A/N: Hello, Readers, and welcome to my Initial D fan book. This story was started several years ago in 2009-2010 and was posted as a draft on LiveJournal under my locked journal. I put it away for years to wait for the canon to end, revising and reworking it here and there, until I picked it up in earnest earlier this year for a final overhaul. There might be similar themes to this that appear in some other ID stories, and I sometimes thought over the years as I've read the work of others "Wow, did they read my Fic somewhere?", and I just sat on this story for a while thinking that maybe someone might be offended if they thought it was similar to theirs, and maybe I shouldn't post it and invite anything awkward. But, I've decided that it is what it is, and it is truly all my own fantasy, and all my own style for good or ill. It's as good as it will ever get, though it has many flaws (including a *probably* heinously bad car battle), and I've decided to post it here with hopes that there are others out there who might be yearning for some Initial D 801. A special thanks to user KT (you know who you are!) who gave me the last push of encouragement I needed to post this story after giving most of it a preview. Thank you for all the support and kindness you've shown to me which I truly do not deserve. This fandom needs more love! Since it's a yaoi fangirl's fantasy novel, I know that it will not appeal to everyone. So, please exercise your freedom of choice if you do not wish to read this type of story. Although it is an 801 fiction, it is a story which embraces *all* the types of relationships between many of the characters in Initial D, and it is not wall-to-wall in your face 801 action. I simply hope to convey to whoever reads this my passion for Shigeno-sensei's great opus, and I do hope that it is somewhat believable anyway, despite the yaoi. So, I humbly thank you for giving "This Small Dream" a chance. This story is complete and I will be uploading chapters as time permits. I will mark the status complete when they are all uploaded. PMs are adored. Rated M, from the same universe as my other Initial D stories (the progenitor for those, in fact), I don't own anything, and I make no profit. This has been written out of sheer adoration for these characters, and a slight (more than slight) obsession with an 86.
This Small Dream
Takahashi Residence. August Xth, Wednesday, 9 PM.
Takahashi Keisuke backed his yellow FD into the awaiting garage next to his elder brother's pristine FC, parking, as was his custom, a bit too closely to the driver's side door of the white Mazda RX-7, the older version of his own RX-7. He knew that it annoyed the hell out of his very collected brother, and Keisuke liked it that way. Ryousuke never said anything, but Keisuke knew he at least rolled his eyes or smirked every time he had to squeeze his slender body between the two cars to get into his own driver's seat.
Even if the younger brother wasn't around to see it, the satisfaction of simply knowing what Ryousuke's reaction would be was enough to make it worth continuing the tradition of being the annoying younger brother, despite the fact that they were both in their twenties. Keisuke felt it was his absolute right, no, his duty, to keep up these little jabs at his perfect Aniki, and Keisuke also knew that, even if annoyed, the two of them were at the point in their lives where Ryousuke almost welcomed these playful pranks. Ryousuke intuitively understood their deeper meaning, that they were done out of admiration and respect, something which Keisuke didn't himself quite understand. Keisuke did it, not really knowing why, knowing only that he felt it was an absolute necessity.
Luckily for Keisuke, Ryousuke had indulged him just enough sometimes. Other times, Keisuke felt that his brother's harsh criticisms could weigh him down to the bottom of a vast ocean, to drown in the gap he still perceived existed in their driving abilities despite Project D's conclusion with an undefeated record.
Ryousuke was always at the literal and figurative peak, waiting for Keisuke to make the hill climb. And then, there was that other person to contend with.
Keisuke cut the engine of the FD, deciding not to think about that person who had morphed from a space-case rival into some kind of…friend? Somehow, he wasn't sure they were friends exactly, even if he had a lot of respect for the kid's crazy technique behind the wheel. But he had to ruefully admit to himself that he had grown closer to Fujiwara Takumi than anyone else he knew other than his brother.
Sighing as he reached over to the vacant passenger seat of the FD, Keisuke picked up a DVD from it. He exited the car, meandered his way past the FC and his mother's oft unused Benz, and entered the house.
