#vinchecks

45. “How much of that did you hear?” 

“So, best two out of three?” Yuuya asked, dropping his video game controller into his lap, his player clapping on Yuzu’s winning character.

Yuzu nodded. “If you’re really willing to let me crush you three games in a row, sure.” She picked the next arena, setting up the next battle. As it loaded, she heard the door opening, dogs and cats running towards the foyer. “Hello Mrs. Sakaki!”

“Hi mom!” Yuuya said, eyes not leaving the screen as Kirby warped onto the stage.

Yoko smiled at the two, ruffling Yuuya’s hair, who complained, losing focus. “Good to see you and your little friend are getting along so well.”

Yuuya’s eyes lowered, clicking the start button. “Mooooooom, I’m not dating Yuzu! You know that I’ve been with Shingo for weeks…”

Yuzu giggled. “Plus, I have a thing for your brother, not you. No offense.”

“None taken.” Yuuya resumed the game, immediately stopping it again. “Wait.” He turned to Yuzu. “Which brother?”

“Uhhhhhh…” Yuzu trailed off, not really wanting to explain this right now, especially not with Yoko in the room. “Pur….ple,” she whispered.

Yuuya’s eyes lowered, not picking up Yuzu’s worry as Yoko silently watched from the kitchen table. “Yuzu, I have two brothers with purple hair.”

A blush, firmly covering her face, Yuzu placed her face into her hands. “Uhh… it means lesbian?”

He nodded, completely confused. “So Yuuto is a lesbian? Interesting…”

“YUURI!” Yuzu announced, getting off from the couch. “I’m lucky it isn’t you, considering how dense you are!”

“Mom, did you call me-” Yuuri asked, poking out of his room, earbud in, a musical they couldn’t place leaking through the removed one. Yuzu blanched staring at him, Yoko scuttling over to gesture for her to repeat what she said. “Solanum lycopersicum,” his lips curled to a smile, “oh and look, Citrus junosgraced us with her presence.”

Yuzu feigned a smile, hands folded behind her back. “How much of that did you hear?” 

Yuuri blinked. “I heard the accusation that Yuuto was a lesbian, and that you have a crush on Yuugo.”

“What!?” Yuzu asked, somewhat I offended. “I didn’t say Yuugo, I said yooooou…” Yuzu glared at Yuuri, who was smiling mischievously, “dirtbag.”

“Soil,” Yuuri corrected with a heart shaped smile. “I’d love to join you, but we don’t have enough joy-cons. Maybe you should call me and we can do something, alone.” With a wink, he closed the door.

93. wink 

Yuuri only had two places that he really felt he belonged: the duel field, and in his atrium. While dueling was no surprise, given by his antics, spending time with plants (some of which weren’t murderous beasts!) seemed almost off, and people liked to pester him about it.

Sora enjoyed sitting by Yuuri as he watered, but usually left Yuuri alone when he glared the boy down. Serena occasionally walked through the plants, looking for something in particular she wouldn’t say aloud. Yuuri appreciated that her visits were short and non-intrusive. Now a certain other student…

Dennis had a habit of wanting (but rarely successfully) to practice his magic at Yuuri’s atrium. The arguement was usually that it wasn’t Yuuri’s, and any student could visit if they wanted. It’s just that Yuuri was the only one who regularly tended to the plants (and typically Yuuri scared people off if they did want to help tend to them)

“I see no problem with me being here,” Dennis said, brushing at his lopsided jacket. “My shows are for humans, animals, and plants.”

Yuuri tipped his hat so he could properly stare Dennis down. “If you want to do a show for animals, there’s plenty of Obelisk Force dogs you can bother.”

Dennis feigned surprise, gasping. “Yuuri, those soldier are brutes. They scare even you.” Yuuri’s silence said just as much as denial would. “Plus, talking to flowers makes them grow better, right? I read your notes.”

