Gift for draconn_malfoy!
Title: Then and Now
Recipient's name: draconn_malfoy
Rating: T
Pairing(s): Akutsu x Dan
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters
Warnings: Language, suggestive content
Author's Notes: This is my first time writing these characters, so let's see how this goes...
He almost didn’t recognize the young man in the coffee shop.
“A-Akutsu-senpai?” asked a surprised Dan.
Akutsu narrowed his eyes and frowned. He traded his white school uniform for an expensive leather jacket and a skull tattoo on his neck. Seated around him were five other men clad in similar jackets and tattoos. He dragged on his cigarette. “What do you want?”
Dan’s heartbeat quickened. Even though the Yamabuki first year hadn’t seen his ill-tempered upperclassman ever since the latter dropped out of school, he still felt the butterflies in his stomach. He had so many unanswered questions he didn’t know where to begin.
“Umm…why aren’t you in school anymore?” he asked timidly.
His inquiry was met with harsh, shadowed eyes from the older teen.
“None of your business,” replied Akutsu, slowly rolling the cigarette up and down his thumb.
Seeing himself as an intrusion, Dan quietly excused himself from the group. He had heard the rumors last year but couldn’t bring himself to ask Akutsu for confirmation. Quietly sipping his cappuccino in a corner table, he opened his Physics book and began his reading assignment.
“If an object lies outside a thin, spherical shell of mass…”
His eyes wandered to the back of his former classmate’s head.
No good…I can’t concentrate.
He quickly turned his head back to his book. As his eyes glossed over the page, the same words kept flashing in his mind. Frustrated, Dan sunk back in his chair and closed his eyes. A shuffling of feet and a few curse words snapped him out of his reverie. His eyes flew open and immediately sat up in his seat. Akutsu and his companions were stepping out of the shop.
This was his chance. Dan shoved his books into his bag, and swiftly exited the store in pursuit of the man he admired since middle school. The one who inspired him to seriously pursue tennis, the one who later became his late-night, merciless tennis practice partner, and the one who ultimately stole his heart.
It was so sudden - at the end of Dan’s first year at middle school, Akutsu had stopped attending classes. The whispered rumors were filled with contradictions.
“He and his mom moved to Osaka.”
“He got suspended for stabbing someone.”
“He dropped out to take care of his illegitimate child with a high school girl.”
After a few months, the murmurs had faded to nothing, as if he had never existed. He had tried to get Akutsu’s home address from the tennis club records, but they simply told him, “We don’t have it.”
When he ascended to the captain position of the Yamabuki boys’ tennis team in his last year of middle school, he discovered Akutsu’s old registration files while cleaning the clubroom. Damn those upperclassmen who lied to him.
He had wanted to show Akutsu the person he had become. As a result of his training with the older boy, as captain, he had recently led the team to fourth place at the Nationals - the highest finish ever in the history of Yamabuki’s boys’ tennis.
When he rushed to the address listed on the crumpled piece of paper between his fists, he was told that they no longer lived at the residence. And everything ended right there.
But twenty minutes ago, the wheels of fate had begun to turn again. Tiptoeing around buildings to conceal his presence, he followed Akutsu to an abandoned park. He witnessed the men before him stand silently, as if they were waiting for something.
Two men emerged from the trees with a briefcase. Akutsu and his friends approached the men and exchanged words in low voices. Dan’s heartbeat quickened as he watched from behind a bush. The suspicious activity left an unsettling feeling. It was dangerous. Too dangerous. There was no way Akutsu could be involved in a gang like this.
A small gasp escaped his throat as one man pulled out a long knife and aimed it threateningly towards Akutsu.
The younger boy felt his body instantly react. “Akutsu-senpai! Watch out!” he yelled. Realizing the risk of his sudden appearance, he immediately clamped his hands over his mouth. The icy glare from the seven heads that snapped in his direction made him feel sick to his stomach.
“I-I’m sorry!” said Dan as he bowed profusely.
Akutsu was far from amused. “Get the fuck out of here!” he barked.
The pressure from the stares alone was overwhelming, and Dan had no choice but to obey. He ran out of the park, halfway across town, and stopped. To abandon his old crush or not? After all, Akutsu left without a trace years earlier. Still, his heart pained with the thought of never seeing him again.
