Friends Forever

[Berry]

24th August 2015


6:30am


Leon woke with a jolt as the alarm lying the ground halfway across his room rang loudly. He stumbled sleepily, eyes still closed, out of bed and kicked the alarm clock causing the batteries to fall out. Rubbing his eyes he grabbed the crushed packet of cigarettes from under his pillow, threw on a sweatshirt over the top of his pajamas and left the house before his parents or siblings woke up.


The air outside was cold and fog swallowed up the entire street. Leon lit one of his crumpled cigarettes, took a long, deep drag, and breathed out creating a cloud of white fumes around him. For Leon smoking became a habit the day he found out about his father's affair. It was a rebellion and the adrenaline from taking risks, like smoking, made him forget that anything was wrong.


The walk to Akira's house wasn't long. Somewhere along the way Leon dropped the stub of his cigarette and crushed it with his heel. He knew Akira didn't like him smoking. Even though it was cold, gloomy and empty outside Leon didn't mind; he enjoyed the silence. He got there in less than twenty minutes and knocked on the door hoping that Akira's family was already awake.

 

[Yoki]

"Hey! Get the fuck up idiot! Mom wants you downstairs!"


Upon hearing the voice and the loud constant banging on his door Akira groaned and rolled over, putting a pillow over his head. Why was Koji yelling at this time in the morning, their mother probably didn't want him for anything and Koji had just decided to annoy his younger brother. Of course he always did that, Akira tried to avoid him since he didn't really want to fight with him, but that wasn't always possible. Koji always seemed angry, he hadn't always been like that though...it had hurt to watch his brother change so much without being able to do a single thing to help him....


"Kira!" Koji yelled from outside, another loud bang on the door, "It's late y'know!" Then it all stopped, the banging silenced and he heard footsteps going away from his room. Kira...he hated that, Koji knew he hated it yet he still decided to call him it. Whatever, it didn't matter anyway, he couldn't blame his brother for what had happened. He could blame him for waking him up however, he couldn't go back to sleep now! What time was it? Six fourty? Oh... Maybe he should actually get up...


The boy threw back the covers and slid his legs off of the bed, why didn't his alarm go off? He was certain that he'd set one... He shook his head and sighed as he picked up the small, black electronic, of course...he'd forgotten again. Oh well, he'd always have Koji as an alarm, maybe he should start paying his brother to do that.


Once he'd brushed his teeth he headed downstairs in his pajamas, going into the kitchen. Sure enough his family were all awake, both his mother and father worked early so they were always up before their children. His mother turned her head as she saw Akira enter the room, "Morning, breakfast?"


"I'll get something in a minute mom, don't worry about it." He smiled and rubbed his eyes, grabbing a glass from the cupboard before filling it up with water and heading back out of the room. He was still pretty tired, but that was probably because of the rude awakening he'd been given. As he was walking to the living room he heard a knock on the door, drowsily Akira walked to it, unlocked it and opened it. Outside stood Leon, of course, "Oh," He yawned, shaking his head, "Hey."

 

[Berry]

24th August 2015


6:52am





Leon grinned as his sleepy best friend opened the door.


"Cover your mouth when you yawn," he said winking as he stepped into Akira's house.


Taking his shoes off he waved to Akira's parents who were busy making breakfast in the kitchen. Speaking of breakfast he hadn't eaten anything before he left the house... Oops.


"So, what's for breakfast Mr and Mrs. S?" he asked cheekily.


Leon knew Akira's family from a young age and he made himself at home every time he came over to see his best friend. They always treated him like their own son and he was thankful for it. Akira's dad was much more of a father figure to Leon that his own ever was. He sat down on a chair at the dining table and pulled off his sweatshirt hanging it on the back.


"Excited for the first day of school Aki?"

 

[Yoki]

Akira smiled at Leon and shook his head, "You're one to talk..." He mumbled sleepily, though he was smiling at his best friend.


The boy didn't need to invite Leon into the household, he was always welcome inside. The two had known each other since they were very small and he'd always been around him and his family, he was like the family's fifteen child, not that they needed another, their house had been rowdy enough.


Both Akira's father and mother turned around as they noticed the boy, "Ah Leon, you're here." Akira's father chuckled, "I was waiting, we were going to ask you to get Akira up, but seemed he managed to do that himself, eventually."


Akira rolled his eyes and blinked a little to wake himself up, "Yeah, you sent your walking, talking alarm to wake me up..." He groaned, "Speaking of which, where is he?"


"Right here munch." Koji walked into the room and threw a tea towel at the back of his brother's head, then his attention turned to Leon, "Leon." He looked at the boy for a few seconds before continuing to walk towards the fridge.


Akira's mother turned around and took the pan she had off of the cooker. "To answer your question Leon, we're having bacon and eggs, and of course whatever else any of you want. Sit down Akira." She started dishing food out onto plates as she was talking.


"Mhm." Akira sat down next to Leon and rubbed his eyes, "Huh? School? Ah...oh yeah," he smiled slightly, "Should be...good, I guess..." He was slightly worried about going, what if the other kids didn't like him again? He'd always been picked on, mostly due to his passive nature, he wasn't one for confrontation.

 

[Berry]

24th August 2015


7:00am


"Leon."


Leon turned toward Koji who had just entered the kitchen. He didn't seen as gloomy as usual ever since... But he wasn't exactly the old Koji Leon knew. He nodded his head in response to Akira's older brother and licked his lips as Mrs. S announced they were having bacon and eggs for breakfast.


"Nah, bacon and eggs are fine. I'll probably get something to eat at school if I'm still hungry during morning break," he smiled at Akira's mom as she prepared the breakfast.


