Soulmates AU (Reo, Kise)

[showyousomethingnice]

[cont. from here]



After he's given Ryo-chan enough time to leave, Reo leaves too, heading for Rakuzan's locker room. He doesn't know how much of the team will still be there, but he expects that Coach Shirogane will be waiting to hear his decision directly for him, and he also needs to get his bag.

Most of the team has gone - off to lick their wounds, Reo thinks, back in their rooms where they don't have to face anyone but their assigned roommates. Without Ryo-chan here to occupy his attention, the full impact of the loss is beginning to hit him, and what he feels first and forement is guilt. Sei-chan didn't say it directly, but it doesn't take a genius to guess that it was Reo and Ryo-chan finding each other and leaving the court that changed the flow of the game. He'd thought it would be Kaijou that would be crippled without its ace, that Rakuzan would absorb his own departure smoothly and Sei-chan adapt his strategy accordingly, but. Well.

Obviously, that isn't how it happened, is it?

It occurs to Reo to wonder: when was the last time Rakuzan - or Sei-chan - had to adapt to anything? Shirogane warns them frequently of the dangers of complacency, but when was the last time even he had to consider the possibility that Rakuzan could lose? Reo may only be one piece of the machine, but removing him was still enough to make it wobble and crash.

He lost his team this match, this tournament, and now he's leaving them to join the team they lost to.

Standing in this mostly-deserted locker room, without Ryo-chan by his side, it's a lot harder to justify that decision.

He only has a few seconds to dwell on that, though - the room's three remaining occupants all look up when he comes in.

"Reo-nee." Hayama is subdued in a way Reo has never seen before, lacking his customary exclamation points, but he still manages a smile. "Ditch your soulmate already, huh?" Nebuya snorts a little next to him, while Shirogane withdraws into the background to give Reo a moment with his erstwhile teammates.

"Not for long," Nebuya says, "from what Akashi said."

"I'm so sorry," Reo says helplessly; he must look and sound as guilty as he feels, because from there the conversation is mostly the other two trying to reassure him and celebrate his good luck, and Reo's heart aches as he realizes how much he is going to miss them. It's always seemed like they drive him crazy more often than not, Hayama frustratingly careless and Nebuya utterly without shame about his tendencies toward vulgarity, but they've become his friends too, the first friends he'd had among his teammates in a very long time. They haven't showered yet, but for once Reo doesn't care about that, and he hugs them goodbye anyway.

Eventually, Shirogane gently shoos them along to the showers - "He has a soulmate to get back to, you two, you'll understand someday" - and turns to Reo in the quiet of the room.

"I won't keep you long," he says, and smiles a little. "I don't want to take up any more of your first day than I have to. You've made the right decision. We're going to miss you, but Kise-kun wouldn't be a good fit here. I think you understand why."

Reo does understand. Rakuzan has a lot of big personalities on it, a lot of talent, and a lot - not to put too fine a point on it - of ego. It's why he was so relieved when Sei-chan agreed to come to Rakuzan; otherwise, Reo would have been captain, and he knows he doesn't have the right touch to maintain the delicate balance Rakuzan requires to stay functional. Much as Reo loves his soulmate, he can easily admit that the addition of his personality would upset that balance and cause unnecessary waves until Sei-chan could smooth them down.

"It did seem like the best decision for everyone," he says. Then he hesitates, long enough that Shirogane raises an inquiring eyebrow.

". . . How is Sei-chan?" he finally asks. "He seemed . . ." Reo shakes his head a little, unable and unwilling to look for the words he wants.

Shirogane sighs.

*

Sei-chan, as it turns out, does not want Reo's company for the evening.

"It's kind of you to offer," he says, a softness in his expression that Reo can't seem to look away from, "but I'd just spend the whole time feeling guilty about keeping you two apart, and that wouldn't help either of us."

As he has done so often before, Reo has to admit that Sei-chan is right.

"But I'd like it if we could stay in touch," Sei-chan continues.

"Just you try to get rid of me," Reo says, mostly steady. Sei-chan smiles, mostly steady.

*

He sends the text less than an hour after he made the promise.

On my way, Ryo-chan!! Sei-chan gave me your address too, so don't worry about that. I'll see you soon. ♥ ♥ ♥

Comments

[kichan]

If Kise notices anything different on his soulmate's face, he's more than willing to accept it as a normal expression of amusement. After all, he's a very funny guy, right? And endearing? Of course.

Kise carefully sets his empty plate down and moves to turn his laptop on. It's a modest machine but he doesn't use it for much--homework, tracking the Google news alert he has set up for his name, the sorts of things he can't do on his phone. Naturally it has a camera, though, and he's quick to test it, turning it until it catches Reocchi where he's sitting and waving to his image on the screen.

