Takahashi Residence. 12:30 PM, Sunday.

Ryousuke saved his file on the laptop and reached for the small coffee decanter on his desk. Empty. He opened his desk drawer to get more coffee, and then he remembered that he had used the remaining contents of the canister to make the last pot.

Sighing, he decided a trip to the kitchen was warranted. He dumped the used coffee grounds into the wastebasket and took the bag out of his trash can to dispose of it downstairs. He had finally finished the second clinical report and had sent it off to his team of interns; he was actually contemplating a nap, but he wanted to get the third report started at the very least. Besides, it gave him something to do instead of worrying about his Aces.

He made his way to the kitchen, his decision made to stay up a little longer. He got some fruit out of the refrigerator and ate it as he ground the coffee beans. He noticed that there wasn't much in the way of food in the house, but that was typical by the time Sunday rolled around. Every Monday morning the housekeeper would arrive to tidy up and do the shopping for the week. He stifled a yawn, despite the fact that no one was around to care if he allowed his exhaustion to show. Perhaps he should sleep today, knowing that trying to sleep whilst a vacuum cleaner was running downstairs tomorrow would not really work. Ryousuke could sleep through a lot, but, for some reason, the noise of a vacuum, though necessary, kept him awake and edgy, the annoying whirring sound too loud to ignore.

At least, now that he and Keisuke were older, he didn't have to deal with anyone who was essentially a stranger coming into his own room anymore; they stopped having a live-in when Keisuke started getting into trouble in his teens. Once he had graduated high school, Ryousuke had proposed to Father that he and Keisuke were old enough to keep their own rooms. Father was pleased. In actuality, Ryousuke just never felt comfortable with anyone not specifically invited to enter his personal space, and he knew Keisuke was sick of getting in trouble like a child half his age whenever any cleaning service wanted to charge them extra for cleaning his room and bathroom. Not to mention, no one in the family really wanted a housekeeper to find anything less than legal in his brother's cave while they were going about their business. If Keisuke liked it messy, oh well; he was the one who had to live in it. Ryousuke had the notion that Keisuke actually took some kind of enjoyment out of being a slob, even if it was to get negative attention from their mother and father; that kind of attention was about all he ever got anyway. At that time, he barely slept in his room anyway, out to all hours of the night, and sometimes out for days at a time staying God only knew where. By this time, their parents had just about washed their hands of him entirely, only serving as disciplinarians and damage control personnel, and Keisuke was on his path to self-destruction. By the time he was nineteen, he had already had his little criminal record, and he wasn't at all interested in lending a listening ear to any conversations Ryousuke had tried to initiate with him at that point.

However, Keisuke did come to him with something once. He was seventeen and he barged into Ryousuke's room one night looking as white as a sheet. Ryousuke had been trying to study for his first round of freshman exams, and he really didn't want to be bothered, but something told him to put his highlighter down and give Keisuke his attention. "Try knocking next time," he had admonished when the otouto burst in.

"Ryousuke! I need your credit card!" Keisuke had shouted.

"What?" the elder snapped.

"Just, give it to me. I need it."

"Keisuke, you have your own money."

"Uh...well, I won't have any until next month. I spent this month's."

"Ah," Ryousuke said, rolling his eyes and returning the highlighter to his hand. Apparently Keisuke had gone through his monthly trust fund allowance. Again. "Get a job then like other kids if you can't keep your hands on the ample money Father provides you every month. And I mean a legal job," Ryousuke had crossly added. "I need to study. Don't bother me if this is about money."

Before he returned his eyes to his notes, Ryousuke saw his brother's face grow from pale to flushed. He didn't look angry. He almost looked...worried. Ryousuke immediately thought that he had gotten in over his head with one of his new gangster pals; maybe he was gambling, maybe he forgot to pay for his last 8 ball of coke, who knew? Perhaps this wasn't about frivolous spending after all.

"How much money do you need, Keisuke?" he finally asked in response to the changed demeanor.

"I'm not sure. That's why I need your credit card," Keisuke quietly replied.

"You going to tell me what I'm buying with it?"

"I'd...rather not."

Ryousuke frowned. "Then my answer is no."

"But, Ryousuke!"

"Just tell me what it's for, and I will consider loaning it to you. And, it will be a loan, Otouto."

"You suck!" Keisuke shouted, balling his fists. "That's the last time I ask you for anything, asshole!"

