Work Text:
The first few days after landing in Germany are always a bit rough for Yoichi.
It's not like he does not know, and he has done it a few times in the past already (too many times, his mind supplies). Switching timezones is famous for not being an easy fit for anyone, so he had no expectation to feel well-rested when he took the plane from Japan a few days ago, you know, at the other side of the planet.
Not only that, but Japan and Germany are so different. The way of living, both in the city and countryside, but also usual social boundaries, social cues, hell, even people's personalities, in Yoichi's opinion. Here, people are a little bit rougher in the way they talk, but also more open, in a way, about their feelings, even to strangers. They're also more tolerant about Yoichi not fitting into the mold, and even if Germans do stare (in the way that they hold eye contact), they do not stare at Yoichi.
They are not as quite reserved as people back home usually are. Oh, and, there also is the fact that touch comes to them easily (and that, he will probably never get used to it).
Yoichi's major problem, though, is more about the language (the sounds are, again, different; and so is the grammar). And one boy Michael Kaiser. At the moment, it's both, because Yoichi is lying on the wooden ground near Michael's desk in his room,while the other is sitting cross-legged in his bed, breaking the silence with small bits of teasing and small talk in quick-paced German, a shitty grin plastered on his face.
God, he hates him.
(Well, not quite.)
"Michael Kaiser," Yoichi warns and feels like he has said this name a million times today already. "I swear that if you keep refusing to use a language I understand, I'm going back to Japan right this second."
"And that's the problem, Yoichi ! You need to practice." As always, he's all tease and smart words, but now they're a little bit slower and less merged into the other. Like he means it when he says that Yoichi should practice, not just as a jab; like he means that he would help him, and is making it easier for Yoichi to understand.
"Cut the crap already, dumbass." He tries in Michael's maternal tongue, doing his best with his pronunciation (he cannot lose against Michael). One glance towards his friend's face tells him he probably murdered the words, and he bites his lips.
"Yeah, lots of practice."
God bless him (wait, no, don't), but Michael eventually switches back to English, to both Yoichi's relief and annoyance. He sounds different in English than in German. He does not have an accent (because God forbids that he's actually less than perfect at something), but he talks a little bit slower, like he's actually thinking his words, and they're a little bit more sharp-edged.
German-speaking-Michael equals to unfiltered Michael's thoughts, or as unfiltered as they can be with him. He teases more in German, uses colorful and creative insults, the words roll on his tongue along with the quirk of his lips when he smirks, moving with the small dimples at the corners of his mouth. His voice sounds somehow softer, and when he speaks to Yoichi specifically, it's playful and carefree.
When he thinks about it for too long, he realizes that it is sort of weird of him to dwell so thoroughly on the way Michael talks. It happens everytime they see each other. He even remembers once reflecting on this when he was four. Michael haven't changed much since then, except for his sharper features, his grand six foot of height, his blue-dyed strands. Oh, and the imposing tattoo on his left arm, and the body he has got by going at the gym.
What has changed the most with his personality is the casual-fake-flirting (he does not know what to call it otherwise) that Yoichi is subjected to. Which is bad, so bad, because he has recently realized that it does things to him. Yoichi is, after all, a weak, weak man, a so very queer idiot who had a bisexual awakening at thirteen, which was caused by none other than Michael Kaiser himself.
Yoichi knows it will lead to nothing (it's not like he has a real crush on the guy), because they live far away from each other most of the time. Because Michael is not interested in him that way (in any way, except when he can keep him company for a month on some summer breaks). Because the fake-flirting is, as the name indicates, fake, it's meant to rile him up and upset him (which it kind of does).
But he's seventeen, full of dumb teenage thoughts and wants, full of cravings for some kind of emotional bond and intimacy, and he has seen his fair share of people testing the waters of romantic relationships at school, and people finding love all over the Internet. Isagi thinks himself as a kind of bland guy, queer (he will never win), average at best (body, face, dreams), he can't fit in society's mold (he tries to), so when Michael says all those things about his pretty little head or his big dumb doe eyes or his kind-of-crooked angelic smile, Isagi can't help but dream a little.
And even if it hurts a bit, even if Raichi would say that it is a bit gay to think of another man that way (well, to the guy's defense, it definitely is), even if Yoichi sees no hope for this small, insignificant infatuation, Michael Kaiser will always be the best and now, he's being the best at messing with Yoichi's thoughts and feelings.
Michael is probably not even gay, or bi, even with those Queen posters in his room, he rationalizes.
