[FIN] Uninvited Guest

[Kitomyx]

“Andre…? Zacharie, what happened?” Akira asked, getting up again from where he sat as soon as the pair came into view. “Zacharie, what’s the matter?” He cast Andre a concerned, questioning look. “Was it...did he do something?” His gaze went to the cut on Andre’s chin and his eyes narrowed.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Andre gave the silver-haired male a small smile as he settled in the chair. “Just a conflict of interests that got out of hand.” He said lightly, wincing at the slight sting.

Zacharie remained silent as he withdrew a decent sized, plastic container from his bag and set it on the table. “Zacharie?” Kuroko cocked his head and stared over at his trainer with concern, wiggling to get out of Akira's arms. “Oh…” The Agent smiled shakily, making a vague motion with his hands. “I need...warm water and a washcloth…” He took a few steps to leave the room. “I’ll be right back.” He left, followed closely by his pokemon.

The information broker sighed softly and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry, Akira. If I had known this would happen I wouldn’t have let him come in the first place.” He smiled apologetically at the younger man.  

[Kitomyx]

“I swear, if I ever get a hold of that b*****d…” Akira set Kuroko down when the pokemon started struggling and regarded Zacharie seriously. When the young man went to leave, his Espurr right behind him, the shop clerk frowned and looked back at Andre. “What happened?” he asked again, walking over to stand before his host. “Will Zacharie be okay? How is Izaya even involved with him?”  

[insidiousEnigma]

Andre reached up to take a hold of Akira’s hand, cradling it between both of his. “I’m not entirely sure how they met but they’ve been in contact for a few years. Zacharie wanted to be friends...Izaya did not.” He summarized, running his fingers along the others thoughtfully. “Izaya doesn’t seem to have his wits about him at the moment.”

The youngest Dubois bustled back into the room, the area around his eyes and nose a bright red but otherwise looking like his usual self. “I hope you don’t mind that I’m going to use the washcloth from the washroom.” He muttered, setting the bowl down carefully on the table.

He paused to study the other occupants’ joined hands, his eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly before he turned to wring out the washcloth. “That’s more than alright.” Andre said lightly, tilting his head slightly as his brother moved to dab at the cut. “Oh, Louis started brewing the tea and he said that there’s shortcake.” Zacharie muttered, focused on cleaning the bit of drying blood from around the cut and from where it had dripped down Andre’s neck.

“I love shortcake~” Andre smiled, hissed, and tightened his grip on Akira’s hand just a bit. “Yeah well, we can have some after I get this dressed.” The Agent grumbled, reaching back into his kit and digging around before he pulled out a white cylinder marked with a bold, white ‘A’ and a rubber glove. “...Zacharie.” The younger ignored him in favour of pulling the glove on and dipping his finger into the pale blue mixture. “This will sting a bit.” Was all the warning he gave before slathering it over the cut, frowning slightly as his brother gave a soft, but pained, grunt.  

[Kitomyx]

“Why would Zacharie want to make friends with him? Doesn’t he have anyone else to befriend?” His face reddened automatically when Andre took his hand and he grasped the other’s fingers purposefully. “And since when does Izaya have wits?”

When Zacharie reappeared, Akira regarded him while continuing to frown. He found himself feeling a bit embarrassed when the younger man’s eyes went to his and his brother’s hands, but he didn’t pull them away. He felt a little awkward like he was getting in the way while Andre was getting his cut cleaned, but he couldn’t bring himself to pull his hand back, either.

He bit his lip when the younger sibling warned the older that the mixture would sting. Would it be too much to give him a kiss when Zacharie was there? He held his hand tighter, but the pained sound Andre made finally got to him. He moved his head to brush his lips against the other man’s cheek.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Politely turning his face away, Zacharie rummaged around in his first aid kit for a bandage.

Andre on the other hand couldn’t help but smile widely as Akira gave him what could only be a ‘get better’ kiss. He hummed lightly, happily, as he rubbed his thumb against the back of the others hand. “Thank you,” he said, turning his smile to Zacharie when the boy turned back to face them. “Both of you.”

Zacharie gave his brother an odd look, “You’re welcome.” It was obvious that he didn’t know why his brother was thanking him. “I’ll just put this on and then we can have tea.” He tore the backing off and gently smoothed the bandage onto his brother’s face, his fingers lingering for just a second as his expression became troubled once again.

“As good as new~” Andre chirped upon noticing his little brother’s frown. He leaned over to press his lips to Zacharie’s temple before leaning up to kiss Akira’s cheek. “...Geez.” The Agent muttered, drawing back with a faint blush. “Let’s have tea, I am parched.” He stood and dusted his pants with his free hand.  

[Kitomyx]

Akira felt the now-familiar sensation of his face heating up as Andre seemed to react positively toward his behavior and looked back at Zacharie. Something was definitely wrong with the nature-lover and it bothered him to think that Izaya might have somehow gotten to the sweet young man. It was bad enough that there had been physical harm inflicted on Andre, but the worst damage the human-observer tended to do usually seemed to be emotional.

“So he likes to embarrass you too, does he?” the silver-haired trainer noted, referring to Andre as he watched with amusement and a pang of sympathy as Zacharie reddened. “I think that must be a hobby of his; seeing how often and how hard he can cause people to blush.” Squeezing Andre’s hand one more time, Akira gently pulled his hand away to go to Zacharie and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey,” he said gently. “Do me a favor, would you please?” He met the other’s eyes with a gravely serious look. “Don’t force yourself to smile when you’re not okay. It makes everything hurt even more and as such a sweet, caring, compassionate guy as you are, it pains me to watch you be in pain.”  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie looked up from where he had been packing up his things to roll his eyes. “If embarrassing people were a sport he’d take the gold.” He muttered, though a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips when his brother just laughed.

The smile slowly slipped from his face though, his bottom lip trembling ever so slightly as he met Akira’s gaze. He looked down at his hands as he wrung them together, trying to keep the tears at bay but he shuddered heavily before a rough, choked sob broke free.

“Mon coeur.” Andre was wrapping his arms around his little brother before Zacharie had a chance to make a run for it. “Il me peine de te voir pleurer. Please don’t cry.” The younger of the two buried his face into Andre’s shoulder as he clutched at his shirt. Andre threaded his fingers through the others hair with one hand and rubbed his back with the other. “Sh-Shhh…” He pressed a series of kisses against the side of Zacharie’s head. “Akira,” He glanced at the other from the corner of his eye. “Would you mind helping Louis out in the kitchen?” He hugged Zacharie closer when the others grip on him tightened.  

[Kitomyx]

Akira nodded with a small, understanding smile at Andre’s request and took one more look at the distressed boy in his arms before turning to head into the kitchen. It touched him how strong their relationship as brothers was. Though Akira had been worrying about how to comfort Zacharie, those worries were put to rest when Andre stepped in. It seemed like all the younger man needed was the support of his older sibling just then.