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Haitani Ran and Rindou, two brothers, one with a screw loose and another who tries to keep the elder one in line. They’re never too far away from one another, always seen side by side or somewhere near.
But what many people don’t know is that they have an older brother, and his name is Takemichi. He’s older than Ran by ten years, making him 28.
Ran and Rindou are very protective of their older brother, both because he’s their brother and the past they share. They refuse to let him get close to any of their gang activities with Toman no matter how much Takemichi pleads to meet all their friends. Anyone would think this is because they want to keep him safe from the danger that comes with being in a gang. In reality, it’s so their friends don’t steal him away.
Takemichi is a very lovable person, always has been, with his delicate blue eyes and soft black hair. Nearly everyone that comes across him ends up becoming attached to a certain degree, and that alone sets the brothers hearts on edge.
No one is perfect enough for their brother. He is a gift given from above, and they be damned if someone nobody gets their grubby hands on their beloved brother, or even worse, if it was someone like Shinichiro! They couldn’t stand such a thing.
Ran remembers his first memory of Takemichi like it was yesterday. He must of been no more than four years old, sitting in the bath while his elder brother washes his long black hair. Takemichi, having dyed yellow hair at the time, hummed a soft tune Ran never cared to know the origin of. Rindou, newly turned three, was sitting on their brothers lap outside the bath, having been bathed earlier.
The youngest leans over the edge of the tub, slapping his hand against the water to pop the copious amount of bubbles Takemichi had squeezed — there was so many that they rose to Ran’s chin. The bubbles ended up coating the walls, Rindou’s hair, and their recently washed clothes, soaking them to the bone. Takemichi (being fourteen at the time) ended up crying because he was so frustrated that they weren’t listening to him. For Takemichi, it may of not been such a happy memory, but Ran cherishes it more than their brother could ever imagine.
Rindou’s however, took place at a park when he was nearly four. Ran had just turned five this time, and Takemichi’s now fifteen year old self thought it would be a good idea to take them out to the park for a little picnic. They set out a blanket on the spiky, summer scorched grass and began to eat.
Takemichi spoon fed Rindou, while Ran sucked on a yogurt pouch. It was a good day, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, seemingly nothing could go wrong.. until it did.
At some point a couple of teenagers, most likely from Takemichi’s school, came over and kicked the pouch right out of Ran’s hands, inches from his face. The small boy expectedly began to cry his eyes out and quickly ran into his brothers arms, who embraced him with a reassuring kiss to the forehead.
“Why’d you do that?” Takemichi had asked, glaring up at them while his younger brother sobbed into his school shirt, bawling loudly.
“What girl did you knock up to get yourself two kids, hm? Got busy early did you? Fucking whore,” the leader asked, laughing to his friends as they nudge one another. The taller one then spat in Takemichi’s face, and Rindou remembers watching the glob land on his brothers face with an insane amount of rage that his small body shouldn’t be able to accumulate.
One of them then walked closer to Takemichi and ripped Ran out of his arms, sending him colliding with the youngest Haitani. They had both screamed in alarm, it was a sound that Takemichi would never forget, having haunted him to his core.
They pushed him down to the ground, a foot resting harshly on Takemichi’s chest, so hard it had made him wheeze horribly, unable to breathe. Takemichi began to claw at the harsh pressure on his chest, blue eyes wide with fright, so scared of what they were going to do to him.
A smaller male made his way to the side of Takemichi before swinging his legs back. But Rindou doesn’t get to see what happens after that because his vision goes dark, courtesy of Ran, who had pulled the youngest Haitani into his chest and covered his eyes with his hand.
The next minutes drag on. The sound of flesh pounding against flesh echoes around that area of the park, Takemichi’s cries of pain chorus along side them. But never once does he call for help. Rindou would never be able to understand it.
Eventually Takemichi had begun to quiet down, his cries fading into whimpers and choked breaths. His school ‘friends’ soon got bored and stepped away, only then was Rindou able to see again.
Takemichi was so beaten that the youngest Haitani wasn’t able to tell it was Takemichi for a second. His eyes were already swelling, his nose was pouring of blood, his face was already red with fresh bruises.
“You’re lucky your kids are here, if they weren’t, we would have done something so much worse,” is what they had said before finally walking away, leaving the battered boy on the grass a couple meters away from the two children.
Ran and Rindou watch with horrified eyes as Takemichi had laid still, breathing heavily, pain radiating from everywhere on his body. Their young minds weren’t able to comprehend why such people would do such a thing to their beloved brother, their brother who hadn’t done a single thing for himself because he was too busy caring after others.
They hold their breaths when Takemichi finally began to sit up, wincing softly under his breath. He held his ribs, inhaling as they began burn with the new movement. There’s nothing anyone could of done, the damage had already been inflicted.
He then met his baby brothers eyes and in a moment of weakness, he broke down, tears falling out of his frighteningly dull eyes. “C-come on,” Takemichi spoke for the first time as he lets small, choked sobs leave his lips, “let’s— let’s pack up.”
Ran and Rindou do so wordlessly, emotionlessly, too shocked to do anything but what their elder brother says. They packed up all their stuff into the small, wooden basket before looking at their brother once more, robotically.
