“A patronus is drowning in the darkest depths of the ocean without fear because someone is holding my hand. It is the freedom to scream and thrash and crumble under all the hate and pressure, because I know I am not alone. It is the feel of calluses on my skin, the cool prick of a body asking me for heat during the coldest nights, and the soft hum of a particular voice during the worst ones. Harry, it is the admiration in your eyes when you see my mark, because you know, without any need for words, why it’s there. Why it had to be there. It is the tingle that comes with every kiss on my scars and the roses you planted and allowed to bloom within me through the years. A patronus, really, is more than just second chances and redemption. It is more than simply dying and being revived. It is coming home to six beautiful smiles and huddling together under the sheets, drowning in a fit of giggles until we fall asleep. It is you landing safely in my arms after every mission, and your lasting kisses during goodbyes. It is the promises you have made and kept during the years, and the love and acceptance not only you, but our family has provided without expecting anything in return. Harry Potter, there will never be enough words and reasons to describe what a patronus is to me. But know this, the life you have allowed me to live and the people you have allowed me to know and love serve as the very foundation of my happiness. Nothing, I believe, can ever take that away from me. I love you.” -Draco’s speech during their 50th anniversary
Warnings: Possible seeming out of character-ness due to altered character back stories, High school AU
~*~
Xian Fight Arc
~*~
Gojyo was pissed now. He was gunna fucking kill Xian. It was one thing to say shit about him, but another completely to say it about his friends Friend. You only have one. Of course, picking a fight with Xian when he had the other two morons with him wasn’t Gojyo’s smartest move, but he’d done stupider and he’d kicked all their ass before. He took another hit to the face that made him see stars, but plunged on anyway, busting his knuckles open on one of the idiot’s mouth.
.
Kanda hadn’t been looking for Gojyo. He’d been running an errand for a teacher. That didn’t stop him from seeing Gojyo out a window. The redhead seemed to be winning even though he was obviously outnumbered by Xian and his two bitch ass cronies. Kanda smirked, setting down the pile of books he was supposed to be returning to the library, opening the window to watch.
“Having fun?” he called.
.
Gojyo knocked one of them on their ass before they all looked up at Kanda. Gojyo waved before hitting one of the other idiots catching him off guard while he stared at Kanda. The fight resumed.
.
Kanda rolled his eyes, smirking. It was interesting to see Gojyo fight though. It was different from sparring with him, that was for certain. Maybe because the sparring had been for fun, or because this fight was actually serious. Kanda couldn’t say for certain either way. The redhead was pretty good though. Definitely better than his opponents.
.
He was pretty sure he had knocked out one of them. Now it was two on one. Better odds but not great. Maybe if Kanda would get his ass down here and – he got hit hard falling back on his ass when he wasn’t paying attention. He shot back up though, nailing a good kick to Xian’s side.
.
Kanda watched as Gojyo got knocked down and got back up again and sighed. He glanced down. He was technically only half a floor up because of how the school was built. Without a second though, Kanda clambered up onto the windowsill and jumped, legs bending as he landed and pushing him into a roll before too much force threatened to snap his ankles.
He got up, shaking his head to clear it slightly before running over to the fight, throwing himself into a flying side kick that landed square on the side of Xian’s crony’s head, knocking the goon down. Kanda nearly landed on said head from the follow through, stumbling a bit.
.
That just left Xian standing. “You’re one crazy motherfucker,” Gojyo said to Kanda as he blocked one of Xian’s hits. Xian couldn’t recover fast enough and Gojyo knocked him down.
“Still need you’re little bitch to come to your rescue?” Xian said as he spat out blood on the ground.
.
Kanda seethed at being called a bitch but said nothing. There was nothing he could say that might make this fuck nut back off. Of course, he didn’t have to say anything to step on his groin…
.
Xian cried out. “Dude, I told you he’d kill ya. You might wanna start apologizing,” Gojyo shrugged at Xian.
“Fuck you!” was Xian’s high pitched reply.
.
“I don’t have a spoon, how disappointing,” Kanda muttered, moving his foot so it was planted on Xian’s chest instead. “I suppose I’ll have to make due. What do you think? Would it hurt if I removed your ears?”
.
“You’re fucking crazy!” Xian squealed.
“Nah, he doesn’t need help to look stupid.” Kicking his ass and humiliating him was one thing, actually chopping off things was where Gojyo drew the line.
.
“So true,” Kanda murmured, drawing Mugen anyway. He grinned evilly. This was becoming too much of a habit, but maybe Xian would learn eventually. Quickly and easily, Kanda cut Xian’s clothes in such a way that they would only fall off when he got up. Let him think he was safe ‘til then.
“Have fun getting home, Blondie,” Kanda said, sheathing Mugen.
.
“Come on, let’s get outta here before a teacher shows up.”
.
“I still have to drop off some books at the library,” Kanda said, turning his attention back to Gojyo. The red head’s hair was messed up from fighting, his clothes rumpled and blood and dirt spotted here and there. Somehow Kanda couldn’t help but feel the look suited him. He seemed so much more vibrant like that.
.
“Heh, I’ll meet up with you later then,” he smiled, a little bit of red coating his teeth from where he got hit in the mouth himself.
.
“See you later,” Kanda said, nodding. He set off for the school at a jog. There was only half an hour before the library closed, and he had more than the books he’d been carrying when he got distracted to bring.
Warnings: Out of character-ness (I can't even blame it on the changed back story this time. Kanda is so out of character, and I am so sorry.), High school AU
~*~
Key Arc
~*~
“Yuu-kun?" Tiedoll called quietly, knocking on Kanda’s door. Kanda looked up from the sketch he’d been doing. He hesitated a moment before flipping it over and standing to answer the door.
“What?” he asked.
“Can you give this to Gojyo-kun?” Tiedoll asked, holding out a key. Kanda raised an eyebrow, taking the small metal key. The head of the key had a ridiculously small painting of the building they lived in on it. The other side was a similarly tiny painting of Kanda and Gojyo sleeping on the couch.
“Tch,” Kanda said, closing his fist around the key. Of course Tiedoll went through a ridiculous amount of effort to make the key both memorable and embarrassing. “Fine.”
“It’s the same as your house key,” Tiedoll said.
“I gathered,” Kanda said. “Mine has the same painting of the teashop.”
“Okay, make sure you give it to Gojyo-kun when you see him next,” Tiedoll said.
“I’ll forget,” Kanda said, slipping past the old man. “I’ll go drop it off now.”
“Suit yourself,” Tiedoll said.
Kanda pulled on his shoes and headed out. It wasn’t until ten minutes and half way across town later that Kanda realized he didn’t actually know where Gojyo lived. He hissed in irritation, heading for the market. Surely someone there would be able to point him in the right direction.
~*~
It took nearly an hour more to find out where Gojyo lived. Almost everyone he asked said he didn’t want to go there, and then didn’t tell him where it was. He was tempted to just call it quits and leave the key somewhere obvious so he couldn’t forget, but he’d already put too much time into the search to go home.
And that was how Kanda found himself walking up to Gojyo’s house, a hair’s breadth from pissed and uncomfortably hot. ‘God I hate summer,’ he thought as he knocked sharply on the door, praying Gojyo was home.
.
Gojyo was in his room trying to escape the heat when he heard the knock on the door. No one ever came here. Except those boy scouts that one time, but they were quickly scared off. He should probably go answer the door before Mom did. He desperately hoped she hadn’t heard the knocking. Getting up off the bed he stuck his head outside the bedroom door and seeing that her door was still closed, made his way silently down the hall. With any luck whoever was at the door either was patient and wouldn’t knock again or went away. He opened the door a crack and saw Kanda standing there. Gojyo’s heart dropped to his stomach.
.
“Yo,” Kanda said, relieved that Gojyo was there. At least he wouldn’t have to go looking for him. “Your house is really hard to find, did you know that?”
.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he hissed as he stepped out, shutting the door behind him.
.
Kanda paused at the unexpected reaction before digging the key out of his pocket. “Tiedoll told me to give this to you,” he said, holding it out.
.
“What is it?” he asked, not understanding.
.
“A key,” Kanda said. “To the apartment. So you can drop by whenever.”
.
“Oh, thanks?” He said taking the key a little uncertainly. “Not to seem rude or anything but uh, how the hell did you find my house?” he said, a little annoyed that his plan to never tell Kanda where he lived or ever have him here failed.
.
“I asked around,” Kanda said, shrugging. “It took nearly an hour to find someone who would actually tell me, but some old guy selling squash finally spilled.”
.
“Not that I don’t appreciate the effort but you shouldn’t have come here,” he said, annoyance tingeing his voice. He knew he had no right to be upset with Kanda, but what was he thinking coming here? Though if Gojyo were honest with himself, he was embarrassed.
.
Kanda stared for a moment before frowning. It was honestly mostly to himself, but he didn’t care if it was taken otherwise. “Tch, fine,” Kanda said. “See you whenever.”
With that he turned on his heel and started back. At least it wouldn’t take him an hour this time.
.
Aww, fuck. “Kanda, wait!”
.
Kanda felt a spark of irritation as he stopped, not turning to face Gojyo. He was hot and tired, and he really just wanted to go home and relax. He’d done what he’d meant to, wasn’t that supposed to mean he could leave now?
“What?” he bit out, sounding far angrier than he intended to. He winced internally and half turned back, glancing at Gojyo. Great, now he was tired, hot, and feeling guilty. Great combination that one…
.
Glancing almost nervously at the house, Gojyo strode forward and grabbed Kanda’s wrist pulling him away from the house. “Follow me.”
.
Kanda let Gojyo pull him along for a short while before tugging his wrist free and simply trailing after him. He didn’t know what Gojyo was thinking, so he was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and follow along. He just hoped they were going somewhere shady.
.
He didn’t say anything and didn’t stop until they were a good distance from the house in a shady little grouping of trees. Sitting on a trunk of a long fallen tree, he scrapped his hair back from his face and lit a cigarette. This was so not a conversation he wanted to have but he also didn’t want Kanda to think he was a huge ungrateful dick. “Look, I’m sorry about being an ass, it’s just… you can’t come here. Ever. It’s not…” he struggled to find the words “safe,” was what he ended up settling on. And it sounded lame even to him.
.
Kanda waited for Gojyo to stop speaking before sitting on the fallen tree as well. ‘Not safe, he says,’ Kanda thought. ‘It must have something to do with the rumors I’ve been ignoring.’
“So I gathered when no one would tell me how to get there,” Kanda said, rolling his eyes.
.
Gojyo grimaced. “I told you we’re not very popular in town. We both were lucky I heard the door before Mom did.”
.
“I take it she’s no Tiedoll,” Kanda said, unable to come up with anything else. What did you say to that without being rude and/or sounding like an ass?
.
“You couldn’t get more opposite.” This was not how he wanted this conversation to go. Actually he never wanted to have this conversation ever. “She’s…uh…not all there.” Understatement of the fucking century.
.
“So the rumors are true then?” Kanda asked. He froze when he realized, but it was too late to take it back now, so he’d wait for the fallout before doing anything.
.
Gojyo froze too. “Which rumors?”
.
“The ones about your family,” Kanda said, shrugging and frowning. Surely Gojyo had heard people talking. They weren’t exactly discreet about it.
.
“Like I said, which ones?” His voice took on a dangerous tone. “The ones where my dad slept around and had me? The one where my parents offed themselves when I was three and stuck me with my stepmother and Jien? Or maybe the one where my stepmother went crazy because her husband cheated on her and tried to kill me? Those rumors?” By now he was standing with fists clenched at his side. A note of hysteria cracking in his voice. “Because yeah, they’re all fucking true!”
.
Kanda didn’t know what to say. To be entirely honest, he hadn’t ever listened to the rumors. Hadn’t paid them any mind. He knew only that there were rumors, and knew only enough about them to know that they regarded Gojyo and his family. He hadn’t known. But now he did, and nothing changed. Gojyo was still Gojyo.
Remaining seated, Kanda reached out and took hold of one of Gojyo’s fists. Carefully, he tugged at Gojyo’s fingers, unfurling them one by one until he could simply hold his hand. He gave it a quick squeeze, and pretended he didn’t feel somewhat awkward about it. He wasn’t good at hugs.
“You’re still you,” Kanda finally muttered a minute or so later. “None of that changes that.”
.
Gojyo looked away when he finished his little rant, face as red as his hair. He let Kanda unfurl his fist and hold his hand. How could he say it changed nothing? How could Kanda say that when everything, when he was so fucked up? He collapsed back on the log, freeing his hand to light another cigarette.
.
Kanda sighed and laced his fingers together, propping his elbows on his knees and staring at the dirt beneath his feet. “I never put much stock in rumors,” Kanda started, he shook his head and huffed a laugh that was anything but happy. “It’s a habit I learned from Alma I suppose. Judging someone based on rumors is never good. Mostly because they’re usually wrong, but also because they don’t mean anything about the person themselves.” He sighed, fingers tightening around each other before he released them, the fingers of his right hand moving to the bracelet he wore on his left wrist. “When I was a kid, I used to hallucinate a lot. People thought I was making it up for the longest time, and that added to my horrible temper scared most everyone away. There were rumors upon rumors that I was insane. Even more that said I’d killed my parents and kept lying about the permission forms they signed for school. I wasn’t exactly popular, let’s just say that.” He leaned back, looking up at the sky and propping his hands on the tree. “Then Alma came along. I didn’t trust him for the longest time. He was pretty crazy himself, but everyone loved that creep. He completely ignored the rumors that I was crazy and that I was a murderer, and he’d bug me every day for months. I still haven’t figured out why he bothered. I made him cry so many times, little shit that I was. But he stuck around, and eventually it didn’t bug me that he was horrible at standing up for people. It didn’t bother me that even with him as my friend, I was always fighting alone. That was just how Alma was.” The clouds overhead were tall and fluffy. Maybe they would end up as a thunderstorm. The coolness of a storm would be relieving. “The rumors got worse with Alma around. Brat couldn’t keep his mouth shut about anything, so soon everyone knew that I would break things on accident a lot, and that I really did see things. The rumors went from me being a murderer and insane, to me being a murderer, insane, and pathetic. No one could make up their minds about it really, and I never really cared enough to stop them because it kept most everyone from talking to me. Except then people started making creepy dolls or drawings and leaving them places, pretending they couldn’t see them if I freaked out. The only good thing about my family’s deaths was that I got out of that hell.” He sighed, sitting forward again, elbows on his knees. He glanced at Gojyo, knowing that he’d pretty much just rambled pointlessly about nothing definite for way too long.
“I can’t judge you based on rumors, and I never will,” he said. “I’ll only ever judge you for you, as you are before me. That is why nothing has changed about what I think of you. Those things are in the past, and while they may have made you who you are, they don’t have much effect on how I see you.” He sighed. He was ranting again. The heat must be going to his head. He really did hate summer. “You’re Gojyo.”
.
Gojyo didn’t say anything, he really didn’t know what to say. Instead he wrapped an arm around Kanda’s shoulders and pulled him into a half hug, resting his head on Kanda.
.
Kanda huffed, rolling his eyes as a smile tugged at his lips. They were both fucking ridiculous. He managed to wrap his arm around Gojyo’s back so his hand was draped over Gojyo’s far shoulder, returning the hug for a moment before he let his arm drop.
.
“Dude, we’re so fucked up.” And yet, together they kicked ass. “Thanks for the key.”
.
“We could be worse,” Kanda said. “We could be in an insane asylum, wearing those hugging jacket things.”
.
Gojyo just looked at him. But then he smiled and laughed, “Yeah, that would be worse.”
Warnings: Potential seeming out of character-ness due to altered character back stories, High school AU
~*~
Festival Arc
~*~
Tiedoll had been humming more as of late, and Kanda was starting to get annoyed. Sure, he would never intentionally wish for Tiedoll to be anything but happy, but did he really have to be so fucking exuberant all the time? The man practically exuded sunshine and rainbows and it was fucking annoying. No wonder the old man was so easily hurt.
Grumbling under his breath, Kanda curled up on the couch against the armrest, trying to focus on his book past Tiedoll’s humming, the fan rattling across the room, and the fact that he was trying to listen for steps on the stairs.
.
Gojyo had been spending more and more time over Kanda’s. Consequently that meant less time at home, which he was happy for. Jien was glad too because it kept Gojyo out of trouble. Gojyo climbed the now very familiar steps to Kanda’s apartment and knocked on the door.
.
“It’s open,” Tiedoll called before Kanda could even close his book. Kanda looked up in time to see Tiedoll drift out of the room like an absent minded feather on the wind. But feathers didn’t have minds to begin with, and Kanda didn’t even know what he was talking about anymore. Shaking his head, he closed the book as the door opened, setting it on the coffee table.
“Yo.”
.
“Hey,” Gojyo said cracking a lopsided grin as he took off his shoes and flopped next to Kanda on the couch. “’Sup?”
.
“The hell if I know,” Kanda said. “Tiedoll seems to be planning something.”
