I think I need to issue a warning on this chapter for extremely minor sexual themes. Just saying in advance since its a bit strong compared to the nature of this fic so far.
So, I realized this chapter was gonna be hella long and instead of taking forever on a chapter that might be close to twenty thousand words, I decided to cut it into two parts. This isn't the entire chapter here, just part one.
The whole walk across town felt like Sleepy Ash was walking to his death. As if he would get home, walk through the door, and immediately die. If only it were that easy. Then he wouldn't have to face his siblings with Mahiru. He wasn't worried about Mahiru's reactions anymore so much as he was worried about their reactions to Mahiru. They all knew he was interested in Mahiru and any one of them could reveal that. Most likely Lawless. And Old Child never liked lying about being the youngest instead of second eldest so that was an entirely other thing to worry about. Tsubaki could blather that he knows Sakuya and Lilac, which would open up a whole other can of worms. Love was never good at keeping his mouth shut about anything. Just looking at Doubt could be enough to scare off Mahiru. World End might want to fight Mahiru for absolutely no reason. Then there was The Mother. Ash didn't think she could possibly mess anything up, but she was still wary about Ash liking a human to begin with. He was sure nothing good could come of Mahiru visiting.
As Mahiru walked with Ash, he got a very faint feeling that grew bigger as they got closer. It was like the closer they got, the more drawn in Mahiru felt. As if he wanted to run the rest of the way there. It made him feel drawn in and somehow extremely excited as well. Mahiru wasn't actually all that excited about it. Sure, he was happy to go to Ash's house, but it wasn't something he deemed special enough to feel giddy over. He wasn't sure where this feeling was coming from. Although, it did remind him of the feeling he got at the park.
Mahiru soon realized where Ash was leading him. It was the south edge of town. He heard a neighborhood had gotten started on the south edge when the town was still new, but it quickly became abandoned after several decades. Nowadays he heard from other kids at school that their parents were always telling them to stay away from the south edge. Apparently it was something kids in town were told their whole lives, but Mahiru hadn't lived in town his whole life and his uncle never told him anything like that. It was rumored that monsters lived in a lone abandoned mansion on the south edge too. Clearly if Ash lived there then that wasn't true.
Ash and Mahiru began walking past big, fancy antique houses. Mahiru would've thought they looked nice if they all weren't so run down to the point of looking like haunted houses. It didn't scare Mahiru, but it almost put him on edge. The road and sidewalk stopped a while back and turned into a dirt road. As if the entire south edge hadn't been touched since the old ages. Ash abruptly stopped in front of a house and Mahiru turned to face it.
There was a dilapidated white picket fence that was barely even recognizable as white anymore. One half of a fancy gate was missing and the other half was lying on the ground partly attached to the fence. Mahiru noticed dozens of signs on the fence warning about trespassers and the possibility of being shot. There was even a sign that warned of an attack cat, but he was sure it was referring to Kuro meaning it was a novelty sign… he hoped. Leading into the large courtyard was a gravel driveway that made a circle around a broken fountain that clearly didn't work anymore. A few chipped off pieces were scattered on the ground around it. The thing that stood out most to Mahiru was the lavish looking black car parked off to the side. Next to it was a moped that seemed like it was on its last leg. The house itself was old and wooden on the outside. It looked to be two stories, possibly with an attic. All the windows had black curtains blocking the view inside. The roof had a chimney in the middle and plenty of obviously loose shingles. In relation to the house, the roof definitely seemed new, but it clearly wasn't well maintained in the slightest. The front of the house had a porch attached with three steps leading up to it. There were two wooden chairs and a table on the porch, along with a lighter left on the table. On the ground next to the porch was plenty of cigarette butts. Mahiru wondered who in Ash's family smoked.
The brunet finally looked away from the house to stare at Ash.
"You… live here?" Mahiru asked, not quite ready to believe it.
Ash was silent for a moment.
"...Yeah… but I swear, it's a lot nicer on the inside." Ash responded.
Mahiru nodded and followed Ash up to the porch. Kuro jumped out of Mahiru's arms and landed on the ground, ready to sprint inside the second Ash opened the door. The cat could tell something negative was waiting on the other side of the door and he didn't want anything to do with it. Ash hesitated before reaching a hand out to the door knob and finally opening the door. He barely cracked it open and Kuro managed to quickly squeeze inside the house, making a break for Ash's bedroom despite knowing its door was closed. When Ash opened the door all the way and stepped inside the house, it didn't quite register in his mind that Old Child was standing there with a mixed expression of anger and determination on his young face. Once the younger brother saw Mahiru step inside the house as well, he gripped onto the smoking pipe in his hands like it was a baseball bat and swung at Mahiru, hitting the teen in the knee.
"Ow! What the-" Mahiru gripped at his knee and cut himself off upon looking at the boy in front of him.
"Stay away from my big brother, you hussy!" Old Child shouted.
The boy went to swing at Mahiru again and Ash was about to grab Old Child to stop him, but Mahiru beat him to it. The brunet scooped up Old Child and held him high up in the air with a bright smile on his face.
Mahiru got a good look at Old Child. He was clearly the five year old that Ash had previously mentioned before. The only thing Ash and Old Child had in common was red eyes and two sharp teeth, other than that they didn't look alike at all. The boy had short, wavy dark brown hair and a monocle over his right eye. He had on a black suit and cape with a red, almost pink, lining on the inside. Mahiru assumed the boy just liked to dress up.
"Look at you! Aren't you just the most adorable little guy I've ever seen! And what's your name, young man?" Mahiru cheerfully spoke to Old Child.
