2Here's something a little creepy. Sorry for the delay with A Growling World. Unfortunately, Fushimi is being an A$$ and won't check his email (potentially because this has been on his mind). And yes, I just blamed the character. Hopefully now that I've gotten this out of our collective system, something healthier will grow.
"Hey Monkey, come down here a minute!"
At the sound of an unexpected, singsong voice his entire skeletal structure ossified. It wasn't the middle of the month yet. That man shouldn't be there. His fingers had hardened mid-stroke in typing a command to an avatar in an AU, world domination, online RPG.
It was a holiday. That's why he broke the pattern and came home. Fushimi scolded himself internally for having missed such an obvious possibility.
Maybe if he put headphones on he could pretend like he hadn't heard the call.
He yelled up the stairs a second time, "Sa-ru-hi-ko~ I have news for you!"
In his room, Saruhiko consciously set a pace to his breathing and forced the muscles that has tensed to relax.
But that man just wouldn't let things be. "I know you're up there because you're chewing through bandwidth like a little mouse."
He wasn't going to be drawn out. He didn't have to let the taunting effect him.
That was, until he heard, "It's about Misaki," in a jeering tone bounce up the walls.
Slamming the lid of his laptop closed, Saruhiko approached the adult to whom he bore a strong resemblance with a no-nonsense frown.
Niki clapped his hands in amusement with an accompanying jingle of the golden charms around his wrist, and he laughed earnestly. "Will that name always bring you downstairs?"
Rather than answer, Saruhiko stated in all seriousness, "If you're just here to play, I'm leaving."
"What? You aren't going to greet your father with a hug?" He held his arms out welcomingly, teeth glistening with the punch line he had yet to reach.
"What do you want?" The boy spat.
Niki's face straightened immediately, as he began to relate the reason he had called, "Did you hear those sirens a little while ago?"
After briefly reflecting on the recent environment, Saruhiko admitted hesitantly, "Yeah..."
"I was feeling a little bored, so I went around the corner to see what it was all about. Some loser hit a kid from your school with his car."
In spite of the instant expression of horror to cross his face, Saruhiko convinced himself not to believe what he was probably just making up.
"Don't make that skeptical face. I know you well enough to recognize the color of the uniform. Of course, I couldn't see much since the paramedics were crowded around, aside from the blood on the sidewalk. The police were asking if anyone knew him, like if he was a boy from the neighborhood. They were showing around his wallet, and I told them I'd ask my little monkey since he goes to the same school. After all, didn't I overhear you invite your friend to come over tonight?"
The wallet Niki waved through the air was one of the cheap kind, held together with velcro worn down by years of use. It had a logo on the cover from one of those popular kids' cartoons that Yata had probably really been into at the time. On second thought, he was probably still into it but embarrassed to admit so in front of the classmates who 'had already grown out of it.' One thing was certain: that was Yata's wallet.
Eyes wide with panic, Saruhiko snatched the wallet from his dad's taunting hands (Niki really only kept it out of his reach halfheartedly to begin with). "Where is he?"
"Were you not listening the first time? I just said the paramedics have him." As he said this, Niki followed his son who was frantically making his way to the front door. "Looks like they got to him just in the nick of time too. He was in pretty bad shape."
Saruhiko peeled open the grand, wooden door and looked both ways down the street for some sort of commotion. Taking advantage of the vulnerable back that had been turned his way, Niki lifted a booted foot and shoved playfully at his son's lower back. The unexpected push unbalanced the worried boy, and he stumbled onto the narrow sidewalk, glaring back at the sophmoric man.
He snickered. "Heheh, gotcha. He's in here."
Before Saruhiko could react, the door was slammed shut. He rushed to turn the knob, but as a rare exception the deadbolt was latched in place. He shook the knob to no avail and pounded on the solid wood.
"Oi, let me in!"
The man inside only laughed harder.
Saruhiko went over to the front window to see what was happening. It wasn't like he could stop anything from the outside, and if that man decided to have some "fun" with Misaki, he certainly wouldn't want to *watch* that destruction. Still he felt compelled to check. Only a moment passed, however, before his view was obscured by a smirking Niki who drew the curtains closed.
"I'll call the police!" Saruhiko threatened through the wall, "and tell them you locked your kid outside."
Unphased by his son's words, Niki replied lightheartedly. "Ha ha. It's not my fault you forgot to bring your copy of the key."
Saruhiko could only grumble his frustration. If he was more athletically inclined, he might scale the wall and climb in through the upstairs window. Misaki too would earnestly attempt something like that if the roles were reversed. At least...he was confident Misaki was the type to try climbing buildings.
Now that Niki was out of sight, his mind unclouded, and his heartbeat slowed. Calmer and thinking properly, he realized the whole thing might actually be a ruse. He should definitely just check with Misaki. Pulling out his PDA, he began to type a message through the app he had made for just the two of them.
[Where are you?]
