Chapter 5: Staying up 'til sunrise and hoping shit is okay

Saying that he wanted to come back was easier said than done. He wanted it with every fibre of his body, but the thought of facing his brothers again terrified him to his very core. Juudai told him that they didn’t need to rush, though he told Jun he knew Rei would’ve wanted him at her wedding, and so a deadline was (loosely) set. They didn’t need to solve everything until then, as that would probably be impossible, but they would try to at least get to the point where Jun could attend.

 

They had to start with a phone call though.

 

It had taken a long time for Jun to decide who they were going to call, but in the end they landed on Asuka. Even though Jun had considered calling Fubuki first, the man had a tendency to be overwhelming. The one who was the best choice, and would have the most practical advice to give, was probably Asuka. Taking steadying breaths as he sat on the couch, cat on his lap, Jun watched Juudai scroll to her in the contact app. His fingers dug into the worn fabric of the furniture he’d found next to a dumpster, tearing into the stuffing. Silently, Juudai slipped his hand underneath Jun’s and entwined his fingers with the other’s. Jun was torn about ripping his hand away or not, but ultimately needed the comfort of warm skin against his palm, the pads of Juudai’s fingertips rubbing gently against the back of his hand. “Ready?” he asked, and Jun slowly nodded.

 

Juudai pressed the call button.

 

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It took about three signals for Asuka to pick up, giving plenty of time for the brunette to hit the speaker button and putting the phone down on the table in front of them. The moment Asuka’s voice was heard, Jun felt like he was going to throw up, and he felt his eyes get glassy with the sound of her familiar voice. “Hey Juudai, why’re you calling me so early?”

 

Juudai glanced to where Jun was folding in on himself, Cheeseburger having jumped off his lap and settled next to him when she felt like she was going to get squished. Juudai’s thumb ran smoothly across Jun’s skin in steady motions as he watched tears silently fall from his friend’s eyes. He moved so he met Jun’s eyes, a question in his own. He didn’t answer Asuka until Jun gave a small nod to continue. 

 

“So you know how Fubuki told us Manjoume’s brothers said he didn’t want to talk to any of us anymore?”

 

“Yeah, it made my brother really upset. Why’re you bringing it up now?” Juudai heard Jun’s breath hitch at the reminder of how sad it had made Fubuki, the sound of Asuka asking if she was on speaker almost drowning it out.

 

“That was a lie. I found him yesterday. He’s been hiding from them , not us.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Jun held on tighter to Juudai’s hand, cutting the other off from responding as he tried to talk himself. His voice cracked at the first word, and he had to clear his throat, making Cheeseburger meow in response, but for once, she went unheard, blood rushing in Jun’s ears. “They- They tried to murder me… n-nine years ago… I’ve been hiding ever since…” He felt pathetic at the waver in his own voice, and he rubbed his face aggressively to make himself stop crying.

 

Juudai just kept on moving his thumb across the back of his hand, listening to Asuka’s shocked response. “What?! Is this- are you serious?! Why the hell would they do that?!”

 

“Yeah,” Juudai continued, noticing that Jun had temporarily lost his nerve. He gave him a moment to collect himself, helping Jun relay what he’d been told the day before. “Apparently they got in with the yakuza or something and they wanted to shut Manjoume up. I ran into him by accident and he’s told me everything. We need you and the other’s help so he can come back and not have a name that’s totally weird for him.”

 

That actually made Jun laugh, right in the middle of what was a quiet sob turned into a weird mixture of a sob and a laugh. Jun fell to the side, leaning against Juudai’s side. It felt comforting but strange to be so physically open with someone, especially with Juudai. But it helped. “That’s your priority…? You’re ridiculous, slacker.”

 

Juudai had never smiled so brightly at hearing that old nickname before. “His last name is Tanaka now, Asuka. Tanaka! That’s what’s ridiculous! We gotta help him, man!”

 

There was a stunned silence where Asuka was clearly processing all the information. Juudai easily let the silence last as long as she needed, as it also helped Jun calm down, still leaning against his side, hand still in Juudai’s, tears slowly coming to a stop.

 

“If we’re going to do this,” Asuka started, and it was a relief to Jun to hear her on board. No matter what Juudai had said, he had been worried. What if they didn’t think he was worth the trouble? Because it was going to be a lot of trouble, there was no way around that. “We need a solid plan. We need to get as much evidence as we can, get all the facts straight, and if we can, see if anyone working near your brothers are willing to go to court for us. So, um… Manjoume, can you tell me exactly what they did? I’m sorry if it’s hard to talk about it, but we have to go over anything we can. We need to be as ready as possible before we go to the police.”

 

“They’re in at least a dozen cops pockets, I don’t know if we can just… do that,” Jun confessed. Juudai already knew, but it was hard to tell it again in such a short time after never having spoken about it at all before. “It’s why I didn’t do anything to try and come back for so long.”

 

“Shit… Okay, after you give me all the details and info I’ll talk to a few of our friends and start making a plan. We’ll have a video call in a few days and work more on it with you. I have to get ready for work soon, but I’ll contact them throughout the day to meet at my place tonight. So, tell me everything.” It was weird hearing her curse, but it helped to keep him from spiralling entirely, if he tried to focus on that instead.

 

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After the phone call ended, Asuka had Juudai send her photos of Jun’s scars. Jun was extremely uncomfortable throughout the whole time he stood half naked in front of the other man, knowing the pictures would be shown to all his high school friends. 

 

As soon as they were done Jun wrapped himself up in his thickest and biggest blankets, shivering from how tense his body had been ever since they first called Asuka. 

 

Carefully, Juudai got onto the bed next to him, cupping Jun’s cheeks in his hands to get him to meet his eyes. “You did amazing. Don’t worry, Asuka’s gonna get everything ready, and then we’ll figure out what to do.” Jun put his hands on Juudai’s to remove them, but the only thing he managed was to squeeze them tighter against his cheeks. He felt drained in a way he hadn’t in a really long time, and was torn on whether he was allowed to feel hopeful or not. “They might just kill all of us… They don’t care…”

 

“They can’t kill all of us without someone noticing. Edo works for Kaiba and Hayato works for Pegasus, they would definitely notice.” After a moment of thought, Juudai wrapped his arms around the cocoon that was his friend, holding him close. “It’s gonna be fine. Trust me.”

 

Jun wanted to, so badly.

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