He kicked off his shoes and stepped into the kitchen, stuffing the DVD under his chin as he took off his jacket and hung it on a hook. In one motion, Keisuke opened and reached blindly into the refrigerator for a mineral water, thinking how much better it would be if it was a beer instead. But, he needed to give the DVD to Aniki, and he knew that Ryousuke hated smelling beer on him. His brother was somehow above beer, Keisuke mused, having noticed that even at the celebration barbecue for the ending of Project D, Ryousuke sipped mineral water and only drank one glass of the expensive champagne he'd had Fumihiro do the honor of uncorking.
Keisuke had rarely seen his brother indulge in anything but a cordial sip of wine or sake at a family gathering, or even rarer still, that "James Bond" drink with the name that vaguely reminded Keisuke of the word "pizza" by the non-logic of his own mind. There were only three Italian-sounding words Keisuke knew, after all: pizza, pasta, and martini. However, instead of "shaken not stirred", the younger brother had a vague recollection of hearing the words "vodka" and "extra dirty" escape his Aniki's mouth one time which caused Keisuke to have nearly choked on the beer he had been happily enjoying from a few feet further down the bar.
"It means heavy on the olive brine, Keisuke," his brother had cautioned, trying to put a lid on Keisuke's beer-fueled, runaway imagination and mouth before either traveled to places that would be sure to embarrass the elder if not stopped immediately. That was about two years ago, and it was the last time they had ventured to a bar together. Keisuke absently tried to remember why that was as he passed the closed door of his parents' room. A sliver of flickering light produced by the TV beyond was the only sign that their mother was home and not at some women's group, or whatever she did, when she wasn't passed out. It was what was normal for her, her nightly routine when being a wealthy socialite with the world at her fingertips was simply not enough. The sleeping pills dutifully and discreetly provided by Dr. Takahashi, which, she just as dutifully and sometimes not as discreetly liked to eat as if they were candy, would mean she may as well be on the other side of the planet as on the other side of the house. Likely, she'd be that way for the next day and a half, Keisuke guessed.
Unlike his mother, when Keisuke was intoxicated, he was very, very loud. First came happy, then silly. Then pissed. Then, someone, usually not him, would end up going to the hospital, sometimes to the very hospital his Father oversaw both as its CEO and top physician.
'Oh yeah,' Keisuke remembered, his own mind providing conversation, 'That was the night I puked in the FC because Aniki said I was too drunk to drive.' Yes, that was the reason the Takahashi brothers did not go to bars together anymore. The next morning at some cruel early hour, Ryousuke had made him clean and detail the car. He had specified that Keisuke take it to a certain place, in another prefecture, the only place he would allow his car to be detailed. Of course, he had phoned ahead, and made sure that Keisuke was the one to clean it.
It was summer. It was at least 90 degrees out and humid. It was fucking disgusting.
When Keisuke had returned later that day, almost ready to puke again, but desperately holding it in until he reached the house, for fear of puking in the freshly cleaned FC, he had discovered that the refrigerator was totally devoid of his beloved beer and stocked to the hilt with mineral water. A small note card in his brother's perfect penmanship was taped to a bottle placed exactly at Keisuke's eye level. "Puke in my car again, and I'll kill you myself. R."
Keisuke chuckled to himself as he trod upstairs toward the inner sanctum of his Aniki, thinking back on that time when the Red Suns had just been put together, to the time when Keisuke was still adjusting to life by Ryousuke's rules and not by the rules of his other "brothers" in the motorcycle gang, still shaking off old habits that were extremely hard to break: habits like downing inordinate amounts of lousy yet somehow expensive American beer. Running up tabs that he would, in a drunken stupor, forget to pay, Keisuke realized much after the fact that Ryousuke had always paid them, never saying a word about it as the elder slowly worked through his simulation for changing the ways of his ill-mannered and reckless younger brother.
Ryousuke was his best friend. No, Keisuke realized not long ago, Aniki was, well, his everything. Sometimes it really sucked to have perfection living down the hall from him, leading his racing team, coaching him, and, perhaps worst of all, spending as much if not more of his precious energy on that teammate than he did on his own brother. But still, Keisuke had to admit that if he had to have an elder brother, there was no one he'd rather have than Ryousuke.
