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The text had sent him practically flying home at speeds his cop brother would have killed him for.
He’d expected their lives to devolve into chaos again soon after the Company dissolved, but not this soon. Could whoever was tormenting them this time not have waited until they actually got their shit together??
Seeing as they’d really had nowhere else to go after the Company house was sold, Raymond, Mickey, Benji, and Brekkers had all pooled their money to buy a small house together, with the intention of flipping it and splitting the money once they all got on their feet. It allowed them to stay together as a group for just a bit longer, preserving a piece of the life they’d gotten used to until they were ready to move on, while also serving as an investment for their future projects. (Mickey had had to do a lot less fighting than he’d expected to secure Brekkers a spot in the house — maybe Raymond and Benji liked him more than they let on.)
Of course, with their allyship with OTT permanently severed, there came some anxiety about revenge, but they’d tried their best to brush it off. Now, though, Brekkers was doing anything but, already forming a plan on how to get all four of them out of the house within five minutes as he came in the door, following the sounds of chaos coming from the kitchen.
“Mr. Sinclaire, wh-what’s going on?!”
Mickey was rifling through the cabinets like he was robbing the place, leaving them open as he went. At the sound of his partner’s voice, he momentarily paused his assault on the kitchen to speak to him.
“It’s okay, Brekkers, we’re not in any danger, it’s just– a lot is going on right now, I’ll explain in a minute, okay? Can you do me a favour and clean up Raymond’s room a bit while I figure out where the hell Benji put the kettle??”
“Yeah, yeah, of course!! I-I’ll go do that right now!!”
“Thank you– fuck, where the hell is it–?!”
With that, Mickey went back to rummaging through the cupboards, and Brekkers made a beeline for their housemate’s bedroom, much calmer now that he knew their lives weren’t at stake like he’d first thought. (He really should’ve been used to Mickey’s dramatics by now.)
Raymond would definitely kill him if he caught him snooping around in his room, so he worked as quickly as possible to freshen it up. Making the bed, dumping the laundry down the laundry chute, putting away the bottles of vodka he’d left on his nightstand… fortunately, Raymond was rather neat compared to some other roommates he’d had, so there wasn’t much work to be done.
Even so, the room looked noticeably different, and the man was nothing if not paranoid, so the younger opted to shoot him a text letting him know what was up.
The reply came surprisingly quickly.
That was odd. He normally wasn’t so short-winded. Then again, he was probably involved in the “situation” that Mickey had mentioned (when was he not?), so it made sense that he would keep things brief.
With the issue of the bedroom sorted, Brekkers made his way back to the kitchen, where Mickey had finally found the kettle and put some water on to boil.
“Room cleanup’s done, sir!”
“Thank you.” Mickey pushed a hand up his face, looking even more exhausted than usual. “I’m sorry I’m frazzled, I know I probably scared you with the text. I just had a lot dropped on me at once.”
“I mean, we are partners now, right? Which means we handle stuff together! So tell me what it is, and I’ll help you!!”
The fond smile he’d grown to love spread across Mickey’s face again, paired with the amused chuckle that always lifted his spirits.
“You’re so cute. Raymond and Benji will be home soon, just let me just get my head on straight and then I’ll tell you everything, okay?”
As if on cue, a key turned in the lock to the front door, and it was pushed open a moment later — Brekkers swiftly shifted his attention to greeting his housemates.
“Mr. Romanov, Mr. Ramos– oh, hello Mr. Sykk!!”
He would’ve appreciated a heads up that Yuno was coming over so he could’ve tried a little harder on his appearance, but upon further inspection, he forgot about it entirely.
As Benji locked the door behind them, Raymond had one arm wrapped around Yuno, guiding him inside the house. He had that concerned look on his face that he only ever showed when someone he cared about was injured, but Yuno didn’t seem to be in any sort of pain.
Yuno himself was looking at the floor, trudging forward mindlessly — although his face was obscured by his helmet, his head turned upwards just slightly when Brekkers called his name.
“… Hi, Brekkers.”
Oh dear. Emotional pain. That made sense.
Realizing now what kind of issue they had on their hands, he turned to whisper to Mickey.
“Is this what you–”
“Yes,” he whispered back, not even letting his partner finish his sentence. “This would be the “situation” in question.”
The older turned his attention back to their friends.
