Karma can barely hide his smile. It's been a while since Gakushuu last had the opportunity to walk him home, let alone come over. The chairman was allegedly going to be out of town for two days due to some conference and like the worrywart that his older brother was, Gakushuu insisted on staying with Karma.

It warms up his heart. It's not like the redhead couldn't fend for himself after all. He's grown up taking care of his own cuts and bruises, he knew how to cook and even if he didn't, his mother kept sending enough money for him to buy "anything he needs or wants." Not that he wanted much, apart from an at least remotely normal, functional family.

Gakushuu was the closest thing to that. After countless days, months and years Karma had spent alone, his brother became a lifeline in this dull, lonely place. So yes, he would be complaining and making fun of his older brother but the fact was, he really appreciated his presence.

"Go put some ice on the bruise, I will prepare dinner," the strawberry blond orders once they enter the house. It's vacant as always, though judging from the lack of dust on shelves, the maid his mother employed must have dropped by and cleaned.

"Is there anything you can't see?" Karma raises an eyebrow, surprised about being outed like that. He made sure to pull the sleeves of his jacket down and hide his injury, yet here Gakushuu is, reading him like an open book.

Sending him an annoyed look, Gakushuu deadpans: "I can't see why you have become such a pain in my butt."

They walk to the kitchen. The first thing Gakushuu does is hand him an ice pack.

"Butt? What are you, five?" Karma snorts, making fun of his choice of words.

Gakushu ignores the taunt, now opening the fridge to pick out various ingredients. However, upon sighting its contents, he audibly sighs, irritated. Well, now that Karma thinks about it, he hasn't been out for groceries for quite a long time.

Deciding that he would somehow manage with lettuce and tomato, Gakushuu takes out a knife and startes cutting the vegetables.

Karma pouts at the lack of response and cold attitude. He walks to his brother's side and tilts his head, staring right into the violet eyes: "Come on, you love this 'pain in your butt' anyway, don't you?"

Gakushuu spares him exactly one second before he sighs: "Yeah, yeah. Now get your butt on a chair and stop bothering me. I don't want to cut myself and then massacre you if I snap."

Grinning, Karma sits down. It always amazed him how different Gakushuu was at school versus alone with Karma. Two completely different people. Everyone knew him as this super charming, polite student council president and it would take a very suicidal freak to even try to mess with him. Yet here the very same person stood, making butt jokes with Karma. Though it wasn't like that terrible personality of his changed completely - Gakushuu still loved displaying his superiority... while doting on him. What a conundrum.

Karma observes his (unfortunately) older brother at work. He moves smoothly and it's quite an improvement from the first time Gakushuu ever cooked him a meal. Karma recalls downing the food back then and thinking damn. So many spices and yet he tasted nothing. Not that his own skills back then were any better, but he was what, seven? Eight? There wasn't much one could expect from an eight-year-old.

It was in winter if he remembers right. The chairman wasn't going to return home until midnight and Gakushu, fed up with the empty house and terribly missing his little brother (understandable, Karma was irreplaceable after all), decided to sneak away and visit him. The strawberry blond showed up in front of his doors, covered in snow and almost frozen to the bone. Upon being questioned about the sudden appearance, all he said was: "I will be staying here for a while."

Gaku-nii, as he called him back then, made a risk that day. They hadn't regularly been in contact before that incident, barely even knowing what the situation was on the latter's end, yet he ran all the way there and decided that they weren't going to be separated like that. Luckily for him, it was also the same period that their mother found a good job in Singapore and had been constantly away sans for a few rare occasions. She had hired a caretaker for Karma, but he hated her and preferred to be left alone.

The siblings buried themselves in the blankets that night and sat by the heater. They chatted about what had happened, how they felt about the whole situation and what they wanted to do about it. That was also when they decided to meet up in secret - either in the forest by the mountain or at Karma's place. Should their mother ever return, he would let it be known and they'd find alternatives. Gakushuu also suggested that they learn a language which only the two of them would understand. It came in handy as even the chairman didn't know Latin.