Old Child and Ash both stared at Mahiru with wide eyes. The genuine happiness on Mahiru's face confused the boy. He just got hit in the knee, so what did he have to be happy about? Was it perhaps just… kindness? Old Child finally got his composure back and aggressively shook the pipe in his hand at Mahiru.
"I am Old Child Hugh Algernon, but you shall address me as Old Child! When Ash isn't here I am the one in charge! I order you to leave my big brother alone and never come here again! If I ever set eyes on you a second time then it'll be the last thing you see, you harlot!" Old Child exclaimed.
"It's wonderful to meet you, Old Child. I'm Mahiru Shirota. I'm sorry for taking time away from your big brother, I promise I won't get in your way anymore. You have quite the vocabulary, you know! I bet you're super smart for your age!" Mahiru replied.
Old Child was going to start protesting, but Mahiru pulled the boy close to carry him and put a hand on his back. Old Child froze. Something flipped a switch inside him and he immediately felt so calm and relaxed in Mahiru's arms. He didn't want to, but he put his head down against Mahiru's shoulder and hesitated before wrapping his arms around the teen's neck. Old Child couldn't understand why Mahiru holding him created such a reaction from him. It wasn't like when Ash held him, it was like... a mother's hug. He couldn't remember what that felt like, but it was like he instinctively knew that that's what it was.
Ash stared at the sight, unsure how, or even if he should intervene. Just looking at Mahiru holding his favorite little brother was almost too much for Ash to handle. It was just so cute. If only Old Child was holding Kuro, then it would be perfect. Still, Old Child's behavior wasn't appropriate and Ash was sure Mahiru just got the worst first impression ever.
"U-um… I'm sorry about him. I had no idea he would try to attack you… A-and sorry about his language too. I dunno where he hears that stuff." Ash apologized.
"No need to apologize. He's a little kid who loves his big brother. There's nothing wrong with that. It didn't hurt that bad anyway, it just surprised me." Mahiru reassured him.
Ash paused for a moment. Mahiru was right, Old Child was only acting childish because he felt threatened by Mahiru. Ash figured it out a long time ago that Old Child only regressed in maturity as a defense mechanism. His brother was also stuck in the body of a five year old so it was only understandable that he would act like one. After all, Ash never stopped feeling eighteen despite being much older than that.
"Um, Ash. I think he fell asleep." Mahiru stated.
Ash looked at Old Child. The boy definitely did fall asleep. Ash was a bit shocked. He couldn't think of another time when Old Child fell asleep so quickly in someone's arms.
"Oh geez, sorry. Here, I can take him." Ash offered and reached for his little brother.
Mahiru went to lift Old Child away, but immediately stopped when he felt a tug on his shirt. Old Child had a tight grip on him and there was no way the boy was going to let go.
"Heh, he's holding onto my shirt. I don't think I can hand him over. If it's alright, I'm fine with holding him." Mahiru replied and started bouncing himself ever so slightly.
Ash put his arms down. He was officially jealous of Old Child now. First his cat, then his little brother. When would Ash get a chance to be held by Mahiru?
Ash glanced down the hall and flinched at what he saw. All Of Love and The Mother were both peeking out from behind the door frame leading into the main room. Love's expression looked giddy, while his sister seemed somewhat wary. It started to annoy Ash that they were spying.
"I can see you two." Ash announced.
Mahiru looked from Ash over to where he was staring. Love flinched and the The Mother sighed. They both stood up straight and walked into the hall.
"Ehehe… Sorry. We told Old Child not to ambush you at the door, but… looks like he did it anyway." Love apologized.
"Don't take his behavior to heart. He's like that with everyone when it comes to Ash." The Mother advised.
"Um, All Of Love and The Mother, right? It's nice to see you two again." Mahiru greeted and waved.
"Oh my! My apologies if I sound rude, but you two look like a mess. What were you doing?" Love questioned.
Ash and Mahiru looked at each other. Their shirts had dried off a bit in the sun, but they were still a bit damp. There was dirt and dust all over them too, especially on Ash's pants.
"Uh, we played soccer." Ash responded.
His two younger siblings stared at him in astonishment.
"Well, I must commend you, Mahiru. You actually managed to get Ash to exercise." The Mother said.
"Oh, I'm so proud! I hope you boys had lots of fun!" Love cheered and lightly clapped his hands together.
Ash turned away in embarrassment and Mahiru laughed a bit.
"Kuro kind of played better than him, but he still did a really job." Mahiru complimented.
Ash tugged down his hood to hide the blush forming on his face.
"Why don't you two come into the living room." The Mother suggested as she walked back into the main room.
Love followed behind her and Mahiru glanced at Ash for a split second before he began walking away. Mahiru took a moment to look around the house. Immediately to his right was a curving staircase that led upstairs. He assumed bedrooms were up there at the least. He actually wondered how many there were. He couldn't imagine there was really eight whole bedrooms in the house for all the siblings. In front of him was a hallway that led to a room Mahiru could see in just a bit. Unfortunately, all he could see was the back of a couch and what looked like the upper part of a fireplace with a shelf above it. Whatever the room was, it seemed rather formal. In the hallway on the left was a double wide door frame. Mahiru followed Ash inside the room.
Right away he was quite surprised. The room was a lot brighter than the hallway area. It was split into two separate areas. From the entrance, the left side was a living room and the right side was a kitchen. The living room side had three couches forming a square in front of a large flat screen television. A fancy coffee table was in the middle of the couches. On either side of the television were cabinets that contained what looked to be books and antiques. Plenty of tiny ships inside bottles stood out to Mahiru. The television was sitting on a much smaller cabinet. Inside the cabinet was multiple video game systems. His first, and correct, assumption was that they belonged to Ash.
