This is set in 2004-2005ish, after the events of V-Force but before G-Rev. Or after G-Rev, but with no mention of Daichi or Hiro or really any of the events of that season. I forgot to write them in initially and just decided to go with it.
Tyson always knew there was something off about his team captain. Well, he knew there were a lot of things off about him, but there was something or another in particular that he couldn't identify or even begin to define. There were the facts, of course: Tyson was more accomplished by beyblading standards, but Kai was decidedly more famous (his wikipedia page was longer and he was more recognized in the streets); the mystery of his birth and upbringing (not that Tyson often spoke of his own childhood or anyone else for that matter, but Kai never spoke a word or gave any indication that he ever even was a child); and the fact that he seemed to have a endless supply of money to support himself, yet was exceedingly frugal when it came to shopping. Tyson just couldn't figure the guy out. So like any concerned friend, he employed the help of his teammates in discovering his captain's big secret.
According to Ray - a great source of information, as he typically roomed with the enigmatic blader in hotels - the guy never slept. He always went to sleep after Ray and woke up before him, at least presumably. Well, that's not entirely true. He sometimes slept during the day, as Ray had accidentally found out while doing something in their shared hotel room that was completely private and then discovering Kai was in the other bed once he began stirring. It was highly embarrassing for the both of them.
Max didn't spend a whole lot of time with their captain alone, but he knew that the other had a few vices. Once, during a break between tournaments when they were still on the road but done competing for a while, Max caught Kai smoking alone behind their motel. The smell was distinct; Kai must not have thought that Max didn't know what it was, but he wasn't as innocent as many believed. Another time, he saw the guy stumble home (well, hotel) early in the morning with a black eye and the stench of whiskey wafting up from his clothes and sweat, though both disappeared later that morning. Max suspected that Kai watched some weird type of porn because of the way he deleted his search history every time someone borrowed his laptop and was weirdly cognizant of other people looking over his shoulder while he was using it.
Kenny didn't have much of a relationship with the captain at all until their second go-around with the beyblade world championships, when they almost died together. Even after, the Chief never really felt like he connected with Kai on more than a superficial level (and maybe not even that). He told Tyson about the one time he and Kai spent more than an hour together without any of the others, noting that the experience may seem weird to him too. The story went that Tyson, Ray, and Max had all gotten sick at the same time but - and here's the kicker - with different illnesses. Tyson predictably had food poisoning, Ray had the flu and Max had strep throat. Hilary was in Japan at the time, but Kenny was a germaphobe and Kai just never seemed to get sick, making them the two responsible for the juice and medicine runs. When all the unwell of their team seemed to be doing reasonably better (i.e. Tyson had stopped throwing up every ten minutes, Max's fever was stable and Ray was asleep), the two decided to escape the confines of their hotel together and shop for some things that they had run out of. Because they were in Las Vegas at the time, they decided to go to a big ol' American chain drug store located about a mile south of their hotel. They decided not to split up so as to make the trip outside last as long as possible, going down each aisle twice to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything. It was the longest Kenny had ever spent in proximity to Kai without feeling judged or awkward; in fact, both boys were pretty relaxed around each other, communicating freely the entire time. That was, until they were checking out.
At the register, there was some donation-slash-charity box for some cause that Kenny hadn't bothered to read before attempting to slip in a few loose bills (they were only to stay in America for a few more days and Kenny wasn't keen on converting his money in airports). Suddenly, Kai slapped his hand away and dragged him from the register, plastic bags of their goods in tow. Kenny had barely caught a glimpse of what the box had said, but he recalled that it was very orange. The rest of the walk home was in silence, and they never spoke of it again.
Tyson was sure that there was something to explain Kai's strange behavior, but he wasn't sure that he was going to get it from a group of guys. He resolved to call Hilary and solve the mystery the next chance he got.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Hilary, hi! It's me, Tyson!"
"Yeah, I know, I have caller ID. But why are you calling me at eleven o'clock at night?"
