A nightly stroll for this sinful yet beautiful beast suits him so well. He is a man who enjoys solitude and silence. Can’t be blamed, who wouldn’t. It makes him a mysterious man. One that his Karamatsu Pearls will fall for and wish to know him.
“Who is that man?” “He’s so mysterious..” “What a handsome devil!” Words he’d hear every time he takes a stroll. Though that was all played in his mind, it was all a fantasy. No one actually said anything. They didn’t pay him any mind to be honest. He was a delusional man.
However would this be part of this delusional man’s fantasy if someone actually approached him? Not to mention had complimented him?
Now what was said earlier, that was all in this man’s delusional mind. He wasn’t cool, mysterious, though he was indeed handsome, the moment someone actually does approach him and compliment him, he’ll suddenly break character instantly. Like now.
❝O-oh hello.. I was just wanting to take a stroll under these beautiful stars.❞
Kyouhei giggled, one hand cupping a now-rosy cheek as he admired the person he’d approached, now close up and in a more appreciative, personal manner.
“Well, you know what else is beautiful?” He reached out and pressed a finger under the stranger’s chin, tilting it up slightly (thank god there wasn’t much of a height difference) and leaning forward a bit.
He truly could not understand. Was a phone truly worth so much? Perhaps it was the memories or the connections he had with the phone. Even Dongmin himself used his phone to contact his friends back at home so he could understand feeling troubled if he’d lost his phone, but to equate it to one’s life, he wasn’t so sure. You only had one life after all.
“Die? That’s– that’s a very strong claim. You’ve only one life and you have to treat it as precious, it’s a gift after all, life that is.” With his old… friend with his sickness and him doing rash things, he could not take the subject about death all too lightly. Whether or not Kyouhei was serious or was being dramatic, he didn’t know. It was hard to tell.
A small smile graced his features at Kyouhei’s reaction to his comment about being taken on a date. He figured that would have the other calm down some, but he soon went back into the dramatic semantics. A sworn servant? “How unfortunate, you’ve misunderstood me.” A shake of the head, and a sigh which was followed by the lowering of his shoulders.
With care, he created some distance between the two of them. “You go on errands with servants, but dates with friends or significant others, right? I don’t remember asking to go on an errand run.” In other words, he didn’t need something like a sworn servant. Things like that didn’t suit him. Even when he was in his gangpe(thug) fighting days. He was always a lone fighter who mainly fought to keep others, like his friends safe.
What he could use in this new place was a friend. “So what do you say? Want to go on a ‘date’ with me now?”
Kyouhei made a long, high-pitched exhaling noise, like a sigh made of embarrassed anxiety, and began to twiddle his fingers in front of him, now completely red in the face. His joke… was not ending in a joking way.
Not that he was complaining but? How was he supposed to react to such a carefully constructed sentence….
“Y-you know me… I’m always saying weird things…” He let out an flustered laugh (oh god, that sounded way too much like a giggle for his liking) and tried to redirect the conversation, only for Dongmin to take it out of the park. Out to the park? Either way, he made another high-pitched whining noise.
“Alright, alright, I get it - there’s no need to tease me anymore Dongmin!” He pouted and looked off to the side, hands unfolding so they could come up to brace against his cheeks in an abashed gesture.
Time to change the subject. Redirect his embarrassment. Try not to think of being on a date with his friend.
“Dates are… isn’t date supposed to be exclusively for romantic partners?” Well, just boyfriends for Kyouhei, but he didn’t know which way Dongmin swung so that was an easier term. “I’ve always called going out with friends an ‘outing’, not a date. Is that slang?”
If it had been any one else in an entirely different situation, Kyouya may have been inclined to act with impatience but since this was his younger sibling and he had essentially dropped a life changing bomb on him, he was willing to give the younger male as much time as he needed. He himself had taken a while to adapt to the news, had been a lot more violent in fact but in time he had accepted it. He didn’t have much choice in the matter really, when sound evidence which could knock any argument flat had been supplied for his critical perusal.
Dark orbs softened slightly behind their glass shields as they regarded the shorter male standing before him, his younger brother… The more he studied Kyouhei, the more he could identify the underlying Ootori traits. Perhaps the resemblance was not as strong as it was between his other siblings who shared both parents, but there were unmistakable similarities nonetheless.
