Fukuda could fix…well not anything…but a lot.
The biggest thing that Fukuda had ever done was put himself back together after he had been at the epicenter of Shigeko's explosion at the Eighth Division. That had been in many worse worse than being in the middle of one of Suzuki's explosions because at least when that happened Fukuda's had time to run for cover. Shigeko…that hadn't been expected….and then he'd had to put himself mostly back together…
So he could fix a lot.
He could fix a lot for himself and others. Gunshots. Eyes and teeth getting knocked out. The occasional limb reattachment. Big things like that, things which left him exhausted, things which he didn't much like doing but had to do anyway. He could fix a lot but this…well he could fix it…but there would be scars…he couldn't do much for scar tissue actually since the body recognized it as healthy or something like that…which was terrible because Sho already had so many scars as it was…
For some reason he had seen fit to give himself a few dozen more.
"Well? Can you fix it?" asked Sho. He was standing there looking at Fukuda like…like this was just a normal injury. It wasn't. This was just…he had no idea. He had been staring for a while now. What else could he do? Sho had gotten himself into this state and there really was nothing more Fukuda could do besides stare…well there was more that he could do once the shock wore off….
He had to make it wear off.
He had to say something but this was…Sho must have been out of his mind. Sho was ten years old, he didn't always think things through, and that was alright because he was little. He was a kid and kids did stupid and impulsive things. Fukuda…needed to stop trying to hold Sho responsible for all of this…because really he should have been watching him better. He was left in the care of an eleven year old girl and a thirty year old man child. Sho needed Fukuda to watch him because he was…he was obviously too young to be left to his own devices…
But he should have known better than to do….this.
"Quit looking at me like that. I know that I fucked up, ok? Just fix it so I can try again." said Sho. Again? What did he think was going to happen? That Fukuda was just going to let him get right back to it? And…how had he even done this to himself? Someone must have put the idea in his head or…or he must have lost his mind. There had been multiple steps to getting those done…doing them to himself. He'd had to get the tattoo gun and the ink and…and then figure out what he was going to draw…and Fukuda had no idea what he was even looking at there…and just….at some point Sho must have realized that this was a bad idea…but obviously not….
Because he, for some reason, thought that there was going to be an 'again'.
"Sho…have you lost your mind?" said Fukuda because, well, that was all that Fukuda could say. What else was there to be said in this situation? Sho was standing shirtless in his living room covered in tattoos. Homemade ones. Half-finished ones. Infected ones. That was what Fukuda had been feeling every time Sho had gotten near him. He had assumed that Sho had gotten bitten up by bugs again or something, all the small dots and all, but no. This was worse. This was a thousand times worse. This was….Fukuda didn't even know what this was. Sho had covered himself in tattoos and….and….
He must have been out of his mind.
"Shut up. I'm fine. I just have to try again….or something. I don't know. Stop looking at me and fix this already so I can get home and unpack my stuff and then….I don't know. Play with big sis or something? I don't know…just fix this." said Sho. His aura was pulled close when he said that….and Fukuda had to wonder what his sister had said to him about this. She must have noticed. She must have noticed and…and God help her if she told Suzuki about this. Fukuda knew him, he knew how he could overreact to things, and he knew that he was liable to seriously hurt Sho…and Sho knew that his father was liable to seriously hurt him….
And he had said 'again' and he had meant it seriously.
"Sho…I'm going to fix this…but you have to promise me that there is never going to be an 'again', ok? Because if there's going to be an again then me fixing this is pointless." Said Fukuda. Not only was him fixing this going to be pointless if Sho just ran off and did all of this again Suzuki was liable to take those off with a potato peeler….an exaggeration but not by much. Fukuda had no idea why he treated Sho the way he did. Maybe he saw himself in Sho, the parts of himself that he didn't have, and the parts of other people that he didn't understand…or maybe he had just never forgiven him for being a cesarean baby…or maybe he just disliked Sho for whatever deranged reasons he came up with for disliking people. Fukuda did know, however, that Sho's physical wellbeing had never been one of his top priorities…and also for all of his talk of being a full and complete person all on his own he did pay a lot of respect to the invisible social niceties…and also he, like most people in their country, didn't have the best opinion on tattoos….and Sho must have known this too. That only criminals had tattoos, that his father would not have wanted him to do this to himself, and that he was in for it if his father ever found out….
And yet he, for some reason, thought that there was going to be an 'again'.
