Takemichi narrows his eyes, not believing a single word that leaves his lips. "Really? Pah called you?" Takemichi repeats, knowing damn well that Pah is terrible with communicating with phones. Takemichi knows this first hand; one day, when pah was sick and Takemichi called to check in on him, Pah kept accidentally pressing the end call button and–when he wasn't ending their calls–he was shouting into the phone like it was the only way Takemichi was able to hear him.

    Mikey, of course, doesn't back down from his blatant lie. "Yep!" He says, as confident as ever. "That's why he's not out here with us, suffering in the heat."

    "The hell? You guy's ain't choosing to hang out in the heat..." Takemichi muses, watching with satisfaction as their faces slowly turn red in embarrassment.

    Now Takemichi has the upper hand! Take that!

    "It's not my fault the brothel was packed as shit. It was hotter there than it is out here..." Draken grumbles and Takemichi immediately cringes, already imagining how terrible it must have been to be around so many half naked bodies in your only safe-place.

    "And it ain't my fault the AC broke in our apartment building," Mitsuya adds, his face scrunching up in disgust. "Me and my sisters woke up this morning drenched in sweat and–when the landlord came to fix it–he kicked us out and told us to find a new place to stay for the time being."

    Takemichi tilts his head, curious. "Really? Then where are you staying now? Did you have to separate from your sisters or...?"

    An exhausted huff leaves Mitsuya's lips. "I'm staying with a friend from school and Yeah–I didn't have a choice but to bring Luna and Mana to my old man," He explains, his tone as tight as a string as he mentions his old man. "I hate his guts, but I know he won't do anything to hurt the girls. Even if he doesn't like me, I know he loves them and that's enough for now."

    The curly haired boy can't stop his mouth from twisting into a frown, more than a little upset on Mitsuya's behalf. "You're free to stay with me and Wakasa y'know..." Takemichi offers, knowing that an apology would do nothing but upset the purple haired boy.

    Mitsuya smiles but shakes his head no, droplets of sweat swaying through the air. "I'm fine, Takemichi, but thanks for the offer." Mitsuya then leans over, his purple eyes settling on Mikey, and smirks. "And why are you out in the burning sun, Mikey?"

    "...Emma locked me out of the residence after I accidentally tore up her dolls..."

    "HAH?!" Everyone exclaims, a face of horror plastered on each boy's face.

    Takemichi tries to imagine himself in Mikey's shoes; tearing up each doll without a care in the world, and the turning around to see a raging beast ready to bite someone's head off–

    Chills immediately run up Takemichi's spine, keeping him silent.

    Thankfully, Draken voices out everyone's thoughts, his eyes wide in shock as he shouts, "HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAD?!"

    Mikey refuses to meet any of their gazes as he responds with a quiet, "Shinichiro threw me over the fence."

    "...That's anti-climatic as fuck–" Takemichi slaps a hand over Keisuke's mouth, silencing him.

    "I'm just glad you survived! Last time I was with Emma, I accidentally ripped one of the doll's dresses and she started ripping up my clothes," Takemichi sympathizes, distantly remembering the girl's wicked laughs as she yanked at the fabric of Takemichi's collar.

    "Yeah, she's evil like that."

    Takemichi releases his hand from Keisuke and turns to him, waiting for his best friend to explain why he's out in the burning embers of the sun. "And? What about you, Kei-chan?" Takemichi asks, leaning his cheek against Keisuke's sweaty shoulder.

    Keisuke stares at Takemichi for a few beats, his brown eyes connecting with Takemichi's blue ones and–the boy swears for a moment that he sees Keisuke leaning in. Takemichi can do nothing as Keisuke's face gets closer and closer. Keisuke's brown hues sparkle with something Takemichi has never seen before, his pupils dilated and big, and the boy finds himself blushing regardless.

    That's when Takemichi sees it.

    Keisuke's eyes dart down to something else on Takemichi's face.

    Below his blue eyes.

    Below his button nose.

    Landing right on his lips–

    "I gave away all the food we had in the pantry to the cats in the neighborhood."

    Takemichi blinks, his head still in a daze by their close proximity. "I–huh?"

    Keisuke leans back, finally giving Takemichi room to breathe, but not pulling away from enough to rid Takemichi off his shoulder. The taller boy huffs, as if annoyed.

    "Y'know the food in my moms pantry?"

    Takemichi nods his head dumbly.

    "And you y'know the cats in the neighborhood?"

     Takemichi nods again.

    "Ok so–get this–I gave the cats all of the food."

    The words finally process through Takemichi's head and–when they do–Takemichi pulls away from Keisuke's shoulder and gasps.

    "Kei-chan!!! You can't do that to your mom–"

    Keisuke cuts him off by shoving his face back onto his shoulder. "Who cares? My mom will buy more food–"

    "Not if she decides to starve you." Draken's comment earns a few snickers from the boys, making Keisuke scowl in frustration.

    "Oi! It ain't my fault the cats were hungry!!!"

    "And it aint your job to feed them!!!"

