Chapter Text
"Not a single word other than please take out the trashes before you leave", Kaito said as he looked down at the table.
Him, Gakupo and Kiyoteru were taking a well-needed coffee-break after work after an energy-draining day. Taking care of students and clients when suffering from a heavy head ache and insomnia combined with the sour mood of angry significant others was an almost inhuman task and Kiyoteru felt beyond grateful now that all he had to put up with so far was Luka's 'I told you so'-grin.
"Ah", Gakupo nodded, "silent treatment?" he muttered, "at least 'please take out the trashes' is something. Spending the morning with Akita Neru has been nerv-wrecking to say the least".
Kiyoteru starred at the purple haired man. When you compared someone or even something, even a frozen lake to Akita Neru something was definitely wrong. Beyond terribly wrong. Kiyoteru very much doubted that this girl had any feelings that went beyond her cellphone and if she indeed was capable of smiling, those muscles at the corners of her lips probably had so little exercise that said smile would drop within a second. If Kiyoteru seriously had to spend one morning in his life with her he wasn't sure if he'd ever manage to rinse himself clean of the dark rank energy that emanated from her entire being.
"Really?" Kaito's eyes widened, a slight frown on his face.
"Yeah", Gakupo sighed, "Hio has ignored me the entire morning in favor of that cellphone he doesn't even like and whenever he looks at me it's as though I've just skinny-dipped in a public pool".
Kaito and Kiyoteru exchanged a silent gaze. Kiyoteru may not know Gakupo's boyfriend all that well but he knew him well enough from all the things Gakupo had told him to know that Hio was practically allergic to the whole skinny-dipping thing as it was so if he further more mentioned a public pool...
"Oh dear!" Kaito let out a low whistle, frown getting even heavier, "someone's really not happy with you".
"No need to tell me", Gakupo sighed, "this evening is going to be the longest one in my life".
"Mine to", Kaito gave a possibly even louder sigh, a miserable expression on his otherwise so radiant face, "Mei-chan's already told me that she's cooking carrot-gratin for dinner".
Kiyoteru drew a deep breath. If there was anything Kaito hated it was gratin and if it was anything he possibly hated more than gratin it was carrot and if there was possibly anything he hated more than gratin and carrot it would be a combination of both.
"Damn", Gakupo let out a low whistle, "someone's really not happy with you".
"No need, to tell me twice", Kaito sighed, "that. And she's told me that she's moved the ice-cream and she won't tell me where".
"Oh", Gakupo looked at his friend, eyes wide open and a frown on his face.
"Yup", Kaito nodded.
As the company fell silent Kiyoteru couldn't help but think that having someone make fun of you for an unlimited amount of time was way better than living with another version of Akita Neru or have a significant other who apparently tried to poison you.
"What's up?" The three men turned around as they heard the familiar deep voice. The oldest Shion-brother Akaito was standing on Kiyoteru's side of the table, hand raised in a casual wave.
"Terrible", Kaito hung down with his head.
"Why?" Akaito frowned slightly.
Gakupo looked up at the red head with badly hidden thoughts of murder.
"If you must know", he muttered, "we made the dumbest mistake of our lives and now our partners hates us".
"Huh?" Akaito raised an eyebrow seemingly not bugged in the slightest by the samurai's hostile attitude.
"Yeah", Kaito gave his older brother a miserable look, "you're totally going to laugh but we..."
Akaito's eyes widened slightly, one of his eyebrows raised before he sat down next to the blue-haired man, once again seemingly not bothered in the slightest by the fact that Gakupo sent him looks that if looks could kill would have made him self-combust 50 times over by now.
"Now you have to tell me", an amused half smile on the older Shion brother's face.
"Well...", Kaito started hesitantly, "we really didn't plan to but we..."
"We..?" Akaito gave his brother a teasing smile.
"We...", Kaito gazed helplessly at his friends for support.
"Kind of got high on a shitload of magic mushrooms!" Gakupo snapped all of a sudden, grey eyes glaring murderously at Akaito, "you happy?"
Kiyoteru starred at Gakupo in silence. It wasn't often Gakupo used curse words since his traditional background made a point of behaving with dignity even when on a massive killingspree so if he used words like 'shitload' he had indeed been provoked 'a huge fucking lot' to follow the spirit of bad language.
Akaito's eyes widened.
"What?" he starred at the samurai as though he'd just said that dragons existed.
Gakupo's gaze was practically annihilating as he looked back at the other man. "I said we got high on a shitload of...", Gakupo started.
"Yeah", Akaito frowned, "I heard that but I just meant... really? The 3 of you?" he raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Yeah", Kaito said in a distraught voice, blue eyes looking melancholically at his coffee-cup, "the 3 of us".
Akaito sat quietly as he looked at the 3 men one after one, as though he was trying to determine if they were actually them or some kind of mysterious clones from another dimension.