"Up and running!" He comes back and offers it to Reocchi for signing in and whatnot. Kise will just be here peeking over his shoulder until everything's set up. There was supposed to be a preparatory phone call or something, wasn't there? Oops. Patience is for people who don't have anyone to impress.

[showyousomethingnice]

Well, Reo certainly isn't going to make any arguments against Ryo-chan being endearing.

"Thank you, Ryo-chan," he says, taking an extra second or two to give his soulmate an affectionate smile before he turns to the business of signing in and calling Seiko.

It takes a moment for the connection to go through; when it does, the girl who appears on the screen looks like a smaller female version of Reo, her hair longer and pulled back into a casual ponytail.

"Reo-chan!" she says, both cheerful and a touch surprised. "What are you bugging me for, don't you have a tournament you should be - wait. Reo-chan." Now she sounds appalled. "Is that Kise Ryouta? Are you fraternizing with the enemy?"

She pulls a dramatically scandalized face as she speaks, then stops abruptly with a blink, taking in the wide smile on Reo's face.

"Wait. Are you - ?" (Hey, it's not an unreasonable conclusion. If anyone deserves a chance at the prettiest player in basketball, it's her baby brother.)

"Better," Reo interrupts, reaching up to pull Ryo-chan more properly into the shot. "Ryo-chan is my soulmate."

There is a long beat of silence. Then there is a delighted squeal that should, by all rights, blow out the speakers on Ryo-chan's computer.

[kichan]

There's the smile Kise's really started to learn to look forward to. It's a real one, not the stiffer ones Reocchi had on earlier. That's better.

Kise's doing his best to make sure he's in the shot over Reocchi's shoulder, but of course only in profile (on his good side). He does glance over at the screen once or twice but really, he should wait to be invited in, shouldn't he?

Even if she is very cute. And even if she does know his name already...!

He's about to say something when she--when Seiko-san? Can he call her that?--insinuates they might be dating, but then Reocchi's pulling him toward his shoulder and Kise can only beam. He props his chin on Reocchi's shoulder, holding himself up on the bed with one arm while the other loops lightly around Reocchi's waist.

Wow. She must really like him. Kise's used to the sounds his fangirls make but Seiko-san is still pretty loud. Even so, he can't help grinning right back at her and nodding over Reocchi's shoulder.

"It's nice to meet you, Seiko-san!"

[showyousomethingnice]

"It's nice to meet you too, Ryo-chan!" Because if he is her brother's soulmate, that makes him part of the family - her little brother too, in a way - so why not start treating him like family immediately?

"Uwah, I can't believe my baby brother found his soulmate first! Naomi-chan will never let me live it down!" She tries to look dramatically upset, but the beaming smile that looks very much like Reo's kind of spoils the effect.

Also, she is definitely taking about eighteen screencaps right now, because so cute.

"Poor Nee-chan," Reo says, laughing and leaning into Ryo-chan.

"Though of course he's a basketball player, maybe I should be surprised it took this long. You played against Teiko, I remember that game!"

Reo wrinkles his nose. "Don't remind us."

Seiko gives a dreamy sigh. "All your awful teammates were so mad that you were the only one who could do anything against the Generation of Miracles, it was so great. Well! I guess you should have spent less time playing and more time feeling them up!"

Reo chokes. "- Nee-chan - !"

Seiko cracks up unrepentantly.

[kichan]

Oh, Kise likes her. She's playful and free and so affectionate to her brother, which is of course something that makes anyone rank very high in Kise's list of good people now. He files the other name, Naomi-chan, away for investigation later and joins in the laughter.

She's also just as eager to tease as Kise's sister, but this time Kise can gang up on Reocchi. Just a little. "Don't listen to him, it's OK to remind us! Teiko won and Reocchi got to shine!" Sure, Teiko had their faults, but they did win games, and the Generation of Miracles' collective talent had just made what Reocchi brought to the game stand out that much more. Kise didn't see it that way at the time but in hindsight (slightly rose-tinted), of course Reocchi was the star.

And then Kise switches sides again when Seiko-san says Reocchi should've been feeling people up. He startles too--she's shameless, it's amazing--but one of them has to be able to roll with it and clearly Reocchi is not going to say anything back to his sister. "Seiko-san! You should know that even now, Reocchi hasn't felt me up yet. He's been a perfect gentleman. Well, except when he drew me into a foul. That was rude."

