This is probably a triggering chapter, just to be honest. It's... not the nicest. Drama ahoy!
Chapter 20- Of Family and Defiances
"Haruka, sweetie? Haruka, are you home? We've come to visit!" Looking down, the woman with long black hair beamed. "Haruka, do you have company?"
Despite the three pairs of shoes in the entryway there was no reply to her calls. It was fairly late into the evening- the sun was burning the western sky with splashes of fiery hue- but the shoes gave her hope her son was home.
"He may be upstairs." Her husband muttered. He stood behind her, a severe figure with his suit jacket over his arm, eyebrows drawn in consternation.
The woman smiled. "That's true. Let's go see if we can find him, dear. I haven't seen him in so long..."
{HARD T-RATING}
Haru gasped, clawing at Rin's shoulders, trying and failing to pull his boyfriend closer. He wished, not for the first time, that his lovers weren't quite so good at driving him out of his mind. That they didn't feel so good he needed more. That he craved them all hours of the day- emotionally, physically, mentally- warm bodies in his bed, lingering touches, hard and soft kisses, breathing and heartbeats synced.
He really did love them more than water. They brought him peace and contentment and serenity and yet drive and passion like the water just would never be able to evoke in him.
"Rin..." He moaned. "Makoto..!"
The brunette's answering timbre made him shudder and Makoto thrust inside Rin extra hard; Haru sighed at the corresponding push inside him from the redhead and his head fell back to the mattress, Rin's teeth marking his throat in lieu of a cry of his own.
"Rin, I- I- ahn!"
A soft noise that didn't belong to any of them and a niggling feeling of being watched made him lift his head, eyes straying to the door.
He froze.
It may have been two years since he last saw them, but he still knew his parents by sight.
"M-mom?" He stuttered around another of Rin's deliciously deep thrusts.
All motion, everything in the room, came to a halt. Rin stared at him, eyes widening, and he hissed a sharp curse. Makoto looked to the door, a mortified red overtaking the former flush of arousal, and yelped, scrambling for the sheets.
Haru's mother was bone-white, hand to her mouth, gray eyes virtually the size of dinner plates. His father looked thunderous, sapphire eyes narrow slits of fury.
Mrs. Nanase squeaked something and whirled, shoving her husband out of the room and slamming the door. Two kinds of footsteps retreated: a rapid pitter-patter and a slower heavy tread that sounded like a death knell.
The threesome were frozen in the bed, mid-coitus, and suddenly Rin spat out "Shit," in a completely horrified voice.
"Shitshitshitshitshit," he continued as they separated as fast as humanly possible. Haru moaned before he could stop himself when Rin slipped free and all that Rin managed when Makoto pulled out was a falter in the midst of his panicked mantra.
Emerald eyes were focused on the quiet black-haired boy. "Haru, what do we do?"
The teen crawled out of the bed, searching distractedly for his clothing. "...I have to speak to them."
He sounded upset, terrified, but he still pulled on his pants with some difficulty.
"Haru!" Rin squawked suddenly. "You can't go down there hard!"
Haru glanced down at the tent in his jeans but shrugged. "We can't finish, and doing it myself is too much work."
Rin snapped his fingers. "Think of a desert. Five inches of rain a year."
Haru made a disgusted face, pondering the still, parched expanse of sand, and after a moment he was... presentable. He threw on his Iwatobi jacket and zipped it up to hide his lack of a shirt and left before either of the others could so much as contemplate following.
Haru swallowed hard as he faced his parents down; his mother was shaking, he could see it in her hands, and his father was a block of exquisitely carved ice. His mother couldn't look at him and his father wouldn't look away. He hated feeling so vulnerable, so torn, so small.
"Haru?" Someone asked softly and instinctively he relaxed- and not just because his father's furious blue glare shifted from him to his lovers.
Makoto, Rin. He needed them to keep himself sane right now.
They stood behind him, Rin on his right and Makoto to his left. He could feel their emotions- Rin worry and anger, Makoto worry and, well, more worry- and he took a step back to be closer.
His father's glare switched back to him the second he moved and narrowed yet further (which Haru hadn't thought possible).
