CW // Profanity
It had been a strange day for Kuro Kamatani. His request for a narrative writing contest had gotten approved, so his cup had been refilled after the morning’s events.
The morning’s events. Those were what made the day an odd one. On one hand, Kuro was pleased that Logan had gotten the video so quickly. He hoped it would be enough. On the other hand, looked as though he was beaten half to death. All because of something Kuro asked him to do.
He frowned as his car pulled into the driveway. Joshua was home before him, which was rather worrisome. It was quite a rare occasion for Joshua to be off work this early.
He unlocked the door and pushed it open. Joshua shot up from his spot on the couch the moment he heard the door. He wrapped his arms around Kuro, pressing his face into Kuro’s neck.
Kuro, albeit rather confused, reciprocated the hug, slotting his arms around Joshua’s waist. He kissed the latter’s cheek. “Everything alright?” He asked gently.
Joshua removed his face from the crook of Kuro’s neck, his arms retreating back to his side as well. In turn, Kuro removed his own from Joshua’s waist. “Yeah. I just-“ He stumbled over his words, wringing his fingers together nervously. “I got your text earlier, and I— I need to see the video,” He finished, looking away from Kuro.
The latter pursed his lips and nodded. “Alright. I haven’t seen it either, so we can watch it together.” They would have anyways. Whenever Joshua looked at the pictures of his brother’s scars, he always requested that Kuro be next to him. He often cried as Kuro held him, his tears wetting his husband’s shoulder. He knew how hard it would be for Joshua to watch this— not just a picture of a cut, but a video of the infliction. He knew how badly Joshua needed him at that moment.
They sat down on the couch together and Kuro pulled out his laptop. Joshua leaned his head against his shoulder. Kuro plugged in the flash drive and opened the file.
The first few minutes or so were fine. Logan had set up the camera in an inconspicuous location and quickly moved away. He glanced around for a moment before his head stopped moving and his eyes locked on something out-of-frame. Joshua and Kuro both had the sense to brace themselves mentally for what was about to happen.
It wasn’t enough, however, and could never have been enough, for what the video entailed. They paused it a great many times, wiping tears from their cheeks each instance. By the end of it, both men were breathing shakily. Joshua was sobbing silently. Kuro was thankful for his decision to watch the video without sound. He wasn’t sure either of them would have been able to handle it if there was sound.
It took about half an hour of Kuro rubbing circles into his back and whispering words of reassurance into his ear for Joshua to calm down. Each time Kuro thought his emotions finally waned, another bout of sobs would begin. Finally, Joshua only breathed shakily.
“That—“
Kuro said nothing, pressing chaste, gentle kisses to Joshua’s neck.
“That should be enough,” he eventually mumbled. “If it’s not, screw the damn courts. I’m getting him and Kris out of there whether it’s legal or not.”
Kuro had known Joshua long enough to be sure he wasn’t joking.
“Okay,” he agreed. “But we’ll try the legal route first.”
Joshua agreed, and they began compiling the evidence in order of what to present first. The video, they decided, was a last resort. Who knew the backlash Logan would receive from his father should that video be presented?
A few hours later, Kuro was picking up the phone to request a hearing.
Excitement coursed through Jax as he sat down at his laptop and opened a new document. The narrative contest inspired him to write something new. His fingers flew across the keyboard as he typed the rough draft. His emotions poured onto the page as he typed. It was refreshing. Within half an hour, Jax was done with his rough draft and revising it.
An idea began sprouting in his brain the moment he penned his name onto that list. He thought about it for the entire day and let it bud. When he got home, it was already an Amaranthus Caudatus in full bloom. Therefore, it had been pretty easy to lay out his first draft.
The editing and revising would be the tricky part. Doing so himself wouldn’t bear many results, given that he wrote the original. But it would be nearly twenty-four hours before he could ask anyone else to do it and he didn’t feel like waiting that long. He would prefer to get his entire narrative done in one night, but the circumstances made that rather implausible.
He stared at his computer screen for a few minutes before sighing and tipping his head back. Deciding to leave editing for another day, he got up and sat on his bed. He unplugged his phone from its charger and unlocked it with face ID.
He scrolled mindlessly on social media for a few hours before shutting off his phone and opting to join his family downstairs.
“Jax!” Jamie exclaimed, immediately latching onto his leg. “Play hide and seek with us!”
Jax grinned. “Sure thing. Am I a hider or the seeker?”
Jamie’s eyes lit up. “Seeker!”
Jax laughed a little at his brother’s enthusiasm. “Alright. Seeker it is.”
He went to count in the corner of the room, well aware he’d be playing seeker for hours.
The next day at school, Jax set his mind on two things. One: He would ask Logan, Raymond, and maybe Levi if they could (A) be friends, and (B) help him edit his narrative. Two: He would pay more attention to Logan and how often he got injured. Of course, that would be stretched across multiple days (likely even for the rest of the time he would know Logan), but it was still a goal of his.
Part one quest B was easily accomplished. Logan agreed to it with a nod mere seconds after the initial question. Part one quest A stirred up anxiety in the pit of Jax’s stomach, but he asked anyway.
“Can we be friends?”
There was a pause in Logan’s movements after Jax’s words, and those feelings got to work eating away his confidence. You’ve probably screwed it all up now, his oh-so-helpful brain told him.
Logan started to sign something, a raised eyebrow and half-smile present on his face.
“Are we not friends already?”
Jax’s thoughts dispersed and he breathed a sigh of relief. “Yeah. Just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page here,” he said, suddenly feeling rather stupid. But Logan just turned his partial smile into a full smile, and Jax truly felt like he’s met someone nice. Much to his dismay, the you-smiled-at-me-so-now-I’m-going-to-smile-back-at-you was cut short by Kuro. Jax was aware that Kuro was paid to teach them, but did he really have to interrupt their conversations?
For some reason, Mr Kamatani seemed to be in a better mood than normal. He even partially smiled at one of Harry’s jokes. Harry always called them out in the middle of class with zero context and they were never even that funny. Mr Kamatani smiling at them, even if only a little? Weird. Something very, very good must have happened.
When Mr Kamatani was passing out papers, he paused between Logan and Jax’s desks. He whispered something to Logan, but of course, Jax was right next to them and of course, he was curious so he strained his ears to listen.
“That was more than enough. Thank you. Now, please, never do that again.”
When Mr Kamatani walked away, Jax didn’t miss the new look of hope that sprouted in Logan’s eyes. He smiled to himself. He wasn’t sure how Mr Kamatani and Logan knew each other so well, but the teacher seemed like someone Logan trusted. Someone who Logan could go to for assistance. It helped put Jax’s brain at rest, knowing that while Logan wouldn’t talk to Jax about his problems, he would talk to someone else.
At least, that was what he hoped Mr Kamatani had been talking about. The other implications his brain could think up at that moment were horrible and the exact opposite of his wishes.
He pressed his lips into a thin line. Surely he was overthinking things. Besides, the thought kept returning to his mind that Logan wouldn’t tell him anything. He wasn’t the type to trauma dump without knowing someone well.
He needed to stop, but he couldn’t. The only thing his own mind and heart could agree on was hope, and, quite frankly, that was all he could do.
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