The kitchen side had a large fridge in the back corner followed by a sink, a stove and oven, a microwave, and counters with cabinets above and drawers beneath. About two feet in front was a kitchen island. It didn't seem to have any purpose other than for more counter space. In front of the island and basically in the middle of the room, although more centered to the right, was a large rectangular dining table with eight seats. Mahiru couldn't help but find it a little bit funny that one of the chairs had a small stack of books on it. Clearly that was Old Child's seat.
"You can sit down wherever you want. It doesn't matter." The Mother told Mahiru as she stepped back into the kitchen.
Mahiru nodded and sat down on the left end of the middle couch. Ash walked past Love to sit on the left couch, but the blonde immediately grabbed his brother by the arm. Ash looked over to see Love's gaze was focused downward.
"Um, Ash…" Love started.
"What?" Ash asked, extremely confused.
"There's, um… There's dirt literally all over your butt." Love said, trying to be sensitive about his wording.
Ash flinched and tried his best to look at the back of his pants. He lifted up the coattails of his jacket and could see dirt stains exactly where Love told him they were. It must have happened when Ash backed away after falling on Mahiru. Ash suddenly felt embarrassed. He had no idea if Mahiru knew the whole time, but if he did then the thought made Ash feel even worse. He tugged on his hood again.
"Can't deal…" Ash grumbled.
"Wow. Don't let Lawless or Tsubaki see that. You'll never hear the end of it if they do." The Mother warned.
"Why don't you go change into some clean clothes, Ash?" Love suggested.
Ash would've preferred to do that, but he didn't want to leave Mahiru alone. Love and his sister weren't a threat and he was pretty sure Old Child would stay asleep, but if Lawless, Wor, or Tsubaki came in to meet Mahiru when Ash wasn't in the room he was afraid of what could happen.
"Hey, um, actually… Is it too much to ask if I could borrow a shirt?" Mahiru inquired.
Well that solved one problem, but it created a new one. One that made Ash want to scream. The idea of Mahiru wearing one of his shirts was almost too much for Ash to handle. It wasn't a bad thing and of course Ash wasn't going to refuse, but it was just so embarrassing to think about.
"U-um, yeah, sure. Not a problem." Ash nervously replied, clearly sounding like it was a problem.
"Oh, I can take Old Child for you. You probably don't want to be carrying him around the whole time." Love offered.
"I would, but he won't let go of my shirt." Mahiru said as he stood up from the couch.
The Mother walked out of the kitchen and stood in front of Mahiru.
"He does that to Ash a lot. You just have to yank him a bit." The Mother stated.
She grabbed Old Child under his arms and waited for a second before practically ripping him away from Mahiru like pulling off a bandaid really quick. It startled Mahiru enough to make the teen freeze and Ash and Love stared at their sister in shock. To everyone's surprise, Old Child didn't wake up. Ash momentarily wondered if his little brother was getting enough sleep or if Mahiru holding him had a strange affect on the boy.
"Okay, you can go now." The Mother said.
Ash and Mahiru nervously nodded and the two walked out of the main room.
The Mother placed Old Child down on the couch where Mahiru was previously sitting. She grabbed a folded up blanket on the right end of the couch and put it over the small boy. All Of Love watched her with a concerned expression on his face. His sister then walked past him to head back into the kitchen, but turned to look at the blonde.
"What?" She questioned.
"...You… seem irritated…" Love admitted.
The Mother sighed. "I don't mean to be, but yes. I am."
"Are you still mad?" Love asked.
"No, I'm not mad. I just- I'm not happy. I'm worried about Ash getting hurt in the long run. I think it was a… no offense but, a stupid idea to invite Mahiru over. I know you want Ash to be happy, I want him to be happy too. I've never once seen him happy and I've known him for far longer than you have. But I don't think pushing them together will end up with a fairytale ending. You can dream all you want, Love, but it's not realistic." The Mother explained.
All Of Love dropped his head down. He was starting to feel like everyone was working against him today. Maybe he really should stop trying to help so much lately, but what was he supposed to do then? If he didn't help then there was no point. No point to anything at all. If he didn't focus on other people's problems then he'd be reminded of his own. His own stupid pointless problems that didn't matter in the slightest.
"I- It's just that… I've never seen true love that worked out in the end. All I want is for Ash to get a chance to experience it." Love said.
"Mahiru is a human. Whether any of us want to believe it or not, he will die and we never will. Ash will lose him, Lawless will lose Licht, and Tsubaki will lose Belkia. It'll happen one day and we'll all just stay in this house day in and day out for the rest of eternity as the world simply moves on without us." The Mother looked away from her younger brother.
"You miss him, don't you?" The blonde realized.
His sister tensed up a bit and Love felt a chill run up his spine. His words certainly got through to her, that's for sure, but he was afraid he made her angry again. Love wanted to back out, he wanted to take his words back. He felt like all the progress he made long ago to no longer be scared of her was quickly getting unraveled. The unreasonable fear was coming back and the desperate need to run and hide was creeping up on him. He didn't want to lose his relationship with his only sister just because he made one single mistake and pushed their progress back by several decades. They were so close now, like best friends, and Love couldn't risk that. He had to say something to fix the situation.
"...P-please don't regret the time you spent with him! Regret festers and eat away at you until there's nothing left. I don't want you to know what that feels like!" Love nervously exclaimed.
The Mother didn't regret meeting him, or marrying him, she regretted not realizing how much it would hurt to lose him. She promised him she would move on, and yet moving on was what hurt the most. She simply didn't want Ash to feel that way. He already had too much regret to deal with, she didn't want him to add more to the pile. The Mother glanced up at All Of Love. Her brother looked scared. It wasn't obvious, but she recognized that look on his face all too well. She scared him. After decades of him not being afraid of her anymore, she just had to go and scare him on accident again. She had to do something to fix the situation.