Makoto took his hand and Haru's father snapped "Do not touch my son."
Makoto flinched and Rin stepped forward... but Makoto didn't drop his hand and relief washed over the black-haired boy.
"Unhand him immediately."
"I will not, sir, not as long as he needs me. I apologize to the offense to you, and for what you happened to see earlier-"
"Tachibana, isn't it?" The man interjected coolly.
The raven-haired woman jerked, gray eyes going to Makoto's face and she drew in a sharp breath.
"And Matsuoka-chan..." She whispered, taking in Rin. "Oh!" She squeaked, hiding her face in her hands.
"You can both go home," his father said sternly.
Rin threaded his fingers through Haru's free hand and narrowed red eyes at the uptight man. "This is our home."
Mr. Nanase's fist slammed into the table and Haru jumped. "This is my home! And I want you out."
"We won't leave unless Haru tells us to go."
Real fury had started to leak into the older man's expression but Makoto's green eyes were thin, serious slits and he didn't budge.
Mr. Nanase sniffed disdainfully. "You two are of no importance. Perhaps it will even benefit you to hear this news. We are here to inform our son that he is to join us in Tokyo. This is not up for argument. This house will soon be up on the market and Haruka will come with us."
"W-what?" Haru breathed, dread gripping his heart.
Rin's hand went lax in Haru's and Haru knew in that second that both his lovers were just as distraught as he was.
"You- you can't take him away from us!" Rin gasped.
"Haruka is my son and he will obey me. Haruka, tell your friends-"
"Haru!" Rin shouted. His grip tightened again. "He hates being called by his first name! You don't even know that about him! You don't love him! How can you just expect him to-"
"That is enough out of you, boy. One more outburst and I will call the police and have you arrested for trespassing."
Rin's mouth snapped shut, jaw tight and pointed teeth grinding audibly.
"...Rin. Mako. I'll take care of this. So please, go to Makoto's. I'll come down soon."
"Haru, no-" Makoto whispered. "We need to be here for you-"
"I'm not leaving you alone with your psychopath father," Rin spat.
Hard blue eyes drilled into the redhead but Rin curled his lip in disgust right back.
Haru squeezed both the hands in his. "I'll be all right. Go and wait for me at Aunt Tachibana's, all right?"
Rin snarled a curse but slowly let go. Makoto released their lover's hand but pulled him into a tight, lingering hug and Rin flat out kissed the black-haired boy with a daring look- Mr. Nanase's glare sharpened into something downright deadly- before the pair shuffled out the door.
Haru turned back to his parents and squared his shoulders.
"You are never to see those boys again."
"I will."
"You will not."
"I will. You won't keep me from them; I love them. I always will."
Haru's father glared at him, shaking with rage, and his son stared calmly back.
"This disgusting debasement will end today-"
"It really won't." The black-haired boy interrupted.
"I'll disown you, boy, so help me-"
"Please, go ahead."
His mother's breath hitched and she looked wildly between her husband and her progeny. "Takao, no! We can't abandon our son-!"
Blue slits cut sideways and silenced her with a glare.
"If he insists upon such debauched behavior he is no son of mine."
Gray eyes sought out her son's and she brought a trembling hand to quivering lips. Haruka looked both serious and melancholy. He was completely steadfast about his relationship with those two boys... Those boys... The sweet Tachibana boy and the energetic Matsuoka child... Oh, how did it come to this?
Looking closely at her son she couldn't help but notice a light had gone from his eyes with the pair.
Staring unblinkingly at her Haruka finally broke the silence. "I would... rather give up this home and you then lose Rin and Makoto. I'm sorry, Mother. But I won't give them up. I love them both too much."
She sniffled at the direct gaze he sent her way.
"It's because we left him with that mother of yours, Setsuna. Her eccentricity fueled his, made him think this sort of disgusting relationship was natural, just like she encouraged his obsession with water. I knew we should have taken him with us. We could have sent him to therapy instead of letting him rot here."
