Chapter Text
A foldable table in one arm, sketchbook and a bunch of snacks in the other. Akira opens the door to the balcony, pleased to find the morning sun blocked by the roof. Heh.
Another perfect summer morning to laze around.
He sets the table down near one of the balcony's corners and shuffles behind it, placing the snacks and sketchbook on the table's surface.
Perfect, and one last thing; earphones. He takes them out from his pocket, along with his phone, and in a few seconds, he's jamming to his favorite anime playlist. He flips through his sketchbook until he lands on an empty page and reaches for his pen.
This was the typical, leisurely way that Akira liked to spend his mornings on summer vacation, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Going out to a nice place with friends that have similar interests? Psh. No way. Never.
He looks down on the ink blot forming on the paper under his pen and sighs. There goes the art block. Knowing well where this was going, he sets the sketchbook aside, reaching instead for his phone.
His eyes quickly skim through a novel's contents without absorbing anything.
Okay... what about social media?
This was often a last resort, and it was his first time going there in a long while, so surely he can find some novelty in it, right?
He taps the app and as soon as it loads, he's reminded why he doesn't go there in the first place. His timeline is flooded with classmates and former classmates going on some super fun vacation or nice, casual meals at a cafe, or playing games at the arcade. That looked really fun. Of course he was happy for them, but he couldn't help be reminded of his own situation every time.
It's not like he doesn't try. He's already tried twice with Tokitou-kun, the only person who ever brought themself to call him "best friend", and even then he got ditched, twice.
And as much as he'd love to take his aunt and uncle somewhere nice outside the city, somewhere they haven't gone to before, he knows they preferred not moving around too much. That was understandable. He should be the one going out, after all, his aunt and uncle already had their share of travels, and they deserved their rest.
He still feels bitter about Tokitou-kun, though, but he won't let himself get carried away with those thoughts.
He locks his phone, head burying into arms, already mentally exhausted.
Am I really hopeless...?
He turns to face the sky. It was the typical bright blue shade, though it had always been a bit strong for his taste. He preferred the sky during sunset, with all the pinks, violets, and orange mixing into a glorified, but somehow serene hue.
His eyes scan the rest of the scene, refusing to give his loneliness any thought.
They land on a neighbor's rooftop garden. Akira couldn't clearly see what kind of flowers there were specifically, but he could make out a few whites, yellows, violets, and of course, greens. Did his neighbor know color theory, too? The arrangement looked pretty nice... Pretty inspiring, maybe?
He gives the empty page on his sketchbook a hopeful glance. No, still nothing.
What else is there?
His eyes quickly shift from a few birds that just flew by to the ground when he heard a dog bark.
That's Hyougo-san's dog, but... - who was the guy walking him?
Akira immediately marks the guy as handsome, attractive, and cool, probably way too cool to ever want to hang out with someone such as himself.
Cool black hair with a tint of blue, and pretty ice-blue eyes to match as well. Tall and a nice figure.
God certainly has their favorites, don't they... he sighs, watching the boy look like a model walking down the runway, even though he was just walking down the street.
Hyougo-san's dog (a border collie, Akira remembers) suddenly turns tail and looks the dark-haired boy in the eye, tilting its head. The boy sighs as if he understands, and kneels, reaching for something in his pocket.
Akira reaches for something as well, that something being his sketchbook.
He sees the boy procure a bag of treats from his pocket and hands it over to the dog and it munches on the treats happily.
Meanwhile, Akira had picked up his pen and started drawing careful, but swift strokes, swift because the boy might start moving again and he might disappear from his view before he finishes his sketch.
Eventually, the boy does finish his task and stands up, taking the dog with him.
A while later, Akira finishes as well, and he hovers over the page that now had at least something in it. And he kind of liked that something.
Until he realizes he just drew a complete stranger for no reason and immediately felt himself blush.
He'd probably be weirded out by this... and Akira smacks himself lightly at the thought.
He stares back down at the pen sketch of the boy scratching the sides of the dog's head, and the boy somehow maintaining a straight face despite the cute abundance of fluff in front of him.
Maybe Akira can forgive his weirdness just this one time.
Akira tries again the next day. Same place, same time. Table in hand, sketchbook in the other. He snugs up into the same corner, more eager to try today. His aunt seemed happy with the development as well, and over dinner Akira had told her of the enigmatic boy before he could stop himself.
["Oh, that must've been Tenkuubashi-kun," his aunt had chirped happily. "Your uncle and I ran into him yesterday. Do you remember when I told you about new neighbors moving in?"
Ah. They were going to be neighbors.
