Work Text:
Ego Yoichi is a crybaby.
A universally known fact in the Ego household. Ever since he was born, Ego Yoichi has been a crybaby, and has been appropriately labeled as such.
Which is why when his older brother gives him a thumbs up after dragging the lemonade stand to the sidewalk, the blue-eyed boy tears up. He has to scrunch up his face and stare at the sparse white clouds in the blue summer sky to prevent the tears from slipping out of his eyes.
A few escape regardless, and he wipes them aggressively, the tear-tracks still there.
“That should be it, Yocchan,” Rensuke nodded, wiping sweat from his brow. “I’m gonna go practice in the backyard. Run to me if anyone strange comes up to you, promise?”
“Thank you, Nii-chan!” Yoichi beamed, tears almost completely dried. “I promise!”
Rensuke brushed the dirt off of his clothes. He stood up straight and cracked his back, before ruffling his little brother’s hair, walking off right after.
Ego Yoichi is a crybaby.
But Yoichi has a goal, and in order to reach that goal, he must overcome his shyness and subsequent crybabyness today.
His goal? Well, his older brother, Ego Rensuke, was under the impression that it was to buy the newest soccer video game that was coming out (it had Noel Noa in it!). But Yoichi had lied to his big brother, and while it didn’t feel good to lie to his older brother, his hero, Yoichi he had to. So while Rensuke thought he wanted some cash for video games, in truth, Yoichi was going to get new soccer cleats for Rensuke.
Rensuke had hit a small growth spurt recently, and he had outgrown his old cleats, a cool black with metallic blue accents that matched his little brother’s eyes. Rensuke chose to give up his old cleats to Yoichi instead of selling them, the first ever hand-me-down the younger boy had ever received. Yoichi wore them to every practice, every game. Rensuke, fortunately, was able to borrow some cleats from a teammate, but he had to give them back in two days, because their team had practice on Monday. Rensuke had thanked the kid and promised to return them, clean and smelling fresh. He’d briefly told the teammate that he just wanted a plain, cheap pair of cleats— nothing too unique or expensive.
Thing was, Yoichi had seen his older brother eying a pair of black and metallic orange cleats on the iPad when he thought no one was looking.
Their Papa would definitely buy Rensuke a really nice pair of cleats regardless of what his older brother had said to his friend, but Yoichi knew that Rensuke was too selfless to ask for something he truly wanted. Rensuke was the type of person who would settle for what he was given rather than asking for something he wanted. Yoichi was like that, too. Their father hated it. But it all evened out, because if Yoichi couldn’t be selfish for himself, and Rensuke couldn’t be selfish for himself, then they’d have to be selfish for each other. So Yoichi would get Rensuke those cool cleats all by himself.
Problem is, their Papa always liked to give them a challenge whenever they actually wanted something. Said challenges were always harder when they asked for something on behalf of their sibling. So when Yoichi went to ask his father to buy Rensuke the cleats that his older brother really really wanted, his Papa just grinned, pushing his glasses ominously up the bridge of his nose, a glint of light reflecting from the lenses.
Yoichi’s challenge was to try and go out of his comfort zone. Once he did that, their Papa would take Yoichi to go buy the cool cleats for his brother. Yoichi’s Papa didn’t know what he was doing to go out of his comfort zone, but he knew that his Papa would ask for proof that he had actually completed his task.
Yoichi had found an idea while watching T.V. with Rensuke. His older brother had agreed to help him assemble the lemonade stand, and would be there if he needed help. Rensuke had gone around the neighborhood, asking for spare lemons from their neighbors. Once they had a big, big pile shoved into the fridge, Yoichi got to work making some ice cold lemonade for the summer sun while his brother set up the stand in the front yard.
Ego Yoichi is a crybaby.
But he loves his brother.
Which is why he’s sitting in the summer heat with a warm-ish glass of water, swinging his feet at a lemonade stand.
One hundred dollars. That’s his goal.
It’s enough for the cleats, and a pack of Rensuke’s favorite gum if it’s near the cashier at check out. Yoichi sat straight, a determined pout on his face. He was 9 years old. He could do this. One dollar for a glass, which means he needs to sell one hundred glasses before his Papa comes home.
The street he lives on isn’t a street where a lot of cars drive down, but it’s a street where a decent amount of people would walk by, even on a hot day. The majority of his neighbors had fruit trees, so the sidewalk provided a nice shade even in the sweltering heat. Yoichi’s front yard had two trees, one of which was big enough to cover his little lemonade stand in its shade.
His little tip jar was a glass jar that Rensuke used to trap bugs in (it had been washed out!) and the giant pack of paper cups and pitcher were fished out from a really high shelf above the stove. His “cash register” was a metal money box hidden under the stand, and it had a few quarters and dimes in case anyone needed change. A really nice ice box had been dug out of the storage closet, and was filled with ice. It sat under the wooden counter, right beside the money box
A few adults passed by, each dropping a dollar or two for some lemonade. With each encounter, Yoichi got a little bit more confident. Currently, he was at… maybe 15 dollars, which wasn’t too bad for almost an hour of sitting around and waiting. As noon neared, the day got hotter.
