Note: This is my favorite first attempt at writing fanfiction for DRAMAtical Murder, so I truly hope I do it justice. It's not done yet, but it is turning out to be a monster of a story, much longer than I had previously anticipated. So I truly hope you enjoy and stick around for what I have in store c: This is going to be, overall, a Clear and Aoba endgame pairing, however due to the circumstances of the story, it will not begin that way for a while.
Chapter 1
He was alone. The night was upon him and it was dark, but Serageki Aoba was not afraid. He had lived in Midorijima his entire life, and he knew the streets like the back of his hand. He had never had any problems getting to and from school, getting to and from work, or anywhere at all really. He had lived most of his life without fear of being mugged or robbed or attacked and that was mostly based on his personal experience of never having gotten into any trouble that he did not start himself in his life. He strolled casually along the sidewalk with his hands in his pocket and his bag on hanging off his shoulder, humming softly under his breath as he turned the corner onto Aoyagi Street, nearly home.
The junk shop had kept him late that night due to the unexpected surge of customers, but he was glad for the extra money in his pocket. He wondered what he was going to do with the extra cash that he was tipped by a pleased customer and thought that maybe he should get something nice for his Granny. She seemed down and out of it lately, and he wanted to cheer her up somehow. Instead she still took care of him as well as she ever did, and he took her for granted.
He sighed miserably as he caught sight of their house in the distance and frowned in irritation at himself for being so thoughtless. He would think of something, somehow. As he reached the front of his house, he felt suddenly on edge and glanced around, feeling as though someone were right behind him. His footsteps had unexpectedly echoed for a couple of steps, and he was sure someone was following him. But when he turned around there was no one to be seen. It was an eerie feeling, and he rushed into the house and locked the front door behind him as quickly as he could.
His heart rate was escalated and he felt like his stomach was being tied in knots with anxiety. That was the first time he had ever thought he was in danger outside, and the feeling was foreign to him. He swallowed hard against the lump rising in his throat and took off his shoes before entering onto the wooden platform calling out, "Granny!" She didn't answer immediately and he frowned, pushing his way into the living room where he had expected her to be waiting for him. She had a habit of staying up until he got home from work, but he didn't see her sitting around anywhere.
"G-granny?" he called again, suddenly afraid and the desperate feeling he had in his chest deepened to overwhelming anxiety. He was sure he had locked the door on his way out to work, there was no way anything could have happened. Suddenly the sound of something crackling gently came from the kitchen and he sped through the hall to get there, his heart racing.
There stood his grandmother, her face near the frying pan and a basket of homemade donuts piled on the counter next to her. "Aoba, it's late," she mentioned loudly before tossing a few more on top of the pile. His laugh released in a shaky stream as he picked one of the donuts from the top of the pile, stuffing it in his mouth to hide his momentary terror. The instant anything went wrong he always believed the worst despite nothing actually being wrong. He wondered if he would ever be able to just relax himself and take things at face value. He doubted it though; he was always such a worrier.
A small bark met his ears and he looked down to see his little black Pomeranian whining very quietly and lifting his front paws onto Aoba's leg to be picked up. "Missed you too, Ren," he greeted with a smile, lifting the little dog into his arms and scratching across his stomach through his thick fur. Ren allowed the pampering for a moment before wriggling himself out of Aoba's arms and forcing him to place the dog back on the floor. Before he could say anything else to his grandmother, someone knocked at the door.
"Hm?" Aoba hummed under his breath, wondering who could possibly be visiting this late at night and why they would be here to begin with. Aoba didn't have very many acquaintances, especially not those that would come to call with no notice and just before bedtime. Aoba hurried to the door and peeked through the curtain to try to ascertain who it was before opening the door. It was too dark to be certain, but he swore he saw a flash of red before he turned the knob.
"Aoba!" a very familiar voice greeted and made his way inside the house without being invited. All his suspicions about who it could be flew out the window when he realized it should have been obvious from the start. Koujaku made his way through the living room after stepping out of his shoes, shooting Aoba his characteristic grin that made him scowl. What did he think he was doing? "Hello, Tae!" he greeted Aoba's grandmother, pressing a kiss against her cheek and causing her to swat him away as she turned off the stove.
She snapped at him, "I didn't know we would have guests so late." Koujaku laughed shamelessly and helped himself to a donut, seating himself at the table next to his grandmother as Aoba glared at him from the counter by the basket. This guy didn't have any manners did he?
After he finished his donut, he smiled apologetically at Aoba's grandmother and said, "I was closing up shop when I saw this kid walking home, so I decided to follow up after I was done to see how you two were doing."
"We're obviously fine," Aoba grumbled back, sitting across the table from Koujaku and crossing his arms over his chest, pointedly neglecting to eat another donut. Which was a shame, because they were the best when they were warm. But he was determined to prove a bizarre point of some type as he watched his best friend help himself to another sweet succulent sphere while Granny raised an eyebrow at Aoba, as if wondering why he wasn't eating. He couldn't believe she would just accept Koujaku's entrance without some type of retribution, but he supposed when someone knew Granny for so long there was a possibility of getting into her good graces.
Aoba hadn't even mastered that yet.