“Oh, don’t make it sound so suspicious,” Tiedoll said, sweeping back into the room. Had he been wearing a cloak, it would have looked dramatic, as it was, he just looked stupid. Stupidity aside, Kanda couldn’t help but notice two white boxes in Tiedoll’s grasp, so very similar to the one that had contained the sweater he’d received the Christmas prior.
“What’s with the boxes?”
“Gifts,” Tiedoll said. “For the both of you.” He handed one box to Kanda and one to Gojyo. “Go on, open them up.” He beamed.
.
Gojyo could probably count on one hand the number of times he had actually been given a gift so he took the box with a little awe. Opening it, he saw cloth?
.
Kanda opened his box and found a black cloth with dark blue and silver koi embroidered on it. He lifted it from the box, a yukata unfolding gracefully. It was easy enough to tell that it was made of high quality silk. Beneath the yukata was an obi. A woman’s obi. Kanda glared at Tiedoll.
“Seriously?” he hissed. “Must you dress me like a woman every god damn time?”
“But it looks so good on you!” Tiedoll exclaimed.
.
Gojyo lifted his out. “Um… what is it?”
.
“A yukata,” Kanda said. “Traditional Japanese garb for summer festivals.”
.
“Oh, cool.” Gojyo’s was red with fans. “Thank you.”
.
“You’re welcome,” Tiedoll said, smiling kindly. “Why don’t you boys go get changed and then you can go to the festival?”
“You’re tying the obi,” Kanda said, huffing a defeated sigh. It wasn’t like it was ugly anyway.
.
Gojyo followed after Kanda to where they could change. He put it on but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out how to tie it. And he kept getting the sleeves stuck in the folds when he did his tying attempts.
.
“You are hopeless,” Kanda said, still half dressed in his regular clothes. He snatched the simple black obi from Gojyo’s fingers and held it between his teeth, folding the Yukata properly before wrapping the obi around his waist twice and securing it with a simple knot over his right hip.
Kanda dressed swiftly after that, quickly securing his own Yukata with a small obi that would be hidden under the decorative one. Tiedoll was going to have to do that one though because if Kanda tried he’d end up looking like a hooker.
.
“Thanks,” he said when Kanda came over and helped him. His heart jumped a little when Kanda reached around him. It was odd, but it wasn’t a bad feeling and Gojyo did not spend a lot of time thinking on it. “So how do I look?”
.
Kanda paused at the question, turning to regard Gojyo, eyes scanning him up and down a few times. The yukata really did suit him, Kanda had to admit. Tiedoll knew what he was doing. Kanda’s head tipped to the side. “Ironically Japanese,” he settled for.
.
“I can handle that,” He took a minute to look at himself, and then at Kanda. “Yours looks good too.”
.
“I look like a chick,” Kanda grumbled, shuffling the decorative obi over his fingers. It was a pale blue with silver ripple patterns and bright red Japanese maple leaves embroidered onto it. Decorative, and god did he hope no one pissed him off while he was wearing it, because that thing was going to be pretty much the same as a corset.
.
“Meh,” He still looked damn good.
.
Kanda shrugged and headed out of the room, obi in one hand and Mugen in the other. Like hell he was leaving the sword behind, even if it would look slightly out of place dressed as he was. Tiedoll didn’t say anything, simply beaming and taking the decorative obi and motioning for Kanda to turn around. He hummed as he wrapped it twice around Kanda’s abdomen, pulling it tight before tying an elaborate knot in the back, leaving the loops small and slightly puffy and the tails almost long enough to reach to bottom. Kanda would have complained except he knew that it was the only knot Tiedoll had ever figured out, so he settled for making a face.
“Oh, the geta are in the closet,” Tiedoll said, plucking and pulling at the loops of Kanda’s obi one last time before disappearing into the hall.
“Stupid old man,” Kanda grumbled. He might as well put a flower in his hair and paint his face with makeup.
.
“So what’re we checking out tonight?”
.
“No idea,” Kanda said. “I’ve never been to this festival. I don’t know what’s there.”
.
“Food stalls it is then.”
.
“Sounds good to me,” Kanda said.
Tiedoll chose then to return with two pairs of wooden sandals. One had strange feet on the bottom and Kanda sighed. Of course. He took the taller pair, and handed the normal, flat ones to Gojyo.
“Here’s to the loudest fucking shoes in existence,” he said, dropping his to the floor with a clatter. He didn’t bother trying to bend over to adjust them, simply using his toes to shift them about. Once they were acceptably placed, he put them on, gaining another two inches in height. He was still practically a midget next to Gojyo though.
.
Gojyo rested an arm on Kanda’s shoulder. “Still a good height.”
.
Kanda felt a tick forming in his eyebrow but said nothing. Until, of course, Tiedoll tossed something black at him and he caught it. It was a small pouch made of the same material as his yukata, and the long drawstrings tied off into a loop to be worn around his wrist. It was a god damn purse.
“Tiedoll!” Kanda raged, stepping away from Gojyo, the bag dropping to the floor with a quiet clink as the money inside hit the wood, reaching for Mugen. “I am not a fucking woman!”
.
Gojyo stifled a laugh because he knew Kanda was mad, but it was kinda funny.
.
Kanda made to lunge at Tiedoll with a scream, but realized halfway through that he couldn’t actually breathe properly and ended up staggering instead, planting Mugen in the floor to stay upright. Tiedoll cried out in horror that Kanda had stabbed the floor, and Kanda thought that would have to do for his retribution for now until he got out of that damn obi. A couple quick, shallow breaths later, Kanda’s head stopped swimming and he jerked Mugen free, sheathing it. He used the butt end of the sheath to pick up the purse, flicking it up into the air so he could grab it. He looped it around his left wrist, holding Mugen in his left hand, and turned sharply, headed for the door.
“I’ll kill you tomorrow,” he said, slamming the door open.
.
Gojyo stood stock still during the exchange doing his best furniture impression. When Kanda stormed out he stood there for a second then turned to Tiedoll. “Thanks again,” he said before following Kanda out.
.
“Have fun” Tiedoll called after them, waving a handkerchief.
Kanda growled but said nothing, hip checking the door at the bottom open and stalking outside. It was hot and muggy, but the sun was going down so it wouldn’t be too bad out later.
.
Gojyo followed him along, just behind him. Nope, he wasn’t a little freaked by what just happened not at all. “Food then?”
.
“Food sounds good,” Kanda said, nodding slightly, falling back a step or two so he was walking beside Gojyo. “Have you been to the festival before?”
.
“Eh, maybe once or twice? Depended if Jien was working or not. I didn’t go really at all as a kid.”
.
“Possible surprises abound then,” Kanda said, rolling his shoulders and shrugging. “Hopefully they’re all good ones.”
.
“That one smells good, come one,” he said heading towards the nearest stall.
.
“Are you a dog?” Kanda asked with a quiet scoff, smirking as he trailed after Gojyo to the stall. It did smell rather appetizing, he had to admit. It was fried squid on a stick, and Kanda almost rolled his eyes.
.
Gojyo got two and handed one to Kanda. “Squid?”
.
“Thank you,” Kanda said, accepting the fried invertebrate. He took a small bite and hummed contentedly. Meat certainly wasn’t his favorite, but it wasn’t horrible either.
.
“It’s pretty good,” Gojyo said taking a bite. “Where to now?”
.
Kanda shrugged, looking around. Even though it was still pretty early, it was quite packed. Kanda wasn’t that surprised though. Festivals always attracted crowds. “The shrine?” he suggested. It looked clearer over that way, anyhow.
.
“Sure why not?”
.
Kanda nodded, slinging Mugen across his back so both his hands were free. He held his squid with one hand, nibbling at it occasionally, and grabbed Gojyo’s sleeve with his other, heading towards the shrine. The crowd between them and the shrine was the thickest though, and Kanda found himself sticking as close to Gojyo as possible without seeming too close.
.
Gojyo slung an arm around Kanda and pulled him out of the thick of the crowd. He sat on one of the steps to finish his squid.
.
Kanda raised an eyebrow at the arm around his shoulders but said nothing, and made no move to remove it, simply settling beside Gojyo to finish his own squid while it was still warm. It was the slightest bit quieter on the stairs, and Kanda watched the crowd around them, eyes flicking from one person to the next, unconsciously judging how much of a danger each individual was. None of them were dangerous, which made him and Gojyo the most dangerous people present, and it made Kanda smirk. He liked being one of the most dangerous people present anywhere.
.
When he finished he unslung his arm to light a cigarette. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments looking over the crowd. He had been looking forward to this all week.
.
“Come on,” Kanda said, getting to his feet and brushing off the back of his yukata. He offered Gojyo a hand. “I’ve never been to a festival properly before.” He wanted to ask Gojyo to show him around, but he felt it would be stupid and awkward to say, so he kept his mouth shut.
.
“We got to totally check out the game stalls then,” he said taking Kanda’s hand up.
.
“What kind of games are there?” Kanda asked.
.
“Eh the usual, ring and ball tosses, shooting ones, and catching fish.”
.
“Poor fish,” Kanda murmured. He looked up at Gojyo, head tipping.
“Which game do you suggest?” Kanda asked.
.
“I dunno, I’m always a fan of the ring toss.”
.
“Sounds good to me,” Kanda said. He offered Gojyo a smirk. “How’s your aim?”
.
“Top notch,” he smirked back.
.
“You sure?” Kanda taunted, nearly grinning. This might be fun.
.
“Wanna bet?” Gojyo rose to the challenge.
.
“I might,” Kanda said. “Lead the way, Ace. Let’s see who’s got the best aim.”
.
Gojyo pushed through the crowd to the ring toss stall. “How much you bettin’?”
.
“Five hundred,” Kanda said.
.
“You got it,” there was no way in hell he was gunna lose. He put down enough to play and got five rings. “You ready?”
.
Kanda nodded when he received his own rings. “When you are,” he said.
.
“Heh,” Gojyo tossed his first ring and it just caught the lip of the bottle, successfully ringing it.
.
Kanda tossed his own first ring, and it too landed around a bottle, just not the bottle he was aiming for. He frowned slightly, but didn’t comment.
.
Gojyo was not as lucky the next time. The guy next to him tossed a ring at the same time and they collided in the air, neither catching a bottle. “Damn.”
.
Kanda didn’t have any luck either, having tossed his ring too hard, it bounced off the board behind the bottle and fell to the ground. He grumbled to himself quietly, but there were still three rings to go.
.
Gojyo’s next one ringed a bottle, but he was starting to get cocky and the fourth missed.
.
Kanda’s third never even made it to the bottles, and the fourth knocked the bottle over instead. Suffice to say, he knew he was going to lose. He didn’t care over much though. It was just a game after all, and it was Gojyo.
.
“Ready for the last ring?” Gojyo grinned. There was nothing like a good-natured competition.
.
“You doubt me?” Kanda asked in mock surprise, making a slight show of tossing his last ring. It landed around Gojyo’s bottle and he almost face palmed. His aim was officially shit.
.
Gojyo laughed and tossed his own ring, sinking it right over Kanda’s.
.
“Bite me,” Kanda said, rolling his eyes. He was smiling slightly though as he pulled the promised five hundred yen from his purse.
.
“Didn’t know you were into that,” He teased taking the yen.
.
“Into what?” Kanda asked.
.
“Damn, Kid. You’re too innocent,” and slung an arm around Kanda. “Rematch or another stall?”
.
“I’m not innocent,” Kanda protested, elbowing Gojyo in the ribs lightly. “And I doubt my aim has improved in the past couple minutes, so that’s really up to you.”
.
“Oh trust me, you’re innocent. Hey, what’s that stall over there?” he pointed to another food stall.
.
Kanda glanced at the stall in question, raising an eyebrow. “They appear to be selling lotus seeds,” Kanda said.
.
“Wanna get some?”
.
Kanda shrugged. “If you want to,” he said.
.
“Cool,” he said starting over.
.
Kanda raised an eyebrow and followed Gojyo towards the stand. Kanda never reached it because bony finger latched around his elbow and spun him around to face whatever asshole had grabbed him. Kanda froze for a second in surprise when he found Xian was the person attached to the hand. He wouldn’t be for long if he kept holding his elbow though.
Fortunately, Xian let go once Kanda had been stopped, a sleazy sneer pulling at his thin lips as he raked a hand through his bleach-blond hair. “I knew you weren’t really a dude,” Xian said, laughing rudely. “Were you just pretending so no one would call you a whore for riding that fucker’s dick?”
“You-!” Kanda snarled, hands balling into fists. He couldn’t risk reaching for Mugen in such a crowd, but that wouldn’t stop him from decking Xian.
.
Gojyo turned around when he heard Xian. “You mean like you do with them?” Gojyo said, jerking a thumb at the assholes that flanked Xian.
.
“What?! No, you fag,” Xian said, looking disgusted. “I only fuck chicks, though I’d be willing to take this babe off your hands if you aren’t fucking her.”
“I’m a guy you jackass,” Kanda snapped, hitting Xian with a solid right cross. He felt at least one bone in his hand break when the punch landed poorly, but he couldn’t feel the pain yet, adrenaline searing through his veins.
.
It was an impressive punch, but it didn’t keep Xian down for long who was glaring daggers as he got up. “You bitch! You’re lucky I don’t hit girls,” he said meanly.
Gojyo stepped in at this point fisting his hand in Xian’s shirt. “He ain’t a girl and I’m pretty sure he’s not above hitting pussies like you. Now why don’t you back the fuck off or I’ll rearrange your face.”
.
“Who the fuck are you kidding, I’m gonna fucking castrate him,” Kanda snarled. He was breathing too heavily, he knew. The constriction of the Obi would cause him to pass out if he didn’t calm down within the next five minutes, but he was going to push it as long as he could because that fucker needed a lesson in pain. Maybe he should just break his hands or something. Serve him right for grabbing him.
.
“Oh, then he’s all yours.” Gojyo stepped out of the way but still held onto Xian so he wouldn’t run.
.
Kanda couldn’t help the truly evil smirk that curled his lips up, reaching back to grab Mugen and draw it over his shoulder. Since their little confrontation had started, the crowd around them had backed off some giving the room he needed to do what he wanted without hurting any innocents. Of course, it also gave him a fantastic audience and that just made his smirk sharper.
After a couple quick, deft movements, Kanda sheathed Mugen over his shoulder as Xian’s shorts and boxers fell in tatters to the ground around his feet. “Keep talking, and I promise that your clothes aren’t the only thing I’ll remove from your body,” Kanda said evenly.
.
Gojyo stepped back laughing so hard he was crying. It was a beautiful moment.
.
Kanda rolled his eyes and turned away from the red faced and fuming Xian. He could hear those around them starting to whisper and wrinkled his nose. So much for not drawing attention to himself. Now that he’d dealt with Xian, he could breathe easier, but he could also feel the pain starting to bloom in his hand. He made himself ignore it for a while longer, grabbing Gojyo’s wrist and tugging him along.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go wait for things to quiet down again.”
.
Gojyo was still struggling to regain his composure but let Kanda drag him away.
.
There were some benches set up along the edges of the grounds, and Kanda headed for them. They were mostly empty, one bench occupied by an elderly couple, and the other holding a cat. Kanda shooed the cat gently off the bench and sat, groaning in frustration.
“I was hoping we wouldn’t have to deal with any assholes tonight,” he muttered.
.
Gojyo was back to normal. “Dude, we’re so fucked but that, that was worth every time he kicked my ass.”
.
“Why are we fucked?” Kanda asked. “He was being an ass. If anyone’s getting in trouble, it’s him. He’s the one who’s indecently exposed after all.”
.
“He’s gunna be out for blood now though. He’s never gunna leave us alone. Stupid ass doesn’t know when to fuck off.”
.
“I make good on my promises,” Kanda said. “If he tries anything, I will remove all nonessential parts from his body. Slowly. With a spoon.”
.
“I’ll hold’im. How’s your hand?”
.
“Broken,” Kanda said, frowning down at it.
.
“Damn. Wanna head back and wrap it up?”
.
“It’ll be fine so long as I don’t punch anyone else in the face,” Kanda said, shaking his head. “Besides, aren’t the fireworks going to start soon?”
.
“Mm, most likely,” Gojyo said looking up. It was a clear night. Perfect for fireworks.
.
Kanda tipped his head back, looking up at the stars that were blooming across the inky expanse of sky as the night got fully dark, the sun long set. He was silent for a moment before he turned back to Gojyo. “Thank you.”
.
“Nn, for what?”
.
“For everything you did just then,” Kanda said shrugging. “It was… nice… having someone on my side.”
.
“Heh, that’s what friends are for,” he said slinging an arm over Kanda’s shoulders and pulling him into a half hug before reaching into his pocket again for cigarettes.
.
Kanda hummed, leaning into the hug slightly for the moment it lasted. He rubbed the pad of his left thumb firmly over the palm of his right hand, trying to locate the break just to give him something to distract himself. He and Alma had been good friends, best friends even, but when it had come to fights like the one Kanda had just had, Alma had never stood on his side. He tried to help, but the dolt had a way of saying things that just made it all worse. Kanda pressed hard against the broken bone when he found it, washing out the memories with the physical pain of it. Those times were long over now. No need for him to remember them.
