Stubborn Acts (Yamato X Ren)
Title: Stubborn Acts
Pairing: Yamato X Ren
Rating: PG-13 for some swearing
Genre: Angst, Romance, Friendship
Disclaimer: You don’t even want to know what I’d do if I owned these boys xD
Summary: Yamato is fed up with his dad’s accusations but with a tearful past and continuous guilt eating away at him, can Ren break through Yamato’s stubborn acts and reach his heart?
A/N: Okay, so I know I'm super 4618019571202 bajillion years late with the whole Gokusen 3 thing but I really like Yamato X Ren pairing and Yamato's father really needed to get some sense knocked into him (LITERALLY) So here ya go!~
“Hey,” Ren called to the other. He’s been trying to get his attention for the past five minutes but he wouldn’t respond. “Oi, Yamato.” Nothing. He sighed and sat down on the bed next to Yamato. He remembered how he came over to his house in the middle of a fight between Yamato and his dad.
“Hey, Yamato. Sorry I’m a bit late, I-.” Ren stopped as he heard something crash onto the floor.
“I told you, I didn’t do anything!!” Yamato screamed as he swiped his dinner plate off the table. Ren froze in front of the kitchen entrance, unnoticed.
“How dare you embarrass me again! Running around, causing mischief, stealing from a bank for god’s sakes!” Yamato’s father yelled in rage.
“Stop accusing me of shit I didn’t do if you don’t have any proof!” Yamato clutched his hands into fists so tightly his knuckles turned white.
“Do you realize the trouble I have to go through because of you?! I’m a teacher myself, with a delinquent son! Do you know what that makes me look like?! What it does to our family name!” He continued, completely ignoring his son’s words. “Why can’t you be like your brothers?! They succeeded!”
“Well, I’m glad I’m not like them, sucking up to an asshole of a father like you!”
“You never used to be like this. I bet it’s all because of those other stupid brats you hang out with.” Even though looks can’t kill, the way Yamato glared at him could easily cut through some skin. “They’re the reason why you’re getting nowhere in life!”
He wanted to hit him. Ren wanted to stomp out and deck him right in the jaw until he bled with the way he was bad-mouthing him, his friends, and most importantly: Yamato. But he couldn’t. And he hated the fact that he couldn’t.
“Don’t you talk about my friends that way! You don’t know anything about them!”
“Oh, yes I do. They’re nothing but idiotic, senseless-,”
“Stop it,” Yamato looked away.
“Worthless, unsuccessful, foolish-.”
“Shut up!”
“Delinquent, good for nothing, spoiled, disgraceful excuses for human beings!!”
“I said stop it!!” Yamato lunged forward to give his father a big punch to the face but stopped when he heard a cough from the entrance.
Ren held his fist near his mouth, covering his “cough” to announce his presence. “Ahem,” he coughed awkwardly again.
“Ren…” Yamato froze in his place of nearly knocking a big one onto his father’s face. He stood back up straightly and looked awkwardly at the ground.
“Anou...sorry I’m late, I-.”
“What are you doing in my house?” Mr. Ogata glared at Ren. Ren just stood, wide-eyed, along with Yamato. “Get out of here! Who said you could come in my house?!
“Stop it! I invited him over!” Yamato yelled back. Ren just stood there, clueless of what to do.
Mr. Ogata turned to Yamato. “I pay for this house and I decide who comes in! I don’t want my property to get infested with this-this- this filth!”
Bam! Mr. Ogata fell to the ground in pain before Yamato held him down and started punching him repeatedly in the face.
“Don’t you dare talk about my friend like that, you scum! He’s not filth! He’s the most important person to me and nothing you say can change that!” Mr. Ogata’s face flew from side to side with each blow, bruises forming and consciousness slipping away.
“Yamato!” Ren tried to pull him away as Yamato’s arms kept swinging. Ren was happy that Yamato decided to hit him but this was going too far. “Yamato, stop it!” He pulled him off and held his arms behind his back as Yamato huffed and grunted heavily, rage contorting his eyes; his face red with anger.
Mr. Ogata held his face in pain as he glared at his son. “You little bitch…” He hissed. Ren held onto Yamato tighter as he tried to lunge forward again. Mr. Ogata stood up and walked to the door. He opened it and just stood towards the exit. “You’ve brought disgrace to my name.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong! You can’t even believe your own son!” he yelled, still squirming in Ren’s hold.
“I don’t have a son!!” Mr. Ogata yelled. Yamato stopped struggling and both him and Ren stood there, wide-eyed. “Aside from your older brothers, I don’t have another son. I just have a worthless rodent living in my house.”
Mr. Ogata turned back to face Yamato with a stern face. “And because of you, I don’t have a wife either.” Yamato stopped breathing. “It’s been hell after your mother died. She couldn’t deal with you either. That’s exactly why she killed herself. It was all your fault…” He turned back out the door. “And now I’m stuck with you.” And with that, he left, closing the door behind him.