Saruhiko had never felt so anxious waiting for a text message before. Every second felt like an eternity, and he paced along the street front constantly glancing at the phone. Even after two minutes there was still no response, though. Waiting was far too stressful.
He didn't have his key, but he had something almost as good: a tiny flathead screwdriver for repairing glasses. Ever since that fight with the middle school seniors in the park his frames had been frequently coming loose. Thanks to that annoyance he had just been keeping the tool in his jacket pocket at all times. He could probably pick the lock with it.
A quick web search turned up a decent video tutorial on how to do so, and he set about breaking into his own house. Being as it was his first attempt at something of the sort, he was by no means efficient. The flat surface several times slipped off of the lock pins, and more than once he had to start over after having successfully getting halfway there. With shaking hands, he tried again and again, resolved to practice on his own time in case the need ever arose in the future.
When the door finally swung open, Niki was standing in the foyer, grinning with a stopwatch. "I could have lost a ton of money betting on you, just now."
Electing to ignore the jab, Saruhiko demanded frankly, "Where is he really?"
When Niki shrugged, his sweater lifted effortlessly. "Why not play a family game of hide-n-seek? You already counted to," he glanced to the stopwatch in his hand and chuckled, "well, far enough."
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
As he exclaimed the question in fury, a vibration came from his side pocket. He grabbed the phone and looked at the reply Misaki finally sent.
[I'm okay. Just stuck in a closet]
With a glare at his dad, he made his way to the nearest closet, flinging it open in a rage. It happened to be the linen closet, empty save for extra towels and never-used table clothes. Niki stalked behind him like a real father excited to film a child's first steps, urging him on with words of discouragement.
"It's not that one."
"Getting colder."
The English baseball term "Strike Two" was declared when Saruhiko looked in the coat closet, but his voice was mostly drowned out by a hissing noise.
The teen keeled over, clutching at his face, and sank to his knees while Niki burst out in laughter.
"Oh, I almost forgot about that! It's been there since April Fool's!"
It stung like peroxide in his eyes, and they watered uncontrollably even though he knew mocking would surely follow. Pepper spray, for sure. Whatever vapor had been released from the trap door was spicy in his mouth and it burned in his sinuses. That man's words could hardly reach his mind through the disorienting pain. "April Fool's"? It was a prank?
The man laughed and taunted. Saruhiko didn't really hear the jeers anymore; although, he'd surely remember them later, piercing deeper and deeper like glass. What he could hear was a strange, repetitive thumping, like the full weight of a body being thrown against a wall.
"Misaki?" The question was light and hesitant, sobbed through red eyes and a runny nose that couldn't be helped.
Still, the response came loud and clear as if in a game of Marco Polo. "Saruhiko! Don't worry; I'm coming!" Then there was another thump, louder.
Inspired, Saruhiko climbed to his feet, wobbling from blurred vision, and called back, "I'm not worried, Idiot. Where are you?"
"Dunno. It's like a closet, with mops and stuff," he replied as loud as he could. Like a blind man, Saruhiko stumbled towards the voice and, later, the housekeeper's utility room.
"I heard everything that was happening," the friend continued pouring his voice into the house. "Sorry it took so long to reach my phone."
Between each statement he would fling himself against the door, sacrificing his own body in an attempt to break free.
"I wasn't the one in the car accident!"
Just as Saruhiko arrived at the door and reached for the knob, the wood broke free from its hinges. Yata crashed out, followed by a handful of tools. Brooms, mops, and vacuums were all animated by their entanglement with the redhead. Together the jumbled mess toppled onto the temporarily blinded teen. The impact knocked the wind out of Saruhiko, and he coughed lightly.
Misaki let out a startled cry with wide eyes, "Aaagh, Saruhiko! Sorry! Did I hurt you?"
With the rescued boy's body weight pressing the dislodged door down on him, much of Saruhiko's relief was disguised in discomfort. "Just...get off," he grunted.
Niki interrupted the moment. "What a sappy reunion. Let's play again."
"Play?" Misaki shot to his feet. "What a shitty game!"
"Oho, feisty. Do you take after your mom?"
Startled by the casual way he handled the reprimand, and how easily he could respond with a greater insult, Misaki only blinked. That strikingly handsome, exciting dirtbag wanted an affair with his mom?
Saruhiko stepped in then. Scrambling up off the floor, he stood between them and spoke directly to his friend. "We're leaving."
"Eh?" Out of breath and filled with naive confusion, Misaki still couldn't reply properly.
Niki easily took over as his son dragged his friend toward the exit. "Oh? So soon? Where are you two running off to?"
"None of your business!" Saruhiko's last words were accompanied by the slamming door.
Only once they were about a block away from the mansion, Yata spoke. "Where are we gonna go now? I thought you said you needed your computer."
Taking a few deep breaths, Saruhiko looked away and grumbled, "We'll have to make do at your place."
Misaki laughed through his teeth. "Che, the internet isn't too slow?"
"This one time I won't complain about it."
The little, sidelong grin he shot Misaki was enough to lighten the mood, and they walked off shoving each other amicably.