Work Text:
"What're you doing on your day off this week?"
Hyuse blinked slowly, looking up from his shoe locker to where Taichi was bouncing excitedly in his socks.
"Put your shoes on," he said instead of entertaining whatever thought was rattling around in the empty space of Taichi's head.
There was a quiet whine, but Taichi complied. He shoved his feet quickly into his outdoor shoes, barely stuffing his feet inside before he was upright and talking again.
"You should come over! We're going to study for exams and play around."
Ah . He'd been trying not to think about the upcoming exams too hard. It wasn't that he was particularly worried , because it was only a paper and school meant nothing. But it was also impossible for him to do his best when he could barely read or write as it was, and the threat of failure or the embarrassment of special accommodations made him much less motivated than his cohorts.
"I'll pass." He didn't even need to look in Taichi's direction to hear him deflate.
Taichi leaned down to tug the heels of his shoes up properly, though his sulking was also obvious. "I thought maybe since you're still learning the language that we could all help you for exams. You know, so we can all prepare together."
Hyuse shrugged. "I'm taking my exam orally. Studying with you won't help me."
With a whine, the sniper attached himself to Hyuse's arm like a dead weight. "Then we'll read the questions to you too and it'll be a big help! Pleaaaase? Please please please?"
"You should leave begging for the dogs."
From their other side, Koarai snickered. "Betsuyaku down ."
Okudera rolled his eyes, nudging Koarai with his foot. "Leave him alone. Low hanging fruit, dude."
Beside him, Satori finished tying the laces of his sneakers and popped back up to a standing position. “Wait, what’re you guys talking about?”
Koarai shifted his bag strap higher up his shoulder, if only to better swing the bulk of it into Satori's side. The sniper grunted on impact. Koarai snickered.
"Taichi's trying to invite Hyuston out," he explained breezily, Satori rubbing his side and squinting at the blond skeptically. “We’re going to Hanzaki’s house this weekend to play around.”
“To study ,” Sasamori corrected.
“Uh, right. That, too.”
With a defeated groan, Satori sagged forward, doubled over in disappointment. “Mannnn, that’s no fair! I wanna go!”
Without missing a beat, Taichi helpfully said “Tell Netsuki that you’re busy. Or sick, or something. You should come hang out with us.”
“Tokki’d never let me off the hook,” Satori continued to whine.
As if he had a sixth sense for his teammate, Tokieda turned the corner with Hanzaki in tow. He trudged over to their group, looking as cool as always. "I wouldn't," he agreed solemnly. "We have to present a united front against him. It's not very united if one is missing."
Hanzaki spoke up from his side, too, adding a blunt "I don't remember inviting Satoken over."
"Betrayal!" he wailed.
"Necessary sacrifice," Tokieda disagreed.
Hyuse tried to pay it no mind. At the very least, Tokieda and Satori had taken the pressure off of him. He had hoped to make a quick getaway before anyone wised up.
Before he could move, Taichi grabbed his hand, holding it hostage. Hyuse looked at their joined hands and then looked back at the sniper. He remained steadfast. "You're coming, right?"
"I'm not."
□
Getting out of bed had been difficult. Forcing himself out the door and to his peer's house had been even harder.
“Is that a gift for Hanzaki?” Taichi asked far too cheerily for this early in the morning, pointing at the bag in Hyuse’s hands.
Hyuse simply shrugged, shifting it from one hand to the other. “Shiori gave it to me.”
This only seemed to encourage the sniper more, his eyes practically lighting up at the mention of Tamakoma’s operator. “Ahh man, I’ve heard Usami gives you guys the best gifts to bring! Satoken talks about it all the time,” he cheered, pumping his fist over his head.
He couldn’t help but scoff in return, turning his head to avoid any slip in his expression going noticed. Not that he felt he had to really worry, because he was perfectly impassive and had incredible control over his emotions. He was a master at not letting his emotions show because he had to be, because it’s what made him good enough, because it kept him safe. Betsuyaku Taichi was not about to ruin that control because he was excited (albeit understandably so) about some fancy dorayaki.
Taichi, as expected, either didn’t notice or didn’t care about whatever emotions weren’t visible on Hyuse’s face. He was too busy racing up the small path to Hanzaki’s door, practically tripping over his own feet in his rush. There were no victims to his general clumsiness, nothing particularly fragile or precariously placed sitting in his way. Still, though, Hyuse felt sorry for the bell and the new hell about to be unleashed on it once Taichi reached the door.