Yoichi ran inside, quickly recounting his money. 17 dollars! His original estimation of 15 was a bit off. The boy hid the money under his bed, quickly going to use the restroom and washed his hands before running back outside as fast as his small legs could take him.
“Yo, chibi-Ego!” A boy called from the stand. “Can I have some lemonade?”
Yoichi ran over and sat down, eyes sparkling. “Sure, Chigiri!”
He quickly served the boy, pouring a cup as soon as the redhead handed him a dollar.
“Where’s Ego… er, Rensuke?” Chigiri asked, sipping the lemonade. “Woah… this is really good!”
“He’s in the backyard!” Yoichi chirped. “Thank you… I made it by myself!”
Chigiri digs out another dollar from his pocket. “Can I have another cup?”
Yoichi nodded, pouring his brother’s friend some more lemonade. “I have extra sugar if you want it to be sweeter!”
“Sure,” Chigiri agreed, watching the smaller boy pour a small spoonful of sugar into his glass.
The redhead boy reached over to pat Yoichi on the head, placing a quarter into the tip jar. “See ya later, mini-Ego!”
Yoichi watched as the red-haired boy ran over to the backyard. “Bye bye Chigiri!”
At the hour mark, a few more adults have passed by, and he’s at a nice sum of $30.50. More than a fourth of the way there, but each minute closer to 4:00pm, when his Papa came home from practice, made anxiety swell up in Yoichi’s chest. A light breeze blew through the street, and Yoichi closed his eyes, letting the cool air hit him.
The scent of rain wasn’t in the air, which was good, because Yoichi hates the rain. The clouds were speckled in the sky last time Yoichi checked, which meant his stand might be in the sun for a good minute. The lemonade and ice would be safe, but he might overheat a bit. But that was okay. Because he was doing this for Rensuke. With that thought, Yoichi opened his eyes.
He blinked as he saw a tall, blonde boy peeking at the stand. His eyes were light blue, kinda like the sky. Yoichi thought they were pretty.
“Hi!” Yoichi chirped. “Do you want some lemonade?”
“Blueberry,” the boy abruptly said, looking away when Yoichi tilted his head in confusion. “I… uh. Yes. I would like some lemonade… Tch… Please.”
The boy’s face was red as he handed over a dollar, mumbling under his breath in a different language. Yoichi beamed, handing over the cup, making sure the other boy grabbed it securely before letting go. The blonde boy took a small sip of lemonade, pausing for a bit after the first taste. His sky blue eyes widened, seemingly sparkling under the sunlight. The other boy quickly drank down more of the lemonade, finishing it in a few seconds.
“It’s… it’s actually good,” the blonde boy commented with disbelief. “Woah.”
He seemed flustered for a moment at Yoichi’s curious eyes, forcing his face to drop to a neutral expression, but the blush was still there. Yoichi was confused as to why the boy wanted to hide.
“Normally lemonade stands have bad drinks,” the blonde clarified. “...Yours is good. Which is… surprising.”
Yoichi flushed at the praise, looking down at his lap shyly. “T… thank you!”
A small thump was heard and Yoichi looked up. The blonde boy’s black-with-blue-roses backpack was open on the ground, and he had placed a huge metal water bottle on the counter of the lemonade stand. It looked expensive, but not new. Yoichi, at a glance, noticed some small dents and miniscule scratches near the bottom. There was a pretty blue rose sticker on it, and a little sticker with the name “Michael” right under it.
“Do any of your flowers need water, or can I pour it on the sidewalk?” The blonde asked, a determined look in his eyes.
“Ah, those maybe…” Yoichi trailed off, pointing to a patch of blue flowers.
The blonde boy rushed off, emptying his water bottle onto the flowers carefully. There wasn’t that much in the bottle, maybe only halfway full, but it was still a lot of water. The boy returned, digging through his pockets rather aggressively before bringing out a 10 dollar bill.
“Is this enough to fill the bottle?” The boy asked, face determined.
Yoichi looked at the now-empty pitcher, then looked at the bottle, switching between pitcher and bottle, pitcher and bottle. “...Um. I think we need more lemonade.”
The two stared at each other.
“I’ll… go make some more?” Yoichi offered, tilting his head and offering a small smile.
“Okay,” the blonde boy nodded, his hands behind his back as he shifted his weight from the balls of his feet to his tippy toes. “I can wait here.”
“Alrighty!” Yoichi chirped, picking the pitcher up, hugging it to his chest with one hand. “I’ll be right back!”
“Wait—” the blonde interrupted, holding a hand toward Yoichi. “Don’t forget to take the money inside…”
Yoichi looked from the pitcher to the money box. “...Oh.”
The blonde quickly grabbed the money box, going around the stand, placing himself right next to Yoichi. He stood still, waiting.
“Let’s go. I’ll carry this, you carry the pitcher.”
Yoichi softly smiled. He gently used his free hand to hold the blonde boy’s free hand, leading him to the door.
“I’m Michael,” the boy introduced himself, smiling a bit. “Nice to meet you, Blueberry.”
“My name’s Yoichi!” Said boy said, puffing up his cheeks and pouting. “Not blueberry, you… you lemon!”
