Family Matters: Chapter 3
Jan. 9th, 2016 01:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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yume_to_ameTitle: Family matters ~ Chapter 3
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.
“You know.” Karina puts the freshly washed glasses back into the cupboard, before she angles for a small box below the sink. “I think you are stupid, Kazunari-kun.”
Kazu sighs. “You always say that. Still you bear with me.”
“I just can’t help it,” she shrugs and passes by the counter. “I really liked your mother, you know? She was an awesome woman.” Her bar is closed right now, so they have enough time to work on Kazu’s little problem. Namely his face. Karina sits down right next to him now, carefully attending to the bruise at his left temple. The rest of his little injuries are gladly hidden beneath his shirt, and he won’t have any troubles hiding it from his brothers.
“So,” she picks the topic up again. “What happened?”
Kazu sighs slightly when she puts some salve on his wound. Gladly it stopped bleeding a while ago already. “We got in a fight.”
“Surprise, surprise.” Her voice is dripping with sarcasm but still, she never sounds reproachful. Probably because she was once in the scene herself. For a while neither of them says a word. Karina does her best in nursing him, obviously, and Kazu tries hard to look cool and not flinch weirdly.
When she puts her medical kit aside, she sits down in front of Kazu, angling for his face to check on it. “Almost invisible,” she muses. “You were lucky. Just use some make-up to be sure. Do you want something to eat?”
“Thanks.” Kazu nods and stands up together with her. “Need any help?”
“Yes, cut the vegetables,” she says, and then, like it’s the most random thing to say, “Be careful, Kazunari-kun. Be careful. This scene is dangerous, and before you know it they will try to take everything from you. Escaping will be like hell.”
“At the moment it’s pretty calm,” Kazu tries to defend himself, and his choice. It does produce a weird feeling in his stomach though. “It doesn’t even have a gang-vibe to it.”
“But it is a gang,” she explains. “And normal gang-rules apply. What if one day things like your family and your future are so important to you that you want to quit the gang? If you are lucky you’ll be able to escape with little damage, like I did thanks to your mother, but if you are not, you might even die when doing so or at least get heavily wounded. Do you really want your brothers to go through that misery?”
Kazu doesn’t say anything, he just angles for some carrots, starting to cut them into tiny pieces. His mind is weirdly blank. No, he does not want them to feel bad or to go through something so sad, he knows that. His mind wrapped around the fact that what he does is stupid long ago. Still it’s difficult to just… stop.
“Sho-san is a very powerful man,” she continues. “If you consult with him, he might be able to get you out of it without a huge catastrophe.”
“I can’t,” Kazu finally says and hands her the cut vegetables, watching how she starts cooking them. “Please try to understand.”
“I do,” she says and adds curry to the vegetables. “That’s exactly the problem. I understand. And I know it won’t end well. So, be careful, will you?”
~~~
“Okay.” Kazu drops down on Jun’s bed and stretches tiredly. After the long and draining day, it feels warm and comfortable to finally be home. Besides that, Jun uses some sort of fancy grapefruit and aloe vera shampoo, and his whole pillow smells like it. He feels like hugging and squishing it. “How mad are you?”
At his desk, Jun looks up from his book for a moment, before he shrugs. “Your life is your business,” he says.
So, he is really pissed. On a scale from 1 to 10 probably a solid 7 or 8. “I swear, I just missed the time. It wasn’t intended.” Jun grabs his pen and scribbles some notes. Kazu hates it when he does that – completely ignoring the rest of the world. “Come on, Jun.”
The latter sighs. “I already told you. It’s your life. Do what you want! Just keep me out of it.”
“Listen, Jun-“ Kazu starts, but doesn’t get to finish his sentence because there is a knock on Jun’s door. It’s Satoshi who is carrying the picture he has redone for Jun.
“I didn’t hear you coming back, Kazu?” he says.
“Yeah, I was rather silent.”
He is pretty sure that Satoshi has felt the tension between them. He is also pretty sure that Satoshi’s guess of Kazu’s whereabouts isn’t too far from the truth. Still, to his surprise, he doesn't say anything, just looks at Kazu long enough that he feels really uncomfortable. He is good at that, Kazu thinks, too good. He has the eyes of an artist, always watching, always reading his surroundings. Kazu knows that Jun is having more problems with Sho, but in his eyes, Satoshi is the more difficult brother. They have once gotten along well, when they were all a lot younger. But now it’s all different.
When Satoshi leaves, Jun puts his pen aside. Apparently, he has felt the awkward tension too, because his eyes are softer now. “Listen Kazu, there is another problem,” he says after a while.
“What?”
“Parents-teacher-day is going to be next month. School called,” Jun says without wasting any more time with beating around the bush. “They will come.”
Kazu can feel how all kind of feelings wash over him, and the clearest one is pure horror. “They?”
“All three of them. Sensei even called Sho at work.”
“Fuck,” Kazu curses.
“Yes, exactly my thoughts.”
Kazu is surprised. “Why? You don’t have any problems at school. Do you?”
“No, but you have.”
All of a sudden Kazu feels guilty for dragging his brother into his own problems. “What am I going to do?” Kazu asks more himself than Jun. “If Satoshi or Sho find out that I’ve been skipping school, they are going to kill me. For Sho academic education is super important. And Satoshi hates lies. I’m going to be dead or grounded for the rest of my life. Or both.”
“Stop being overdramatic!” Jun says all of a sudden and sits down next to him on his bed. “You are writing a test on Friday, and one next week too. You could do well there…”
“Probably, if I knew how to study for it,” Kazu intervenes.
“Hm~” The other lets out a deep sigh before he angles for his bag. “Copied some notes for you.”
Kazu stares at the books and papers Jun has prepared for him both in awe and in deep gratitude. At the same time, his guilty feelings are getting more and more prominent. It’s not a very good feeling to be honest, to use his brother like he does – his favourite on top of that! The only one he truly gets along and can share anything with – well, except for the fact that Jun doesn’t know that he is an actual gang-member. “You are probably too nice as a brother. Too nice to me at least,” he says silently and hugs Jun spontaneously.
