a boy, his cello and his internal monologues.

Chapter 5: Past the Stargazing Season

I wish
I wish
I wish

Rustica doesn't go to school for at least a week after the "situation".

He's making a bigger deal about it than he guesses everyone else is, but he's always been like that. He's a mess.

Also he's camping out on his brother's couch.

A total of 2 amber alerts have been released in the past 5 days, and at least 600 calls have come in to his phone, namely from his father who he expected would be the last fucking person to care about his emotional well-being.
Sennen is taking care of him today, however, and he's on his best behaviour. He's moving (minus leg and hip brace, which he hasn't touched in 4.5 days.) on his own to make himself things and inconvenience Sennen the least.

Leo, however, is handling the police.
Due to the amber alerts, he has to consistently go to the station and tell the officers that keep coming and banging on the front door at 2am to leave them alone because Rustica came there on his own accord and his dad sucks.

Has he mentioned that his dad suuuuuucks?
Like big time, sucks.
Rhean Yashnikoff, 42, professional violinist and conductor. He once dragged Lumie and Leo out of school, came to Rustica's school and scolded just Rustica for something that he did accidentally.
(He remembers sobbing that day, he still doesn't know why his brothers don't hate him.)
Rhean is as strict as an overbearing father who believes his children should follow down the path of music to create an even larger path of musical talents to create an even larger path of musical talents and so on and so forth. It's weird because all three of his children are gay.

He never had an issue with his kids being gay. Like at all. Rustica thinks that he believes no matter what age they're at, they'll grow out of it. Sometimes Rustica has to remind him that Leo and Lumie are both 18, it's funny.

He's really thinking too much, because he doesn't notice his knee buckle and the feeling of falling forward until he's already on the ground, half numb. He hears Sennen shoot up from the couch and rush over, which is the last thing he wanted today, but nothing seems to be going right for him this week, so he accepts it.
Sennen asks him if he's alright, and after getting a mildly clear response, he hauls Rustica up by his shoulders and pretty much carries him like a baby all the way to the couch again.
His legs hurt more now, but they'll be fine after. He's tired, but the sun is at its highest point for late November and it's blinding against the snow, reflecting sunlight in his eyes and making him curl up under the blanket that smells so much like Leo Yashnikoff that Rustica thinks he rolls around on it like a cat for at least two hours a day.

He's asleep when Leo gets home, but he's woken up by a pan being taken out what he guesses is two hours after he went to bed, since the sun is fully set and he can already see a twinge of frost on the sides of the windows. He wakes up submerged in what feels like a pillow mountain, mainly because he's got two pillows AND his brothers legs. He's confused as to how and when he got there, but he did, and he's there, so maybe it's fine.

Sennen seems to be cooking something, and by the looks of it, Rustica's phone is charged. As he stands up he notices the lack of constant buzzing, which calms his nerves a bit. There are a multitude of notifications from people (dad, and for some reason his friends) and mobile games that are confused as to why he's not playing as often as he should be (and in all seriousness, he plays mobile games every day at least twice a day because of how passionate he is about them, so they have a good reason to be confused) and the others are just system notifications telling him that he's been on his phone a total of 2 hours and 35 minutes the entire week.

He sits back down on the couch, not sitting against Leo again, which he thinks Leo mildly appreciates by the sound of his elbows and wrists cracking and a long yawn. Rustica doesn't blame him for being tired, being in the same room as Rustica tires most people out, so just having Leo act even somewhat awake near him is good he supposes.

About 20 minutes later, dinner is ready. Leo comments on how it was "record time" and Sennen smacks him over the head with a plastic spatula. Their general banter is amusing, Leo often commenting on the fact that Sennen made him dinner "like he was his wife" and that nearly ends badly, since Sennen genuinely threatens him with a knife before getting bored and continuing to eat, as well as Sennen commenting on how Rustica rolled around at least 7 times in his sleep, which makes him flush in embarrassment, but Sennen assures him that it wasn't annoying, just cute. Sometimes even Sennen acts like another older brother, and it's funny because Leo talks about marrying him a lot. Maybe it's embarrassing for him to be seen with Leo though, Rustica wouldn't blame him.

The food is good, but Rustica has a hard time finishing and Sennen assures him that this happens more often than not and says it's not a huge deal, but he can't help but feel bad.
He vaguely remembers Leo talking about Sennen struggling with food, so he guesses that the reason why Sennen's portion was so small of the food he cooked was due to that.

He doesn't blame him. He relates to it in all honesty.

Leo somehow forgets to tell Rustica that he has to go back home however, which earns him another smack from Sennen and an utterly saddened sigh from Rustica. His house sucks, and he knows his dad will be mad at him, but he just has to deal with it.
Maybe he'll be grounded so hard that he'll never be allowed to go to school again, maybe he can destroy his social for him so Rustica doesn't ruin it himself.

The drive is quiet. Sennen drives. Sennen seems just as upset as Rustica is, probably due to the fact that nobody is able to calm Leo down for more than 6 seconds other than anyone in his family, but Rustica likes to think Sennen will miss him.

They get to the house and Rustica has nothing but a bag to haul out. It's quiet, but the lights are on which means his dad is home. He should already know he's coming home by now, but maybe he doesn't.

He's going to get in trouble, but sometimes you just need an escape.