Work Text:
“Really? Again, Takeomi?”
Shinichiro ran a hand through his hair, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder. He stood behind his little brother at the kitchen table, pausing his nightly routine of brushing out Manjirou’s hair. Manjirou yanked on the chord, whispering “what’s wrong?”
Swatting Manjirou’s hand away from the chord and shushing him, Shinichiro returned to the phone call. “Well what happened?......Seriously? That’s all? You need to be more patient with him.”
Turning around in his seat, Manjirou sat up on his knees, silently mouthing again “what’s wrong?” as Shinichiro held a finger to his mouth, telling him to be quiet.
“Yeah, well you know I’ll be on the lookout…… yeah, yeah, don’t worry about him, Takeomi. You know Haruchiyo is always welcome here. I’ll make sure he gets home safe in the morning.”
With a sigh, Shinichiro hung the phone up on the dock on the wall before turning back to his little brother. Manjirou was watching him with big eyes, his clean, wet hair sticking to his forehead as he asked once again “what’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine!” Shinichiro responded with a strained smile, ruffling his brother’s hair as Manjirou tried to duck away from his hand. “Haruchiyo is going to spend the night. Go get your room ready, and make sure you two don’t bother Emma.”
“Nice!” Manjirou shouted before hopping off of the chair, running off down the hallway to his bedroom. Shinichiro listened briefly, hearing a muffled shout as Manjirou opened the hallway closet to pull out an extra futon, knowing that he was going to have to rearrange all of the sheets and blankets Manjirou just dumped to the floor later.
But that was a problem for later…tomorrow maybe…or in a few days… or whenever he found the time. For now, he had a 9 year old runaway to deal with.
Grabbing his pack of cigarettes and a lighter, Shinichiro made his way outside to his favorite smoking spot which was nothing more than a folding chair on the front porch, right next to the tall bushes that ran along the front of their house. If the last time was anything to go by, Haruchiyo would try to sneak through the bushes to his brother’s window and tap on it until Manjirou let him in. Shinichiro had even found a little plastic stool out there once, knowing now that Haruchiyo’s little runaway moments probably happened more than he or Takeomi even knew.
But Haruchiyo never ran far, and never for long. Sometimes, he just hid in Manjirou’s room for the night, and ran off into the early morning before Takeomi even knew he was gone or Shinichiro knew he was there. It seemed like sometimes Haruchiyo just needed to escape, even if nothing major was wrong. It didn’t help that he also just preferred the company of Manjirou over anyone else.
However, nights like these were becoming more common. Takeomi calling him, panicked and out of breath when he realized that Haruchiyo had just…left… rather than going to his room like he was told. Shinichiro knew Haruchiyo wasn’t the easiest child to deal with…he was always moody and prone to overreacting when upset, but Shinichiro couldn’t help but worry his best friend was making it worse with his own anger issues. Takeomi and Haruchiyo were more similar in their personalities than either of them would ever admit, but that frequently just led to them clashing and butting heads as Haruchiyo got older and became more opinionated.
Shinichiro found that he couldn’t even blame Haruchiyo most of the time. Shinichiro loved Takeomi so much, but even he needed a break sometimes when Takeomi got stuck in his stubborn ruts, unwilling to listen or change his opinions (especially when he knew he was wrong). Haruchiyo was growing up to be just as stubborn, so Shinichiro didn’t mind if Haruchiyo escaped to the Sano household every once in a while. Better to let the flames cool and give the brothers some time apart. The other option was to send him back home to fan them into further hot headed familial disasters, which would be even more of an inconvenience to Shinichiro than letting his brother’s best friend spend the night every once in a while.
So Shinichiro waited, lit cigarette hanging from his lips as he watched the driveway. It usually took Haruchiyo ten to fifteen minutes to get here if he was riding his bicycle, so it was not long before Shinichiro saw his blonde head popping up over the fence, attempting to sneakily scale the gate without rattling the lock too much. A particularly loud clang rang out over the yard, and Shinichiro saw Haruchiyo’s little body wince as he waited for the sound to settle down before hopping down to continue his creeping path up to the house.