"I didn't mean right now! I'm not a moron, I'm not going to run all the way home and start stabbing myself again! I just….I meant later…when I got older and figured it out better." Said Sho. His aura was still pulled in close. That was good. It meant that he had realized that he'd messed up. That was really good. Maybe he could talk some sense into him. Those must have been so itchy…and he'd seen Sho scratching for a while…he had to fix this. He had to fix those infections and he had to make sure that Sho never did that to himself ever again.
"Sho…no. I'm going to fix this for you and then you are never going to do this to yourself again. Ever. It's not a good idea." said Fukuda. Sho…he had been through so much and Fukuda hated being firm with him…but he had to be. This was the biggest screw up that he had ever done and he had to know that this was a serious situation. What if Fukuda hadn't been there? What if something had gone wrong at the upcoming war meeting, they really had to think up another name for those, and he had exhausted himself putting Suzuki and the rest of them back together? What if Sho had waited even longer until he got blood poisoning or something? What if Sho hadn't even thought to tell him and just lived with this until something serious happened? Sho….Fukuda calmed down. Sho was only ten years old. He was the only responsible adult in his life and he was the one who should have been taking care of him….God…
He was so glad that Masami wasn't here to see this.
"I didn't mean right now! I know that…..that I shouldn't do this again right now. I have to learn more…and stuff….I guess." said Sho. Fukuda wanted to take him and shake him…but he didn't. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. If he had been dealing with Suzuki for the past thirty years then he could deal with Sho for the next…however long this conversation would take. He had to. He'd made a promise and….and Sho needed him. He needed him and Fukuda had to be there for him. Nobody else was.
Well another child.
The closest thing Sho had to an actual caretaker was his sister….who wasn't even a full year older than him. That was Fukuda's fault. He had alienated Sho…and he had no idea how to fix it. He had apologized to Sho for telling his father about his little girlfriend, taken him to see his actual sister, and had been nothing but understanding towards what he had been going through….but there was still something between them. Something that Fukuda didn't like. Something that he never should have let grow in the first place. Sho was too young to understand that he'd had to make a pragmatic choice, and also too young to understand that with his father being who he was Sho maybe should have been a little less obvious about who HE was, and Fukuda could forgive Sho for being young and acting like the ten, not even eleven, year old that he was. Fukuda should have been the one to realize that Suzuki had his worries about Sho and he should have done more to throw him off of Sho's trail. Fukuda also should have at least asked Sho's permission to tell Suzuki and also…also he should have explained what he'd had to do before he had done it. Fukuda was the one who had messed up and now…well now Sho didn't even look to him as a caretaker anymore….
And he had to find some way to fix this.
"That's not the point. I never want you to do this to yourself ever again. Do you hear me?" asked Fukuda. Again he was trying to be firm…but maybe he should have taken a different approach. That was his own anger coming in. That was his own anger and his own frustration at the situation. He should have been there, he should have put a stop to this long ago, and Masami would have hated him if she had known what he had let happen to Sho….and he needs to calm down and just think about Sho. Just think about what he needs and how to convince him never to do this again…and also how to trick him into thinking that it was his idea never to do this again.
People reacted better when they thought that they had come up with things themselves.
"Yeah, Fukuda, I can hear you….but can you hear me? I know I fucked up. I know that I shouldn't have started so many drawings at once on my own skin and I know that I should have taken care of them better and now I know that I look dumb…so just fix these already." Said Sho. He held out his arms. That was where he had done the worst of it. Fukuda didn't even know what he was looking at. There was the beginning of what looked like a person…part of a dragon…and then just a whole lot of other infected lines and dots and….and it was just a mess. His stomach was just a little better. There was a fish over his stomach and a hand reaching up to it…another dragon…a series of lines…some of which extended down to his hips and…yup. Fukuda could sense all of that. It got even worse….somehow it got even worse…
He had to fix this before it got even worse than it was now.
"Sho….I understand that you realize that you made a mistake and I also understand that you're the sort of person who's good at learning from his mistakes so, of course, you're planning on getting back to…this…at some point…but you need to listen to me. You can't ever do this to yourself again. First of all people are not meant to tattoo themselves-" said Fukuda. Appealing to logic usually worked…though he usually did that with Suzuki and to a lesser extend Shigeko…but Sho was a smart boy. There was no way that he was going to argue with-
-yes there was.