The Mother barely took one step forward when Old Child suddenly shot up on the couch and stared straight ahead with wide eyes.
"Huh!? Wha-...?" The boy mumbled.
Love immediately took the opportunity to let himself get distracted and walked up to his big brother, crouching down in front of the couch.
"Are you up now? Did you sleep well?" Love asked with a fake smile on his face.
Old Child looked around for a moment, extremely confused. He saw his sister walk into the kitchen and looked back to Love.
"I fell asleep? But… but… Was I dreaming?" Old Child wondered.
"Oh? What did you dream about?" Love inquired.
"Ash came home with that human and I hit him in the knee." The elder brother responded.
"That wasn't a dream, Old Child. You did that." Love clarified.
"Wh-what!? Where is that whore!? He better not be alone with Ash!" Old Child shouted.
"You need to watch your language, young man. As far as Mahiru knows you actually are five and it's not right for a small child to use such foul words." Love warned.
Old Child simply groaned as a response.
A few minutes ago, Ash and Mahiru made their way upstairs. Ash was worried about Mahiru seeing his room. It was certainly cleaner than yesterday considering there wasn't a pile of dirty clothes taking up half the room anymore and it was probably bug free now too thanks to Kuro's appetite. Still, it's not like he made his bed or cleaned up his messy desk. His carpet was still a stain magnet as well, and he just hoped Mahiru didn't look up at the ceiling for any reason.
They got to the second floor and Mahiru saw a hallway of doors. He wondered if all of them were bedrooms or not. Kuro was curled up on the floor in front of the first door to the right so that must be Ash's room. Down the hall Mahiru could hear the faint sound of a drum beat. He assumed someone was listening to loud music, but it was only drums and nothing else, which seemed a bit strange.
Ash walked up to his door and Kuro stood up to wait for Ash to open it. Just like with the front door, Ash hesitated before going through with it. He eventually opened the door and stepped inside his room. He moved out of the way so Mahiru could walk in then closed the door. The brunet looked around the room. It was blue, very blue. Ash's bed was blue, his carpet was blue, and there was even a deep blue rug next to the bed. His walls were a pale light blue and the curtains over his open window were a dark enough blue to be confused for black at first glance. Compared to Mahiru's room, Ash's room felt so bare despite being unorganized unlike Mahiru's room. It was a bit difficult to tell, but Ash's room was slightly bigger than Mahiru's. He noticed posters on the left wall closest to the bed. They weren't for anything Mahiru recognized, but he assumed they were posters for video games. Otherwise, the room didn't really scream to Mahiru that it belonged to Ash. He was expecting lots of pointless possessions and more video game and cat related things. He didn't feel disappointed, though, it was just different from what he expected. It really was true that one could tell a lot about someone from looking at their room. Ash's room was bare, yet messy, with few personal items. That had to mean something, but perhaps Mahiru didn't know enough about Ash yet to figure out what that was.
"U-um… Sorry for the mess. I wasn't expecting a guest." Ash apologized.
"Oh! No, I should be apologizing. I don't mean to suddenly intrude." Mahiru corrected.
"Y-you're not intruding… I don't mind you being here… Really, it's not a problem." Ash muttered and looked away.
Mahiru smiled and the room fell silent. He glanced over to see Kuro curled up on one of Ash's pillows. The sight was almost too cute to Mahiru and he had to resist the urge to pull out his phone to take pictures.
"U-um, lemme find a shirt for you." Ash said, remembering why they came up to his room in the first place.
He stepped over to the closet and rummaged around a bit. He needed something that wasn't big on himself since it would be even bigger on Mahiru and nothing that looked uncharacteristic for Mahiru to wear, which would be most of his wardrobe then. Thankfully, Ash had plenty of plain black t-shirts. There was no way he could go wrong with that, black matched with everything after all. Ash pulled one off its hanger and walked back up to Mahiru, holding the shirt out for the brunet.
"Thanks." Mahiru said with a smile and kindly took the shirt.
Ash just nodded and went back to the closet to find clean clothes for himself. He grabbed a plain white shirt and took black jeans off the shelf inside the closet. When Ash turned around he wasn't prepared in the slightest for what he saw. Mahiru unbuttoned the last button on his shirt and took it off. Mahiru was shirtless in Ash's room with him. His face immediately burned up and he wanted to look away, but he couldn't gather enough willpower to do so. He found himself staring at Mahiru's body like he was mesmerized. He noticed Mahiru's skin tone was a little bit on the tanner side. It was especially obvious compared to Ash, who was rather pale from staying inside so much. Well, that and technically being undead in a confusing way.
Looking at Mahiru made Ash want to reach a hand out and touch the brunet. To trail a hand from his chest down to his stomach and let fingers linger right above the top of his pants. Mahiru was standing in front of his bed too. Ash could just walk up and gently push Mahiru down onto the bed. He could press his lips against Mahiru's neck over and over again. He could bite down on Mahiru's collarbone and maybe hear a moan come from Mahiru. That would be like music to Ash's ears. The sound of Mahiru moaning because of Ash, it was a sound he could only dream of. He desperately wanted to know what it sounded like and what it would be like to hear Mahiru say his name in such a euphoric way. He wanted to know so bad that it was killing him. Wait, no. Actually, he wanted to know so bad that it ended up causing a problem… below the belt.
Ash felt so embarrassed for an entirely other reason now. He couldn't let Mahiru find out. Ash quickly moved the clothes he was holding so they were covering up the problem just in case it was visible. That's what he got for letting his mind wander in such an inappropriate way. That never happened to him before, though. Well, he never had a reason to think like that in the first place. Ash hadn't ever been interested in such a thing before meeting Mahiru.
