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Gakupo drew a deep breath of the fresh spring air. Finally alone, finally undisturbed. He looked out over the green grass, spending a moment in the park was an excellent break after sitting 3 hours straight on the phone with people who didn't even know what an email-address was.
He swore, Dell must have the biggest patience in history sitting through all this for 5 years straight without even lifting as much as an eyebrow. That or the moronic questions being asked to him every day had simply put him into a catatonic state which made him incapable of reactions of any sort. Gakupo didn't know and unfortunately Dell's peace of mind wasn't his greatest concern as of now. His own was and he supposed that it would all be perfectly fine if...
"Gakupo-senpai!"
.... he was allowed to remain undisturbed. Gakupo groaned inwardly as he heard the high, disgustingly cheerful voice. He knew exactly what he was going to see when he turned around which was exactly why he decided to prolong the process as much as possible.
"Hio-kun", he gave the excited blond a blank look as he finally faced him.
The boy looked at him with that expectant smile, brown eyes sparkling as though they'd just seen the end of the rainbow, that half long blond hair as unruly and wild as ever.
"Is everything alright?"
'It will be if you just go mind your own damn business' was what Gakupo wanted to say but seeing as this was a person that Kaito, Rin, Len, Miku and even Meiko were quite fond of openly insulting him was something Gakupo was going to hold himself back from as long as he possibly could.
"It's all well", he said instead with the same neutral expression that he'd plastered to his face the entire day, "can't complain".
He could in fact complain about a lot amongst other things about this particular situation but doing so would mean starting a conversation and conversations was something he didn't even do with the people he 'liked'.
"So what is going on?"
Just like Gakupo suspected he didn't even NEED to start a conversation. Hio was looking at him with his hands on his hips, smile practically glowing with excitement, and maybe just maybe even a slight hint of mischief.
"Are you calling out to the woodland spirits?"
Gakupo could have face palmed right then, right there if he hadn't restrained himself. Because either the boy was thinking that he was hysterically funny or he actually believed in this nonsense and Gakupo couldn't for the life of him tell which was worse. Probably a combination of both.
"My friend Roro says that this place used to be an old sanctuary for warriors during the Edo-period", Hio continued eagerly, "he says a lot of things though so maybe I shouldn't believe him but you should know right because..."
"I am a samurai", Gakupo filled in barely able to hold back his annoyance.
"Yes!" the boy nodded excitedly, "can you tell me? How far back does the history go? Like is it true that there used to be a temple here where they tried to break the code to eternal life and...."
Oh god! This would never end, would it? Right then, right there Gakupo was prepared to let go of all the manners his family had kept since generations back and just tell the boy to 'shut the hell up and pick up a history book' which he guessed he hadn't had the patience to do his entire life but instead he did another thing his family had done for ages and simply focused on his inner energy or at least what he had left of it and zooned the endless words out. Yes, he was here alone in a world with no clients who couldn't tell the difference between a computer-mouse and a street-rat, no contaminated city-air, no Hio and no sounds of his annoying...
Click!
Gakupo mentally groaned as he turned his head towards the infamous noise.
As expected Hio stood there, ecstatic smile on his lips, mobile-phone in his hand just as expected directed at... Gakupo.
"Had to catch you in the act", the boy laughed, "it's not every day that you see a samurai in the midst of levitating from his body", he blinked meaningfully.
Gakupo hadn't had time to do more than frown before the second click was heard.
"I don't know how you do that?" Hio continued, "do you have a special trick to just...." *click* "shut the world out like that. Is it" *click* "magic or something?"
Despite of not really having expected anything else Gakupo felt as though he was going to boil over. He should just snatch that phone away from the brat, step on it and throw the pieces into the Red Sea shouldn't he? Then make sure that the next phone he got didn't have a camera-function (because after all Gakupo was a decent enough person not to crush someone´s phone without replacing it).
"Could you please stand closer to that tree?" *click* "It would make such a great picture" *click*
That was it! Giving into the impulses he hadn't given into for years Gakupo used the skills he'd perfected since he was a child and snatched the camera away from that slender hand in one move.
"Hey!" the boy exclaimed, looking at the purple haired man with a frown, "what was that for?"
"No comments", Gakupo looked calmly at him.
Seeing that heavy frown made Gakupo's agenda change in an instant. Damn it! If he'd known such a simple trick could be this efficient he would have done it long ago.
"Give it back!" the frown quickly turned into a glare as Hio reached his hand out to reclaim his possession.
But Gakupo held it away in seconds.
"Nope", he continued with the same calm as before.
Gakupo had never been one for teasing, rather the one to easily provoked by teasing but now he actually realized how fun it could be. The boy's cheeks were a tulip red, his brown eyes practically shooting daggers, an expression he'd never think he'd see on that face in his life and he'd be damned if that wasn't an entertaining sight.