“Yeah you don’t deserve me. Put it on the list!” Jun says and laughs all of a sudden. Kazu can’t help but join him. They will probably get through every crisis together.
Nino’s laugh subsides in light giggling as he throws Jun a teasing glance. “You should stop being so cute, Jun,” he jokes. “You are such a cutey pie, it’s almost ridiculous. Be glad that I’m the only one who knows.”
Jun blushes and throws a pen after him. “Who are you calling cute, you midget?”
“Did you just say midget?”
“Yes, I did!”
“Oh my-“ Kazu lets out a mock-threatening breath, grinning when Jun just smirks and heads out of the room. He takes the bait and chases after him, through the hallway, downstairs, through the living room – until they both bump into Masaki.
“Let me join!” Masaki exclaims immediately and puts his little sugar unicorns on the cupboard, where they are safe.
“Aren’t you too grown up already to fight with your brothers?” Kazu asks teasingly.
“Not grown up enough to beat you two youngsters.” He sounds almost smug. Kazu exchanges a glance with Jun, a little mutual approving nod. “Wait a moment-“ Masaki raises his hands as the both of them approach him. “Why are you suddenly ganging up on me? Hey-“ He spins around a bit. “Jun put the flour to the side. I mean it! If you throw it at me, I’ll-“
They don’t let him say what he is going to do to them. Jun empties the whole package of flour on him, while Kazu takes the moment of surprise to tackle Masaki on the floor. Kazu doesn’t know how long they have been messing around already. It’s only when Sho comes downstairs and accidentally slips on the floury ground and drops down that they finally stop the game.
Masaki grins. “Sho-chan, watch out.”
“What are you even doing here?” Sho mumbles, looking around in horror as he most likely sees the mess they created. The look in his eyes means problem, Kazu can tell that much for sure. Sho is always so predictable. “Are you nuts, Masaki!?”
“Hey, they started it,” Masaki defends himself.
Sho frowns a bit. Kazu grins slightly; Sho is obviously in his scolding mode. This time though it’s most likely going to be directed at Masaki. “You are an adult, Masaki! Don’t blame it on the kids!”
Hah, he knew it!
Kazu searches for Jun’s eyes, making a gesture with his head for them to disappear silently. As they sneak away, Sho’s head snaps to the side to face them. “HEY! I’m not finished with you two either! You two should-”
Kazu doesn’t wait for him to finish his speech though, he grabs Jun’s arm and tugs him along. As they approach the staircase leading them upstairs, he sees Satoshi sitting at one of the bottoms stairs, grinning in amusement as he watches the whole scene. He slips to the side a bit to let them sneak passed him.
“Satoshi, stupid twin!” Sho huffs. “I can’t believe you!”
~~~
They are both panting heavily when they drop down on the floor of Kazu’s room. After a while of silence Jun’s breaks it. “Kazu,” he says. Much to Kazu’s surprise, he sounds all serious now and a little bothered.
Kazu sits up immediately, staring down at Jun who is still lying on his back. “What? What happened?” he asks.
Jun shrugs. “Nothing.”
“Sure it did!” Kazu huffs and grabs Jun’s arm to pull him up. “I thought you were weird before. But I guessed it was rather because I was late.”
“That pissed me off too, yes,” Jun admits dryly and it makes Kazu smile a bit. Still-
“And?”
Jun looks at the huge rainbow coloured beanbag in front of Kazu’s TV for a while. Just staring, a little frown on his face. Kazu decides it’s better to let him think for a while, not push him immediately. He was right to do so because all of a sudden Jun turns his head back to look at Kazu. “Matsuda-sensei’s son is in my class. He is new and just transferred here.”
“Matsuda…” Kazu’s eyes snap open. “You are kidding me! But, he is in Tokyo!”
Jun shakes his head. “He transferred. He got a very good position here, also the hospitals here are smaller and he didn’t want his patients to be a mere number anymore. At least that’s what the people in school are saying. Parts of it I heard from Shota-kun himself.”
“And? Did you tell him where you know his father from?”
Jun shakes his head. “No, didn’t want to. Sensei was always nice and all, it’s nothing against him. And Shota-kun is a nice guy too by the way, he seems to be alright. I just don’t want to- It’s weird to, you know-“
Kazu knows. He understands just perfectly what Jun wants to say but can’t voice out. He also knows where the shock comes from, despite Matsuda-sensei always being a sincerely good person and a perfect doctor. It’s not about him or his son. Not at all. It’s more about the memory they share and want to forget. Kazu stares at the same beanbag Jun had been looking at. It’s weird, he thinks, so weird when the past catches up without one expecting it. When the same doctor that basically saved their lives years ago and helped them through depression and heavy rehab is going to be around them again.
~~~
“Wow, a rare sight!” Jun’s sensei grins brightly when he sees the both of them walking through the building. “Kazunari-kun, I almost forgot what you look like.”
“Short memory, huh?” Kazu shoots back, but doesn’t sound half as sarcastic as he normally would. He envies Jun for his teacher, because he is fun and relaxed.
The other man laughs. “Well, as long as you drop by sometimes and pass your exams, it’s not my business to complain.”
He waves them a short goodbye before he hurries towards the teacher’s room. “Lucky you.” Kazu sighs.
“Not sure.” Jun shrugs. “He is cool and everything, but he can be such a busybody. Believe me.” He shifts his head and nods a bit towards a group of girls. Probably his classmates. Kazu hasn’t been in school often enough to really tell.
The prettiest of the girls suddenly steps out of the group and approaches them. “Good morning, Jun-kun,” she says, a beautiful smile on her lips. Is that Mao-chan? The quirky girl they knew as a kid. Unbelievable… he really missed a lot in school.
“Good morning,” Jun answers politely, a little detached smile gracing his lips. No surprise the girls like him, Kazu grins.
Mao can’t deepen their talk because three other girls suddenly join them, together with two of Jun’s friends. One of them is Shun. Kazu feels slightly trapped within the group of people around him, wondering how Jun can even breathe through all the perfume. It’s suffocation, especially for someone who has never enjoyed being around too many people. “Is it true that your three brothers are coming for the festival next month?” one of the girls, a smaller, but cute one asks. Jun and Kazu exchange a surprised glance. How the hell did they find out?
