Chapter Text
"Bye mom, bye dad" Kei said as he pulled his suitcase and backpack from the trunk of his parents car.
"I promise I'll keep my baby brother alive, don't worry okay~!" Akiteru chimed happily to his mother.
"Be good to your older brother okay?" Kei and Akiteru's father said, "He's been a little off lately, so treat him nicely!" as both the Tsukishima parents drove away, with the mother halfway out the window, waving her arms and yelling how much she loved the two equally.
"Boy that was fun, right Kei-chan?" the eldest of the brothers said, clapping his hands with an awkward smile on his face.
"It's obvious who the favourite child is now." Kei said bluntly with a cheeky grin, earning a whiny 'hey!' from his brother.
"Let's just get inside, the earlier you're situated the better!" Akiteru said happily, walking back into his home.
Turning around, Kei examined his surroundings. It was a nice healthy green lawn with 3 Magnolia sieboldii trees neatly placed by the side of the home. The home itself was an older style Gothic home.
It had nice white paneling with cream colored window shutters. The home appeared to be around two stories tall and from the exterior, pretty small. It also had a balcony lightly jutting out from the right side, overlooking towards the nearby track field.
Taking a deep breath of air and pushing up his thick rimmed black glasses, Kei began to walk up the nicely graveled walkway to the large sized walnut coloured door.
Stepping into the main entry way, the entirety of the house seemed to be painted white, minus the sitting room which was painted a sea green oddly enough. "Hey, Akiteru, what's uh with the weird colour scheme?" Kei asked, continuing to look around the home.
Peeking around the corner, Akiteru had a bagel in his mouth, "I recently moved in about a month ago remember? I just finished moving in some furniture, so I haven't gotten around to painting." he said, taking out the bagel to munch a bit, "There are SOME paint cans in one of the rooms, I just can't remember where I put it. But anyways, go pick a room. There's 2 for you to choose from. I recommend the one down the hall from upstairs. Has a large window, its perfectly far away from mine, and I may or may not have already moved all the furniture from your room into it."
Kei scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Not much of a choice then" he mumbled, carrying his suitcase and backpack up the stairs and down the hall like his brothers directions said. The hallway wasn't all that long but it was quiet narrow a barely illuminated by the midday sun and the blinking lights. It wasn't as much creepy as it was annoying to Kei.
Reaching the end of the hallway, Kei nudged open one of the doors revealing a small study room. Akiteru had already moved in a desk, his computer and his bookshelf with his copper lamp. It was also a greyish white color with two windows that so desperately needed blinds with the sun directly beaming down into the room.
Nodding to himself, he shut the door and opened up another door in the end of the hallway. Inside was a light green bathroom with a shower/bath mix and a toilet with a sink and mirror. The colour wasn't too gross and Kei knew that this colour was for sure going to stay, he hoped Akiteru didn't have plans to change this room.
Exiting the bathroom, there was one last door to examine and if he wasn't mistaken, it was his bedroom. When his hand came into contact with the old brass knob, Akiteru's voice came from up the stairs "Kei-chan! I forgot to tell you something! There've been some weird noises coming from that part of the house at night and then the noises move around the entirety of the house! It's probably just the vents, but I'm too scared to check. You can handle it, right?"
Sighing, Kei turned around and yelled back "Whatever you big chicken". He opened the door and it appeared to be a small bedroom. The walls had some cracks in it and a couple water stains, but what did Kei expect. The house was most likely older than anyone he actually knows, so he just brushed it off. He would paint the walls lilac anyways.
Dropping his backpack and suitcase in the middle of the floor, he also noted his bed was already neatly set up in the corner of the room, the clothes he couldn't fit in his bags were already hung up in the closet, his wardrobe set up next to the closet, boxes and boxes of books, clothes, and music were all ready for him to unpack. There was a large window that would open, offering a nice view above the neighborhood. Everything seemed nice, tranquil and in order.
Except for one thing.
There was an antique book case next to the door. It was a dark brown oak colour, there was only very few scratches from past books and paper weights that could easily be covered with some wood buffering. Kei went over to lightly run his fingers over the wood. It felt smooth to his touch, but left a trail of dust as he dragged his hands along. And judging from the amount of dust on the shelf, it seems that nobody has been in this house for decades.
"Seems you like the room?"
Kei jumped a bit, turning around to see his brother standing in the doorway drying off a plate with a smile on his face. "Yeah, its cool." he muttered lamely, "It's tiny as hell though..."