"Yes they are I saw it on YouTube." Said Sho. He said that like he had won and…and he was Suzuki's son as well as Masami and Suzuki did not like to be wrong. They had spent an entire afternoon with their ears pressed up to a pair of speakers because he and Suzuki hadn't been able to agree on what, exactly, the lyrics to that blinding light song were…the results were still inconclusive to this day…and Sho was Suzuki's son. He was just as smart and just as stubborn and…and he had to acknowledge that Sho was half of Suzuki. As much as he liked to imagine that Sho was his…and as much as he liked to pretend that Sho had just come from only Masami like that giant lizard at the zoo Sho had shown him that could give birth without a male, but Masami was not a lizard. She was a human being, one of the best human beings that he had ever met, and she'd needed Suzuki to have Sho….and even though Sho was the best of Masami he was also part of Suzuki…
So Fukuda would have to tread carefully.
"You can't believe everything you see on the internet." Said Fukuda diplomatically. That had worked with Suzuki on more than one occasion. Even before they'd had the internet, the proper internet, Suzuki had always been reading things in books and hearing things from other people….and Fukuda had always been the one to burst his bubble…and that could have taken hours if not days…if he even succeeded and didn't end up watching Suzuki sit on a microwave trying to give himself radiation poisoning or spending every last penny he had trying to get to the fabled mixed sex onsens in the mountains….which they had both been wrong about. They did exist, Suzuki had been right, but they obviously weren't going to let two unaccompanied teenaged boys in, Fukuda had been right about that one, though Fukuda didn't think that Suzuki'd been right to hit him so many times….or at all….
Something that Sho had inherited from his father…but Fukuda didn't mind since Sho had a good reason to hit him and also he never did any permanent damage anyway.
"That's not true. You can believe some stuff and I'm not stupid, I can tell what's real and what's not." Said Sho. He didn't seem like he was getting ready to hit him…but Fukuda kept the possibility in the back of his mind. That was something that Sho had gotten from his father, the violence, or maybe it was something that had been taught to him. Either way Fukuda wasn't going to get mad if he lost control. That was just something that he could not control, that was all, not like doing…all of that…to himself.
"Sho…I never meant to call you stupid. I just…ok. Those people were adults, right? The ones on YouTube?" asked Fukuda. He took a step forward, a little one, and got just close enough to Sho that he was in healing range but not so close as to startle him. Just close enough that Sho wouldn't tell him to leave him alone and then decide to spend his life covered in infected homemade tattoos.
"Yeah, of course." Said Sho in a tone that clearly said 'you're an idiot'. That was actually one of the few tones that Suzuki could do. Fukuda had never noticed just how much Sho could sound like his father sometimes…but that didn't matter. He was his own person and Fukuda…he had to see that. He wasn't Suzuki, he was half of him biologically, but most of Masami emotionally. He was less like his father than his adopted sister, somehow, and Fukuda wasn't even going to question that one. No, he wasn't going to question any of this. He was going to go with all of this.
"And how old are you?" asked Fukuda. Sho was listening. Good. He would realize that he was only ten and then he would realize that he shouldn't try this again until he was an adult and then when he became an adult he would have forgotten all about this.
"I'm almost eleven." Said Sho. He crossed his arms when he said that…and Fukuda almost laughed. He was so adorable sometimes, even now standing there in the middle of the living room surrounded by boxes insisting that being almost eleven made him sound older, and Fukuda so wished that Masami could have been there to see it….but also not because then she would see how badly he had screwed up when it came to raising Sho.
"So you're not an adult yet. Sho, listen to me, tattoos are only for adults…and even then they're only for a certain kind of adult." Said Fukuda. He knew what Sho thought about that certain adult, the one that Fukuda was thinking of, and he had no idea how to address that. Mentioning Shimazaki…that was always a gamble. Sho was so taken with him that, well, Fukuda wouldn't have thought that something like that would have been possible from someone his age. But it was. It was and Fukuda…well he could only pray that Sho came to his senses and met a nice boy his own age….
That would have to happen eventually.
Even Suzuki had met someone. Well there had been a few someone's over the years. Shigeko had a few someone's, too, so Sho…well there would be someone for him eventually. Someone other than Shimazaki. When that day came Fukuda would be able to just breathe a long deserves sigh of relief. It would finally be over….this crush or infatuation or whatever would be over…and then Fukuda could just stop worrying about all of this already….but that day wasn't anywhere close. He knew that he had to deal with what was happening now, on this day, at this moment in time…
So that was what he was going to do.
