"I'm sorry, I didn't wake you, did I?" sounded the voice on the other side. "No, no! I was still awake!" Alex quickly replied and grinned at the ceiling. It was if Kiku could see him grinning, because Alex heard a soft chuckle. "That's good to hear. Anyway, I'm really sorry for calling you so late, but it's urgent.." Alex' grin faded and his face formed a serious expression, he reached into his bag and pulled out a notebook. "All right, tell me." he simply replied and leaned forward. "Yes, I was wondering if you had some new things? If so, I'd like to see them." Kiku spoke, his voice sounding serious but calm, like always. Alex grinned and scribbled some notes in his notebook.
"Actually, I have lots of new things you haven't seen yet. When would you like to see them? I take it as soon as possible?" He spoke, his grin returning. "Well, if it's possible, yes please." Kiku replied firmly. "But only if it's no bother to you, Alex-san!" Alex chuckled, This was exactly what Kiku was like and what he liked about his friend. "Ah, don't worry about it... But the thing is that I'll be shipping all the stuff to my place in L.A., I hope that won't be a problem for you?" Alex spoke as he walked towards the window and stared absently at the sky.
"Actually, it's no problem at all. I'm supposed to go there anyway. When will be a good day for me to visit?" Kiku spoke, his voice sounding happy and relieved. "I'll arrive tomorrow, the stuff within two days max. But I already have a couple of blueprints I can show you. So I don't really mind when you come by." Alex mumbled, yawning slightly. This day had been tiring and boring, well, until now. "I see, in that case would it be all right if I call you the moment I arrive in L.A.? If that's no problem with you of course." Kiku asked politely and Alex could imagine him bowing with his phone. "Don't worry about it, just call me when you arrive and I will pick you up at the airport, okay?" Alex spoke and walked back to the couch and scribbled some extra notes in his notebook. "Ah, thank you. Alex-san! I'll do that." Sounded a rather excited voice from the other side of the line. Alex laughed at Kiku's excitement and smiled. "No problem, in that case I'll see you soon." "Ah, yes! G-goodnight, Alex-san. And I apologize for calling you so late." Kiku said again. "Don't worry about it. Goodnight, Kiku." Alex answered and hung up before throwing his cell phone on the couch and fell down on the bed.
It's been a while since he and Kiku last met and Alex was looking forward on meeting him again. Alex sighed softly and tried rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. While making himself more comfortable on the bed, Alex thought back to the day he and Kiku met.
It was a stormy day in L.A. And Alex was wandering through the streets, walking slowly away from his father's old house. His dad had just died in a tragic car accident and had left Alex his business. Not sure where to start, Alex traveled back to their old house in L.A., hoping he'd find something useful and lucky for him, he did. Alex had found old blueprints his father was still working on and his own note- and sketchbook, which contained a lot of ideas. Alex walked the path he had walked so many times, but this time he thought about his sisters. The oldest, Bella, stayed strong. She told Alex multiple times she was doing fine and that he shouldn't worry about her. Which he did because he knew Bella was just pretending. But his youngest sister, Camille, he worried about her the most. Camille was in the car with his dad, she luckily survived with just a few scratches. But she hadn't spoken a word since the accident. Alex and Bella had tried everything they could, but failed every single time. In the end they decided that Camille would talk when she would be ready.
Alex sighed and held the documents of his dad tighter against him. One thing was certain, Alex would make his father's dream come true and take care of his sisters. No matter what. Not really looking where he was going, Alex suddenly felt somebody bumbling into him, which made him drop the documents when he fell on the ground.
"A-ah! I'm sorry! I didn't see you.. A-are you all right!" Sounded a soft voice. Alex looked up, scratching his head, to see a small man in front of him on the ground, trying to get up. "I'm fine, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going... Sorry." He mumbled and got up as well, cleaning his clothes a bit before looking at the man he had bumped into. Alex could now see a face, dark brown eyes staring up at him, a slight blush on pale cheeks and dark hair which made Alex guess the man was Japanese. "I'm truly sorry!" the Japanese spoke again and bowed multiple times.
Alex chuckled and shook his head. "It's okay, don't worry about it." He said again and bend over to grab his belongings of the ground. "Le-let me help you with that!" The Japanese offered and kneeled down to help Alex. "No, no need to." Alex said, not wanting that the man saw the designs he had made together with his father. He quickly gathered all the blueprints and saw the man had already grabbed some prints and was staring at them. Alex quickly took them from the man and held them close under his arm. "Ah, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to look..." The man said and bowed once again. "Don't worry about it..." Alex mumbled and stepped away from the man, wanting to get away from him as soon as possible.
