I know I said I couldn't promise a regular update schedule for this - and I don't wanna take those words back! - but uhhh here we are, one week later, because I apparently missed these boys a ton? And this whole story? Everyone's comments last chapter were so kind and supportive too ;w; Thank you again to everyone that's stuck with this! :D
Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to my mother, for always making me feel like my best is never good enough- aka, we finally catch up with one of Hakuryuu's family members...
The next morning dawns gray and drizzly, leaving Hakuryuu almost wishing he'd spent the night at Judal's instead of having to walk in dreary weather. He's glad they went out yesterday. Today is going to be better for sitting inside and working through their newest lead.
Judal joins him in the shop around lunch time, looking grumpy and refreshed all at once, and he plops behind the counter to watch Hakuryuu work. Rain usually means it will be a slow day, and Hakuryuu is taking advantage of that to clean out some cabinets and dust.
"Can't believe those stupid brats are sitting out there in the rain," he says idly, one hand propping his chin up. "I get that they don't have anywhere else to go, but really? That's a stupid level of commitment."
Hakuryuu shrugs. "They seem determined. If the one we saw last night is right, they probably think you have something powerful enough to make waiting in anything worth it."
"Yeah, but I don't," Judal says petulantly, sighing.
"Did you get anything new recently?"
He groans, flopping forward onto the counter. "No, I went through all my shit last night. It's really good that you got all those invoices organized, you know. Made it real easy for me to rule out anything from the past few months of shipments."
"Please tell me you put them back how you found them," Hakuryuu says, turning away to focus on his current task. If he doesn't look at Judal, he can pretend that his meticulous system for their invoices wasn't destroyed by a chaotic, late night hunt.
Judal laughs at him. "Yeah, yeah, I put it all away. Don't worry so much!"
"Judal-" he begins, unable to forget the horrors of Judal's own attempts at organization, when the bell over the door goes off. He glances over to greet whoever braved the less than ideal weather to visit the store, and his throat tightens as he goes involuntarily still.
"Welcome, welcome," Judal says, smoothly slipping into his "mysterious shopkeeper" demeanor in Hakuryuu's silence. "What brings you to my store?"
His mother titters. "Oh, I'm just here to visit my darling son," Gyokuen says, making her way to Hakuryuu. He can't move, only stand there clutching a feather duster like a moron, while she glides through the store. "I just had to know what Hakuryuu has been up to."
Hakuryuu manages to give her a tight smile. "Hello, mother. You should have let me know you wanted to visit; I could have taken off work," he says politely, carefully not looking at Judal.
"Don't be ridiculous; I want to see this…shop you've been working at," she tells him, drawing it out like Judal's store is somehow beneath being acknowledged as a legitimate business.
"I see. That makes sense," he says, setting his duster down on the cabinet. He'll put it away later, once he has gotten his mother out of here- hopefully sooner rather than later. "Let me show you around."
"Is there really that much to see?" Gyokuen asks, following close beside him nonetheless. "I can see why you've been relying on the family money since you lost your nice, respectable office job."
Hakuryuu feels his cheeks flush in embarrassment before he can help himself. "No, no, it's not-"
She shakes her head and continues before he can try to defend himself. "I suppose being a retail junkie can't pay the bills," she says, sickly fake sweet concern dripping from every word as she rests a hand on his arm. "It's all you really can do now. Abandoning a job must look terrible on a resume."
His smile tightens and he shakes he hand off. "It's fine. I like working here."
"Of course you do, sweetheart," she says, leaning against him to look at a shelf of ceramic figures. "Though how can you stand to be around such low quality product all day? I know that it's meant to be…what, antiques, right? But I always thought there was at least some sort standard for what stores carried…"
"Judal is very picky," Hakuryuu says defensively. "If he's selling it, then it's worth at least what it's sold for."
She tuts derisively and leans back to fix her gaze on Judal. He gives her the iciest smile Hakuryuu has ever seen from him and a small wave.
"Yeah, what Hakuryuu said. I don't buy just anything, so even if it looks worthless, you just have to look more carefully," he says calmly, his jewelry jangling as he gestures.
