Chapter Text
“Rio-san!”
The soldier looked up from the fire he was stoking. Running over to him, smiling like he’s just won the lottery, was the youngest yamada brother. He’d been letting the boy come over to his camp for a few months now; even though he was quite stubborn, Saburo had been nice company. How he had gotten to Yokohama from Ikebukuro was still a mystery to him, seeing as every time he came he was alone. Rio put on a smile for Saburo, noticing a box the latter was carrying in his hands.
“H-hey, Rio… I hope you don’t mind me stopping by, I just-”
“I don’t mind. I was just going to begin cooking tonight’s meal, would you like to join me?”
It’s impossible to put into words how quickly Saburo’s eyes lit up at the mention of Rio’s cooking. If it were anyone else, Rio would have spent more time finding “normal” ingredients, but it was refreshing having someone who enjoyed his food. Accepting the invitation, the child sat down on the grass, fidgeting with his hands and picking at the corners of the box.
“What’s troubling you?”
Saburo continued fidgeting, slowly turning the box around to reveal the board game he had brought.
“I thought-- maybe you’d wanna play with me. Ichiro and Jiro are both out tonight, so I came here..”
“Do they know you’re all the way out here this late?” the older inquired.
“You won’t tell them, will you? It freaks me out being home alone for that long.”
“Please, don’t worry. Of course we can play your game. You can spend the night, if you wish to do so.”
Saburo gripped the board game tighter, watching his knuckles turn a tinted white. It’s true, it was far too late to go back home now, but the last thing he wanted to do was bother Rio.
“What’re you waiting for? Get it set up while I finish cooking,” Rio gave a warm smile.
The ginger watched as he carefully took the game out of its respective box; laying out the board and taking a minute to fit the stack of cards perfectly inside the thin, white outline.
“How’d your math test go earlier this week? You seemed excited for it,”
“I-It went well, I got an A.. I would’ve gotten full marks if I didn’t make that dumb mistake.” the child continued to straighten out the card deck, attempting to make it more and more perfect.
“Mistakes help us grow. You shouldn’t be ashamed of them. Did you stay up the night before studying?”
“Maybe a little..”
The soldier sighed. He was aware of Saburo’s bad habits, but no matter how many times he warned the boy, he was always ignored. He supposed it wasn’t the kid’s fault, he himself had developed some unhealthy habits over the years.
“The food should be ready. Can you grab something for me inside my tent? There should be some bowls somewhere in there,”
Saburo nodded, getting up and crawling into the dark tent. Rio peered over to look at the game, observing the small figures and cards. From the looks of it, the premise was to pay off your assigned debt. Hmph, there’s some people he knows who could learn from a game like this.
“Oi, Rio! The hell’re ya doin’?” He recognized the deep, intimidating voice that called out to him.
Samatoki and Jyuto approached the camp, their hands intertwined with each other at their side. Damn it. Rio had totally forgotten they were spending time together today. He had promised, as both his partners have been working all week. Obviously it wasn’t a bad thing they were here, Rio loved them, but they wouldn’t take too kindly to spending their quality time with a kid present. Much less a Yamada; he was aware how much Samatoki detested the three brothers. Behind his boyfriends, he could see Saburo peeping out of the tent’s opening, looking a mix of sad and confused. It’s only natural. Jyuto and Samatoki aren’t the nicest people, and have picked on Saburo before.
“Hellooo, earth to Rio? Sorry for coming by so late, we figured we should’ve stopped and got you some cooking supplies,” Jyuto pulled out a small bag, presumably filled with spices and other things, and placed it next to the soldier.
“What’s this fuckin’ thing you’ve got on the ground?” The yakuza squatted in front of the board game, picking up one of the figures and reaching for the deck of cards Saburo had so carefully put together.
That’s what set Saburo off. He bolted out of the tent and kicked Samatoki’s hand as hard as he could.
“Don’t go touching other people’s fucking things, you TIGHTASS grandpa!! Have some respect for people who’re smarter than you’ll ever be!!”
Samatoki held his hand in pain, a terrifying expression washing over his face. Jyuto, on the other hand, was trying his best to stifle his laughter, covering his mouth with his gloved hand.
“Who the hell do you think you are?! Rio, why’s this dumb fuck Ichiro ass kisser here?!”
“Humiliating as this is for him, he raises a good question, Rio. Why the hell are you babysitting?”
It felt like anything Rio said right now would upset one of them. But it’s not like he could send Saburo home, Ikebukuro was almost an hour away and it’s already gotten dark. He stayed put on the ground, poking at the crackling fire in front of him with a stick.
“I'm not babysitting,” he mumbled. “The boy was paying me a visit and I offered him some food. Why don’t we all just sit down and eat?”
“I’m not eating at the same table as that fuckin’ brat.” Samatoki stood back up and reached for Jyuto’s hand, but the cop ignored him, folding his arms.
“I don’t think it’s that huge a deal, toki. It’s not like we don’t get to spend time with Rio. Besides, I didn’t walk all the way out here for nothing.” Jyuto sat down on the grass next to the tallest and leaned on his shoulder. “Sorry for coming at a bad time.”
“Grrgh-- you guys! You can’t be okay with this! H-he’s our enemy !” Samatoki furiously pointed towards Saburo, who was sitting on the other side of the fire, knees pulled to his chest, watching the situation.
“ Your enemy, toki. He isn’t Ichiro, there shouldn’t be a reason you’re so worked up over this.” Jyuto’s expression softened. “Come sit with us.”
The yakuza made a range of uncomfortable noises before plopping down on the other side of Rio. He looked down at the grass below him, tugging on it and avoiding eye contact with all three of them. Peck. Rio pressed a kiss to Samatoki’s cheek before standing up and taking the food off the fire.
“Saburo, is it okay if we play your game after we eat? I think it’d be much more enjoyable once everyone’s gotten the chance to calm down..”
The boy nodded, relaxing a little. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.