"Have it your way, then," the elder calmly replied, returning to his book. However, Keisuke did not storm out of his room like he had expected. This could be bad. "You're not leaving," he remarked, not looking up from his textbook. Ryousuke continued to read, and Keisuke stood silently, watching him.

"Ryousuke, Aniki, I need...your help," Keisuke whispered.

It was an admission, and Ryousuke had been shocked to hear it. Something was really wrong here after all. He put down his highlighter again and stood up from his chair. "Sit down, then," he softly directed his brother to his bed. Keisuke sat down, and Ryousuke sat sideways on the bed himself to face him. "What happened?"

"If I tell you, I don't wanna hear about how stupid I am, so just tell me whether or not you'll loan me the money, and that's it, all right?"

"All right," Ryousuke begrudgingly agreed.

"I might have...," he paused, his face growing crimson.

"What?" Ryousuke implored. 'Burned a house down? Stolen a car? Stolen drugs? Bet away your motorcycle? Killed someone?' These rapid thoughts were the things that immediately came to Ryousuke's mind.

"I might have gotten a girl pregnant," Keisuke blurted out.

Ryousuke felt his mouth hang open a bit. "Oh." Big problem.

"'Oh'?! Is that all you are going to say?! Shit."

"You told me not to tell you how stupid you are."

Keisuke put his head in his hands. "I know it was stupid. But, yeah. So, do you realize why I need the money now? I need this to go away! I can't have a brat right now! You'll help me, won't you?"

Ryousuke sighed. "How long ago was it?"

"About...uh...a month? Month and a half maybe."

"Is she sure?"

"Of course she's not sure! That's why I need the money. I need to take care of it now if it's for real! I'm only seventeen and she's...God, Ryousuke, I don't know how old she is."

Ryousuke took a deep breath. This was definitely not his area of expertise for sure. He might be the elder, but he was pretty sure that Keisuke had far more experience than he did. In fact, he had still been getting over the shock that his preferences definitely leaned the other way, still feeling shame in his actions whenever he had tentatively ventured to indulge in the pleasure of another man's company. He'd actually only been with one woman before, a girl really, whom he knew had crushed on him all through high school. He had called her not long after he had first been with a man, in an effort to purge himself of the overwhelming sense that something was terribly wrong with him. She allowed it, welcomed it even. And yet, Ryousuke came away with feeling only guilt and a sense of disappointment; granted, both of them were inexperienced, and it was obvious. They had met a few more times, dating really, out of Ryousuke's sense of obligation to her. But, soon, she had grown bored with his lack of full attention and she moved on, which gave Ryousuke both a sense of relief and trepidation that he would have to face the fact that he wasn't going to miss being intimate with her much at all.

But he had at least managed to remember a condom, something his little brother apparently forgot.

"Then she needs to see a doctor to find out, and I'm sure you don't want me to suggest taking her to one of Father's clinics," Ryousuke whispered.

"Obviously. Wow. You really are a genius," Keisuke replied sarcastically, sulking.

Ryousuke sighed. "Look, Keisuke. There's a clinic at the University. I'll take her there for a test. I'm a student, and I'll just say that she's my girlfriend."

"You'd do that?" Keisuke breathed; obviously he was surprised that Ryousuke would get personally involved to an extent beyond the loaning of his credit card.

"Yeah. But, if it turns out she's pregnant, well, then we'll have to figure out what happens after that. I'll take her for a test, but I'm not claiming a baby for you, Keisuke. If she...wants to keep it, you will have to tell our parents if it comes to that. I think you know what that means."

"They'll pay her off to keep her mouth shut, and beat me senseless."

"Could be," Ryousuke mused. Decision made. He'd handle this for his brother, perhaps, it would open the door for Keisuke to begin to trust him. He certainly knew that he didn't like it when their Father beat him, an occurrence that happened regularly even when they were children, and which had been happening even more frequently since Keisuke had started getting into trouble. "But, first thing's first. Give me her number."

"Here. She should pick up right away. I told her I'd call her back," Keisuke said quietly, handing Ryousuke his new toy: a cell phone.

Ryousuke chuckled. "No wonder you don't have any money. These things aren't cheap you know. I don't even have one yet," he added.

"Heh. Well, yeah, they aren't cheap, but I need it for my...well, I just need one," Keisuke sheepishly admitted. "They'll come down though when everyone gets one, I guess."

