Family Matters: Chapter 7

[lilly0]

Title: Family matters ~ Chapter 7
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_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.



Kazu is going through the DVDs in Jun’s shelf. They have planned on watching a movie together, and while Jun tries to force some sort of crazy, artistic thriller on him, Kazu wants to see something lighter. When the door flings open, both of them jump a bit in surprise. It’s Sho, and judging by the entrance he just made and by the way his eyes are squeezed, he is majorly pissed. On a scale from zero to ten… Well, Kazu decides better not give a number to it. It’s enough to know that he is fuming. Just… what’s the reason? Something they heard in school? About Kazu… or…

“STD!?” Sho breathes out, not giving Kazu the opportunity to think further. “And red-light district? Did you two know that they even believe I’m selling my body!? What the hell is wrong with you guys?”

Jun stays awkwardly silent, and Kazu decides he needs to feed Sho with just any line that comes to his mind, and at least try to calm him down from his rage. “Well,” he stutters. Of course I know. “We didn’t know. It was just a misunderstanding. We are so sorry.” Wow, when did it happen that he can lie without even blinking once?

Sho doesn’t buy it. Kazu can see it by the way his eyes get darker. “What the hell were you guys thinking!?” he yells. “You pushed it way too far this time! Did you even think about my reputation as a lawyer… even once!?” He is speaking in capital letters now, which makes it even worse. Kazu is at a loss of words. He tries to look at Jun through the corner of his eyes, just to check if he has a plan, but Jun seems too nervous to even notice. “Who the hell started that rumour!? Tell me now!”

Kazu knows that Sho has a pretty good talent for reading facial expressions. He is a lawyer after all and though he misses the right interpretation sometimes, he is right most of the time. He is most likely going to know the truth in seconds. Hence Kazu wonders what he should say or do to save Jun from Sho’s wrath. But Jun doesn’t even try to hide anything. He is too honest, Kazu thinks not without envy. He wished he would be like that too. Jun probably hated the whole situation from last month.

When Jun stands up from his chair, Sho grabs him by his shirt and slaps him so hard that Kazu flinches too, just by the mere sound of it, even though he isn’t involved. Jun gasps in shock and moves his hand to his left cheek where Sho’s handprint is blooming now. It’s so deadly silent afterwards that Kazu even feels too uncomfortable to move. Not even Sho is saying anything anymore; he is breathing faster than usual, and there is a weird expression in his eyes. Something Kazu can’t quite read. It rarely happens that Kazu panics. But… What the hell is he supposed to do now? Gladly, right at that moment, he can hear the door again. And Masaki’s voice.  “Can someone help me? Kazu-chan~, Satoshi, anyone? The mulled wine is too heavy. I need your help!” he calls from the kitchen.

Kazu gladly flees the room.

He feels bad though the moment he reaches the kitchen for not staying at Jun’s side. He looked so hurt and helpless. And like he just was betrayed. “Masaki-“

“Hm?” Masaki turns around, blinking. “What is it?”

Nino shrugs helplessly and turns around to eye Satoshi. The latter looks up for a moment, then he lets out a frustrated sigh. “Oh my god, don’t tell me they are at it again?”

Kazu frowns in worry. “This time it’s really bad!” Apparently the way he lacked any teasing or snark has triggered something in both of the others because Masaki looks nervous all of a sudden and Satoshi’s eyes snap open. Then he is up to his feet immediately.

“I’m taking a look at them,” he says in his calm way. For the first time in months Kazu is glad that he is around with this weirdly calm aura. He is probably the best one to handle everything.

“Here,” Masaki smiles and hands Kazu a bowl with mulled wine. “Alcohol-free,” he adds helplessly, and forces another plate into Kazu’s hands with a piece of double-chunk chocolate brownie. “I just tried the recipe.” Bless Masaki for believing everything can be healed with food… because sometimes it’s just the perfect approach


Later on, when Kazu wants to look for Jun, the latter has retreated to his room. He is hearing a mixture of Nick Cave, Bob Marley and some Club Sounds. A bad sign all in all. But he knows better than to get on Jun’s nerves immediately, so he writes him a message, telling him they could talk whenever Jun wants to.

Maybe tomorrow. Jun answers.

Masaki and Satoshi on the other hand don’t know Jun well enough as it seems and don’t listen to Kazu’s advice as the try their luck individually. When they knock at Jun’s door, Kazu just rolls his eyes. To his amusement, each of them gets basically kicked out again – Satoshi a bit more politely than Masaki. Kazu doesn’t particularly feel sorry for them. It’s their own fault for not knowing their own brother well enough.

Sho is nowhere to be found either. The others are just as unlucky in their attempt to talk to him as they are with Jun.

In that issue Sho and Jun probably are pretty similar. What he doesn’t know though is that Sho does talk, five hours later when Satoshi has finally been able to bribe him into drinking tequila with him and Masaki.