"You will not speak ill of the dead and especially not of Grandmother." Haru growled suddenly. "You always tried to suppress me. You left me with Grandmother because you couldn't handle me and you never tried to understand me. She did. And she didn't make me love Makoto and Rin. I fell in love with them myself- I fell in love with them when you were still around, really. If that makes you feel any better." Sharp sapphire eyes stared unflinchingly into cold blue. "If all you came here to do was ask me to move to Tokyo with you, I refuse. I will not be forced. I'm old enough to be able to make my own informed decisions. I will stay here where my heart is, where they are, where my friends are. I'm sorry if that displeases you. If that's all, I have lovers to return to and I'll be going now."
Setsuna gasped, reaching for her son as he rose and called a name- Akiha? A small kitten jumped onto the porch from outside and loped into the house with a tinkling of the merry little bell on her collar. Her son scooped it into his arms and walked out the door.
"T-Takao, our son-" she whimpered, watching the black-haired boy walk away. "Our son is leaving."
"That sick creature is no son of mine."
She sobbed and watched her child, her only child, turn the corner and vanish without looking back.
"Haru!"
Rin leapt to his feet the second the black-haired boy walked in the door of the Tachibana residence.
"Is everything all right?" Makoto asked, anxiety twisting his expression.
"Is it okay if Akiha is here?" The black-haired teen asked. "I didn't want her to stay with them around."
"Y-yeah, I'll tell Ren and Ran to take some allergy pills, they should be fine. But Haru, what's happened? Is everything all right?"
"I'll tell the twins about Akiha, boys." Makoto's father said as he left the table.
Haru let their cat hop from his hold and Akiha wandered around the home, almost as familiar with this house as she was the one she'd been growing up in, going first to Rin then Makoto before jumping up onto the couch and laying down.
"Haru?" Rin pleaded, cupping the older boy's cheek. "Tell us."
Makoto wrapped an arm around his lover and rested his forehead on the black-haired boy's shoulder.
Haru took a deep breath and the exhale was shuddery.
"Well, I think they disowned me. Dad disowned me. Mom is... upset."
Rin groaned. "Fuck, Haru, I'm so sorry..."
"I'm not," Haru said firmly. "If it's between them and you... Between anything and you, you two are going to be my choice. I can't live without you and nothing is going to make me."
Mrs. Tachibana, quietly sipping her tea at the kitchen table, looked up finally. "I'll speak to Nobuo tonight, make sure there's no legal way they can force you into a decision. You know you're under twenty, sweetheart. And if you would like, my dear, we can speak to your parents about this incident. Try to change their minds, at the very least, about selling that house."
Haru smiled, but it wavered. He felt more at home with this woman than with his own parents. "Auntie, thank you, but please don't get yourself involved for my sake."
Megumi smiled- her iron smile, hard and fake because she was displeased under that pleasant facade and Haru knew, at least, that it wasn't him she was mad at- and said calmly, "While this is partially for your sake, Haru dear, it is mostly for my son's sake. I'll also call Kimiko-" Rin flinched at his mother's name- "and see if she has an opinion. Setsuna has always been so easily swayed and she gives in to Takao far too easily. She needs to remember the spine she had as a girl and that she's always had Takao wrapped around her finger."
She smiled at her boys again, a real one this time, and clasped her hands before her. "I'll have dinner started soon, dears, so take some time to relax, okay?"
"Thank you very much," the boys chorused.
Though they could sense the dismal atmosphere pressing down on their house- could hear their parents talking in urgent low tones and see their older brother (though they had three older brothers really, at this point) was nervous and depressed- Ran and Ren were excited to see Akiha. They'd only been allowed to see her a scant few times, with their allergies to cats, and only for a few minutes before their noses started running and they began to sneeze constantly.
Ren eagerly crumpled a page of his math notes and tossed it. Akiha scrambled after it to the twins' vocal delight as Rin coaxed Haruka onto Makoto's bed. The black-haired boy was happy to be held, a furrow still marring his brow, but then he slowly began to relax back into the redhead's arms, spine molding to the other boy's chest.
Rin's phone began to ring and he calmly set it to silence.