"Give it back!"
Hio reached for the phone again only to grab thin air.
Barely capable of retaining his amusement Gakupo dodged another attempt by the now furious blond. He guessed he could give the boy credit for being faster than expected but faster than expected most certainly was not enough to compete against a man with reflexes equivalent to the speed of lightning.
"That's not funny!" Hio yelled as he in vain made attempt after attempt to grab his lost phone, "that's the only one I've got".
"Indeed", Gakupo said with a raised eyebrow as he held the cellphone above his head, a good position since Hio was half a head shorter than him.
Gakupo had always believed that he himself was moodier and more easily provoked than most (even though he was good at hiding it) but this kid most certainly took the cake. Seriously, not even a few minutes of this and Hio already looked as though he was going to chew Gakupo's head off. Quite unexpected for someone who usually looked as though he was made out of kittens and sunshine but then again there wasn't a lot about this kid that wasn't.
"Give it back!"
Hio was practically jumping to reach the small blue device in the samurais hand but was once again unsuccessful.
"Never", Gakupo couldn't hold back a small smile as he looked into those practically burning brown eyes, "you should have put it away when you had the chance".
"Idiot!" Hio glared at him, cheeks impossibly red.
Gakupo raised his eyebrows. Did Hio, the boy who called him senpai, followed him all over the place and almost considered him some kind of godly entity just insult him? Damn it, there were certainly a lot of things you didn't know about this world.
"Not really though", he said matter of factually, "I confiscated it didn't I?" that amused little smile still on his face.
Hio looked at him, eyes suddenly wide open. If it was the fact that he actually was considering whether or not Gakupo had a point or the fact that he was genuinely puzzled over the purple haired man's sudden change of attitude was impossible to tell.
Nonetheless Gakupo couldn't help but smile even harder at the boy's new expression. Hio certainly had many faces didn't he? And he had to admit that all of them weren't entirely unpleasant.
That puzzled face made the largeness of those auburn eyes even more apparent and the fact that that mouth for once wasn't moving at the speed of lightning gave one time to actually admire it's beautiful shape, and then that blush... not even Rin's sore loser face, Len's `I find it so awkward to speak to a pretty girl`-face or Miku's 'I just got complimented face' had ever looked this adorable.
Yeah, Gakupo didn't really like to admit it but he wouldn't mind seeing THAT face a little more often.
"But I've got everything in there!" Hio protested filled lips pursed into a childlike pout, "my contacts, my calendar, my internet. You can't just take it and...."
But Gakupo only replied by calmly turning around and walking a few paces forwards.
"Hey! I'm talking to you".
Ignoring the boy's annoyed tone Gakupo kept walking, blue eyes focused on a very particular destination. Just a few steps more and he turned around, placing his back against the big white tree. Gakupo had an ingenious smile on his face as he looked back at the boy who had irritated the living hell out of him for months.
Hio had an adorable frown on his face, those large eyes looking as though they'd just caught sight of a floating chair. Perfect, just perfect.
Gakupo lifted the cellphone in level with his eyes, zoomed in and without further ado gave way for that infamous sound.
*Click* Gakupo smirked as he looked back at the boy. Without another word he lowered the cellphone, with confident steps walking back towards his victim.
"You're right", he said as he stood arms-length from the puzzled blond, "the picture gets much better when standing by the tree".
As Gakupo reached the phone over to him Hio's eyes if possible widened even more, mouth opening into one huge 'O'.
Perfect, absolutely perfect. As Gakupo looked over that face he couldn't help but feel satisfied with his move. This had most definitely been a wonderful compensation for this overall crappy day, potentially even for all the days Hio had interrupted Gakupo's peace of mind with that torture-device of his. He shouldn't exaggerate of course because an annoying brat was still an annoying brat and an annoying phone an annoying phone but that face, that face...
Hio grabbed the phone almost in slow-motion before slowly, extremely slowly bringing it in level with his eyes and drawing his finger over the screen. A big frown on his face, a blush that made it seem as though his cheeks were on fire as he discovered Gakupo's work.
Gakupo chuckled, a much warmer laugh than he thought himself cable of as he took in the sight. Adorable, absolutely adorable. He could never have expected that it could be this easy to make Hio, the boy who had no qualms chasing people around with his camera in public, bring up bizarre topics in conversation and bounce up and down like an excited 6-year old whenever he saw something he liked this embarrassed.
"Well", he said, "time is ticking so I better be on my way now", turning around he raised his hand in a nonchalant wave as he started walking.
Just as expected there was no comment from the stunned blond. But as Gakupo was half way out of the park he decided to give him another look.
"One last thing though", he called out as he smirked at the puzzled young face, "be careful about waving that thing around. The next person might actually not return it”.
And just like that Gakupo turned around again making his way back to the grey every day. This short break had most definitely not been passed the way he planned but it had most certainly been the most entertaining one yet.