“Are they as good-looking as you two?” one of Jun’s friends, the one that isn’t Shun, jokes.
“I only know one of the twin brothers,” another one of the girls suddenly says and giggles. “The lawyer. He is very good-looking and hot.”
Sho. It has to be Sho she is talking about.
Before Kazu can say anything, Jun has already opened his mouth. “Don’t get too close to him,” he says and there is something in his voice that awakens Kazu’s senses immediately. Tension covered by a masked calmness. “Recently, he contracted a sexually transmissible disease.” Kazu can feel how Jun’s words basically knocked him off his feet. It’s more like something that he might say as a joke, but definitely not Jun. Jun is composed, polite and controlled. Unlike Kazu. It’s not like Jun to take a joke that far and not even uncovering it as a joke. Like he wants to hurt Sho or let his anger out on him.
When the others left with a giggle and with obvious curiosity about Sho’s state of health – rumours hello! – Kazu turns to face his brother. “Are you nuts?” he whispers. “Sho doesn’t have an STD. He basically never goes out.”
Jun shrugs grimly. “Who cares?” he says.
You do, Kazu thinks but doesn’t say it out loud. You just don’t want to admit to it.
You will feel sorry for what you said later, won’t you?
Why are you so angry at Sho-chan, Jun?
He wants to ask all these questions but doesn’t dare to. Like he fears the answer. As if he is afraid that it might involve him too, that he is at fault. So he stays quiet. He wonders slightly if he will regret it later on.
He is still wondering how to react properly when he sees Matsuda’s son. Jun told him about him before, so it was easy to recognize him, but even if Jun hadn’t warned him he would have recognized him within seconds. They have the same smile, the same way of walking, the same aura.
“Jun-kun?” Shota says as he approaches. “Are you joining Toma-kun and me later for lunch? We are heading to the shopping centre.” He turns around to face Shun who is approaching them again right now. “You too, Shun-kun?”
Shun nods. “Maybe the girls want to join too.”
They obviously do.
Jun is so freaking social that it’s almost breath-taking for Kazu to watch. Like he is seeing an otherworldly creature. And- “Sure. I’m coming too.” Jun smiles. It looks strained though. Kazu realizes immediately, and by the way Shun frowns, he has probably caught it too. Kazu wonders if this Shota realizes it too. But then, he probably doesn’t know Jun well enough. “By the way,” Jun obviously tries to recover by pulling at Kazu’s sleeve. “This is my older brother, Kazunari. I don’t think you know each other yet.”
“Oh, hi, nice to meet you,” Shota smiles. He wears a piercing in his ear, which is kinda cool; other than that he looks a bit too similar to their former doctor.
Awesome, yes. “Nice to meet you too.”
“I haven’t seen you around lately,” Mao says all of a sudden. “Are you feeling alright, Kazunari-kun?”
Jun that sadistic brother of his just pulls an eyebrow up and eyes him expectantly. “Yeah, I was facing some problems,” Kazu explains warily. “You know, health and stuff…”
Gladly Mao gets interrupted by Shun, asking a random question about their afternoon program, and Kazu decides that it’s probably the best to flee the situation as fast as possible. Unfortunately he doesn’t seem to be on a luck spree today, as the first one he bumps into after finally excusing himself from his brother and his friends is his homeroom teacher.
“Oh, young man.” Yamaguchi-sensei bends down to collect some sheets of paper that dropped down on the ground when Kazu bumped against him. “What was your name again?”
Very funny. “Good morning, Yamaguchi-sensei.”
“Well, the morning certainly has to be good, when you show up for once,” Yamaguchi says calmly. “How come you honour me with your presence?”
Kazu squints a bit, trying to read through his teacher’s expression, but as always it’s freaking hard. Not because Yamaguchi-sensei is particularly teasing or unfriendly, but because he is rather calm and composed most of the time. Still, Kazu is sure that he is pretty pissed. “I promise, sensei, to do better in the future,” Kazu says carefully. He isn’t sure himself if it’s a lie or not. Seeing his brother with his friends, having a normal school life, and his teacher does get down to his conscious. Besides there are still Karina’s words nagging at his mind.
“Well,” Yamaguchi sighs slightly. “Damage is done already. Your attendance record is horrid. Kazunari-kun, we need to talk about that at one point, you know?”
Kazu sighs as well now. Ten minutes at school and he is already getting a freaking headache. “I know,” he just says because he really isn’t in the mood to argue.
This time though luck is on his side as it seems because suddenly there is a hand on Yamaguchi’s shoulder. Nagase-sensei is right behind him. “Yo, Gussan, don’t forget we still wanted to…” He squeezes his eye. “You know, wink-wink!”
“Wink-wink?” Yamaguchi stares at the other man in surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
It should be more embarrassing to watch two of his teachers interact like that, Kazu thinks, but it’s just so damn funny. Especially after Nagase tries to explain his wink-wink with other weird code words, until he throws his arms in the air and gives up. “Man, Gussan, I’m talking about having a cigarette before school-hell starts.”
Yamaguchi smiles a bit. “Why don’t you say so from the beginning?”
“Aren’t we supposed to be a good example for the kids?” Nagase wants to know. Then he looks at Kazu and chuckles. “Well, as long as it’s Kazunari-kun, it’s okay I think.”
Kazu laughs, and gladly Yamaguchi gets tugged along by Nagase and has to stop his scolding. “We seriously need to talk about this later, Kazunari-kun,” he only says before he gets pulled away. Kazu nods, and decides that later should definitely not happen.
When the two men finally are away, he sighs in relief, proceeding to his classroom. This is going to be a long day.
~~~
One day in school and he just remembers again, why he hates it here. It’s boring and he needs to sit still for… what seems forever. The only nice things here are that his brother is around – which weighs a lot, really – the hot Italian teacher who is unfortunately not teaching in his class, and the only guy in his class he finds kinda bearable, if also annoying sometimes-
“Hey Kazu-kun.” Ryo jumps up the stairs to the roof top and throws himself at the space next to Kazu. He bumps against him of course, something that Kazu merely comments with a frown. “You look so young, when grumpy. Like you are eleven,” Ryo says wisely.
