Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Again.”

His hands shook on the keys, his knuckles burning. New tears coated those that had dried on his face.

“Again.”

He closed his eyes, praying for time to stop. Praying to a god he didn’t know was there. Praying...no...pleading.

“Again.”

I’m a damn fool. A smack to the knuckles. A slap to the cheek. The burn and ache seemed to always reside. A constant shake rattled his body. He looked like a damned beaten dog.

“Akira Kogane.”

Deep breath. Remember.

“Chopin...Nocturne opus nine, number two.”

You’re fine. You know this song. Quit shaking you, idiot.

His hands fell on the keys positioning themselves. He was allowed the music, but with the practice he had endured, he hardly needed it.

“It will look better, Keith. You don’t want to look like a fool up there. No son of mine is a fool.”

He closed his eyes a breath escaping his chapped lips.

Start.

It flowed an ebbed from the piano, a river of sound filled the room. Crescendos and decrescendos and letting it flow as it wanted to. The song was a sentient being that went as it pleased. Akira was simply the messenger, the one who was created to play such a song. It didn’t please father, his song choice. He was given the opportunity to choose for once in his life and he had failed.

“Chopin’s Nocturne? You don’t challenge yourself. Your talent is being wasted on such a piece.” You’re a damn fool father.

He played on. The quiet tinkle of the piano grew towards the end. I’ll show him, that idiot.

His right hand climbed to play higher. His fingers pounding with a force Akira felt he couldn’t contain. All at once the sound stopped. He trilled his right hand and took a deep breath. Preparing for the end of all of it. He brought his hand down the keys to meet with his left. Pounding down on the keys too hard making the end the forte of the song.

Father won’t be happy.

Applause filled the room. The crowd exchanging impressed looks. It wasn’t every day that a seven-year-old was playing Chopin in front of a crowd close to five hundred people.

No, he won’t be happy at all.

He couldn’t find his father in the auditorium. He snuck through people exiting only to find him in sitting in his chair to the side of it all. A frown was worn on his face. A frown Akira had seen many times before. A frown to which would entail punishment to him.

“Keith,”

Akira jumped. He could already feel his just healing up bruises have some new company join them. He wouldn’t be getting out of this unscathed.

“What was that?” Akira flinched.

“Chopin’s Nocturne opus nine, number two” Akira said, trying to even out the quivering in his voice.

“Come here, Keith.” He breathed and he gulped although his mouth was feeling quite dry. Akira stood by the foot of his chair. It was too swift... Akira knew it was coming but his sick father’s condition did not hinder his ability to scold and maim.

His father grabbed his face between his thumb and fingers. “You little shit.” Akira willed himself not to cry. “You wish to embarrass me, huh? You wish to spit on your father, disrespect all he has done for you?” he snarled. Akira felt tears coming and his father released. He swiftly took the sleeve of his new jacket his father had purchased for this performance and wiped his eyes and stood to the right of his father's chair.

“We’re going home, Keith.” And they went.

Chapter Text

Chapter One: おにぎり (Onigiri)

“Aki-chan! Breakfast.”

Akira groans. He stretches his limbs, not wanting to put forth any effort to get out of bed. Purple eyes flutter open to take a look at his digital alarm clock. 

06:00.

“AKIRA GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!” Adam has taken another method to get him up. 

Akira looked down at himself, he had been so tired the night before that he hadn’t even gotten the chance to change out of his clothes and into his pajamas. 

He sighed, the new school year would be the death of him, not only that, but he would be starting at a new school. He was familiar with it, Shiro had gone to it himself and had remarked several times about his time in High School and how he gained many friends and how he met Adam through an exchange program.

Adam was a student from America who lived with Shiro’s family and attended high school in Japan. He was kind but upfront and quite blunt. His bluntness was very un-Japanese but Shiro found it endearing, it was, afterall, the reason that they had ended up together in the first place. 

“AKIRA!” Adam shouted once more. Akira heard angry footsteps coming towards him. He lifted his futon above his head and over his body, hoping that it would gain him more minutes of peace. Alas, that was not the case.

Thump.

“You expect to be late for your first day?” Adam dropped a heavy object on Akira’s stomach, leading an “oomph” to escape his mouth...then..

Silence.

“This damn kid.”