Reaching the landing, Keisuke made his way down the hall to what he liked to call the "prime real estate" of the house. Naturally, Ryousuke, being the elder, had managed to snag the best room in the house, even before Keisuke had been conceived. That room was spacious and had its own balcony, full of sunlight in the daytime, and cozy and comfortable at night, unlike the cave of a room Keisuke occupied on the other end of the corridor, which was tucked under the eaves of the multi-story home like some kind of afterthought. Keisuke chuckled again to himself.
'Yep. That's me, the friggin' 'happy accident'.' That's what their dazed mother would often call him as a kid, and, Keisuke often wondered if his mother sometimes forgot his name, which, ironically, had the meaning of "the blessing". 'What a crock that is,' he thought wryly, knowing for sure that his parents likely never thought of him as a blessing of any kind at all. Some years later, it occurred to Keisuke that his brother had been displeased by that "happy accident" phrase, perhaps even before he truly comprehended the meaning of it. But, ever dutiful, Ryousuke chose to allow it and focus only on Keisuke, and not on their mother's subtle yet hurtful moniker. It seemed that Ryousuke indulged their mother as much if not more than he indulged him.
Keisuke just blamed the pills. Ryousuke seemed to place the blame somewhere else, a place that Keisuke was sure he might never understand.
Keisuke took a swig of water and stuffed the DVD under his arm, freeing a hand to knock on his brother's door. Of course, the lights were on inside, casting a soft glow into the corridor through the frosted glass door of the room. "Hey, Aniki, I'm coming in," Keisuke called, not ever waiting to be invited inside. He knocked, then opened the door as he saw his brother swivel himself around in the chair in which he sat.
"Ah. Keisuke," Ryousuke greeted him with a half smile, not entirely disliking the way his brother liked to simply announce the fact that he was coming in rather than wait for him to open the door. His fingers had been dancing upon the keyboards of no less than three different computers before his younger brother entered, and he was thankful for the visit, and for the natural coffee break it provided.
"Well, I just got back from Akagi. Here's the DVD Fumihiro and Kenta made," Keisuke said, handing the disc to Ryousuke. He glanced at his brother's desk, and shook his head slightly.
"What?" the elder asked, taking the video from his hands.
"Leave it to you, Aniki. You're probably the only person in the world who has the brain capacity to have some boring medical textbook, your assignment, a letter to some professor, and the schematics of the hachi-roku all being worked on at the same time."
"I have to be efficient with my time," Ryousuke said simply as he placed the dvd on top of a huge book that said "PDR" and some other words in English on its spine. "I'll call Fumihiro later to thank him for his and Kenta's good work."
"Sure," Keisuke replied as he not-so-delicately flopped into a seated position on his brother's perfectly made bed.
"Something on your mind, Keisuke?"
"Nah, I was just thinking."
"Good for you."
"Aw, shut up."
Ryousuke laughed lightly. "Come now, Keisuke. You seem to be doing a lot of that lately." Seeing the brow of his bleach-blonde and spiky haired younger brother furrow slightly, he continued, "Honestly, I'm glad of it. I've always said that you'd be the ultimate driver if you added thought and theory to your skills. Kanagawa was tough, but you were tougher," he added, referring to their final expedition battles with their team, Project D.
"I guess. And I know I should be out on Akagi making as many runs as possible, but, it's crowded there right now, and, without a battle to prepare for the near future, I'm just kinda fooling around. D was my routine, you know, eat, sleep,breathe, D. And now…" His voice trailed off a little. Ryousuke remained silent, waiting for Keisuke to finish, sensing the thought might end up being incomplete. It was.
"So I'm trying out this 'thinking' thing you seem to place a ton of stock in," he said instead of finishing the other sentence.
"Hmm," came the reply from Ryousuke as he sipped coffee poured from the pot of a desk-sized coffee maker. Having a small coffee maker at his desk was definitely efficient. No unnecessary trips to the kitchen, Keisuke assumed. Truly, his brother wasted nothing.
"So, yeah, Aniki. What's going to happen now? The forum on our website...people are trying to guess where I'm signing because you haven't announced anything to anyone, even me. Where did you send Kenta and Fumihiro anyway? They didn't seem too eager to talk about it with me."