Akira nods. From the other side of the table, his uncle laughs lightheartedly. "He's a very interesting boy."
Yeah, Akira had the feeling.]
He opens up his sketchbook and glances around. His eyes land on the rooftop garden from before.
Flowers it is. He grabs his pen and starts to sketch. Coloring felt a bit too ambitious for now, so he'll settle for an inked sketch.
Few moments later, and he gets exactly that. Except there were no flowers, and he stares in front of him, at an inked sketch of a familiar face, one that he had only been acquaintanced with yesterday.
Can't I draw something else other than you? he thinks, hiding his face in his hands from no one in particular.
As if on cue, a familiar bark slowly fills the air and suddenly Hyougo-san's dog comes barreling through the street. Tenkuubashi belatedly follows after, holding a broken leash in one hand.
Oh.
Akira barely manages to catch a glimpse of Tenkuubashi's face before he disappears after the border collie.
Wide eyes, teeth slightly clenched, hair slightly blown out. Despite the description, Tenkuubashi... naturally looked good still. It was a new expression.
Akira reached for one of his pencils and began sketching what he remembered of the boy's face.
It goes like that for a few days, then a week, and Akira doesn't get any less embarrassed after drawing the dark-haired boy than he did the first time.
So this is the effect attractive people have on artists, he thought bitterly, and yet continued on with his sketch of the boy's face. Tenkuubashi Shou, as he had learned from days of (totally not creepy) observing on the balcony.
This time his drawing session was late in the afternoon, and Akira was aware it was well past his usual time of drawing, but he's been more eager about it nowadays. (The sunset sky improved his mood further.)
He can now sketch Tenkuubashi without needing much reference, and well, crap, that was a weird thing to be proud of.
Though Akira doesn't want to admit it, Tenkuubashi has definitely become some sort of muse now. Over the week, he's accumulated few pages' worth of sketches of the boy in different outfits, or close-ups of his face. And Hyougo-san's dog, of course. The border collie was often a common focal point in his doodles with Tenkuubashi.
He dismisses his thoughts and tries again to focus on the sketch before him. A simple, manga-style bust up shot of the dark-haired boy, with his usual stern expression, wearing a t-shirt. Nothing too special in terms of concept, but it was a piece he wanted to take seriously, so he did his best to capture as many details as possible.
He adds more details to the hair, crinkles on the shirt, and a bit more texture to the eyelashes. As he was about to place the first stroke of ink on the paper, he hears a little girl's laughs, in between loud stomps on the concrete sidewalk.
His curiosity gets the best of him, and his eyes shift from his drawing to down on the ground. A little girl was happily skipping through the street, and following behind her, was none other than Tenkuubashi-kun. Huh.
"Nii-chan!-"
His little sister. Akira couldn't help but smile at the wholesome scene.
"-The time has come! Ready to witness my-" the little girl poses dramatically, "-ultimate power?"
Akira watches the older Tenkuubashi with anticipation.
"...Yes."
Pft...
Akira feels bad for wanting to laugh, but the difference in personality was so perfect he almost popped a vein trying to hold it in. The older brother, who spoke in short sentences, and his little chuuni sister.
"Then, I present to you..." the little girl raises a palm up to the sky, "Sky swirl! Okay, you can look up now!"
The older Tenkuubashi follows his sister's hand to the sky. Akira does the same.
"The sky... looks very pretty." Akira agrees. "Did you make it so?"
A smile broke out on the younger Tenkuubashi's face, and she starts posing dramatically again, arms swaying all over the place. "Of course! It's my special move!"
Tenkuubashi Shou follows his sister with his eyes. He stares at her wordlessly for a few moments and - he smiles. Though it was faint and small, it was definitely there.
...
Akira's hit with the realization that throughout the whole week, that was the only time he saw the other boy smile. He... looked nice like that. Well, he looked nice all the time, and Akira envied that, but he definitely looks nicer like this. When he's enjoying himself.
The older Tenkuubashi kneels to give his sister a pat on the head.
Akira rests his head on his hand, watching as the rest of the scene unfolds in front of him, the two siblings painted in sunset hue.
He shifts back his focus to the unfinished drawing, and slowly starts to erase the expression he had drawn on the face before. His hand starts to sketch slightly crinkled eyes, and lips that were slightly upturned. The brows were altered to show a fonder expression.
What a nice sight. Akira wishes he could see it more often.
The sun certainly had no mercy on him today, he thought as he found his way through the streets that led back to home. You'd think it would've spared him even a little bit, seeing as he rarely ever went outside, but it must've been at least past 40 degrees Celsius today, and Akira barely had enough strength to carry on walking whilst carrying paper bags from the grocery.