So that’s how Ren ended up here, trying to get Yamato to talk to him after he stomped his way up to his room. He didn’t try to lock him out or anything. He just sat on his bed, facing the wall, refusing to speak at all.
“Heh, it was a good thing you hit your dad a couple times or else I would’ve jumped in and done it myself…” Ren put on a nervous smile while scratching the back of his head awkwardly. No response. Ren frowned and his arm fell back to his side. Not the smartest thing to say.
“Ahh, Yankumi’s giving us waaay too much work, ne? I’ll never get all that math done by the end of the weekend…” He looked to Yamato for a reaction. Nothing. Ren sighed. What could he do?
After several minutes of awkward…nothingness, Ren got really tired of just staring at Yamato’s back so he inched closer to him and nudged his shoulder. “Ne, are you okay?”
Silence. “Yamato?” Nudge. “Yama-chan.”
“…”
“Yamato, look at me.” Ren tapped him repetitively on the shoulder. “Yamato.” Now Ren was getting really ticked off. He grabbed Yamato by the chin and tried to make him face him. “Hey.” He struggled against his grip and tried to turn back to the wall but Ren was using all of his force against his chin. “Yamato, will you just look at me?!”
He finally got Yamato to face him and his heart broke at the sight. Yamato’s bloodshot eyes were brimming with tears, cheeks red and lip quivering from trying so hard to refrain from crying. I’ve never seen him cry before…
No wonder he didn’t talk. Even if he just opened his mouth to make a sound, he would break down. And he couldn’t break down. Not in front of Ren.
“Yamato…” Ren’s grip on his chin softened as he just stared into those sorrowful eyes. Yamato took a deep breath and looked down. “He’s right. It is my fault isn’t it?” he gave a sad smile as Ren looked at him with confusion.
“I gave so much trouble to my mom when she tried so hard to help me. I wanted to take care of myself so I wouldn’t be a burden to her and prove to my father that I didn’t need to be babied. That I didn’t need him. But I only made things worse for them. I killed her, Ren. I drove my own mother to her death. I’m a murderer…I wish I could take her place. That way, I really wouldn’t have been a burden anymore.”
Ren had it. “Baka!” Ren punched him hard across the face and Yamato could only stare in complete shock at his friend. Ren had tears brimming his eyes now as well. “How can you say such things? Do you really believe that bastard’s words?! Taking your life so carelessly. Do you think your mom really would’ve been happy?!”
Yamato was speechless and Ren continued. “You’re not the reason she died. It was because of that bastard of a husband she had, always making her life harder, making her feel like she wasn’t raising you right! You stand up for your friends and what you believe. Sure, you get hot headed easily, I do too. But she was proud of you, Yamato.” He put his hand on Yamato’s shoulder and stared at him seriously.
“Whenever I came over, she’d always talk about how proud she was that we were finally graduating, that we were doing better in our studies, and that you cared about your friends so much. She knew you were trying hard. She was happy because of you! Yamato…she loved you.”
Yamato’s body was trembling from trying to keep from breaking down. His mother was proud of him. She was going to pester him to stay out of fights and focus on his studies. She was going to smile, hug and kiss him annoyingly when he finally graduated and he would laugh, trying to get her off. She was going to brag to everyone she knew that Yamato, her son, could finally get into college and get a decent job. She was happy. She loved him. But now he’ll never see her again, all because of his father’s stupid words. She was gone…
Ren noticed his trembling figure and gave a watery smile. “Why are you so stubborn?” Yamato just continued to stare at him. “Trying to look cool. You’re so freaking obvious.”
Ren wrapped his arms loosely around Yamato and held his head to his chest gently. “If you want to cry, just cry already.”
Yamato stood still in his hold for a while until he felt Ren’s grip tighten on him and he lost every ounce of control left in his body. He grasped onto Ren for dear life as he hid his face in Ren’s chest and sobbed his heart out. All of his cries and wails of sorrow were muffled into Ren’s now soaked t-shirt as he threaded his fingers soothingly through Yamato’s hair.
Oh god. When was the last time I even cried? When I was like…what…8? This isn’t how a leader is supposed to act. Yamato thought. But it didn’t matter now. All that mattered was the feeling of warmth that Ren was radiating to him.
Ren’s soft caresses comforted Yamato in a way that made him just cry harder but he’d never felt safer and more secure in his life than when he was in Ren’s arms. Ren kissed the top of his head repeatedly until Yamato stopped shaking. When Ren heard a deep sigh and then continuous soft breathing he looked down to see Yamato’s tear stained face, his eyes closed. Ren laughed in disbelief.
“Baka, you feel asleep.” He softly wiped the tears off Yamato’s cheek with his thumbs and moved Yamato’s wandering fringe off his forehead. Ren always saw Yamato smirking, laughing, fuming, full of rage, motivated, stressed, and now even completely vulnerable with sadness. But not once has he ever seen Yamato look so peaceful, so down to earth, so…beautiful.
