We Have Each Other - Under Construction

Chapter 9

WARNING!!!! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MENTIONS OF STALKING, INCEST, AND    S/A!! DO NOT READ IF THAT TRIGGERS YOU!!!!
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*Yasuhiro POV*

When Leon said 'first thing in the morning', he probably meant 8:00 a.m.
Everyone else took that to mean 4:00 a.m.
Now we've ended up with sixteen people sitting on Leon's living room floor before the sun has even started to shine.
Leon doesn't seem to mind. In fact, the more people showed up, the more he relaxed.
We told everyone about the 'Nakajima situation', and got the reactions we were expecting.
The girls are waiting for the chick to actually get here, and Mondo and Taka are both foaming at the mouth waiting for a shot at Leon's parents.
"What kind of parent- what kind of person- I just..." Taka stutters. Other than me, he seems the most bothered by the situation. His face is bright red, and he's too angry to finish a sentence.
Mondo isn't helping either, simply agreeing with every half formed thought.
Celeste walked out of the room halfway through the story, and has yet to come back.
And Sayaka has been pacing behind the couch for the past twenty minutes.
Leon makes no effort to calm them. We're probably the first people in his life that have actually been on his side on this. He's laying against my side, watching all of this with an affectionate smile.
I put my arm around him and ruffle his hair a bit as Celeste finally comes back down the stairs.
She elegantly walks toward us with a satisfied expression.
"So what was that about?" I ask her as she sits down next to Leon. Celeste smiles wider.
"I'm nothing if not petty, dear." She says, proudly puffing up her chest.
"Miss Nakajima will find that her bed is quite uncomfortable. Not to mention the strongly worded message in French on the bathroom mirror." She finishes. Makoto dawns a surprised, and slightly worried, expression.
"I... don't think I want to know." He mumbles. Mondo suddenly jumps to his feet, startling the rest of us.
"I fuckin' do!" He exclaims before rushing up the stairs. Byakuya hesitates for a moment before giving in to his curiosity, quietly standing and following the gang leader.
Leon turns his attention back to Celeste.
"So, what did you do to the bed?" He asks her. The gambler plays with the end of her drills as the smile on her face turns more sinister.
"Your family has quite a lot of thumb tacks in their possession." Is all she says. My jaw drops and I stare dumbfounded at her. I never would've thought she would be the kind of person to play that prank.
"It's quite a nasty trick, I know. But I believe in poetic justice." She says, grinning wickedly.
Taka opens his mouth to lecture her, but is interrupted by Mondo howling with laughter upstairs.
It successfully distracts everyone, and Taka, strangely, decides to drop it. Everyone lets a few giggles slip as we hear the two boys coming back down the stairs.
When they come back into the room, Mondo is holding his sides while wiping away a tear from his eye.
Right next to him, Byakuya has his fists clenched at his sides, his lips pursed and his face hot pink from trying to contain his laughter.
Mondo makes a beeline for Celeste, dropping to his knees in front of her and taking her hands in his.
"That's so wrong!" He chokes out in between giggles.
Celeste laughs a bit as well, leaning forward as if she were joking about something scandalous.
Makoto, now smiling, shakes his head.
"Like I said, I don't want to know." He says.

