Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

To Ena, Akito was an enigma of sorts. The same probably went for her, any semblance of much sibling closeness fizzled out after middle school – most the time they talked to each other was when she wanted to drag him to another café, or maybe a passing argument over who gets the slice of cheesecake in the fridge. Either way, they were no ‘brother and sister attached at the hip’, just two very different people.

With this came a lack of knowledge about.. anything personal with Akito. Ena knew he sung as part of a group, distinctly with his singing partner Toya – but that’s it, and even then she has only seen them perform once, and sometimes sees them talking together at school on the off day that she shows up to collect work for her night classes.

But that’s it, really.

On the flip side, it was probably what Akito thought about her too. Offended she may be when he calls her room a ‘goblin cave’ that she never comes out of, there’s no denying that there is at least some truth to it.

It’s whatever.

Groaning, Ena taps on Akito’s bedroom door “Oi, Akito..”

No response.

Odd, she thought, he’d usually have told her to shut up by now when she’s only calling him out for dinner. She taps on the door louder, groaning when it’s met yet again with silence.

Deciding she’s had enough, Ena angrily opens the door and steps through “Oi Akito, if you don’t wanna eat you can just-“ but she cuts herself off at seeing Akito.. asleep? Not just on his bed but.. with someone in tow?

Oh, it’s Toya.

Akito was sound asleep despite the sudden arrival of Ena, his head comfortably nestled on Toya’s lap, who was blankly staring at Ena, his attention seemingly having been ripped away from the book he was reading. Hair was partway threaded in his fingers – was he playing with it? In this train of thought, Ena stared blankly back at the guest not realising she was doing so until the other person cleared their throat and looked away.

Ena straightened up “Uh, early night?” she asked as if she didn’t know very clearly what time her brother went to bed.

“Yeah, I suppose.. “ Toya paused “Did you need something?”

“Yeah, dinner.”

“Ah.” Silence filled the room for a bit before Toya spoke up again. “Do you want me to wake him up?”

“No, no it’s- it’s good, let him sleep.”
Toya blinked “Don’t you think he needs to eat?”

“Don’t you take him out to eat like every other day?” Ena quipped back.

The boy paused, thinking over what she said for a second before huffing out a laugh “Yeah, I guess you’re right..”

Outside, the humming of late night traffic made the silence of the room a little less unbearable. There wasn’t much she could say to Toya, or in general, she didn’t know the guy. In the few years that Akito has known him, anytime they interacted has always been with the both of them together – a one on one conversation with just Ena and Toya was a new thing, and if not awkward it was just.. lacking.

“..You were very insistent on letting Akito sleep.“ Ena looked back at Toya, raising a brow “Oh it was just an observation, don’t mind me.” He smiled.

“..Yeah he-“ She paused “I dunno, he always looks so tired when he comes home. Like, is being a first year that hard or something?” Ena joked before continuing “But I.. I worry for him sometimes. There’s been times like- like that one time where he looked practically on the verge of collapsing..”

“That was when..”

“Sorry?” Ena cocked her head to the side, before Toya shook his head and motioned for her to continue talking. “..but, yeah, sometimes I wonder if maybe.. like.. what if me telling him to get into music was a mistake if he ends up like this, y’know?”

“That’s not true.”

Ena resumed her surprise before Toya continued “If Akito didn’t get into music, I would’ve still been singing by myself on a street corner, and maybe I would’ve gone back to my father and classical music. If Akito didn’t get into music, I wouldn’t feel as free as I do now-“ Toya paused “..If you didn’t get Akito into music, I wouldn’t have met the best partner I could have asked for.”

It almost felt like an arrow was shot through Ena’s chest, but almost in a good way? Her brother was responsible for everything after her little push, but it almost felt strange to be a catalyst for all these emotions someone was feeling.

“..Sorry, did I say too much?” Toya looked away, and started playing with Akito’s hair again almost like it was a nervous habit, the unconscious boy seemed to enjoy it though with how he shifted in his slumber.

“No, no, no it’s.. it’s fine. Honestly, I’m just surprised my brother of all people made someone feel this way.”

“What do you mean?” Confusion was really the motif of Ena’s feelings tonight, wasn’t it?

“..Eh?”

