Chapter Text
Red tainted his vision as he blinked down at the drops of ketchup-like liquid oozing out of two people’s bodies. Their eyes were closed as if they had just decided to fall asleep.
“Mama? Papa?” He asked in a quiet voice, not wanting to disturb them resting as they always told him not to.
A pair of amber eyes looked at him briefly and he looked up at them with his own blue ones. The boy didn’t know it, but the look that the person who owned the eyes was holding nothing but sympathy and grief in them.
The unknown man’s mouth had opened to speak but the words came out distorted and muffled, his ears refusing to comprehend them. The younger one eyed the partially gloved hand that had just been held out for him in confusion. His parents had always told him to never trust strangers, but then why did this one seem nice?
Mother and father were sleeping, though. They wouldn’t know nor would they mind because they were asleep and the man was offering to help him.
He took it with the images of those dead bodies and wounded corpses etched in his eye-lids.
—
“Tecchou-san?” The same boy said, years later as he rubbed his eyes wearily.
He could hear what sounded like arguing coming from deeper inside the house he was sharing with the former, exactly like the time when he had been taken to a station the night his family had been killed and two officers had been fighting over whether they should interrogate him into telling them what happened straight away before he forgets anything or allow him time to recover and then say but with the risk of details being left out.
They had also said stuff like he could be useful for ‘information’ on the illegal businesses the two dead adults were doing, but even now he was not sure what they had meant by that.
As the conversation seemed to grow more heated, he drew back slightly, not wanting to remember how small he had felt as he watched them from across the table. In the end, the decision of allowing recovery had been won and he had been put in the custody of a foster father who been the one to take him on this trip from London to Yokohama before—
No.
Tecchou was saying something, his tall figure approaching him as he did.
“Are you okay, William?” He asked.
“Yeah… nightmare.”
The older one's eyes were the same colour as the man he had seen in his dream – or flashback; whatever it was — but he likely just imagined it. After all, he did not remember what exactly the man’s eye colour was; hell, he didn’t even know his parent’s ones.
Did that make him a bad son? He didn’t want to be bad. It would feel like spitting on their graved if he grew up to be an un-nice person.
At this point the thoughts were hurting his head and he felt tired. He wanted to go back to bed now.
Tecchou watched him leave without saying anything. He felt bemused but he knows, particularly from having a blind partner, that there are times he should keep quiet.
He returned to the living room where he was met by the sight of his younger brother stuffing his face with sweets he had probably found in the kitchen.
—
Jouno’s personal limit to how annoyed he can feel in one was not at all slim so never had it ever crossed the very vast boundaries until then.
The white and red haired male was practically fuming. He could quite literally hear the frustration radiating off of him and genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if there was smoke puffing out of his ears.
It was just his luck that the man he chose to fall in love with had the world’s most arrogant and worst person as his brother (who didn’t even have an ability, mind), a kid he had unknowingly adopted from when he was being tortured by their ex-commander and to add was also hopelessly clueless himself.
It was laughable, really. Just a few months ago he’d have killed anyone in a slow and painful way for even suggesting that soon the great and sadistic Jouno Saigiku would find himself pining over an ex-teammate who betrayed the organisation.
To be fair, though, he’d still kill anyone in an unhurried and agonising way if they once again suggest that.
- - -
“What’s got your head in a pickle?” Teruko asked, her pink eyes narrowing as she took in his annoyed expression and aura.
“What’s got yours?” He countered, noting the way her pulse was moving erratically and the sound of her body language made it seem she was bursting to rant about something.
She huffed and with a tone that was unlike her childish one, the one she reserved for criminals and people she really hated only, she began launching her explanation.
“You know that bastard, the one who blinded you? Yeah, him. Somehow he had gotten his hands on a spoon and used a jagged end in his walls to sharpen it before using it to slit his throat.”
“Huh?!”
“I know right!” The girl crossed her arms disgruntledly. “He died which means not only had useful information escaped us, but I was only just getting started on our interrogation sessions together and now I can’t do them!”
Jouno pursed his lips, his critical side mad at himself for postponing the torture he was going to do to the son of a bitch until later. Had he done it a few days ago he was positive they’d have gotten all the knowledge they needed and he’d be satisfied with his revenge for taking away a sense and stealing what was his (Tecchou) like that.
“So, who do you think did it?” He asked eventually.
“Huh?”
The male clicked his tongue impatiently.
“Commander, you do know that a prisoner who had kidnapped one of the strongest members of the Armed Detective Agency–” (he muttered the sentence in a way that implied it was poison) “-would be allowed something such as a spoon which is a ‘luxurious item’ for imprisoned people like him without incredible stupidity or inside aid.”
At that, the other looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head.
“Appreciating the engagement, advisor but nope. The agency were idiots for allowing, what was his name, Kaito?, to be held underneath a common café. Apparantly one of the dumb workers took pity after the smallest amount of manipulation possible was used against them and gave him the spoon after his request.” She rolled her eyes as she said it. Their shared disapprovement over the ADA was clear.
“They’ve apologised for it multiple times. It hurts my brain.”
“Let me talk to them,” Jouno said. “I’ll work out whether they’re lying or not.”
“Sure but you’re supposed to ask notebook-guy first according to Fukuzawa- sama ,” she shrugged.
Nodding, he turned on his heel and left the room.
—
“How’s the kid?” Ranpo asked, seating himself down on the couch one of his least favourite people he knows had just been on.
“Fine,” the other man replied, looking at the door which led to the room William was sleeping in concern.
“So…” The younger one began, licking the vanilla ice cream he ‘borrowed’ from the fridge. “Why was he here?”
“Who?”
Ranpo wanted to facepalm at the question.
“Your ex-partner.”
“Ex? No, we’re together now,” the other said bluntly.
Ranpo looked at him and then choked on the frozen desert that he had been halfway through nibbling.
“Wha… What–?!”
His brows were furrowed and lips parted as he stared at his brother incredulously.
“You two are what?”
Tecchou’s head tilted to the slide before he shrugged.
“I mean, I guess. We still haven’t worked out the finer details, but…” A small almost unnoticeable hint of red appeared on his marked cheeks and Ranpo eyed it with horror.
“But what, Suehiro? But what?”
“We, uh, touched our lips together?”
Ranpo honestly felt like killing himself at that moment because no fucking way his fucking brother who he hadn’t seen in 14 fucking years was now dating Saigiku fucking Jouno.
The ice cream was left discarded as Edogawa Ranpo threw a temper tantrum.