Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The night was dark and cold, as it often was in late October. Halloween was just around the corner, and it hadn’t rained in weeks, although the brewing storm clouds looked as though they were about to change that. Sat alone, rocking back and forth on his rusty swing, Riko was regretting not bringing a coat with him. In his haste to get out of the house he’d barely remembered to put shoes on, jamming his feet haphazardly into a pair of old, tattered trainers as his shoulder protested every slight movement.

Now though, now the air was calm. No breeze, just a biting chill that settled over the children’s playpark and sank into his bones. He tipped his head back to stare at the sky, unable to see the moon through the thickness of the cloud cover, never mind any stars. Granted he probably wouldn’t be able to see much anyway with the light pollution from the nearby city but even so. He quietly resented the clouds for blocking out the moon that he felt an odd sort of kinship with. It had seen some of his worst moments, especially this last year. It passed no judgement on him, never mocked him, just watched on with its bright light shining on him in quiet support. But today it wasn’t there. He was completely by himself.

He was yanked from his musings by the rustling of leaves and the distinct crunch of gravel that indicated someone walking up the path towards the park. There was one single lamp, positioned over the gate at the entrance, it’s light weak and often flickering as though it might give out any moment. The rest of the park was shrouded in darkness. Some of the other students from his high school liked to venture out of the city and invade his nice little park but that was usually Fridays, sometimes a Saturday. But not Mondays. Granted he wasn’t usually there on a Monday either. He watched in tense silence, barely breathing as he fought to stay still and unnoticeable. A figure strolled up the path casually, stepping into the spot of light and pushing the gate open. His face was hidden by smoke from his cigarette, but Riko was fairly sure that it wasn’t a high school student.

The person almost immediately made a beeline to the swing set Riko was sat on and if it weren’t for the flash of shock on the man’s face when he saw Riko, he would have been worried the man had known he was there somehow. Without the smoke covering his face and the distance between them, Riko was able to identify him. If the short stature and white-blond hair weren’t a dead giveaway, the black armbands covering his forearms told Riko this was Andrew Minyard. He’d graduated Palmetto High school June just gone, having been held back a grade due to various stints in juvie and rehab. Riko was aware of his reputation for violence, rumours that he’d killed someone circulated the first time he missed a significant chunk of school. The next time it had been his mother. Riko wasn’t sure who the next person he’d supposedly killed after that was because he wasn’t paying attention. He was more familiar with Aaron to be honest, Andrew’s twin who’d graduated on time and gone off to med school. They’d sat together in the library often, Aaron claiming he couldn’t stand the other people who frequented it and Riko not having any friends to sit with. He missed Aaron sometimes, the older boy had given good book recommendations, based on things he cared about, and he was funny when he was sarcastic.

Andrew, however, was currently stood in front of him, staring him down and looking wholly unimpressed. Although Riko had heard he just looked like that all the time, so he wasn’t really sure. Either way, he got the distinct impression that he was in Andrew’s spot, which posed a dilemma. On the one hand, he would not win a fight against this guy, especially with the state his shoulder was in. On the other hand, he had just gotten comfortable, and he didn’t want to move. Maybe Andrew should’ve gotten here earlier if he wanted to sit there. He knew he sounded petulant, but he didn’t care.

 Thankfully, Andrew didn’t seem in the mood for a fight either because he sat down on the next swing without saying anything and continued smoking. He seemed happy to ignore Riko, and Riko was absolutely fine to do the same, turning his attention back to the bats flying around the trees and the darkening storm clouds. If he’d thought, they were dark earlier that was nothing compared to how they looked now. If it did rain, Riko would have to head back home, he couldn’t get sick right now. He was already behind on schoolwork, it wasn’t bad enough that his guardian had to be notified but if he missed much more homework, Uncle Tetsuji would be getting a phone call, and he could not deal with that. He didn’t have any due tomorrow, thank God. There was a quiz in biology on Wednesday that he needed to revise for and English homework for Thursday afternoon. He had about three separate pieces due for Friday, but he’d get them done, probably at lunch. He’d make it work.

The bats flitting around the trees didn’t have homework to worry about. Just needed to hunt their food and sleep during the day. He was almost jealous. Sometimes he liked to draw them, he had pages upon pages of his sketchbook filled with drawings of the bats in the moonlight. Tonight, he hadn’t wanted to risk getting it soaked.

 A drop of rain hit his cheek, and he flinched, wiping it off his face quickly. His hands were much colder than he’d expected and practically numb from gripping the freezing chains of the swing as he sat there. A few more drops hit his hands and the tarmac floor around the swing, not fast enough for him to get concerned. Beside him Andrew shifted, flicking the butt of his cigarette onto the floor. Riko frowned, this was a children’s park. There was a small collection of cigarette butts at Andrew’s feet, two or three maybe. It wouldn’t do for small children to find those tomorrow. He didn’t say anything though, just stared at the pile in silent disapproval. Andrew lit up another cigarette and took a slow drag of it before turning to look at Riko and speaking for the first time that night.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

Riko scoffed at the comment, he wasn’t a child, but checked his phone screen and winced when he saw the time. 2am. Yeah, he really should be in bed, but he wasn’t going to let this random stranger tell him what to do.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed as well?”

Andrew levelled him with another unimpressed look and blew smoke out his nose. It didn’t look comfortable but what did Riko know, he’d never smoked. “I don’t have school tomorrow. You need a ride?”

Unfortunately, the man had a point, Riko couldn’t afford to fall asleep in class again, that would definitely result in a phone call home, and that would be bad. Slowly, he stood from the swing, failing to hide his wince as the movement jostled his should, if Andrew’s stare was anything to go by. He didn’t say anything, thankfully, as Riko walked away from him, heading for the other entrance, which didn’t have a light over the gate, but Riko could find it just fine.

It wasn’t until he’d left the park that he realised he was going the wrong way. He could do a circuit of sorts so he wouldn’t have to cross back past Andrew, so it wasn’t the end of the world, but the rain was picking up. As he walked, it quickly transformed from a few sprinkles to a steady downpour and by the time he got home he was thoroughly soaked. So much for not getting ill.

Riko woke up the next morning with a scratch in the back of his throat and a pounding headache behind his eyes. The type of ache you know is only going to get worse over the next few days. The type of ache that makes you want to throw the covers back over your head to block out the light and just go back to bed. Unfortunately for Riko, he had to get up and go to school, and the bus always came through early.

He stumbled through his morning routine, pulling on the first clean clothes he found as he staggered downstairs to shove mouthfuls of wet cereal into his mouth. His bag should be packed from last night, but he couldn’t be bothered to check. Uncle Tetsuji had already left for work, so he locked the door behind him and started down the path to the bus stop. Thankfully, the bus decided to appear on time today, so he managed to catch it, hiding in the corner of the back row with his hood up and headphones in. The next stop was usually old people getting on but the one after that was just inside the city. It was the one where Kevin and his friends got on the bus. Technically Jean was also Riko’s friend, but he tended to gravitate towards larger groups- like Kevin’s. With every stop, the gaggle of boys at the front grew, as did their volume, and all too soon, the bus was pulling up at the school gates and Riko’s headache had spread to his entire face. Jean smiled at him on his way past, but Riko was fairly sure the face he made back was more of a grimace than an actual smile. It was fine, he wouldn’t see Jean until after lunch.

It was fine.

He was fine.

The morning passed in a blur, he really hoped he hadn’t learned anything significant because he knew any notes he had managed to take would be incomprehensible at best. During his lunch period he managed to find two paracetamols in his bag and swallowed them quickly along with the crappy school food. By the time he got to his math class his head was slightly clearer, and he felt like he could actually think, which was nice. It was freezing in the classroom though; the windows were wide open for some unknown reason and the thin hoodie he’d pulled on this morning was not cutting it. Annoyingly, he knew he had thicker hoodies in his room but for some reason he’d chosen this one.

This was the class he shared with Kevin. For some reason he shared this class with a good chunk of the school’s hockey team, and he’d been placed directly in the middle of them. Usually, they just talked over and around him but sometimes one of them would talk directly to him. That was always terrifying. Jean, who he shared a desk with, was the first one in as usual. Neil and Kevin, who sat in front of them and often turned around to talk to Jean, were not far behind. Dan sat next to him with a girl who he thinks is called Thea. There were a lot of others around him, but he didn’t know most of their names.