Hissing quietly, Kanda eased up the pressure on the broken bone, giving it a couple more passes with his finger on both sides to make sure it wasn’t crooked before lacing his fingers together and letting his hand lie limp in his lap. He didn’t know what to say in return though, so he looked back up towards the sky.
.
A sudden whistling filled their air as the first firework was shot into the air. Gojyo felt really good about right now. Sitting in companionable silence with Kanda watching the fireworks. If anyone had told him last fall that he would be friends with the weird creepy kid with the sword he would have laughed but he was really glad they got stuck on that crappy project together. Kanda had been there when he freaked out in the nurses office and hadn’t made his life hell for it. And not too long ago he gave Gojyo refuge when he couldn’t be home. Kanda didn’t judge him either. So kicking the ass of some asshole was a small price to pay for everything Kanda’d done.
.
Kanda startled slightly at the loud bang the firework gave off as it burst colorfully across the night sky, glowing red sparkles raining down before fading into nothing. He glanced at Gojyo for a second, looking back up as the next high whistle indicated the next firework. This one burst like sparking electricity, the bright silver sparks fizzing out from the center with a slightly quieter bang. He’d never seen fireworks from this close before and they were really pretty.
.
About half way through, Gojyo stole a glance at Kanda. He a little of that slack-jawed awe going on and Gojyo couldn’t help but notice how the different colors in the sky lit his face in different light. He also couldn’t help but realize Kanda was actually pretty attractive either. He forcibly turned his attention back to the fireworks.
.
Kanda saw Gojyo glance at him from the corner of his eye and managed to regain some of his composure when Gojyo turned back to watching the fireworks. He closed his mouth, glancing at Gojyo himself. The lighting was weird and it threw Gojyo’s face into an odd relief, the colors shining brightly. Kanda found himself, for the first time in a long time actually wanting to draw of his own volition. The broken hand wasn’t going to do him any favors though, so he resolved to commit the way Gojyo looked to memory for later when he could draw it.
As more and more fireworks started filling the sky, Kanda realized he was staring at Gojyo and turned his attention back to the pyrotechnics. It was spectacular, if not loud, and Kanda didn’t even bother trying to keep his awe contained, a small, surprised noise making it past parted lips.
.
The finale was actually pretty good for their backwater little town. After it ended, Gojyo sat there for a moment, the after images still echoing in his eyes. “Pretty cool, huh?”
.
“Pretty, yes,” Kanda said. “Cool; I doubt it, they’re called fireworks for a reason.”
.
Gojyo shoved his shoulder lightly, “Smart ass. Wanna head back?”
Warnings: Potential seeming out of character-ness due to altered character back stories, High school AU, canonical child abuse.
~*~
Late Night Intrusion Arc
~*~
Jien rapped on the apartment door. “They’re probably not awake,” Gojyo tried to protest, although he kinda hoped they were. Everything hurt and world felt like it was trying to spin him off.
“I’m not going to argue this anymore, Goj, so give it a rest.”
.
Kanda woke with a start at the knocking on the door. He was out of bed before he was fully awake, grabbing Mugen as he headed for the door. He didn’t know what time it was, but it felt damn late, or maybe damn early.
“What the hell do you want?” Kanda snapped as he ripped the apartment door open. A tall man with dark hair stood on the other side, but that was all he could really tell because he’d neglected to turn any lights on.
Tiedoll remedied that when he wandered out of his room moments later mumbling a tired “What’s going on?” as he rubbed sleep from his eyes. Kanda winced at the light, but didn’t take his eyes off the man at the door. It was then that he noticed Gojyo.
.
“Hey,” Gojyo said attempting his best grin. Jien shifted his grip on Gojyo who winced when he put weight on his ankle.
.
Kanda raised an eyebrow in confusion, fingers twitching to draw Mugen. “Hey,” he returned. “This your brother?”
“Are you going to make them stand out there all night?” Tiedoll scolded gently, placing a hand on Kanda’s shoulder. “Come in, come in.”
“Tch,” Kanda said, shrugging off the hand on his shoulder. “I’ll make some tea.” He bowed to Jien and Gojyo before slipping past Tiedoll and disappearing into the kitchen.
“I’m so sorry about him,” Tiedoll said, shaking his head.
.
“It’s fine,” Jien answered. “Come on, Kid.” Jien helped Gojyo hobble in. Gojyo didn’t say anything, but instead focused on walking, grimacing every time he put his foot down.
.
As they settled, Kanda walked in with a glass of water, a bottle of Advil, and a bag of ice. “Here,” he muttered, placing them down on the table nearest Gojyo before slipping back to the kitchen. He paused in the doorway just long enough to say that the tea would be ready soon before vanishing once more.
.
“Thanks for letting us in,” Jien said as he gently took off Gojyo’s boot to put ice on the already swelling ankle. Meanwhile, Gojyo took the water and the advil, downing the glass.
.
“It’s no trouble, my boy,” Tiedoll said, smiling kindly. “Did something happen? We don’t usually get visitors this time of night.”
“Um… yeah,” Jien started, but Gojyo cut him off.
“Jien, please,” he pleaded. Gojyo knew they needed an explanation for showing up in the middle of the night, but he didn’t want them to know.
“I gotta, Kid,” Jien replied before turning back to Tiedoll, “Is there somewhere we can talk?”
.
“Of course, my studio is just over here,” Tiedoll said, standing to lead the way.
“Take this with you,” Kanda said, emerging from the kitchen with a tray bearing a teapot and some cups. He handed it off to Tiedoll before disappearing back into the kitchen. As soon as Tiedoll had led Jien into the studio, Kanda reemerged and joined Gojyo on the couch.
.
“Sorry for showin’ up in the middle of the night.” His head was pounding still.
.
“It’s fine,” Kanda said. “Are you staying? If you are there’s a spare futon you could use.”
.
“Yeah, I think. Thanks,” he shifted to that he could prop his head up on his hand. “I think I might have hit my head harder than I thought.”
.
Kanda sighed and stood. “I’ll get you some more water,” he muttered, snagging the glass off the table and slipping into the kitchen to refill it. When he returned he placed it on the table in front of Gojyo, crouching beside the redhead. “Drink that, and stay awake. I don’t feel like carrying you.” He stood. “I’ll go make up the futon for you and find an ace bandage for your ankle.” Without another word, Kanda left, but not before casting one last slightly concerned glance at Gojyo.
~*~
Jien followed Tiedoll into the studio. “I’m Jien, Gojyo’s brother,” he introduced himself.
.
“I’m Tiedoll, Yuu-kun’s foster father,” Tiedoll said in return, offering the young man a smile. “Would you like some tea while we talk?” he cast a glance around the cluttered studio. “You can sit wherever you want.”
.
“I’m all set, but thank you.” He sat on the nearest stool. “I don’t really know where to start,” he admitted.
.
Tiedoll shook his head and offered a smile. “It’s fine. Just start wherever you’re most comfortable,” Tiedoll said, pouring some tea for himself.
.
Jien gave a small bitter laugh. “That’s easier said than done.” He sighed, “Gojyo’s my half-brother, same dad. And Mother, well, um… she’s not really all there. I try to work weekend nights because then I’m there if anything happens during the day but… I dunno, something must’ve happened and they haven’t had it out this bad in a while. Goj hurt his ankle and I think he hit his head pretty hard. Can he stay here for a while? I know it’s a lot to ask, but… I just don’t know what to do anymore.”
.
“You’re a good brother,” Tiedoll said. “Of course he can stay. You’re welcome to stay too if you want, but I understand if you feel the need to return home to care for your mother.” Tiedoll offered a reassuring smile. “You’re both welcome here, no matter what, and you can stay as long as you want.”
.
“Thank you. You don’t know how much this means. I’ll make sure Gojyo is settled but I do have to go back. I locked her in her room…”
.
“I understand,” Tiedoll said. “Feel free to come back any time.”
.
“Thank you again.” Jien was so grateful. He owed Tiedoll.
~*~
Kanda shuffled around his room, pulling his own futon over to make room for the spare. It didn’t take him very long to pull out the spare futon and lay it out, setting a light blanket over it as it was a rather warm night. He dug out a spare pillow as well, dropping it at the “head” of the futon before heading out of his room. He scrounged around in the cabinets under the bathroom sink for a moment before coming up with an ace bandage, as promised. He grabbed some fabric tape to hold it before heading back to the living room.
.
Gojyo hadn’t moved since Kanda left. He was still trying to keep the world steady.
.
“Oi, you okay?” Kanda asked, crouching beside Gojyo again. “You’re looking a little green.” He placed the bandage and the tape on the table. “Maybe I should get you an icepack for your head too.”
.
“Please,” he mumbled.
.
Kanda let himself be surprised for all of a second before getting up to get the promised bag of ice. He returned in under a minute and handed it over. “Here,” he said. “I’m going to wrap your ankle, okay?”
.
Gojyo made a noise of agreement and took the ice pack, resting it on the side of his head. “This sucks a lot.”
.
“Well at least you’re not bleeding out,” Kanda said. “I suck at stitches.” He gently removed the ice from Gojyo’s ankle and pulled his foot into his lap as he knelt beside the couch. He liberated Gojyo’s swollen foot of its sock and rolled his pant leg up slightly before grabbing the ace bandage off the table.
“Sorry if this hurts,” he muttered before beginning to wrap the ankle with deft movements. He started at the top of the ankle and wrapped the bandage around twice before moving down to bind the actual joint, making sure to keep an equal pressure all around.
.
Gojyo grit his teeth. He tried not to move as Kanda wrapped up his ankle. When Kanda finished he said, “I slipped on soup.”
.
“Soup is annoyingly slippery,” Kanda said, scoffing quietly. “Spill that shit on the floor and you’ll be slipping for months. It’s probably all the oils in the broth or something.”
.
“I don’t know why I keep tryin’ to cook. I either burn it or something stupid like this happens.”
.
“Good luck eating once you get a place of your own,” Kanda said. “Take out gets boring fast.”
.
“Mmm, just add that to the list of things I’ll fuck up.”
.
“Your health or moving out?”
.
“I don’t even know…” The ice on his head helped but he still felt like shit.
.
“It’s too early in the morning to be thinking,” Kanda said. “Come on, let’s get you to bed, or is your brother going to say good-bye before he heads out?”
.
Just as Kanda said that, Jien walked in. “How you feeling, Kiddo?”
“Like I got run-over,” he mumbled.
“Yeah, well you don’t look so hot either,” Jien said, only half teasing as he came by the couch.
“No one asked you,” was Gojyo’s sulky reply.
Jien crouched down in front of his little brother. “I gotta go, but I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow.
“Sorry ‘bout the mess.” He was still stuck on the soup.
“Don’t worry about it. Just get some rest, yeah?” He gently squeezed Gojyo’s shoulder before standing.
.
“Stay safe,” Tiedoll bid Jien. Kanda ignored the older Sha as he had for most of the night.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed,” he muttered to Gojyo, standing to help the older teen off the couch. He made sure to grab the ice off the table while he was at it.
.
Jien watched as Gojyo slipped his arm over Kanda’s shoulder and hobbled out of the room. Kanda must have wrapped his ankle at some point. Jien was really glad Gojyo had a friend like this. Someone he could depend on.
.
Kanda helped Gojyo onto the futon, setting down the ice on his ankle again. “I’ll be back in a sec,” Kanda muttered. “I have to go get Mugen from the kitchen.”
.
Gojyo lay down, positioning the ice so it still rested on the side of his head. Now that he was lying down, the dizziness subsided a little. And, now that the adrenaline wore off, he was starting to feel the blooming bruises everywhere else. Tomorrow was going to suck.
.
Kanda retrieved Mugen, holding the sword carefully with both hands despite the fact that he knew it made him look years younger. Tiedoll was sitting in the living room finishing his tea, a dozy, tired look on his face. “Go to bed, old man,” Kanda mumbled.
“Good night, Yuu-kun,” Tiedoll said, offering a tired but happy smile. Kanda scoffed and rolled his eyes before returning to his room, closing the door behind him.
.
Thanks for letting me stay,” Gojyo said when Kanda reentered.
.
“Can’t exactly let you leave,” Kanda said, turning out the lights and moving to his own futon. He settled on it, propping Mugen against the wall by his head.
.
“Still,” he said resting arm over his eyes before deciding that hurt too much, and put it back down. “Thanks.”
.
“Tch, just go to sleep,” Kanda muttered. He hated it when Gojyo thanked him for things that should have just been considered a common courtesy. It made him feel pathetic for wanting something so simple as his family back when Gojyo was treated so poorly and didn’t even ask for things. If Gojyo could keep living despite the hell he apparently lived in, surely Kanda could live in the purgatory he’d fallen into.
.
Gojyo was so tired he fell asleep rather quickly.
.
Kanda groaned silently when his internal clock woke him up at four like it normally would. He’d missed half an hour of sleep that night due to the random interruption half way through, but he’d live. He’d missed more sleep for less.
Pushing himself up, Kanda glanced around his room in the extreme dimness that preceded the dawn. Gojyo was lying on the spare futon in essentially the same exact position he’d been in when Kanda’s seen him last. The ice packs by his head and ankle had thawed completely and were nothing but bags of cool water, useless.
“Oi, you alive?” Kanda asked, reaching out and prodding Gojyo’s shoulder with a finger just to make sure his friend hadn’t died or something…
.
Gojyo groaned but didn’t wake up.
.
“Oi,” Kanda said, poking harder. Yes, technically he knew that Gojyo was alive now, but he was feeling somewhat vindictive and stealing a few minutes of the redhead’s sleep wasn’t gonna kill him.
.
“Fuck off, Jien,” he mumbled before trying to roll over only to be reminded his ankle and head hurt like a bitch when he moved.
.
“Guess again,” Kanda snorted, smirking. He climbed to his feet and grabbed Mugen from where it was leaning against the wall, heading for the door.
“I’ll come wake you when it’s time for breakfast in a few hours,” Kanda said. “Want me to get you some fresh ice?”
.
“Oh it’s you. Yeah, thanks,” he shifted to get comfortable again.
.
Kanda rolled his eyes and stepped around Gojyo’s futon, collecting the bags of water to use again. He slipped out to the kitchen, dumping most of the water and filling the bags with ice again. Resealing them, Kanda dried them off and brought them back to his room. He placed one on Gojyo’s ankle before placing the other by his head.
Gojyo taken care of, Kanda left, closing the door quietly behind him before heading out for his morning run.
.
Gojyo tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn’t get comfortable again. Instead he looked around the room. It was pretty bare, but he really didn’t think Kanda would be the kind of person to have stuff. It was kinda sad actually. He shared his tiny room with Jien, but at least it looked lived in. Now that he was starting to wake up he wanted to smoke, but he wasn’t gunna in the apartment and the stairs would be a pain. It wasn’t too bad yet so he’d just wait for Kanda to come back. He readjusted the ice on his head and stared up at the ceiling, trying to not think of anything.
.
“Fuck, it’s gonna be hot today,” Kanda grumbled, pushing the door to his room open. It was six thirty and it was already hot out. He meant to go to his closet and get some clean clothes, but Gojyo was lying there staring at the ceiling.
“I thought you were still sleeping,” Kanda muttered, moving to the closet anyway. He grabbed some clean clothes before turning his attention back to Gojyo. “How’s your head?”
.
“Couldn’t sleep. Still hurts, but the ice helps.” Gojyo tried to prop himself up but the world spun. “Nope, bad idea,” he said as he lay back down.
.
“Don’t push it,” Kanda said. “Tiedoll just started breakfast. It’ll be done in half an hour or so.” He hesitated a moment before plowing on. “I’m gonna grab a shower. I trust you can entertain yourself twenty minutes more?”
.
“I’m good,” he waved a hand a Kanda.
~*~
“Breakfast is ready,” Kanda said as he walked back into his room, toweling off his hair. He tossed the towel onto his futon and offered a hand to Gojyo. “Come on, it’ll help.”
.
Gojyo rolled to his side, working his way up to sitting. When he could sit, he accepted Kanda’s hand.
.
Kanda hauled Gojyo to his feet, pulling the redhead’s arm over his shoulders to steady him as his free arm wrapped around his back for further support. Once he was sure Gojyo wasn’t going to fall over he started out of the room.
.
Yup, it was going to be a long day. Everything hurt. His head, his ankle, his back where he had hit the floor, everywhere Mom grabbed or hit. Fan-fucking-tastic. And he still wanted a smoke. On the upside, breakfast smelled great. It took forever to get to the kitchen.
.
Kanda took care not to drop Gojyo in the chair, lowering him carefully. “Good morning boys,” Tiedoll said with way too much cheer. Kanda glared at him before dropping into a chair of his own.
“Good morning my ass,” Kanda muttered. “It’s a fucking sauna outside and the sun’s only been up a few hours.”
