The boy himself was poring over a thick scrapbook, his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth in determination. It was a family tradition to memorialize every year, and this year, Yukimura had insisted that he take on the task. At the moment, he was about to carefully press down a photo of his little sister's volleyball triumph when the phone rang, jolting him out of concentration.
The photo fluttered and stuck haphazardly onto another. Dammit, ruined! Yukimura did his best to pry off the photo and wipe off excess glue while answering the phone.
"Yukimura," he barked, not caring who was on the other end. His peaceful mood had turned stormy.
"It's Jackal," the voice on the other end of the line was hesitant. "Bad timing?"
Yukimura wiped diligently at the spot, glad to see that the glue was coming off cleanly. "...I could probably use a break. What's up? How's Brazil?"
"I'm actually back now. Dad wanted to return before New Year's." A hint of distaste was in his voice. Yukimura hadn't spoken much to Jackal (hell, Jackal didn't speak much at all), but he had a feeling that his home life was less than satisfactory.
"Come over," Yukimura ordered, and Jackal understood. "My family's out, and I could use the company."
Within the space of twenty minutes, Yukimura had cleared away the scraps and managed to straighten out the room a bit before he heard the doorbell chime. He thudded down the stairs, jumping over the last one and opening the door in one smooth motion. "Hey!"
"Yukimura," Jackal acknowledged with a polite nod. He tactfully failed to mention the clipping that appeared glued to Yukimura's face, lest he face his wrath. It was freezing compared to Brazil, and running laps in the snow had absolutely no appeal at the moment.
"How are"
"Come in," Yukimura interrupted and glanced up the stairs. He had work to do, and no time to dawdle while answering questions about his health. "I'm fine, I'm fine."
Jackal had never seen Yukimura in such a rush, and it astonished him to see the normally composed boy coming unglued. "What's the problem?"
Yukimura skidded to a halt, causing Jackal to knock into him and nearly stumble back down the stairs. "Oh, sorry about that! I'm simply running late on a project..." He pushed open his bedroom door and pointed to the heavy scrapbook. "That." He settled back down into his project, and Jackal automatically sat down to help. It was evident that Yukimura was just as preoccupied as he was, and the only time he could get a word in was after the task had been completed.
The two worked in silence for a while as Yukimura persevered to complete the page. Jackal occupied himself with sorting photos.
"...Wait," he said suddenly.
Yukimura looked up from his reverie. "Is something wrong?"
"No," Jackal answered, his head bowing slightly in apology. "I was just startled by the picture."
He extended the picture, cradled almost reverently in his dark hand. "...Why is there a picture of me mixed in with your family photos?"
It was at that moment that Yukimura wished he wasn't a terrible liar. If that weren't the case, he could easily make up some excuse about how the picture got put in there by accident, or how he considered everyone on his team family. But that would raise more questions, about why there weren't more pictures of the team. No, Jackal was much too smart for that.
"...You're family," he mumbled.
"What?"
"You're family," Yukimura said again. "I mean, you're always here, right?"
Jackal cast his eyes to the ground, immediately ashamed. "I just-"
"-have nowhere else to go," Yukimura finished for him. "I understand, you know."
Yukimura took Jackal's silence as a signal to go ahead. "...It's all right, Jackal."
Jackal managed to crack a smile. "So how'd I get this honor?"
Yukimura simply took the picture away from him and neatly pasted it into the book.
Jackal rarely spoke; never shared his thoughts with the world.
Yukimura kept his feelings silent; never daring to speak his weaknesses.
They didn't need words.
The silence spoke enough.