Chapter Text
"Hey, bro. Here's your fuckin' badass gang supplies..." Mondo said sarcastically as he dropped the cheap plastic bag emblazoned with the word "Hobbycraft" on it in his lap.
"Well, it'll be badass once I'm done with it!" Daiya grinned as he looked inside at the pile of spools of golden metallic thread. Embroidering golden logos on the coat of every member of his gang was hella badass... and anyone who wanted to give him shit for it could say hello to his fist.
Of course, he had a lot of gang members, and there was less gold thread in this bag than he'd been hoping for... "Do I have any change?"
"Really, bro? Sure, here's ya 50p!" Mondo rolled his eyes and flung a coin at him.
Daiya scowled at it... sure, that would have been the right amount of change for what Mondo had come back with... at the normal price. But he'd got an email saying they were buy one get one free...
Maybe it was online only? In which case he'd wanna take these back... "Did you get a receipt?" They usually put it in the bag, but there wasn't one in here.
Mondo instantly seized up. "W-why'd ya want the receipt, ya gonna put on 'em on your tax return or summat?" He asked with increased volume.
Well, that was suspicious... "I'll need it if I wanna take 'em back..."
"Why the fuck why would ya need to take em back they're thread it’s not like anything can go fuckin' wrong with goddamn thread!" Mondo started ranting even louder now, "I did ya girly shopping trip, so quit bitchin' at me already, asshole!" He stormed up to his room, face turning red as he did so.
Daiya sighed, Mondo was always crap at hiding things... He'd obviously thought Daiya wouldn't know about the offer and had spent half the money on shit for himself. But what? It's not like there'd have been anything in Hobbycraft Mondo would have wanted, the only wooden things there were those cheap balsa kits for kids and Mondo was way too good at carpentry to want one of those... And he'd not been gone long enough to have gone to any of the other shops he liked...
"As long as it's not drink or drugs..." Daiya muttered and he picked up someone's coat and started threading one of his new spools of thread through a needle.
"Hmm hmm huh hmm..." Takaaki paused as he opened the door and heard his son humming happily. He decided not to announce his arrival and closed the door quietly. That hum usually meant his son was absorbed in some embroidery project and he liked watching his son sewing... it was one of the few times he actually looked relaxed! As proud as he was of how hard his son worked, he did wish the boy was a little happier at times... or at the very least could manage to make some friends…
He snuck into the kitchen, smiling as he smelt simmering curry wafting through the air... Kiyotaka must be in a particularly good mood to have cooked his favourite dish for him! His son was at the dining table, smiling faintly as he sat holding his school shirt and stitched metallic gold thread around one of the epaulettes.
He glanced up briefly, before jumping up with a start. "Ah! Good Evening, Father!" He bowed, "I ah, the stitching on my uniform was coming undone, so... err..."
"So you went and bought thread to repair it? Good lad!" Takaaki finished, causing his son to smile nervously. He really didn't understand why the boy was so self-conscious about his skill at needlework. He'd hoped wearing the armband he'd made himself might make him a little more confident about it... But thinking of which... "What did your classmates think about the disciplinary armband?"
"Ngh!" Kiyotaka flinched. "Err... They said I should have just bought one instead of sewing like a girl..." He admitted sadly. Well, that would explain why he was so self-conscious… "Oh... but I met a boy at the craft shop who's part of a sewing club! H-he said it was good stitching..." Kiyotaka smiled and blushed slightly. "And he helped me buy the thread, as it was on a buy one get one free offer..."
"A sewing club?" He hadn't heard about anything like that around here...
"Oh! Yes! I meant to ask... May I have permission to go out Friday evening?" Kiyotaka asked anxiously. "It... It's not a school night and I'll make sure I'm home by ten..."
As if Takaaki would say no to him taking a chance to make a friend! "Of course, do you need a lift?"
"No... We're meeting up outside Grandfather's old steel factory, as it was a place we both know. He'll show me where it is from there..."
"Well, it sounds like you'll have a good evening then! Now how's about we dish up that curry?" Takaaki suggested, as Kiyotaka tied off his stitching.
"Hey, Daiya! You were right! The gold thread was on offer in the shop..." Takemichi was stood outside the door to his house holding another bag from Hobbycraft, a couple of days after Mondo had gone.
"Awesome, thanks for that..." Daiya muttered irritably, as he reached for the bag. Mondo really had tried to trick him. He looked inside to check how many spools his bodyguard had managed to pick up... Only to find a pair of boxes with a glittery looking wolf and tiger on them instead.
