Chapter Text
Weeks passed. Then months.
The three of them, Kaoru, Kojiro, and Adam – or now, Cherry, Joe, and Adam – had been hanging out for some while now, alongside Adam’s group from time to time.
Running from cops. Laughing. Skating.
Headaches. Sickness. Fatigue.
It was comfortable, calm almost.
In some weird, fucked up way.
Today was an evening unlike no other. Their little group, which now consisted of about 20 people – a mix of mainly humans, some tanukis and imps, and the rare nymph too - , minus the three of them, laughing and joking together out in an old mine they decided to nickname ‘Crazy Rock’, so that over-protective, snoopy parents wouldn’t find out. Daring each other to try newer, crazier, more dangerous tricks as the night went on.
Cherry daren’t get involved.
As much as skating was fun... this was too far.
He’d seen people fall of those cliffs.
So he sat, watching in the corner, until safer things were suggested.
Kojiro however, was much different.
The guy thrived for this.
Thrived in the attention.
Bathed in it like a puppy in a mud pit.
Everyone loved him.
He was more like a Cupid than Kaoru himself.
The anti-social, anxiety-ridden, desperate to hide freak of a boy that stood in the corner cautiously watching.
Kojiro was just like that though.
In all his basic humanness, he was just like that.
Frustratingly good looking, a good laugh to be around, good at advice (when he wanted to be), an amazing rival who made you have fun rather than ruin your-
“Cherry-!”
Damn. Just when he thought he’d gotten away with it.
“Yes... Joe?” those stupid nicknames Adam insisted on.
Not like anyone couldn’t tell what school they went to, given their literal uniform.
Well, Kaoru already knew it was only really for Adam’s benefit.
Ainosuke’s benefit.
He wasn’t stupid.
It had been easy enough to cross-reference images and information to find the tainted cupid’s identity.
What he didn’t understand was how.
The Shindo’s were meant to be a long-dormant line.
However, the moron who just ambushed him from his peace was an idiot.
One he had gotten used to calling a friend over the past decade.
“Adam was wondering if you were getting involved any time soon~” the boy grinned, or more smirked, barely holding back a teasing chuckle. One that Kaoru knew all too familiar from hearing the guy talk for so many years.
Adam wanting to talk to Kaoru but using Kojiro as the messenger pigeon?
That was just a disaster waiting to happen.
Especially when Kojiro just adored making disgustingly lude jokes, and when someone outside of him was showing Kaoru any attention? That was just begging for a comment to be made.
“I’m good.” Kaoru really couldn’t be bothered to entertain this shit today.
He barely knew why he was entertaining Adam’s crap.
Not when he felt so dead whilst doing it.
Perhaps it was simply because he didn’t want to find out what happened if he didn’t.
It was as if Adam had got Cherry to hold himself hostage - willlingly.
Yet Kojiro just wouldn’t back off. “Dude! Just because you’re having some depressed moment, doesn’t mean all that crappy energy gets to be shoved off onto everyone else!”
Owch.
“The fuck does that mean?” Kaoru snarled back. He hadn’t even noticed that his heightened emotions were slowly dragging the crowd towards himself, away from Adam.
Not to mention that Kojiro should know better than to talk about Kaoru’s ”energy” rubbing off onto people.
Because Kojiro knew that was true; not just some figure of speech.
“Oh please. You’ve had some dull look in your eyes ever since we joined this group! I get that you wanted to go home, because you were having bad feelings about this place, but seriously, get a grip or go home!”
What the fuck?!
Kojiro was never that mean.
...
Then the whispers started.
One.
Then two.
Then three.
It was too much-
...
...
“I’ll join in later-”
And Cherry just sat, eyes falling to the floor as his knees hugged tight against his fast-beating chest like a cage.
To protect his heart from whatever was striking him so hard.
It hurt so bad.
As if it wasn’t already an internal attack.
Yet, Kojiro was right. Kaoru’s feelings, his energy, did have a sway here. After all, even if he didn’t have much of an impact on Adam’s claimed group, he could impact Kojiro, and the moment that shattering feeling grew inside him, the crowds had started to leave him and return to Adam, but Kojiro had already snapped out of his yelling, realising what he’d done – or more, being forced to feel it. “Cherry- dude- look I’m sorry okay it’s just-”
Yet another reason Kaoru refused to make friends; manipulating people outside of his will was disgusting.
