Attempt #3

Feed the desired one positive information from an innocent source.

Something To Talk About

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Yuuta smoothed his shirt collar as a nervous habit; he was entering Syuusuke's room to appeal to him for what would hopefully be the last time. At least this wouldn't be as demeaning as having to invite himself to a Seigaku fieldtrip, but it would still be pretty damn bad.

It hadn't taken Yuuta long to figure out that he would benefit the most from Mizuki getting what he wanted.

"Hey, Aniki…." Yuuta cautiously entered the room and finding Syuusuke occupied, casually crossed over to his unoccupied bed and flopped down on it. Then he suddenly reminded himself of Mizuki, and sat up again.

"What's up?"

Yuuta literally couldn't think of anything better to say.

Syuusuke sort of half shrugged. He was busily reading a comic book and therefore not paying too much attention to Yuuta. His only response was to lift and show the cover.

Yuuta buried his face in Syuusuke's pillow. Ever since he had started coming home regularly, the novelty of his presence seemed to have worn off; or at least his family was not always tripping over one another to get some time to speak with him.

"Come on, humor me a bit." He complained, rolling over. "I don't come home that often and the comic book will be there tomorrow."

Syuusuke sighed and looked up. He hated it when people interrupted him while reading, but Yuuta did seem to have a point.

"So, what'd you do today?" Yuuta asked blandly.

"Played tennis."

"No kidding."

"Yeah well, not much time until finals now."

"Aniki, don't you ever get bored?"

"What?" Syuusuke looked up from his book in surprise.

"Bored. Like fed up with tennis? Fed up with watching Echizen conquer his opponents? Isn't it kind of like watching Naruto with a tennis racquet sometimes?"

Syuusuke frowned at him. "You're not making any sense at all. And I want to see what happens to Roy Mustang now, so if you'll kindly go play with your plushie—

Yuuta covered his head with Syuusuke's pillow so he wouldn't have to hear the rest of his brother's dismissal. Apparently beating around the bush was not going to help while Syuusuke wanted to get back to his comic.

Yuuta clicked his tongue loudly.

"Why don't you like Mizuki?"

"Hmm?" Syuusuke finally looked up, attention captured.

"Mizuki. I'm pretty sure that you haven't failed to notice that he's completely obsessed with you. And that his goal for the past month or so has been just to attain you."

"I surmised as much."

"Then why do you do it?"

Syuusuke raised his eyebrows, half-baffled, half-amused.

"…Why do I do what?"

Yuuta rolled his eyes. "Ignore him! Pretend not to know his name! Let him hamper around you like a...like a...fangirl!"

"I don't believe I ever encouraged him."

"What are you talking about? The smiles, cheer, playing Zelda with him for Gods sake...he thinks that it means you feel something for him too!"

For once, Syuusuke was silenced.

Yuuta sighed and stared at the ceiling. "Look, it's just…maybe you should seriously consider giving him a chance. Even if he is a little weird…" Syuusuke looked at him skeptically, "okay, really weird, his feelings are genuine. And that's the truth of it. You won't find someone who so honestly likes you easily again."

"I mean," he rubbed his face with one hand, "he tries hard. Like, he really tries his best to get your attention and do things that will make you happy. It's not right to let him keep hanging like that."

"I see." Was Syuusukes only comment.

"Just think about it. Don't let past grudges or…or pride ruin something for yourself."

Silence fell in the room, think and heavy as cream cheese. Syuusuke stared at Yuuta for a moment and gave a slight nod to show he understood before very slowly lifting his magazine up from where he had dropped it and turning around to read again. Unsure of whether he had gotten through to his brother or not, Yuuta watched his back for another minute before getting off the bed and heading for the door.

"Yuuta."

Just as the younger brother had been about to reach the door, Syuusuke broke the silence. Yuuta waited expectantly. Syuusuke took his time, turning the page of his comic before asking,

"Just out of curiosity, how much did Mizuki pay you to tell me all of this?"

There was a highly awkward pause in the room before Yuuta sighed angrily.

"He didn't pay me!"

…

…

…

"………….he threatened to throw me off the team." Yuuta mumbled, turning to leave.

Syuusuke paused, waiting for the rest.

Yuuta leaned against the doorframe.

"………and tell everyone about Kumagoro."

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A/N: Sorry its been so long since I updated! I've spent the last month in China and then I had to get back into the swing of school...you know the story. Short chapter here, but it's a liaison. Soon to update!