September 20, 2011

Warning: Coarse language.

Hi! Been a while since I wrote a fic, hope I still got it! So this fic has a basic plot and simple theme, like a kick-start of sorts. If somebody enjoys reading this then I'm thanking you in advance, it's a bonus for me.

I'll be using their original names. If there is any confusion please tell in a review or PM me!

Oh and in case I haven't stressed it enough, this fic will be BL (Boy Love) / Yaoi / Shounen-ai. Eventually.

Disclaimer: Beyblade not mine!

Stress Reliever
Step One

"You're sleeping on the couch—for now. I'll think of something in the morning."

"Thanks Kai. You don't know how much this means to me."

"Oh, house rules—no sap."

"I see you're still a joker," followed by a soft chuckle.

Kai gestured a quick nod before standing up from where he was seated, indicating the end of their conversation. He wanted to give space for the raven-haired man that was fretting over his things, to give him enough time to settle on his new "bed"...and probably "home". He shook his head from his previous thought; it was not the time to be thinking about that. He quickly picked up his pace as he trudged for the corridor to his bedroom, eager for the bed awaiting him...when a familiar set of flaming red hair blocked his way.

"Explain."

The slate-haired Russian glared, not enjoying the sudden company.

...

When the other person didn't even budge, he closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose to stop an incoming headache. "Not now, Yuriy." His voice was strained. It was late and he wanted to rest.

Yuriy crossed his arms over his chest and glared back. "Why not?"

It was during this point that Kai opened his crimson eyes and glared again. Unfortunately he knew Yuriy damn well; he knew that he would bug the hell out of him till morning breaks if he didn't give a more detailed answer. And he obviously did not prefer that. Sighing, he closed his eyes again. "Because Rei haven't even explained to me yet."

Kai couldn't see him, but he could tell the other raising an irritated eyebrow. "Oh. And you just let him in. Without questions." Yes. Definitely pissed off.

The younger Russian stepped forward to the redhead, his eyes opened and glowering, but without any hint of resentment. "I know Rei, Yuriy. He has his reasons. He'll spill them when he's ready."

A scoff. "Then they better be fucking good reasons."

Without anything more to say Yuriy finally stepped out of the way, though he wasn't satisfied with what just transpired. Kai gave him a slight jerk of a nod as acknowledgement before continuing his walk towards his bedroom. Yuriy followed suit, albeit heading to a room of his own, just beside Kai's.

Kai gently closed the door behind him as soon as he entered his bedroom and within a few steps later his two-toned head already smashed against scarlet pillows. He was really, very tired, but despite of it all, one sentence was silently playing through his head:

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Rei..."

And he slowly drifted off to sleep, the digital clock by his bedside glowing a red 1:03 AM.

x

By the time the sun was up, the rays effectively lit up the gloomy living room—it looked a lot better than it was during the night. The furniture was simple, minimal decorations, and the room was sporting a modern day look with white and light blue as color theme. However it was very spacious, one could probably roll on the floor without hitting anything. It was so unlike how Rei imagined Kai's house to be as he was actually expecting a huge mansion with a huge garage and fancy furniture. Instead it was a two-story house but with a large land area.

Speaking of the Chinese, he was still sprawled on the white sofa, still asleep and still wearing the clothes he had the night before. Apparently he too was tired enough not to change clothes and was wearing...one couldn't say it wasn't normal clothes, but it did have the Chinese theme on it, but it didn't feel like normal everyday clothes...it was more of a uniform of sorts, simple yet spiffy.

A finger poked him on the chest. "Hey, are you planning on sleeping in the whole day?"

He had always been a light sleeper and sometimes he hated himself for it. He did want to wake up, but sleeping in the whole day wasn't such a bad idea either...he hadn't have enough sleep as of late, and a good, long slumber was really tempting.

If not for the incessant poking from hell.

Unable to tolerate it any longer, Rei opened his eyes, only to close them back again because of the sudden exposure to light. Grumbling a little this time he slowly opened his eyes to adjust to the light, taking in the surroundings...when he was suddenly met with maroon eyes and indigo hair and that strangely familiar nose—

"ACK!" Rei sat up out of surprise, a weird realization hitting him; he wasn't expecting anybody else at Kai's house except Kai himself! And that person was definitely NOT Kai! It was—

"Oh. You're alive." That voice...!

Rei finally had the sense to look around and confirm his thoughts. There was no doubt about it now; the one who poked him to death was none other than Ivan, and right now the couch was surrounded by, you guessed it—

Neo Borg.

"Uhh..." the Chinese was involuntarily fidgeting on his seat. How the hell was he supposed to react to this?

A tall man with silvery hair smirked at his pathetic state. "Surprised?"

