°Vexatious°
-causing or tending to cause annoyance, frustration, or worry.
Entering the Saiki household, I was immediately greeted by Kusuo's loving mother. Although, I was admittedly a bit surprised to see her bright, smiling face the instant I opened the door. I started wondering if she had a tracker attached to me or something. Or maybe it's just what they call motherly instincts.
I was slightly curious at the sight of a sea green haired boy inside the house, being that he was rather a stranger for me. The child didn't seem to notice my presence as his attention was focused on television, watching a children's cartoon.
Nothing seemed odd, of course.
Spotting Kusuo watching the show with the child, the pink-haired boy leaning comfortably on the couch, I was about to call out his name. Before I can voice out his name, an idea came into my head – grinning maliciously at the thought. It did seem a better way to get his attention.
I silently took a few steps backward. Satisfied with the distance, I broke into a run in attempt to tackle the unguarded male.
"Kusuo!" I cried out, using the sofa as leverage to produce a higher jump.
However, my attempt to pounce on the defenseless boy came into naught, as he had dodged just in time, resulting to my pained form on the living room floor, groaning after landing with an unsoundly thud.
"That fucking hurt..." I grunted, steadily fixing myself up.
This had caught the attention of the mint haired child who was supposedly watching a cartoon show. Turning his head around, his jade orbs met mine, blinking owlishly at my defeated form with a questioning tilt of his head.
Shit, I said a profanity in front of a child. I mentally cursed.
Feeling the atmosphere turning into an awkward one, I laughed sheepishly at the unfamiliar boy, hoping he didn't hear the vulgar word coming out of my mouth. By the way he reacted, I was thankful that he didn't seem to take note of the profanity.
I then turned my head to face Kusuo, who did nothing but watch me struggle with the situation. "You know, this wouldn't have happened if you didn't dodge." I shot him a glare, blaming him because who else should I blame. "You should have read the situation. Tut tut."
Rolling his eyes, the pink-haired boy stood up from his seat before proceeding to go upstairs, likely to be his room. A frown made its way to my lips, disappointed by his lack of cooperation to form an actual conversation.
Somehow, after the little incident when we were out in the forest, Kusuo had started giving me the silent treatment. It has been a whole week since he last made a proper conversation with me. Although I wouldn't mind not taking to him for as long as I live, Mrs. Saiki's expectation for us to be in good terms pushed me to fix things up.
In honesty, I spent nights tossing in bed just to find ways to have Kusuo talking again. I wouldn't want to disappoint his loving mother after all the kind gestures she had done.
With an exasperated sigh, I entered the kitchen, where Auntie was busy preparing lunch. I asked for her permission if I could enter Kusuo's room. Well, who would need his approval when clearly, it's his parents who're paying for the bills.
~~~~~
(Y/N) went straight to Kusuo's room after receiving the directions from Mrs. Saiki. As she was in front of the said psychic's bedroom door, a tug on the bottom hem of her shirt had caught her attention. Whipping her head around, she saw the same green haired little boy from earlier.
"Hey, are you going to Cyborg Cider Man No. 2's room?" The child questioned, curiosity beaming in his large eyes. Assuming that the boy referred to the strawberry-haired male, the girl can't help but mentally make fun of the psychic for the ridiculous yet creative name the child had called him. (Y/N) answering with a nod, the boy eagerly pulled on her shirt harder. "Can I come?"
Seeing his puppy-like large eyes and the begging pout complimenting his adorable chubby cheeks, (Y/N) can't deny the child. She didn't really see any harm with taking the boy with her so she assumed that it would be fine. Besides, the sight of the boy somehow left a trail of nostalgia within her
After knocking on the door, (Y/N) opened the door without hesitation, not bothering to wait for the resident's response. Barging in with the five-year-old boy tailing behind her, she spotted Kusuo lying on the bed, reading a book which seemed to be manga.
"I have to tell you that it's rude to just trespass in somebody's room." The strawberry-haired boy mentioned, not bothering to look up from the book.
"I thought you go by the name Fredric Roger III. Who knew you're also known as Cyborg Cider Man No.2." (Y/N) mocked, a grin making its way to her lips, ignoring his earlier statement.
"By the way, Kusuo, your little brother's here." She made mention of, gesturing to the jade haired boy who was looking around the room.
"That's not my little brother." Kusuo stated straightforwardly, his eyes scanning through the pages of his book
"Oh, really? I say that to my brother all the time." A series of laughter erupted from her mouth, before she teasingly added. "It's my first time seeing him here. Could you have been hiding him from me? Afraid that he'll take me away from you or something?"