***** Time Skip *****

"What in God's name is going on?" A stern voice interrupts our friendly chat. Leon's face drops at the sound, and we all turn to look at the source.
Both of Leon's parents were standing in the doorway, their arms crossed with a severely displeased expression.
Mondo reacts before the rest of us, clenching his fist and moving to lunge at the two. Taka grabs the back of his jacket collar, gently pulling him back down.
Mondo looks back at him, irritated. Taka merely purses his lips, shaking his head softly. Mondo huffs and sits back down.
Leon stands instead, and I fight the urge to follow him. He stands directly in between his parents and the rest of us and shoves his hands into his pockets.
"These are my friends." He says, just as stern as the adults. "They're staying here this weekend."
Leon's dad grits his teeth as his mother looks like she's about to have an aneurism.
"Like hell they are! Kanon will be here any minute!" His mother shouts in a shrill voice. I really can't help myself as the anger starts bubbling up again.
"Yeah. That's why we're here." I snap. The parents look at me, then back at Leon. They seemed to be getting angrier by the second.
"I already told you I don't want to be alone with her." Leon's confidence is unyielding. In fact, the longer this conversation goes on, the more his posture straightens.
His father gives an exasperated sigh, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Porca miseria." He grumbles. "You're still hung up on that?"
This time, it's me that stands. I get right up in their faces seething with rage. I'm much taller than both of them, and the longer I glare at them the more they seem to shrink in on themselves.
"Shut. The fuck. Up." I snarl. Mr. Kuwata takes his wife by the hand, and takes a few steps back.
I feel a hand on my arm and turn around. Leon grabs my lower arm and gently pulls me toward him. My glare disintegrates as I stand behind him.
Leon's parents regain their confidence and Mrs. Kuwata steps forward.
"I'm telling them to leave." She asserts. Leon only scoffs, crossing his arms.
"I mean, you can if you want to." He taunts. They give him a confused look, and I join them. Leon rolls his eyes and smirks.
"Sure, yeah, tell the gang leader that he's not welcome in our home." He grins. Our eyes dart to the gang leader in question. Mondo mimics Leon's mischievous smile, leaning back on the couch and waving playfully.
The Kuwata's visibly gulp. The stalemate ends when Mrs. Kuwata grunts and stomps her foot in frustration, turning on her heel and leaving the room. Her husband follows shortly after, his face beet red.
Leon beams, turning back to the rest of the group.
"Guess you're staying." He jokes.
A few of the others clap and cheer as the mood relaxes.
Mondo is still pouting, refusing to look at Taka at all while the other laughs at him.
"Let Leon have his moment Kyodai." Taka chuckles. Mondo says nothing, huffing impatiently.
"What did they mean? Kanon is gonna be here any minute?" Sayaka asks Leon.
"I bet they were just exaggerating." I respond. "I mean, it's only, like, six o'clock."
Leon shakes his head, smile disappearing from his face.
"Nope. Kanon gets here as early as possible to spend more time with me." He says. I frown, and put my arm around his shoulders. He leans into me, grateful for the contact.
And just like that, the doorbell rings. Leon groans and bumps his forehead against my chest.
Mrs. Kuwata immediately reappears, and, after shooting us one last glare, goes to open the door.
"Here we go..." Leon sighs.
We hear the two women at the door squealing in excitement, clearly happy to see each other. Mrs. Kuwata offers to take care of her things, and a little blonde girl comes running in not too long after.
She dashes past everyone, not seeming to notice anything other than Leon.
"Lee-Lee!" She exclaims, making a beeline for her cousin. Leon shrinks away, and I quickly push Kanon away from him.
She stumbles backwards. She looks confused, as if she only just now noticed that there are other people in the room. After looking around, getting her bearings, she turns back to look at Leon with a pout on her lips.
"Lee-Chan, who are these people? I thought it was just gonna be us." She complains. Leon crosses his arms wordlessly, not looking in her direction.
Sayaka takes the head of the conversation as she moves to stand a bit closer.
"We're Leon's best friends. And we'll be here for the whole weekend." She says. She takes a wide, powerful stance as she stares the other girl down.
Kanon clenches her fists, and whips back around to Leon. She points an accusing finger at Sayaka, stamping her foot a little.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" She demands. "Tell them to leave!"
Leon takes my hand, steadying himself.
"No." He says firmly. "I want them to stay, so they're gonna stay."
Kanon looks as if she's about to cry, and Leon starts to look guilty. I squeeze his hand a little, hoping to boost his resolve.
'You've got this. I'm here for you.' I give him silent affirmations in my head. Leon closes his eyes, taking a breath before pulling me to the couch and sitting down.
The others get to work, passive aggressive comments and backhanded compliments being thrown around.
Leon just watches, his expression unreadable.
He scoots closer, as close as he can get without sitting in my lap, and puts his head on my shoulder as he starts rubbing my hand with his thumb.
Now that my attention is fully on him, our position is kinda flustering me.
"Uh... L-Leon? What're you doing?" I stutter. I feel him chuckle against my arm.
"What? Am I not allowed to cuddle with my boyfriend when I'm upset?"
My face catches fire. So that's why he's been so affectionate with me lately.
He thinks we're together? Are we?
"Leon... we're not..." I trail off, unable to get my thoughts in order. Leon gets the message, letting go of my hand and moving away from me.
"We're not?" He exclaims, eyes wide.
We both start sputtering and stumbling out explanations and apologies.
I'm eventually able to calm myself down enough to be quiet for a moment. It seems to help Leon, as he shuts up as well.
We sit in uncomfortable silence for what feels like an eternity, both of us trying to figure out what to say. It's not like I wanted to reject him. He just caught me by surprise, that's all. I can feel Leon's mood deflate next to me. My face flushes as I realize what I've done.
"I... I mean we could be... if you wanted to..." I mumble. Leon's head snaps in my direction, gazing at me with big blue doe eyes.
"We can?" He says, surprised. "I mean- Yes! Hell yeah! I want to!" He ends with a smile, a contagious one at that. I smile back, taking his hand in mine again.
The tender moment is interrupted, however, by Byakuya. The blondie had apparently been behind the couch the whole time, listening to the awkward conversation.
"Mazel tov." He says sarcastically. "But I don't really think that now is the time, or place, to be indulging in our love lives." Leon stifles a laugh as I scratch the back of my neck in embarrassment.
"Yeah, you're probably right." I say, glancing over to the group.
Junko is currently berating Kanon for her hair and fashion choices while Mondo stands behind her, just staring threateningly.
Leon doesn't look uncomfortable with it, but he certainly doesn't look comfortable either.
I pull him into a hug as Kanon decides she's finally had enough, running up the stairs in a huff.
The others turn their attention back to us, smiling triumphantly. Leon purses his lips.
"Look, I'm not gonna tell you guys to stop, but could you at least tone it down?" He asks, letting me go in order to sit up a bit straighter.
"If you guys keep this up, I won't be able to stop my folks from throwing you out."
Celeste's expression drops significantly as she crosses her arms.
"Fine." She says, the scream of indignant rage from upstairs putting the smile back on her face.
"We'll try."