The blonde b… Michael laughed. “Okay, okay…”
They walked inside, kicking off their shoes. Yoichi ran over to put the pitcher on the kitchen counter, on his tippy toes to reach without the stepstool. He beamed at Michael. Michael blinked, realizing that Yoichi was a good deal smaller than him.
“Stay right here, Micchan!” Yoichi demanded, grabbing the money from the box.
“…Micchan…?” The boy wondered aloud, watching Yoichi run off into the hallways.
Their house wasn’t small at all, in fact, it was quite big. But it was filled with a bunch of homely clutter. There were dirty shoes kicked aside at the front door, sticky notes stuck to a fridge, and framed photos of what looked to be Yoichi’s family. There were little cubbies at the door with backpacks and notebooks, one labeled “Yoichi” (with something scribbled out underneath) and the other labeled ”Rensuke”.
Michael pointed at the cubbies when Yoichi got back, looking a bit confused. “Why is yours scribbled out?”
“Because I’m older now! It used to be my nickname,” Yoichi answered. “It said ‘Yocchan’. Which is my nickname, I mean!”
“Micchan,” Michael pointed at himself, before slowly pointing his finger toward the smaller boy. “Yocchan.”
“Ah,” Yoichi shuffled nervously. “Sorry for calling you that… I jus—”
“We match,” Michael nodded sagely. “Hm… I like it. It means we have to get married now.”
“I’m glad you li… wait,” Yoichi blinked, before turning red with embarrassment and a bit of anger. “What?! Married? Where did that come from?!”
“I dunno. You’re pretty. I like you… I’m pretty. You like me. So that means we have to get married!” Michael reasoned, looking proud of himself, puffing his chest out in pride.
“We just met!” Yoichi protested, crossing his arms.
Michael spotted a magnetic whiteboard on the fridge. It was blank, so he ran over to it, grabbing the marker attached and writing a few words. He turned with a mischievous smile on his face.
“Do you know English?”
The blueish black-haired boy nodded slowly. “A… a little bit.”
“What does this say?” The blonde proudly asked, puffing his chest out. “In Japanese, though.”
Yoichi squinted, trying to read the messy words. “It says…”
“Doyouwannamarryme.”
“...'Yes, I would love to.' That’s what it says. Why?” Yoichi translated.
“So you do want to marry me?” Michael giggled deviously. “I knew you’d fall for my charm Yoichi!”
“What?!” Yoichi spluttered, tugging on the end of the other boy’s hair. “I never said I wanted to marry you!”
“I asked and you said ‘Oh yes, I really would love to, you’re so handsome and strong!’ That’s what you said!”
“You dummy!” Yoichi pouted, bonking the boy on the head with the marker. “You ca—”
“We should make the lemonade now! Don’t want to leave your customers waiting!” Michael suddenly interrupted, stepping back and pretending to look innocent, bouncing on the balls of his feet and looking away.
Yoichi un-puffed his cheeks with a hmph and moved to start making said lemonade, stomping along the way. Michael was unfortunately right… and he was only at $40.50, not even halfway to his goal. He grabbed some spare lemons from the fridge and squeezed the life out of them into the pitcher, making direct eye contact with Michael who gulped when he saw the state the lemons were left in.
“Ah… um. Aren’t you squeezing the lemons a bit too—”
Yoichi glared and Michael snapped his jaw shut.
As Yoichi worked, Michael peeked out a window, seeing two kids kick around a soccer ball in the backyard. They looked to be Michael’s age, maybe a few months younger or older. One was strong, the little orange haired kid, and the other was fast, the little red haired kid. Michael turned back to Yoichi, who was stirring the lemonade, the pulp already strained and the sugar already added.
“...That was fast,” Michael commented.
“Mhm,” Yoichi replied, dragging the stepstool over to the pantry to put the sugar away. “Can’t waste any time. I wanna get my brother something.”
“Is your brother the orange in the back?”
“Pfft,” Yoichi giggled, smiling over his shoulder at Michael before hopping off the stepstool. “Yeah. He’s the orange.”
Yoichi grabbed a clean spoon and began to taste test the lemonade, glancing out the window where Rensuke and Chigiri were playing.
“Is that his girlfriend he’s playing with?”
Yoichi choked on the lemonade, almost spitting it all out as he doubled over in laughter. Michael was confused, embarrassed, and also concerned. He wasn’t sure which one to stick with.
“What’s so funny?!” Michael blurted, grabbing a paper towel from the counter to wipe at the spat out lemonade that had gotten on the ground.
“You— you mean the red head?” Yoichi cackled, clutching his stomach.
“Oh,” Michael said, a lightbulb lighting up in his head. “She’s your sister, then?”
Yoichi had tears in his eyes as he rolled onto his back, laughing harder and harder.
“I don’t get it!” Michael yelled, pulling Yoichi off of the ground to shake him by the shoulders. “Explain!”
“Chigi— Chigiri’s,” Yoichi paused, wiping a tear from his eyes, taking a few breaths now that he’d stopped laughing. “He’s a boy.”
“...Oh.”
Yoichi wheezed.
