Chapter Text
Tsukishima looked out his window at the rain and hummed softly to himself. Nothing beat a rainy Saturday at home. He stretched his arms, groaning as his back popped. He’d been working on homework all morning and was about to continue when his phone rang suddenly, startling him a bit as it echoed in his quiet room. He frowned when he saw Yachi’s name. She had never called him before or even texted. He was surprised she even had saved his number.
“Hello?” He asked cautiously.
“Tsukishima?” She started tentatively.
“Are you okay?” He asked, wondering why on earth she had called.
“Umm yeah? I was at school, though, dropping something off for an assignment but um, well it’s pouring, and I forgot my house key which also has my metro pass attached and I don’t have cash but if I walk it’ll be over four miles and your house is the closest but if you’re not home or busy don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine and figure something out so really it’s okay! I’ll just figure something else out, I’m sorry, I’ll go n-“
“Yachi, hold on!” he interrupted. “I didn’t even get a chance to answer. You’re more than welcome to come over, my mom is gone but my brother is here. Please don’t walk home in the rain! Are you still at school?”
“Yeah. Sorry” she said softly.
“Don’t apologize. Do you want me to come get you?”
“N-no I’ll be fine. I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing, it’s annoying when there’s no reason to.”
“Okay. Sor… okay Tsukishima-san.”
He could hear the anxiety in her voice and mentally sighed.
“See you in a few minutes, Yachi. Please stay safe.”
She didn’t respond but just hung up. He could easily picture her pale from nerves and shaking. He sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose. After a moment he realized he should probably tell Akiteru that she was coming over so that he wasn’t surprised.
“Aki.” Kie knocked on his brother's door. “Akiteru, open up.”
“So demanding.” Akiteru huffed as he opened his door. “What’s up?”
“A classmate is coming over. She’s one of our managers but a first year like me. Just giving you a heads up.”
“In this weather?” Akiteru asked quizzically.
“Yeah, I guess she had to drop something off at school but it's too far to walk right now and she forgot her metro card. I offered to come get her but she said no.”
“Okay, thanks for letting me know. Want me to make you guys snacks or something?”
Kie shrugged. “I don’t really care.”
“Of course you don’t.” Akiteru rolled his eyes and reached up to smack the top of his younger brother's head. “I’m going to make tea at least and you should straighten up your room or the living room, wherever you’re going to be.”
“Yes mom.” Kie said sarcastically but left to do exactly that.
He first checked the living room and folded a couple blankets before draping them over the arm of the couch. Everything else was clean, however, so he went to his room. He organized his homework on his desk and made his bed. He sat down at his desk and scrolled through his phone mindlessly, just waiting.
Akiteru was in the kitchen and just barely heard the soft and almost tentative knock on his front door. He called up to Kie quickly before opening the door. Wind blew rain in almost sideways and he stood open mouthed for a moment at the sight before him. The tiny little first year was absolutely soaked to the skin. She was shaking almost violently and he could almost see a bluish tint to her lips.
“Erm, come in.” Akiteru finally managed and stood aside so she could.
He quickly shut the door behind her and called out for Kie again. Kie appeared at the top of the stairs but also paused at the sight of Yachi. She looked like a drowned rat.
“Kie, would you run a hot bath for her please? I’m going to find her towels and some other clothes.”
“S-sorry for intrud-d-ding!” Yachi managed to get out despite her shivering. She quickly bowed to both boys. “I’m s-sorry fo-for the in-inconvenience.”
Kie tsked and left to start the bath and Akiteru quickly tried to reassure her.
“It's no trouble, really! We’re glad you’re here and not walking all the way home, although you should have let us come get you. Now I’m going to get towels for you, okay? Why don’t you take off your shoes and jacket while you wait.”
Yachi nodded and watched him leave. She struggled with the zipper for a minute but finally got it and unzipped the sodden piece of clothing before peeling it from her shoulders and arms. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with it so she folded it and put it on the floor. Then she sat down and tried to untie her shoe laces. Her fingers were numb and her hands shaking so she didn’t have much success and was still struggling with the double knots when Kie came down.