"Well, you know I've been thinking."
"What? You? Thinking? Are you high or something?"
"Ha ha. Hilarious. I'm serious, Hilary. I've been thinking about Kai."
"Well just don't overthink it. You're not going to get anywhere with him."
"It's just that he's been kinda weird lately. Always. He's always been weird, I mean."
"But lately you've been noticing it."
"Yeah, I have. I'm just trying to figure out what makes him tick, Hil. Put some of the pieces together to see what he's actually hiding from us. You know Max caught him using drugs once? It's for his own good."
"As long as it's not just to satisfy your own curiosity. Kai's a pretty private guy - don't go breaking his heart just to prove a point."
"Oh, please. He's like a wall. Nothing you throw at it can damage it. Not that I'm trying, though."
"I think maybe you should stop throwing things at other things period. Also, walls can be pretty fragile. I don't know what you're getting at."
"Can you please just hear me out and tell me if you have anything to add?"
"Hm. Fine."
"Alright. Well Ray says that Kai's somehow both a night owl and an early bird, and he's never seen the guy sleep at night. Max says he's seen him come home drunk and beat up before, and Kenny says he has a weird thing against charitable donations."
"Okay, well first I wanna hear more about that."
"He said that once, when they were shopping together in Las Vegas, Kai got really mad when he tried to leave some money in a donation box and wouldn't let him. Kenny doesn't even know what it was for, he just had extra cash."
"It sounds like maybe he was against the cause? I don't know why he would object so strongly to someone spending their own money how they want to. But about the other things - since when does Kai get in bar fights?"
"You think that's what happened?"
"Tyson, what else do you think could have happened?"
"I dunno, he slipped in a puddle of alcohol and ran into a pole? Maybe he wasn't actually drunk. Maybe Max just thought so because he's never really been around drunk people."
"Yeah, cause that's more likely. I'm just saying that it doesn't seem like him to actually get into a fistfight. He's more likely to just battle it out with his blade. And the stuff about drugs? I mean… he can't be as straight and narrow as we think him to be. And maybe he was depressed or anxious at the time, we can't know."
"I can ask him."
"I don't think he'd like you prodding into his personal life very much."
"Alright, so help me! Tell me about anything he's done or said to you that just seemed really inexplicable. Or out of character. Anything."
"Well, if I'm being completely honest…"
"… Yes?"
"You know how I used to… kind of…"
"Have a huge crush on him? Yes, Hilary. I distinctly remember you fawning all over him the first few weeks after you met him. Everyone does. You were not very subtle."
"Hey! You're one to talk. And either way, it's not like he even noticed me. I mean, now he does. 'Cause he's my friend. But before, he rejected every advance I made on him. Like, every single one. He pretty much flat-out ignored me until I stopped trying to approach him like that."
"Man, I didn't know that. Seems kinda rude."
"Sure. But now I'm thinking that maybe he was just trying to let me down gently, you know? Like instead of saying it outright, which would have destroyed me at the time, he just tried to let me know through his actions."
"Maybe he's more in-tuned than we thought."
"Yeah, right. He's definitely smarter than my first impression of him, but I wouldn't say he's 'in-tuned' to anything."
"You're right. Like that stuff with Kenny about the donation thing? Seems too weird. I wish I knew what was going on inside his head sometimes. He never tells us stuff!"
"I know this is a long shot, but does he ever tell you anything about his love life? Dropping hints, anything?"
"Not at all. Me and Max asked him once if he ever, pardon my French, 'got lucky' at any of the parties we threw."
"What did he say?"
"Nothing. He threw us out after that and wouldn't let us in until Ray showed up. He's so damn secretive sometimes, and I don't even know why. It's not like we never talk about our love lives, it's no big deal."
"Tyson, you and the guys talk about your love lives constantly. It's twenty-four seven. You told us when you got rejected by that alien at Comic Con. No one wanted to hear that."
"Actually, it was for the better. That alien was a dude."
"If I recall correctly, Kai actually had more luck with him than you did."