    Takemichi forces himself to move away from Keisuke's shoulder, secretly missing the familiar warmth, but dead set on getting his point across to the feral boy. "I know you care for the cat sin our neighbprhood–I do too–but that doesnt mean you should give every scrap of food away from them!!! Do you really want your mom to keep wasting her money on food you decided to throw away?"

    "Hey! I didn't throw them away, i gave it away to the cats–"

    "Keisuke." Takemichi watches ith satisfaction as the fanged boy grows quiet. "Money doesn't grow on trees. If you keep being an ungrateful brat then your mom's gonna start making you pay for the food."

    Keisuke perks up, his eyes widening ever so softly, no doubt caught off guard. "Eh? She wouldn't make me pay for her shit–"

    Takemichi leans in close until he's only inches away from his face. "She totally would and you know it," Takemichi interrupts with an evil smile. "So stop getting yourself in trouble for stupid reasons, ok? It's hard to hangout with you when you're constantly grounded..." He adds, backing away Keisuke to fully gauge his reaction.

    When Takemichi creates more distance between them, the fanged boy inhales sharply as if he was holding his breath. Did he somehow forget how to breathe?

    "I–" Keisuke stops and hesitates, seemingly tongue tied and Takemichi can't help but feel a magic sense of satisfaction knowing that he–the crybaby–made Keisuke speechless.

    Talk about an impossible achievement!!!

   Keisuke abruptly turns away from Takemichi, his ears heating up with rage. "...I don't make stupid decisions."

    Takemichi laughs joyfully, not taking any of Keisuke's shit seriously. "Yeah, sure," Takemichi teases, earning a scowl from the boy, but he doesn't move to pull Takemichi into a headlock or to punch his shoulder playfully.

    He just avoids Takemichi's gaze and keeps his hands to himself.

    And...that...for some reason...makes Takemichi feel as if he's done something wrong–

   "Why don't we ask Pah if he's busy today!" Mitsuya pipes up, breaking Takemichi out of his trance.

    Looking past a red faced Keisuke, an amused Mikey, and a deadpanned Draken, Takemichi spots Mitsuya digging into his pocket, a determined expression written across his face.

    "Ask Pah? How? He's not here," Takemichi emphasizes with a wave of his hands.

    Mitsuya smirks, not seeming to take Takemichi's words to heart.

    "Well, Takemichi, we call him!"

    Draken turns to face Mitsuya, his interest no doubt piqued with the way his shoulders bunch up. "Call him? And how the hell are we gon' do that?"

    Mitsuya then pulls something from his pocket, his eyes filled with stars as he presents the solution.

    "With this phone, obviously!"

    Everyone hoots and hollers in excitement as Mitsuya begins putting Pah's number in. Practically every boy leans in close to hear the number dial softly, the noise breaking through the rustling leaves and the light breeze.

    "Since when did you have a phone?" Mikey asks, his eyes staring widely at the phone in Mitsuya's hand.

    "Y'know that friend I'm staying with? Well they gave me a burner phone to use in case i need anything. Cool huh?"

    All the boys nod in agreement, more than excited at the thought of having a friend with a working cell phone.

    "How many minutes you got on that thing?" Draken questions.

    Mitsuya shrugs, just as clueless as the rest of them. "No idea. Guess, we'll have to find out, right?"

    Just as the words fall out of Mitsuya's mouth, the ringing stops and a familiar voice pipes up from the device.

    "IS THIS ONE OF THEM SCAM CALLS AGAIN?!" Pah shouts from the other end, as annoyed as ever.

    "Nah, it's just us, Pah!" Mitsuya answers, making the boy on the line gawk in surprise.

    "EH?! THIS AIN'T YOUR NUMBER THOUGH!!!"

    "My friend's dad gave me a spare phone to use since I'm staying with them for a few weeks."

   "DUDE YOU COULD HAVE JUST ASKED ME FOR A DAMN PHONE THOUGH? HOW MANY MINUTES IT GOT?"

    Takemichi takes immense pleasure in seeing the purple haired boy wince at the Pah's raised voice.

    Now they know the shit Takemichi goes through everytime he calls Pah!

    "We–We don't know–"

    "SEE? HOLD ON, I'LL GET YALL YER OWN PHONES WHEN I GET UNGROUNDED FROM GRAMS."

    Mitsuya raises an eyebrow. "Grounded? What'd you do?"

    "I TALKED BACK TO GRAM–SUMN YOU SHOULD NEVER DO IF YOU WANNA KEEP YER FREEDOM!"

    MItsuya's face drops in disappointment for a few moments before–suddenly–something flashes across his face. With a smirk gracing his lips, Mitsuya asks, "Your gram's the one with the car right?"

    "EVERONE IS MAH FAMILY"S GOT A CAR MITSUYA."

    "Me and the boys got kicked out by our parents so now we're dying on a bench in Willow park. Think you can pick us up?"

    "EHHHH?!" Everyone shouts, each and every boy staring at Mitsuya like he's a madman.

    Wait, no, scratch that, Mitsuya is a madman!

