Family History 101 (Samezu Kai/Ushigome Soutarou. Gaoranger.)
Title: Family History 101
Pairing: Samezu Kai/Ushigome Soutarou
Fandom: Gaoranger
Rating: G
AN: Follows on from Silent Minds and Next Steps. One more part to go. ;) uss_skyisland
AN the second: Exposition heavy. Seriously exposition heavy.
“We get it from our mother’s side,” Kai said quietly as the doors to their quarters slid closed behind them. “Her father’s from Betazed originally. Until now though, none of us showed any signs of it; well, mother has some, but it never showed up in me or my brothers.” And it was going to be weird now if he had it while Ragi didn’t; they were twins, there wasn’t much they didn’t share and this was something he couldn’t image not being able to share.
“I wasn’t--” Soutarou started, only to shut up when Kai raised his eyebrows at him.
“You were going to,” Kai shrugged. “Don’t need to be psychic to know that.” He shrugged and dumped his bag on the floor, he’d sort it out later. “Don’t worry about it, Soutarou. I’d be curious, too.”
“I just-- I know you have a cousin on Betazed, but I never put it together,” Soutarou replied, giving Kai a sheepish look. “It never occurred to me you might be telepathic.”
“Well, I’m not. Wasn’t, I mean. Not until now, anyway.” And yeah, he’d really have to talk to Ragi about all this. It had been too long since he’d spoken to him anyway.
“And your family’s from Earth, right? I never thought past that.”
Kai frowned, staring down at the floor. He hadn’t thought about this aspect of it: Soutarou had seemed to be dealing with it pretty well. Was he going to freak out now? “Does it really change things that much?” he demanded, wanting to turn around but not quite daring to. “Am I that different now, Soutarou?” He couldn’t imagine breaking up with Soutarou over this but how would they still be able to live together or even be anything if Soutarou was afraid of this? Shields might be all well and good but he’d still know that Soutarou was afraid and that would eventually rip them apart.
“Well, no,” Soutarou replied in surprise. “That wasn’t what I meant, Kai.”
“It’s how it sounded,” Kai grumbled, relaxing only marginally when Soutarou’s hands came to rest on his shoulders.
“It surprised me, that’s all,” Soutarou said quietly. “Everything I thought I knew about you just got turned on its head, how else did you expect me to react?”
“I don’t know,” Kai muttered. “Maybe not like it’s this massive thing. It’s not a big deal, Soutarou, okay? So maybe I’m telepathic now, so what?”
“So what?” Soutarou demanded. “Without those shields of Tendou’s I can’t even touch you without hurting you, Kai and we don’t even know if they’ll last long enough for you to learn how to do it yourself. How is this not a big deal?”
“I’ll get it under control, okay?” Kai snapped, pulling out of Soutarou’s grip and stomping off towards the bedroom. “Then we won’t have to worry about that anymore. It’ll only be for a couple more days.”
“Kai-- where are you going?”
“To sleep,” he threw back. “We can finish this conversation then.” Besides, he was tired and his head still ached a little from whatever had happened back in the infirmary, so he wasn’t exactly in the most reasonable mood to be having a conversation like that. Knowing his luck he’d say something stupid and it would be really hard to fix, so it was better to wait until he wasn’t so on edge; despite what people thought, he wasn’t so immature that he didn’t know when to put the brakes on something like that.
He kicked his shoes off and clambered into bed, pulling the sheets up over himself without bothering to get changed first. Then he remembered he’d been going to check his mail, see if there was anything he needed to catch up on now that he was out of the infirmary, and he sighed. To do that he’d have to go back out into the main room and he wasn’t about to do that now. It would just have to wait until tomorrow.
***
“My grandfather was from Betazed,” he started. “And that’s where he met my grandmother; she was there as part of her sociological studies and they really hit it off; well enough to get married and--”
“Aren’t you leaving a lot out?”
“It’s a long story, Soutarou, I’m summarising. Got a problem with that?”
“N-no. Sorry. Carry on.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“Hmph. Anyway, they got married - did you know you have to be naked at Betazoid weddings, Soutarou? …Soutarou? Are you even listening?”
“I-I’m listening. Naked weddings.”
“You would focus on that. You want to be alone?”
“No. Of course not. The story, Kai?”
“Oh, now he’s listening.”
“I said I was sorry, Kai.”
“Uh huh. Anyway, they got married and at first everything seemed fine, but Grandmother soon started getting uncomfortable there where everyone could hear what she was thinking and didn’t see a problem with bringing it into conversation. Eventually it got to the point where she couldn’t take anymore and they decided that if they were going to save the marriage, they’d probably have a better chance of doing it somewhere else.”
“So they left.”
“Yep. They went from Betazed back to Io colony, which was where Grandmother was from. The only problem was they kind of have this thing about psi abilities there. Grandmother was the black sheep of the family, apparently and the rest of her family didn’t take too well to the idea that she’d married someone from Betazed. Not to put too fine a point on it they disowned her and we still don’t have anything to do with Grandmother’s side of the family. They’re really provincial about it actually, telepathy and everything; how they got Federation status in the first place I’ll never know, but anyway, things got so bad there that they ended up moving again. To Earth this time, which is where they stayed. Mother was born there, met a nice young man who didn’t care that she could tell what he feeling.”
“…I got it the first time, Kai.”
“Moving on,, if I can do that without being interrupted, they got engaged etc etc, had twin boys who grew up to be gorgeous, charming and--”
“Modest.”
“Smart, Soutarou, I was going to say smart.”
“I like my one better.”
“You would. Anyway, eighteen months after the Wonder Twins, Takumi came along and was grouchy forevermore. The End. Class ‘Family History 101’ complete.”
“But you left out so much.”