"Yeah, I suppose," Ryousuke said, not wanting to really know all the reasons why Keisuke needed a cell phone despite the fact that he was still technically in high school, even if he skipped more often than not. He was sure his "associates" required it, or maybe it was Keisuke who required it from his associates. Who knew? Keisuke's surrogate family was full of tough guys, and, apparently, daring girls.

Ryousuke looked at the contact entry for this girl. "Keisuke, you have her in your address book as 'T.A.'. I can't exactly call and ask for initials."

"Eh?"

"Her name, Keisuke. Did you bother to get it?" he asked dryly.

"Geez! What do you take me for? Of course I got her name. It's Aya-chan."

"Just checking," Ryousuke replied as he dialed.

As the phone rang, Keisuke scowled. "I'm not that bad."

"Sure you aren't," Ryousuke supplied sarcastically, earning another scowl from his otouto.

"Hello? Keisuke-kun?" came a very young and fearful sounding voice on the other end.

"Hello. Is this Aya-chan?"

"Yes. Who's this?"

"My name is Takahashi Ryousuke, I'm Keisuke's elder brother."

"Oh. Uh, hello."

"Keisuke has informed me of your...dilemma."

"Oh. He told me he was going to try to ask you..."

"I think our best course of action would be to determine exactly what's happened, right?"

"Yeah," came the hesitant reply.

Ryousuke made arrangements with Aya-chan to pick her up early on his way to school, and explained that he would get her into the clinic with his student ID as his girlfriend. She agreed, and he jotted down her address in the margin of his notebook.

"Of course, you'll have to skip school, but, since you hang out with Keisuke, I imagine that's not a problem for you."

Keisuke rolled his eyes.

"Uh, yeah. I can ditch," Aya-chan sheepishly replied.

"Fine. It also means you will have to wait for me afterward, so bring a book to read or something, and I'll return you home after I'm done for the day. Is that acceptable?"

"Y-yes, Onii-san. Thank you very much. I'm very sorry to...be troubling you like this."

Ryousuke exhaled. "There's no need to apologize. I'll get my apology from Keisuke. However, I need to get you in before my first class after all, and I won't tolerate your making me late, so be waiting for me."

"I-I will."

"Okay. I'll put Keisuke on for you."

He handed the phone to Keisuke who snatched it up, muttering something about not wanting to apologize to Ryousuke for anything.

"Yo. Aya-chan...yeah. Don't oversleep 'cause he'll be pissed..."

Ryousuke chuckled. 'Yeah, I would be,' he thought.

"...I know...We'll, uh, figure it out...Yeah. I guess he is...Okay. I'll call you tomorrow."

Ryousuke looked at his brother again. "Well?"

"She told me I had an amazingly understanding elder brother," Keisuke grumbled.

"Hn. I'm not that understanding. You'll owe me. Big. And not just the money."

Keisuke scowled again. "Yeah, yeah. I know that already."

The next day, Ryousuke had picked up Aya-chan, who appeared to be about Keisuke's age, perhaps a year or two younger. He walked her into the clinic and signed in, ignoring the look of disapproval he received from the nurse as she read what he had filled in for the section entitled "Purpose For Visit". Aya-chan took her test, and, no baby. 'Thank God,' Ryousuke thought. While he was waiting, he had felt as nervous as if he had actually been the almost-father. He supposed he played his part well, he remembered with a chuckle to himself. If Keisuke had made a baby out of wedlock, it would have been over for him with the family for sure; he'd probably be sent away from the house with a mandate never to return. Certainly, he'd be disinherited, but that would be the least of things. His legal troubles could be swept under the rug somewhat, but it would have been pretty hard for their Father to hide a baby after all.

Ryousuke had gone to class that day with an enormous sense of relief that it wouldn't come to that. When he was finished, he picked Aya-chan up at the library where he had instructed her to wait for him. They drove back in silence for a while, and then Aya-chan finally spoke.

"Thank you very much for today, Onii-san. I'm very sorry," she said with relief coloring her tone.

"It's all right. We all make mistakes. Just try not to ever make this particular mistake again. That goes for Keisuke too, not just you, Aya-chan."

"Okay, but I saw the way that lady looked at you, as if...you were the one, well, you know," she tentatively added.

"I don't really care about that."

"Oh. Okay. I never thought that you would be like this."