Since then, they made it work. Gakushuu would sometimes stay with Karma and take turns cooking. The strawberry blond would tell his friends he was going home earlier to buy some books or claim he was going to a library. The chairman didn't seem to really care, plus Gakuho was consumed by his work anyway, so he rarely ever returned before seven p.m.

Almost laughable, how just a few lies, a bit of planning and a few dark hoodies and caps to hide their identities while walking outside was all it took to lead double lives.

Which reminds Karma, Gakushuu looks ridiculous in hoods. He has a long way to go before reaching Karma's exemplary fashion style.

"Stop spacing out or I'm going to spill this into your face. And I assure you, third-degree burns are not pleasant." Suddenly, Gakushuu stands before him with a bowl of the most simple food in the world. "Can you please move? It's heavy," his brother stresses.

"Seriously? No meat? I'm going to die from hunger you know!" Karma gasps, dramatically putting a hand over his head and fake-fainting.

Gakushuu gives him a glare: "That's a punishment. For getting into a fight and not buying groceries."

"You could have gone get it," he crosses his arms like a child.

"Why didn't you do that?"

"Making an injured person run an errand? How heartless."

"Making your older brother run an errand? How cheeky."

And they stare at each other for a whole minute, neither willing to back down. That is, until-

"Get the fuck out of my way, this is really heavy," Gakushuu finally gives in and rolles his eyes. Karma internally grins.

"Eeh? But I am getting sleepy, I think I'm gonna take a nap now-"

Losing his temper, his older brother raises his leg to kick him. Karma expects it though, as if the murderous aura satiating the air around them wasn't a telltale enough, and dodges with a laugh. He also manages to catch the leg with his hands. "Now, now, that's dangerous, you know, Gaku-nii."

"I'm going to kill you," Gakushuu hisses.

"Try if you can," Karma taunts. At that, the strawberry blond puts the bowl back on the kitchen stove and kicks the leg out of his younger brother's grasp, freeing himself. Sensing danger, Karma scrams.

Ahaha. Ha. Ha...

He might have overdone it.

"You little shit!" The boy grabs his shirt and Karma tries to jerk away. Both of them end up stumbling and falling down.

Karma's back hurts from the impact and his side aches from bracing his brother's fall. Now that he's trapped underneath him, only one thing stares back at him in his mind.

Death.

Unless...?

He squeezes his eyes hard and thinks of something sad, really sad like his favourite video game series being discontinued, and wills tears to well up. Meanwhile, Gakushuu is lifting himself up, seething.

"Karma," he barks, expression dark. However, as soon as he spots the gleam in those golden eyes, he immediately panics. "Hey, what's wrong? Did I hurt y-"

He takes advantage of Gakushu letting down his guard and grabs his arm, pulling him down while Karma himself raises in victory. Now it's him pinning the strawberry blond down.

"I won," he giggles, wiping away the fake tears.

Gakushuu's face changes from surprise to realization, relief and then annoyance: "You asshole. And here I thought something actually happened," he sighs, relaxing his body in the 'I surrender' way.

"That was a dirty trick."

Something about the tone makes Karma regret scaring his older brother.

"Sorry, I-" but before he can finish that sentence, Gakushuu pulls the very same move on him and slams him to the ground. Now that Karma is down again with Gakushuu above, a smug smile crawls up to his lips: "Who was it that won again?"

How foolish of him to even consider Gakushuu and empathy in the same context. Well, whatever. Even if he was strong, Karma has learnt enough tactics about how to cope with stronger opponents. Abruptly lifting his hips, Karma forcefully shifts Gakushuu's balance to the front and with that, gets the opportunity to throw him off.

"I guess it's a draw," he sticks his tongue out when they both sit up after the battle. He's breathless by now and starting to really hurt, the injuries from his prior fight letting themselves be known.

And with that, they dust themselves off and return to the kitchen under a temporary truce.

The food is cold by now and far from enough to fill them. Seriously, how is Karma supposed to survive without meat?! The essence of life, the oh-so-awesome meat?! But he supposes - when he's eating his meals with Gakushuu, they taste better than any meat ever could.


Fluff is my life