rekd | OVERFLOW / OPEN

[ and there's qi fang, looking up from his phone like he'd just been caught doing something illegal. quietly, he slips it into his back pocket and clears his throat. ]

Language.

[ he gestures towards the little faces, who all collectively haven't yet blinked once. creepy. ]

Fuck off. Lock the door behind you so none of these creatures can escape.

[ reki leaves the door open and turns on his heels to a chorus of low oooooh's. qi fang's got exactly one second to follow after him or he'll be forced to navigate the explosive chaos the den has become alone. ]

[ sir yes sir!

qi fang does his best to wade through the sea of small teens, smiling nervously through their obvious staring. he decides trying to meet any of their eyes is dangerous, and instead just offers a few vague waves in their general direction.

once he catches back up to reki, he sets his hands on the guy's shoulders so they can't be separated anymore. ]

I was promised dinner...

Are you dying? Gimme five seconds. Koko, seriously?

[ reki shoves his sulking eldest sister's feet off the back of the couch, much to her huffing changrin. between koyomi's absolute refusal to look up from her cell phone and the toddlers swerving into the middle of every step he takes, progress through the front room is on pause for now. ]

All your friends are here; stop being so freaking lame. And say hi to Qi Fang.

[ koyomi turns herself around and refuses to do either, so reki growls and drops one of the twins in her lap, claiming the other one for himself. ]

Fine, then change a diaper. And hey, uh...

[ back to qi fang before he restarts the slow process of trying to make it to the kitchen. ]

Grab that bag on the couch for me? Please and thank you.

[ honestly, qi fang doesn't know how reki does it. to be fair, he thought at one point he'd happily trade this chaos for the graveyard-silence of his own home life, but after enough visits qi fang realizes he really doesn't have half the energy to keep up with this on a regular basis. he wanly smiles at the back fo koyomi's head, dropping the wave that went nowhere, and turns his focus on the bag he's instructed to retrieve instead. he cradles this to his chest like he were holding one of the twins, still sticking close enough to reki he could step over him if he wanted to. ]

What happened? She looks bummed.

Some asshole isn't coming home this week either so she's mad at everyone.

[ "fuck you, reki!" comes koyomi's hollered reply, punctuated by a chorus of concerned tween tsking. whatever, it's loud enough in the kitchen to drown out most of the sound: the rice cooker is humming, there's a pot boiling on the stove, and he digs a bottle out of the bag and adds the buzzing of the microwave to the fray for good measure. ]

Our dad, I mean. Good news for us, though.

[ there's a suspiciously-placed bag of chips on the counter that he slides to the side to reveal a dark bottle of brandy. he takes a quick swig, passes it to qi fang, and then hurries to the microwave to check the temperature of the bottle against his wrist. ]

[ qi fang's not entirely sure there won't be ramifications to drinking while seemingly in charge of a den full of impressionable and emotionally-charged tweens, but he's already instinctively lifting the bottle to his lips to help himself to a taste. not bad. ]

That sucks, [ he says as an afterthought, toeing that line between sympathetic and aloof in case the topic is a lot more sensitive than reki's making it seem. he places the bag he'd been made to retrieve on the counter beside the brandy, moving to lean against a portion of the kitchen that doesn't seem too busy so as not to be in the way. he takes a quick look around, marveling at it all with a shake of his head. ]

You have crazy multi-tasking skills.

Thaaanks, I'll put that on my resumé. Right under 'dopest blowjobs in the game.'

[ reki gives the bottle a few more good shakes before he pops it into nanaka's mouth, rocking her with one half of his body as he moves in to stir a pot with the other. ]

Here, c'mere. You're the only one behaving, so you can be my taste tester.

[ qi fang makes a quick face, glancing down at the little girl in reki's arms, but she seems blissfully unaware of anything outside of the bottle in her hands. he shakes his head at himself, apparently more unused to this chaos than he originally thought and he helps himself to another swig of brandy before shoving it aside to take up his spot at reki's side. ]

Are all the adults just gone? Disappeared from existence?

[ not that he's complaining, but this is seeming more and more like a regular occurrence in the kyan household. he leans down, sniffing at the pot with interest. ]

[ nanaka, with her hardly two years of worldly experience, has no comment on her brother's inappropriate banter. of course. reki fixes qi fang with a critical look when he catches him looking at her, though, which turns sour when he mentions adults. ]

What, dude, you miss grandma that much? Sorry, she's got old people appointments. Gotta make sure that old hag outlives us all.