“I’m sorry your brother isn’t good enough to fight back,” he talks in third person, continuing to sob, chest rising and falling erratically with his cries. He opens his arms out for both boys to run into, which they do, flinging theirselves into the elders chest with earnest. The youngers flood dams open, dampening Takemichi in their sorrowful tears. The eldest had winced at the added pressure on his chest, but didn’t push them away, “but your brother will always protect you, no matter who faces us, okay? Brother is always here for you.”
One memory is obviously much more heartwarming than the other, but both have valuable lessons behind them that shaped the younger Haitani’s into who they are today.
Ran and Rindou never knew if something like that happened again between the boys and their brother because they weren’t with Takemichi all the time. But maybe that was for the best that they stayed unaware. They never went to the park again after that, and instead, Takemichi chose to have picnics on their penthouse balcony.
Their parents were never really present, only for a couple minutes during birthdays and other occasions like that, so the Haitani siblings had a full penthouse to themselves. Having three bedrooms, it used to house their parents in one, Takemichi in another, and the youngest sharing when they were babies. But since their parents moved out before Rindou turned two, they all got their own rooms. It was nice, and they couldn’t really wish for more.
Takemichi, the eldest Haitani, spoiled them rotten with all they ever wanted as they grew up, and when the pair eventually got bored of them, he gave the toys to the children’s charity. Takemichi is just a lovely person, always helping the less fortunate despite how fortunate he was because of their rich parents.
Overall, Takemichi is a wonderful soul, Ran and Rindou have always known that, his self-sacrificial quirks and all, which is why it’s completely valid that they want to keep him away from their gang friends.
If it were up to Ran, he would keep the eldest Haitani locked up in their penthouse forever, away from all the people who could ever heart him, Rindou included. But Takemichi and Rindou get upset when he acts crazy, so he bites his tongue and sucks it up — he hates being on Takemichi’s bad side. He can hold himself back, for Takemichi and Rindou, because he knows there’s something that makes Ran upset, like locking away does to the other two. It’s when Takemichi talks bad about himself, that when he becomes genuinely upset.
“I think I’m adopted,” the eldest Haitani had said one night while helping the youngest with their maths homework.
“DONT SAY THAT!” They had both screamed at the same time. Takemichi quickly put his hands up in surrender, and the two instantly went back to their homework.
Whenever Takemichi says something similar, he’s most likely to be shouted at, or smothered by his brothers. When they were young, the eldest wouldn’t really mind that much, but now, being almost adults, it terrifies Takemichi, so he leaves his self-deprecating for when he’s alone in his bedroom.
Though, he had many reasons to think so. Looking at the three of them in a line, neither of them look too related. Rindou has his natural blonde hair from their mother, he and Ran have black from their father. Ran and Rindou has purple eyes from their father, Takemichi his blue from their mother. It’s always two vs one, to the point they really don’t look too similar unless put in a line.
Ran and Rindou tower over him at eighteen and seventeen years old, obviously getting their height from their absent father and not their shorter mother like Takemichi had. Unfortunate, but there’s nothing he can really do about it.
And with that, it pretty much leads them to the present, where Takemichi is at some shrine in Shibuya despite the fact his brothers told him not to.
He stares at all the bikes around and deems this must be the right place, so he starts walking up to the mountain of stairs in front of him. And when he gets to the top, he pants, leaning over to put his hands on his knees.
The shrine, previously bustling with noise, quickly hushes quiet, and Takemichi can only grimace. He looks up and sees hundreds, dare he say thousands, of eyes staring at him, wide and confused like they don’t know who he is — they obviously don’t.
Takemichi stands up straight and untucks a Toman jacket from his arm. He scans the crowd, looking for a boy with blonde hair with blue streaks, not wearing a Toman jacket, and probably shivering because it’s way too cold up here.
He spots the boy in an instant, brotherly instincts to blame, and waves, “Rinrinnie! You forgot your jacket!” He quickly walks through a small walkway made by Toman members and climbs up another short set of stairs to Rindou, whose mouth is open in shock. “Close your mouth,” Takemichi chides softly, closing his brothers mouth manually with his pointer finger.
The black haired male then passes the jacket to his younger brother and turns around, bowing to the others around, “sorry for interrupting your meeting, I’ll be off now!”
“Hold on,” someone calls as another grabs him by the waist, stilling him instantly. Takemichi sucks in a sudden breath, dread flowing through his veins. Rindou’s moment of shock upon seeing his brother here falls way instantly as he stares at Mucho’s hand on his brother.
He runs up to the pair and kicks Mucho in the side, wrenching Takemichi away from him. He pushes the elder behind him without any time to spare. Ran appears by his side, glaring as Sanzu helps the elder up, an annoyed expression lacing his face.
Mikey walks forward, stunned by all that’s happening in such a short space of time. “Ran? Rindou? Who is this?” He questions, tilting his head to see the smaller, black haired man behind the pair.
“He’s nobody,” Ran quickly reassures to the small blonde, smiling as sweetly as he can manage under such an intense atmosphere. Takemichi pinches the middle Haitani’s side, but Ran pays no attention.