Rei couldn't help but twitch at the statement. Boris. Even after all these years he still gave him the creeps. "Where's Kai...?" he meekly asked, unable to think of anything else to say. Kai could be the only one who can save him from this demise.

A guy with scarlet red hair circled from behind the couch and sat on the coffee table. Yuriy, as Rei perfectly remembered, glared ice-blue daggers at him. "In the bathroom." He let out a grunt. "I suppose you're going to tell us now what the fuck are you doing here?" His voice was demanding and loud, as something to be expected of him. But the black-haired man was frozen in place. What should he say...

"Knock it off, Yuriy." Savior!

The slate-haired savior appeared from the hallway, wearing a simple shirt and sweatpants, his hair still dripping from the water as some of it clung to the sides of his face. Rei inwardly cheered. Kai has never failed him.

The recent savior quickly made his way to a comfy chair and picked up the newspaper placed beside Yuriy, who looked nothing short from pissed. "Well?" he grumbled, eyes fixed on the newspaper-holding person, "Aren't you going to ask HIM," he pointed an accusing finger at Rei who winced a bit, "his wonderful reason?"

Crimson eyes only gave him an aggravated stare. "Like I said, he will say it when he will." Pausing a bit to look at them, he added, "And stop looming over him like vultures stalking their prey."

Boris let out a sinister laugh. "Nice metaphor."

They started to move away from him, much to Rei's slight relief.

...And it was only then the whole seriousness of the situation sunk in Rei's confused and distracted head; need he remind himself that the Neo Borg was here? All five of them—Kai, Yuriy, Ivan, Sergey, Boris; with the exception of Kai he's not exactly buddies with the lot of them. Though it was not weird to find them hang around Kai's house, after all, they are friends, no matter how much they deny it.

But it WAS weird to see them hanging around Kai's house after several years of not even thinking about them.

Rei began observing them as they moved about the fairly elegant house. Sergey, still the giant, burly blonde that he was, if not becoming more built and muscular, immediately headed for the room beside the living room; Rei assumed it to be the kitchen or dining room, since he did catch a glimpse of a dining table in there. Yuriy, the lanky redhead, still with the ice cold gaze that Rei had the unfortunate luck to remember, sat on the other comfy chair opposite Kai and turned on the TV with the remote. Ivan apparently had a laptop in his other hand and slumped down on a reclining chair, focusing on the now-opened laptop. Rei noticed that he had grown a lot taller over the past years although he was still the shortest of the bunch. Boris exited from the door to the backyard, which one could perfectly see because the wall separating the house and the backyard was made out of glass. And Kai flipped open his newspaper, effectively hiding his face from the Chinese's view.

...And another realization hit Rei hard. HARD.

These people weren't merely hanging out at Kai's house! He might be mistaken, but...they're so accustomed to this place. It was as if they actually lived here.

He wanted to find out. "Um, Kai—"

Yuriy's and Ivan's eyes immediately dart up to him, embarrassing him a bit. He couldn't just ask Kai when he's within earshot of the people involved, right? That was definitely a stupid move from him!

He fidgeted with his hands uncontrollably and looked down. Why wouldn't they stop staring goddamit?

Then he saw himself still wearing the...clothes...from last night. "...Where's the bathroom?"

Kai peeked from behind the newspaper. "Left or right hallway, last door."

Rei muttered a "Thanks!" before taking in the surroundings, searching for these hallways; on the far wall of the living room, the same wall with the glass panes overlooking the backyard, were the hallways Kai mentioned, the left obviously leading to the left wing of the house and vice versa. Rei easily picked the left hallway as both Yuriy and Ivan's position were more of to the right side, and he didn't want to pass by them. Taking his rather heavy bag with him he walked out of sight.

Yuriy took this opportunity swiftly. Clicking mute on the TV remote, he turned to the newspaper-reading man. "Seriously Kai." Two words meant nothing but Kai already knew what he meant anyway.

He put down the papers gently on his lap. "Judging from the amount of things he brought, he may be intending to stay here for a while."

"What?" Ivan exclaimed, as if on protest. "How can we focus on work if that..." he trailed off as he thought of the right word...but eventually failed, "THAT is around?"

"Unlike Takao, Max or Hiromi, he isn't a nuisance."

Yuriy scoffed at this. "Can't you just book him a hotel or something?"

But Kai only shook his head. "If he wanted a hotel he would've gone to it by now."

"Maybe he can't afford it..." Ivan grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Maybe. But I seriously doubt it. Stop whining like teenage girls."

"Fuck you," the duo glared in unison, but because this is Kai, he was unaffected and just merely smirked at them.

As if on cue Boris reemerged from the backyard and was about to go somewhere when Kai called out his name, nodding to the empty couch. He complied, but not feeling a bit relaxed; he knew something's up when the red-eyed Russian told you to sit on the couch.