Today’s topic of conversation was the cheerleader Dan supposedly had a crush on. His name was Matt, and he was nice enough, Riko sat with him in English and Matt let him copy his notes when he misses class, which is often. Riko tries to offer him the same when Matt is off, it’s a system. The boy has definitely made noises about being into Dan, but Riko was sworn to secrecy, not that he’d get involved anyway. The teacher came in soon enough and the group settled down.  Math was one of the subjects Riko really got, it was just numbers and patterns, things Riko liked and was good at. They were continuing worksheets from the last class, so it was nothing taxing. He’d nearly finished it last lesson, so he filled in the last few questions and settled in to doodle on a scrap of paper, vaguely listening to the conversation around him.

“Hey, Riko?”

He started at his name and glanced up to see that Kevin and Neil had turned their chairs to face his and Jean’s desk. Kevin and Jean were working through the questions together whilst Neil was looking at his phone.

“How’d you do this question? Neil’s being a dick and won’t help us.” Kevin almost sounded like he’s whining, and both of them laughed at the look Neil gave him.

“Yeah, because you’re supposed to be doing it yourselves. Also, it’s easy.”

Riko was a little concerned that Neil wouldn’t like him if he told them how to do it, but he wanted Kevin to like him more than he wanted Neil to like him, so he pulled Jean’s sheet towards him and read through it. It was a fairly simple problem; he gave them a vague answer about how it’s supposed to be done but both of them gave him blank looks. He glanced back and Neil who sighed and shrugged at him.

“They’re both thick as bricks, they can’t be helped.”

He giggled at that and then more at the offended looks both Jean and Kevin gave Neil, before opening his own workbook to the correct page and showing them his own work. He wasn’t sure if they actually understood it or if they were just happy to copy off him, but Riko could feel his heart doing a funny, fluttery thing when Kevin gave him his workbook back with a bright smile and a cheerful “thank you” at the end of class.

He could also feel his headache starting to come back. Accompanied by the unmistakable stuffy feeling of a cold in his nose and the back of his throat.

He made it through his last two classes of the day and left through the gates quickly, vowing to raid the medicine cabinet for pain killers when he got home.

On his way home, there was a café run by a lovely old couple that he often sat in for as long as he possibly could. They never pressured him to buy anything and sometimes, when he looked particularly rough, they gave him hot chocolate and refused to let him pay for it. Usually he just sat there quietly, did his homework and drew. Occasionally, he’d fall asleep, and they’d wait until they were done closing to wake him. It was a nice atmosphere.

When he reached the café this time, there was a man sat at his table. It’s a large table. Riko figured if he sat at the other end then the man wouldn’t notice him, and he was kind of right. The man looked up and watched Riko as he sat down and got his stuff out but when Riko made eye contact with him, he just smiled and looked back down at his phone. It’s about as good as he’d get, Riko figured.

He finished his homework fairly quickly and pulled his sketchbook out, flipping to the next empty page. It’s bats again, as it has been for the last week or so, today with a focus on the wings. He used some reference images but mostly he just made it up as he went, dark, dramatic lines covering the page. At some point it melted into birds, specifically raven wings. The feathers took forever but the effect when it was finished was worth his ink smudged, slightly cramping hand. At some point, the man had moved closer and was watching, which Riko realises as he stretched and jumped when he saw the man sat in front of him. To his credit, the man does attempt to move away a bit and appear non-threatening, but it didn’t really work when he’s easily twice Riko’s size and covered in tattoos.

“Those are really good,” the man eventually spoke, nodding to the sketchbook.

Riko shrugged, flipping to a blank page. He hated people looking at his work, much less commenting on it but he was at least raised with manners, so he mumbled a ‘thank you’. The man opened his mouth as if he was about to say something else, but Riko is saved by one of the women who ran the café coming over to them. She placed one hand on his arm and looked truly apologetic as she explained they’re closing early and Riko feels his heart plummet. He ignored that though, shoving his sketchbook into his bag which he threw over one shoulder, gently hugging the women before leaving all at once. He stepped out onto the sidewalk, the bright sun doing nothing to help his headache, and let the dread set in as he realised, he’d have to go home early instead of hiding in the city all afternoon. Behind him, the man he’d been sat with exited, shutting the door carefully behind him.

“You know, I wasn’t kidding when I said your drawings were good kid.”

Riko bristled at being called kid- he’s 17, why does everyone think he’s a child- but kept his mouth shut, nodding as the man continues.

“I own a little tattoo shop, just down the road.” Riko knew exactly which shop he’s talking about, it’s cool as shit, if slightly intimidating, done up in a sort of punk rock vibe. Now that he thought about it, he’d seen the man in the front room of the studio when he walked past sometimes. “You should swing round, meet some of my artists if you want?”

Outwardly, he was doing his best not to absolutely jump at the opportunity but inside, Riko was practically vibrating with excitement. Some anxiety but mostly excitement cause yeah, the man keeps calling him kid and was kind of scary at first, but also, he thinks Riko’s art is good? Plus, he’s always wanted to see the inside of that shop.

The words ‘stranger danger’ popped up in the back of his mind, but he brushed it aside quickly.

The man smiled at him and jerked his head to the left before starting to walk that way, towards the shop, and Riko followed after him quickly. The man was significantly taller than him and Riko found himself having to run awkwardly every few steps to keep up with him. Something in his backpack was thumping around like it was about to break and one of the straps was digging into his shoulder rather painfully. The headache from that morning was making a steady comeback and ended up focusing on that for most of the walk until suddenly the man stopped abruptly in front of the tattoo shop and Riko came very close to walking straight into him. He didn’t, thankfully, and stood a suitable distance from him as the man unlocked the door and pushed it open, flicking on a light. Riko followed him through the door, blinking as harsh lights came on, watching the man watch further into the shop, calling out a name that Riko didn’t hear.

Covering a large chunk of one wall is a corkscrew board with a range of drawings pinned to it. Theres two distinctive styles that come through, mostly black and white. Theres a few colour pieces dotted around but most aren’t. He didn’t realise he’d been moving closer to see it better until he heard footsteps and turned, slightly embarrassed, to see Andrew Minyard stood in front of him once again. He’d forgotten just how short the twins were. Last night he’d been sat down, and it was dark anyway, so it wasn’t noticeable but now it definitely was. His height didn’t make him any less intimidating, if Riko was being honest, and the silent stare that seemed to go straight through him just made everything worse. Was he about to be threatened? Or was Andrew just like this?

Andrew didn’t say anything to him in the end and walked back over to the man, whose name he really needed to find out, and the two of them had a very quiet conversation. Riko took the hint and turned back to the wall of art. After several minutes the man came back over, his heavy footsteps announcing his presence.

“See any you like?”

Riko pointed to a piece near the bottom of the wall. It’s an image of a raven in flight, on a slight angle so the underside of its wings were visible, each feather drawn out with painstaking precision. It must have taken hours to draw on paper, he can’t imagine sitting still for long enough to get that tattooed.

The man nodded, “that’s one of Renee’s pieces. She really likes intricate line work. You’re on the Ravens hockey team, aren’t you?”

“I was,” Riko admitted. A large chunk of the older players had left for university last summer and with no new people joining up the team had somewhat fallen apart. Riko had been relived and then felt slightly guilty about it. He hated playing for his uncle’s team, the hot-and-cold attitude the man took to his playing was exhausting on a good day. Some of his best memories of his uncle were on the hockey field when the man would praise him, patiently show him complex drills, set him against much older and more experienced players and celebrate when he beat them easily. But on the flip side, it held some of his worst memories- the shouting, the feeling of his uncles stick colliding with his side or his leg, never hard enough to break but it would hurt for days after, the harsh ruthless criticism tearing him down just as quickly as he would build him up.

For a while he’d considered trying out for the school team, he knew he was better than half those idiots, despite the words said in anger both him and Tetsuji knew Riko was easily one of the best. But in the end, he missed his opportunity, and he was out of practice by then anyway, probably horrifically out of shape as well but he tried not to let his mind linger on thoughts like that.

“Oh yes. It was a shame what happened.” Riko just nodded silently and waited for him to change the subject which, to his credit, the man picked up on pretty quickly. “My names David, you’ve just met Andrew, and Renee will be in soon.”

Theres a rather long pause.

“My names Riko,” he offered into the silence, and David smiled at him.

“Alright Riko, do you want to see some of the equipment we use?”

In the end, Riko spent the rest of the evening learning how the tattoo gun works and how to set it up. David showed him a range of techniques on a block of fake skin which had been nicknamed Bee. Riko never got an explanation for that name, but he did get to try out tattooing the fake skin and when he next glanced at the clock, hours had passed, and he needed to catch his bus. Now, sat on the bus on his way home, he could feel the headache again and it was infinitely worse. He checked his bag but all he found was an empty packet of painkillers which went straight in the bin. The noise of the bus didn’t help, and he could feel the window he was sat next to rattling. At the front of the bus were a pair of freshmen who were being Loud and if Riko was less afraid of getting beaten up he might have said something but right now he was just putting up with it.