"Oh, uhh...They were sold out of the thread... Th-That was for me..." Takemichi admitted, "I'll pay ya back!" He added, trying to take the bag back.
Daiya, who loved being a nosy asshole to his gang at times, decided to take out one of the boxes and look at it instead. "Sequin art?" He read out loud. He chose not to read out the "For kids 8 and up" bit, due to liking not having the crap kicked out of him by a guy half his size...
"It's a wolf! And you make it by stabbing it with pins!" Takemichi rationalised loudly. "That's fuckin' badass!"
"Yeah, pretty cool..." Daiya muttered as he put the box back in the bag and handed it over, because the first rule of leading a group of badass teenage boys is to never say 'you precious little dork' to them, no matter how apt a description it is...
"Thanks..." He coughed as he took it. "Also, is Mondo having a party?"
The hell? "He's not said anything to me about a party..."
"Oh... I just wondered why he was driving off with a load of plastic cups..."
Daiya's eyes narrowed. The hell would Mondo need plastic cups for, other than a party? And if he was organising a party, why keep it secret from him? (His birthday wasn't for ages and nothing worth partying about had happened to him, so it wasn't a surprise for his sake.)
He seriously better not have bought alcohol and be planning a party for the kids in his school... The Diamonds were getting enough crap from the cops (even though there was nothing illegal about riding a group of bikes and defending themselves from attacks) without Mondo breaking the law...
"Hi, Officer Katsushika, how's your son?" The woman serving at the police cafeteria was asking one of Takaaki’s colleagues.
"Well, turns out his ribs are just cracked, not broken at least..." Katsushika replied, "How's your son?"
"He could talk again this morning... just about anyway..." She sighed.
"Did he say anything about who did it?"
"No... just that he'd deal with it himself, just like yours..." She sighed.
"Wait... Did both your sons get in a fight as well?" Takaaki interrupted. They both scowled at him (probably due to his father rather than the eavesdropping). "Err... Kiyotaka came home with a black eye... But all he'll say is that he's dealt with the problem himself..." He tried to explain.
It certainly hadn't been a nice evening, coming home to find nothing ready for dinner and his son scrambling through his wife's old makeup in an attempt to cover it up before he came home. And for Kiyotaka to just refuse to tell him what had happened was worrying, his son had been bullied before, but he'd never kept any of it secret like that...
"Hah, was that all?" Katsushika sneered, "My son got a cut lip and a boot to the ribs, and Ichigo's got an elbow in the throat..."
"And the Chief Inspector's son has a broken nose..." The woman added, "He was at the hospital as well!"
"Were there other boys there? Or could it be that someone's targeting police staff?" Takaaki asked.
"It was just the three of them... But they're all in the same class as your kid as well..." Katsushika said, "Although I suppose if it was school related your kid woulda snitched the second it happened."
"...Yes, my son would have reported it to the relevant authorities." Takaaki said coldly. Why the hell this man had joined the police force when he didn't like people who actually followed rules was beyond him...
"Umm... There, uhh... There's no chance they joined a gang, is there?" The serving woman asked, "Only I keep hearing that the Crazy Diamonds have a ton of new members lately..."
"But the Diamonds all have motorbikes, and I don't know about yours, but my son certainly can't afford one!" Takaaki pointed out.
"Doesn't have to be the Diamonds though... Other gangs will have heard and probably increased recruitment..." Katsushika suggested.
"Hahaha! Kiyotaka still wouldn't have joined a gang!" Takaaki laughed at the suggestion, "He's going to a sewing club tomorrow!"
"A sewing club...? Where?"
"Err... Somewhere near the old steelworks factory... that's where they're meeting up anyway..."
"...Didn't we get a report that one of the Crazy Diamonds was sneaking around there yesterday?"
"That... That must just be a coincidence..." Takaaki stuttered.
There... there was just no way he'd join a gang... At least not intentionally!
But then again a sewing club with another boy his age in it...? Was it possible Kiyotaka was being lied to? Maybe he'd best try and follow Kiyotaka on his round tomorrow to make sure the boy hadn't got himself into trouble...
"Hey, I feel like making a racket! Imma go to the old industry area!" Mondo shouted at him as he left the house.
He hadn't even given Daiya a chance to respond... This must be when he'd planning his... Well, his whatever it was!
