[FIC] Das Beste: Unexpected Help.
Title: Das Beste: Unexpected Help.
Fandom: Cross University RPG.
Warnings: This fic is brought to you by the later A: Angst, Amnesia, ANGST, ANGST, ANGST.
Characters/couples: Shori, Yuuri, Omi (Yuuri/Omi.)
Summary: Shori goes to check on Yuuri and Omi... and helps a bit. Still works over this damn 'verse that won't DIE.
Rating: PG.
Notes: Someone kill this bunny. With fire. With acid. With an atomic bomb. I don't care. Just kill it.
Das Beste: Unexpected Help.
After having been the unwanted witness on several occasions of his brother and brother's fiancé rather... enthusiast shows of affection, even if thankfully it had just been heard (other than that one time over Christmas and, since then, he had always announced himself when he was going to get inside the kitchen and there was the chance of the couple being there, giving them three minutes to try to think of an alibi), when he got to their place, four weeks after Yuuri’s accident, he had been shocked.
His mother had told him it was bad, but not that bad.
Omi seemed as if he hadn’t gotten a decent night of sleep since Yuuri had fallen, and even if the boy had smiled at him and asked about his job, his eyes had seemed dull, almost lifeless. And Yuuri, who had never been quiet, not even when he had been a baby, seemed so silent.
“Hey, ‘niichan.” Yuuri said with a smile, looking up. Shori felt like the lowest, dirtiest creature in existence at the way Omi seemed to hide a wince at Yuuri’s words because, when he had heard of his brother’s accident, his very first thought had been to be grateful that Yuuri hadn’t forgotten about him and their family.
But Yuuri had forgotten about part of his family.
“Hey, Yuu-chan.” He said softly, moving towards where his baby brother was standing up.
“Hope you didn’t come all the way here just because… hey!” Yuuri exclaimed, trying to get himself free from when Shori hugged him tightly. “Oi, Shori! Not in public! Sho ~ri! Not here!”
“It’s okay, don’t mind me.” Omi said, and only then Shori released his brother, Yuuri tumbling back to half glare at him, even though a small smile was playing on his lips.
“Sheeze, who do you think you are? Mom?”
“If I was her, I would’ve been putting you make up.” Shori said calmly, before turning towards Omi. “Sorry for intruding.”
“You’re not. How long will you be staying?”
“Just some hours; I’ve to go and take care of some business over Toronto but the flight isn’t until later.”
“You shouldn’t have wasted your time then, Shori.” Yuuri said with a soft snort. “Unless… did you bring anything?”
“Give up on a first class trip to instead fly in a commercial one through several miles with a baby that didn’t stop crying once to visit your little brother and he asks for something. Gratitude these days.”
Yuuri grinned. “So did you?”
“No, but the game you asked should be here soon.” Shori said while he pushed his glasses up.
His brother blinked. “Game? I asked for a game?”
“Yes, you did, the one with…” just then, Shori realized what was happening and wished for time go back, but it didn't happen.
“The special version ENYX did of Final Fantasy VIII. You asked it for your birthday.” Omi told Yuuri softly, suddenly very intent on tending over the plants.
Yuuri’s wince was quite visible, just as it was the way his gaze turned towards Omi, hurt and regret over his eyes.
“Omi…”
“Yuuri, since I only have a couple of hours, would you mind if we go out to have a coffee? Just you and me?” Shori interrupted (the life-form he was kept shrinking and getting nastier and nastier), avoiding the sight of the two boys.
Yuuri blinked at the sudden invitation, turning to look towards Omi, who still was tending to his plants (Shori noticed his hands were trembling a bit but he didn’t say a thing), before turning towards him, giving a hesitant nod.
“I guess…”
“It’s okay with you, Tsukiyono?”
Omi nodded. “Sure.”
“Then… I’ll be back later.” Yuuri said softly, picking up his jacket and a set of keys. Shori said nothing of the way his brother looked back until the door was closed.
They walked in silence for a while, slowly. Yuuri’s head was hanging low, his hands deep inside his jacket’s pockets, looking towards the floor. Carefully, Shori reached to pat his head.
