Chapter Text
The sun was rising, painting the city in a pastel purple hue and in the silence of the morning you could hear a pair of shoes dragging though puddles in the pavement. Tired and sore, Aoba pushed his way though the door and collapsed onto the hardwood floor, however, knowing his job wasn’t done yet he heaved himself off the ground and quietly crept into the room of the two people he hated, yet, relied on most, Trip and Virus, they called themselves family, Aoba saw them as nothing more than pimps. And carefully pulled a wad of money from his back pocket and placed it on the side table. Then, while they were still asleep he tip toed his way up to the attic and silently pushed open the door.
“Sei!” The dark haired boy looked up from his kneeling position among various lightly colored, stained, comforters and his dry lips perked up into a weak smile.
“Aoba.” The blue haired boy ran over to his twin and the two embraced each other. It was rare times like this that Aoba cherished. Sei was his only family left and even then, they never saw each other, between Aoba out at night,tending to Trip and Virus, getting what little sleep he did during the day and Sei being locked up with clients at all hours, it was hard to find any time for the two to be together. Aoba looked over his brothers broken body. He had chapped, dry, lips, he was thin as ever, covered in bruises that varied from light purple to dark green and his shackled ankles were scratched, red, and clearly bled often from struggling friction. In addition to all that Sei’s hair was shorter than the last time Aoba had seen it, now it was just above his shoulders.
“Oh god, Sei! What did they do to you?” This of course was a dumb question, it would be easier to list what people haven’t done to him, after all, Sei was special. In the underground he was known as the “blind princess” and you had to go to Virus and Trip and put in a request to see him. But most would say the wait and extra cash was worth it, every toy, strap,whip,restraint, etc. was available to you but only for him as long as you followed the rule not to take off hie eye mask.
“I-I said no to someone again. They got mad and left so when Trip and Virus found out they-they cut it! Aoba it hurt so much!” Sei broke out into sobs and buried his face in his brothers shoulder. Aoba gently rubbed Sei’s back and wispered,”Shhhh, shhhh, I know, I know. I swear we’ll get out of here someday, we’ll get our tattoos removed and we’ll live together and it will all be okay,” In his heart Aoba believed that somehow this dream would be achievable, somehow, someway,”I’ll be right back,” He hated the face Sei made when he pulled away he looked so desperate for tender contact, his faced begged “don’t leave me” but Aoba could tell his twin was dehydrated so as quickly as he could he snuck down the stairs and came back with a glass of tap water,”Drink this.” Sei took the glass and Aoba watched him drink one small sip at a time until the cup was empty.
Trip and Virus would be awake soon so Aoba was forced to say goodbye to his brother with a kiss on the forehead and a forced smile. He went downstairs and curled into a ball of the couch and let loose the tears he had been holding back, whenever he saw Sei. He fell asleep to the thought of what life would be like if his parents hadn’t died. He dreamt about the same thing. He dreamt of him and Sei arguing over who got the last slice of pizza, getting sent off to collage, laughing with friends he hadn’t yet made, and falling in love with a beautiful girl. However all these dreams were ripped away. With a sharp punch to his stomach.
“Rise and shine,” Virus’ cold voice rang above him,”were is it? The money, tell me! Because you did no come back here empty handed!” Aoba opened his mouth to reply but all that came out was a choking scream when Virus grabbed a clump of blue hair and yanked on it hard,”do have any idea what I’ll-”
“Virus!” his head snapped to the taller blonde approaching him,”It was under the side table and its big.” Trip tossed the wad to Virus who let go of Aoba’s hair and caught it.
“Aoba, look at that! You’ve been busy, havent you?” No reply,”That’s our boy,” don’t say it,”Love you.” Aoba suddenly felt sick and his eyes felt watery again. It was like a triggered reaction to whenever someone said those words, after all that was the last thing his parents said to him and to hear it come from other people disgusted him.
“Come on! Not with that shit again!” Virus snapped when he noticed the tears streaming down the mans cheeks.
“It’s been 5 goddamn years! Get over it!” Trip joined in. The verbal assault continued until, Aoba guessed, they just got bored with it. And that was Aoba’s life for the most part. It was nothing but verbal and sexual abuse everyday since he was 18. Sometimes he wished he was able to just kill himself and end it all, but he couldn’t do that do Sei.