The bus pulled up at his stop about ten minutes late and Riko stumbled down the gangway, doing his best not to fall as the bus swayed when the driver braked, or trip over the various bags. He made it off without any incident and ended up stood on the pavement watching the bus pull away. His Uncle’s apartment was about a five-minute walk from the bus stop, but Riko managed to drag it out for ten at least usually. When he got there, Tetsuji wasn’t in. He didn’t know where his uncle disappeared to most evenings, and he didn’t really want to.

The kitchen counter was clean for once and the cupboards had enough food for him to make something approaching a meal, so it didn’t really matter where his uncle was. However, there were no pain killers in the medicine box, in fact there wasn’t anything in there save for nail scissors and out of date plasters. Overall, a fantastic combination.

He blinked and he was stood in his room holding a bowl of soup with a slice of bread balanced on top of it. His head was worse. Breathing through his nose was difficult. His hockey stick was still standing in the corner with his uniform folded next to it, on the floor. The floor was still dirty but clean enough that he didn’t need to do something about it yet. He dropped his bag on the floor and climbed into bed, holding the bowl close to his chest so he didn’t spill it. His back was starting to hurt as well. The soup was barely lukewarm, but he ate it anyway.

He'd fallen asleep at some point, after he’d put the bowl on a side table which was good at least. The headache was worse still, a stabbing, pulsing pain behind his eyebrows making it difficult to even think. He changed his clothes robotically, nothing had stains on, so it was good enough. His uncle was in the kitchen when he came downstairs, Riko could feel the judgemental stare coming from him when he reached for the apple in the fruit bowl. He let go of it and picked up a banana instead. He hated bananas. Tetsuji left whilst he was eating it and Riko ended up throwing the rest in the bin. They needed to go shopping soon but they probably wouldn’t until at least the weekend. He thinks he’ll be fine for the second half of the week.

He just about made it in time to get on the bus and found his seat at the back. It wasn’t until he’d sat down that he remembered he has biology homework due first lesson. The sheet was buried in the bottom of his bag and crumpled to hell. He also hadn’t started it which also wasn’t helpful. It was supposed to be easy, he knows this stuff, but he was so tired, and his head hurt, and he couldn’t think, so he ended up staring at it for the next two stops. When Jean got on, he left his group for whatever reason and came to the back of the bus to sit with Riko which, normally, would be nice but Riko was on the edge of tears and did not want to be seen like this. Neil had followed Jean, which was definitely not helping, his only saving grace was that Kevin has stayed firmly at the front and was not likely to come over.

Jean sat down next to him and glanced over his shoulder, making a noise that translated to something along the lines of ‘oh shit I forgot about that’. He watched as Jean rifled through his bag and pulled the sheet, handing over a pen when the boy asked for one. Jean started going through he questions, answering them fairly easily and Riko just copied all his answers. He didn’t have the energy to do it himself anymore, he just needed it to be done so he didn’t get a detention. It was very clear Neil disapproved of this, but he kept it to himself, and the pair were done just as the bus pulled up at the school gates. They both shoved the homework sheets back into their bags and Riko took his pen back from Jean, putting both of them in his pocket as they made their way off the bus. He started walking into the building, expecting Jean to go back to his friends but was surprised when he instead followed Riko to their shared biology classroom. He dropped his bag on the floor and slid down the wall to wait for about twenty minutes.

For a few minutes, Jean just stood there and stared at him, but eventually he also dropped his bag on the floor and mirrored Riko’s position against the wall.

“Are you okay?”

Riko grunted into his knees before lifting his head up, “yeah. Just a headache.”

“Have you taken anything?” Jean sounded concerned.

Riko shook his head, stopping quickly when he realised the movement was making it worse, “couldn’t find anything. It’ll go away soon.”

Jean turned away from him and opened his bag, pulling out a packet of paracetamol and a bottle of water, holding them both out to Riko, who took them carefully. He’d forgotten how much of an actual saint Jean could be when the occasion called for it. He took two pills and swallowed them dry before remembering the bottle Jean gave him and taking a few belated sips. He tried to give them back to Jean who told him to keep them, so he shoved them into his backpack instead.

The teacher arrived fairly quickly after that, on time for once and they all filed into the classroom.

As usual, Riko took barely readable notes and didn’t understand half of what was going on.

The rest of the week passed at a fairly normal speed, he did homework and took notes, saw David at the shop each evening and drew a lot whilst he was sat there. David was nice and encouraging and he could see his art improving significantly in just a few short days. He spent as little time at home as possible and saw his uncle even less, and before he knew it, it was Friday afternoon, and Kevin was sat next to him in his maths class.

Which was odd because usually Kevin sat in front of him, but today he’d pulled out the chair next to him, dropped his bag on the floor, and sat in his chair backwards to continue his conversation with whoever was sat behind them. Barely sparing Riko a second glance, never mind an explanation. That was Fine Actually, he Did Not care, At All, that Kevin didn’t seem to want to talk to him. Nor was he practically vibrating with nerves at the fact that the boy was sitting next to him. A packet was dropped on their desk and in big letters across the front it read “Group project”, and Riko could have actually burst into tears there and then. It’s maths, how the hell has she managed to come up with a group project out of numbers?

Apparently, he said louder than he’d thought as Kevin started laughing quietly- he had such a nice laugh, Riko wanted to make him laugh as often as possibly just to hear it again.

God he really was pathetic.

He reached for the packet and started flipping through it, half listening to the conversation Kevin was having with their teacher- from what he could gauge, Jean and Neil had been sent home from the remainder of the day after an ‘incident’, but they’d be working as a four. The task was fairly simple, there were eight problems in total to be completed, they had today’s lesson to get started and were expected to complete it outside of school hours. It was due in a week. Kevin was talking to him.

“We’ll meet them at my house after school, yeah? It’s a fairly short walk, unless you’ve got plans obviously, then we’ll reschedule.”

Riko blinked for a moment, “today?”

“Yeah!” Kevin, thankfully, didn’t look too annoyed at having to repeat himself. “Neil and Jean are already at my house cause it’s closer, we might as well get started on it sooner rather than later.”

Tetsuji was working from home today and would be in a meeting till late. Riko wasn’t aware of the details, but he knew he needed to be out for it. He usually wanted Riko out of the house whenever he was there, so Riko had started just staying out as late as possible. He’d taken too long to think, and he could feel Kevin watching him expectantly, “How long would we be there?”

“As long as you want really. My Mom’s happy to make dinner and that so.”

The last bus that went from the city to his town left at ten, he told Kevin as such, and he nodded. “Yeah, ten’s a good time, I don’t think my brain will be working after that.”

Riko smiled awkwardly and looked back down at the table.

“We might as well get started now then,” Kevin pulled one of the sheets out of the packet and read through the problem before making a face. “Not that one though.”

In the end, they finished one problem together by the time the lesson was up, and Kevin caught his arm just as Riko was about to leave, “Don’t forget, meet me in front of the gate when the bell goes.” Riko nodded, and they both left the classroom.

He had two more lessons that day, the last one being art where they were doing chalk pastels. His piece turned out pretty decent, better than he thought it would, but he left the room with dark blue covering his fingers and splodges all the way up both arms. There was some on his clothes, but it mostly brushed off, so it wasn’t a problem. He washed his hands about five separate times, but it would not come off, especially around his fingernails, so eventually he gave up and went to meet Kevin.

Kevin was on the phone when he found him, and grinned widely, waving, when he spotted Riko. “Apparently Neil’s not-boyfriend is over and he and Jean kinda hate each other so that’ll be fun.”

Riko had no idea if there was a joke he’d missed or if he was about to walk into a screaming match when they reached Kevin’s house, so he didn’t say anything and followed Kevin as he started walking down the path. It was a short walk, they passed a convenience store which Kevin pulled him into so they can pick up snacks, and they reach the house quickly. It was a nice area, the houses were all pretty and rather large, Kevin’s house even had a little porch. There were no cars in the driveway, but Kevin assured him that his mom would be home soon and that she was okay with him having friends over. The inside of the house was equally nice, it was done up in light colours, there was no mould on the walls or burn marks in the carpet, there was a little shelf to put shoes on next to the door, and an area to put his bag. It took him a good minute to get his shoes unlaced and off, by which point, Kevin had moved into the living room. He left his bag with the others and followed Kevin.

