Takemichi was one strange kid. Shinichiro was used to dealing with weird kids. His little brother was friends with an arsonist for god's sake but Takemichi felt like an entirely new breed, Shinichiro never met anyone so expressive. In the short time they met, Takemichi showcased a plethora of emotions that Shinichiro can't begin to explain; he kept glancing at Shinichiro like he was an alien and then he'd look constipated.
Rinse and repeat.
Shinichiro wasn't even mad, it was pretty funny and a good distraction from his bleeding palm, and for some reason, Shinichiro can tell Takemichi is a good kid. He's a great judge of character like that.
Takemichi led them into a nice suburban neighborhood and stopped in front of a two-story house
"We're here." Takemichi announced, "try not to make a lot of noise, my cat is probably sleeping."
Shinichiro thought the kid should be more worried about waking up his parents rather than his cat. He hoped the kid wouldn’t get in trouble for dragging an injured man into their home but as Takemichi turned the light on and led him to the living room no one came to check on them.
Either the kid's parents are real heavy sleepers or they're out for the night.
" Wait here, I'll go grab the first aid kit."
Takemichi excused himself, leaving Shinichiro behind.
Shinichiro looked around the room for any new distraction from his throbbing hand but there was hardly anything other than the furniture.
'Are they minimalists or something?'
" This is going to hurt a bit, Ok?" Takemichi frowned at the cut.
"It's ok, I'm used to getting roughed up." At his answer, the younger boy let out an exasperated sigh and got to work.
Shinichiro just sat back admiring how fast the kid was moving. Shinichiro has been patched up by many people but he only saw this level of skill in professionals. It was a little worrying how used to this he was.
"You 're good at this, do you do this often?" Shinichiro asked.
" Don't worry, I don't get hurt often," no beating around the bush, Shinichiro can work with that, "my grandmother was a nurse and I always wanted to follow in her footsteps…"
"Well you're on the right track then, I just hope your parents are fine with you practicing on strangers."
"What they don't know won't hurt them, Takemichi scoffed, and I doubt they'll care."
An awkward silence settled on the room, the bitterness caught Shinichiro off guard, and by the looks of it, Takemichi didn't mean to say that.
"... Where are your parents anyway? "
Shinichiro was well aware he was overstepping and for a moment it seemed like Takemichi was going to ignore him.
"They're working overseas. I live alone ."
"Oh." Shinichiro gritted his teeth, he was no stranger to all kinds of child abuse most of his friends didn't come from happy families after all, that didn't make it easier to stomach. After what Emma's mother did, child abandonment in particular was a sore spot for him.
Shinichiro tried to be there for all of his siblings as much as possible; he can only hope Takemichi had an adult to lean on.
"That sucks."
"It does."Takemichi's resigned smile made him want to punch something, preferably the kid's parents.
"Shinichiro-san, can I ask you something?"