Leon playfully elbowed Akira in the arm.


"Don't worry man, everything will be fine, the people here don't even know us and I bet they're shitloa- Sorry, tonnes better than back you know where," he reassured, "and if anybody says anything tell me. Not like before. No keeping quiet. You tell me and you bet I'll sock them in the face," he added punching the air comically.


That was a lie. If Leon found out that people were picking on Akira again he would kill them. Back in Colorado, Leon had no clue just how bad people were treating Akira. He asked the boy a few times about whether they were goving him trouble but a lot of the time he shrugged it off saying it was nothing. When Leon found out the truth he was fuming and beat himself up about the fact that he wasn't protecting his best friend when he needed it the most. This time things wouod be different. This time he would make sure everyone would treat Akira with respect.

 

[Yoki]

Akira's mother nodded, "Alright then," she replied, "but if you're still hungry, make sure to tell me, we have a lot of food. No need to buy something when we can give you something instead." She smiled and put a plate in front of the boy, then she grabbed another and placed it in front of Akira. Akira's father had sat down with his own plate and started eating also, "Mira's right, don't leave here hungry Leon, you know you're welcome to take whatever." He told the boy as he started to eat his own food.


Akira looked at the food and then over at Leon as he elbowed him, "Yeah. I will." He replied with a nod and a smile, the boy didn't like to bother his best friend with such things so he'd never told him about the bullying that had gone on. He'd believed that it would only be a burden on them both, so he'd kept quiet and tried to deal with his issues himself... Of course that had gone terribly, so he'd ended up sticking as close to Leon and trying to avoid the other students as much as possible. He still didn't want to burden Leon with any of the problems he may have, but he couldn't exactly keep everything from the other boy, if he found out he was keeping secrets again he might be mad at him.


"I'm sure you'll both have a great day." Akira's mother sat down at the table with her own plate and smiled at the boys, "I've heard that the school is alright, we wouldn't send you to somewhere that didn't seem to have a somewhat good reputation."


"Your mother and Leon are correct Akira, don't worry." His father grinned and continued digging into his meal.


"And if anyone does pick on you man up already." Koji muttered, "You can't be a wimp forever, retard. You're such a pushover." The older boy drank from a carton of milk and left the room.


"Koji!" Mira called, disappointed in how her son was acting towards his brother.


Akira smiled and nodded, "You're all right..." He replied, starting to eat his meal slowly. "So, what do you think Leon? It'll be a good first day right?"

 

[Berry]

24th August 2015


7:12am


Leon's mouth watered as Mrs. S placed a plate before him. Everything smelt so wondeful and he bet that it tasted even better. Akira's mom's cooking was the best, right after his mother's.


He nodded as Akira promised to tell him if anything happened at school.


"I'll be keeping extra watch over you anyway, so no worries," he added, shovelling bacon into his mouth.


He nearly chocked on a piece when he heard how rude Koji was to his younger brother. Sure, he knew that he started to act different but he didn't realize just how messed up he was acting. He didn't think that Koji could actually lower himself to calling Akira a retard. Without another word he left the room.


"You'd think he'd go back to being normal after a while, no?" He said, looking up from his plate to the disappointed parents.


He watched Akira as he made an excuse for his brother. He perfectly well knew it wasn't okay and yet he still said so. Never one to start conflict. Leon shook his head and finished off the last of his breakfast. He stood up from the table as Akira asked him whether he thought it'd be a good day.


"Yeah, sure, I can't wait. I've been praying at night that there will be cute girls in my classes... And you of course. I'll cry into my pillow at night if I don't have at least one class with you. Who else am I going to pass notes to in class?" He said winking and placing his plate in the sink.


Walking past Akira he messed up the boy's hair. "I'm going to your room to find something to wear," he gestured to his clothes, "hurry up, snail, and come upstairs, we need to leave soon."

 

[Yoki]

Akira knew that Leon would watch over him in school, though he didn't really know if that was a good thing or not, he didn't want the boy to get into any stupid fights or anything. Still, it was good to know he had someone watching out for him, and of course he'd watch over Leon too...make sure he was okay. This wasn't a one way friendship, he wouldn't let it be that, they looked out for each other.


He didn't really mind how rude his brother was to him, everyone seemed to treat it like it was an issues...but Koji was just having a hard time, and Akira wasn't going to blame him for that, it wasn't his fault, he'd lost someone who he was extremely close to, despite then arguing all the time, and out of everyone Hiro's death has affected him the most. It had been a hard time for all of them, and it still was hard for him... It didn't help that Akira and Hiro looked oddly similar.


Mira sighed, "We hoped so...but...he can't move past it, he's just become rather mean in the last year." She looked slightly upset, "I don't know when he'll move on, but it's taking a very long time for him to do so." She stood up and cleared away her plate, having finished. Akira's father had also finished and had taken his plate over to the sink to clean out.


"Well kids, have a nice day, I've got to get going. Don't be late." He grinned at both of the boys and then exited the room, "I'll see you all later!"


Akira laughed at Leon and then looked over to his father, "Bye!" He called, continuing to eat. He'd always been known for eating rather slow, though usually it didn't matter because he didn't eat much. The boy didn't really have that big of an apatite. "Yeah, I'll be there, gimme a minute." He told his friend, eating faster in order to finish. He didn't want to take too long, he needed to get changed himself and he didn't really want to be late today, it was their first day.


After finishing all he could Akira pushed his chair back and headed upstairs after Leon, he didn't really mind the boy using his clothes or anything, they were around each other a lot of the time so whatever was his was usually Leon's too. He liked it that way, it was great, there was no arguing or anything that way.