“Akiteru gave me a towel to bring to you. You okay?”
Yachi nodded quickly but kept struggling with the laces.
Kie fought the urge to sigh again and stooped down. He draped the towel around her shoulders and then knocked her hands away from her shoes. He was quickly able to unlace them and pulled them off. She refused to meet his eyes but could clearly see the pink blush across her pale cheeks. He smirked and pulled her up.
“The bath should be ready by now so you can dethaw a little bit. Please don’t hesitate to use the shampoo and conditioner there. When Akiteru finds you new clothes he’ll leave them on the counter for you and take your wet ones to wash and dry them.
“Thank you Tsukishima-san. I’m so sorry.”
“Stop apologizing idiot, and call me Kie while you’re here. It’ll make it less confusing with Akiteru.”
She didn’t say anything in response, unable to control the chattering of her teeth. She followed Kie up to the bathroom and was relieved by the warm steam filling the room. Kie turned off the water and then shut the door on his way out. Yachi wasted no time in climbing out of her soaked clothing and leaving it in a neat pile by the door. She pulled the shower curtain shut and gratefully sunk into the almost painfully warm water. It was perfect. Once she was warm enough to be able to control her hands again she looked around for the shampoo and conditioner. She quickly washed her hair, freezing momentarily as Akiteru knocked, then opened the door to drop off new clothes and take her wet ones. She let out a sigh of relief when the door closed again and quickly finished rinsing out her hair. While she would have loved to just soak in the hot water, she didn’t want to be more of a burden than she already was.
She quickly got out and dried off with a new towel Akiteru had left for her. The clothes on the counter had clearly belonged to one of the boys but had to have been from when they were little. The athletic shorts were a bit big so she had to roll them over but the shirt fit. It had a picture of a cartoon smiling moon on it. She towel dried her hair then tried to comb it into obedience with her fingers without much success. She finally gave up and tentatively opened the door.
The cool air of the hallway made her shiver again and goosebumps rose on her arms. She had just decided to go downstairs when Kie stepped out from one of the rooms off the hallway. He took in her clothes and smirked again. Those were his clothes from primary school. He couldn’t have been more than 9 or 10 when he wore those last.
“You warmer?”
“A little bit, yeah.”
Kie frowned as he noticed she was still shivering and quickly turned back around. Yachi didn’t know what she’d done wrong but immediately started apologizing until he came back out again. Kie raised an eyebrow and she faltered before closing her mouth with a snap.
“Here’s one of my hoodies. Put it on since you’re still cold.”
“Thank you.” She whispered and took the hoodie.
It was soft and much too big and as she pulled it on she never wanted to have to take it off. Yachi was even more adorable, drowning in his hoodie. She was the only other person besides Tadashi that he actually liked on the team. She wasn’t loud or overbearing at all and really sweet. He didn’t think anyone could not like Yachi.
“Do you want to watch a movie or something?” He asked.
“I don’t really care what we do, you pick.” She said softly and looked at her feet.
“Movie it is then. We’ll go watch it in the living room.”
Kie led the way and sat down on the couch. Akiteru was already there and had cups of tea waiting on the table for the other two. Yachi bowed gratefully and sat down as well, stuck in between the two brothers. When Kie handed her the mug she used it to hide her shaking hands. Even though she should have been warm she was still shivering. The warm cup warmed her hands but only temporarily and as soon as she had finished the tea they gradually grew cold again. Kie was still picking a movie, stopping every once and a while to read a description before moving on. Figures that he’d be picky. Akiteru snickered when Kie finally chose a Jurassic Park movie; he had known his little brother would.