Kazu sighs. “You are such an idiot, Ryo-chan.”
Ryo smiles brightly, one of those wide-teethed dazzling smiles only he can pull off. Kazu’s resistance basically falters immediately. “Just happy that you are around again, Senpai. You missed a lot here.”
“Really? I missed a lot?”
“No, except for your brother winning some sort of academic prize,” Ryo chuckles. Kazu pulls an eyebrow up, something his brother hasn’t told him it seems. “School is boring as hell. I just hope you won’t get involved in too dangerous stuff. Be careful okay? Whenever you aren’t around for too long, I get stressed out.”
The good thing about Ryo is that he doesn’t judge… much. The look in his eyes is still reproachful. “Sorry to worry you,” Kazu says, and actually really means it. Ryo has never been in his gang or in any other gang, but he comes from an original rough neighbourhood, Kazu knows that much for sure, hence his whole approach to Kazu and his whereabouts is completely different.
Ryo is surprisingly serious all of a sudden. “When you need something, help or, you know, anything, tell me. I look weak, but I’m actually pretty strong, Senpai.”
“Thanks for the offer.” Kazu shrugs a bit. “But you know, you are annoying when calling me Senpai? We are in the same class, Ryo-kun.”
“You are still older,” Ryo argues, almost painfully reminding Kazu how hard it was to go back to a normal life after the accident, as he had to re-do a whole year in school because he was in hospital for too long, while Jun only missed half a year and somehow managed to finish the school year. It’s the main reason why the both of them are only one class apart. Ryo can be insensitive like that. Still, it’s also what he likes about Ryo. He talks without thinking much, he is honest and straight-forward.
“Wanna make out?” Kazu asks randomly.
“I was originally coming to cheer you up, because school always seems to depress you.” Ryo chuckles. “And bring you something to eat. But making out is fine for me too!”
He would probably never call Ryo his boyfriend or lover or anything like that. He just likes to do all this intimate stuff with Ryo, who doesn’t ask too many annoying question and who is just whole-heartedly and honestly seeing him as a friend. Does he like Ryo, more than a friend, he isn’t sure about that. He just knows that Ryo isn’t expecting anything from him.
Author's notes: Thanks to everyone following this story!! ♥
So, what do you think about the five brothers so far? Who do you think is the most difficult to handle?
And what do you think about Jun telling everyone Sho has an STD? :P Anyone feeling sorry for Sho? I have the feeling that Sho comes off as a pretty intense character so far... *lol*
As you might have noticed I'm changing POVs. I guess I'll switch between Satoshi, Kazu and Jun, as their storylines differ the most. Sho gets a lot of spotlight through Jun and Satoshi, and he'll play a major part in Jun's plot. And Masaki is basically part of every storyline here :D
As this is finally Kazu's POV: What do you think about him? Do you believe Kazu will be in danger? And what's your opinion on the two teachers (I think recently I've watched quite some TOKIO ^^ plus Gilmore Girls... It mixed up in my head :-))?
And in general... I've still not quite made up my mind what to do with all their possible love affairs. It's obviously not the focus of the story, but could be a nice side-story... What do you think? Especially Jun is still a huge questionmark for me in terms of love...
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.
“You know.” Karina puts the freshly washed glasses back into the cupboard, before she angles for a small box below the sink. “I think you are stupid, Kazunari-kun.”
Kazu sighs. “You always say that. Still you bear with me.”
“I just can’t help it,” she shrugs and passes by the counter. “I really liked your mother, you know? She was an awesome woman.” Her bar is closed right now, so they have enough time to work on Kazu’s little problem. Namely his face. Karina sits down right next to him now, carefully attending to the bruise at his left temple. The rest of his little injuries are gladly hidden beneath his shirt, and he won’t have any troubles hiding it from his brothers.
“So,” she picks the topic up again. “What happened?”
Kazu sighs slightly when she puts some salve on his wound. Gladly it stopped bleeding a while ago already. “We got in a fight.”
“Surprise, surprise.” Her voice is dripping with sarcasm but still, she never sounds reproachful. Probably because she was once in the scene herself. For a while neither of them says a word. Karina does her best in nursing him, obviously, and Kazu tries hard to look cool and not flinch weirdly.
When she puts her medical kit aside, she sits down in front of Kazu, angling for his face to check on it. “Almost invisible,” she muses. “You were lucky. Just use some make-up to be sure. Do you want something to eat?”
“Thanks.” Kazu nods and stands up together with her. “Need any help?”
“Yes, cut the vegetables,” she says, and then, like it’s the most random thing to say, “Be careful, Kazunari-kun. Be careful. This scene is dangerous, and before you know it they will try to take everything from you. Escaping will be like hell.”
“At the moment it’s pretty calm,” Kazu tries to defend himself, and his choice. It does produce a weird feeling in his stomach though. “It doesn’t even have a gang-vibe to it.”
“But it is a gang,” she explains. “And normal gang-rules apply. What if one day things like your family and your future are so important to you that you want to quit the gang? If you are lucky you’ll be able to escape with little damage, like I did thanks to your mother, but if you are not, you might even die when doing so or at least get heavily wounded. Do you really want your brothers to go through that misery?”
Kazu doesn’t say anything, he just angles for some carrots, starting to cut them into tiny pieces. His mind is weirdly blank. No, he does not want them to feel bad or to go through something so sad, he knows that. His mind wrapped around the fact that what he does is stupid long ago. Still it’s difficult to just… stop.
“Sho-san is a very powerful man,” she continues. “If you consult with him, he might be able to get you out of it without a huge catastrophe.”
“I can’t,” Kazu finally says and hands her the cut vegetables, watching how she starts cooking them. “Please try to understand.”
“I do,” she says and adds curry to the vegetables. “That’s exactly the problem. I understand. And I know it won’t end well. So, be careful, will you?”