Kusuo sighed at her absurd assumption, mentally remarking that his own brother wouldn't be gawking at his room so much. Closing the manga in hand, he sat up from his lying position, now facing the (h/c) haired girl before him.
"That's not my brother, idiot." Kusuo harshly remarked. "That boy is our neighbour – it just happens that his parents are out so he's staying here for today."
"So, I really need to provoke you before talking to me properly, huh?" (Y/N) commented, before shrugging. "Oh, well. At least you're actually having a conversation with me now." She added, beaming widely at him.
Kusuo stared at her genuinely happy face momentarily in silence before rolling his eyes and stating, "You're ridiculous."
"YoU'rE rIDiCuLoUs." She mimicked mockingly, sticking out her tongue at him childishly. Huffing she faced the behaved child beside her, her attitude taking a 180 turn. "By the way, kid, what's your name?"
"I'm Yuuta." The boy spoke up, introducing his self to the girl before tilting his head to the side, questioning her. "How about you, Auntie? What's your name?"
Curious on how she would react after being referred to as auntie, Kusuo perked up a bit. Recalling how a certain navy haired pretty girl reacted to the honorific, she didn't seem too pleased.
"Isn't it rare to see kids like you?" (Y/N) commented with a casual smile, surprising Kusuo for a miniscule. "You should keep that up. Kids these days don't know how to respect their elders."
You sound like a middle-aged woman when saying that. Kusuo inwardly remarked, watching (Y/N) beam at the young boy whose cheeks turned slightly pink from hearing the praise.
Although his comment was rather rude, the pink-haired boy can't help but let lips tug up into a small smile at the sight. Although child-like in many ways, (Y/N) seemed to know how to deal properly with children. Seeing that, she does have good sides weighing out her bad ones.
"I promise to do my best with calling others with respect." Yuuta eagerly stated, before pointing a finger at (Y/N). "But, Auntie, you still haven't told me your name."
"I'm (Y/N)." The said girl stated, sending the olive eyed child a toothy grin of her own, ruffling the child's olive locks. Laughing as Yuuta puffed his cheeks, the boy complaining about his now messy hair.
"You know, I have a younger brother." Her wide smile slowly turned to a forlorn one not a few moments after she mentioned so. "Well, you resemble my nephew much more but I can't help but remember him when I saw you. Although, he is older than you are."
Hearing that come out from her lips in the faintest tone he had heard the girl had used, the pink-haired psychic felt intrigued. His magenta eyes were now fixated on (Y/N)'s (e/c) ones. Somehow, it gleamed from longing.
"The problem with that little brat is that he won't even call me onee-san, nee-san or whatever honorific. He just keeps on referring to me as 'you', or at times, he would just call my name rudely. He's also such a pig –messy and smells bad. And she doesn't even treat me like an older sister. All he does is mock me non-stop and even orders me to do his projects. Can you believe that?!" She started to rambled on, grimacing at the same time reminiscing at the memories. "I just wish he would at least treat me with some respect..."
Kusuo would have loved it to interrogate the girl further regarding herself, and her family. But, seeing the pained smile currently present in her lips made him do otherwise, thinking to himself how insensitive it may be to do so. Although he knew that (Y/N) would do the complete opposite if she were in his shoes, the empathy within still won over him.
"Well, anyways," In less than a minute, she whipped her head to face Kusuo, catching him staring at her. "Kusuo, let's go out."
"No." The psychic flat down declined, plopping down to the soft mattress of his bed, somehow disappointed that the sincerity in (Y/N)'s visage had immediately vanished. If he were to be honest, he preferred seeing her vulnerable side. It was... pleasing to see.
It was safe to say that his likability for (Y/N) had gone down drastically after the small fiasco a little more than a week ago. But, after what she had displayed early, it wasn't too bold to presuppose it went up a little bit.
Just as he was about to get up, his face transformed to a relatively flabbergasted one as he saw the (h/c) haired girl looming over his lying form. Taken by surprise, the psychic felt his heart jump from the unexpected attack. His dull magenta eyes meeting the (e/c) ones staring down at his pale visage, (Y/N)'s soft breathing tickled his nose, her breath containing evidence that she had eaten sweets for breakfast.
"Let's go out." (Y/N) insisted once more, inching her face dangerously close to the psychic's. Her actions were incredibly bold for her to do, although, her tone and expression didn't mean too much harm for the high school boy – presumably unaware of how unbecoming she is currently acting.
"Fine..." Although it hurt his pride to give in, Kusuo wanted to get away from the embarrassing position, finding it exasperating. He believed that resigning to her demands would make it easier to get out of the situation, the (h/c) haired girl removing herself from his bed. He has to admit, (Y/N)'s surprise attack was bad for his heart.
