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"Fuck. My head hurts like hell," Ritsu groans, words slurring together.
Shou laughs unprompted, head light. Everything seems to be making him laugh at this point. "You're wasted," he wheezes between fits of laughter.
"Look who's talkin'," Ritsu mutters, unimpressed. It only makes Shou laugh harder. "God, shut up. You're so loud," Ritsu whines.
Shou switches to breathless gasps, trying to regain some of his composure and get some damn oxygen in his lungs. His legs are starting to go numb from sitting on the floor so long.
" 'm tired," Ritsu yawns when Shou finally calms down, letting himself tip sideways until he's leaning onto Shou's shoulder. His head rests sideways in the crook of Shou's neck, hair tickling his skin. He's warm.
Several minutes pass in which Shou is lost in a whirlpool of uncoordinated thoughts before Ritsu speaks again, slurring his words still but talking softer. "When I was a kid... I got a concussion. That hurt my head too."
"Yeah? What'd you do, fall off a swingset? Or just trip and fall on your face?" Shou giggles.
Ritsu shakes his head slightly. "No. It was... my brother. He didn't mean to, but he hurt me," he murmurs.
Shou's mind screeches to a sudden halt, somehow aware enough to know where this is going. He knows something happened when they were kids but Ritsu never talks about it, not even in passing. He swallows. "Ritsu... don't... you don't..."
"Don't what?"
"You're drunk. We're both drunk. Are you sure you want to... y'know...?"
"I'm fine," Ritsu sniffs. When Shou doesn't respond, he sighs. "It was a long time ago."
Shou remains silent, chest tightening uncomfortably.
"I don' even remember most of it. There was some kids, older kids. High schoolers? They wanted... I think they wanted our money. One of them grabbed me, and then... and then nii-san..." he drifts off. "There was brightness, and then I was falling. There was blood, I think... my blood."
"Oh..."
"It felt like my head was splitting apart. I thought... I thought I was going to die there. And then I woke up in the hospital." Ritsu pauses. "I was always scared, after that. He wouldn't look at me the same way. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. I tried so hard... not to upset him. I needed to be the perfect brother."
Shou's heart twists painfully. He can't imagine handling such immense pressure for so long. His own father was terrifying--but he wasn't a mystery. His plans were always clear enough; he wasn't going to suddenly snap had Shou made a wrong move. "Ritsu..."
Ritsu turns to tuck his face into Shou's neck, pressing even closer against his side with a hand fisted in the sleeve of his jacket. "I wanna sleep. Can we sleep now?"
"Yeah... you want the couch or the bed?"
"..."
"Or-r-r, you can sleep on the kitchen floor," Shou attempts a laugh. Ritsu shakes his head.
"I don't wanna go alone..." Ritsu mumbles.
"Oh." Shou's face starts heating up realizing where this is going.
"Will you stay with me?" Ritsu tugs at his sleeve lightly.
"Ha... yeah, I can... sure, yeah."
It's harder than Shou thought it would be to climb the stairs up to his bedroom. Ritsu keeps stumbling, and Shou's coordination is a little too impaired to steady him properly. Nonetheless they make it, and Ritsu flops onto Shou's bed immediately. "C'mon," he urges, tugging Shou onto the bed beside him. Shou lets himself be pulled down, and as soon as his head hits the pillow he realizes how extremely tired he is. Ritsu snuggles up against his side, arm slung over his chest and head resting on his shoulder. He sighs contentedly and Shou's heart skips a beat.
It's a little too warm being so close, but Shou certainly isn't going to complain. Ritsu is asleep within seconds, snoring softly. He looks peaceful and uncharacteristically vulnerable.
It's strange to have Ritsu be so clingy--he would never do this sober. Staring at his face, Shou's overcome with a sudden wave of affection, bubbling up inside him and spilling over. "Ritsu," he sighs. Unsurprisingly, Ritsu doesn't even twitch. Shou smiles dazedly. "I think I love you."