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𝟒𝟏 || 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍, 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘, 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍!!! ||

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    "KEISUKE BAJI–GET YOUR ASS OUTTA YOUR ROOM NOW!!!"

    The boy in question keeps his door locked tight, knowing that if he so much as cracks it open, his mother will intrude into his space like a raging beast.

    "I didn't do anything!!!" Keisuke lies, knowing damn well what this is all about.

    "BULL-FUCKING-SHIT!!!" She screams, making Keisuke cover his ears from the power of her screeching voice. "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME MY JEWELRY JUST MAGICALLY DISAPPEARED AND GOT PUT INTO A POT THAT'S STILL IN THE DAMN OVEN?!" Keisuke winces at the reminder that, yes, he did do all of that, but it was for a good cause!

    (...Or so he tells himself...)

    "M-Maybe?" He stutters nervously while looking through his room for a pen and paper. If this is the day he dies, then he should at least write Mikey and Takemichi goodbye letters, right?

    Now why, you may ask, did Keisuke even do anything of this in the first place?

    Well, the idea came to him when Takemichi gave him a red beaded bracelet and in science class.

    The teacher was talking about stupid things like minerals and shit and how it can be converted into beautiful things like energy, power, and–Keisuke's favorite–jewelry. So, needless to say, Keisuke wanted to try his hand at making jewelry for Mikey and Takemichi. Without an instruction manual, Keisuke had to get creative; enter the jewelry he found in his mom's drawers. He very sneakily took the jewelry and put it in a pot in which he shoved in the oven, planning on melting the jewelry so he could turn it into something new. Something different.

    ...But of course his mom had to come early from work..

    So now here he is, trapped behind his door while his mom impersonates her own rendition of godzilla.

    In the midst of mentally weeping at his short life, Keisuke manages to find himself a pen and paper. He crawls on top of his bed, ignoring his trembling limbs, and gets to writing.

    Dear Michi,

    I fucked up big time. If your reeding this it meens my mom killed me or she put me up for adopton. Wait no shes definitily gon kill me. I love you so much and i wish you never dated that bitchass shiba. It shuldve been me and mikey!!! now im gon die alone in my room without telling you my reel feelings. Atleast mikey knows how i feel about him so i guss it isn't too bad. I hope you feel guilty forever and never get another bestfriend becuz of me.

From Keisuke.

    After finishing Takemichi's letter, he moves onto Mikey's.

    Dear Mikey,

    its finally hapining.  My moms gon kill me or throw me away to sum adopton center. I want you to hav my gamecube since you suk ass at mariocart. You alredy know i love you but make sure to make michi feel guilty over my deth. I want him crying his eyes out like a fucking fountain. Not really, but teese him about it, k? Love you mikey and i wish we got married :/ you would've looked amazing in a dress.

From Keisuke–

    Creak–THUD!!!

    Keisuke's gaze snaps up and is met with the terrifying sight of Wakasa removing the door from its hinges.

    The white haired man smiles at him from the entryway, his eyes sparkling with mischief as he lets his raging mother pass him.

    "Good luck Keisuke~"

    "Wait what?! MOM WAIT DON–"

    And it wouldn't surprise Keisuke if his screams were heard throughout the apartment complex.

    Talk about embarrassing...

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"So what did we learn, Keisuke?"

    The limping boy has half the mind to ignore Wakasa, but his commanding voice leaves little room for disobedience.

    Why the hell did his mom have to hand him over to Wakasa today of all people? This bastard is completely unreadable...

    With his eyes darting off to the side, Keisuke mumbles under his breath, "don't put mom's jewelry in the oven..."

    Wakasa stops Keisuke from opening the apartment door to Takemichi's home and leans over him, his hands on his hips, and his purple eyes practically tearing Keisuke up from the inside out.

    "What was that? I couldn't hear you~"

    Grinding his teeth together, Keisuke meets Wakasa's gaze in a last act of bravery and spits in his face.

    Silence fills the halfway and he swears, for a second, that Keisuke can hear crickets chirping in the distance.

    Keisuke watches in smug satisfaction as the spit falls down Wakasa's face in a sticky trail, knowing that while he can't avoid punishments from his mom, he sure as hell can evade Wakasa's calloused hands. Besides, Wakasa isn't the kind of person to lay hands on someone else's kid! He'll get his ass thrown in jail–

    Wakasa wipes the saliva off his face with the back of his hand, his face blank and nonchalant as his gaze continues to bore into Keisuke.

