Chapter Text
With the chirping of birds to announce a new day, Touya groggily opened his eyes and sat up. In a place it took him a moment to recognise, prompted by a background buzz he hadn’t heard in years, he remembered last night.
Oh, god, last night.
He hadn’t intended to be so… emotional. I mean, yeah, you should express your emotions and it had been something he always intended to improve on doing. Just… he hadn’t intended to be like that right off the bat.
How embarrassing, really.
(Though, if you were to ask the Tenmas their opinion, both would insist how proud they were of their dear Touya…)
Taking a moment to process his surroundings, Touya noticed all the pillows strewn across the floor, which he assumed was his doing. He slowly went to grab one, only to recoil in shock from the weird texture he was met with… yeah, it was definitely his doing. Eyes shifting to the ticking clock, he realised the time: 9:43am. His head hurt. His heart hurt. All he wanted to do was lay back down, succumbing to a gentle slumber that eased all his pain for an indefinite time…
“No…” he mumbled half of his internal pep talk, telling himself how he can’t go back to bed.
It came out more like a ‘nnnn’, as he flopped back onto the pillow he awoke on and closed his eyes once more. Sometimes you just cannot beat the body’s needs, even if it's not your personal wish.
“Touya, I see you trying to sleep again!” In an instant, Tsukasa rushed over and leaned over the sofa, startling him awake once more.
“Ah… good morning, Tsukasa-senpai.” He mumbled, sitting up again and brushing down his shirt slightly. In truth, he had no idea Tsukasa had been in the room. It explained the background noise though.
“Tsukasa.”
“Huh?”
“You’re under our roof now, so it’d be odd for you to maintain the formalities, Touya! You can just call me Tsukasa.” ‘Or, if you would prefer, onii-chan!’ was on the tip of Tsukasa’s tongue, but he held back out of sheer shame. The boy still used the ‘-senpai’ honorific, throwing such things at him when nothing had been officially established would probably be too much for him to handle.
“Ah, then good morning, Tsukasa-sen…” Catching himself quickly, Touya swallowed back the honorific and offered a soft smile to Tsukasa, making eye contact for the first time that morning. “Tsukasa.” He grinned back at the sound of his name.
“That’s better!” Gently ruffling Touya’s hair, the other boy became incredibly aware of his bedhead. He often woke up with a bad bedhead, due to the constant restless nights. Although he usually tamed it before school or going out, a few times he had been lazy in the past, and everytime Akito would do his hair for him while softly tutting under his breath. “Would you like some breakfast, Touya?” It finally occurred to him that the background noise originated from the kitchen, with the kettle’s hissing and the pans fizzing.
Wait.
“...Tsukasa, have you just left the pan unattended…?” A wide-eyed stare from Tsukasa served as a response. Then, although it seemed anatomically incorrect, Tsukasa’s eyes widened further and the colour drained from his face.
As if his surroundings closed in on him, becoming a tunnel for the lost, Tsukasa’s voice drained away as he bolted towards the kitchen.
Panic, panic, panic!
Crash, crash, crash!
As if the kitchenware were affected by the hysteria, everything seemed to smash into the floor. That led Touya to investigate for himself; whether concern or curiosity drove him towards that door would remain unknown.
Warily looking in the kitchen, at the source of the chaos, he found himself greeted by disarray of the highest level. Kitchenware strewn across the floor, as if their attempts to run had been thwarted by the evil cloud of smoke circling above them all. He nearly expressed his shock at the lack of a fire alarm’s screaming… only for it’s screeching to pierce through that thought as if he were a cartoon character with a thought bubble. Instinctively slapping his hands to his ears to drown out the noise that made his hair stand on end, Touya decided that was the best time to leave Tsukasa to his own devices.
He’d be fine.
Probably.
Defeated, Touya staggered back to the sofa. His phone lay on the table, untouched since the night before - he hoped no one had desperately tried to reach him last night. As he reached for his phone, he dug in the bag he’d brought for his soundproof headphones, and his sensory issues practically sung their joys when he found them near the bottom. Plugging them in, he chose the last song he had been listening to, assuming anything would be better than this .
But when a classical piano greeted him rather than the beats he anticipated, he skipped with lightning speed and scowled. Why, past Touya? Why would he do this?
Finally, with the noise gone and the situation unfolding in the next room (presumably) being resolved, Touya checked his phone.
9+ missed calls: Mother
Mother: I hope you realise what you’ve done, Touya, y...
Yeah, no thank you. Instantly swiped away and ignored.
Akito <3: yo man u good? U disappeared
Akito <3: reply to me bitchass
Akito <3: man i know ur not sleeping rn u stay u…
Akito <3: TOUYA
Oops. Akito might kill him if he doesn’t reply. Either that, or he’ll somehow manifest himself beside Touya, just to tell him he’s a bitch for not replying.
Touya: Akito, hello
Akito <3: HEKLO
Akito <3: HWERE WERE YOU
Touya: It’s a long story, I can explain next time I see you! :)
Akito <3: dw i can read more than a sentence
Akito <3: i know u think otherwise of me
As amusing as ever, Touya couldn’t help but chuckle at Akito’s attitude.