~~~
“Okay.” Kazu drops down on Jun’s bed and stretches tiredly. After the long and draining day, it feels warm and comfortable to finally be home. Besides that, Jun uses some sort of fancy grapefruit and aloe vera shampoo, and his whole pillow smells like it. He feels like hugging and squishing it. “How mad are you?”
At his desk, Jun looks up from his book for a moment, before he shrugs. “Your life is your business,” he says.
So, he is really pissed. On a scale from 1 to 10 probably a solid 7 or 8. “I swear, I just missed the time. It wasn’t intended.” Jun grabs his pen and scribbles some notes. Kazu hates it when he does that – completely ignoring the rest of the world. “Come on, Jun.”
The latter sighs. “I already told you. It’s your life. Do what you want! Just keep me out of it.”
“Listen, Jun-“ Kazu starts, but doesn’t get to finish his sentence because there is a knock on Jun’s door. It’s Satoshi who is carrying the picture he has redone for Jun.
“I didn’t hear you coming back, Kazu?” he says.
“Yeah, I was rather silent.”
He is pretty sure that Satoshi has felt the tension between them. He is also pretty sure that Satoshi’s guess of Kazu’s whereabouts isn’t too far from the truth. Still, to his surprise, he doesn't say anything, just looks at Kazu long enough that he feels really uncomfortable. He is good at that, Kazu thinks, too good. He has the eyes of an artist, always watching, always reading his surroundings. Kazu knows that Jun is having more problems with Sho, but in his eyes, Satoshi is the more difficult brother. They have once gotten along well, when they were all a lot younger. But now it’s all different.
When Satoshi leaves, Jun puts his pen aside. Apparently, he has felt the awkward tension too, because his eyes are softer now. “Listen Kazu, there is another problem,” he says after a while.
“What?”
“Parents-teacher-day is going to be next month. School called,” Jun says without wasting any more time with beating around the bush. “They will come.”
Kazu can feel how all kind of feelings wash over him, and the clearest one is pure horror. “They?”
“All three of them. Sensei even called Sho at work.”
“Fuck,” Kazu curses.
“Yes, exactly my thoughts.”
Kazu is surprised. “Why? You don’t have any problems at school. Do you?”
“No, but you have.”
All of a sudden Kazu feels guilty for dragging his brother into his own problems. “What am I going to do?” Kazu asks more himself than Jun. “If Satoshi or Sho find out that I’ve been skipping school, they are going to kill me. For Sho academic education is super important. And Satoshi hates lies. I’m going to be dead or grounded for the rest of my life. Or both.”
“Stop being overdramatic!” Jun says all of a sudden and sits down next to him on his bed. “You are writing a test on Friday, and one next week too. You could do well there…”
“Probably, if I knew how to study for it,” Kazu intervenes.
“Hm~” The other lets out a deep sigh before he angles for his bag. “Copied some notes for you.”
Kazu stares at the books and papers Jun has prepared for him both in awe and in deep gratitude. At the same time, his guilty feelings are getting more and more prominent. It’s not a very good feeling to be honest, to use his brother like he does – his favourite on top of that! The only one he truly gets along and can share anything with – well, except for the fact that Jun doesn’t know that he is an actual gang-member. “You are probably too nice as a brother. Too nice to me at least,” he says silently and hugs Jun spontaneously.
“Yeah you don’t deserve me. Put it on the list!” Jun says and laughs all of a sudden. Kazu can’t help but join him. They will probably get through every crisis together.
Nino’s laugh subsides in light giggling as he throws Jun a teasing glance. “You should stop being so cute, Jun,” he jokes. “You are such a cutey pie, it’s almost ridiculous. Be glad that I’m the only one who knows.”
Jun blushes and throws a pen after him. “Who are you calling cute, you midget?”
“Did you just say midget?”
“Yes, I did!”
“Oh my-“ Kazu lets out a mock-threatening breath, grinning when Jun just smirks and heads out of the room. He takes the bait and chases after him, through the hallway, downstairs, through the living room – until they both bump into Masaki.
“Let me join!” Masaki exclaims immediately and puts his little sugar unicorns on the cupboard, where they are safe.
“Aren’t you too grown up already to fight with your brothers?” Kazu asks teasingly.
“Not grown up enough to beat you two youngsters.” He sounds almost smug. Kazu exchanges a glance with Jun, a little mutual approving nod. “Wait a moment-“ Masaki raises his hands as the both of them approach him. “Why are you suddenly ganging up on me? Hey-“ He spins around a bit. “Jun put the flour to the side. I mean it! If you throw it at me, I’ll-“
They don’t let him say what he is going to do to them. Jun empties the whole package of flour on him, while Kazu takes the moment of surprise to tackle Masaki on the floor. Kazu doesn’t know how long they have been messing around already. It’s only when Sho comes downstairs and accidentally slips on the floury ground and drops down that they finally stop the game.
Masaki grins. “Sho-chan, watch out.”
“What are you even doing here?” Sho mumbles, looking around in horror as he most likely sees the mess they created. The look in his eyes means problem, Kazu can tell that much for sure. Sho is always so predictable. “Are you nuts, Masaki!?”
“Hey, they started it,” Masaki defends himself.
Sho frowns a bit. Kazu grins slightly; Sho is obviously in his scolding mode. This time though it’s most likely going to be directed at Masaki. “You are an adult, Masaki! Don’t blame it on the kids!”
Hah, he knew it!
Kazu searches for Jun’s eyes, making a gesture with his head for them to disappear silently. As they sneak away, Sho’s head snaps to the side to face them. “HEY! I’m not finished with you two either! You two should-”
Kazu doesn’t wait for him to finish his speech though, he grabs Jun’s arm and tugs him along. As they approach the staircase leading them upstairs, he sees Satoshi sitting at one of the bottoms stairs, grinning in amusement as he watches the whole scene. He slips to the side a bit to let them sneak passed him.
“Satoshi, stupid twin!” Sho huffs. “I can’t believe you!”
~~~
They are both panting heavily when they drop down on the floor of Kazu’s room. After a while of silence Jun’s breaks it. “Kazu,” he says. Much to Kazu’s surprise, he sounds all serious now and a little bothered.
Kazu sits up immediately, staring down at Jun who is still lying on his back. “What? What happened?” he asks.