    He smirks down at Keisuke, his eyes turning dark and–very briefly–Keisuke begins to doubt that Wakasa wouldn't throw hands with a kid.

    "Have you eaten supper yet, Keisuke?" He asks as if Keisuke had never spat in his face.

    What a weirdo...

    "No..." Keisuke mumbles, confused as to where this conversation is heading.

    Wakasa's smirk widens. Very carefully, Wakasa reaches past Keisuke and opens the apartment door.

    Keisuke is instantly met with the smell of freshly made food. Turning around, Keisuke looks into the apartment and finds Takemichi and Haru chowing down on what appears to be Curry Rice. Keisuke's mouth waters at the sight. His stomach rumbles in hunger. He takes a step into the apartment, completely ignoring Wakasa, Takemichi, and Haru, and heading straight towards the food–

    A hand on his shoulder stops him from taking a second step into the apartment.

    Whipping his head around, Keisuke nearly snarls at Wakasa, wondering why in the world he would try to stop Keisuke from enjoying a nice hot meal.

    Wakasa leans down until his lips are next to his ear and whispers so only Keisuke can hear.

    "Since you've been such a damn bastard this evening, you'll be eating three hours later than Takemichi and haru."

    Keisuke's mouth hangs open, completely floored by this sick punishment.

    "Excuse me?!" He shouts, unknowingly catching Takemichi and Haru's attention. "You can't do that! Thats–That's child neglect!!!"

    Wakasa merely tilts his head and chuckles. "I'm not withholding food from you–It's just being delayed."

    Keisuke grinds his teeth and bunches up his fist, ready to knock some sense into this retired delinquent, when a sweet voice reaches his ears.

    "Kei-chan? You gonna eat dinner with us?" Takemichi asks, completely oblivious to the situation unfolding before his very eyes.

    Keisuke can't help but wish it stays that way–he'll never hear the end of it from his friends if word got out that Takemichi's guardian started disciplining him by delaying his dinner...

    Haru eyes him curiously, probably already catching a clue as to what is going on, but rather than addressing it, he keeps eating.

    Keisuke opens his mouth, but no words leave his lips. He turns to Wakasa, wondering if the man is being serious, and he's of course met with Wakasa's creepy ass smirk.

    "Well? Answer him Keisuke," Wakasa urges with amusement swimming in his purple irises.

    Oh, how Keisuke longs to clock the bastard across the jaw. He'll do it one day.

    Just not today.

    Keisuke hangs his head in defeat.

    "...No. I'm eating later..."

    Wakasa hums smugly from behind him and it takes everything in Keisuke not to strangle the bastard.

    Instead, he takes a seat on the couch, watching the three pieces of shit eat the most amazing curry in the world, completely blind to Keisuke's growing agony.

    Takemichi, bless his soul, kept trying to offer Keisuke a seat at the table despite Keisuke's insistence that he's not hungry (Even though he is).

    "Wakasa has another chair! I can take it out so you can sit next to me!" Takemichi says, melting Keisuke's heart. The boy wants to take Takemichi up on his offer–to sit next to his crush and make him hand feed him spoonfuls of curry–but Wakasa will definitely make his punishment worse if he does.

    "...I'm fine..." Keisuke mumbles grumpily, eyeing the food from a distance, his fingers itching to get a taste.

    Haru, the wicked bastard, easily caught on to what's happening. Like Wakasa, Haru smugly offers a spoon full of curry to Keisuke, knowing he can't eat it.

    "You sure, Keisuke? I mean–Wakasa makes the best curry," He teases, waving the spoon in the air like a mom trying to spoon feed a baby.

    Keisuke scrunches up his brow and shakes his head no. "I'm not in the damn mood for curry!" Keisuke shouts, sick and tired of being tempted by the delicious smelling food.

    Takemichi tilts his head, confused. "Huh? But you're always in the mood for Wakasa's cooking no matter what it is!" Takemichi exclaims with a pout on his lips. "Is something wrong? Are you sick or something?"

