Work Text:
Kazuichi’s nerves hummed with restless energy as he hurriedly reconnected another set of wires. He finally got a chance to work on these damn golf carts, and he wasn’t going to waste it. And, okay, maybe that chance was only because it was the middle of the night, but a chance is a chance! The golf carts from Jabberwock Island’s resort days had been sitting immobile ever since the Tragedy, and they would be useless until they got some fixing up. Getting them in working order again wouldn’t be too hard, but the real problem was they were too damn slow for the amount of ground the survivors regularly needed to cover.
The simulation did not do Jabberwock Island justice. It turned out that the islands were far bigger in real life, with tons more stuff around. Which was great, because they needed more stuff to live and support themselves, especially for when the others finally woke up.
But it was also great because there was just more stuff! Full stop! The real life Jabberwock Island was way more interesting than in the simulation, and made more sense too. What kind of resort destination only had one area where all the cool tech went? Hell, what kind of place where any people lived at all only had one area where all the cool tech went? Fuck that “Electric Avenue” bullshit! Wherever humans who like electricity and running water go, tech follows.
On the “first island”, the survivors staked out a hotel facility pretty similar to the cottages they had in the simulation. Mostly, they chose it for the open air restaurant that was nearly identical to the one they had shared so many meals in. Even with all the horrible things that had happened to them, that restaurant at least brought back some good memories. And, as only makes sense for any large complex of once-inhabited structures, there was an electrical management and repair facility close by. It hadn’t been touched in years and it showed, but Kazuichi’s eyes had lit up as soon as he walked inside.
A lot of the more advanced equipment in it was kinda useless after years without upkeep, but there were totally things that could be salvaged. As an investment in their future, and definitely not just a way for Kazuichi to properly tinker around and have some damn fun for once, the survivors turned the garage of the electrical facility into a mechanical workshop. Sure, Kazuichi was the one who suggested it, but everyone saw the use.
Kazuichi did most of the work, but Hajime and Akane helped him set it up, and later Sonia helped him decorate it. Fuyuhiko…provided moral support. He was more interested in the “investment in our future” stuff, which made him kind of a buzzkill, but he still stopped by occasionally to bring Kazuichi food and tell him to take a break.
Now the garage was by far Kazuichi’s favorite place in Jabberwock Island. He had always loved spending time in his dad’s shop more than anything, and his dad’s shop wasn’t nearly as cozy as what he had now. Plus, no dad to go with it this time! He tried to focus on the bright side of that; at least now he didn’t have to worry about anything his dad might do if he got mad, and he could choose whatever he wanted to work on.
And what he wanted to work on were these golf carts. He’d been meaning to fix some up for a while, since it would make getting around so much easier, but it wasn’t a priority. He hadn’t found time to work on them yet between all the other projects that were essential for the survivors’ continued living.
Now, though, awake and restless in the middle of the night, it felt like the perfect project. Kazuichi was too tired to do anything requiring much brain power, but too antsy not to work. So he returned to his favorite: circuits and engines.
Jabberwock Island’s carts were gas-powered—old-fashioned, maybe, but honestly Kazuichi liked them way more than the electric ones. They were fun, with the motors and jumbles of wires that he loved, but also simple. Besides, Jabberwock Island had more fuel stores than 16 people would be able to use in several lifetimes, so there was nothing to worry about with them.
Well, nothing to worry about other than their pathetic maximum speed. For how big the islands were, and how much work the survivors had to do, 30 kilometers per hour was not enough to cut it. Not in Kazuichi’s opinion, at least.
In order for them to be worth using, Kazuichi didn’t just have to make them actually work; he had to make them faster. So that’s what he was doing out here in the garage, long after the others had gone to sleep.
He knew it was late. Really late. He had left his room at around 1am? He probably slept for a little bit, maybe, but whatever. The point was he was awake at 1am and restless enough to crawl out of his skin, so he left. Hajime and Fuyuhiko were still sleeping in his room so he was careful not to wake them up as he slipped out the door.
Kazuichi had become even more of a night owl than he was before. He had kind of maybe definitely picked up a caffeine addiction as a remnant, and now his sleep schedule was even more fucked up. It kind of worried him.