Wrinkling his nose, Yuuri looked to his box of flower care index cards to see they were in fact in the wrong order. “How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of my shi-” Taking a breath, Yuuri pulled the flower he was tending to close to his face. “Dennis, do you know what flower this is?”

He shook his head. “Is it a black eyed susan? You were talking about those earlier. You talk in your sleep sometimes.”

“No I do- No, Dennis, those are yellow flowers. This is a Dahlia ‘Happy Single Wink‘.”

Dennis laughed. “Happy Single Wink? Isn’t that too cutesy for you?” Yuuri glared, Dennis shooting his hands up. “So what about them?”

Yuuri let the flower spring back to its place, brushing at the petals. “Dahlia’s symbolize a lot of things. Gracefulness, inner strength, standing out from the crowd, commitment. You and the dahlia share a lot.”

His eyes twinkled, hands clasped in front of him. “Really Yuuri? That’s so sweet! I didn’t know you cared-”

Yuuri nodded, pulling his scissors, cutting the head off of the dahlia. “I didn’t plant these. I loathe dahlias.”

14. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

Yuusei sat in the middle of the table, unfortunately between a base and an acid.

“You know what kind of people get kicked out of libraries?” Crow asked, slapping his hands on the table, shaking the cup of tea and glass of milk. “Dogs and smoking teenagers!”

Jack frowned, eyes watching the drinks rather than Crow. He unfolded his crossed arms, just to show his fist. “Look at Crow. Lecturing me about getting kicked out of places.” He rolled his eyes as he spoke, barely having to glance at Crow to see him steaming. “May I ask Mr. Perfect where his tacky tattoos came from?”

Crow’s face covered in blush, Yuusei subtly picking up the drinks to avoid risk of spilling. “How DARE you! You know very well I was falsely convicted!” Jack scoffed, Crow quickly growling.“You’re never going to let that go, are you?“

22. “I don’t owe you an explanation.” 

Normally, the mornings were exceptionally quiet (well, exceptionally when compared to the noisiness of the afternoon and night) and dull, a simple transition of REM to working miserable jobs with barely enough pay to feed oneself, much less a family.

Shinji woke up when he normally did, getting dressed and noted that Crow wasn’t in bed. Crow typically slept through Shinji’s morning routine. Maybe he was in the bathroom? With a quick glance towards the open dark bathroom door, that theory was squandered.

As he walked to the main room, he dug his keys and gloves out of his pocket. He slipped them on, about to open the door, pausing and turning as he heard a faint snore.

Crow.

He was lying on the couch, asleep, blanket sloppily trailing onto the bed. Shinji couldn’t help but smile at the innocent scene. Question was, why was Crow on the couch. Shinji was pretty sure Crow was in bed last night…

Putting the keys back into his pocket, Shinji walked over to Crow’s sleeping forme, leaning down to pick up the blanket from the floor-

only be stopped by two hands grabbing his dumbstruck face.

“…Crow?” Shinji asked, his cheeks being gripped tightly.

Crow stared up at him, slowly letting go. “Morning.”

Shinji smirked, tucking in Crow. “Why are you on the couch?”

He frowned as Shinji patted his head. “Mmm, I don’t owe you an explanation.”

“Tell me,” Shinji demanded.

Crow groaned, scowling. “I let you live in my house and you’re going around making demands? Watch yourself, Shinji.”

Shinji stood up, going to get his keys from his pocket again. “Fine fine,” he said, turning around, looking over his shoulder, “Maybe I’ll be back later, we’ll see-”

“Fine.” Shinji blinked, neutral face not wavering. “It’s just,” he blushed, looking away from Shinji, “I wanted to see you off before you leave, since I always wake up later. I just… fell asleep.“

With his gaze off Shinji, he didn’t see he had approached him, a kiss pressed to his forehead. “Don’t worry babe, you woke up in time. See you soon.”