"Oh, please wait a moment!" The man said and stepped in front of Alex. "Please, those designs... Did you make them?" this wasn't exactly what Alex was suspecting to happen. He raised confused an eyebrow. "Well... Yeah. Some of them with my dad, most of them are made by me. Why..?" Alex was more surprised to see the smaller man smile at him. "Those designs are truly amazing. There would be a lot of organizations who would want to buy that kind of weapons." The man spoke and nodded. "Including mine."
Alex blinked dumbly and stared down at the man. "Really?" He asked and mentally face palmed for his stupid question. It was as if the man could see Alex' mental face palm because he started chuckling. "Really. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Kiku Honda. I'm a part of an organization in Japan." Kiku spoke and smiled up at Alex. "Right, I am Alex Smith." He mumbled and stared at Kiku. "Yakuza?" Kiku nodded as an answer and reached into his pocket and gave Alex his card. "Call me tomorrow. We'll go over some details." Alex took the card and looked at it. "Sure.. Thanks, Kiku." He mumbled and looked at the man in front of him who nodded as a answer. "I'll talk to you tomorrow then, Alex-san."
That was how Alex and Kiku first met. The day after Alex called Kiku and they met once again. Kiku told Alex he should find a way to produce his designs and if he succeeded he would help him to sell them. "Some friends of mine could really use your weapons, Alex-san." Was what Kiku said and this made Alex grin. This was what he was hoping for and he reassured Kiku that he would do his best and call him if he made any progress. With this, Alex traveled back home to his sisters where he told them everything that happened. Bella got excited and Alex could see a small smile on Camille's face. Together with his sisters, Alex reformed his father's business, which originally was trading weapons, but changed it to its new purpose; selling self-made weapons. It didn't take Bella long to find a good place where they could produce their weapons. So when finally the first weapons were made, Alex called Kiku to tell him the news.
It didn't take them long to ship some of the weapons to L.A. And show them to personal friends of Kiku. It were two Italian mob bosses, the Vargas brothers. Alex heard of them from his dad. He was told that the Vargas brothers might look like no threat, but once you got them angry you were a dead man, nothing could safe you. When Alex met them he was rather surprised that those people were the masterminds behind many murders and robberies. Alex didn't gave it much thought and showed them his weapons. Just like Kiku, the brothers were impressed and bought a lot of weapons and told Alex he should let them know once he made new weapons.
After the Vargas brothers, more people knew about Alex and his weapons. It didn't take long before he sold his weapons all over the world. Alex was Kiku most gratefull, it was thanks to him his father's company had grown worldwide.
"I still haven't thanked him properly for what he did back then..." Alex mumbled and stared into his hotel room. He made a mental note to do so the moment he saw him in L.A.
oOo
When Alex got of the plain the next day, he saw that his sisters were waiting for him with the car. "Ah! Brother!" He heard Bella's voice the moment he came outside. He looked around and saw his sister waving at him. Alex smiled and walked towards his sisters. "You should have told me you guys were already here.." Alex mumbled while being hugged by his sisters. "Tch, you're no fun. It was a surprise of course!" Bella chirped happily and waved with her arms. Camille simply nodded and smiled softly. "Well, you guys succeeded.." Alex replied and shook his head softly. But he was happy his sisters were here, he had missed them. "How long have you been here?" He asked and walked around the car to place his stuff in the trunk. "Yesterday. We were already at the airport when I called you~." Bella said and nodded her head happily. Alex chuckled and opened the door of the car to let his sisters in. "You guys never fail to amaze me." He mumbled and rubbed his head.
It was a short drive to their fathers old house, which was completely renovated. The usually old looking house was now more modern looking, which was Alex' taste. They were welcomed by their butler. "Welcome home, sir, madams." He spoke politely and eyed them friendly. "It's good to be back, Ben.." Alex mumbled and handed his stuff to his butler. "Brother, all of the stuff you will be needing for your meeting with the Vargas brothers are already in your office." Bella said with her usual smile on her face and pointed in the direction of Alex' office. "Thanks, Bella. Oh by the way, I'm also meeting with Kiku soon. He'll call me when he arrives here." He said and turned to Ben, his butler. "Can you make a room ready for him?" Ben nodded shortly. "Of course sir." He spoke and quickly walked away towards the kitchen, making sure dinner was ready on time.
"Oh, it's been a while since we last saw him!" Bella chirped cheerful and Camille nodded in agreement. "All right, Camille! Let's ask Ben to help us make sushi for him~!" Bella added and grabbed Camille's arm to drag her towards the kitchen. Camille looked confused but let her sister drag her away. Alex sighed and looked at his sisters, he was happy that they were doing fine. He always worried about them if he had to leave home to travel.
Alex walked slowly towards his office and looked around him. This house held many precious memories and Alex smiled while he remembered some. He slowly opened a door and look satisfied into his office. Alex walked towards his desk and seated himself in his chair. On his desk were the documents Bella spoke off. Most of them were finished blueprints. Alex quickly looked over them and got his things ready for his meeting with the Vargas brothers.