“It’s not your fault, Yuu-chan.”
“I really wish people would stop saying that.” Yuuri muttered, giving a forgotten can on the street a kick that sent it tumbling down the corner.
“It’s the truth.”
“No, the truth is that I’m hurting people all over without even knowing why, for not mentioning Omi on a 24/7 basis.” Yuuri said again, voice turning louder and angrier. “Truth is that everyone, specially Omi, should be able to get angry at me for being so stupid that I got amnesia from a stupid fall!”
Shori gaped. “You had a concussion and you were lucky that you didn’t break your neck!”
“So!?” Yuuri stopped dead on the street, turning to see him. Shori was surprised to find tears upon his brother’s eyes; Yuuri rubbed his arm furiously against his face. “It happens to people all the time and it doesn’t make them forget two years of their life!”
People were watching them, so Shori took Yuuri’s arm and dragged him toward an Alley: at least they’d have some privacy.
“Yuuri…”
“Don’t tell me that it happens, because I swear to God that I’ll hit you, Shori!” Yuuri snapped, rubbing his arm against his face again. “Because if it happens, it shouldn’t! It shouldn’t be normal to get a hit and suddenly, bam! You wake up to find that you’re studying to be a teacher, you’ve left baseball almost completely and, oh, yeah, you’re gay and apparently it’s very serious and in the photos you seem so happy! People shouldn’t forget happiness just like that!” Yuuri shook his head, combing his hand through his hair. Just for a second, Shori had a glimpse of a scar upon his brother’s forehead before Yuuri was looking at him again. “It’s not normal to just forget happiness! And Omi… he shouldn’t look so sad all the time! I shouldn’t be making him so miserable!”
Yuuri’s tone implied that he didn’t think he was important enough to make someone suffer like that and his eyes were full of tears again, and Shori hurt the same way he had always done when watching Yuuri in pain.
“He’s in love with you.” He said softly.
To Yuuri it seemed to be a hit, because the tears his brother hadn’t wanted to fall suddenly did while he shook his head.
“And I’m supposed to be in love with him but I’m not anymore. It wasn’t because of a fight or because we broke up or anything. Technically, we should be together, but I can’t remember why or how, and I’m hurting him. He doesn’t deserve this kind of crap.”
If he hadn’t known it was serious before, Shori would’ve known it when, after he put his arm around Yuuri, making him lean against him, his brother didn’t pull apart at all.
“I don’t know what to do anymore, oniichan.” Yuuri’s voice came in just above a choked up whisper. “I… I just don’t want to hurt him anymore.”
If there had been any chance for his brother to find another path, Shori knew this was it. He knew that, if he told Yuuri that he ought to take a time apart, try to go to a place that wasn’t stressing him so he could perhaps get his memory back, his brother would probably do it.
And then he thought of Omi’s eyes, of the quiet boy his brother loved even then because, even if Yuuri didn’t remember or understood why he was hurting so much, and he thought of the way they had looked the last time before that he had seen them and he gave a mental sigh.
“Be honest with him.” Shori said softly, patting his brother’s head. “Of everything. You’re always fighting your worst battles alone, Yuu-chan. Trust him… and try to get out of this together.”
“How?” Yuuri asked, pulling back. “I ask and he tells me. It doesn’t work.”
“I don’t know.” Shori said softly. “What I know is… that you do love him, Yuu-chan. Deep inside, you know this is true. And he loves you.”
Yuuri blushed a bit at his bold statement. Shori figured that, when his brother got back his memory, he’d just have to bribe him or something to avoid this bit of advice coming out from between brothers.
“But…”
“Even in the case you don’t remember, you still can get to build new memories.” Shori interrupted his brother again, giving a soft smile and giving Yuuri his handkerchief. “Just… trust him, little brother.”
“I do trust him…” Yuuri muttered softly, blowing his nose over the handkerchief, so he refused to accept it, but he smiled before giving a small shrug.