“I’m glad someone thinks so,” Tiedoll said with a smile. “Today’s menu is French toast and bacon, unless you’re Yuu-kun, in which case I made a salad.”
“Shut up old man,” Kanda muttered. “You still covered the damn thing in bacon anyway.”
“You need the protein,” Tiedoll insisted.
.
“Dude, salad for breakfast?”
.
“It beats tofu,” Kanda muttered. “Besides, I hate sweet things.”
.
“You’re so weird,” he said affectionately.
.
“At least I don’t wear makeup,” Kanda said, rolling his eyes.
.
“Do I even want to know?”
.
“Daisya has a fondness for painting his face so he looks like a joker,” Tiedoll said. “He tried to paint Kanda’s face quite frequently.”
.
Gojyo tried to keep a straight face. “I’m sure that went over well.”
.
“We had to remodel the kitchen,” Kanda said bluntly.
.
“Remind me not to piss you off.”
.
“Do you really need the reminder?” Kanda scoffed, smirking.
.
“Meh,” Gojyo just shrugged.
.
“So what are you boys doing today?” Tiedoll asked as he served Gojyo some French toast and bacon, pushing the plate and some syrup across the table.
“Can you not word it like you expect us to spend the whole day having sex,” Kanda grumbled.
.
Gojyo choked on a piece of French toast.
.
“Oh Yuu-kun,” Tiedoll exclaimed, chuckling and shaking his head.
“Shut up old man, it’s too hot to deal with your smothering personality.”
.
“I’m not very mobile, so I’m stuck wherever Kanda wants to drag me,” he said when he could breathe again.
.
“I’m killing you both and no one will find the bodies,” Kanda muttered under his breath as he finished his salad.
.
“You might have to get in line,” he mumbled into his toast.
.
“There would be no line,” Tiedoll said. “Yuu-kun would battle everyone for your hand in marriage.
This time Kanda started choking and showed no signs of stopping any time soon, his whole face turning bright red, though whether it was embarrassment or the fact that he was choking was uncertain. Probably some combination thereof.
.
“Hey, man. Breathe. No one wants to give you mouth to mouth.”
.
“Only ‘cause I bite,” Kanda managed to gasp. Tiedoll was too busy dying of laughter to say much of anything.
.
“Meh, some people are into that.”
.
“Oh my god, stop,” Kanda managed to choke out, face turning a whole new, interesting shade of red.
.
Gojyo gave his most devilish smile and winked.
.
“I will leave you with Tiedoll all day,” Kanda threatened weakly.
.
“Come on, you’d miss me.”
.
“Doesn’t mean I know what to do with you,” Kanda grumbled.
.
“I could kick your ass in poker again.”
.
“Does that even count?” Kanda scoffed. “I can’t even play.”
.
“Unless you have a better idea…”
.
“Not a clue,” Kanda admitted.
.
“I know a few other games I could teach you.”
.
"Like what?" Kanda asked, head tipping in curiosity.
.
“Rummy, Black Jack, Mahjong - if you have a set, and if we’re really desperate: war.”
.
Kanda shrugged. He recognized the names of most of them, but he had never played any of them. “Ah, remember, Yuu-kun? Marie-kun got you a Mahjong set as a going away present before we moved here,” Tiedoll said. Kanda raised an eyebrow.
“Is that what that was?”
.
“Dude, I hate to ask but I really need a cigarette.” Gojyo hadn’t had once since the night prior.
.
Kanda shrugged. “Whatever,” he said. He got up and hooked an arm under Gojyo’s, hauling him up out of the chair. “You’d better not fucking fall down the stairs or I will be so pissed…”
.
Even as Kanda said that, the sudden change in position caused his head to spin. “Whoa, stop the world I want to get off.”
.
Kanda paused, staring at Gojyo for a moment. “Just how hard did you hit your head?” he asked.
.
“I dunno, enough to blackout a little?” It was kinda hard to tell, everything ran together after that. Was that when Jien came in?
.
“And that would be enough to give him a concussion,” Tiedoll commented.
“Brilliant,” Kanda muttered. He wrinkled his nose for a moment before sighing. Pulling a face, Kanda stooped and curled his free arm around the back of Gojyo’s knees, grunting quietly as he knocked Gojyo off his feet and had to catch all of Gojyo’s weight. He hefted Gojyo up a bit, glaring in general.
.
“What the hell, dude?!” Gojyo protested.
.
“Struggle, and I drop you on your ass,” Kanda grumbled, turning sharply and stalking out of the kitchen. Tiedoll chuckled heartily behind them, and Kanda pretended he wasn’t entirely uncomfortable with the situation. And then, of course, he reached the front door and froze. He couldn’t actually open it.
.
Gojyo accepted his fate and wrapped an arm around Kanda to help Kanda keep him in his center of gravity. “I got a free hand,” he offered when they came to the door.
.
“If you want to smoke,” Kanda said, somehow managing to shrug.
.
Gojyo opened the door without further argument.
.
Carefully, Kanda maneuvered them out the door before heading down the stairs. He kept his pace slow because the last thing he wanted to do was miss a step. While he’d be able to catch himself normally, carrying Gojyo he’d either break his tail bone or pitch forward and they’d land in a heap at the bottom, which would hurt too. Despite how he acted, and what he said, he honestly didn’t want to hurt Gojyo any more than he already was.
When he reached the bottom, he turned around and leaned against the door and pushing it open with his back. The hot mugginess of outside hit him like a slap to the face and Kanda grumbled to himself. He moved out of the way of the door, letting it swing shut and he crouched by the stairs, depositing Gojyo on one before sitting on the next one down.
.
To say Gojyo was surprised Kanda carried him was an understatement. It was one thing to drag his dizzy ass down the stairs but to carry him, while kinda embarrassing, was probably one of the nicest things anyone had done for him. When Kanda let him down he pulled out his cigarettes and lighter out of his pocket. “Thanks, man,” he said sincerely as he lit up. The first hit of nicotine was sweet relief.
.
“It was easier than supporting your stumbling ass would have been,” Kanda said with a shrug, slipping off his step to sit cross legged on the sidewalk.
.
“Still,” he said resting his head on his free hand. Everything was starting to ache and hurt again. And he smelled like soup.
.
Kanda didn’t actually know what to say without just being outright insulting, so he resolved not to say anything at all, closing his eyes to meditate while Gojyo smoked. Well, he would pretend he was meditating anyway, since there was no way he could let his guard down while sitting on the sidewalk. There was no guarantee he wouldn’t have to react at a moment’s notice, and meditation still left him dazed if he was forced out of it too fast.
.
“I did actually slip,” Gojyo said, breaking the silence, “That was my own stupidity there. I went one way and my ankle went the other.” He didn’t know why he felt the need to explain this and he knew it didn’t account for the scratches and new bruises, but it was the best he could offer.
.
“I assumed,” Kanda said. “You smell like soup.”
.
“Yeah, and it sucks because I didn’t fuck up making it this time.”
.
“I guess you’ll just have to try again,” Kanda said. He opened his eyes and leaned back against the stairs. “It smells like it would have tasted good.”
.
“I mean it was from a can because none of us can actually cook, but yeah. It got knocked off before I could actually eat any.”
.
“That sucks,” Kanda said, “You didn’t get burned, did you?”
.
“Nah, it was in a bowl at that point and it had time to cool on the floor before I slipped.”
.
“That’s good,” Kanda said. “I’m glad.” Kanda twitched when he realized what he’d said, and he sat up once more, leaning over until his elbows were leaning on his knees.
.
“Yeah, it could’a been worse.” He wasn’t referencing the soup. Gojyo was nearing the filter now and he debated lighting another but decided against it, noting wanting to bore Kanda with waiting for him. He flicked the butt into the street.
.
“Yeah, because getting a concussion is an everyday occurrence,” Kanda said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He glanced back at Gojyo. “Come on soupy. If you’re done killing yourself slowly, you could use a shower.” He stood, offering Gojyo a hand.
.
He laughed a little, taking the offered hand. The other Gojyo used to lean against the wall to steady himself as he got up, not bearing any weight on the sore ankle. The world still wasn’t as stationary as he would have liked.
.
Kanda scoffed quietly, wrapping an arm around Gojyo’s back to hold him steady. “You choose,” he said. “I can carry you again, or we can attempt hobbling up the stairs.”
.
As much as he new he should probably let Kanda carry him again, his pride wouldn’t allow it. Besides, going up was likely to be harder than going down. “I can manage the stairs.”
.
“Have it your way,” Kanda said, “but if we fall, I will just pick you up again.”
.
“I won’t fall,” Gojyo grumbled.
.
“I said we,” Kanda said, grabbing Gojyo’s arm and pulling it over his own shoulders. Then he pulled the door open and started back inside, helping Gojyo along the way.
.
They weren’t even half way when Gojyo realized this was terrible idea. It was a lot harder than he anticipated to hop up the stairs half supported by Kanda, half using the rail. This did little to help the residual headache now making a vicious comeback.
.
Kanda was sorely tempted to screw whatever pride had made Gojyo say he wanted to try the stairs on his own and pick the elder teen up again just to make it easier on himself. He didn’t though, just gritting his teeth and doing what he could to take more of Gojyo’s weight. Next time, he wasn’t giving Gojyo the choice, because allowing pride to answer was just a pain in the ass. He should probably keep that in mind for himself in the future, but he knew he’d forget. He had pride too after all.
“Tiedoll, open the fucking door,” Kanda shouted a few steps later. Within the next two steps, the door opened above them, allowing an absent sort of humming to filter into the stairwell. Kanda rolled his eyes. Of course Tiedoll was planning. Brilliant.
.
Yup, terrible idea. Probably one of the worst he had had in a long time. But they only had a couple stairs left and he pushed on. When they got to the top step he unhooked his arm from Kanda. “Gimme a minute,” he panted, leaning back on the wall.
.
Kanda made sure Gojyo was steady before backing off. “Let me go find you some clothes,” he said. “I’ll be back in a minute.” He regarded Gojyo a second longer before nodding to himself and slipping through the door. Tiedoll was floating around the living room like a fucking loon, humming, dancing, and sketching. Kanda would never understand why that was all part of the creative process, but it was. This was why he hated when Tiedoll got commissions. He got fucking weird.
Slipping through the living room, Kanda went to his room, pulling the closet open. On the top shelf was a cardboard box that he pulled down, unfolding the flaps to reveal the clothes inside. Kanda pulled out a pair of loose black pants and a large T-shirt. He contemplated the clothes for a moment. Gojyo would probably be swimming in them, but less so that Kanda did. Grumbling, Kanda folded them again, placing them in a small pile before folding the flaps back over the top of the box and tucking it back onto its shelf. He stepped out into the hall, grabbing a clean towel out of the linen closet and ducking into the bathroom to leave everything on the counter.
When he got back to the living room, Tiedoll appeared to have tripped over the coffee table and was lying half sprawled across the table, half sprawled on the couch, but he was still fucking humming, pencil moving against the paper as he held the sketch book over his face. Rolling his eyes, Kanda moved back out onto the small landing.
“Ready?”
.
When Kanda left, he let out a sigh. That had sucked so much and now his headache was back with full force. Fuck. But what could he do? Not like he could change it. “Yeah,” he said pushing himself off the wall to lean on again on Kanda when the other boy had returned.
.
“Come on,” Kanda murmured. “The shower will help with more than the soup.” He took as much of Gojyo’s weight as he could without just outright lifting him off the floor, shuffling them both along. Honestly, anyone else would have been left to fend for themselves, but Kanda didn’t mind being stuck with Gojyo as much. It gave him something to do anyway.
.
Gojyo let Kanda lead him to the bathroom. He didn’t have the words to describe the gratitude he felt towards Kanda right now. Anyone else would have left him to fend for himself. That’s what he always expected. But Kanda had twice now been there to help him up when he couldn’t on his own. “You’re the fucking best, man.”
.
“Third best,” Kanda denied. “I would have to train more to be the best, but Tiedoll says I train too much already.”
.
“What?” Gojyo knew his brain was scrambled, but he didn’t think it was that much.
.
“In kendo,” Kanda said.
.
“Oh.” Kanda had missed what he meant but correcting him would be awkward to explain so he rolled with it. “That’s still pretty awesome.”
.
“I was supposed to be on top,” Kanda said, shrugging. “But having your life uprooted will throw off your game, and not being able to compete for fear of being found, doesn’t exactly give you the freedom to show off.” He leaned Gojyo against the counter in the bathroom, backing off once he knew he was stable. “It’s old news now, and I’ve probably dropped a few ranks. I haven’t sparred anyone in years.”
.
Gojyo nodded. He didn’t really know what to say to that that wouldn’t sound lame. The image of Kanda when the sparred suddenly jumped into his mind with his focused, crisp movements, “I bet you’d still kick ass.”
.
“The way I fight now would get me disqualified,” Kanda said. “I no longer fight for the sake of form.” He turned away, heading for the door. “Don’t forget to take the bandage off your ankle or you’ll lose circulation in your foot.”
.
Gojyo nodded again. The shower felt amazing, the heat taking away a good portion of the aches and pains. Some the scratches stung a little but in general it felt great to get clean. He emerged from the bathroom a short while later in the too big clothes. Gojyo had rewrapped his ankle and was now leaning on the doorframe.
.
“Feeling better?” Tiedoll asked, actually conscious again, his sketchbook tucked under his arm, and his pencil behind his ear. “Yuu-kun is in his room, if you’d like me to go get him.”
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“Yeah, thanks. And if it’s okay…? I don’t want to hold up whatever you’re doin’.” While the shower did wonders, his ankle still hurt like a bitch and he still kind of unsteady in general.
.
“Don’t worry my boy,” Tiedoll said with a smile. “What I’m doing can be put off for a while yet, I just had an idea.” He turned and headed down the hall a ways, and knocking on the door. He pushed the door open before Kanda even responded. “Gojyo-kun is done.”
“You make him sound like meat,” Kanda could be heard saying even from the bathroom.
.
“At least I’m not a ham,” Gojyo responded.
.
“What’s wrong with ham?” Kanda asked, slipping past Tiedoll. The old artist moved further down the hall, disappearing into his own room.
.
“A ham. It’s a phrase. Uh… like someone who hams it up. It was a lame joke, don’t worry about it.”
.
“Uh-huh, sure,” Kanda said. “What do you want to do?”
.
“I’m cool with whatever, man.”
.
“So helpful,” Kanda said, scoffing with a smirk as he wrapped an arm around Gojyo’s back again. “Fine, the couch or the floor?”
.
“Couch,” Gojyo replied, looping his arm around Kanda’s shoulders.
.
“Good choice,” Kanda said, heading for the living room.
Warnings: Potential seeming out of character-ness due to altered character back stories, High school AU, near drowning experience, panic attack(s).
~*~
Pool Arc
~*~
Kanda huffed, crossing his arms tightly over his chest, glaring at the teacher. “I’m not changing.”
“You have to participate,” Shěn Fu said, glaring right back. Kanda rolled his eyes.
“Would you like to call my foster father? He’ll tell you exactly what I have,” Kanda snapped. “I cannot swim, and I have no intention of learning.”
Shěn Fu glared at him before giving up with a sigh. “Fine, but you’re getting a zero for today’s grade.”
“Like I care,” Kanda muttered, moving to sit against the chain-link fence. He curled himself against it, knees up to his chest and his arms crossed comfortably on top, staring out over the other side of the fence and avoiding looking at the water at all. It was bright and sunny and properly warm for the first time in a while.
.
There was no way they were getting Gojyo the pool. Absolutely no fucking way. He could swim just fine. “I’m not getting in the pool.”
.
“Of course not,” Shěn Fu muttered irritably, rolling her eyes. “I should have known better than to pair the two of you up. You both break more rules now than you ever have.” With one last huff, Shěn Fu left to go check in with some other students.
.
Gojyo sat beside Kanda,“Don’t dig the water either?”
.
“Not particularly,” Kanda scoffed, turning his head to look at Gojyo. “Haven’t touched more water than a bath since I was six.”
.
“I don’t even like baths,” he said looking at his hands.
.
“Baths do suck,” Kanda agreed. “I avoid them when I can. Besides, how the hell are you supposed to wash anything when it’s all under water? It rinses away the soap before it’s done any good.” Realizing he was starting to ramble, Kanda promptly shut up, tipping his head back to look at the sky again before deciding it was too bright and closing his eyes in general.
.
“Hey, look at these faggots. Afraid to get your hair wet?” sneered a low-brow moron just slightly taller than Gojyo.
“Oh good one Xian!” one if his flunkies said. Xian rolled his eyes.
Gojyo gave a forced laugh, “No he’s right that was a good one. You’ve got me, now why don’t you run along, ‘kay?”
.
“Faggot?” Kanda hissed, glaring. He glared at the jack asses and was tempted to get up and kick them solidly into the pool. He remained seated though, knowing full well getting close enough to the pool to pull it off would not go over well at all.
.