    No, it's just that Wakasa won't let him eat right now–

    Keisuke doesn't let those words escape his mouth. The last thing Keisuke needs is Wakasa embarrassing him and Takemichi along with Haru laughing at him. He might be tempted to wreck the apartment if they so much as chuckle at him.

    "Nah...I just don't feel like eating."

    Takemichi gasps and drops his spoon. "KEI-CHAN'S DYING!!!" Takemichi screams. Very suddenly, takemichi jumps out of his seat–ignores Wakasa's protests–and runs straight to Keisuke's side. The smaller boy forces Keisuke to lay down on the couch, his face deadly serious as he examines Keisuke from head to toe.

    And, to be honest, he doesn't bother to fight it. Having Takemichi fuss over him is a pleasant experience compared to everything that's happened today.

     "You don't have a fever, you're not sweating–does anything hurt? Like your head? Or your heart? Or your stomach? Or what about–"

    "Keisuke's not dying, Takemichi," Haru interrupts, his loud voice carrying over to the two boys. Keisuke feels his heart drop to his stomach as the blonde haired boy exposes him for his crimes. "He got in trouble with his mom and is being punished."

    "Eh?!"

    Keisuke's hand shoots out and grabs Takemichi's wrist, forcing the boy to check his forehead once again. "Don't listen to him, Takemichi! I'm definitely dying–"

    "So it was you who was screaming!"

    God damnit, HE HEARD THAT?!

    With his cheeks flushed a vibrant red, Keisuke yanks Takemichi onto the couch with him and pulls him into a headlock, catching everyone by surprise.

    "IF ANY OF THIS LEAVES THIS APARTMENT I'LL STRANGLE MICHI HERE AND NOW!!! DON'T FUCKING TEST ME!!!" Keisuke screeches as Haru and Wakasa roll their eyes, not seeming to take Keisuke seriously in the slightest.

    "Yeah, go on ahead, hurt Takemichi and see what happens," Haru says while picking up a spoon full of curry and shoving it in his mouth, chewing loudly to annoy the fuck out of Keisuke.

    Keisuke goes to refute the boy when he's interrupted by Takemichi trying to squirm his way out of Keisuke's grip. "You–You smell like a fire, Kei-chan! Did you burn something?!" Takemichi asks, his body moving frantically in his arms.

    Keisuke tightens his hold, earning a strangled noise from Takemichi. "Mind your own damn business and be a good hostage!!!" Keisuke shouts into the crown of Takemichi's head, secretly relishing in the feeling of the boy's soft black curls.

    Unlike the feral boy, Takemichi smells like rich spices and firewood. He must've helped Wakasa cook the curry.

    Damnit, he's missing out on eating something cooked by Takemichi?! WHAT THE HELL!!!

    A sharp pain suddenly explodes from Keisuke's arm.

    With a yelp, Keisuke releases Takemichi from his headlock and inspects his arm. And what is the boy met with?

    Bite marks.

    Keisuke grimaces at the blood left behind with a sneer.

    Why is it always Takemichi's first instinct to bite people when he's in a headlock? This is like the second time this has happened...

    Although Keisuke doesn't really mind it. If it were anybody else biting him then he would've thrown a major fit, but this is Takemichi. That boy can bite him as much as he wants as long as he cleans up the damn mess.

    "Damn Michi! You got some sharp teeth!" Keisuke exclaims, watching with delight as Takemichi squirms under his gaze, his eyes switching from Keisuke's face to his injury.

    "I-I'm not apologizing! You deserved that!" Takemichi exclaims, his voice still full of guilt despite the words spewing from his lips.

    Keisuke smirks, knowing deep down that Takemichi feels bad about inflicting pain onto him (how sweet...). "I don't give a shit–now go grab me a bandage or something. Wakasa might beat my ass if I get blood on the couch."

    "R-RIGHT! YEAH! BE RIGHT BACK!" Takemichi bolts from his spot on the couch and into the hallway, leaving just Keisuke alone with Wakasa and Haru.

    Keisuke looks over the back of the couch, immediately catching sight of their amused faces, and snarls.

    "What's with that look?" Keisuke spits out, only causing the smirks on their faces to widen.

    "Oh nothing...Just thinking about how down bad you are for Takemichi," Haru explains while bringing a spoonful of curry to his lips.

    Keisuke's face flushes a bright red at his words.

    "Huh? The hell are you talking about?" Keisuke questions, feeling his dignity strip away as Haru and Wakasa rip it to shreds.