"Well, I'll be damned!" the red-haired man's face split up into a wide smirk, "and here I thought I'd experienced everything".
"I bet you have", Gakupo said with a look that made Kiyoteru REALLY glad that there were no sharp objects around, "you've probably tested every damn drug in existence by now so you shouldn't be one to talk".
"And I'm not talking", Akaito shrugged his shoulders once again completely unaffected by the samurai's murderous intentions, "I wouldn't say that I've tried aaaall drugs in existence but well... most certainly more than you. Anyway, so I'm guessing your better halves all put a prize on your heads by now".
"Even worse", Kaito gave his brother a forlorn look, "she's making carrot-gratin for dinner and has stashed away all the ice-cream".
"And Hio?" Akaito raised an eyebrow as his gaze turned towards the samurai, "I can't imagine him letting you get away unscathed".
"Not that I want to make your day or anything", Gakupo muttered as his gaze practically burnt holes through the red-haired man, "but as of current he loves even that cellphone he constantly complains about more than me".
Kiyoteru frowned as he looked between the two men. Whatever the deal was between these two he had no idea and most certainly didn't want to know either but it'd be really nice if they took their pissing-contest, in lack of a better word elsewhere.
"And Luka?" Akaito's voice interrupted Kiyoteru's thoughts, "does she want to chew your head off?"
"Oh", Kiyoteru's eyes widened as he tried to come up with an appropriate answer.
Luka didn't really seem to feel like chewing his head off at all even though she practically chewed his pride into pieces with her smirks and untold 'I told you so's` but for the sake of sympathy it might not be something he wanted to say in front of Kaito and Gakupo.
"Oh", he said, attempting his very best to sound convincing, "she's really mad. Absolutely furious and she says that...", Kiyoteru stopped as he tried to think up a suitable lie, "in any case, she's just... really, really mad".
"Lucky you".
"What?" Kaito's voice was a high-pitched squeak as they all starred at the oldest Shion-brother.
"Lucky you", Akaito repeated again, a dead serious expression on his face, "the fact that they're obviously pissed proves that they care about you. If it was Neru she'd simply say 'smart move, genius' and go back to playing with her cellphone", the red haired man drew a resigned sigh, "you have no idea how lucky you are to be with people who actually gives a damn about what happens to you".
The expression on the red haired man´s face at that last sentence looked so dejected and worn that Kiyoteru almost felt bad for him. If he hadn't all of a sudden felt more bad for himself...
So Luka had laughed at him? Luka had LAUGHED at him!!! What was that telling him? That she didn't actually...
"Don't look so surprised guys", Akaito raised an eyebrow, "if they didn't care they wouldn't bother giving you any silent treatment to begin with".
"Um, yeah...", Kiyoteru nodded, a smile plastered to his face as he looked at the watch on his arm, in an expression that he hoped was at least relatively convincing, "oops, look at the time! Class is starting in 10 minutes". Without bothering to wait for any replies Kiyoteru rose from his chair and started running towards well... any other direction than here.
_._
"So you aren't mad?" Meiko looked skeptically at her friend from the other side of the table. Meiko and Luka were taking a well-needed coffee-break after an energy-draining day. Taking care of students and clients with a combination of insomnia and an incurable rage with your partner was an inhuman task and Luka was beyond grateful that all she had to deal with this morning was an endless amount of self-satisfaction over the fact that her boyfriend for once got to eat his own words.
"Nope", Luka smiled as she leaned back on her seat, taking another sip of her bubble-tea.
"Not even a little bit?" Meiko frowned as she examined her friend's face closely. "Not at all", Luka stated carelessly.
"But he just took an heavy amount of drugs from a stranger and ran into the park!" Meiko exclaimed, "anything could have happened".
"But it didn't", Luka smiled calmly, "and now I just know that he disliked it enough never to do it again", she took another sip of her bubble tea, "I'm sure it's the same with Kaito".
"I certainly hope so", Meiko muttered, a dark look on her face as she reached for her tea, "if carrot-gratin doesn't make a statement I don't know what will?"
"Carrot-gratin?" Luka raised an eyebrow, "you don't think you're being a little harsh now?"
"Nope", Meiko said matter of factually nose turned up, "if anything I'm being very reasonable. He hates carrot-gratin and I hate the fact that he got high last night", she shrugged her shoulders, "so it's all very fair. And just let me say that I'm hoping to only have to cook carrot-gratin once in my life".
"Oh trust me!" Luka made an ugly face, "you'll definitely only cook that once".
"I sure hope so", Meiko sighed, pausing for an instant as she looked into her tea-cup, "because it's a very hard dish to cook and furthermore...", now it was Meiko's turn to make a nauseous face, "it really tastes atrocious".
Another few minutes of silence as the two women looked at each. Just a slight tug at the corner of their mouths and then an unstoppable laughter escaped their lips.