“I heard the news. I’m sorry, Yuno… I hope being here can help you relax a little bit.”
News? What news?? Did someone die??? He had so many questions and zero answers. Why was Yuno here, why was he so upset, what the hell was the “news”, and what did cleaning Raymond’s room have to do with any of it????
While Benji whispered something to Mickey, Raymond guided Yuno over to the couch to sit down before taking a seat to his right. The hacker rested his head on his best friend’s shoulder — it was visibly awkward because of the helmet, and especially because of the cat ears, but Ray didn’t seem to mind, focused only on whatever made him feel better.
Still confused and lacking context but hoping he could help somehow anyway, Brekkers approached the two of them.
“Mr. Sykk, are you okay…?”
Raymond gave him a dirty look, hugging their friend closer with a protective glint in his eye.
“Does he look okay, motherfucker?”
Intimidated, the younger backed away a bit, trying to stammer out an apology.
“I-I’m sorry, I–”
“Lay off him, Ray,” Yuno mumbled, not looking up from his lap.
At the light admonishment, Raymond’s hostile glare faded, leaving a tired expression in its place.
“I’m sorry, Brekkers, I know you’re just concerned. I’m just… I’m really fucking pissed off right now.”
“It’s okay, Mr. Romanov. I know you didn’t mean any harm.”
Ray hummed in acknowledgement, then lightly squeezed Yuno’s arm.
“Yuno, habibi, let me take your stuff. I’ll put it in my room.”
After a moment, the hacker mumbled a soft “okay” before looping his duffel bag off of his shoulder (with Brekkers’s help) and passing it off to Raymond. Ray slung the bag over his own shoulder before carefully undoing the straps to Yuno’s helmet and gently lifting it off of his head.
“I’ll be right back.”
Giving Brekkers a stern glance (which he understood as a warning to tread lightly with his downtrodden best friend), he turned away and headed for his bedroom.
Yuno sat in silence, his arms folded over his knees, staring at the coffee table. Now that Brekkers could actually see his face, it became clear to him how bad this “situation” must have been — his eyes were red, his cheeks were stained with tear tracks, and the corners of his mouth twitched a bit, as though he was still holding in even more tears.
Trying to be comforting, the younger sat down to his left, making sure to give him ample personal space.
“Are you okay…?”
Yuno shook his head.
“Lot of shit goin’ on right now,” Benji explained, stealing Raymond’s spot on the couch. He sounded even more exhausted than he looked. “The important thing is that Yuno’s gonna be staying here for a while. We don’t wanna leave him alone like this.”
Ah. So that was why Raymond’s room needed tidying up.
Normally, Yuno staying over was a wondrous occasion. He’d been in and out of the new house a few times already, having a blast each time — not to mention that him sleeping over was one of the only times Brekkers got to talk to him for longer than a few minutes at a time. (Curse their busy, busy lives.)
But he didn’t need to know the details of their circumstances to know that this wasn’t a “for fun” stay.
Yuno had nowhere else to go.
The sound of the kettle’s obnoxious whistling made him flinch, breaking his train of thought — Mickey piped up moments after.
“Sorry about the noise. Do you want some tea, Yuno? We have a lot of options.”
The hacker thought about it for a second.
“… Earl grey would be nice, if you have it.” Christ, the poor man sounded almost as bad as he looked.
“With condensed milk to sweeten, coming right up!”
Mickey hummed away in the kitchen as Yuno stared after him with a puzzled expression, like something wasn’t making sense.
Benji eventually noticed the look on his face and gave him a light nudge.
“You good?”
Yuno’s eyes softened from confused to fond.
“… He remembered.”
“Of course he remembered,” Brekkers chimed in. “He cares about you.”
“You are my brother, after all.”
Mickey’s voice rejoining the conversation prompted all of them to look in his direction — with a soft smile, he offered his friend a white mug with little black cats on it.
“Careful, it’s hot.”
Yuno stared at the mug for a moment, as though he wasn’t quite sure how to interpret the gesture. Mickey had mentioned before that their communication wasn’t great, and how guilty he felt that Yuno probably thought he didn’t like him, but was Yuno really that surprised that Mickey was doing something nice for him?
Regardless, Brekkers could almost see a tiny smile on the hacker’s face as he accepted the tea.
“Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.”
