3: Endlessly, He Said

Kiryu shook the sand from his hair.

"Kiryu! You got sand on the floor!" Yusei pouted.

"So? It's the floor."

"I don't want to be stepping on any after I'm nice and clean."

"Lighten up, crabhead," Jack replied, also shaking the sand from his head. It had been hiding in his blond hair. Yusei's OCD was going nuts. He left the room, and Jack figured he was just having some kind of tantrum. But then a minute later Yusei reappeared with a small vacuum in his hand.

"Where the hell did you get that?" Jack snorted.

"It's my emergency vacuum," Yusei said as he plugged it in.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jack snorted again. "You're the one who wanted to book us at the cheapest motels and here you are fucking vacuuming the floor!"

"Low budget, not unsanitary," Yusei replied.

"Hey Kiryu, whatcha looking at?" Jack suddenly asked. Yusei looked up to see Kiryu gazing intently outside.

"They're watching us," Kiryu said blatantly. Yusei got up and looked out the window where Kiryu was staring. He didn't see anything unusual.

"Well, don't look at them and they'll probably go away," Yusei reasoned with him. Jack resisted the temptation to be an asshole and didn't say anything. But when Yusei went back to vacuuming and Kiryu kept looking outside, Jack drew the curtains closed.

"There. Now they can't see," he said, deciding to go along with his cousin's delusion. Yusei had been right, after all. He had to be more sensitive.

"Okay," Kiryu huffed, and he got back on his bed. A minute later, though, he sprang up and peeked behind the curtain.

"Kiryu," Jack said warningly, and Kiryu snapped the curtains shut.

"Just checking," Kiryu assured him, getting back on his bed. But Jack noticed him glancing at the window frequently.

"There's no one out there!" Jack snapped, and Kiryu jumped in fright.

"Jack!" Yusei snarled, and Jack sighed.

"Sorry, it's just really annoying!"

"It's not my fault!" Kiryu pouted. "They're out there watching us! I know it! I just KNOW it!" He jumped up again and whipped open the curtains, glaring outside.

"I need some fresh air," Jack groaned, and he put on his shoes and whisked himself out.

"Kiryu, stay here," Yusei ordered as he followed Jack. He'd have to be quick because it was bad to leave Kiryu alone for too long.

"Jack, what the hell."

Jack grunted at him.

"I just can't take dealing with him for such an extended time," he complained. "He's wearing me out."

"He's your cousin and he has a mental illness. He's not a tamagotchi that you can just pause when you don't feel like playing with it. You came on this trip with us so you're going to have to learn to deal with it."

"Tama… who even still plays with those?" Jack snorted.

"That's not the point. The point is-"

*CRASH*

Yusei instinctively ran back in.

"It's okay!" Kiryu assured him, fixing a lamp. "I knocked over a lamp when I was running but it's fine."

"Kiryu, you're bleeding," Yusei pointed out.

"Where?"

"Here."

Jack had come back in, and he wiped the blood from Kiryu's chin.

"Ow!"

"Sorry. I'll get you a bandaid."

Yusei smiled. Perhaps Jack was finally getting it. Yusei sat down, and for the first time all week (or in a long, long time), he relaxed. Actually relaxed. Let out a deep sigh and calmed himself.

Until there was a scream and the sound of things being thrown was heard. Yusei jumped up and rushed into the bathroom, where Jack was supposed to be cleaning Kiryu up. Kiryu was throwing anything he could reach at Jack, who was shielding his face.

"Yusei, help!" Jack pleaded. "I don't know what I did!"

"Kiryu! KIRYU! Calm down!" Yusei urged, trying to get between them and push Kiryu back.

"He's with them, Yusei! He's fucking with them! TRAITOR!" Kiryu screamed.

"I'm not with them!" Jack assured him, "I'm with you!"

"Why do you think Jack is with them?" Yusei asked.

"Look at the bandaid he tried to give me!" Kiryu spat angrily. Yusei looked and Jack held it out to him, looking scared and confused. It was an H-shaped bandaid. Kiryu had never freaked out over them before.

"What's wrong with the bandaid?" Yusei asked him calmly.