_._
"So do you think we'll survive the day?" Gakupo had a gloomy look on his face as he looked over the green grass where he, Kiyoteru and Kaito had been running amok this night.
Kaito sighed.
"Well, apparently Mei-chan is trying to poison me", a most dejected expression on his face, "so please only remember the happy times when you think of me".
It had gone a few hours since their coffee-break and while Kiyoteru had long ago gone home Kaito and Gakupo's growing anxiety had ironically driven them to the place where it all actually started.
"Well, at the very least you'll die engaged", Gakupo muttered, "on my grave-stone it's going to say Kamui Gakupo 1990-2015 dumped over malfunctioning cellphone by boyfriend".
"Oh, no!" Kaito smiled carelessly, "Hio loves you! If you apologize properly and simply... let him be pissed off for a while I'm sure he'll come around". "Perhaps", Gakupo sighed, "I wouldn't bet on it though".
"Pfft!" Kaito snorted, "Hio; gets mad like no one else. Forgives like no one else. He's just like my brother Kikaito in that sense very intense in his emotions and I'm sure that he'll forgive you just as quickly as he got mad at you in the first place."
"Truly hope so", Gakupo mumbled as he looked ahead of him.
The two sat quietly for a minute pondering over their respective misfortunes before two blond figures walked their direction. One with her signature mischievous smile and the other with a more reserved one. Kaito and Gakupo immediately pasted the most carefree expressions they could come up with to their faces as the Kagamine-twins came walking towards them.
"Rin-chan, Len-kun!" Kaito grinned broadly as he looked up at the small figures, "wonderful weather we have, don't you think?"
"Hey", Gakupo greeted the twins with a nod and a soft smile of his own.
"Yes it is", Len smiled politely, "Kaito onii-chan, Gakupo onii-chan. Spring at its best".
"Gakupo onii-chan", the younger Kagamine-twin approached the purple-haired man with a smirk, a black object in her hand, "is this yours?"
Gakupo's eyes widened as he looked at the black shoe.
"Yeah it is", he said, "thanks. Where did you find that?"
Rin shrugged her shoulders as she reached over the retrieved object.
"Someone had buried it in the forrest", she said, "I have no idea who because I am the only one I know who would ever get such an idea because it wasn't me. This time", she added with a ingenious blink.
"As much as I'd like my sister to finally face the consequences of her behavior I can promise you that it wasn't", Len replied with a frown, "she's been in school all day".
But Gakupo didn't really listen. Damn it! Exactly what had he been doing in the forrest this night? He must have taken a lot more of that rubbish than he remembered.
"Damn it!" he exclaimed as he thought out loud, "how could I have...?"
"Have what?" Rin looked at the purple-haired man with a smirk, "offered your fancy label-shoe as sacrifice for a pair of fugly slippers".
"Rin", Len hissed as he gave his sister reproaching look.
But she was right! The slippers Gakupo wore couldn't be described by any other word than 'fugly'. Old and torn with unmovable stains and in a tone that practically yelled "I'm baby blue!".
While Gakupo couldn't do anything other than agree with Rin's statement they were unfortunately the only other pair he had that weren't made for extremely cold and bad weather and he now bitterly regretted not being the type of person to prioritize shoes. And who knew? Considering all the other things they'd apparently done last night maybe it wasn't so difficult to believe that he'd offered his shoe as sacrifice for whatever ridiculous purpose.
"Have let his brother get away with such a thing". Gakupo was awoken from his thoughts by Kaito replying in his place, a ridiculously large smile pasted to his face.
"What brother?" Rin frowned.
"Well...", Kaito looked nearly questioningly at Gakupo, "his younger brother who...", he frowned hesitantly, " tried to impersonate him?"
"Yeah", Gakupo nodded despite of the fact that he knew how dumb it was going to sound, "he ran into the forrest with my shoes and suit and well...", he shrugged his shoulders.
Rin grinned teasingly.
"So that's why you had to jump all the way home on one leg?"
"What?" Gakupo's voice almost went up in falsetto.
"Yeah", the younger Kagamine twin said calmly, "me and Len saw you outside our window last night. Why didn't Hio help you out?"
"Err...", Gakupo was too shocked to come up with an explanation. Damn it! How was he going to save this one?
"Because he had a backache", Kaito filled in again, that ridiculously exaggerated smile on his face, "so he isn't allowed to make any bigger physical efforts".
"Mhm", Rin smirked, "sure, whatever you say. Anyway", she shrugged her shoulders, "we have to get going or mum is going to personally come here and drag us home."
The older twin who looked as though he was about to sink 50 meters under ground smiled excusingly at the two men.
"Yeah", he said, "I'm afraid so. Well... have a nice evening". "Same to you", Kaito gave a laugh that definitely didn't sound altogether natural, "we'll see each other tomorrow".
