Title: You, Me and Us
Pairings: Cassette (Which I should have added in the other chapters...), ~forbidden~ Cassador (Again, other chapters...), as of now one-sided Frito
Characters: Castor, Frau, Labby, Hakuren, Shuri, Razette (Mentioned: Teito, Lem, Lirin, Castor's parents, Labrador's parents/uncle)
Timeline: AU-AHS-TEENS
Word Count: 2,575
Other: BLAHBLAH. Side-Story, nothing gets accomplished in this chapter. Author's note at end.
Castor had once been in possession of a proud, arrogant nature. It came with the estate and the silver spoon stuck in his mouth. Around him, the children defined their importance by the wealth of their parents and the number of servants they commanded – Castor was among the top ranking. That kind of attention goes to a person's head and festers into something dingy and dark, rotten and oppressive.
And then Castor's mother, a woman with a decent disposition, at least when it came to doting her son with affection, passed one cold winter night, the young master lost his mind to grief, which gave way to anger – anger at his mother for being weak, anger at his father for not being able to save her despite all his wealth and power, anger at his servants for not caring enough, and anger at himself for being more useless than all of them combined.
Friendship and affection was a pointless thing, he realized thereafter. Shoving it away as if it were a horrific disease seemed to work for some time, even the servants drew gambles amongst themselves to see who would deal with their young master, and Castor just drifted further into directionless fury and misery.
Then he met Frau.
The young Hausen had caused too much trouble at his private school that the principal's hand was forced – expulsion. With only a public school nearby, Castor's father dumped him there as punishment. And of course, the boy hated it and held nothing back in showing his displeasure. Their official meeting involved Frau punching him on the nose for being a jackass to the younger children.
Their bitter rivalry continued for weeks, passed onto the next year, but he continued to search out the wild blond, even though all they ended up doing was squabble. The words, though, no longer held a bitter edge to them, and punches were always held back. It turned into who could come up with the more imaginative insults and how torn they could leave each other's clothes at the end of the day.
It was then Castor realized he had a friend, one who had accepted him at his worst and continued to stay despite of it. It was a gift he would not allow to be taken away from him.
The difference between their ages left them in two different schools for a year, and at their reunion in middle school, Labrador was at Frau's side, as if he had always been there. Castor felt oddly betrayed and resented them both in his confused, childish anger. Frau gave him a week to sulk before he beat some sense into him.
"I brought you another friend to play with, stupid! What the heck is wrong with you?"
Castor still remembered what Labrador said after.
"It's fine, Frau. I will not force my friendship upon Xinglu if he does not want it. He is your friend, and I am trespassing. I wish you good health and long life."
Then he turned, as if he could physically walk out of their lives. And Castor felt like a monster. Like he was that powerless angry child all over again, and he promised himself he would not be that again.
Labrador's shoulders looked so small from where Frau had him pinned to the ground.
"My name is Castor!" The fair-haired boy looked so startled and confused when he turned; it was the first time the russet found anyone adorable. "Please, call me Castor."
They were all friends since then, and Castor found he didn't mind the sudden inclusion. Where Frau was his sun, bright and shining, hot-tempered and carefree compulsion, Labrador was his gentle wind, soft and caressing, cool and playful. Though they both had their streak of wildness: Labrador throwing himself into reckless situations without seeming to realize, and Frau taunting reckless situations to come at him – he was the mature one, the one that protected them and kept them mostly unscathed. But he really didn't mind at all, because here he was needed as Castor, not Xinglu Hausen the heir to the Hausen fortune, and he would protect the friendship entrusted to him.
At the death of Labrador's close family, it was the first time in a long time he felt like a helpless child again. Because Labrador was pushing them all away, refusing Castor especially – and how could he protect the younger teen if he would not allow them to stay in the same room any longer than it took for Labrador to run out of there? He was a scrambling, pathetic mess, fighting against demons he could not see, the same for when Razette was attacked by those teenagers and he hadn't been there to protect her. She had needed him, and he wasn't anywhere near there. The russet just wouldn't be able to continue without his friends; they were the family he wished he was born with.
And when a freshman boy, a random no one, did what he could not, he pledged repayment in any form. Though, he hadn't expected it quite like this.
"So can you? Please, please, please? With a cherry— oh, wait. You're allergic – with mangoes on top!"