"It's an H!" he snarled. "It's how they track me! No wonder they're snooping around!"

"I swear I didn't know!" Jack pleaded to him. Yusei was glad that he was catching on quickly how to deal with Kiryu's episodes.

"If you're really not with them then flush them, all of them! Right now!" Kiryu demanded.

"What? That's such a waste," Jack complained.

"Do it, Jack," Yusei agreed, and Jack sighed. Then he picked out all the H-shaped bandaids from the mix pack and flushed them down the toilet while Kiryu watched and Yusei attended to his wounds. Kiryu seemed much happier afterwards and announced that "they" had left, following the signals of the flushed bandaids now zipping through the pipes deep underground.

When Kiryu was in the other room, Jack turned to Yusei.

"Alright. If I'm gonna do this properly, I want to know as much as you can tell me."

"What do you mean?"

"Tell me his triggers, his ticks, what sets him off, so I can avoid them."

"To tell you the truth, that bandaid one is a new one," Yusei admitted.

"Okay. So then, who does Kiryu think is after him?"

"He's never really said, but from what I can gather I'm pretty sure they're some alien species that take over humans like a parasite."

"Ew."

"Hey, guys~" Kiryu whined from the other room. "I'm hungryyyy. Let's get dinner."

"Alright," Yusei agreed. "Don't forget your medication!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Yusei could swear he had seen Kiryu taking his medication daily, but he was still acting distracted all the time. He was starting to fear that Kiryu might need an increase, or a new medication. As they were hundreds of miles away from Kiryu's psychiatrist, that was pretty impossible at the moment. Yusei was going to make sure he kept Kiryu's stress level down as much as possible, which would be easier now that Jack was cooperating.

After dinner Kiryu expressed a desire to walk on the boardwalk so they took a stroll. Yusei could have been imagining it, but Jack seemed to purposely fall behind them, as if giving them privacy.

"I'm still not really sure what career I want to pursue," Kiryu sighed, stretching and looking to Yusei for a suggestion.

"Well, what is it you like to do?" Yusei asked him. Kiryu took a moment to answer.

"I suppose… I like to cook." Even in the poor lighting Yusei could tell Kiryu's face was red. "You don't think that's too girly, do you?"

"No," Yusei assured him at the same exact time Jack said, "Yeah." Yusei turned to glare at him.

"You're one to talk, Mr. Takes-me-an-hour-to-do-my-hair-before-I-go-anywhere!" Yusei snapped.

"Hey, did I say it was a bad thing?" Jack replied stiffly.

"I'm not a girl." Kiryu was actually pouting.

"No one thinks you're a girl," Yusei assured him.

"You're pretty enough to be one," Jack teased. Yusei smacked him. However, the damage was done.

"Oh my god, it's my hair, isn't it?!" Kiryu balled his fists into his hair and began yanking.

"Kiryu, stop!" Yusei ordered, grabbing Kiryu's wrists, "Let go of your hair!"

"No!" Kiryu screamed, and people turned their heads to look at them.

"Jack, remember when you asked about Kiryu's ticks?" Yusei snarled at him."Well, that's one of them!"

"I'm sorry!" Jack apologized quickly. "Kiryu, please, I was joking. I'm the girly one. You look fine!"

It took five minutes of awkward wrestling to get Kiryu's hands away from his head. He had pulled out a considerable amount of hair, but not enough for it to be noticeable. To keep Kiryu from pulling out the rest of his hair, they walked hand in hand, Yusei with Kiryu's right hand and Jack with Kiryu's left. Kiryu was in a pretty sour mood after that so they decided to just go back to the hotel.

"You know, this is why I asked you to tell me what bothers him!" Jack snapped in the elevator.

"It would take forever to tell you every single little thing that sets Kiryu off," Yusei snorted.

"I'm standing right here, you know," Kiryu said coolly. Jack and Yusei went quiet.

"You know what? I just want to go to bed." Kiryu ripped his hands from the two boys and crossed his arms.

"Kiryu…"

"I don't want to hear it."

Yusei's stomach felt low. Now they had really upset him. The best thing to do really was to get him to go to sleep.