58. flashy

(before Bohman stole Jin’s soul, but still after the destruction of the Tower)

Jin was… recovering. His speech was coming back, even if they were simple one to five word sentences. The nurses remember the first word Jin said in years was “brother” (as if he sensed that Shoichi and Yuusaku defeated the Knights of Hanoi.) The nurses (less than versed in Playmaker) assumed it was a random happenstance, but were more than happy to see improvement.

Shoichi hadn’t visited yet. The nurses told him that his brother planned to visit tomorrow, so the staff secretly hoped he’d smile for the first time in a while.

Unfortunately, when numbness passes, all emotions come back. Fear. Fear of the past. Sadness. Sadness from the years he spent unlike other children his ages. Anger. While anger was short and probably covered by his brother and his brother’s friend, he couldn’t help but feel a little mad about all that happened to him. And what happened to his brother’s friend. Worry. Jin couldn’t help but worry that Shoichi might not show up. He did his best to bury that thought. He’d be there. And maybe he’d bring his friend?

All he could do now was lie in bed. Sleeping now was as hard as sleeping before, but now his mind was fixated on hundreds of things. He blinked up at the ceiling, the same darkness as before.

Like a small flash, a glowing light appeared, landing on his tented knee. “Angel?” Jin asked, voice cracking.

The being of light shook its whirlpool-shaped head side to side. “No, not even close,” it answered.

Jin blinked, looking to the diamonds he assumed were the creature’s eyes. “Who then?”

It traveled down Jin’s leg, floating (or was it walking?) closer to Jin’s face. While worried, Jin felt a strange fondness to the being. As if it was a missing piece of him. He couldn’t even flinch when the being cupped his face with small hands. “I have no name you would understand.”

Closer up, Jin could see the being better. It was human-shaped, but had no mouth or nose. It looked extremely smooth, and Jin barely could feel the grip of its hands.

Even with no mouth, its head tipped to the side, almost smiling. “You and I will be very close, very soon. Save your questions for then.”

Softly, Jin smiled back, picking up the creature with his hands. The creature was startled, looking back and forth, like a confused dog. “Sleep first,” Jin said, tucking the creature in bed to the side of him. The creature looked up even more confused, but unable to wiggle out of the sheets. The light the being produced was dull and  warm, comforting Jin, almost like a nightlight.. “Night,” Jin whispered, head clearer, falling asleep.

Yuusaku works at a place that serves coffee so it makes the most sense to me!

15. “I’d kill for a coffee…literally.” 

“You’ve seen better days,” Yuusaku says, watching as Aoi leans her cheek to her hand, on and off slipping and only barely catching herself before she smacks her chin onto the table. The other members of the Duel Club are all sectioned off, either dueling or sorting cards. Aoi and Yuusaku are the only ones not doing either.

Aoi’s eyes are squinty and red. Yuusaku deduces it’s from a lack of sleep, but it could be from another emotional issue. “Thanks.” Her voice is dead and raw, dripping with sarcasm. “I couldn’t sleep.” She offers it before Yuusaku can ask, which he appreciates.

“From the storm?” Yuusaku doesn’t need to ask. He knows she was doing a long duel as Blue Angel. Stall deck vs stall decks were a nightmare.

She nods, taking any excuse she can get. Aoi doesn’t know he knows. It’d be weird if she did. “I’d kill for a coffee…” her eyes land on Shima, who looks back with a blank deer-in-headlights expression “literally.” He gulps, knowing she has the connections.

“Enough of that,” Yuusaku says, taking her hand and leading her out of the room, ignoring the president questioning where they’re going. “Let’s get you a coffee at Cafe Nagi. My treat.”

Aoi removes her hand, walking with him, still sleepy. “Is it really on you if your best friend doesn’t charge you in the first place?”

20. mom 

Crowsat awkwardly at the table, untouched drink to the side of him. He hatedfeeling… weird there. While it was still an amount of time, Crow barely spentany time living at Martha’s place in comparison to his brothers. His tongueclicked before locking eyes with Yuusei across the table. “Hey, do you rememberanything about your parents before Martha was… in the picture?”