"Bye bye!" Rin waved her hand casually, "and Gakupo onii-chan", her gaze lingered on the purple haired man's as she lowered her voice, "be careful with Hio-chan's back now", her face immediately split up in a teasing grin as she broke into a series of unstoppable giggles.
As Rin ran away in what seemed like the fastest sprint in history her brother looked apologetically at the samurai.
"Sorry", he mimed.
"No problem", Gakupo mimed back a kind smile on his face.
Len gave a quick nod as he as well turned around to catch up with his loudly laughing sister.
"Damn!" Kaito exclaimed as the twins were out of sight, a heavy frown on his face, "did he really make you walk all the way home with just that one shoe?"
"Yup", Gakupo sighed as he looked resignedly at the ground, "the entire 2 kilometers".
The two sat quietly for a moment before Kaito finally spoke again.
"I never thought I'd say this", he said, "but all of a sudden carrot-gratin doesn't sound so bad".
_._
"What more should I do?" Hio exclaimed as he looked between his two best friends with a troubled expression on his face, "I don't know if he gets it".
"Well", Maika shrugged her shoulders, "nothing says 'you totally, undeniably and superiorly sucks' like nearly throwing a shoe at someone's face, force them to jump all the way home on one leg and then ignore them the entire morning", she said matter of factually.
"Yeah", Roro said, not taking his eyes off the red game-boy in his hands, "I guess I would kinda figure I sucked if someone forced me to jump home in the very same shoe they threw at me".
Hio was taking a well-needed 1 hour-break to rant to his friends about his stupid boyfriend who totally, undeniably and superiorly sucked after an energy-draining day filled with headaches, insomnia and well... anger with his stupid boyfriend who totally, undeniably and superiorly sucked and if anyone asked, yes selling video-games to obnoxious kids had been an inhuman task and yes he may have purposely insulted them and said something in style with 'oh, your Sega isn't working, wow!!! We're all gonna die', made one of them run out crying and may or may not have gotten a warning from his boss.
"Yeah", Hio sighed, "but I have to show that I'm pissed off, don't I? I just don't know for how long".
Maika shrugged her shoulders again, not seeming the least troubled by Hio's dilemma.
"Once again", she said, "I think the shoe made all that pretty clear to him. Hey Roro!" she called out to the pink-haired man who now seemed completely absorbed by the virtual world in front of him,
"Are you done soon?" "Just a moment", Roro didn't take his eyes of the small screen of the red game-boy, "just reaching Lavender-town".
"I can hear that", Maika rolled her eyes, "I think half the town can hear that unless you lower the sound but can you please, just please let me have a go for a second or two?"
"Of course", Roro replied though the movements of his fingers made no indication of him stopping anytime soon, "just a mome..." Roro's sentence was cut short by a quickly darkening screen. "Hey! What did you do that for?" Roro's eyes shot open from their half-closed state to glare at the sweetly smiling blond in front of him.
"All that time and effort, Hio!" Maika complained as she glared accusingly at the third member of the company, "how could you?"
Hio shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know", he said calmly, "but somehow I think that my boyfriend doing drugs is a lot more important than putting stuffed animals in basketballs".
"They're not stuffed animals, they're godly...", the white-haired girl started before stopping herself, "okey, so it is still the whole 'how long should I punish Gakupo for sucking so hard'-deal we're speaking of right?" she said unenthusiastically, raising an eyebrow.
"That's what it's been about for the first 45 minutes", Roro raised an eyebrow of his own, "were you seriously expecting anything else?"
"I know", Maika frowned, "that was probably naive of me. In any case Hio", she looked calmly at the blond who now seemed practically ready to shut BOTH his friends into pockey-balls and throw them down a cliff, "he's said he's sorry right?"
"Yes", Hio snorted, the characteristic Hio-pout on his face, "about 40 or so times".
"He probably is", the white-haired girl shrugged her shoulders.
"Mhm!" was Hio's only reply as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Come on!" Maika exclaimed, "the guy is heartbroken. What more should he do to prove he's sorry? Crawl around town?"
"Or simply jump home on the other leg instead", Roro stated calmly.
"But I just don't know", Hio sighed, "this whole thing with being mad at Gakupo. I don't do it very often... I don't really know how to deal with it I guess". "So don't be mad at him then", Maika said carelessly as she shrugged her shoulders for the umpteenth time this day, "it's not as though he usually gives you a lot of reasons to be mad at him anyway".
For a moment the blond looked thoughtfully at his friend, almost for once seeming to reflect on her advice before his gaze immediately turned an entirely different direction.
"Hey Clara!" he called out as he waved at the black haired beauty who was just walking out of the coffee-shop.
"Hi!" the Spanish woman turned around to look at the three youths sitting on the bench, the reluctance reflected in her gaze of practically every normal person who had to deal with Hio on a bad day, "how's it going?"
