Chapter Text
"Hold up." Tyson called before Kai got too far from him, making the other halt in his steps again.
Tyson's hands went to his sides, giving him a look one he usually got from Kai and Ray and or Gramps. "We're not going anywhere until you check your phone. If you really want to start considering his feelings, then the least you can do is make sure you're there for him when he does need you." He lectured.
A little blown away by the sense Tyson was making, Kai didn't need telling twice before he was scrambling to pull his phone out of his pocket, his hands all fingers and thumbs as he tried to unlock the device.
He held his breath, nervous to see how many messages he had if he had any at all...
His breath caught when there was one message sitting there, hesitant to open it but when Tyson cleared his throat to get him to get a move on it he opened it quickly, eyes scanning the simple text Ray had sent him.
[Hey, when you can give me a call.]
Kai stared at his phone for a few seconds, his heart fluttering inside his chest and his stomach running riot with nerves. Even though they were on good terms last night before they said bye, he still was wracked with guilt from unloading his shit onto Ray's shoulders.
He glanced up at Tyson and swallowed hard, "He wants me to call him."
"Then call the man!" Tyson nearly shouted, arms flailing at his sides.
"Yes! Okay, okay..." Kai huffed, rolling his eyes at the frantic teen.
His thumb hovered over the call button whilst his stomach swirled with an abundance of emotions, excitement, guilt, nerves and anticipation.
He felt sick, much like how he felt when he admitted his feelings to Ray and he hated it. There was a point in his life where he wasn't bothered by such things, but he'd done a lot of personal growth the past few years so he'd come to learn about all the different emotions and their meanings.
Taking a breath in an attempt to steel his bubbling nerves, Kai pressed call and brought the phone to his ear, listening to the ringing tone and waited for Ray to answer.
His eyes shifted to Tyson who was stood beside him, looking like he too was holding his breath by the way his face was beginning to turn blue the longer the dial tone echoed in his eardrum only for the line to cut off without an answer.
His hand and phone flopped back to his side, quietly shaking his head before Tyson could even ask anything.
It was fine though, maybe Ray was just busy or didn’t have proper signal. He’d call back when he could.
“We were going to the arcade, right?” He questioned, and not waiting for an answer he started to walk towards their destination before Tyson could say anything as he slipped his phone into his pocket, and a heaviness settled into the pit of his stomach.
Whatever the reason Ray didn’t answer, he just hoped it wasn’t because of Lee…
Amongst the peace and quiet of his little home, where he was finally able to have a decent nights sleep since returning to the village, Ray’s ears twitched even in the deep sleep he was in as the sound of heavy breathing cut through the silence.
He shifted around a little under the thin covers he’d pulled over himself during the night, hoping that the sound was more in his head rather than being in the room, refusing to open his still heavy and tired eyes as the movement quickly reminded him of the kind of wounds he was sporting from the day before as the bandages he’d gone and put around himself pulled and tightened across his chest.
For a moment it went quiet again, and his body was able to relax again against the uncomfortable cot, only for his ears to twitch more rapidly as the sound got louder and closer with it coming from directly above him now.
His own deep breath came from him, reluctantly cracking one bleary eye open to try and find the source of the sound. When his vision came back fully both eyes blew wide open at the face staring right into his, whatever breath that had been in his lungs coming out of him in a yelp as he scrambled to sit up, the wounds and marks flaring with pain with the sudden and harsh movement as he shoved his back into the corner of the walls his cot was pushed up against.
“Morning, Ray.” Gary smiled down to him from where he was stood next to Ray’s bed so close the front of his knees were touching the thin mattress, not once even flinching with the Ray had scrambled away from him like a cat that had been sprayed with a water hose.
Ray’s hair was stood on end, pupils slit to a fine point, both fangs showing and bandaged chest rising and falling with uneven breaths after having the shit scared out of him. The wounds on him were more aggravated than before with the way he’d gotten up, sending sharp shooting pains through his whole body that had started shaking his bed some.
“Fucking Christ, Gary…” He managed to get out through a pant, running a shaky hand down his still tired face where the sleep clung in the corners of his wild and frightened eyes.
Gary just smiled at him like he hadn’t done a damn thing, holding a hand out to him to help him off the bed once Ray’s trembling subsided enough it wasn’t shaking the entire thing.
Ray stared at it for a moment, pupils dilating, before he took it, letting Gary practically lift his whole body off the bed and set him on the ground beside him like he weighed nothing.
“What’re you doing here?” Ray questioned through a yawn, “Time is it anyways?”