"Yeah, cool people." Said Sho. There was an expression, face palming, and Fukuda wanted nothing more than to do that. Sho was ten so of course he thought that tattoos wee cool…and he was a little artist too so he probably thought that his skin was just another medium…and also his best friend/first love was Shimazaki Ryou and that man had more ink on his skin than actual skin….Fukuda was going to have to tread even more lightly if he was going to get through to Sho about all of this.
"No, not cool people. Sho the only people who have tattoos are hardened criminals. Do you want people to think that you're a hardened criminal." Said Fukuda. That…may have been the wrong thing to say. Suzuki would have blanched at the thought of people thinking that he was anything other than an upstanding member of society…even though at this point describing him as a hardened criminal would have been a compliment. Sho wasn't his father. Sho…well he was in love with someone who even hardened criminals knew to steer clear of. This was hard. He so wished that Sho could have been younger…this had all been so much easier when Sho had been younger.
When both of the kids had been younger, actually.
When they had been younger all he'd had to do was play with them, read to them, pick them up and they would have done whatever he or Masami had said. They hadn't had problems like this. They hadn't been giving themselves tattoos and falling in love with grown adults….and whatever the hell Shigeko got up to these days. They had just been…things had been better back then. But things could never go back to the way that they had been before. Time marched forwards whether he wanted it to or not so all he could do was march along in step with it.
Even if he didn't really want to.
"That's not true, there's all kinds of people out there with tattoos. Like back when we were in America-" said Sho. Fukuda shook his head. That was the bad part, well there were a lot of bad parts, about the way they lived. The constant moving. Sho had forgotten that he had his own rules to follow. He had forgotten that….if he had even realized it. Sho…there were so many things that he didn't know…so many things that Fukuda hadn't taught him…so many things that Fukuda had to teach him. There was just…a lot. It was a lot and…and he had to do this. He had to be the one to teach Sho these things the easy way or his father was going to teach him the hard way…no, not even the hard way. The Suzuki way. That was just the hard way but with more steps.
"Japan. Sho, you're Japanese. You are Japanese and we spend every summer here at least…and you need to think about the rules of the country that you were born in. In Japan the only people who have tattoos are the yakuza. Do you want people to think that you're a member of the yakuza? Because that's what people are going to think and you don't want people to think that. Trust me." Said Fukuda. Sho…oh God he was thinking about it…and maybe that had been the wrong way to go with all of that. Sho's first big crush was Shimazaki after all and that man had no shame. That was where Sho had gotten the idea to do this from, most likely. Well then….Fukuda was going to stay calm. He was going to stay calm and then, next time he got close enough to Shimazaki, he was going to erase some of those tattoos just to teach him a lesson about putting terrible idea in Sho's head like that.
"Yeah I want people to think that I'm a member of the yakuza! Then they'll think I'm a total badass and…and then Shimazaki will think that I'm cool again." said Sho
"Sho…don't tell me you did this for Shimazaki." Said Fukuda
"Shut up." Said Sho
"Sho….no. He can't see. Covering yourself in these is pointless because-" said Fukuda
"I know that he can't see, Fukuda, I'm not stupid. I know that he can't see these but…but if everyone had just let me finish then they would have looked cool and then everyone would have told Shimazaki how cool I was and…and then he would have told everyone that I was cool." Said Sho
"Sho, everyone already thinks that you're cool…and also what do you mean by 'everyone'?" asked Fukuda
"Big sis and Minegishi…and Shimazaki…and probably everyone else, too, because Shimazaki tells everyone everything. Shimazaki found out because I couldn't stop scratching and then Minegishi decided to be a bitch bastard and tell him that my tattoos looked bad and were infected and then I ran home and big sis talked to me…and she told me to come here." Said Sho
"Sho…does your father know about this?" asked Fukuda. He tried to stay calm. He tried to stay perfectly calm and he tried his best not to alarm Sho. Sho needed to know….he needed to know that Fukuda was there for him…and he also needed to tell Fukuda exactly what he had told Shigeko because then he could know exactly what Suzuki knew and then he could plan for that and…and this whole thing was so exhausting….but that didn't matter. Sho was what mattered. Sho, keeping him safe, and all of that…all of that was what mattered.
