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When Draken was little, maybe 5 or 6 years old, one of the girls came running in through the doors. She was frantic and worried, and in her arms was a small, fragile little body that couldn’t have been older than 3. Shrill cries emitted from the small child echoed throughout the brothel and everyone’s attention was on the poor babe.
Draken had come out of his room, rubbing his eyes blearily and confusedly. The girl was rambling, and clearly didn’t know what to do with the baby. And Draken, with his little baby brain, thought that the child would appreciate not being in a shaking and unreliable hold. So, he went up to the two and held out his arms expectantly. The girl looked down at him and hesitantly gave him the little one.
Surprisingly, the toddler calmed down almost immediately, looking at Draken with big, bright blue eyes and an adorable wobbly smile. Draken smiled at the kid and felt a surge of warmth in his chest. No matter that he was holding the toddler awkwardly or that nobody knew where the tot came from, it was the cutest thing all of the girls present had seen to date.
And Draken looked up at them with puppy dog eyes, “Can we keep him?”
—
If you ask a now 12 year old Draken, he will vehemently deny that story with a red face and mean stink eye while clutching his 10 little brother in a protective bear hug. The girls had decided to name the boy Takemichi after a few days of having him. In those few days, Takemichi had been referred to as ‘kid’ and ‘the baby’. He still is called that, by the way.
Takemichi and Draken are pretty much attached at the hip, with the older always taking the younger out on adventures through the streets and buying them both ice cream and snacks. In return, Takemichi would make Draken flower crowns and make sure to patch him up if he ever came home injured.
Which brought up the topic of Toman, and what came with Draken being in a gang.
Cuts, busted knuckles and nasty bruises, split lips and slit eyebrows. Injuries way past the occasional scraped knees and small bruises that decorated his little brother due to his clumsiness.
Draken had never meant for Takemichi to find out. He was quite content with keeping Takemichi ignorant when it came to Toman. He feared what the boy would think of him, if he was honest. He knew, logically, that it was pretty much impossible to break the unconditional love and brotherhood he built with Takemichi. The trust and adoration the younger felt for the older as a result of being raised by and alongside the black-eyed male. Regardless, he never told Takemichi about Toman. And in turn, he never told Toman about Takemichi.
Honestly, Draken was in way over his head thinking that he could hide it from Takemichi for that long. Especially considering how some stupid motherfuckers seemed to think he was a punching bag.
(You see, it happened like this, Takemichi had started coming home with bruises and tear-stained red cheeks. Every time Draken tried to get him to talk about it, Takemichi would shut him down- shut him out and tell him to shut up. That he was fine and didn’t need the elder babying him. This happened for a few months, and it always ended with Draken in front of his little brother's door looking dejected and worried as it was slammed in his face for the upteenth time that week. Draken never yelled back, he would never.
Draken had been so worried, in fact, that he went to Mitsuya about it. He knew that the boy took care of his two little sisters and was damn good at it too. So, Mitsuya would be great to go to for advice on how to deal with his stubborn little brother. The only issue? Mitsuya had no damn idea that Draken had a little brother.
“Hah?” Mitsuya looked dumbfounded, looking at Draken like he was trying to solve a puzzle. “You have a little brother?”
“Yes! And I need your help,” Draken breathed out, the urgency in his tone and worried face got the gears in Mitsuya’s head to momentarily pause.
“Don’t think you won’t be telling me the full story later, but what is it?”
“He’s been coming home injured and every time I try and talk to him about it he gets defensive and refuses to tell me and I’m really fucking worried,” Draken rushed out. Mitsuya raised a brow, he’s never seen Draken so out of his element and emotional.
“You ever try challenging him back?” Mitsuya offered, droopy eyes closing as he yawned silently. It was a late night. He was trying to act like he was calm when- in reality- his mind was racing with all sorts of questions. Mainly, why the fuck did Draken hide the fact that he had a little brother? Did he not trust them with that information? Why wouldn’t he? Concern for Draken and someone he didn’t even know started bubbling up in his stomach.