Daiya waited until Mondo's bike roared out the garage and then quickly jumped on his own, hoping his brother had at least been honest as to where he was going, if not why he was...
"...I'll give him two more minutes..." Kiyotaka was muttering for the fifth time.
His son was probably the easiest person he'd ever had to follow. If he had joined a gang they hadn't done a very good job of inducting him... And now he was drawing attention to himself by stomping back and forth irritably, shivering (he wasn't wearing the outer shirt of his uniform, for some reason) and checking his watch every half minute, like he was being stood up on a date...
At least, until both himself and his son flinched at the sound of a motorcycle speeding towards Kiyotaka. Kiyotaka shrank backwards towards a wall, as if worried he'd get run over, until the bike came close enough for him to recognise the rider and he switched to waving happily at the boy instead.
Takaaki almost groaned, he would have recognised that ridiculous bleached pompadour anywhere... How the hell had his son fallen in with the likes of Mondo Oowada!? And what the hell did the second in command of the Crazy Diamonds want with him!?
"You’re late! And you should be wearing a helmet!" Takaaki's jaw dropped as his son scolded one of the most feared gangsters in the city.
And it dropped even further when, instead of getting annoyed at the back talk, Oowada just turned red and muttered an apology.
"Well... At least you actually came... I was starting to think this was a joke at my expense..." He son admitted, softly. "So... Where are we going?"
"Uhh... In there..." Oowada replied, pointing at the disused factory that had once been his father's pride and joy.
"Err... Is that allowed?" Kiyotaka balked, "I mean... I don't think anyone has permission to be in there anymore! And it's not been used in years, it must be filthy!"
"I, uhh, I cleaned it up!" Oowada cried, as if desperate for Kiyotaka to go with him. "And it's not like we'd damage it! We're just... House sitting, sorta..."
Good grief, Kiyotaka would have to be an idiot to trust this guy after that terrible explanation... Even if his boss had told him before that it wasn't worth the effort of trying to keep squatters out of his father's old buildings...
"Well, ok then!" Takaaki had to stop himself slamming his forehead into his hand at his son’s declaration, "I came here as a child once, I wonder if it's changed much..." Kiyotaka started to walk towards the factory.
"What, was that like a school trip or summat?" He vaguely heard Oowada ask in reply.
"Oh, err... No... My grandfather was the owner..." Kiyotaka started to awkwardly explain as they walked through the door.
Takaaki counted to 20 and followed, wondering what the hell was going to meet him inside...
"What the hell is going on...?" Daiya heard Officer Ishimaru muttering as he went through the door of the factory his brother's bike was parked out in front of.
Well, his brother had been honest about the where... But certainly not the why!
Daiya had parked the bike a way out from the industrial district and run the rest of the way, something he was pretty glad of now.
But goddammit... Why did Mondo have to have gone and got caught by Officer Ishimaru of all people! Daiya could probably bribe or scare the rest, but that crazy hardass had a rep for never backing down, ever.
What to do…? He could hardly follow in after the cop, but he oughta try and find out what the hell Mondo was up to... He settled for heading around the side of the building and checking the windows to see if he could spot Mondo... which he needn't have bothered doing because his brother had gone into 'loud, nervous, dork' mode...
"So... Uhh... WHADDAYA THINK!?" He could hear the slightly muffled sound of his brother's voice through the single pane of glass... Oh geez... Who the heck was Mondo trying to impress this time...?
"Hahaha! It's just the same as I remember!" A guy who was almost as loud as him, it seemed.
Daiya cautiously made his way to the right window and peer around the corner...
"So, I, uhh... I've got some water and orange squash and cups and biscuits..." Mondo was rummaging around in a cupboard... "I uhh... I hope there's some in there you like!"
"Hahaha! I'm not picky when it comes to biscuits!" Laughed the other guy... Who Daiya guessed must also be an Ishimaru because he had the exact same red eyes and crazy brows that the hardass cop did...
What the hell was Mondo DOING!? Why was he hanging out in a disused factory, nervously pouring out little plastic cups of orange squash and arranging biscuits on a paper plate like he was about to have a kids tea party with the son of the most diligent cop in the city? Was he tryin' to impress the kid?
Did he like the kid? Was that why he'd been so secretive, because he didn't wanna admit to the gang that he'd got a thing for this red-eyed nerd who was excitedly deciding between a hobnob and a custard cream? But then, what had Mondo spent the money on...? Biscuits and drinks shouldn't have been that much...
