Chapter Text
“Touya…?” A whisper fell from her lips, with the same softness as the first snowflake to fall in winter. Standing a fair distance away from the two boys, Touya’s mother turned her head to face her child as if it were her first time ever laying eyes upon him.
In every way, she resembled him. Her greying blue hair, cut to her shoulders, had since abandoned its neatness in favour of an unkempt mess. Numerous stray strands fell upon her face, framing her as a picturesque portrait of distress. Her eyes, the same piercing grey that Touya had inherited, locked onto him in a way that seemed to encapsulate him, shutting out the rest of the world entirely.
After a never-ending moment of eye contact, one that seemed to drag on, and on, and on, and on, dragging the masses away as the world closed in and the sun grew dimmer… her bag slipped from her clutches, spilling out her phone and her purse that had since become a storage device for year-old receipts. With legs that seemed to lift her off of the ground, she rushed over to wrap Touya into a hug; as she was shorter than him in stature, it took minimal effort for her to hook her arms around him in a way that didn’t involve his movement.
Yet, funnily enough, his arms instinctively lifted up to return the embrace, a mellow familiarity seeping into his skin.
“Oh, my boy, my sweet boy…” As she spoke breathlessly, she lay her head upon his chest to re-envelop herself in the thump, thump, thump of his heartbeat - though it had become more of a thumpthumpthump , panicked and desperate with a failed rhythm, it still eased her soul. Meanwhile, Touya stood as if he had been turned to a statue: motionless, his expression enigmatic as he attempted to mask his inner fragility. Cracks in his very being began to surface—whether he liked it or not—in a similar fashion to a tragic work of art.
Created to replicate the interpreted beauty in a way that could crumble as easily as the very beauty standards they were formed upon.
After allowing himself to process the encounter, for his brain had clouded over with questions that would ultimately remain unanswered due to his mother’s nature, she detached from his trembling body and turned to Rui with a smile made of ice. While Rui had no real awareness as to what Touya’s mother was like, he had quickly figured out that she was not one to antagonise due to Touya’s panic.
“Hello, young man. Would you happen to be one of the entertainers at this park?” A smile coated in ice and a toxicant serving as a voice, Rui’s eyes lingered upon the outstretched hand as a shiver crept down his spine. Some of the most intimidating people were those who could feign normalcy so well, that you don’t even know you are tangled in a venomous spider’s web until they set their fangs into your neck; by that point, most of your internal systems have long since shut down and defense is out of the question. Rui had always been fascinated by insects, by arachnids and by creatures often outcast due to their appearance. However, he began to understand Tsukasa’s fear of insects just a little with his internal comparison of Touya’s mother to a venomous spider. Nonetheless, he took her hand with both of his, mirroring her smile a little too well.
“Yes, I am Rui Kamishiro of Phoenix Wonderland. You are…?”
“Why, it’s a delight to meet you. I am Touya’s mother, and I was just inquiring with one of your staff members as to his whereabouts, you see.” As she spoke, she grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him closer, making him desperately claw at the sleeve’s fabric; he hoped Saki would understand if there was a tear or two, given the context of his clawing. “He’s going through a little bit of a rebellious teen stage, and he seems to have been staying with other people for a while. I was just trying to come pick him up, however I was met with aggression from your staff for my honest inquiries.” She lowered her eyes and looked upon Rui with discontent. “Please may you deal with your staff’s ill manners?” It wasn’t a question.
Now, Rui couldn’t leave Touya. If not because of his own moral compass and his complete disagreement with familial control, he felt shattered looking up the evident distress that had morphed Touya’s face into someone unrecognisable from the sweet boy shooting plushies with a wooden rifle moments prior. In every way, he had shrunk in on himself.
Yet, he couldn’t stay, either. If he were to linger, to refuse this woman’s request, she would call for him to be removed from the setting entirely.
“Of course. I will be just a moment.” Despite every logical bone in his body and every brainwave in his skull telling him no no no no no , Rui turned his back and quickly walked over to the nearest member of staff. He prayed, if nothing else, he could get Aoyagi-san escorted off of the premises if he made the staff aware of the abduction of a minor against their will. While he would probably be questioned for his interference given their blood relations, such a reliance on ‘blood’ being synonymous with ‘family’ had led to so many terrible things being brushed under the rug in so many homes. He wanted to help Touya break free from this, and he hoped this decision would make sense in Touya’s eyes.