"Oh, just here and there," Ryousuke cryptically replied.
"Tch. I friggin' hate it when you do that," Keisuke grumbled. "Well, at least I could try and beat it out of Kenta at some near future date, I suppose."
"Keisuke, the truth is, there are details to hash out before we make any declarations. It's a very crucial time, and I'm not able to pay 100% attention to the offers for the next two or three weeks. We discussed this," Ryousuke calmly said, ignoring Keisuke's empty threat of future violence against his quasi-protégé.
"I know, and I probably should leave you alone. I know you have exams. But, I just get all fidgety when I have no idea what's ahead."
"If you're 'fidgety', then go grab the laptop I bought you, dust it off, and review the contracts and the stats of these teams and their tuning strategies, and tell me what you think about them."
"Aniki, you know I can't figure out that shit just by looking at numbers and graphs. I need to feel the car from the driver's seat," Keisuke said, sulking.
"Even Fujiwara has taken to reading his race data from D." Keisuke's scowl deepened, and Ryousuke felt his own lips curl into another half smile. "And he still has a job, too, you know," he finished, not being able to resist.
"Hmpf. Fujiwara is a weirdo," was the best Keisuke could come up with, his usual descriptor for the younger driver. He honestly didn't feel like talking about that teammate, well, former teammate, at the moment. In fact, he was a little miffed that the schematic for the Toyota Panda Trueno, or 8-6, was the vehicle his brother had been studying, and not his FD or one of the cars being floated to him by a racing team. The hachi-roku was a good car, Keisuke hated to admit, but, 'Geez. Enough already, Aniki,' he thought. The car was dead and done now, to where even Fujiwara himself had accepted it. Keisuke couldn't understand that. Wasn't that car like an extension of Fujiwara's body? His heart maybe? Don't you die if your heart stops beating?
It was shocking, but that car, that legend: the Akina hachi-roku no longer existed. Without the hachi-roku, who was Fujiwara? Keisuke had the passing thought that Fujiwara should have been more upset instead of getting drunk with him at the team's disbandment party. 'Well,' Keisuke thought to himself, 'he was just kind of buzzed if I really think about it.' That stupid ass kid and all his cheeky alcohol-talk about it being unfair if he battled him with the Impreza.
But, if Keisuke would have had to have sacrificed the FD like that…even the thought made his stomach turn sour. No, he hadn't had to do that to win. That meant he was the true Ace, didn't it?
"Is my petulant little brother jealous?" Ryousuke asked coyly, interrupting Keisuke's thoughts which had unconsciously allowed his gaze to fall on the technical readouts of the hachi-roku.
"Heh. Why would I be jealous of that weirdo?" Keisuke scoffed, not wanting to ask why Ryousuke was still studying that car that was probably on the way to a junkyard in Shibukawa by now. Hadn't his brother just said it was a crucial time for him? Why did the schematic of the hachi-roku matter anymore? Why did he matter anymore?
"Glad to hear it," Ryousuke replied, knowing the exact opposite was true. His hand-picked Double Aces of the Project D racing team had an intense if unspoken rivalry between them, and each pushed the other beyond normal limits in every battle. No matter who the opponent was, the rivalry between Takahashi Keisuke and Fujiwara Takumi ensured that the true opponent for each of them was, in fact, the other. Keisuke especially had a chip on his shoulder about Fujiwara. He had lost to him before. Twice. Once the young driver of the old hachi-roku had appeared like a ghost from another realm, he haunted Keisuke to no end. Ryousuke knew his brother vowed never to lose to the younger driver of the much older car again, even in the professional world.
Project D's battles were over now, though, and Ryousuke knew his timeline was just about spent. Somehow, he managed to negotiate with his father to have a few more weeks to review the offers from the racing teams, and to take care of a certain other task he had made sure not to disclose to anyone, but reality was chasing him like an opponent on the downhill planning to strike with a decisive move on the togue.
The togue had no rules. Ryousuke's new reality would be full of them, though, and he wondered if he could realistically hang on to a bit of the Dream in the end after all, despite the mental plans he was already starting to formulate to keep the Dream alive.