Mahiru put Ash's shirt on and looked over to the other male. He had his head down and seemed nervous. Mahiru assumed he knew what was wrong.
"Hey, why don't I step out for a moment since you have to change pants?" Mahiru offered.
Ash looked up at Mahiru. Seeing him wearing Ash's shirt only made it worse. It definitely was a bit big on him and showed off Mahiru's collarbone. Ash had to look back down again. He was too nervous to speak properly so he just nodded his head in agreement. Mahiru then walked out of Ash's bedroom and closed the door to wait outside. Immediately Ash let out a big sigh of relief and dropped down to his knees.
"Can't deal, can't deal, can't deal…" Ash whispered to himself.
Kuro lifted his head and looked down at Ash, having no idea what his owner was complaining about.
"What do I dooo…? Aren't I supposed to, like, think about boring things, or something? Uuum… Okay, okay… What's boring to me? Math! ...I don't know how to do math… Crap! I gotta think of something else…" Ash ranted.
An idea popped in Ash's head and he stood up. He went back to his closet to find what he was looking for.
Outside in the hallway, Mahiru leaned against the wall while waiting for Ash. The moment he stepped out of the room he felt awkward. Not because he was alone in someone else's house, but because of the thoughts running through his head. He was trying his best to forget about it, but at the missed opportunity of being in the same room as Ash while he changed, Mahiru couldn't help but remember when Ash lifted up his shirt after they played soccer. He couldn't believe the amount of disappointment that rushed through him when he offered to leave. Did he want to see more of Ash's body? Mahiru had to admit that Ash wasn't bad to look at, even if he did have a look in his eyes that seemed like a fish mixed with a dead body. Still, Mahiru wasn't interested in Ash like that. Ash was just a new friend that he felt a close connection with. Nothing more, nothing less. There was nothing wrong with admitting that Ash had a nice body and leaving it at that. A body that didn't make sense for a shut-in to have and just so happened to be the type that Mahiru was into when it came to guys. Mahiru wouldn't let himself believe it, but he would've liked to see the rest of Ash's body. Not that Ash seemed brave enough to let that happen in the first place.
Ash's bedroom door opened, which startled Mahiru a bit, and Ash slowly walked out of the room with Kuro on his shoulder. He had on a white shirt and light blue hoodie with cat ears on the hood. Mahiru remembered seeing black jeans in Ash's hands before he left, but the other male had on black sweatpants instead. He seemed a little on edge to Mahiru as well and couldn't quite look in the brunet's direction.
"You good?" Mahiru asked.
"...Yeah." Ash replied and nodded.
They both went back down the stairs and into the main room. It wasn't noticeable to Mahiru, but Ash could tell there was some serious tension in the room. The Mother was stirring the contents of a pot on the stove and All Of Love was sitting on the couch with Old Child. The second he saw his elder brother, the boy jolted up from the couch and confidently stood in front of Mahiru.
"There you are, you slut!" Old Child shouted.
"Oh great, here we go again." Ash grumbled.
Mahiru immediately picked up Old Child and looked at the boy with a stern expression. It managed to surprise Old Child a little.
"Why must you insist on calling me names like that? I haven't done anything to you, have I? Where did you even hear those words?" Mahiru questioned.
"Uh- um, well… B-because you've been taking my big brother from me!" Old Child answered.
Ash became afraid that Old Child would let the truth slip.
"And I told you I'm sorry about that. That wasn't my intention. I hope we can get along, Old Child. And for the record, you're using those words incorrectly." Mahiru said.
Ash felt relieved. Technically Mahiru was wrong since Old Child did know what those words meant and from his perspective Mahiru really was those things, but at least it meant that Mahiru didn't suspect anything.
Old Child just stared at Mahiru. He had to admit that the human seemed sincere, if not quite naive. There was even something about him that made Old Child feel at peace. He hated the idea of getting along with a lowly pathetic human, but maybe Old Child could simply tolerate him as a compromise. After all, there already was one other human the boy tolerated and Ash did seem interested in this one.
"I can put up with you, Mahiru Shirota, but just know that I'm keeping my eye on you. Veeeery closely." Old Child warned and squinted his eyes at Mahiru.
"Haha, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Old Child." Mahiru responded with a smile.
He gently put Old Child back down on the floor and the boy felt conflicted. Old Child was upset that Mahiru didn't hold him like earlier, but he was mad at himself for even wanting that.
Satisfied that the issue was finally settled, Ash went to sit down on the couch to the left. He fiddled with the bottom of his hoodie and couldn't seem to find a good position to keep his arms in, but finally settled on keeping his wrists crossed at the waist level. Kuro jumped down to curl up on the arm rest. Old Child immediately ran up and climbed onto the couch. He went to sit on Ash's lap, but his brother quickly grabbed the boy and held him back.
"That's… not a good idea right now, Child." Ash said.
"But Aaaash! Why not!? It's not fair!" Old Child protested.
"It-it's just not, okay? Maybe later." Ash replied, sounding irritated.
Old Child groaned, but gave up and instead sat down as close to his brother as he could physically get. Love giggled and Mahiru smiled as the brunet sat down on the middle couch next to Love. The blonde glanced at Mahiru, finding it cute that he was wearing Ash's shirt. In the background, Love saw Doubt walk through the wall.
"Oh, Doubt! Come here!" Love called out.
Everyone looked at Love curiously. In the hallway, Doubt backed up and looked at the blonde as well. He ducked a bit to avoid his paper bags hitting the top of the door frame and took a few steps into the room, causing the attention to go to him instead.
"Come meet Mahiru. He's staying for dinner." Love requested.