“I was summarising, Soutarou. Summarising.”
Link to 30_romances table|Link to au_abc table
Pairing: Samezu Kai/Ushigome Soutarou
Fandom: Gaoranger
Rating: G
AN: Follows on from Silent Minds and Next Steps. One more part to go. ;) uss_skyisland
AN the second: Exposition heavy. Seriously exposition heavy.
“We get it from our mother’s side,” Kai said quietly as the doors to their quarters slid closed behind them. “Her father’s from Betazed originally. Until now though, none of us showed any signs of it; well, mother has some, but it never showed up in me or my brothers.” And it was going to be weird now if he had it while Ragi didn’t; they were twins, there wasn’t much they didn’t share and this was something he couldn’t image not being able to share.
“I wasn’t--” Soutarou started, only to shut up when Kai raised his eyebrows at him.
“You were going to,” Kai shrugged. “Don’t need to be psychic to know that.” He shrugged and dumped his bag on the floor, he’d sort it out later. “Don’t worry about it, Soutarou. I’d be curious, too.”
“I just-- I know you have a cousin on Betazed, but I never put it together,” Soutarou replied, giving Kai a sheepish look. “It never occurred to me you might be telepathic.”
“Well, I’m not. Wasn’t, I mean. Not until now, anyway.” And yeah, he’d really have to talk to Ragi about all this. It had been too long since he’d spoken to him anyway.
“And your family’s from Earth, right? I never thought past that.”
Kai frowned, staring down at the floor. He hadn’t thought about this aspect of it: Soutarou had seemed to be dealing with it pretty well. Was he going to freak out now? “Does it really change things that much?” he demanded, wanting to turn around but not quite daring to. “Am I that different now, Soutarou?” He couldn’t imagine breaking up with Soutarou over this but how would they still be able to live together or even be anything if Soutarou was afraid of this? Shields might be all well and good but he’d still know that Soutarou was afraid and that would eventually rip them apart.
“Well, no,” Soutarou replied in surprise. “That wasn’t what I meant, Kai.”
“It’s how it sounded,” Kai grumbled, relaxing only marginally when Soutarou’s hands came to rest on his shoulders.
“It surprised me, that’s all,” Soutarou said quietly. “Everything I thought I knew about you just got turned on its head, how else did you expect me to react?”
“I don’t know,” Kai muttered. “Maybe not like it’s this massive thing. It’s not a big deal, Soutarou, okay? So maybe I’m telepathic now, so what?”
“So what?” Soutarou demanded. “Without those shields of Tendou’s I can’t even touch you without hurting you, Kai and we don’t even know if they’ll last long enough for you to learn how to do it yourself. How is this not a big deal?”
“I’ll get it under control, okay?” Kai snapped, pulling out of Soutarou’s grip and stomping off towards the bedroom. “Then we won’t have to worry about that anymore. It’ll only be for a couple more days.”
“Kai-- where are you going?”
“To sleep,” he threw back. “We can finish this conversation then.” Besides, he was tired and his head still ached a little from whatever had happened back in the infirmary, so he wasn’t exactly in the most reasonable mood to be having a conversation like that. Knowing his luck he’d say something stupid and it would be really hard to fix, so it was better to wait until he wasn’t so on edge; despite what people thought, he wasn’t so immature that he didn’t know when to put the brakes on something like that.
He kicked his shoes off and clambered into bed, pulling the sheets up over himself without bothering to get changed first. Then he remembered he’d been going to check his mail, see if there was anything he needed to catch up on now that he was out of the infirmary, and he sighed. To do that he’d have to go back out into the main room and he wasn’t about to do that now. It would just have to wait until tomorrow.
***
“My grandfather was from Betazed,” he started. “And that’s where he met my grandmother; she was there as part of her sociological studies and they really hit it off; well enough to get married and--”
“Aren’t you leaving a lot out?”
“It’s a long story, Soutarou, I’m summarising. Got a problem with that?”
“N-no. Sorry. Carry on.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“Hmph. Anyway, they got married - did you know you have to be naked at Betazoid weddings, Soutarou? …Soutarou? Are you even listening?”
“I-I’m listening. Naked weddings.”
“You would focus on that. You want to be alone?”
“No. Of course not. The story, Kai?”
“Oh, now he’s listening.”
“I said I was sorry, Kai.”
“Uh huh. Anyway, they got married and at first everything seemed fine, but Grandmother soon started getting uncomfortable there where everyone could hear what she was thinking and didn’t see a problem with bringing it into conversation. Eventually it got to the point where she couldn’t take anymore and they decided that if they were going to save the marriage, they’d probably have a better chance of doing it somewhere else.”
“So they left.”
“Yep. They went from Betazed back to Io colony, which was where Grandmother was from. The only problem was they kind of have this thing about psi abilities there. Grandmother was the black sheep of the family, apparently and the rest of her family didn’t take too well to the idea that she’d married someone from Betazed. Not to put too fine a point on it they disowned her and we still don’t have anything to do with Grandmother’s side of the family. They’re really provincial about it actually, telepathy and everything; how they got Federation status in the first place I’ll never know, but anyway, things got so bad there that they ended up moving again. To Earth this time, which is where they stayed. Mother was born there, met a nice young man who didn’t care that she could tell what he feeling.”
“…I got it the first time, Kai.”
“Moving on,, if I can do that without being interrupted, they got engaged etc etc, had twin boys who grew up to be gorgeous, charming and--”
“Modest.”
“Smart, Soutarou, I was going to say smart.”
“I like my one better.”
“You would. Anyway, eighteen months after the Wonder Twins, Takumi came along and was grouchy forevermore. The End. Class ‘Family History 101’ complete.”
“But you left out so much.”
“I was summarising, Soutarou. Summarising.”
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