And, sure enough, Taichi proceeded to ring the bell about a million times in a fraction of a second before someone (Hanzaki, most likely) threw the door open in exasperation.
Hyuse didn’t have any disillusions of knowing much, if anything, about these guys. He knew enough, and they were…decently close, but all that really mattered was how well they performed at Border. Anything beyond that was fluff. And Hyuse was fine like that, really he was. It didn’t bother him that he didn’t know much because he didn’t care to know more.
However, when the door swung open and he was greeted by an almost carbon copy of his classmate rather than his actual classmate, he did question it a little bit. Maybe he should know more about them, if only to avoid surprises such as this in the future.
The girl in the doorway stared blankly at them for a moment, her expression eerily reminiscent of the bored look Hanzaki always had. Before either he or Taichi could respond, she just sighed and spun on her heel. “Yocchan! More of your friends are here.”
From upstairs, there was some thumping. It almost sounded like someone responded, but it was lost in the cacophony of other sounds and voices. The girl in front of them just rolled her eyes and ushered them in. “They’re in his room,” she said unceremoniously.
Taichi wasted no time, having already invited himself inside and taken off his shoes. “Thanks, Minato! Hyuston brought you snacks.”
“I brought them for Yoshito,” Hyuse clarified.
“And?” she asked, snatching the bag out of his hands and abruptly beginning her retreat to wherever it was she had come from. “I’m collecting a fee.”
Hyuse watched her leave. He followed Taichi quietly, musing over this new information before he felt, for some reason, compelled to speak it. "Yoshito has a sister?"
Taichi wrinkled his nose at him in amusement, his face bobbing with each hop up the stairs. "Uh, yeah. You haven't met Minato before?"
"No. Why would I have?"
"She's in our year, you know. They're twins."
"Hm." He was familiar enough with the concept, though it was rare to ever encounter a complete set where he was from. Most of the twins he had met back home had long since been separated, whether it was through sale or through death. There were enough superstitions surrounding twins, and Aftokratorans were a superstitious lot by nature. They’re bad luck , people thought. They’ll bring ruin to any house who takes them. Hyuse himself had never been one to care, unable to see how exactly any person or even a pair of people could be bad luck simply for having been born. Those superstitions didn’t seem to be here in Meeden, at least not amongst his peers, or at least not outwardly spoken. Maybe it was a Border thing, or maybe it wasn’t. Either way, he wondered if the Hanzakis knew how lucky they were.
Taichi gestured vaguely with his hand, though the motion was so exaggerated by the way he was still half-running and half-jumping up the steps. "They have an older brother, too. But you're an only child, right? You don't talk about your family a lot, but I figured you were based off how you act, y'know?" The sniper smiled wide, unaware of the landmine he had just stepped on.
Hyuse felt his chest tighten, his heart clenching as it sank to his stomach like a rock. Maybe he was an only child biologically, or maybe his birth parents had had more children after he was gone. But even beyond blood ties, there were the others from House Elin. Kids like him, traded and sold and brought up to fight wars at the whims of their lords and masters. Kids like him, who lived and ate and slept and breathed alongside him every step of the way until he had been cast aside once again. Were they not his siblings? Did that still make him an only child?
"I'm an only child, too!" Taichi continued, still oblivious. "It can get lonely, right? But I figure, kids like us stick together with our friends and it's less lonely. So we'll stick together too, right Hyuse?"
'Absolutely not,' is what he meant to say. It was what he felt in his heart and it was the thought that formed in his head and the words he expected to roll off his tongue.
"I guess," is what he said instead, shoving down the rising worry of letting himself be enmeshed with yet another group that could–that would throw him aside if he wasn't enough. If they knew the truth. "Don't stick too close, though. You're clingy."
□
Surprisingly, they had actually been studying when Hyuse and Taichi entered the room. Yes, Hanzaki was playing his game poorly hidden behind an open textbook and Koarai was more focused on spinning his pencil between his fingers, but they did in fact all have their textbooks open and their notes spread amongst them.
"Hyuston! Taichi!" Koarai shouted at their arrival, throwing his pencil against the table. His outburst didn't succeed in startling the others gathered around him, but he did manage to get Taichi even more riled up than before.
The sniper was gone from Hyuse’s side in an instant, nothing more than a blur as he launched himself at his friends. Sasamori tried to dodge, which only tangled him up in Okudera's limbs as the dark-haired attacker threw his arms up in self-defense. Like Koarai, they too landed in a heap as Taichi landed squarely on top of all of them. Hanzaki only glanced up, mildly annoyed as the table shook and his book fell.