Castor felt his eye twitching. It was an uncomfortable, uncontrollable twinge, and he rubbed at it without care or mind that his gloves were filthy with chalk and dusty earth. On the other side of the chain-link fence, Frau was expertly batting his winter-blues, and Razette was jutting out her bottom lip prettily, though what got him was the quite, knowing smile Labrador was directing towards him, half hidden behind the group. It was a smile that clearly said Castor would give in so what was with all this pointless stalling?
The russet groaned and threw his bat with the rest piled in a corner, stripping off the rest of his gear with a little more force than necessary.
"Fine! I'll drive you all to Teito's house." A chorus of cheers and high-fives followed. "But I expect everyone to cough up five bucks for gas, and if you, even for a second, believe I will drive you home afterwards, you can forget it now."
Razette lead the way to the student parking lot, Shuri right at her heels with Hakuren and Frau not too far behind. They easily ignored Castor's command to wait, leaving the russet to run a hand through his sweat-damp hair and watch after them with fond exasperation. At his right, thin fingers curled around the chains, and Castor turned to find Labrador smiling up at him. Despite the years, the fair-haired teen never grew much, while Castor and Frau shot right up.
"Thank you, Xinglu."
Castor blamed the heat climbing into his face on the sun and his practice-cut-short. He fanned himself with his helmet and turned away, already heading towards the locker rooms.
"Don't mention it, Ilyusha. I'll be out shortly."
"I'll wait."
-Now go, kickin' & screamin'
Labrador's house was big, but he was never lonely. His parents weren't often around, but when they were, he was showered with love and affection, and the other times he had his adopted brother and sister to play with. Together, they caused much mischief, but the servants of the Krat family never complained. They found the laughter of the young children a balm to the stress of everyday life.
And with so much love, Labrador had much to give in turn.
Friends were plentiful wherever he went, though his cheery disposition could not keep the mugger from shooting both his parents. His father died there, in the parking lot, and his mother some time later in the ambulance.
For the sake of his younger brother and sister, Labrador did not allow the death of his parents to harden his heart. He had to be strong for the young children clinging onto him, because he was all they had. He couldn't cry. He couldn't be a child anymore.
From then, he withdrew a bit into himself, no longer to be seen running through the halls of the grand estate, or stealing sweets from the kitchen. He withdrew to the greenhouse his mother had once kept healthy and blossoming with life, and took up the shovel where she left off. He taught himself to be delicate with the plants, to speak with soft and kind words and handle them with even softer and kinder hands. He tended to them regularly, loved them in place of his mother and father, so when he heard from his uncle that the estate would have to be sold, and they would have to move, his heart splintered at the edges.
But he kept a strong façade, because Lem and Lirin were crying over losing the home they grew up in and he had to protect them. They packed their things and moved to a different neighborhood, one where the houses weren't so big and more closely packed together. It was fine though, because if he stood on the roof, he could see the estate and his mother's greenhouse. And he checked on it, every day after coming home from school.
Until one day, it just wasn't there anymore. He knew it was silly, that it was just a couple of flimsy plants, but it felt as if he lost his parents all over again. And a boy at school took notice despite Labrador's attempts to keep his usual impassive mask in place.
"You look like you've been kicked in the gut. What's wrong?"
That had been his first introduction with Frau, the blond boy who chased after trouble with a grin and a stick. Labrador had tried to deny it, bringing forth his overused smile, though it did not fool the boy. And maybe that was what he had been waiting for, for someone to call him out on his bluff. Lem and Lirin, his new teacher, they accepted his answers whenever he said he was fine, his uncle never asked. Not this boy though.
"So what's wrong?"
And he cried. He poured out everything he had held back, and dumped them onto this strange boy's lap. He screeched like a dying bird, but the boy did not run away, instead he held Labrador until his sobs petered out into amusing little hiccups, and that had been it. He felt lighter, he felt happy. And it must have showed, because Frau poked his cheek and grinned.
"Now, that's a real smile."
Labrador promised himself that he would always smile thereafter, and would do everything in his power to keep Frau smiling too, because if there was ever a boy to deserve a beautiful gift like happiness, it was this selfless blond. He purposefully acted silly in class, by either answering the teacher in his native polish language or making different voices to characters in stories he had to read aloud or tape his artwork upside down on the wall and tell the teacher it's meant to look like that, all to make Frau crack up with laughter.