For now though Kazu doesn’t know a thing and wonders what he should do. He gets distracted by an unannounced guest though.

~~~

“You have a friend!?” Masaki squeals in delight when he leads Ryo to Kazu’s room. “I didn’t know you have friends too, Kazu-chan? I’m so relieved.”

“Kazunari-senpai is really nice,” Ryo says and smiles dazzlingly. Masaki is obviously and unfortunately immediately amazed by Ryo’s refreshing admiration of Kazu. It’s not really a surprise though.

“He is, right?” Masaki agrees, smiling energetically. “He can be a bit grumpy, and snarky, and an idiot sometimes, but-“

“That’s enough!” Kazu interrupts them before they can in any way deepen their talk about what he is and what he isn’t. Seriously pathetic or annoying, or maybe both. When Masaki finally retreated – not without forcing a plate with chocolate cookies on them, which Ryo happily accepted – Kazu can ask the inevitable. “Why are you even here, Ryo-chan?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Ryo blinks.

Kazu frowns. Obvious? So he is here to make out or to have sex? But then, for anything intimate they would rather go to Ryo’s place; he is living with Karina, his sister, also has a room on his own and as she is working at evenings; it’s perfect for meetings. They would definitely not meet here, with his brothers all around – and with a big drama going on, though that isn’t happening on a daily basis. “What’s obvious?” he finally asks.

“Yes, we are having a math exam next week,” Ryo grins. “And I thought since you missed basically 80% of class you would appreciate my help.”

“A math exam?” Kazu’s eyes widen. Another school thing on his agenda which he completely forgot about. Fuck it! His math grades are horrible, he needs to do well in that exam. “I can’t screw this up.”

Ryo smiles and nods. “Exactly. So?” He looks around. “Do you want to start with trigonometry or integrals?”

“Actually I would rather start with solving the JxS-problem, which is a very difficult equation.”

Ryo blinks. “What?”

“Nothing, let’s stick with integrals for now.” Kazu eyes his phone. There is still no message from Jun, this stubborn (but cute, very cute!) brother of his. While he thinks of a plan he can also try to solve his math problem.

Two hours later his head is basically stuffed with all kinds of integrals and silly rules, he is sure he will forget the moment the exam is over. Jun hasn’t written him a message either, apparently ignoring the fifteen he sent him.

Kazu hits the desk with his fist. “That’s it!” he huffs, making Ryo jump in surprise.

“Something happened?” his friend asks nervously. “Did I do something?”

“Not you,” Kazu huffs impatiently. “But this stupid family just lost it completely today.”

Much to his dismay Ryo merely chuckles. “Sorry,” he smiles awkwardly as he tries to hide his obvious amusement. “But this coming out of your mouth, Mr. motorbike gang, is a bit funny.”

Kazu frowns. “Are you only here to laugh or are you going to help me to get my brother to open the stupid door to his room?”

“Sure, should I help you to break into his room?” Ryo asks. “You know I did that several times in my not-so-secret past.”

“No! I can’t break his door. He would kill me. And the others too.”

“Okay, then how about… I can hammer against it and yell, if you want me to?” Ryo suggests almost innocently.

Stupid, is Kazu’s first thought. But brilliant is his second. “It’s simple yet straight-forward. He will be worried that someone he doesn’t know knocks at his door.” He smiles. “Let’s do it.”


~~~

“What the hell happened!?” Jun basically rips the door of his room open, eyes widened in shock as Ryo hammered against his door, yelling his name desperately.

“Oh,” Ryo pauses and smiles. “Hi!”

“What is it!?”

“I was just wondering,” Ryo smirks. “If you might lend me a few yen?” He can be a genius sometimes, seriously.

Jun blinks and opens the door completely. “You seriously just knocked at my door to borrow money from me?”

“No,” Kazu appears from behind and shoves both Jun and Ryo back into Jun’s room. “That’s Ryo, a friend from school. He will keep the door open until I’m back with drinks. So don’t even think about fighting us. Any preferences?”

“How about: Just leave me alone?” Jun huffs. He is sporting a rather depressed look, which unsettles Kazu immediately.

“Not on the menu today!”

“Make it gin or something similar heavy for me,” Ryo says and drops down on one of Jun’s sofa chairs. “Your room is nice,” he muses. Then he points at one of Satoshi’s paintings. “Just that picture is a bit off. Weirdly cool, but a bit disturbing.”

When Jun throws him a glare, Kazu decides he definitely needs to hurry and come back as soon as possible. Ryo might just get in danger of getting bitten otherwise.

When he comes back, a bottle of Sho’s gin hidden beneath his sweater – gladly everyone was preoccupied so that no one even noticed him – and a bunch of old, fat crisps and two huge sandwiches that Satoshi brought home and forgot in the fridge, Jun is sitting on his sofa, apparently giving in to the fact that Ryo is suddenly there. They are going through a book with paintings and famous modern artists, apparently not sharing even one single opinion about the quality of so-said artists.

Kazu closes the door behind him and carefully locks it. He has no motivation at all to get caught by his brothers with a bottle of gin in his hands. His rebellious side is not that huge to take it up with all three of them at once.