"So... Uhh... Did you bring a project...?" Mondo asked, once they'd eaten a biscuit each and he'd calmed down a little.
"Err... Not exactly. I..." The kid started to get something that looked like a bunch of ripped bandages out of his bag.
"...CAUSE THE KITS WERE ON OFFER AND I LIKED THE LOOK OF THIS ONE BUT I DON'T GET THE INSTRUCTIONS AND MY BRO'S TOO BUSY AND I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT WANNA DO IT FOR ME CAUSE YOU SAID YOU'D LIKE TA EMBROIDER A CUSHION BUT YOUR HOUSE HAS TOO MANY!" Mondo yelled at him, practically throwing a plastic packet at the guy...
The kid dropped his... whatever it was, back into the bag to catch the packet... And it was at this point that Daiya ducked under the window, partly due to the strain of NOT laughing at his precious little dork of a brother, and partly because he'd seen the incredulous-looking face of Officer Ishimaru peering out from around the doorframe opposite him...
"I... Uhh... Thanks!" The kid's nervous voice came through the window. "No one's ever given me anything like this...!"
"Really...? I uh... I bet you'll do it really well..." Mondo's voice returned to a tolerable volume.
"Well... I shall certainly do my best!" The kid replied.
There was silence for a while... Daiya was so tempted to look again, but he didn't want to risk startling the older Ishimaru who, from the sound of it, seemed to be just letting his kid... do an embroidery kit with Mondo?
But if the other kid was doing embroidery, what was Mondo doing?
"Err... How is your cross stitch?" The kid asked, answering Daiya's question for him.
"It's alright... Needle's a bit fiddly though..." Mondo replied as Daiya had to clamp a hand over his mouth to keep his laughter from bursting out loud at the image of Mondo fumbling with a tiny needle.
"So… When do the other members of the club usually arrive?" The kid asked.
Other club members? Mondo wasn't in a sewing club... What the hell had he told this guy!?
"Uhh... They, uhh... None of them can make it tonight!" Geez, how did his bro suck at lying so bad?
"None of them!? Really? I've been seeing a lot of people wearing your brother's logo... I'd have thought this room would be full..."
"Haha... Yeah... Uhh, it's pretty weird actually... We usually get, like, 10 people minimum..." Mondo laughed awkwardly.
...so that was why Mondo had kept this secret... He'd spent the money on sewing kits because he'd told a cute guy that the Crazy Diamonds were an arts and craft club...
...MONDO HAD TOLD THE GUY THE CRAZY DIAMONDS WERE AN ARTS AND CRAFT CLUB...
Daiya tipped over forward and clutched the ground with the effort of not laughing... He must have spent a few minutes composing himself before crouching away from the window and running back to his bike, phone in hand.
"Yo, Takemichi!" He shouted into the phone once it was picked up. "Round up as many members of the gang as ya can and meet me at Hobbycraft! And bring your badass wolf thing to!"
"...Are you fuckin' with me?" Takemichi asked.
"Nope... Not with you!" He laughed, "Just do it and you'll see..."
If Mondo said the Diamonds were an arts and craft club, then an arts and craft club they'd BE...
"That... That's startin' ta look really good..." Oowada muttered to his son as they sat doing sewing kits together.
Really...just… doing sewing kits together?
It seemed so... he'd been watching them for half an hour now... And they really were just doing sewing kits together...
There were probably actual crimes going on that he should be out patrolling in order to stop... but instead he was just watching his son... really just doing sewing kits... with MONDO OOWADA...
And getting incredibly nervous about it... As he blushed bright red and muttered "Th-thank you..."
They hadn't been talking very much... Kiyotaka would occasionally start humming, and then remember that he wasn't alone and apologise loudly, and Oowada would say it was fine and that it'd been nice to listen to and his son would smile and blush and shuffle slightly closer to the gangster... Or Oowada would offer his son a biscuit, and his son would insist they'd eaten too many already, but Oowada would say that if they didn't get eaten they'd go to waste and so Kiyotaka would relent and the biker would shift closer as he passed him the plate...
So now they'd gone from having a meter of space between them to less than a foot, and both of them had flushed red faces and were shooting each other nervous looks when they thought the other wasn't. And Takaaki was just watching from the side, amazed that neither one had spotted him yet, trying to figure out if he would rather throw a bucket of water over the pair or yell at them to just kiss already!