Ryousuke had lost to the hachi-roku too, but had gained so much more from that race than he could have ever imagined. Keisuke and Fujiwara would surpass him, of that, Ryousuke was one hundred percent certain, even before that fateful race. They would do things in racing that Ryousuke, because of certain family expectations, could never do. All he could do was coach, and mold them, and ultimately, his game would have a fantastic end. His hope was that his theory of "Fastest Speed on Public Roads" would be published very soon, once all loose ends were securely tied.
Keisuke gulped down the remaining contents of his mineral water, and prepared to shoot the empty bottle like a basketball into the small rubbish bin beside Ryousuke's desk until he caught the "look".
"All right, Aniki, I know, I know. No trash in your room. I don't know why you even keep a wastebasket if you don't want to have any trash in your room. It has to go somewhere, doesn't it?" Keisuke asked, lowering the empty bottle and impatiently tapping the sides of it with his fingers.
"It goes somewhere. I empty my own trash as needed. If you did the same, you might have to empty your entire room," Ryousuke said playfully.
"Yeah, yeah. Between you and that little bratty cousin of ours, I never hear the end of what a goddamn pig I am. It's organized to me," Keisuke affirmed. Seeing no particular reaction from his brother, he continued, "So what's been going on with that little brat anyway? She hasn't been camping out at our house as much recently."
Ryousuke looked at Keisuke briefly, and brought his coffee cup to his lips once more. "I haven't been tutoring Tsugumi lately due to my own time constraints," he said evenly. "I'm surprised that you would ask. You're both really unpleasant to each other when she's here," he commented smoothly.
Keisuke snorted. "And you're too nice to her. No wonder she comes running here whenever she can. You spoil her. Rotten."
"Do I?" Ryousuke asked in a tone that Keisuke thought was more sincere than it should have been.
"Yeah. I think you do." Keisuke knew that Ryousuke really had no idea at all about what Tsugumi was into when he wasn't around. He'd probably die of a heart attack if he ever found out; there just never seemed to be a good opportunity to spoil his image of her. 'Someday, you little harlot, someday,' Keisuke thought to himself. For now, Keisuke just played along with Aniki's thoughtful mood. At least the brat wasn't around a lot lately.
"Hmm," Ryousuke said thoughtfully, trying to put on a casual air he thought Keisuke would believe. "Maybe, but she is working hard in her studies. She just needs some extra help from time to time now that she's doing more advanced preparations for her National exams. I wonder if you remember how well you fared on those, Keisuke?"
Keisuke laughed. "Yeah, I remember. I wrote my name and fell asleep."
"I think 'passed out hung-over' would be a more accurate description," Ryousuke concluded.
"Yeah. Oh well. It was expected anyway," Keisuke said quietly. Why had all these thoughts about his former wild existence crept into his brain today? He really needed a race, a drink, a...something. "Well, at least you can make up for the both of us. You always do."
His brother chuckled. "I think you overestimate me, Keisuke, by quite a bit."
"Not likely," the younger responded.
The two brothers sat quietly for a moment. Suddenly, Keisuke jumped up and headed for the door.
"You have an epiphany?" Ryousuke asked, nonplussed by his brother's sudden movement.
"A what?"
"Some kind of revelation?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess. I've decided I need a night out." The "look" appeared again on his brother's face. "Not with any of those types," Keisuke quickly continued, "A night out with some of the guys on the crew. None of us are too busy lately, and we had a good time at the barbecue. I guess, well, I don't want that to be the last time we hang out as a group after all."
"Do us all a favor and use a car service," Ryousuke cautioned, despite understanding his brother's sentiments. "Especially, don't let Kenta drive if he plans to match you drink for drink."
Keisuke laughed, and a true smile crossed his face. "Hah! Like he could!"
"Car service, Keisuke," Ryousuke repeated sternly. Having an outdoor barbecue during the day with team was one thing, going out at night to a bar or something was another. Although, remembering Fujiwara and Keisuke slightly buzzed together was definitely interesting, more than Ryousuke wanted to admit it to himself, Ryousuke wasn't convinced that Keisuke wouldn't go overboard when he decided to organize another celebration on his own. It wasn't as though Keisuke would include Fujiwara anyway as he was underage. A couple of beers at the park picnic area was relatively harmless. Underage drinking in a public nightspot was quite a different scenario, especially if he himself might not be available to supervise.
