Family Matters: Chapter 10
Feb. 28th, 2016 02:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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yume_to_ameTitle: Family matters ~ Chapter 10
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.
Jun likes this place. It’s the balcony of the attic, a place they don’t normally use, but sometimes, when he wants to read or be all alone, he goes to that place. When he looks up to the night sky, like now, he can see stars sparkling above them.
He doesn’t look or turn around when he hears footsteps approaching him, only slides to the side a bit. Sho sits down next to him, leaning his back against his and looking up at the sky as well.
“Here,” Sho says and hands him a bowl. Chocolate ice cream with tiny strawberry mochi and mint whipped cream.
“Seriously?” Jun can’t help a careful smile. “You are bringing ice cream along? I’m not sure if that’s cute now… or weird.”
Sho chuckles. “Well, it helped when I yelled at you and you were five. I thought it was worth a try.”
Jun smiles. “Why? Because you want me to get fat or what?”
“Stop complaining,” Sho laughs. “It’s not that an additional pound will make you look chubby. You and Kazu are too skinny anyway.”
“Hm, other than you,” Jun teases. “You and Satoshi should really watch out, especially with Masaki’s delicious cooking. You know, your faces get easily round and-“ He gets interrupted by Sho’s elbow poking his side and tickling him.
They are silent for a while and Jun decides to eat some of the offered ice cream. Sho apparently tried to make it look as good as possible. He has obviously prepared it himself (would it be from Masaki, it would have some additional sprinkles and a little marzipan figurine for sure. And probably a laughing face added to the whipped cream. Sho’s is more of a mess, and tastes too sweet… and…)
Screw it. The thought was nice after all.
“You can see Cassiopeia today and Pegasus.” Jun hands the bowl to Sho after a while for him to have something of the horrible dessert too and points at the sky. “Right there.”
Sho nods, taking a spoon full of the ice cream. He coughs. “Damn, it’s so freaking sweet. I should really stay away from the kitchen, or only stick to bringing the drinks.” He coughs a bit more, voice hoarse when he continues to talk. “I see it too. Swan is visible too. It’ll be summer soon.” He points at the other side. “And here, what do you see there?”
Jun smiles slightly. “Orion?”
“And there?”
“The twins. Altair is also visible.” Jun snorts. “Too easy. Your examination questions are getting boring.”
“I don’t ask examination questions.” Sho sounds almost a bit insulted.
“You interrogate,” Jun says. And it’s only half a joke. Sho for sure understood it like that too because he stays quiet for a while.
“I don’t mean to,” he explains.
“I know.”
They both turn around a bit, not sitting back to back anymore. It’s the first time today that Jun looks at Sho directly, and he can’t help but stare at him in surprise for a while. “What… are you wearing!?”
“What’s wrong?” Sho blinks, looking up and down his body.
“What’s wrong?” Jun repeats his brother’s question. “Where did you even get these clothes from?”
Sho chuckles. “I’m at home, Jun. I don’t need to look fashionable.”
“That’s not an excuse,” Jun mumbles, still in sincere shock as he takes in the orange sweatpants and the huge sweater with an elk imprinted on it. He looks like he just jumped out of an 80’s Christmas fitness commercial. “Next time you go shopping, tell me.”
“Why?”
“You obviously need any help you can get.”
Sho laughs much to Jun’s surprise. He seems to be in a casual and good mood, which hasn’t happened in a while. They fall quiet again.
“Did you ever regret not studying astronomy?” Jun wants to know after a while.
Sho shrugs. “Sometimes I did, but it’s long ago. It became more like a hobby for me,” he explains and sounds honest. Also his eyes aren’t lying. Still Jun isn’t sure if it’s the truth, if he can actually really believe it.
They fall silent yet again and Jun stares up at the sky, amazed that there are so many stars tonight. It’s silent and calm at nights. Secretly he thinks that this might be the reason why the older three decided to move away from Tokyo and back to a more rural region, their original home, and take over the house they inherited from their parents. Because of the stars, it’s prettier here. This explanation sounds simply better and more romantic and comfortable than to say it’s to provide their younger brothers with a fresh start after they had a traumatic incident. A start they probably wouldn’t have been able to have in Tokyo.
Sho lets out a deep sigh, pulling Jun out of his thoughts with that. “I’m sorry for slapping you,” he says all of a sudden. Basically out of nowhere. It sounds genuine, and it’s surprisingly direct. “It was seriously a very low blow from my side.”
It takes Jun by surprise. He hasn’t expected Sho to mention that incident at all. In fact he was even surprised that Sho actually approached him here and started to talk with him. “Well,” he stutters and blushes slightly. “With the way I pushed you during the last year, I probably had it coming,” he mumbles. “I didn’t plan on it to become such a huge rumour though. That day, I simply talked without thinking because I was annoyed. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“It’s okay. It’s not like I’m happy about it, but I can understand.” Sho smiles warily. “Guess I have to stay away from your school for a while. Even though I was able to explain everything to your teacher. I don’t want to face your schoolmates though.”
Jun rubs over his head tiredly. “The rumour is probably going to pass soon,” he says honestly. “Yesterday during the school event, some girls saw how my Italian teacher was kissing a man. That’s the newest hot topic.”
“A man?” Sho asks and his voice sounds slightly strained all of a sudden.
“Yeah, pretty tall, light-brown hair. They couldn’t see his face though. Gladly.” If he was older and not around Sho right now, he would probably smoke a cigarette now. It’s such a smoke and drink talk. “Masaki should watch out more. Otherwise only Satoshi can come to our school next year.”
The shocked expression on Sho’s face is worth this awkward talk. Jun grins. “What? You thought Kazu and I didn’t realize he was hitting it off with my teacher? You are all such bad liars!” It sounds a bit reproachful, even to his own ears. Sho apparently got the tone in his voice too because he looks a little flustered.
“You don’t mind him dating your teacher?” he stutters.
