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Saturdays were always Daisuke’s favorite days. He slept in a bit later than usual, and the rest of his entire family tended to go out on some excursion, safe in the knowledge that some of the more precious things were safe with another person at home.
…well, maybe his entire family wasn’t out. Dark was still there. Daisuke heard the TV downstairs as he shuffled out of his room in sweats and a comfortable shirt. When he peered in through the window into the kitchen, he saw a small plate with various breakfast foods set out for him.
“I figured you’d be getting up soon, so I made out a plate for you,” Dark called from the couch in front of the TV, waving his hand lazily so Daisuke could see where he was.
“…well that’s nice of you.”
“Why are you saying that like you’re surprised?!”
“Because I am?" He took a quick bite of the green apple before moving onto the toast. Then, after pouring himself a drink, he carefully brought the plate into the living room and sat it on the coffee table. "Getting breakfast for me is such a small nicety…not something you’d do often.”
Dark just grumbled in response and reached for the remote; Daisuke used the opportunity to plop himself right next to Dark, who had inadvertently made room on the couch for him. He thought he heard Dark make some kind of sound at it, but chose to ignore it instead. “You had a date with Harada-san last night.”
Dark stopped attempting to find a new channel to watch and instead leaned back against the couch and all but slapped his hand against his forehead (and then ran it through his hair; it was a hard habit to break). “Well that’s obviously not question. Any reason you feel the need to state the obvious?”
“How’d it go?” he mumbled through the toast.
…
“Dark?”
“Fine. It was fine. Just eat your food.”
Now this got Daisuke curious. Dark’s eyes were resolutely staring at the TV in front of him. Daisuke put his right elbow on his leg and leaned on his hand, balancing his toast in his other, and just studied Dark–
who suddenly turned to him, managed to make eye contact for approximately two seconds (Wow, something is really up with him.), before finally leaning in and taking an unfairly large bite of the toast.
“Ah, what–”
“You were tempting me with it. You can’t just expect me not to when you’re dangling it around like that.”
And then Dark blushed a little (I–what–that makes no sense!) and turned away very quickly, picking up the remote to resume his channel search. Without a word, Daisuke continued to much on his toast, and as his train of thought wandered he failed to suppress a small, but still audible, laugh. It caught Dark’s attention, but Daisuke didn’t say anything as he took a quick drink of his orange juice. When he leaned back, Dark had stopped having to try to look away; he found a movie on TV, and was actually rather enthralled by it.
So Daisuke decided to try his luck. It wasn’t often that he and Dark could just sit like this. He glanced over at Dark before slowly leaning over and resting his head on Dark’s shoulder. To his surprise, Dark didn’t even stiffen. “What movie is this?”
Dark’s eyebrows furrowed and he stared at Daisuke out of the corner of his eyes. He shuffled around a bit to free his arm, motioning for Daisuke to lean forward. When he did, Dark brought his hand to Daisuke’s head and brought him back to rest on his shoulder. “I don’t actually know the name. Some old comedy.”
It was rather surprising, how comfortably Daisuke just sort of fit against Dark. And Dark hadn’t removed his hand from Daisuke’s head either; every once in a while Dark would move it around as if to ruffle Daisuke hair, but all it did was tickle him.
“Dark…”
“Daisuke, don’t–”
“Something happened on your date. You’ve been acting weird since you got home last night." He left off the You’ve barely even looked at me, hoping that this sentiment was implicit in his tone.
To his credit, Dark didn’t back away. He just ruffled Daisuke’s hair in rather apparent frustration. "Dammit, Dai.”
He responded by pushing even further into Dark. “You guys talked about something, and it’s affected you somehow.”
“You.”
“Eh?" Daisuke leaned back just enough to look at Dark in the face.
”…it was you. Aah, not by name though, don’t get that look. I’m not that stupid, you know.“
Daisuke’s hands were moving on the space in front him absentmindedly, and his fingers were trying to grasp at something. "I…but, how? Why? I mean, that’s not exactly the kind of subject you’d normally bring up on a date.”
For the second time Dark’s hand hit his forehead, only this time it stayed there to massage the bridge of his nose. “Risa…is persistent. And unfortunately, very easy to talk too…” Dark brought his hand down to cover the lower half of his face, as if he was trying to hide something.
“And?”