As the movie started Kie looked critically at Yachi. He grabbed one of the blankets he had folded earlier and shook it out before draping it over her huddled figure. She lifted her head from the top of her knees as he did and he could see the word “sorry” forming in her mouth so he quickly flicked her cheek in warning. Akiteru used to do it to him when he was younger for asking too many questions. She blushed and put her head back down on her knees. Akiteru had silently watched the interaction and gently nudged the small girl to offer a comforting smile. She was so nervous and Kie was so… Kie. She quickly finished the last of her tea as a way to try to avoid interacting with either Akiteru or Kie. When the cup was empty she fiddled with it and tried not to be too anxious. She knew logically that she should just lean forward and put it on the floor beneath her feet since it was empty but that would require moving and if she moved they might look at her.
Even without moving, they would occasionally look at her. She was practically radiating anxiety. Akiteru quickly noticed her empty cup and looked at Kie questioningly. The younger just shrugged and turned his attention back to watch the velociraptors. Akiteru gently nudged Yachi and when she looked at him he took her cup and stood up. On his way out he ruffled Kie’s hair and despite herself, Yachi smiled slightly at Kie’s answering scowl.
Without the mug to occupy her hands Yachi soon turned to trying to detangle her hair with her fingers. Every time she had to pull apart a knot she grimaced in pain, unaware of Kie watching her bemusedly. He paused the movie and got up without saying anything, leaving behind a very confused manager. He came back a moment later holding a comb and sat back down motioning to the floor.
“Can I help untangle? My mom often has me help her with her hair too.”
“Umm sure.” She squeaked and then lowered herself to the floor in front of Kie.
As Yachi warmed up more and more she became sleepy. She had stayed up very late working on the project, then gotten up early. In all she may have had three hours of sleep. She was fighting to even just keep her eyes open. The way Kie was gently untangling and combing her hair didn’t help matters either. His fingers were soft and it reminded Yachi of sitting in front of her grandmother when she was a little girl before her grandmother passed away.
When Kie finished removing the knots he didn’t stop combing through her hair. She had practically melted at his touch and was more relaxed than he had ever seen her. He wasn’t able to see her face but he had a sneaking suspicion that she was also probably falling asleep. A few minutes later he realized he was correct as her head fell to rest on his knee and he momentarily panicked. What was he supposed to do now? He held his breath as he shifted to pull his phone out of his pocket before texting Akiteru to come back in.
It seemed to take forever before his older brother appeared. He looked up and gestured helplessly to Yachi, not even wanting to risk whispering in case she woke up.
The first thing Akiteru did was laugh and take a picture, ignoring Kies glare. Then he crouched down in front of Yachi and waved his hand in front of her face a couple times. When she didn’t react, he slowly and gently went to touch her wrist.
“Akiteru,” Tsuki hissed, “what are you doing?”
“Calm down, it's what you do to check if a baby is asleep. You lift up their arm and then let it go.” He did this as he whispered. “If it just falls limp, like hers did, it's safe to move them and they won't wake up.”
“She’s not a baby though.” Kie muttered. “If she wakes up I’m gonna kill you.”
Akiteru just smirked at his little brother before carefully and slowly placing an arm behind Yachi’s back and another under her knees. As he lifted her up, he held his breath for despite his confident assurances to Kie, he was just a little afraid to wake her up. When he was standing completely upright again he finally relaxed.
“Where should I put her?”
“Mmm, might as well put her in my bed. I need to finish homework and I think she would freak out if she woke up alone in the dark living room.”
“Fair enough, lead the way.”
Kie turned on his bedroom light and stepped aside to let Akiteru in. Yachi hadn’t stirred at all throughout the ordeal and lay almost boneless in Akiteru’s arms. Tsuki pulled back the blanket on his bed but let his brother tuck her in while he pulled out his textbooks and notes.
“Jeez Kie, why does this blanket weigh so much? She won’t be able to move!”
“It's a weighted blanket, Akiteru, and that's part of the reason I got it. I got tired of waking up with my blankets always on the floor.” Kie responded without even looking back at his brother.
“You’re weird. I hope you know that.”
Kie didn’t deign to respond. He just put his headphones on and opened his textbook.