“Of course I do.” Jun doesn’t know if he should grin or sigh now. He is annoyed and at the same time kind of happy for Masaki. “Thinking about switching to Spanish,” he jokes.
Sho chuckles. Then he is all earnest again. “I need you to know though that I never wanted to hurt you.”
Jun grins. “Yeah, you slap pretty hard.”
Sho blushes a bit. “Does that mean you forgive me now… or not?”
“I do. How about you? Forgive me?” Jun asks back.
“Of course.” Sho smiles whole-heartedly now. “That’s the good thing about us, about being siblings. We fight stupid, petty fights, have guilt drips and drown ourselves in tequila. But we always make up.”
Jun blinks. “Did you just say tequila?”
“Not going to have any for the next few months.” Sho grimaces. “I’m still feeling hangoverish.”
Jun stares at the older one for a while, all amazed by these revelations. “You are drinking?”
Sho blinks. Once, twice, then he shrugs. He smiles awkwardly. “Yes, sometimes. It also happens that I have sex or joke around. What the hell are you guys thinking about me?”
“Hm-“ Jun looks away from Sho, frowning deeply. Things did take an interesting turn, indeed. Who would have thought that Sho could actually be… normal. “I guess you just became more human now,” he says more earnest than intended.
Sho grins. “I think I’m actually a little too much human sometimes as yesterday’s happening and today’s thick head have shown once again.” He pauses. “You know, I feel a bit dense for asking it – Masaki is for sure going to throw himself at the floor laughing – but what did I do that you felt so mad at me during the last months?”
“Nothing,” Jun says. It’s mostly the truth but he can tell that Sho doesn’t really believe it. He looks at him sceptically.
“Are you ever going to tell me what you really think? I think we really need to talk about it at one point,” he tells him. “I don’t want to push it too much now, but we are fighting a lot recently. And I don’t like that. I don’t like how the both us are towards each other, and I hate it to snap at you.”
“I don’t like it either,” Jun admits quietly. “It's not like I enjoy it when you are mad at me, but sometimes I just can’t stop myself from doing or saying something that will piss you off.”
“Okay.” Sho takes a deep breath and claps his hands. “Tell me. I can take it. I promise. I just want to know what’s going on in your mind.”
“To do that I should probably find that out myself,” Jun answers. “Because quite honestly, right now I don’t have an idea myself. What the hell am I even thinking? Once I find out, I’ll tell you.”
This time Sho seems to be a bit more convinced because he nods and chuckles. “You know, you have me in your palm, don’t you?”
Jun blinks in surprise. “Really? I’m not sure about that,” he admits. “So what now?” he wants to know. “I spread a huge rumor about you, and you just managed to stop it last minute before it would get out of control. Aren’t you going to punish me, like ground me or something like that?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Sho smiles. “I’ve just decided that for each school term each of us is allowed to do something stupid without getting too much of hard time.” He frowns a bit. “When I say stupid though I mean your rumour-like stupid not something like shoplifting or skipping school or-“
“I got it,” Jun interrupts him, chuckling slightly. “So this was my free ticket, right? It means I should watch out next time. But, is it really okay?”
Sho tilts his head, frowning a bit, apparently thinking deeply. “Let’s make a deal,” he finally says. “I’m trying to do better too from now on. But when it happens that I slip – the next time – you won’t give me too much of a hard time.”
Jun nods. “Sounds fair.”
Sho seems to be surprised first, apparently he was expecting more resistance. But he isn’t the only one with a new found resolve. When he grins happily all of a sudden, Jun knows he realised it too.
Jun blushes. “Don’t be cheesy now, please.”
Sho chuckles and spreads his arms. “Fine, but let me hug you.”
Jun looks at him in horror, torn between feeling happy and embarrassed. “No way,” he mumbles. But Sho seems to have found a new determination and just wraps his arms around Jun, squeezing him. Jun can’t help but laugh.
~~~
“You are looking kind of relaxed today, almost all good again,” Mao analyses when Jun meets her and Shota for their weekly work out. Sometimes they take Shun along because apparently he wants to get into a good shape right now. Jun takes a wild guess that he wants his hopefully soon-to-be-girlfriend to think he is hot. Today he has a family meeting though, which means this time it’s just the three of them. It’s a little weird. Because he just had that hug-experience with Mao on the roof deck, and as for Shota… it’s always weird.
He and Mao have already hung out a lot when they were younger and Jun still lived here before the whole family moved to Tokyo. When they all came back after the accident happened, she immediately clung to him again. She didn’t mind the way he was cold and distanced at first – and probably traumatized – she and Shun actually forced him back into life.
“I’m always looking good,” Jun jokes lamely. She and Shota both laugh much to his relief and the tension is finally away.
After their fifth jogging round around the lake they pause at one of the benches. “I’m getting us something to drink,” Shota suggests. “Soda?”
“Normal water for me please,” Jun says.
Mao grins. “Soda is fine.”
Shota laughs. “How come she isn’t watching her weight but you do, Jun-kun?”
Jun kicks him while Mao throws her towel at him. “I do watch my weight,” she defends herself.
“And I simply just hate soda!” Jun complains, throwing a glare at his new friend (or whatever he is).
Shota laughs and retreats. Mao starts humming a song, while Jun just enjoys the moment of silence. It’s a sunny morning which means it’s not that cold. They should watch out not to get sick though and catch a cold.
“Here,” he says and hands her his jacket. “You might get sick if you sit here like that.”
She chuckles. “You really are quirky sometimes,” she says light-heartedly, but takes the jacket nevertheless. “But that’s one of your major charming points.”
The rustling sound behind them tells them that Shota has come back. “You are not doing anything dirty, are you?” he teases, eyes sparkling mischievously.
“Oh shut up,” Jun huffs.
When Shota squeezes himself next to Jun to have place on the bench too, Jun has to laugh though. It feels weirdly comfortable all of a sudden. Although it’s Shota and it shouldn’t really feel comfortable.