“Yeah, you got a problem?” Xian said turning to Kanda.
.
“Many, but wanting to take it up the ass isn’t one of them,” Kanda scoffed, glaring straight at Xian. “Nor is wanting to give it in the ass, but I’m sure I could accommodate you if you wanted to try it out.”
.
“Whoa dude, what the fuck? Damn, Gojyo, you his bitch?”
“Shut the fuck up Xian.”
“What are you gunna do about it? Run home and cry to your big brother?” Xian pouted at him.
“No, but smacking that dumbass expression off your face seems like a pretty good idea.”
.
“An extremely good idea,” Kanda scoffed quietly in English. “But then again, so does decapitation.”
.
“What did he say to me?” Xian said pointing at Kanda.
“The hell if I know, but probably to take your ugly mug for a long walk off the diving board.”
“Why don’t you make me? Or are you scared of the water?”
“Now listen here you prick,” Gojyo said standing and getting in Xian’s face. “I ain’t afraid of nothin’.”
“Oh yeah? Then prove it asshole.”
.
“Gojyo,” Kanda warned, shaking his head slightly. “You’ve got nothing to prove to assholes like them.”
.
“The hell I don’t!” He said as he tugged his shirt off. Gojyo stalked off after them, following the class into the pool.
.
Kanda sighed and sat back to watch. Honestly. But he had pride too, and he’d done some stupid things to defend it in the past so he couldn’t tell Gojyo to back down outright. He wanted to, but he couldn’t. The only thing he could do was sit, and watch, and hope there wasn’t any foul play.
.
They went through all the rules while they all held onto the wall. There was no rough housing, no splashing, no having fun, and the instructor’s word was law. After having them all take a preliminary swim across the pool, they were split up by ability. Gojyo was a natural swimmer and ranked near the top. Once the basic lessons were over they were allowed to free swim for the rest of class. Gojyo swam over to the wall nearest Kanda.
.
“You’re like a fucking fish for someone who doesn’t like swimming,” Kanda scoffed, but he was amused, for now. Nothing bad had happened yet, and at least while he was watching everyone else swim, he didn’t have to focus on the water, so long as he only looked at those who could swim well. “Leave you in there too long you might grow gills.”
.
“Ha-ha, you’re fucking hilarious. I don’t know I think I might look pretty good with gills. I’d be a real lady-” Xian jumped up behind Gojyo using his shoulders as a springboard. Gojyo's foot slipped on the well-worn cement of the side of the pool and he was dunked.
.
Kanda froze the second Gojyo went under, his eyes going wide. He felt every single muscle in his body tense his mind screaming at him to do something, to even so much as say something, but his heart was pounding at the singular thought of getting any closer to the water. Seconds felt like minutes as Kanda watched a cruel smirk curl Xian’s lips, the other boy staring straight back at Kanda.
.
Xian’s hands were still on his shoulders, the momentum pushing Gojyo further from the surface. He got his feet under him as he touched the bottom and was able to pop his head up above the surface and take a breathe before there was a hand on his head pushing him back down. A pair of hands found their way to his shoulders again holding him under. Gojyo was a kid again and the pool was the bath. He threw his arms out to use the rim of the tub to pull himself out of the water and away from her but his hand found nothing. His lungs began to burn. Gojyo panicked and struggled to force his head above the water. Desperately he tried to find purchase on the hands that held him down and pry them off. He was able to get his head above water for a second but was pushed back down, sucking in a lung full of water instead of air.
.
Kanda saw Gojyo pop up for a second and managed to breathe, thinking it was going to be okay, but Xian shoved him back under and seconds later, Gojyo started flailing. Kanda hesitated, heart pounding with fear, but as the thrashing got worse, instinct kicked in and Kanda leapt to his feet, kicking off loose shoes in half a second and ripping his shirt off in the next half so he wouldn’t be weighted down as much.
The next thing Kanda comprehended was the water closing over his head, his arms wrapped around Xian’s neck as he launched himself into the pool. Xian popped up, treading water and taking Kanda with him. Kanda clung on, half way between trying to strangle the crap out of Xian and simply trying to keep his head above water.
.
Suddenly Gojyo was free and broke the surface of the water. Coughing up water, the first thing he did after taking a breath was turn and punch the guy to his left. Gojyo could feel the guy’s nose break under his knuckles, using the opportunity to make for the side of the pool. He had to get out. He scrambled up, scratching his arms and stomach on the rough pool rim as he slipped. When he managed to pull himself out, Gojyo just laid there coughing and trying to breathe. His hair stuck to the side of his face and he had no strength to pick himself up. But he couldn’t just lie there; he had to move, he still had to get away.
.
Kanda felt Gojyo’s fist collide with his nose and felt it break. The pain brought tears to his eyes and startled Kanda into letting go of Xian. The water closed over his head again just as Kanda gasped and he got half a lungful of water before choking it back up. His feet hit the bottom before his instincts could make him inhale more water and he kicked against it, popping up just long enough to get air before his sodden jeans an inability to swim dragged him back under.
Cursing in his mind as memory flashes distracted him, Kanda tried to focus, fingers clawing at the button and zipper of his jeans. Once they came undone he kicked them off, able to move easier without the wet denim dragging him down. He kicked off the bottom to the surface again, arms flailing for the nearest surface. The edge was closer now, but not close enough and Kanda went under again. He could feel the panic starting to overwhelm him like it had the last time he’d been under water and he gave one last kick against the bottom.
This time he came up closer to the edge and managed to grab on. He could hear the teacher yelling, and Xian was shouting something behind him. Right before he started hauling himself out, Xian grabbed him by the ponytail and yanked. Kanda let out a startled and slightly strangled scream that he would deny later, lashing out with his feet as he tried to cling to the rough cement of the edge, breaking his nails and ripping up his fingertips as he scrabbled for purchase.
One foot landed solidly in Xian’s groin and the boy let go, letting Kanda scramble out of the pool. The teacher was still yelling, but Kanda could barely hear her over the blood rushing in his ears and his own coughs. He needed a distraction, he needed to get dry, and he needed to make sure Gojyo was okay. He was going to have to forget about his pants though. Those he wasn’t getting back.
“Gojyo?” Kanda asked shakily, crawling stiltedly over the couple feet between them. “You still alive?”
.
Gojyo tensed when heard the commotion and someone approaching. He relaxed minutely when he heard Kanda though. “I’m great,” he coughed out. “You?”
.
“Been better,” Kanda admitted. He glanced at the pool to see that Xian was bubbling angrily somewhere around the middle as he’d ducked under to bemoan the kick to the groin. “Gods, I hope he talks like a girl for a month.”
.
Gojyo propped himself up to look at Kanda. He was bleeding a lot. “What happened to your face?”
.
“Got punched,” Kanda said, shrugging. “I’ve had worse, don’t worry about it.”
.
Guilt washed over Gojyo when realized he was the one who broke Kanda’s nose. He pushed himself to sitting. “Oh shit man, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to, it was an accident, I thought it was one of the others and I didn’t realize. I’m sorry!” he said barely taking a breath.
.
“I know,” Kanda stressed. “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine. I’ve had worse breaks before.”
.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled again pulling his knees up and putting his head in his hands, his fingers threading through his hair.
.
“Oh for the love of…” Kanda muttered in English before sighing. “I forgive you.”
.
By this time Xian had managed to crawl out of the pool, his flunkies floundering all around him. “I’ll get you for this, you wormy little shit!” What should have sounded threatening was ruined by the squeaky nature of his voice.
.
“Go fuck yourself,” Kanda snapped, using his hand for balance as he leaned forward and kicked up, catching Xian on the hip and sending him crashing back into the water.
“Kanda Yuu!” Shěn Fu exclaimed. “Detention! And another detention for fighting!” She glanced at Gojyo. “You’re getting one too.”
“Why the fuck are you giving him detention for?” Kanda snapped, glaring up at the woman; silently thankful that he had something else to focus on that wasn’t the water at his back.
“He punched you in the face!” Shěn Fu exclaimed, her voice becoming screechy.
“He was being drowned!” Kanda shouted right back. “Do you really think he stopped to look at who he was hitting? I’m fine! Give that bastard a detention if you give one to anyone.”
Kanda pointed straight at Xian who was spluttering angrily in the pool.
.
Gojyo lifted his head when she came over. He looked at Kanda in shock when he defended him.
Meanwhile Xian was shouting angrily from the pool “We were just joking around!”
Normally Gojyo would have a snappy remark for that but he was still trying get himself together and catch his breath.
.
“You don’t drown people as a joke,” Kanda yelled right back.
“Shut up!’ Shěn Fu shrieked, glaring at them all. “Kanda, Xian, you both have detention. And Kanda, where are your pants?”
“In the pool,” he said, turning his back on the glittering water once more. If he couldn’t see it, he didn’t have to think about it.
“Would someone get them out,” Shěn Fu snapped agitatedly. The class rep dove and got them while Shěn Fu turned her attention back to Kanda and Gojyo. “You’re both all scraped up, so why don’t you head to the infirmary. The nurse can patch you up before you’re sent home.”
“Sent home, what for?” Kanda asked, glaring.
“You both just nearly drowned,” Shěn Fu said. “We’re sending you home.”
Kanda’s breath hitched at the word, but he pushed everything aside at the thought of Tiedoll worrying over him for the next six months. It was going to be so fucking aggravating.
.
Aw fuck, home was the last place he wanted to go. “I’m fine,” Gojyo said standing, although his arms and torso stung like a bitch, a bit of blood welling up on his still wet skin.
.
“You can be fine all you want, but you’re not staying here,” Shěn Fu said, her tone leaving no room for argument. “As soon as the nurse clears you, you’re leaving.”
“Tch, whatever,” Kanda said. The class rep popped up next to the edge of the pool and flopped Kanda’s soaked jeans onto the cement. He shot the girl a grateful half smile and dragged the pants away from the pool, getting up and walking back towards where he’d left the rest of his stuff. The bandages around his chest were slipping, but he didn’t care overly much at that point. He couldn’t get in much more trouble than he was already in.
Grumbling, Kanda wrung out his pants as best he could before pulling them back on over equally soaked black boxers. Then he pulled his shirt on, simply picking up his shoes. He turned back to Gojyo and warily walked back over.
“Let’s just get this over with,” he muttered. “Tiedoll’s probably going to show up anyway, once they call.”
.
Gojyo nodded and followed. He still felt out of breath. He really hoped they wouldn’t call Jien. He never told him about… And he really didn’t want to go home. Not right now.
.
The walk to the infirmary seemed to take too long, and all Kanda could really focus on was how weird it felt to walk around in wet socks in school because the tiles just felt weird when he wasn’t wearing shoes. When they finally got to the infirmary, some other kid was exiting with cotton stuffed up their nose.
Rolling his eyes, Kanda slipped into the infirmary, looking around for the nurse. Said woman was sitting on a stool by the counter, taking down some notes or something on a clipboard. Kanda coughed curtly to get her attention. She turned on her spinning stool, eyes going wide behind rectangular glasses.
“What happened to you both?” she asked.
“We almost drowned,” Kanda said. “I got punched, and he got clumsy.”
“Clumsy?” the nurse asked.
Without so much as asking, Kanda grabbed the bottom edge of Gojyo’s shirt and hiked it up until the scrapes on his chest could be seen. “Clumsy.”
.
Gojyo flinched when Kanda grabbed his shirt. Why was he so jumpy? The nurse came over to take a closer look and told them to go sit on one of the beds around the corner. She came back with things to clean the scraps and stop Kanda’s bleeding nose.
.
“Oi, what the fuck are you doing,” Kanda snapped, catching the Nurse’s wrist as she tried to clean up his face. ‘She’s cleaning the blood off your face, genius,’ a small voice in the back of his head jeered. It sounded like Daisya and Kanda pushed it aside. Yes, he knew that, and he wasn’t quite sure why he’d stopped her, but now she was staring at his raw, bloody fingers and he was wishing he hadn’t.
“Looks like you got clumsy too,” The nurse said.
“More like desperate,” Kanda muttered, looking away and letting her go, curling both hands into fists to hide his bloody fingertips.
“Hm?”
“Nothing.”
.
When she finished with Kanda, she cleaned up Gojyo’s scrapes. Everything stung so much, but honestly, it was the least of Gojyo’s problems. Like a painful buzz. Why couldn’t he calm down? His heart was still going a mile a minute and his hands were shaky. He balled them up in to fists in his lap so no one would see.
.
Once the nurse had finished patching up Gojyo, she got Kanda some dry clothes. A simple pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt, but they would do for now. He was ushered into the small bathroom attached to the infirmary to change and the Nurse turned back to Gojyo.
“Your brother isn’t home right now, is he?” she asked, moving to take down notes on her clipboard as she had been when they entered.
.
“No, he’d still be at work,” he breathed in hushed tones. It wasn’t that he didn’t want anyone to hear, he just couldn’t make his voice louder.
.
Then you’ll just have to tell him yourself,” the nurse said. “We don’t have his work number on file, and he’s your emergency contact.”
Kanda chose then to return from changing, looking somewhat more comfortable in the dry clothes, his wet ones bundled up in his hands. The Nurse gave him a plastic bag to put them in before excusing herself to call Tiedoll, promising it would only take her a few minutes. Kanda scoffed. Knowing Tiedoll, it would take her twenty minutes at the very least, and Tiedoll would still manage to arrive at the school before they even walked out the front door.
.
Gojyo nodded at the nurse’s words. No way was he telling Jien. Once it was just Kanda and him was sitting on the bed in the nurses office, all Gojyo could think was that sucked so much. He just wanted to get out of here. He sure as shit didn’t want to go home, but anywhere would be better than here. What kind of asshole holds someone down under the water? (Those guys.) He interlaced his fingers in an attempt to hold them steady. What if he had drown? (Would it have mattered?) That’s some fucked up shit to think. Who even tries to drown someone? (Mom.) (What?) It was difficult to breathe, like someone had sucked all the air out of the room. Why was he thinking about this? Gojyo tried to run his fingers through his stringy wet hair, pushing back the short strands that had already started to dry and drop in his face. His heart beat painfully in his chest. He wasn’t even in the water anymore. He shivered but not from being damp in the open air and he felt dizzy. God, he really needed a smoke but his lighter and pack were back in his backpack in the pool locker-room where they would stay dry. Why was this room so small? Thoughts of being held down in the pool kept replaying in his head. His clothes still clung to his body, damp from when he threw them on while wet. They were restricting and he resisted the urge to tear off his shirt. He frantically ran a hand through his hair again. He would give anything for a cigarette right now.
.
Kanda watched Gojyo warily out of the corner of his eye. He was fairly certain the other boy didn’t know that he was shaking all over and not just his hands that he kept trying to get to stop and running through his hair. He wanted to distract him so much, but he didn’t know how. He could barely keep himself distracted. Hells, every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was the memory from all those years ago of the sun glittering off the water too far above his head, and the bubbles that rose above him as he released the breath that had been keeping him alive.
Kanda shook his head, focusing on the shaking teen beside him. It wouldn’t do either of them any good if they both got stuck in their own heads.
.
He glanced warily at Kanda to see if he noticed everything was less than great. He would be damned if he let Kanda see him like this. He needed to get out of the room but he honestly wasn’t sure if he could stand. No matter how much he breathed, he just couldn’t seem to fill his lungs. Gripping his head in his severely shaking hands, he squeezed his eyes shut. Images of the afternoon flooded his brain. No, that was definitely worse. At some point they became flashbacks from the first time he almost drown, opening a gateway to everything he’d rather not think about ever. Gojyo felt hot and was acutely aware of everything touching his skin. The sensory overdrive caused waves of nausea to roll through him. He couldn’t make it stop! His control slipped and he felt hot tears slip from his eyes. It was enough to make him sick and he just barely made it to the nearest trash bin.
.
“Gojyo!” Kanda exclaimed quietly, shocked slightly when the other teen lunged for the trash bin and heaved. Not knowing what else to do, Kanda slipped from the bed and half knelt, half crouched beside Gojyo, wrapping an arm around the redhead’s shaking shoulders much like said redhead had when he’d broken down the first night of their project.
He said nothing when he noticed Gojyo was crying, simply hugging him tighter. His parents, Alma, and Tiedoll always told him it was okay to cry. Gojyo had been the first to ever tell him not to, which probably would have surprised him more if he hadn’t been crying at them time. He was tempted to repeat Gojyo’s words, but he couldn’t make himself do it. Silence seemed the better option, so far as he was concerned.
.
Gojyo just sat there for a minute before curling into himself as he leaned back against the wall, making himself as small as possible. His breathing was still erratic and his chest hurt. He leaned into Kanda’s hug, but didn’t return it. He was curled up so tight everything just felt numb. He felt numb. Wrung out, used up, empty.
.
Kanda felt Gojyo lean into him slightly and hugged tighter for a second before relaxing back to how he had been before. Gojyo’s breathing was still really rough, but his shaking seemed to be stopping, so Kanda wasn’t too worried. He stayed there a while longer until he heard approaching footsteps that matched the nurse’s as she’d left.