Finally...
He felt ready to collapse as soon as he turned the corner to their street.
Soon he was only a few steps further from their house, and soon he was in front of their gate, unlocking the padlock that had been there since his aunt and uncle went to celebrate an in-law's birthday, and Akira had insisted he would be fine alone in the house.
One turn and... unlocked. Great. Now, to dive on the sofa as soon as he steps into their house.
"Ahh... nii-san?"
Or maybe that would have to wait. Akira looks up above him, where the sound seemed to have come from, looking for its source. He holds up a hand to his face, squinting at the sky.
"Pst...nii-san, over here...!"
Akira kept turning his head to all directions, until he finally spots a big tree that grew on the sidewalk, and a little girl sitting on its branches. Ah.
"H-hello! Uhm... Do you know Shou nii-chan?"
Akira blinks. Why yes, he knew him all too well, actually, though he probably shouldn't just admit that to his little sister.
Akira nods. He debates whether or not to offer an explanation but the little Tenkuubashi pipes up quickly before he could decide.
"Ah... can you please find him? And call him? I have, uh... something important I wanna say to him."
Akira stares for a moment, assessing the situation. So... she seems to be stuck on the tree. She probably climbed up without knowing how to get back down safely. Should Akira just climb her down himself? Or, no, maybe he was too weak for that... Or perhaps the little Tenkuubashi would be more at ease if her older brother were the one to come get her.
As he decided that he should just find the other boy and leave it to him, he hears the little Tenkuubashi shuffle in her place, and then-
"Ah-!"
Akira drops his groceries without thinking, completely forgetting his exhaustion just the moment before.
He rushes just in time to catch the little Tenkuubashi in his arms, and falls ungracefully to the concrete. Oof. But he was relieved to see the little girl safe.
"Gah! Nii-san, are you okay?" The little girl immediately gets up, rushing to his side.
"Yes, yes..'m fine...," Akira manages as he pushes himself up. He felt a bit sore in his arms and his knees, but it wasn't all too bad. He turns to the little girl, "You good?"
His vocabulary wasn't the best right now, and the exhaustion was starting to kick back in. He probably looked like a mess.
The girl nods, but her eyebrows arched in worry. "Yes, yes I am! But you... oh, do you need the hospital?"
Akira felt his eyes go wide. "No-"
"Nii-chan!"
Akira turns to look at the little girl, but he had a feeling he wasn't the one being called at.
Sure enough, he sees none other than Tenkuubashi Shou jogging up to them from the other end of the street. Akira stares, speechless.
He realizes how lame he must've looked, and quickly he pushes himself up.
Tenkuubashi reaches them, and immediately goes beside his little sister. He looks at Akira. "Hello. May I ask what happened?"
Tenkuubashi's gaze went from Akira, to his little sister, then to the dropped groceries a meter behind them.
Akira follows his gaze, and dread soon overcame his exhaustion when he sees the selection of food, still lying on the ground, "Ah, my-!"
He immediately gets up to pick up his fallen groceries, leaving the explaining to the little Tenkuubashi.
"He saved me! I, um..." she falters for a second. "I climbed up that tree, and I didn't know how to go back. I was about to fall, and kind nii-san saved me."
She points towards Akira, who was still frantically scooping up his groceries. "But he fell because of me..."
Tenkuubashi pauses for a while, before ruffling his little sister's head. "I'm glad you're safe. Next time, please refrain from climbing up trees, at least while I'm not around, okay?"
He gets up and Akira senses a figure squatting down beside him.
"Sorry for the trouble. Can we pay for the damaged goods somehow?" Tenkuubashi starts to reach for some of the fallen groceries as well, and he grabs a pack of candy, some chips, and Akira realizes how embarrassingly unhealthy his selection was. He refuses to make eye contact.
The little Tenkuubashi hovers over the older one's back apologetically, and Akira snaps back to his senses.
"Ah, no- no trouble at all! That..." was the most exercise I've had in weeks. Nevermind, forget finishing that thought, "All good here!"
"Hey, uh..." Akira turns to the little girl, who beams at him in return.
"My name's Mei!"
"Ah, Mei-san, those were some pretty great climbing skills..." he has absolutely no idea what he was saying. "...but your brother's right. Let's be more careful, aha..."
The girl scratches the back of her head bashfully, "Hehe. I wanted to try becoming a ninja... maybe some of the moves are too advanced for me right now."
