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“He’s coming!”
“Shhh, Nico!”
“But-”
“What are you two doing?” Is the question he asks, once he gets back from the game room with Rock, startling the other two residents of the cell.
“Uno-kun! We were, um…” Starts Nico, followed by, “It’s..it’s nothing important,” from Jyugo who still can’t lie for shit.
“Don’t worry about ‘em,” Rock suggests, slapping him on the back, “They’re just kids, I’m sure they didn’t do anything big.”
… Yup, he’s in on it.
Whatever “it” is.
Sighing, Uno asks, “Did you guys touch my stuff?”
“No.”
“Did you piss a guard off?”
“No.”
“Is there a bloody ghost in here?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t care.” He tells them, going to lay down.
“Uno?” Jyugo asks leaning over his reclining body, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You seem kinda…down.”
“I dunno, I’m just tired,” he covers, adding a yawn, “Schooling those poor blighters really starts to get boring after a while.” And he goes down, face mushing into his pillow.
He doesn’t need to look up to know the guys are looking at each other worried (Over him, for some reason he can’t even begin to understand).
They shouldn’t have to deal with his shit.
He’ll fix it.
“Hey.”
He can almost hear the three perk up.
“Who wants to see Yamato try to play 52 Card Pickup?”
And that gets them excited, and he can ignore the bad vibes in his head easily when his boys start laughing when Yamato gets lost trying to get his fifth card.
It’s not that he thinks they’re doing something REALLY dumb (this time), early May’s just…
Never really been a good time for him. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
“Hey, Nico?”
“Hmm?”
“You know, you’d actually have pretty nice hair if you worked with it a bit?”
“OOOOOOOOHHH, really Uno-kun?!”
“Yeah, but you have to actually brush and style it first, ya little cyclops.”
“I don’t…I never..”
Sigh, “Well, looks like I have to teach you.”
“REALLY?!”
“Well I can’t just let you go around looking like an overgrown shrub! Someone has to be the cute one in this group when I’m not here! Come on!”
“YAAAYYY! You’re the best, Hair Sensei Uno-kun!”
“Alright, sure, you little poppet.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Well, he didn’t always hate early May.
He used to get real excited, waking up early and trying to make breakfast for Mum, picking her flowers and making her cards.
And Mum…she always loved it.
Sure, he could tell when she was just forcing the burnt toast down, and she’d scold him a bit for taking flowers from the neighbors’ yards, but she kept every card he made her in her special box, the one with the lock that she kept the key for around her neck.
It made him so happy.
Even when he couldn’t bring her breakfast anymore because the hospital was taking care of it.
Even when he started not going anywhere near the neighbors because he got tired of the looks they gave him, the ones full of pity.
Even when he had to walk to the hospital by himself, getting scolded by Mum, the coughing getting worse, because dear old Dad couldn’t give him the time of day to take him.
But…she liked her card.
And he liked it when she was happy.
That’s why…he was happy that she was smiling that one time when she fell asleep and didn’t wake up. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
“Jyugo, you alright?”
“I’m…I’m fine…” Voice hitched high so Uno can hear it over the sniffling that came with the waterworks.
“Sure. Was it a bad one?”
“It’s fine.”
“Jyugo.”
“It’s FINE!”
“…Okay. I won’t push it.”
“…”
“But if you want, this side of the futon’s open.”
“…”
“You know,” he mentions as they get settled in, “Your hair’s looking a lot shinier lately; pretty surprising what proper nutrition’ll do to you, eh?”
“…shut up.”
“You might actually get a girl’s attention when we get out of here, if you ke ep it up.”
“Uno…”
“Or a boy’s.”
“STOOOOOOP.”
“Alright, go to sleep, nothing’s gonna happen.”
“…”
“I promise.”
“…thank you…”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
He remembers feeling…he still doesn’t know how, after all this time.
After the funeral, when he got back home, he thinks he was sad that Mum didn’t walk back with him.
He thinks he was confused that she was just…sleeping in that casket, the one they put in the ground, instead of at home with him.
He’s not dumb, he knows she’s gone.
So he walks into her room, past Dad, never knowing where he spent the day at, lifts the key from his neck, and opens the drawer that she hid from the world, since she can’t tell him not to anymore.