The ebony haired male might have felt a bit guilty upon learning that his younger sibling was under the impression that both of his parents were his real ones, meaning that he had been caught totally unawares. Such information would always be shocking but being marginally prepared would have at least softened the blow. Kyouhei hadn’t had that…
“I know exactly who you are…”
Offering the other an understanding look, he made sure to keep his tone gentle so that he wouldn’t frighten his companion off before they had managed to talk it out.
“I’m Kyouya Ootori and I’ve been looking for you for a long time now. I’m sure you must have questions. If you like, we can discuss the matter over coffee.”
When the stranger - now dubbed Kyouya Ootori - finalized what he’d said; Kyouhei was transfixed in a fight-or-flight state. Part of him just wanted to take off, to pack up and get on a plane and to never land. The other was just… over it, already.
After everything that had already happened to him, what was one more complication, one more parent-to-child lie? There was frustration in him, a righteous fury boiling up, but it was mostly overshadowed by both hurt and curiosity.
… What was his relation to Kyouya, exactly? “Sibling” was… a pretty broad term, and there were so many little details that would have to be answered in order for something like this to be easy on Kyouhei’s mind - ah, their names were similar, was that significant or not…?
“… Thank you for putting in the effort to find and tell me this, Kyouya.” Kyouhei finally forced out, the pleasantries tasting and feeling bitter, even to his own ears. To remedy this, he tried for a smile.
“I do have time for a proper discussion about… this, so…. Lead the way?” He wasn’t sure what else could be said. He’d already been promised some answers (and Kyouhei did have questions) and from the sounds of it, he’d need a pick-me-up for this level of serious conversation.
All he’d done was to save the guy’s phone from dropping onto the ground and now he was dealing with someone who was very animatedly saying that he’s saved their life. That was a bit much, wasn’t it? Though he could certainly understand with how people lived for their phones.
Still, this was… a bit more than he was expecting. “Haha– you don’t have to worry about it that much. Your life is a bit much, don’t you think?” He laughed nervously at Kyouhei’s reaction to being handed back his phone before it fell to it’s doom on the hard concrete. Th kiss pressed against his cheek made him freeze up, a shocked expression showing across his features. “You work fast~ Take me out on a date before you kiss me, haha!”
“You do not understand.” Kyouhei fell back into his dramatics, allowing his eyes to glisten with unshed tears (a surprisingly easy feat when you were the local crybaby) and leaned almost entirely on his buddy-friend.
If he wanted to, he could say something extremely self-deprecating about his life not being worth that much, about worry being part of his very being or something equally concerning, but he quickly moved on.
“That is my life, my livelihood you just saved from the unforgiving pavement, Dongmin, and I now must follow you forever,” Kyouhei recalled a dearly loved meme and grinned against the other’s shirt, nefariously, “and if the situation calls for it, I will die for you.”
The quip about dating did make him blush a little and he backed off quickly, realizing how his actions could be mistranslated… or maybe it would be a correct translation but in a joking way? He wasn’t sure.
“I-I!” Apologies were in order… or maybe he should continue the joke…? Kyouhei was a little conflicted. “Uhm, if a date is what you desire, then as you’re newly sworn servant, I, Kyouhei J. Allemand, will provide!”
“Are you stupid?“ izumi retorted, lifting an eyebrow. Was this guy honestly so… blunt?
“Being a quick learner means you understand things easily and are good taking them to practice. How is that not something convenient? You could give other’s study tips or the sort. Having sense of rhythm means you could either try dancing or singing, maybe playin an instrument. And if you don’t feel apt for that you could just play rhythm games. they are rather popular nowadays.” he continued, uncrossing his legs just to cross them once more “You are just not seeing them in the right way because you are fucking blunt”
Yes he was angry at this idiot not realizing all the good things he had on him.
“Hah? as if I’d worry about something like that myself. This level of advice is just normal” he replied, shaking his head “Not listening nor trying to come up with anything constructive when someone needs you is terribly rude and childish, don’t you know?”
The insult made Kyouhei flinch but he managed to cut off any protests he had by pressing his knuckles to his lips, the bones pressing against his pouting lips while he listened to Izumi break down his self-criticism.