"Yeah, he was hanging out with him the whole time. You don't think-"
"No, Tyson, I don't. No one does. But it wouldn't be unheard of."
"They really seemed to hit it off! I think! It's hard to tell with Kai. But he was definitely smiling. I remember that. It was a weird day."
"It's possible that they just had the same bizarro sense of humor, but I don't think it was anything special."
"Do you think Kai's gay?"
"Not really. It's possible. In fact, now that I think about it, I'd say it's likely. But I just don't really get a 'gay' impression from him. I could be wrong."
"So what you're saying is, it's not unlikely that he and the alien guy actually… you know… boinked."
"No, Tyson, I'd say that's incredibly unlikely. Impossible, even. But with someone else, it might actually make sense."
"I think you're still hung up on Kai."
"I guarantee you I am not."
"But if you were, wouldn't it help you sleep a little better at night knowing it wasn't you, it was him? Like, that there was no way in hell that you would ever have a chance with him, and it had nothing to do with you?"
"… I guess."
"So would you now consider that he might be gay? And help me figure out if it's true?"
"Alright. You win. I gotta go now, cause it's been an hour and I have a potluck to attend, but I'll think of all I can and email you later."
"Thanks, Hil! Buh-bye."
"Bye."
Tyson was hanging out with Ray at a five-star deli when he got Hilary's email. He immediately put down his sandwich and pulled out his cell phone to read it, leaving Ray dumbfounded, as he was in the middle of a sentence.
"Geez, what's so important that you of all people stop eating to see?" Ray jokingly accused. Tyson finished reading.
"Well, you know how I've been trying to figure out what's wrong with Kai?" he asked.
"Yeah," Ray shrugged.
"Hilary and I may be onto something." He passed his phone to his lunch companion. While Ray was reading, Tyson devoured the rest of his sandwich. Ray looked up after about a minute.
"You think he might be gay?" He inquired.
"Yeah. Thoughts?"
"Well now that you mention it, it does make sense. And the thing that Kenny said makes sense, too."
"You'll have to be more specific, man."
"Like how Kai got angry with him at the pharmacy? Well I remember vaguely seeing some of those donation boxes around other places that matched his description. If it was the same kind, then what Kenny was about to put his money toward was gay conversion therapy."
"What?!" Tyson cried.
"I only started remembering this after Kenny mentioned it, but if the boxes were the same, and I'm recalling this correctly, then all of the really orange boxes were from the same organization. Kai probably thought that Kenny was supporting conversion therapy, when really he just wanted to get rid of some extra change," Ray reasoned.
Tyson gasped. "That makes so much sense now! I couldn't see why Kai wouldn't support charities at first, but if you and Hilary are right, and it was because of some BS like conversion therapy, then his actions are actually justified!"
"It doesn't necessarily mean that he's gay, Tyson. Just that he's a humanitarian."
"Okay, okay, but - but what about his sleeping patterns? If he's going out all night, partying at gay clubs and all that, of course he'd be awake later than you! And he always woke up early because he's Kai, so we can ignore that part."
"I doubt he's going out partying all night. If his sleep patterns do have something to do with his sexual orientation, it's probably because he was meeting up with someone in particular that he didn't want us to know about. Though that line of reasoning still seems kind of flimsy to me. Maybe he just functions well off less sleep."
"Okay. Fine. But Max did say that Kai came home drunk and beat one time. That supports my theory, no?"
"He could have gone out drinking and hurt himself accidentally. Or maybe he wasn't hurt, maybe he was just dirty for some reason."
"Whatever. You're right. But I still think he's probably gay."
Ray looked at Tyson weirdly. "Why are you so invested in him being gay? Not that he isn't, but some of the evidence is pretty circumstantial. I'd make absolute certain before approaching him about it."
Tyson sighed, steeling himself. "Ray, I'm straight. I've liked girls all my life, and never had a doubt about it. But I love Kai like a brother, and I've seen members of my family who were gay persecuted and hated just because of who they were. So if it turns out that Kai isn't straight and the whole world is against him, I want him to know that he has us on his side. And I can't let him know that unless I know if he's actually gay."