Moments later, Raymond returned to the living room, and immediately noticed Benji’s treachery.
“Hey!! Benji!!”
“What??”
“That’s my spot!!”
Even though he could tell they were just playfighting, Brekkers stood up off of the couch to make room — technically there was a spot to Benji’s right, but knowing Raymond, he would want to sit next to Yuno.
“You can have my spot, Mr. Romanov!”
His former boss accepted the offer without hesitation.
“Thank you, Brekkers! How is he more of a gentleman than you, Benji?!”
“Hey!! That’s fucked up, man!!”
At the very least, their banter seemed to be entertaining to Yuno — the tea in his mug was threatening to spill all over his lap with how he was giggling at their antics. They both took note of it and kept arguing, hoping to distract him from whatever it was that had upset him.
Over the sound of Benji calling Raymond a little bitch, Brekkers heard Mickey’s voice calling for him.
“While you’re up, Brekkers, a word?”
“Oh, yeah, of course!!”
Leaving their friends to joke around, Brekkers followed his partner down the hallway, far enough away that the group wouldn’t hear them talking. When he’d decided that they had enough privacy, the older turned around and gently grabbed his former intern by the shoulders.
“You wanna know what happened?”
“Yes, sir.”
Mickey nodded in acknowledgement, then put his hand to his chin, as though he was trying to figure out how best to phrase the news.
Ultimately, he sighed and settled for the direct approach.
“… Yuno left his group.”
Oh.
The younger’s eyes went wide.
“He left Cypress…?”
“Yeah. Apparently it wasn’t pretty either. Raymond, Yuno, and Benji were all there, they were just dropping him off and then they were gonna come home. From what I understand of it…”
He took a deep breath.
“Marty said some stupid shit about Yuno, him and Ray started fighting, Lang got involved, Yuno got involved, Benji tried to deescalate, Lang yelled at Benji, Yuno defended him, Lang yelled at Yuno, Raymond yelled at Lang, and it got so bad that Yuno basically got kicked out of the house on a whim so now he’s staying here for the foreseeable future.”
As Mickey caught his breath, Brekkers looked towards the living room, then back at his partner, with what he could only imagine was an astonished expression on his face.
“Like… kicked out permanently?? Over one fight???”
“I don’t know,” the older admitted. “But from what I heard, I don’t think they’re coming back from this… at least, not anytime soon. You saw how much of a mess Yuno is right now. A simple “sorry” doesn’t undo getting yelled at and kicked out of his own house by his best friend.”
“Yeah, you’re right… I mean, I’d be a mess if you kicked me out of the house.”
Something about that sentence caught Mickey’s attention, judging by the change in expression — Brekkers was concerned that he’s said something wrong until a touched smile spread across his partner’s face.
“I’m your best friend…?”
“Wha– of course you are!! I thought it was obvious!!”
“Aww, Brekkers!!”
When the older pulled him into a hug, he reciprocated immediately, cherishing the contact for the few moments he was graced with it before his partner pulled away.
“So… what do we do…? About Mr. Sykk, I mean?”
“Simple. We support him emotionally, and let him know that he can stay for as long as he needs. Knowing him, he should pull himself back together fairly quickly. He’s tough, he always gets back on his feet one way or another.”
He looked back towards the common area.
“You really should have seen him in his prime… God, he was a sight to behold. I’m sure he still is, but I haven’t gotten to see it. He left the Company before heists came into the picture.”
“Man, I wish I knew you back in the old days,” the younger admitted. “It would’ve been so cool to see everything you guys did. I mean, you, Mr. Sykk, and Mr. Romanov are already a strong team, but then you’ve got a racer and a filthy rich businessman?? And you all lived in a massive house on a hill together??? That’s, like, Ocean’s Eleven type stuff!! Well, minus the house, but that would’ve been really cool in the movies…”
Mickey chuckled fondly, but it faded into a sigh — that bittersweet one he did when he was reminiscing on something.
“I wish I knew you back then too… some of the best times of my life were in that house. Some of the worst times too, of course, but I never lived a dull day as a Cleanboi. I’d love to tell you stories sometime, if you’ll listen.”
“Of course I will!!!”
His partner smiled.
“Later tonight, maybe. Right now, we should get back to the others. God forbid we leave those three alone for too long, they’ll destroy the place.”