Unfortunately yet fortunately for Rui, nothing made sense in Touya’s eyes anymore. He was still quite hung up on why his mother was even here - yes, he knew the logical reason and he believed it was somewhat foolish to hope that his family wouldn’t investigate this place as well as Ken-san’s café but… why?
She was the one who had texted him that night.
Mother: I hope you realise what you’ve done, Touya, you foolish child.
To be perfectly honest, Touya had never anticipated to open the full message - he had accidentally opened it when trying to open the Vivid Bad Squad group chat the night it happened to spectate some random selfie competition An and Akito had at 1am, and his exhausted brain lacked the logical thinking to prevent himself from indulging in curiosity.
Mother: You have abandoned us, your only family, in a pathetic little act of teenage rebellion. Do you truly believe you will be accepted anywhere other than here? We are your family, we have done nothing but want you to be happy and safe, yet you spit that back in our faces as if we haven’t done everything for you.
This part had made him laugh, in his sleepy state. ‘We have done nothing but want you to be happy and safe’... he’d expect more truth from a rock.
Mother: I cut your hair when you asked me to as a child, and I gave you all of those treats for your birthday despite the financial implications it had on me. I am a stay-at-home mother after all, and I have done everything to make you feel accepted and appreciated in this household. You are nothing but an ungrateful brat.
The ‘financial implications’ bit had baffled him - he had to reread it numerous times, because he knew finance was of no issue to his parents. Especially given the money that his brothers often sent, either physically or through the form of gifts. And as for the fact she weaponized the basic human decency of providing for her child, especially in his transition? Logically, he would have stopped reading by that point in sheer disgust, though he was curious as to how she could further dig a grave for herself.
Mother: Do you really not recognise how hard we’ve tried? Were we just not good enough for you and your standards? Do you really think you are grown up enough to survive out there, and do you truly think other people will accept you as openly as we did? You will suffer out there and you will crawl back to us, sobbing. I hope you realise your mistake soon, there’s still a chance to turn around and come back to us.
Yeah, the text message had really not been worth reading at 1am, the same night he had run away from home… After all the tears he had cried, and the whirlwind still flowing through his brain, he just remembered staring at his phone blankly and sighing into his pillow.
Oh, how he wished he could go back to that blissful ignorance of her words, rather than being face to face with her.
Having entirely spaced out, watching Rui walk off and talk with a member of staff with numerous pointed fingers towards him and his mother, he had just… forgotten to listen to her.
Not that he wanted to.
He was unbelievably grateful that his brain had blocked out what he presumed to be a monologue about ‘love’ and ‘care’, structured in the same backhanded way of her message on the night. It was probably better that he had reminisced on that message - at least then she wasn’t trying to be a perfect mother.
“So, shall we head home?” Those words instantly brought Touya back to the realm of listening, much to his discontent. He looked down at her, at the way her hand still gripped onto his shoulder with the intention of injury rather than gentle care. Her tone had since lost its feigned sweetness, opting for a demand hissed bitterly. Eyes piercing into his skin made him truly realise that she knew very well the power she had over him, with just a simple tone of voice. She knew the way that her voice made his skin wish to peel, how his ears rang in a desperate attempt to tune her out, and she knew how he would turn non-verbal due to the stress consuming his very being.
Case in point - his throat was clogging up, as if icicles formed within his throat and pierced his neck. He feared if he tried to open his mouth, it would tear into shreds.
So, rather than speaking, he tried to communicate his discontent in a way that she would understand; he turned to her and shook his head violently, before shoving her away from him. In her disbelief, she stumbled back and looked at him with a blank stare. It only took a few moments before her face contorted into something unrecognisable.
“You…!” Fists clenched, she stormed towards him. All he could do was step back into the stand. Go away. Go away. Go away. Please just let me escape. Please. Please. Please. Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease .
“Aoyagi-kun…!” Rui’s voice jolted through his ringing eardrums, though it seemed to be effortless, for his mother raised her hand with the evident intention to slap him.
He was scared.
Trembling.
Everything seemed to blur.
He couldn’t tell whether he was crying or if his brain was just trying to block out her face. Her horrible, contorted, unrecognisable face.
Probably both.
Time slowed down. As if it were a cruel punishment.
