Please don't mind my summary. I had no idea what to put.

So! Last semester I got way too deep into a HSAU for ZEXAL starring our three brave warriors. Then I got even deeper, and wrote it for NaNoWriMo.

This is a bit of an ambitious project for multiple reasons: one of them is that our protagonists here are Asian-Americans in California, and while I'm Asian-American myself, I'm not Japanese, and I'm not from California. Kaito, Ryoga, and Yuma all have varying problems that I'm not intimately familiar with, either, so I should admit that I used and am using this fic as an experiment in exploring my own writing. Kaito, I think, will appear to be a looser interpretation than the others; sometimes when I re-read he feels more like Ryoga than Kaito in canon, but this has a lot to do with a headcanon of mine that I'm expanding for him here, and has a lot to do with spending so much time in a perspective we never get in canon (probably because it'd be too boring).

That all said, this is a ZEXAL fic and it is HSAU, so it'll be melodramatic sometimes and ridiculous at others, and you can definitely expect a healthy dosage of our three main heroes being themselves — that is, being idiots. I played with their ages a bit (this chapter, Kaito is 17 and Haruto is 11), but I promise you they're still our favorite sanyuushi.

Phew. I think that's all I have to say for now. Here we go!

Gravity Walk

01

In the last week of summer, Kaito wakes up.

He doesn't particularly want to get up, because it's summer and because it's been summer for the past two months, long, boring days with nothing to do and nothing to look forward to, but he doesn't really have a choice in the matter, because the August sunlight slips through his blinds and sits on his eyes, warm, merciless.

Kaito groans and turns over in bed, stubbornly searching for another comfortable position under the sheets, but it's useless, because the timer on the fan standing at the opposite side of the room switched off last night, and the remote fell victim to the clutches of Kaito's bed sometime last month, so now under the sheets is too hot and out of the sheets is too cool, and if Kaito gets up to switch the fan on manually, he'll be too awake to sleep again. It's a lose-lose situation, really, just like everything else that's happened in recent memory, but, hey, Kaito's getting used to that kind of thing, isn't he?

Kaito rolls onto his back, blinks his eyes open, and stares at his ceiling. He tries to remember what day it is, tries to remember when school'll start and he'll at least have some homework to do, but it's not a particularly successful pursuit; he doesn't think he's looked at a calendar for weeks now, so he doesn't have the slightest clue as to what day it is, and the date is equally as elusive. But he does know it's August, and he does know that it feels like it's been August for a while, so… maybe there's only a week or so left of summer? Maybe? If he's lucky.

He… is looking forward to homework. He'd wonder when exactly his life became this pathetic, except he already knows exactly when everything went wrong.

Wondering in itself is a joke. Maybe the word 'wrong' is wrong, too, and—oh, hey, that sounded kind of poetic, didn't it?

It's… stupid, but Kaito's written a lot of poetry lately, written down his thoughts on loose leaf and in notebook and crumpled them up halfway finished, thrown them at the trash bin and missed. Tried to read some books instead, gave up on the first chapter because the protagonist was boring or Kaito doesn't like the voice or he just can't get into it, and that's what the mess on his desk is if anyone plans on asking. He meant to clean that up a couple of times, too; he tried to clean his desk and failing that tried the closet or his drawers or any other part of his room, but he gave up on all of that, too, failed so spectacularly that it's messier now than it was before.

Well… whatever. He doesn't care. It's not like he's trying to impress anyone.

Kaito registers the tingling. He closes his eyes and counts to ten.

Time for breakfast.

It is, apparently, Saturday. Kaito finds this out on the way downstairs, when he sees Haruto parked in front of the TV like he always is on Saturday mornings, and Kaito can figure it's a new episode from Haruto's posture alone: he's at the edge of his seat, eyes wide, cereal soggy and forgotten on the cushion next to him. Kaito shakes his head and says good morning; Haruto's response is short and inattentive, but he does scoot over when Kaito picks up the cereal bowl and takes its spot. It's the latest installment of the newest Batman series that's got Haruto so excited today—Kaito supposes, glancing down at his own logoed pajamas, that he should probably appreciate his little brother's taste in Saturday morning cartoons, but Kaito's still kind of miffed that no one's bothered to properly animat Jason's run as Robin yet. Jason is his favorite.

