Disclaimer: Nothing new. You'd notice.

A/N: Hellooo~

Yes, I know. I said the chapter was almost done. And it was. But it needed some fine tuning and the words just didn't want to flow. But here it is - finally!

Many thanks to the lovely Guest reviewer, Lady Moonlight Christianna, Blue lightning of the night, Sensless, Nezumi84, silverheart1987, ZeroCoolDemon and Austin 0425 for your words, favs and/or follows. They are as much appreciated as always guys. In all honesty, there are moments when I'm ready to walk away from writing this, but you guys always make me want to continue it, help me re-discover my love for this story so I can give you the -as one of you called it - big fat gay ending. Spoiler? Lol Idk. Could take many shapes, such and ending, right? ;) Wow, okay, enough with my monologue! Thank you and please enjoy!

Chapter 14

Meet the Boys!

"Tonight?" Tyson echoed. "Thanks for the heads-up, dude!"

Tala crossed his arms over his chest.

"As if this was my idea! And I'd like to see you make Bryan stay put week after week."

Tyson hesitated for a moment. The Blitzkrieg Boys were an intimidating bunch as it was, but Bryan was playing in a league of his own. Tyson figured he wasn't a bad guy, or else Kai and Tala wouldn't stick around. That didn't mean he wasn't the very meaning of intimidating. Just the thought of standing in the way of something Bryan wanted sent shivers down Tyson's spine, and not in a good way. If Tala couldn't keep him away, Tyson sure wouldn't even bother trying!

"Thought so," Tala snorted. "I'm sure I could have ...convinced Bryan to wait a little longer, but the bastard didn't give me the chance and so earlier I got this fucking selfie from fucking Beijing Airport titled 't minus 7 hours'!"

"When's 'earlier?" Tyson asked suspiciously.

"Good two hours ago."

"What?!"

"I thought you'd appreciate it if I showered first."

"Very considerate of you."

"That's me."

"You could've called though."

Tala shrugged.

"It's not like it would've made a difference."

He did have a point there.

Tyson glanced over to Kai. No doubt the old Kai was able to handle Bryan - heck, Kai's old self could easily have put up with ten Bryans! But this Kai?

"I'll be fine," Kai said when he caught Tyson's stare. "They're friends, right?"

Oh, this poor clueless creature!

Tyson was just about to reply when Tala said, "I'll brief Kai. How about you go put some clothes on, Tyson? I mean, it's past noon - the timeframe for pajamas has long since passed."

Freakin' Tala...

Tyson mumbled something not even he fully understood and got up. He didn't like it, but Tala (as so often) had a point. Not so much about the no-jammies-after-noon-rule (Seriously, what was wrong with wearing pajamas on a lazy Saturday?), but who better to clue Kai in on the Blitzkrieg Boys than Tala?

As he stepped into the shower Tyson had to admit he would love to do it himself. He wanted to do it all, be there all the time. He wanted to watch out for Kai, make sure he was being told the truth, but at the same time protect him from any unnecessary negative memories. Tyson knew this was not realistic. First off, he couldn't possibly be there at all times. There was school, he had to sleep... Also, there were things Tyson couldn't help Kai with, as much as he wanted to. Some aspects of Kai's life he simply didn't know about. Kai hadn't told anyone about his past and he, Tyson's, hadn't been there. He didn't know what had happened. But Tala did. So Tyson had to leave this part up to Tala, whether he liked it or not. He sighed. Freakin' Tala. That redhead better not screw this up... And finally, Tyson knew he couldn't keep Kai's dark memories from him forever. It was his past, it was part of what made him the person he was. Used to be. Whatever. Tyson sighed. Eventually, those memories would return, too. It was only natural.

While he shampooed his hair, Tyson wondered what exactly Tala was telling Kai. He realized he didn't know all that much about the Blitzkrieg Boys. He knew they were Russian, that they had a complicated and difficult past and that they were excellent Beybladers. Huh. That was not much to go on. They really were very private.

Tyson rinsed off the last of his shampoo, turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. He reached for his towel and thought that he'd learned another thing about the mysterious Russian Bladers: they were close. Not only had their team captain stayed behind with their injured teammate, but the other two had visited and Tyson knew that Tala had been giving daily updates on Kai's status. They might be closer to Kai than he, Tyson, was...

Tyson felt the jealousy well up inside him. He shook his head and went on to towel off his hair. Pitiful. He shouldn't be jealous of the Blitzkrieg Boys. No, he should be happy Kai had them in his life! Kai didn't have much of a family, as far as Tyson knew. But he did have his teammates. Not only the Blitzkrieg Boys, but of course also the Bladebreakers.

Right. Enough with the deep thoughts.

Tyson slung his towel around his hips and went into his room to put on some clothes. Comfy clothes. After all, it was still weekend. To annoy Tala, he chose the pair of sweatpants that resembled pajama pants the most.

Once dressed, Tyson went to look for the Russians. He found them in the living room, crouched by the TV.

"Err, what are you guys doing?"

Instead of answering Tala simply pointed at the little white box next to the TV and raised a brow.

"That would be a wii," Tyson replied.

