(...)
x x x Close Relations x x x
x...three...x
[that other compulsive sibling]
(...)
As usual, the meeting room for the United Nations was being repaired with great speed and ease (it wasn't the first time the room had been demolished - though it was the first time a flamethrower was involved!). Yao sighed, at peace once more, after hearing the hammering of nails and drilling of wood in the background. There wasn't much for him to do, what with the repairs going on and all.
He had entertained himself with watching the television, except there was nothing good (no surprise, the UN were too cheap to subscribe to anything but the political channels...), and reading the newspaper, only to discover that someone must have taken it, because it was not there. Then he sighed, because suddenly, the wonderful stack of Kitty-chan toys didn't seem so wonderful, particularly because it was blocking the window with its immense height.
"Well!" he declared to no one in particular, "I shouldn't be bored-aru! I should be happy and excited! Ivan bought me a lot of Kitty-chan goods, and Kiku managed to get the dye out of my hair!" And then his smile dropped two watts; Yao shuddered at the memories of that particular dress-up session. The scarier thing was that it wasn't the first, and he knew it wouldn't be the last.
"Anyways, I can play with Kitty-chan~" And then he turned to the huge pile of Hello Kitty merchandise - the one that had been stacked so neatly, thanks to two hours of nothing to do (which meant that indirectly, it was thanks to Alfred and Ivan as well).
Only to find it was not there.
Yao blinked. Once, twice. "What?" his voice sounded small, but he could hardly care, namely because that large lovely wonderful pile of Hello Kitty merchandise (the one that he had managed to get for free - and off of Ivan as well!) was now... not there. "What?" he cried out, voice hitting yet another high note for the day.
"Hello~!" a voice - one that he most knew - called out from below the window, "Yao-hyung!" Im-Yong Soo joyously called out, effortlessly climbing in through the window. "Kiku told me that you got your hair cut, so I wanted to see how it looked, da-ze~!" he cheerily said, as if that was any reason or explanation for Yao. On Yao's part, he stood quivering with disbelief-come-rage.
"Im-Yong Soo," he ground out, "Where did all of my Kitty-chan things go?"
"Oh those," the other carelessly noted, "Well, you see, Yao-hyung," he started with a smile, "I needed to get to your room in the UN, but then I had forgotten my card key at home, and since they changed the password combination for your room, I couldn't exactly break in right? And so I went around, looking and looking for some way to see my dearest hyung-nim, and then there was the HUGE pile of stuffed animals and I figured you wouldn't mind if I used a few to make a ladder to get up here!" And with that, he gestured - proudly - at the questionably strung-together 'ladder' made entirely of Sanrio products.
Yao could've cried - right then and there.
"A ladder," he said instead, with a voice devoid of emotion. "You used all of my Kitty-chan things to make a ladder."
"Yup!" Im-Yong Soo proudly replied, "But it's not just any ladder; it's a ladder that is the perfect height for climbing in and out of your room!"
"Out! Out!" Yao cried, face red - with anger and sleep-deprivation and shock - and hands moving faster than his mind. Im-Yong Soo, who isn't even completely in the suite, just halfway really, widened his eyes and opened his mouth, to form a little 'o' of surprise. "I can't believe - " Yao continued, only to stop in a harrowing halt, because his hands were in front of him, and Im-Yong was five inches away - tentwentyfifty - farther, farther, farther.
Yao noticed the wide-eyed surprise on both their faces, and the fact that Im-Yong Soo's hand reached out just that little bit and - for a second - Yao thought that their fingertips might just touch. Might.
And then the the resounding crash - the one that never came.
"Im-Yong Soo!" Yao shouted, leaning completely out the open window. He let out a sigh of relief, knees buckling below him, after having seen the other hanging on - barely - to the makeshift 'ladder' - just four feet from hitting the ground. "I'm so so so sorry, aru!" Yao gasped out, forcing himself to get up on his feet in order to drag his fellow nation in. It took a great deal of effort, and Im-Yong Soo was uncharacteristically silent the whole way through. Yao lunged forward to grab at the other's hands, pulling him completely in and paying no attention to the now-ripped stuffed animals.
