sour boy | suna rintarou (eng)

40

«I need to ask you a favor,» Suna said, distracting me from my homework.
«What is it?»
Suna scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. «Can you stay for dinner?»
I looked at him. In the last few weeks, I'd often come over to his house to study together or to - do something else... but I'd never met his parents and had never stopped for dinner with them.
«Why?» I asked.
«It's my mom's birthday. She doesn't want to celebrate it, but I'd like to at least have no arguments at the table tonight. I don't want to put you in my family's messes, but if there was a guest my dad maybe wouldn't act like the usual asshole...» he paused, then added, «You don't have to, though. I don't want to put you in an awkward situation.»
I got up from the chair and set on the bed with him. «Of course I'll stay.»
Suna smiled gratefully at me, but he still looked worried. I moved a strand of hair from his forehead. «What?» I asked softly.
Suna sighed. «I hope my dad behaves. The last thing I want is for him to make you feel uncomfortable.»
«I grew up surrounded by Osamu, Atsumu and their friends. It's hard for a male to make me feel uncomfortable,» I ironized.
Suna grimaced, as if my words didn't convince him.
«I don't know your father, but I have no interest in pleasing a man who made you run away from your own house. Whatever he'll do or say will have no effect on me,» I reassured him.
Seeing that his expression was still furrowed, I took his face in my hands and squeezed his cheeks. «It'll be fine.»
Suna grabbed my wrists, but not to make my hands move. I loosened my grip on his face a little, so as not to give him that funny expression anymore, and stared into his beautiful eyes.
«Thank you,» he murmured.
I smiled and caressed his cheeks.
«There's one more thing you need to know, though.»
«What?»
«Yuki told our parents that you're my girlfriend.»
I felt my cheeks catch fire and immediately pulled away from him. «What?!»
«Well, she sees us together all the time... You're the first girl I've ever brought home.»
«And you didn't correct her?»
«Of course I did! But my mom doesn't believe me, and she keeps making stupid comments when I mention you and stuff...»
A small part of me was very happy to hear that Suna talked to his mother about me, but a much, much bigger part was totally embarrassed. I covered my face with my hands, which elicited a laugh from Suna.
«At least now you know.»
«Thank you so much,» I mumbled. «When will your mother be home?»
«I think in a couple of hours.»
«Then I have time to do something...» I grabbed my bag and walked out of Suna's house before he could stop me.

Suna's mom (Mieko) looked very much like him. They had the same hair, the same features, and the same eye shape. She was a sweet woman and loved to talk. As soon as I got home, after Suna had introduced me and asked if I could stay for dinner, she made me a cup of tea and started asking me a lot of questions: about my brothers, about her son, about me... She really wanted to get to know me better. I even tried to tell her that Suna and I weren't together, but she nodded her hand as if swatting away a fly and said, «Define yourselves as you want. I just want my baby to be happy and to make others happy in turn». I had looked at Suna, who had blushed at the expression "my baby" and surely knew I would tease him for life about it - even though I was actually a little jealous... I always was when I saw loving parents with their children.
When I gave Mieko the bouquet I'd bought for her earlier, she almost started crying. Rintarou took me aside to tell me that there was no need for me to buy her anything, and gave me a kiss (well away from the eyes of his family) when I replied that I had made it for his mother and not for him.

Suna's father arrived late and drunk. I was stunned to say the least, and so were his wife and children. Seeing a big, tall man in a suit stagger over to the table and sit down dead weight on the only empty chair silenced everyone. He hadn't even noticed I was there.
Mieko was the first to recover and cleared her throat.
«Dear, you finished late at work. You must be tired. Do you want something to eat?» she asked softly.
The man didn't answer, got up and took a bottle of wine from the kitchen, then sat back down and poured it without uttering a word.
«You've got to be fucking kidding me...» Suna hissed beside me.
His muscles were tense and he had an expression full of hatred and disgust on his face. I took his hand under the table, but it didn't help him calm down.
«Did you say something, brat?» the man asked, after emptying his glass.
«He didn't say anything. Izumo, did you see? Rin brought his girlfriend to dinner. Isn't she beautiful?» replied Mieko promptly.
The man's eyes finally settled on me, and a shiver ran down my spine. He had the same eye color as Rin, but his were much, much, much crueler and colder. I tried to smile at him politely.
«Yes, beautiful. How come you're with someone like him?»
Suna squeezed my hand under the table. I knew he was going to answer, but I beat him to it.
«Well, Rin has a lot of qualities. And he's one of the best people I know.»
I looked at Mieko, who was smiling at me gratefully and proudly. That serene expression, however, disappeared with the sound Izumo made. It was a laugh full of mockery.
I knew that Suna was trying to hold back for his mother and that dinner's sake, but I had lost all feeling in my fingers from how tightly his hand was gripping mine.
For a few seconds we were silent, the only audible sound Izumo's nasal laughter. Yuki looked confused. She didn't know whether to laugh with her daddy, or to be angry like her big brother, or to be scared like her mommy.
«Shall I help you cut the cake?» I asked Mieko sweetly, hoping to distract her for even a second from the sorrow her husband was giving her.
«Yes!» she immediately snapped, as if this suggestion was a breath of fresh air after being underwater for too long. She stood up, and motioned for me to follow her into the kitchen.
«I'm sorry about my husband. Work has been very heavy lately, and sometimes he lets himself go a bit...» she tried to justify.
I smiled at her in the most conciliatory way I could. «Don't worry about it. What's important to me is that you has a nice evening with your chil-»
My voice stopped as I heard Suna's, high and threatening, coming from the dining room.
«It's her fucking birthday and, even tonight, you couldn't keep quiet? Do you even have an ounce of respect for her in you?»
It was fuzzy. I could hardly recognize him.
I heard a thud. That was enough to make both Mieko and I completely forget about the cake.