The last is punctuated with a patented Ryo-chan pout. Seiko-san needs to start building immunity immediately.

[showyousomethingnice]

"You're both exaggerating," Reo protests, "I didn't do that much in that game." Though it had been more than any one of his teammates had managed, and it would be a lie to say that that in itself hadn't been enough of a triumph that Reo had almost felt as though they'd won the game instead of losing it.

Seiko grins when Ryo-chan switches so smoothly from teasing Reo to defending him. That's exactly what she wants to see in her little brother's soulmate, is the willingness to take whatever position necessary to take and stay on his side. He needs that, and she can't be around the way she used to be when they were younger.

"What do you mean, he hasn't!" she exclaims. "Reo-chan, you do know that's what he's for, right? Mou, he's so pretty too, what are you waiting for?"

Reo, who had already started to blush over the praise for his game against Teiko, is really red now. "It isn't - Nee-chan, it's not like that - we're not -"

Little help here?

[kichan]

Oh, Kise knows he's exaggerating, he just doesn't care. Reocchi seems less upset and Seiko-san is smiling, so everything is obviously going just fine.

Or it is until he remembers that Seiko-san doesn't know about the sort of special circumstances of their soulmate bond. It feels so normal to Kise that he hadn't even thought about it, but of course it would be a little misleading to hear what Kise'd said without knowing. He gives Reocchi a little squeeze--which probably doesn't clear anything up--then shakes his head at the image on the screen.

"Seiko-san, Reocchi and I aren't that kind of soulmate. We talked about it when it happened because I know it's not how the movies make it out to happen, but Reocchi and I don't want to have sex, or even kiss. I'm happy just to be around him." Is it awkward having your soulmate say these things with his chin on your shoulder, Reocchi? Sorry!

"I still love him very very much and he is very beautiful, but our bond is different. It's still the best, though."

[showyousomethingnice]

Seiko's expression as Ryo-chan talks . . . doesn't turn into a frown, exactly, but her smile does fade into something puzzled and more serious.

"Reo-chan?" she asks, after a few seconds' thought. Reo can hear all the things she isn't asking (Is this okay? Is he being a jerk? Is it because you're gay? Is it because you're you? Are you okay? Do I have to kill him?) and he hastens to answer.

"It's okay!" he says, leaning in deliberately against Ryo-chan to reinforce his words. "It was confusing at first, but. It's - right. It's how it's supposed to be for us."

He has no idea how he can possibly get her to believe him - the words and gesture alone aren't enough, are far too flimsy to express the depth of that rightness - but Seiko, after all, hasn't found her soulmate. She doesn't know any more than Reo did just a few hours ago how weak words are in the face of the bond, so she takes a slow breath and nods, her smile returning.

"Good. Ahh, tell me all about it, then! Was it when you got the foul? It was, wasn't it? I knew that shot was the best thing that ever happened to you! Reo-chan steals points and hearts!" She flicks her gaze to Ryo-chan, drawing him back into the conversation. "Or at least the most important heart!"

Reo sighs, because he's relieved, and it's true. "It's not my fault people don't believe me when I tell them I'm greedy."

[kichan]

Kise watches Seiko-san's reaction as she processes what he's told her. Of course, she has no good reason to trust him right out of the gate, no matter how much she loves her brother, but Kise trusts Reocchi to be able to clear the air now. That's what siblings do.

It's still a comfort when Reocchi leans against him, though. Seiko-san may need a little more effort to win over than Kise originally thought but it seems like it will be all right. For now, he resists the urge to completely wrap his arms around Reocchi. It felt for just a moment like Seiko-san was questioning their bond and that's set off all kinds of alarms in Kise but she's Reocchi's sister and he knows how important she is. Instead he just nods when Seiko-san asks how it happened, jumping at the chance to compliment Reocchi again.

"He's very crafty! It happened immediately, though, as soon as we bumped together on the foul, and they had to stop the whole game until we left. If this was just Reocchi's way of keeping me from copying his shot, it was very effective." Kise knows it wasn't, but Reocchi's comment has lightened the tone of things again and he feels safer sneaking in a joke of his own.

"Reocchi is very greedy but I think I got the better end of things this time. A new soulmate and a new teammate! All those skills will be on my side now."

[showyousomethingnice]

"A new - oh!" Seiko's eyes are wide again. "Reo-chan, you're transferring?" If she sounds startled, it's because she may be the only person who has a real idea of the depth to which Rakuzan was a relief for Reo, and the pleasure he takes - took - in attending and playing on a team where he had friends.