He shifted direction and quietly walked back to check on Akutsu. As he neared the park, he noticed a lone figure trudging along in the shadows. His mouth quavered, legs frozen by the sight of scarlet dripping off Akutsu’s arm.
He tried to speak but was cut off by the stone cold voice of Akutsu. “Stop staring,” he hissed.
Dan rushed to his side. “Are you hurt? Why did they do this to you?”
A sticky hand encircled his small wrist and jerked him aside. “Mind your own business.”
A pair of hands shoved Dan aside and helped Akutsu to his feet. A tall, tattooed man with bleached hair stood in front of Dan along with three others.
“Take him home,” he commanded to the others.
As he sadly watched Akutsu leave with strangers, Dan bit his lip to keep from crying. He felt as if he was seeing a completely different person. No longer could they return to the times of middle school.
The bleach-haired man lit a cigarette and inhaled. “You know,” he said, “he usually never really goes berserk. But the moment the other guys talked about you, he completely snapped.”
Dan turned his head curiously. “What did they say about me?” he asked.
“Well, I have to warn you - it might make you feel uncomfortable.”
“That’s okay…”
The man took a deep drag on his cigarette before continuing. “He said, ‘Hey, is that your boyfriend? I bet his sweet ass would fit nicely around my…’” He stopped himself as he noticed the color drain from Dan’s face. “But yeah…you know…and then Akutsu started punching him like mad. Then the other guy stabbed him.”
Dan’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“Yeah. So…are you guys together? He’s never mentioned you so…”
Blush creeped across the younger boy’s cheeks. “We’re not.” He quickly excused himself and ran home.
***************
As he walked to the bus station after tennis practice, Dan saw a familiar face at the magazine stand. It was the bleach-haired man from yesterday.
He ran across the street to meet him. “Hey!”
The other raised an eyebrow. “Hmmm?”
Ten minutes later, a breathless Dan caught up with Akutsu sitting at the edge of a lake. “I heard about what happened last night,” he said between breaths. He looked up and saw bandages around Akutsu’s right arm. “Ah! Umm…how is your arm?”
“It’s fine,” came the curt reply.
Dan sat next to him and started at the waters, looking for the next sentence to fill the silence.
It surprised him when Akutsu spoke first. “That guy pissed me off. That’s all.”
“Oh.”
“The next time he says shit like that - especially about you - I’ll slice him in half,” he said bitterly.
For the first time in a long time, Dan smiled from ear to ear. In a way, he knew that Akutsu cared, and he had an interesting way of showing it. One thing still bothered him though.
“Akutsu-senpai, why did you drop out of school?”
Akutsu laid down on his back. “I went to jail for 2 years for stabbing my mother’s boyfriend. He was beating her up when I came home one day. He deserved it. Trash like that should die.”
As Dan was processing the shocking new information, he didn’t realize the air growing cold around him. When he finally felt it, he found his teeth chattering. Something warm and heavy touched his shoulder.
It was Akutsu’s leather jacket.
“Thank you.” Then he was struck with a brilliant idea. “Akutsu-senpai, let me tutor you! Then you can re-enter the school and earn your diploma!”
Akutsu snorted. “You? Tutor me? You’ve got some guts, kid!”
Dan waved his hands in front of him. “No, no, no! I can be a good tutor! I’m doing really well in all my subjects,” he boasted. “Except physics. But I don’t want to see you end up in situations where you’ll get hurt. So if you stay in school, then you won’t have to live this way.”
Akutsu’s expression softened. “You really would do that?”
The younger boy flashed a white smile, “Yep. It will also be my chance to pay you back for what you did to me in tennis.”
In reply, Akutsu turned his head away from Dan. Realizing that his former schoolmate was lost in thought, Dan closed his eyes and tried to savor the moment.
After a brief pause, he spoke again. “Hey. I know you’re busy, but whenever you have time, do you want to play some tennis? Like old times?”
“Okay.”
As he slid the jacket over his shoulders, every fiber of his body tinged with possibility and anticipation. This was a bud waiting to be a blossom. Dan would cherish the past and carve his future. A future that would include the man sitting next to him. And the man sitting next to him, though he would never say it aloud, made a similar decision to start a new journey.