And when their little band seemed to already have a previous member, he promised to make this grumpy-looking russet smile too – even if it meant being Frau's friend from afar. Thankfully, things didn't have to resort to that; Castor came around, much to the fair-haired boy's relief. With an extra person added to their number, there was never a moment without contentment. He thought it could last forever until the bitter sting of jealousy shook their stable foundations.
At the mere mention of Razette, Labrador struggled with his inner demons, constantly having to suppress the possessive need to latch onto his friend and hiss mine, because she made Castor happy. And isn't that what he wanted? His friends' happiness? He didn't want to be jealous, it was an ugly thing that hurt, and if he didn't do something soon Frau would notice he wasn't feeling like himself.
Because Frau had a sixth sense about those things, it seemed.
So Labrador, sly like a fox, got those two love birds together, and he cheered the loudest when they announced their relationship. Labrador learned to let Castor go little by little, and all was fine and dandy again. That is, until Lirin's death and Lem's suicide. That just…he couldn't anymore. Why did he keep losing? Was he cursed, never meant to be happy? He refused aid from Frau, and ignored Castor completely.
All he wanted was to crawl into a hole and die, when one day he heard the quiet "It hurts, to lose someone. I know. But, my uncle always said that…we should cry, but we should also live for them. Because they probably want us to be happy in their place."
Happy in their place. Just like that, Labrador realized what he was putting his friends through. That they shared his pain and felt it all the worse for the way he was acting. So he'd bring a smile back to their faces, starting with the young boy that unknowingly gave him the swift kick in the rear that he needed.
"What's your name, little one?"
Later, he'd find himself losing two more important people in his life, but for these, he didn't quite mind. It was all in the name of happiness, after all.
-This won't be the end
"I lose them in pairs," Labrador spoke quietly to himself, watching his sneakers scuff against the concrete.
"Did you say something, Labrador?" Castor inquired, but the fair-haired teen merely smiled and responded with a chipper "Nope!"
"Soooo," Frau drawled, leaning against Castor's quite obviously new vehicle, still sparkling shiny-new and license plates missing. "Shot-gun!"
"What?" Hakuren squeaked indignantly, angrily waving a piece of paper in front of the large blond. "I've got the instructions; I get to ride shot-gun!"
"Aaaand, now you don't." Frau moved to snatch the paper, though missed at Hakuren's quick step back. "Hey! Give it!"
At Labrador's soft chuckle, Castor slapped a palm to his forehead. "Neither of you rides up front."
"We won't fit if I ride in the back," Frau complained while having Hakuren in a loose chokehold. The freshman hissed and scratched in a vain attempt to free himself. Frau smirked suddenly, glaring smugly at Castor before turning to his smaller friend, gracing him with one of his better smiles – the one that said: 'No, seriously, I'm not up to any trouble, I swear it on my collection of Playboy.' "I know! Labby, you can sit on my lap."
"Okay, sounds fi—"
"No," Castor snapped angrily. With five pairs of eyes suddenly trained on him, the russet seemed to come back to himself, and opened the car doors as a means of distraction. "We are not breaking anymore safety laws than we need to – Frau, up front. Hakuren, give him the map. …Hakuren."
The young blond obliged, albeit reluctantly.
"If we pass a police car, one of you has to duck their heads," he pointed to the two young Oaks, Razette and Labrador. They saluted him in turn, and piled into the backseat, Frau already stretching out in the front. Once he let himself inside, he was bombarded by Shuri and Hakuren complaining that Frau had his seat too far back, the blond yelling right back that he didn't. Razette and Labrador were fighting over what radio station should be playing, and safety laws be damned, his new car too, Castor was running into the first tree he saw.
Maybe then his headache would go away.
Finis
A/N: So, I don't know what this is... I started writing, and then it turned out to be like a background story? Figured I might as well upload. BUT AT LEAST THEY'RE OUT OF THE PARKING LOT! Yay? Anyway, we'll see Teito next chapter, promise. Also, I feel like I put Labrador on this huge, marble pedestal with a silk cushion stuffed with goose-feathers, while I kicked a soapbox in Castor's general direction. I feel bad. Oh well. I'm essentially giving him both Razette and Labrador so BLEH. That's it for now, buh-bai.