Chapter Text
Gojyo stuck his hands in his pockets, trying hard to not touch his lips. He kissed him. He. Kissed. Him. Him! His lab partner in the bullshit module he had to take to get his grade up to passing. Him, with the dark green eyes and wicked smile. Him, with the impossibly long lashes and unusually soft lips. His best friend since he started at this school half a year ago.
Cho Hakkai.
This can’t be right.
This can’t be.
Gojyo is very strictly a womaniser, a skirt chaser, a flirt with the very feminine sort. He should have pushed Hakkai off when it happened, loudly proclaimed that he wasn’t into guys that way. But he didn’t. He didn’t push him off and instead returned the kiss, and if not for the ring of the bell, more would have happened in that charged moment. He rubbed at his lips, suddenly thinking of his oldest brother, of how much Kenren would have loved to see that kiss happen in person. A warm body next to yours is a fine thing, no matter what kind of situation they have in their pants. Fucking Kenren and his lack of standards. At least Gojyo picked up some dignity from his overly reserved brother Doku. If Doku had a partner, neither of them would have known about it until after the third child was born. Probably.
He closed his eyes but all he could think of was the taste of him, how different he was from the other girls Gojyo had kissed before and how much his body wanted that mouth on other parts of it. He felt his cheeks redden and he coughed, seeing a pair of sensible mary janes come to a resolute stop in front of him. He looked up to see a yellow sunflower print wrap dress and had to pinch himself to ensure that he wasn’t dreaming. Hakkai wasn’t into crossdressing, last he checked. And he wouldn’t be glaring at him with that familiar look that he knows from all his previous hook-ups. Not after that hell of a kiss at least.
A slap.
Well, this was normal. Being slapped, he supposed. Even if she does look like the man he just kissed under the stairs leading up to the laboratory. Gojyo mentally traced the outline of her lips, wondering if they were copy pasted from his memory onto this person standing in front of him. She looked familiar but he would have remembered someone like her, someone who looked so much like Hakk-
Ahem.
Someone as pretty as this lady would have definitely registered on his radar. He spread his hands in the air in an exaggerated shrug.
“Now, I usually want to get dinner first before we start with the spanking.” He said, but wasn’t expecting the punch right in his gut.
“My name is Cho Kanan and you better stay away from my man.” She whispered in a low growl unbefitting that lovely face, before stalking away.
Gojyo looked up from holding his stomach, trying to make sense of what the day had thrown at him. “Cho?” She had a really lovely ass, he noted with a smirk as he straightened up. Wife? No, it can’t be. Mother? Unlikely, unless she drank from the fountain of youth on a regular basis.
Sister? Yes, that had to be it. It had to be. The last option was too terrifying to think about.
Something turned in his head, trying to plot if this was going to be a good idea. If it was even considered an idea to begin with. Sha Gojyo was known for getting any woman in his bed. And apparently also one Cho Hakkai. And to quote from that very popular picture everywhere on the internet.
Why not both?
---
Gojyo looked up at his oldest brother as they were both smoking out on the patio. "Have you ever dated more than one person?" He said as he offered his lighter. "At the same time?" He skipped his last class for this, calling up his oldest brother on a whim and inviting himself over for dinner. Gojyo shook the lighter at him, waiting for a response to his question. Try as he might, he couldn't get the thought of the two of them out of his head. Doku was too far away and he's probably working right now so he can't text him for advice and there's no way he'll bring his problems to Step-mother.
Kenren took the zippo and laughed. "Your brother in law will rip my balls off if I even dare to think such a thing." He lit up another cigarette and sighed. "It's not easy though." He gave him a side eye. "Is that what you come to visit here for?" Kenren took a look back inside, a semi worried look on his face. "And speaking of your brother in law, I haven't heard from that nerd in a while… Tenpou? You okay in there?" The last sentence was directed inside to where a very conspicuous lack of noise was being emitted.