"Good, mostly I guess", Hio looked thoughtfully at the slightly older woman, "but I have a question I've been thinking about for a while".
"Yeah", Roro gave the woman a knowing look before he said in a low voice, "for an entire 10 hours".
Hio only spent a few seconds on sending his friend the glare of the century before turning towards Clara who had now come to stand beside them.
"Yes?" Clara said with as polite a smile she could manage, "and what is that?"
"Well", Hio started, the same displeased look on his face that had been present the entire day as he once again pulled the story he'd already tortured Roro and Maika with 10 times in a row "to be honest Gakupo's been acting like a completely irresponsible, idiotic and immature jackass last night".
"Okey", Clara nodded but there was already a heavy frown on her face.
"He's been taking mushrooms", Hio continued, "a shitload of mushrooms to be honest and yes, he says he's sorry and he probably is but as you know...", Hio frowned, " I'm not used to being pissed off at him".
As she looked back at him the frown on Clara's forehead seemed to have spread across her entire face and turned it almost into a grimace of horror.
"Yeah, I know!" Hio exclaimed, "isn't that pretty much the most reckless thing ever. That's why", the blond's angry expression quickly turned into a sweet smile, "I wanted to ask you how long you think I should be mad at him".
Clara looked as though she was suffering from the headache of the century as she looked back at the young man.
"I mean", Hio continued with that sparkling smile on his face, "you and Bruno argue all the time, don't you?"
"What?" Clara's silent suffering immediately turned into shock as she glared in disbelief at him.
"Yes", Hio explained calmly, not an indication on his face that anything he said could be taken as offense, "you argue a lot and then you make up again. So maybe you know how to..."
"We don't argue all the time!" Clara protested all of a sudden, cheeks burning red and eyes glaring daggers, "we have...", she stopped herself for a moment, taking a few deep breaths as she looked for words, "... disagreements and that's perfectly normal. Any normal relationship should have proper arguments now and then."
Now it was Hio's turn to stare at the woman in stunned silence as his eyes widened.
"Yes!" Clara snapped out defensively, "it is perfectly normal. And besides", the woman's eyes darkened as she now seemed to speak to herself rather than Hio, "we wouldn't have all these arguments if Bruno actually started acting his age and stopped pulling jokes every time we're about to have a serious conversation or bring in all these CDs that he never listens to anyway", all of a sudden her angry glare turned towards the two other members of the company, "and what are you two looking at? Out of Super Nintendo games?"
"Nothing", Maika smiled dismissevly, hoping that her nervousness didn't shine through, "just trying to take it all in I guess..."
She was well aware that when the usually down to earth Clara managed in working herself into utter and complete rage anyone or anything in her path was as safe as a snowball in hell and she most certainly did not want to be that snowball.
"Well", Hio said out of seemingly nowhere, an unusually forced smile on his face, "I think I should be going now. Oliver is probably alone and well... nice meeting you".
And as Hio turned his back to flee the scene Maika thought of all the creative ways in which you could make someone's death look like an accident.
"So", she turned towards the furious woman with a possibly even more forced smile on her face than the stupid blond who may or may not be on her death-list right now, "do you play Pokemon?"
_._
Kaito looked in silence at the horrible sight on his plate. They had sat at the table for nearly an hour and so far he hadn't even managed in finishing half of the brown and orange sludge in front of him. Even though it was absolute horror to look at Kaito couldn't help but feel as though it wasn't half the horror it was looking into the cold brown eyes of the woman in front of him.
Meiko hadn't said a word during the entire dinner and terrified of what would happen if he did nor had Kaito. Nonetheless this silence was getting unbearable so Kaito decided to open his mouth.
"So how was your day?" Kaito already knew the answer but unfortunately it was the only thing he could think of right now which didn't involve him repeating how sorry he was for the umpteenth time today.
"Doable", the answer was short and sharp as her silent furious gaze practically looked through her fiancé.
Kaito didn't expect any longer response but nonetheless he chewed hard on his bottom-lip, stuck in the bad circle he'd put himself into.
Firmly Meiko brought the chopsticks to her mouth but as the food touched her tongue Kaito would be damned if what he saw wasn't a heavy grimace on her face. Deciding however that his survival was far more important than commenting on the obvious the blue haired man decided to for once in a while keep his mouth shut.
Focusing again on his half full plate Kaito tried his hardest not to look as his fiancé took yet another seemingly excruciatingly painful bite of her food but the outright nauseous look on her face turned out all short of impossible to ignore. As Meiko's nose crinkled into an unrecognizable state Kaito couldn't hold back the muffled little sounds coming out of his mouth.
Just as he suspected the small sounds immediately made his fiancée glare daggers his direction and Kaito immediately transformed his giggles into coughs which he hoped were convincing enough to help him escape becoming an ingredient in the next gruesome meal she cooked.