Snickering at memories of the last time their friends were left unsupervised, Brekkers followed his partner back to the common area, where, miraculously, nothing was broken or on fire. (Given ten more minutes, something likely would have been.)
“Sorry for the sidebar, boys, we’re back.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Raymond reassured him. “What’d you talk about?”
“Oh nothing, just clarifying something from earlier.”
The sidelong glance he tossed Brekkers’s way was all the instruction he needed to not give details.
When he saw Yuno, he immediately understood why.
Contrast to his miserable expression from a few minutes ago, he was smiling now, leaning slightly on Benji while the older showed him something on his phone. The mug of tea had been temporarily resigned to the table to steep, and his shoes had been kicked off in the general direction of the front door, but hadn’t quite made it all the way there.
While Mickey claimed the spot to Benji’s right, Brekkers lightly kicked Yuno’s shoes towards the shoe rack before sitting on the arm of the couch to Raymond’s left.
“You guys wanna watch a movie? Lot of new stuff coming out recently,” Ray suggested. “Worst case scenario, we can just make fun of how bad it is.”
“I’m surprised you have streaming service money,” Yuno teased.
“Oh, we don’t. I just know a lot of piracy websites and how to hook up my laptop to the TV.”
“Oh my God, of course you do,” the hacker laughed, reaching for his tea. “Yeah, I’m down for a movie. You guys can pick, I’ll really watch anything.”
“You’re gonna regret that, ‘cause it’s Mickey’s turn to choose.”
Benji mumbled something along the lines of “oh God not again”, but Mickey simply smiled.
“You still like horror movies, Yuno? There’s one I’ve been meaning to watch.”
“Ooo, sure!!”
Rejuvenated by the promise of a horror movie (and potentially a marathon if he could talk the others into it — which, knowing him, he would definitely try to), Raymond hopped off of the couch.
“I’ll get my laptop. Brekkers, I swear to God, if you steal my spot, I’ll end your life.”
“Understood, sir.”
Of course, the second Ray turned the corner into the hallway, Brekkers stole his spot anyway with a smug look on his face, prompting laughter from the rest of the group and giving him a great view of Yuno’s smile.
“You better move before he gets back or he’s gonna kill you,” the hacker whispered, trying to control his giggling.
“I know, I know,” he whispered back, just as giggly. “I’ll move in a second.”
Even if he ended up getting backhanded by Raymond again, it would be worth it to make Yuno laugh like that.
He would never tell a soul, but he’d grown quite a crush on the hacker. Something about him was just so easy to like.
Maybe it was how he seemed to be a walking burnout repellant, keeping things fresh and interesting no matter what he was doing. Maybe it was how he always made time for the people he cared about, never letting work or gang affiliations get in the way of his friendships. Or maybe it was just because he was sweet and pretty and Brekkers couldn’t help but turn into a blushing mess whenever he paid attention to him.
He had no plans to tell the others anytime soon, and like Hell would he ever have the confidence to tell Yuno. Not only was he too much of a nervous wreck to ever be honest about his feelings for him, but the hacker really didn’t know all that much about him, so it would likely only be marginally less uncomfortable than receiving a love confession from a stranger. (Hell, he wasn’t even sure if Yuno swung that way. It would be painfully awkward if he didn’t, but he supposed it wouldn’t be his first time falling for a straight man.)
Maybe one day he’d be either brave enough or drunk enough to do something about his little crush. But for now, he would be content to smile at Yuno whenever their eyes met, laugh along with him in group settings, and hopefully cheer him up while he was here.
Simultaneously the best and most dangerous part of sleepovers was losing track of time messing around with friends — suddenly it was a quarter past midnight and nobody knew how. Thank God none of them had anywhere to be tomorrow.
Yuno had retreated to Raymond’s bedroom a few hours into his visit to take a break from the noise of the household — following his departure, Raymond had gotten antsy within five minutes and also left for his room, and neither of them had returned since. With the common area to themselves, Mickey, Benji, and Brekkers had spent a long time chatting in the living room as a history documentary none of them cared all that much about played on a low volume on the TV.
Eventually, Benji had complained of migraines and left to lie down in his room, leaving only Mickey and Brekkers on the couch — and, as promised, Mickey had many stories to tell about his days as a Cleanboi.