Jean was sat on the floor, leaning against the couch, and waved to Riko as he came in. Kevin was stood in front of the TV, bickering with Neil, who was sat down and apparently watching the TV, and sat on the couch, next to Neil and looking half asleep is Andrew Minyard. He can’t go anywhere without seeing the man anymore and it’s driving him insane. So far, he hadn’t been at the shop when Riko was there, other than Tuesday night, but it was only a matter of time and the fact that he could be there had set Riko on edge. And now he was at Kevin’s house.

Andrew didn’t say anything to him, just smiled in a way Riko could tell was designed to creep him out because it was the same one his uncle gave whenever he did something wrong. Either way, he was on edge, even when Andrew closed his eyes and curled back into Neil. During this time, Kevin had managed to find the remote and turn the TV off. Jean had pulled the coffee table in front of the couch and was telling Riko to go get the packet with the worksheets. He left the room and went back to where he’d left his bag. As he was pulling it out, a cat came up and bumped the back of his legs, mewing at him. It was small and black with huge green eyes staring up at him. Riko was a little bit allergic to cats, but it was so cute and butting at his knee with its head. He dropped the worksheets on the floor and crouched down, holding out his hand to it. The cat sniffed him a few times and licked his knuckles before butting its head against his hand again and Riko opened his palm to stroke it gently. Very quickly, his legs began to hurt from the position and shifted to sitting on the floor, the cat circled him a few times before picking a spot in front of him to flop down on its side and purr aggressively at him. He wasn’t sure how long he spent sat on the floor with the cat, but Jean came around the corner looking a little worried until he spotted Riko, and his expression melted into a gentle smile.

The taller boy came over and sat next to him, laughing when the cat sniffed him and hissed, immediately going back to Riko.

“That’s King, she’s usually such a bitch. She hates people, but I’m not surprised she likes you.”

Riko frowns, “are you calling me a bitch?”

Jean throws his head back and laughs “well if the shoe fits….” He laughs again at the look Riko gives him, and shakes his head, “no, you’re not a bitch don’t worry.” He grabs the sheets Riko left on the floor, “she’ll follow you if you come back into the living room.”

Riko stands up and follows him back into the living room and, as predicted, King follows him, weaving her way in between his legs which is cute, if very inconvenient. The last thing he wants to do is faceplant in front of these people. Jean plops down on the floor, long legs crossed awkwardly under the little coffee table with a space open next to him. Up on the coach, Kevin and Neil have, once again, started bickering over something inane. As Riko came in, he could see Andrew’s gaze snap to his face and then glance down to the cat winding around his ankles. He’s not sure if the expression Andrew makes is intentionally disgusted but that’s the impression he’s getting. Either way, he looks away and sits down in the spot Jean left for him, followed by King jumping straight into his lap and sticking her nose in his face. She purrs incredibly loudly, her entire body vibrating with it. He tunes out the conversation and focuses on stroking her head and scratching under her chin and letting her lick his fingers until he gets dragged back to reality by someone calling his name.

He looks up to see Kevin staring at him expectantly, like he’s just asked a question and is waiting for an answer. When he turns to Jean, the other boy rolls his eyes, but like the angel he is, repeats the question.

“What kind of food do you eat?”

Pot noodle. Soup. Bread. School canteen food. Whatever not mouldy veg he can find in the fridge. Sometimes actual meals when his uncle remembers he’s responsible for a child and picks up groceries. Although at 17, maybe Riko should be shopping for himself.

Kevin’s still waiting for an answer.

“Uh anything really, I’m not picky.” He was, actually, but he’d learnt to suck it up. Regardless of how much they made him want to die. Or whatever.

Kevin nods and goes back to texting someone, his mom maybe?

“You uh, your mom doesn’t have to make anything for me, I can go home?”

In response Kevin scoffed without looking up from his phone, leaving Riko feeling slightly off kilter and as if he’s done something wrong. Neil shoved at Kevin’s shoulder, “Kev, don’t be an ass!” He turns to Riko, “Abby would actually rather die than let someone leave her house hungry, she’s gonna feed you whether you like it or not.”

Riko’s fairly sure he’s joking somewhat, so he nods quietly and turns his attention to the worksheets spread out on the coffee table. The one he and Kevin had finished that morning is in Neil’s hand and being looked over by him. The one they’d made a start on is in front of Riko, so he picks up a pen and continues where he left off. He understands the method he’s supposed to be following but it’s fiddly and complicated and he keeps having to backtrack and check his methods to make sure he doesn’t have a silly little mistake near the beginning screwing everything up. He’s nearly to the end when his writing hand cramps up suddenly and he drops it, cradling his hand to his chest. It’s the arm he broke last year that resulted in weird nerve damage. For the most part it isn’t a problem, but it flares up at the most inopportune moments. When he pulls it together enough to pick the pen back up, he glances around at the rest of the table only to see the other four staring at him.

“Are you okay?” Jean asks him carefully.

He squeezes the pen he’s holding and feels a twinge of pain, “yeah.”

“Are you sure?” Kevin looks concerned and Riko suddenly remembers that Kevin lost the use of his left hand after an accident when they were sophomores and feels incredibly guilty. He can see the faint raised scars that litter the other boy’s hand. He watched him learn to use his right hand both to play and to write, hell, he’s watched him struggle through physio exercises and attempts to write short sentences with his left hand, the pain and frustration evident on his face.

“It’s fine, it was just a cramp.” He looks back down at his work and finishes off the problem, passing it off to Neil to check without making eye contact with anyone. The room settles into silence, broken only by the scratching of pens on paper and Andrew’s phone sound effects as he types and sends various texts. Apparently, he refuses to turn it off because he knows it annoys Kevin, which sounds about as petty as Aaron complained he was.

The next interruption didn’t come until Riko had given up on the next sheet and swapped with Jean to try that instead. He was halfway through reading through Jean’s work when his phone started ringing with a tune he’d recognise anywhere. He was on his feet immediately, running back into the hall to find his bag and dig his phone out the front pocket, ignoring both King’s yelp of protest and Neil’s comment about agreeing to keep phones on silent. He found it and managed to pick up before the fourth ring, putting it to his ear as he pushed open the front door and stepped out onto the porch.

“Riko.” His brother’s voice is heavily accented and sounds tired, if not slightly irritated. “You took your time.”

“I’m sorry!” He attempted Japanese, realised how clunky it sounded, and switched back to English. “My phone was in the other room.” He didn’t point out that Ichirou never told him he was going to call, even though it’s true, because he’s already on thin ice and he really doesn’t want his brother to hang up.

“How is Uncle?”

Riko actually has no idea, he hasn’t actually spoken to the man in over a week although he’s seen him several times. That would not be an appropriate response. “He’s well.”

There’s rustling and a long pause before Ichirou speaks again, “Your birthday was recently. Happy birthday.”

It was not recently. His birthday was late June so he was about four months late by now but that would also be an inappropriate response. “Thank you.”

“You are 17 years now, almost an adult.” They were doing small talk. Riko hated trying to do small talk with his brother, it was awkward, and it was usually because Ichirou had something important to tell him and was stalling. Despite how much his older brother tried to act like he had some kind of unshakable confidence about him, Riko knew his tells well, even after only a few phone calls a year. But he sucked it up and continued the conversation because he was not allowed to say that to his brother.

“How is father?”

“He has recovered,” Ichirou told him. Riko hadn’t been aware their father was ill anyway; he was probably supposed to have been told by his uncle but that hadn’t happened so. He makes some vague acknowledgement and waits for Ichirou to tell him why he’d actually called.

Theres a sharp inhale from the other side of the phone before Ichirou speaks again, “Me and father will be in the United States over the Christmas period.”

Oh.

Riko feels dizzy with nausea suddenly. The only reason Ichirou would tell him that is if it would be relevant to him, he never tells him information he doesn’t need. He’s always wanted to meet his brother but his father? He’s never even spoken to the man; he may as well be a stranger. He’s missed quite a bit of the information Ichirou is telling him but luckily, he ended with “I will text you all of this. I will call you again when our flight lands, you will not take this long to pick up again.”

Riko mumbled another apology and kept the phone to his ear until he heard the beep of the line disconnected. He stayed on the porch for a while, staring out at the streets. It wasn’t as dark as it usually was in his neighbourhood as the streets were well lit by actually working streetlights which was nice. It’s not like his own little town is particularly horrible, Tetsuji would rather die than that, it’s just that their apartment is badly taken care of. That, and the area where Kevin lives is really nice.

Just as he was about to go back inside, a car rounded the corner and pulled into the driveway, stopping just to the left of where Riko stood. He doesn’t know much about cars, but this one is shiny and expensive looking. The headlights turned off and he heard the engine cut out before a woman stepped out of the car. She opened the back door to grab a bag and locked the car with her back to him, jumping slightly when she eventually turned around and saw him standing there. He apologised quickly but she waved him off, laughing and climbed the steps of the porch.

