internalized homophobia - straight-pride

Kaoru hated working. The job was boring as shit, slow, and all-around just a pain in the ass. He had a lot of reasons for pushing on with it, though, the main one being money. It was his own money and stuff his father couldn't fuss at him for. Sure, most of it went to dates or to other stupid things like that, but it was that sense of freedom that had indeed drawn him in. The previous year had been a nightmare, dealing with his father alone for the first time in years. It had been a stressful few months, and he was going to lose his mind if he had to spend another damn day around him. So these escapes to the live house, as boring and frustrating as they were, tended to be an escape. They were a chance to be alone, finally, even if most of his days were spent chilling in the office or breaking up the assholes who came in from Ryuseitai. And speaking of the devil, they were here again tonight. They were business, yes, but they were the type of business he didn't like dealing with. Condoms on the bathroom floor and broken open pill packs within the trashcans of the live house type of business. DEADMANZ' fans were far more manageable, and at least some of them were girls. So he usually went home with a good amount of material to think about. Especially when it came to those outfits. God those outfits. His attention was lacking a little, however, as he left the office that night. His shift had only started recently, and he was already having to make calls. His phone was pressed between his shoulder and his ear, and he muttered something about 'those fucking Ryuseitai delinquents' as he stepped off to the side, not noticing the person he nearly ran into.

today was one of the few days Madara had found himself in japan. And of course, his day couldn’t be busier. Running across school grounds to all its facilities and what would’ve left anyone exhausted out of their mind. But not this busybody, he loved nothing more than running and lending a helping hand to whoever needed it. That’s what landed him in a strange live house. The name and location weren’t unfamiliar to his ears, having heard Rei-san and his unit mates talk about it multiple times, but this was the first time he’s gotten the chance to step foot into it, caused by said Rei-san and unitmates. RYUSEITAI’s actual unit leader had tasked him with investigating the fights breaking out in that area, because the teacher’s and local’s complaints were becoming a bit more than just complaints and bordering on being straight up threats. So of course it fell on Madara’s shoulders —and not the leader, because he’s a lazy a– because he has graduation to worry about!— to solve this issue. And since he was finally around, he thought he could hit two birds with one stone and find Rei to ask him about the whole ‘oddballs’ shtick going on. What he nearly ends up hitting though, is some blonde who didn’t care to watch the road. “Whoah– watch it, bud.” his reflexes are fast enough to dodge the close call. Who was this guy anyway?

Quick to sidestep the near collision, Kaoru shot a glare at the stranger, almost as if it had been him who had nearly been bowled over, and not the other way around. The fact that he might have been wrong didn't register with him, and he just rolled his eyes. 'Bud'. Far too familiar for Kaoru's tastes. He muttered something into the phone (some 'dealing with a dick, call you back in ten?' or something close) shutting off the device and shoving it into his pocket. The guy in front of him looked somewhat familiar, but he didn't think he could place it. Probably not right off the bat. He tried not to remember guys' names or faces, but some seemed to unfortunately stick. This was a new one though. But he didn't seem... forgettable. Just kind of like an asshole. "Don't call me that." He said simply, just rolling his eyes. He spared a glance back at the office door he'd come from, just a tad confused. "No one's back here." He said gaze flicking right back to him. There were the bathrooms and the office tucked away back here, so no one had a need to come back usually. So what was he doing. "Sorry~ You're not a girl, so I can't encourage you coming to the office." He jerked his head, nodding back towards the main area. "Get back with the rest of those assholes, yeah~?"

with his hands held up almost in a surrendering position, he eyes the shit mouthed blonde up and down with a quirked brow. He really had the audacity to carry that attitude when he nearly pumped into him. Brave for a stick thin twink. “Guess you’re stupid enough not to notice, bud, but ya nearly crashed into me there! And I honestly don’t care enough to catch your name.” his hands fall back to his side with a sarcastic laugh. “Guess ya can’t help it since you’re too busy chatting there, huh?” He crosses his arms over his chest, swaying his weight to his left leg. What a self centered asshole, always good to run into one of those around these parts. How fun. “I didn’t ask you, so stop running your mouth, yeah?” his smile becomes more irritated than sarcastic. “Now be a good boy and tell me where the person who runs is! If you do that, I might just go easy on you for running your mouth like that~” he didn’t need some ansty, hormonal kid ruining his already rough day.