Haruchiyo must not have noticed him sitting there, focused as he was about getting into Manjirou’s room, as he jumped about a foot into the air when Shinichiro called out to him.
Face pale and little chest heaving, Haruchiyo cautiously stepped out from behind the bushes to Shinichiro sitting on the front porch. “What are you doing, Shinichiro-san?”
“I’m just enjoying the night air, Haru. What are you doing?”
“I…uh…” Haruchiyo averted his gaze, his small hands bunching up the edge of his t-shirt as he racked his brain for an answer. “Mikey… said I could spend the night.”
“Did he?” Shinichiro smiled, not acknowledging the blatant lie. “He must have forgotten to ask me. I should talk to him about that.”
Haruchiyo’s green eyes grew wide, scared he had just gotten his friend in trouble. “No! It’s okay! I can…go… home… I guess.”
“It’s okay, Haru. Here, come sit for a few minutes. Manjirou’s still getting his room ready for you.”
Either not noticing or not acknowledging Shinichiro’s contradiction, Haruchiyo shuffled over, out of the garden and into the seat next to the older boy. The sticky plastic of the folding chair creaked as Haruchiyo sat down, pulling his feet into the seat as he wrapped his skinny arms around his legs. Shinichiro watched him, amused that Haruchiyo still refused to meet his gaze as they sat in silence watching as the orange light of the evening sunset muted to a deep, warm purple. The automatic lights on the front of the house flickered on above them, and Shinichiro tossed his cigarette to the ground and crushed it with his shoe, hoping Haruchiyo had calmed down enough to talk about what had happened. But, always full of surprises, Haruchiyo beat him to the punch.
“Did my brother call you?” Harichiyo’s voice was muffled, spoken directly into his crossed arms that sat atop his knees.
“No, he didn’t,” Shinichiro lied, leaning back in his seat to stretch his back until the creak of old plastic became concerning. “Did something happen?”
“No.” Haurchiyo was quick to respond, short and definite, not knowing that Shinichiro already knew of what happened from Takeomi’s perspective. Haruchiyo turned his head to the side so that Shinichiro could no longer see his face. Shinichiro heard a distinctive sniffle and watched as Haruchiyo rubbed his nose with the back of his arm. Shinichiro reached out a hand to rub the boy’s back, before Haruchiyo sat up straight, stomping his feet on the concrete as he turned towards Shinichiro.
“Takeomi is just so mean! I do
one
thing wrong, and he just starts shouting at me! He never yells at Senju, you know? Just
me
.”
Shinichiro nodded, an exaggerated look of concern on his face as he encouraged Haruchiyo to continue. “Well, what did you do?”
“Nothing even that bad this time! I just borrowed one of his lighters… not like he doesn’t have a million of them, he’s not gonna miss one…”
“What were you going to do with it?”
Haruchiyo looked away, shame showing on his face as he stared down at the smear of ash on the concrete where Shinichiro had put out his cigarette earlier.
“Haru…”
“I wasn’t gonna do anything, Shin, I swear! Takeomi just left a pack of his cigarettes in the garage and I just took one and he didn’t even notice until I took his favorite lighter or whatever… He left that at home, too, so I don’t know how it can really be much of a favorite if he left it in the kitchen like that…I didn’t even smoke it but he thinks I did because I guess he’s been noticing them going missing but how does he know that's me? It coulda been someone else… Senju doesn’t like him smoking so maybe she’s taking them…”
Haruchiyo was just word vomiting now, and Shinichiro just let him go, knowing that he probably didn’t get to express all of these things at his own home. Or maybe he did, and Takeomi just thought he was lying or making up excuses. Which he probably was. As the older sibling of a little brother, Shinichiro knew what bullshit smelled like when it started coming out of a little boy’s mouth.
But, he also knew what it was like to have a little brother who loved him more than anything, and would do anything he could to be just like him. Shinichiro remembered the night he found Manjirou behind his garage, hacking up a lung and awkwardly holding a lit cigarette between his fingertips. Shinichiro remembered the panic he felt, knowing it was his influence that led his little brother to test out the habit. He was lucky however, as Manjirou was much more of a fan of sugar and sweets and would never seriously take up smoking because he thought it tasted gross. But curiosity had overwhelmed him, as Shinichiro is sure it overwhelmed Haruchiyo, and he just had to try it. Just once.