Light. Very blinding light. Akira curled into a ball. 

“Come on, now.” Adam grabbed Akira by the ankles and pulled him off of his bed. 

“Seriously?!” Akira huffed. He stood up straight, feeling a creak in his bones. He squinted his eyes, still not used to the brightness of his room and placed his hands on his hips. 

Adam came into focus gradually. “Someone went to bed late last night…”

“I didn’t go to bed late. I just...forgot to...go to sleep properly.”

“Mmhmm.” Adam remarked, looking Akira up and down. “Alright then, breakfast is ready. There’s soup and fish, and, I made onigiri for you to have at school.” Adam ruffled Akira’s hair resulting in a groan and Akira swatting away his hand. Adam giggled as he walked away and stuck his tongue out at Akira. After the coast was clear, Akira stuck out his own tongue. God forbid Adam catch him in the act of doing so…

Akira made his way to the bathroom, he didn’t need to shower or bathe so he made do with washing his face and putting on his new uniform. It seemed a tad too big on him, his shoulders seemed to not fill up the jacket quite right. He hoped to God a growth spurt was coming soon so he wouldn’t have to make do with a too big jacket. He made his way to the kitchen, taking off the jacket so Adam wouldn’t see and make a fuss of it. He ate fish that had already gone cold and heated up leftover rice from the fridge. Adam was slicing vegetables for lunch or dinner he presumed. Shiro slugged into the kitchen half asleep, Adam instinctually handing him a cup of tea as he made his way to the opposite side of the table to eat with Akira. His sleeve of his shirt hung limp at his side, he had not yet put on his prosthetic for the day.

“ おはよ.” he mumbled into his cup.

“おはよジジイ.” Akira responded in a monotone voice.

“Rude-ass kid…” Shiro mumbled, glasses steaming over as he held his tea to his lips. “You know he gets it from you.”

Adam scoffed. “Bullshit. Akira, stop. Takashi, drink.”

“了解.” Shiro continued to sip in silence.

“So...Akira. Big day? New school? New people, friends possibly?” Adam had finished cutting vegetables and was scrubbing at a pan that was a little worse for wear. “Be nice, okay?”

“I’m nice. I can be nice. What do you mean?” Akira said, tearing back into his fish.

Adam looked at him, eyebrows raised and eyes wide, his hands in front of himself in a defensive manner. “It’s not that you’re...not nice...you can just be…”

Adam stared daggers into Shiro’s back. “Rude?”

Adam let his hands drop to his sides, giving up on Shiro. “What Shiro means is that...you can be...standoffish...つんつん...you know…?”

“つんつん? I am not! I can make friends.” Akira said, voice raised.

“Fine, if you aren’t going to be つんつん then let’s make a bet.” Adam said smugly, knowing Akira didn’t accept defeat.

“Bring it.” Akira said, rolling his eyes.

“Have a friend come over to the house by the end of the week.” Adam said, quite pointedly.

“Hell no! A week? You’re out of your mind. Maybe a month...but a week?!” Akira remarked exasperatedly.

“Fine then, if you can’t do it by the end of the week, then you have to feed and walk Kosmo for a whole month.” As if on cue, Kosmo came tearing in, his fur sticking up on one side of his face, he must’ve slept in. 

“Unfair, I don’t even get help? What if I’m gone?” Akira countered.

“He’s your dog. Work your schedule around it. Besides he’s lonely. Look at that face.” Adam squished Kosmo’s (quite happy) face and scratched in between his ears. 

“Yeah...lonely.” 

Adam chastised Akira with a tsk of his tongue. “He hardly ever sleeps with you anymore. He’s Takashi’s and my sleeping buddy now.”

“He is when you two are too busy-”

“I don’t want to hear the rest of that sentence.” Adam said quickly. Shiro perked up from his place, looking slightly more awake at Adam’s sudden outburst. 

“I think what Adam proposed is fair. I agree completely.” Shiro said, finally adding to the conversation.

“Oh no.” Akira said, putting his arms on the table and letting his head fall down as well.

“It’s not a bad idea. Friends will help your way through high school. They might even change your life.” Shiro said, gesturing his head towards Adam. 

“Yes, you and Adam have it great. Me...I’m not so well off.” Akira said, peeking up for a second only to meet eyes with Shiro briefly. “I’m going to be miserable.”