When he suddenly stops thinking about this, when he remembers where and with who he is, when Michael sends a smartass grin his way, Yoichi sighs and deludes himself into believing that he is definitely too tired. Which is true, but not the whole truth. That's what he'd say to Michael if he asks.
"Yoichi, you okay ?" His friend finally interrogates.
"I'm thinking." He answers instead, quiet.
"Oh, that's new." Again, Michael is quick with his smartass comments, and Yoichi cannot even be glad that he didn't try to pry into this matter.
"Oh, please, just shut the fuck up." He counters hastily, in German, because if there's one thing he knows how to say without oblitering the words, it's this.
Michael's smirk is wider than ever when he says, "Make me then."
The room is quiet after Yoichi's swear, safe for Michael's snicker, and he passes off his attempt at hiding his blush as him being tired of him. Both can be true at once, he laments.
...
This morning, Kaiser's breakfast consists of a carefully peeled apple cut in quarters, a glass of milk (he is not lactose intolerant, sue me, grandpa), and boring, bland cornflakes. A quite simple breakfast that would do the job of sustaining him during his work out at the gym.
Even if they usually sleep in the same room (Kaiser's), Yoichi and him wake up at different times, and he is kind enough to let him sleep in on some occasion. Today, it seems he decided to let him stay in the land of dreams for one more hour, so for now, he's alone.
His eyebrow rises when he catches a glimpse of a sleepy-eyed Isagi Yoichi going down the stairs and stepping into the kitchen, and he would have snapped at him for casually stealing half of his fruit if the sight of his small pout didn't make his heart squeeze a bit (and what the fuck, heart).
Then, he remembers why he thought about asking to sleep in different rooms at seven in the morning the first day (something about Yoichi's cute pouting face), and he tries more than succeed at not letting it show that he finds it endearing. It's, in a way that he would never admit out loud, nearly pathetic.
When his long time friend looks up at him and grins, satisfied, Kaiser does nothing to fight the urge to pinch his cheek, only to find out in mild disappointment that almost all the baby fat is gone. Yoichi still stares at him with fake annoyance (he knows it by now), and slaps his hand away (without much force; it's never meant to hurt).
"What are we doing today ?" Yoichi asks, and says we because he expects to spend time with Kaiser, and the later sure as hell isn't that happy about it.
But then Yoichi's eyes meets his and he thinks about that one time when he was five and Yoichi cried because Kaiser wouldn't hold his hand. He thinks about that one day when he was nine and how Yoichi wouldn't leave his side even when Kaiser's friends would tease him. He thinks about when he was ten,upset, and Yoichi kissed his injured pinky. He thinks about when he was fourteen and how shy, crybaby Yoichi stopped crying and started throwing insults back at him instead.
He thinks about how just yesterday,at eighteen, Michael caught a glimpse of Yoichi's bare neck, skin showing above the low tank top, and he was reminded of the reason why he has posters with shirtless Freddy Mercury on them (he is never beating the gay allegations).
Michael thinks, thinks, thinks, then breathes.
"We hit the gym, of course. We wouldn't want you to lose all the muscles you have, yeah ?
Kaiser exhales, slow, and smirks, because it's so easy to make Yoichi blush. His cheeks are nicely pink, and he still has this sleepy stare, like he hasn't completely woken up yet.
"Fuck you." Is all the younger man says, but he does not refuse either. Kaiser has to physically fight the temptation to bark "do it yourself" back.
However, he's still a mean, dumb teenager, and he's pretty sure his smirk alone does the job because Yoichi's face blooms a pretty red. They exchange a few more jabs, all in German (it's soft and kind in his ears), falling into their personal routine.
But at the end of their silly conversation, when Yoichi leaves the kitchen to go dress himself up, Kaiser sighs and rubs his temples with both hands. What a nasty situation, still. An ugly crush on a straight guy, none other than his childhood friend, none other that the guy he can only see for a few weeks every few years.
Even so, he finds himself dreaming, yearning. Maybe one day. Maybe this crush will be worth it (if it can still be called a crush after all these years).
Kaiser does not have many expectations for life, to begin with. But he gives his all to everything he does (even if the results never come). Yoichi usually says that he's too stubborn (and he says it with a knowing smile because, well, so is Yoichi).
After a while, they're both leaving the old farm. Kaiser grabs his old bag, and walks after his friend towards the road. But then, Yoichi starts running, with a beaming face (and a playful, challenging smirk on his lips), all sunshine and light on his skin. Almost naturally, he takes Michael's heart with him, forcing him to start running too.