Jun shrugs. “Nothing.”
“Sure it did!” Kazu huffs and grabs Jun’s arm to pull him up. “I thought you were weird before. But I guessed it was rather because I was late.”
“That pissed me off too, yes,” Jun admits dryly and it makes Kazu smile a bit. Still-
“And?”
Jun looks at the huge rainbow coloured beanbag in front of Kazu’s TV for a while. Just staring, a little frown on his face. Kazu decides it’s better to let him think for a while, not push him immediately. He was right to do so because all of a sudden Jun turns his head back to look at Kazu. “Matsuda-sensei’s son is in my class. He is new and just transferred here.”
“Matsuda…” Kazu’s eyes snap open. “You are kidding me! But, he is in Tokyo!”
Jun shakes his head. “He transferred. He got a very good position here, also the hospitals here are smaller and he didn’t want his patients to be a mere number anymore. At least that’s what the people in school are saying. Parts of it I heard from Shota-kun himself.”
“And? Did you tell him where you know his father from?”
Jun shakes his head. “No, didn’t want to. Sensei was always nice and all, it’s nothing against him. And Shota-kun is a nice guy too by the way, he seems to be alright. I just don’t want to- It’s weird to, you know-“
Kazu knows. He understands just perfectly what Jun wants to say but can’t voice out. He also knows where the shock comes from, despite Matsuda-sensei always being a sincerely good person and a perfect doctor. It’s not about him or his son. Not at all. It’s more about the memory they share and want to forget. Kazu stares at the same beanbag Jun had been looking at. It’s weird, he thinks, so weird when the past catches up without one expecting it. When the same doctor that basically saved their lives years ago and helped them through depression and heavy rehab is going to be around them again.
~~~
“Wow, a rare sight!” Jun’s sensei grins brightly when he sees the both of them walking through the building. “Kazunari-kun, I almost forgot what you look like.”
“Short memory, huh?” Kazu shoots back, but doesn’t sound half as sarcastic as he normally would. He envies Jun for his teacher, because he is fun and relaxed.
The other man laughs. “Well, as long as you drop by sometimes and pass your exams, it’s not my business to complain.”
He waves them a short goodbye before he hurries towards the teacher’s room. “Lucky you.” Kazu sighs.
“Not sure.” Jun shrugs. “He is cool and everything, but he can be such a busybody. Believe me.” He shifts his head and nods a bit towards a group of girls. Probably his classmates. Kazu hasn’t been in school often enough to really tell.
The prettiest of the girls suddenly steps out of the group and approaches them. “Good morning, Jun-kun,” she says, a beautiful smile on her lips. Is that Mao-chan? The quirky girl they knew as a kid. Unbelievable… he really missed a lot in school.
“Good morning,” Jun answers politely, a little detached smile gracing his lips. No surprise the girls like him, Kazu grins.
Mao can’t deepen their talk because three other girls suddenly join them, together with two of Jun’s friends. One of them is Shun. Kazu feels slightly trapped within the group of people around him, wondering how Jun can even breathe through all the perfume. It’s suffocation, especially for someone who has never enjoyed being around too many people. “Is it true that your three brothers are coming for the festival next month?” one of the girls, a smaller, but cute one asks. Jun and Kazu exchange a surprised glance. How the hell did they find out?
“Are they as good-looking as you two?” one of Jun’s friends, the one that isn’t Shun, jokes.
“I only know one of the twin brothers,” another one of the girls suddenly says and giggles. “The lawyer. He is very good-looking and hot.”
Sho. It has to be Sho she is talking about.
Before Kazu can say anything, Jun has already opened his mouth. “Don’t get too close to him,” he says and there is something in his voice that awakens Kazu’s senses immediately. Tension covered by a masked calmness. “Recently, he contracted a sexually transmissible disease.” Kazu can feel how Jun’s words basically knocked him off his feet. It’s more like something that he might say as a joke, but definitely not Jun. Jun is composed, polite and controlled. Unlike Kazu. It’s not like Jun to take a joke that far and not even uncovering it as a joke. Like he wants to hurt Sho or let his anger out on him.
When the others left with a giggle and with obvious curiosity about Sho’s state of health – rumours hello! – Kazu turns to face his brother. “Are you nuts?” he whispers. “Sho doesn’t have an STD. He basically never goes out.”
Jun shrugs grimly. “Who cares?” he says.
You do, Kazu thinks but doesn’t say it out loud. You just don’t want to admit to it.
You will feel sorry for what you said later, won’t you?
Why are you so angry at Sho-chan, Jun?
He wants to ask all these questions but doesn’t dare to. Like he fears the answer. As if he is afraid that it might involve him too, that he is at fault. So he stays quiet. He wonders slightly if he will regret it later on.
He is still wondering how to react properly when he sees Matsuda’s son. Jun told him about him before, so it was easy to recognize him, but even if Jun hadn’t warned him he would have recognized him within seconds. They have the same smile, the same way of walking, the same aura.
“Jun-kun?” Shota says as he approaches. “Are you joining Toma-kun and me later for lunch? We are heading to the shopping centre.” He turns around to face Shun who is approaching them again right now. “You too, Shun-kun?”
Shun nods. “Maybe the girls want to join too.”
They obviously do.
Jun is so freaking social that it’s almost breath-taking for Kazu to watch. Like he is seeing an otherworldly creature. And- “Sure. I’m coming too.” Jun smiles. It looks strained though. Kazu realizes immediately, and by the way Shun frowns, he has probably caught it too. Kazu wonders if this Shota realizes it too. But then, he probably doesn’t know Jun well enough. “By the way,” Jun obviously tries to recover by pulling at Kazu’s sleeve. “This is my older brother, Kazunari. I don’t think you know each other yet.”
“Oh, hi, nice to meet you,” Shota smiles. He wears a piercing in his ear, which is kinda cool; other than that he looks a bit too similar to their former doctor.
Awesome, yes. “Nice to meet you too.”
“I haven’t seen you around lately,” Mao says all of a sudden. “Are you feeling alright, Kazunari-kun?”