Yusei didn't know what time it was but he knew it was very late when he woke up. At first he thought he simply happened to wake up but then he heard a door close. Jack snored on.

Yusei got out of bed and slipped on his sandals, quietly following behind his frosty-haired friend who had just snuck out. This was one of the ramifications of living with Kiryu; you had to be sensitive to every movement, because he could just up and leave as suddenly and quietly as a ghost.

Luckily Kiryu didn't go far. He walked to the stairs and then stared up at sky. Yusei wasn't sure if he should intervene yet or not. Sometimes when Kiryu was fixated on something he could become violent if anything interrupted him. But then he sat down and began rubbing his stomach. He seemed to be muttering something incomprehensible to it. Yusei decided it was safe to reveal himself.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, walking over to Kiryu. Kiryu gasped and clutched his stomach, his face turning pink.

"Y-Yusei! H-How much did you see?" he asked in a very anxious tone.

"I saw you walk over here and sit down," Yusei replied, sitting next to him. Kiryu shied away, still holding his stomach.

"You're not supposed to know about this," Kiryu whispered. Yusei didn't know what he meant by that.

"I don't know anything," he shrugged, but Kiryu still looked upset. He stood up, still holding his stomach.

"Please don't follow me!" he declared, and he ran down the stairs and shot towards the beach, still holding his stomach as though afraid it might fall out.

Goddamn it, Kiryu, Yusei sighed mentally as he chased after him. His feet sunk in the sand as the terrain changed. Kiryu dived under a dock and disappeared. When Yusei caught up, he found Kiryu hunched over desperately digging a ditch with his bare hands. He looked very scared.

"Yusei, please!" Kiryu begged as he dug. "I don't want you to see this!"

"What are you going to do?" Yusei asked, trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice. Was he trying to bury himself alive or something? But then suddenly Kiryu doubled over and moaned in pain, letting out a few small sobs.

"I can't… I can't…!" he sobbed, and he writhed on the ground clutching his stomach.

"Kiryu, what's wrong?!" Yusei asked more urgently, but Kiryu shook his head.

"Y-You need to dig me a hole…!" he sobbed. "Please… I can't do it… It's coming…!"

Yusei was very confused but he knew he had to play along with Kiryu's delusions if he wanted the both of them to come out of this in one piece.

"Alright, I'll dig you a hole," Yusei promised, and he got on his knees and started pawing the ground, like a dog burying a bone. Kiryu moaned and sobbed and rocked back and forth, holding his stomach. Every so often he would cry out or moan something like "Hurry…!" or "It's coming…!"

"How big do you want this hole?" Yusei asked. He was starting to get tired.

"I need to squat in it," Kiryu sniffed. Yusei was suspicious now.

"What, are you going to like, go to the bathroom in it?" Yusei asked, wrinkling his nose. "You know we have a working toilet back at the-"

"NO!" Kiryu screamed, shutting Yusei up. He seemed to really be in agony now. "Yusei, I… I didn't want you to know…!" He was really crying now, his face bright red, mortified by this entire predicament.

"What is it, Kiryu?" Yusei asked once again. "You can trust me, okay? I want to help you."

Kiryu took some breaths to calm down.

"You… You won't look at me differently?" he squeaked, and Yusei could tell he was really scared of what Yusei would think.

"I won't look at you differently," Yusei promised.

Kiryu took a few steadying breaths and then said in a soft voice, "I'm… laying eggs."

It was so bizarre, even for Kiryu, that Yusei just looked at him.

"I thought we were mammals," was all he could get himself to say. Kiryu moaned and sobbed, clutching his stomach.

"Crow fertilized his eggs in me when I was sleeping and now they're coming out. It hurts so much, Yusei. I don't want you to see…" He sobbed even more. This was one of the most bizarre things Kiryu had ever hallucinated. Rather than fight with him and try to make him see reason with logic, which Yusei knew would never work anyway, he continued digging the hole. It took a while and Yusei was sweating like crazy but he finally got it to a size that would be comfortable for Kiryu to squat in.

"Is this okay?" Yusei asked, and Kiryu crawled into it.

"Yes, perfect," Kiryu breathed a sigh of relief. "Please don't look."