“Just fuck off, Joe- I said later.”
Kaoru couldn’t even be bothered to yell.
The eyes were enough.
Like he was a waiting servant for every single one of them.
But those bloody, sharp, red ones, felt the most visible of them all. As if they were travelling through his veins themselves.
Hide.
Run.
Die.
God, the joys of being a Cupid.
“Now now...” the soft blade of a knife cut the tension immediately, the weight of fourty-four, fatal eyes immediately lifting off of him. “If our dear Cherry needs some space, then give him it. We wouldn’t want to scare him off now would we?”
Nobody even questioned it.
And Kaoru because invisible again.
It should be a breath of relief for someone who so despised being a cupid, but now, it was merely a warning that someone stronger was around.
Adam’s word was said.
And whatever Adam said goes.
The skating started again.
The flips; the turns; the tricks.
People had started racing. Using bets to keep track.
Money. Cigarettes. Things they needed.
People.
It was foolish at best.
Corrupt at worse.
The entire environment was toxic, yet every single one of these people were drinking it like wine straight from Adam’s palm.
Lapping it up like pathetic, willing puppies, desperate for the boy's praise.
He was the same age as them. Hell, some of them were older than him.
A lot of them were older in fact.
It’s how the group got their access to alcohol and cigarettes.
Yet Adam was different.
His family obviously had trained him young. Or at least given him unrestricted access to the information Kaoru so craved.
As government officials, they likely had socially forbidden information about Cupid history and abilities.
He could tell these people to jump from cliffs, and they would.
They did.
To be honest though, wasn’t that basically what this place was?
Adam’s personal playground.
A place for stupid skaters to throw themselves of cliffs to find out who the biggest idiot was?
Why was Kaoru even here?
Why hadn’t he been able to persuade Kojiro before they had the chance to meet Adam?
All he did was sit, and watch.
Skating around when they switched locations, but otherwise he just... existed.
Just like now.
Watching how these people pulled trick, after trick, after trick.
How they followed every single one of Adam’s demands without question.
How they found it fun.
But really... was he much different?
After that day they’d met Adam.
When he’d wanted to go home only moments before.
Why did he keep returning?
Why did he spend so much time here?
With them?
With him?
It had gotten to the point where Kaoru and Ainosuke had eachother’s numbers.
Admitted their identities privately to one another.
You would, wouldn’t you?
If this was the first person you had met who was just like you.
Of course, Kaoru had wanted to share a part of him with Adam.
It was only natural.
Speculations turning from molten to rock.
Names. Blood. Secrets.
And despite the foggy pain and desperation to run that coursed his blood, his heart, and his mind, Cherry felt comfortable with Adam.
So he stayed.
Following him mindlessly.
Just like everyone else.
Adam had even told them that they were special.
Just Kaoru and Kojiro. Cherry and Joe.
Nobody else but them had seen that harsh, raven-blue hair that hid under his pure-white hood.
That’s what led them here, now.
Cherry sat on the floor watching.
And Joe-
“Hey!! That was sick!! How did you know I could go that high?!”
Well, Kojiro was-
“You’ve got talent, you just need to learn to use it.”
Hell no-
Adam’s arms had wrapped his arms firmly around Joe, a confident pat to the back in the process before releasing him.
Kaoru just couldn’t take it.
He could swear those eyes looked at him with daggers when Adam had done such a thing.
That was Kojiro.
His Kojiro.
What the fuck was Adam thinking?
He had an entire group of people.
Kojiro wasn't his.
Yet, Cherry just shot up from his seat on the floor, dusting himself off, without caring for his movements grasping the groups attention again.
And with a small flick of a lighter, as he brought a pre-roll to his mouth, from the box that had seemed to find its way into his possession since his last private hang out with Adam, he stormed off with a swift movement to grab up his board to skate down the car-park ramp to a lower level.
He needed to chill the fuck out. It was fine.
And with he was gone. He’d left - barely caring to call out a small “I’m going for a smoke-” before disappearing out of sight.
Nobody would see him leave, he no longer had that influence – let alone miss him.
Or so he thought.