But as yet another bite turned her face into something frighteningly similar to a raisin Kaito could not contain himself any longer and the laughter he'd so desperately struggled to hold in flew out all over the place. It didn't matter how much Kaito tried to tell himself that staying alive was at least kinda important because somehow the furious offended look only seemed to contribute even more to the absurdity of the situation.
"What!" Meiko snapped finally, a look on her face which said that she'd blow smoke through her nostrils anytime.
Kaito had really wished he could say 'nothing' and explain the whole thing away with that he was in fact laughing at something silly the Kagamine-twins did today or some silly joke the guys at work told him but instead he couldn't say anything and every little syllable coming out of his mouth was at once choked by his traitorous laugh.
"You really don't like it", he said as he finally managed to form actual words, "you really don't like carrot gratin either".
As expected Meiko's glare only intensified as she fixated him with her dark eyes but somehow the glare wasn't as convincing as before. A moment that would have been silent agony to Kaito had he not been so absorbed by the absurdity of the situation before it tugged at the corners of his fiancées lips. Without having known how it happened Kaito watched the dark haired beauty break down in front of him, tears in her eyes and shoulders violently shaking with her laughter. The couple sat there for a while, no words needed as they released the tension of about 16 hours.
"Why would you do that?" Kaito smiled amusedly as they'd calmed down, "you're basically not only punishing me but yourself".
The glare was back on Meiko's face but was only a half hearted replica of what it'd once been.
"That's exactly how mad I was at you for what happened last night", she said.
"So mad that you were prepared to sacrifice your own wellbeing in the process of punishing me?" Kaito's smile turned into a full grin.
"Yes!" Meiko snapped definsively, "so?"
Kaito looked at her in silence for a while unreadable look on his face before speaking again.
"So basically you're saying that making sure I don't repeat the same mistake again was important enough to torture yourself with a meal you hate", he said.
"So?"
"Basically you're saying that you care more about my wellbeing than your own tastebuds".
Kaito could see that all familiar blush on his fiancées face and that growing fury in her eyes before she finally sighed something closely resembling a smile on her face.
"Yeah, something like that", she said.
Kaito smiled gently as he looked back at her. He guessed he'd somewhat suspected it the entire time but nonetheless he never got tired of hearing it. His fiancée was truly the best.
"You know what, darling?" he said as he met that now surprisingly gentle gaze, "as a compensation for not only being a complete jackass last night but also indirectly forcing you to spend hours on a dish you don't even like I'm treating you to dinner tonight".
Meiko sighed from her now full smile. "Sounds good", she said as she looked down at her plate, a nauseated expression on her face, "because I'm certainly never eating this again".
Kaito laughed softly.
"So where do you want to go?" he said.
"Surprise me", Meiko shrugged her shoulders, "one condition though", she gave her fiancé a warning glance, "no mushrooms".
"Okey", Kaito raised an eyebrow, "I admit I had that one coming but you've got it", he chuckled, "no mushrooms ever again".
"Let's not generalize though", Meiko interjected with a frown, "I use them a lot in my cooking so..."
"Yeah", Kaito waved his hands dissmissively, "just the magic ones. I know", he smiled as he placed he rose from his chair, "now, let's go before we starve to death".
He had a joke somewhere in the back of his mind about brownies for dessert but decided not to push his luck because after all there was still plenty of carrot gratin left.
_._
Gakupo sighed as he watched his boyfriend move his fingers over the small iPhone-screen for the umpteenth time this hour. Of course Gakupo had no idea what kind of apps Hio may or may not have downloaded the last ten hours but somehow he figured that they couldn't be so interesting that you couldn't even lift your head ten seconds from whatever digital world you were in to say hi to the person next to you.
Let him get his space, let him be pissed off for a while and he'll come around Kaito had said but somehow despite of knowing he was in the wrong Gakupo couldn't help but loose his patience a little bit more with every little move those slender fingers made.
"Look, unless you didn't simply body-swap with Akita Neru overnight we both know why you've just buried your head inside that thing you claim to hate so much", he said finally.
Or at least he hoped that was the reason because of two evils, spending an unlimited amount of time with a pissed off boyfriend was far better than being stuck with one of the grumpiest most nonchalant and cold people in existence and even worse... Neru being with Gakupo would mean Hio being with Akaito and the only thing worse than leaving Hio's BODY in Akaito's care would be leaving Hio's SOUL in Akaito's care since Gakupo knew how hard the oldest Shion brother had fallen for it not all that long ago.
Hio's reaction was however impossible to read since he still sat with his head deeply buried in his phone but Gakupo was just getting started.
"You have every right to be mad at me", the purple haired man said, "and I don't think even the biggest idiot on the planet could miss the fact that you are, but seriously if you're going to ignore me instead of letting that annoyance out then maybe... I should simply let myself out until you're actually ready to talk", Gakupo drew a deep breath as he let out the last sentence.
