Chapter Text
July
‘u bitch’
Yuu glowered at his phone as he sent the message. He had to get Kimizuki to give him Shinoa’s number (after having lost his last phone in an unfortunate accident and losing all his contacts), but dealing with that bastard would be worth it when he could successfully cuss her out. He couldn’t believe she would do such a thing! Actually, he could – she has done worse in the years they’d known each other – but he was still pissed off.
‘I’m sorry?’
Yuu scoffs as he gets the response. Trying to play innocent, but I know you Shinoa! he yells internally.
‘u kno wat u did’
‘I do believe you have texted the wrong number.’
‘ur just trying to get out of my yelling but i kno u and u need to apologize’
‘And what, pray tell, have I apparently done to you?’
‘U FILLED THE POOL WITH ACTUAL FISH’
‘WHERE DID U EVEN GET THOSE’
‘AND THEN U TOLD GUREN THAT I DID IT’
‘IM GROUNDED CUZ OF U’
‘IM LUCKY GUREN IS A SHITTY PARENT OR ELSE I WLDNT BE TXTNG U RN’
‘I see. That is quite the dilemma.’
‘I regret to inform you, however, that I am not this friend of yours who filled your pool with fish.’
Yuu paused, feeling his face begin to heat up in embarrassment. He realized that Shinoa was much less formal than this person, and she used a lot more emojis. Plus she wouldn’t act so clueless for so long and would use whatever she could to rub her success in his face.
‘wait…’
‘ur serius’
‘Quite.’
‘well shit.’
‘sry I thought u were my friend.’
‘Haha, I noticed. Don’t worry, I don’t mind. You’re the most entertaining thing that has happened to me this week.’
‘thats kinda sad’
‘that is nowhere near the weirdest thing thats happened to me’
‘Oh? Now I’m interested. Tell me about these adventures of yours.’
‘STRANGER DANGER’
‘I assure you that you are at no risk.’
‘thats wat they all say… >.>’
‘I swear on my…’
‘Hm.’
‘I swear on my plushie collection.’
‘…’
Yuu stared blankly at the text. He had the feeling he wouldn’t need to be wary around this stranger. Not that he really was. Although Shinya was a cop and Guren was a strict and overprotective business owner, it was fun taking risks. Mitsuba said that he would die if he kept doing that. He didn’t listen to her because Shinoa had pushed him off the ledge immediately after.
‘u have a plushie collection’
‘……….’
‘It is very important to me. Please trust me?’
‘>.> i will trust u…’
‘4 now…’
‘btt abt that plushie collection’
‘May we please move past that? I believe you were about to tell me some of your adventures.’
‘this isnt over!’
‘but anyway there was this one time my friend made me run for student council prez and i actually won’
‘tht was the worst yr ever’
‘Oh dear. What happened? Did you have a bad Student Council?’
‘no a few of my friends were there w/ me so liek it was all cool’
‘tht was the problem tho’
‘liek we did a whole bunch of shit and got banned from ever running again’
‘the only reason we werent expelled was b/c idek’
‘I’m curious. What did you do?’
‘uhh there was that one dance…’
‘long story short a drug scandal got outed nd the skool may or may not be haunted’
‘…I’m sorry, you’ll have the elaborate a bit on that. How on earth did you manage to get a school haunted /and/ out a drug system in one night?’
Yuu found himself trading stories on the weirdness of his life. He despaired about the fact that, had it not been for meeting Shinoa, he might have ended up normal. Unfortunately, his meeting with Shinoa was inevitable, as her older brother and his uncle had some weird sexual-romantic tension and kept trying to insist they weren’t dating even though Yuu was very much aware of just who sent the bouquet and singing card last Valentine’s Day.
Yuu would have paused his conversation with Keishikiteki (Kei for short) in order to yell at Kimizuki, but for how Kei spoke, they were surprisingly funny. In the hour that Yuu spent talking to them and pointedly not doing his homework, he found that Kei was seriously weak to cute things, had horrible taste in friends, and was quite easily flustered.