“You must be Riko then?” She smiled at him, all friendly and motherly.

He grabs the door for her, nodding in response to her question, “Yes ma’am. We’re working on a group project.”

She flashes him a bright smile as she goes past him, “Oh you don’t have to call me ma’am sweetheart, Abby works just fine.” So, this was definitely Kevin’s mom who they’d been talking about earlier. Either way, Abby is still talking to him, so he follows her into the kitchen. It’s a huge kitchen with fancy gadgets and a massive island in the middle where she sets the bag down. “Riko is a lovely name, is it Japanese?”

He nods, although he isn’t actually sure. All he knows about his name is that it’s a girl’s name, and he stopped looking into it any more after finding that out. It’s probably Japanese, after what he’s heard of his father, he doubts he’d get an English name.

“That’s lovely. Why don’t you go back to the living room, and I’ll call you boys when I’ve got food ready. Is spag bol alright with you?”

Homemade spaghetti bolognaise actually sounded fucking amazing so he nodded and smiled, which he seemed to be doing a lot of, and retreated back to the other room.

As soon as he entered the room, all three of his classmates looked up at him with a mixture of worry and expectancy, and Riko is reminded of his rather hurried escape. He attempted to explain as he sat back down next to Jean.

“My… uh my brother called. So, I had to pick it up, but I um left my phone in the other room.”

Jean frowned in confusion, “I didn’t know you had a brother?”

“He lives in Japan,” Riko offered awkwardly, looking back down at the table. As a kid, he’d been kept somewhat in the dark about his family, in fact he didn’t find out about his brother and father until a few years ago. Initially he’d resented Ichirou for getting to live with their father, he still did really, but he’d learnt to live with it. It wasn’t really Ichirou’s fault, just birth order, and his father’s weird stipulations, stemming from his father, and his father, and so on and so forth. Although, he actually had no idea how many generations this had been his family’s ‘thing’. It didn’t matter in the end, he wasn’t allowed to be involved, he was fairly sure he hadn’t ever even met his father before, as far as he knew the man wanted nothing to do with him. As far as he was aware that wouldn’t change unless Ichirou died, which was an uncomfortable thought.

The conversation slowly picked up around him, mostly carried by Kevin and Neil, Jean occasionally butted in, but Riko couldn’t really make out what they were talking about. The math worksheets were long finished, so he didn’t have much to distract himself with, other than picking at his nails. It was a terrible habit, one Tetsuji made his disapproval of clear, but he often found himself doing it without noticing. Jean wasn’t fond of it either, occasionally he’d tried to give Riko small things to fiddle with- fidgets, he called them- but he always ended up losing them somewhere or just not using them.

After several minutes, he could practically feel Jean’s stare burning into his hands, and sure enough when he looked up, Jean’s expression was particularly displeased. Unlike the face he usually got from his uncle, however, was the worry behind the expression. No anger in his furrowed brows, just concern.

“Kevin, your father will be home any minute,” Abby stepped into the room, frowning at something on her phone. “Can you boys tidy up and get ready for dinner?”

There was a resounding chorus of “Yes Abby” that Riko found himself joining in with as they all stood up.

Neil swept all the various sheets together and paperclipped them together, before holding them out to Riko with a vague explanation along the lines of “you held onto them all day, you might as well keep them.” Before pushing him out into the hallway with Kevin to go put stuff away.

There was a comfortable quiet between the two of them as they distributed items back into various people’s bags and stood up again, heading into another room where the rest of the group had already migrated.

“You should totally talk to my dad about your art stuff Riko,” Kevin spoke to him as they entered the room, gently directing him to a seat around the table. “He’d love to hear about it I bet.”

Riko just nodded along absentmindedly as he pulled out the seat but when he looked around at the rest of the table, his eyes locked on a familiar figure sat at the head of the table and he froze.

“David?”

The table went quite, for just a moment as everyone looked from him to the man who was apparently Kevin’s father.

“Hello Riko. I didn’t know you were friends with Kevin?”

Before Riko had a chance to stutter out some form of rebuttal, or even explanation to the rest of the table, Kevin swooped in, demanding just that. David spoke for him, which Riko quietly thanked whatever God was listening for as he had a chance to sit down and take a couple of deep breaths without people staring at him. Except for Jean, but Jean was fully aware of his weird anxiety problems so Riko couldn’t bring himself to care much. He pulled himself back together, shot Jean a reassuring smile as he tuned back into the conversation at hand- David chewing Andrew out for not saying anything to either of them seeing as he clearly knew.

Andrew just shrugged, responding with “thought it’d be funny” as he started twirling spaghetti around his fork, ignoring the exasperated face David made at him. Beside him, Neil snickered into his meal, sobering up quickly when David glared at him as well, and Kevin interjected smoothly before this went any further south.

“So Riko, how long have you been working with my dad?”

“Oh- only a week or so. I’m not like properly working for him, he’s just teaching me how to use some of the equipment, stuff like that.” Riko explained hesitantly before shoving s forkful of spaghetti in his mouth to stop Kevin asking more questions for the moment. It was very good, if he ignored how the texture of minced meat made his stomach turn. He could mostly pick off the large clumps and hope no one asked him about it.

“He’d done a real nice little piece on Bee over the last few days, David chimed in, passing his phone to Kevin, and Riko felt his cheek heat up a little as Kevin ooo-ed and ahh-ed over it. As he finally gave David the phone back, Andrew caught his eye with a little smirk playing across his lips that Riko couldn’t quite interpret, and he dropped his eyes back to his food.

Luckily, the conversation steered away from Riko, and he was finally able to eat in peace and just let the conversation wash over him as they jumped from hockey to schoolwork, to the weather, and some concert Neil and Andrew were going to before landing on collages.

He already knew what collages Jean, Kevin and Neil were looking at, they all had their sights set on the same one. Their hockey team was easily one of the best, and he happened to know their art programme was similarly well endorsed from when he’d been considering art schools.

“Where were you thinking of going Riko?” Kevin turned to him with that disarmingly bright smile that always made Riko feel like a deer caught in headlights.

It took him a moment to get the words out with Kevin looking at him like that “well- I’m not really sure anymore.” No one really said anything in response to that, so he felt a little obligated to keep talking. “I was originally looking at joining a hockey team, but I don’t have a team anymore so that’s not really an option, you know?”

“You’re not looking at art schools at all?” David questioned and Riko made a face at that.

“Yeah, I’m not really sure my uncle would be very willing to fund that.” He had, in fact, been looking at art schools and the tuition fees had made him close that tab down very quickly and go back to doing literally anything else.

Kevin butted in before David could say anything to that, looking so excited he might vibrate out of his skin, “I bet you could join the school’s hockey team! We’ve lost two of our attack team so I bet coach would be happy to let you try out even though you’re a few weeks late.”

Riko could practically hear Andrew rolling his eyes across the table, Jean just grinned at him. He remembered hearing Jean complain about how Kevin’s enthusiasm for hockey and Andrew’s lack thereof was a point of many arguments over the last year or so.

“Think about it? I’ll come with you to talk to coach if you want?” Kevin looked so earnestly thrilled, Riko couldn’t’ve said no to him, even if he wanted to.

As it was, he was quite interested in the idea. Hockey had lost it’s spark as Tetsuji got harsher and harsher on him, but maybe joining a new team with a new coach would bring it back. If nothing else, a free degree would be helpful in the long run, even if he did end up just playing the sport until he was forced to retire.

On that note, Abby had them clear off the table, and the group went back to meaningless chatter, Riko allowing himself to join in the conversation occasionally, as they all stood around in the kitchen. He was so distracted laughing at the latest argument between Kevin and Andrew, Riko barely noticed Neil sliding up next to him, and gently pulling him a little further away from the group to talk.

“You don’t have to do whatever he asks you to,” Neil started, his tone and face serious. “If you don’t want to do it, you can say so, Kevin’s pushy but he knows how to respect a ‘no’, you understand?”

Quietly, privately, Riko was touched that Neil was concerned about him, but it wasn’t that he didn’t want to join the team, he was just surprised about the suggestion and unsure if he’d still be any good or if he even liked the sport anymore. He only relayed the first part to Neil who nodded calmly and left him to pop up next to Andrew, where he seemed to always gravitate to. They always leaned towards each other when he watched them, it was sweet. Something he privately wished he could have with Kevin, however embarrassing that was to admit, even to himself.

The didn’t get anymore work done that evening, unsurprisingly, and just before 10pm they parted ways with an agreement to meet up in the library at lunch on Monday to finish it off.