Akiteru stopped drying off the plate and chuckled light heartedly, "Why else do you think I gave you an entire hallway to yourself? I told you! You're far away from me so you got your own bathroom and even a study so you dont lose papers in the pig-pen you used to call your room back at mom and dad's place!"
"My room was not a pig-pen!" Kei snapped, "Anyways, what's with this bookshelf. You could've at least dusted it."
Akiteru's smile slightly faltered, "well, that bookshelf was already here when I moved in. I just...I just don't get a good feeling ya know?"
"Whatever" Kei muttered, opening up his backpack, pulling out: notebooks, textbooks, and a few mangas and setting them all on the floor. "Well it's mine now, even if they left it. Now where's some paper towels and a can of Pledge™?". Akiteru's smile returned to his features as he left the room, "Well I'll leave Kei-chan to his cleaning, I'm gonna go work on some electric work in the shed outback."
"Yeah yeah whatever" Kei said, rolling his eyes.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Hours had passed by, the sun was about to pass the horizon officially marking night time and Kei had finished unpacking his boxes, half his room already finished from his move. He spent a vast majority struggling to open the boxes his mother had oh so carefully taped together with some sort of nuclear bomb resistant concrete tape that refused to let go of the cardboard box, even with the sharpest knife in the house.
Stifling a yawn, Kei placed his three favourite dinosaur figures, a Dracorex, Gasosaurus, and a Massospondylus, on the bookshelf that he had cleaned, which was already lined with all his books and papers. He stood back admiring his work before falling back onto his bed. The sun slipped past the horizon right in front of Kei as he sighed, his eyelids growing heavy. He was about to finally doze off when there was a knock on the door of his room.
"Ugh go away" he mumbled, turning over on his side, some pops coming from his stiff back.
Akiteru popped his head in, "Come on Kei-chan! I picked up a pizza after running to the hardware store! It's your favourite too, cheese and green peppers~" he sang, his response was a low groan and a curse word.
"Kei-chaaannnn, don't be such a butt hole!" Akiteru complained, latching his hands around Kei's ankles and proceeded to yank him off the bed and down the stairs. "geh! Why are you so fat!!" Akiteru whined as he continued to drag his younger brother who didn't even put up a fight, he was just that tired.
“I’m not fat, you’re just weak” Kei said after his brother released his legs in front of the stairs. Standing up, he walked down the old creaky stairs to the kitchen which still had a majority of boxes scattered around, but the appliances seemed to be all working.
“I WOULD cook, but the oven doesn’t have gas yet ya know? They shut off all electricity and gas in this place for over 37 years and so its gonna be few days before everything works again,” Akiteru mumbled, following Kei into the kitchen and opening up the box of pizza that sat on a counter in the middle of the room. “Don’t be surprised if the wifi, electricity or even plumbing goes a little bit wonky.” he said, stuffing his face into a slice of the pizza.
Snagging a couple slices of pizza, the two both stood in a comfortable silence as they ate. They would be sitting, but Akiteru still hasn’t assembled the chairs he got from IKEA just yet.
“Hey Akiteru, about what you said earlier, what do you mean that you don’t get a ‘good feeling’ from the bookcase in my room?” Kei asked suddenly, not looking up from his slice of pizza.
Akiteru stopped mid bite and slowly pulled his head away from his food to stare at his brother, “It just, freaks me out is all. Something just doesn’t feel right.”
“And what about the ‘strange noises’ that start near my room and work its way around the house?”
“Okay, I’m pretty sure that its the gas and electricity surging through the building since one of the auxiliary generators is above your room, so its probably that. But it still makes spooky noises!” Akiteru cried, reverting back to his usual personality. Kei just sighed and finished his pizza, excusing himself for the night.
“Alright, night Kei-chan!” Akiteru called as Kei walked back up the stairs and down the hallway.
“He’s so full of it,” Kei mumbled, throwing himself on the bed and lightly groaned as the soft blankets rubbed against his sore back. “Such a ...cry...baby” he managed to say in between a few yawns before dozing off.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Kei woke up at around 2:14 in the morning and sighed.
“I have to pee,” he mumbled, getting out his warm bed and next door to where the restroom was.
--
After emptying himself, he returned and changed slowly into his pajamas with a long yawn. “Ngh...so sleepy…” was all he kept mumbling as he crawled back in bed.
Right before he fell asleep for the final time, a timid voice spoke from the corner of the room
“Why did you leave me alone”