[ no hard feelings though. reki swirls a pair of chopsticks around and spears qi fang the choicest medley of veggies and tofu, holding it up to his lips with a smile. ]

How's this?

[ don't worry, qi fang is very easily distracted when suddenly presented with food. he opens his gob without any hesitation, inhaling what's offered to him in less than a second. a few moments to chew, to consider, and then a dramatic swoon wherein he clutches his heart and then flashes reki a thumbs up — a now-familiar scene for a now-familiar task. ]

A+, 10/10, would definitely eat again and again.

[ he plucks the chopsticks out of reki's hand to start poking around the pot for another helping, mood considerably lifted. he's damn near forgotten why he came in the first place... ]

Are you making extra?

Yeah, just... help yourself.

[ despite his flat tone and dripping sarcasm, this is exactly why qi fang's here. like, okay, his man wanted to talk, but isn't this a way more comforting resolution to whatever the fuck happened? qi fang looks perfectly content picking at dinner and they can just do this forever as far as reki is concerned. it doesn't take long at all for the expression on his face to transition from exasperation to something far more affectionate.

he hides his smile behind another hit off that brandy and lifts nanaka up to his shoulder, peeking out the threshold of the kitchen. everything looks copasetic—considering—so. might as well slide in closer to qi fang and give him a little bump. ]

All right, all right, save some room for actual dinner. Freaking glutton.

[ look, look. you can't just offer a thirsty man an oasis and not expect him to completely gorge himself on what's put in front of him. qi fang went from having a homecooked meal maybe once a month if he's lucky to one almost weekly, sometimes more if he acts really pathetically at reki. this is what happens when he gets spoiled so, really, the one at fault here is reki. just saying. ]

There'll be room, [ he says, or meant to say, but it's hard to make much sense of the sounds coming out of his vegetable-stuffed mouth. still, he'll be good, reluctantly setting the chopsticks aside as he chews and swallows down one last mouthful.

turning back to reki, he watches as nanaka's head begins to get heavier and heavier on his shoulder. ]

Should we put her down for a nap soon?

[ he's probably gonna die, watching qi fang stuff up his cheeks like the world's tallest hamster. it's so cute that it's lethal. but that's fine, too, reki accepted this fate for himself a long time ago. ]

Yeah, we'll get 'em both napping... Send the girls off to Koko's room...

[ this is how you manage a household. reki's sure he doesn't have to spell out much more than that for him, not when he's leaning in nice and close, eyes on qi fang's lips. he was promised a big kiss, after all, and he's right on the verge of taking one for himself—and then nanaka belches loudly against his shoulder and reki's giggling helplessly as she proudly pets his face. ]

Oh shit! You freakin' rockstar. That was a solid 9, kiddo.

[ reki's draw is as potent as it was the first time they got together, qi fang unconsciously leaning forward right as reki rocks towards him. but before lips could connect even for the quickest of pecks, nanako effectively reminds them both of her presence and like, honestly? qi fang ain't even mad. he grins wide, half because of her antics and half because the sound of reki's giggles just does that to him, and he straightens back up like a good boy to give the little girl a few pats and rubs on her back. ]

I'll take her. You can wrestle the other one off of Koyomi.

Yeah?

[ all right, well. an offer like that deserves appreciation, even if it's just a quick peck on the cheek while he passes nanaka over. maybe he makes this whole thing look effortless, but even reki kyan only has so much energy and the twins beat him every time. even a little help is enough to make his whole day.

besides, the image of qi fang cradling one of his baby sisters still fills him with those warm feelings—and now he gets to enjoy them. for a second, anyway, before he has to grab bowls and peek his head into the den, whisper-yelling for his sister: ]

Yo, bring the coven in here to get some grub. And pass me Chihiro while you're at it?

[ dutifully, he helps qi fang find a place to stand that's outside of the sudden rush of traffic. koyomi's last to shuffle in, passing off chihiro as she goes, stopping to fix qi fang with a sour look that reki misses while he's patting down his sister's diaper. ]

C'mon, we'll go lay 'em down in front of the tv.

[ qi fang's experience with children is pretty minimal, but luckily the kyan twins seem indifferent to the smell of fresh blood — or maybe he just keeps catching them at a good time. either way, holding the sleeping child isn't nearly as difficult as herding all those young teens into one area and actually getting them to behave, so he's more than happy to relegate himself to the first task than the second. the novelty of his arrival seems to have already passed, standing by pretty fairly unnoticed as the young girls pass—

at least until koyomi comes along, pinning him down with a look he can't help but feel was meant to be personal. his lips twitch into a placating, if not nervous, smile, but he's all too eager to follow reki back into the other room. it's not a feeling he manages to shake off even after he's carefully set nanaka down on some blankets. ]

Hey, has uh... Koyomi ever said anything about me?