Until, finally, the biker gasped and started cussing up a storm...
"Ah! What happened!?" His son dropped his embroidery to scoot even closer to Oowada...
"Ah... Goddammit! I just... How'd I fu-fricken stab myself with a blunt needle!?" He griped, putting pressure against his fingertip.
"Oh... Here, let me look..." His son took Oowada's hand in his own to look at it. "Ah... It's not as bad as it looks... Let me just..."
Let him just... do what his mother had always done to him, whenever he'd pricked himself with a needle... which was gently kiss the affected finger...
"Uhh..." Oowada's jaw was slack as he just stared at the pair of lips resting against his index fingertip.
Kiyotaka froze in place, face turning deep red and eyes widening as he realised he wasn't Mondo Oowada's mother. "I... Err! I mean... I saw a first aid kit in the cupboard!" Kiyotaka dropped the hand and ran to the cupboard, while Oowada just stared at his own hand and started turning red himself until Kiyotaka came back with a bandage and started applying it to the finger.
"Uhh... So, are we kissing each other better now...?" Oowada asked, sounding slightly shocked still.
"I... I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me... It was just..."
Kiyotaka's apology was interrupted by Oowada leaning forward and kissing him just under the eye.
"...'S just that's been annoying me all evening..." Oowada muttered as he pulled back.
"Ah..." Kiyotaka turned red again, "You noticed...?"
"Of course I noticed, it's all puffed up and shit! And that make-up’s the wrong colour! You'd have to be blind not to notice!"
"S-sorry..." His son muttered.
"What...? No it's not your fault! I just..." Oowada stammered, "...Was this the same assholes who ripped your... shoulder thingies off?"
"My epaulettes, yes..." Kiyotaka sighed, wait, what!? That hadn't just been the threads coming loose? "I'd hoped giving them a detention would deter them, but they approached me outside of school on Wednesday instead." He frowned. "They said they wanted to give me another 'craft project' and ripped the buttons off my shirt."
"And then they gave ya the black eye to...?" Oowada muttered angrily.
"Yes..." Kiyotaka nodded, "At which point I defended myself." He stated, matter of factly.
"...defended yourself, how?" Oowada raised an eyebrow at him.
"...A punch in the mouth, an elbow in the throat and a palm-strike on the nose..." Kiyotaka counted off, before a guilty look crossed his face... "And then Katsushika said my armband was gay and I lost my temper and kicked him in the ribs while he was down..." He admitted shamefully. "...I shouldn't have done that..."
Wait... Kiyotaka was the one who'd sent his classmates to the hospital!? No wonder none of them had been willing to talk about it... A group who were picking on him for sewing were hardly going to admit to being hospitalised by him... And Kiyotaka would have been too guilty about the use of unnecessary force to report it himself...
"Well... At least it oughta teach them a lesson..." Oowada shrugged and put an arm around Kiyotaka's shoulder.
"Yes... Unfortunately the lesson it taught them was not to let me see them destroying my clothes..." He sighed and picked up the mess of ripped white fabric he'd almost got out when Oowada had asked if he'd bought a craft project. "...After PE I came back to my locker to find it broken open, and this inside..." Kiyotaka handed it to him.
Oowada turned it over and squinted at it for a moment before spotting several gold parts... "They ripped up your uniform..." He growled.
Cowardly bastards...
"Yes... I reported it to the school, of course..." Kiyotaka said, "But as there's no evidence as to who did it, I was told they're unlikely to be punished, and..." He trailed off.
"And what!?" Oowada asked, anger seeping into his voice.
"...They said I should have considered such behaviour before disclosing my hobby." Kiyotaka said flatly, leaning into the biker's body. "And they recommended I try buying myself a pre-made armband."
"That's fuckin' bullshit!" Oowada roared Takaaki's thought out loud. "Ya shouldn't have ta fight off groups of assholes cause ya like ta sew!"
"I know, but... What can I do? I can't change the minds of the whole school by myself..." Kiyotaka sighed, "What do you and your brother do...?"
"Uhh... Well I don't really tell anyone about the stuff I make..." Oowada scratched the back of his head. "And Daiya's got enough badass friends that no one dares mess with him..."
"Whereas I don't even have friends, let alone badass ones..." Kiyotaka sighed.
"...You don't have friends?" Oowada asked, incredulously.
"No." Kiyotaka said, bluntly, "...Why are you surprised?" He added after a moment, as Oowada continued to look incredulous.