"No, don't," he monotoned while making no move to fix the book or put down his game. "Stop."
From somewhere downstairs, who he could only assume was the girl from before yelled up at them to knock it off. The boys all shrugged it off, paying her little mind as they climbed over each other, pushing each other aside and squashing them back against the floor as they laughed and tried just as hard to keep the others down as they freed themselves.
A part of him, just for a split second, felt a deep yearning to join in. To be able to be part of the group, to belong. But more than that, he was just confused. Was this fun? What was the point? They didn't seem to be serious about studying. Or maybe it was just that they lacked discipline.
Sasamori finally managed to wriggle free, crawling out from beneath the mass of teenage boys to find refuge at the table one again. Once he escaped, it wasn't long until the others calmed down as well. Hyuse, meanwhile, was still standing in the doorway.
"Hyuse! Come sit down already," Okudera commanded. He had reclaimed what was originally his spot, though he was now squished firmly between Koarai and Taichi as they accommodated the new arrivals.
Making no move to join them, Hyuse eyed them warily before looking to Hanzaki. "Shiori made me bring you dorayaki," he announced, catching everyone's attention now.
Taichi slammed his hands flat against the table, books flying away from the motion. "That's right! Minato stole them!"
The news of this tragedy did not sit well. A chorus of disgruntled groans rang out from their little crowd, even Hanzaki looking annoyed. "She's the worst. Those dorayaki were mine."
"You mean ours ," Okudera corrected him. "Usami bought those for you to share."
"Not if I don't want to. My house, it is. The rules I make."
Sasamori chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, okay, Hokari " he teased him, jabbing the young sniper gently in the side with his own pen. This only prompted Hanzaki to stare at him deadpan and flex his arms–which, in turn prompted the other three to break into more laughter.
Being on the outside of this particular joke, Hyuse ignored it. He knew the name, recognized it as Hanzaki's senior in Border’s little sniper squad, but he didn't know any of them well enough to get the references. He remained in the doorway. Separate.
These were not his friends. These were not his people. He didn't belong here. He didn't deserve to be stuck surrounded by all these cavalier Meeden agents when he could have been home, could have been with his master, his family. If only he hadn't been trapped here, if he had tried harder to return or if he hadn't made the choices he had made. Of he had been better, stronger, more capable, more worthy–
His hand jerked forward, rocketing him back into the here and now as he looked down to see that Sasamori had tugged on his sleeve.
"You okay, Hyuse?" he asked, voice tinged with concern. Sasamori was staring up at him with his brows knit together, the expression far too similar to Osamu's for comfort. The others had quieted as well, looking to him and waiting for a response. Like everyone was holding their breath.
Great. Now he was making a scene. "I'm fine," he said a little too curtly as he snatched his hand back. Sasamori looked a little wounded, but the expression shifted when Hyuse took the seat next to him instead. "I got distracted."
"Wow, so even Hyuse can get distracted," his former teammate mused, giving a shaky little laugh of relief.
Okudera laughed as well, the slight tension in the air easing. "Dude, you should see him in class. Hyuse is always distracted."
He scoffed, offended. "I'm not distracted. I take notes." Technically, it wasn't a distraction if he wasn't bothering to listen in the first place. He wasn't distracted when he wanted to pay attention.
Koarai squinted in thought, seriously considering the matter.
Taichi didn't provide any assistance, conspicuously looking away rather than getting caught in the middle. And then Taichi's phone buzzed, pulling him away from the quarrel. He tapped at the screen for a few seconds before looking over to their host. “Hey~ What did your sister call you, again? Satoken asked me.”
“None of your business." Hanzaki didn't even bother to look up, though he did make sure to frown loudly so that the other sniper would drop the topic. Maybe returning to the one previously on hand.
He did not, however, drop it. “No, for real. What did she say? It was, uh…was–”
"Yocchan!" Koarai cackled suddenly as the nickname came back to him, falling into Hanzaki's lap. He was still laughing when Hanzaki unceremoniously dumped him to the floor.
Okudera shook his head, nudging his partner with his foot. "Hey, stop it. You're gonna get us kicked out if you keep picking on him. Right…Yocchan?"
Koarai howled in another fit of laughter, clutching his stomach.
