Chapter Text
Haruhi waits.
It’s maybe the worst word in the world – waits – right up there next to almost, if certain other people are to be believed, not that Haruhi does. Mostly she doesn’t believe in almost. Either a thing happens or it doesn’t. There’s no in-between. Almost just means it didn’t happen. Thinking about how close you got to a thing doesn’t change the fact that you still lost.
Haruhi didn’t expect to wait.
It’s summer break. No one’s doing anything. That’s the entire point! Summer break is supposed to be spent doing all sorts of summery things with your friends, and she’s going to do summery things with her friends, which is why she called them to get them all together, except that Junko is making her wait.
Haruhi’s lips purse into a tight upside down V shape. “Don’t tell me you have another one of your photo magazine things. You said you’d be free!”
“Of photoshoots, but—”
“Then you’re free! So you’re coming to—”
“Haruhi, I need to tell you—”
She cut her off. Junko cut her off!
Haruhi holds the phone away from her ear – Junko’s still saying something, but she’s not listening – and glares at it. “I’ll see you in an hour!”
She just catches the sound of Junko sighing and saying to someone else on the other end, “Listen, Yasuke, we’ve got somewhere to be,” before slamming her phone shut.
Her eyes narrow.
Who the fuck is Yasuke?
Yasuke, as it turns out, is a boy who is only taller than Junko because today she isn’t wearing heels.
Junko always wears heels.
Who the fuck is this guy?
Haruhi’s mouth contorts into a frown so deep that its shape changes into a sharp upside-down V. She props her hands on her hips, glares at the both of them as they get closer, and calls out, “You’re late!”
Late, as everyone knows, is a subjective thing. It doesn’t matter if someone is on time or twenty minutes early or an hour early or whatever, if everyone else is here waiting on them, then they’re late! (Haruhi, of course, is always the first person anywhere, and she’s always waiting on them to catch up to her. She doesn’t want to miss out on anything exciting that might happen! Obviously!)
So what if she was already here when she called everyone? It’s a beautiful day! Shut up!
“Fashionably late.” Junko winks. She links her arm with the boy next to her and leans against him, one hand resting on his chest. “Everybody, this is Yasuke.” She glances up at him and grins. “Yasuke, this is everybody.”
Yasuke is a boy who wears a scowl on his thin lips and looks like his eyebrows are knit in a perpetual furrow, like maybe if he ever relaxed there would still be lines there, wrinkles, as if he’s already too old for them (and maybe he is – Haruhi’s certainly never seen him at school, and she’s seen everyone). As Junko speaks, his scowl deepens, lips turning down with disgust, and he shoves his hands even deeper into his pockets like maybe they’re bottomless. His gaze flits from Mikuru to Koizumi to Yuki, his clear annoyance growing, until finally it lands on Haruhi herself.
That expression flickers. Steels.
Haruhi’s eyes narrow. “Do I know you?”
“I’ve never met you before in my life.” Yasuke’s steely-eyed gaze sweeps over Haruhi a second time, as though he hadn’t gotten enough out of her the first time.
She hates him. Haruhi knows immediately and instinctively that she hates him, and she hates that he’s here. She stalks over to Junko, grabs her free arm, and tugs her to one side.
Of course, Junko nearly trips, given how closely she’s hooked onto that boy she’s brought with her, and when she gets her bearings, she waves to Yasuke and holds up a finger while he glares at them. They’re not even far enough away before she stops Haruhi and asks, “What?”
“He’s not a member of the Brigade!” Haruhi exclaims, propping her hands on her hips again. “This is Brigade business! Why did you bring him?”
Junko sighs. “It’s summer, and he’s back for a few weeks. Can’t he be, like, an honorary member or something?”
“No! We don’t have—”
“He fills a trope we desperately need.”
The impudence of interrupting her! Again! Twice in one day, and Junko never interrupts her! Haruhi hates the boy even more, hates that Junko is fighting her on this.
Except.
“What trope?”
“Only Sane Man.” Junko smiles, soft, and it just reaches her eyes. She has to be joking. Seriously, she has to be joking. “Besides, we don’t have anyone who snarks quite like Yasuke, and I’m sure Koizumi will be glad to have another guy around.”
Koizumi is standing far enough away that he shouldn’t be able to hear them, but his head pops up at Junko’s words – maybe at the mere mention of his name – and he says, “I’m quite fine, but thank you for thinking of me!”
Junko rolls her eyes and gestures to him. “See? No snark. If that were Yasuke, he’d say something like, She doesn’t speak for me! Much better.”
Haruhi considers this. Briefly. Her gaze flits over to Yasuke, who isn’t looking at Mikuru, isn’t talking to Koizumi, but has pulled a manga volume from somewhere on his person and started casually reading it. He glances up as though feeling her gaze on him, and Haruhi quickly looks away, back to Junko, who has been following this whole thing with a bemused, catlike grin. “Fine,” she says, finally, “but I don’t want him here all the time. This is Brigade time, and—”
“I won’t be here all the time, so you won’t have to worry about that.”
Haruhi flinches. A third time now, Junko has interrupted her. Is it because that boy is here? Ugh, she hates him. “What do you mean you won’t be here? It’s summer! You can’t take a break for a few weeks?”
“I can,” Junko says, “but I want to spend time with Yasuke before he leaves. He’s family. You understand, right?”
“What, is he your brother or something?”
Junko stares at Haruhi. Blinks twice. Then laughs, as though Haruhi has told the best joke she’s ever heard. “Or something.” She pushes a hand through her hair; she’s pulled most of it back into a single ponytail today, but strands of it still hang around her face. (Haruhi doesn’t know why she cares, because she doesn’t.) “I’m not asking your permission, Haruhi. I’m letting you know. So if there’s something I need to be here for, I can plan around it. Just not everything, okay?”
“You need to be here for everything.”
“Well, you can, like, prioritize things, right?” Junko pats Haruhi’s shoulder and briskly walks away from her like their conversation is over. She grins up at Yasuke. “You get to stay. Isn’t that great?”
Yasuke grumbles a sound of ascent, but his eyes flick up and catch Haruhi’s as she joins the group again.
Haruhi hates the way he looks at her, hates that he seems familiar although she can’t place why, hates that he’s here at all, hates him. She just wants him gone.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing she can do about that.