"Whaddaya mean 'why am I surprised!'? Most people have friends!" Oowada snapped, "...And you seem way too nice and cool and shit not to..." He muttered.
"Ah..." Kiyotaka blushed and looked up at him, "B-but you've only known me for... 2 hours..." Kiyotaka looked down at his watch sadly.
Oowada grabbed him by the chin and pulled his face back up. "Well... It's been long enough to know I like ya!"
Kiyotaka just blinked at him, and then gradually the pair of them started to blush as they realised how close they were to each other...
Well... There were probably crimes going on that he ought to be on the watch for... He'd been standing around here long enough... Besides, he was going to have to figure out what to do about those three boys... Talking to the parents wasn't likely to work, he could hardly walk into work and demand that his boss tell his son to stop being a homophobic dickhead and... and...
And did he just walk past a group of Crazy Diamonds' members?
"Did we just walk past Ishimaru and not get stopped?" Takemichi whispered.
Daiya peered behind him and saw the overbearing cop freeze in place and turn back around... "Quick, just keep walking..." Daiya muttered as he led the group of gang members Takemichi had managed to scrounge up at short notice through the cleaned corridors to the room he'd watched from the window earlier...
...Where Mondo had his hand on Ishimaru's kid's face and the kid was staring right back into his eyes and they were both red and sweating slightly and the kid was chewing his lip nervously... and Daiya decided to be a dick to his little brother...
"Geez... We turn up a little late to arts and craft and ya bring in a rent boy and scarf half the biscuits..."
"AAAHHHH!!!!" The lovebirds jumped about a meter apart from each other... Ishimaru's kid just looked up at them all in pale-faced shock and Mondo jumped up to yell at him.
"I didn't buy him, ya fuckin' asshole!"
"Well, yeah... That's why they're called RENT boys..." Takemichi grinned.
"I am not being paid!" The kid finally snapped to attention, which was good 'cause it stopped Mondo from trying to strangle their bodyguard… "And if we had been informed of your tardiness we would have saved the provisions..." He added, accusingly.
"So you're Mondo's boyfriend then?" Daiya asked the guy, sitting in the now vacant seat between the pair.
"Err..." The kid blinked and looked over his shoulder to Mondo. "...Am I?" He asked, nervously.
"Uhh..."
Mondo... For the love of god don't fuck this up!
"...if ya wanna be?" Mondo shrugged while staring like a deer caught in headlights.
"Well... Alright then! Err...yes! My name is Kiyotaka Ishimaru and I am Mondo's b...boyfriend!" He bowed, probably out of politeness (his Dad was always respectful, even when he was arresting people), but it did also have the advantage of hiding how badly his face flushed at the last word.
"Cool. I'm Daiya... His brother." Daiya casually held out a hand, as several members of the gang gave Mondo approving thumbs up and winks.
"Ah! You're the one sews all the logos, and the flames!" Kiyotaka smiled eagerly as he shook it. "It's a great design... Is it hard to make?"
"Nah, not really... If you can do that..." He nodded at Kiyotaka's embroidery hoop, "then you can make one of these, it just takes a while, and lots of thread..." The kid nodded interestedly... Huh, maybe he'd be able to offload some of the new member’s coats onto the guy.
But first things first... "Well, we're here now, everyone get out your projects!" He ordered the guys.
"WHAT!?" Mondo was luckily inaudible over the rustle of plastic bags as every member of the gang got out the things he'd made them pick out at the shop... And to their credit only a few of the newer guys were still shooting Daiya incredulous looks for this stunt... He made a mental to push those guys to the back of the queue for logos though.
"This is why we were late, Hobbycraft have kits on offer so we were stocking up..." Daiya lied to Kiyotaka while Mondo stared slack jawed as about quarter of their gang started pulling out an assortment of easy-to-do handicraft projects.
"Ah... I suppose that's fair..." The kid replied. "What are you working on?"
Aww crap... He'd been too busy grabbing all the gold thread he could carry...
"Err... I kinda forgot mine..." Daiya realised.
"Oh! Err... Did you want to do this?" Kiyotaka pushed the hoop towards him. "Your brother wanted it for himself and I probably ought to be trying to fix my shirt..."
Daiya squinted at the kid... "Your shirt looks fine..." He pointed out.
"...He means this..." Mondo passed him a mess of...