“Lee’s grandfather wants to talk to you.” Gary answered, not missing the way Ray’s body suddenly went stiff and his disheveled hair stood on end again.
“Did he say why?!”
At that Gary shook his head back to him.
“Great.” Ray bit out, rubbing at his face again before he staggered his way around his hut for a change of clothes.
Gary remained stood where he was while Ray dressed, the other letting out small hisses through his teeth with every movement as the bandages around him squeezed and tightened against him to the point that by the time he was done putting on his clothes, he just went to running a brush through his hair to tame it some before tying it back into a low ponytail instead of trying to wrap it all up.
The last thing he grabbed before they headed out the door was his phone, checking the time on it and realizing it was already almost noon, sighing under his breath for having slept most of the day away and pocketed it into his pants before leading Gary out of his home and into the bright afternoon sun.
The walk over to the council hall was silent, Gary’s heavy footsteps really the only thing between them the entire way until they made it to the large wooden doors of the largest building in the village.
Unlike most of the huts and houses scattered around that were made of bamboo, the council hall was made by wooden panels and tall wooden poles and beams, making it look more like a shrine than a home with it’s tapered thatched roof held down by large rocks.
At the doors Ray checked over his shoulders to see if Gary was going to follow him all the way in, but at the look Gary quietly turned and took his leave. Ray watched him go, steeling his nerves as his mind was running over any and all possibilities as to why Lee’s grandfather had wanted to speak to him before he sucked it up and pushed the large and heavy doors open.
With every step his heartbeat kicked up another notch as he walked into the council hall, losing the breath in his chest as he headed for the main room that Lee’s grandfather usually was only to freeze up at the sight of Lee knelt on the floor in front of his grandfather sat up on his chair.
Lee’s head picked up from where he’d had it bowed down, eyes locking over his shoulder at Ray who had become frozen in the doorway, and it was the first time the two had seen one another since the scuffle the morning before.
Mariah hadn’t been wrong to say that he’d given back just as good as he got as he could see the slowly healing claw marks across Lee’s cheek, just under his right eye and stopping at his jawline. White bandages, much like the ones he’d gone and wrapped himself in too, were across Lee’s chest and some even wrapped around his upper arms. Then there was the bruise around his blackening left eye, and another bruise on the bridge of his nose that Ray could see.
For a moment the two just stared at one another, but Ray couldn’t really read what Lee’s expression was at the moment only to have their attention snap away from one another as Lee’s grandfather harshly cleared his throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had surrounded them.
Ray’s attention quickly went to Lee’s grandfather, giving a small bow of his head to him before he made his way further into the room where he came to kneel on the floor beside Lee, hands going to the tops of his thighs and head low as Lee mimicked his posture once more now that he was next to him.
Lee visibly tensed as Ray knelt beside him, keeping his eyes trained on the floor whilst the awkward atmosphere seeped into his skin as he waited for his grandfather to speak.
The elder cleared his throat again, eyes sweeping over the two of them on the floor before him and let the tension in the air thicken over their heads before he finally shifted to sit up higher on his chair.
"Do either of you know why I've summoned you here today?" He questioned in a neutral tone over the top of them.
Ray's eyes shifted towards Lee while he kept his head down, holding his breath to see what Lee would say to him. His heart was starting to hurt with the way it was beating so hard against his chest, and if it were to beat any faster it'd rip right out of him at this point.
Glancing to his right, Lee's own eyes locked with Ray’s for a fleeting second before he averted them to his grandfather.
He sat up slightly and cleared his throat, "Not a clue." He shrugged if not a little defiantly.
The dark and sharp eyebrows over the elder's eyes lowered and creased in the middle of his forehead, eyes locking onto Lee pointedly like Ray wasn't even there in the room with them now.
"And you expect me to believe that when the two of you look as though you've been through a wood chipper together?" He scoffed, "Along with the countless concerns and complaints I've been given these past few days since your return to the village from others that have seen the two of you at each other's throats."
Ray had to swallow the hard lump in his throat as the back of his neck began to sweat under his hair, though was lost on what it was he could say that would appease the head elder on top of not outing the issue that had brewed up between the two of them.
Of course there were others in the village that had seen, and more than likely heard, the two of them and what had been going on. If there was a secret within the village it wasn't a secret for long, but this was one he needed to keep secret for as long as he was there.
When he felt the elder's eyes on him again he finally lifted his head before shaking it to him, keeping his mouth shut as tight as he could to the point his fangs were starting to pierce through his lower lip.
Lee snorted a little at the wood chipper remark, but when he looked back up at his grandfather and found fierce amber eyes boring into his soul he had to suppress a shiver.