"Geez, Aniki. You know it's not like that anymore. How many times have I told you I am capable of having fun and not too much fun? If you ever fucking hung out with me anymore, you'd know that by now!" Keisuke protested too loudly. Just the thought of using the "car service" was sickening to a street racer, and, most especially, to Keisuke. Ryousuke was well aware of the younger's revulsion. It pleased him to excise this occasional torture on his younger brother.
Ryousuke sighed, set down his coffee mug, and opened a small drawer in his desk. He pulled out a leather case that looked like an oversized wallet, and, as Keisuke looked on, he could see that it was full of business cards. Ryousuke scanned it for a second and selected one of the cards, flicking it in Keisuke's direction so it stood vertically between the index and middle fingers of his left hand.
"Car service, Keisuke. If it's for this weekend, reserve it tonight," Ryousuke said.
Keisuke swiped the business card from his brother and stuffed it into the back pocket of his jeans. "You know I don't like to show up anywhere without the FD," he groaned.
"Deal with it," Ryousuke commanded in a tone that said he meant business. "And I want to know where you decide to go."
"Whatever. Look, I'll even invite Fujiwara and his little Speed Stars buddies if it makes you happy. Maybe even Wataru from the North Saitama Alliance or whatever they call themselves. I do owe that guy one, actually, for his help with those freaks who were pretending to be me and Fujiwara that time," Keisuke digressed. Collecting himself once more, he went on. "You know I can't fuck up if that weirdo is there," Keisuke added. He thought he saw a blink from his Aniki that seemed irregular. Was his brother actually startled that he would mention inviting Fujiwara and his friends?
"How do I know such a thing?" Ryousuke asked casually.
"Hah. You know everything there is to know about me. I won't be an ass in front of him."
"What makes you think he'll actually attend this impromptu 'night out on the town' with friends and former foes alike? Fujiwara is incredibly non-committal when it comes to such things I should think. Not to mention that he won't be able to get into a bar…not by conventional means anyway."
"O-ho, Aniki? Are you actually curious?"
"About what?" Ryousuke asked. The thought crossed his mind that, perhaps, he had spoken a tad too freely in this instance for his own comfort. He didn't anticipate that Keisuke would pick up on his subtly expressed interest. Ryousuke had always thought Fujiwara was some one of a kind type of person, perhaps granted at birth with some innate way of being. The young man's seemingly absent minded persona actually belied the fierce concentration and razor sharp focus that came through whenever Fujiwara Takumi got behind the wheel of the hachi-roku. It was that very dichotomy of being that had piqued Ryousuke's interest from the very start; he had often hypothesized that a calm outward demeanor was a useful if not essential element to driving at insane speeds on public roads. Fujiwara was an amazing person, if a little reserved in the company of other people, but, he had to admit that the relatively small amount of alcohol he consumed seemed to break down his barriers more than a little. It was nice to see his young Downhill Ace actually enjoying himself with Keisuke and the other guys, and, Ryousuke had to admit, he wouldn't mind seeing it again. Somewhere along the line during their expeditions, his Aces had grown very close to each other, even if they probably both would be loathe to actually confess to it.
Ryousuke also had to admit there was a grain of truth in Keisuke calling him a "weirdo". There was no one quite like Fujiwara Takumi.
"You are sitting there wondering about it," Keisuke remarked, "and don't lie, you big jerk."
"About what?" Ryousuke repeated, chastising himself slightly for allowing his thoughts to stray. Was he really that tired? Was he really going there in his brain, thinking about having quiet drinks at the bar with Fujiwara who, as he had just reminded his brother, wasn't even old enough to get into a bar anyway?
"About whether Fujiwara would actually show up," the sibling countered, crossing his arms across his chest, still clutching the empty water bottle in his right hand. "If you come out with us, you can see for yourself and pick him apart in a little social experiment."