These days he practically shared a room with Hajime and Fuyuhiko, like a perpetual sleepover. Sharing a room definitely helped with the whole “sleep schedule” thing, since Fuyuhiko was such a bitch about making sure they all got to bed on time. The bastard woke up at 8am every day, like some kind of psycho. And sharing a room meant Fuyuhiko always knew when Kazuichi wasn’t in bed at a reasonable hour. To avoid his bitching, Kazuichi was trying his best to maintain a diurnal sleep schedule. And also maybe because it was nice to share a room and sometimes a bed with two people who really cared about him and made him feel safe. Maybe.
But, really, this time wasn’t his fault. He went to bed on time! It was due to circumstances entirely out of his control that he was on his back underneath a golf cart, elbow deep in its mechanical guts.
Kazuichi hadn’t felt this focused on a project in a while. He let himself really get into it, let his mind fall completely into the comforting, logical world of circuits and wires. If he couldn’t sleep anyways, why not, right? It’s not as if he was needed anywhere else at this time of night. So he let himself fall. Time didn’t really exist for him here, underneath this golf cart.
Annoyingly, he heard something in the back of his mind. A voice, maybe? It didn’t really matter compared to this golf cart’s speed control system. It felt distant and unimportant.
He heard it again, louder, but hardly paid it any attention. It could wait. For some reason, though, he felt like this golf cart’s engine definitely couldn’t. He fiddled with the speed governor again, wondering if there was a way to rework it instead of disabling it entirely…
“Kazuichi!” This time from just a few steps away, and real fucking loud.
“AH!” Kazuichi jolted up and his forehead smashed against the bottom of the cart—and he wasn’t even wearing his beanie like usual to soften the blow. Well, at least his head didn’t hit the engine or any other important bits.
“Ow…” He rubbed his forehead and slid out from under the golf cart. “Man, don’t scare me like that!”
Fuyuhiko stood in the open entrance to the garage, his expression the absolute picture of just-woken-up-grumpy with a fierce scowl. A large blanket was pulled over his shoulders, the ends dragging just a bit on the ground even though he had most of it bunched up to keep it off the ground. He looked pissed.
Fuyuhiko’s scowl deepened and his eyebrows scrunched in even more. Shit. Kazuichi always forgot how scary he could be sometimes. Even if he was bundled up in a giant blanket that nearly swallowed him entirely. Wait a second, was that Kazuichi’s blanket…?
Fuyuhiko took a step forward, fully entering the workshop. “Kazuichi. Do you know what time it is.” It wasn’t a question.
“Uhh…” Kazuichi thought back. When he left his cottage he remembered the clock reading somewhere around 1, so… “Maybe 2? 2:30?”
Fuyuhiko’s face pulled in tighter and reddened slightly. “It is four in the fucking morning, dipshit!” he yelled.
“Woah, really?” Kazuichi leaned around him to check the clock on the wall that Sonia put in. Sure enough, the clock read 4:08. “Damn, that got later than I thought.”
“What the hell are you doing awake at four in the fucking morning!” Fuyuhiko screeched. “We went to bed at like, 11!”
Kazuichi raised his hands in defense. “H-hey! I woke up at like 1! I think. But I’m allowed to wake up! I knew I couldn’t sleep so I’m just working on finally putting together these golf carts. A-and y’know what, you should actually be grateful! Weren’t you the one complaining about how much we have to walk all over the island now?”
He realized a bit late that he probably shouldn’t have said that. For a second Fuyuhiko looked incredulous, as if he couldn’t believe Kazuichi had the nerve to say that, then his expression scrunched into one of offended fury.
“You fucking moron, that doesn’t mean I want you to work on that now,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “Don’t blame your irresponsible, shitty choices on me! I do my goddamn best to corral you chucklefucks into bed each night, and this is the thanks I get?”
Kazuichi tried to backpedal. “Wait hold on that isn’t how I meant it–”
“I don’t care how you meant it, just fucking come back to bed already and then we can drop this whole thing.”
“No!” The immediate protest came out of Kazuichi louder than he thought it would, and it seemed to shock Fuyuhiko a bit. “I mean– ugh, I can’t sleep. I just can’t. I already tried and I’m way too restless so I’m just trying to be useful in the meantime and–”
“Oh, so there you guys are.”
Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko both whipped around to the source of the new voice. Hajime stood in the doorway, rubbing a hand over his face, looking absolutely exhausted. “Why are we yelling?” he asked blearily.
Fuyuhiko’s anger immediately shifted to Hajime. “What the fuck are you doing here? Go back to sleep,” he demanded. Hajime had the worst sleep problems out of all of them.
Hajime frowned, but it barely made a dent in his tired expression. “You took the blanket,” he said simply, gesturing at the blanket pulled around Fuyuhiko’s arms.
