Chapter Text
In the six months since they met, Sakamoto had sort of stuck around, making sure Shin was alive and not in any trouble. He would occasionally give Shin pointers on self-defense, though he didn’t go as far as to show Shin how to actually fight. Shin knew how to fight, living on the streets would do that, but he knew he wasn’t good.
Even if Sakamoto wouldn’t teach him to fight, he at least seemed interested in Shin’s wellbeing. Shin didn’t totally get why, but he didn’t mind since it gave him something to hold on to. Sakamoto didn’t even seem to want anything from him. Still, Shin wanted to be useful to Sakamoto, so, after that half a year of pestering, he convinced Sakamoto to take him along on an assignment.
From what Shin could tell, Sakamoto didn’t have all that many assignments—when asked, he just said something about being on a break—but he still did the occasional one. The first one he took Shin on was pretty straight forward and Shin wondered if he’d picked it specifically so he wouldn’t have to worry about Shin. He was still pretty sure he’d made it go more smoothly. On the next assignment together, however, it hadn’t gone as smoothly.
Sakamoto had to save Shin’s life when he didn’t notice someone sneaking up behind them. It was frustrating. If nothing else, he shouldn’t have been able to be taken by surprise.
Shin wanted to help more, to not be a burden on Sakamoto, but there was only so much he seemed to be able to do. Which was how he got it in his head that he needed to train. Even if he wasn’t a bad fighter, he wasn’t good enough to stay by Sakamoto’s side.
“No need,” Sakamoto thought after Shin asked him to train. Sakamoto had long since switched to almost exclusively thinking what he wanted to say to Shin, obviously finding it much easier than speaking. “You’re good enough.”
“I need to be better,” Shin insisted. “You’re the best there is. You could teach me so much.”
“I’m not a good teacher.”
That had been the end of the conversation so Shin decided he needed to find his own way to train. That was how he ended up at a seedy bar where he’d gone to meet up with Sakamoto for jobs.
“Sakamoto’s not here,” the bartender told him. Now get out of here, you brat.
“I’m not here for Sakamoto-san.”
“Well we don’t serve minors, so get out.” I don’t get why Sakamoto babysits this kid.
“Oh come on, the first time I came here, Sakamoto-san was underage.”
“He was 19, not 12.” If I wanted kids, I’d have kids.
“I’m 14,” Shin shot back even though he wasn’t actually 14, but he was annoyed by him saying he was 12.
He knew he looked young—he wasn’t even 160cm yet, not that he was bothered by that—but 12 seemed a little much. He’d gotten his first job at 12 by telling them he was 15. And, sure, they hadn’t actually believed him, but he still got the job.
“Still too damn young. Now get out.” Maybe Sakamoto has a thing for kids—
Shin darted forward, punching the bartender in the face. He was able to catch him off guard enough to make contact, though he didn’t actually hit him all that hard.
“Don’t you dare say that about Sakamoto-san.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” This kid is crazy. “I didn’t say shit about Sakamoto.”
“You think so loud, anyone’d be able to hear you,” Shin told him with a smirk.
What the hell is he talking about?
Shin was going to take another swing at him, but he was lifted roughly from behind and thrown to the ground.
Shin really needed to remember to throw a wider net with his mind reading. He was trying to practice not getting overwhelmed by the thoughts around him in crowds, but he’d maybe gone too far in the other direction, only focusing on the person in front of him and ignoring his surroundings.
Sakamoto would never let someone sneak up on him like that.
Scrambling to his feet, Shin tried to get out of reach of the person he recognized as the bar’s bouncer, but he was just a second too slow and, once again, the man had a good grip on his shirt. He raised Shin off the ground, but after a moment of struggling, Shin came to his senses and kicked the man hard in the shins.
The bouncer dropped him but before Shin could fully recover, he kicked Shin in the stomach.
Not even worth my time.
Shin struggled back to his feet, he wasn’t going to lose so easily. He needed to get better. He needed to hone his skills. He needed to stay useful to Sakamoto. If he didn’t—
The bouncer took a swing at Shin and he flinched, ready to be hit in the face. When it didn’t come, he opened his eyes and was shocked to see that someone had stopped the bouncer’s fist.
“Sakamoto-san?”
“Oh good,” the bartender said. “Take your brat and get out of here.”
Sakamoto looked between the three people in front of him, his mind quietly taking in situation without adding any comments.
Sakamoto let the bouncer’s arm go and the bouncer pulled his arm close to his chest. Shin hadn’t noticed, but Sakamoto must have grabbed him pretty hard if the bouncer wasn’t even trying to keep fighting. Or maybe they all knew how good Sakamoto was.
“Come on, Shin.”
Shin looked at Sakamoto for a few beats before nodding and following him out of the bar.
“Sakamoto-san–”
“Do you have a first aid kit?”
“Ah, no, I don’t,” Shin responded, trying to figure out if Sakamoto was angry with him.
“Then let’s go.”
Shin didn’t know what else to say, so he just followed Sakamoto as he led Shin away from the bar, ending up at a pharmacy. Shin watched, confused, as Sakamoto found a pre-packed first aid kit. Then, after glancing at Shin, he also grabbed a box of meal replacement bars.