He knew Tala well enough to know he was about to make some ridiculous, likely insulting comment. He did a mental countdown: Russian insult in three, two, one-...

"Kinda gay."

He'd gotten quite good at reading Tala, hadn't he? Friendly insult fine and dandy, but out of the vast amount of options he was sure Tala had, did it really have to be the gay-thing? Tyson didn't like it. He really didn't like it. He didn't like it because he didn't know how to react without giving away his little secret.

Tyson wanted to reply with something witty, something snappy – the kind of reply one came up with later at night when replaying scenarios like these over and over in one's mind. He wanted to, yes.

"Pft, you're gay!" he blurted out before he could stop it.

Oh wow. Classy. Really.

Tyson barely managed to resist the urge to bury his face in his hands. Or storm out. Or both. It took his all to keep his eyes focused on Tala, waiting for the inevitable.

But Tala just smirked. Nothing more. He handed one controller to Kai, tossed another at Tyson and said, "Prepare to get your butt kicked, Granger. You too, Kai. You suck at video games."

Tyson quietly strapped his controller to his wrist. What was with the smirk? Was Tala messing with him, or was Tala... Could it be that Tala was gay, too? Or was he just reading too much into this? He probably was. Still, Tyson could not shake the feeling that he was headed for trouble.

Tyson's feeling of imminent disaster proved to be right. It was admittedly a different kind of disaster, but a disaster nonetheless.

"Bryan, don't-..."

The living room's door to the outer corridor flew open and revealed Bryan and Spencer standing in the doorway.

"... just open the door, we really should knock first," Spencer finished his sentence resignedly and sighed.

He seemed tired, Tyson thought. Exhausted even. Baby-sitting Bryan all throughout the journey seemed to have taking its toll.

"Listen to Spencer, Bryan," Tala drawled without as much as sparing him a glance.

His blue eyes stayed trained on the race car he was currently stirring through an icy landscape full of traps.

Tyson figured that left it up to him to welcome the two Blitzkrieg members. He got up and put on a smile.

"Hi guys. Why don't you come on in?"

"Hello Tyson," Spencer replied and smiled as well. "Sorry for the intrusion."

"Oh no, no, we're glad to have you here."

Bryan didn't bother with a hello.

He nodded at the screen and asked, "You guys playing wii?"

"Err, yeah."

"Fuckin' gay."

What was it with these Russians? Before Tyson had a chance to embarrass himself with another oh so witty retort, Bryan moved over to the couch, picked up the remote and switched off the TV.

"What the fuck, Bryan?" Tala growled.

Bryan crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at his team captain, who glared back.

Tyson wondered if he should have called Gramps to ask him about their insurance coverage. But then again, Gramps broke stuff all the time so a few more broken doors shouldn't be a problem, right? The TV on the other hand...

Just then both Bryan and Tala began to grin. Tala got to his feet and gave Bryan a slap on the shoulder.

"Good to see you, man."

"You too, Captain."

Spencer next to Tyson shook his head and mumbled, "Those two..."

There was a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, though. Tyson watched Tala and Spencer exchange meaningful nods, before everyone's attention focused on Kai.

Kai had been quietly following the events from his chair. Now, with all eyes on him, he rose to his feet.

When Bryan walked over to Kai, Tyson had to resist the mad urge to sprint past him and thrown himself between them. He reminded himself that Kai wasn't a lamb that needed to be protected from a wolf... falcon. Maybe both? Tyson lightly shook his head as if that would help get rid of the stupid thoughts.

"Hiwatari," Bryan simply said.

Bryan really didn't seem to think hellos were necessary.

"Hello Bryan."

Bryan gestured from Kai's feet to his head.

"You look like shit."

...Or manners in general.

Tyson was about to say something to Bryan he'd most likely regret, when Spencer nudged him. Tyson shut his mouth and shot him a questioning look. Spencer shook his head.

"That's Bryan's way of saying he was worried," the Russian whispered.

Tyson huffed. The Blitzkrieg Boys sure had an interesting way of communicating. He held his breath as he waited for Kai's reply.

He was sure Kai didn't only surprise him when he smiled at Bryan and calmly said, "I seem to have lost a lot of weight, but I'm feeling stronger every day."

Tyson really wished he could see Bryan's face right now. He bit his lower lip not to laugh out loud.

Before anyone could say anything, Spencer walked over to Kai and held out his hand.

"Hi Kai. I'm Spencer. It's so nice to finally, um, meet you."

Kai shook his hand.

"The pleasure is mine."

Bryan threw his hands in the air.

"Fuck's sake, what's with all that polite babbling?"

"Maybe Kai's always had good manners, but you've never given him a reason to use them around you?" Tyson retorted before he could think his words over.

Oh he really needed to stop doing that!

Bryan slowly turned on his heels. Uh-oh. Trouble. Big trouble.

"Err, I mean…"

Tyson's mind was racing, trying to come up with the answer to this one question: How to make it out of this alive. What could possibly help him get out of this mess?

"Um, anyone hungry? Gramps made dumplings."

A/N: Who thinks dumplings will save Tyson's butt? :D Hope you liked this chapter and that you have a wonderful rest of the week. ~Bird