“Nurse is coming back,” Kanda muttered, nudging Gojyo slightly. “Come on, get up, or she’s going to ask more questions than anyone feels like answering.” He didn’t even really give Gojyo a chance to respond though because he was already hauling the other teen up as he said it.
.
He forced himself to stand up with Kanda’s help and furiously wiped his face, desperate to erase any trace of tears. Hugging his arms tightly around himself, he thought about how he could really use that cigarette now.
.
Kanda pretended he didn’t notice the angry way Gojyo wiped away his tears in the same way he’d pretended he hadn’t noticed them in the first place. He picked up his bag of wet clothes, fiddling with the tied handles of the plastic bag.
The nurse returned a moment later, an exasperated look on her face. “Your father is on his way,” she said to Kanda.
“Foster father,” Kanda corrected. “We have to go get our stuff from the locker room.”
He didn’t give the woman a chance to respond, grabbing Gojyo by the elbow and dragging him out of the room.
.
Gojyo let himself be dragged along. When they got to the locker room he stopped. “Hey,” he said to get Kanda’s attention, “Thanks,” he said as he fumbled around in the pockets of his backpack, finally managing to find his pack and lighter. He couldn’t light it yet but he felt better with them in his hand.
.
“Don’t worry about it,” Kanda muttered, fetching his own bag. He stuffed the bag of wet clothes into it and zipped it up, slinging it onto his shoulder. “You’ve done the same for me.”
.
“Can I… I mean, if it’s okay…um…” He took a breath, closing his eyes and running a hand through his hair again. “Would it be okay to stay at your place?” he said slowly, trying to keep his voice steady. “Just until Jien gets home?”
.
“Yeah,” Kanda said, ignoring the stumbling and the hesitating. He was tempted to point out that he didn’t think Tiedoll was going to let them out of his sight for anything except to use the bathroom for the next six or so hours, but he refrained. He didn’t even want to think about it. Clingy old man.
.
Gojyo’s relief was palpable. Gods, he felt drained. He slipped back into his pants and put on his hoodie, zipping it up a high as it could go.
.
While Gojyo got dressed, Kanda fidgeted for a moment before dropping his bag and pulling the sweatshirt over his head. He crouched beside his bag and opened it, digging out a fresh roll of bandages and pulling out some dry socks. Yes, he had packed a spare change of clothes because who knew if he was going to need them. Having been supplied with clothes, he didn’t really, but bare feet and shoes was bothering him, as was not having something wrapped around his chest.
He put on the socks first before picking up the bandages. With deft movements, Kanda wound them around his chest, covering the dark ink over his left pectoral. Within a moment, he’d finished the roll and covered the tattoo, tucking the loose end in. Comfortable once more, Kanda pulled the sweatshirt back on and picked up his bag again.
“Tiedoll is probably already here,” Kanda said. “Let’s go before he actually comes inside.”
.
Gojyo noticed the Kanda’s tattoo and briefly wondered why the kid was covering it up, but he didn’t bring it up. For once he was grateful for the silence between them. After his last attempt he knew words were really not his friends. He followed Kanda out and as soon as he left the building he took out a cigarette. He almost dropped it twice before he got the filtered end in his mouth. The lighter thankfully flared to life on the third try and Gojyo was able to take a huge drag. His lungs burned from their earlier abuse but the nicotine rush to his system began to calm his brain. The cigarette didn’t last long and he was already lighting another before the first was even completely out.
.
Kanda didn’t get the luxury of relaxing once he got outside. The second he stepped through the doors he was practically bowled over by a sobbing Tiedoll, the man wailing about how Kanda was so brave and how he cared so much for his friend.
“Get off!” Kanda exclaimed, shoving at the clingy old man, but there wasn’t any force behind it. Deny it though he may try, it felt good that someone still cared, even if they were a little too exuberant when showing it.
Tiedoll renewed his blubbering, hugging Kanda tighter until Kanda was fairly certain he was going to be smothered. That was the only explanation for the burning knot in his throat.
“Let go, you’re smothering me,” Kanda choked, shoving at Tiedoll again with a bit more force. Almost reluctantly, Tiedoll let him go, wiping his eyes and blowing his nose loudly. Kanda made a face, stepping away from the old man and fixing his bag from where it had been knocked off his shoulder until it was dangling by the crook of his elbow.
And then Tiedoll turned his attention on Gojyo who was nearly halfway through his second cigarette by then. Kanda’s eyes went wide and he lunged forward a second too late as Tiedoll had already swept Gojyo up in a smothering hug, blathering on about how strong he was.
“For the love of pointy objects, stop clinging to everyone in sight!” Kanda yelled, grabbing the back of Tiedoll’s shirt and tugging, trying to get him to let go. He was sure they all made quite a sight with all the yelling and crying and hugging in front of the school. Maybe he could just not show up tomorrow.
.
Gojyo didn’t know how to handle the sudden hug. Normally he was all for contact and shit but damn if he didn’t freeze up. He just kinda stood there, eyes wide, mouth slightly open, trying not to set anyone on fire with his cigarette.
.
Tiedoll finally let go of Gojyo after much yelling from Kanda and he smiled at both teens. “This situation calls for ice cream!” he declared. And before Kanda could get a word in edgewise, Tiedoll hooked his arms with Kanda and Gojyo’s and tugged them along until they were walking like teenage girls from some stupid American movie. Growling, Kanda pulled his arm free, but he kept on walking beside them.
.
There were many things this situation called for and ice cream was not one Gojyo had ever expected. He looked over at Kanda and gave him a concerned what the fuck look. He also slipped out from Tiedoll’s arm and debated lighting another cigarette but figured that might be a bit excessive even for him. He’d just make the rest of this one last a bit.
.
Kanda caught the look Gojyo cast his way and shrugged. Tiedoll was weird, and he did shit like this a lot. Hell, Tiedoll had even made him soba for breakfast on mornings after Kanda had had night terrors. He was simply used to the man doing shit like this.
He was, however, very confused when instead of leading them to an ice cream parlor, Tiedoll led them to the tea shop they lived above, shoving the door open with a merry tinkling of bells. He didn’t think they served ice cream, but who knew.
.
Gojyo was pretty sure they didn’t serve ice cream in teashops but he wasn’t really in a position to argue. He crushed out his cigarette before entering.
.
Kanda followed Tiedoll in and straight up to the counter. Tiedoll didn’t even so much as glance at the menus, giving the young woman behind the counter a kind smile. “Can we get two bowls of chocolate ice cream and one bowl of green tea ice cream, please?” Tiedoll asked.
“Of course,” the young woman said, returning the smile. “Please, choose a table. I’ll bring your ice cream in a moment.”
Kanda didn’t bother waiting for Tiedoll, stalking straight across the small shop until he reached the corner table by the windows. He sat in the corner seat, dropping his bag on the floor beside him.
.
Gojyo followed Kanda, sliding into a chair next to him. "How's your nose?"
.
Kanda raised an eyebrow at Gojyo and resisted the temptation to deadpan that it was broken. Instead, he said, “It’s a nose.” He ignored Tiedoll as the man sat down across from them.
.
Gojyo still felt really guilty about that though. “Thanks for the ice cream,” Gojyo said to Tiedoll.
.
“No problem, my boy,” Tiedoll said. “Ice cream makes everything better.”
“Unless it’s hypothermia,” Kanda pointed out, making Tiedoll pout. “You set yourself up for that one.”
“So mean, Yuu-kun, so mean,” Tiedoll said, shaking his head in mock sadness.
.
A small smile tugged at Gojyo’s lips at the banter between Kanda and Tiedoll.
.
“Here are your ice creams,” the young woman from the counter said, placing three large bowls on the table. Kanda raised an eyebrow but said nothing as the young woman bowed slightly and left. Tiedoll took one of the chocolate ones and pushed the other towards Gojyo, pushing the green tea one towards Kanda.
“Eat up,” Tiedoll said, digging into his own bowl of the frozen treat. Begrudgingly, Kanda lifted his spoon and tried the ice cream, deciding that he liked it well enough even though it was slightly too sweet for his tastes.
.
Gojyo said thanks again and dug in as well. He quickly got brain freeze. Apparently it was a bad day for Scorpios.
.
“It’s not going to run away,” Kanda teased when he noticed Gojyo get brain freeze. “And if it tries, I wouldn’t suggest eating it.”
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Gojyo good-naturedly glared at him. “I didn’t try to get a brain freeze.”
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“No one tries to get brain freeze, baka,” Kanda scoffed, smirking.
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Gojyo was starting to feel almost human again. “Yeah well…” Yeah he had nothing.
.
Kanda snorted in amusement and returned to eating his own ice cream. Try to ignore it though he did, he couldn’t help but notice that stupid, fatherly smile Tiedoll was wearing. Grumbling near silently around his spoon, Kanda kicked Tiedoll lightly in the ankle.
.
Jien would probably like Kanda. He didn’t really approve of any of Gojyo’s other “friends” but none of them would have stuck up for him like Kanda did today. Maybe one day he could introduce the two of them.
.
It took Kanda nearly an hour to finish his ice cream, and by the time he did, it had been mostly melted anyway. So far as he was concerned, if he never consumed that much sweetness in his life again, it would be too soon.
While Tiedoll paid for their ice cream, Kanda led the way out of the shop and upstairs. All he really wanted to do was take a nap and forget for a while, but Gojyo was there, and there was no way he was going to abandon the redhead to Tiedoll’s mercy.
“What d’you wanna do?” he asked, flopping down on the couch.
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Gojyo dropped down next to him. “I dunno, dude. I’m kinda draggin ass after everything.”
.
“Listen to the radio?” Kanda suggested. “Got a station you like?”
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“Meh, anything fine right now,” he said shrugging.
.
“Tch, that’s helpful,” Kanda scoffed with a smirk, hauling himself up from the couch. He moved to the radio/stereo contraption Tiedoll had set up within a week of their arrival. “You like classical?”
“Ehh, it’s fine I guess.” To be honest it wasn’t his favorite but he really was too tired to care.
.
“Was there alcohol in that ice cream?” Kanda asked, rolling his eyes. He shuffled through the discs that Marie had dropped off the last time he visited, choosing one that was covers of popular rock songs done with classical instruments.
.
“What?” Gojyo asked, not understanding the question.
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“You seem exceedingly out of it,” Kanda said, shrugging. He placed the disc in, hitting play.
.
“Oh.” Kanda was right; he was out of it. He felt tired and drained. He sat up and rubbed his hands in his face. “I guess I am.”
.
“Talk,” Kanda said, flopping back onto the couch. “About anything. It’ll help wake you up a bit.”
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There was nothing he could think of right now that he wanted to talk about. Ever, actually. “When I was little, Jien once had a job in a candy store, it’s closed now, and he would sometimes bring home penny candy.”
.
“Was it any good?” Kanda asked, curling up against the back of the couch.
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“Yeah,” he said with a small fond smile. “I think it was also one of his favorite jobs. I had to been what? Seven or eight then?”
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“How would I know?” Kanda scoffed. “I only got here a couple months ago.”
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“Shit wasn’t so bad then, not yet really,” he said leaning back against the couch. Gods he was tired.
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“Time is so fantastically horrid, isn’t it?” Kanda said, slumping slightly.
.
“Your couch is comfy,” he said, closing his eyes.
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“It tries,” Kanda said, looking somewhat bemused.
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Gojyo just hummed in response. Turning his head, he cracked open his eyes, “Thanks, you know, for today.”
.
“It was nothing,” Kanda said, shaking his head. “Anyone would have done the same.”
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“No. They really wouldn’t.”
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“They should have,” Kanda muttered, slouching.
.
“Yeah, well I’m not exactly popular,” he said closing his eyes again, wiggling into the couch.
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“People are stupid around people they don’t know how to treat,” Kanda said. “They can’t understand so they lash out instead.”
.
“Mmm. Doesn’t help my family’s so fucked up,” he mumbled. By this point his head was on Kanda’s shoulder and he was well on his way to sleep.
.
Kanda blinked when Gojyo’s head landed on his shoulder, but he didn’t say anything. “Your family shouldn’t matter,” Kanda mumbled. “People are stupid for thinking that you are your family.”
.
Gojyo heard Kanda but was out cold before he could answer.
.
Kanda was only awake long enough to feel Gojyo relax before he himself fell asleep, slumping against the redhead. Tiedoll chose that moment to enter the apartment, having spent the last ten or so minutes talking about a small commission piece for the tea shop to hopefully bring in more customers.
When Tiedoll saw the boys sleeping on the couch, he smiled, quietly closing the door behind him as he toed out of his shoes. He went and fetched a spare blanket, draping it over them both. He turned the music down, but let it play, moving to the kitchen to make tea and start sketching.
.
His sleep was dreamless. What woke him was the sound of an instrumental version of Paradise City. Kanda’s head rested on his and he had no particular ambitions to move.
.
Kanda stirred slightly as the song changed. His fingers twitched, tangling in the holes of the afghan and Kanda’s brow creased in a frown. He didn’t remember falling asleep, but he did remember that there hadn’t been a blanket the last time he was awake.
.
Gojyo felt Kanda move. “You awake, dude?” he asked still half asleep.
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“No,” Kanda said, groaning quietly and shifting into a more comfortable position. “Definitely not awake.”
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“Me neither.” He pulled away from Kanda’s shoulder rolling his now very stiff neck.
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“You are evil,” Kanda grumbled, lifting a hand to massage the kinks out of his neck.
.
“How long have we been out?” He asked as he stretched his arms above his head.
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“About three hours,” Kanda guessed. He untangled himself from the blanket, sitting up properly.
.
“Damn.” He was already searching through his pockets for his cigarettes.
.
“Could be worse,” Kanda said. “Could be morning.”
.
“True that. Hey, I’ll be right back.” He groaned as he stood, already missing the blanket.
.
“Don’t get lost,” Kanda said, stretching and cracking his back. He stood as Gojyo left, folding the blanket carefully and returning it to the closet it had been in the last time he saw it.
Once the blanket had been put away, Kanda moved to the kitchen, sitting down across from Tiedoll and checking the teapot. It was mostly full and still hot which meant that Tiedoll had made it recently. He made to get up, but found his tea cup was already on the table. He shot a raised eyebrow at the old man before pouring himself a cup.
“Enjoy your nap?” Tiedoll asked.
“Too short,” Kanda said. Tiedoll laughed quietly.
“Where’s Gojyo?”
“Smoking,” Kanda said. “He’ll probably come back.”
.
Gojyo definitely felt better than before, although he was still a bit out of sorts and now that his arms had stopped stinging, they ached. He was so tired before and only half remembered their conversation before falling asleep. He hoped he didn’t say anything too weird or personal. Once he finished he went back up to the apartment and found Kanda and Tiedoll in the kitchen. “Hey.”
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“Hey,” Kanda returned, lifting his tea cup in greeting.
“Sleep well?” Tiedoll asked.
.
“Yeah,” he nodded. He leaned against the doorframe arms crossed tightly in front of him.
.
“Will you be staying for dinner?” Tiedoll asked. “I don’t know what we’re having yet, but you’re welcome to join us.”
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“You sure? I mean, I don’t want to overstay my welcome.”
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“Of course,” Tiedoll said, smiling. “If Yuu-kun can fall asleep on you, you’re practically family.”
.
“Thanks,” and he didn’t just mean for dinner. He came in and joined them at the table.
.
Kanda realized what Tiedoll had said and started choking on his tea. “For the love of god, can you not adopt all of my friends?” Kanda managed to gasp out incredulously.
.
“Wait, you have more friends?”
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“Not anymore,” Kanda said.
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Gojyo was about to retort when the meaning struck him and inhaled to keep whatever he was going to say in. He snapped his mouth shut. He really didn’t know what to say to that.
.
“So, what do you boys want for dinner?” Tiedoll asked.
“Why do you even bother asking me anymore?” Kanda snorted. “You know my answer.”
“Well I don’t know Gojyo’s answer, now do I?” Tiedoll said, turning his attention to Gojyo.
.
“Eh… I’ll eat whatever. Except sour plums. Not those.”
.
“Well if neither of you are going to suggest something, I’ll make tempura,” Tiedoll said. “You have forty five minutes, so go entertain yourselves. Just don’t break anything.”
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Gojyo looked over at Kanda. “What do you wanna do?”
.
“Hell if I know, but Tiedoll will actively kick us out of the room if we don’t leave,” Kanda said, standing. He moved back through to the living room, dropping back down onto the couch.
.
Gojyo followed and flopped down next to him. “So uh, nice ink by the way. Is it new?”
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Kanda froze, hand unconsciously going to cover the tattoo hidden beneath his borrowed clothes. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “Had it for five years.”
.
“Oh. I just saw the bandages and thought it might be new. It’s cool though.”
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“The bandages are so no one sees,” Kanda said. “And it’s not as cool as you think.” His hand clenched in the material over his heart before he dropped it into his lap, staring at his hand like he’d never seen it before. “It’s practically a curse.”