“That’s enough.” Shiro said, standing up and behind Akira. He rubbed at Akira’s shoulder. “C’mon. Just one friend. Just one person. It’s doable...even for Mr. Miserable.”

Akira sighed and stood up straight. “Fine. One person. No more, no less.”

“That’s it.” Shiro gave him a pat on the shoulder and Keith stood up. 

Keith grabbed his bag and jacket and made his way to the door. 

“Run a brush through your hair! It looks atrocious, you’re not getting any friends looking like that.” Adam shouted. Keith made a U-turn to the bathroom to find a comb to tug through his hair. It was getting long. He swore he got a haircut recently but it almost reached his shoulders, he wasn’t sure if it would be acceptable for school. There was no time now anyways, he had to get going. Adam handed him his onigiri and he made his way to the door. He slipped off his slippers and put on his new shoes that Adam must’ve bought for him. Shiro and Adam came to the front door to see him off. 

Shiro wrapped his arm around Akira, “Be good kid, alright?” 

Akira sighed before putting his arms around Shiro. “I will.”

Akira caught a glimpse of Adam smiling at the two of them before changing back to his ever existing frown. “Don’t fight anyone.”
Akira rolled his eyes. 

“But if you do...you better win.” Akira laughed at Adam. 

A surprised sound came from Shiro. “You’re horrible!”

“Only joking!” Adam said, wrapping his arm around Shiro’s waist. “But seriously...be good...okay?”

Akira nodded his head. “いってきます.”

“いってらっしゃい!” Adam and Shiro responded simultaneously.

Akira made his way down the street, knowing that the train would take him close enough to school so that he could walk the rest of the way. He made it to the nearby station in the neighborhood and stood and waited. He glanced at his phone, barely charged since he didn’t charge it the night before. He groaned. His day was already off to a rough start. The train going towards the inner city pulled in and he hopped on, securing a seat. It was more crowded. There were more students that he spotted on the train as well, he avoided eye contact to the best of his ability. Keeping his eyes down and trained on his phone. The train came to another stop, doors sliding open to let more passengers in. He spotted a familiar face and tried his best to keep his head down. It was James, he wasn’t mixed like Akira, in fact, he was fully white. He came to Japan after his father became rich and started new business plans in Japan. He hoped that his father would move him and his family along to another country to make plans (rumor had it that he had his eyes on Korea) but alas, here was James, his uniform identical to Akira. Great. Akira kept his eyes down but saw the shiny shoes come up right in front of his seat. 

“度も.” James said, smugly. Looking down at Akira. 

Akira looked up, maintaining a blank face and then looked down back at his phone. 

“No hello? Don’t you know it’s rude not to greet friends.”

“Friends? We’re hardly acquaintances.” Akira said, scoffing.

An older Japanese woman looked at the two “foreigners” and then averted her eyes. Akira looked back up at James. “度も...ジェームズ.” He said, feigning a smile and then looking back at his phone.

“Rude prick.” James scowled down at Akira. “I’m not letting you go, Akira. I’m not letting you humiliate me like you did in middle school. You have a lot coming for you this year.”

“Fuck off, James. Also, speak Japanese, you damn coward. I want everyone on this train to hear how much of a dick you are.” Akira sneered, his hands gripping harder on his phone.

“Still a little bastard, aren’t you?” James smiled, trying to ward off any surrounding suspicion. He put his hand on Akira’s shoulder. “If you are smart...shut up. Okay?” He patted his shoulder. James moved his hand into Akira’s lap. Akira’s whole body flinched and tensed up at the sudden movement. James smiled close to Akira’s face, his breath hot against his skin. “Thanks for lunch. I’ll enjoy it.” Akira realized that his onigiri had disappeared from his lap and was in James’ hand. The doors slid open and James made his way off the train. 

Akira sat there dumbfounded, the blush on his cheeks still hot. He shook his head and blinked a few times, hurling his bag over his shoulder and rushing out before the doors closed. He stood outside of the train. James was out of site. 

And there goes Adam’s onigiri. Akira rubbed his face and tugged at his hair. He knew he wasn’t getting it back. He made his way down the street and turned the corner until he made it to the school courtyard. 

This was the shittiest start he could get.