Gojyo rolled his eyes. "I'll go check on him… though you said he didn't want any help." He tossed his spent cigarette into the curious frog shaped ashtray and went in to look for his brother's husband. His brother had gotten married a month ago in secret. Their controlling step/mother would have never allowed it for one. They bought a home near the university that Gojyo was attending and apparently his brother's husband was a new lecturer at the same university too. Kenren said he taught the weirdest subjects but wouldn't elaborate on what he meant by that. Kenren usually did some odd jobs here and there with the skills he picked up over the years but they mostly survived on Tenpou's income. Gojyo hasn't seen this mysterious person who somehow managed to ensnare his brother. He had just hopped off the bus and made his way over to the house by using the maps function on his phone. Kenren was already smoking outside when he got there and so Gojyo slid over with a cigarette in hand.
Apparently it was a man who managed to tame his brother. Actually, the gender of the person shouldn't matter because the fact that the legendary Sha Kenren had settled down with anyone at all was already an epic feat. Hopefully his new brother-in-law would have some sort of self defence skills because he could name more than ten of Kenren's ex partners who would not be happy about this development.
"Tenpou?" He opened the kitchen door and coughed as a billow of smoke flew out. "Kenren said to check if you need help." He could barely make out a human shaped form in the corner along with a roaring fire under a bubbling pot of curry. He switched the flames off and opened a window, coughing hard as he fanned the smoke out.
"Babe, you know you're not supposed to read when you're cooking!" That was Kenren for sure. "Your siblings are here too, why didn't you tell me they're coming over this early?"
More coughing and two silhouettes appeared at the kitchen door. "Oh Ten-chan, you were reading while cooking again weren't you?"
Gojyo stopped dead at that voice. It… it couldn't be.
"This is why Kanan and I had to do most of the chores when we lived together." A familiar amused laugh and Gojyo felt his heart drop right through the floor.
Kenren pushed past him and pulled the book away. "Hey, you." That was his sweet talk voice. Gojyo had heard that multiple times, usually persuading his date to do something he wanted them to. It usually worked. Usually. "Babe, you okay?" He could see his brother lean in to say something in his husband's ear then he straightened up again to fan the last of the smoke out the windows.
Now that the smoke had cleared, he could see his new brother in law clearly for the first time. "Gojyo!?" And with all the siblings lined up in front of him, he could affirm the family resemblance. Tenpou was very much his brother's type, first of all -very pretty, and with a streak of stubborn defiance under those thick glasses. While Hakkai and Kanan were twins, he could see that Tenpou looked similar enough to pass as a triplet even.
He cracked an uneasy grin. “Yup, it's me alright.” He nodded over to Kenren who had gone over to the pot and was stirring it while making a face. “Kenren’s one of my brothers and if… if Tenpou over here’s your brother then… Hi, siblings in law?”
A study in expressions. Kanan was pure rage, she had grabbed hold of Hakkai’s hand and was holding it tightly and possessively close to her. Hakkai was frozen in that polite confusion he had grown to know over the months. Tenpou was looking at him then back to Kenren, a knowing smirk on his face. He was the first to move, dusting himself off as he walked over to the kitchen door.
“I’ll leave the cooking to the experts then. You can find me in my study. Thank you dear!” That was directed to Gojyo’s brother, mumbling under his breath as he tasted the curry while he stirred. “I got some research material to go through, so just ping me when dinner’s ready~”
That left him, both the Cho twins and his brother, who was frantically adding spices and water to try and save the dinner.
"So..." "You!" "Brothers?" "Gojyo."
They all spoke at the same time and Gojyo had the sense to look sheepish as his eldest brother shot him a dirty look. "Gojyo, get here and taste this." Kenren called him over and he went, still feeling their eyes on him. "And you two, go set the table. This is almost done and hopefully edible. The plates and things are in the cupboard outside." That broke the sudden silence and the three of them scuttled away to their assigned stations.
"So I'm guessing it's both of them, huh?" Gojyo gulped and nodded, keeping his head down as he ladled the curry into the serving bowl. "Well I haven't met the twins before but Tenpou has told me a lot about them. And from what I hear, the family resemblance is deeper than just those good looks so buckle up because you're gonna be in for a hell of a ride." Kenren gave a short laugh and slapped his brother on the back. "I'm dealing with just one, if you're gonna go for both… I don't even want to think about what that entails." His face grew serious then and he looked at a wall calendar stuck behind a fridge magnet. "And I tried to tell you but today's not a good day to visit. It's the anniversary of some really fucked up things."