He has no idea where this here is taking him to be honest. His friendship with Shota and Mao. He doesn’t know how much he wants to dig into the past again and be reminded of everything – because naturally he is every time he sees Shota. But then, he is a nice guy and he likes him.
Jun takes some vitamin pills out of his pocket, to take them together with the water. He blinks when Shota stares at him. “What? I want to stay healthy!”
“You really are an interesting guy,” Shota grins. “You look so tough and cool, but you have this really weird eccentric side.”
“Hey.” Mao glares at him. “Don’t insult him! He is fine the way he is. That’s actually what makes him cool.”
“Obviously, you know that,” Shota teases. “Too well, actually. He has such nice abs, doesn’t he~”
“Hey, you jerk,” she huffs. “How about taking some of his more charming sides, so that you can come off as nice too?”
“Guys,” Jun interrupts them. “Could you stop talking about me like I’m not sitting in between you?” He smirks. “But thanks for saying that I have a nice body.”
Much to his surprise Shota blushes slightly at that, and Mao looks a bit flustered.
To be honest Jun has no real idea what love or liking someone means, like seriously, what the hell? He knows he loves his brothers but there is a difference between this kind of like and the other. Maybe he should ask one of his brothers, but then, no thank you… too embarrassing. Masaki would squeal in delight, Satoshi would stutter something incomprehensible and compare his blossoming feelings to whatever metaphor that comes to his mind, and Sho – funny enough probably the least embarrassing option – would give him a half an hour lecture about safe sex. And seriously, he knows how that works. Judging by the fact that Sho would still be the best option to consult, he is better off figuring things out by himself.
“How are your brothers?” Mao asks after a while. “I haven’t seen them in forever. I mean, I now we were just at your place a while ago, but I only really saw Masaki-san, and…well…”
“You can drop by any time,” he offers. And: “They are fine.”
“Are you going to celebrate your birthday?” Mao asks. “Last year you managed to escape us by taking off from school and going to the mountains with Kazunari-kun. Don’t think you’ll be able to do that again!”
Jun sighs. Birthday? He hates birthdays or rather he hates his, whole-heartedly. “I don’t really like to celebrate,” he admits. “Can’t we just drop it?”
“Why?” Shota blinks. He looks at Mao, but when she just turns her head to look away, he shakes his head in surprise. “I don’t understand. Everyone likes birthdays, right?”
“I think so too.” Mao smiles and wraps her fingers around Jun’s wrist. “You should celebrate the fact that you were born.”
“The fact that they died,” Jun continues.
“No,” she frowns deeply. “The fact that you survived!”
“You could just give in,” Shota says, not asking any more, he probably will get on Shun’s and Toma’s nerves later on, but apparently realized he shouldn’t do that with Jun around. “You can’t say no to the princess.”
The moment of melancholy is over, because Mao hisses “Who are you calling princess, you rich bastard!”
“Wah!” Shota raises his hands in mock-defence. “She transformed into her evil twin again!”
~~~
Jun’s still wondering how the hell to get around this birthday celebration, when it’s out of everyone Kazu who stabs him in his back and drops the bomb in a way he can’t get around it… ever.
Masaki has cooked seafood ramen. And it’s perfect! So perfect that Satoshi forgets to head to his atelier to finish a painting for his exhibition and Sho comes home early enough to eat with them.
It’s then that Kazu points with his chopstick at him and says something along the lines of: “Don’t think you can bolt yet another time! We are so going to celebrate your birthday this year!”
“Hm?” Masaki blinks. “What’s that, Kazu?”
“Nothing,” Jun huffs.
Kazu ignores him though. “Shun told me he doesn’t want to celebrate his birthday. He heard it from Mao-chan. This would mark the second time he gets around that!”
“But last year you celebrated.” Satoshi blinks in confusion. “Didn’t you do a beach party?”
“Oh please,” Kazu rolls his eyes. “Until now I can’t believe you guys bought that. We went to the mountains and camped. I hate camping by the way. But dude would have totally done that alone too, just to run away, so I went with him.”
The times in which he feels like he wants to hit Kazu… like for real… are pretty rare. This one is exactly one of those moments. Sho and Satoshi exchange one of those glances which only they can understand. “Why would you do that?” Sho finally asks.
“It’s not a big deal.” Jun decides to go for the simple, calm, yet indifferent strategy. “I’m just not too much of a party person.”
Masaki frowns, probably remembering that Jun used to celebrate his birthday with huge gatherings, and how he liked to celebrate basically every public holiday. “But-“
“Listen,” Jun says particularly softly. “If one of you says one more word about this, I’m going to throw the biggest tantrum ever and won’t talk to you until my freaking birthday is over, and believe me, I’m not kidding.”
“So,” Sho says after a while where everyone was obviously lost in their thoughts. “When are we going shopping?”
Jun blinks. “What!?”
“Last time you said I need all the help I can get, so… when are we going? So let’s go on your birthday, on Saturday afternoon?”
The times he is actually speechless are rare too, but seriously he doesn’t know what to say. He knows he is getting tricked here, and he is almost hundred percent certain that the others will come up with some sort of stupid plan to get him to celebrate his birthday. He knows it, still he can’t stay no to Sho’s question, and he actually doesn’t want to.
It’s a vicious circle, obviously. His brothers have already won the moment he opens his mouth and says: “Yeah, I guess, Saturday sounds fine.”
~~~
“You know that the hobo look isn’t particularly appealing?” Jun grunts when he and Sho make their way to the shopping centre – the only big one they have, a 20 minutes ride with the train. “Like seriously, I don’t even mean to insult you, but… there is nothing nice I can say about it.”
“What’s so wrong with my outfit?”
What isn’t wrong with his outfit, should be the question, but he bites down on his tongue before the words can slip his mouth. He really doesn’t want to get into a stupid argument with Sho now.
“We’ll just start from scratch,” Jun says.
“Is that really the best diplomatic ability you have?” Sho grumbles, slightly prissy.