“Nevermind, I’m just overthinking it, what you meant when you said ‘feel this way’.”

One, two, three the lightbulb in Ena’s head pinged on, she grabbed onto the doorframe and with an accusatory finger pointed at Toya “Wait, are you d-“

She was interrupted with a groan coming from Akito, and his eyes cracking slightly open.

“..why’re y’ being so loud..” Akito looked up at Toya, who shushed him and gently moved his hands to cup his face.

“Sorry, now go back to sleep, yeah?”

“Mmph.” He was out again like a light.

After a few seconds, Toya looked over at Ena “Don’t be too loud, you’ll wake him up.”

She released her grip from the doorframe and stood up straight “Yeah yeah..” Ena looked away for a second “..d’ya want any dinner? I.. I can bring some up if you want..”

“That’d be nice, thanks.”

One thought crossed Ena’s mind and she turned back before she could walk down the stairs “By the way, do our parents know you’re here?”

Worryingly, Toya looked up to stop and think, eyes squinted and travelling. Ena already knew the answer, but she still dreaded it. “..No, I don’t think so..”

“..Great.”

Chapter Text

Ugh.. the light was way too bright.. Mornings were awful, Akito wasn’t a morning person – not on the weekends usually. This weekend, Vivid Bad Squad didn’t have any events, and everyone collectively decided that after the busy last few weeks they needed a rest at some point.

Something felt off, though, the texture that was on his face isn’t there anymore.. Sure, you generally wake up maybe a little off your pillow if you move in your sleep, and your sheets feel funny but this just.. wasn’t right.

Then it clicked.

Right, Toya’s jeans. That’s it, he fell asleep on his lap. But.. where was he now? Maybe he went home but- no his jacket is still there, he wouldn’t be careless enough to just leave it. The bathroom? No, he would’ve woken up if it was recently.. What even is the time?
Akito squinted, reaching for his phone on the bedside table and clicking the button on the side. On the screen it read 10:43AM, so it wasn’t too late but certainly not early. Where the hell is his partner?

“Oh, you’re awake.” That wasn’t the voice he wanted to hear first thing in the morning. He scowled as he looked up from under his sheets to meet Ena’s also scowling face “If you’re looking for where your little boyfriend went, he went downstairs. Parents are out.”

Akito went red as she extended the word boyfriend “How did- nevermind. Tell him to come up.”

“Miss him already?”

“Shut up.”

“Yeah yeah, alright I’ll get him.” With a smug grin, Ena twirled around and left Akito’s room to walk downstairs. His immediate thought was dread, she definitely knew and she was definitely gonna tell everyone about it and she was definitely gonna bother him about it.

He spent this time rubbing the sleep out his eyes, not bothering to change out his shirt and shorts as he stretched. As he went to grab his earrings for his morning ritual of putting all of them in, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs – almost like a dog, he perked up and expectantly waited.

“Hey.” Toya’s gentle voice was like music to Akito’s ears, the boy walking slowly over toward Akito.

“Yo.” Akito outstretched his arms, allowing Toya to slowly clamber on top of him in a hug.

“Missed me?”

“Shut up.” Toya laughed. “..but yeah I did, why’d you leave?”

“I made pancakes.”

Akito’s brows raised before they fell questioningly “You.. made something?”

“Well, Ena helped me.”

“Surprised that bitch did anything useful.”

“Now, don’t be so harsh.” Toya pushed himself off of Akito and stood back up, holding two hands out which Akito gladly took and pulled himself up. “Or I’ll just eat them all by myself.”

“Got me there.” He sighed in defeat, but smiled back up quickly afterward.

“Eugh.” Both the boys spun round to see an Ena stood in the doorway, staring at them both. Akito dropped Toya’s hands like a hot iron and folded them over his chest, staring angrily at Ena. “Look, I saw like everything, and the fact your face is gonna be brighter than your hair in a second isn’t hiding anything.”

“Shut up.”

“You’ve said that three times today.”

“Shut up!”

“Now four.” Toya chimed in.

“Dude, don’t encourage her.” Akito sighed as the other two smiled.

“Come on lovebirds, go eat before I puke and make you lose your appetites.” Ena twirled around and walked back to her room.

He walked out his room directly toward the stairs “..shut up.”

“Five.”

“Toya!”