“Heyyy, who you texting, Touya-kun? Your boyfriend?” Instinctively locking his phone and hiding it to his chest, Touya jumped and almost threw his headphones off. He turned behind him, just to see Saki grinning at him. “Don’t worry, it’s not like I’ll judge! You haven’t even seen me when I’m texting Shiho-chan… though, I kinda hope you don’t, as it’s seriously embarrassing…” She twirled her hair at the mention of her partner, only to realise what she had done, which resulted in her slamming her hands down to her sides. Both of them were blushing messes at the thoughts of their partners, which morphed into shared laughter.
“Yeah, I was texting Akito…”
“Ooh, wait, I think I know this one!” She placed a hand to her chin and dramatically hummed, only to give up after a few seconds and sigh, “Wait, no I don’t. I don’t really know any boys.” Touya chuckled and sat upright. He hadn’t even noticed how his once defenseful position had completely dissipated.
“He’s my partner, both musical and romantic. He has ginger hair, a yellow streak near his fringe, and he’s really quite nice when you get to know him.” After a pause, he quickly added, “But if you ever see him, you can’t tell him I said the nice part. He gets annoyed when people say that, because he likes his tough guy vibe.” A chuckle escaped Saki’s lips as she grinned.
“Oh, my Shiho’s like that! Sweet, but acts all cold and tough.” She grit her teeth and placed her fists together dramatically, as she said in a deep voice, “‘I’m so scary and tough, I’m just so much cooler than you all, grrrr…’”. At this point, Touya couldn’t breathe from his laughter, which made Saki’s act fade away as a soft smile replaced it.
“Hmm? Now, what’s going on here?” Tsukasa leaned over the sofa next to Saki, his face somewhat red from the disaster in the kitchen. Having been distracted by romance talk, Touya had completely forgotten about the kitchen drama, though Tsukasa seemed to have emerged victorious.
“We were just talking about some stuff!” Despite the confidence in her voice, Saki turned away from Tsukasa, almost in embarrassment.
“Hmm? I could’ve sworn I heard a certain person’s name pop up-”
“Nooo, stooooop!!” She shoved Tsukasa in the side with her elbow, to which he threw himself back and stumbled as if he had been fatally injured. How sweet. Their dynamic was truly the sweetest… Touya truly envied it.
“Ah, ah, I’m down, this star has crashed to the earth beneath it…” He sprawled himself out on the floor, with a leg kicked up in the air, only to spring up after a few seconds and almost teleport to Touya's side. "Ah, I've been meaning to ask, Touya! Are you and Akito… a thing?" Despite best efforts, the concern laced into his voice shined through.
"Yeah. I'm surprised you didn't find it out sooner - Kamishiro-senpai's second conversation with me was about it." Tsukasa clenched his fist.
"Agh, trust Rui to try and outshine me in this field…" No one had any idea what 'field' Tsukasa referred to apart from Tsukasa himself, as it referred to his brotherly role, that Rui often commented on due to his perceptiveness. In truth, his perceptiveness was probably the reason he figured it out before Tsukasa, for he had always been quite oblivious. "Nonetheless! I am incredibly happy for you, Touya! But. If he dares hurt you, know he won't be walking through the halls of Kamiyama for a while…" A deep, brooding voice unfitting of Tsukasa left his lips, which made both Saki and Touya furrow their brows with an awkward smile. The intimidation attempt had failed.
"It's okay, I doubt he would do anything like that to me…" Gently speaking, Touya faded out of his sentence as he processed Tsukasa's genuine concern, and spoke once more, "but, if anything happens between us, I'll come to you and rely on you."
"Good, good! That's my Touya!" He ruffled the younger boy's hair and grinned momentarily.
Then he stopped.
Almost as if a switch had flicked, Tsukasa's face fell and he straightened his back. Saki looked to Touya once more, who had similar confusion etched on his face.
The mood shift, which wasn't out of character but was still a cause for concern, left silence wafting through the air of the front room.
"...onii-chan, you okay?" A gentle mumble from Saki that shook Tsukasa back to earth. Loudly exclaiming a squeak, he looked Touya in the eyes, which made him sheepishly look away in response.
"Yes, I'm fine! I just…" He fiddled with his shirt and looked to the floor, as the confidence almost seemed to drain from him. "Touya… you don't have anywhere to stay for good right now, right?"
"No… why?"
"Would you like to stay here, like, permanently? You'd be allowed, before you worry! Our parents love you, and we always have a spare bed ready!" His eyes lit up, and he nodded a little too enthusiastically.
"Yes..! If you'd be willing to have me, of course…" He shuffled in his seat, wary his enthusiasm seemed off-putting.
"Well, Touya, of course we are! You're like, our honorary Tenma!" Saki giggled, and as she spoke she ran to pick up Touya's bag. "Now, let's unpack this, and we should go on a shopping trip this weekend to officiate things!" Both Tenmas cheered, and as he processed that he too was now a Tenma, Touya hummed happily too. Tears welling in his eyes, he glanced at his phone once more, just as Tsukasa tried to drag him up from his seat.
Touya: hey, are you free tomorrow?
Akito <3: ofc
Akito <3: whatsup
Touya: Thought I could tell you everything :)