3.33. Unrestrained Freedom (Part 1)

"How many towels do you have?" Y/N grumbled. He placed another pile of them onto the floor, using them to mop up as much water as they would absorb.

The entire kitchen area had ended up soaked. The counters dripped with water, and the floor was a huge puddle. Both Sae and Y/N were completely doused in water.

Y/N yanked off his dripping socks, and dropped them in a pile of completely wet towels. Thankfully, none of the water had got into the cupboards, so Sae wasn't gonna wake up to a mould infestation.

The man himself had another towel on his hair, leaning over to wipe bubbles off the side of a cabinet. "I'm a soccer player." He replied.

"That tells me nothing." Y/N hissed.

"Maybe if you had an IQ above temperature values," Sae hissed right back. "You'd understand."

"Maybe if you told me about the fact your soap is ultra-bubbly or something," Y/N scowled. "I'd ask my single brain cell to read between the lines or whatever you're asking me to do."

"Single braincell?"

Y/N dropped the towels on the floor. "Yeah, you have a problem with Timmy?"

"What?"

"Yeah." Y/N jutted out his chin at Sae. "That's what I thought."

"What?"

"You don't want the smoke."

"What?"

"You can't handle the heat."

"What?"

"You..." Y/N thought. "I ran out of insults."

Sae blankly stared at him. Y/N stared back. "What were we talking about again?"

"Uh."

Confused, the two of them returned to drying.

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"Ah, fricking frick." Y/N immediately held out a hand to Sae. "Don't you dare."

"I wasn't going to do anything." Sae replied coolly. "What are you doing?"

"Stopping you from shoving bubbles in my mouth."

"Why would I do that?"

"Cause I swore." Y/N paled. "I didn't actually, I said frick." He clarified hurriedly.

"Hm." Sae returned to his food.

The two of them were sitting in a simple restaurant. Nothing incredibly fancy like Sae had shown Y/N before, just a normal place with normal dishes and normal foods. Y/N's face was bright red.

"Why did you order that?" Sae glanced down at Y/N's noodles. They didn't just look spicy - with dark dried chilli and an slightly brighter orange sauce. Sae could smell the spices across the table. "You're dying." He said matter-of-factly.

Y/N chewed and swallowed, face growing more red. "I like it."

"You like it." Sae repeated. Y/N shovelled down more of his food. "You're sweating."

Y/N puffed his cheeks, exhaling. He grabbed his cup of water, draining a third of it in an instant. "Just because I like spicy doesn't mean it likes me. Fuck." He gasped.

"Right." Sae'd gone for a much more normal dish. "Do you... want something else?"

Offended, Y/N frowned. "I like it. Trust me." He picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, eating it. And then immediately coughing, struggling to swallow. "Holy- Holy cow."

"Cow."

"I need milk." Y/N grasped at his cup of water.

"They don't have it." Sae hid a smile at Y/N's shocked face. "What did you even order?"

Y/N pushed a menu over to Sae, doing his best to eat the noodles and not self-combust at the same time. "Check." he gasped. "Something something Chinese Mala."

"Ah." Sae glanced at the menu. Then he glanced at Y/N, his teal eyes widening. "Are you crying?"

"N-no..." Y/N managed.

Sae snapped a photo before Y/N could react. Y/N scowled. "Hey!"

"Hey yourself." Sae murmured. "Eat your noodles. Don't die."

Y/N grumbled, but returned to eating nonetheless. He was struggling on the not dying part, though. Especially when he ran out of water. Leaning across the table, he snatched Sae's water. "Can I have it?"

"Seeing as you've already taken it," Sae started, but Y/N was already draining it. "I guess so."

Y/N gasped for air. "More?"

Sae chuckled under his breath, and raised his hand to order more.

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"What are you doing?"

"Thinking." Y/N had a slightly downcast face, lips pressed together and eyes tired as he lay spreadeagled on the bed. Sae sat nearby, watching Y/N's chest rise and fall with steady breaths.

"About what?"

"How I'm gonna say sorry to people." Y/N huffed. "Niko, Isagi... maybe Chigiri too. And then there's everyone that I blanked over the break."

"Blanked." Sae quietly said. "Because you were being tortured inside a secret illegal testing lab."

Y/N winced. "Yeah."

"They won't be angry at you for that." Sae quietly said. "You don't need to say sorry for that."