_._
"Let me see!" the pink haired man reached over the table, a curious smile on his face.
"Of course", the blond on the opposite side of the table gave a radiant smile of his own as he handed over the blue device.
"So 4 weeks?" the girl with the long white hair sitting in the corner grinned as she looked at her blond friend.
Hio, Maika and Roro were sitting at their normal meeting-spot, Nomura-sushi catching up after nearly a month. The longest they'd ever been away from each other so far.
"Yep!" Hio nodded happily.
"How did it feel, returning 'home' so to speak?" Maika raised a meaningful eyebrow.
"Better than expected", Hio's face practically radiated with joy, "this is probably the best London-visit ever".
"Ha!" Roro looked up from Hio's phone, "not a very responsible guardian to let your little brother stand next to Count Dracula are you?" he grinned meaningfully as he held up the phone.
Both Maika and Hio chuckled as they looked at the picture of that small blond boy with the innocent smile standing next to a frighteningly authentic looking replica of one of the horror-world´s most dangerous icons.
"Oliver can handle himself", Hio smiled carelessly, "I'd be more worried if it was YOU", he teasingly stuck his tongue out at his pink haired friend.
"Says the guy who can't even be trusted in a bakery without being attacked by bread-knives and kettles", Roro said calmly.
“Come on!” Hio protested a huge pout on his face, “that was one time and mrs Takano had placed them in a very bad position”.
"Damn it! I can't believe Madame Tussauds´s still standing", Maika's eyes widened in amazement, "with all this new 3d-technology one would think it'd be maneuvered out".
"The real thing always wins in the end", Roro smiled triumphantly, "I keep telling you but you never believe me".
"Yeah", Maika raised an eyebrow, "but I was talking about black and white TV that one time not fairly loved and respected museums".
"You'll see that I'm right eventually", Roro shrugged his shoulders before reaching the cellphone over to Maika, "black and white television will rule the world one day. Your turn!"
"Okey", the white haired girl grinned excitedly as she started browsing through the images, "let's see here... London-bridge, Buckingham, you've sure had time for a lot. Ah, so this is how it looks now! Awesome!" she paused as she zoomed in on a small house, "your grand-parents sure are keeping up with the times. Hmm... I used to have one like that before. Amazing couch".
"Yeah", Hio nodded smiling, "it's changed a lot since you last visited".
"Indeed", Maika nodded before her eyes widened, her mouth instants after shaping into a smirk, "and there we have Gakupo, Gakupo and well... let me see", she grinned teasingly at the blond, "more Gakupo".
"Seriously", Roro frowned, "you still haven't given up yet? You know", he raised an eyebrow, "most people don't like it when you paparazzi them around like that".
"I am not paparazzing him", Hio protested, "I'm just taking photos of a real samurai".
"Yeah", Roro raised a meaningful eyebrow, "an authentic samurai who is a high-paid IT-technician".
"Oh!"
Both boys turned their heads towards the white haired girl as she looked amusedly at the small screen.
"But what is this?" Maika smirked as she held up the phone, "I would guess on a selfie if you hadn't looked as though you'd just set eyes on a unicorn".
"Oh that...", Hio frowned, cheeks tinted with red.
"Seriously", Roro smirked, "We want to hear now", he leaned forward on his elbows, "have you been paparazzied back?"
"Hmm... yeah", Hio looked down on the table, "Gakupo-senpai kind of snatched it away from me and..."
Both Maika's and Yuma's eyes seemed to double in size as they exchanged a look.
"I thought that he was going to take it for good but..."
Maika and Roro's mouths changed from round o's to wide grins.
"So in other words he used your own weapon against you", Roro chuckled.
"Yeah", Yohio said in a low voice, "he took that picture".
Maika and Roro exchanged another look, grinning meaningfully.
"Well, Hio...", Maika said, "seems like Senpai noticed you after all".
"What?" Hio's eyes widened, a borderline perplexed expression on his face.
"Maika, I'm pretty sure he did long ago", Roro raised his eyebrows, "just not..."
"The way he wanted to", Maika filled in.
Roro nodded affirmatively.
"Huh?" Hio frowned.
"Nothing", Roro smiled dismissively, "I kinda feel like another drink, anyone else?"
"Yeah", Maika replied as though she hadn't heard Hio's question, "I'd love some more wine, Hio?"
Hio shrugged his shoulders. Apparently he wasn't going to get any appropriate explanation out of either of them. He had been through enough during the time he´d known them to figure out as much.
But he knew one thing for sure. Senpai had noticed him. SENPAI HAD NOTICED HIM!!! He smiled, a smile that reached from the inside to the outside as he recalled Gakupo's last expression. If he could he'd make sure to see that smile soon again.
"I'd love some more of that red one", he replied as he turned towards his friends.