Once his preparations were ready he reached for his phone and dialed the Vargas' number. It didn't take long before somebody picked up the phone on the other end. "Hello?" "Yes, hello, this is Alex Smith and I'm would like to speak to the Vargas brothers." Alex spoke cheerful and let his chair spin several rounds. "Ah, yes. They said you'd call. I'll put you through, a moment please." the man spoke and did as he said. This time, it took a bit longer before someone picked up the phone, Alex guessed the brothers were discussing who could talk to him. "Ja, Alex?" Sounded a hard voice which didn't belong to one of the Vargas brothers. "Ah, Ludwig! Long time no speak huh?" Alex said cheerfully and grinned. He could imagine how Ludwig, the bodyguard of the younger brother, picked up the phone before one of the brothers could. "Ah, yes it has. A moment, I'll put you on speaker." Ludwig mumbled and Alex heard several voices not soon after.
"Finally bothering to call?" sounded the voice of the older brother, Lovino, obviously not to happy. "Ah, well I just came back from London you see. Business never stops, you of all people should know that." Alex spoke and grinned, knowing exactly what face Lovino was making. "Whatever." He heard Lovino mumble softly. "London? You mean Francis? How is he doing!" Sounded another excited voice, which belonged to Antonio, one of the brother's men, who was rather close to Lovino. "Doing fine, even though Arthur didn't look to happy about some things." Alex answered and his grin grew wider when he thought back at the deal he made not too long ago. "Yeah, yeah. Like I care about that stupid drug dealing pervert.. When are you gonna show us your new stuff!" Lovino mumbled angrily and impatient as always. "I take it that you guys want to see the blueprints and models, so I can come by tomorrow after three o'clock, I can't say exactly when though..." Alex said when he looked at a document with all the shipping information. "Ve~. That sounds good." The youger Vargas, Feliciano, answered. "We'll see you then, Alex~." "Yes you will." Alex answered with a chuckle and hung up. Alex grinned, he knew that the deal with the Vargas brothers would end up good, like always.
After the phone call with the Vargas brothers, Alex walked back to the dining room and had dinner with his sisters. "Do you know when Kiku will be coming to L.A. brother?" Bella asked after they finished desert. "Not exactly. But knowing him he'll be here soon enough." Alex mumbled absently while reading the newspaper. "Hmm, I see. All right Camille, let's make that sushi tomorrow morning, okay~?" Bella chirped and smiled brightly at her younger sister. Camille smiled back and nodded. "Don't try to poison him, 'kay?" Alex chuckled and looked daringly at his sisters. Bella pouted and crossed her arms. "Thanks for the trust." She mumbled and shot her brother her best glare. "No problem, you know m-.." Alex' sentence was interrupted by the cheerful melody of his telephone.
"Hello~!" He spoke happily when he picked up. "Alex-san, good evening." The soft voice of Kiku sounded. "Ah, Kiku! Are you already in L.A.?" Alex asked cheerful and made his way to the hallway. "Yes, I just arrived." Kiku replied politely. "All right, I'll be there within thirty minutes, just wait in front of the airport." Alex said, grabbed his car keys and walked towards the door. "A-all right. Thank you, Alex-san. See you soon." Kiku mumbled on the other end and Alex laughed. "No problem, see you later." He said and hung up and turned to his sisters who walked curiously behind him. "I'm going to pick up Kiku at the airport. You guys don't have to wait for us to come back, okay?" Camille answered with a nod and Bella waved at her brother. Alex quickly waved back and made his way to his car.
It was once again a short drive to the airport and Alex parked his car right in front of the airport. When he got out he saw a small man walking towards him. Alex waved at Kiku and opened his trunk. "Good evening, Alex-san." Kiku greeted and bowed politely. "Hello, Kiku. It's been a while hasn't it?" Alex replied and grinned at the man in front of him."If you don't count the many phone calls we had, yes, it has been a while." Kiku chuckled and placed his luggage in the trunk. "Well, yeah. Anyway, you can stay at my place as long as you want." Alex spoke and leaned against the car with a grin on his face. "And no, it isn't a problem, so don't even try to apologize, 'kay~?" He added with a grin on his face. Kiku, who wanted to apologize and reject the offer politely, stared at Alex for a while and decided it was the best not to argue with him. He would lose it anyway. "I see, thank you Alex-san." He finally said and smiled softly at the taller man. Alex chuckled and nodded pleased. "In that case, let's go." Alex mumbled and got into the car and waited for Kiku to do the same. When Kiku sat down and put his seatbelt on, Alex started the car and drove away.