Akira smiles at her. The older Tenkuubashi gives him the groceries he collected, and Akira accepts it, and soon his arms were full of the groceries again. He stands up and steps inside their house's gate.
"Well, I'll get going now, have a nice day!"
Tenkuubashi stands up as well, towing Mei by the hand, and gives him a nod.
"We'll be off too, then. Have a nice day, as well."
Akira gives them an awkward wave as he watches them walk off. Then he turns around, keys the door open, dropping the paper bags gently on the floor and dives into the sofa as promised to himself.
And in spite of how exhausted as he was, both mentally and physically, he found himself searching for his sketchbook again.
It's been a busy month for the Tenkuubashis, and though Shou thinks he handles most things efficiently enough that they don't stress him that much, this one time in particular, things stacked.
Well, the moving situation was a given, but apart from keeping an eye on their lazy uncle who they were moving with, and taking care of his sister, it was also nearing Mei's birthday, and it's been a month of him having no idea what to gift her.
Mei, despite being a child of many interests, wasn't exactly the type to want merchandise or any of the sort. She was much contented with the media she consumed online, and left the rest up to her imagination. He thinks she might've also outgrown the stuffed toy phase, so there was that.
She was already given plenty of art supplies and sketchbooks by her friends before they moved, and yes, maybe a different kind of art supply or medium probably would've been more practical in this case... but Shou was the big brother. At least in these things, he afforded himself a bit of pride, and he wanted to give something special to his sister. Something that stood out.
Considering how long it has been though, he might have no choice but to forego all that remaining pride.
Watercolor? The more expensive coloring pencils? Maybe she'd like to try sewing...
Lost in his thoughts, he feels a tug on his hand and suddenly he remembers that he was out on a walk with Hyougo-san's border collie again.
He must've stopped walking at some point, because the energetic dog was biting the newly replaced leashed and trying to tug him along.
Right. Focus.
He stores his thoughts away and tugs back on the leash to let the dog know he was back. They resume their walk.
Shou found it a bit surprising how fast the dog mellowed out with him over the past week. Sure, there was the one time it gave him a headache when it broke free from his grasp, but Shou can look past that.
Especially when these morning walks actually gave him more peace than exhaustion now that the dog was calmer. He starts to wonder how lucky he was scoring a part-time job like this, and was thankful that Hyougo-san trusted him despite not knowing each other for too long.
A strong gust of wind hits their side, and the border collie erupts into a series of barks. Shou feels another strong tug at his hand, but this time he was prepared. He grips on the leash tightly, holding the dog in place.
He glances forward, trying to see what had caught the dog's attention, and spots a sheet of paper slowly making its way down.
It falls to the ground. He barely manages to scoop it up before Hyougo-san's dog takes it in its mouth.
When the dog calmed down, Shou turned to look at the piece of paper's contents, curious himself.
It was a drawing. That much should've been obvious from how ink and color was strewn meticulously on the paper, but not only that, it was really, truly a beautiful piece of artwork, of a boy with dark hair and cool blue eyes. There were some un-inked sketches of flowers that lined the bottom where the boy's chest ended, that he realizes probably served as some kind of border.
Shou wasn't exactly a great critic who could put it into words, but he knew anyone else who saw it would agree the drawing was a masterpiece.
Shou recognizes the anime-like style from the shows his sister watched and the manga she read. Though the style made some of the boy's features looked simpler, whoever drew it certainly made sure to make it as detailed as the style would let them. There were only a few streaks of color on the paper (watercolor, it seemed like), but from what Shou could tell, the artist seemed pretty skilled at coloring, too.
Shou takes one good look at the paper one more time, and...
Oh.
Dark blue-ish hair, ice-blue eyes... he realizes the boy looked a lot like him. No, actually, it is him, isn't it?
The only thing that could possibly differ from his usual look, was the expression. The boy on the paper was smiling.
He barely has time to register that that was him on the paper, before he feels something covering his face. Another sheet of paper.
He takes it off from his face and sees that he was also the subject, though this one looks more like a "chibi" style, as Mei calls it.
He cranes his head upward and sees several more pieces of paper flying towards him, on their way to the ground, and for a moment Shou admires the sight, of several patches of white, all with faint hints of colors, falling down towards him. He snaps back to his senses and does his best to catch all of them before the avid border collie does.
In each sheet of paper he saw different versions of himself, in different styles, in different outfits.
Well... he guessed he should be flattered to be portrayed this nicely in so many artworks.
He stares at the collection in his hands for a few seconds, before an idea comes to him, one that had probably lingered in his head as soon as he laid sight on the first piece of artwork.