“You lost your eye to Mr. Romanov…?”
“Yes, I did.” His partner gingerly touched his eyepatch. “Shot me in the face and oceandumped me. Almost killed me. I was in the ICU for a while.”
“You said you’ve been brothers for years, though… why would he do something like that…?”
“I was harassing him,” Mickey confessed. “I thought it was funny at the time, just pulling pranks on a friend, but in hindsight, I was being a bully. Pressing every little button, even when he told me to stop. Honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting. I think I was too used to…”
He trailed off, then shook his head and laughed a bit.
“Ah, forget it. That’s another story.”
Obviously he hadn’t been present to see his former bosses in their younger years, but Mickey messed with Raymond all the time nowadays, and he took it on the chin like a king. From senseless torment and attempted murder to friendly banter and fantastic teamwork…
“Well, it looks like you guys have come a long way.”
Mickey smiled.
“We have, and I’m glad we’ve managed to work out our differences. For all the shit we put each other through, and for as mean and abrasive as he can be, Raymond is my brother. If I die by his side, I’ll have zero complaints.”
The sound of a door clicking shut in the hallway caught both of their attention.
“Shit, I hope he didn’t hear that,” the older whispered. “I’ll never live it down.”
Fortunately for him, when Raymond dragged himself into the living room, he didn’t seem to be paying much attention to his surroundings.
Their housemate looked much sleepier than he usually did at this hour — Raymond was the night owl of the household, regularly staying awake for twenty hours straight, but he looked like he’d just dragged himself out of bed and was ready to return to it as soon as possible. He’d discarded his black sweater at one point, now wearing only a white t-shirt — and, strangely, the chest area of said shirt was noticeably wet.
“Evening, Raymond.” Mickey greeted their housemate with a civil nod and a smile.
“Evening,” Ray mumbled. “Have you seen my keys?”
“In your coat pocket by the door.”
“Thanks.”
Mickey and Brekkers watched with curiosity as their friend fumbled through the many pockets on his coat. When the jingling of keys indicated that he’d found what he was looking for, Mickey spoke up again.
“I’m surprised you’re leaving your room, let alone the house. I would’ve thought you’d be glued to Yuno’s side after something like this.”
Raymond sighed. “Believe me, brother, I am. But Benji is out cold, you can’t drive for shit, and I don’t trust Brekkers not to get himself mugged.”
Brekkers barely processed the veiled insult, instead zeroing in on a different part of the sentence.
“Wha– driving? Where are you going, Mr. Romanov?”
“Just to get some ibuprofen. Yuno has a headache from crying.”
“I thought we had some in the medicine cabinet.”
“I took the last two this morning.”
The older sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, as though he wasn’t particularly happy with what he was about to say.
“For this night only, you both have free entrance into my room, but only to check on Yuno. Don’t go through my shit.”
“Well there go my evening plans.”
Raymond, of course, glared daggers at Mickey, who just snickered.
“You know I’m kidding, Ray, c’mon. If I was gonna go through your shit, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to tell you about it.”
Brekkers chuckled, purposely avoiding Raymond’s gaze to escape a dirty look.
Before his friend had a chance to retort, Mickey pulled out his phone and started typing something.
“It’s late and there’s nothing in the fridge, I’m just gonna order Chinese food. Does Yuno still like takoyaki?”
“He loves it. Order extra for me too.”
“Gotcha.”
At the mention of Yuno’s name, Brekkers glanced towards the hallway that led to the bedroom he resided in.
Being left all alone with a headache from crying… obviously Raymond would have asked first if he would be okay on his own, but…
“I think I’m gonna go check on him. I know I wouldn’t wanna be alone after… something like this.”
For once in his life, Ray actually smiled at him.
“That’s sweet of you, Brekkers. I think he’d appreciate it.”
The younger returned the smile, and the older threw on his jacket as he turned to leave.
“I’ll be back soon, boys.”
“Stay safe, Mr. Romanov!”
“Drive safe, Ray.”
“Thank you, I will.”
And with that, Raymond left the house, Mickey went back to ordering dinner, and Brekkers made his way to Raymond’s bedroom to see their guest.
This had felt much easier in his head.
Standing outside Raymond’s door, a depressed Yuno alone on the other side. It should have been a walk in the park — just open the door, ask how he was doing, stick around and chat for a while to keep him company. But now he was full of doubt — what if Yuno really did want to be alone, and he would only make him feel worse by forcing his presence onto him?