The crisps taste like old fat, but they eat them nevertheless. The sandwich is fine, the alcohol even better. As the time passes by Jun and Ryo even seem to become friends, much to Kazu’s surprise. And when Ryo leaves because it’s pretty late already, Jun even thanks him for being there and being nice.

“Wow,” Kazu chuckles when Ryo left and lies down next to Jun on his carpet. “You really know how to make people like you.”

“Like you don’t?” Jun snorts. “This poor guy likes you a lot.”

Kazu pouts. “Why do you feel sorry for him?”

“Are you planning on dating seriously any time soon?” Jun asks in return. Kazu shrugs and Jun just smiles in return. “See?”

Okay, maybe he is right. But it’s definitely not the right timing to talk about anything concerning him. Instead… “Hey,” Kazu turns to the side to eye Jun properly. He touches his forehead softly. “You look so down, Jun. Did you cry?”

Jun doesn’t answer.

“J,” Kazu pauses not sure how to continue. Hence he decides to go for the most cheesy soap-opera lines ever. He has hoped to never be in need to say them out loud though. But he obviously has no choice and after two hours of integrals he lacks creativity. “Do you want to talk about it?”

The answer is not particularly surprising. “No.”

“Do you want to play a game? If you win, I’ll stop bugging you. If I do, you’ll talk.”

“No.”

“You know, I could maybe help you?”

“No.”

Kazu grins. “Are you going to say no to every question now?”

Jun smiles slightly, which feels like a huge achievement. It’s exactly the right timing to get back to that gin bottle. Kazu sits up and fills their glasses before he hands Jun one of them. “Sorry I left you alone. What happened afterwards?”

 “Nothing.” Jun empties half of his glass at once. Kazu follows.

“And what did Sho say?”

“Nothing.”

Kazu blinks. “Like seriously nothing nothing, or do you just think what he said is worth nothing?”

Jun rolls his eyes. “Kazu, I mean nothing.”

“You didn’t exchange a word?” Kazu asks in disbelief. “What did you do then until Satoshi was finally with you?”

Jun shrugs. “Nothing.”

“You mean, you seriously stood there, for whole ten minutes, and didn’t say a word?” Kazu snorts. Seriously, these two are just so freaking weird, it’s impossible. Kazu grabs his glass again, taking yet another sip from it. Strong stuff. “Sho basically kisses the floor you walk on. He can be an idiot. But he doesn’t mean it, you know that, right?”

“You mean he doesn’t mean being an idiot?”

“No.” Kazu pauses, frowning slightly at Jun for twisting his words like that. “Or maybe yes. Something like that. You get what I mean.”

For a moment Jun is silent, then he chuckles. “You are so hopelessly drunk already.” He really can be an annoying prick sometimes, though mostly he is just his cute little brother.

“Listen,” Kazu coughs. His tongue feels almost too heavy and his skill to pronounce words properly doesn’t work right now, so he takes Jun’s hand and decides to make it simpler. “When Cho… Sho… comes and ta’ksh, I mean talks, to ya, giv’m a chance. Okay?”

Jun puts his hand on Kazu’s shoulder and fakes a smile. “I’m alright, I promise. So don’t worry, okay?”

Kazu is drawn between throwing himself on the floor laughing or just banging his head against the table. He goes for the third possible option though. “I’m drink’n that bottle tonight, you idiot,” he says grimly. “Answer!”

“Okay.”

Kazu blinks, surprised by Jun’s answer. “Hm?”

“I will give him a chance,” Jun states calmly. “I promise. It’s not like this is all his fault after all. Can you just-”

Kazu eyes his brother curiously. “What?”

“Hug me?”

Ah, he is so cute and mushy and all. Kazu chuckles and wraps his arms around his brother. “You are my favourite teddy bear,” he mumbles, squishing Jun’s cheeks like when they were a lot younger. “No one will ever hurt you.” He frowns, realizing that he can’t quite live up to that promise already. “Well, I mean… you know, no one will ever hurt you. And when someone does, I’ll kick his butt. Or try to.” Man, he sounds like an idiot.

 “It’s really not that bad,” Jun says again, and Kazu decides to let him have his little lie. “I just need some time to process everything.”

“Yeah, typical Sho-drama,” Kazu jokes, mainly to play along. To his surprise it works because Jun smiles a bit.

 “Exactly. Like that one time when we faked his signature and secretly went bungee jumping. He threw a huge drama.”

“Right,” Kazu smiles. “Epic story!”

He is about to say more, but the words get basically stuck in his throat. It has to be his trained senses that despite the alcohol in his blood he hears footsteps approaching. “Masaki or Satoshi,” he mumbles and hides the gin bottle beneath Jun’s bed. “J?”

“Didn’t you say you are here to help me?” Jun mumbles and at least some of the old bite is back in his voice, much to Kazu’s relief. “And now you are hopelessly drunk and I need to distract them. Very smart indeed.”

Kazu smiles. “Put it on the list?”

“I will. That is list is so long already.”

It really is.



Author's Note: I feel so bad for Jun and Sho for writing that and for putting them through that drama. Jun has a hard time here, but he has Kazu.
Next chapter will include the YamaxMasaki tequila night, by the way. ^^