The too-familiar nickname drew a scowl to his lips, and although he knew he couldn't win a fight against the guy he was tempted to pick one anyway. If only to prove a point. Fortunately for him, however, he had some modicum of common sense. He'd put it to use here. "The person who runs the place?" He quirked a brow at him. Of course he'd be looking for him. What? Was he hoping to lodge some shitty complaint? He was already trying to deal with Ryuseitai (and his father was no help at all) so he wasn't in the mood to hear it. He glanced back at the office door, the door still half open behind him, slowly slowly swinging shut behind him. He shot a deadpan look at the asshole he was dealing with, shrugging his shoulders halfheartedly. Whatever. He supposed he'd be somewhat nice right now. If only because he'd rather not take a punch to the face again. He'd already had to break up one fight today. "You're looking at him, asshole." He crossed his arms over his chest, quirking a brow at him as if to challenge that idea. He didn't need someone to go easy on him, not when he had some level of backing in the form of his family.

Mikejima could only blink at the boy. Giving him another good look over with his eyes before he tilts his head with a smile. “...oh! You’re serious!?” with that he breaks out into a laughing fit. He keels over with his arms wrapped around his stomach, his laugh echoing obnoxiously. Oh what a fucking joke his life was. No wonder the Ryuseitai delinquents took a liking to this place! This guy looked like he’d shiver and die if he was threatened. “Sorry, sorry~” he didn’t sound sorry at all. He straightens up, wiping a stray tear from his eye with a hand on his stomach. He hasn’t laughed this hard in a while. “Couldn’t help it. How old are ya again~? You don’t look old enough to run a place like this.” “Okay, okay. That doesn’t matter right now. I came to apologize on behalf of Ryuseitai! I’ll shoo them outta here since I doubt a scrawny guy like you can do it~”

The laughter only darkened the scowl already on his face, and he narrowed his eyes at him in a pointed glare. What an absolute dick. Maybe he should pick a fight with him, but unfortunately the guy was right. He was unfortunately scrawny, and this guy already had the advantage of height (and strength) over him. He didn't answer the comment about his age, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched him laugh. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I know who sent you." He turned on his heel, nodding for him to follow as he stepped into the office. "He said he'd do it ages ago. Sakuma-san would have had this shit done already if he was actually around." He leaned over the desk to start looking through some papers. "I got your complaints and shit here."

his friendly expression drops to a small smile with an annoyed quirk to his furrowed brows. What a cocky fucking bitch. Regardless, he had a job to carry, and he hated leaving anything unfinished. Even if he had a lot on his mind —with whatever is going on with Kanata-san and all— and he’d rather talk to his unitmates directly than talk to some stuck up asshole. Eh, being a busy body really was hard. He follows the blonde into the office, eyes rudely darting around the place to scan every inch of it. “Rei-san~? Y’know him?” he helps himself to the seat behind the desk, throwing himself on to it and crossing his legs. Serves him right for treating Madara like some dog. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but he wasn’t the one who sent me. I’m the vice prez of Ryuseitai, and I came here in place of our leader.” “What was your name again?”

Letting out a little noise of annoyance, he had to shift to the next drawer, looking for the papers that he knew he had left here. What a pain in the ass. Had someone come through and rearranged his stuff? He was going to kill whoever had done that. "Yeah. I know Sakuma-san. He pops in here once in a blue moon." He grumbled, "Said he'd help with this shitty issue." He finally pulled out a little stack of papers, tossing them onto the desk almost haphazardly. "Vice Prez of Ryuseitai?" His nose scrunched up, and he rolled his eyes. He turned back to face him, leaning back against the desk so he could properly look at him. "Nah. Don't know you." He rolled his eyes, not willing to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he did somewhat know who he was. "I don't make it a habit to keep the faces and names of guys in my mind~ That goes to the girls I meet~" He hummed, "Names Hakaze. Kaoru. Yours? And how the hell are you gonna solve this?" He quirked a brow at him.

with an annoying grin, Madara rests his arms down on the chair, leaning back comfortably on the back rest. “If Rei-san’s involved then I suggest you wait and see~ he’s a real magician, y’know?” He doesn’t meet the blonde’s gaze, instead taking the papers and skimming them lightly with the same smile on his face. “Hmm~mmm…. This place is a fucking mess, huh?” He spares Kaoru one unamused glance before resuming his shallow read. “Kaoru-san.” he throws the papers down just as Kaoru had done before, leaning back on the chair to place his feet up on the desk. Hakaze. The name doesn’t escape him. He can’t exactly remember if it was his mother or father who’ve talked about them before —which makes a great difference when one is a former underground and the other is a cop— but he’s sure of their importance and influence. Maybe this won’t be as boring as he initially thought it would be. “Well, Kaoru-san.” he repeats, swinging his hands lazily in the air. “You can call me Mama☆”

Yeah. No way in hell was he calling a dude Mama. Even that was too far out of any of his comfort zones to be even slightly alright. Not to mention, the comments on the state of the live house made him clench his jaw in frustration. He didn't want to snap, but his ego had been bruised and it was already a shitty night. "It's underground for a reason, M-" Eugh, he couldn't do it. "Hard to get anyone official involved when you serve alcohol to teens and everyone knows you do it." He let out a slow breath, fingers curling over the edge of the desk as he leaned back onto it. "What's your actual name? I'd rather not have to call you that." A slight give away that hinted at the fact that Kaoru knew his real name, but no one had to know that, right?