“Okay, you can stop laughing now! You… you clown!”
“W…hat?” Yoichi asked, recovering from his giggle fit.
“Yeah! Clown. Because they’re always smiling and laughing like a dumb dumb.”
“Hmph. Then it sounds like you should be the clown!”
“Nuh uh.”
“Yuh huh.”
“Nope.”
“Yep.”
“No way, no no no!”
“Yes way!”
Michael put his hands over his ears and closed his eyes. “I can’t hear you, I can’t see you. That means you don’t exist.”
The blonde doubled over a few seconds later, crying out in pain.
“Did you just kick me in the b—!”
“I guess I do exist! Time to go sell some lemonade!” Yoichi chirped, picking up the big pitcher. “Bring the metal box out for me, please~!”
Michael huffed, laying on the ground for a bit before sluggishly getting up, dragging his feet to the door to go follow Yoichi outside. He made sure to grab the metal money box, holding it right above his knees so Yoichi couldn’t kick him by surprise again.
Michael sat on the grass next to Yoichi, watching the smaller boy sit down on his chair and prepare everything. He watched as the blue-eyed boy smiled as he served lemonade after lemonade, looking genuinely happy as he counted his money up, looking very pretty as he smiled with the sun dropping down in the sky as a backdrop. Soon, the ice chest ran out, so Yoichi went to pick it up, before realizing Michael had been sitting on the ground for almost an hour.
“Lemme go get you a chair,” Yoichi commented. “Please take over the stand while I’m gone!”
Yoichi ran back inside and Michael reluctantly took his place. His hands shook a bit, he’d never done something like this before. A young looking adult passed by, stopped, and started walking over.
Michael put on a confident smile, as if assuring himself that he would be okay. He wasn’t really scared, he just didn’t want to mess up, to fail. It wasn’t in his DNA to fail at anything, that’s what his mom said, and that’s what he has to believe.
The young adult at the stand seemed shy themselves, tripping over themselves and handing over the money for two glasses of lemonade. Michael steadied his hands and poured, almost spilling a few times because the almost full pitcher was heavy. The adult put two quarters in the tip jar and scurried off after drinking, a quiet thank you uttered as they left.
Michael let out a relieved sigh.
Two arms wrapped around his waist, almost pulling him off of the chair. “Huh?”
“You did amazing Micchan!” Yoichi beamed, eyes sparkling. “You were so cool and— wait, no… I mean. That was… you—”
“You think I’m cool, Yocchan?” Michael grinned, giggling with a teasing tone.
“Shut up! That’s not what I meant, idiot!”
Michael grinned and hopped off the chair. He looked at what Yoichi brought over and blanched.
“That’s a trash can.”
“Yeah. You have to sit on the trash can, there were no more chairs.”
The blonde sighed, dragging himself out of the chair. He was about to grab the trash can to swap out Yoichi’s chair with it so the boy would sit on the trash can instead, but the little devil grabbed it before he could reach it.
“I’m just kidding, Micchan,” Yoichi said, booping the boy on the nose. “This is for the paper cups. People started taking their cups with them because we had no trash can.”
Yoichi dragged the trashcan to the other side of the stand, and pointed to a white folding chair laying flat on the grass of the front yard. “That’s your chair. We can switch if it gets uncomfy!”
Michael huffed, a flush on his face. “Tch. How was I supposed to know you were joking, you… you clown… ”
“You must really like clowns,” Yoichi giggled as he scrambled back up to the chair. “Maybe you’re a clown too.”
“No! I’m the king,” Michael protested, unfolding his chair and plopping down.
“Sure! The king of clowns!” Yoichi teased, leaning back in his chair.
“Stoooop!”
“Okay, your clown-y highness!”
“Shut up! Someone’s walking over!”
Yoichi quickly turned, smiling brightly at the next person who walked up to his stand. While he handled business, Michael pulled out his phone, sending a quick text. When he was finished, the person was already gone, and Yoichi was peering over the back of his chair like Michael had just given him the moon for a birthday gift.
“You have a phone?!”
“Only for emergencies. At least, that’s what my mom told me.”
“Is there an emergency?” Yoichi asked with furrowed brows, tilting his head a bit.
“No, I just wanted to ask my brother to bring me something.”
“You have a brother too?”
Michael nodded. “Yes. His name is Alexis. He’s very… purple.”
“Purple?” The smaller boy asked.
“Yeah… Like, your brother is orange. Mine is purple.”
“So he likes wearing purple?”
“Yeah.”
“I have a friend who’s purple too,” Yoichi commented, wandering off into his memories. “He’s very, uh… expensive?”
“Oh,” Michael responded. “You mean rich?”
“Yeah! I forgot the word.”
A beat of silence passed between the two.
“I like blue best,” Yoichi commented. “Your eyes are light blue, and that’s my favorite shade of blue.”
“I like a blue, too. But blue-blue, not light blue,” Michael commented. “Blue roses, blue ocean, blue candy. Your eyes are my favorite hue of blue, though.”
The two boys looked at each other's eyes before breaking their intense gaze, both a bit flustered.
“...I wonder if our brothers would get along,” Michael pondered out loud, trying to break the awkward silence.
