#i like metalhead!takeru a lot you know

[merryfortune]

Listen to Iron Maiden, Maybe

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains

Ship: Takeru/Yusaku

Word Count: 1.5k

Synopsis: Yusaku comes around to Takeru’s place for the first time.

  Takeru was nervous because he had never had a guest around, at least not at his own place. Yusaku was nervous because he made it a strict point to never be a guest because he disliked feeling indebted. Together, they were both nervous and that made things very awkward in the doorway.

  “So…” Yusaku said.

  “So....” Takeru agreed in the similar intonation and then snapped out of it for a brief second of clarity and inspiration; he swung his arm back. “So,” he said, “this is my humble abode.”

  Yusaku looked at him sceptically, but shook his head. He came inside and took off his shoes.

  “Thank you for having me.” he said.

  “Thanks for comin’ ‘round.” Takeru replied.

  Yusaku looked around as he ventured further into Takeru’s apartment. Humble… was putting it nicely but it was nicer than his. That made him feel kind of bad as he looked at the creamy colour walls, they were warm coloured and didn’t have a crack in them. The paint wasn’t even peeling but to contrast, the floors were kind of aged, thinning and even shedding, possibly.

  “Do you wanna see my room?” Takeru asked, piped up as he followed along behind Yusaku as he shuffled through into Takeru’s living room.

  Yusaku glanced behind him and gave a funny look, it was almost a glare but it was also playful in a very grim, even stoic way that only Yusaku could be.

  “What?” Takeru shrugged, faux offended. “I haven’t had anyone over since I was, like, eight. Well no one who wasn’t Kiku… but she was basically born as part of the furniture…”

  “That’s okay. You can show me your room. Even though… these are all your rooms.” Yusaku replied amused.

  Takeru laughed. “Yeah, true.” He scratched the back of his head.

  Still, Yusaku wasn’t sure what to expect. Takeru had been in town for all of two months now. So, at the baseline, he was going to expect that everything would have been unpacked by now. Maybe some posters on the walls. He didn’t really know. Somehow, Takeru felt evasive and Yusaku respected that. Over all, what could be expected was probably more of the rest of the house. Thinning carpets, a narrow little bed, the basic amenities.

  “Here we go.” Takeru said as he pushed open yet another door in his tiny little apartment that felt somewhat like a rabbit warren, actually.

  Yusaku’s eyes bugged as he had a look around. He had expected maybe one or two posters, for things like movies he had never seen and didn’t care about. Maybe a pin up of some woman in a bikini because Takeru did have those kinds of vibes. That might have been in it but no, he had quite the collection.

  “Oba-chan gave me a little bit of extra pocket money to buy something nice for myself when I moved out. I think she meant, like, a new fridge or a lounge but instead, I blew it on stuff for my room.” Takeru explained.

  Yusaku came in and he sat at the little, low table in the centre of the room. Takeru joined him.

  “So, what do you want to do first?” Takeru asked. “Study for the test we have next week or revise our decks?”

  “Which do you feel least prepared for?” Yusaku asked, pointed, in turn.

  Takeru sighed. “The test…” he confessed, deflating over the table.

  “Then let’s do a bit of study. Half an hour, we’ll set a timer or something.” Yusaku said.

  “Actually, I’ve got a CD player, how about when we finish a CD?” Takeru suggested.

  “Just so long as its quiet…” Yusaku replied. “I don’t really listen to music, I find it distracting.”

  Takeru got to his feet, “I’m the complete opposite,” he said and he turned his back on Yusaku so he could sort through his CD collection that he had all neatly lined up in a medium sized wooden book case, “I find it a lot easier to concentrate when there’s background noise.”

  “Fair enough.” Yusaku replied.

  He squinted over to the bookcase and the titles on the spines of the CDs were too small for him to read, even from about a metre over. A lot of them were darkly coloured with crystalline vertices. It was kind of old school, actually. Yusaku might have been completely out of touch with modern pop culture but even he knew that CDs had been passe for over a decade now.

  “This one shouldn’t be too bad…” Takeru said as he popped up to his full height again after scrounging around in a squat.