"I'm so glad you're alright," Yao whispered, hands clenching and unclenching.
Im-Yong Soo refused to make eye contact.
"Sorry for making you rip all your stuffed animals," he stiffly said.
"They don't matter!" Yao declared, "You're much more important than them! I'm so sorry for pushing you out the window - for losing my temper like that! I'm so sorry Im-Yong Soo," he bowed his head, "I just... I wasn't thinking very clearly." So stupid of himself; what kind of elder was he?
"Liar," The other nation accused, without any malice in his tone. "You were thinking perfectly clearly, Yao-hyung. You were just trying to get rid of me; of course you value the Hello Kitty animals more than me!" his lips were pressed together, trembling in finality, "Kiku gives you Kitty-chan merchandise, Ivan keeps you company, and Alfred and Arthur are trading partners! But what about me, what do I give you?"
"Im-Yong Soo, that's not - "
"Yes it is! It has always been like this," Im-Yong Soo insisted, "I'm always second! You never have time for me; there's always something more important, there's always something better to do!"
Instead of replying, Yao walked up to his younger sibling, flicking him squarely across the nose.
"Ow!" Im-Yong Soo cried out, halting his tirade, "What was that for?" he demanded, curling a hand around his nose - to shield against future blows.
"For thinking less-clearly than me, aru," Yao flatly said. "You give me laughter, you give me light; you give me family and affection and adoration!" Im-Yong Soo's eyes widened; he was entirely unused to such vocabulary, "And even if you didn't give me anything," Yao pressed, "You would still matter more than all the Kitty-chan stuffed animals in the world." And then he sighed, relaxing his features and taking on a more concerned look. "You never told me you felt this way, Im-Yong Soo."
"But I've been trying to - for years!" the other protested, heart beating a du-dum, du-dum once more, because today might just be the day - the day Yao-hyung would finally understand the meaning of all those letters and gifts and random appearances in even more random places.
Yao sighed again, massaging his forehead, "I'm so sorry, Im-Yong Soo," he repeated, "I make it up to you, in any way I can," he continued, causing Im-Yong Soo's pulse to accelerate, as well as clear his mind from all previously-negative feelings. And then - of course - Yao crashed them lower with his ending of, "I never knew that you felt overshadowed by people like Ivan and Alfred and Arthur!"
"I... I..." His mind raced, trying to salvage the situation - so that Yao would be redirected to the 'right' topic.
"Here, I'll prove to you that you'll always be more important!" and with that, Yao quickly pulled out his cellphone, "Oh damn," he muttered, "I forgot both Alfred and Arthur had their cellphones burned in the fire." The casual tone of voice which he used was alarming. "Ah, well, I call still call Ivan, aru!" And with a couple expert clicks of the phone's numbers (in an entirely too practiced manner, Im-Yong Soo thought), Yao was dialing Ivan.
The first ring hadn't even ended when Ivan picked up, much to Yao's surprise.
"Ivan?" Yao said, "This is Yao. I'm calling to cancel our lunch meeting because Im-Yong Soo came over and I wanted to bond with him, aru!" And before Ivan could get out a 'we never had a lunch meeting, YaoYao!', Yao had clicked shut the phone.
"There!" Yao triumphantly declared, "Is that a bit more reassuring, Im-Yong Soo?" Yao smiled, sweetly, turning to his darling younger brother, "I'm sorry I seem so busy and absent-minded. You and Kiku are often on my mind; I just... I just didn't really think you guys needed to know that, aru..." And then he trailed off, blushing a bit, before hugging Im-Yong Soo lightly.
"It's..." Im-Yong Soo started, shoulders dropping a bit because he was - so close - and then Yao-hyung just had to be as oblivious as always. He wanted to rage a bit, perhaps even convince Yao to see the truth, but then figured, ah what-the-hell. It - this - was, after all, just another reason as to why he only had eyes for Yao-hyung. "It's alright." He said, firmly. "I was just being childish and insecure, Yao-hyung, but thank you for... reassuring... me. I'm sorry about the stuffed animals, it really was my fault!"