“Then, just act on your gut, Yuu-chan. You’ve always been good with that.” Shori said with a shrug, looking at how his brother kept a hand over his chest, rubbing his thumb against a slight lump underneath his t-shirt. “Trust what your heart tells you.”
Yuuri gave a small, grateful smile; bumping his shoulder against his while they walked out of the alley. “You’ve been watching too much Disney, Shori.”
“Shut up. Now, where can we get a decent cup of coffee?”
***
“If the negotiation runs smoothly I should be able to drop by again before going back to New York.” Shori told Omi and Yuuri a couple of hours before, while the three of them waited for the cab to come over.
It was weird, watching the two of them not touching, but he tried not to focus on that. Yuuri seemed a little more like his usual self after their talk, and even Omi, when he had noticed this, seemed to have brightened up.
“Sure, just remember what they say about guests that abuse their host’s hospitality.”
“It won’t be a problem at all; we’d love to have you if you want.” Omi said at the same time that Yuuri, and he looked the both of them turn to see each other before Yuuri gave a hesitant smile that turned to a grin when Omi answered with an almost honest smile and he was able to relax.
“Thank you, Tsukiyono-kun. And I don’t bring things for ungrateful brothers.”
“I’m so telling mom that your manners suck.” Yuuri said with a snort, moving towards him.
Shori was surprised when his brother hugged him, so surprised that he almost didn’t hug back.
“I thought you didn’t do this in public.” He said softly. Yuuri hugged tighter before stepping back, a sheepish grin on his face as he shrugged.
“It’s for your birthday, Christmas and New Year’s, so there.” Yuuri told him. Shori saw how Omi was trying not to laugh and kept in a relieved sigh.
“So thoughtful of you, Yuu-chan” Shori rolled his eyes, stopping any other come back when his cab arrived. “I’ll phone if I am able to come.”
“Good luck on your business.” Omi said with a smile. Yuuri nodded.
“Yeah… and oi! Don’t forget to bring us something!”
The cab started rolling after that, and Shori shook his head a bit before he looked through the mirror. He noticed them talking for a few moments before they both went up the stairs, and hoped that everything would be okay.
Fandom: Cross University RPG.
Warnings: This fic is brought to you by the later A: Angst, Amnesia, ANGST, ANGST, ANGST.
Characters/couples: Shori, Yuuri, Omi (Yuuri/Omi.)
Summary: Shori goes to check on Yuuri and Omi... and helps a bit. Still works over this damn 'verse that won't DIE.
Rating: PG.
Notes: Someone kill this bunny. With fire. With acid. With an atomic bomb. I don't care. Just kill it.
Das Beste: Unexpected Help.
After having been the unwanted witness on several occasions of his brother and brother's fiancé rather... enthusiast shows of affection, even if thankfully it had just been heard (other than that one time over Christmas and, since then, he had always announced himself when he was going to get inside the kitchen and there was the chance of the couple being there, giving them three minutes to try to think of an alibi), when he got to their place, four weeks after Yuuri’s accident, he had been shocked.
His mother had told him it was bad, but not that bad.
Omi seemed as if he hadn’t gotten a decent night of sleep since Yuuri had fallen, and even if the boy had smiled at him and asked about his job, his eyes had seemed dull, almost lifeless. And Yuuri, who had never been quiet, not even when he had been a baby, seemed so silent.
“Hey, ‘niichan.” Yuuri said with a smile, looking up. Shori felt like the lowest, dirtiest creature in existence at the way Omi seemed to hide a wince at Yuuri’s words because, when he had heard of his brother’s accident, his very first thought had been to be grateful that Yuuri hadn’t forgotten about him and their family.
But Yuuri had forgotten about part of his family.
“Hey, Yuu-chan.” He said softly, moving towards where his baby brother was standing up.
“Hope you didn’t come all the way here just because… hey!” Yuuri exclaimed, trying to get himself free from when Shori hugged him tightly. “Oi, Shori! Not in public! Sho ~ri! Not here!”
“It’s okay, don’t mind me.” Omi said, and only then Shori released his brother, Yuuri tumbling back to half glare at him, even though a small smile was playing on his lips.