“Yeah, ‘cause it’s cold. Not everyone has the freakishly warm body temperature you do.”
Hajime’s frown deepened. “I got cold. I woke up, and both of you were gone. So I went to find you. I think this is an entirely reasonable series of decisions.”
Fuyuhiko’s face softened slightly, even as he sighed and shook his head. He went over to Hajime, taking the blanket off as he went, and draped it around his shoulders instead, getting up on his toes a bit to loop it around and pull it over. Hajime yawned and grabbed the ends of the blanket as Fuyuhiko pulled them around him.
“Dude, go back to bed,” Kazuichi said, peering around Fuyuhiko to see him. “You look like you’re about to fall over.”
“Not until you guys come back with me.” Goddamn it, not him too.
Fuyuhiko shot a glare at Kazuichi. “Well, believe it or not I’m trying to make that happen. But this dumbass thinks four in the fucking morning is a perfectly reasonable time to be working on a fucking project!”
Hajime looked tiredly over at Fuyuhiko as he seethed, then at Kazuichi who definitely wasn’t trying to somehow cower behind his wrench.
Hajime stifled another yawn then went to stand behind Fuyuhiko, resting his head on top of his and bringing the ends of the blanket around both of them. Fuyuhiko leaned back slightly into him, even as his face stayed set in a scowl. “Kaz, come back to bed,” Hajime said. “You can keep working in the morning.”
Kazuichi pouted and looked down at his wrench, fiddling with it between cold fingers. He wanted to keep working now. But he knew Hajime wouldn’t accept that as a valid excuse. “I can’t sleep. I know I can’t.”
“At least try. Even if you can’t sleep, the rest you get from just lying there is still way better than nothing.”
“But that’s so boring,” Kazuichi groaned.
“Suck it up!” Fuyuhiko snapped. He didn’t look nearly as threatening with both the blanket and Hajime draped over him. “You’re bored half the time anyway.”
Well, he did have a point there. Kazuichi looked at Hajime and Fuyuhiko. They looked really cozy with the blanket. He looked longingly back at his project. It was actually pretty cold out here, and the blanket was probably really warm…
Hajime could always read him so well, and he probably picked up on how Kazuichi’s resolve started to melt away. “C’mon. I’ll help you put away your tools.” He slipped around Fuyuhiko, leaving the blanket on Fuyuhiko’s shoulders.
Kazuichi sighed loudly, making sure to put as much exasperation and reluctance into it as he could. “Fiiiiine.”
Fuyuhiko scoffed and rolled his eye so hard that Kazuichi wondered if it would give him a headache. Somehow, his eyerolls just got more effective after only having one eye. The eyepatch was intimidating, even though he had stopped wearing the one with the Kuzuryu emblem on it.
Hajime knelt down next to Kazuichi and started to clean up. Kazuichi joined him after a few seconds spent pouting.
Watching Hajime work while he was tired out of his mind was always fascinating. He moved slowly, but with incredible precision. He was too tired to get in his own head about things, so he worked almost entirely on instinct. And his instincts were flawless. It scared Kazuichi almost as much as it awed him.
Hajime was the only person allowed to help Kazuichi clean up a project. Kazuichi got very particular about his tools and set up. It was organized chaos, damn it! He had a system! He had explained some of the thought process behind his system to Hajime months ago, and since then Hajime always seemed to get exactly where everything should go without asking. It was uncanny. It was cool as hell.
While he expertly disconnected and dismantled the failed parts Kazuichi had toyed with, Hajime spoke. “I know it’s boring. And I know you’re too restless to sleep right now. But if you stay up working now, you’ll sleep in really late, or take a nap in the middle of the day, and then you’ll be up just as late tomorrow night. And we don’t want that for you. We’re all trying our best to be healthy, remember? You need to get your body clock back to a normal time.”
Kazuichi’s mouth drew together, eyebrows furrowed. He knew Hajime was right. He usually was about these things. But that didn’t mean he had to like it. He just nodded in response, and knew Hajime understood. He always did.
Once they finished packing things up, Kazuichi stood to put his toolbox away, and was surprised at the pain that responded. Shit, he really had been working for three hours without a break, huh? Now that he was out of his head and back in his body, the aches and stiffness were impossible to ignore. His arms were so tired (even if he still wasn’t), and the muscles in them hurt like hell. Especially in his hands. Christ. Maybe it really was a good thing that Fuyuhiko and Hajime came to get him.