“Maybe… What’s Ale… Alexis like?”
“He had a bad dad,” Michael says. “We have different dads and the same mom. His dad, though, was super mean, and he made Alex feel like… like a crushed goldfish cracker.”
Yoichi slowly nodded along, understanding what the blonde boy meant.
“So he’s really protective of me. He doesn’t like when people are mean to me, and he will get really mad if someone tries to pick on me. But… he’s very nice. He’s kind to people he likes.”
Yoichi placed his chin on the back of his chair, fully twisting in his seat to stare at the blonde. “He seems like a great big brother.”
“Yeah. He is.” Michael smiled softly. “What about your brother? Mr. Orange?”
“Rensuke,” Yoichi spoke, thinking hard. “He’s my hero! He cares about everyone and doesn’t like seeing people get hurt. He’s like the cool superheroes on TV but he’s in real life.”
Michael nodded, listening intently.
“He gets really weird when he gets a compliment, but he loves giving them to other people.”
“Yocchan!” A voice called from the door. “Chigiri’s in the bathroom, so I brought you some water because it’s getting hotter!”
Rensuke was walking out, a cold bottle of water in his hands. He handed it to his brother, ruffling his hair before turning to the blonde boy seated right behind his little brother. He raised an eyebrow, looking in between the boys.
“...Yocchan, Who’s this?”
“Thank you, nii-chan!” Yoichi chirped, turning to point at the blonde. “This is Michael. Micchan, meet Rensuke. My older brother.”
“Nice to meet you, Michael,” Rensuke nodded, acknowledging the boy. “Please take care of my little brother.”
“Of course,” Michael nodded back, completely serious with his words.
“I’ll go get you some water,” Rensuke nodded, a soft smile on his face as he looked at the two boys.
“Ah, it’s alright, I have… some…” Michael trailed off, before looking at his water bottle filled with lemonade. “Oh. Wait…”
Rensuke ruffled the blonde’s hair, giving him a thumbs up. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be right back.”
Michael turned back to face Yoichi. “He’s a really good older brother, too.”
Yoichi beamed. “Yeah. He is.”
“Mihya?” Another voice interrupted, this time from behind the lemonade stand, before saying words in a different language.
Yoichi turned back around in his chair, Michael peeking out from over the smaller boy’s head.
“Speak Japanese, Alexis,” Michael spoke, getting up from out of his chair to stand beside Yoichi.
Yoichi flicked his friend’s arm. “You have to say please, Micchan. Be nice to your older brother!”
Michael huffed, turning his head away from Yoichi. “Who said I had to?”
“Well, you were saying how cool your brother was,” Yoichi pointed out. “And how much you love him and think he’s the best brother ever. So you better be nice to him.”
“I never said all of that!” Michael protested, pouting. “You’re putting sentences in my words!”
“It’s ‘putting words in my mouth’, Mihya,” Alexis corrected, stepping around the lemonade stand to hand the blonde a box. “...So you think I’m the best brother ever?”
“S-shut up!” Michael hissed, grabbing the box from his brother rather aggressively. “Don’t listen to what the clown says!”
“Back on that clown stuff, huh,” Yoichi sighed, shaking his head, peeking over at the container Michael held.
The blonde reached in, shoving some blueberries in his mouth. Yoichi grabbed a few, noticing with a smile that could rival the sun that Michael just let him take some. A soft snort was heard from Michael’s brother, and Yoichi turned. He looked up at Alexis, finally getting a good, long look at the older boy. He gasped, pointing at Michael’s big brother’s hair and attire.
“Micchan! You lied!”
Michael whipped around, mouth full of blueberries. “Huh?!”
“Your brother’s magenta, not purple!” Yoichi pouted, tugging on the older boy’s shirt gently. “See? See?”
“...What’s the difference?” Michael asked, voice muffled.
Yoichi gasped, opening his mouth to protest, no doubt. Michael tossed a blueberry into his mouth, causing Yoichi to almost inhale it. Yoichi chewed it and grabbed a small fistful of blueberries from the container, shoving them all into Michael’s mouth while the blonde flailed.
“Am I interrupting something?” Rensuke asked, walking back out with a few cold water bottles in his arms.
“Magenta isn’t the same as purple!” Yoichi told his older brother, pointing to Alexis with blue-purple stained fingers. “Right, nii-chan, right?”
Rensuke blinked, handing Michael a water bottle. “...Huh? Aren’t they the same?”
Alexis giggled behind one of his hands. “No, they’re not.”
Rensuke blinked, before turning to Alexis as their little brothers bickered in the background. “Oh. Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I’m Rensuke.”
Alexis made a dismissive wave. “I’m Alexis. And no worries. Thank you for taking care of my little brother, Rensuke.”
“Ah, that’s all Yoichi,” Rensuke pointed to his younger brother. “I’ve just been kicking around a ball out back with my friend. You want some water?”
Alexis smiled a closed-eyes smile, opening his eyes when a cool water bottle was pressed to his palms. “Oh… thank you.”