“…and she’s far too intuitive sometimes." He sighed, leaning over to place his arm on his leg, still keeping his face hidden.
Somehow, his right arm had yet to leave Daisuke’s head.
Daisuke, too, leaned over…both because he wanted a better look at Dark, and because he didn’t want Dark’s hand to leave him. He thought that he knew where the discussion was going, but he wanted–needed–to hear it from Dark himself.
"And we got to talking about Riku for a bit…and she asked if I had family. And without even thinking I told her I did, and she kept asking and asking and…oh man, Daisuke, I have never met anyone as persistent as her, damn." He managed a small chuckle in the midst of his rambling. Daisuke couldn’t help but echo his laughter.
"Well, she’d have to be to go after someone like you, right?”
Dark just ruffled his hair in response. “Takes a special kind of person to keep up with the great Phantom Thief, eh? I’m not just gonna settle for someone normal, you know…which sort of brings me to what happened." He finally moved his head to look at Daisuke. "When I told her about siblings….”
—
“Ah!" Risa clasped her hands under the shade of the large oak tree. "You have a little brother?”
His hands were resting inside his coat pockets and his shoulders hunched, with a kind of skeptical look on his face. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. It’s a little more complicated than that, though.”
Risa nodded very slowly, the implications slowly sinking in. “I guess you’re right, Dark-san. But!" She looked up at him, a strange shine in her eyes. "In the end, you think of him like a little brother, right?”
He made a show of shrugging, but eventually got around to nodding his head in affirmation. “Yeah…yeah, I guess that’s about right." He suddenly smiled though, and it brought a small gasp out of Risa. "Funny enough, you, ah…might have met him.”
“Oh!" Risa put her arms akimbo and tilted her head to the side. "What kind of person is your little brother like?”
“Jeez, stop referring to him as my little brother so easily like that.”
“Well, I can’t really do anything else when you won’t say his name.”
“…Right." He cleared his throat, thinking about the best way to describe Daisuke. "Well, he’s a sweet kid. He seems kind of naive sometimes…though I’m sure that’s more of his simple determination showing through than anything. He’s pretty damn athletic, too, maybe even as good as me–” He turned to Risa, suddenly very serious “–if you ever see him for any reason never ever ever tell him I said that.”
Rather than the expected promise, Risa started laughing. “Oh, Dark-san…I like this side of you!”
For the first time in the conversation, Dark pulled his hands from his pockets and brought them up in slight surprise. The very slight blush on Dark’s face only furthered Risa’s laughter. “Wh-what the hell are you talking about, Risa?!”
“O-oh my goodness, Dark-san! You’ve gotten so flustered!" Her laugh transformed into a giggle. "You’re so cute right now!”
Dark leaned against the tree with a groan. “Can you at least explain why you’ve found me so amusing?”
Risa skipped around until she was standing in front of Dark. She took his hands in her own and held them up between them, and continued to stare at them as she talked. “When you were talking about your little brother–oh, don’t give me that!–your face changed. Even if it was just for a second, I could tell." She finally looked up at his face; she could see it dawning on him as well.
"You love him, don’t you? And judging by how you’ve been reacting…it’s weird for you.”
—
“…and that’s about what happened.”
Sometime during the conversation Dark looked away from Daisuke, and he he hid his face back in his left hand. His right did not move from Daisuke’s head; in fact, it just continued to slowly ruffle his hair throughout the conversation.
So obviously Dark was started when Daisuke shot forward so quickly that he all but knocked Dark off the couch.
“Geh, Daisuke! The hell are you doi–are you crying? That really isn’t necessary.”
“Since when was crying necessary for anything, you idiot!" He pounded his fist against Dark’s shoulder.
"Mm. Love you too,” he murmured blithely.
“Well I know that now!”
“Oh.”
Dark’s right hand once again found itself on Daisuke head. He used it to keep him close as Dark slowly got himself into a sitting position. Once he was settled, he lowered his head and buried it in Daisuke’s hair. “Now you know why I’ve been acting weird all day. Am I forgiven?”
Daisuke managed a laugh as he brought his hand up to wipe the remains of his tears. “I think that’s as good an excuse as any." Daisuke moved away only enough to stand up, and he reached a hand down to help Dark off the floor.
"Let’s find a movie to watch. I think we have some popcorn in the kitchen.”