Amusement dances in Madara’s eyes as he watches the way Koaru tries to subdue his apparent anger. With a chuckle, he picks up a pen from the desk to idly twirl it between his fingers. “Then do I really owe you an apology? My dad’s a cop y’know. It might get him a raise to rat out a place like this. And with this “shitty" management, I don’t think it’ll take more than a single push to crumple this establishment down~!” “...juuuust kidding☆” he pauses his twirling to throw his hands up, pen secured between his index and middle finger. “I’m not that cruel! Well, I could not be that cruel if you let it slide this time, Kaoru-san.” It wouldn’t get his dad a raise, nor did he care if the blonde let this –those incidents slide. It’s not like he can do much but complain to his unit leader, which in turn will complain to him but whoops! He’s not in Japan anymore! Aaand the cycle repeats. “My actual name? How do you know that’s not my name? It’s Ma~Ma~” he signs something with his hands —presumably sign language— before flashing the blonde a bright grin and resuming his spinning game with the pen.

"J'en ai ras de cul.... trou de cul." He mumbled, head in his hands as he tried to pull himself back together. He was beginning to like this guy less and less the more he had to interact with him, and if the pounding starting behind his eyes was any indication, it would only get worse from here. His voice was still low as he mumbled another harsh insult in French, some habit he'd picked up years ago when he was just beginning to go against what he was told. "I'm not calling you that, f-" He paused, eh. Yeah, he seemed gay. But this didn't seem like the time to throw a slur at him."-freak." He groaned, nails digging into the soft wood on the underside of the table. "If you can get 'em out of here, I'll owe you a favor." Even if he was a dick, he wasn't unfair. "I've been trying for months. But they're not gonna listen to me. I'm running on daddy's money and spite, Mikejima-kun. Your unitmates run on whatever bruises they can inflict on people like M-" Ah, fuck. Whatever. He could only hope that he didn't process that he did seem to know his name. he didn't want to deal with the taunting that would likely come from that. "People like the weaklings who come crying back here with bruises and cuts for a band-aid."

Wow. So fancy. Madara’s bright expression lessens to a sly grin as he flashes a subtle glare at the blonde. He really did think Madara was just another one of the punks hanging outside and wrecking havoc, huh? “Very bold of you to call someone a freak then ask for a favor, Kaoru-san.” His tone is taunting, followed by a short laugh as he kicks the edge of the table with his heel, pushing the chair away from the desk. “Surely you realize just how awful your position here is, eh~?” He tosses the pen onto the table then stands, circling around the desk to stand in front of Kaoru. The smirk on his face doesn’t waver even as the blonde mentions those who were simply caught in the crossfire. What a shit card to play. Madara can’t fault him, it didn’t seem like he had the best deck to begin with. “You run a little infirmary here or something? Is that part of the establishment? What a great idea! Sell alcohol to kids so they can beat each other up then patch them up!” he laughs, turning his back to the other as he steps towards the door. “You’re funny, Kaoru-san. But funny won’t get ya anywhere.” “You should consider your words carefully. ‘Cause Mikejima won’t help ya~”

Kaoru was nothing if not an idiot, but he had a feeling that calling Madara what he wanted to call him would have ended up far worse for him. He counted his blessings that he could walk out of here in one piece, but that didn't mean he had to like how Madara was treating him. His jaw tightened, clenching his teeth together as Madara stood in front of him. He straightened a bit, making the most out of his height (even if he was definitely shorter than Madara) and keeping his chin up as he fixed him with an almost deadpan look. "I wouldn't call it an infirmary-" His lip twitched, dragging his face into a bit of a frown. "Kids come here crying. I just toss a first aid kit at them. I wouldn't get that close to a dude." He rolled his eyes. He did tense when Madara turned to leave, cursing himself under his breath. Of course he'd act like this. Kaoru was just as stubborn, and he'd do the same thing. ...Maybe he should start predicting those things rather than let himself get into these situations. "Oh, fuck you." He groaned, taking in a slow breath. "Fine. Please help me clear them out, Mama." The name felt harsh on his tongue, and he knew he'd hop back to his normal name for him in a heartbeat. "I'm sick of dealing with them. Name your price."