Jun shrugs helplessly. “Sorry, but I’m 16, so, what do you expect?”
Sho laughs full-heartedly. “Sometimes you say things… it’s unbelievable. Fine, you are 16, so be a prick towards your poor older brother.”
They start at a simple jeans stop with Sho unfortunately successfully defending himself against any skinny jeans, because he is afraid he wouldn’t be taken seriously with them on. But Jun manages to convince him to go for a few classic pairs of straight jeans, in the right size, not the one number too big ones Sho tends to go for normally.
Gladly Sho gets suddenly into shopping mood too, and goes for several polo shirts, fancy sweaters and a few more casual outfits. He even buys some T-shirts for Jun.
“I’m worried, Jun, about Kazu,” Sho says when Jun switches into one of his new shirts.
Jun’s head basically snaps up. Kazu? They know it!? They do? But how… “You mean,” he blushes slightly, not sure how to continue because in case they don’t know… he will basically throw Kazu under the bus, and he really doesn’t want to do that.
Sho chuckles. “Are you worrying about what we know? Or what we might not know?” Jun stays silent, and he grins. “Don’t worry, I’m not squeezing your secrets out of you. It’s just-“ He pauses, frowning slightly.
Curiosity wins over Jun. “Just?”
“I have a bad feeling,” Sho explains. “It’s not even rational, and it has nothing to do with what we learned at school… or maybe it has. It’s just a feeling.” When Jun stays quiet, Sho pats his shoulder. “Sorry, this was definitely not the right time to say something. So forget it for now. Just when something happens or you get a bad feeling, tell me okay?”
“Yes, I will.” Jun nods.
“So, let’s take everything and head home. Masaki said he will cook something awesome.” When Jun sighs, he merely laughs. “Come on, it’s not that bad. He is so happy to cook something for you on your birthday, so, suck it up?”
“Fine.”
Jun knows he was and is being tricked. He knew it when Sho asked him to go shopping on his birthday, he knew it the whole time they were out, and he knows it now when they step out of the train and walk back to their house. When he sees Shun peeking out of the window, in what’s supposed to be a secret way, he has the proof.
“I knew it,” Jun mumbles and stops. “I knew that you were all tricking me, still I was stupid enough to come along.”
Sho halts too, smiling warily. “How about: Because secretly you wanted to celebrate your birthday with us?”
“How can you want to celebrate it?”
Sho snorts. “I can’t believe someone as smart as you can even ask such a question. Yes, how unbelieve that it just so happens that we like to have you around!”
“I just don’t have particularly good memories about my birthday,” Jun explains.
Sho nods. “Exactly why we need you to get some good memories again. Technically our parents didn’t even die on your birthday.”
“Oh come on,” Jun snorts in annoyance. “Now you are nit-picking?”
Sho chuckles. “Really? I am the one nit-picking here?”
Screw him. Seriously.
“You said you knew this here was going to happen the moment you said yes to the shopping trip. So, isn’t it more like you wanted us to trick you?” Sho continues. “How about taking this perfect excuse we gave you and have some fun?”
Maybe he is right. Maybe. Jun sighs. “I think, I could try for you,” he says and is eternally thankful that Sho doesn’t make fun about his obvious stubborn pride. Sho doesn’t betray him, but his heart does, because it jumps happily when Sho drags him inside and Shun and Mao basically cling to him the second he is in.
Then Kazu is all over him. “Please talk to me again.” He squishes him. “You and your sweet but stubborn, thick head can be so annoyingly unforgiving. And believe me, thanks to me our three idiotic brothers have bought you some awesome birthday gifts.”
Jun laughs. “Fine you stupid family. Then let’s celebrate.”
“We are so getting wasted today,” Toma says full of motivation.
“You are definitely not,” Satoshi snorts. “At least the minors won’t.”
“They won’t?” Masaki asks in mock-innocence. “I thought on special occasions we don’t mind. And here I am… with a punch.” When Satoshi opens his mouth to say something – probably to scold him, Masaki just raises his hands. “Still a light version of course.” He grins. “Don’t make me recall the several occasions where you and Sho were 17 and sneaking out to party.”
Kazu bursts into laughter. “Why do we never get to hear the good stories?”
“They are probably too awesome,” Sho says dryly.
Jun would never admit it openly, but he can admit it to himself that he has a lot fun hanging out with his friends. And Kazu was right about the presents – Sho and Satoshi have even given him a four days cruise to the islands, for two persons. He is probably going to drag Kazu to it. Masaki as a fashion victim himself has of course thrown a pretty generous shopping coupon on it, and Sho hands him a pretty neat Cavalli blazer. “I had help with choosing it,” he jokes. “I know you don’t quite trust my fashion sense.”
At this point Jun thinks he is close to crying because they are all so nice and caring, and it just hits him how thankful and happy he is to have a loving family. Gladly Toma uses that moment to spill his drink over Shota and Shota drops his glass in shock.
“You know,” Satoshi muses, when Jun helps him and Masaki to clean up the mess and carries the tissues to the kitchen. “Shota has a very distinctive choice of clothes.”
“Teenagers like to express themselves with their style,” Sho recites as he approaches them. “I heard that it’s normal.”
“You sound like you read that in a book,” Satoshi frowns, before his eyes widen. “Oh dear, you did!”
Jun chuckles, and decides to leave them as Mao appears and drags him along to the others.
~~~
Jun has believed that the drama was over with him and Sho clashing that hard, and making up again. Also the good mood in the house after that, his birthday and his friends have distracted him.
But he was wrong. Sunday, one week later, Kazu is gone all of a sudden. Without a previous warning, without telling Jun anything.
It’s never happened before.
He waits for two hours, writes him messages and calls, but no answer.
A/N: So, Jun and Sho are finally working on their problems :-) They even went shopping together. And Jun got tricked into celebrating his birthday.
And Nino...well...
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.
Jun likes this place. It’s the balcony of the attic, a place they don’t normally use, but sometimes, when he wants to read or be all alone, he goes to that place. When he looks up to the night sky, like now, he can see stars sparkling above them.