Not to be left out, Taichi leaned over the books to offer the blond attacker a hand up. "Don't be so mean to Koala, Yocchan ."
"You all were a mistake," Hanzaki mumbled back in a deadpan instead. Despite everything happening, his eyes were still glued to his game.
Sasamori chimed in next, clapping a hand onto Hanzaki's shoulder. "Now, now. You shouldn't say that about your guests, Yocchan. Besides, your sister said it first."
Hanzaki shrugged the hand off of him. "Minato can't be reached, she's beyond saving."
“Like brother, like sister,” Koarai said back, nodding sagely with his fingers curled around his chin.
"Isn't it better for him to just speak his mind? It doesn't matter if you're guests if you're annoying him." Hyuse could feel them all staring at him, even though he wasn't staring back. He quietly flipped the page he'd been focusing on, willing what pieces of the language he remembered to translate themselves for him.
There was more tapping as Hanzaki continued his game, but Hyuse could see the nod of approval out of the corner of his eye. "See?" Hanzaki announced in his usual tone. "Hyuse gets it."
"Mm. Don't mention it." And he wasn't quite sure what possessed him. He wasn't even sure when the thought entered his mind, or if he thought about it at all. But something about the way they'd been laughing resonated deep inside, and his mouth was moving before he really even processed what he was doing. "Yocchan," he added just under his breath. Barely loud enough for them to hear.
Loud enough, however, to thoroughly derail the final illusions of studying.
And far be it from him to join in on such frivolous behavior, but Hyuse couldn't deny the elation it brought. For a moment, the pang of homesickness and his sense of loss over his adopted family abated enough for him to really enjoy the feeling of having made his friends (not friends, classmates. Coworkers. Anything but friends) laugh for no reason except having been part of their inside joke.
So maybe some things were more important than studying arithmetic or the art of battle.
Maybe some things could just be fun .
□
It had been hours since Hyuse returned back to the base that served as both his prison and his home, the sun having long since set. He still had what felt like a veritable mountain of language exercises left to work through, let alone the exam topics he hadn't covered during his 'study session'. And it had been hours since he first sat down, focused so intensely on his work that he was only now realizing how stiff and sore his body became. Hyuse stretched his arms over his head in search of relief, feeling his joints pop and crackle as the muscles creaked back to life. Across the table, Yuma was watching him curiously, swinging his feet idly. The younger Neighbor hadn't been sitting there long, though his presence hadn't gone unnoticed either. Hyuse had hoped he'd keep whatever thoughts he was having this whole time to himself, not in the mood for any kind of conversations about his day out.
"Hey, Hyuse," Yuma drawled out past a sly smile, anyway. As if he already knew the answer to whatever question he was about to ask. "Isn't this fun?"
Hyuse snapped his eyes to Yuma's now, brow furrowed more in surprise than anything. While he didn't make a habit of trying to anticipate anything Yuma might spring on him, suddenly slipping into a Neighbor tongue wasn't something he ever would have considered. Especially not with Meeden agents in the kitchen, friendlies or not.
And, just as expected, Yuma was grinning back at him in delight. Hyuse huffed and looked back to the papers in front of him. "Not really," he answered back slowly, deciding then and there that he would take any fond memories of his time on Meeden to his grave rather than risk speaking them to truth. Even still, his own language felt strangely heavy on his tongue despite the relatively simple phrase. Unpracticed. Rusty. A betrayal in its own right. A sign that he was no longer worthy–of calling it his own, of thinking of Aftokrator as home. "I don't really enjoy studying like this."
"No, no. I meant this . All of it here. Friends and school. Getting to play."
He snapped his eyes back to Yuma's, furrowing his brow at him again as if that could be an answer. When the younger boy continued to just stare expectantly, Hyuse sighed and closed his books. "If I wanted to be interrogated, then I'd just help Konami with dinner."
"Ohh? So you're not having fun?" Yuma smiled wide, blinking his eyes in faux innocence as he continued to swing his feet.
"I'm not," he huffed, his words finally finding their footing on his tongue and falling more smoothly. He was a proud Aftokratoran–his people would be ashamed if they had heard the clumsy way he'd been speaking, if they knew the kinds of feelings about Meeden and its people that he was harboring. If they knew that these new experiences were encouraging him to think a little too freely, for his dreams to bleed out from behind the thick fortress walls in his mind that held them at bay so that they couldn’t interfere with his purpose. "I'm just biding my time with these people until I can go back home. It's strictly business."
"Hyuse. What a silly lie."