Mahiru felt a little uncomfortable looking at the extremely tall man. He was very slender as well, to a point that it looked unnatural. His face was covered by a brown paper bag with a single hole in it for vision. Mahiru almost thought there was a tiny red glow coming from it. There were two other bags stacked on top of his head. One with a happy face drawn on and one with a frowning face. Hanging around his neck was a necklace with a cross attached. He was holding an empty glass bottle close to his chest.
"Ah, hello." Mahiru greeted and nervously waved a hand at Doubt.
Doubt immediately tensed up and turned around, trying to quickly leave the room. Mahiru noticed he had his black hair contained in a very long ponytail that almost reached the floor. All Of Love practically jumped off the couch and ran up to Doubt to grab the older man by the arm. Doubt froze and easily gave up, simply mumbling incoherently to himself. Mahiru glanced at Ash, who just shrugged and looked away.
"Don't think you can get away that easily. Now, Mahiru, this is Doubt Doubt. Doubt, this is Mahiru Shirota, Ash's... friend. Say hi." Love told him, clearly as an order and not a suggestion.
"...Hi…" Doubt muttered, barely audible for Mahiru to hear.
"Hello." Mahiru repeated.
Doubt then tried to walk away again, but Love only tightened his grip on his brother's arm.
"Really, Doubt, you should stay. It won't be long until dinner gets underway." Love said and tugged lightly enough on Doubt's arm that the action wasn't visible.
Doubt groaned and walked with Love to the couch. The blonde sat in the middle and Doubt sat next to him on the opposite end of Mahiru. Doubt put his feet on the couch and pulled his knees close to his chest, still clutching onto the bottle. The room suddenly felt very awkward to Mahiru. He glanced at Doubt and became curious about the glass bottle.
"So, um… mind if I ask what the bottle is for?" Mahiru inquired.
Doubt quickly glanced up at Mahiru then to Love. The blonde smiled and nodded at Doubt as reassurance.
"...Ship in a bottle…" Doubt quietly answered.
Mahiru looked over to the cabinets next to the television and spotted the ships in a bottle that he remembered were there.
"Did you make the ones over in the cabinet there?" Mahiru asked and pointed to the cabinet.
Doubt nodded and Mahiru smiled.
"That's amazing! You must be really talented! I've always wondered how they're made. It must take a lot of hard work to make them." Mahiru happily said.
Doubt pulled his knees closer to himself and nodded again. Mahiru wasn't sure if he was doing something wrong or not. Unbeknownst to him, Doubt felt overjoyed to hear such nice things said about himself.
"Doubt's been making them for as long as I can remember. There's so many of them all over the house. He made one just for me that has pink sails and little hearts all over it! It's so cute!" Love said to help further the conversation along.
Doubt flinched and tugged on the edge of his bag, mumbling something to himself.
"He made me one too! It looks like a ghost ship!" Old Child added.
Doubt turned around on the couch to face the opposite direction of his brothers.
"Same. The one he made me has a crew of cats on the deck. One of 'em has an eyepatch and I like that." Ash stated.
Doubt let out a groan. It was more out of embarrassment than aggravation.
"Doubt made me one that looks like a yakatabune! Hahahaha!" Exclaimed an unfamiliar voice.
Everyone looked over to the room entrance to see Tsubaki. Mahiru didn't recognize him, but could immediately tell he was Japanese -or at least half since he must be one of Ash's brothers- just from his facial features and the fact that he was wearing a kimono. Mahiru thought it was strange that he was wearing sunglasses inside, well, not as strange as Doubt wearing a paper bag over his head. Tsubaki noticed Mahiru in the room and immediately flashed a wide smile.
"Well hello there! And who is this stranger?" Tsubaki greeted.
Ash quietly groaned, concerned over how bad Tsubaki would make the situation become.
"Oh, hello! I'm Mahiru Shirota. Nice to meet you!" Mahiru greeted and held out his right hand.
Tsubaki hesitated. He could've sworn that name sounded familiar to him, but his mind was blanking on answers. Ignoring that, there was another reason Tsubaki was hesitant. Mahiru was holding out his right hand, meaning Tsubaki would have to use his right hand as well. He didn't want to, but Tsubaki reached out his right hand and shook Mahiru's. Considering Doubt was a hard act to follow, Mahiru didn't think anything of the fact that Tsubaki's kimono sleeve fully covered his arm and hand.
"Nice to meetcha too, Mahiru! I'm Who Is Coming Tsubaki, but just Tsubaki will do! My first name is soooo embarrassing! Hahaha!" Tsubaki replied.
Mahiru definitely thought Tsubaki's name took the cake for most weirdest name so far. He was a bit curious on how the siblings' parents' came up with such odd things to name their children. Something dawned on Mahiru. Tsubaki's last name was, well, Tsubaki and Old Child's last name, he assumed, was Algernon. If they all shared the same father then why would some of them have different surnames? There was probably a simple explanation to it, so Mahiru didn't think too long about it. Although, he wondered what Ash's last name was. It would make the most sense that it was Algernon, but Mahiru couldn't be sure until he heard it from Ash himself.
"Tsubaki, Mahiru is Ash's new friend and he's staying for dinner." All Of Love explained.
Tsubaki immediately turned around and stared at Ash with a slightly surprised expression. Ash looked away, bracing for however Tsubaki would react.
"Hahahahahaha! Oh man! Oh- Hoo boy! Aaahahaha! No way! No! Frickin'! Way! Hahahaha- Bored…" Tsubaki laughed until he abruptly stopped and looked uninterested.
The change severely confused Mahiru. He'd never seen someone completely switch like that before. He didn't even know why Tsubaki was laughing to begin with. Doubt tensed up from the loud sound of Tsubaki's laughter. Ash just put a hand over his face and sighed. Old Child took notice of Tsubaki's use of the word frickin'. Clearly he was listening to Wor talk too much.
