Chapter Text
Kusumi felt like he'd been slipped into a photography book, each blink a new page being turned. Nothing moved around him exactly, it was like looking at moments frozen in time and when he blinked there was a new one. Everything moved so fast as much as it didn't move at all.
Kuroda supported his wavering form, half dragging him from the pub and onto the busy street. He was hurrying, likely wanting to get from the pub to his apartment before anyone noticed something was wrong. Kusumi could only tell that there was any 'hurry' because Kuroda's pace made him horribly nauseous. Too fast.
All the warning they had was Kusumi making a choking noise in the back of his throat and then he was doubling over and vomiting onto the sidewalk. The boy felt incredibly hot, beads of sweat soaking into his bangs as he shuddered, rocking in place. Kuroda's grip tightened, it hurt but it was so distant, and it was all Kusumi had to keep him upright. He heard the man 'tsk' behind him.
"You're such a disaster. You better not vomit on my floor."
Kusumi groaned as the man moved them forward. He didn't have the muscle control to hold them up, to dig his heels into the ground and stay in one spot. But he had to put up some kind of fight. Kuroda's apartment was above a karaoke bar on the street, not far from the pub. If he got him back there…alone — the ground swam beneath his feet and he clenched his eyes shut again and tried not to cry or think too hard about what was happening. What was going to happen.
He couldn't fight. He didn't have the strength. In fact he wasn't sure how much longer he could even stay awake. Kuroda yanked him to a sudden stop and Kusumi almost vomited again. Instead, he blinked his eyes open and tried to focus on what was happening in the picture now.
"Hey there — your friend doesn't look too good."
A dark-haired man about as tall as Kuroda towered in front of Kusumi. He looked familiar, but Kusumi couldn't say the two had specifically met. He was a tank of a person though, arms crossed over his chest and eyes dark and threatening. Kusumi had a feeling that he knew something was wrong and the faintest glimmer of hope and relief bloomed in his chest. That squeeze on his arm grew sharp with nails digging into his skin. A warning. Kusumi winced, but it wasn't like he had the will to do or say much as it was.
"Yes. He got a little hammered. I take complete responsibility. I'm taking him home. He won't be causing any trouble."
"Hmm." The photograph moved as Kusumi blinked. The stranger tilted his head to the side.
"I think it's a little more than that. Isn't that right, Kusumi?"
That blooming glimmer in his chest flared. Kusumi tried to shift his head, tried to move a muscle. Give some indication. At best he managed a little upwards shake of his hand, weak, a flutter of movement, but his. The stranger's eyes narrowed even tighter.
"I'll be taking our friend off your hands."
Another 'tsk' from Kuroda and Kusumi was sure the grip on his arm was drawing blood. "You are being such a nuisance, Yuto. Now you've gone and involved someone else in your mess. Now people are going to get hurt."
Kusumi's stomach flipped and the faintest niggling of guilt stabbed at him.
A whistle. Sharp. Painful. Right in his ear.
Kusumi couldn't warn his would-be savior of the danger behind him. Or the danger of Kuroda's incoming fist either. All he could do was collapse the moment Kuroda was no longer holding him in place, the ground swimming up to meet him in one big kaleidoscope of color. He wasn't sure if he lost consciousness before he hit the ground or if he simply crumbled in such a way that his head didn't strike the cement. He felt nothing.
Nirei and Suo were waiting with Enomoto at the mouth of Keisei Street when Kaji and Sakura arrived. The former of the three was a nervous wreck as per usual, Suo was his unreadable self and Enomoto — well he had a face that matched Kaji's. But then again, he knew a lot more of the situation than the rest.
"It's that Kuroda creep again isn't it?" he growled.
Kaji nodded, movements still rigid and stiff. He'd given Sakura a quick run-down of the events that had led to all of this. It had been clinical. All facts. Nothing about his feelings, about how he almost blacked out when Kusumi came into class with his black eye. About how he wished he had killed Kuroda, how he wished he'd given him more of a thrashing. About how right now his rage was nothing but a lightning storm, a hurricane turning him into monster more than a man. Sakura knew though, Kaji could feel it in the other's distant looks. How every once in awhile the other boy glanced at him, grumbling something in some attempt at comfort.
Under any other circumstance, Kaji would say he was proud of him. Not to his face, of course, the two boys would both explode under the embarrassment but right now Kaji was all intense focus. Kusumi needed him to remain in control. No matter what. He had to stay human, for him.