"Nee-san!"
"We're going to the park, Yuuta!" She cheered upon approaching the young boy, excited to leave the house.
Sitting up, Kusuo watched (Y/N) run to Yuuta, telling him about the mission success with an energetic high-five. Sighing at her childlike actions, Kusuo stood up from his comfortable bed, following the childish duo down stairs.
~~~~~
Reaching the park, Kusuo sat down a nearby bench, keeping watch of the two running around while playing a game of tag. It was hellish for Kusuo to go out of the house at a scorching summer day – luckily for him, the bench he was staying at was under the cool shade of a fairly big tree.
As he had his cheek resting on his palm while gazing at (Y/N) and Yuuta chase each other around, he wondered how it was possible for them to actually enjoy the blazing heat of the sun while laughing carelessly amongst their selves.
Just why am I stuck babysitting these two... He wondered to himself bitterly.
Sensing someone occupy the bench beside his, Kusuo took a glance of the person with his peripheral vision. Though he heard the person's thoughts through his telepathy, he still wanted to check whether it would be someone dangerous. Seeing that it was just a plump, average looking middle aged woman, appearing to be one of the parents looking after their child playing in the park, Kusuo felt reassured.
"Could you be looking after a little sibling perhaps?" The plump woman started a conversation with him.
"Not really." Already knowing that the middle-aged woman meant no harm at all, Kusuo answered, also finding it rude not to. He pointed at both (Y/N) and Yuuta before continuing. "I'm watching over out neighbour's child while the other one's just my mother's friend whose body grew faster than her brain."
"I see." She chuckled at his blunt response, finding it amusing. "Is she your girlfriend?"
Even though Kusuo expected the question, he didn't have enough time to suddenly make a diversion to avoid the inquiry. It was offending for him for someone to presume that he's in an intimate relationship with the troublesome girl.
When hell freezes over.
"I believe it would take for a dog to grow wings for that to actually happen." Kusuo retorted, inwardly annoyed to be labelled as (Y/N)'s boyfriend.
His temporary companion chuckled after hearing so. "You shouldn't really be saying that. A child's imagination is pretty active, I wouldn't be surprised if a winged dog exists in them." The woman whose name was still unknown for him pointed out before standing up from her seat, sending Kusuo a smile. "Until we meet again. It was nice having a short chat with you."
Kusuo's gaze stayed for a short while at the full-grown adult's fleeting form, her words repeating inside his mind –lingering – before he had to switch his attention back at the two children. Not a second after he had turned his head around, a small pebble hit his forehead, not strong enough to do any real harm but was strong enough to annoy him.
(Y/N) stuck her tongue out at him, appearing to mock him as she continued to toss another pebble up and down with her right hand, while Yuuta laughed beside her.
"Hey, Cyborg Fredric Cider Man Roger III No.2!" She shouted out loud, grinning at him. "You're it! Yuuta says so."
Inwardly sighing at how ridiculous the name sounded, Kusuo stood up from his comfortable position, the pebble that had hit him in his grip. Taking it as his revenge for (Y/N)'s foolish attack, Kusuo without hesitation flicked the small stone hard enough to hit the idiotic girl's head.
To his misfortune, Kusuo had misjudged his strength a bit, resulting to knocking out the (h/c) haired girl unconscious. He honestly never expected for the day to come where he would regret harming the girl in any way – it was a huge shock for him that that day had came so early.
Good grief.
Rushing over to (Y/N)'s comatose body, the strawberry head placed a two fingers just below her neck, praying that the impact was not strong enough to actually kill the girl. Sighing in relief as he felt a pulse, he retrieved his hand back, staring at the out cold teenage girl.
"What are you going to do, Cyborg Cider Man No.2? She's dead." Yuuta claimed as his eyes gazed at the female with interest. Kusuo was rather worried that the green haired child didn't seem to care much that Auntie (Y/N) was not in a really great state.
Knowing that the boy was in no state to carry the girl, Kusuo took it to himself to slip his right arm under the girl's knees and the other on the small of her back before standing up, carrying her in the infamous bridal style.
With his inhuman abilities, (Y/N) weighed nothing for him. The only problem left for him now is avoiding anyone they know on their way back.
Using his clairvoyance to check the path to his house, it seemed that it wouldn't be so easy. Kaidou, Nendou, Aren, Hairo, Teruhashi, Yumehara, Mera, Toritsuka, Aiura, and even Akechi were lurking in the direction of his house.
Good grief. Kusuo thought, staring down at (Y/N)'s unconscious face. Trouble just loves following you, (Y/N).
"Wake up."