He doesn’t look or turn around when he hears footsteps approaching him, only slides to the side a bit. Sho sits down next to him, leaning his back against his and looking up at the sky as well.
“Here,” Sho says and hands him a bowl. Chocolate ice cream with tiny strawberry mochi and mint whipped cream.
“Seriously?” Jun can’t help a careful smile. “You are bringing ice cream along? I’m not sure if that’s cute now… or weird.”
Sho chuckles. “Well, it helped when I yelled at you and you were five. I thought it was worth a try.”
Jun smiles. “Why? Because you want me to get fat or what?”
“Stop complaining,” Sho laughs. “It’s not that an additional pound will make you look chubby. You and Kazu are too skinny anyway.”
“Hm, other than you,” Jun teases. “You and Satoshi should really watch out, especially with Masaki’s delicious cooking. You know, your faces get easily round and-“ He gets interrupted by Sho’s elbow poking his side and tickling him.
They are silent for a while and Jun decides to eat some of the offered ice cream. Sho apparently tried to make it look as good as possible. He has obviously prepared it himself (would it be from Masaki, it would have some additional sprinkles and a little marzipan figurine for sure. And probably a laughing face added to the whipped cream. Sho’s is more of a mess, and tastes too sweet… and…)
Screw it. The thought was nice after all.
“You can see Cassiopeia today and Pegasus.” Jun hands the bowl to Sho after a while for him to have something of the horrible dessert too and points at the sky. “Right there.”
Sho nods, taking a spoon full of the ice cream. He coughs. “Damn, it’s so freaking sweet. I should really stay away from the kitchen, or only stick to bringing the drinks.” He coughs a bit more, voice hoarse when he continues to talk. “I see it too. Swan is visible too. It’ll be summer soon.” He points at the other side. “And here, what do you see there?”
Jun smiles slightly. “Orion?”
“And there?”
“The twins. Altair is also visible.” Jun snorts. “Too easy. Your examination questions are getting boring.”
“I don’t ask examination questions.” Sho sounds almost a bit insulted.
“You interrogate,” Jun says. And it’s only half a joke. Sho for sure understood it like that too because he stays quiet for a while.
“I don’t mean to,” he explains.
“I know.”
They both turn around a bit, not sitting back to back anymore. It’s the first time today that Jun looks at Sho directly, and he can’t help but stare at him in surprise for a while. “What… are you wearing!?”
“What’s wrong?” Sho blinks, looking up and down his body.
“What’s wrong?” Jun repeats his brother’s question. “Where did you even get these clothes from?”
Sho chuckles. “I’m at home, Jun. I don’t need to look fashionable.”
“That’s not an excuse,” Jun mumbles, still in sincere shock as he takes in the orange sweatpants and the huge sweater with an elk imprinted on it. He looks like he just jumped out of an 80’s Christmas fitness commercial. “Next time you go shopping, tell me.”
“Why?”
“You obviously need any help you can get.”
Sho laughs much to Jun’s surprise. He seems to be in a casual and good mood, which hasn’t happened in a while. They fall quiet again.
“Did you ever regret not studying astronomy?” Jun wants to know after a while.
Sho shrugs. “Sometimes I did, but it’s long ago. It became more like a hobby for me,” he explains and sounds honest. Also his eyes aren’t lying. Still Jun isn’t sure if it’s the truth, if he can actually really believe it.
They fall silent yet again and Jun stares up at the sky, amazed that there are so many stars tonight. It’s silent and calm at nights. Secretly he thinks that this might be the reason why the older three decided to move away from Tokyo and back to a more rural region, their original home, and take over the house they inherited from their parents. Because of the stars, it’s prettier here. This explanation sounds simply better and more romantic and comfortable than to say it’s to provide their younger brothers with a fresh start after they had a traumatic incident. A start they probably wouldn’t have been able to have in Tokyo.
Sho lets out a deep sigh, pulling Jun out of his thoughts with that. “I’m sorry for slapping you,” he says all of a sudden. Basically out of nowhere. It sounds genuine, and it’s surprisingly direct. “It was seriously a very low blow from my side.”
It takes Jun by surprise. He hasn’t expected Sho to mention that incident at all. In fact he was even surprised that Sho actually approached him here and started to talk with him. “Well,” he stutters and blushes slightly. “With the way I pushed you during the last year, I probably had it coming,” he mumbles. “I didn’t plan on it to become such a huge rumour though. That day, I simply talked without thinking because I was annoyed. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“It’s okay. It’s not like I’m happy about it, but I can understand.” Sho smiles warily. “Guess I have to stay away from your school for a while. Even though I was able to explain everything to your teacher. I don’t want to face your schoolmates though.”
Jun rubs over his head tiredly. “The rumour is probably going to pass soon,” he says honestly. “Yesterday during the school event, some girls saw how my Italian teacher was kissing a man. That’s the newest hot topic.”
“A man?” Sho asks and his voice sounds slightly strained all of a sudden.
“Yeah, pretty tall, light-brown hair. They couldn’t see his face though. Gladly.” If he was older and not around Sho right now, he would probably smoke a cigarette now. It’s such a smoke and drink talk. “Masaki should watch out more. Otherwise only Satoshi can come to our school next year.”
The shocked expression on Sho’s face is worth this awkward talk. Jun grins. “What? You thought Kazu and I didn’t realize he was hitting it off with my teacher? You are all such bad liars!” It sounds a bit reproachful, even to his own ears. Sho apparently got the tone in his voice too because he looks a little flustered.
“You don’t mind him dating your teacher?” he stutters.
“Of course I do.” Jun doesn’t know if he should grin or sigh now. He is annoyed and at the same time kind of happy for Masaki. “Thinking about switching to Spanish,” he jokes.
Sho chuckles. Then he is all earnest again. “I need you to know though that I never wanted to hurt you.”
Jun grins. “Yeah, you slap pretty hard.”
