Royal Gambit

VIII

On Friday evening, with his right leg absent-mindedly bouncing under his desk, Shoto watched with an anticipating gaze as the loading circle spun round and round in the centre of his laptop's screen. He looked at his new alarm clock, the bright digits informing him it was 10 in the evening, meaning that it was around 2 in the afternoon in France. A flicker of his screen drew his gaze and he smiled when he saw his brother's blurry figure greeting him. 

"Good morning," he greeted with a cheery tone that he knew would annoy his brother, "aren't you supposed to be in class?"

Touya muttered something unintelligible, pushing himself out of bed with what looked like momentous effort as he walked to his kitchen. Over the years Touya had developed an awful addiction to coffee, meaning that without at least two cups he could not function like a normal human being. Shoto did not know this was a commonality among adults until he met Aizawa-Sensei. He worried that the same disaster would come upon some of his friends, Shinsou being the first person to come to mind. 

Shoto waited until Touya had downed several shots of coffee before asking how he was doing and how his studies were going. It was not the most entertaining conversation topic, but firstly his brother was still hardly awake and secondly he always had some story to tell that if their father heard would likely lead him to being pulled out of university. 

"And my fucking Econ prof can choke on my paper for all I care, he fuckin' hates me so I know his marks don't mean shit." Touya grumbled as he once again fell into a heap on his bed, thankfully having opened the curtains to let in some sunlight. 

"At least it's only one class, right?" He tried to assure Touya. "So you do not have to see him very often. I imagine if you had my Geography teacher then you would have been expelled within a week."

"He a pain in the ass too?" Touya asked. "The only reason I'm still in this hell is because if I ace my final piece for Illustration it could get me a gig with an upstart gaming company my prof has connections with."

"That sounds great. Some of my classmates enjoy gaming as much as you do, I'm sure they'd love to see your animations. But," he asked more tentatively, "does father know about this?"

"You know I answer his calls barely once a month." Touya grinned as he chugged more coffee, but Shoto could see the strain in his brother's expression. Even after all these years, despite the tentative middle ground Touya and their father had settled on it still was not a comfortable topic of conversation.

"Have you shown him any of your works? I think your final piece for the Portraits module you studied last year was incredible." He spoke sincerely, glad to see Touya's grin relaxing. 

"Thanks, Sho. But damn, it took a long time to finish that one. It's hanging up all proud in the Exhibition Hall now." 

Shoto nodded. "Your technique has definitely improved since you started university, and I could really see your deep feelings for the object of the painting. Hawks, is that their name?"

He laughed when Touya choked on his coffee and he received the middle finger, knowing it was always fun to see his brother become flustered whenever his friend was mentioned. Shoto did not know the depth of Touya's relationship with Hawks, he did not know what their real name was, but he did know that he was a pillar of support for his brother and they cared for each other deeply. 

"Whatever, it doesn't even really look like them. Too abstract." Touya waved absently before asking him about Shoto. "You been doing okay at UA? The old man isn't getting on your ass about anything?" Shoto shook his head. 

"He has actually been away these past few weeks. I think he has some duties to carry out with our great aunt, and then he has meetings to attend in Kyoto. It's just been Mother and I." He explained. "It's rather pleasant."