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All Akito could hear was the sound of his heartbeat as he ran. He didn’t even know where he was going to go. Despite this, he just kept running. Running away from his home, his family, his father, and regretfully, his sister. Their father had never laid his hands on either of them. But that night.. that night he had.
Akito was in his room testing out some new lyrics for a song he was writing. He didn’t really have much to do, this song being a project born out of his own boredom than anything super emotionally driven. He propping his head on his hand lazily, writing and scribbling out various phrases.
He suddenly heard commotion in the room next to his. They had thin walls, so the two siblings could hear what the other was doing, even if they tried to be sneaky or quiet about it.
Which did include the one time Ena stole some of Akito’s food and spoke to her online friends about it, which Akito found out about only seconds after she said it. It was safe to say that he wasn’t the happiest about it.
He listened a bit closer, curious what all the yelling was about. It was often that Ena yelled in frustration when she was drawing something, but this just.. sounded different to him. He listened in for a few minutes while he tried to gauge what was happening.
“Why don’t you believe in me?! When have you ever been supported of my dream?!” Ena retaliated. Akito could tell that she was crying just from how her voice sounded. Despite how often they fought with each other, he really did care about his older sister, and she cared about him too. Hearing this just upset him further.
“I always have. That’s why i’m telling you to go into a different field if you can’t handle failing over and over again. That’s just what it’s going to take for you to become on par with more talented artists.” Their father responded, his voice raised yet not yelling. He was not a man who yelled very often, if ever.
A few more seconds of arguing ensued before Akito finally decided to get up and investigate. When he opened Ena’s door, he saw Ena and their father arguing just as he had heard.
He noticed that Nightcord was still open on her computer, making him consider the possibility that her friends were hearing all of this as it happened. He also noticed her headset had been thrown across the room, assumedly in anger.
The room suddenly became silent as the two noticed him. Ena’s eyes widened in surprise, tears falling freely down her face. She looked so exhausted, her eye bags more prominent than usual. This made him feel more guilty for not interfering sooner.
“What’s happening in here? Why are you two arguing so much??” Akito responded, his voice displaying the anger he had for his father in that moment. His eyebrows were furrowed as he spoke.
He walked over to them, trying to get in-between his father and older sister just in case. To his own surprise, Ena didn’t say anything snarky or outright mean to him as he did this. She was completely silent, if anything.
“Because your sister needs to be taught a lesson here. She will only struggle if she tries to become an artist and I don’t want that for her.” Their father simply responds. Akito could feel anger and frustration start to build up in himself. Without thinking, he immediately retaliated to their father’s claims.
“Why can’t you support your own daughter in her decisions?? Ena clearly just wants you to believe in her and her choice, why can’t you do that?? It’s her life, you can’t tell her what to do with it!” Akito barked back. His voice was filled with anger at this point. He wasn’t one to control his anger very well, but that didn’t matter right now. The only thing that mattered to him in that moment was protecting his older sister.
Everything after that was a blur. The only things he remembered after that was their father slapping Ena and Akito trying to protect her. After that, he hit their father back in some kind of attempt to get back at him for hurting his sister. Then somewhere in that hazy blur, he just ran out of the house, leaving Ena and their parents alone.
His eyes were blurry with tears as he ran. He could feel the burning in his chest. The adrenaline kept him going despite all of this though. Soon enough, he pushed open the door of Weekend Garage.
An had been allowed to work the closing shift with her father that night, which almost never happened, but she was excited nonetheless. Her and her father had been talking about something while she wiped down the counter when she heard the ding of the café door open.
It was Akito. He looked exhausted as he stood there, his breathing being heavy and labored. He looked like he was about to collapse on the floor. An’s eyes widened at this sight as the café fell silent.
“Akito?” An exclaimed, putting down the towel she had in her hand and running over to him. He almost immediately fell into her arms. She could feel her father’s concerned gaze on the two of them, but she ignored it for a bit to focus on Akito, who was now sobbing into her chest.
An somehow gets the two of them to a table in the café as her father finishes cleaning up for her, since she needed to focus on Akito right now. She propped the boy onto her lap and rubbed his back soothingly as he cried into her shoulder. Her other hand was holding Akito’s hip in an attempt to ground him a bit as he cries. An continued to comfort him as he cried, whispering soft and comforting words into his ear to calm him down.
Eventually, she hears his sobs come to a slow stop. An pulls away from him to look at his face with a worried look. She moves her hands to his cheeks, now holding his face gently. He leaned into her touch as always, which eased her worries a bit.
“What happened, ‘Kito?” An whispers simply, wiping away any tears that fell on his face. Her voice was dripping with concern as she whispered to him. He looked down at the ground, avoiding her gaze.