Well, it the thing he'd assumed was a pile of bandages earlier, but now he had it in his hands he could see buttons, and a pair of epaulettes... He held it up by those, it appeared that the back of the shirt had been messily ripped upwards at various points...
"Err... I told people at school I like to sew, so they decided to give me a 'project' to work on..." Kiyotaka explained, wryly.
"Hmm... Lemme see what I can do..." Daiya picked up the white thread and needle the kid had wrapped up in the shirt and started working...
It was a pretty good night: A few idiots threw biscuits at each other, and he and Mondo had to grab hold of Takemichi at one point to stop him beating the shit outta a guy who knocked over his pot of sequins (at least, until Kiyotaka had finished picking up the sequins and sorting them by colour for him). But otherwise the only notable thing was that Officer Ishimaru was just standing in the doorway staring at them all with a bemused expression on his face... But after a while he wandered off.
Which was kinda a shame, because Daiya would have liked to see his reaction to the repair on his son's shirt.
"Hey... See if this fits..." Daiya said to Kiyotaka, just as he looked like he was working up the courage to place his hand on Mondo's knee. (Just cause he'd let them sit next to each other after Takemichi's strop, didn't mean he was gonna quit being a dick chaperoning).
"Nyah!" Kiyotaka jumped in embarrassment and turned to face him. "Err... Thank you!" He took it and looked at the back, and his face dropped in shock. "I, err...what...?"
"Welcome to the club." Daiya grinned at him and Mondo, who was giving him a look that suggested he might just think Daiya was worth putting up with at times... maybe.
It wasn't the best looking Crazy Diamonds 'jacket'... Even though Daiya had done his best to cover up the repairs with licks of golden flame, it was still obvious that it had been ripped up at some point, if you looked closely.
But it was still the Crazy Diamonds logo... And that oughta make those assholes at his school think twice before trying to trash it again...
"Ah... Th-thank you!" Kiyotaka started stammered as tears welled in his eyes. "Th-this is the nicest thing anyone's ever done..." He started actually sobbing with joy as Mondo pulled him into a hug.
Damn... Such a shame Officer Ishimaru hadn't seen this... What made him decide to wander off anyway?
"What are you doing here?" His boss asked as he exited the old factory.
Ah... He thought he'd heard sirens...
The Chief Inspector was accompanied by Officer Katsushika, looking over the dozen or so motorbikes that were parked around... the younger Oowada's vehicle.
"I saw Mondo Oowada enter the building with my son and decided to see what they were doing." Takaaki explained. "...but it turns out it's just an arts and craft meeting!" He put on a smile and shrugged. "... And I didn't think it was worth antagonising a group of otherwise harmless young lads over minor trespassing charges..." He made sure to use the exact words the Inspector had that time he'd tried to arrest some boys for painting graffiti on the inside of his father’s old cutlery works...
Judging from the scowl on his boss' face, the man picked up on the quote.
"...Are you seriously trying to cover up the fact that your son's in a gang with that!?" Katsushika asked, angrily.
"It's a craft club, and he's only just joined today." Takaaki said, "But if you don't believe me you can come in and see..." His boss glared at him and stalked ahead into the building, followed by Katsushika.
"It's just through the clean areas... Seems Oowada was just tidying up the place on Wednesday..." Takaaki explained genially, and couldn't help feeling a burst of schadenfreude as the pair of them insisted on ignoring him and searching through the dusty rooms for evidence of wrongdoing, and came out with nothing but grime on their clothes for the trouble.
Eventually (after searching every nook and cranny except the one place he was pointing to) they finally relented and walked past him to the old break room.
God, he'd have loved to see the looks on their faces as they walked into doorway and were met with the sight of a dozen of the city's most feared group of boys, all sat around drinking orange squash, eating biscuits and doing (mostly) children's craft projects.
And all that while Kiyotaka stood in the middle of them, laughing and twirling around in excited glee to let Mondo Oowada gape at his repaired shirt ... Which was now adorned with the logo of said feared group of boys.
Daiya Oowada seemed to glance at the door as they came in, but if he noticed them stood there he didn't let on... Instead he started asking Kiyotaka about the shirt. "How's it fit? It'll be a bit tighter now where I had to overlay the material..."
"Ah...that's alright, it's always been a bit loose before..." But then Kiyotaka's smile dropped, "Although if it gets damaged again..." He sighed anxiously.
"If it gets damaged again Imma beat the shit outta those three..." Mondo Oowada growled.
