only that yours is lifted. I don’t mind that you had that power once. Believe me.”

Ryosuke stays quiet for a while before he puts both the sheet of paper and his pen aside. He stands up, walking towards Kyohei slowly. “Don’t you mind that I’m a guy?”

The question comes so out of nowhere and has nothing to do what they talked that Kyohei can’t help but burst in laughter. It’s only when Ryosuke smiles brightly that he realises he has probably done it on purpose to diffuse the tension. He lets Ryosuke hug him. “You are not too beautiful for me,” Ryosuke says.

It’s the nicest words Kyohei has ever heard.