Riko made his way to the bus stop in the gentle rain that was just starting. It wasn’t cold enough to freeze yet, which he was grateful for, but the drops landing on his face were still cold and unpleasant, and the stop he waited at didn’t have a shelter. By the time he reached it, the rain was much heavier, and he was stuck there, getting colder and progressively more soaked. Annoyingly, he’d only just shaken the illness from last week and he desperately hoped it wouldn’t be back with a vengeance tomorrow morning, he didn’t need that as well.

The bus went straight past him.

Didn’t even slow down, he’d assume the driver hadn’t seem him waiting if it wasn’t for the way he’d locked eyes with the man driving it as he sped through, splashing water out the puddle in the road onto the sidewalk.

For a few long minutes he just stood there, not sure what he was supposed to do now. That was the last bus of the night. There wouldn’t be another one through until 6 the next morning. He could walk, he’d done it before, but not in the dark. It took almost an hour and several of the roads didn’t have a path, so he’d just have to walk on the road and pray cars saw him before they got too close.

Some of the water running into his slightly open mouth had a distinctly salty taste to it, and Riko realised he was crying. He’d normally be at least a little ashamed of this, Tetsuji had firmly gotten rid of that habit when he’d first left Japan and moved in with his uncle- his father never cared enough to correct it- but in this case he could argue it was justified. He really didn’t want to walk home, but it was his only option at this point, and he forced himself to start moving in the direction he needed to go, desperately trying not to think about the state his schoolbooks would be in by now, his bag definitely wasn’t waterproof.

He hadn’t gotten very far down the road when headlights coming round the corner took him by surprise. Even more so, when the car pulled up beside him, and his first thought was that he might be kidnapped or something awful like that. Those thoughts quickly dissipated when the passenger door was thrown open and he recognised Andrew sitting behind the wheel, his normal irritated expression in place.

“Get in.” Riko fumbled, not sure what to do but Andrew just jerked his head, clearly impatient and gestured to the towel over the passenger seat. “Now, you’re not walking home in this.”

Not wanting to anger Andrew further, Riko climbed in, carefully placing his bag in the footwell and hoping it didn’t leave a wet patch on the nice flooring of Andrew’s fancy car, and pulled the door shut behind him.

The drive passed in silence, with Andrew driving exactly at the speed limit, taking some turns a little faster than was maybe safe. He was a good driver, even when Riko was scared a little bit shitless, he never looked like he was anything but perfectly in control of the car, his hands at two and ten, gripping the wheel comfortably. His face was completely blank, as usual, but he seemed far more relaxed than Riko usually saw him.

They pulled up outside the apartment complex Riko lived in, and Andrew interrupted him just as he was opening the door to get in.

“Kevin is an idiot.” Riko turned to him in surprise, and Andrew was staring right at him, unblinking which was a little creepy. His expression hadn’t changed from the usual, but again, just like Neil earlier, there was something in his face or body language that told Riko he was completely serious about whatever he was implying. “You have to be clear about what you want, or he will not pick up on it.”

Riko could feel his cheeks heating up as he stared back at Andrew. The implication was clear, but he was slightly horrified Andrew- and maybe Neil- had figured him out so quickly when he thought he’d been hiding it so well. Unsure of how to respond, he settled for nodding a few times, trying not to look like a bobble head figure, and got out the car as fast as he could. As soon as his door shut, Andrew was speeding off, and Riko’s ‘thank you’ died on his lips.

The rain was still coming down, just as heavy as before, and he turned to head into the building as he thought it over. To no one’s surprise, the elevator wasn’t working, and he ended up having to climb the long flight of stairs to their apartment.

Tetsuji had already gone to bed, so the place was blissfully quiet- although he was alone with his thoughts as he changed quickly and got into bed. Was Andrew implying Kevin liked him back? That wasn’t really clear, but he was definitely indicating that Riko should ask him out. But was that because his feelings were mutual, or did he just want a laugh. He didn’t seem to like Riko much so maybe he was trying to scare him off by having him embarrass himself.

Or maybe, he thought as his eyes started to close, he was overthinking this and Andrew was referring to their group project.

Saturday morning, Riko woke to the beginning feelings of a cold and a text from David.

Hey kid, sorry if you got a bit of a shock last night, I did too. You’re welcome to drop round to the shop any time today, we can start you on a proper piece on fresh block of skin? Just text me when you’re heading over.

It was nice, the perfect excuse for Riko to get out of the apartment he’d otherwise be stuck in all day. He didn’t bother to check the state of his schoolbooks as he grabbed his backpack- he was desperately hoping the rain hadn’t ruined them too much and he figured he could get some work done whilst David couldn’t supervise him. Sneaking out the apartment was a little harder, he took a very quick shower and hid out in his room until he heard his uncle go into the bathroom and then rushed out the door.

Maybe he was being a little dramatic, he thought as he locked the door behind him, it wasn’t like Tetsuji got violent with him anymore, his uncle didn’t care enough for that now. But on the other hand, he didn’t want to get stuck talking to him either.

In the end he decided to just put it out of mind, and texted David he was on his way as he headed for the bus stop. The bus was nice and quiet for once, surprising for a Saturday but he wasn’t complaining as he rested his head against the window and watched the scenery pass him by. The town centre stop was just before the one for his school, he almost missed it as he wasn’t used to getting off there, but he made it and stepped off the bus into surprisingly warm sunlight for early November and started making his way towards David’s shop.

The bell jingled pleasantly as he pushed the door open and stepped inside. Andrew was sat on a spinney chair behind the desk that acted as a reception, feet propped up on the counter as he popped a wad of gum, staring straight at Riko. He didn’t move as Riko gently closed the door behind him, catching the bell a second time, and crossed the room to set his bag down in the space David had pointed him to every other time he’d come in.

Renee popped her head around the corner to see who’d come in and smiled brightly at him, “Hi again Riko, it’s good to see you. David is just finishing up with a client, he’ll be out soon if you wanna wait here with Andrew for a bit?”

Riko nodded hesitantly, glancing over at Andrew who didn’t respond other than a flick of his fingers in her direction, which was evidently good enough for her as she disappeared back down the corridor. Andrew was no longer looking at him, however. Instead, as Riko followed his gaze discovered Andrew was staring down at Riko’s damp bag on the floor, as if it’d personally offended him somehow.

“In the future,” he started, waiting until he was certain he had Riko’s full attention before continuing, “You will ask for a lift if it is raining.”

That threw him a bit. He remembered Jean had told him Andrew was protective over those he considered ‘his people’ and gave little care to the wellbeing of everyone else. Did this count? Was he suddenly one of Andrew’s people? Was that a good thing? He hadn’t responded in far too long, and Andrew raised an eyebrow as if to prompt him and Riko nodded quickly, stuttering out a “yeah, sure.”

He absolutely was not going to ask Andrew for a lift. He would have been fine walking home really, and if he did ask and Andrew said no, that would be embarrassing for one thing.

Maybe he was convincing enough, maybe Andrew didn’t actually care that much, but he didn’t say anything else and just looked back down at his phone, the obnoxious typing sound effects echoing in the room. Luckily, it was at that moment that David finally appeared, followed by a taller man Riko didn’t recognise. David grinned at him, making a ‘just a moment’ gesture and brought the man over to where Andrew was, shoving his feet off the desk. Riko hung back, watching the process. He’d seen David check clients in and out a few times so this wasn’t new to him. Andrew was still watching him when he looked up, and he immediately turned back to watching David. The heavy gaze on the side of his face dragged his thoughts back to the odd comment Andrew had made last night- a comment he was desperate to just stop thinking about before it encouraged him to do something really stupid.

Finally, the man had paid and left, David properly turned to him, grin widening. “How ya doing kid? Feel like trying out one of your pieces on Bee?”

Riko could feel a real smile spreading across his face as he bounced in place a little. Using the tattoo gun was easily one of his favourite parts about coming over to the shop each evening. For the most part he’d just been doing lines and small patterns, but this would be like doing a proper tattoo. Just not on a person, not until he was 18. Only eight months until then, seven and a half really.

David just chuckled at the look on his face and tilted his head to indicate down the corridor. He paused to make an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture at Andrew before turning back and taking Riko down to the studio. His workspace was already set up, with his sketchbook on the table alongside Bee, the gun, and various other things he vaguely recognised.

They spent almost the entire day there, David patiently talking him through the process of copying a drawing onto paper and then transferring it to the skin. Going over the line work first and then using the shading tool as they tried out all the different tools Riko had previously used in actual pieces instead of on their own. It was incredible, David was kind, and he didn’t yell when Riko messed things up, but he didn’t talk down to him either. He was gently encouraging and gave advice where needed but otherwise let Riko figure things out himself.