Ryousuke glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. "Like what?"

"Like nice. Keisuke-kun says you're...well, uh,..." she stammered.

"An asshole?" Ryousuke offered with a chuckle.

"He actually says 'prick' most of the time," Aya-chan replied, being put at ease somewhat by Ryousuke's comment.

"I guess, 'most of the time', he's probably right," Ryousuke said as they pulled up to Aya-chan's modest home. "Sorry you had to skip school for this."

"Heh. I hate that place," Aya-chan offered as she got out of the car. "Thank you again, Onii-san," she added with a polite bow.

"Sure."

Ryousuke had decided to make one more stop on the way home. He pulled the FC into the lot of the nearest pharmacy and bought a couple of boxes of condoms, planning to give one to Keisuke. He bought a pleasingly decorated gift bag and a small card, adding it to Keisuke's running tab on his credit card. Sure, he could have billed the clinic visit to his student account, but that would have only led to their Father asking questions when the bill from the University came to the house. So, Ryousuke had paid it private pay, and Keisuke would definitely be paying him back for the outrageous charge the simple test had cost.

He had arrived home to find Keisuke anxiously awaiting his return upstairs. "Aya-chan called me. What a friggin' nightmare! Glad that's over. I-"

"Here's a little present for my forgetful Otouto," Ryousuke calmly interrupted, handing Keisuke the small gift bag as he walked into his room and closed the door. He had written a simple instruction on the card: "Use them."

Seconds later a knock came and Keisuke poked his head inside. "Thanks. I won't screw up like that again."

"You're welcome. Once you pay me back, this matter will be closed." He saw Keisuke nod, an expression of gratitude not seen in years present on his face. "I hope this means that you won't immediately discount anything I say to you as bullshit from now on."

"I might not," Keisuke had answered plainly.

"Okay."

That had been good enough. It was a good few years after that before Keisuke would start listening to him, but it eventually happened. They had since grown as close as adults as they once were as very small children. Ryousuke realized that Keisuke's difficult adolescence had many contributing factors, but the fact that Ryousuke was the obvious favorite, and the fact that Keisuke knew since youth that he was basically unwanted were the most damaging. It was heart wrenching for Ryousuke to know that Keisuke was still not at peace with himself, and he hoped that Keisuke's anger toward him now wouldn't linger.

If Keisuke had intended to hurt his brother, he certainly succeeded. Ryousuke's biggest fear was that he would someday be just like their Father. He had told Keisuke that, and Keisuke threw it right back at him. Ryousuke still felt that his reasoning for living with his secret the way he did wasn't the same, but he knew that there were definitely times when his own personality mirrored that of their Father's. He tried to be mindful of it, but sometimes, it couldn't be helped. There were some traits that he was actually glad he had shared with his Father; the ease with which he took to academics, his prudence with money, his competitive streak. Keisuke shared the competitiveness also, but Ryousuke doubted their Father would ever recognize it since it was applied to racing in the case of Keisuke. It was all the other things, the insensitivity, the cold, harsh demeanor, his extremely low tolerance for mistakes, and, of course, the near indifference he often had when it came to his personal relationships; those were the things that Ryousuke found he had to watch out for, especially as he had grown into adulthood. He realized that he sometimes didn't deal well with the stress living his Father's prescribed life gave him.

He finished grinding enough coffee to fill his canister and ate a final slice of fruit. He wondered when his parents would return, and he wondered if his Father would stay the night, or if he'd simply grab a few suits and return to his condo. He assumed it would be the latter, and Mother would retreat, Ryousuke would leave for his shift, and Keisuke would be there doing whatever he did when he wanted to hole up in his room.

When, in the past, it had been Keisuke who would disappear from the house, now it was Ryousuke who wasn't home more often than not, and Keisuke was here. Ryousuke was incredibly bothered by the knowledge that Keisuke had overheard their Mother's distress, and he was even more bothered by the fact that he was unaware both of that and of Keisuke's own knowledge of the infidelity. He supposed he had wanted to shield his brother from that, knowing that Keisuke had enough to think about on his own. Once again, he had underestimated his brother. He really needed to stop doing that, because, obviously, Keisuke did know when to keep his mouth shut.