Quick to slam his foot down with his hands in his pockets, Madara tilts his head back to stare at the ceiling, thinking his options over. This kid was a fucking dick! Helping him did not seem that appealing, even if it wouldn’t take Madara lifting a finger to make these kids scramble. The idea still didn’t seem like something Madara wanted to go through for some big mouthed rich kid. However, owning a favor from said big mouthed rich kid could benefit him greatly. Turning to face Kaoru once again, Madara laughs obnoxiously as he approaches the live house manager. “You should watch your mouth, y’know? But it’s fine, Mama will help ya since you asked sooo nicely!” Without any warning, he wraps his arm around Kaoru’s neck, purposely putting more force into the action then needed, then he’d begin to walk with Kaoru by his side, guiding him out of the office. “Stick by my side and you’ll be fine.” Once in the middle of the ruckus, Madara would let Kaoru out of the half headlock he kept on him to take a few steps ahead of him, waving his arms around to catch the crowd’s attention, calling out cheerfully. “Oooooii~! What are you doing here? RYUSEITAI has practice y’knoow? The captain wouldn’t be happy if you knew you were slacking off and causing trouble again!” something about the way every head seemed to turn to him hinted that maybe the captain shouldn’t be the one to fear. Dropping his happy facade, he brings foot down harshly, it almost threatens to echo. “Now, scram! And if you cause Kaoru-san here any more trouble, getting kicked out of the unit will be the last of your worries” The crowd dissipates, some running away immediately, some bowling deeply before scrambling to run off. “There~!” he turns to Kaoru with a bright smile, hands held up in a ‘ta-da!’ gesture.

Kaoru let out a little disgruntled noise as he was very quickly grabbed, and he had to try and wiggle out of it. He wasn't a fan of being touched by a guy at all but this was infinitely worse as he was almost being dragged by him. He tried to push away the arm, but Madara had the advantage of height and strength so he found himself trapped. He shot him a glare as they walked out, kicking the office door shut behind him and nearly stumbling as he followed him along. He let out a sigh of relief as he was let go, adjusting his shirt and jacket. He scoffed as he took a slight step to the side, brushing himself off. How annoying. He didn't comment on it though, knowing Madara didn't have to help him. The loud voice by his ear caused him to wince, but he masked it with a scowl as he crossed his arms over his chest. Watching everyone scramble was rather satisfying, and the people who actually brought money in stuck around, quickly back to talking amongst themselves. He glanced up at Madara, quirking a brow at him. "Impressive~" Yeah, he knew who he was (who didn't in their year?) but he wasn't too willing to admit to that. That felt.. weird to admit. "Gotta say, you just solved a massive problem for me~" He turned on his heel, "Thanks." Before beginning to walk back towards the office. "Let me know what I owe you~"

Madara presses his lips together as Kaoru begins to walk away, he observes the crowd for a moment for any hiding members, making sure he’s weeded out every last one of them, before abandoning his spot to follow the live house manager. The question causes his head to sway, he shoves his hands into his pocket, humming quietly as he rolls it over in his head. This was a limited offer, obviously. With how things were going, Ryuseitai was sure to disband soon. Not that Madara had cared that much, all they ever did for him was give him a place on papers. And Kaoru seemed like the type to deny any favors after killing the root of the problem. The other issue was that Madara himself was not stable either, going in and out of japan as they pleased, dragged around by the nose like a dog, willing to carry their every demand and see it to fruition. Is that why he’s called Rei’s successor? “What you owe meee…” he trails off, bringing a hand out of his pocket to scratch the back of his head. Well, might as well use this opportunity now. “How about a drink?”

A drink..? This guy could have asked for anything, and he decides to just ask for a drink. He'd have called him stupid if he hadn't just seen him clear a room with barely a few words. Whatever. He held down any comments, and shrugged as he stepped properly into the office. He let the door slowly swing shut on its own, the weight of the door letting it click into place. He pawed through a drawer, coming up with a little piece of paper. A little notepad with an official header. He scribbled something on it, a messy signature scrawled at the bottom before he held out the note to Madara. It was out of his hands at this point. He sat back in his chair as soon as it was taken, raising a brow and shooting a look at him -- as if asking why he was still lingering. "Easy enough~" He made a note that he'd still likely owe him a favor, fairness in these situations was crucial, but he wouldn't voice that. "That'll get you anything you want at the bar. Whenever you end up wanting to use it. Thank's again, Mikejima-kun~"

Completely disinterested, he watches Kaoru do whatever he was doing with a deadpan. He really was the type to brush anything that didn’t pique his interest aside, huh? He would’ve called them similar, but if that were the case he wouldn’t have been here to begin with. He receives the paper with the same look, turning it over for a moment as he brings his thumb to his mouth. This was so fun.. Maybe letting those annoying juniors run wild wasn’t a bad idea. “Eh~? The hell am I supposed to do with this?” With a frustrated smile, he rips the paper in half, discarding it and throwing it aside before he reaches out and takes Kaoru’s wrist from across the table. “You owe me a drink. Get up.”