But he’d been standing here for so long that he’d feel more embarrassed walking away than he would going in.
“Mr. Sykk?”
No response. He probably didn’t hear him, too absorbed in his own thoughts.
He tried again.
“… Yuno…?”
Still nothing.
The best idea he could think of was just walking in and hoping for the best. Good friends knew when their friends needed help, even if they wouldn’t extend their hand for it, and he was a good friend, wasn’t he?
He wanted to be, at least. He wanted to be a good friend. (Well, he wanted a bit more than that, but one step at a time.)
“I’m coming in, okay…?”
When he didn’t hear any protest, he cautiously opened the door.
The lights were off, but the left bedside lamp was on, lighting the room with a warm tone. Things seemingly hadn’t been tinkered with much since his speedy cleaning session — minus the bed, which had been rendered a mess once again, but for good reason.
Yuno laid by himself silently, having shuffled his way from the left side of the bed all the way over to the right side, facing away from the lamp. He had a little blue shark plush clutched to his chest, one of those dopey-looking ones with a name that Brekkers still didn’t know how to pronounce. The duffel bag the hacker always had slung around his shoulder was lying on the floor unzipped — from what little he could see from this angle, it looked to hold a spare helmet, his keys, a few bandages, and some kind of flat carrying case, likely for a laptop.
Yuno’s white cat helmet had been resigned to the right nightstand, and his matching jacket to the top of the dresser. Of the two pillows on the bed, one was taken by Yuno himself, and the other had a dent in it where Raymond had presumably been lying next to him.
(Brekkers had never thought of hot-headed Raymond Romanov as the cuddly type, but he’d likely just never seen that side of him. Mickey was always gossiping to his partner about how, in his words, “whipped” the man was for Yuno, and how he was “waiting on the day he realizes how fucking in love he is”. Not like anyone could blame him.)
The younger nervously cleared his throat, figuring that maybe his friend didn’t notice him come in.
“Uh… hey.”
He didn’t expect Yuno to respond, but he still felt a pang of embarrassment when he remained quiet. He glanced in his direction, but that was about it.
Not wanting to just stand around awkwardly, Brekkers closed the door behind him, shuffled to the left side of the bed, and sat down.
It felt strangely intimate. Sitting on a bed and staring at the wall, trying his best to talk to his emotionally drained guest that he’d been crushing on for months. A simple welfare check had suddenly become nerve-wracking — he always got like this when him and Yuno were alone, why did he think he could handle it this time?
The longer the silence was allowed to persist, the more uncomfortable it would get, so he spat out the first thing he could think of.
“I, uh… I just wanted to… see how you were doing. I mean, obviously you’re not doing great, but… y’know what I mean.”
Real smooth. He wanted to slap himself, but that wouldn’t help. Yuno, meanwhile, remained quiet as ever.
He tried again, heart pounding out of his chest.
“… Has this… helped at all…? Being here with us, I mean?”
As much as he adored the ex-Company members, he knew that they could be rambunctious. Normally, Yuno was all for the chaos, so he fit into the group like a puzzle piece (which made sense, considering he was one of the founders of the now-defunct organization), but he’d never seen the hacker in this state before. Maybe the environment was too much for him and he’d only stuck around for so long to be nice, maybe he’d retreated in here for a reason and Brekkers checking in on him was only making things worse.
Yuno was quiet and monotone when he answered, but at least he actually answered this time.
“… It’s helped a little.”
Finally, something. Even that little bit of acquiescence let him breathe easier, chuckling nervously and trying as best as he could to keep some semblance of a conversation going.
“I-I mean, hey, a little’s better than nothing, right??”
Despite his efforts, Yuno’s tone remained flat and hesitant.
“… Yeah.”
Evidently, small talk wasn’t helping. If anything, he was probably only irritating his guest. If he wanted to comfort him, he needed to say something meaningful.
He swung his legs up onto the bed and pulled his knees up to his chest. He could look at Yuno much easier now — the hacker was still facing away from him, but he at least seemed to be listening.
“Look.”
Yuno turned his head just slightly, but he still couldn’t see his face.
