Don't be scared of the night
2
Yamato remained in the kitchen making tea while he listened in to Sai telling Kakashi how he had just been to the shop to buy a pack of cigarettes and how his home had been burnt to dust when he returned.
Sai had calmed down. The apparent shock that came from losing all your belongings had gone, his voice was steady and he sounded like he didn’t really care.
Yamato brought the tea in, setting it down of the coffee table. Kakashi had his surgical mask around his neck with a lit cigarette in his mouth.
“I like how you complain about air pollution in the city, and that it’s damaging to your health, yet you smoke” Yamato mused. It was a point of discussion that often came up between him and Kakashi, and it often lead to the same place.
“Mah. Oh well” Kakashi shrugged “I’ll choose what kills me”
Yamato laughed, turned to look at Sai. He was a strange looking boy. Handsome, but in a way that couldn’t be pin-pointed. He had feminine features set onto pale skin, but there was something masculine there which told you; if you punched him, he would punch you straight back rather that backing down.
Kakashi started rambling about air pollution. Yamato wasn’t listening; he had heard it all before. Instead he watched Sai gradually lose interest in what Kakashi was saying.
Sai turned to look at Yamato, who hadn’t realized he was starring.
He smiled a quick ‘Hello’, and Yamato smiled back. The older man then proceeded to hide his face with his mug to hide the shame of being caught.
“Oh, Sai-“Kakashi interrupted himself “Have you informed Jiraiya about this?”
“Why would I?” Sai questioned. What did his living arrangements have to do with the paper?”
Kakashi pulled his phone and started flicking through a few pages.
“Get some time off” He pondered.
“And somehow, Kakashi, you’re going to make this about you getting time off work too” Said Yamato sarcastically.
“Oh but-“ Kakashi grinned, and put an arm around Sai, who was a little taken back by the touch “-I have to stay and look after this poor, innocent you man who has just been emotional traumatised due to the workings of a few meth addicts”
“And you think Jiraiya is going to fall for that?”
“Oh, poppet” Kakashi winked and stood up “You know I can sweet talk anybody” He jammed a number into his phone and moved to the kitchen to talk on the phone.
There was an awkward pause in the living room.
“So….” Yamato mused. Sai looked directly at him, eyebrows raised in anticipation”…You alright?”
“Hm? Oh, I guess so”
“What was in the fire?” Yamato asked, trying to be delicate on the matter.
“Erm. I don’t- Didn’t really have much in the way of value. But, pretty much everything, clothes, books, art-“
“Oh yes!” Yamato latched onto the subject “Kakashi’s actually mentioned you a few times, come to think of it, you’re the illustrator aren’t you?”
“Kakashi, talks about me?” Sai mumbled “Yes, we work together a bit”
There was another silence.
Sai picked up his pack of cigarettes from the table, took one himself then turned up to Yamato.
“You smoke?” He asked.
Yamato casually waved “No I, like my lungs functional”
Sai politely smiled back and lit up.
“So, Yamato, what is it that you do?”
“Oh, I’m an architect”
Kakashi’s head appeared around the corner, he covered the microphone on his mobile and smugly said; “Not a proper one though” He smirked and went back to the kitchen.
Sai looked puzzled for a moment before turning to Yamato for an explanation.
“See, I work for a firm, and Kakashi insists that I’m not a proper architect until I have my own” Yamato laughed, finished on his tea. Then in a raised voice said; “Of course, he’s not a proper writer until someone actually reads his work”.
Kakashi reappeared from the doorway.
“Got jokes too now?”
“Oh yeah” Yamato nodded eagerly.
Sai smiled as he sipped his tea.
Theirs looked like a good friendship. They both seemed happy, made each other laugh, even made Sai, an outside smile a little. But he could only feel a little jealous of them. Sai never had friends, not really. When at school, he just stayed with Shin, but then, after he died, he just tried to get by without getting beaten up on a daily basis, because after Shin died, he couldn’t pay to live, and that is when he started selling himself.
Swallowing the tea, he grimaced a little.
“How much sugar did you put in this?” He questioned.
“Well, you see you were shaking and well, I thought sugar would help, you know how people shake when your blood sugar drops” Yamato smiled and scratched the back of his head.
Sai found himself smiling “But have you seen how cold it is outside? That’s why I was shaking”
“Of course you’re cold, you’re wearing next to nothing”
And these two men weren’t idiots.
Sai shot to his feet.
“Sorry, urm- Where is the bathroom?” He asked, spinning around looking for a door.
“Over there, through the utility, on the left”
Kakashi end his conversation and came back to the lounge.
“Verdict?” Asked Yamato.
“Got a few days off”
Kakashi wirily sat down in his seat.
“Both”
“Just because you can?”
“Well” He started sarcastically “Someone needs to hang around and look after the boy. Make sure he’s not traumatized”
“So you’re going to let him stay here then?”
“You heard him earlier, he’s got nowhere else”
“Hm…”
Kakashi and Yamato both paused to think for a moment. Even though they had both lost their families, they still had a good amount of friends between them. They made existing worthwhile.
Kakashi broke the solemn silence.
“He seem alright to you?”
“I’ve never met him before, I don’t know what he’s like normally, I can’t tell”
“Well normally, he seems to have as much social intelligence and emotional range as that ashtray”
“Fine then” Yamato sighed “Just seems a bit, uncomfortable”
Kakashi pondered the thought for a moment. “I mean , it would be nicer… if we were staying somewhere bigger, with more than one bedroom, and bathroom… and maybe a garden-“
“-Stop it Kakashi- I’m not giving you my house”
“But come on- It’s just you living there now Anko’s left- Is it not a bit… lonely”
“Oh believe me it is” Yamato took a sip from his tea. That wasn’t really where he wanted this convocation to go. “Thinking about getting a cat”
“Oh no”
“What”
“No. Don’t. That just means you’ve given up ever having friends”
Kakashi took a victory sip of his tea.
But he hadn’t won.
“YOU PUT SALT IN MY TEA. YA’ BASTARD”
In the bathroom, Sai was fretting a little over his appearance.
He desperately tried to wash the eyeliner from between his lashes, washing his hands franticly to try and get the filth off him. The rain, soot and cigarettes had managed to cover the smell of another man on him.
He pulled his arms into his t-shirt and forced them to stretch the fabric, making it look a little looser, hopefully making him look less like a slut. His jacket was missing, must have left it at the hotel, good, it would have just made him look worse.
Not that he cared what he looked like.
But he wanted Kakashi, Yamato too, to respect him. They appeared too, but he didn’t want to lose that. People treated him like shit when he worked, and he didn’t want that from these two.
He picked up a comb from one of the shelves and neatened his hair. Finally somewhat satisfied with his appearance, he returned to the lounge.
Kakashi now had, in his lap something big, fluffy and obscurely patterned. Sai found being thrust into his arms.
“Put that on, It’ll keep you warm”
“Thank you”
Sai pulled on the sweater. It had a big chunky knit, a bold print, but it was soft, and warm. He was a little uneasy when both of the men smiled at him. Sai wrapped his arms around him. It was so warm.
“Didn’t I buy you that last Christmas?” Deadpanned Yamato.
“Yep”
“Never worn it have you?”
“Not once”
“Want me to give it back?” Asked Sai, reluctantly.
“Nope. Suits you” Yamato got up, picked him coat up from the back of his chair and put it on. “Pleasure meeting you, Sai” He smiled and stretched out his arm.
Sai shook his hand, Yamato then said goodbye to Kakashi and left.