"Say Kiku," Alex started after a while. "you said you needed to be in L.A., can I ask why?" He asked curiously and turned his head slightly to face Kiku. Kiku smiled back at Alex and nodded. "Of course you can, I'm meeting Feliciano and Lovino tomorrow. There are some things we need to talk about." He said and turned his gaze back at the road in front of them. Alex saw Kiku frowning a little and decided not to ask what they were talking about, it wasn't his business to begin with.
"I see. Oh! When are you meeting them tomorrow?" Alex asked, a little excited when he remembered his meeting with the Vargas brothers was tomorrow as well. "One o'clock... Why?" Kiku asked, raising his eyebrows curiously. "I'm going there tomorrow as well, to show them my new stuff. If you stay there you can see them as well and I can take you back to my place afterwards." Alex said, excitement clearly in his voice. Knowing the deal with the Vargas brothers would go well tomorrow gave him a lot of confidence. Kiku just stared at Alex for a while and nodded. "I see. That's sounds good Alex-san." He said after a while and smiled softly, but Alex saw something else in Kiku's eyes. He smiled back and noticed that Kiku was avoiding his eyes by turning his head quickly away. It was a little confusing for Alex and he didn't know what to do.
Shit, not this again, was the first thing Alex thought after a while. Alex and Kiku often had these kinds of moments where both of them didn't know what to say. Kiku reached out and turned on the radio, probably wanting to break the silence. "How long has it been since you've been here, Kiku?" Alex asked after a while, not finding the radio a good way to break the silence. "Ehm, let's see. Probably when I last visited Feliciano and Lovino. So six months, probably." Kiku answered and recounted the months on his fingers. "Yes, six months." He added, confirming his early answer. Alex nodded slowly and frowned a little. "That's quite long..." He mumbled while glancing at Kiku and saw that he nodded in agreement. "It is, so I'm planning to stay a bit longer here. Oh, if it's a problem I'll stay at a hotel, I don't want to bother you and your sisters, Alex-san." Kiku spoke and eyed Alex, a little, nervously. "Don't worry. You can stay as long as you want Kiku." He spoke laughing and ruffled Kiku's hair while his eyes were focused on the road. When he pulled back his hand, he saw from the corner of his eyes Kiku had now fully turned his head away from Alex. Not wanting to be bothered by such a small thing, Alex told himself he hadn't seen it quite well.
Alex sighed in relief when he had finally parked the car in front of his house. This ride had been awkward, Kiku and he had been talking about the most lamest things. Alex turned to Kiku and he saw that Kiku had the same kind of relief written all over his face. Alex chuckled and got out of the car, Kiku followed him and together they grabbed Kiku's luggage. "Ben prepared a room for you, I'll show you where it is." Alex said and pointed at his house. Kiku simply nodded as an answer and followed Alex closely. Once they were inside Kiku looked around him, rather impressed with what he saw.
"Your house is really beautiful, Alex-san." Kiku mumbled when they walked up the stairs. "Ah, thanks." Alex replied while he looked over his shoulder and grinned at Kiku. "The renovations were finished only a couple of weeks ago. I'm very happy with how it looks now." He added and looked around him. The house looked still very familiar to how it looked many years ago, but because of small changes it looked more modern. Kiku smiled when he saw Alex looking around him happily. "You seem very pleased with the result." "Well, of course I am! It looks just perfect." Alex sang and waved happily with his arms around. "Ah, here we are."
Alex opened a door at the end of the corridor. "This will be your room, just make yourself at home." He said and dropped some of Kiku's bags next to the bed. "You have your own bathroom." He added and pointed at a door, in the corner of the room. "If you need anything you can always call Ben or me. My room is the second door if you look at the right." Alex added and grinned at Kiku, knowing he wouldn't bother him or Ben, even it was his job to help Alex, his sisters and their guests. Kiku simply nodded and looked at Alex, smiling softly. "Yes, thank you Alex-san." He said and walked to the bed.
Alex watched every move Kiku made and after a while, once he noticed he was acting like a creep, he quickly walked towards the door. "I'll take my leave now.. G-goodnight, Kiku.." He mumbled, somewhat awkwardly. "Kiku looked up and smiled again. "Yes.. You too, Alex-san."
-O-
Jdkaljsdfkla. Guys, I'm sorry. Sorry for not updating in like… 6 months? You can totally blame school for this. Last year I had my final exams (passed them~!) and now I'm studying and it's taking a lot of free time! A LOOOOT. So that's why I haven't been able to update. After receiving some review (which made me happy TTwTT) I decided to finish the second chapter. In these past couple of months I have been working on the story plot though. I've decided a couple of things to make it more.. epic… I guess. Anyway; please forgive me for my late update and I honestly hope to update sooooooooon! /moreyaoiwillcometooyes.