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“Reo, you’re cooking for us?” Kotarou, while close, thankfully did not drape himself over Reo as he usually did, giving him enough space to keep scrambling eggs.
“For us, yes,” he placed special emphasis on the word as he gestured between himself and Kotarou. “Eikichi can fend for himself, I couldn’t keep up with that appetite if I cooked for a week.”
“I am awake, you know.” The slurred quality of his words and the fact that the only movement he had managed so far was from Reo’s couch to the pile of pillows on the floor proved otherwise.
“Okay, but if you don’t get over here I’m gonna use up all the eggs.” That stirred Eikichi to action much more effectively than had Kotarou’s solid minute and a half of prodding. He made it to the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe, still rubbing his eyes.
“Hmm, I just realized,” Kotarou began, still standing close enough to Reo that they knocked elbows whenever either of them swung a hand out too far, “We stayed at your house, and you’re even cooking for us...plus you always bring extra water bottles to our games and stuff. It’s like you’re our mom or something.”
“Ugh, don’t say it like that. You’re older than me.” Reo tipped the eggs onto a plate and handed them off to Kotarou.
“Only by a couple months!” He deposited the eggs on the table and went back to stand next to Reo, somehow even closer than before. “Besides, you act older than both of us anyways.”
“Still, I’m not ready to be anyone’s mother.” He brushed past Kotarou to dig through the fridge.
“What about a big sister then?”
Reo shut the fridge with his foot, carton of milk in one hand and orange juice in the other. “You don’t have to--”
“How about ‘Reo-nee’?”
“That’s adorable, actually,” Eikichi said, finally fully awake and grinning earnestly at both of them.
“See? Ei-chan’s with me.”
Reo hid his blush by busying himself with getting glasses out of the cabinet. “Fine, call me whatever you want, just help me set the table.”
Kotarou actually saluted and said, “Yes, Reo-nee!” Eikichi just laughed and went for the plates while Kotarou rummaged through his cabinets for extra napkins. Reo tipped his head forward, glad that his hair was just long enough to hide the giant smile he couldn’t have suppressed no matter how hard he tried. This was the first time in a long time he had felt this comfortable around other boys his age; once they found out about him they usually either asked exhausting, invasive questions or felt too nervous around him to look him in the eye. And although he hadn’t come out to either of them, he hadn’t been worrying over it like he usually did; it would just happen when it did.
As soon as he finished drying the pans, he looked at Eikichi and then gestured to the stove. “The kitchen is yours, my dear.”
He froze internally, wondering if that had been too much, but Eikichi just smiled and tilted his head. “Thank you...Reo-nee.”
“You too?”
“Like I said, it’s adorable. And it suits you.” Reo collapsed at the table and threw his hands up.
“Fine, fine, you win. I’m the big sister now, I guess.”
Kotarou sat on his heels so he could lean across the table to smile at Reo. “You guessed right.” Reo resisted the urge to flick him on the forehead and pushed at his shoulder.
“Just sit down properly and eat.”
“Yeah, Reo-nee definitely suits you.”