Joker

48. Ayu reunites with Aki (And figures out what adult pillow fight meant)

Ayu groaned as he woke up. Gah why me? Sleep! Sweet sweet sleep! Why have you abandoned me? His door soon opened, his dad popped his head in "Champ? Come on. Time to get up."

"Dad five minutes." Ayu whined.

"I cannot believe I'm starting to miss the time you were the one who didn't let me sleep in on weekends." Dad walked over and yanked off Ayu's blanket and flung the curtains open "Get up now. You have practice."

"Screw practice." Ayu yawned.

"Ayush don't test me." Dad warned but smiled, dimples appearing. He ruffled Ayu's hair and kissed his forehead "Go. I'm making pancakes."

"Going." Ayu said, rubbing his eyes. Aki's pancakes were better. I wish he was here. Ayu still thought a lot about Aki. And he knew his dad did too. Despite the long talks they had had, coming to peace with his identity as Joker and his death... Ayu always had a lingering feeling that Aki was out there somewhere. Part of him wanted to leave school and roam the world in search for him. If Aki really was Joker he'd be alive.

He still held Joker as his standard. He was glad to see that he was succeeding. He had just turned thirteen and officially qualified for Junior athletics and even competitive MMA. He had practice for MMA though. He picked out his outfit. I feel like something simple will suffice today. Oh this flannel shirt! Smart. I'll pair this with my jeans and belt! There we go! Perfect! He ran downstairs and saw his dad flipping over pancakes.

"Dad your coffee." Ayu pointed to the spilled coffee as the old machine cranked out more brown liquid.

"DAMN IT!" Dad rushed over and turned it off "HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?!"

"You tell me dad." Ayu laughed as he popped in a blueberry from the bowl his dad had put out "So?"

"So what?"

"So it's... almost that time of the year. What are we doing?" Ayu asked.

It was a month before Aki's would-be 30th birthday. He and his dad had developed a tradition of going out to ice-skate on Aki's birthday. Just to remind themselves about how he always loved them. He might have lied about Joker but he never lied about us. He protected us and loved us the whole damn way.

"What we always do. You skate and I try not to fall." Dad chuckled "It was always easier when he was there." He still can't say Aki's name. It's been four years...

"You aren't mad at him about it right?" Ayu asked, despite already knowing the answer. He just didn't want dad to hold any resentment towards Aki. Especially after the letter they had received from the rest of Card before they disbanded. They simply said that it was because of them that Aki was even in the business as long as he wa and had fought for their protection. He had completely banned anyone from approaching them and even threatened to kill anyone who touched either of them. Card had vouched for how Aki truly, devotedly loved them both and did his best to protect them from afar.

"Not exactly. I mean I can imagine his plight too thanks to that book you gave me." Dad said "I still don't know his story and now I never will... And- and that's fine. I'll just... try to make do with the good memories I have of him."

Ayu smiled "I think Aki's story might be similar to Kai's."

The book Ayu had given Nakul was a novel called 'Red hands' by an author named Akira Kimura. It was about an assassin named Kai who had saved the child of a widowed detective and had ended up falling in love with him. Ayu had found it in the library since it was a huge hit. It had even won a whole bunch of prizes and had topped sales worldwide. Ayu had read it and felt intense sympathy for the guilty, tortured main character Kai. Despite never having fallen in love in real life (Ayu's long persisting crush on Solar didn't count) Ayu felt the pain Kai felt at being the one his lover searched for and hiding just to be with him. The ending wasn't exactly bright. Kai was caught by the detective Varun Sharma and he killed himself. The book ended with the words that haunted every reader who read them.