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Nazuna’s eyes fluttered open to an unfamiliar room. He was in a bed, the covers pulled over him, and immediately realized that he wasn’t alone. On either side of him…
?!
How had this happened? Nazuna sighed, cheeks a bit red. Mika was on his right, and Shu was on his left. The last thing he remembered was-
“You fell asleep when we got home here. You must have been tired after practice, you had a sip of your tea and a few strawberries then leaned back against the wall, and suddenly your eyes closed,” said Shu, who seemed to be more endeared than annoyed. Nazuna winced. Oh, how embarrassing… He only meant to close his eyes for a few seconds. Shu was right; he was incredibly tired. Today’s practice was going over the same moves over and over again. He honestly wanted to go straight home after that, but Mika invited him over to join him and Shu for dinner, so he accepted.
It was strange, now that Mika was around. Before, it never really felt like Shu would invite him over, moreso just decide that he was coming. It seemed to be almost spontaneous that Shu would drag him along. But since Mika started living with him, and Valkyrie became busier, these spontaneous outings happened less frequently.
Sometimes he wondered what it’d be like if he lived with Shu, just like Mika was. He’d probably get sick of him. Shu was great, sometimes, but he could definitely be irritating when he had his mind set on something stupid. Perhaps it was better that he had regular Shu-free time.
Shu probably thought it was rude that Nazuna fell asleep to begin with. The last thing he remembered from his hazy memory was Shu talking about what type of stitching pattern he wanted to use for the costumes. Or maybe it was something about a doll. He really couldn’t recall.
“I didn’t wanna wake ya so I put ma jacket over ya like a blanket,” said Mika. Shu rolled his eyes.
“I thought it was completely unacceptable to let you lay on the floor.”
“I know, he wasn’t layin’ there fer long. Oshi-san said we could put ya in my bed since I washed ma sheets this morning.”
“And because you promised to wash them again afterwards,” added Shu. Nazuna’s eyes widened. Was he really that filthy?! He leaned his head down to smell his shirt and see if he reeked from practice. He couldn’t smell anything… It was hard to tell one’s own scent, so this wouldn’t tell him anything.
“Your aroma is lovely as always, Nito,” said Shu, patting him on the head. “Kagehira, on the other hand…”
“Ngah?!”
Nazuna turned the other way to face Mika, met with wide eyes of blue and yellow. His eyes were always so pretty. Striking, too, a rare beauty. But Mika didn’t like his eyes, even though they were gorgeous. Nazuna didn’t understand. Though it was probably a similar situation to how Shu would poetically sing praises about him from thin air. Shu just saw something differently because he loved Nazuna. And Nazuna loved Mika.
He loved Shu, too, but his ego needed to be knocked down a peg or two.
Nazuna wrapped his arms around Mika’s waist and held him tighter, pushing his face into Mika’s shoulder. He was a good kid, Shu could be so rude to him sometimes. It made him upset. He was a year younger than them, someone to mentor, he should be treated a whole lot kinder.
“You smwell fine..” Nazuna said softly with a little pout. If Shu wanted to play these kinds of games, he would too.
Mika tensed up as Nazuna hugged him, not really sure what to do with his hands. So he put them around Nazuna too. Ahh, so cozy and snuggly, Nazuna could just fall asleep….
That was, if Shu wasn’t fuming with jealousy.
“Nito! My heart has shattered into a million pieces and I fear I will never be able to locate them all…”
Nazuna yawned.
“I get that I fell asleep but.. Why are yew two here…” he said, struggling to keep his eyes open.
“Oh! Ya jus looked so cozy I climbed in as well,” said Mika, rubbing his cheek against Nazuna’s. “I like sleepin’ next ta other people… so warm.”
… That sounded about right. Nazuna didn’t need to ask Shu why he was here too, he knew the answer was that he didn’t want to feel left out by the two of them.
Why was that? Sometimes it felt no matter how inclusive the event, someone was always being left out. Shu and Mika lived together, but Nazuna and Shu were in Valkyrie together first. Mika was a lot more in tune with the kind of affection Nazuna wanted to receive than Shu was. He leaned back a little bit, and brushed his legs up against Shu’s.
Fortunately Shu took the hint, scooching himself closer. Nazuna’s cheeks pinkened more. If Mika had fallen asleep, would this have happened? Or even Shu? He decided it was special to him, as he felt the warmth of his two unitmates on either side of him.
He truly was exhausted. Shu had been so stressed lately it was almost frightening, especially how he’d lose his temper when Nazuna and Mika weren’t performing up to standard. No new songs were being recorded, so there was no excuse for messing up the performances. They should know them by now, they’ve been doing the same steps over and over again. They haven’t even had to worry about singing, not since Shu decided they would lip sync.
But right now there was none of that. It was just him, and Mika, and Shu. He could feel both their heartbeats, Mika’s on his chest and Shu’s on his back. Everyone’s was at a different rhythm. Surely they would sync up soon.
Everything was calm now, it was just the three of them, finally resting after working every day to get closer to perfection. It seemed every step they climbed got a bit shorter, the amount of effort needed provided dwindling results, yet brought them just a smidge closer. Nazuna wanted a break. Shu thought they were almost there.
But this was what Nazuna really wanted, deep down. He loved performing, but sometimes working with Shu was just frustrating. It felt like he was always doing something wrong, never good enough for what Shu wanted. He felt wanted right now. Appreciated, loved…
“Nazunii? Huh? Ah… I think he fell asleep again,” said Mika, in a voice that just barely counted as a whisper. “Should I wake him up?”
Please don’t , thought Nazuna as he squeezed his eyes tighter. He just wanted this moment to last as long as it could. Because once he woke up, Shu would want to get out of bed and practice again, or make him try on their unit outfit for alterations, or something else related to the performances he’d been obsessing about.
He loved performing. But this… This was something else. Nazuna knew what Shu felt like when he was full of love. This was stress, and fear, that could twist itself into a cruelty he wished he didn’t know.
Nazuna would focus on the love for now. He didn’t know when he’d feel it again. He could feel Shu’s hand trail onto his shoulder and back, rubbing softly against his shirt. It felt nice. He felt relaxed.
“I suppose another fifteen minutes wouldn’t hurt, but it isn’t good to be lazy. I expect tomorrow’s practice to go long to make up for it,” said Shu.
Sure, fine. That was a problem for tomorrow-Nazuna to deal with. He could stress about it later. For now… He wanted to focus on the warmth that permeated around him, engulfing him. He hoped to remember it forever. He hoped it would last.