Sho blushes a bit. “Does that mean you forgive me now… or not?”
“I do. How about you? Forgive me?” Jun asks back.
“Of course.” Sho smiles whole-heartedly now. “That’s the good thing about us, about being siblings. We fight stupid, petty fights, have guilt drips and drown ourselves in tequila. But we always make up.”
Jun blinks. “Did you just say tequila?”
“Not going to have any for the next few months.” Sho grimaces. “I’m still feeling hangoverish.”
Jun stares at the older one for a while, all amazed by these revelations. “You are drinking?”
Sho blinks. Once, twice, then he shrugs. He smiles awkwardly. “Yes, sometimes. It also happens that I have sex or joke around. What the hell are you guys thinking about me?”
“Hm-“ Jun looks away from Sho, frowning deeply. Things did take an interesting turn, indeed. Who would have thought that Sho could actually be… normal. “I guess you just became more human now,” he says more earnest than intended.
Sho grins. “I think I’m actually a little too much human sometimes as yesterday’s happening and today’s thick head have shown once again.” He pauses. “You know, I feel a bit dense for asking it – Masaki is for sure going to throw himself at the floor laughing – but what did I do that you felt so mad at me during the last months?”
“Nothing,” Jun says. It’s mostly the truth but he can tell that Sho doesn’t really believe it. He looks at him sceptically.
“Are you ever going to tell me what you really think? I think we really need to talk about it at one point,” he tells him. “I don’t want to push it too much now, but we are fighting a lot recently. And I don’t like that. I don’t like how the both us are towards each other, and I hate it to snap at you.”
“I don’t like it either,” Jun admits quietly. “It's not like I enjoy it when you are mad at me, but sometimes I just can’t stop myself from doing or saying something that will piss you off.”
“Okay.” Sho takes a deep breath and claps his hands. “Tell me. I can take it. I promise. I just want to know what’s going on in your mind.”
“To do that I should probably find that out myself,” Jun answers. “Because quite honestly, right now I don’t have an idea myself. What the hell am I even thinking? Once I find out, I’ll tell you.”
This time Sho seems to be a bit more convinced because he nods and chuckles. “You know, you have me in your palm, don’t you?”
Jun blinks in surprise. “Really? I’m not sure about that,” he admits. “So what now?” he wants to know. “I spread a huge rumor about you, and you just managed to stop it last minute before it would get out of control. Aren’t you going to punish me, like ground me or something like that?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Sho smiles. “I’ve just decided that for each school term each of us is allowed to do something stupid without getting too much of hard time.” He frowns a bit. “When I say stupid though I mean your rumour-like stupid not something like shoplifting or skipping school or-“
“I got it,” Jun interrupts him, chuckling slightly. “So this was my free ticket, right? It means I should watch out next time. But, is it really okay?”
Sho tilts his head, frowning a bit, apparently thinking deeply. “Let’s make a deal,” he finally says. “I’m trying to do better too from now on. But when it happens that I slip – the next time – you won’t give me too much of a hard time.”
Jun nods. “Sounds fair.”
Sho seems to be surprised first, apparently he was expecting more resistance. But he isn’t the only one with a new found resolve. When he grins happily all of a sudden, Jun knows he realised it too.
Jun blushes. “Don’t be cheesy now, please.”
Sho chuckles and spreads his arms. “Fine, but let me hug you.”
Jun looks at him in horror, torn between feeling happy and embarrassed. “No way,” he mumbles. But Sho seems to have found a new determination and just wraps his arms around Jun, squeezing him. Jun can’t help but laugh.
~~~
“You are looking kind of relaxed today, almost all good again,” Mao analyses when Jun meets her and Shota for their weekly work out. Sometimes they take Shun along because apparently he wants to get into a good shape right now. Jun takes a wild guess that he wants his hopefully soon-to-be-girlfriend to think he is hot. Today he has a family meeting though, which means this time it’s just the three of them. It’s a little weird. Because he just had that hug-experience with Mao on the roof deck, and as for Shota… it’s always weird.
He and Mao have already hung out a lot when they were younger and Jun still lived here before the whole family moved to Tokyo. When they all came back after the accident happened, she immediately clung to him again. She didn’t mind the way he was cold and distanced at first – and probably traumatized – she and Shun actually forced him back into life.
“I’m always looking good,” Jun jokes lamely. She and Shota both laugh much to his relief and the tension is finally away.
After their fifth jogging round around the lake they pause at one of the benches. “I’m getting us something to drink,” Shota suggests. “Soda?”
“Normal water for me please,” Jun says.
Mao grins. “Soda is fine.”
Shota laughs. “How come she isn’t watching her weight but you do, Jun-kun?”
Jun kicks him while Mao throws her towel at him. “I do watch my weight,” she defends herself.
“And I simply just hate soda!” Jun complains, throwing a glare at his new friend (or whatever he is).
Shota laughs and retreats. Mao starts humming a song, while Jun just enjoys the moment of silence. It’s a sunny morning which means it’s not that cold. They should watch out not to get sick though and catch a cold.
“Here,” he says and hands her his jacket. “You might get sick if you sit here like that.”
She chuckles. “You really are quirky sometimes,” she says light-heartedly, but takes the jacket nevertheless. “But that’s one of your major charming points.”
The rustling sound behind them tells them that Shota has come back. “You are not doing anything dirty, are you?” he teases, eyes sparkling mischievously.
“Oh shut up,” Jun huffs.
When Shota squeezes himself next to Jun to have place on the bench too, Jun has to laugh though. It feels weirdly comfortable all of a sudden. Although it’s Shota and it shouldn’t really feel comfortable.
He has no idea where this here is taking him to be honest. His friendship with Shota and Mao. He doesn’t know how much he wants to dig into the past again and be reminded of everything – because naturally he is every time he sees Shota. But then, he is a nice guy and he likes him.
Jun takes some vitamin pills out of his pocket, to take them together with the water. He blinks when Shota stares at him. “What? I want to stay healthy!”