So Shinichiro can only imagine the worry Takeomi felt to find his brother in a similar situation. Hiding behind the house, taking a drag on one of Takeomi’s cigarettes.
“It’s like he’s been doing it for weeks, Shin. Remember how hard we coughed when we first tried it? He’s only nine, he shouldn’t be able to smoke like that without breaking a sweat.”
Shinichiro knew Takeomi too often expressed his worry for his little brother with anger. It was just something he had to work through on his own, because no matter how many times Shinichiro scolded him for that, Takeomi couldn’t just fix it overnight. Shinichiro knew he was trying to be a bit more relaxed, to walk away and collect himself before he snapped, but he also knew Haruchiyo tended to push buttons, and picked and poked until even the calmest person snapped on him.
But Shinichiro knew there was likely no picking and poking that night. He knew Takeomi likely snatched the cigarette right out of Haruchiyo’s mouth, and bore down on him in frustration like his last straw had snapped.
No wonder Haruchiyo headed straight to the Sano household without hesitation.
“He’s just so stupid. He doesn’t listen to me ever, he always just thinks I’m gonna do something wrong, and like I’m just some bad kid and I bet he wishes I wasn’t even there. Takeomi hates me, Shin, I know he does…”
Haruchiyo’s voice trailed off, a wet sniffle causing him to dip his head as he pulled the collar of his shirt up to his ears and over his mouth and nose to hide his face. Shinichiro knew that Haruchiyo didn’t like to cry, especially in front of the older boys, so he tried not to acknowledge it as he grabbed the arm of Haruchiyo’s lawn chair and pulled him as close as he could.
Slinging an arm around Haruchiyo’s shoulders, Shinichiro shushed him, giving a comforting squeeze as they sat together.
“Hey, you know that’s not true right? Your brother just worries about you, you know? He doesn’t want you to do things that can hurt you. He loves you alot.”
“As if… he doesn’t care… he just loves to get angry at me…”
Shinichiro frowned and rubbed Haruchiyo’s tiny back. It was so hard to find the right words to comfort an upset child sometimes. Especially when he knew the emotions behind the upset were so raw and true. Shinichiro knew better than just about anyone how much Haruchiyo looked up to Takeomi.
Or at least, how he used to look up to him before things started getting difficult for their family. Shinicihro still remembers the time he walked past Manjirou’s room, and heard him and Haruchiyo bickering over whose older brother was the coolest a couple years ago… Little Keisuke had whined at the fact that he didn’t have an older brother, and said he couldn’t pick who was better, which only started another flurry of little voices as Manjirou and Haruchiyo tried to convince their friend of whose brother was better.
Things weren’t always so difficult. Back when their little brothers used to be all cute and starry-eyed and thought they hung the moon. But all little boys grow out of that cute phase eventually, and Takeomi had never had a walk in the park with Haruchiyo.
“Hey, Haru, look at me.” Tilting his head down to get more on Haruchiyo’s level, Shin waited until those wet green eyes turned towards him. “He just gets angry because he loves you and wants the best for you. He’s probably angry at himself too, you know.”
Haruchiyo’s eyebrows furrowed, disbelief forming on his face. He didn’t say a word as he waited for Shinichiro to continue.
“It’s true, it’s true! I swear to you. Would even pinky promise if I knew your hands were clean.”
Haruchiyo snorted, a smile tugging at the edges of his lips as he tried to force it away. “Mikey says your hands are always greasy anyway…”
“Well that's just totally untrue. But what is true is that I know your brother better than anyone, and I know he was angry at himself for leaving those things out around you.”
Haruchiyo sniffed and rubbed his nose with his fist, a frown taking over his expression. “Then why did he yell at me ?”
“Because you said it yourself, you still did something wrong. Takeomi wouldn’t get so upset with you if he didn’t worry about you though. If he didn’t care, he’d just let you smoke until your lungs were black, but seeing you like that scared him.”
Haruchiyo scowled as if he didn’t totally believe what Shinichiro had to say, but he sat there and didn’t contradict him.