“Mm, isn’t long term memory more valuable though?” He muttered around his hands, tilting his head into a contemplative pose. As for dancing, singing… he’d never taken a class like that in his life. Creativity wasn’t exactly something his parents pursued in him, after all.
And rhythm games…? What were those? He was tempted to ask, eyes crinkled at his advisor in confusion.
The brunet was almost tempted to warn against sour language - not that he was a prude, it was just first instinct. As pretty as Izumi was, the swearing was… almost unfitting, even though it suited his voice (or not. Kyouhei wasn’t sure).
“You didn’t have to help, though.” He felt like he was in Izumi Sena’s debt now, whether the other acknowledged it or not. “A-anyway, your constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! I’ll try to keep it in mind.”
[水] - Yep! Just about anything was good with Mizumachi. He didn’t have any complaints or anything to give with what he’d added to the blender so he kept quiet as he watched Kyouhei preparing the smoothie. With the smaller male almost running into his arm, the athlete lifted his arm up and out of the way so he didn’t run headfirst into his bicep.
“Yeah? Where do they come from then? Are they like potatoes?”
Mizumachi wasn’t allergic to anything himself so he didn’t know firsthand what it was like to suffer an allergic reaction. He could only assume that it seriously sucked. He was going to have to be careful around Kyouhei then if he had peanuts with him. Don’t want to hurt your friend after all.
“Nhaa~ Sounds good! We should set up a trip one day! I can show you around the beach!”
With a big grin, he moved in close to wrap an arm around Kyouhei’s shoulders. A bit of a reach… and a stretch, mind you but that’s okay! He’s flexible enough to pull it off. Okay no, just less than a minute of this was starting to hurt with the awkward posture he had to twist his body into.
“You’re pretty short, huh?”
Sometimes Mizumachi just spoke without thinking much on what he was saying. He didn’t mean anything by it, but it was true that Kyouhei was just ‘short’ in comparison to Mizumachi.
Cheeks puffed out slightly in embarrassment, Kyouhei mumbled a quiet thanks at Mizumachi for moving at the last second and slipped over to his cabinet to snag some large cups, perfect for big drinks.
“I think so…?” They grew out of the ground, right? Or something equally odd. He nearly snorted while putting his answer together. “Yeah, they’re the potato nuts.”
A beach day… that sounded really nice, actually. Kyouhei was already imagining how the sand would feel under his toes, how the salty breeze would hit his face when Mizumachi brought him into a bit of an awkward side hug.
“Ghck!” Kyouhei coughed, nearly dropping the cups but managing to land them both on the counter. “Yeah! I’m short! That’s fine! It’s great, I’m just. I’m not even five and a half feet tall, was there something you were trying to say?”
This was all said with his palms steadily dragging down his cheeks, which not only made some of the words slur together but also steadily stretched his face out so that when he looked up at Mizumachi to confront him, it looked like he was pouting. And he was.
“… you’re really tall, man. What is your secret? Please tell me.”
Minako watched him carefully as he rolled out his shoulders, probably to get all the kinks out of it or maybe to get all his wiggles out so that he wouldn’t disturb her while they were sleeping. It was nice of him to keep that in mind.
Her napping buddy laid down on his back and had his hands folded over his stomach and his head was titled so he could see her. Oh yeah, his introduction reminded her that she should probably do the same, it was kind of rude that she hadn’t done so already.
“You’re welcome, I’m happy to do this. I’m Minako by the way, nice to meet you Kyouhei.” She laid on her side, smiling at him.
“That’s a very pretty name.” Kyouhei offered in return, grinning widely and then righting himself so that he was staring up at the sky. Ah, this was much more comfortable.
“Do you nap here often, Minako?” It was a really good spot. He was surprised a spot like this existed, to be honest. “In this spot, I mean, cuz’ I’m considering visiting again.”
Dongmin wasn’t too good at this either, but he did have the patience for it, so he was sure that as long as they both remained calm and worked hard at it, they would be able to get this to work for them. With the base being as long as it was, he wondered if they would even have enough cards to even finish off their card castle or not. “I think what we have now should be good. Any longer, we may not have enough cards to finish.”
