Odd Jobs

Chapter 32 - Familiar Faces

Yuichiro stared at the mirror in front of him, a blank expression plastered on his face as giant plastic shopping bags sat at his feet. The day had been tiring, to say the least. In fact, the entire week had been. With Mika being awake and out of the hospital, he didn't have an excuse to skip classes anymore. So as schedules with class, homework and extracurriculars filled his week, Yuu was more than ecstatic to fill his weekend with some well-needed time with his boyfriend.

Alas, his uncle was getting married soon. So ofcourse, he had been dragged away from Mikaela once more, and was now seated on the bench next to some fitting booths, waiting for Guren to finish changing so he could evaluate which was probably the 7th tuxedo of the day.

"Dumbass, I'm talking to you.", Guren snapped his fingers in front of Yuu's face, pulling him out of his trance.

"Sorry. You look great, Guren."

"Mhm. Now what you really think?"

Yuu sighed. "What makes this suit different than the last six?"

"I knew I should have just brought Mahiru or Mito.", Guren grumbled. He shot a glare at his nephew.

"Sorry. I'm not in the right headspace right now. You look good, Guren. Really."

"I know you would have rather spent this weekend with your boyfriend than shopping on the other side of the country with your old uncle. But cut me some slack here. This is important."

"I know..." Yuu sighed again, sitting himself up on the small bench. "I'm sorry."

"You got a lot of hay on your fork, I understand." Guren inspected himself in the mirror, patting down the black and white suit. "How is he?"

".. How's who?"

Guren pinched the bridge of his nose. How in the fuck was someone this dumb? "Your boyfriend, dumbass."

"O-Oh." A small blush, rigged with embarrassment, entered the race on Yuu's cheeks. "He's well. He should be able to get working again soon, so he won't be stuck at home for much longer. It'll be great, he'll feel much less lonely." He smiled.

"What does he do for work?"

"Oh, he's a str-" Yuu caught himself mid-sentence, slapping a hand over his mouth. On second thought, he probably shouldn't tell his uncle of his boyfriend's career as a stripper. On third thought, he probably shouldn't have slapped a hand over his face. Glancing around the area for any hint of a fake job for Mika, he couldn't avoid the confused, yet judging look on Guren's features. "He's, uhm... An accountant."

"Shinya sent me enough of those dumb little TikTok videos to know what that means.", Guren mumbled, fixing his tie in the mirror. He looked at Yuu in the mirror, smirking. "Oh my god, lighten up. What should I care that your boyfriend's a pole dancer or whatever? As long as both of you are cool with it, it's no one's business."

"Y-Yeah, that's..."

"Here, try this one on." Guren said, handing Yuu a suit, neatly hung on a hanger.

"Alright."

~~

"Maybe you should get a job too.", Guren said as he took a sip of his cup of tea. Yuu glanced up from his phone, half of his face hiding behind the giant strawberry milkshake. His lips popped off the straw.

"Why?"

Guren groaned. "To make money, moron. God, how are you this dumb-"

"OH! Mika's calling, be right back!", Yuu exclaimed, as he shot up from his seat, bolting outside of the café to take his phone call. Guren sighed, pinching the bridge of his noise. A low chuckle originated from the table next to his.

"Kids these days. They're quite the handful.", the man said.

"Worst part is, he isn't even mine. He's just my nephew." The man laughed.

"If he's the only one, consider yourself lucky. I got two of those rugrats."

"I wish you luck with those." Guren glanced to the side. His eyes were met with a pale face. The face was paired with blonde hair, blue eyes and the disgusting reek of alcohol. This hadn't been the first beer the guy had been drinking.

Guren frowned. This man seemed... reminiscent of a certain boy he knew.

"They ran off a couple days ago. Not sure where they went. Wife's avoiding me."

"That... sucks to hear. How old are your kids?"

The man hiccuped. "Good question. Fifteen and sixteen. How old's your fella?"

"He's 21."

"Ah, he already passed those stubborn teenage years. My oldest was a handful, that's for sure."

"A handful?" Guren's frown deepened. His gut started stirring, yelling at him to slam some money down, stand up, take Yuu and get the fuck out of there. Yet, curiosity killed the cat.

"The lil fucker ran off when he was seventeen. Haven't heard from him since."

"I thought your eldest was sixteen?"

"Yeah. Other guy isn't my son anymore. Kicked him out." He hiccuped again.

Guren felt his blood start to boil. Everything was coming together. The hair. The eyes. The accent. He was leaving, taking Yuu with him, and he was leaving now.

"Ah.. that's.. something. If you'll excuse me, I have to go check in at my hotel with my nephew."

And as if matters couldn't get worse, in walked said nephew. He shoved his phone in his pocket, smiling. He sat back down at the table.

"Mika says hi.", he smiled like an idiot.

"... Mika?", the man spoke.

"Yuu. We need to go, and we need to go now." Guren raised from his seat, grabbing Yuu by the arm. They speedwalked to the register, paid, and left the cafe.

"Guren!" Yuu struggled. "Guren, what are you-!" He broke himself free from his uncle's grasp. "What's the matter with you?! What happened?!"

"That man...", Guren took a breath. "I'm pretty sure that was Mikaela's father."

Yuu felt all colour drain from his face. He should be scared. He should leave, and head to the hotel with Guren, but oh how he wanted to head inside and beat that man into a coma. One in which, unlike his son, he wouldn't wake from. Turning on his heels, Yuu started making his way back inside.

"Yuu!"

He ignored Guren, as stormed towards the entrance of the cafe.

"YUICHIRO AMANE!"

Nothing. Yuu couldn't hear anything other than the blood boiling in his veins and the heart beating in his chest, as he opened the cafe doors.