“You really are an interesting guy,” Shota grins. “You look so tough and cool, but you have this really weird eccentric side.”
“Hey.” Mao glares at him. “Don’t insult him! He is fine the way he is. That’s actually what makes him cool.”
“Obviously, you know that,” Shota teases. “Too well, actually. He has such nice abs, doesn’t he~”
“Hey, you jerk,” she huffs. “How about taking some of his more charming sides, so that you can come off as nice too?”
“Guys,” Jun interrupts them. “Could you stop talking about me like I’m not sitting in between you?” He smirks. “But thanks for saying that I have a nice body.”
Much to his surprise Shota blushes slightly at that, and Mao looks a bit flustered.
To be honest Jun has no real idea what love or liking someone means, like seriously, what the hell? He knows he loves his brothers but there is a difference between this kind of like and the other. Maybe he should ask one of his brothers, but then, no thank you… too embarrassing. Masaki would squeal in delight, Satoshi would stutter something incomprehensible and compare his blossoming feelings to whatever metaphor that comes to his mind, and Sho – funny enough probably the least embarrassing option – would give him a half an hour lecture about safe sex. And seriously, he knows how that works. Judging by the fact that Sho would still be the best option to consult, he is better off figuring things out by himself.
“How are your brothers?” Mao asks after a while. “I haven’t seen them in forever. I mean, I now we were just at your place a while ago, but I only really saw Masaki-san, and…well…”
“You can drop by any time,” he offers. And: “They are fine.”
“Are you going to celebrate your birthday?” Mao asks. “Last year you managed to escape us by taking off from school and going to the mountains with Kazunari-kun. Don’t think you’ll be able to do that again!”
Jun sighs. Birthday? He hates birthdays or rather he hates his, whole-heartedly. “I don’t really like to celebrate,” he admits. “Can’t we just drop it?”
“Why?” Shota blinks. He looks at Mao, but when she just turns her head to look away, he shakes his head in surprise. “I don’t understand. Everyone likes birthdays, right?”
“I think so too.” Mao smiles and wraps her fingers around Jun’s wrist. “You should celebrate the fact that you were born.”
“The fact that they died,” Jun continues.
“No,” she frowns deeply. “The fact that you survived!”
“You could just give in,” Shota says, not asking any more, he probably will get on Shun’s and Toma’s nerves later on, but apparently realized he shouldn’t do that with Jun around. “You can’t say no to the princess.”
The moment of melancholy is over, because Mao hisses “Who are you calling princess, you rich bastard!”
“Wah!” Shota raises his hands in mock-defence. “She transformed into her evil twin again!”
~~~
Jun’s still wondering how the hell to get around this birthday celebration, when it’s out of everyone Kazu who stabs him in his back and drops the bomb in a way he can’t get around it… ever.
Masaki has cooked seafood ramen. And it’s perfect! So perfect that Satoshi forgets to head to his atelier to finish a painting for his exhibition and Sho comes home early enough to eat with them.
It’s then that Kazu points with his chopstick at him and says something along the lines of: “Don’t think you can bolt yet another time! We are so going to celebrate your birthday this year!”
“Hm?” Masaki blinks. “What’s that, Kazu?”
“Nothing,” Jun huffs.
Kazu ignores him though. “Shun told me he doesn’t want to celebrate his birthday. He heard it from Mao-chan. This would mark the second time he gets around that!”
“But last year you celebrated.” Satoshi blinks in confusion. “Didn’t you do a beach party?”
“Oh please,” Kazu rolls his eyes. “Until now I can’t believe you guys bought that. We went to the mountains and camped. I hate camping by the way. But dude would have totally done that alone too, just to run away, so I went with him.”
The times in which he feels like he wants to hit Kazu… like for real… are pretty rare. This one is exactly one of those moments. Sho and Satoshi exchange one of those glances which only they can understand. “Why would you do that?” Sho finally asks.
“It’s not a big deal.” Jun decides to go for the simple, calm, yet indifferent strategy. “I’m just not too much of a party person.”
Masaki frowns, probably remembering that Jun used to celebrate his birthday with huge gatherings, and how he liked to celebrate basically every public holiday. “But-“
“Listen,” Jun says particularly softly. “If one of you says one more word about this, I’m going to throw the biggest tantrum ever and won’t talk to you until my freaking birthday is over, and believe me, I’m not kidding.”
“So,” Sho says after a while where everyone was obviously lost in their thoughts. “When are we going shopping?”
Jun blinks. “What!?”
“Last time you said I need all the help I can get, so… when are we going? So let’s go on your birthday, on Saturday afternoon?”
The times he is actually speechless are rare too, but seriously he doesn’t know what to say. He knows he is getting tricked here, and he is almost hundred percent certain that the others will come up with some sort of stupid plan to get him to celebrate his birthday. He knows it, still he can’t stay no to Sho’s question, and he actually doesn’t want to.
It’s a vicious circle, obviously. His brothers have already won the moment he opens his mouth and says: “Yeah, I guess, Saturday sounds fine.”
~~~
“You know that the hobo look isn’t particularly appealing?” Jun grunts when he and Sho make their way to the shopping centre – the only big one they have, a 20 minutes ride with the train. “Like seriously, I don’t even mean to insult you, but… there is nothing nice I can say about it.”
“What’s so wrong with my outfit?”
What isn’t wrong with his outfit, should be the question, but he bites down on his tongue before the words can slip his mouth. He really doesn’t want to get into a stupid argument with Sho now.
“We’ll just start from scratch,” Jun says.
“Is that really the best diplomatic ability you have?” Sho grumbles, slightly prissy.
Jun shrugs helplessly. “Sorry, but I’m 16, so, what do you expect?”
Sho laughs full-heartedly. “Sometimes you say things… it’s unbelievable. Fine, you are 16, so be a prick towards your poor older brother.”