"Hell no. He doesn't notice stuff about me….he doesn't care about me…" said Sho. Fukuda….he knew how Sho felt. He knew how hard it was on him, seeing his father love his sister but hate him, and he knew that he had to make things easier on Sho….but also he knew that he had to be realistic about these things. Sho was a child and he acted as a child did. Fukuda…well he could understand that…and that was why he had to be the adult there and he had to act as an adult did.
"That's not true. He cares about you…in his own way…and we both know what his own way is like." Said Fukuda. He didn't say anymore, he didn't have to say anymore, he knew that Sho knew. There was the easy way, the hard way, and the Suzuki way which was the most difficult, violent, and downright incomprehensible way imaginable.
"Yeah, I know….and I know that it sucks." Said Sho. Sucks was an understatement…and also he didn't much like Sho talking like that…but he said nothing. He didn't want to get Sho actually cursing. He was being surprisingly good, surprisingly subdued, and Fukuda wanted to keep it that way.
"It does…it really does….and Sho? You need to make sure that he doesn't find out about this. Now I know that those guys, they like you a lot, and they don't like your father…well Hatori does but he's a jellyfish…..but it's your sister that you have to worry about. Just…you know that she can't keep anything from your father so we have to really put our heads together and figure out how to get her to keep her mouth shut about this." said Fukuda. He spoke as diplomatically as he could. He made sure that Sho knew that he wasn't angry with him. He made sure that Sho knew that this was a problem that had to be solved, nothing more, and that Fukuda could never be mad at him…even though he had let the last person in the world who should have known in on this….but that was ok. He could work with this. He had to work with this.
"What do you mean?" asked Sho. Fukuda reminded himself that Sho was a child and that he could only act as a child did. He didn't understand, fully, and Fukuda….well he couldn't have expected Sho to understand. That would not have been fair to him. No, Fukuda…he had this. He had no choice but to have this…so he had this.
"I mean…ok. Do you know if she's doing anything that your father wouldn't approve of? I mean…well I have no idea what he would disprove of at this point…but has she done anything bad that you know of? Anything at all?" asked Fukuda. She had gotten Suzuki high without him realizing it and he had forgiven her. At this point he could have caught her trying to kill him and he still would have forgiven her. There was…there must have been something. She wasn't exactly subtle about what she did….but there really must have been something that she had done that they could use. Suzuki….he had his limits. Even when someone was at the receiving end of his clingy, obsessive brand of love he still had his limits. He was a man of nothing but limits and Shigeko…she must have done something. Something that she wouldn't want her dad to know about….something that Sho might have known about. They were still close despite everything….and there must have been something. Everyone had some kind of skeleton in their closet.
"No…and it sounds like you want me to blackmail my sister." Said Sho. That…was such an ugly word. Blackmail implied that they were doing something wrong. There was nothing wrong with what they were doing. They were shaving Sho and, yes, this was underhanded but it was also for his own good. He had to protect Sho…and he had to teach Sho how to protect himself, too. He was the best of Masami…and that was the best thing about him…but also the thing that made him the most vulnerable. He was so trusting, too trusting, sometimes and it clouded what little judgement he had…and Fukuda was going to have to protect him from himself.
"Sho….blackmail makes it sound so….ugly. We just have to make a pragmatic choice here. It's her or you. You know that she and your father are like that and you know what your father is like. We've just got to keep you safe, ok? You're my number one priority here." Said Fukuda
"But…she can keep a secret. She keeps all of my secrets." Said Sho. He sounded like such a child then…and he was a child. He was Masami's child. He was the best of her, how trusting she had been, and Fukuda…he never wanted Sho to lose that. He never wanted Sho to just…stop being himself…but also he needed Sho to realize that he'd messed up but…but first, before all of that, he needed to get to the bottom of all of this.
"Sho….what secrets have you told her?" asked Fukuda. He tried to stay calm. This was….not good. This was really not good. Sho….he had a lot of secrets for a boy his age and Fukuda couldn't fault him for not keeping all of them…so he wouldn't. He would make an effort not to fault Sho for all of this…even though Suzuki would kill him if he found out about their visits to see the baby…or the fact that he even had Masami's email address to begin with….and Sho….well he knew what could happen to Fukuda. He knew that Fukuda would have been more than in for it…and he had just….
Stay. Calm.
