Oh screw my vacation! Go have a special, my fellow readers!
I own nothing.
-IIXII-
If by some chance that a stranger would come up to him and say that he was indestructible when it came down to taking shit from others, then Terumi would waste no time in denying that statement. In fact, he would immediately make things clear by saying how flat-out wrong they were.
Terumi never showed it, and heck he had no intention of showing it, but he has his limits. Believe it or not, he wasn't far too different from others.
The knowledge of people talking behind his back and such, especially on the Internet, rarely ever get to him, and it is even safe to say that he didn't give two shits about what they thought of him, but even for someone as intimidating and sadistic as he was, his walls weren't exactly invulnerable.
Sounded ridiculous, but it was unfortunately true.
Sometimes on rare occasions he would just sit still on the couch in his apartment, alone with nothing but his thoughts. He would often give out a few errands for his little brother to do in order to be alone, and as much as he tried to hide it, Terumi knew that he knew. And every time he would send him out, Kval would just nod and did as he was told without question. He appreciated it, really.
And if he was lucky, the feeling would sometimes last for only a day, a few hours even. But if he wasn't, then expect a few days or maybe even a full week.
Sometimes it bothered him so much that he couldn't get himself to sleep at night.
But despite how terrible it was, he would always somehow manage to forcefully push through and get himself back up on his feet. Every single time.
Using force was the only solution back then. He tried other things too, and he did, but ultimately force was the only thing that gave him positive results. Anything else besides that would sometimes work too, but not as much as he wanted.
So that's how it came to pass. If he were to ever feel down in the dumps, then forcing through was automatically the only solution.
Now though, things were pretty much different. So different.
She would notice if something was up, no matter how hard he tried hiding it, and she would always end up killing his problem in just a matter of minutes, something that even he couldn't accomplish fast enough. And even if he tried to handle it himself occasionally, she would just always come popping out from nowhere and did her thing.
He would sometimes make it look like that he didn't want her help by giving her the cold shoulder, but deep down he knew he needed it, and he had a sinking suspicion that she knew that as well. So even if he did act cold towards her, she would just always end up doing her thing anyway. And as to why she kept quiet about it was beyond him.
"Terumi?" her gentle voice called out.
He didn't bother answering from his spot on the couch, and she immediately knew why, of course. Without even needing to grow an extra pair of eyes on the back of his head, Terumi could tell that she had that strange little smile on her face. Like always.
Terumi just kept his eyes focused on Ruby, who was currently fast asleep on his lap, as a way of him telling her to leave him be.
She knew better, of course. She always did.
Her light footsteps greeted his ears as she slowly made her way over to him. When she was finally standing right behind him, Summer bent down and wrapped her arms around his neck, before taking a quick peek at his face.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.
No response. He then simply turned away from her, not that she could see much of his face to begin with thanks to his yellow cloak, but even then something told him that her smile was growing.
"Do you not want my company?" she asked.
The same as before, Terumi gave out no response. Because he didn't need to.
"I see. I will leave you alone then." Summer pulled herself away and stepped back, but her smile still remained in place despite her actions. She turned and was planning on leaving, but as she predicted, Terumi grabbed onto a small piece of her signature white cloak and prevented her from moving elsewhere. And so she giggled. "So, should I take that as a yes?"
Terumi was reluctant, but in the end he answered by nodding his head once.
"Oh you."
-IIXII-
Summer has always been viewed by others as someone who was optimistic, brave, smart, courageous, and just downright stubborn. Let's not even deny that last part. It was no lie, of course. Summer was basically all of those things in one package.
Though despite all the good that she had in her, not a lot of people were aware of her one true weakness. That's right. She, the smart reliable and courageous Summer Rose, actually has a weakness.
And maybe that didn't sound too surprising, but if she were to ever tell anyone about this weakness of hers, then rest assured that they would just laugh and chuckle before brushing it aside as if it was nothing but her attempt at a joke.
And as for those who were curious on the subject of Summer's crippling and supposedly horrifying weakness, then putting it simply, it was none other than the fear of disappointing her sweet little daughter.
So when she'd forgotten to buy that strawberry soda her daughter loved so much while she was on her way back from work, it was no surprise that she later found herself dealing with nothing else but guilt and sadness all alone on the couch after having to witness Ruby locking herself up inside her room due to being extremely upset at her. And normally Ruby wouldn't be upset to the point of isolating herself, but Summer had made her a promise, and yet she broke it as if that promise was never made in the first place, so she couldn't exactly blame her for what she was doing.
All Summer could do now was hope that Ruby would find it in herself to forgive her later on, and she knew that she would eventually. The problem being was that when something like this occurred in the past, the process of the two reconciling with one another would often swallow up an entire day in order for them to actually fully fix their relationship, and on some rare occasions a couple of days even.
So with nothing to do other than just wait, Summer pulled her knees close to her chest and remained where she was on the couch, as more and more worrying thoughts came piling up inside her head with no signs of stopping. If anything, the cold silence probably made it worse for her. It was suffocating and-
"Is it just me," his somewhat annoyed voice started. "or is the air inside this house actually feels heavier than usual?"
What a surprise. After all that yelling she received from Ruby, it was hard for Summer to remember the fact that Terumi had been inside her house for the past few hours. Before this, he was busy sleeping in the guest room, if she recalled correctly, though not like that little piece of information was important to begin with. She still had a problem to deal with-
"Another fight, huh?"
She flinched.
"You two are a real piece of work when you're up against each other's throats, y'know that?" he commented.
Summer could actually feel him closing in on her from behind, and just as she braced herself for the little smack that he always gave her every time a fight broke loose between her and Ruby, she was somewhat surprised when all he did was set his palm down onto the top of her head. He then proceeded with giving her head a gentle shake not long after that, and the urge to pout at the fact that he was treating her like a child was too much for her to resist.
"Right. I'll call her down, then you handle things from there, you hear?" Summer wasn't able to see it, but she could tell that he was rolling his eyes. "Next time, try to say something before she runs off to her room. Leaving her all alone like that will only end up giving you two even more problems to deal with, and I ain't up for that shit."
She just kept herself quiet as he talked, but she knew that he knew she was actually listening to every word he said. She appreciated it, really. No matter how hard he tried to make it appear as if he was all annoyed, she knew that he was actually worried and wanted to help her out.
It's been like this ever since then, in fact.
If a fight were to ever break loose between herself and Ruby, then Terumi would step in and pick up the pieces. Every single time. He had no obligation to make things better, but she could tell he hated seeing them getting all upset just because of something so trivial.
Indeed, she was grateful.
He acted as if he didn't care, but Summer knew that somewhere deep down he did. He just had no intention of showing it.
"Now you better prepare an apology, Summer. I don't want to end up dragging your kid down here all so that she can see you stutter and making a fool of yourself." He pulled his hand back to his side before making his way over to the stairs. "You're her mother, and you love her, don't you? Then it's your job to tell her how sorry you are. I honestly don't see why she won't forgive you if you apologise, so do me a small favor and kill that frown of yours. It's rather annoying."
Summer smiled.
Indeed, she was grateful.
-IIXII-