"I kinda chose to go there..."

"Y/N." Sae chided. "You don't owe anyone apologies. If they want to help you, they do it without expecting anything back."

Y/N sighed.

"Yeah. Okay." He shifted on the bed, turning onto his side with his hands hugging knees to his chest. "I still need to go say hi to everyone. After a few weeks of blanking them."

Sae nodded. "Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." Y/N agreed.

It was darker now. After eating dinner, they'd hung around outside for a while, before returning to the penthouse. Y/N was clean and ready for bed, despite it being pretty early.

"I'll drive you there around ten?" Sae asked. Y/N nodded, watching him with half-closed eyes. "First, go see Ego Jinpachi. Then only everyone else."

"What does he even want with me?"

"Like I said before, something strange." Sae reclined into the chair. "I don't know exactly."

"That sounds about right." Y/N responded. "Ego's a little bit strange."

A quiet laugh. "A little only?"

"Very." Y/N conceded with a light laugh. "Very strange."

They fell into a comfortable silence. Sae rose from the chair, making his way around the room to dim the lights and cover the windows. Y/N shifted on the bed to watch him as he did, eyes tracking Sae's shadowed figure from one side of the room to the other.

The movements reminded him of another time. Another darkened room, another person, another time where he'd been helped after a nightmare. In Bluelock.

At that moment, Y/N was comfortable. He was drowsy, relaxed, and content. So before he could shut his mouth up, Y/N blurted it out. "You're a lot like your little brother."

Sae froze. Y/N felt panic rise in his stomach, and hurriedly rushed to correct himself. All the sleep left his eyes, and he shot upright in his bed. "I-I didn't mean to say that..."

"You?" Sae quietly replied.

"Me?"

"A little brother."

Y/N frowned. How do I put this without being kicked out of the apartment... "Sae..."

"Yes?"

"I'm not your little brother." Y/N gazed down at the blankets, embarrassed. "I don't think I can ever be, because you already have a brother. One that really, really wanted you to look after him."

Sae was silent. Y/N gulped.

"Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate you. You're a really good friend. But you already have a little brother. Rin. And he's... he looks cold, like you, but he's really, really kind as well." Y/N cringed at his own words.

Returning to the chair, Sae sat down. He stared across the space at Y/N.

"I know."

Y/N's panic rose. "I-I'm sorry, I was just reminded of Rin, and you two aren't close, and maybe it would be good if you were...?"

"Don't be sorry." Sae quietly said. "Rin is my little brother, I know. Maybe it was wrong to try to 'replace' him in a way."

Hesitantly, Y/N nodded. "Wrong." He grabbed the pillow, hugging it to his chest. "I don't mind being other things with you, Sae. Just not a brother."

Sae nodded slowly. "Why are you saying this?"

"I don't really know." Y/N muttered, smushing his face into the pillow. "Maybe... when you bring me back to Bluelock... you can talk with Rin?"

"Talk?" Sae blinked, surprised. "Talk about what?"

"I don't know, normal things?" Y/N's voice was muffled in the pillow. "What does family normally talk about?"

Sae hesitated, for once in his life. Y/N laughed gently. "I guess both of us are kinda fucked up when it comes to family."

"Maybe so." Sae sighed lightly. "But okay. I'll talk with him. And with you... friend?"

"Friend." Y/N confirmed.

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"I don't like Ego." Y/N pettily muttered to Sae as they got out of the car. "He's coarse and rough and irritating."

"He doesn't get everywhere, though." Sae replied dryly. "Unless you and him have a history I don't want to know about." Y/N gaped, eyes wide with surprise.

"You know where that came from?!" Sae rolled his eyes, and headed for the main door. Y/N followed, leaning against his side. "Seriously though, I don't like him. He's strange. And uses questionable methods to win games. And also I think he's getting old, 'cause he's begun rambling about weird stuff."

"Who has?"

Y/N's face went a burning, bright red. Ego Jinpachi walked out of the doors at the precisely wrong moment, staring at Y/N with an unamused expression.

Sae nodded at Ego. "Rin." Ego nodded back. Brushing past Ego, Sae headed into the building. Y/N made to follow him, but Ego's long arm extended to block him.

Y/N groaned. "What do you need to talk to me about?"

"Two things." Ego seriously replied.

"The first, is your ego. The second, is Kuroi."