Oh, you ran away a few days ago? Feel every millisecond of your mother’s wrath.
Watch her turn into a monster from the nightmares you would have run into her room for as a child.
Watch her become everything she swears she could never be.
Because she cares so much .
Yet, despite this, her hand never seemed to reach him. When his eyes finally refocused, stinging with red hot tears, they flickered to her arm. Somehow, in a moment that had been entirely unknown to Touya, he had gripped onto her wrists with such strength that their arms had remained stagnant in the air (if you ignored his trembling desperation and her violent vibrating). All she could do was stand. Staring with bulging eyes and small pupils. They say your pupils expand when you look at something you love. Having the opposite occur and the truth be spelt out so cruelly… ah, what a rotten cherry on top.
“Aoyagi-kun…” In between desperate grasps, Rui clawed his way between the two and tore his mother off of him. She still stared directly into Touya’s soul with eyes from hell, even when two security guards hooked her arms behind her back and prepared to escort her off of the premises.
“Touya… Touya, please, please, baby.” After a quick blink, her entire facial structure seemed to change, as feigned remorse etched itself into her every feature, “I’m your mother! I would- I just wanted you back, I’ve missed you so much.” As she struggled against the security guards, her voice quivered. “Please…! Please, please, please!” Rui and Touya both stared over at her, as Rui used his body to shield Touya from her gaze; he remained frozen with his back against the stand, unconsciously using most of his body strength to remain on top of the counter.
“Ma’am, we’re going to have to-”
“ That’s my son! ” She shrieked like a banshee, making both of the boys flinch in terror. “Touya, please. You know your dad just wants you to be happy. He always has. Please, son, come back to us.”
Oh, how frustrating these words were.
Part of him really wanted to believe it. That tiny, scared child inside of him really wanted to believe that his dad loved him. That all of it was for his wellbeing - acts of kindness, misconstrued by ulterior desires.
He had tried to understand his dad. If it weren’t for how everything had unfolded, perhaps they could have reached a point of understanding.
Or perhaps he was daydreaming, creating a fantasy world.
If it was truly love, would he have forbidden him from social interaction at a young age? Caged him in, made him into a puppet to perform his father’s dreams? Convinced him that friendship and interaction would just taint him, that going out and having fun with kids his age was worthy of punishment through yelling and raised hands? Not once allowing him to explore himself, almost deciding the very school he went to and the classes he would have to dedicate his whole sanity to? Yelling at him every morning, muttering insults under his breath into his tea?
All this?
For talent ?
Fuck talent. Fuck terrible executions of ‘good intentions’.
You do not birth a child to morph them into what you want them to be. You birth a child to let them navigate the world as they see fit. And when that child rebels? You shouldn’t use their very identity against them to try and bring them back into their little cage, as if basic human respect is a right to be revoked and not a basic human need .
Yet, if you were to ask Touya, all he’d want is to sit down and talk to his parents on a level they’d understand. Gain their perspective and perhaps compromise.
Funny how the brain works, is it not?
“Aoyagi-kun, she’s out of sight now. She shouldn’t come back for you.” Blinking back into reality, he turned to Rui, who had turned paper white. “I’m… I’m sorry, for leaving you, I-” Touya instantly shook his head, and despite how weak his body felt, pushed himself up to stand. He stood level with Rui for a moment, and then wrapped his arms around Rui, his arms clambering up his back as he tried to hold him close. It only took a second for Rui to return the embrace, understanding that Touya needed it.
Tap, tap, tap.
Touya tapped his index finger into Rui’s back. Unlike Saki, he had established no code with Rui, though he hoped the intention would be understood nonetheless.
“You don’t have to thank me. I didn’t do anything at all.” Rui chuckled as he lay his head upon Touya’s shoulder. “At least, I presume that’s what you were trying to say.” Touya quickly nodded, making Rui chuckle once more. “Now, I don’t mean to disturb the moment, but…” He pulled away from the hug and stepped back, offering his hand to Touya, “I do believe the show is reaching the end of its preparation. Shall we take a slow walk?” Once again, Touya nodded, grateful for the unspoken understanding. He grabbed the bag of plushies that had been dropped in his panic, swiftly making sure none were harmed, and took Rui’s hand with the other.
They had a show to attend, after all - with none other than
Tsukasa Tenma
as the star!