“Of course,” Rensuke smiled at the other boy. “It’s hot today, so I brought a lot of water bottles out so these two don’t get dehydrated. Lemonade is good, but too much sugar isn’t.”
Alexis smiled back. “Yeah. You play football?”
“Yep. Wanna join me?”
The magenta boy blinked, before shyly looking away. “I’ve never really played football without Michael, so I don’t know if I’ll do good. You know how some people are where they say you’re good even if you’re not…”
Rensuke put down the water bottles, before extending his hand. “Well, I don’t care if you’ve never touched a ball or if you’re the secret lovechild of Noel Noa and Pele. Soccer’s fun, and I wanna play with you.”
Alexis looked away. He placed a few dollars in the tip jar and took Rensuke’s hand.
“...Alright. I’ll try my best.”
Yoichi blinked, finishing off the blueberry container. “Ah, I think my brother stole yours.”
“Huh?” Michael asked, whipping his head around to find them. “Where did they go?”
Yoichi pointed to the house. “To go play soccer.”
“Your brother’s gonna get crushed ,” Michael declared. “Alexis is really good at football.”
“Well, Rensuke’s super good at soccer, too!”
“...Soccer. You mean football?”
“No, I mean soccer.”
“It’s football!”
“No, dumb Micchan, it’s soccer!”
“Fußball!”
“Sakkā!”
“No it— you know what… Different country, different language. I’m not gonna bother.”
“Yeah, because I’m right.”
“You—”
“Wait,” Yoichi interrupted, putting his mouth over Michael’s mouth. “Lemme count how much money I have.”
Michael rolled his eyes, pouting as he leaned back in his chair, watching the smaller boy pour the tip jar into the money box. Yoichi’s eyes lit up and he turned to Michael.
“Micchan, Micchan, what time is it?”
“15:30. Why?”
Ah, 3:30pm, so that means…
Chigiri and Alexis walked out of the front door, Rensuke walking them to the sidewalk. Chigiri waved at Yoichi, turning back to tell a joke to Rensuke before running off in the direction of his house. Alexis and Rensuke walked over to Michael and Yoichi.
“Mihya, it’s time to go,” Alexis softly spoke. “Start packing up, please.”
“What?!” Michael protested. “No way, I don’t wanna go yet!”
“Do you need help putting everything away?” Alexis smiled as he asked Rensuke, ignoring his little brother throwing a mini tantrum.
“No, don’t worry about it, Lexi. You helped clean up the backyard. I got this,” Rensuke assured, matching the other boy’s smile.
Alexis reached into his brother’s backpack, it turns out Michael had left it inside the house, and took out a notebook, writing on it before ripping the page off. He handed the paper to Rensuke.
“This is our address. Please feel free to stop by whenever— any time, any day,”
“What if I showed up at midnight?” Rensuke asked with a teasing tone.
Alexis coyly smiled, mouth curving up into a V shape. “How exciting. I could sneak you in, if you wanted.”
“...” Rensuke turned away, face red before he blinked, realizing what was unfolding in front of him. “Is… is your little brother feeling alright?”
“Uh…”
Michael was trying to convince Yoichi to let him stay. When teasing the boy didn’t work, he tried bribing him. When bribing didn’t work, he tried debating him. When debating him didn’t work, he tried crying. Yoichi hesitated for a split second at Michael’s tears.
“Mihya, time to go!” Alexis announced, tugging his little brother toward the sidewalk. “Thank you, Ren-chan, Yoichi! We’ll see you around!”
Yoichi blinked, turning to his brother as Alexis and the screaming Michael disappeared from their sight. “...Ren-chan?”
Rensuke huffed. “Shush. Help me drag this back.”
Yoichi nodded.
⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘🫐🍋⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘
“Yo. I’m home,” a voice called from the door.
Yoichi and Rensuke rushed down the hall, Rensuke stopping while Yoichi tackled their Papa in a hug.
“Welcome home, papa!” Both boys cheered.
“How was practice? Did you talk to Noa-san? Did you devour anyone? Did you talk to Noa-san? Did you score any goals? Or was that not the type of practice you were doing? What kind of practice were you doing? Did you talk to N—”
Their Papa just held a bag up. “I brought dinner. I’ll tell you about it when we eat.”
Rensuke rushed to set the table, eager to eat while Yoichi followed after his Papa like a little duckling. Their Papa kicked his shoes off before sitting down at the table, unpacking the food.
“Woah!” Rensuke gasped.
A giant, fancy, beautiful cut of steak just sat there in the middle, still hot somehow. The kids drooled at the fanciness while their Papa started serving the sides, some thick toast and fruit.
“Where did you get this?” Rensuke asked, his hands trembling in excitement.
“Team had some fancy dinner-lunch thing. Thought you guys would like the leftovers,” Their Papa said, cutting off some strips of the steak and serving his kids. “Not a big fan, but I know you guys are little carnivores.”
“That’s because you only like noodles, papa!” Yoichi pointed out, right before stuffing his face full of steak.
“Yeah, yeah,” their Papa snorted softly, grabbing a ramune from the fridge, pausing to look at it’s label. “You guys don’t like the… lychee one, right?”
“Melon and strawberry are the best flavors!” Yoichi replied, mouth still full of food.
