Title: Bait and Switch
Characters: Takahashi Keisuke, Takahashi Ryousuke
Summary: Ryousuke knows exactly how to punch his brother's buttons.
Notes: Gen. For the prompt, "Keisuke's reaction to that first downhill Ryousuke took him on." Pre-series. 765 words.
Bait and Switch
Keisuke's heart was pounding, and he had to grip his knees to keep his hands from shaking. "Holy fuck, Aniki," he said, when he finally trusted his voice again. "Holy fuck, Aniki, what was that?"
"Akagi's downhill run," Aniki said, which was the first thing he'd said since he'd told Keisuke to fasten his seatbelt, back at the top of the mountain. In the light of the street lamp down the way, it looked like he might have been smiling. Or that may have been a trick of the light. With Aniki, it was always difficult to tell. "What did you think it was?"
"Some fucked-up way of getting us both killed--I don't know!" Keisuke raked his hands through his hair. "Fuck!" Now that he was sure that this wasn't some freaky fraternal double suicide, adrenaline was pounding through his system, with nowhere to go but being angry.
Aniki was still watching him. "Fascinating," he said. "I hadn't realized that you were opposed to throwing your life away."
Fucking Aniki with his stupid terrifying whims and his stupid downhill run and the stupid, disapproving undercurrents in his voice. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Not that he actually had to ask. These days that tone only came out for one thing. "This is about me and the guys, isn't it?"
"Just so," Aniki said, evenly.
"Fucking hell, Aniki, I told you--"
"Just listen to me for once," Aniki said, which was completely unfair of him, but shut Keisuke up anyway. Aniki turned in his seat, twisting to face him (for all the good that would do in the dark). "The last time we spoke on the subject--" Hah, "spoke." That was being way too generous, but whatever. "--you indicated that the reason you were so fond of your gang was that it was interesting. Something exciting to do. Is that still true?"
Aniki always had to put things in careful words, framing them and defining them, precise as a pinning a specimen to a board and dissecting it. "Yeah, I guess. What the hell does that have to do with nearly getting us killed driving off the side of a mountain?"
"But I didn't get us killed, did I?"
"Because you're lucky," Keisuke grumbled. Not like that was news, either.
"No. Because I'm good. If you weren't too busy having a tantrum, you'd be able to tell the difference."
"A tantrum," Keisuke began, outraged, but Aniki stopped him again.
"It's always like that," he said, low and intense. He leaned forward, and the light from the street lamp caught in his eyes, making them glow. "Every time. It's not safe to race like that, you know. If you're not good, you can get yourself killed. You can get yourself killed even if you are good."
"Then why do it?" Keisuke asked. Not that he wasn't still angry, underneath, but whenever Aniki got wound up about something, it was worth paying attention.
"Because it's interesting," Aniki said, voice still pitched low. "It's exciting. And because I'm good at it. And I think we can be the best."
Keisuke rocked back in his seat. "We?"
"The two of us," Aniki said. "There are two ways to race, the downhill and the hill climb. I need a partner, Keisuke."
Keisuke stared; well, he couldn't help it, since he couldn't exactly remember the last time his brother had admitted to needing anything or anyone outside himself. "You want me?" he said, in disbelief. "Me?"
"I can't think of anyone else I would rather have at my back," Aniki said, still looking at him with that intense expression in his eyes.
Keisuke knew exactly what this was--another ploy to get him away from the guys, away from motorcycles and gangs and juvenile delinquency, this time with bait. A different kind of bait, anyway, one their parents wouldn't have thought to offer, the kind of bait that Aniki knew damn well that he couldn't refuse. Not when Aniki himself was the bait.
He knew all that, and still couldn't stop the yearning need to believe that it was true, that Aniki really did want him for this. "Show me," he said, at last. "Show me what it is that you want me to do."
"Of course," Aniki said, teeth flashing in a rare smile. "I'll show you everything, little brother."
Keisuke turned his eyes resolutely forward as Aniki put the car back into gear and turned them around, aiming them at Akagi's slope once again, this time from the opposite angle.
He didn't look back.
- end -
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