"Fine. I'll help you figure him out. But just so you know, you can support him no matter what. It's not like he has a biological family to fall back on if everyone else rejects him. You know as well as I do that we're each others' closest family, and family is there for each other no matter what's going on."
"God, Ray, I know. Finish up, I want to go talk to Max and Kenny about this."
In Japan, the day is short during the winter. By the time Max had gotten home to their communal living space, it was nearly dark. When Kenny walked through the door at 6:45 pm, the sky was black and the city's nightlife was in full swing. But the four former Bladebreakers were gathered around the electric fire with a Dizzi-less computer between them to do some serious figuring.
"If Kai's gay, there should be something revealing online. Somewhere…" Kenny spoke as he typed. "I'm going to try Facebook. The BBA has an account, and there are tons of pictures uploaded already. Wait - damn it. I can't access half these files without 'friending' them. Does anyone have an account?"
"I do," Max said, and typed in his username and password accordingly. "Just don't put anything on my feed."
"No problem. I'm just going to try to find any picture or mention of Kai that might suggest homosexuality."
Tyson gawped. "Geez, Kenny, you don't have to say it like that. It sounds weird. Oh, wait! Who's that guy?" Kenny had scrolled past a picture of some team they'd battled a year ago, which had Kai in the background seemingly in conversation with a man. The man was fairly nondescript, certainly not a world-class blader. Kenny zoomed into the man's face.
"I can run a scan of his features, but I don't think the picture is high-res enough to get back any results," he said defeatedly.
"But if he was at the tournament, then there surely should be some records of him being there. Hey - what color wristband was he wearing?" Ray asked. Kenny zoomed out, revealing a green band. "Hm, what does the green mean again?"
"Well, we usually get blue, so blue is definitely for competitors, but most spectators get orange. I think the red is for volunteers. The green is less common, but I've definitely seen it around…" Max trailed off. Kenny looked annoyed.
"You guys, I wear a green wristband. It's for coaches and support."
"Really? You wear green? I don't think I've ever seen it," Tyson remarked.
"Yeah, every time."
"Are you sure? I swear I've never seen you in green."
"I've literally never worn another color."
"Wow. Color me surprised. But back to the guy - that means he was a coach or something? For what team?" Tyson inquired. Kenny opened up a new tab on the computer, logging into what appeared to be a BBA-owned website, but very dull and not very user-friendly.
"To answer your question, I'm going to see if there's a list of participating teams for that tournament on the BBAMLD."
"The what?" Tyson asked.
"It's the Beyblade Battle Association and Member Leagues Database. They only mention it at every competition," Max sarcastically rejoined.
"Okay, so I have the list of teams. I could try narrowing it down by the ones with a registered coach or technical support, but that's still a long list," Kenny uttered, typing away madly for aesthetic reasons.
Ray leaned in and squinted at the screen. "Maybe try teams that didn't advance to the quarter finals? Or - can you search for only the teams that we didn't go against? I'm sure we would have recognized him if we'd gone against his team at some point."
Kenny shrugged. "I'll try," he said, before attacking the keyboard as if it somehow held all the answers. Several new windows popped up that he began moving sections of the lists into. "So these are the teams that didn't make it to the quarter finals. The highlighted teams are the ones we didn't go against. I've split it up into four sections so we can divide and conquer. I can't access all the team info I need from this computer, mainly 'cause it's just so much data, but there are also some files that require special clearance to view cause the teams put a lock on them. I just don't want to miss anything, so I say we wait until morning and use the computers in the file room at BBA headquarters to do it."
"Will they let us?" Ray asked.
"I'll let you. I have a higher security clearance because I'm technically in their employee logs as an IT expert. That and they can't stop me from hacking into their junk any time I want, so they decided it would be better to just give me full access instead."
"You have full access?" Max asked.