“I don’t really know… what’s going on right now. At least, not all of it. But I know it’s really stressful for you, and I don’t want you to feel… alone.”
When he didn’t get a response, he kept talking.
“We care about you. Me, Mr. Sinclaire, Mr. Romanov, Mr. Ramos… all of us. And we’re gonna do everything in our power to make you feel better. Even if it takes a long time, even if for the first little while all you wanna do is lay in the dark with your thoughts, that’s okay, we’re still gonna be here for you. I just… want you to know that, okay…?”
Before he could think about it long enough to stop himself, he reached over to rest a comforting hand on Yuno’s arm.
“You’re safe with us, Yuno. Take all the time you need.”
Finally, Yuno turned just enough for Brekkers to see his face, fresh tear tracks and all. He looked at his hand for a few moments, seemingly caught off guard by the gesture…
… before smiling just a little bit and meeting his eyes.
“… Thanks, Brekkers.”
Within seconds, the younger felt his face heat up — when he removed his hand, Yuno rolled over to face him, and that certainly didn’t help. Suddenly the intimacy was suffocating — sitting in bed next to someone else as they smiled at him with a genuine appreciation for his presence.
He tugged nervously at his sweater, breaking eye contact in the hopes that his heart rate would slow down even just a little bit, praying that the smile on his face wouldn’t give away his stupid crush.
“I, uh… I’m glad you’re here. That you came here, to stay with us… and that I get to help you. Even if it’s just by… uh… talking.”
Yuno didn’t seem perturbed by his anxious stammering, instead waiting patiently as his friend stumbled through his words and maintaining his own composure perfectly.
“Sometimes talking’s the best way to help.”
This man was going to be the death of him. How did he manage to be so sweet and comforting to others even at his lowest?
The hacker finally looked away from him (even though it let him breathe a bit easier, he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed), but he stopped smiling too, instead fading to a more neutral expression.
“It just… sucks.”
The younger chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah… I bet it does.”
“You ever been kicked out of your own house before?”
“Nah, never got that unlucky. It, uh… sounds like you have, though.”
Shit, was that too personal? He was about to take it back, but was swiftly cut off.
“Yeah… a few times, actually.”
The more he learned about Yuno, the more concerned he got about the kinds of people he’d met in his life. Without fail, there was always someone new mistreating him — even if he never spoke a word of it, Brekkers had met enough damaged people to know the signs when he saw them.
“Was it scary?”
Yuno laughed, but it didn’t sound happy. “Really scary. The first time, I was… what, twelve?”
“Twelve??? Jesus!!”
“I know, right??”
Despite the dark subject matter, Yuno didn’t look all too disturbed. He rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling with a faraway look in his eyes.
“There’s, uh… there’s a reason I came to Los Santos, y’know?”
No one came to this crackpot city without a reason. Brekkers had come in search of his family, but most people came because they were running from something — leaving their misery behind elsewhere in the world in the hopes of making a new life for themselves here.
And knowing what he did now, he already had an idea of what had drawn Yuno to this charming little hellhole.
“… You ran away from home, didn’t you…?”
Normally he would rather stick a fork in an electrical socket than ask someone that personal of a question, especially someone he respected as much as Yuno, but he was so captivated by the man beside him that he wasn’t even thinking about it.
Yuno sighed, smile waning.
“Mhm. Packed a bag at eighteen, hopped on the subway, and never looked back. My parents probably think I’m dead.”
Over fifteen years on the run. The horrible things those pretty eyes must have seen…
“Wow… well, if it means anything… I’m glad you found a home here. It sounds like you needed one.”
The hacker hugged his plushie tighter.
“I had a home here. A long time ago. Now, though… I don’t know where I’m supposed to go.”
For once, Brekkers barely had to think about what to say. The words just came naturally.
“Well, until you figure it out, we all like having you around. So no matter where you end up, you’ll always have a place here.”
Yuno didn’t say anything, but the smile on his face said enough.
At the sound of the front door opening, Brekkers was swiftly reminded of the happenings outside of the bedroom.
“Oh, uh, by the way– not to change the subject or anything, I like listening to you talk, but– Mr. Sinclaire ordered Chinese food for dinner. He said he would get takoyaki for you. Do you wanna join us at the table, or do you want me to bring you a plate?”
Realistically, Raymond would likely beat him to it, but it wouldn’t hurt to offer.