"What do you mean?" Yao instantly replied, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. Im-Yong Soo laughed - nervously - scratching his head awkwardly - even his ahoge-face colored in-coordination.
"Well," Im-Yong Soo started, taking a deep breath before letting loose, "I was originally going to go through the normal way because even without the card key I would have been able to get through the gates, being a nation and all, da-ze, and then I looked at your window and saw a lot of Hello Kitty things and then I felt jealous because you had all those stuffed animals and I wanted one but you would never give me one so I decided that you shouldn't have them either and then I purposely used them as a ladder."
"Im-Yong Soo," Yao murmured, picking up the ripped-off arm of a Hello Kitty Hawaiian-style plush pillow - a limited edition one, at that - and tossing it carelessly to the side, "...I can't believe I almost caused you to break a couple bones because of that!" And then he laughed, affectionately, before ushering his younger sibling onto the couches of the suite. "It's... it's really silly, now that, what, five minutes have passed?" he wiped a tear from his eye, the product of laughing too much, "It all seems so silly now, doesn't it, aru?"
"Definitely!" Im-Yong Soo agreed, with an equally-wide smile. "But it's okay, Yao-hyung," he said with a joking smile, "Because one day, you too, will be as old and wise as I am. And then you'll understand how important it is to resolve conflicts in ways that do not involve pushing your fellow nations out windows, da-ze~!" Yao rolled his eyes, muttering something along the lines of 'I should be saying that to you!'. "And also!" Im-Yong Soo piped up, "You told Ivan you had canceled your lunch meeting, right?"
"...Right..." Yao hesitantly put out, hoping his (not-terribly thorough, thankfully) younger sibling wouldn't go through the trouble of verifying this piece of information.
"And the reason was because you wanted to have... bonding time with me, right?" And here, Im-Yong Soo playfully arched his eyebrow at the word 'bonded' - a not-so-subtle hint that Yao only completely missed (either that, or ignored).
"...Yes?" Yao replied, uncertainly.
"Well then, let's go outside and bond, right?" Im-Yong Soo grinned, grabbing his beloved older brother's hand and pulling the two of them up. "There's a really good café that Eduard-nim and Lili-dongseang recommended! It's on fifth street~" he gaily said, as Yao paused.
"Wait... fifth street?" And then blanched, "And Lili-dongsaeng?" his eyes widened to saucers, "Y-You couldn't possibly be talking about Vash's little sister, right, aru?"
"But I am, da-ze~" Im-Yong Soo cheerily replied, "She's nothing like her brother at all," he added, when Yao shuddered - and then scoffed, "And she's very good at RPG and FPS games! The three of us often work on the coding behind these things, you know?"
"I didn't know," Yao murmured, raising an eyebrow. "Wow, aru!" he declared, grabbing the handle of the door and motioning for Im-Yong Soo to step out first, "You're right; there is a lot of bonding that we need to do! I can't believe I didn't know that about the three of you!" And then he laughed, clapping Im-Yong Soo on the back, "However, as close as we may be, I must tell you that if you ever think that you have a chance with Vash's little sister, even I will not help you when you are facing the wrong end of Vash's gun!" Yao thought about it, as Im-Yong Soo flushed, ready to make fervent denial after denial, "Or should I say guns, aru?"
"It's definitely not like that, Yao-hyung!" Im-Yong Soo protested. "Can't you see I only have eyes for you, dearest brother?" And then he, too, cracked up in a smile, adding cheerfully, "My dear hyung-nim who will surely give me the next Hello Kitty plushie Kiku send him, right?"
"Ri - " Yao was about to say. Except he remembered that the July edition of Hello Kitty Monthly was an sailor!kitty. Complete with an adorable sailor hat! "We'll see..." he amended, laughing nervously. "Now about that café, let's order anything but the sweet food, okay?"
"Aww..." Im-Yong Soo whined, "But it's only in America that they put enough sugar in these things!" A pause, as Yao shuddered - remembering the sheer amount of sugar he had consumed a mere seven hours ago, and then Im-Yong Soo gasped.
"Yao-hyung! Do you think that I'm... fat?"
(...)