Takaaki had suppress a snort of laughter as the two men in front of him stiffened. Looks like one of their kids had finally blabbed, or at least been rude enough about his son that they'd figured out the connection...
"That is NOT necessary!" Kiyotaka snapped... "And it's not an appropriate deterrent either!"
Mondo Oowada didn't look convinced... But his brother just laughed at Kiyotaka's outburst. "Alright, fine kid... But lemme know if that happens again, ok?" Daiya Oowada grinned conspiratorially in his own direction "I'll sort it out for ya..."
"Ah... Alright, thank you!" Kiyotaka smiled again, having completely missed the implication.
Not that Takaaki thought it was going to be necessary... Not from the pallid complexions his fellow Officer's faces had taken on as they glanced at each other and headed back out of the door in silence, pointed avoiding his eyes as he followed behind them...
"Ah! I need to go home now!" Kiyotaka suddenly exclaimed after checking his watch. "I promised my father I'd be home by ten..." He explained. "It's been nice to meet you all, and I hope you see you again next week!" He bowed to the room as he went to leave...
"Well, uhh... I'll come with ya and make sure you get home safe!" Mondo's voice raised as he started to head out of the room to walk his boyfriend home.
"And I'll come with ya!" Daiya walked over to the pair, causing Mondo to glare at him again.
"Ah... To chaperone?" Kiyotaka asked him, as they started heading through the corridors.
"What's chaperonin'?" Mondo asked.
"It's a polite word for 'cock-blocking'." Daiya grinned as he explained, Mondo's face turned a dark red and Kiyotaka almost tripped over in embarrassment.
"Well...! We don't need... that!" Mondo eventually spat out.
"Suuuuure you don't..." Daiya rolled his eyes as they came out of the factory...
"Huh, that's a lot of motorcycles!" Kiyotaka pointed out blandly, probably trying to change the subject. "Haha, with your names being Mondo and Daiya, it's almost as if you're all from that motorcycle gang! Hahaha!" He chuckled.
"Uuhhhhhh..." Mondo panicked.
Kiyotaka's laugh froze. "...You are all from that motorcycle gang, aren't you?" He realised.
"Umm... Yeah, kinda..." Mondo admitted.
"But then... Why did you...?" Kiyotaka stammered, "Was this a joke? Are you about to beat me up for..."
"What!? No!" Mondo exclaimed. "It was just... Ya got so excited about having other people to sew with I didn't wanna correct ya... and I thought it'd be nice to sit and sew with ya..." He admitted gruffly.
Kiyotaka turned to look at Daiya. "But then why did you..."
"Eh, I was just fuckin' with Mondo..." He admitted. "I'll let you guys have your little craft date alone next time..."
Or at least that was his plan, until he heard footsteps running towards them...
"Hey, wait up a sec!" Takemichi was yelling at them, followed by a few members of the gang. "We didn't decide what time we're meeting up next week!"
"Next week?" Mondo asked. "What're we doing next week?"
"Uhh... Well, this?" Takemichi gestured back to the building.
"Ah... I appreciate the sentiment, but I have been informed that you are not, in fact, an arts and craft club." Kiyotaka stated.
"So!?" Takemichi snapped. "None of us got to finish our things yet!" This was met with murmurs of agreement from the gang.
"Err...?" Kiyotaka just gaped at them all.
"Hey, don't look at us like that! It was you who started it!" The bodyguard snapped again.
"We'll meet here at 7 next Friday." Daiya forced himself not to roll his eyes. "I'll bring the biscuits..."
You precious little bunch of dorks...
"Err... Father? I'm… home...?" Kiyotaka sounded confused as he entered the front door.
Takaaki was a little surprised, he'd expected his son to come bounding into the room full of joy at having a boyfriend and joining a club and having friends now... and then he'd have listened and acted surprised and happy along with his son.
"How did your evening go?" He tried asking.
"I... I seem to have joined a motorcycle gang...?" Ah, so they'd told him the truth then... "And I've made them start a crafts club...?" He sat down numbly at the kitchen table.
"...Anything else?" Takaaki asked. Had this made him spurn the younger Oowada boy? He hoped not, they actually seemed to get on well…
Kiyotaka blinked a couple of times. "...And I'm dating Mondo Oowada..." He admitted.
"Huh..." Takaaki tried to sound surprised enough that Kiyotaka wouldn't figure out he'd been watching him for half the evening, but not so surprised that he came off as disapproving. "...Why don't you tell me how that happened?"