    Like seriously! Pah–DRIVING?! THEY WOULD ALL DIE!!!

    While everyone is collectively losing their shit over Mitsuya's question, Pah answers with a loud, "FUCK YEAH!!! LET ME STEAL HER KEYS AND SNEAK OUT REAL QUICK–" The line cuts off, signalling an end to the call.

    Mikey grabs Mitsuya by the shoulders with a wild smile and screams, "YOU'VE SAVED US MITSUYA!!!"

    Takemichi watches in astonishment as everyone joins in, patting Mitsuya on the back and praising the boy and his phone.

    The curly haired boy knows he should be joining in on the celebration, but a bad feeling begins to rise up within Takemichi's stomach.

    Was Pah really gonna pick them up in his Gram's car? All by himself? Does he even know how to drive?

    Rather than voicing these concerns outloud, Takemichi keeps them to himself.

    Besides, it's not like anything he says will sway the boys from changing their decision.

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The group of boys watch from the steaming sidewalk as a familiar car slowly pulls up in front of them.

    It stops and goes every few seconds, as if the driver is unsure of how to properly use the brakes, but–eventually–the vehicle stops right in front of the five boys, causing the trail of cars behind it to honk loudly in annoyance.

    The window then rolls down, revealing none other than Pah with a pair of sunglasses on.

    "Sup bitches! Heard yall needed a ride!" He sings loudly with his arm barely hanging out of the car.

    Keisuke dramatically falls to his knees, his hands pressed together as if praying, and weeps, "PAH YOU'RE A GOD!!!"

    Mikey quickly follows Keisuke's lead, draping his body on top of Keisuke's back and praying with his hand. "ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY PAH!!!"

    Draken and Mitsuya swing their arms around Takemichi's soulder and shout in unison, "ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY PAH!!!"

    Rather than joining in on religious praying, Takemichi grabs Pah's attention with a wave of his hand. "Is–Is it really ok for you to be driving that?" Takemichi asks, his head tilting curiously as he tries to pry Mitsuya and Draken off his shoulders, their sweat quickly transferring over to Takemichi.

    He fails–of course–but it's the thought that counts!

    "Nah, my gram will kill me if she finds out!"

    Takemichi drops his jaw for what seems like the fifth time today.

    "EH?! THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THIS?!"

    Pah openly scoffs at Takemichi's words and–with a single button from within the car–unlocks all the doors. "Because yall need help and I ain't gonna let y'all cook out in the sun!" Pah declares as Mikey rounds to the other side of the car to get into the passenger seat.

    Ignoring the boys gradually piling inside Pah's car, Takemichi gawks at Pah, his heart swelling with adoration and–and–

    Tears appear in the corners of Takemichi's eyes, his heart simply not able to handle Pah's selflessness.

    "Pah–please eat dinner with us later!!!" Takemichi shouts, bending at the waist as he bows for Pah, tears steadily trailing down his cheeks.

    "WHAT–I–STOP THAT TAKEMICHI!!!" Pah nearly screams, his tongue stumbling over his words. Curious, Takemichi straightens back out and observes Pah, instantly take note of the red flush that runs across Pah's cheeks.

    "H-Huh? Pah are–are you ok–?"

    BEEP!!!

    BEEP!!!

    BEEP!!!

    Snapping his gaze away from Pah, Takemichi looks behind the car to find multiple vehicles honking at Pah to move.

    Seeing this too, Pah shouts at Takemichi to get into the car with a loud yell, his face still gradually growing red for whatever reason.

    Takemichi quickly runs and pulls on the car door handle to the handle, surprised when the door flies open.

    Without a second thought, Takemichi throws himself in, piling himself on top of Keisuke, Mitsuya, and Draken.

    Pah releases the brake and starts driving, the tears on Takemichi's face eventually drying up as they begin their slow and rocky ride around Shibuya.

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"Hm? You boys ok?"

    The silence that engulfs Takemichi's dinner table leaves the boy feeling sick to his stomach. The sound of chopsticks picking and knocking against plastic bowls come to a stop as everyone looks up to think of an answer to give Wakasa.

    Takemichi forces himself not to look ill as he gives Wakasa a thumbs up. The drive through Shibuya has left Takemichi and the rest of the boys feeling nauseous and sick because of Pah's trash ass driving skills.

    Thankfully, Mikey comes to the rescue.

    "Y-Yeah, we–we're fine–" Before Mikey can finish his sentence, he's bending over on himself, leaning away from the table and–

    BLAUGHHHH!!!

    ...throw up immediately hits the floor.

    Takemichi's head gets light headed at the sight of the grub on the tiles, the smell completely taking over Takemichi's senses–

    Takemichi doubles over and copies the blonde, his breakfast, lunch, and small bits of dinner landing on the floor in a burning rush.

    Even with his eyes squeezed shut, Takemichi can hear the sounds of the kids around the table gagging and throwing up on the floor, making Haru and Wakasa screech in disgust.

    ...Well, this definitely taught Takemichi a very valuable lesson:

    NEVER LET PAH DRIVE AGAIN.

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