“Challenging him back?” Draken asked, tilting his head to the side. Mitsuya nodded.
“He’s probably sizing you up or some shit, dude. Tryna see how far you’re willing to go to protect and care for him. Does he usually act like this?”
“No, he’s the sweetest kid ever. He’d never hurt a fly. He’s never yelled at me like he has these past few weeks. Scratch that- I don’t think he’s ever seriously raised his voice at me ever. I don’t understand what’s up with him,” Draken said glumly, looking down at the ground. Mitsuya felt sympathy, he knew how that felt.
“Maybe he’s bein’ made fun of at school and it turned physical. Can he fight?”
“No. I don’t want him to know how to fight,” Draken responded with a pout. That piqued Mitsuya’s interest.
“Why don’t you want him to fight?”
“I don’t want him to have to know how to fight. I don’t want him to- to be like me.”
‘I see’, Mitsuya thought. “I know you probably don’t want to. But you gotta fight back, that’s the only way you’ll get him to break.”
“I don’t wanna hurt him.”
“You will hurt him,” when Draken’s head shoots up to look at him, he waves a hand in his direction, “It’s inevitable. But you wanna get through to him, right? Wanna solve the problems he’s having?” Draken nodded.
“You gotta fight for him. You gotta raise your voice and let it be known you’re there for him, but you won't take his shit. There’s no secrets between brothers.”
Draken frowned, already not liking the sound of what Mitsuya suggested. He and Takemichi never argued. They never fought or anything. MItsuya smiled lazily and patted his back.
“And know I’m here for you if shit hits the fan. He’s your little brother, right? There’s no way he could be mad at you for long!”
“You don’t even know him.”
“But I know you.”
In the end, the two brothers ended up fighting until tears streamed down both of their cheeks and until their voices were hoarse and scratchy. They screamed and yelled, desperately trying to get the other to understand.
[“HOW HARD IS IT TO JUST TELL ME?!”
“JUST FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE!”]
The cold night air had nipped at their skin and made their throats hurt worse with every heaved breath they took in. They were in an old abandoned playground. They called it their little hideout since it was hidden in trees and was only stumbled upon on one of their little adventures. But the innocent and happy atmosphere was replaced by a hostile, and tense one.
They fought until Takemichi choked, and fell to his knees unable to breath or talk due to his sobs. Draken, whose own tears blurred his vision and stung his face so bad, ran to him and engulfed him in a tight hug. Mumbling apologies as he threaded his fingers through the mop of black hair of his little brother.
Mitsuya was right. Some little bastards in Takemichi’s elementary school started ganging up on him and his little crew of friends and threatened him into keeping quiet. The anger he felt when he learned that was unlike any he’d ever felt. Regardless of the rage, he remained gentle and loving as he picked Takemichi up as if he was still a small little runt of a five year old and walked home.
That night, they cuddled until they fell asleep. And the next day, he went to Takemichi’s school after the middle school was let out and pummeled the little fuckers until they were bleeding and broken. Takemichi learned then, and only then, what his big brother was capable of. But did he really care? Not that much.)
So yeah. Takemichi found out but nothing really changed between them. The argument they had definitely brought them closer, if that was even possible, and they trust each other more.
They no longer keep secrets from each other, and know that they can count on one another.
Which is very sweet.
Draken just wishes he didn’t have to see the sight he’s seeing right now.
Inside his room were Mikey, Baji, Kazutora, Pah-chin, and Mitsuya. Now that he thinks about it, it wasn’t the best idea to bring a bunch of pre-teen boys into a brothel. But they asked to come over to his place!
And standing in his doorway is his little brother, Takemichi. Beat to fuck and back and swaying on his feet. He has no thoughts about how confused the others probably are (maybe minus Mitsuya, but he’s never seen Takemichi either) and scrambles off the side of his bed and to Takemichi. Who is still fucking swaying.