  The CD player was perched on the top of the bookcase, beside yet more CDs and even a jacket and another knickknack of Takeru’s. The CD player made scratchy, clicky noises as Takeru fidgeted around with it; in the meantime, Yusaku got his own stuff out and he pulled out his stationary to set it all up.

  “There we go. Give it a minute, it’s a little old.” Takeru said.

  “Whatever.” Yusaku said. “Just sit down again.”

  Takeru rolled his eyes and bit his tongue, he was very much tempted to sass Yusaku but he was also very tempted to not fail said upcoming test so Yusaku was very much right. He sat back down again and he heard the static of his CD player. Yusaku mustn’t have, however, because his eyes were glued on the study sheet that he had brought over.

  “So, is there anything in particular you’re struggling with? I’ve got some practice questions I got off the previous year’s records-”

  “Did you hack into the school to find those?” Takeru exclaimed, adorably excited as he interrupted Yusaku.

  “...No,” Yusaku replied, “if you paid attention, you would know that we already have access to it through our school emails.”

  “Oh.” Takeru laughed. “But yeah, I need help with just about everything.”

  “We’ll take it slow then-”

  Yusaku could have jumped out of his skin with this second interruption. His eyes went huge as the room, once quiet with only a little bit of static, exploded with the sound of drums and electric guitars.

  “Oops?” Takeru hopelessly offered beneath the rolling voice of the singer, it was growly but not illegible noise. To him at least, Yusaku was a little unconvinced as he heard the musical equivalent of scrawled writing.

  “Please turn it off.” Yusaku managed to stutter out.

  Takeru scrambled to his feet. The CD player still blared until, in his panic, he managed to turn the volume completely off. Takeru sighed and Yusaku was singed by the experienced to say the least. But he came off his hackles once he had taken a few deep breaths.

  Yusaku looked around Takeru’s room again. The posters were mostly black with silver writing; depicting people in truly atrocious outfits with huge hair, holding up their hands with middle fingers and giving other punk rock salutes, too.

  “So,” Yusaku said, inviting Takeru to sit back down with him, he had turned skittish and guilty all of a sudden, “you like metal music, huh?”

  Takeru nodded. “I like it a lot more than flowery pop music.” he said.

  “I don’t like pop music either.” Yusaku said.

  “To tell the truth, a lot of my collection got handed down to me around my… thirteenth birthday?” he said. “My grandparents didn’t want me listening to it any younger and that was about when my Dad started listening to it. Most of the stuff from, uh, well, last century is his. The newer stuff is obviously mine.”

  “Oh…” Yusaku mumbled.

  “It makes me feel close to my Dad even though I don’t remember him much… It’s, uh, what’s the word I’m thinking of?”

  “Humanizing?” Yusaku guessed.

  Takeru nodded. “Yeah, it’s nice to know he felt the same way once… Angry and pent up and stuff. Like in the music. It resonates.”

  “I see. That’s nice.” Yusaku told him. He thought, a touch bitterly, how he didn’t even have the faintest connection to his own parents. “Do you want to try again? I mightn’t like this stuff but if it’s interesting to you, I think I can enjoy it.”

  Takeru looked up from beneath his glasses and mop of white-red hair. He was fidgety and commiserating, a little afraid of being vulnerable like that with Yusaku.

  He was surprised to hear Yusaku say that. He was even more surprised to see that Yusaku had flashed him a smile. His green eyes looked so pretty with his lips upturned. Takeru felt his heart skip a beat and he shook out a nervous smile.

  “Thanks.” he said, wholeheartedly.

  For a third time, he got to his feet and he turned the volume up on his rickety old CD player. He didn’t know how to tell Yusaku but this was one of his favourite albums but maybe he already knew. According to his grandfather, it was also one of his dad’s favourites as well. He was steady as he pinched the knob, only turning it slightly so that the song, fading into an outro, could only just be heard. He glanced at Yusaku and he didn’t seem like he was disliking at least the faint parts. Takeru sat back down again and Yusaku pushed a study note closer to him.

  “I hope this helps.” Yusaku said.

  “Yeah, no worries, thanks.” Takeru replied, still smiling.