His music was playing loud in his ears, familiar and comforting in its own way. Grounding. But also it was the soundtrack for his life, for the incoming brawl. He pulled his headphones down slightly, looking over their collection of miscreants.
"Map says Kusumi is only a little over a block down the street, if we're lucky Nakamura has held them up long enough for us to step in. Try not to make too much of a mess for him."
Everyone nodded. Nirei nervously opened his mouth to ask something, but Kaji noticed Suo waved him off politely. The boy with the eye-patch was not smiling, his lips pulled taut into a straight line. Kaji could never tell what he was thinking, but he sensed a quiet anger. Not dissimilar to the same brewing within Kaji, but he obviously had far more control of it.
"No promises," Sakura replied with that familiar confident smirk of his. Kaji rolled his lollipop and said nothing.
He slipped his headphones back on, moving forward, taking steady strides into the district. His assortment of classmates followed him, fanning out at his sides. Kaji was immediately relieved of his worry that they might miss Kusumi on the street somehow, that Kuroda had managed to slip away with him into the shadow. There was a small ongoing brawl happening in the middle of the street. A few onlookers were watching distantly. Kaji grit his teeth, Kuroda must have brought back-up.
Nakamura was fighting the brown-haired creep of a man, and a blonde man in a suit was taking down one other. Another set of three or four delinquents hovered in a circle around them, waiting their turn to get a hit in. There were already two unconscious forms on the ground and — The sparks danced behind his eyes, practically blinding him to the world and the vicious dance around him.
Kusumi was a precarious heap of bulky clothing and lanky limbs, unmoving on the ground behind it all.
"Kaji."
It was Sakura's voice that he heard, firm, a reminder.
"I'm good."
Nirei cried out beside them and darted around the fight to get to their fallen friend. Kaji was torn between two sides of himself, but as much as he wanted to rush to Kusumi's side, he had a fight to take over. He dashed forward, coming up short beside the black haired man. The rest of his classmates broke off to join the fight behind him.
"Oi, Nakamura, sorry we're late."
"Kaji."
He sensed the faintest smile in the other's tone, but didn't turn to look. Kaji's eyes were a dark glare on Kuroda who was already bleeding and bruised, returning his glare.
"This involves the Roppo-Ichiza too, don't worry. We don't let this kind of thing slide."
Kaji nodded. "We'll take over from he—"
"Hey blockheads, pay attention!"
Kaji was a flash of movement, diving under Kuroda's right hook and driving his fist straight into the man's rib cage. The man choked, stumbling backwards, gasping.
"B—brat," he snapped, spinning around to kick him. Kaji rolled to the side and Nakamura slapped the kick away. At the same time Kaji appeared by Kuroda's side, shoving his own leg into his target. Kaji struck the same spot he'd aimed for previously and he noted a pained wince on his enemy's features. He might've broken something.
Good.
"I told you if you went near him again, I'd kill you," he growled through gritted teeth, lollipop grinding against his enamel.
Kaji didn't wait for Kuroda to catch his breath, throwing his own right hook. He had some faint recognition of the rest of his classmate's fighting Kuroda's groun, of the other Roppo-Ichiza guy taking someone down entirely. But his eyes were on Kuroda as the man tried to avoid his strike. Kaji followed through with another punch, even as Kuroda caught the first. The punch made contact with the man's jaw, before Kaji lifted his legs and shoved the bottom of his shoes full force into the other's torso, pulling free from him as he back-flipped.
Kuroda stumbled backwards, taking a strike from Nakamura behind him and falling forward right into another punch from Kaji. The blonde got him by the collar as his knees gave out under him and Kaji punched him straight in the nose. Once. Twice. Three times. Four times. Kuroda's nose had burst, blood gushing down his lips and chin. His head lolled slightly, hands desperately grabbing at Kaji's wrist.
Stay conscious. I want to keep beating you damnit.
"Stay."
Five times.
"Away."
Six times.
"From."
Seven times.
"Him!"
Kuroda's eyes rolled back in the back of his head and Kaji bit down violently on the remainder of his lollipop, crushing it between his teeth. He tried not to think about how wanted to keep punching Kuroda until his blood was all that was left of him. The man's blood was already covering his fist, sticky and wet and itchy. He should give the man an extra hit just for the overstimulation it was going to cause. But he didn't. He imagined the look on Kusumi's face, the pained look he always had when Kaji lost control and let the unconscious man go. His body folded to the sidewalk and Kaji spit at him, nudging him roughly with his boot.