Makoto looked up. "Rin, that may have been your mother, Mom said she'd be calling her-"
The youngest's hold tightened near-imperceptibly. "Not right now," he hissed. "Right now I just... I need to calm down."
"You haven't stopped shaking yet." Haru observed quietly as he splayed his fingers over the corded muscle of the arms holding him.
"I'm fu-" Rin paused, considered the twins, and finished, "I'm mad. I'm very mad. And I just..."
Rin pressed his forehead to the space between Haru's shoulder blades and took in a shuddering breath. "I want to hurt him like he hurt you, Haru. I want to go back up there and-" he continued in halted, stuttering, vitriolic English, and Haru turned in the redhead's embrace to press a gentle kiss to scowling lips.
"It'll be okay."
But even Haru didn't sound certain.
Akiha completely adored the twins. The splotchy little kitten went absolutely wild when Ran unearthed one of her older brother's feather wands and the excited siblings had the Bobtail darting all over the room.
Makoto had tried to finish homework. That hadn't taken his mind off the issue. He'd moved on to video games, but they couldn't distract him for long either. Akiha caught his attention with her wide oceanic eyes and their blown pupils. Even the threesome's kitten couldn't keep his mind occupied for long though, and he finally exhaled a heavy sigh and gave in.
He crawled onto his bed and both his lovers offered their arms to him at once. He curled up to them, watching his siblings play with Akiha until sleep started to drag on him.
"Makoto."
It had been maybe twenty minutes since the brunette had joined his boyfriends' huddle and Haru had finally realized the whole room had become hushed.
The twins were out cold- the allergy pills finally having knocked them out- and piled on top of each other. Akiha was curled up behind the bend of Makoto's knees, one paw resting atop the creases of the brunette's jeans, equally asleep.
"Makoto."
And Makoto... was not responding to Haru's soft calls.
"Guess it's up to us," Rin whispered. His hands drifted over his lover's ribs and ruby eyes were half-lidded but the redhead was awake.
"Yeah. Let's get those two to bed and set up the futon..."
They slid off Makoto's mattress. Haru gathered Ren in his arms, smiling when the unconscious boy's head lolled onto his shoulder, and Rin picked up the dozing Ran.
"Where are you two- what's the matter?"
Glancing back showed a bleary Makoto squinting at them and more specifically their burdens.
"Go back to sleep, Mako. We've got these two."
Green eyes blinked a few more times and then turned to the bedside clock only to widen.
"It's that late and Mom and Dad didn't come get them?!"
"Hush," Haru scolded. "They're probably... distracted."
Makoto winced and started to apologize but the black-haired teen cut him off with a firm shake of his head. "It's all right."
"I'll make the futon for myself while you put them to bed."
"All right."
Ran mumbled sleepily all through being dressed in her pajamas while Ren swayed on his feet the whole time. Once tucked in and bidden good night the older males headed back to Makoto's room.
Rin started to turn the knob but cool fingers curled over his, a rapidly-familiar clink of metal making him smile subconsciously.
"I'm glad you're not as upset anymore." Haru whispered in his ear.
"I just needed some time to calm down. You know how I am."
"I do." The black-haired boy agreed as they turned the knob together.
Makoto was sitting cross-legged on the futon on his floor, turning his ring over and over in his hands.
"Why are you on the floor, stupid?" Rin said, bewildered.
"Why did you take that off?" Haru asked softly.
"I was thinking..." Makoto said quietly with an undeniable misery in his tone. "That until this blows over, maybe we shouldn't wear them. I hate the idea a lot- These are ours and I love them so much!- but at the same time... It's probably for the best."
Rin smirked. "I'll take care of it in the morning. Now why the hell are you on the floor?"
Makoto chuckled and slid the ring back on his finger. "In case you haven't noticed I'm a little bigger than you two. The pair of you can probably fit in my bed together."
"And leave you on the floor. Fuck that."
Emerald eyes rolled. "There's no space, Rinrin."
"So we'll make space."
The twins found their older brother sandwiched between his boyfriends and crowned by a calico halo in the morning.
Sorry y'all. But yeah. Review please? I hope no one's too mad at me...