“U-uhm.. It’s.. It’s about my dad..” He began, his voice sounding shaky and weak. Akito’s hands ran up and down An’s waist, something she had picked up on as something he did whenever he was nervous about something.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t wanna talk about it, okay?” An soothed with a reassuring smile on her face. Akito gave her a weak smile in return and nodded, meeting her gaze again.
Soon enough, Akito had came home with Ken and An, calming down since then. An had wrapped a small towel around his hand since his knuckles were bleeding a bit from the punch he had given his father during the fight. He didn’t even notice himself until An pointed it out.
Once they got to The Shiraishi’s, An held his non-injured hand as they walked in the door. She walked Akito into her room, sitting him on her bed. An gave him a small kiss on the forehead before running out of the room.
An came back with some random stuff in her hands, laying it all out on the bed.
“Cmere, i’ll patch this up for you!” An says to him with a grin, very gently holding his injured hand on hers and extending it to herself. Akito hissed in pain at this. The boy scooted closer to her on the bed, blushing slightly. An began patching up his knuckles with a soft smile.
Once she was done, An grabbed all of the stuff she had brought into the room earlier and placed it onto the floor. She laid down on the bed and pulled the blanket over to the side, inviting Akito into her arms.
Akito climbed onto her, wrapping his arms around her torso and nuzzling his face into her neck affectionately. He loved cuddling with her and he felt so safe in her arms.
An chuckled softly at this, pulling the blanket over the two of them. She pushed his bangs out of the way as she pressed a small kiss to his forehead before resting her hands on his back. An closes her eyes, enjoying the moment between the two.
“Hey, An?” Akito spoke up a few moments later, adjusting his body to look up at her.
“Hm?” An responded, opening her eyes as they met his olive ones.
“I-.. I just wanted to talk about what happened earlier.” Akito murmured quietly, his eyes sheepishly avoiding hers and breaking the eye contact.
An moved one hand to cup his cheek and gently caress his cheek with her thumb. Akito leans into this, a small smile on his face. “Go ahead, i’m listening.” An replies, her voice sounding soothing and sweet.
Akito’s smile grew as she spoke. Hearing her voice had always grounded him and made him feel safe, especially when it sounded as sweet and comforting as it did now.
“I was uhm.. sitting in my room doing something, i don’t really remember what, but i heard Ena and my dad uh-.. arguing about some sooo.. i walked in to see what was going on. The three of us argued for uhm.. a while.. and then..” Akito paused. He could feel his throat start to close up as tears threatened to flood his eyes.
Akito looked up to see An’s worried gaze on him. Despite this, she still had a comforting smile on her face. His lip quivered slightly before he choked out tried to speak again.
Akito opened his mouth to continue the story, but no words came out. He could feel his eyes start to brim with tears at this point. An’s other hand went to the other side of his face, caressing his other cheek gently with her thumb.
“It’s okay.. cry if you need to.” An soothed sweetly, giving him a warm smile as he looked up at her. This made the tears brimming his eyes finally fall. He tried speaking through them, wanting to at least finish the story before becoming too emotional.
“A-and.. he hit Ena.. s-so I punched him in the face and just.. ran. I l-left her alone with him.. I shouldn’t have r-ran like that.. what if she needs me..” Akito choked out through sobs, his voice dropping to a murmur towards the end. An wiped away his tears as her gaze softened.
“I’m sure she’s fine, ‘Ki..” An whispers, her warm smile widening. She leaned her head down and gave him a soft kiss, stopping his tears just for a minute or so.
Akito leaned forward to to meet her halfway as their eyes both close. An’s lips locked with his gently, Akito’s lips slightly curling into a smile. Her lips were soft and light against his sweet and slightly rougher ones, the kiss itself being gentle and affectionate.
Akito’s hands reached up to run his fingers through her dark and wavy hair affectionately as they share this kiss. An’s heart rate increases as he did this. He always shared his love for her physically so she was used to it, but despite this she still felt her heart melt whenever he did.
Akito smiles warmly once they part while his cheeks were painted with a soft blush. An laughs softly at this, also blushing along with him.
“Thanks for being there for me, An..” Akito says softly. He gives An a small grin, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to her cheek. Akito laughs softly as she blushes more from this small gesture.
“You’re welcome.” An purrs sweetly. Akito nuzzles his face back into her neck affectionately, cuddling back up to her. He closed his eyes as he enjoyed the warmth shared between the two. An giggled quietly while she closes her eyes and wrapped her arms back around him affectionately.
They held each other like this for a while as they enjoyed each other’s presence. Soon enough, An could feel Akito’s grip on her loosen completely. She opened her eyes, glancing down at the boy curiously.
An’s eyes traveled to Akito. who was asleep in her arms. She let out a small chuckle before rubbing circles on his back affectionately. An closed her eyes and let out a content sigh.
An felt the exhaustion start to take over, eventually drifting off with him. The two share a small smile as they sleep contently in each others arms.