“Hey, Ken, I uh- fucked up a bit.” He slurs out, shutting the door behind him as he steps in the room completely.
“I see that,” Draken rushes out, gently leading Takemichi over to his bed and letting the boy flop down. He then goes over to one of his drawers where he keeps a spare first aid kit and starts getting all the things he needs ready, blatantly ignoring the confused stares and looks being shot his way. Takemichi ignores the other boys, he knows of them from the stories Draken tells but that’s about it.
“Who’s this?” Baji asks, and Draken glares at him. A look that clearly said ‘ shut the fuck up’. Mitsuya puts the two pieces together in his mind very quickly and herds the other boys out of the room.
It was silent for a while afterwards, Draken paying close attention to Takemichi and his reactions when he cleaned his injuries and wrapped them. Takemichi didn’t shrug away from his hands, nor did he refuse the care. Which was good in Draken’s book.
“What happened?” Draken asks, hands on the other boy’s shoulders and looking directly into his eyes.
Takemichi avoided eye contact, but he should know by now that Draken doesn’t like it when he does that.
“Hey,” Draken snaps his fingers in front of Takemichi’s eyes, causing the boy to look him in the eyes again, “What happened?”
“I heard some guys trash talking Takuya.” Okay. Draken’s getting somewhere.
“And what did you do?”
“I went up to them and asked why they were being so mean. They don’t even know him!” Takemichi cried angrily, eyes scrunching up and hands fisting his hair, a habit he picked up from Draken.
The older boy took the younger one's wrists in his hands and pulled his hands away from his hair to prevent further damage.
“I know they don’t. What happened after that?” Draken pushes further, patient and calm. Takemichi looked back up at him, his eyes resembling an ocean ready to overflow.
“They started making fun of me and pushing me around. I punched one in the face and that lead to well-” he paused, gesturing to himself, “this.”
Draken takes a long breath in, and breathes out for even longer. Takemichi is a protector through and through, just sucks he’s not fucking good at being one. It’s times like these where he genuinely wants to teach him how to fight, because he knows Takemichi won't use the knowledge for anything more than protecting himself and others.
“You need to be more careful about who you pick your fights with,” Draken scolds gently, pushing black hair away from his little brother’s forehead “It’s going to get you seriously hurt one day. And what happens when I’m not there to protect you?”
“I don’t need to worry about that, though. You’ll always be with me,” Takemichi states, naively. Draken huffs out a sad sigh.
“That’s not true, Takemichi. I hope that I will always be there with you but that can’t always happen. You were lucky that you weren’t knocked out tonight, Takemichi. Because what would’ve happened then?”
Here's the thing- he’s careful to not promise forever with Takemichi. He doesn’t want to promise forever. He’s too scared. Too scared that he’ll jinx it and fuck everything up. He doesn’t want to lose him. And nights like these- though few and far between, very rare- scare him to death. Not like he’ll show that to Takemichi but still.
He watches as Takemichi shrugs and looks down at his feet. Draken pulls him into a hug, and kisses his temple, “I’m not telling you to stop fighting for your friends, I’m just asking you to be more careful.”
“But I don’t know how to fight,” Takemichi grumbles, letting go of Draken’s waist and crossing his arms. But Draken keeps his arms around him.
Draken closes his eyes and lets out a suffering breath of air, seriously not looking forward to his next few words. Just a few months ago, if someone told him that he was genuinely considering teaching Takemichi how to fight, he would’ve laughed in their face and then beaten them into the ground.
Hesitantly. Very hesitantly, he says, “I can help you. I can teach you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. But only if you use it to protect, and only that. Can’t have a fucking mini me running around. The girls would kill me.”
Takemichi laughs, “Sure, sure.”
( Later, he introduces Takemichi to the gang, and asks them to help teach Takemichi how to fight. The five boys fell for Takemichi’s cute face and smile almost instantly and agreed to help.
‘Poor guys, Draken laughs to himself, they don’t stand a chance’)