"Oh, I've said too much," Kenny cringed.
"Why do we have to wait till tomorrow then? Why can't you just do it from here?"
"Didn't you hear me? It's too much data! I just can't load it all on this laptop! It's not Dizzi!" The Chief cried. The team knew they'd inadvertently struck a nerve. Suddenly, Tyson had a revelation.
"Oh my God, I think I know who that is," he muttered, staring at one particular name on the list of teams.
"The guy?" Ray questioned.
"I should rephrase. I think I know what team he's from. Remember that at this tournament, we were approached by a team of girl triplets who said they had been trying to find us? I remember that one of them (the oldest, with the pink hair) said that their coach had talked to our coach and set us up on a triple date. That part was obviously a lie, but what if they thought that Kai was actually our coach? I mean, he didn't battle at all until the semifinals. They are probably that team! Their coach is probably that guy!" Tyson exclaimed.
"What was their name?" Ray asked. Tyson froze.
"I, uh… don't remember."
The three boys sitting across from him grumbled in sync.
"Hey, wait! I can probably remember it if I try. I can do this." He closed his eyes and put his fingers to his temples. "Triplets. Pink, purple, green. No - blue. NO! Fuchsia. Wait, that was her name. Fuchsia, Evelina, and Cherry. N-n-no. Cherry was the last name. Chastity was her name. Ironic, considering her choice of recreational activities. Chastity Cherry. Cherry, cherry, cherry… Cherry on Top!" He opened his eyes. "Is Cherry on Top a registered team?"
Kenny scanned the list. "There… is. Wow. It's a treat to see your brain in action, Tyson."
Tyson rolled his eyes. "Whatever, who's the coach?" Kenny went back to the keyboard to search, but stopped after a few keystrokes with a frown.
"I don't know. Their file is locked. I guess we do have to wait until tomorrow to see."
Max stood up and crossed to where Kenny was sitting, beckoning him to scoot over. "I got this from here," he said, opening the Facebook tab once again. "C-H-E-R-R-Y-space-O-N-space-T - oh, here they are, Tyson. Look, it says their names on their profile page. You were right! Chastity, Evelina, Fuchsia, and… no way…"
"What? What's his name?" All three asked at once.
"Bob." Their faces visibly deflated. "Bob Thunder."
"No way! That's so cool!" Tyson exclaimed, punching the air.
"I think I follow him on MySpace," Max interjected, typing up the web address. "Yep, I can see his feed. I'm gonna try to find a connection to Kai. Do you think Kai has MySpace?"
"I know he's got an AIM account," Ray answered. "He probably has more of a presence online than we think. Just look him up."
"No need," Max declared. "Kai's on Bob Thunder's friend list. He's not a top friend, so I think it's safe to say that they're not secretly in a relationship. Buuuuuut…" he clicked around a few more times, "Lo and behold, Bob here is apparently a flaming homosexual."
"No way," Tyson said, "Not that this proves anything, but wouldn't you say it makes my theory more credible, Ray?"
Ray nodded. "Honestly, yes. But just to be certain, check out Kai's MySpace."
After clicking on his icon and checking out his page, Tyson was sure. "Look at the people he follows! These are like bodybuilders! And do you know any straight people who have this many rainbows in their photo album? This is gold!"
"Why are you on my MySpace?"
The four bladers could not have jumped higher in the air than they did at the sound of Kai's voice behind them. He sighed impatiently when no one bothered to reply.
"Fine. I'll ask again. What are you doing on my MySpace page?" His eyes had a dangerous glint in them. Nobody wanted to say anything. Painfully aware of the invasion of privacy, Tyson was the first to speak.
"Can I talk to you in private, Kai?" He asked, puppy dog eyes suddenly making an appearance. Before the taller boy could reply, Max, Ray, and Kenny shuffled out of the room. Kai sighed in defeat. Looks like they were going to have a chat.