It’s honestly…kinda dull. Nothing really in here but jewelry and makeup stuff and…
The cards he made her.
The ones that always made her smile, even when Dad was blowing them off, or when her darling boy would get into trouble, or when she came home from the doctor’s the first time and wouldn’t stop crying.
… She doesn’t need them anymore.
Ripping them up takes longer than he thought, and-and why can’t he stop crying? There’s no point, Mum’s not going to come and make him feel better, because she’s gone.
He finished eventually, threw them into the fireplace and went to get some dinner out of the fridge. He walks by Dad’s workshop, tries to say “Hi,” and get’s ignored; he shouldn’t have expected anything new.
From now on, it’s just you. No point in worrying about anyone else, you’ve got to look out for number one, mate.
No one else is going to, not anymore. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
“Rock, they’re going to get infected.”
“For the last time, I’ve been through worse, done worse, and came out fine.”
“Look, I don’t care how big you think are down there, if you get something bad, you’re not gonna make it.”
“It’s just some cuts and bruises!”
“You cut yourself on old rebar! We’re going to the infirmary, and that’s final.”
“Grrrrr…”
“…No one’s gonna think you’re a wimp for getting yourself fixed up, okay?”
“…”
“Here.”
“Wait-when did you-”
“While you were out causin’ a ruckus Shiro came by the table and brought ‘em. And I’m not really into crullers, so I snagged you this one.”
“I…”
“Only if you behave.”
“Tch! What do you think I am, a kid? I can go to the doctor just fine!”
“Well you’re a kid to me.”
“I’m older than you!”
“Still my boy.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
“Hey, Mum. I know it’s been awhile, and I’m nowhere near your grave, but I can’t really do much because I’m in prison…Yeah, you probably don’t want to hear that. Or maybe you already know? They always talked about Heaven and all that jazz in those sermons you used to drag me to. Soooo boring.”
He takes a break, looking at the crinkled-up picture that he could never bring himself to ditch no matter where he went on the bathroom mirror, bit past midnight. He doesn’t have to worry about being disturbed, Rock’s beat from trying to keep him distracted from whatever Jyugo and Nico have been up to, and the aforementioned troublemakers finally conked out after whispering about who knows what for hours on end. He should be suspicious, but unfortunately those three seem to have reawakened his belief in human decency that he thought died years ago.
“I’ve…I’m gonna be honest, I’ve been a pretty shitty excuse of a person, done some minging things, stuff you probably would never have even considered your sweet little poppet would do, but I did. I thought…with you gone, it was just me, no one else. Everyone else was out to get you so you used them first. Yeeeah, pretty pathetic now that I think about it.”
He can just imagine her there, looking at him with that look on her face, disappointed but willing to listen to him.
“The point is, I thought I could make it on my own, and everyone else was just in my way. I thought…it was okay if I was alone, because I was doing it to myself; that I decided that it was the best way to go, because it was the smart way, the one where I don’t get hurt. Yeah, I’m pretty dumb. I just didn’t want to think I was lonely, because I didn’t want be the one that got used; I wanted to be the user. I’m pathetic. Realized that when I got caught, that I destroyed myself and there was no one left who would help, so I just stayed in that cell and I just waited to die.”
He’s trying to keep his poker face on, but apparently the imaginary specter of your mum is way more intimidating than any gangster or rabid cop you could piss off. And now the tears are coming out, and he’s trying to keep the sobs down, so the other three don’t wake up.
“I…I don’t blame you, if you decided I was too far gone. If you hate me now. I-I can’t. I know what kind of a person I turned into, and it’s not your boy.”
Maybe it’d be better if he could convince himself that she actually could hate him; then he wouldn’t feel bad about her loving a piece of shit like himself, still expecting him to do the right thing, being someone worth loving.
“But…”
Someone who can love back.
“But I found a reason to fix the utter shitshow I turned my life into.”
His boys, his wild, crazy boys, their faces flash in his head.
“I found good people, ones that are too honest to use anyone, loyal to each other, full of kindness, ones that are willing to put up with me because they just can’t stop thinking that somewhere inside of me there’s a good person. I don’t know how they can be that stupid, but they just are. And honestly…”
And there’s a smile stretching onto his face.