---
10 years ago
Hakkai just watched the shadows from under the door, holding onto Kanan tight beside him. Mother was downstairs, along with Father. He saw them kill Mother first, shot in the back as she tried to run. He didn’t know. All he wanted was a glass of water from the kitchen downstairs. They had broken in so silently none of them knew they were there until Mother and Father came back earlier than the robbers had anticipated. That was when he ran, back to his room before the armed men noticed him watching them. A second gunshot afterwards as he climbed into Kanan’s bed, clamping a hand over her mouth as he shook his head. “There’s some. Some people here. They’re robbing the house. We need to get Ten-chan and get out.”
A slam from the room next to them and a scream after. Both of them flinched as their door rattled and heavy footsteps came up the corridor. “No!” That was their older brother’s voice, sounding strangely calm but loud as if he was just standing in front of the door. “What do you want? Money? Jewellery? It's all in the safe.” Some muffled talking and both of them flinched again as their door shook as if something hard was thrown at it. “I'm the only one who knows the combination now. The twins are too young, they don’t know where the valuables are kept. The safe is bolted into the floorboards and wall, it’ll take too long to break into it and you can’t pull it out to crack later.” Another shake of the door and suddenly there were footsteps going all the way to the master bedroom on the right.
Kanan was staring at him in the dim light, her eyes wide and full of tears. Hakkai hugged her while looking around the room for something they could use.
“Hakkai, no… We can’t hit them, they’re bigger than us and they have guns and.” She was frozen now, staring at the door as Hakkai let go to dig through their toy box for something, anything that could help.
Both of them screamed again as a gunshot pierced the air. “Ten-chan!” Their door slammed open now and the light flicked on. The robbers had on full black ski masks that covered their faces and they were so much bigger than he could have anticipated. He immediately stood in front of Kanan’s bed, not sure what he could do but he was ready to do it, anything even.
“So you were right then, just these two brats here.” The first man stared at Kanan and she clutched the blankets to her tight, feeling disgusted but she didn’t know why. “You two are lucky I’m not into undeveloped snots.” He pulled Ten-chan into the room and he stumbled in, still in his lame frog print pyjamas, and crashed into Hakkai’s bed frame. Their brother looked the worse for wear, with a split lip and new bruises on his arms.
Even then, Hakkai caught sight of the smirk he gave the robber through his bleeding mouth. “Why would I lie?” He tried to stand up but the second man shoved him and he fell backwards, now onto Hakkai’s mattress, scattering wrapping paper and markers to the ground. He turned to the twins still frozen near Kanan’s bed, barking out an uncharacteristically loud command that they had never heard from their soft spoken brother. “Both of you go to the closet and cover your ears!” He met Kanan’s eyes first, then Hakkai, his gaze softening before the next order. “Now!”
They ran headfirst into the closet, shutting it behind them as they did as he commanded.
“Strip then. Let’s see what you-”
Hakkai covered his ears first, looking over at Kanan who was doing the same as they huddled together. He stared at the box hidden under the pile of clothes. Their present for Tenpou was there, wrapped by Kanan and him just a few hours ago. Their parents had gone out to get a cake for the celebration the next day. The robbers must have waited for their car to pull out of the driveway before breaking in. At least that's what the police said later on. Much help that was.
Hakkai didn’t know then what was happening outside other than the men were hurting Ten-chan somehow, but a look at Kanan seemed to imply that she did, she did know how they were hurting Ten-chan, and she was suddenly so much older and wiser than he was at that point in time. All he heard were grunts along with unfriendly laughter, the creaking of bedsprings and above it all was their brother trying hard to not cry.
He didn’t know how long they were in that closet but the grunting grew louder and then suddenly stopped. Hakkai took his hands down from his ears and saw Kanan coming over to him, tears streaming down her face as well.
“Should we kill him?” One of the men’s voices, sounding much too pleased with himself. “He served his purpose after all. Though I don't mind another round later on.”
“No!” A urgent whisper and both of them peered through the door slats, trying to make sense of what was happening. There were pants on the ground right outside the closet, with an unmistakable shine of a gun in the folds. Ten-chan was trying to sit up, he wasn’t wearing any clothes from what Hakkai could see and he cried out as one of the robbers, one of the robbers who wasn’t wearing any pants, grabbed him by the arm and put a gun to his head.