"Really, Keisuke," Ryousuke admonished, taking slight offense that his brother would refer to his former teammate, friend, and rival as some kind of lab rat.
"All right, it's definitely settled then. I'm friggin' inviting him. If we go to my friend's place in one of the private rooms, he'll be able to get in. And if I time it right, and invite him while he's hanging out with his friends at the gasoline stand, at least one of them would drag him out to hang with the crew, I think."
"Since when have you become so deviously clever, Keisuke?" Ryousuke grumbled.
"I learned it all from some stuck up bastard who lives in my house," Keisuke stated as if affirming a rare victory of wit over his brother.
The younger brother seemed very satisfied with himself as he reached for the doorknob, only to suddenly stop short of grasping it. He turned to look at the elder. There was a very familiar if not often heard low hum of a Benz approaching the house. "Oi. Aniki?" Keisuke questioned tentatively, his perceived victory over Ryousuke immediately forgotten.
"Interesting," was all Ryousuke said. Keisuke saw his brother's eyes shift to the window toward the direction of the sound of the approaching car.
"What day is it?"
"Wednesday."
"Then what the hell is he fucking coming home for?"
Ryousuke looked thoughtful. "I wonder," he said softly. "Perhaps Mother phoned him," he offered.
"Heh, doubt it. She's holed up in their room already."
"I know," came the reply that had a hint of sadness Keisuke could hear in his brother's tone.
"Hey, Aniki, I swear, I haven't done anything!" Keisuke suddenly whispered loudly, in a panic. "I mean it! You know I've had all I can deal with D and-"
"What makes you think he's home because of you?" Ryousuke calmly interrupted. "I know you've been a good boy," he added, teasing good-naturedly.
"Hmpf. Why else? I'm sure you haven't forgotten the last time he came home in the middle of the week, have you?"
"No, I haven't," the elder replied, taking up his coffee again and sipping casually.
"Yeah, that was a great night at the Takahashi residence, wasn't it?" Keisuke said with a tentative laugh. "The old man dragging me into the house by the ear with his lawyer hot on his heels. Good times. I think I would have rather stayed in that nasty jail."
"It might have been better for your health."
"Yeah. Especially after you kidnapped me after they all left. Throwing me in your FC and driving me down the Akagi downhill for the first time. You scared the shit out of me, you know. I really thought it was gonna be a double fucking suicide," the otouto said ruefully.
"You lived. You got your FD. Things changed, and it's mainly because of your own hard work."
"Yeah," Keisuke affirmed quietly, terribly unused to taking direct compliments from Ryousuke. Shaking his head vigorously, concern returned to his expression. "But, seriously, Aniki. Why the hell is he here? I haven't even gotten a goddamn speeding ticket in years!"
"Then you have no reason to assume your own guilt."
There was a pause as the two brothers heard the smooth hum of the Benz stop in the driveway. Seconds later, the sound of a car door opening and closing reached their ears. Ryousuke put down his coffee cup and walked over to his bathroom where he brushed his teeth and put a few eye drops into his tired, computer-monitor-strained eyes.
"Wait," Keisuke spoke as he watched his brother. "You think he's here to talk to you?"
"Do you think he'll be able to have a coherent conversation with Mother tonight?"
"No."
"Then, if it's not because of you, then he's here to have a little chat with me."
"No way," Keisuke whispered as loud as he dared upon hearing the front door open and close. "What the hell could he want? Whatever it is, I'll go down and just have him get mad at me, and he'll forget it, okay?" he said with raw concern that touched Ryousuke to his core. Though they could give each other headaches more often than not, their bond was strong, and their connection over the last few years had become extremely close.
"Relax. This wasn't entirely unexpected," Ryousuke calmly said in a hushed tone, gently patting his younger brother on the shoulder. "I'm going down, and I'll be back, okay?" With that, he turned to exit his room. "Take your empty bottle with you when you leave my room."
"Tch. You have eyes in the back of your head or something?" asked an exasperated Keisuke who was instantly prevented from dropping his empty bottle into a wastebasket that was cleaner than his own bathroom sink.
"We'll talk later Keisuke," Ryousuke said from the corridor as he prepared to descend the stairs.