"Boris," Kai mentioned his name again to confirm that he had his utmost attention, "I specifically remember your room having two beds—"

This caused a hysteric fit of laughter from the shortest guy, with the redhead following soon after with his milder version of laughs that he had been trying to suppress.

"Shut the fuck up!" Boris glared at the pair but it only resulted to even wilder laughter.

By now Ivan was clutching his stomach, finding it very hard to breathe, "Oh...oh...I know where this is going!"

Yuriy had a hand covering his mouth. "On second thought this might be a good idea Kai...!"

Boris could only glare his hardest.

Kai gave his equally chill-emanating glare, "As I was saying, your room is made for two people—"

"No." More laughing. "Can't you two shut the hell up?"

"No objections." The owner of the house's tone was final and clipped. "Rei will be staying in your room." After what seemed like years the two had finally calmed down, reverting to their original facades. "I suggest cleaning it up now and hide the stuff you don't want him to see."

...And the two burst in laughter again.

The pale-haired man was seeing red. If only murder was allowed in Kai's house, he would've committed it a long time ago to those two zhopa! Being in the worst possible mood he stormed out of the living room and onto the stairs, heading for his room on the second floor.

Kai could only shake his head; Boris wasn't actually the cheerful type even from when he was younger, and even as the years passed that one didn't change. He picked up the newspaper again, flipping to the page where he left off. "He's gone, now be quiet."

"This is gold...!" Ivan was wiping a tear that had escaped from his eyes.

"Surely you're scheming something, great Kai-ness?" Yuriy shot a questioning look at Kai, though one could tell that he was still trying to hold back his laugh.

The aforementioned man only raised the newspaper to his face, but before it was fully obscured a visible smirk graced on his lips. "No."

Yuriy of course, caught it. "Then what's the smug grin on your face?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Without the object of their amusement Ivan and Yuriy finally settled down and went back to what they were doing. The room was fairly quiet then, if you consider the scripted shouting from the television drama quiet, and the occasional typing from Ivan's laptop and the sound of flipping papers from Kai's newspaper. Once in a while they would hear the sounds of utensils coming from the kitchen and some ruckus coming from the second floor.

They almost forgot a foreigner was there with them, in the bathroom taking a shower. Well, almost, till he showed up without his previous clothes and was now wearing a simple shirt and pants. His long, raven-black hair was loose, swaying in the air as he walked towards the main area of the living room.

The shortest noticed this first. "Tch," he stared at the unbelievably long hair, "Has anybody told you you look girly with your hair like that?"

Rei who was just recovering from the shock that they, the Neo Borg, really did live here, was taken aback. He wasn't expecting that they'd talk to him at all. "Um...a lot of people, actually..." he muttered, stroking his hair with his fingers.

"And you're okay with that?" Ivan looked like he was revolted...but then that changed when he gave the Chinese an evil...look. "Why don't we cut it while you're still here?"

"No!" If cutting his hair was the only way to be friendly with them, then they could just very well kill him instead!

This absolute refusal amused Ivan, to say the least.

He snickered. "Maybe when you're asleep..." he mumbled loud enough for Rei to hear as he switched back to his laptop.

Rei froze on his spot. He knew the Russian was just kidding...right? He was just kidding. Of course he was! But he couldn't shake this nagging feeling that he might actually do it...after all, they're the Neo Borg. Who knows what's running through their heads? But...Rei loves his hair! He's starting to have second thoughts about staying at this place...

"Rei." A cool, baritone voice broke him from his stupor; it was none other than Kai's. "Your room would be the first room you see on the second floor."

"Oh...okay, thanks," he managed to blurt out as he literally dropped himself on the couch, emitting a sigh. Why was he being so out of it?

Speaking of being out of it, Sergey appeared from the kitchen wearing an apron! Rei almost laughed out loud when he realized that the rest of the people occupying the room was not reacting to the fact that Sergey was wearing an apron. That must mean it's normal? "Breakfast," the tall blond stated, before going back in to where he came from.

"Finally!" Yuriy quickly turned off the television and marched to the dining room/kitchen.

"Ivan, call Boris," Kai ordered which the other complied immediately, setting down his laptop on the chair and climbing the stairs. He turned his eyes back at Rei who was currently watching him. "Rei, come." He gestured for the kitchen, and was about to go there when he heard a quiet plead,

"...W-wait, Kai."

He stood still, waiting for the Chinese to continue, crimson eyes never leaving him.

"I didn't know the Neo Borg are staying with you...maybe I should go somewhere else."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "I already welcomed you, didn't I? Now, eat breakfast." He ordered, his voice resonating with a practiced, unemotional tone.

Rei caught himself chuckling again. There were just some things in this world that doesn't change. "Thank you," he smiled.

At least, not yet.

x

Thanks for reading, till next chapter.

Lei-Lei