"It makes the most sense," Reo says. "Ryo-chan is Kaijou's ace. I couldn't ask him to abandon them, especially not now. Rakuzan will be fine without me." He pauses, because that - was kind of not true today. Only because it was unexpected, though, he tells himself; he's hardly that vital. "They still have Sei-chan, and Ko-chan and Ei-chan." He'll tell her the other stuff, about how Ryo-chan would have been a poor fit for Rakuzan, later, when Ryo-chan isn't around to hear it. Soulmates may not have secrets, but that doesn't mean Reo has to say things that might hurt Ryo-chan where he can hear them, either. "And Ryo-chan was just telling me all about Kaijou, it sounds great!"

Seiko gives a little huff through her nose, but not with the same seriousness of a moment ago. "Well. It'll be nice to have you closer to home. Maybe I'll get to see you more often." She brightens a little. "Actually -"

"No," Reo says, sounding for a second like he's the one who's the older sibling, "you're not cutting classes tomorrow."

"Reo-chan~ !"

"It wouldn't make sense, anyway, I'm going to be at Ryo-chan's game."

Seiko blinks, confusion cutting off her protest. "You - wait. Wait. Did Rakuzan lose? Ugh, why didn't I look this up instead of cracking the books right away? Well, now I have to come down to make up for being a terrible big sister!"

[kichan]

Seiko-san's reaction tells Kise that that may not have been the best way to drop that bomb--that perhaps he ought to have let Reocchi tell her--but Reocchi's able to smooth it out fairly quickly. There is one point he wants to make, though. "It wouldn't have been abandoning Kaijou any more than you're abandoning Rakuzan! It would have been joining you." He would have done it, too, if Reocchi had asked, but that's not to say he's not happier with the way things have turned out on that front.

He's able to relax when he sees the wheels starting to turn in Seiko-san's head about having her little brother closer to home, though. Sorry, Reocchi, but your soulmate is over your shoulder mouthing, "Yes, do it, doooooo it," to your sister, even though he's not entirely sure what he's encouraging. He just knows it'd be good for Reocchi to get to see Seiko-san right now so why not egg her on? Of course, he looks suitably cowed when she realizes that technically speaking his school beat Reocchi's, but since that seems to seal the deal, it doesn't last for long.

"Seiko-san will be there tomorrow!?" He doesn't just get to meet her, he gets to show off for her? If he had a tail, it'd be thumping right now, but he settles for grabbing Reocchi tighter and rocking him back and forth instead.

[showyousomethingnice]

"You bet!" Seiko exclaims before Reo can say a word. (That he doesn't notice Ryo-chan's silent encouragement is probably for the best.)

Not that he has much right to say anything. He knew very well, somewhere in the back of his mind, that this was going to be the result of calling Seiko tonight, and he called anyway. And, well. As excuses to skip class go, he supposes she's grabbed on to worse ones.

"I'm not just looking to skip class," Seiko scolds, catching the resigned look on her brother's face. "This is important. Anyway, knowing Dad, he'll have pushed the transfer through by lunchtime and maybe you'll get to play!"

Reo blinks. "Is it even possible to do it that fast?" he asks.

"I don't see why not! It's just some signatures, right? Kaijou'll want you playing for them ASAP and Rakuzan isn't gonna want accusations of keeping you two apart out of spite. Aaaaaah, tomorrow is going to be so fun!"

It's amazing, how Seiko can make things sound so reasonable. Reo is trying to stay realistic, but he can't help smiling at the thought of playing Ryo-chan as soon as tomorrow.

bugger, i have to reup his paid, sorry for the sudden lack of genkise

[kichan]

Oh, there are certainly worse ones. Kise could absolutely come up with a few, though in general he does make a point of going to class. He has a clause in his modeling contract saying he can't miss too many classes, anyway, so he has to be picky about why he cuts. That being said, he completely endorses Seiko-san's decision about tomorrow and shows it with big nods.

Nods, then glances between the siblings. Tomorrow? Reocchi could be on Kaijou's roster tomorrow!? "He can do that? That can happen?" The intricacies of school reputations and parental influence are way above Kise's pay grade, but he can tell a serious statement when he hears one. The swaying is cut short in favor of a little celebratory dance, or as much as he can do that sitting with Reocchi.

"Reocchi! I'll have to text Kasamatsu-senpai tonight to give him a heads up about tomorrow. Won't that be a fun surprise." Not just for Kaijou, who he suspects will resist at first but if Kasamatsu-senpai can convince them then they'll be fine, but also for their opponents. Surprise, you thought all the Uncrowned save for Kiyoshi were out? Think again.

All of this and he gets to meet Seiko-san. Tomorrow's going to be so much fun.