"Okay, hold on a moment," Yusei demanded quickly. "All lower articles of clothes need to be removed. I don't want you getting your clothes… messy." Yusei had a feeling that Kiryu would be doing something else instead of laying an egg. "Don't worry, I won't look." He turned away, his cheeks glowing slightly.

"Okay," Kiryu agreed, and Yusei heard him removing his pants. Yusei wondered how long this would take. It would be a pain in the ass (no pun intended) to have to explain to police officers why his friend was squatting half naked in a hole under the dock on the beach at five in the morning.

Kiryu began panting, and Yusei really didn't want to be hearing this. But before he could make up his mind about giving Kiryu more privacy or not, Kiryu reached out a hand.

"W-Will you h-hold my h-hand?" he sobbed, and Yusei's heart completely melted.

"Of course," Yusei replied softly, and without looking he took Kiryu's trembling hand. He would stick by Kiryu through anything. He had made that promise that day all those years ago in the hospital when Kiryu was snarling in a straitjacket and a doctor was telling him the diagnosis. No matter how scary things got, or weird, or embarrassing, or life-threatening, he'd stay with Kiryu, holding his hand until the end.

The sun was beginning to rise when Yusei came to. He must have dozed off, which was never a good thing to do when Kiryu was in the middle of an episode. He looked around and found Kiryu sitting against a dock pole (pants on, thank goodness), and cradling something invisible in his arms. He was talking to himself, but he seemed happy- joyful, even. Yusei noticed the hole had been filled in.

"Hey…" Yusei yawned as he slunked over. Kiryu shushed him.

"They're sleeping," he whispered, giggling and looking down fondly at his invisible egg children.

"Sorry," Yusei whispered, and he situated himself next to him. He rested his head on Kiryu's shoulder.

"Aren't they cute?" Kiryu cooed, and Yusei almost laughed but he caught himself.

"Adorable," Yusei mumbled back sleepily.

"Crow said he'd pick them up soon so I can go get some sleep. That's nice of him, don't you think?"

"Well, they ARE half his responsibility," Yusei told him. "After all, he fertilized you without your permission."

"Mmn."

When Yusei and Kiryu returned to the motel, Jack was up.

"Hey, where were you guys?" he demanded. "I was worried."

"I had birdlings," Kiryu yawned, climbing into bed. "I'm so tired."

"Birdlings? What?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Boy, do I have a story for you," Yusei snorted as he got himself bread to toast.

Kiryu decided to sit in the back of the car so he could sleep. He had the whole back seat to himself. Yusei sat up front with Jack, who drove.

After Jack was sure Kiryu was asleep, he said, "Hey, Yusei?"

"What?" Yusei yawned.

"Do you think…. Kiryu should go to college?"

Yusei almost choked on the coffee he had been drinking.

"W-What?" he gasped, coughing and clearing his throat.

"I don't think he's well enough to be on his own," Jack told him. "I don't think he'll be able to go to school. How will he get anything done?"

"So what's he supposed to do with his life?!" Yusei hissed, angry that Jack would even suggest such a thing.

"I don't know. But I don't think college is for him."

"I will not let him end up in an institution for the rest of his life!" Yusei snarled. He was infuriated to see Jack grin at him.

"You think I'm joking?!" He growled.

"No," Jack replied,"but I do think I hear wedding bells."

"What?"

"Yusei and Kiryu sitting in a tree, f-u-c-k-i-n-!"

Yusei shushed him loudly, looking back at the sleeping Kiryu as though he was a bomb about to explode.

"Ohoho~!" Jack grinned even wider. "You like him!"

Yusei smacked his arm very hard.

"If you don't shut up I swear I will cut all of your hair off in your sleep!" Yusei spat, which only made Jack chuckle deviously.

"I will murder you," Yusei hissed.

"So you do like him!" Jack's grin should have been illegal.

"I'm not saying anything else!" Yusei snapped, and he turned from Jack and refused to speak to him. He really wanted to ask if Kiryu liked him too, but that would probably give it away. Jack could potentially ruin everything.

"I'll just say this," Jack added slyly. "I know he's got his eye on someone, but he won't say who."