.
“Oh,” Gojyo said again, sensing a story there. He wouldn’t push if Kanda didn’t want to tell him.
.
“The Yakuza who killed my parents gave it to me when I was ten,” Kanda said. “It means I belong to them. Or at least, that’s what they said.” He shook his head.
.
“I’m sorry, man. That sucks.” What do you say to that kind of thing?
.
“They haven’t found me yet,” Kanda said shrugging.
.
“That’s good, at least.”
.
“Good for now, but it’s still dangerous, that’s why I cover it,” Kanda said. “But you’re marked too. Surely you know something of what I mean.” He glanced over at Gojyo, tracing his fingers along his own cheek to show what he meant.
.
Gojyo’s eyes widened briefly before he sat up looking down at his hands. His hair fell forward like a curtain. He guessed it was only fair for Kanda to ask. “Heh, yeah. I, uh, was twelve. And I’m not sure what set her- uh, the fight off but I got clawed.”
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“Honestly, some people need to learn proper hygiene,” Kanda muttered. “Clawed? Seriously? No one should have claws.”
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“Yeah well, Jien tries makes sure to keep her nails short now.”
.
“Feisty little sister?”
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Gojyo looked at him in confusion. “What? No, I don’t have-” Then it hit him. “Shit.” Fuck.
.
“Feisty little brother?” Kanda teased, choosing to ignore the fact that Gojyo seemed to have slipped up about something. He’d done it, and he knew that it was never fun when someone pried.
.
Shitfuck, what was he going to tell him. Could he lie and say a pet? No. He already told Kanda he didn’t have any. Goddamn. He really didn’t want to open this can of worms. Maybe he could just, “No, Jien’s my only brother.”
.
“Sounds like a good guy,” Kanda said. “You speak of him fondly. More fondly than I even spoke of my own sister anyway. But she rarely had anything good to say about me either.”
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“Yeah,” Gojyo smiled, relieved for the topic shift. “He’s basically raised me.”
.
“Sounds nice,” Kanda said. “I always wondered what it was like to have an older brother. Marie and Daisya don’t really count. Neither did Alma.”
.
“Alma?” he had heard of and met one of the other two, but this was a new name.
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“My friend,” Kanda said. “Or, he was before he got pancaked by a delivery truck.”
.
“The fuck?!” Gojyo mentally did a double take on that one.
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Kanda shrugged. “It’s easier to pretend I don’t care,” he said. “He was a persistent little shit. I hated him so much when we first met. He saved my life more than once though.”
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Gojyo really didn’t know what to say at all, so he just nodded, understandingly.
.
“Sometimes it’s hard to believe he’s dead,” Kanda muttered. “He was so strong. When I was six he had to dive almost twenty feet to haul me to the surface. I actually died that time, but the idiot had watched so many hero movies that he managed to get my heart beating again. We called it a miracle for the longest time, but miracle or not, I never went swimming again.” He slouched, tipping his head back against the back of the couch.
.
Damn, this poor kid. After a moment of consideration Gojyo spoke. “I was almost drowned in a bath tub. That’s why I didn’t want to swim.”
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“What kind of idiot drowns in a bathtub?” Kanda asked, raising an eyebrow. “Did you fall asleep?”
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“No! And it’s not like I was trying to drown,” he said sulking.
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“Very few try to drown,” Kanda said. “Even I wasn’t trying.”
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“Yeah, it wasn’t something I wanted to repeat. Next time I see Xian I’m so kicking his ass.”
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“Use a stick,” Kanda said.
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“Nah, I’m pretty sure I’m just going to hit him in his smug-ass face.”
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“May I bring a camera?” Kanda asked honestly.
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“Be my guest.”
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“I intend to,” Kanda said.
.
“That guy is such an ass. I’ve had a shit ton of run-ins with him. One time I was with Banri, who was talking a bunch of shit, and he ran off in the middle of the fight and left me to deal with Xian and his flock of morons.”
.
“That guy deserves another kick to the nuts,” Kanda grumbled. “And to be shaved bald, or publically humiliated… all three sound good, actually.”
.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak so high before. It was an improvement.”
.
“A couple more blows and he’ll be singing soprano for the rest of his life,” Kanda said with a smirk. “And no one will have to worry about him poisoning the gene pool either.”
.
“Kid, you’re scary as fuck, but I like you.”
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“How am I scary?” Kanda scoffed. “I just said that couple good kicks would leave him… infertile.”
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Gojyo just chuckled and shook his head. “Damn.”
.
“You can’t say you don’t think it’s a good idea,” Kanda said. “Think of the future. Do you really want your kids to deal with that fucker’s spawn?”
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“You’re probably right. He’d make a shit parent.”
.
“Agreed,” Kanda said. “His kids would be little shits too.”
.
“Meh, you don’t know that. It wouldn’t be his kid’s fault his dad was an idiot.”
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“Fair enough, but generally, at least when they’re younger, kids take after their parents,” Kanda said. “So they’d be little shits for a few years at least.”
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Gojyo just shrugged.
.
Kanda fell into a comfortable silence for a moment. He sighed, sitting up. “You know he drew us, right?
.
“What?”
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“Tiedoll,” Kanda said. “When we were asleep. He sketched it.”
.
“Well that’s not creepy at all.”
.
“Is it?” Kanda asked. “He’s been doing shit like that for as long as I’ve known him. It ceases to surprise me to the point where I know it’s happened even without seeing the drawing.”
.
“I dunno, it’s a little weird. Like someone watching you sleep.”
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“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Kanda said, shrugging.
Warnings: Potential seeming out of character-ness due to altered character back stories, High school AU
~*~
Project Arc
Part 2
~*~
Gojyo so did not want to be in school today. He didn’t want to be home either. He pulled his hood in closer as he slipped into class on time. Of course that’s probably because he skipped first block.
.
Kanda noticed Gojyo’s presence when he entered the classroom and shot the older boy a slight wave before taking his seat. Shěn Fu rambled on about how this was the last class period that had to work on their projects. Kanda rolled his eyes and waited for her to dismiss them before moving to sit beside Gojyo like always.
“Yo,” Kanda greeted, pulling out his notebook. “What’s with the hood, man? Bad hair day?”
.
“My hair is always great,” he shot back but it was halfhearted. He was however sporting a good black eye and busted lip.
.
“You have a strange definition of great,” Kanda scoffed quietly, smirking. “Come on, let’s fine tune our speeches so we aren’t stumbling over the words tomorrow.”
.
“’Kay,” he dragged out his notebook.
.
Kanda paused, glancing at Gojyo. “You okay? You seem a bit out of it,” Kanda said. “You didn’t get sick from walking home last night, did you?”
.
“Nah, I’m fantastic” though he really didn’t sound it.
.
“If you say so,” Kanda said hesitantly. “Don’t push yourself, okay?”
.
“I said I’m good didn’t I?” he snapped defensively.
.
“Did I say I believed you?” Kanda asked.
.
“Whatever. Let’s just work on the stupid project.”
.
“Yeah, sure,” Kanda agreed. He flipped his notebook open to the page he’d scrawled most of his speech in the day prior, looking it over carefully.
.
Gojyo didn’t speak much during class beyond what was necessary for tweaking their speeches.
.
"Are you free this afternoon?" Kanda asked as class came to a close.
.
He hesitated for a second, “Um, yeah.”
.
"Good. We can hit the library for a few hours to put the poster together," Kanda said.
.
Gojyo inwardly sighed with relief. No awkward questions. “Alright, see you then.”
.
"See you then," Kanda agreed.
~*~
Gojyo spent the rest of the day either cutting class, entering late, or skipping out early. He was on the table outside when school ended.
.
Kanda wished his day could have gone so smoothly. Half way through fifth block, some girl started shrieking about some bug at the back of the classroom. She hadn’t shut up for nearly twenty minutes after it had been killed, and Kanda’s head was pounding. He was more grateful than ever that he was going to the library where it was going to be quiet.
When school let out, Kanda found Gojyo sitting on the table they’d met at the past two days. “Let’s go,” he grumbled, raising a hand to massage at his temple.
.
Gojyo slipped off the table and followed without complaint. The sooner this project was over the better.
.
The library was blessedly quiet when they arrived and Kanda immediately commandeered one of the large study tables in a back corner, dropping his bag onto a chair. He dropped a rolled up poster board onto the table, quickly removing the elastic and spreading the poster board flat, flipping it over so it would stay that way.
.
“So what’s left?” Gojyo asked setting down his backpack and pushing back his hood.
.
“Pasting on the portraits and writing brief descriptions,” Kanda said quietly, fetching his notebook and drawings.
.
“I’m guessing you glue and I write?” he whispered back.
.
Kanda nodded, wincing when it sent a spike of pain through his head, and mumbled a quiet “yeah” before hunting through his bag for a stick of glue.
.
Gojyo pulled out a pen to start writing. He bit his lip out of habit, forgetting it was split until he was painfully reminded.
.
Kanda glanced up when Gojyo hissed, seeing the black eye and split lip for the first time. He raised an eyebrow but said nothing, shoving his arm further into his bag and finally coming up with the glue stick.
.
“What am I writing? Just basic descriptions or what?” He asked as Kanda finally found the glue stick.
.
“Basic descriptions should do,” Kanda said. “We’re telling them the rest anyway… not that they didn’t read the book too.”
.
“’Kay,” he replied as he tucked a loose hair behind his ear. He didn’t have the customary half ponytail he usually sported so everything fell in front of his face. His face ached and the dull headache that had been quiet but persistent flared up again.
.
Kanda regarded Gojyo out of the corner of his eye as he pulled the cover off the glue. After a moment’s contemplation, Kanda put the glue down with a sharp click and pulled a spare hair elastic from his wrist, flicking it at Gojyo’s hand.
.
Gojyo looked at his hand when the elastic hit his hand. “Thanks,” and tied back everything but his bangs, which still hung forward.
.
“It looked like it was bugging you,” Kanda muttered, setting about smearing glue on the back of one of the portraits.
.
“Think this’ll do?” he said pointing to the first description.
.
Kanda leaned over and read the description. After a moment he half nodded, going back to the portrait. “Yeah, that’s good.”
.
Gojyo nodded and turned back, doing the rest of them.
.
Kanda picked up the portrait he’d been gluing, glancing at it. He muttered a curse when he realized it wasn’t the one Gojyo had just written a description for. Or the one for the description being written. “Fuck.”
He set the glued portrait aside and shuffled through the rest, finding the one that matched the first one and setting about gluing it.
.
“That one’s here,” he said pointing to the description he just finished. He only had a couple more left to write.
.
Kanda glanced over. “Fucking hell,” he muttered. He picked up the first portrait he’d glued, poking at the glue and grumbling wordlessly when the glue revealed itself to be mostly dry. Not something he could use at any rate. “Stupid fucking glue drying so damn fucking fast,” Kanda muttered.
.
Gojyo smirked briefly at Kanda’s grumbling. “What else now?” he asked as he finished the last description.
.
“I don’t know,” Kanda muttered. “Is there anything else to do? I can’t remember what that old bat said anymore.”
.
“I don’t remember anything else. Looks pretty good, huh?” he said, looking over the poster.
.
“It looks boring as fuck,” Kanda said. “But it looks complete so I don’t really care.”
.
“We’re done. Huh, didn’t think we’d do it.”
.
“Hn, I’d noticed,” Kanda said, teasing slightly. “You seemed convinced I was going to do it all at the beginning there.”
.
“Meh, projects aren’t really my thing,” he answered flippantly.
.
“Projects aren’t anyone’s thing,” Kanda grumbled. “Anyone who enjoys projects is either a teacher’s pet or a demon. Those are the only two options.”
.
“Damn straight. Now we just gotta present the thing right?”
.
“Indeed,” Kanda said. “One more day and this bullshit project is over.”
.
“Yeah,” Gojyo said though in truth the project hadn’t been too bad. Well at least he had a good partner.
.
“Tiedoll wants to do a celebratory dinner tomorrow night,” Kanda said after a moment of awkward-ish silence. “Something about having finished the first major project of the year and that being something to celebrate. Either way, you’re invited.”
.
“Oh,” he said a little surprised. “Um, yeah. Sure,” he said giving a smaller version of his usual grin.
.
“I’ll let him know,” Kanda said, snapping the cover onto his glue. “Do you want me to hold onto the poster or…?
.
“Yeah, do you mind?” He didn’t want something to happen to it before they got to present it.
.
“It’s no problem,” Kanda said.
.
“Thanks.”
.
“Like I said, no problem,” Kanda muttered. He carefully rolled the poster back up, rolling the elastic back onto it.
.
“’Kay then. ‘Should probably go then.” He started to pick up his bag, and then paused. “Oh, before I forget,” he pulled the elastic out of his hair and held it out to Kanda, “Thanks.”
.
“You could keep it, you know,” Kanda said, holding out his hand for Gojyo to drop it if he chose to. “I’ve got extras back at the apartment.”
.
“Oh. Okay then,” he said and slipped it onto his wrist.
.
“See you tomorrow then?” Kanda asked.
.
“Yup,” he smiled, though it was more like a small pull on one side of his lips. He was already patting down his pockets for his smokes.
.
“You are going to kill yourself with those things,” Kanda muttered, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.
.
“Yeah, yeah,” Gojyo said, waving a hand.
.
“Bye,” Kanda said, waving in return.
~*~
Gojyo made it a point to actually get to class on time. They had a project to present. He still wore his hair down to try to somewhat hide the black eye.
.
Kanda didn’t bother going to his own seat when he got to class, heading straight for the one he would be commandeering within minutes of the class’s start. He dropped into the seat, tossing the backpack of the person who usually sat there to said person when they turned around to yell at him for stealing their seat. Other than that, Kanda ignored them, unrolling the poster and flattening it out on his commandeered desk, and making sure that all the portraits were still attached.
“Oh, you forgot to put your name on it,” Kanda said, turning to Gojyo.
.
“Hey,” Gojyo greeted. He pulled a pen and wrote his name next to Kanda’s.
.
“Hey,” Kanda greeted in return.
.
“You ready to get up there?”
.
“What’s there to be ready for?” Kanda asked, raising an eyebrow. “We have notes, and we’re just talking at people. Is there something to be ready for?”
.
“I dunno, some people get nervous or some shit.” If Gojyo were honest with himself he was a little nervous himself. He liked talking to people but getting up in front to present was another matter.
.
“Tiedoll always says to pretend they’re in their underwear.” Kanda said. “Personally, I prefer to pretend they’re dead.”
.
“Damn.” Gojyo just looked at Kanda.
.
“The dead don’t talk, nor do they care,” Kanda said. “Similarly, our classmates do not care all that much about anything we’ll be saying. Pretending they are dead is easy.”
.
Yup, his original thought that Kanda was creepy was accurate. “I just don’t want to go first.”
.
“We won’t,” Kanda said. “We’re sitting in the back and she always goes for the front first.”
.
“Perfect.” He lay forward, resting his chin on his crossed arms.
.
“It could be worse,” Kanda said.
.
“Oh?”
.
“You could have been stuck with that one,” Kanda said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder at an insanely greasy looking boy across the room, his clothes stained with food and crumbs clinging to his lips. “He wouldn’t have done a lick of work, and any work that did get done would be covered in greasy fingerprints.”
.
Gojyo grimaced. “Point taken.”
.
Shortly thereafter, Shěn Fu started the class, calling one of the groups towards the front of the room to the front to present. Kanda slumped in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest as he settled in to listen to his classmates blather on about whatever they’d done their projects on.
Halfway through the first presentation, Kanda pulled out his notebook and started taking notes.
.
Gojyo zoned out about 30 seconds into the first project thinking about what the girl in front of him would be like in bed.
.
Five groups later, Kanda’s hand was beginning to cramp from taking so many notes. He was almost grateful that Shěn Fu called him and Gojyo up next. He dropped his pen and picked up the poster. “We’re up,” Kanda said, kicking Gojyo’s chair lightly as he headed for the front of the class.
.
“Yeah, yeah I heard,” though in truth he didn’t notice. He walked up behind Kanda. When he got to the front he cocked his head just slightly so that his hair would fall and cover most of his black eye.
.
Kanda turned his back to the blackboard, ignoring everyone in front of him and looking out towards the back wall. He handed one corner of the poster to Gojyo and pulled out his note cards. After a moment’s hesitation where he reread his notes, Kanda started the presentation, reading out what they’d decided to say on the topic of Jack. And then Simon, and so on.
.
When Kanda finished, Gojyo took the rest of the notecards from Kanda and presented his part. Though he would never admit it, he was glad they put all the time into preparing this because it was so much easier than bullshitting.
.
As soon as Gojyo finished his bit, Kanda headed back towards their seats. Shěn Fu was already calling up the next group and Kanda really couldn’t care less to stand before so many people who honestly didn’t give a fuck. He wasn’t sure if it would be worse if they did care though.
.
As soon as they took their seats, Gojyo leaned over and whispered, “Dude, we’re finally fucking done!”