"Just….about these and also…about….Shimazaki and stuff." Said Sho. Fukuda didn't know if he should have let out a sigh of relief or if he should have started hyperventilating. That was…not information that Suzuki ever needed. That completely nullified not only the pragmatic choice that had tanked his and Sho's relationship but also all of the work Sho had put into getting and having a girlfriend. Fukuda knew how much work he'd put into all of that. He knew about the three times a week emails, the gifts, the drawings, all of it. He knew that Sho was putting in a lot of work for someone his age, a lot of very good work since long distance relationships between adults were hard enough to manage but between two year olds, one of which had zero interest in any of this, should have been insurmountably difficult. Sho had gone and thrown all of that work away…but he was ten and he hadn't realized what he had done…and that was ok. He just…had a lot of growing up left to do…and Fukuda was the one who should have been helping him grow up….
But right now he had to make sure that Sho even had a chance to grow up.
"Sho….why did you tell her about that? What if she tells your father? You know how he would react-" said Fukuda. Sho…Sho had shown him a picture that his girlfriend had shown him. Apparently there were worms, tape worms, that could grow in your brain. Sho had taken to asking everyone if they had brain worms…and Fukuda was about to ask him the very same question. Sho KNEW how his father felt about all of that. He KNEW what his father was capable of. He KNEW what could have happened…what might have happened….what was going to happen….Sho…he knew better than this. Fukuda thought that he knew better than this.
"I'm not stupid! I know…I know my own dad! I know him and I know that if he found out about how I felt and stuff then he'd kick my ass…but you're acting like big sis would go and tell him! She's not like that and she's never been like that….not even when we were little….and you had better not start talking to me again like I don't know my own sister!" said Sho. Ok, that was another hot button issue. Shigeko. She took good care of Sho, and she did love him, but she had her own things that she was dealing with. She and Suzuki were way too close, so close that he wasn't even going to try and bother to untangle them, and Sho was too young to see it. That he was too little to see how close the two of them were…and how he put too much faith in her to keep a secret…
But that was a conversation for another day.
Right now he had damage control to do. Right now he had to figure out what he was supposed to do about all of this. If this got back to Suzuki…well he knew that he would have to think up a lie and a good one too….and he knew that Suzuki would always believe Shigeko since he was so close with her these days…and this was a lot. This was a lot and he hadn't even healed Sho yet. This was a lot and he hadn't even unpacked yet. This was just…a lot. A hell of a lot.
But it was nothing that he couldn't fix.
"Ok, ok, you know Shigeko and you know that she can keep a secret. You also know your father and you know how he can pry secrets out of people. Sho…ok. We won't blackmail her but you need to make sure that she never tells him about this…about any of this…and you need to make sure that you're more careful in the future about who you tell. Ok? For your sake and Shimazaki's." said Fukuda. He didn't give a damn about Shimazaki or his wellbeing…but he did give a damn about Sho. He gave more than a damn about Sho and he was going to keep him safe and…and he was going to figure out what to do about this on his own…and that was just the way that it was going to be.
"I know that she won't tell him, she promised, and she always keeps her promises. Even if dad likes her the best she always keeps her promises." Said Sho
"Sho….you're right. She loves you and she has no reason to tell your dad about…any of this." said Fukuda. She did love him and she had no reason to do anything against him…yet. People could change. Time changed people. He…did not want to tell Sho that time changed people. He didn't need to worry about that on top of everything else.
"Yeah, I know that she loves me. I'm the one who's been telling you that. She loves me a lot and…and even though I messed up she was there for me and she made me feel better and stuff…even though I was so dumb…" said Sho
"Sho, no, you weren't dumb. People do…all sort of things…when they're in love. Stupid things. Dangerous things. Things that other people would think are wrong but…well when you're in love everything looks like a good idea even when you know that it's not." Said Fukuda. He knew more than enough about being stupid and in love. He'd been in the middle of enough…been the cause of enough…and he knew that he could never tell Sho about that. He couldn't tell Sho about the stupidity that his father had gotten up to back when he had been a kid, either, since he knew that Sho had no interest I knowing about that. Not right now…even though he had so many funny stories…but now was not the time.
"Yeah…big sis said that too." Said Sho quietly. Fukuda…well this was something. Shigeko had, in fact, done something that she was not proud of. Something when it came to love…she still liked Hatori, right? He had no idea, his information on Shigeko was a little dated these days.