He knows Haruto won't, so Kaito downs the milk-and-cereal soup and settles in.

It's only during the commercial that Haruto really registers Kaito's presence, turning to him and wrinkling his nose at the sight of the breakfast-that-once-was. Kaito snorts, slurps up the remaining milk directly from the bowl.

"I'll get you a new one," he says once he's finished, and then as he's heading to the kitchen, "How long've you been up?"

Haruto brings his index finger to his chin and sticks out his lower lip. "Hmmmm."

Kaito returns and presents the prince with his meal, messes up his hair, and kisses him on the cheek. Haruto's used to Kaito's spontaneous affection, of course, so he doesn't have much of a reaction; instead, he accepts the offering and shovels the cereal into his mouth, munching on it contemplatively.

"When Dad left," he finally says between munches. "I think."

Their dad, Kaito calculates, probably left for his hour long commute maybe two hours ago, and that makes Kaito feel kind of guilty, kind of disappointed in himself for not waking up earlier, because as much as he hates waking up in general, Kaito's not overly fond of Haruto being awake alone, either.

Kaito probably made a face, because Haruto frowns. "Niisan?"

"What?"

"Are you doing anything today?"

Kaito blinks. That's not what he expected. "No. Why?"

"Well," starts Haruto, his expression sheepish, "you've wasted all summer doing nothing." Haruto bites his lip, like there's more he wants to say, but now that it's time to say it, he's not quite sure if he wants to anymore. He stares at his bowl and plays with the spoon, salvaging the bran and dropping it back in again.

He seems to decide on silence.

"You're right," prods Kaito, and then, gently, "Did you have anything in mind?"

"Why don't you…" starts Haruto, and then he nods to himself, looks up to meet his older brother's eyes with a confidence about him. "Why don't you go visit Chris?"

Kaito winces.

"Chris," he says, doing his best to keep his voice even, "is at Dad's office."

"And Dad," replies Haruto, scooting even farther over on the sofa to reveal he's been sitting on something, "left this at home." He motions for Kaito to take it; Kaito does, brow furrowed, and quickly realizes that it's a wallet, and Kaito's mouth opens like he wants to say something but no words come out, and Kaito stares at Haruto, whose expression has become the most angelic grin the boy can muster, a smile that's historically meant innocence but is apparently graduating into something far more sinister.

In Kaito's hands is his dad's wallet. His dad's wallet has a lot of important things in it—money, for one, and his driver's license, and a few credit cards, and his social security, but what it also has is a keycard. A keycard that unlocks his office and secures his parking space, and a few other important things, like labs and a database. Basically, Dr. Faker's entire work day is impaired by the keycard's absence, something Kaito knows because this has happened before; something Kaito knows because he's had to drop it off before, not this summer but the last, because their dad only seems to be an irresponsible asshole if it can directly inconvenience Kaito at that particular moment in time.

"Niisan?" prods Haruto, because Kaito is glaring at the wallet, thinking how this isn't his problem at all, how Haruto totally planned this in another one of his (so far fruitless) attempts to get Kaito and their dad to get along.

"He called?" asks Kaito, because if he didn't—well, Kaito isn't exactly a Boy Scout.

Haruto nods. "He said you weren't picking up your phone."

Of course he wasn't. Kaito doesn't even know where his phone is; presumably he lost it to the same monster that swallowed the remote to the fan, and the battery was already down, so no less than a clean up of his entire room has to be conducted before it'll resurface, but, hey, whatever. The only person Kaito ever calls is… well, no one. He doesn't even have a texting plan.

"Niisan," says Haruto, and Kaito scowls, but he knows he's not winning here, because when was the last time he won at anything, and Haruto will just pout or something and Kaito'll have no way to refuse then, and, you know, he—he swallows—actually hasn't… seen Chris in a while… so…

...Maybe that bike to the bus stop, maybe the bus ride to the city that follows, won't be so bad if he gets to see his only—friend? contact?—uh, if he gets to see Chris.

"Fine," Kaito says, sighing, but not before snatching a twenty. "Go call Droite."

Haruto gives him a toothed grin and a quick hug, and you'd think Kaito just promised the kid a candy fountain or something. But just as Haruto's about to go and call their neighbor, Batman's back on and Haruto looks from Kaito to the TV and back again, and Kaito shakes his head. The kid looks anxious.