He knew how that line could be interpreted and that the reaction in most cases was something that he wanted to avoid at all costs, which pretty much was exactly why he spoke it right now. Just as he'd suspected the reaction was instant and from having been buried in his cellphone-screen the now crimson eyes shot up glaring at the purple haired man with an intensity that would have made any normal person run for their life.
"Wait, let me get this straight", the blond said, "you're the one who's behaved like a complete irresponsible, brainless jackass and yet you're the one who's threatening to break up with ME".
Usually Gakupo would have instantly explained what he meant in order not to bruise up his sensitive boyfriend but right now he simply gave a calm yet gentle smile.
"Good", he said, "now we're finally getting somewhere".
"Getting somewhere?" Hio snapped and the look he gave Gakupo somehow made the samurai very happy that no katanas were nearby and somehow regret that he ever taught his boyfriend how to use them, "so you're calling you standing here and smiling like an idiot 'getting somewhere'?
Have you any idea how bloody worried I was when you didn't respond and then after hours and hours of trying to get through to you sends me that fucking stupid picture of Kaito walking on a non-existent rainbow and a text that looks as if it could be written by Gumi's little brother. Gachapoid or whatever his face is?"
Gakupo looked quietly over his boyfriend's face. He usually hated seeing that expression, the one that witnessed of enormous hurt, distress and anger and yet in this moment it made him so happy his heart could break because in this moment he understood exactly how fortunate he was.
"And why the hell are you smiling for?" Hio's accusing glare could have burnt holes through Gakupo's chest and yet all he could see was that adorable red color on his boyfriend's cheeks, "do you think me worrying myself to death is funny?"
"No", Gakupo said softly, smile giving no sign of disappearing, "I think it's sweet".
"Sweet?" Hio snapped but his eyes were wide open, "do you think it's sweet tha..."
"Yes", Gakupo continued as he looked straight into that adorable now more confused than angry face, "I think that it's sweet that you called me about 20 times, ran all the way from Maika's place to get me at 3 o'clock in the morning and then went through such a huge trouble to show how angry you were".
"Wait", Hio frowned heavily, the anger seemingly almost completely vanished in favor of confusion, "you find me throwing jackets and shoes at you and not talking to you for the entire day... sweet?"
Gakupo chuckled.
"Strangely enough yes", he said, "it just shows how worried you were and how much you care", he looked at his boyfriend seriously, "that doesn't mean I like worrying you though and somewhere deep inside you know that I'll never do this again".
Hio looked at him quietly, his auburn gaze seemingly examining every corner of his boyfriend's mind before the frown finally disappeared entirely.
"I know", he said finally, "I just felt I needed to make well... a statement?", the blond frowned as though he had the hardest time of the century finding the right words, "you know... just like Maika said you don't give me a reason to be pissed at you all that often and I guess...", he sighed, "that once it happens I don't really know how to go about it".
"I know", Gakupo said, a thoughtful look on his face, "I guess none of us are all that good at the whole 'being pissed at each other'-thing. I'm really sorry you even had to go there though", the expression on the purple haired man's face was possibly twice as remorseful as yesterday, "you deserve a trustworthy boyfriend".
"But I have one", all of a sudden there was a gentle smile on Hio's face, "he can be a bit of a jackass and kinda slow at times but overall he's quite decent".
Without having known how it happened Gakupo found Hio somehow magically transported from the couch to his arms, head buried comfortably in the nape of his neck. They stood there in silence for a while, Hio's head buried in Gakupo's chest, Gakupo's head buried in Hio's soft blond hair.
"I'm sorry to", Hio said after a while, as finally looked up at his boyfriend.
"For what?" Gakupo raised his eyebrows, "I'm the one who should be sorry".
"For burying your shoe in the midst of the forest", a serious expression on the youthful face, "I know it was your only good pair".
Gakupo's eyes widened as he starred at the man in his arms. "That was you?"
"Yeah", Hio looked down at the ground as though it´d be a very safe place to escape climb into.
Just a moment of complete and utter shock as Gakupo laughed, the longest laugh he'd laughed in months.
"I should have known", he gave his boyfriend a warm smile, "only you", he lowered his voice as his eyes lingered on the sparkling auburn ones, "only you".
Hio's eyes seemed to double in size as he looked into the grey in front of him, an adorable expression of confusion in his young face.
"I'm not sure if I should take that as an insult or a compliment", he said.
"A compliment", Gakupo placed a gentle hand under his boyfriend's chin.
"It damn well better be", Hio muttered, a half hearted attempt at a glare directed at the samurai, "or I'll hide the other one to".
Another moment until even that glare vanished and the couple met each other's eyes. An even shorter moment before another wave of laughter broke out this time lingering far longer than the former. Yes only Hio, only Hio...
_._
"You laughed!" Kiyoteru repeated for the fifth time this evening as he starred ahead of him with an offended expression on his face.