He glanced away and debated on telling him the whole truth as to why he and Ray had been fighting, he had never been pleased in the first place with the friendship between the two and hearing that there could be something more had tipped his anger over the edge.
He began to chew on the inside of his cheek as the pressure to explain himself grew, before he inhaled to begin talking.
"It's because-." Lee paused as his eyes flitted to Ray and noticed the subtle flinch from him... His head and heart was at war between hurting his friend further or attempting to mend their relationship.
Letting out a sigh, Lee looked back up to his grandfather and sat up straight. "It's because Ray still chooses to remain friends with Kai, despite all the betrayal he's committed to both the White Tigers and Ray himself."
Ray's head snapped on his shoulders towards him, mouth gaping slightly as he just stared at the side of Lee's head like the head elder wasn't there anymore.
"And this Kai... This is the one that stole your bitbeast two years ago, correct?" He directed to Lee who gave a quick nod to him back.
"I see..." He sighed out, rubbing at his chin as he pondered over the information for a minute.
"While what happened was a great tragedy that befell you all at the time, the end result and matter of fact is that you were able to retrieve your Galeon and the others that had been taken. You should not allow your heart to become so blackened over the sins of the past, nor should you allow such a divide come between the two of your friendship over someone who is not even in the here and now.”
Frowning a little, Lee grew a little frustrated at his grandfather’s words. "You don't understand though, he betrayed us again." He gestured to his right, "Even betrayed Ray recently when he deferred to BEGA! It just goes to show he can't be trusted!"
He turned to look Ray in the eyes with an almost sad look across his features, "I care about Ray too much to see him get hurt again, a person like that doesn't deserve a friend like Ray." Lee hoped that Ray would understand the hidden meaning in his statement.
Ray could only stare back at him in silence, that lump in his throat getting tighter only for their attention to get dragged from one another at Lee's grandfather clearing his throat again.
"And why do you feel the need to hold onto such a person in your life, Ray?"
Ray's back stiffened at being addressed, the question hanging over their heads while all his words turned to dirt in his mouth.
"Well? Why would you allow someone like that to come between the two of you?" The elder pressed.
"I'm not." Ray got out in a slight bite, "My intentions were to never allow my friendship with Kai get between what Lee and I have had."
"But yet, it is." The elder cut over in an almost soothing tone.
Ray sat back down on his legs, mind trying to give another answer that wouldn't put him more in a pickle than he already was.
"But I never wanted that..." He whispered out.
Lee gave out another sigh and looked down at his hands in his lap, suddenly feeling somewhat guilty for forcing Ray to make a choice, but dammit he really didn't trust Kai.
He looked back up at Ray and furrowed his eyebrows. "I didn't want this either, it's not just because I don't like him, I just don't trust him."
"And I'm not asking you to..." Ray let out in a tired huff, the bite in the back of his tone disappearing as he locked eyes with Lee beside him.
"But at least trust me." He nearly begged.
All fight having left him after the mentally taxing couple of days he'd had, Lee just nodded back at Ray before looking to his grandfather to wait for the elder to dismiss them.
Even the elder let out a deep sigh, looking between the two of them again and making sure he had their attention.
"The two of you have only been home for a couple of days, and in those few days you two have lost sight of your own friendship over someone who is no longer in either of your presence.
"Lee, I understand your fears and worries over this outsider, but for now you need to set aside the past. We can't move forward if we are stuck there." He addressed him before looking to Ray.
"And you, you are meant to lead our people in the coming years. The great white tiger chose you for a reason. But how can you lead our people if this is how you treat your brother?" He demanded but didn't wait for a reply as Ray's shoulders fell forward in his silent defeat.
"You cannot!" The elders voice boomed over the two of them, "Neither of you two can live like this, or should live like this. Think of the kind of example you are setting our people by your actions. The people that will one day look to you to lead us." He threw out at Ray, causing his head to lower again.
"The two of you need time away from this issue that is intent on pulling you two apart, so for the next two weeks you will be out working the fields for harvest. Someone will oversee your work, and your actions. But this!" He shouted and pointed at the two of them, "Must end!!"
Lee had sunk in on himself as his grandfather spoke, nodding at every word that was said. He briefly wondered how this would have gone had he told the whole truth to their quarrel, but he had a feeling the outcome would have been much worse and he didn't want that for either of them.
"Yes sir." He mumbled out, his teeth gritting a little at the punishment.
Ray nodded to him, keeping his eyes downcast as the elder's words circled around inside his head.