“I know it can be hard to believe, Haru, but your brother loves you alot. Sometimes families fight, but they still love each other, and that’s okay.”
Haruchiyo looked to be contemplating what Shinichiro said as the front door flung open, spilling light into the night. Snapping his head around, Shinicihro saw the wide grin that grew across Haruchiyo’s face as Manjirou called for him.
“Haruchiyo! What are you doing hanging out with stinky Shin? Let's go! I got snacks!”
“Hey- no snacks in your room! We don’t need ants again!”
Grabbing his friend by the wrist, Manjirou stuck his tongue out at Shinichiro before pulling Haruchiyo along behind him into the house. With a sigh, Shinichiro hoisted himself up, following the boys inside just in time to hear Emma scream. The boys were laughing, and Emma was calling for him to fix whatever it is they had just done, and Shinichiro made a mental note to call Takeomi later to let him know Haruchiyo had made it here safely.
Shinichiro knew that his brief conversation with Haruchiyo hadn’t solved anything, but he hoped that maybe it had helped in some way. There were so many factors in play, between Takeomi’s worry and frustration, and Haruchiyo’s hurt and jealousy… and both of them unwilling to admit that they had maybe some little part in contributing to the arguments that kept happening.
Haruchiyo wasn’t his little brother, but he had know Haruchiyo for his entire life, as Takeomi had been eager to show his cute little brother off as soon as he had been born. Shinichiro remembered the day Takeomi told him excitedly after school that he was going to be a big brother. Shinichiro was still amazed at how Takeomi had held it in all day because he was practically shouting by the time he told him.
Takeomi had always wanted a little brother, never liking being an only child, but by the time his mother became pregnant again, Takeomi had just been desperate for a sibling. He had called Shinichiro on the phone after his parents revealed to him that his new sibling was going to be a boy, and Shinichiro was sure he hadn’t said more than “hello” during that entire conversation after his grandfather handed him the phone. Takeomi had been so excited, Shinichiro couldn’t even get a word in edgewise.
So seeing how the excitement had dimmed, and knowing how fiercely Takeomi still loved his little brother nine years later, made Shinichiro feel for him. He couldn’t say that being a big brother to Manjirou was simple… but he knew he had it relatively easy overall compared to the Akashi brothers. Haruchiyo was quick tempered. He could be spiteful and often got jealous of their little sister. If middle child syndrome was an actual medical condition, Haruchiyo would be a textbook case of it, but Shinichiro knew that all came from Haruchiyo’s deep desire to be loved by, and to be like, his older brother.
But it is so easy to sit from an outside perspective and say all of these things. He had told Takeomi how he saw things multiple times, but Shinichiro could only imagine how it felt being the main person responsible for managing Haruchiyo, especially when his ways of getting attention often frustrated Takeomi to no end.
Oh well, Shinichiro thought. He could deal with their friends and their brother issues in the morning. For now, Shinichiro would let the boys have fun, staying up as late as Manjirou’s internal clock would allow them to, and try to minimize the distress that was being placed on his little sister. If only Haruchiyo had decided to run away with Senju…then the girls could play to their heart’s content.
In the morning, Shinichiro decided to wake the boys up with a winning combo of cinnamon toast and chocolate milk, not like that was the only child-friendly breakfast combination he could whip up without burning something down. Manjirou, as always, was half asleep at the table, while Haruchiyo nibbled oh so slowly at the last bit of his crust, trying with all of his might to extend the sleep-over as long as he could.
“Just about done there, Haru? I can walk you home once you finish up.”
Haruchiyo grumbled, sticking his thumb in the cinnamon sugar on his plate before licking it off, ignoring Emma’s screams of “ew!”
“My bike…”
“It’s alright, you can pick it up after school tomorrow, since you and Manjirou walk by here anyway.” Seeing he was still not winning the boy over, Shinichiro decided to up the incentive. “We can take my bike. We’ll go the long way.”
Shinichiro grinned as Haruchiyo lifted his head, green eyes going wide at the prospect of getting to ride Shinichiro’s actual motorcycle. The conversation had Manjirou finally perking up as well, and Shinichiro had to promise to take him for a ride later before he could get Manjirou to separate from his friend for the day.