Gyokuen gives him a pitying look. "It's alright; I can tell you're still young. If I was your age, I wouldn't have an eye for quality, either," she tells Judal, with a faked air of politely dismissal.
Judal's look turns dark as soon as she turns her attention back to Hakuryuu, and he settles into his seat behind the counter with a frown. His eyes never leave Gyokuen and his brows furrow, as though he's trying to work out a puzzle that's had half its pieces mixed in with another's. Hakuryuu gives him as sympathetic of a look as he can before he's dragged back into playing host to his mother.
"Really, do you even get enough customers in here to break even? I worry about you working somewhere unsustainable," Gyokuen says, shaking her head.
"It's only slow today because of the rain," he tries to explain to no avail.
She breezes past him to run a hand over the love seat haughtily. "You even allow children to loiter out front- don't you know how to get rid of them?" she asks, and there's something in the way she says it that sets Hakuryuu on edge. It could just be another complaint, another way to nitpick something that Hakuryuu is obviously invested in, but—
A quick glance backwards tells him that Judal's posture, usually so relaxed, is as tense as a tightly coiled spring, and Hakuryuu can only give her a vague answer. "I'm sure they're just waiting for someone."
"Oh, you should at least let them in, then. You wouldn't let someone wait out in this weather, right Hakuryuu?" she asks with purpose, meeting his eyes. Hakuryuu feels a tug somewhere in him, a need to listen to her - because why wouldn't he want to listen to his mother? - before it vanishes entirely, replaced by the comforting warmth that he recognizes as Judal.
"We're not a daycare," Judal says, laying a hand on Hakuryuu's shoulder possessively. "Why don't you look further back? There's more to see."
She gives him an empty smile. "Of course. Come on, Hakuryuu."
Judal gives his shoulder a comforting squeeze as Hakuryuu leads her back. It's the last bit of kindness he has before he's dealing with his mother alone, and he savors it while she makes fake nice conversation about how everyone else in the family has been just so much more successful than him.
"You know Kouen got another promotion recently," she gushes, ignoring Hakuryuu's directions to sneer at a delicately carved statue.
He holds his tongue from snapping back. Is a promotion really that impressive when it's from a family owned company? He doesn't fucking think so. "That sounds nice," he says instead.
"Everyone has really stepped up lately," she says. "Even Kouha is back in school, getting his masters."
Hakuryuu hadn't heard that, and he struggles to think of one of his cousins who'd be less likely to pursue that much education. But he can admit that he doesn't know them very well, and settles on nodding along. "Good for him."
"It's just such a shame that my own son can't do more," she says, shaking her head. "If only you pushed yourself more to stay on track…though I guess I can't hope for more from you. I know that too much pressure only makes you falter."
Shame fills him, reminds him of every time he's failed to make the cut or follow through with something. He can't upkeep social connections; the last time he tried, it ended in a bigger mess than before and radio silence from Alibaba. He barely finished college and resigned himself to a boring life as an office worker, only to fail at that too, because he couldn't follow simple instructions. And now he's failing to escape from a conversation he desperately doesn't want to be having, because being around his mother makes him shut down and revert to the quiet, polite child who just wants to blend in, because maybe then he won't be harassed.
Gyokuen doesn't wait for a response; she turns on her heel and leads the way back towards the front. "Are you coming? I wouldn't want you to get lost in all these messy rooms."
"It's not that messy anymore," he says, quiet enough that she probably doesn't hear him, but he can't help but try to defend Judal anyway.
She shrugs, pushing past a silken curtain and dangling bells to reveal the front room. Judal is still sitting behind the counter, determinedly going through invoices and special orders, and he glances up when they return.
"I hope you enjoyed our shop," he says courteously, a challenge in his eyes instead of his voice.
"It's just very…quaint," she says, and there's nothing complimentary. Gyokuen looks at Hakuryuu with a possessiveness that makes him want to shrink backwards, and grabs his wrist in a surprisingly tight grasp. "You can play around with this silly idea of yours for now, where you play like this is a real job. But you'll always belong to your mother."
