Chapter Text
Kohaku blearily opened his eyes, blinking hard against the light filtering into Madara’s car. It wasn’t the familiar soft glow accompanied by a sunset, instead, a fluorescent yellow from a streetlight. He had been sprawled out over the backseats of the car, only slightly aware of the weight of several blankets covering him, when the abrupt stop of the car’s engine woke him.
‘’Morning, Kohaku.’’ He could faintly see Madara’s figure looking back at him from the driver’s seat. His tone was soft, not demanding, and Kohaku had to use all of the strength in his body to prevent himself from pulling the blankets back over his face and requesting ‘five more minutes.’
‘’Mama- Madara? Why’d we stop?’’ Kohaku grumbled, sitting up from his spot in the backseat and willing his vision to focus. His voice was heavy with sleep, slowly becoming aware of how dry his throat was.
‘’Just a pitstop, a gas station, you good with that?’’ Madara sung, not giving Kohaku any time to answer before shoving the car keys in his pocket and pushing the door open. Kohaku sighed, scrambling out of the car to follow him, running his hands through his hair in an attempt to make himself look semi presentable and less zombie-like.
‘’Yeah, I could use a drink.’’ Kohaku muttered, now walking at Madara’s side towards the entrance of the gas station.
A small bell rung when Madara swung the door open, alerting the clearly tired cashier of their new customers. The pair made a beeline towards the snack isle, enthusiastically looking between the assortment of chips and candy. It was so easy to forget about their responsibilities at moments like this, when Madara had his arm around Kohaku's shoulders, going on about his favorite brand of chips and why they were so much better than Kohaku's, when he knew that after this, he would climb back into Madara's car and he would tuck him in and turn the heat up so he could sleep comfortably until morning. All of their troubles; their pasts, their knowledge of what would come tomorrow, washed away.
They carried out the dirty work of the idol industry, hell, even Madara was ashamed of the work Double Face was assigned. Despite that, here they were, their conversation echoing through the empty gas station, a smile tugging on Kohaku's lips. Kohaku wished it could be like this forever, he wished to have a life where they were normal, maybe then everything would be finally okay.
Madara paid, leaving with two bags full of drinks, snacks, and various other trinkets, as well as with an exhausted Kohaku riding on his back. He dumped the bags into the trunk, then gently set down Kohaku in the backseat in order to not wake him for the second time tonight. He carefully pulled the blankets over his body, leaning forward and brushing back his hair to plant a small kiss on his forehead.
He smiled, returning to the front seat, and the quiet rumbling of the car engine resumed.