The conversation was cut short at about 7:08 PM when Yuu heard his uncle’s footsteps hurrying up the stairs.
“Oi! Brat! Were you aware that I’m supposed to take away your phone when I ground you?” Guren shouted, pounding on the door.
“Shit…” Yuu muttered and texted Kei quickly.
‘sry looks liek ill have to cut this convo short’
‘my uncle just found out he wasnt supposed to let me have my phone’
Yuu didn’t have time to check for a response, because Guren had kicked the door open and was marching toward him with an angry red face.
“Shitty brat! You’re supposed to tell me these things!” he yelled, snatching Yuu’s phone away from him.
“What kinda kid do you think I am?” Yuu retorted, trying to rich for the phone again as he saw it light up with a text. “I’m legally an adult now anyway! You’re just a shitty parent!”
“No you’re not! Anyway, Shinya told me, so you’re not getting this back until the end of the week!” Guren made a show of shutting down the phone and stomping away with it in his hands.
“This shouldn’t even be happening!” Yuu exclaimed, and promptly flipped Guren the bird when he turned around. Guren responded with his own before shutting the door behind him and locking it.
Yuu huffed. He was eighteen now and about to go off to college! He shouldn’t be getting grounded! Stupid Guren and his shitty parenting…
The first thing Yuu does when the week ends is text Kimizuki.
‘u ass u gave me the wrong fckn #’
After he texts Kimizuki, he looks at the bombardment of texts he got from his other friends. Mitsuba and Yoichi ask how he is, but Yoichi is a lot more straightforward and less embarrassed about it than Mitsuba. Kimizuki shows he cares in his own aloof, asshole-ish way, and what he assumed was Shinoa’s texts are as annoying as ever.
‘Hohoho~. Yuu-san, u actually got grounded 4 once.’
‘Awww are u ignoring me?’
‘Answer me, Yuu-sannn.’
‘O I guess Shinya told Guren that u shldn’t have ur phone.’
‘Heheheheheheh…’
‘Well, have an absolutely /fabulous/ week.’
‘I hope u survive.’
‘Or should i say…’
‘I hope Yuu survive.’
With a huff, Yuu answered her texts with his own (supposedly) snarky remarks.
‘its all ur fault u kno’
‘fck u 2’
‘and that joke is so old’
At last, Yuu checked the texts he got from Kei. They’re significantly fewer in number, but they somehow seem even more worried than Yuu’s friends’ texts.
‘Oh dear, will you be okay?’
‘Stranger-san?’
‘…’
‘I suppose you’re phone got taken away…’
‘Really, I hope everything's okay, and well, umm… whenever you see this…’
‘If you ever want to talk again, just text me…’
‘I’d be happy to respond if I’m not busy.’
‘Ahhh, that’s embarrassing! Don’t mind me! I’ll go now!’
Yuu couldn’t help but chuckle. Keisounded so cute, even though he didn’t know who they were. They just sounded adorable in their texts.
‘so now im stranger-san to u? lol’
‘ya my phone got taken away, but i have returned! :p’
‘cant get rid a me that easily’
It’s not long before he gets a response, which is surprising. For Yuu at least, who is always busy in between school and his friends.
‘Ah, you’re alive! I’m sorry for my texts last week.’
‘nah idc. it was cute lol’
‘I’m not cute.’
‘mmhm, sure’
‘:P’
‘ooo mature’
Yuu snickered to himself. For once, he wasn’t the one on the receiving end of the teasing. It felt amazing. He understood why his friends did it so much. That didn’t mean he would stop yelling at them though.
Yuu’s phone buzzed, but when he went to check it, he groaned. It wasn’t Kei, but Kimizuki, aka ‘Bastard Extraordinaire.’
‘Wow it took you a week to figure that out?’
‘no my phone got taken away before i cld yell at u’
‘u ass’
Yuu didn’t mention that the only reason he got so distracted was because a mysterious stranger was addicting.
‘Congratulations, idiot. Your uncle is finally learning how to raise a kid.’
‘im legally an adult now u ass!’