Recipient's name: draconn_malfoy
Rating: T
Pairing(s): Akutsu x Dan
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters
Warnings: Language, suggestive content
Author's Notes: This is my first time writing these characters, so let's see how this goes...
He almost didn’t recognize the young man in the coffee shop.
“A-Akutsu-senpai?” asked a surprised Dan.
Akutsu narrowed his eyes and frowned. He traded his white school uniform for an expensive leather jacket and a skull tattoo on his neck. Seated around him were five other men clad in similar jackets and tattoos. He dragged on his cigarette. “What do you want?”
Dan’s heartbeat quickened. Even though the Yamabuki first year hadn’t seen his ill-tempered upperclassman ever since the latter dropped out of school, he still felt the butterflies in his stomach. He had so many unanswered questions he didn’t know where to begin.
“Umm…why aren’t you in school anymore?” he asked timidly.
His inquiry was met with harsh, shadowed eyes from the older teen.
“None of your business,” replied Akutsu, slowly rolling the cigarette up and down his thumb.
Seeing himself as an intrusion, Dan quietly excused himself from the group. He had heard the rumors last year but couldn’t bring himself to ask Akutsu for confirmation. Quietly sipping his cappuccino in a corner table, he opened his Physics book and began his reading assignment.
“If an object lies outside a thin, spherical shell of mass…”
His eyes wandered to the back of his former classmate’s head.
No good…I can’t concentrate.
He quickly turned his head back to his book. As his eyes glossed over the page, the same words kept flashing in his mind. Frustrated, Dan sunk back in his chair and closed his eyes. A shuffling of feet and a few curse words snapped him out of his reverie. His eyes flew open and immediately sat up in his seat. Akutsu and his companions were stepping out of the shop.
This was his chance. Dan shoved his books into his bag, and swiftly exited the store in pursuit of the man he admired since middle school. The one who inspired him to seriously pursue tennis, the one who later became his late-night, merciless tennis practice partner, and the one who ultimately stole his heart.
It was so sudden - at the end of Dan’s first year at middle school, Akutsu had stopped attending classes. The whispered rumors were filled with contradictions.
“He and his mom moved to Osaka.”
“He got suspended for stabbing someone.”
“He dropped out to take care of his illegitimate child with a high school girl.”
After a few months, the murmurs had faded to nothing, as if he had never existed. He had tried to get Akutsu’s home address from the tennis club records, but they simply told him, “We don’t have it.”
When he ascended to the captain position of the Yamabuki boys’ tennis team in his last year of middle school, he discovered Akutsu’s old registration files while cleaning the clubroom. Damn those upperclassmen who lied to him.
He had wanted to show Akutsu the person he had become. As a result of his training with the older boy, as captain, he had recently led the team to fourth place at the Nationals - the highest finish ever in the history of Yamabuki’s boys’ tennis.
When he rushed to the address listed on the crumpled piece of paper between his fists, he was told that they no longer lived at the residence. And everything ended right there.
But twenty minutes ago, the wheels of fate had begun to turn again. Tiptoeing around buildings to conceal his presence, he followed Akutsu to an abandoned park. He witnessed the men before him stand silently, as if they were waiting for something.
Two men emerged from the trees with a briefcase. Akutsu and his friends approached the men and exchanged words in low voices. Dan’s heartbeat quickened as he watched from behind a bush. The suspicious activity left an unsettling feeling. It was dangerous. Too dangerous. There was no way Akutsu could be involved in a gang like this.
A small gasp escaped his throat as one man pulled out a long knife and aimed it threateningly towards Akutsu.
The younger boy felt his body instantly react. “Akutsu-senpai! Watch out!” he yelled. Realizing the risk of his sudden appearance, he immediately clamped his hands over his mouth. The icy glare from the seven heads that snapped in his direction made him feel sick to his stomach.
“I-I’m sorry!” said Dan as he bowed profusely.
Akutsu was far from amused. “Get the fuck out of here!” he barked.
The pressure from the stares alone was overwhelming, and Dan had no choice but to obey. He ran out of the park, halfway across town, and stopped. To abandon his old crush or not? After all, Akutsu left without a trace years earlier. Still, his heart pained with the thought of never seeing him again.