“Sheeze, who do you think you are? Mom?”
“If I was her, I would’ve been putting you make up.” Shori said calmly, before turning towards Omi. “Sorry for intruding.”
“You’re not. How long will you be staying?”
“Just some hours; I’ve to go and take care of some business over Toronto but the flight isn’t until later.”
“You shouldn’t have wasted your time then, Shori.” Yuuri said with a soft snort. “Unless… did you bring anything?”
“Give up on a first class trip to instead fly in a commercial one through several miles with a baby that didn’t stop crying once to visit your little brother and he asks for something. Gratitude these days.”
Yuuri grinned. “So did you?”
“No, but the game you asked should be here soon.” Shori said while he pushed his glasses up.
His brother blinked. “Game? I asked for a game?”
“Yes, you did, the one with…” just then, Shori realized what was happening and wished for time go back, but it didn't happen.
“The special version ENYX did of Final Fantasy VIII. You asked it for your birthday.” Omi told Yuuri softly, suddenly very intent on tending over the plants.
Yuuri’s wince was quite visible, just as it was the way his gaze turned towards Omi, hurt and regret over his eyes.
“Omi…”
“Yuuri, since I only have a couple of hours, would you mind if we go out to have a coffee? Just you and me?” Shori interrupted (the life-form he was kept shrinking and getting nastier and nastier), avoiding the sight of the two boys.
Yuuri blinked at the sudden invitation, turning to look towards Omi, who still was tending to his plants (Shori noticed his hands were trembling a bit but he didn’t say a thing), before turning towards him, giving a hesitant nod.
“I guess…”
“It’s okay with you, Tsukiyono?”
Omi nodded. “Sure.”
“Then… I’ll be back later.” Yuuri said softly, picking up his jacket and a set of keys. Shori said nothing of the way his brother looked back until the door was closed.
They walked in silence for a while, slowly. Yuuri’s head was hanging low, his hands deep inside his jacket’s pockets, looking towards the floor. Carefully, Shori reached to pat his head.
“It’s not your fault, Yuu-chan.”
“I really wish people would stop saying that.” Yuuri muttered, giving a forgotten can on the street a kick that sent it tumbling down the corner.
“It’s the truth.”
“No, the truth is that I’m hurting people all over without even knowing why, for not mentioning Omi on a 24/7 basis.” Yuuri said again, voice turning louder and angrier. “Truth is that everyone, specially Omi, should be able to get angry at me for being so stupid that I got amnesia from a stupid fall!”
Shori gaped. “You had a concussion and you were lucky that you didn’t break your neck!”
“So!?” Yuuri stopped dead on the street, turning to see him. Shori was surprised to find tears upon his brother’s eyes; Yuuri rubbed his arm furiously against his face. “It happens to people all the time and it doesn’t make them forget two years of their life!”
People were watching them, so Shori took Yuuri’s arm and dragged him toward an Alley: at least they’d have some privacy.
“Yuuri…”
“Don’t tell me that it happens, because I swear to God that I’ll hit you, Shori!” Yuuri snapped, rubbing his arm against his face again. “Because if it happens, it shouldn’t! It shouldn’t be normal to get a hit and suddenly, bam! You wake up to find that you’re studying to be a teacher, you’ve left baseball almost completely and, oh, yeah, you’re gay and apparently it’s very serious and in the photos you seem so happy! People shouldn’t forget happiness just like that!” Yuuri shook his head, combing his hand through his hair. Just for a second, Shori had a glimpse of a scar upon his brother’s forehead before Yuuri was looking at him again. “It’s not normal to just forget happiness! And Omi… he shouldn’t look so sad all the time! I shouldn’t be making him so miserable!”
Yuuri’s tone implied that he didn’t think he was important enough to make someone suffer like that and his eyes were full of tears again, and Shori hurt the same way he had always done when watching Yuuri in pain.
“He’s in love with you.” He said softly.
To Yuuri it seemed to be a hit, because the tears his brother hadn’t wanted to fall suddenly did while he shook his head.