“Really? Then why are you laying a hand on one of our members because of a ‘nobody’? He seems pretty important to me,” Mikey reasons, cracking his knuckles, threatening them as he grins a warning.
Ran and Rindou look at each other quickly and begin to have a wordless conversation. It doesn’t last for more than a minute, and when they reach their conclusion, they simultaneously frown. Sadness paired with annoyance fills their heart as they realise that they really don’t have any other option but to reveal the black haired male behind them. They have to tell Toman about their precious older brother unless they want to face Mikey’s fists.
“He..” Ran starts, and the Commander raises his eyebrows in silent question, “Takemichi is our.. brother.” The shrine hushes silent one more and Takemichi can’t help but roll his eyes, surely this isn’t such a big deal like they’re all making out to be, he’s nothing special.
While the brothers were focused on Mikey, another person had came up behind Takemichi. A white haired male spins him around by the shoulders and looks him up and down. They’re around the same height, the other a little taller, despite their probable age difference, so he can look into the males purple eyes, rimmed by white eyelashes, easily.
“Haitani Takemichi, huh? How come I’ve never heard of you before?” He raises a singular eyebrow with interest, hands still on the elders shoulders, possibly scrutinising the blue eyed male.
In the corner of his eye Takemichi sees the younger Haitani’s turn around, fire in their eyes as they see another Toman member place their hands on their beloved brother. Takemichi, in reply to the earlier question, shrugs unhelpfully, “they’re possessive, I guess?”
“Hm, Ran and Rindou do seem like the type to be protective of a younger sibling,” he hums, pulling back, “how old are you? 15? 16?” Takemichi flushes in embarrassment as he looks to the side, meeting Ran with wide eyes. The younger meets his gaze with a sense of urgency.
Rindou can’t help himself but to snicker behind his hand as Takemichi asks, “do I really look that young?” The white haired male frowns.
“Izana,” Rindou speaks between giggles, only for Ran to smack him atop of his head with a hiss to shut him up. The youngest cools expression, “Takemichi is 28, he’s our older brother.”
The platinum blonde male he now knows as Izana looks incredulously between the Haitani’s before settling on the eldest once more. Quite jumpily, he says, “you’d like my older brother Shinichiro, he’s three years younger than you.”
“Oh.. I’ll keep that in mind,” he bows softly with a smile. The platinum blonde smiles warily before walking away slowly, his legs shaking beneath him, almost as if he had seen some sort of ghost. Takemichi watches in amusement as he goes up to a boy with a scar running down his face and begins to talk in hushed tones.
Ran then comes up to his brother and looks down at him, smiling, before his expression turns cold. “I told you not to come here, so why are you in the last place I ever wanted you to be in?!” Ran scolds as he lightly taps the elder on his head, hoping to hammer the words into his skull.
“What type of brother would I be if I let Rinrinnie—“
“Please stop calling me that in public!”
“—get cold because he didn’t bring his Toman jacket?” Takemichi scolds back, hitting him like the younger had done before, just that little bit harder. He grins happily at the unsatisfied look on his brothers face.
Ran winces and steps away, rubbing his head with a soft pout. “Did you at least get Hanta to chauffeur you here?”
“Of course I did, I’m not an idiot,” Takemichi rolls his eyes, huffing, “he’s waiting at the bottom of the steps actually, I better get going or he’ll leave without me!”
Rindou lights up and turns to Mikey, “is the meeting done? Is there anything else you need to say?” The excited glint in his eyes is something Takemichi can’t miss. What has he got planned now?
“Yeah.. I guess so,” the small blonde boy hums before turning to a taller blonde, “Ken-chin?”
“Yeah, Ran, Rindou, we’re done,” he brushes them away with a dismissive wave of his hand. He then looks at Takemichi and smiles sweetly, “it was nice meeting you Takemichi!”
The eldest Haitani beams at the male with a dragon tattoo as he’s quickly dragged away, both wrists being pulled on by Ran and Rindou urgently. “You too..?”
“Ryuguji Ken, but you can call me Ken, Takemichi.” One of the guys around Ken gasps and smacks him on the arm, a black haired boy with fanged teeth, by the looks of it. A couple of them giggle for a reason Takemichi doesn’t yet understand.
“Thank you Ken!” He calls back before he begins to walk down the stairs, both brothers grips getting tighter with every word that comes out of his mouth.
Ran grits his teeth the whole way down the steps while Rindou looks for Hanta in their grey SUV. “I’ll kill him,” the elder Haitani announces as he drags Takemichi over to the car parked beside all the bikes at the bottom of the shrine.
“Who?”
“Draken.”
“Oh, you mean Ken!” Takemichi quickly puts two and two together with a wide grin.
“Takemichi, please shut up before Ran really considers locking you away forever!” Rindou pleads as they get into the back of car, the eldest Haitani ending up sandwiched between the younger two.
Ran shuts the door car door and they’re off down the streets of Shibuya in seconds. “Who said I wasn’t serious the first hundred times?” Ran asks, no usual joking tone in his voice as he rests his elbow just below the car window.
Two similar voices echo out into the dark interior of the vehicle, both appalled, “RAN!”