“I wanna be the person they think I can be.”
A good guy, loyal, honest, someone they can be proud to have as their friend.
“So I’m gonna look after them, and I’m gonna learn how to fix myself from them. Because I like having more than me in my world. I love having them around, Mum.”
And he’s still crying, but now he has a determined look on his face.
“And that’s all. I’m gonna turn myself into someone you and the guys can be proud of. And I’m doing it for me. I’m gonna remember what you taught me, and I’m gonna learn more from them. So, if you think that I’m still worth the effort…”
He lifts the picture up to his face, meeting his photographed mother’s kind stare.
“Look after me? Let me prove that I can be a good guy. At least a better one.”
He kisses the forehead on the photograph, and for a second he can imagine it’s the real thing.
“Thanks Mum, Happy Mother’s Day.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
He’s woken up from his dead sleep by a finger repeatedly jabbing into his side.
“Jyugo…if you do that one more time, I’m going to snap your neck."
Poke.
“THAT’S IT!!!!” And he’s got the little beanpole in a headlock.
“Guys, he’s up! Get back in bed, Uno, oww!”
“Why, I oughta-”
“SURPRISE!” Is shouted at him from in front of his futon.
“What the-”
He didn’t know what to expect from his idiots planning against him.
It was definitely not Rock carrying a tray with breakfast on it, Jyugo shoving vegetable plants that were clearly ripped out before they bloomed into his hands, and Nico to present a book- WAIT IS THAT A PORN?!!!!
“What is…what’s goin’ on?”
“It’s your special day!” Exclaims Nico.
“Huh?”
“It’s your special day,” repeats Rock, “so it’s important you start with a good breakfast! Woke up at the crack of dawn to make this for ya!” And Jyugo and Nico use his confusion to lower him back onto the futon, pulling the covers back onto him while Rock sets the tray up on stands he did not know they had and HOLY SHIT!!! Is this how Americans eat?! He knew the proportions were big, but WHAT THE FUCK?! How is Nico skinny and how is Rock still cut?!
The tray contains a unnecessarily large stack of chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and a berry face on top, a fruit arrangement, a full plate of bacon and eggs with those weird tiny sausages Rock likes on the side, doughnuts, toast, muffins, coffee (because Rock can’t seem to comprehend you’re supposed to drink TEA in the morning), orange juice and a bottle of definitely contraband sake.
…
“I got Tsukumo to snag some of Yamato’s celebration sake when we were training on Wednesday; it’s not what most people would use in a mimosa, but we can make it work!”
…
“Uno-kun! What are you doing, sliding your hands down your body like that?”
“…Saying goodbye to my figure.”
“Ahhh, don’t be a baby!” Rock slaps his back in comradery, ignoring the utter despair on Uno’s face, “No one’ll mind if you get a little chubby! And besides, all the escapes’ll burn the calories right off ya! Plus we can eat what you don’t finish; we’ve got permission to spend breakfast in here, and Nico already took his medicine.”
Huh? Actually, now that he thinks about it, someone should have come to wake them up by now, and he actually slept in some, late enough that he missed getting started on his morning routine because he was so beat (NOT emotionally).
Noticing his confused look, Jyugo informs him, “Yamato and Seitarou agreed to help us out, so Yamato’s doing roll call (with Kuu guiding him) and is just gonna mark us present while Seitarou distracts Hajime.”
“How is he-”
“He told me not to ask.”
“Oooookay, but…what is-“
“OOOOOHH! OOOOOOHH!! Jyugo-kun go next!!” Nico demands, bouncing up and down.
“Why me? You’re more excited about it.” Normally this response would be chalked up to sheer indifference, but Uno can tell Jyugo’s pretty nervous about…the vegetables.
“Because it’s more special if I go last!”
“Ugghh, fine,” he resigns himself to Nico’s demands, “So, Yamato said I should get you flowers, so, flowers.”
“These aren’t flowers.”
“Yes they are.”
“No, these are vegetables.”
“They grew in the ground, so they’re flowers.”
“No, these are vegetable sprouts that have flowers growing out of them, but they’re not flowers.”
“They came from seeds in the ground, they’re flowers, I’m right.”
“No, they’re vegetables!”
“Vegetables ARE flowers!”