It didn’t help that it was still a struggle to get Haruchiyo outside, as he hemmed and hawed through his goodbyes, and took an extra long bathroom break just to extend his time in the Sano home. When Shinichiro finally got him outside, Haruchiyo fussed as Shinichiro tried to pass him the shiny red helmet he made Manjirou wear when they took rides together.
“Helmet. Or Takeomi will yell at me too.”
Finally, a good sized smile on the grumpy boy’s face as he clipped the helmet below his chin. Shinichiro waited to start the bike up until after Haruchiyo climbed up behind him, his little hands gripping tightly to the sides of Shinichiro’s shirt. Thin arms fully encircled his waist as Shinichiro turned the key in the ignition and called back to Haruchiyo to hold on tight.
It was not the first time Shinichiro had driven Haruchiyo home, so Shinichiro couldn’t help but notice how quiet Haruchiyo was as they drove through the streets, deliberately taking a few wrong turns to extend the drive as long as he could.
At a stop sign, Shinichiro called over his shoulder to the boy clinging to his back.
“Something on your mind, Haruchiyo?”
Silence was his initial response, but as Shinichiro pulled away from the stop sign, he heard Haruchiyo’s soft voice.
“I wish you were my older brother.”
Shinichiro shook his head, his suspicions from the night before confirmed as true. He hadn’t been able to fix a damn thing, but Haruchiyo’s childish wish was still amusing.
“Now, I know you don’t mean that.”
“I do…” Haruchiyo whined, his fingers digging into Shinichiro’s stomach.
“No you don’t. You can’t marry Manjirou if you’re my brother.”
Haruchiyo stiffened against his back, and Shinichiro heard an uneasy laugh from the younger boy. “Don’t say stupid things. You’re not Takeomi.”
“It’s true though! If I’m your brother, then Manjirou is your brother too, and you can’t marry your brother. Isn’t that what I heard you and Keisuke fighting over a couple of weeks ago? Who gets to marry Manjirou when you get older?”
“No!”
“Oh, well I guess it's okay if you’re our brother. Maybe you and Keisuke can get married instead, so you don’t have to fight over Manjirou like that. Manjirou would be a bad husband, anyway.”
Shinichiro laughed as Haruchiyo groaned, pushing himself off of Shinichiro’s back to put as much distance between them as possible.
“That’s so gross!”
“What’s gross?”
Pulling up in front of the Akashi house, Haruchiyo hopped off of Shinichiro’s motorcycle as quickly as he could, and ran over to Takeomi who was waiting for them outside.
“Shin’s being nasty!”
“Please, I was just helping to facilitate the union of the Akashi and Sano families. We’re going to be brother-in-law’s, Takeomi!”
“Oh, does Haruchiyo like Emma?”
Haruchiyo stomped his foot with a shout of “Stop!” before turning on his heel and running into the house, leaving the two older brothers to stare at the slammed front door. Takeomi sighed and ran a hand over his face, already tired of his little brother’s moods. Shinichiro clapped him on the shoulder in solidarity, knowing that the rest of the day was sure to be lively with the Akashi siblings.
“Be sure to apologize to him, Takeomi.”
“I know… But what do you even say to him?”
“He’s a kid, Takeomi, not some complex puzzle. Just say you’re sorry for shouting and take him out for ice cream. He probably just wants to spend some time with you.”
With another sigh, Takeomi crossed his arms across his chest and averted his gaze to the ground, oh so similar in mannerisms to his little brother. It was amusing watching them in such close confines to one another, because it just made their similarities stand out even more. Their eyes and nose, the way they acted when irritated, even the way they carried themselves were so similar. If only they could see those similarities as something to bond over, rather than a way to stick another thorn in each other’s side.
“By the way, I fed him soooo much sugar before driving him over.” Shinichiro saluted his friend before running over to his bike and hopping on, ignoring Takeomi’s shouts as he urged his bike back to life.
With a wave, and a cry of “good luck!” Shinichiro peeled out of the driveway, heading back home to make sure his own siblings hadn’t set the house on fire.
Good luck indeed.
Those Akashi siblings would surely need it.