Before Yuuseicould answer, Jack cut in. “Does it matterif we do?”

Yuuseishot Jack a glare before turning back to Crow. “Surprisingly, Jack is right. Imet my father spiritually a few times, but Martha’s been our caretaker farlonger.”

Jackflicked his nail at his cup, a hollow clink ringing out. “And Tetsuzoand Tetsu keep fighting over which one of them is our dad, no relation to mom.”

Turningattention from Crow, Yuusei laughed. “You think that’s bad? Saiga wants to bemy dad more than the two of them combined.”

“Betterthan Rex.”

“Guys,” Crow cut in, head in his hands.

Jack tooka sip from his cup, visibly fighting back the urge to spit out the cheapcoffee. “If you don’t see Martha as your mom, whatever, Crow. I mean, you leftfirst-”

“It’snot that,” Crow snapped, not wanting to hear about his flittiness. “It’s justweird? Is it wrong that I wish I got to know my parents a little better?”

“Yourparents could have been assholes though,” Yuusei replied, his neutral faceclearly not aware of how rude his words were. “My relationship with mybiological father is… weird.”

Crow’sface shifted, leaning into one hand. “I guess… but still.”

“CallMartha ‘mom’,” Jack offered. “Carly says it’s never too late to turn over a newleaf, or something stupid like that. And if it’s weird, you don’t have to do itagain.”

Just asCrow was going to respond, Martha walked in. “Haven’t seen you three so chatty inyears!” She gave a warm inviting smile the boys couldn’t help but return. “Anyparticular reason you came over?”

Crowlooked up to her, very quickly noticing the others’ eyes were on him. “Nah,there’s no real reason m-” Crow struggled to figure the right sounds “Mom…ar”Despite him not finishing his attempt to switch to ‘Martha’, his brain wouldn’tlet him go on.

Marthablinked before laughing. “Momar? Is that the hip thing kids are calling theirparents nowadays?” Crow’s face was buried into his hands, unable to respond. “Youkids are crazy.” She headed back to the other room to continue collecting thechildren.

Silently,Crow stared into the dark red of the skin of his hands pressed against hiseyes. A shameful blush covered his face. Yuusei patted his headsympathetically. “I still think there are few things worse than Rex wanting tobe your dad.”

24. “You’re trembling.”

Takeru wasn’t sure what to expect sleeping over at Yuusaku’s house. The place he was staying at to go to Den City High School wasn’t anything special, but Yuusaku’s place…well for starters it could probably benefit from a rug or two. Despite argument, Yuusaku insisted Takeru just sleep in the bed as well.

Yuusaku spent a majority of the night staring to the side before eventually drifting off to sleep. Takeru, on the other hand, just stared up to the ceiling.

While a little weird to consider it a positive, Takeru was thankful it wasn’t too dark. The moon was bright and the light from a marquee bled through the ratty curtains. He wasn’t afraid of the dark. He conquered that fear forever ago. Nothing to fear but fear itself, and maybe Kiku when she finds out he’s skipping class. Rational and suitable fears for someone his age. Nothing childish.

While Takeru was in thought, Yuusaku snapped awake, shaking and clutching his head. He could feel the sparks run through his veins, the hair on his neck standing at attention.

“…………….y……………..u…………………k?”

Yuusaku turned around, eyes shot, tensing as he say and remembered that Takeru was here. He was squinting without his glasses, but probably could tell what was going on. Kusangi told him that he told Takeru about their meeting, but did Takeru know about… this? “Can’t sleep?” Yuusaku asked, trying to level his breathing.

“You’re trembling,” Takeru mentioned instead. “Are you okay?”

After a bout of deliberation and breathing exercises (1,2,3,4…) Yuusaku nodded. “Nightmares. You know how it is,” Yuusaku added, hoping it would end the conversation.