Yuno looked away for a second, as though he was still contemplating staying here and rotting away for the night in a soft bed with his little shark plush. (To be fair, that didn’t sound like the worst way to end a bad day.)
“… I’ll come to the table. I feel a bit better now.”
The confirmation that he really had impacted Yuno’s mood brought a proud smile to the younger’s face as he stood up off of the bed.
When he offered his hand to help their guest get up, Yuno took it without hesitation. Even that little bit of touch made his heart race — with how little he got to see the hacker, any sort of attention, especially physical touch, was enough to turn him into a flustered mess. (Hopefully he could make something good out of this nightmare and bond with him while he was here, however long he ended up staying. But even if everything was resolved tomorrow and Yuno up and left like nothing ever happened, he would still be happy knowing that he’d made him smile tonight.)
“How’s your head?”
“Mm… not great, but I still want food.”
“Mr. Romanov should be back with ibuprofen by now, you’ll feel better soon.”
The hacker nodded with a small hum. He still held his shark plush to his chest, but he looked embarrassed when Brekkers took notice of it.
“Don’t look at me like that…” he mumbled. “I like the texture, it’s comforting.”
“Hey, I’m not judging you,” his friend assured him. “Does he have a name?”
He immediately wanted to kick himself for how patronizing that sounded, but Yuno thankfully didn’t take offence, instead ducking his head with a little smile on his face.
“… Sharkie.”
“Aww~”
For a second, he contemplated buying a different coloured version of the little shark and carrying it with him around the house every so often — maybe that would help his friend be less shy. But that specific purchase would be a nightmare to explain to the others — God forbid they connected the dots and realized he had a crush, he would never hear the end of it! (That, and Raymond would probably kill him in his sleep. He seemed like the type.)
At the thought of helping, he got another idea, and forced himself to commit to it before he could talk himself out of it.
“Hey, uh…”
Trying to keep his cool, he took Yuno’s hand, but avoided looking him in the eyes.
“If there’s… anything on your mind, ever… you can talk to me, okay? I-I know you have history with the others, so you’re probably more comfortable with them, and that’s okay, but…”
He cleared his throat, trying not to sound as anxious as he felt.
“If you ever need to vent about anything, or even if you just wanna be in the same room as someone else, we don’t even need to talk… just… know that I’m here for you too.”
He kept his gaze locked on their hands, too afraid of what he might see if he looked up. Was this too much too soon? Should he let go and pretend he never said anything?
He didn’t have time to answer his own questions, because before he could, Yuno pulled him into a hug. He tugged his hand free from the younger’s grasp and wrapped his arms around him instead, holding onto his shark with one hand.
“You’re a good guy, Brekkers. Thank you.”
Startled but willing, Brekkers cautiously returned the gesture, gently hugging him back.
“So are you. And you deserve good things.”
Yuno didn’t say anything, instead relaxing in his arms and resting his head on his shoulder.
The hacker stayed in his embrace for much longer than he expected him to. Of course, he wasn’t about to push him away — he simply held his friend close and waited patiently for him to be ready to let go. This was the most physical touch he’d gotten in weeks, and the most he’d ever gotten from Yuno. He was going to savour it while it lasted.
“Yuno, Benji, Brekkers!! Dinner’s here!!”
Alas, Mickey calling for them startled Brekkers and swiftly reminded Yuno of where he was.
“Oh, I should– um–”
When Yuno pulled away, Brekkers let him go immediately, disappointed but figuring that the moment likely wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway.
“Sorry… I, uh…”
The hacker awkwardly hugged his plushie and averted his eyes — if his friend didn’t know better, he would almost think he was blushing.
“… sorry.”
Brekkers just smiled at him.
“Don’t be sorry. If you need a hug, I’m happy to give them.”
The tiniest smile from Yuno was enough reassurance to ease his worries.
He rubbed the back of his neck, hoping that the blush on his face didn’t look as obvious as it felt.
“I am pretty hungry though. C’mon, let’s… let’s get dinner.”
The older sighed, ever thoughtful — for the thousandth time, the younger wished he could understand even a fraction of what must have been going through his friend’s head.
“Yeah.”
The two made a beeline for the common area, the promise of food lifting their spirits — and for once, Brekkers didn’t feel all that nervous sitting next to Yuno.