“No, orange and grape are the best,” Rensuke argued. “Peach is good too.”
“That’s Auntie Anri’s favorite flavor… it is kind of good,” Yoichi shrugged. “But not as good as melon.”
“So I’ll take the lychee, then,” their Papa said, before sitting down at the table with a sigh.
He held up three fingers. “You have three questions to ask. Go.”
“Can I meet Noa-san?” Yoichi blurted out.
“You wasted a question!” Rensuke argued. “You know what the answer’s gonna be, it’s gonna be—”
“Maybe one day,” their Papa grinned.
“See?!”
Yoichi pouted. “Whatever…”
“Next question,” their Papa chuckled. “Make it a good one.”
“What was practice like today?” “When can Rensuke get new cleats?”
Yoichi and Rensuke looked at each other, before sighing and slumping in their chairs.
“Practice was like always. Coach got mad at me for being all egoistic, and then your auntie beat some sense into him, because I actually bring results,” their Papa snorted. “And, Rensuke… will get his cleats by Monday, I hope.”
Rensuke raised an eyebrow at the weird wording. He wondered why Yoichi asked the question, before he blinked and his eyes widened. He scrambled to finish his plate, shoveling forkful after forkful into his mouth.
“I promised Raichi that I’d watch a match with him and Gagamaru and Naruhaya tomorrow!”
“What match?” Yoichi asked, interest piqued.
“Naruhaya’s older sister’s playing against their rival team. I can still go, right, papa?”
“Yes, yes. Make sure you go to bed—”
Rensuke ran off after putting his cleared plate in the sink.
“...Early.” Their Papa finished, sighing. “...It’s only 4:45.”
Yoichi giggled, finishing up the food on his plate as his Papa finished his soda.
“Yocchan, did you go out of your comfort zone today?” The man asked, pushing up his glasses. “Or were you saving it for tomorrow?”
“I did! Wait here, papa!” Yoichi announced before running off to his room.
He came back, holding up the metal money box. His Papa raised an eyebrow before his eyes widening as he looked at the one-hundred twenty dollars and thirty-five cents in the box.
“Lemonade stand,” Yoichi answered before his Papa could even ask.
His Papa scratched the back of his head. “Well. Guess it’s time to hit the Abibas store.”
Yoichi sprinted as fast as he could, jumping up and down in excitement. His Papa sighed, and walked over, taking out the keys to his car. He fished the money out of the box and handed it to his youngest child, watching as the kid cheered and ran out to the car.
Jinpachi Ego sighed.
The car ride to the Abibas store was quiet, but very energetic, if the excited Yoichi in the backseat was anything to go by. He was humming along to an invisible tune, the song reminiscent of some advertisement that played on TV.
As soon as he parked, Yoichi unbuckled his seat belt and waited for his Papa to leave the car to help him cross the parking lot. Yoichi was very energetic, way more than he usually was, which made Jinpachi a bit confused.
They walked into the massive Abibas store, and as soon as Jinpachi let go of his son’s hand, Yoichi bolted over to the cleats. Or, well, where he thought the cleats were. Truth be told, Jinpachi ordered most of his stuff online. He’d rarely stepped foot in this Abibas store, so he looked at the map before chasing after his son. The map said that the shoes were in this direction, but as far as Jinpachi knew Yoichi hadn’t looked at the map for more than a glance.
Jinpachi ran after his son, before running into a very tall, muscular, familiar, albino-looking man.
“You.”
“Jinpachi?” The man asked.
He wore a thin black tank and some light jacket. He had on dark sunglasses and an equally dark mask over his mouth.
“Papa!” Yoichi exclaimed, running to hug his Papa. “The cleats Rensuke wants are really high up… I can’t reach…”
Jinpachi sighed. “Which aisle is it in?”
Yoichi pointed at one of the aisles, lip wobbling as if to plead his Papa to go get it.
“...Stay here, Yocchan. I’ll go get it,” Jinpachi sighed, before pointing at the other man in front of him. “You. Take care of him. I’ll be back, Yocchan. Stay with the weird white man, okay?”
Yoichi nodded, looking at the stranger as his Papa left. He looked a bit familiar…
“Hi! I’m Yoichi!”
“Hi, Yoichi,” the man greeted in well-spoken Japanese. “I’m—”
“Yoichi?!”
Said boy whipped his head around to stare at Michael, who was a few meters away from him.
“Michael!” Yoichi exclaimed, surprised at seeing his friend so soon after their first meeting.
“Ah. You’ve met Michael?” The tall man asked, bending down a bit to face Yoichi. “He’s my sister-in-law’s nephew. I hope he’s been treating you well.”
Michael stepped in between the blonde guy and Yoichi, grabbing the smaller boy and hiding the boy’s face in his t-shirt. “Back off, Uncle Noel!”
“Noel… like, Noel Noa?” Yoichi asked, a mit muffled from the shirt in his face.
The older man smiled, pulling down his mask and putting his sunglasses down on his head. “Yes. That’s me.”
Yoichi’s eyes sparkled. “Woah! So—”
“Nope!” Michael interrupted. “You’re not taking Yocchan from me, Uncle Noel!”