Part of himself had forgotten that he was meant to become the next leader of their village, and now to have that front and center in his mind it was hard to ignore. Lee's grandfather was right though, they couldn't keep living like this or allow it to break them apart further than it already had.
"Yes sir..." He muttered low, keeping his head lower.
"Enough of this now, and begone." The elder shooed at them.
Getting stiffly to his feet from kneeling for so long, Lee offered a hand to Ray to help him up as well as a peace offering.
"C'mon, before we end up having our heads knocked together."
Ray chuckled under his breath, slapping his hand into Lee's and got off his own sore knees though kept their hands together for a minute more.
"Just trust me. Okay?"
Lee gave Ray's hand a quick squeeze before letting go. "Sure thing." He gave him a small smile, wincing as his nose throbbed from the strain.
Ray returned the smile, following him out the door and leaving Lee's grandfather behind as he watched the two of them leave.
Outside they were promptly stopped by one of the older field workers, passing them both their tools he'd been holding.
"Follow me." He sent in almost a bored tone, not waiting for them and already heading off.
Ray shifted the rake in his hold, a deep sigh jetting out of his nose and went to step only to stop when his phone started to ring in his back pocket.
The rake in his hand hit the ground by his feet, grabbing his phone out of his pocket as quick as he could only to slightly freeze at the caller ID that sat on his phone screen.
His thumb hovered over the green button to answer, heart back in his throat as he felt frozen only to come out of it when Lee cleared his throat.
"C'mon, we gotta go."
"Y-yeah, I'm coming..." Ray said, pocketing his phone after it stopped ringing in his hand. He'd have to call Kai back when he was done in the fields, there wasn't any way around it.
Picking up the rake he'd been given from the ground he looked to Lee again before heading off behind the field worker who had stopped ahead to wait for them.
Walking beside Ray, Lee slowed them down a little so they were out of earshot of Mr. Sunshine ahead of them.
He glanced to his friend and raised an eyebrow, "Was that...?" He asked him curiously, looking pointedly at where Ray's phone was in his pocket.
Ray nodded back to him, "I completely forgot that I woke up earlier, before Gary was standing there over my bed and gave me a heart attack, and tried calling him but he never answered. So I asked him to call me when he could, and then passed back out before Gary showed up to bring me here.”
Snickering at the thought of Gary looming over Ray and making him jump, Lee patted his friend gently on the shoulder.
"You gonna try calling him tonight?" He asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
"If I can, see what happens after all this." Ray said as he shook the rake in his hand a bit.
"Ah." Lee replied, scratching the back of his head awkwardly as he walked.
He still wasn't sure how to feel about all of this, it had happened so fast and came out of nowhere... He knew that Ray wasn't sure if he returned Kai's feelings, but it was still baffling to him that he'd even consider it. Did Ray even swing that way?
"So uh..." He looked up to see if they were still out of earshot before continuing, "Are you like... Bi or something?" He prayed that his question sounded genuine and not offensive.
Ray turned and looked at him with a blank expression for a minute, it clear on his face he wasn't expecting the question much less knowing how to answer.
"I guess?" He posed in his own question.
The corner of Lee's lips quirked up a little, "Still figuring it out?"
"I think so. I mean, I know I'm attracted to the opposite and same sex, that's always been a given. Just never really thought of putting a label to it." Ray admitted with his own crooked grin.
"Nor make it public knowledge. Especially being in the lime light like I have been these past three years, so never gave it much thought or really cared to.”
Lee nodded. "That's fair... And sorry if you thought I was going to rat you out earlier..." He looked down at the ground, "I know our village isn't exactly with the times..." He trailed off.
"It's okay. Not going to lie though and say I wasn't expecting you to. But thank you, for not."
"Hey, it's nothin'." Lee waved him off before letting his arm drop to his side, "It's the least I owe you anyways..." He looked at Ray in the eyes, "I'm sorry for losing my cool with you."
Ray shook his head back to him, "I'm sorry too."
Offering his hand out to him, Lee gave Ray a smile. "Friends?"
Ray took it without hesitation, "Never stopped."
Lee seized the opportunity to pull him in for a lion hug. "Good! Never stopped for me either!"
Ray's arms went around him back, the rake in his hold hitting the ground behind Lee's feet.
"Hey, c'mon you two! Burning day light!" The field worker called from where he stopped again to wait for them.
Ray huffed a laugh, letting his arms slip out from around Lee's neck and picked up his rake again from behind him.
"Guess we should hurry up, get this over with." He chuckled.
Lee groaned loudly, "Fiiiine." He picked up his pace and was immediately regretting his life choices that landed him there.