Riko easily could’ve spent all day sat in the studio with Bee and David, but eventually they were interrupted, first by Renee who came in to drop off some food, offer some words of encouragement and remind them to take a break. They did not and soon enough Andrew was barging in to sit himself on the desk, careful to stop Riko without messing up his work.

“Ah shit kid,” David made a face as he checked the clock behind them. “I really shouldn’t’ve let you keep going this long without making you take a break.”

Riko, if he was being honest, wasn’t that bothered. His right arm killed, especially in the areas that’d been fucked over by the break, but no more than it would after a long hockey practice, so it didn’t matter much to him. Either way, David sent him to go sit in the lobby with Andrew whilst he cleaned up, telling them to pick something to order.

In typical Andrew style, he sauntered back out to the front and plopped down in the desk chair, throwing his feet up on the counter. Renee was sat on the desk and gestured to the other chair when Riko rounded the corner. The two of them easily resumed whatever conversation they’d been having before Andrew came to get Riko, something about a zombie apocalypse, and he was sort of following along but he was still surprised when Renee asked for his input.

“Where would you go during an apocalypse Riko?”

He paused, thinking it over. “High ground probably, would have an advantage. Somewhere near running water. Probably avoid cities if it were zombies or a plague or something.”

Andrew hummed, “Renee wants to stay in the city and help people.”

Riko couldn’t stop himself making a face at that “you’d get yourself killed sooner or later, why not set up a halfway point. Somewhere safe but easy for people to get to, and then you can give then shelter and safety. And you’ve got a better chance of having people to help you if you’re not asking them to risk their lives.”

Renee smiled at him gently and Riko found it easier to talk to the two of them about silly scenarios than it was to talk to his old teammates or his friends in math class. It was a relief for once, to not be terrified and he wasn’t even sure what caused it. Renee’s kind smile and gentle touches and Andrew’s amused little smirk, and the sound of David’s heavy footsteps coming down the corridor were the safest he’d felt in years.

It had been a good day, too good. Really, he should have known it wouldn’t last.

Tetsuji had been stood in the kitchen when he got home, looking absolutely pissed off. Everything from the set of his jaw to how tightly he was gripping the glass in his hand screamed that something had set him off. Riko barely remembered what his uncle had been angry about, he just remembered coming back to himself, curled in a tight ball on the kitchen floor, watching the man leave. He wasn’t sure where he was going, or when he’d get back, just that he was blissfully alone.

And everything hurt.

The world around him spun as he pulled himself to sitting, so violently he thought he might throw up, but the nausea passed, slower than he would’ve liked. It’d been a long time since Tetsuji had gotten violent with him, typically he’d stick to sharp looks and harsh words, going so far as to actively avoid touching Riko, as if he’d be contaminated by it.

His back hurt like hell, as did the side of his head- he had vague memories of hitting it on the way down, but he was fairly sure he wasn’t concussed. Or at least he really hoped because he wasn’t sure what he’d do if he was. He was definitely bleeding in a few places, not enough to be concerned but enough to be annoying.

He managed to make it to the bathroom, carefully cleaning himself up the best he could, and eventually collapsed into his bed, ready to pretend that evening had never happened.

Sunday morning, he woke to rain lashing against his window and a text from David, which he left unopened. He could barely get himself to stand up, he was certain he couldn’t cope with getting to the shop and then spend the rest of the day pretending everything was normal. Tetsuji wasn’t back yet, his car wasn’t in the parking lot and Riko’s bag was still in the hall next to the door when he went to collect it, wincing at the strain to his shoulder when he picked it up.

Tetsuji still wasn’t home by the end of the day, he was almost worried, if it weren’t for the fact that he was terrified to face him.

When he woke up on Monday, Tetsuji still wasn’t home. He considered not bothering to go to school but ended up pulling himself up with just enough time to get out the door and reached the bus stop seconds before it pulled up. The driver gave him a dirty look as he stumbled on, finishing a handful of change out of his pocket to drop on the counter between them. He found his seat at the back and all but collapsed into the corner, dropping his bag on the floor with a concerningly loud thud.

He must have fallen back asleep, because the next thing he knew, he was being gently shaken awake and when he glanced to the side, Neil was stood over him, Jean and Kevin hovering slightly further down the bus. He looked out the window and swore realising they’d pulled up at the school. Neil just grabbed Riko’s backpack off the floor and followed Jean and Kevin off the bus, leaving Riko scrambling to catch them up.

It was freezing outside. They were into November by now and he could feel it in the air. Jean, notably, was irritated by the cold as well, stealing Kevin’s jacket off him and dramatically bundling himself up in it, despite being taller than Kevin. It was cute in a way, if it didn’t make Riko’s heart clench a little- jealousy, maybe? It was stupid but at least he was aware enough to be able to think through the awful pain clouding his mind.

The cold made the overwhelming soreness all over his body infinitely worse, especially with the addition of bruises, in places he didn’t even know could bruise, but he was fairly certain he was hiding it well enough. He wasn’t walking with a limp, his right ankle hurt to high hell, but he’d be damned if he was going to limp around rather than just pushing straight through it, and he was fairly sure no one had noticed the face he made whenever his back brushed against something.

His head was a different problem. When he could push through the overwhelming fog long enough to form a coherent thought, he was slightly horrified that he’d survived going straight to sleep with a head injury, but for most of the day he felt like a zombie, going through the same motions he did everyday with no real awareness of his surroundings beyond how much it hurt when anything touched him.

Lunch arrived both slower and quicker than expected, somehow.

Finding somewhere to spend his lunchbreak was, typically the main difficulty he faced each time it rolled around, but as he wandered aimlessly away from his classroom, the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that there was somewhere he was supposed to be grew and grew uncomfortably. He didn’t typically have anyone to meet or anywhere specific to go, especially since Aaron and Katelyn had graduated, they were the only people he’d really sit with, and even then, he tried not to be there too often, just in case. He might go to his next lesson early, sit outside the door and try to look like he’d only just gotten there when other people started to show up. For some reason, even though there were still at least 50 minutes left, that was the thought that ended up sticking out to him and he turned to start heading that way.

The path to his math classroom was actually rather long, it took him past the student canteen, and past many of his other classrooms. Round the back of the art block and the gym and past the library-

The library.

He stopped in his tracks just a few paces up from the entrance to the library, begging his foggy brain to try and put the pieces together, to come up with something- anything- to explain to urge in the back of his mind.

Slowly, thankful there was no one else in the hallway, he backtracked to the entrance and carefully pushed the door open, scanning over the students sitting at various tables and his eyes landed on Jean, who’s face was pinched tight in an expression Riko recognised as worry, concern, maybe fear?

Something, something, finally clicked together and it suddenly came back to Riko that he was supposed to be meeting Jean, alongside Kevin and Neil in the library. Where they currently were.

He let the door slip closed behind him and picked his way through the winding tables and bookshelves to the table the other three were already sat at, still not entirely sure what they were going to be doing he just knew he was meant to be there.

Jean was the first to spot him as the other two had their backs to the door and Riko watched as the other boy’s face flicked rapidly through a series of expressions unable to decipher what any of them meant. In the end, he settled on a tight expression, visibly clenching his jaw, and stood to pull out a chair for Riko, which he collapsed into with a mumbled ‘thank you’ taking care to avoid letting his back touch the backrest. Jean evidently caught this as well as his jaw tensed further and he shifted closer to Riko, ignoring whatever looks they were getting from Kevin and Neil, and dropped his voice to a whisper.

“What happened?” it took Riko a moment to translate the language switch, but as Jean continued speaking, he finally caught onto the bastardised mashup of Japanese and French the two had coined many years ago. “I haven’t seen you looking this bad in years, you’re completely out of it. What did he do?”

Of course, Jean would see straight through him. The very first (and last) time he’d ever been able to convince his uncle to let him have a friend round, it’d gone South so ridiculously fast he hadn’t even known it was happening until they were at school the next day and Jean was telling him in a small, sad little voice that his parents said they couldn’t be friends anymore. That hadn’t stopped Jean from loyally sticking to his side for the years to follow but they never saw each other anywhere else. Jean had always been able to tell when he was hiding an injury- be it from his uncle, from hockey, or from something else- he didn’t know why he’d thought it’d be different now.

“I-I don’t really know,” he looked away sharply from the stern expression on Jean’s face. “He just kinda went off the rails Saturday night, I don’t remember much else I just woke up on the kitchen floor. I haven’t seen him since; I don’t think he’s been home. I know I hit my head, but other than that it’s just a general everything hurts. And fog,” He added after thinking for another moment or so.