“Yoichi…” Jinpachi sighed, coming back with the cleats in hand. “What mess did you get yourself into now?”
Jinpachi looked down at the kid who was holding onto Yoichi for dear life. He turned to Noa, raising a brow and pointing.
“This your sister’s… uh, nephew?”
“Sister-in-law’s nephew,” Noel corrected. “And yes, he is.”
Michael gasped loudly. He pointed back at Yoichi’s Papa.
“You’re Jinpachi Ego!” Michael announced, awe in his voice. “The world’s greatest striker!”
“Yeah, that’s me,” Yoichi’s Papa, Jinpachi, nodded.
“...I’m the world’s number one striker, though,” Noel commented, confused.
“So? That’s just a title,” Michael scoffed. “He’s the real deal, dumb old man!”
Noel’s eye twitched at the rude name.
“I approve of your little boyfriend, Yoichi,” Jinpachi snickered, amused at Noel’s reaction. “He’s smart.”
Yoichi gasped, pulling away from the taller boy. “He’s not my boyfriend, papa!”
“Yeah!” Michael agreed. “...We’re fiancés.”
Yoichi bonked the blonde boy on the head with his little fist. “Idiot! Where’d you get that idea from?!”
“Well when you were making the lemonade—”
“You tricked me! That doesn’t count! Dummy! Stupid!”
“Well I— ow! That hurt!”
“Good!”
“Stop hitting me!”
“Don’t run away, stupid Micchan! Come back here!”
Jinpachi blinked, looking at Yoichi in shock before leaning to whisper in Noel’s ear. “...Did your kid manage to coax mine out of his comfort zone or something? Because Yoichi’s never this… lively, off-field.”
“Not my kid,” Noel reminded, before raising an eyebrow. “...He’s not always like this?”
“Quite the opposite, actually.”
A moment of silence came between the two adults as they watched Yoichi chase after Michael, hitting him on the head whenever he caught the older boy.
“So you’re not gonna scold me for the fact Yoichi keeps smacking your kid around?
”Not my kid.”
Jinpachi sighed. “...You’re not gonna scold me for the fact Yoichi keeps smacking your, uh… sister… in-law’s nephew’s… kid around?”
“Just my sister-in-law’s nephew, not her nephew’s kid. Michael’s her nephew. He doesn’t have kids.”
“Shut the fuck up. You know what I meant.”
“Not my kid,” Noel repeated, watching Jinpachi open his mouth to yell. “Not my kid, not my problem.”
Jinpachi’s mouth twitched. “I hate you.”
A certain look sparked in Noel’s eyes. If he was more expressive, there would surely be a smirk on his lips as he turned to Jinpachi and—
…watched his teammate get dragged away to the cashier by his own kid. With his sister-in-law’s— okay, yeah, it was a mouthful— with Michael chasing after Yoichi, holding his blonde head and almost tripping over his feet.
“Yocchan! Get back here!” Michael whined. “Come on, old man! We gotta catch up!”
Noel and Michael caught up at the register, the new shin guards for Michael clutched in Noel’s hands. Jinpachi stood by while his kid paid for the cleats, watching him pick out some candy and gum to buy as well.
Yoichi turned, a paper bag with the purchased items in his hands. Michael stood right in front of him, the bag with his new shin guards in the blonde’s hands.
“Caught you~” Michael grinned, a smug expression on his face.
Yoichi reached into his bag, a small rustling sound being heard. Michael huffed, tugging on the little sprout on the crown of Yoichi’s head.
“Don’t ignore me!”
“Here,” Yoichi said, offering a wrapped candy.
It was a Ring Pop, deep blue in color with a light blue swirled into it. Blueberry Lemonade Swirl, the wrapper said.
Yoichi looked down, face flushed red. Michael gently took the candy, eyes sparkling at the gesture.
“...But… but you don’t have one?” Michael pointed out, gently cupping the candy in his hand.
Yoichi pulled out another Ring Pop that was the exact same flavor. He smiled at the blonde.
“Ring pop,” Yoichi pointed at himself, turning his hand to point his finger toward the smaller boy. “Ring pop.”
Michael nodded, face a bit flushed. “Yes, but wh—”
“We match,” Yoichi interrupted, a smile on his face. “That means we have to get married now, right?”
“Shut… shut up!”
“You’re pretty, and I really like you. I’m pretty, and you definitely like me, right?” Yoichi chirped, a small smirk on his face.
Michael hid his red face behind his hand, his ears and neck giving away the fact he was blushing. Yoichi fixed the little sprout on his head and giggled, skipping off to the exit with his Papa walking right behind him.
“W-wait! You used my own words against me!” Michael shouted after, still holding the ring pop to his chest.
“Michael…” Noel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“See ya, Micchan!”
Ego Yoichi is a crybaby.
Everyone knows this. Even Yoichi himself— he knows this better than anyone. He cries in public, obviously earning him that crybaby title, but he also cries in private, crying through the nights where he’s scared of the dull ache that settles into his young heart.
Yoichi is the biggest crybaby ever.
But when he was with Michael, he felt like he could conquer the world.