"Why are you snooping around on my MySpace? That is personal," he spoke, trying not to have a meltdown. Walking in on your friends laughing and pointing at your online persona isn't really a great feeling. He just hoped that Tyson would have the balls to be honest with him, even if it meant they were making fun of him behind his back. At least he had the nerve to look uncomfortable. His eyes bored into Tyson's. "What."
"Me and the guys have been worried about you."
"I'm sure," Kai spat, offended that his former teammate had the gall to lie to his face.
"No, really! We thought that you might have a secret —"
"We all have secrets, Tyson."
"—that you wanted to tell us, but just didn't know how. At least, that's what I think. I think it's something you've known about yourself for a long time, but were afraid to reveal because not everyone is so accepting. But I'm just here to let you know that we— your team— are here for you, and there's nothing you can tell us that would scare us away."
Kai glanced away, a ball of anxiety knotting up in his chest. They know.
"We're your family, Kai, your real family, and you can count on us to help you if that's what you need."
Kai felt sick to his stomach. They know, and this is all a ploy to get me to admit something so they can harass me about it. It's happened before. Never again. Tyson took a step towards him. "There's nothing wrong with you, Kai. There never was. All those people who have ever made you feel like there's something wrong with you - they're wrong. That's on them." He took another step closer, so they were an arm's distance apart. You're trying to trick me— "I accept you for you, no matter who you are, no matter what skeletons you have in your closet, no matter if you think you're too good or not good enough or whatever. You're like my brother, man."
"Don't lie to me, Tyson." Don't you dare lie to me.
"If you think I don't love you, then you can forget it. But I know you love me, and you think of me as a brother too. You've stood up for me almost as many times as I've stood up for you when other people were talking about you behind your back. I mean, we've saved each others' lives! If that isn't love and acceptance, then I don't know what is."
He stopped. Resolutely. Kai looked up into his friend's eyes. I believe you.
"Well…" he began, unsure of how to tread this unexplored area. Tyson's earnest expression urged him on. "I'm bi."
Tyson's mouth dropped open. Immediately, Kai knew he had made a mistake, and turned quickly for the door. Tyson caught his shoulder before he could leave. "Wait, wait! I'm just… surprised, is all. I really thought you were gay! I guess you just didn't like Hilary cause she's Hilary, amiright?" Tyson got a glimpse of Kai's now annoyed expression. "I'm still glad you told me."
Kai jokingly harrumphed. "It's not like you really gave me a choice, though, is it?"
"I mean, I wouldn't have gone after you if you didn't! Maybe a little, but not for the rest of your life!"
"How did you even find out? I swear I've never told you about my sex life," Kai asked, his voice still wavering from the leftover anxiety. He felt immensely calmer now, though.
"Honestly, until about two days ago, I didn't even think you had a sex life."
"Well, if you asked, I would've said I was saving myself for marriage," Kai said, straight-faced.
Tyson waited for the kicker that didn't come. "No way. Really? I never would have believed you." Kai rolled his eyes.
"Back then, when we first met, you would have believed anything. But you were also a prick, so I would have never told you anything."
"You never did tell me anything! You still don't! And you're like impossible to read at the best of times. In fact, I still can't tell how you're feeling about this," Kai raised an eyebrow. "You know, your cover being blown! You're actually a secret undercover bi guy!"
"Never say that again."
"Well, I'm gonna have to, cause we're gonna go tell the others!"
"Tyson."
"Or not. Dealer's choice. But they're your family, too, you know, and they love you in the same way I do. Also, and I don't want to pressure you, but they still think you're gay."
"Did you tell everyone?"
"No, of course not! They were helping me make sure! And that's why we were on your MySpace page, by the way, not because we were making fun of you."
"You know what? I'm glad you prodded. You're a nosy little prick, but at least you're not a bigot," Kai said, the words flowing freely from his mouth now, the elation of having just come out to one of his closest friends/brothers causing him to be more vocal than usual. His eyes gleamed as he told Tyson "Get the others. I have something to tell them, and for once, I know that it'll be all right."
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