“And I’m supposed to be in love with him but I’m not anymore. It wasn’t because of a fight or because we broke up or anything. Technically, we should be together, but I can’t remember why or how, and I’m hurting him. He doesn’t deserve this kind of crap.”
If he hadn’t known it was serious before, Shori would’ve known it when, after he put his arm around Yuuri, making him lean against him, his brother didn’t pull apart at all.
“I don’t know what to do anymore, oniichan.” Yuuri’s voice came in just above a choked up whisper. “I… I just don’t want to hurt him anymore.”
If there had been any chance for his brother to find another path, Shori knew this was it. He knew that, if he told Yuuri that he ought to take a time apart, try to go to a place that wasn’t stressing him so he could perhaps get his memory back, his brother would probably do it.
And then he thought of Omi’s eyes, of the quiet boy his brother loved even then because, even if Yuuri didn’t remember or understood why he was hurting so much, and he thought of the way they had looked the last time before that he had seen them and he gave a mental sigh.
“Be honest with him.” Shori said softly, patting his brother’s head. “Of everything. You’re always fighting your worst battles alone, Yuu-chan. Trust him… and try to get out of this together.”
“How?” Yuuri asked, pulling back. “I ask and he tells me. It doesn’t work.”
“I don’t know.” Shori said softly. “What I know is… that you do love him, Yuu-chan. Deep inside, you know this is true. And he loves you.”
Yuuri blushed a bit at his bold statement. Shori figured that, when his brother got back his memory, he’d just have to bribe him or something to avoid this bit of advice coming out from between brothers.
“But…”
“Even in the case you don’t remember, you still can get to build new memories.” Shori interrupted his brother again, giving a soft smile and giving Yuuri his handkerchief. “Just… trust him, little brother.”
“I do trust him…” Yuuri muttered softly, blowing his nose over the handkerchief, so he refused to accept it, but he smiled before giving a small shrug.
“Then, just act on your gut, Yuu-chan. You’ve always been good with that.” Shori said with a shrug, looking at how his brother kept a hand over his chest, rubbing his thumb against a slight lump underneath his t-shirt. “Trust what your heart tells you.”
Yuuri gave a small, grateful smile; bumping his shoulder against his while they walked out of the alley. “You’ve been watching too much Disney, Shori.”
“Shut up. Now, where can we get a decent cup of coffee?”
***
“If the negotiation runs smoothly I should be able to drop by again before going back to New York.” Shori told Omi and Yuuri a couple of hours before, while the three of them waited for the cab to come over.
It was weird, watching the two of them not touching, but he tried not to focus on that. Yuuri seemed a little more like his usual self after their talk, and even Omi, when he had noticed this, seemed to have brightened up.
“Sure, just remember what they say about guests that abuse their host’s hospitality.”
“It won’t be a problem at all; we’d love to have you if you want.” Omi said at the same time that Yuuri, and he looked the both of them turn to see each other before Yuuri gave a hesitant smile that turned to a grin when Omi answered with an almost honest smile and he was able to relax.
“Thank you, Tsukiyono-kun. And I don’t bring things for ungrateful brothers.”
“I’m so telling mom that your manners suck.” Yuuri said with a snort, moving towards him.
Shori was surprised when his brother hugged him, so surprised that he almost didn’t hug back.
“I thought you didn’t do this in public.” He said softly. Yuuri hugged tighter before stepping back, a sheepish grin on his face as he shrugged.
“It’s for your birthday, Christmas and New Year’s, so there.” Yuuri told him. Shori saw how Omi was trying not to laugh and kept in a relieved sigh.
“So thoughtful of you, Yuu-chan” Shori rolled his eyes, stopping any other come back when his cab arrived. “I’ll phone if I am able to come.”
“Good luck on your business.” Omi said with a smile. Yuuri nodded.
“Yeah… and oi! Don’t forget to bring us something!”
The cab started rolling after that, and Shori shook his head a bit before he looked through the mirror. He noticed them talking for a few moments before they both went up the stairs, and hoped that everything would be okay.