Yusei's stomach turned to ice. Worse than ice.

"Jack, pull over," he managed to say, and Jack looked at him quickly, eyebrows raised.

"Why?"

"NOW!"

That shout roused Kiryu from his sleep.

"Hey, why are we stopping?" he asked, noticing the car pull over. For an answer, Yusei threw open the door and projectile vomited onto the grass.

"Ugh. Gross," Kiryu complained as Yusei coughed and wiped his mouth.

"You can thank Jack for that one," Yusei snarled, slamming the door shut.

"What did I do?!" Jack demanded.

"Nevermind! Just get going again!" Yusei snapped impatiently.

"Well, are you going to get sick again?"

"If I do, I'll make sure to do it on you!"

"Hey, what's going on?" Kiryu asked, looking concerned.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep." Yusei snarled, folding his arms and leaning on the passenger side door, fixedly staring out the window. Kiryu looked at Jack but Jack just shrugged and got the car going again.

"Yusei's on his man-period or something."

"Shut up," Yusei growled.

Kiryu laid back down and shut his eyes, trying to fall back asleep. But a few minutes later he heard a sniff and looked up. He could see Yusei's shoulders trembling slightly as he gave another sniff. Kiryu sat up with alarm, but saw Jack looking at him via the rearview mirror. He shook his head solemnly. A pain entered Kiryu's heart that he couldn't explain. It just… hurt. It hurt that Yusei was hurting. And he had no idea why. Where had this come from? What had he missed while he was asleep? He wanted to comfort Yusei but Jack was telling him not to. Or at least, he saw Jack shaking his head. But he wasn't actually shaking his head. Kiryu did not know this, though, and laid back down, feeling gloomy.

The rest of the ride was quiet. Eventually Jack turned on the radio and Kiryu sat up, watching scenes rush past him through the window. Yusei remained bunched up in his little corner and Kiryu didn't know what to do. When they finally got to their hotel, Yusei was the first out of the car. He didn't even bother grabbing his bag. He just stormed into the motel lobby.

"I'll talk to him," Jack sighed, shutting his door.

"I'll… get his bag…" Kiryu replied gloomily. Jack hurried into the building after Yusei, who was approaching the front counter. Jack grabbed his shoulder and pulled him aside.

"Fucking talk to me!" Jack demanded.

"I have nothing to say to you!" Yusei hissed, his voice cracking severely.

"What the hell was that in the car, huh?"

"It's none of your business!" Yusei snapped.

"Why won't you admit that you like him?" Jack jabbed at him.

"I don't!" Yusei shouted through clenched teeth.

"Right. So that's why you threw up and then cried the whole rest of the car ride," Jack snorted mirthlessly.

"It would never work anyway. We're both too mentally unstable," Yusei said, his voice suddenly solemn. Jack opened his mouth, but before he could say anything Kiryu entered the building with his bag and Yusei's.

"I have your bag, Yusei," Kiryu said apprehensively.

"Thanks," Yusei grumbled, snatching the bag from him. "Let's go to our room." As Yusei left, Kiryu looked at Jack for an explanation.

"I think I might have just fucked up your potential relationship with Yusei?" Jack told him, ending with an air of question and apology.

"What?!" Kiryu snarled, practically breathing fire. "Jack Atlas, what did you do?!"

"Come on!" Yusei popped his head back in to yell at them.

"We'll talk about it later," Jack replied hurriedly, running to the desk to check in and grab the room key.

Yusei couldn't sleep. He had insisted he sleep in a corner on the floor and had spent the night brooding in his own misery.

Too mentally unstable…. what had he been thinking, telling Jack something like that? There was no one better qualified for Kiryu than he was!

But… what if he was the one who needed a sane arm to lean on? Yusei had his moments too. He had a terrible panic disorder and often worked himself up into a frenzy, like he was now. He needed someone to hold him and tell him everything was going to be okay and that they were safe. He wasn't sure Kiryu could be that person. Last night he had been convinced that he was laying eggs.

No…. two mentally challenged people a functional relationship did not make. Yusei needed someone calm and levelheaded and logical and sweet…

That's what he needed. But he wanted Kiryu.