"Of course I'm upset with you!" snapped a rather angry Nijimura. "You ate all of the chips and didn't put away the dishes from last night's dinner!"
"So what?" Haizaki stuck out his tongue. "Just call it revenge for you turning all my white shirts pink with that stupid sock you threw in the wash!"
It had been like this for a while now; constant bickering between Haizaki and Nijimura on who was at fault for what, each trying their hardest to pin the other for something, anything, in the hopes of winning the overall argument. It was an exhausting fight, and overall, meaningless in summary.
"Maybe you should have made the bed like I asked you to!"
"Maybe I would have if you had vacuumed the apartment!"
Nijimura frowned for a moment before a smirking grin crawled across his face. The petty fight had gone on long enough with little result, so the idea to tease Haizaki a bit came to mind. Reaching out, Nijimura grabbed a fistful of Haizaki's ashen hair gently in his grasp. Haizaki ignored and continued his rant as he was pulled closer to Nijimura's body.
"You act like it's always my fault, but it's not! Newsflash, you aren't the perfect prince everyone thinks you are! You mess up all the time, even more than me! Y-Yeah, you aren't special at all; you're average and shit and –what are you doing?"
Haizaki had been interrupted by a sudden kiss to the forehead by Nijimura. His voice fell quiet before dissipating completely to a choked-up silence. Suddenly, the sounds of Nijimura's warm and bantering voice were gone completely.
"I'm going out for a bit, Shogo. Be a good boy and listen to your mother. I love you," said Mr. Haizaki to a little Shogo Haizaki, who was no older than six.
"Where are you going, Daddy?" asked Shogo. Mr. Haizaki simply shook his head and told his son to not worry about it. "But Daddy, I want to play basketball with you some more!"
"We'll play tomorrow, I promise. Now, go to sleep, Shogo. I love you." Mr. Haizaki knelt down beside the racecar-shaped bed and kissed his son's forehead lightly. He ruffled the grey locks under a large hand. "Goodbye, Shogo."
"Goodbye, Daddy!" said Shogo Haizaki happily. He watched as Mr. Haizaki turned out the lights and closed the door as he exited the room. His mind raced with excited thoughts to the next day, when he could play some basketball with his father. He was far too eager to sleep.
"We never played that game of basketball," he said inaudibly under his breath. Nijimura didn't catch the soft sentence. He had been stupid to believe that his dad was coming back; he should have seen the signs: the fighting, the constant smell of whiskey, the lipstick stains that would run all over his father's chest and neck. But he had always thought his dad would come back for him and his mom and his brother. He had been so, so stupid.
Something wet and warm ran down Haizaki's cheek from the corner of his eye. Tears. More of the strange liquid followed, coating his pale skin in clear, salty water. A sob rose in the back of his throat, but it was muffled by his inability to let the sounds out. Haizaki's teeth gritted together as the tears ran faster and heavier down his face. Fingernails dug deep into the flesh of his palms as his fists clenched tightly together.
Nijimura frowned concernedly. Haizaki was… crying? No, Haizaki never cried. He was far too headstrong and proud to do such a thing in public at the least. He would never let his dignity fall so far as to cry in front of someone like Nijimura. But here he was, red eyes and runny nose, standing in front of Nijimura. Nijimura didn't know what to say.
"He never came back home," sobbed Haizaki quietly. Nijimura still didn't pick up on the snuffled words. "I was so stupid."
Nijimura put a hand underneath Haizaki's chin, lifting up the bent head to the light. Haizaki's face was shiny with salt water; Nijimura wiped away a streak of it with the pad of his thumb. He didn't say anything, not knowing exactly what to say, but instead pulled Haizaki into a gently hug. Haizaki let it happen; warmly accepting the embrace as the low wails became louder and more defined.
"N-N-No, no, no, he left us all alone," stuttered Haizaki in a un-Haizaki-like way. "He didn't care anymore about us!"
Nijimura softly hushed Haizaki, running a hand though the pallid locks in a tender manner. Haizaki continued to blubber and cry into Nijimura's shoulder as he was soothingly rubbed. Nijimura still didn't know what to say, if anything. Calming down his lover was the only thing he could think of to do.
"It's okay, Haizaki, it's okay," he said softly, pressing his lips against Haizaki's mop of shaggy hair. "You aren't alone anymore. You have me, and I'll never leave you alone."
"N-Nijimura!" cried Haizaki, squeezing Nijimura tight in his grip. Nijimura gave a surprised grunt at the sudden appearance of strength, but he made sure not to let Haizaki see that it bothered him.
"Shh, I'm right here, I'm right here." Nijimura kissed him again and again as Haizaki's moans became of a quieter tone. "I'm always here for you, even when I'm upset or angry."
"Nijimura…"
"I'll always be right there, when you're mad or sad or happy or stupid. I won't ever abandon my idiotic basketball player, even when I'm really tempted to beat your ass up."
"H-Heh, you do that a lot, don't you?" Haizaki asked quietly with a sniffle. Nijimura nodded, a hint of a smile on his face.
"Yeah, I do." Nijimura brought Haizaki close and pressed his lips against Haizaki's in a soft kiss. Haizaki's eyes widened a bit. Nijimura broke the kiss softly, "I love you, Haizaki."
"I… I love you too, Nijimura." Haizaki narrowed his eyes. "But don't think I'm still angry with you for getting on my ass for chores when you couldn't even do your own!"
Nijimura gave a soft laugh. "Oh, I'm still very upset with you too. Now go clean up the kitchen before I smash your ass in a less than pleasant manner."