They start at a simple jeans stop with Sho unfortunately successfully defending himself against any skinny jeans, because he is afraid he wouldn’t be taken seriously with them on. But Jun manages to convince him to go for a few classic pairs of straight jeans, in the right size, not the one number too big ones Sho tends to go for normally.
Gladly Sho gets suddenly into shopping mood too, and goes for several polo shirts, fancy sweaters and a few more casual outfits. He even buys some T-shirts for Jun.
“I’m worried, Jun, about Kazu,” Sho says when Jun switches into one of his new shirts.
Jun’s head basically snaps up. Kazu? They know it!? They do? But how… “You mean,” he blushes slightly, not sure how to continue because in case they don’t know… he will basically throw Kazu under the bus, and he really doesn’t want to do that.
Sho chuckles. “Are you worrying about what we know? Or what we might not know?” Jun stays silent, and he grins. “Don’t worry, I’m not squeezing your secrets out of you. It’s just-“ He pauses, frowning slightly.
Curiosity wins over Jun. “Just?”
“I have a bad feeling,” Sho explains. “It’s not even rational, and it has nothing to do with what we learned at school… or maybe it has. It’s just a feeling.” When Jun stays quiet, Sho pats his shoulder. “Sorry, this was definitely not the right time to say something. So forget it for now. Just when something happens or you get a bad feeling, tell me okay?”
“Yes, I will.” Jun nods.
“So, let’s take everything and head home. Masaki said he will cook something awesome.” When Jun sighs, he merely laughs. “Come on, it’s not that bad. He is so happy to cook something for you on your birthday, so, suck it up?”
“Fine.”
Jun knows he was and is being tricked. He knew it when Sho asked him to go shopping on his birthday, he knew it the whole time they were out, and he knows it now when they step out of the train and walk back to their house. When he sees Shun peeking out of the window, in what’s supposed to be a secret way, he has the proof.
“I knew it,” Jun mumbles and stops. “I knew that you were all tricking me, still I was stupid enough to come along.”
Sho halts too, smiling warily. “How about: Because secretly you wanted to celebrate your birthday with us?”
“How can you want to celebrate it?”
Sho snorts. “I can’t believe someone as smart as you can even ask such a question. Yes, how unbelieve that it just so happens that we like to have you around!”
“I just don’t have particularly good memories about my birthday,” Jun explains.
Sho nods. “Exactly why we need you to get some good memories again. Technically our parents didn’t even die on your birthday.”
“Oh come on,” Jun snorts in annoyance. “Now you are nit-picking?”
Sho chuckles. “Really? I am the one nit-picking here?”
Screw him. Seriously.
“You said you knew this here was going to happen the moment you said yes to the shopping trip. So, isn’t it more like you wanted us to trick you?” Sho continues. “How about taking this perfect excuse we gave you and have some fun?”
Maybe he is right. Maybe. Jun sighs. “I think, I could try for you,” he says and is eternally thankful that Sho doesn’t make fun about his obvious stubborn pride. Sho doesn’t betray him, but his heart does, because it jumps happily when Sho drags him inside and Shun and Mao basically cling to him the second he is in.
Then Kazu is all over him. “Please talk to me again.” He squishes him. “You and your sweet but stubborn, thick head can be so annoyingly unforgiving. And believe me, thanks to me our three idiotic brothers have bought you some awesome birthday gifts.”
Jun laughs. “Fine you stupid family. Then let’s celebrate.”
“We are so getting wasted today,” Toma says full of motivation.
“You are definitely not,” Satoshi snorts. “At least the minors won’t.”
“They won’t?” Masaki asks in mock-innocence. “I thought on special occasions we don’t mind. And here I am… with a punch.” When Satoshi opens his mouth to say something – probably to scold him, Masaki just raises his hands. “Still a light version of course.” He grins. “Don’t make me recall the several occasions where you and Sho were 17 and sneaking out to party.”
Kazu bursts into laughter. “Why do we never get to hear the good stories?”
“They are probably too awesome,” Sho says dryly.
Jun would never admit it openly, but he can admit it to himself that he has a lot fun hanging out with his friends. And Kazu was right about the presents – Sho and Satoshi have even given him a four days cruise to the islands, for two persons. He is probably going to drag Kazu to it. Masaki as a fashion victim himself has of course thrown a pretty generous shopping coupon on it, and Sho hands him a pretty neat Cavalli blazer. “I had help with choosing it,” he jokes. “I know you don’t quite trust my fashion sense.”
At this point Jun thinks he is close to crying because they are all so nice and caring, and it just hits him how thankful and happy he is to have a loving family. Gladly Toma uses that moment to spill his drink over Shota and Shota drops his glass in shock.
“You know,” Satoshi muses, when Jun helps him and Masaki to clean up the mess and carries the tissues to the kitchen. “Shota has a very distinctive choice of clothes.”
“Teenagers like to express themselves with their style,” Sho recites as he approaches them. “I heard that it’s normal.”
“You sound like you read that in a book,” Satoshi frowns, before his eyes widen. “Oh dear, you did!”
Jun chuckles, and decides to leave them as Mao appears and drags him along to the others.
~~~
Jun has believed that the drama was over with him and Sho clashing that hard, and making up again. Also the good mood in the house after that, his birthday and his friends have distracted him.
But he was wrong. Sunday, one week later, Kazu is gone all of a sudden. Without a previous warning, without telling Jun anything.
It’s never happened before.
He waits for two hours, writes him messages and calls, but no answer.
A/N: So, Jun and Sho are finally working on their problems :-) They even went shopping together. And Jun got tricked into celebrating his birthday.
And Nino...well...
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Date: 2016-03-04 09:20 pm (UTC)Yes, it was about time that Jun and Sho gave themselves a mental kick in the butt ^^ They really try hard though <3
Ah, Masaki <3 He will definitely have some more moments on his own too!! ♥
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Date: 2016-03-05 12:57 am (UTC)Yepp~ They've tried what they could *grins*
Aww~ I'm sooo looking forward to it~ XD