Jun that sadistic brother of his just pulls an eyebrow up and eyes him expectantly. “Yeah, I was facing some problems,” Kazu explains warily. “You know, health and stuff…”
Gladly Mao gets interrupted by Shun, asking a random question about their afternoon program, and Kazu decides that it’s probably the best to flee the situation as fast as possible. Unfortunately he doesn’t seem to be on a luck spree today, as the first one he bumps into after finally excusing himself from his brother and his friends is his homeroom teacher.
“Oh, young man.” Yamaguchi-sensei bends down to collect some sheets of paper that dropped down on the ground when Kazu bumped against him. “What was your name again?”
Very funny. “Good morning, Yamaguchi-sensei.”
“Well, the morning certainly has to be good, when you show up for once,” Yamaguchi says calmly. “How come you honour me with your presence?”
Kazu squints a bit, trying to read through his teacher’s expression, but as always it’s freaking hard. Not because Yamaguchi-sensei is particularly teasing or unfriendly, but because he is rather calm and composed most of the time. Still, Kazu is sure that he is pretty pissed. “I promise, sensei, to do better in the future,” Kazu says carefully. He isn’t sure himself if it’s a lie or not. Seeing his brother with his friends, having a normal school life, and his teacher does get down to his conscious. Besides there are still Karina’s words nagging at his mind.
“Well,” Yamaguchi sighs slightly. “Damage is done already. Your attendance record is horrid. Kazunari-kun, we need to talk about that at one point, you know?”
Kazu sighs as well now. Ten minutes at school and he is already getting a freaking headache. “I know,” he just says because he really isn’t in the mood to argue.
This time though luck is on his side as it seems because suddenly there is a hand on Yamaguchi’s shoulder. Nagase-sensei is right behind him. “Yo, Gussan, don’t forget we still wanted to…” He squeezes his eye. “You know, wink-wink!”
“Wink-wink?” Yamaguchi stares at the other man in surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
It should be more embarrassing to watch two of his teachers interact like that, Kazu thinks, but it’s just so damn funny. Especially after Nagase tries to explain his wink-wink with other weird code words, until he throws his arms in the air and gives up. “Man, Gussan, I’m talking about having a cigarette before school-hell starts.”
Yamaguchi smiles a bit. “Why don’t you say so from the beginning?”
“Aren’t we supposed to be a good example for the kids?” Nagase wants to know. Then he looks at Kazu and chuckles. “Well, as long as it’s Kazunari-kun, it’s okay I think.”
Kazu laughs, and gladly Yamaguchi gets tugged along by Nagase and has to stop his scolding. “We seriously need to talk about this later, Kazunari-kun,” he only says before he gets pulled away. Kazu nods, and decides that later should definitely not happen.
When the two men finally are away, he sighs in relief, proceeding to his classroom. This is going to be a long day.
~~~
One day in school and he just remembers again, why he hates it here. It’s boring and he needs to sit still for… what seems forever. The only nice things here are that his brother is around – which weighs a lot, really – the hot Italian teacher who is unfortunately not teaching in his class, and the only guy in his class he finds kinda bearable, if also annoying sometimes-
“Hey Kazu-kun.” Ryo jumps up the stairs to the roof top and throws himself at the space next to Kazu. He bumps against him of course, something that Kazu merely comments with a frown. “You look so young, when grumpy. Like you are eleven,” Ryo says wisely.
Kazu sighs. “You are such an idiot, Ryo-chan.”
Ryo smiles brightly, one of those wide-teethed dazzling smiles only he can pull off. Kazu’s resistance basically falters immediately. “Just happy that you are around again, Senpai. You missed a lot here.”
“Really? I missed a lot?”
“No, except for your brother winning some sort of academic prize,” Ryo chuckles. Kazu pulls an eyebrow up, something his brother hasn’t told him it seems. “School is boring as hell. I just hope you won’t get involved in too dangerous stuff. Be careful okay? Whenever you aren’t around for too long, I get stressed out.”
The good thing about Ryo is that he doesn’t judge… much. The look in his eyes is still reproachful. “Sorry to worry you,” Kazu says, and actually really means it. Ryo has never been in his gang or in any other gang, but he comes from an original rough neighbourhood, Kazu knows that much for sure, hence his whole approach to Kazu and his whereabouts is completely different.
Ryo is surprisingly serious all of a sudden. “When you need something, help or, you know, anything, tell me. I look weak, but I’m actually pretty strong, Senpai.”
“Thanks for the offer.” Kazu shrugs a bit. “But you know, you are annoying when calling me Senpai? We are in the same class, Ryo-kun.”
“You are still older,” Ryo argues, almost painfully reminding Kazu how hard it was to go back to a normal life after the accident, as he had to re-do a whole year in school because he was in hospital for too long, while Jun only missed half a year and somehow managed to finish the school year. It’s the main reason why the both of them are only one class apart. Ryo can be insensitive like that. Still, it’s also what he likes about Ryo. He talks without thinking much, he is honest and straight-forward.
“Wanna make out?” Kazu asks randomly.
“I was originally coming to cheer you up, because school always seems to depress you.” Ryo chuckles. “And bring you something to eat. But making out is fine for me too!”
He would probably never call Ryo his boyfriend or lover or anything like that. He just likes to do all this intimate stuff with Ryo, who doesn’t ask too many annoying question and who is just whole-heartedly and honestly seeing him as a friend. Does he like Ryo, more than a friend, he isn’t sure about that. He just knows that Ryo isn’t expecting anything from him.
Author's notes: Thanks to everyone following this story!! ♥
So, what do you think about the five brothers so far? Who do you think is the most difficult to handle?
And what do you think about Jun telling everyone Sho has an STD? :P Anyone feeling sorry for Sho? I have the feeling that Sho comes off as a pretty intense character so far... *lol*
As you might have noticed I'm changing POVs. I guess I'll switch between Satoshi, Kazu and Jun, as their storylines differ the most. Sho gets a lot of spotlight through Jun and Satoshi, and he'll play a major part in Jun's plot. And Masaki is basically part of every storyline here :D
As this is finally Kazu's POV: What do you think about him? Do you believe Kazu will be in danger? And what's your opinion on the two teachers (I think recently I've watched quite some TOKIO ^^ plus Gilmore Girls... It mixed up in my head :-))?