By the time the sun had started to set past the mountain tops in the distance, and their callouses had callouses, the two were finally released for the rest of the night with the expectation to be back at the fields in the morning right at sunrise.
If Ray hadn't been hurting before he was now, on top of being drenched in sweat and covered in grass and dirt and in desperate need of a shower, as well as some new bandages for his hands that were red and sore.
"Gonna need to wear gloves for this." He muttered as he met Lee near the gate to the fencing that surrounded the fields, picking at one of the opened scabs on his finger.
Lee rolled his shoulder and cracked his neck. "Yeah definitely... Gonna feel this in the morning." He groaned.
"So what's your plan for the rest of the evening then?" He asked Ray.
"Shower first, changes these." He gestured at the bandages wrapped around him, "And then probably pass out till we have to be here in the morning."
Nodding his head in agreement, Lee chuckled at the state of the pair of them. "We definitely did a number on each other, huh?"
"Probably not our best moments." He sent back with a sheepish grin, "You know Mariah actually came over last night, tried to talk to me about mending things with you."
"Of course she did... She's the glue that holds us hooligans together." Lee laughed for a second before giving Ray a more serious look, "I do worry about you though, Ray. I meant it when I said I didn't want you to get hurt."
Ray nodded to him, "I know you don't, and I don't want to be hurt either... But, even after all that's happened, everything he's done and said, I also know what kind of person he is deep down. He made horrible choices, and I know he's hurt people with the choices he made but he also has done everything he can to make things better.
"I'm not defending his actions, but there's always been more going on in the background where it concerns his past. And there's more to him than what you've seen. And again, I don't even know myself what the outcome of any of this is going to be, I've had so much put on my plate since coming back and if something is going to happen it's not going to for a long time until I figure this out on my own.”
Lee listened carefully and chewed on his lip whilst Ray spoke. "If it's of any consolation Ray, I'll always be here for you no matter what. You're my brother."
He let out a sigh, "And if you do pursue this... Thing... With Kai... He's gonna have to earn my trust. And I say that in the nicest possible way." Lee shrugged a little, knowing full well his grudge towards Kai wasn't going away any time soon.
Ray gave him another slow nod of his head to him, "I know... But I still don't even know what I'm going to do about it. It's not like I'm not attracted to the guy, but I don't think that should be the only reason I jump into anything with him like this. Also, we're miles apart now and I don't think it'd be the best way to start something up like that with him- or anyone- being long distance." He explained in a tired breath, finally able to let it out to him after holding it all in his head since he'd been back and they had been at odds with one another.
It was nice, to finally be able to have Lee there like before, where he could lean on him and have that support from him that he'd been desperate to have since it all came out.
"A-and with me having to be the leader of the village... How can I even pursue anything with him even if I wanted to?" He questioned in a watery tone as the reminder hit him upside the head.
Lee frowned with concern for his friend, and a fresh bout of anger towards Kai rose up inside of him due to the extra pressure he'd added on Ray's shoulders... But he swallowed it down and swung his arm over his friends shoulder and gave him a hug.
"Don't think about all that now, take it one step at a time." He suggested before an idea popped into his head. "Oh! Are you hungry? Did you want to come round mine for dinner?"
At the mention of food Ray's stomach let out a loud growl, quickly putting his free hand over his stomach as if that would quieten it.
"Guess I am hungry." He chuckled in embarrassment, "But sure, I'd like that. Need to shower first still." He reminded, stepping the two forward to take them to their little huts.
Grinning like an idiot, Lee almost bounced alongside Ray. "What do ya fancy to eat then?" He asked, knowing full well it wasn't him that was going to be cooking but his sister instead.
"At this point, I'll eat anything. Haven't had anything since we left Japan." Ray admitted as he walked beside him, keeping his arm draped around Lee's lower back.
"Okay! I'm sure Mariah can rustle something delicious up!" Lee assured him before unwinding himself from the embrace as they neared their huts.
"I'll see you in a bit then?"
"Yeah, see you." Ray waved to him before turning and letting himself into his home, shutting the door behind himself before he just stood there for a minute and let the entire day run through his head.
While his back wasn't thanking him any, he was silently thanking Lee's grandfather for having made them in a sense make amends. If they kept on the right track now things between them would only be like it had been before, and that dark cloud that had come over him since he'd been back would eventually leave.
He'd be able to breathe, and sleep easier now, as long as they just kept their heads on straight this time, and like Lee had said he just needed to take it one day at a time where it concerned everything else; even if that was going to be easier said than done he'd try his best.