    Wakasa takes a sip of his beer before answering, his cold gaze resting on Keisuke's figure. "I knew you had a crush on the kid but i didn't realize how bad it was..." Wakasa mumbles, Haru nodding along to whatever the man is saying, leaving Keisuke breathless.

    They–They know about...?!

    Keisuke's face feels like it's on the cusp of exploding into a million pieces.

    "H-How did you–"

    Haru interrupts him with a sly smirk. "I've known since the day you two broke me out of the hospital," Haru confesses, his eyes switching from Keisuke to Wakasa. "When did you figure it out?" He asks casually, as if they aren't blatantly talking about Keisuke's crush on Takemichi.

    Wakasa returns the look and begins fidgeting with his beer bottle which is probably empty now with how much he's  been sipping it. "I pieced it together when you guys started creating plans to break Takemichi and Yuzuha up–which, by the way, is hella pathetic," Wakasa admits, his eyes narrowing at Keisuke as the words leave his lips.

    "So...What? You guys gonna tell him?" Keisuke snarls, ignoring the way his heart is hammering wildly in his chest at the thought of Takemichi figuring it out.

    It's too soon.

    Way too soon.

    And Keisuke doesn't want to do this without Mikey.

    Rather than exclaiming that 'yes, they are gonna tell takemichi', they shake their heads no.

    "Nah we ain't that cruel, Keisuke," Wakasa retorts, pushing his beer bottle to the side so he can give Keisuke his full attention. "But i don't wanna hear anything about you or Mikey trying to ruin his relationship with Yuzuha, got it?"

    Keisuke's eyes widened at the newfound information. "You–You also know that Mikey and I–"

    "--Have a crush on Takemich? Yeah, we know," Haru butts in, rolling his eyes as if he's above this meaningless gossip. "You and Mikey are as subtle as a damn trainwreck."

    "Yeah, and to add on to that–you and Mikey better not try to kill each other over Takemichi, Ok?"

    Keisuke tilts his head, confused as to why he would try to kill mikey–

    Oh.

    Oh.

    They think–They think Keisuke and Mikey are fighting over Takemichi.

    Keisuke fights the urge to laugh.

    To keep himself from exposing this small piece of information, Keisuke turns away from them, feigning frustration.

    "Yeah, whatever, I'll try not to kill mikey," He grumbles, hiding the smile that graces his lips.

    Guess there are things even they fail to notice.

    But whatever.

    Lets see how long it takes them to figure out that he and Mikey also have a crush on eachother.

    A few minutes of silence goes by with no one daring to say a word before Takemichi runs back into the room, his hands carrying a first aid kit.

    "Sorry what took so long! Wakasa ended up putting the first aid kit on a higher shelf..." He mumbles softly so only Keisuke can hear him.

    Keisuke smirks and leans in close, eyeing both the bandages and Takemichi. "That man's barely taller than you–how did you not manage to grab the first aid kit? It should've been in your reach with how small Wakasa is," Keisuke teases, loving the way Takemichi's cheeks puff out in frustration.

    "Do you wanna get patched up or not? Cause i can just put this back–"

    Keisuke cuts him off by holding out his injured arm. "Shut up and heal me doctor–i'm dying.

    Takemichi rolls his eyes but gets to work.

    As Keisuke watches Takemichi delicately wrap his arm in a white bandage, Keisuke begins to imagine what being in a relationship with Mikey and Takemichi would be like.

    It'd be nice and comfortable, cuddling and kissing those he trusts the most. Keisuke can already imagine them sleeping together in an apartment of their own, all grumbling at the light that seeps through their blinds and sinking further underneath their comforter, their limbs tangled up until Keisuke can't tell where he begins and where Takemichi ends. He can't see any of them being good at cooking, so they'll probably eat out every day and night.

    Keisuke looks up from his arm and stares at Takemichi, taking in the small details of his best friend. Keisuke admires the flutter of his long lashes, his soft baby face, his rosy cheeks that always seem to be red from smiling, his big blue eyes that Keisuke had fallen for the moment he met the boy, his cute red bitten lips that would be so easy to kiss from how close they are...

    G R O W L~

    Keisuke's body freezes at the loud sound his stomach makes and Takemichi looks up, struggling to keep his laughter at