Jean looked horrified and Riko took a minute to go back over what he’d just said.

In the meantime, Jean had turned his attention onto Kevin and was giving him a very barebones rundown of Riko’s general state as he steadily grew paler and paler. Riko wasn’t entirely certain what the big deal was, Tetsuji had definitely done far worse, and Jean had bared witness to the aftermath.

Abruptly, Kevin stood up from the table, “We’ve gotta take you to see Abby.”

Riko was shaking his head so fast he thought he might throw up before he’d even fully registered the words. “I can’t leave without my guardian, and he will not come to get me. They won’t let me leave without him; I’ve tried before. If I get another absence mark this term they’ll call home.”

Kevin was frowning as he stared down at Riko, eyes flicking between him and Jean as he tried to figure out what to say to that, but it was Neil who spoke first. “As soon as the bell goes at the end of the day, you are coming with us to Kevin’s house.” His tone left no room for argument, but he seemed like he was waiting for Riko to say something, so he just nodded, suddenly exhausted.

Or rather, more exhausted than he’d been already.

“What are we- what are-” He dropped his head to the table, swearing under his breath as he tried to gather his thoughts enough to form a sentence.

The others stayed quiet, watching him with varying degrees of patience and concern when he dragged his head back up.

“What. Were we. Supposed to be doing?” He eventually managed to bite out.

It turned out, the plastic wallet their teacher had put the sheets in ended up doing little to nothing to protect them from the rain and, much like the rest of Riko’s school books, they were incredibly water damaged.

“It’s fine,” Neil had brushed off his apologies easily as Riko handed them over and he watched through half closed eyes as he and Kevin set about picking out the ones that were still salvageable. “Me and Jean are gonna go get replacements and Kevin’s gonna keep an eye on you. Drink some water.”

Jean grumbled somewhat at that, mostly correcting Neil’s grammar, but he got up with minimal fuss and a gentle touch to Riko’s shoulder as they left.

And then he was alone with Kevin. Vaguely he had the notion that if he could think clearly, he’d probably be out of his mind with nervous panic, but right now he was barely awake and he certainly didn’t have the energy to be scared about embarrassing himself in front of his crush- that ship had long since sailed anyway.

A thunk had him looking up from the spot on the table he was staring a hole into, and his eyes found a plastic water bottle on the table, accompanied by a vanilla protein bar. Riko glanced up to Kevin’s face who was making a rather sheepish expression as he shrugged a bit.

“You don’t have to eat it- I just wasn’t sure if you’d eaten today or anything? I’ve got others if you don’t like that flavour.”

He wasn’t really sure when he’d last eaten so Kevin certainly wasn’t wrong. Carefully, almost expecting it to disappear if he grabbed it too fast, Riko reached out and pulled both items closer to him, turning his attention to the protein bar first. It had a helpful little ‘tear here’ marking with a dotted line but after struggling with it for several moments and the stupid thing remaining firmly closed, Riko gave up and tossed it back to Kevin, settling on uncapping the water bottle and taking a few sips. He’d expected Kevin to just put it back in his bag but instead Riko was pleasantly surprised by the bar making a reappearance, this time unwrapped and he offered Kevin a shaky smile as he took it and lifted it to his mouth.

It wasn’t great. He’d had protein bars before and they were always a bit rubbish, but it was something and it helped, even if only marginally.

The empty wrapper went in his pocket not soon after and they lapsed into a comfortable silence, passing the water bottle back and forth a few times.

“I-” Riko glanced up at the sound of Kevin’s voice, passing the empty water bottle back for the last time. “Jean’s always super vague when we ask about you, so I get if you’re just a really private person or something.”

“I feel like there’s a but coming here.”

Kevin laughed, more of a nervous giggle which was a noise Riko had never heard him make. “You can- you should- come sit with us more often. If you want to. We- I- like hanging out with you.”

Riko was taken aback. At a loss for words even. He didn’t know what to say to that beyond just blinking like a fish, but Kevin was not done shocking him yet.

“Just, sometimes I worry about you, when you come into school looking rough and out of it a bit. It’s nice to be able to talk to you a bit. Plus, you’re getting to know my dad now, so you could come round more often. Not just when you’re in dire need of medical attention.”

Say something say something say something.

He could see Jean and Neil at the entrance, he needed to say something come on.

“Uh yeah, that’d be cool.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

‘Uh yeah that’d be cool’ what the actual fuck was wrong with him?

He didn’t get any time to think about it or even correct his response as Neil and Jean were plopping down in their seats with matching mischievous grins.

“I love that woman; she’s a gift to mankind.” Neil declared dramatically, waiting for the two of them to react before he deigned to continue. “She said that because it’s due in like less than an hour, and we’d already finished all the sheets, she believes that we’d done them and we don’t have to redo the ruined ones, can I get a wa-hoo?”

The silence dragged on uncomfortably until Jean rolled his eyes and cheered unenthusiastically.

“Thank you, Jean, anyway,” He dumped the pile of salvaged papers on the table between them. “Congrats guys we finished the project, and we can actually do something fun for the-” Neil glanced at his bare wrist and then turned to Kevin expectantly.

“40 minutes.”

“40 minutes we have left. Ideas?”

“Hockey rink?” Kevin suggested.

Jean groaned loudly at that suggestion, and then again when Neil visibly perked up. “What about Riko?”

Two heads snapped toward him and Riko tried not to recoil under the weight of their stares, “I uh, I can just hang around and watch or something?”

“Yeah, we can introduce you to Coach and ask about trying out!”

And with that, Riko found himself following the three of them into the locker rooms at the hockey rink, his bag on Neil’s shoulder as the boy had all but smacked his hands away when Riko tried to pick it up himself. It was a nice enough rink accompanied by a very nice set of locker rooms, with, notably, under floor heating, and Riko was distracted taking it in when he was startled out of his thoughts by the sight of a large, intimidating man striding towards them.

His stomach dropped and he suddenly remember the other crucial reason why he hadn’t bothered trying out for the school team.

Coach Hernandez hated his uncle.

Whenever he saw them interact, it was with barely concealed contempt, if that, and he knew the man had more than a few things to say about the way Tetsuji trained his players, Riko especially. Interacting with Hernandez had always left Tetsuji in a more violent mood than usual.

This hadn’t been a good idea, he was certain of it and was seconds away from ducking out and doing a run for it, with or without the bag Neil was currently holding.

“Gentlemen.”

“Coach!” Kevin turned around to grin brightly at the man, and Riko was momentarily distracted from his escape by how blinding gorgeous his smile was.

Right, he needed to leave, and he needed to stop being pathetic.

He glanced around himself, noting the smirk on Jean’s face that told him he was anything but subtle, and Coach Hernandez watching him.

Wait.

Fuck.

“Moriyama, isn’t it?”

“Yep-” His voice came out horribly strangled and high pitched, and he cleared his throat and tried again, thankfully in his normal voice.

Without his uncle looming over his shoulder, Hernandez didn’t actually look that intimidating. He was still broad and much taller than Riko- starting to become a common occurrence in the last few weeks- but he didn’t look quite as angry as Riko remembered him always looking. He was actually smiling.

“God it’s been a long time since I saw you kid, how are ya doing? How’s your uncle getting on?”

Riko shook the hand thrust in his direction and stammered his way through a vaguely appropriate greeting, “he’s not thrilled about everything right now, but we’re getting on alright, thanks.” Perfect. A plus. A beautifully convincing lie.

Or at least it would be if Hernandez wasn’t carefully taking stock of the way he was holding himself gingerly, the awful handshake, the ever so slight slur to his words. And of course, the obvious, Hernandez knew Tetsuji, that was why he didn’t like the man.

“I imagine disbanding the team can’t have been easy for either of you. You let me know if you need anything, ya hear me?” Riko nodded, swallowing down the lump of emotion rising in his throat and Hernandez turned to the others, who were mostly milling around and pretending to not have heard. “And what can I do for you bunch of problem causers, hmm?”

“We actually wanted to talk to you about the Ravens disbanding,” Kevin took up the roll of group spokesperson with ease. “Riko can’t get a hockey scholarship without a team, but he could try out to join us, it’s only a few months late and it’s not like he needs much in the way of teaching.”

Was that- was that a compliment? Did Kevin Day think he was good at hockey?

The blush he could feel climbing his cheeks was incredibly irritating, curse his pale skin for flushing red so easily, and became even more so as everyone swivelled to look at him.

There were a few painfully long moments of silence before Hernandez spoke again. “Well, he’s certainly not trying out in this state.” He started. “But I’ve seen you playing kid, we could definitely use someone like you on the team, I’m sure we could work something out.”