He glances around, searching for the papers' owner.
He spots a mop of gray-ish, brown-ish hair in one of the balconies.
The guy who helped Mei yesterday. Shou still felt a bit guilty about the whole groceries thing, but the guy probably would've kept on insisting it was nothing anyway.
He realizes he forgot to ask the guy's name, though he seems to be asleep right now. [Shou had secretly hoped to strike a conversation with him yesterday, as they seemed to be around the same age, but the guy kept avoiding his gaze, so he let it go.]
He carries on with his observation, and squinting through the balcony's railings, he spots the guy's hand on the table. A thin paintbrush sat loosely in his grip.
So it was him. Shou glances around again to confirm, before he comes to a conclusion.
It's decided, then.
Akira wakes up, and the after-lunch sunlight that he fell asleep to was gone. Instead what greeted him was a gentler, fainter wave of the afternoon breeze. He didn't mean to fall asleep while finishing up the piece he started a few days ago, but the sun was too warm, and the lunch he ate felt heavy in his stomach, and perhaps it was a mistake to put on his favorite chill playlist... which was of course, still playing in his ears.
He sits himself up, stretches for a bit, and looks down at his table to find nothing.
That was weird. The paper should've been there where he left it... why was it not?
He gets up searching under his table, then on the other side of the balcony, and then everywhere and, well, nothing.
He looks to the side where he had kept a stash of his drawings that were separate from his sketchbook, which he had brought out to see if any of it inspired him further on his current piece, and he realizes that most of the stash was missing, too.
Panic starts to sink in, and he tries to calm himself down. Maybe his aunt had put them away for him? But she was still at their relatives' house...
Akira sinks beside his table. Though he was embarrassed of most of the drawings, he still worked hard on it. Especially the one he was painting earlier...
No, perhaps he just misplaced them. He decides he would try to find it again later in the house, but for now, he might continue his nap in his bed. The chill sleep time playlist proves to be effective still, despite his devastation. Or maybe the devastation added to his exhaustion, and that further urged him to take a nap.
He cleans up his stuff and his snacks, and as he was about to fold the table up, a paper airplane lands square on top of the table's surface.
Akira stares at it for a bit.
What...?
Cautiously, he takes the paper plane in his hand. He sees bits of the paper had darkened and understands that it must've been ink, so he unfolds it.
It read,
Sorry for intruding, are you the one who drew this?
Akira's head immediately snaps down to the ground that their balcony overlooked, taking off his earphones.
In that instance, he felt like exploding.
Tenkuubashi Shou stood in front of their gate, looking up at him, holding up the piece of artwork that had his face on it, the most detailed one yet, and he was holding it as high as he could, probably so that Akira could see it better. He sees him holding the other half of his missing art stash in his other hand carefully.
Akira didn't know what he looked liked in that moment, but if he had to guess, something akin to a deflating balloon. He covers his face with a hand, but he knows it was futile.
Below, he sees Tenkuubashi tilt his head, waiting for an answer.
He takes a deep breath.
Calm. Compose yourself. Don't let him think you're weird. Explain.
"Uh, yes.....but, um..." Oh, crap. Perhaps he should've just lied instead.
He sees Tenkuubashi lower the drawing, and he braces for judgement, the most severe kind, but it doesn't come.
In fact, Tenkuubashi seemed hopeful even, and Akira had to rub his eyes to check if this was real. The back of his head suddenly felt itchy. "Um, aren't you... weirded out? I mean, that's- that's-" you. On all those slips of papers.
Akira bit his lip, clinging to the last bit of hope that Tenkuubashi hadn't noticed it was him on the paper.
Shou, who was very much aware that it was him, shakes his head, remembering his little sister who drew strangers all the time, everywhere, anywhere, "No, not at all. Do you take commissions?"
Akira gapes at him.
"What?"
He regrets it the moment it came out of his mouth. But he stands by the question. How on earth was this guy so casual?
Tenkuubashi holds one hand up nonchalantly, "Sorry, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. I-"
"No, no- I am!" -he was? Akira keeps surprising himself.
He sees that hopeful expression again on Tenkuubashi's face, and he curses himself for growing weak at the sight.
"Then..."
"Um, hold on a second," Akira finally manages to get at least the slightest grip on himself. He remembers to breathe, and suddenly he feels weird at the Romeo-Juliet type of scene they were having. "I'll head down there, so we can talk better."
Tenkuubashi gives him a nod, and Akira gives himself a smack on the head, as soon as he was out of sight in his house.
He passes by a mirror on the wall, and he sees his face, coated in red.
Oh, he was so done.