Just a guess on his part, really. With Kyouhei already starting to try to make his triangles, Dongmin on the other half of the castle was trying to do the very same. Absolute quiet descended down on the two of them as they both were keeping quiet to focus with everything they had to make their triangles. Carefully he was trying to make it so that the very tips of the cards would touch at the top, and to have the cards be spaced evenly apart from the center.
Almost there… he could do this. How about—nope. Okay. Let’s try this again. Maybe if he tries to put the bottom of the cards in between two base cards?
“That’s true.” As many cards as Kyouhei had made, there was no telling how many they’d actually need. He rested his elbows on the table, right next to his own stack of cards, and began to set cards up.
“Ah.” On his second set, it collapsed and took out the one he’d managed to stay up. “Harder than it looks.”
Not that the student was surprised, but sometimes images made it look so easy. Or maybe he was thinking of plastic cup towers, which were, of course, way easier to make.
With a little difficulty, Kyouhei managed to get two triangles up and began to set a card down on top of them, carefully. He felt like if he let go, he’d ruin everything.
[水] - Mizumachi continued to watch Kyohei making the smoothies from over his shoulder. He was using good ingredients for the smoothie, so it was bound to be tasty and healthy. Those were the best combinations in his mind. High in protein or calories were also good characteristics to have, but high calorie and greasy were not.
Eating a lot of greasy food wasn’t good for your diet. It wasn’t very nutritious for one thing, but lots of oil and grease made for weaker joints. Lots of junk food made it more likely for you to injure yourself if you weren’t careful on the field. Sports injuries were bad, and could lead to you never being able to play sports ever again if you weren’t careful.
“Yeah? Peanut butter? Is it just peanut butter? What about just peanuts or any other kind of nut? Sucks that you’re allergic to peanut butter.”
Lots of really tasty treats were made with peanut butter, like chocolates and cookies. Though, it was good that he wasn’t allergic to chlorine, because then that meant he could invite his friend to the pool!
“If you aren’t allergic to chlorine, then we should go swimming one day! Do you know how to swim? If not, I can teach you!”
Don’t feel bad if you don’t know, he only learned how to swim himself a few years ago, so it wasn’t like he could judge you if you couldn’t.
After mixing in fruit to his liking (if Mizumachi hadn’t requested anything than anything should be fine, right?) Kyouhei set the blender on low and turned back to his guest, nearly hitting his face into his bicep while doing so.
“Dunno, I haven’t risked eating peanuts but I assume that it’d get me the same results.” The student folded his hands together before continuing. “And peanuts are actually different from any other kind of nut - they aren’t tree nuts so I think I can safely eat other kinds of… but I haven’t risked it and I don’t think I’m going to, you know? Allergic reactions are not fun, no matter how quickly you use an EpiPen.”
He was well aware he was missing out on a lot of things but at least there was now the knowledge that if he wanted an easy out of a class he could just give himself an allergic reaction and be hospitalized for a few days.
“I know how to swim!” Kyouhei laughed, delighted by the invitation. It wasn’t too often that he was invited out, so he accepted immediately. “Sounds like fun, so as long as I’m not busy, sure!”
Everyone has their moments and that’s okay. As long as you didn’t hurt anyone (or yourself) it was fine. It was shocking to see him throw up all the notecards, but he could certainly understand the notion. Sometimes he just wanted to give up as well and just stare up at the sky absentmindedly.
“Yeah, let’s see how well this will work out for us.” He followed Kyohei’s actions curiously, moving some chairs on his end of the table and set them aside. He accepted the one pile of the cards and he stared down at them, wondering how well this was going to go.
“Guess we can start with setting up the base?” He was guessing that laying down some cards to use as a base would serve them well so they wouldn’t have to worry about the cards sliding around on the table. Though they would have to worry about the cards that were laid down on the base would end up sliding. “Then we can work on setting up the triangles of the castle.” That is how it works, isn’t it?
Kyouhei wasn’t too good at this on his own, but once he’d managed to make a base for his pile and it was easier from there. Still, only time would tell of their success or failure.
“How far across should we make it?” He had roughly fifty cards altogether, which meant Dongmin and he each had about twenty-five, even if he hadn’t counted them all individually, and that meant that if they wanted they could make a pretty big tower….
“Uhm, yeah, probably.” The table would be too slippery otherwise. He began to set a few down, then took two in his hands and made a test triangle, quickly becoming tense with concentration.