‘Maybe in another country. Since you’re no longer grounded, I assume we’re all going to meet up at McDonald’s again?’
‘fck ya i just have to txt every1 else’
‘That place is so unhealthy…’
‘And learn how to spell, you moron.’
‘wat fckn ever man’
‘meet us there at 2’
‘Right, right.’
Yuu glared at his phone, but the look melted away as he saw that Kei had texted him back.
‘Anyway, I hope you’re okay. You didn’t die while grounded, did you?’
‘ya i totes died and am now txtng u from beyond the grave’
‘Very funny, Stranger-san.’
With a grin, Yuu found himself dissolving into easy banter with Kei. It started out a little awkward, but before he knew it, it was 1:30 and he had yet to actually get changed.
‘o shit im gonna be late’
‘im supposed to meet up w my frends in 30 min’
‘Oh…’
‘Well I won’t keep you. Get ready.’
‘Sorry for taking up so much of your time.’
‘nah dude id much rather hang w u but ugh friends right’
‘Haha, I get what you mean. Now get ready. You’ll be late.’
‘i will txt l8r’
‘ur liek amazing’
‘I’m not that amazing!’
‘hahahahahahaha’
So distracted he was with embarrassing Keithat he spent another five minutes texting them. It was only until he looked at the clock again that he once again told Kei goodbye and hurriedly began getting dressed.
“GUREN I’M LEAVING YOU!” Yuu yelled as he rushed down the stairs.
“IT’S ABOUT TIME YOU FUCKING BRAT!” Guren shouted back from the kitchen. “TAKE A SANDWICH FOR THE ROAD!”
“I’m not leaving for good asshole!” Yuu huffed as he stomped into the kitchen, swiping a sandwich from his uncle. “I’m meeting everyone at the McDonald’s.”
“Damn, I thought I was finally rid of you,” Guren muttered. “Shit’s gonna kill you, you know.”
“Whatever!” Yuu glared at him. “I’m taking a car!” He grabbed the keys and dashed out of the house before Guren could stop him.
“IF YOU SO MUCH AS SCRATCH ONE OF THE CARS I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!” Guren yelled.
“NO YOU WON’T!” Yuu retorted before he headed down to the garage. It was a good thing they lived in a mansion, or else their neighbors would definitely be sick of them…
“Hey bitch baby, I heard you texted the wrong number last week!” Shinoa snickered as Yuu approached her and everyone else in the fast food restaurant.”
“Yeah, fuck you Kimizuki,” Yuu said, glaring at the resident pink-haired boy as he sat down next to Yoichi. “Shinoa, have you been watching that abridged series again?”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Shinoa grinned. “It’s beautiful, what can I say?”
“Weeb.”
“You know it!”
“Anyway, it’s not my fault you can’t recognize your own friend’s phone number,” Kimizuki stated.
“I usually wouldn’t need to!” Yuu protested.
“No offense, Yuu-kun, but it is kind of necessary to at least recognize the correct phone number…” Yoichi said. Yuu would have glared at him, but Yoichi had been declared the ‘smol child’ of the group (by Shinoa) and he just couldn’t. Yoichi was too sweet for that. Besides, Kimizuki would actually punch him if he so much as looked at Yoichi wrong.
“I hate you all!” Yuu declared. He looked at the trays on the table. “Hey, where’s my food?”
“Oops, it looks like we forgot to order your food,” Mitsuba hummed, looking up at the ceiling. “That’s what happens when you’re late.”
“It’s not my fault I got distracted,” Yuu said, narrowing his eyes as he stood up. “One day, I will get you all for this.”
“No you won’t~,” Shinoa sang. Yuu didn’t bother to grace them with a response as he marched towards the counter and ordered his food.
“So why were you late, Yuu-kun?” Yoichi asked as Yuu sat back down.
“That is none of your business!” Yuu said. He would get so much shit from his friends if they knew he started texting the person with the wrong number. Also it felt good being able to keep a secret for once. His friends had too much baggage on him. (Not that he didn’t have a shit ton of baggage on them too) “So you guys must have been bored without me. What did I miss?”