Koujaku laughed at his answer and ruffled Aoba's blue hair affectionately before remembering by the murderous look his friend sent him that he hated when anyone did that and pulled his hand back sheepishly. "I do see that," he replied quietly before putting his hands back into his lap. "It doesn't hurt to check up on my favorite little family, does it?" He laughed again and Aoba felt his annoyance almost leave him... almost. There was something unduly infectious about Koujaku's carefree attitude and he felt like he wanted to adopt it as well. If he were that kind of careless person, that was. "Speaking of, how's Sei?"
"Sleeping, for now," Granny said with a frown as she watched her hands in contemplation. Aoba wanted to tell Koujaku to drop it, but it wasn't something he had the heart to do; Koujaku cared about all of them way too much for his own good, Aoba thought sometimes. "He's been getting better some days and others he's as bad as he's ever been."
For a moment Koujaku's happy expression melted away and he frowned slightly, making Aoba's heart fill his throat. He really did care too much. "Let me know if I can do anything for you, Tae," he said seriously, patting her hand with his own scarred one and eliciting a noncommittal grunt from her. Aoba remained silent as he bit his lip, staring down at the snack with his hunger pangs completely subsiding with his guilt. Sei was upstairs in the room he shared with Aoba, where he spent most of his days the past couple of years. They couldn't afford a hospital stay, so Tae did all she could to care for him herself.
"You should save some worry for yourself sometimes," Aoba said with a frown, nudging Koujaku's leg with his knee. Koujaku just smiled at him and covered Aoba's hand momentarily with his own before reaching down to pluck the frantically wagging Ren from the tiles and placing him in his lap. Whenever Aoba saw Koujaku being kind to Ren or Sei or Tae, he always felt a warm sense of domesticity in his chest that truly didn't have any basis in fact, but he couldn't keep himself from feeling it.
He had just known Koujaku too long, he supposed.
The next several hours were spent with quiet smalltalk before Koujaku called it quits and decided to head home, yawning as he spoke. Aoba followed him to the door after the man embraced his grandmother and slipped on his shoes. "You don't need to, Aoba," Koujaku insisted as he watched his friend get ready to leave after him, his brows pulled together in the middle in dismay. This was almost ritualistic for them so Aoba ignored his pleas.
"I'll be back in a couple of minutes, Granny!" She called back something to him that he didn't hear as he locked the door behind himself and Koujaku, quickly following after the man in the red yukata. He didn't know why his friend even bothered to try to tell him not to walk him partway home; Aoba did it every single time without fail and nothing Koujaku ever said swayed his decision. Besides, maybe it was silly or superstitious, but he liked the thought of being a good luck charm for Koujaku, since he himself never seemed to run into trouble after dark the way most people did. He thought lamely that he hoped he hadn't just jinxed himself just then as he evened his strides with Koujaku.
"You don't have to keep doing this you know," his friend grumbled, adjusting his yukata and shooting Aoba a rather grumpy frown. "I'm a nearly thirty year old man, not a half sober teenage girl." Aoba just laughed at that, finding himself surprised that he had known Koujaku for nearly twenty years of his life, on and off, and they were still finding themselves having petty squabbles such as this.
Aoba replied back defiantly, skipping over a crack in the sidewalk as he glanced up from where his light brown eyes were fixated on the rocky street. "Don't be stupid, of course I do. I always do!" He meant it to be lighthearted, but the deepening crease between the man's eyebrows told him that perhaps Koujaku didn't quite take it as he meant it. But it was true; this trek was practically a tradition for the two of them and he was a bit miffed that he still continued to question Aoba's participation in it. "I don't want you to walk home alone."
Koujaku smiled back at him and while there was still a bit of tension in his features, he did seem genuinely pleased by his answer. "You always tell me I care too much, but you care a lot too, Aoba." He felt the tips of his ears redden slightly as he looked back to the cement walkway, frowning.
"Why even say it? It's obvious I do," he grumbled back, crossing his arms over his chest in annoyance. Koujaku had a bad habit of pointing out exactly what Aoba would not want him to and having no shame in doing so, while simultaneously being unaffected by his very same actions and emotions being pointed out by Aoba, who wanted to fluster him somehow and never succeeding. Koujaku stopped walking and turned to face him, though it took Aoba a moment to realize they had reached the halfway point between their homes. Koujaku smiled at him and touched his palm openly to Aoba's cheek for a brief moment before turning around to head the rest of the way home.
He called back, waving a hand over his head, "Thank you, Aoba."
"Message me when you get home!" Aoba headed back the other way, his hands in his pockets as he kicked small pebbles along the sidewalk. It was cold and he was bundled up, but he could still feel the bite of the wind against his cheeks as he waited to cross the street, his mouth pressed together in a thin line. He wondered if Sei needed anything as he neared his house, the dull thudding noises of his shoes echoing off all of the nearby buildings as he hurried up the steps and inside.
It still smelled like freshly baked donuts and he snuck into the kitchen to snag one last one from the basket before heading up the stairs to his room. He was silent as he opened the door and closed it effortlessly behind him, not a noise to be heard. In the moonlight from the veranda he saw the gentle rising and falling of his brother's chest as he faced away from Aoba, his arms wrapped around a large stuffed bear Koujaku had gotten him several months ago when he had been rushed back to the hospital again. Aoba smiled softly at him before stripping down to his underwear and getting into a comfortable pair of pants and a loose shirt to sleep in.
Ren leapt onto the bed beside him and snuggled up against Aoba's stomach, watching him get settled before resting his head down on his paws to sleep. Aoba scratched the top of his head as his own hit the pillow, and he closed his eyes in exhaustion.