Luka sighed as she looked at her boyfriend. When he was in that mood there was no getting through to him and he'd been in thaaaat mood ever since he got home 3 hours ago. She couldn't believe she actually was in this situation. Kiyoteru was the one who had made a fool of himself last night, wasn't he? And yet she was made the villain.
Oh yes, she could admit she'd went a little overboard with her smugness this morning but seriously, what was an 'I told you so'-smirk to swallowing an unknown amount of mind-altering drugs? Besides, to her defense it had actually been funny. Absurdly funny.
"We've been through this", she said patiently, "considering how much you were condemning even young teenagers for doing the same thing it served you quite right".
"Hmph!" the brown haired man snorted as he put his nose in the air, "so if I despite of having told people how dangerous getting to close the lion-cage at the ZOO is somehow managed to fall in all you'd say is 'serves you right'?"
"No darling", Luka sighed again, "that was really not what I..."
"Yeah, that is hilarious", Kiyoteru's voice rose in pitch as he made a probably very unintentionally funny face, "absolutely hilarious. Kiyoteru warned everyone of jumping into the lion-pit and now he's being eaten alive. Very funny", his voice somehow also manages to increase in speed as he spoke, almost making him sound like some American cartoon, "that is really high-quality entertainment, that is..."
Despite of her best efforts Luka found herself unable to hold back another laugh. That high voice, that tensed face, the upturned nose... No, him getting eaten by lions would definitely not be quality entertainment but him speaking of it in this manner definitely was. It was just such a typical Kiyoteru-thing to do and unfortunately typical Kiyoteru-things were really hard to take seriously even in such a serious subject as this one.
"Oh, so you agree!" he snapped as he looked back at her, a highly offended expression on his face, "you agree that would be quality entertainment".
Luka didn't but she unfortunately realized that the even louder laugh that came out of her mouth must have only further spurred her boyfriend's suspiciousness.
"Oh, that is just nice", Kiyoteru snorted as he crossed his arms over his chest, demonstratively turning his back on his girlfriend.
As suspected this brought a few other giggles out of Luka who couldn't get passed how absurd this situation was but as a few other moments passed she placed a gentle hand on her boyfriend's shoulders.
"You know I wouldn't", she said softly, "it's just... the way you speak about these things", even though she knew he couldn't see it there was a tender smile on her face, "if you were me you'd be laughing to. You're just making this situation even more absurd than it already is".
A few moments of silence before Kiyoteru spoke again.
"And how is it absurd?" he muttered.
"For starters of course the fact that you of all people tried magic mushrooms", Luka struggled to hold back the giggle that threatened to break out at the mere memory of the strange event, "and second, you were the one who made a complete fool of yourself and yet I am the one who have to calm you down. I am the one who should be upset am I not?"
"Actually I would have preferred if you had been", Kiyoteru said finally sighing deeply, "and if you'd been upset I would have willingly taken any punishment you'd given me just...", he finally turned around to face his girlfriend, a serious look on his face, "who would laugh at their boyfriend taking mind-altering drugs. What if I'd fallen of a cliff?"
"But you didn't", Luka said calmly, "and since we both know you'll never do it again I think we can afford to laugh it off".
"Who knows?" Kiyoteru snorted as he once again put his nose in the air, "maybe I'll do it again to night?"
"And loose another pair of glasses?" Luka raised a knowing eyebrow, "and feel horrible at work again".
Kiyoteru sat still for a while, nose making no sign of dropping before he finally let out a loud sigh, a resigned expression on his face.
"I guess not", he said.
"Look", Luka looked seriously at her boyfriend, "I'm sorry if I made it seem as though I didn't care but if you already felt terrible about the entire ordeal why not treat it with a bit of humor. We both know you'll never do it again. Besides", she gave another amused smile, "you'd know I'd bring the riffle if you fell into the lion-den".
"Promise?" Kiyoteru looked at her hesitantly, eyes adorably large.
"Promise", Luka smiled softly, "the biggest, baddest one I could possibly find".
"Okey then, I believe you", Kiyoteru finally dropped his sulking face, "and I guess I have to admit...", a ghost of smile suddenly shaped his mouth, "it was pretty funny after all".
"It was, wasn't it?"
"Yeah", Kiyoteru nodded, "now in the aftermath it is. But the things I saw in the midst of it...", Kiyoteru frowned, "you're right I'll never try that again".
"I can imagine", Luka looked curiously at her boyfriend before smirking, "but if I may ask, what made you lose your glasses?"
"Oh", Kiyoteru finally let out a chuckle, "that is a long story".
"No problem", Luka sat back in the couch as she gave her boyfriend an amused half-smile, "we have time to kill".
"Yeah", Kiyoteru nodded, "it might take a while so let's just order some sushi meanwhile".
And just like that Kiyoteru once again decided that out of him, Kaito and Gakupo he truly was the luckiest one.