[ by then, reki's got them all tucked in and he's fiddling with his phone. qi fang's question is going to have to wait until he gets lullabies and slow-moving, ethereal-looking belugas cast up on the tv screen, as is tradition. the last thing he wants is for one of the twins to wake up in ten minutes and dash whatever chance he gets at a break.

and then it takes him another second after that to answer, because he doesn't understand the question. ]

Has... Koyomi? Like my sister, Koyomi?

[ and it takes qi fang a second to realize how weird that sounded. he balks, leaning back to wave a hand in the air. ]

Not like — I mean I don't — never mind, forget it.

[ he slides a glance back towards the kitchen, rubbing a hand at the back of his neck to try and get the weird feeling off of him. ]

Just got some weird vibes, that's all. It's probably nothing.

[ it's very likely she's still just taking her disappointment about their dad out on everybody, and qi fang just happened to be collateral at the time. ]

[ reki lifts his eyes off the phone in his hand and his gaze softens. honestly, qi fang's been a total G when it comes to dealing with his family. the least reki can offer him is a comforting smile. ]

She likes you, man. Everyone here loves you. She's just pissy right now, don't take it personal.

[ he reaches out to squeeze qi fang's shoulder. ]

C'mon, let's go eat.

[ well, at least qi fang can feel silly about being narcissistic as opposed to the guilt in actually having offended a kyan. ever since he and reki have decided to make this thing a thing, it's been both a huge weight off and on his shoulders. everything is easier, but also the stakes are so much higher. it's a wonder shit hasn't hit the fan yet, all things considering.

—oh. now he remembers why he went there. ]

Yeah, I'm starving.

[ but. not exactly a talk they can have juggling sleeping toddlers and chaotic pre-teens. he casts the twins a cursory glance before rising to his feet, reaching out to twirl a lock of reki's hair in an absent gesture of seeking comfort before letting his fingers slip down the length of reki's back. ]

[ reki's smile turns impossibly brighter. he's not about to let a little tween angst keep him from counting this as going much smoother than he could have anticipated. after all, the twins are actually napping, no one's broken anything yet, he's got a fairly decent buzz going, and all these little touches are doing wonders to ease all that indecision he felt before. there's no doubt in his mind now; he likes this best of all. ]

Yeah, you must be, after you ate half the hotpot.

[ it's impossible to mistake his gentle laughter as anything but solid affection as he leads them back into the warzone, immediately conscripted with the task of helping teenage girls put food in bowls like it's some ancient, guarded skillset. the ones that managed all on their very own surround qi fang to start pestering him for his instagram, which prompts koyomi to start glaring again. reki does what he can: ]

C'mon, girls, give him room to breathe at least. Guys don't like being surrounded like that.

[ with his nerves eased, it's easier for qi fang to switch the charm back on, smiling patiently as the girls try passing them their phone. he holds his hands up, palms out, feigning a bashful laugh as he tells them in a quiet tone, like it's some kind of secret, that most of the stuff on his 'gram is just candids of his boyfriend anyway. that does enough to dissuade some of them, but on some others it just piques their interest more, prompting another little laugh that seems to both humor and tease them. ]

Sorry, sorry, I should get in there before all the bowls are gone...

[ he manages to side-step his way back to the stove, scooping up a wayward bowl along the way which he promptly hands over to reki. apparently he, too, had not been made privy of this scooping skill. ]

I get extra servings because I'm still a growing boy, right?

[ reki shoots him a look that's trying to be far more threatening that it really is. ]

You'd better not be serious.

[ he mumbles under his breath, but he's still digging into the bottom of the pot for all the most robust pieces of veggies. once qi fang's bowl is piled high, he holds it out, but doesn't relinquish it yet. too busy narrowing his eyes at qi fang to catch him in his bluff. ]

[ qi fang's hand is on it in an instant, but the little tug he gives doesn't do much to dislodge the bowl from reki's grasp, and there's just enough in it that any more force would threaten some major spillage. ]

What? Guys can keep growing till they're in their 20s.

[ he smiles as if to say without saying: so there's still hope for you, don't worry.

...teasing his height and playing dumb about the candids? yeah, he's never gonna get this bowl, huh. ]

TFLN / OPEN RP / THREADTRACKER

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