And in general... I've still not quite made up my mind what to do with all their possible love affairs. It's obviously not the focus of the story, but could be a nice side-story... What do you think? Especially Jun is still a huge questionmark for me in terms of love...
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no subject
Date: 2016-01-09 05:13 pm (UTC)i've been a silent reader until now and decide to give a comment to let you know that i love this fic! The plot is perfect for me, not too fast or slow, but sometimes there are moments who makes me a little bit confused and need to re-read again the previous chapter *maybe it's just me who are forgetful XP*
There are a lot of mystery for this chapter, but i wonder if the accident that were being said have a connection with the dead of their mother? And also for the jokes about sho having STD, i can't wait until he find out on the parents-teacher day lol XD
And i do really hope that Jun sweetness can make Kazu think all over again about being in the gang :D
Thanks for the update~
Looking forward for the next~
no subject
Date: 2016-01-10 12:37 pm (UTC)I guess the individual plotlines aren't really all connected yet, but they will soon - so I hope it will be easier to follow everything then :D
Thanks for telling me your assumptions (about the accident, and the STD-story ^^) - I'm curious how you'll like the development :D
no subject
Date: 2016-01-09 09:48 pm (UTC)Satoshi seems to quietly observe what is happening around him and it seems that he lets everyone handle their own lives, but will step in if he feels that the situation calls for it.
Masaki is a friend to all and seems to have successfully remained on side with the youngest two, which is not easy as they seem to have an "us and them" mentality.
Jun obviously loves Nino very much, but is stressed by having to cover for him a lot, which is doing further damage to his relationship with Sho. He seems a little fragile under the obedient, studious, popular student cover and after his remark about Sho and the STD, it seems that he might be about to crack a bit. Jun also doesn't give off the vibe of being interested in haven't a romantic relationship with anyone, male or female.
Nino has major issues with authority, but is good underneath. On the surface he seems to be the most trouble, with his gang connections and his loose relationship with Ryo, but at the moment I am more concerned about Jun. I hope you will tell us more soon about their hospitalization soon and the reasons behind it.
As you can see, I am thinking a lot about this story as I read it and am probably way too invested in it already ☺ and I'm really looking forward to how it develops next.
no subject
Date: 2016-01-10 06:13 pm (UTC)It made me so happy to read your thoughts! <3
I guess, you are right about Sho. I mean, he at least tries hard and he is self-conscious about his own reactions, wondering what he did wrong and how he should do better. Well, we'll see how it continues ^^
It's really interesting to read your thoughts about Jun, because it's basically what I had in mind when writing it. I thought that everyone would rather have Nino's stirred up problems in their focus, so it's really cool that you can feel Jun's stress (for covering up for Nino for example) and the mask he puts on. He is not relaxed at all, and there might just be crack in the facade now.
Thanks so much for following this story!!
Lots of ♥ to you!
no subject
Date: 2016-01-11 04:21 pm (UTC)not really sure about ohno character yet, but from the story it seems that he is a playboy but he really treasure his family
while sho, dont really know much about him maybe because his character is not really develop in these chapters, it seems that he is really stoic, maybe because he is a lawyer and he also have to act as the adult one because satoshi is not being one, maybe he is like the father in this family, cant wait for his character to develop more and see from his point of view
masaki being masaki, he is like the pacifist between the older and younger generation. cant wait to know more about him to
Kazu seems to get into a lot of trouble by being in the gang. dont know what the role of karina in here, but it seems that she is being like a sister to kazu. a lot of things happen and still remain mystery, like why kazu got into the gang, what happen to their parents, why kazu is in odd with ohno, arghhh i want to know more
on their story, you make me crave for more..hehee, oh forgot to mention about ryo, he seems really cute but it seems that he really like kazu but kazu seems not really interested in serious relationship
personally, i really like the relationship between kazu and jun, they are really close and cute when jun is worry about kazu
from your writing, i just feels that they share a lot of things and jun seems to protect kazu but I think that there are things that jun keep to himself, its like he keeps something big inside him that eaten him inside. Not sure why he does not even share to kazu that he got the award. Jun seems really mysterious character in this story, it seems that he does not let anyone near him, he does not let anyone know about his emotion and if anyone know, he quickly cover it. It seems that he hide everything from others. Love for jun, not sure because it seems that he is not interested in anyone in his school even mao. i dont know if its just me with my sakumoto bias, it just seems that jun really love sho, he is being protective near him, it seems that he want him, because he does not want any girls near sho by saying he have STD, which i think he regret it later. But i still feels curious on jun being cold to sho. Their story is the one that i am looking forward to because i am sakumoto bias, heheee. Good luck for next update.
no subject
Date: 2016-01-12 01:56 pm (UTC)And thanks so much for following this story!!
Sho's character will definitely get his development and his focus. And you are right, he is basically the only real adult in the family right now... and some sort of father figure, I guess.
And I'm so happy to read you are Sakumoto biased, because these two and their problems with each other will definitely make a huge part of the plot. I think it's interesting what you wrote about Jun... that he really really likes Sho, but something stops him from being honest with himself.
I'm also happy you like the relationship between Jun and Kazu - they really are very close to each other ^^
I'm curious about what you think when the whole incident in the past gets slowly uncovered :-)
Thanks again for your awesome comment and support <3
no subject
Date: 2016-01-16 06:40 am (UTC)Sho has STD? *looool* I don't want to know what happens when he finds out that Jun told the girls a lie :D :D Poor Sho, but I don't feel really sorry for him. Sho is really strict and father like, and I think he wants to replace the parents they don't have anymore. So I can understand him, but he is Sho after all :D
TOKIO as teachers is really cool, I wonder if Leader appears too? :D :D
Thanks for sharing this chapter, I totally love that story <3
no subject
Date: 2016-01-17 01:42 pm (UTC)And yes, poor Sho *lol* Somehow... he doesn't quite get the balance between being a role model and a nice brother ^^
Thanks so much for your lovely comment ♥