Misaki is blind
Chapter one: Practical Jokes.
Misaki.
"Nii-Chan, I'm home." Misaki called as he entered his shared home with his brother Takahiro, he sensed that he was being observed and just assumed it was his brother.
"Welcome home Misaki." He heard Takahiro say from somewhere close by, as he took a step forward, he inhaled and was assaulted with the smell of cigarettes.
"Nii-Chan, have you been smoking?" He asked, confused as to why he was smelling smoke coming from in front of him.
Takahiro laughed and said, "No Misaki, my friend is here. Usagi, this is my brother Misaki, Misaki, this is my friend Usami Akihiko."
"Oh," Misaki bowed slightly, "It's nice to meet you." As he rose, he got that smell of smoke again, this time it was mixed with a hint of lavender, the mix of smells complimented each other nicely.
Then a voice as smooth as velvet and deep came to his ears. "Nice to meet you too, Misaki." The teen nodded his acknowledgment of the greeting, he expected the conversation to flow from there, but everything fell silent. An awkward silence that he couldn't place.
He waited for it to pass, but no one was saying anything, like Misaki had committed a blunder he was unaware of, so he asked. "What?" He waited for a response but still no one was saying anything, he would have thought they had left or something, but he could still hear them breathing. "What is it?" He asked again, getting rather annoyed that they were both leaving him in the dark like this. If he was making a mistake, then he wanted to know.
"It's nothing Misaki," Takahiro finally answered, "Usagi was just waiting for you to shake his hand." His brother said the last part with a bit of a giggle.
"Nii-Chan," Misaki hesitated for a moment, "you did tell him about me before we met, didn't you?"
There was another pause before Takahiro finally answered. "No Misaki, I didn't."
"Why?" Misaki was getting rather annoyed at his brother, why would he do such a thing. God it was so awkward having to explain his circumstances to others, why couldn't his brother give people a heads up beforehand so awkward situations like this didn't happen.
"Tell me about what?" The silky-smooth voice interrupted before Takahiro could answer.
Misaki took a deep breath and released it in a huff. "I'm blind." He said as bluntly as he could.
More silence ensued and just before it could get too uncomfortable, Takahiro burst into laughter, shocking Misaki a little. "That's it," he said through his giggles, "That's the face i wanted to see."
Anger burst from Misaki's chest, his teeth clenched, and he balled his hands into fists, gripping his cane so tightly he could feel it starting to bow under the pressure. Before he lost all control and did something like beat his brother to death with his white cane. He placed his cane in its place by the door, unclenched his teeth and took a calming breath before he said anything.
"Nii-Chan, you set this up to get a reaction from your friend, without my permission to do so, nor did you consider my feelings, or the feelings of Usami-San and you think that is okay."
His brother's laughter stopped as Misaki spoke, and he could feel Takahiro's remorse as what he had just done to his brother and his friend sunk in. "Sorry guys," he said in a monotone voice, "I really didn't think that one through."
"Well," came Usami-San's smooth voice, "at least you know for sure not to do that again. Now, how about that tea that you promised me Takahiro."
Finally, everyone moved from the hallway to the living area. Misaki used the walls to guide him to the right room, following the footsteps of the others. Now Takahiro's practical joke was out of the way and introductions were done with, Misaki finally sat down on his seat in the living area. He was glad to feel it was empty, glad that Takahiro didn't plan anymore jokes at his expense. Misaki dropped his bag next to his chair on the floor and pulled out his brail literature book, opening it on his lap and feeling the words as he continued with his revision.
Akihiko.
"Are you revising for your university entrance exams?" Akihiko asked as he watch the young man read the brail text faster than he could read normal text.
"Yes." Misaki said brightly with a warm smile on his face. "I'm hoping to get into Mitsuhashi university. I want to study literature there."
Akihiko smiled as he thought about his good friend teaching that very same subject in that very same university and chuckled to himself, "well" he thought "I don't think Hiroki will go easy on him."
"What's funny?" Misaki asked with a small smile tugging at his lips.
"Well, I just happen to be good friends with the tutor who teaches literature there. What a coincidence." He said, shaking his head at just how intertwined his life with Takahiro was going to be in the future.
"That's pretty cool," Misaki said as he continued to read his text, "is the teacher good?"
"His got a passion for literature that not many people have, his philosophy is that if you're in his class then you're there to learn, not to catch up with mates or be on your phone. His got quite the reputation as a demon teacher because he'll have a go at anyone in his class if he catches them not paying attention." Akihiko explained.
Misaki's smile widened as he considered something. "I think I'll get on well with this demon teacher, he seems to hold a lot of the values I do, when it comes to literature anyway."
Akihiko was a little taken aback at this comment, but before he could continue the conversation with his friends very interesting brother, Takahiro came back with the tea. The mood shifted immediately as Akihiko's attention was now solely on Takahiro.
It seemed Misaki caught on to this fact and continued to study silently as the two good friends caught up in all the happenings in their lives.
Akihiko got quiet when Takahiro started going on about Manimi and all her wonderful attributes, but he continued with his nods and 'mmm's' when necessary. Akihiko got the feeling that Misaki was paying more attention to them than he let on.