As he tried to stretch out some of the aches in his arms, he glanced at Fuyuhiko. This time, he noticed the worry and concern behind Fuyuhiko’s scowl. Had it been there the whole time? How had he missed it? As soon as they met eyes, Fuyuhiko turned his head away and pulled the blanket tighter around himself, but Kazuichi felt a smile tug at his face anyways. He should really know this about Fuyuhiko by now, but it was always nice to be reminded of how much he cared.
Hajime took the toolbox and set it on the counter near the door, where Kazuichi always kept it. “C’mon, let’s all get back to bed,” he said with another yawn, moving towards the door.
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Fuyuhiko grumbled. “We’re all going to regret this in the morning.” He grabbed Kazuichi’s hand and yanked him towards the door. “You especially.”
Kazuichi flailed to regain his balance before he ate shit on the concrete floor of the garage. “Hey don’t pull, I’m coming! Hey!”
Fuyuhiko stopped pulling, waiting for Kazuichi to catch up, but kept his grip on his hand around the blanket as they stepped out of the electrical facility into the cool night air.
All at once, reality seemed to return to Kazuichi. He smelled the scent of fresh ocean air, heard the hum of crickets and other nighttime bugs—and felt a gust of wind that immediately reminded him that, tropical island or not, it still got cold at 4am.
Kazuichi shivered, realizing his only defense against the wind was a tank top and shorts. “Shit, it’s even colder out here,” he whined.
Fuyuhiko exhaled something in between a scoff and a laugh. “Idiot, you should’ve thought of that before you wandered out at 4am.” He let go of Kazuichi’s hand and drew one end of the blanket around him. Kazuichi took it gratefully, stepping in closer towards Fuyuhiko, both of them now wrapped in the blanket. Kazuichi felt Fuyuhiko’s hand brush against his and he grabbed it again on instinct. Fuyuhiko rolled his eye but didn’t protest or pull away. Hajime smiled from Kazuichi’s other side and pat his shoulder.
And they started to walk back to the cottages, moving awkwardly as a connected blob of three people who nonetheless refused to step away from each other. They’d get better coordination with it one of these days, probably. But even if they didn’t, Kazuichi knew they wouldn’t change their behavior one bit.
It was much warmer under the blanket. There was the warmth of Fuyuhiko’s hand in his, of course, but also the residual warmth clinging to the blanket from three bodies all trying to squeeze together underneath it. Under Kazuichi’s blanket. Okay, sure, it was more communal property at this point, but it still meant something! He wasn’t sure exactly what it meant, but whatever it was, it made his chest feel fuzzy.
Fuyuhiko kept holding his hand, even though it was definitely covered in grime. Kazuichi’s hands and forearms were usually stained by something or another just by nature of his talent, but for all Fuyuhiko complained about it, he never really seemed to mind all that much. It never changed how he acted. Maybe he was used to grime by nature of his talent. Hajime definitely didn’t like it, and was usually the one reminding Kazuichi to wash his hands, but it never stopped him from being close either.
Huh. That fuzzy feeling in his chest expanded, filling his head and making him feel almost giddy with it. Kazuichi didn’t know if he’d ever get used to this feeling of being accepted exactly as he was.
Because, like, in hindsight, he had kinda fucked up. He didn’t even consider that the two people he went to sleep with might worry if he wasn’t there. Not just one but two exhausted people came to get him, and when they did, he was annoying and childish.
But…they didn’t really care. They just wanted him to go back to bed with them. They just wanted him to get some rest, and maybe even just wanted to have him there. Maybe they liked sharing a space with him as much as he liked sharing a space with them.
“What’re you smilin’ about?” Fuyuhiko asked, tugging gently on his hand to get his attention.
“Huh? Oh, uh…” For a moment Kazuichi considered trying to explain all that was in his heart, all the warmth and peace that filled his whole body, before deciding it was impossible. If there were any words that could capture this feeling, he didn’t know them. “Nothing, really,” he shrugged. He couldn’t stop smiling.
Fuyuhiko huffed out a single laugh and shook his head. “Dumbass.” Between his fond tone and lingering smile, it somehow sounded to Kazuichi like the sweetest pet name ever invented.
Hajime reached over and ruffled Kazuichi’s hair. There was a glint in his green eye as he grinned, a knowing spark of light that made Kazuichi feel like somehow, some way, he knew exactly what was in his heart. No words required.
Okay, maybe going to sleep wouldn’t actually be so bad.