.
“Thank god,” Kanda mumbled. “That book was so fucking annoying.”
.
They only had to sit through one more project. Gojyo watched the clock.
.
Kanda rolled his eyes when he noticed Gojyo watching the clock, focusing on the presentation and taking notes. The second he was informed that he didn’t need to ever say anything on that god damn book again, he was having a fucking bon fire.
.
Finally the bell rang and they were free. All they had to do was turn in their papers at the front of the class. Gojyo had actually finished the paper this time and had something to turn in…on time.
.
Kanda pulled out his essay, stuffing his notebook into his bag. He slung the bag over his shoulder and grabbed the poster, heading for the teacher’s desk. He handed both over, with their notecards and headed for the door. He waited just outside the door, falling into step beside Gojyo when the older boy exited the room.
.
Gojyo was in a pretty good mood. The project was done, the essay was in, he actually did both and that meant he wouldn’t automatically get an F. He was pleased. He slung his arm loosely around Kanda’s shoulders. “We don’t ever have to see Lord of the Flies again!”
.
“Thank God,” Kanda muttered. “I’m burning everything.” He didn’t bother with elbowing Gojyo in the ribs this time, or even trying to shrug out from under his arm. Celebration was to be had, at least for the day, and Kanda would never admit, but the human contact was something he had missed.
.
“You got class?” Gojyo asked. He did but he wasn’t interested in going really. Regardless he was headed out back first.
.
“Technically,” Kanda said. “But fuck if I’m going.”
.
“You cutting class? Mind if I come with?”
.
“Suit yourself,” Kanda said. “I am having a bonfire and killing some trees.”
.
“Cool, lead the way.” Gojyo unslung his arm to rifle through his pockets while they walked.
.
“If you tag along, I’m borrowing that lighter of yours,” Kanda said. That being said, in the chaos of changing classes, Kanda slipped out a side door and booked it for the woods out back. When no one was yelling by the time he reached the trees, he knew he’d made it home free.
.
“Where are we headed?” he asked around the cigarette he was lighting when the stopped.
.
“Don’t know,” Kanda said, shrugging. “Don’t spend much time skipping class.”
.
“Well you’re in luck, I know these woods pretty good. There’s a great spot not too far from here if you wanna burn something.”
.
“Sounds good,” Kanda said. “Lead the way.”
.
And Gojyo did. After a few moments of silence he started to go on about some of the great places you could hang out in these woods where no one could find you. Where had the best climbing trees, which places had the best views, the best breezes, and the places to avoid if you didn’t want to walk in on people getting it on.
.
Kanda listened to Gojyo talk, noting everything that was being said. Kanda had to admit, Gojyo was really notable on the subject of where to hang out in the woods. That aside, Kanda didn’t think he’d heard Gojyo say so much on one subject willingly in all of the times they’d hung out… if you could call working on a project hanging out. Kanda shook his head.
.
“Here it is.” Gojyo stopped in a little clearing where there was decent sized fire pit and a couple of logs resting in a haphazard circle.
.
“Is this a campsite?” Kanda asked, moving to the fire pit. He dropped his backpack and pulled out his notebook. He flipped the notebook open and ripped out all of his notes, even the ones he had taken that day.
.
“I guess, but it’s more of a place people come to get high or drunk. Or both.” Gojyo shrugged. He had been out here once or twice himself, though only as a tag along with Banri.
.
“Humans,” Kanda muttered. He crumpled two pages of his notes and tossed them into the fire pit. After that he scrounged around for some sticks.
.
Gojyo looked around for some sticks too, and a few dry leaves. He tossed them in the pit. “Lighter?” he said holding it out.
.
“Thanks,” Kanda said, grabbing the lighter and flicking it open. He flicked it a few times, failing to light it.
.
“Want me to do it?”
.
“Sure,” Kanda said. He flicked the lighter closed and tossed it back to Gojyo, moving out of the way.
.
Gojyo crouched down and flicked the lighter with practiced ease and soon had a small fire going. He stood back up and slipped the lighter in his pocket. “I think I have a few years on you in practice.”
.
“I don’t set fires often,” Kanda said.
.
Soon the fire caught all the sticks and dry leaves, making the already warm day hotter. “I’m so glad to be done with this shit.” Gojyo shrugged off his jacket. Kanda had yet to say anything about his face so he figured he probably wouldn’t ask questions. His arms had a few more fresh bruises and a few shallow scratches but nothing too serious.
.
Kanda crouched by the fire, feeding it pages of paper one at a time. It didn’t take him long to burn every last note on the subject, and Kanda was almost tempted to toss the book in, fines be damned. He didn’t though, standing from his crouch and taking up his katana.
“I agree entirely,” Kanda said. He drew Mugen and dropped the sheath next to his bag. He circled the blade with a practiced ease, spinning lightly on the balls of his feet and slicing through a small sapling at the edge of the clearing.
After the first tree fell, Kanda fell into an easy dance around the circumference, slicing through the thinner trees and taking branches off the older ones. When he got back to where he started, Kanda stopped.
.
Gojyo was impressed. “You’re pretty good with that.”
.
“I would hope,” Kanda said. “I’ve been training to use it since I could walk pretty much. Had to carry on the family legacy and what-not. Guess I don’t have to worry about that anymore.” Kanda moved back towards the fire that was dying out quickly since it had been mostly paper, sheathing Mugen.
“But on the bright side, it makes you look like a badass.”
.
“I’m not a badass,” Kanda said. “You look more like a badass than me. At least your scrawny ass has some muscle tone.”
.
“Meh, I just spend a lot of time running dodging. I couldn’t do any of that,” he said gesturing to the felled trees.
.
“It’s hard to fell a tree with one’s bare hands,” Kanda said. “Care for a spar?”
.
Gojyo considered for a moment how sore he was but figured fuck it. “Eh, sure why not?” he said standing and crushing his finished cigarette beneath his boot.
.
“You don’t have to, you know,” Kanda said. Despite that, He was already stripping his shirt over his head so that the only thing he was wearing on his torso were the bandages he used to hide his tattoo. “Ready when you are,” he said as he tossed his shirt onto his bag.
.
Not one to be outdone, Gojyo stripped his tank top as well. He had a few other good bruises there too. “Bring it.”
.
Kanda grinned, bringing his hands up. He started circling, keeping light on his feet and waiting for Gojyo to join him.
.
Gojyo followed suit, bringing his hands up.
.
“Light contact only,” Kanda said. “I don’t particularly feel like breaking any ribs today.”
.
“You and I both,” Gojyo agreed.
.
Kanda’s grin grew wider, becoming slightly devious. He darted in, aiming a quick jab at Gojyo’s shoulder.
.
Gojyo moved forward but away from the jab and throwing his own.
.
Kanda blocked, aiming a light knife hand strike to Gojyo’s ribs, jumping back before Gojyo could retaliate.
.
Gojyo advanced with a kick, making sure to stop just shy of Kanda.
.
Kanda blocked the kick anyway, throwing one of his own that nearly managed to go over Gojyo’s head. He’d have to work on that.
.
Gojyo ducked under the kick and aimed a light jab at Kanda’s ribs.
.
“Not bad,” Kanda said, grinning. He took the jab to the ribs and Elbowed Gojyo lightly in the arm, jabbing his shoulder shortly after. As soon as his hand met Gojyo’s shoulder, he drew back and grabbed instead, pulling Gojyo into a round house knee to the gut, stopping just shy of actually making contact.
.
Gojyo’s heart lurched in anticipation of Kanda’s knee but breathe a quick inward sigh of relief when the blow didn’t fall. Gojyo grabbed the arm on his shoulder and used it to put Kanda in a loose arm bar.
.
Kanda folded his arm to break the arm bar, but he couldn’t quite pull his wrist free and ended up with his forearm pressed against Gojyo’s chest, his arm bent almost entirely so that they were standing exceedingly close together. “Well I could get out, but I’d be breaking the rules,” Kanda muttered, staring down at his tangled arm.
.
Gojyo smirked and let go, stepping back.
.
“That just feels like cheating,” Kanda said. He shook his head a moment later and looking back up at Gojyo. “Again?”
.
“Nah, man.” As much as Gojyo would have loved another round, he was hurting. He was already sore and while Kanda’s hits had been light, they still hit some of the newer bruises. “I’m actually getting pretty hungry.”
.
“Okay,” Kanda said, shrugging. He moved back to his bag, pulling on his shirt again and grabbing both Mugen and said bag. He made to head out of the clearing before pausing. “You lead the way… I don’t actually know how to get back from here.”
.
Gojyo grabbed his shirt and slipped it back on. He also slipped his hoodie on. “This way,” he said heading back the way they came.
.
“Thanks,” Kanda muttered, trailing after Gojyo. Once they got out of the woods, he fell in step beside the redhead.
.
“So you just started here this year, right?”
.
“Yeah,” Kanda said. “We literally moved in the day before term started.”
.
“That’s rough. What’s the rest of the world like?”
.
“Depends on where you go,” Kanda said, shrugging. “Some places are nice, like Vienna where Marie lives. It’s kinda quiet and sometimes there’s music, but it’s not loud and obnoxious like it could be. Then there’s Portugal, where Daisya lives. He’s my other foster brother. It’s loud and crazy and there are people everywhere. It suits him well, but I’d rather not stay longer than a couple hours.”
.
“I could dig that. Though I would dig anywhere that’s not this backwater town.” He slung an arm over Kanda’s shoulder. “So what’s for dinner?”
.
“No idea,” Kanda said. “Tiedoll said he was going to pick up things from the market so everything would be fresh.”
.
“Huh. I’m so glad this project is done,” he said, linking his hands behind his head.
.
“Agreed,” Kanda said. “I can’t believe that woman gave us so much work simultaneously.”
.
“Thanks, dude,” Gojyo said seriously, glancing over at Kanda. “I probably wouldn’t have done it so… yeah.”
.
“Well I couldn’t have gotten it done without you so…” Kanda trailed off, watching the street as he walked. “Thanks.”
.
They reached the tea shop, sparing them from the awkward moment that would have followed.
.
“You’re early,” Tiedoll said as they walked through the door, arms crossed. Kanda raised an eyebrow in confusion as he toed out of his shoes. “The school called, told me you weren’t there.”
“Yeah, I skipped out after the presentation,” Kanda said. Tiedoll sighed.
“Well I told them that I pulled you and Gojyo so that you both wouldn’t get in trouble for not being there,” he said.
“Thanks,” Kanda said.
.
“Thanks,” Gojyo said as he took off his boots. He was pretty sure the school had given up calling home for him in Middle School, but at least now he wouldn’t be marked as skipping class.
.
“You’re welcome,” Tiedoll said. He shook his head. “You boys can hang out or do something. Dinner won’t be ready for a couple hours yet. There are onigiri in the fridge.”
.
When Tiedoll left, Gojyo looked over at Kanda. “What do you want to do?”
.
“I have no idea,” Kanda said. “My idea of an afternoon after school doesn’t exactly sound like something you’d be interested in."
.
“Why? What do you usually do?”
.
"Meditate."
.
“Yeah… got any cards?”
.
“Somewhere,” Kanda said. He tossed his bag by the couch, tossing his sword onto it before moving to the side table, pulling out the drawer and searching around inside. He came up with a deck of decorative cards bound with red ribbon a moment later. “Here.” He tossed them to Gojyo.
.
“Nice cards,” Gojyo said as he untied the ribbon and taking a seat on the floor in front of the coffee table. “Ever play poker?”
.
“No,” Kanda said, nudging his bag out of the way with his foot and sitting down.
.
“Okay then, so here’s how it works. You get five cards and then you look through your hand to see what you have and you try to make groups like a flush, royal flush, straight, straight flush, four of a kind, and so on. If you have nothing in your hand you can swap out one to five cards and then you bet. Each person goes until they call a bluff, no one wants to bet any more, or everyone folds. Whoever is left or has the highest hand wins.”
.
“None of what you just said made any sense,” Kanda said.
.
“A flush is all the same suit. Royal flush is with face cards. Straight is a run so like 12345 or 56789 or 23456, you get it, Full house is three of a kind and two of a kind. So like, a royal flush beats a straight flush. Then four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pairs, one pair, and then highest card. Get it?”
.
“Maybe,” Kanda said. “Deal the cards and we’ll find out.”
.
Gojyo shuffled the cards and dealt five each. In his hand he had a 4, 5, 7, Ace, and 2 in several suits.
.
Kanda picked up his cards and found he had a king, a jack, a seven, a three, and a two.
.
Gojyo put down the seven and picked up a four. Shit. Not letting that show he asked Kanda how many cards he wanted.
.
“Three,” Kanda said, putting down all his non-face cards face down.
.
Gojyo gave him three cards off the top of the stack. “Now usually we would start betting here, and try to figure out if the other is bluffing or actually has a good hand.”
.
“I assume you’re leaving that out because I’ve never played before,” Kanda said, picking up his three new cards. A queen, a nine, and a two. Unfortunately, his face cards were all different suits, and he frowned. That probably meant they didn’t count.
.
“I mean, I can tell right now you have a shit hand, but yeah. Ready to show your cards?”
.
“Yeah, whatever,” Kanda said. He placed his cards down, face up.
.
Gojyo set down his. He only had a pair. “Mine’s not much better.”
.
“Go again?” Kanda asked, pushing his cards into the middle of the table.
.
“Yeah,” he said smiling as he shuffled and dealt five more cards.
~*~
“Dinner’s ready,” Tiedoll called cheerfully. Kanda huffed gratefully, slapping his cards down. He was grateful they weren’t playing for anything, because he would have been losing badly.
.
Gojyo liked playing with Kanda, even though the kid sucked. He followed Kanda into the kitchen.
.
“Take whatever you want,” Tiedoll said, gesturing to the table laden with far too much food for three people. “We’ve got teriyaki chicken, fried rice, plain rice, calamari, and lotus root tempura.”
.
Gojyo took a serving of everything. As always, it was amazing!
.
“You made too much,” Kanda said, dishing fried rice and lotus root tempura onto his plate. Tiedoll ignored him and his subsequent complaints when he put a piece of chicken on Kanda’s plate.
“You need the protein,” Tiedoll said. Kanda rolled his eyes and started eating, steadfastly ignoring the chicken.
.
“Thanks for having me over again.”
.
“It’s good to have you,” Tiedoll said, smiling at Gojyo as he served himself. “I’m always glad to have friends of Kanda’s over.”
.
Gojyo gave his usual lopsided grin. He liked it here. Despite what Kanda complained about, he would give anything to live like this. He was worried that at some point the town gossip would catch up with him and they wouldn’t want him over anymore. It always happened eventually, but for right now, he just dug back into his food.
.
Kanda ate in silence, content to say nothing. Tiedoll was not so content with the silence. “So, what did you boys do today when you weren’t in school?” Tiedoll asked.
.
Gojyo looked over at Kanda, “Eh, just walked around mostly.”
.
“Fair enough,” Kanda said. “Though we stopped to burn my notes.”
“Burn your notes?” Tiedoll asked.
“It’s not like I was going to need them again,” Kanda said, shrugging.
“I remember when you used to just turn your old notes into paper cranes,” Tiedoll sighed. “What happened to that boy?”
“You brought me to Portugal,” Kanda scoffed.
“I thought you liked it there,” Tiedoll said.
“Yes, I loved being dragged into dingy alleys by the other boys and beaten like a dog, it was fantastic,” Kanda said.
“So that’s why they all started avoiding you,” Tiedoll muttered. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you carry Mugen around. You didn’t stab anyone, did you?”
“Not too much,” Kanda said.
.
Gojyo just looked at Kanda. “Damn.” He was really glad he was on Kanda’s good side.
.
“What?” Kanda asked. “They were trying to beat me up, and they screamed like little girls. It was kind of funny.”
.
At that Gojyo just kinda shrugged. “Fair enough.”
.
“Kanda!” Tiedoll exclaimed. “You should know better. Stabbing people is mean.”
“Mean?” Kanda asked, laughing. “Wow… I thought you had a larger vocabulary.”
.
“I mean, nothing stops you from fighting back like the other guy having something bigger than a knife.”
.
“You would think,” Kanda said. “They weren’t very bright.”
.
“Wait, they came back for more? Morons.”
.
“Oh yeah,” Kanda said. “And always with more people, like they thought that would change anything.”
“It did, if I recall,” Tiedoll said. “You came home more and more bruised the longer we stayed.”
“Yes, but I still walked away.”
.
“I think if you can get up and walk away after getting your ass handed to you, you’re still okay. It’s when you can’t that you’re in trouble.”
.
“Getting up isn’t hard,” Kanda said. “It’s staying up.”
.
Gojyo nodded. “Yeah, that’s true.”
They finished dinner and it was starting to get late and Jien would be home soon. “Hey, I gotta head out. Jien’s gunna be home soon.”
.
“I hope you get home safe,” Tiedoll said.
“See you tomorrow,” Kanda said, standing from the table.