"Tsubaki." The Mother called from the kitchen.
"Hm? Yes, Sister?" Tsubaki asked, seemingly back to being cheerful.
"Go tell Tweedledee and Tweedledum that dinner's almost ready." She requested, hoping to get the youngest out of the room.
"O-kay!" Tsubaki saluted and ran off to head upstairs.
Mahiru heard a loud clacking sound and looked down as Tsubaki left. He was wearing traditional Japanese sandals. Mahiru realized that Tsubaki wasn't as tall as he initial appeared to be.
"You'll have to excuse Tsubaki, Mahiru. He's just…-"
"Insane." Ash said for Love.
"...Loud." Doubt mumbled.
"Obnoxious!" Old Child added.
"No! He's just… eccentric." Love corrected.
Mahiru got the feeling that Tsubaki wasn't all that well liked by his siblings.
The room fell quiet other than the television and the sound of The Mother working in the kitchen. Old Child and Ash were focused on the television and Doubt put down the empty bottle on the coffee table, deciding that leaving wasn't really an option for him. Mahiru felt a little antsy. He wasn't used to sitting by and waiting while someone else did all the work. He looked over his shoulder and into the kitchen.
"Do you need any help with dinner?" Mahiru asked.
Everyone looked at Mahiru and The Mother turned around from the stove.
"Y-you don't have to do that, Mahiru." Ash adamantly protested.
"You're the guest. It wouldn't be right." Love said.
"Oh, it's okay. Really. I prefer doing most of the work, or at least helping. I'd rather be up and doing something than nothing anyway." Mahiru reassured them.
"Okay then. You can come set the table." The Mother decided.
Mahiru stood up and walked into the kitchen. The Mother opened up the cabinets and drawers that had the silverware, glasses, and plates so Mahiru knew where they were.
"Ash, why don't you come help too? It would be rude to make Mahiru do it alone." The Mother suggested, trying to guilt trip her elder brother.
Ash didn't want to get up, but he didn't want to make Mahiru do all the work either. Mahiru liked helping after all and maybe he'd like Ash more too if he helped out. Still, getting up. At the moment it was much more than just a 'too lazy' issue. He'd just have to deal with it.
"Fine." Ash grumbled as he slowly got up from the couch.
"It's okay, Ash. I don't mind doing it myself." Mahiru said with a smile as he carried some plates to the table.
Ash nervously looked away and let himself drop back down onto the couch, making Old Child bounce up a bit. The Mother let it slide by since it's what Mahiru wanted.
Mahiru started placing plates down in front of the chairs. He felt a little silly for being so happy over setting a table. It was certainly nice to have the opportunity at least. At home all he had to do was sit down by himself, but at Ash's house he would be sitting with lots of other people. It would be so fun and lively and Mahiru would be happier than he's ever been over dinner.
"When did we get a maid?"
"Idiot, does he look like a maid?"
Mahiru looked up from the table. He saw Tsubaki standing with two other men, Lawless and World End. He recognized them just a bit, but didn't actually know who they were.
"Ah, hello! I'm Mahiru Shirota!" Mahiru greeted.
"He's Ash's frieeend. He's staying for dinner." Tsubaki added.
Lawless and Wor looked at each other, then looked to Ash. Ash turned away, looking irritated. His two younger brothers suddenly burst out laughing. Mahiru wasn't sure why he kept getting laughed at, but he assumed the reason lied more with Ash than himself. Mahiru simply walked up to them and held out a hand. It surprised the brothers enough to get them to stop laughing and be a little mature.
"I'm Lawless. Nice to properly meet you, Mahiru." The blonde calmly greeted and shook Mahiru's hand first.
"I'm World End! Wor for short! Nice to meetcha too!" Wor greeted and also shook Mahiru's hand, albeit a bit roughly.
Being up close to the two men reminded Mahiru where he recognized them from.
"Oh, I remember now! You're the drunk two." Mahiru said.
Lawless and Wor stared at Mahiru with a bit of embarrassment on their faces.
"Hahahahahaha!" Tsubaki laughed.
"I-I-I am so sorry you had to see us like that! I swear we're not, like, alcoholics or anything!" Lawless nervously exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah!" Wor added.
Mahiru let out a nervous chuckle. "It's fine, no judgement. I almost completely forgot about it anyway."
"Whew, that's good. Hey, just to let ya know… I'm older than Ash!" Lawless exclaimed.
Ash tensed up on the couch and groaned. Of course Lawless was going to take the opportunity to pull out the physical age card. Spending centuries being the little brother despite both of them being physically eighteen would annoy Ash too. Still, Lawless was clearly announcing it just to be able to call Ash the younger one when Mahiru was present.
"And I'm older than him!" Wor shouted and pointed at Lawless.
"And I'm older than both of them!" Tsubaki abruptly announced and slung his arms around his older brothers' shoulders, which clearly irritated them.
"Just keep in mind that I'm older than all three of youu~ Hehe!" Love said, trying to join in on the fun.
Lawless and Wor groaned. Tsubaki snickered considering that didn't change anything for him as the only one younger than Love.
"Are you the oldest, All Of Love?" Mahiru questioned.
"Oh, hehe. No, that'd be-"
"Doubt." Ash interrupted just incase Love said something else.
Doubt lifted his head up and looked at Ash. The eldest brother couldn't discern any kind of emotion from Doubt so he wasn't sure what Doubt's reaction was.
"I'm not… participating… in this." Doubt grumbled and put his head back down.