He feels something tight in his chest, like the way he'd wanted to obey her earlier but crueler, greedier, and more selfish. It's ice slicked with venom in his veins, trying to replace everything it touches with its own desires, and once again, Judal is the one to drag him out of it.
Hakuryuu jolts at Judal's touch on his wrist, firm and grounding. Surprisingly, he manages to pull Hakuryuu's hand from hers without a fight, but the air still singes with the aftereffects of magic clashing.
"I think it's time you left," Judal tells Gyokuen, draping himself across Hakuryuu's shoulders like a needy cat. "I need Hakuryuu to actually do some work at his job, you know."
For a moment, Hakuryuu thinks his mother is going to argue, but instead, she delicately brushes off her coat and smiles. "Oh, of course! I wouldn't want him to lose another job, now would I?"
Hakuryuu's expression stays neutral as he waves her out. "Have a nice afternoon, mother."
"Don't stay so out of touch, Hakuryuu," she tells him, before slipping out into the now driving rain.
Judal breathes out a heavily and groans, collapsing against Hakuryuu with the faith that he'll catch him. Hakuryuu does, but just barely. "God, your mom really is a bitch."
He shrugs, trying to breathe easier now that he knows she's gone. He envies Judal's ability to relax almost immediately, but at the very least, it's helping him calm down slowly. He has to put away the duster from earlier, from before his mother showed up to darken his day more than any miserable weather could hope to. He's still supporting Judal though, and can't bring himself to make him move.
"She is," he finally says in agreement, and Judal nuzzles his side. "You could stand up on your own."
"I could, yeah, but I don't want to. I gotta hold onto my property," he says, clinging tighter.
Hakuryuu ruffles his hair. "Is that supposed to be comforting?"
Judal shrugs, which manages to shift Hakuryuu's shirt enough that it ends up untucked- but only on one side. He doesn't say anything else though, just breathes in and out against Hakuryuu's side, until he leaves a sloppy kiss and moves. "Okay, okay, I guess I can let you go now."
"How generous."
He chuckles. "I am. Ugh, I feel all skeevy just from being around your mom, I don't know how you kept such a straight face. Though…" he trails off, leaning in to inspect Hakuryuu's face. "That smile was so nasty! Any time she wasn't looking at you, it was just so fucking fake, I almost laughed."
"I try to be polite. It's easier that way," he explains, only for Judal to laugh harder. "Do you have to be like this? I don't like dealing with her often, because it always ends like this."
"Yeah, no shit! Why is she such a dick?" Judal whines, slouching against the counter to watch Hakuryuu straighten up what was left of the cleaning.
He breathes out, trying to relieve some more of the tension in the air. "I don't know. She's always been like that with me."
"Ughhhh, of course! I mean she's also stupid powerful. Like, magically," Judal says, elaborating when Hakuryuu shoots him a questioning look. "Yeah, I recognized her magical signature from that spell on you. She must have been the one blocking your abilities."
Hakuryuu groans, feeling very much like he'd like to throw a tantrum, or at least he would if he was more like Judal. Instead, he's just himself, and he's come to realize that just about everything in life is much more magical than he could have predicted. "I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing? She's the bitch who tried to fuck you up!" Judal shoots back, obviously still riled up from the whole experience despite his attempts to chill out.
"I know, but she upset you-"
Judal rolls his eyes dramatically. "Whatever, shit upsets me all the time. Crotchety old bitch can insult my store all she wants, but she can't go around insulting you. That's my job!"
"I'm touched to know you care," he says dryly, hiding his smile while Judal whines.
"See if I ever help you again," he grouses, only to flush when Hakuryuu leans in to kiss him on the cheek. "Hey!"
He forces a smile back on his face, finding it less difficult than expected for having to deal with his mother. "I'm going to get to work, as you pointed out. And we have to figure out how to get rid of the black eyed children, hopefully before any others show up."
There's determination and a sense of hurt pride on Judal's face as he nods in agreement. "Can't believe your bitch mom insulted me for them being out front, as if I want them to be there…"
"So, keep thinking," Hakuryuu says, making his way to the back office. Even if there's still tension lingering because of his mother's impromptu visit, they're going to make the most of things and get to the bottom of it.