Unfortunately, Ryousuke realized that it only meant that Keisuke absorbed their Mother's pain into his own. Ryousuke didn't want his brother to suffer from things beyond his control, but, as an emotional, instinctual person, his brother probably couldn't detach himself from things like that. Just like he couldn't step back and examine why it was that Ryousuke would be drawn to his rival in a way that went beyond the bond that Project D had given all three of them. Ryousuke hoped that, in time, Keisuke might understand that even his elder brother actually was capable of feeling...something.

Ryousuke returned to his room and started another pot of coffee. It was nearly one in the afternoon, and Keisuke, apparently, was still sleeping. 'Well, it's no wonder,' Ryousuke thought. All night long, he could hear him puttering around his room, alternately playing an almost too loud game on his Playstation, and rummaging through the many piles of whatever on his floor. Ryousuke had been working on his report, but, as the hours went by and Keisuke didn't approach his room even once, Ryousuke had felt an incredible sadness come over him. Things eventually grew quiet down the hall at around six that morning.

Sure, he griped about Keisuke monopolizing his time, but the brothers knew that was as much for show as was Keisuke's little prank of always parking too close in the garage. Sometimes, the FD was so impossibly close that Ryousuke sometimes wondered if he was putting on weight as he squeezed himself out of his own car, careful not to get any of that obnoxious yellow paint on the FC.

Then, Ryousuke remembered he hadn't buffed out the obnoxious red paint that marred the front of the FC from the confrontation on Irohazaka. He poured coffee, and went to the garage to do just that.

Once that chore had been completed, he returned upstairs. There was still no sound from Keisuke's domain. Ryousuke entered his room and set his coffee cup down on his desk. After a minute spent loading his next clinical report on the laptop, he found himself in a role-reversal of sorts, walking quietly toward his brother's room.

He stood at the door, listening for any sounds beyond. He knocked lightly, and received no response. Cautiously, he opened the door a bit. Unlike his own door with the frosted glass panels which still allowed for light to pass and a clouded view to be seen, Keisuke had nailed a curtain, really it was a bed sheet, behind his to further obscure the view from any intruders such as his older brother and his younger cousin. Ryousuke mused that he may as well have kept the "DO NOT ENTER" road sign he used to have on it when they were younger. Ryousuke was 100% certain that road sign had been expertly purloined from an unsuspecting one way street at some point during Keisuke's dangerous adolescence.

He peeked inside Keisuke's room, and, though it had been a while since he had dared to enter it, it looked pretty much the same as the last time he saw it. Ryousuke called it a mess, and Keisuke refuted that, preferring the term "organized chaos" instead. Keisuke staunchly insisted that he knew where everything was at all times. In a fit of exasperation once, Ryousuke had demanded he prove it, rattling off a list of items that should have been stored in the garage or elsewhere in the house. To his amazement, Keisuke found every single thing with incredible ease, rendering his elder brother nearly speechless. Now, Ryousuke just gently teased him about it, and both brothers knew it was lighthearted jabbing, and not criticism. Keisuke was his own person, messy, but unique.

Ryousuke saw his brother's sleeping form on the bed, and a smirk came to his lips. Keisuke had always been a rough sleeper, and it appeared as though that childhood trait had stayed with him. He was in an almost impossible position on his bed, his head mashed into the pillows, and half on his stomach, half on his side with one leg dangling off the side of his bed, and the other bent underneath his body. He had kicked the covers off and hadn't bothered with a t-shirt to cover his upper body. His sleeping pants were precariously low on his hips so that, if anyone saw him like that, they might assume his name was "Joe Boxer" as advertised by the waistband of his boxer-briefs which peeked over his slouching pants.

Ryousuke gingerly approached the bed, careful not to step on anything, careful not to wake his sleeping brother. When he was beside it, he thought that Keisuke looked more peaceful than his crazy sleeping position and wild bed-head ought to have allowed. Ryousuke picked up the castaway blanket and covered his brother. He might well have whispered that he loved him, but Ryousuke wasn't particularly good at saying that aloud, even if Keisuke was asleep and wouldn't hear. But, he did love him, he treasured him; Keisuke was "the blessing" as his name declared. As Keisuke shifted slightly under the new warmth of the blanket, Ryousuke did find it within him to whisper something.

"I'm sorry, Keisuke. For everything. Please don't be angry with me anymore."

Ryousuke exited, and returned soundlessly to his studies. He would stay awake all day and all night if he had to, if only to hear his brother knock on his door and barge in anyway.

It was what Keisuke was supposed to do.