"Well she was right…people do all sorts of stupid things when they're in love…though I wonder what she could have done. I mean she's usually so levelheaded…" said Fukuda. He knew that he couldn't just come out and ask Sho, no, that would get him back on that blackmail thing. He was too young to get it. This was….he didn't know what he would do with this information but any information was good information. Mutually assured destruction in case she ever did anything again Sho.
"She asked Hatori out even though he's way older than her and he said no so now she has to avoid him for the rest of eternity. I could have told her that he would say no. I mean he's…well he's like me…and I'm kind of mad at him for saying no. I mean when a girl likes you then you should just pretend to like her back and make her happy…so I wish that he had said yes…but I also don't want anyone to lie to big sis even if it is to make her happy and stuff…and also if some guy tries anything with my sister it's my job as her little brother to kick his ass." Said Sho. Well that was…Hatori had a good sense of self preservation, he'd give him that, but that was still just…stupid. Shigeko was going to be the one in charge someday and, yeah, maybe alienating her wasn't the best thing to do…but it was what it was. He wasn't worried about her. He was worried about Sho.
"That it is, Sho, that it is…though I wouldn't go around beating up Hatori. I don't think he can take it." Said Fukuda. He smiled, and laughed, and Sho did the same. Good. He felt better…and Sho feeling good was enough to make him feel good too. To make him feel better. Somewhat.
"Yeah, he's a fraidy cat. I bet that if big sis had done…this…then he would have freaked out so bad that they had to build another bathroom because he wouldn't be able to come out." Said Sho with a laugh. Fukuda loved it when he laughed, when he was happy, like when he had been little. He had always been such a happy boy when he had been a kid. Well he was a kid but…well when he had been little. When he hadn't had to deal with problems like this. He just…wished that he could turn back the clock back to a time when Sho didn't have to deal with this…but he did have to deal with this. He was ten and he had to deal with this….well he had Fukuda to help him deal with this…so that was what he would do. He would deal with this.
"They'd have to drag him out kicking and screaming….worse than what happened on the plane after the barrel roll." Said Fukuda
"Yeah, but I think that he might have gotten stuck under the seat. He would probably have had a heart attack and died right there if he'd seen my tattoos then." Said Sho. He scratched his stomach as he said that. Fukuda cringed. Those were…yeah. He would not have blamed Hatori for freaking out if he had seen those on the plane. He wouldn't have blamed Suzuki, either, and he knew that he would have done worse than a barrel roll.
"Well now that would have been a real tragedy for all of us…so how about I fix those for you? And then you can get on with your day?" Said Fukuda. He was close enough, now, to heal him. He could feel each and every cut…scar…and there were scars…and those were not avoidable…but he could deal with this. He would deal with this. For Sho. He would do anything for Sho.
"Sure…ok…but if I try this again later, not today, you have to promise not to freak out." Said Sho. Fukuda was going to make no such promise. Sho…he needed to get off of this…but he wasn't going to come off of this. He was stuck on this and Fukuda…well he had to be the one who got him off of this. He just had to figure out how.
"Sho…you know I can heal from just about anything, right? I think that maybe before you give yourself a tattoo then you should practice on me." Said Fukuda. There, the solution was very clear. Simple and clear. Sho couldn't heal, not like Fukuda could, so really it was Fukuda who should have been in his place…even though he really didn't want to be. He could heal but he also could feel pain…and he had limits to his powers until he got tired…but this was for Sho. He would do anything for Sho.
"Really? You're not fucking me with?" asked Sho. Fukuda cringed. He knew Sho, he knew he was at that age when cursing was new and cool…but he couldn't just let him…one thing at a time, one things at time.
"Language, and no. I am not messing with you in any way. You can practice on me whenever you want to, ok?" asked Fukuda. Sho looked at him like he had just told him that he was getting his birthday party a few months early. Fukuda really did not want to end up in Sho's place…but better him than Sho. At least he could heal. Better to practice on someone who could heal instead of himself. Better someone who wouldn't have to pay if someone found out about it…better that Fukuda be the one than him.
"Ok…right now. Fix me up right now and then I can go home and get my tools! Come on!" said Sho. Fukuda got to work. He didn't much want to get tattooed by a ten year old boy but he loved Sho and when you loved someone then…well sometimes you had to make some pragmatic choices for their own good. So if it was a choice between Sho giving himself homemade tattoos, getting infected, and then being discovered or him tattooing Fukuda then Fukuda would, of course, be the one who was getting tattooed.
He could, after all, fix just about anything.