“NO, THEY’RE NOT!”
“WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?!”
“He has a bit of a point, Uno-kun,” Nico observes.
“Yeah, when you explain it like that,” Rock concedes.
“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY BUILDING GARDENS I HAD TO BREAK INTO TO GET THOSE?! HAJIME THREATENED TO STRANGLE ME WITH A HOSE!! SIX GUYS HAVE SWORN VENGEANCE FOR THEIR FAILED HARVEST ON ME!!! I COULD DIE ANY DAY NOW!”
“WELL, WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST GET SEITAROU TO BUY A BOUQUET ONLINE?!”
“BECAUSE I DIDN’T THINK ABOUT IT UNTIL AFTER I STARTED!”
Brushing aside thoughts of just how unprepared Jyugo is to go out into the real world, Uno begins to question, “So why did you guys-”
“And now, Nico!” The resident cutie pie chirps, interrupting him, “My turn, my turn, my turn!” And he pushes what is absolutely erotica into his hands while Jyugo puts the vegetable bouquet into a spare pot.
“Ummm, Nico…do you know what kind of book this is?” Uno questions profoundly uncomfortable.
“The kind that make middle-aged women super happy!”
“…Well, you’re not wrong.”
“I got Seitarou-chan to help me buy it!”
“Why was he so bothered by it?” Jyugo, the sweet summer child that he is, asks.
“I dunno, I guess he doesn’t buy porn that often.” Nico responds, nonchalant.
…
“WAIT, THAT’S A WHAT?!!!”
“SEITAROU LET YOU BUY WHAT?!!!”
“YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?!!!!”
“Of course I do, Uno-kun!” And the filthy child leans in to whisper into his ear, “I made sure to get one that focuses on tushies, I know you like those!” And the little once-was-an-angel gives him a wink, ignoring the horrified faces around him.
…
“Well…we have one last thing for you.” Jyugo says, trying to regain composure.
“I…I think I’m good.” He responds, not sure if he can handle anything else from these psychos.
“But this is an essential part of Mother’s Day!” Nico whines.
“…Huh?”
“Your last present for Mother’s Day,” Rock clarifies while the three of them turn around to get something.
…
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???!!!!!!!!!
He doesn’t know how many times he’s told these idiots but he. Is not. A. MUM!!!!
“For the last time, you little shits, I am NOT your-”
“Happy Mother’s Day, Uno!”
And, continuing the trend of ignoring him, they present-
A card.
A handmade one with drawings of cards and female silhouettes clearly done by Nico and what’s definitely Rock’s handwriting across it.
“Jyugo stole the paper and decorating stuff,” Rock pipes up, the escape artist peeking down at the recognition.
“It wasn’t…that hard,” he tries to deflect humbly.
“Open it, open it!” Nico cheers.
So he does.
And inside he sees some more of Nico’s doodles along with:
“For our very best friend, the one who takes care of us better than any lady that shot us out ever could! Happy Mother’s Day! We love you, Uno! Rock, Nico & Jyugo,” with their respective signatures written in their varying degrees of adequate to abysmal penmanship.
“…”
“Uno-kun? Why are you crying?”
What? I’m not-Oh. And yeah, he can feel the tears start dripping off his face.
“Is it…bad?” Jyugo asks, insecure.
“Look,” Rock begins awkwardly, scratching his head, “We’ve never really done this before, so…”
“No-no, it’s fine. I just, don’t worry about it, I’m okay.” And he needs to stop, seriously he hasn’t cried this much in years, and now he’s making them feel bad, and they didn’t do anything wrong, he’s not supposed to be like this, he’s the one they’re supposed to rely on, he’s-
He’s being held, by the ones that aren’t going to leave, no matter what.
“You’re always there for us,” Nico starts in a somber tone.
“Even when we don’t think we deserve it,” Rock continues.
“You just keep giving and you don’t ask for anything in return,” Jyugo concludes, “We just wanted to show you how much we appreciate everything you do for us.”
“You’re just the best,” Rock adds.
“You’re better than any mom we could ever have.” Nico seals the deal with.
“Gkk…gkkk,” And he can’t talk, because he never thought…
He wraps his arms around them.
He never thought he could make anyone as happy as Mum did for him.
“…Thank you.”