He shifted direction and quietly walked back to check on Akutsu. As he neared the park, he noticed a lone figure trudging along in the shadows. His mouth quavered, legs frozen by the sight of scarlet dripping off Akutsu’s arm.
He tried to speak but was cut off by the stone cold voice of Akutsu. “Stop staring,” he hissed.
Dan rushed to his side. “Are you hurt? Why did they do this to you?”
A sticky hand encircled his small wrist and jerked him aside. “Mind your own business.”
A pair of hands shoved Dan aside and helped Akutsu to his feet. A tall, tattooed man with bleached hair stood in front of Dan along with three others.
“Take him home,” he commanded to the others.
As he sadly watched Akutsu leave with strangers, Dan bit his lip to keep from crying. He felt as if he was seeing a completely different person. No longer could they return to the times of middle school.
The bleach-haired man lit a cigarette and inhaled. “You know,” he said, “he usually never really goes berserk. But the moment the other guys talked about you, he completely snapped.”
Dan turned his head curiously. “What did they say about me?” he asked.
“Well, I have to warn you - it might make you feel uncomfortable.”
“That’s okay…”
The man took a deep drag on his cigarette before continuing. “He said, ‘Hey, is that your boyfriend? I bet his sweet ass would fit nicely around my…’” He stopped himself as he noticed the color drain from Dan’s face. “But yeah…you know…and then Akutsu started punching him like mad. Then the other guy stabbed him.”
Dan’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“Yeah. So…are you guys together? He’s never mentioned you so…”
Blush creeped across the younger boy’s cheeks. “We’re not.” He quickly excused himself and ran home.
***************
As he walked to the bus station after tennis practice, Dan saw a familiar face at the magazine stand. It was the bleach-haired man from yesterday.
He ran across the street to meet him. “Hey!”
The other raised an eyebrow. “Hmmm?”
Ten minutes later, a breathless Dan caught up with Akutsu sitting at the edge of a lake. “I heard about what happened last night,” he said between breaths. He looked up and saw bandages around Akutsu’s right arm. “Ah! Umm…how is your arm?”
“It’s fine,” came the curt reply.
Dan sat next to him and started at the waters, looking for the next sentence to fill the silence.
It surprised him when Akutsu spoke first. “That guy pissed me off. That’s all.”
“Oh.”
“The next time he says shit like that - especially about you - I’ll slice him in half,” he said bitterly.
For the first time in a long time, Dan smiled from ear to ear. In a way, he knew that Akutsu cared, and he had an interesting way of showing it. One thing still bothered him though.
“Akutsu-senpai, why did you drop out of school?”
Akutsu laid down on his back. “I went to jail for 2 years for stabbing my mother’s boyfriend. He was beating her up when I came home one day. He deserved it. Trash like that should die.”
As Dan was processing the shocking new information, he didn’t realize the air growing cold around him. When he finally felt it, he found his teeth chattering. Something warm and heavy touched his shoulder.
It was Akutsu’s leather jacket.
“Thank you.” Then he was struck with a brilliant idea. “Akutsu-senpai, let me tutor you! Then you can re-enter the school and earn your diploma!”
Akutsu snorted. “You? Tutor me? You’ve got some guts, kid!”
Dan waved his hands in front of him. “No, no, no! I can be a good tutor! I’m doing really well in all my subjects,” he boasted. “Except physics. But I don’t want to see you end up in situations where you’ll get hurt. So if you stay in school, then you won’t have to live this way.”
Akutsu’s expression softened. “You really would do that?”
The younger boy flashed a white smile, “Yep. It will also be my chance to pay you back for what you did to me in tennis.”
In reply, Akutsu turned his head away from Dan. Realizing that his former schoolmate was lost in thought, Dan closed his eyes and tried to savor the moment.
After a brief pause, he spoke again. “Hey. I know you’re busy, but whenever you have time, do you want to play some tennis? Like old times?”
“Okay.”
As he slid the jacket over his shoulders, every fiber of his body tinged with possibility and anticipation. This was a bud waiting to be a blossom. Dan would cherish the past and carve his future. A future that would include the man sitting next to him. And the man sitting next to him, though he would never say it aloud, made a similar decision to start a new journey.