"Don't make me say it again," he snapped, pulling his used sucker stick from his pocket and trashing it nearby.
Kaji turned slowly, taking in the battleground that they had created. Between his classmates and the two Roppo-Ichiza members, the rest of Kuroda's crew were done for. He moved, wiping his bloody hand on his pants before reaching up and pulling his headphones down. He approached Nirei and Kusumi, the golden blonde cradling the older boy carefully in his arms.
Dropping to his knees, Kaji reached out his left hand, brushing Kusumi's hair across his feverish forehead. He'd knocked his head when he fell it looked like, a faint stream of drying blood caked to the boy's temple.
"Is he going to be okay?" Nirei asked, voice shaking at he looked at Kaji. As if Kaji had all the answers, as if Kaji wasn't secretly struggling.
"He's had worse," the blonde admitted, breathing slowly.
He heard footsteps behind him. "Hey — do we need an ambulance?" the unfamiliar voice must have belonged to Nakamura's partner.
Kaji shook his head, reaching out to touch Kusumi's shoulder. "I'll get him home, if he gets worse I'll take him, but I think he'd rather wake up in familiar territory."
Kaji turned, looking over his shoulder at Nakamura. "Sorry to ask but —"
Nakamura beamed, waving his hand dismissively.
"Go. Take care of your friend, we'll handle the clean up here."
Kaji nodded, looking away, teeth digging into his cheek.
"Thanks."
The world was movement again, slower than before, steady. Kusumi felt like he was floating and it took a lot of his energy to blink his eyes open. He was aware of an intense warmth close to him, chasing away a lot of the chill that had settled into his bones. Tight but not painful pressure pressed against his thighs, moving with him as he seemed to bounce in place.
Kusumi realized he was being carried and though he still felt too slow, the faintest amount of panic ran through him. He startled to wriggle, trying to get himself free. His muscles moved, but not enough, still not enough. His head hurt, a pounding radiating out from is right temple. A groan escaped him — it sounded too whiny, too afraid. The head next to his moved slightly. He expected Kuroda's cold voice to berate him again, but froze when he heard the voice speak.
"Kusumi — it's me. Don't move, you'll fall."
Relief flooded him, wrapping around him like a blanket. Warm as the body heat radiating off of Kaji. Kusumi choked in the back of his burning throat, lips trembling as he dug his teeth into the bottom one. He couldn't stop the tears as they dripped down his cheeks, the boy shaking against Kaji's back, hands tightening together as he held on.
"It's okay," Kaji soothed, voice so uncharacteristically soft, so quiet. As if it was just the two of them. "It's okay."
His eyes slipped closed again, the world still too bright and stuttering. Kaji smelled like sweat and the peach of his lollipop and even more faintly of the strawberry shampoo that Kusumi knew he liked. He felt warm. He felt safe. Kusumi relaxed tiredly against Kaji, head leaning into the crook of the boy's neck.
"Kusumi…Don't fall asleep on me yet," Kaji said, gently squeezing his thigh.
Kusumi's eyes fluttered open and he managed the faintest little groan in response.
"Would you feel safer at home or my place? Or somewhere else?"
Long fingers tapped against Kaji's chest. Once. Twice.
"My place?"
Once.
"Is it okay if the others stay as well? I don't want to be by myself if something else happens."
Others? Kusumi didn't have enough energy to feel all the guilt from involving his classmates in his problems again. He was sure that Kaji couldn't fit an entire class into his house, so he probably only meant a few of them, but Kusumi didn't know who specifically. And he couldn't see beyond the grey of Kaji's hoodie. But he trusted Kaji wholeheartedly. There was no question about that.
He tapped his fingers once more for 'yes' and nuzzled is chin back into Kaji's collarbone, eyes slipping shut again.
Gonna sleep.
He was sure he didn't say it out loud, he didn't really talk. Not even to Kaji. But he felt the blonde shift slightly in a faint nod.
"I'll be here when you wake up."
A promise.
Kusumi felt Kaji's warmth encircling him and he began to drift once more. And despite everything that had happened, the nightmare he had just so narrowly escaped — he was happy.