Whether or not Haruto agrees, Kaito has had enough of Bruce Wayne for a lifetime, so he ruffles his little brother's hair again and relieves him of his duties with a kiss to his forehead, grabs the house phone, and heads upstairs. Kaito has to get ready, anyway.

He calls Droite and more tells than asks about dropping Haruto off for a few hours, but Droite's known him long enough—since they moved here—and so his being a jerk is really nothing new to her. Besides, even if she doesn't like Kaito, Haruto is impossible to dislike, and Droite isn't free today but her boyfriend will be around, so she says it's okay. Haruto'll be happy to hear that — he loves Gauche. But Haruto seems to find a way to love everyone.

Upstairs, Kaito wades through his room to his armoire and has a staring contest with his wardrobe. He's mostly spent the summer in old T-shirts and the same pair of black sweatpants, but that's probably not the proper attire for visiting your dad at his company in the city—or, more significantly, to visit one of your only friends at his internship, especially after…

Well. The last time Kaito talked to Chris in person was a few weeks ago, when Chris came around to drop papers off with Faker or something like that before the summer internship started, and at the time Kaito might've been in one of the biggest depressions of his life—so when Chris suggested that Kaito maybe come up to the city and intern, too, Kaito snapped at him, told Chris he wanted absolutely nothing to do with his dad or his stupid company, and that if Chris could do the world a favor and keep his unnaturally big nose out of other people's business, it would be fantastic.

Chris was bewildered at Kaito's violent response—he thought that Kaito would like something to distract him—but Chris knew that Kaito was stressed and tired, so he shrugged it off and told Kaito that he didn't think his nose was that big, but, hey, Kaito probably knew better, and Chris would see him around once Kaito grew up a little.

Now, as Kaito pulls on jeans (they're looser than he remembers) and a Triforce tee, the embarrassment at the memory is almost too overwhelming to bear. He knows Chris is one to hold grudges—once he didn't talk to Kaito for five solid weeks because he was mad about a disagreement between Kaito's dad and his own—but Kaito hopes that Chris will cut him some slack this time.

It's just that Kaito's never entirely sure what to expect with him.

Anyway.

Kaito stuffs his dad's wallet in one pocket, stuffs his own things—keys, wallet, no phone, no iPod—in the other, and heads back downstairs, his steps probably a little heavier and faster than necessary. Haruto, he finds, is still watching cartoons—now it's that show about Duel Monsters, another classic from Kaito's childhood, but something Kaito thinks he's finally outgrown.

"Hey," Kaito says, since Haruto is still in his own pajamas with his hair a mess, "Go get ready."

"Hm?"

"Did you think Droite was coming here?"

"No," says Haruto, who looks like he did. "Of course not."

"Droite has satellite, too, I promise," Kaito says. "Gauche probably DVRs your shows, in any case." Man-baby that he is.

Haruto's face lights up at the mention of Gauche, and Kaito smiles. It's a small one, and it disappears quickly enough, but it's there.

"Go on."

Haruto gets to his feet, wobbling on his legs at first, still not quite used to walking again. Kaito tries to remember if he's left Haruto alone with anyone besides himself or sometimes their dad for longer than a few minutes this past summer. The answer he reaches is no, and he bites his lip in nervousness, wondering if he trusts Gauche or not, but he… Kaito can't be around Haruto all the time, right, especially not after school starts, and Gauche is a big jock but he's not bad, so…

"Haruto," he says later, when they're outside Droite's door and Haruto stands on the tips of toes to ring the doorbell, "don't strain yourself too much, okay?"

Haruto settles on the heels of his feet and looks up at his brother, tilting his head. But then he smiles something soft and nods, understanding. "Take care of yourself, too."

Kaito opens his mouth to try and argue that he doesn't need to, but Haruto glares at him, and that's enough to shut him up before he starts.

"Did you bring your medicine?" Haruto asks, with the tone of a teacher scolding a naughty student.

"Did you?" shoots Kaito back, but it's half-hearted and he doesn't really expect a response.

Haruto crosses his arms, in response to which Kaito definitely doesn't pout. "Niisan."

"Just… be careful, okay?"

Haruto rolls his eyes. "Okay, Mom."

The door opens and they're met with Droite's boyfriend, who grins and scoops Haruto up in his arms, safe and smiling and happy, and Kaito waves good-bye.