“Do it then.” Ten-chan said, his voice again surprisingly calm as he gave the barest hint of a smirk. “Just as long as you don’t hurt the kids.”
Hakkai again stared at the gun in the pants, then was about to look at Kanan but the next thing he knew was that she had burst out of the closet and grabbed the weapon, firing it off wildly at the robbers, hitting one in the shoulder.
“The little shit took your gun!” The other one came towards her, his hand upraised and Hakkai charged out as well, trying to shove him back but was pushed away effortlessly.
“Kanan! Hakkai! No!” There were only had two guns shared between the three men in the room. The realization suddenly came to him as the one who had his gun pointing at Ten-chan turned to aim at Kanan instead. He didn't stop to think but instead turned to run towards her, jumping in a kind of last ditch tackle and suddenly he felt like he had been punched right in the gut. The world was a blur of colour after that but there were the loud stomping of boots then along with blaring sirens and the unmistakable yell of;
“POLICE! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!”
Ten-chan wasn’t the same after that. None of them were. Hakkai remembered being in the hospital for what felt like years though they told him that it was only a few weeks or so. The bullet passed through without hitting anything important. Anything important. What a joke. And as if in some kind of universal justice, the robber Kanan shot died from the wound infecting two days later in the ward down the hall.
Ten-chan was right next to him when he was able to be. He had always been quiet but afterwards he almost seemed to have gone mute. The doctors were nice enough but they could see the way the nurses whispered behind their hands about the three of them alone in a private ward. Their parents' insurance paid for it after all, and together with their will, the newly orphaned Cho siblings inherited a considerable sum of money and assets. Ten-chan became their guardian, funny enough that he just turned the right age to be considered old enough to be an adult right on the night before their parents were murdered. Funny in a weird cosmic joke kind of way, Hakkai supposed. Ten-chan grew lost in his books a lot after that too, lost in the sort of sense that he never wanted to come back.
Ten-chan bought an apartment for them to live in and the three of them paid someone else to clear out their home and dispose of most of the items inside. Hakkai got his own room at last, along with Kanan. They used to complain about each other so much. So many complaints for having to share their space and look now at how they got their wish. He would have preferred to bunk with Kanan forever if it meant that night never happened.
Ten-chan slept on the sofa outside or on the floor with a blanket. Now as an adult, Hakkai could see again how his brother always slept facing the door, with his stack of books as well as a newly acquired baseball bat next to him. He said that he was getting into sports but neither of them had ever seen him bring that bat out for practice. The money they had could have purchased a house with enough bedrooms for the three of them along with state of the art security systems but they never questioned it at the time. How could they? But the apartment was in a gated community and surely that should be enough.
It was.
Slowly, bit by bit, they tried to rebuild their lives. Ten-chan eventually regained his voice and found work as a part time researcher at a historical foundation nearby. Hakkai and Kanan went back to school, learning how lively conversations fell silent when they drew near and they got used to the looks of pity and sorrow from those around them. They had each other, and Ten-chan as well, there was no need for anyone else. Just the three of them in their little two bedroom apartment, safe from the eyes of the world outside.
But eventually the twins came of age and were accepted into the same university on scholarships. By a stroke of luck Ten-chan also managed to move to a full time position at the university and they all moved out on the same day, selling the apartment and never looking back.
It's been close to a year since they last saw their brother. University was a lot to get used to, with all the new faces and subjects and they only heard a few days ago that he had gotten married. Ten-chan always had a penchant for keeping secrets, though this was one he should have told them earlier. All they did was sign their names at the registrar, no formal wedding but knowing their brother, he wouldn't have wanted one in the first place. Hakkai and Kanan would be the ones planning and throwing one for him anyway.
----
"Do you think he's still sleeping on the sofa?" Kanan quietly asked him as they set the table, somehow able to echo his thoughts. "And if. If they. If they."
"Consummated?" Hakkai replied as softly. "I. You know we can't ask him that." He looked all around the house, mentally noting where all the doors were and spotted the time worn baseball bat lying just out of sight under the coffee table. "But if he chose this, this Sha brother for his own then. I guess he must be willing to try." His midsection hurt then. Rain must be on its way. Hopefully after they're all done with the dinner and back safely in their respective dorms for the night.