Ash sighed while Love and Old Child laughed a bit. It sounded like a joke, but Doubt was serious. He didn't like lying and he thought it was wrong that everyone was participating in the lie. Still, he wasn't about to reveal the truth to Mahiru. It wasn't his place to possibly ruin everything for Ash. He hated taking action anyway.
"Hey, where is Mahiru going to sit?" The Mother asked, changing the topic.
It dawned on everyone that there was still only eight seats at the table. They weren't used to having a guest for dinner, and whenever Tsubaki brought Belkia over they both stayed in his room during dinner.
"Tsubaki can eat on the floor like Kuro." Lawless suggested, only half joking.
"I am surprisingly okay with that." Tsubaki shamelessly admitted.
"No! That wouldn't be fair. Isn't there enough room at the end of the table for a second chair?" Love questioned.
The Mother walked over to Ash's side of the dining table to inspect it. Ash became nervous at the thought of Mahiru sitting so close to him at dinner.
"Yeah, but it'll be a tight squeeze. We don't actually have another chair for the table though." The Mother said.
"There's the desk chair up in the library." Old Child stated.
Mahiru was surprised to hear they had a whole room just for a library. Granted, he hadn't seen the entire house yet, but now he became curious to see it. Mahiru wondered what kind of books they had and how many too.
Doubt quickly got up from the couch before All Of Love could stop him and left the main room. He decided to be the one to get the chair so he could have a moment of peace away from everyone. As he left, Mahiru noticed there was no sound to his footsteps. It came off as just a tad bit creepy to Mahiru. Since Doubt was gone, Ash took the opportunity to put his feet up on the coffee table. Tsubaki happily walked over to the couches, carefully stepped over Ash's legs and plopped down next to Old Child which sort of squished the boy between Tsubaki and Ash. The elder two became annoyed at Tsubaki's closeness. Mahiru and The Mother went back into the kitchen and Mahiru gathered up silverware to put on the table. With Mahiru's attention diverted away from them, Lawless and Wor went to the couch and loomed over Ash with mischievous grins on their faces.
"...What do you want?" Ash quietly grumbled.
"Nyash brought the human over for dinner! Hehe~" Lawless mocked Ash in a whisper and Wor snickered with him.
"I didn't invite him over, Love did." Ash whispered back.
"Still, you're letting him meet your family. You guys must be reeeal close by now." The blonde teased.
"Listen, I'm really not in the mood for this right now. I'll let you two bother me tomorrow, just leave me alone today." Ash requested.
"Ohhh, does Ashy-Washy not wanna chat with his big brothers tod- Ow!" Lawless was interrupted by Old Child smacking him in the forehead with his pipe.
"Ash said leave him alone, so leave him alone!" Old Child angrily exclaimed.
The blonde backed away and covered his face in agony. Wor frantically backed away too incase he got hit as well. Tsubaki started laughing at his brother's pain so Old Child also smacked the youngest on the head with his pipe. Tsubaki yelped and rubbed his sore head.
"Nice job." Ash complimented.
Old Child brimmed with joy at receiving a praise from his big brother.
"Old Child, don't resort to violence please. Ash, don't reward bad behavior. You know he's impressionable. And Lawless, how many times have I told you not to pick on Ash when Old Child is around? You'll only get hurt." All Of Love scolded his brothers.
"...Sorry." Lawless, Ash, and Old Child reluctantly apologized.
Mahiru quietly laughed to himself. He wasn't sure if they were actually fighting with each other or that's just how they got along. Still, the liveliness of Ash's house made him happy to be there. It was a nice change of pace for Mahiru.
"Mahiru, what do you want to drink?" The Mother asked.
"Huh? Oh, um… Do you have orange juice?" Mahiru wondered, hoping he didn't sound childish.
"No, but we have apple juice… lots of apple juice." She said.
"That's fine." Mahiru replied.
"I want apple juice too!" Old Child shouted.
"Me too, me too!" Wor added.
"Soda for me, please." Ash stated.
"Water." Doubt said as he walked back into the room holding the chair from the library in one hand.
Upon seeing Doubt was back in the room, Ash quickly removed his feet from the coffee table.
"If you're an adult I'm not getting it for you." The Mother clarified.
"Aaww…" Ash, Wor, and Old Child groaned, but Doubt didn't since he planned to get his own drink anyway.
"Wait! I mean yay!" Old Child corrected himself.
"Ugh… Doubt, can you go put that next to Ash's chair?" She requested.
Doubt nodded and walked over to Ash's end of the table. He scooted Ash's chair over to the side as far as it could go and placed down the smaller chair. It fit perfectly in the extra space, but the chairs were so close together that it left no wiggle room. Ash and Mahiru would just have to deal with the personal space intrusion.
The Mother moved the pot off the stove and turned it off. There was a second pot that she moved as well. Mahiru placed empty glasses down on the dining table and was satisfied with his finished work. He walked up to the counter.
"Anything else I can do?" Mahiru asked The Mother.
"You can take one the pots over to the table for me." She replied.
Mahiru nodded and grabbed one of the pots by the handle, carrying it to the middle of the table. The Mother took the other pot and brought it to the table as well.
"Alright, dinner's ready." The Mother announced.
I felt like the last chapter was kinda weak, especially in the KuroMahi department. So I tried to ramp it up in this chapter and really try my best with it, but... I might've gone a little overboard... on everything...
Y'all are not gonna believe the amount of research I had to do to figure out how Ash should handle his... problem. I'm a girl, and I'm probably the definition of prudish(shocking considering some things I've written) so I know absolutely nothing about that topic. I read a WikiHow guys. A WikiHow. And Reddit. Let that sink in.
Anyway... this chapter isn't actually over, so stay tuned for part two! Hugh would be proud that his name is gonna be in two titles.