“I– I can pay for that,” Shin said even though he really couldn’t. Sakamoto had given him money for the two jobs he’d helped on, but he’d been saving that so he could pay rent. He’d managed to move up from an apartment with only enough room for a bed to an apartment with only enough room for a bed, a small fridge, and a single chair and table. This apartment even had it’s own bathroom, so he didn’t have to share with everyone on his floor anymore.
“It’s so I don’t have to worry.”
Shin really didn’t think he understood Sakamoto.
It was Sakamoto’s turn to follow as Shin led Sakamoto back to his apartment. Shin didn’t really want to bring Sakamoto there, feeling like he’d lose any bit of coolness he might’ve had. But Sakamoto wasn’t going to take Shin to his apartment and he obviously wasn’t just going to let Shin off the hook at the moment.
Maybe this was punishment.
“It’s not much,” Shin mumbled, unlocking the door to his tiny apartment.
There wasn’t much floor space, but for a teenager it wasn’t that much of an issue. Sakamoto, though, was bigger and looking at him in the small space made Shin feel even more self conscious.
“Umm… thanks,” he said as he took the first aid kit, sitting on the edge of his bed while Sakamoto took the chair.
Shin honestly didn’t think he needed the first aid kit. He wasn’t that injured–he’d had much worse–but it seemed rude not to use what he’d been given. Anyways, Sakamoto was watching him like he wouldn’t leave until Shin patched himself up.
Other than pain that would surely turn to bruises if they weren’t already, the only real injuries were on his knuckles. He hadn’t managed to hit the bartender particularly hard, but he’d still managed to do a number on his knuckles. Unfortunately, that meant he was trying to bandage his right hand using only his left and, so far, it wasn’t working well.
After what felt like an eternity of poorly bandaging his hand, Sakamoto sighed and stood up. He came to sit next to Shin, taking the bandages from him.
“Here, let me do it.” He took something from the first aid kit. “You need to disinfect it first.”
Shin watched as Sakamoto poured clear liquid onto a piece of gauze, a vague memory from the lab resurfacing of Asakura doing this same thing after Shin fell and scrapped his knee.
The gauze stung, but before Shin could pull away, Sakamoto grabbed his hand, keeping it in place.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Shin said.
“That’s good.” Sakamoto went back to the chair, giving Shin a hard look. “That was stupid.”
“You should’ve heard what that guy was saying— well, thinking about you!”
“If I hadn’t guessed you were going to do something stupid, you could’ve gotten hurt much worse.”
“I was just—” Shin looked at his lap, feeling like a little kid again. “I don’t know. ”
Sakamoto paused in his thoughts for a moment before sighing again.
“We probably need to find a new place to meet.”
Shin fidgeted a little before finally finding his voice.
“Are you angry?”
“Why would I be angry?”
Shin looked up, as surprised by the words as by hearing Sakamoto speak.
Sakamoto had tilted his head slightly, looking baffled by Shin’s question and his thoughts matched that confusion.
“Didn’t you like that bar?”
“Not really, it was just convenient.”
“You had to save me again.”
“You wouldn’t have died.”
“But all I ever do is hold you back! You’re going to get tired of me coming on assignments with you if I don’t do better!”
Sakamoto crossed his arms, squeezing his eyes shut as he thought over something.
Shin couldn’t hear what he was thinking, something that occasionally happened when he was with Sakamoto. Sakamoto was the only person Shin had met who could easily hide their thoughts from him, but he didn’t mind. He couldn’t explain why, but it didn’t bother him. And even if it did bother him, it rarely happened. Sakamoto was usually an open book, after all.
“Fine. We can train together.”
“Huh?”
“This was because I said no, right?”
Was he that easy to read? He hoped it was just that Sakamoto was great at what he did. Which was, apparently, cleaning up after Shin.
“Well– Wait, really? You’ll train me.”
“Train together,” he reiterated. “I’m not a good teacher.”
Shin smiled widely, unable to keep his excitement under wraps.
“Thank you, Sakamoto-san!”
“Also…”
“Also?”
“You live here?”
“Umm, obviously?” Shin looked around, wondering why that was so unbelievable.
“Why?”
“Why?” Shin shook his head, bristling a little bit despite himself. “I’m sure you live somewhere really nice, but I don’t have much money. And it isn’t easy to find a place that’ll rent to a teenager.”
Shin saw the flash of an apartment in Sakamoto’s mind. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was definitely nicer than Shin’s place. He also caught a thought that he didn’t think was really meant for him to hear.
Dangerous…
“When we met, you said I was old enough to take care of myself,” Shin reminded him. “What happened to that?”
Sakamoto didn’t seem to have an answer for that and Shin wasn’t about to push it, even if it was baffling to him why Sakamoto would care about his apartment.
“I’ll call.” Was all Sakamoto said as he stood up and headed for the door. “Don’t be stupid.”
“I won’t,” Shin called back, waiting to hear the door close before falling back onto his bed.
He threw an arm over his face and sighed loudly, for once glad for his neighbors’ encroaching thoughts because they distracted him from wondering what the hell he was doing.