Ren double-taked at the thought. Whoa…did I just call Yamato…beautiful?? He blinked a couple times in confusion until he just decided to let Yamato rest. He took hold of Yamato’s hands behind him and tried to loosen the grip he had on him but Yamato just wouldn’t let go. The second time Ren tried, Yamato just held onto him tighter. Why do I feel slightly happy about this? He shrugged it off and just went along with it.
He slowly lay down on his back with Yamato sleeping soundly on his chest. He wrapped his left arm around Yamato’s waist while he tangled the other one into Yamato’s brown locks.
I wonder how he’ll react when he wakes up with us in this…position…
After a very brief imaginative moment of all the possibilities of Yamato blushing like a tomato and then beating him up, Ren just decided to go along with this content feeling he was receiving with Yamato in his arms and drifted into the peaceful world of sleep.
~*~*~
“What is the meaning of this?” Mr. Ogata muttered when he saw Ren standing beside Yamato by the stairs, with a luggage in Yamato’s hand.
“I’m moving out,” Yamato replied blankly.
“What?” Mr. Ogata stood shocked and slightly annoyed.
Yamato’s face showed no emotion but inside, he felt so nervous. Ren gave his hand an encouraging squeeze and some of the tension floated off of Yamato’s shoulders. “I don’t see any reason why I need to live here anymore if I’m only going to cause trouble for you, so I’m moving out and I’m going to live with Ren.”
“Wha-what? But…you can’t! What will people say if my son just ran away and moved out?! It will make me look bad! I’ll lose their respect!” He bellowed in anger. Ren just lead Yamato to the door and opened it. “Yamato, as your father I demand that you go back upstairs this insta-!”
“I thought that I didn’t have a father,” Yamato replied sternly as he didn’t even care to look his way. Mr. Ogata froze in his place and Ren nodded encouragingly at Yamato. “I’m no longer your son, remember. So I’ll be taking my leave now. Goodbye, Ogata-san.”
They walked out the door but before they closed it, Ren stepped back inside to flip him off and stick his tongue out in a mocking way. The door slammed shut on Mr. Ogata’s fuming red face.
~*~*~
Ren and Yamato were making their way down the sidewalk when Yamato spoke up. “Thanks for letting me live with you. I’ll make sure to start looking for apartments tomorrow,” Yamato informed.
“Geez, don’t worry yourself so much. We only have a few months until college and if you get into a university you can get a dorm there. Besides, by the time we’re out of high school, we can get better jobs so you can help pay the rent if you don’t get a dorm anyways.”
“But-.”
“Shut up, no apartments!” Ren said with a tone of finality.
Yamato chuckled. “Fine.”
“But my place is a bit small, especially with my sister living there too so we might have to share a room. But don’t worry, I’ll make some room for you, ne.” Ren gave him a grin.
Yamato smiled. “Arigatou.” Ren nodded.
There was a small silence when Ren finally remembered something. “Ne, Yamato.”
“Hmm?”
“Back there, when you were…*cough* beating up your dad…” Yamato chuckled slightly at the memory.
“What?”
“You said…I was the most important person to you…is that true?” Ren looked at him hopefully. Yamato blushed slightly as he suddenly found his shoes to be the most interesting thing in the world. “Yamato?”
“Yeah…it’s true…” Ren couldn’t help the wide smile beginning to adorn his face.
“Ahh…I guess Yama-chan can’t help but love me, ne?” He raised his arms behind his head while Yamato frowned.
“You’re so full of yourself…” he sighed.
And the next thing he knew, Ren had kissed him lightly on the cheek, leaving a wide-eyed, open mouthed and frozen Ogata Yamato in his tracks.
“Why’d you stop walking? Right when we get home we have to make dinner. You know how to cook, right?” Ren put his hands in his pockets coolly and acted as though nothing had happened. He looked at the still slightly blushing Yamato. “Well, you better because I sure as hell can’t and I’m sick of takeout so-.”
But he was cut off when a soft pair of lips rested on his. Before he could even react, the sweet lips left his and he was met with a blush red Yamato, looking anywhere but at him.
“Did you jus-?”
“Don’t say anything or I’ll smack you!” Yamato ordered as he made them continue walking.
Ren’s pink face returned to its natural color as he smiled and a mischievous look cascaded over his features.
“I like your chapstick,” Ren snickered before putting one of his hands in his pockets and looked teasingly at Yamato.
Yamato blushed even harder, if that was possible, and smacked Ren upside the head. “Urusai!”
“You taste like strawberries,” Ren teased further.
Yamato glared before he pulled Ren’s hand with him and walked faster. “Baka, you’re so annoying. I can’t believe I agreed to live with you.”
“Yeah well, now you’re stuck with me,” Ren mocked, earning him another smack upside the head.
And with that, they both ran down the rest of the way to their home, still holding each other’s hand.
A/N: Yaay!~ Happy ending. Comments and critism are loved and will be rewarded with cookies ^.^