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Arata tries to open the door, and jumps back when the doorknob is hot to the touch.
“Well, that can’t be good,” Akito says dryly, from his place pinned under a beam of wood.
“Shut up, I’m trying to think!” Arata snaps.
“I think the rule,” Akito winces, “is to sit still and wait for the firefighters?”
They were helping clean out the attic of an old live house, only for alarms to start going off, and the roof to collapse right on Akito. The smell of smoke reached them before they looked out the window and saw it pouring out from the lower floor.
“That only matters if they know we’re in here,” Tono says. They’d stopped by early, they weren’t supposed to be here for another 30 minutes, and his phone is dead while Akito’s is pinned with him under the beam. “Plus who knows how unstable this place is!”
To prove his point, the building shudders, and the ceiling seems to sag.
“You could try climbing out the window?” Akito suggests.
“What?”
“Never do freehand rock climbing?”
“No,” Arata says. “I’ve never done it, and I couldn’t do it with you on my back.”
“Who said anything about me being on your back?” Akito says. “I’m not moving from this spot, you should get out.”
“What? Look I’m not leaving you?”
“I mean,” Akito coughs. “Better you than both of us cooking in here.”
“No. No martyr shit, we’re both getting out of here. I have like, 100 date plans with Souma before I die, and you’re only dying over my dead body, so help me brainstorm.”
“Wait why do you care if I die?”
Arata blinks. “Really? I thought the warranty ran out on ‘Tono is an asshole’ jokes a month ago.”
“One, that resets every time you’re an asshole, so at this rate we’re going to make those jokes forever,” Akito says. “Second, I mean, look, you’re excited for the future for the first time since I met you, you shouldn’t be saying you’ll die before you let me die. You can’t put yourself more at risk for me.”
“Well, one, I’m not gonna, because we’re both going to be fine,” Arata says. “Second, you’re like, even if you weren’t literally my little brother, you’d kinda be a little brother to me, so I’m not going to let you get hurt, that’s just principles.”
“Huh.”
“What?”
“No, I just, sorta figured we joked about the brothers thing but to you I was just ‘that guy who shares a dad with you because Shinei Shinonome’s a piece of shit.’”
“I mean I wouldn’t have phrased it like that, he’s not a cheater.”
“Yeah I just assume most of your thoughts end with ‘Shinei Shinonome is a piece of shit.’”
Arata thinks about it. “I mean he is. But like we’ve been working together for a year at this point, because you helped Aoyagi, Aoyagi helped Souma, you dragged me back here kicking and screaming so like, yes. You’re like my little brother or whatever. And if you tell anyone else I said that, I will say it was smoke inhalation.”
“Thanks. For what it’s worth…” Shinonome pauses. “You’re the second best older sibling I have.”
“You have two.”
“Well I actually grew up with Ena so she’ll always rank above you. And if you tell her I said that I will say it was smoke inhalation.”
“Agreed,” Arata says.
The room shakes, but instead of the ceiling getting lower, the wood under Akito bends.
Arata takes a deep breath. “Do you think if I lift this beam, you could wiggle out?”
“Theoretically? Yes, but I don’t know if you can.”
“I think,” Arata says, crouching down. “If you use your free arm to push from there, and I lift here, then I can give you some wiggle room.”
“And if the room collapses?”
The room shakes again.
“I think it’s going to do that anyway, I want you on more stable ground, if nothing else.
Akito takes a deep breath. “Yeah, ok.” He twists his torso to get a better angle on the beam, and Arata crouches down, putting his entire body weight into moving the beam.
It shifts a little, but immediately starts shaking. Akito pulls himself out just as the ceiling starts to collapse, and Arata practically carries him the rest of the way to the more sturdy part of the floor before it finally gives out.
“Holy shit,” Akito says.
“Told you,” Arata pants. “Now take your phone out and we tell no one about this conversation.”
“What conversation?”
“Perfect.”