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Dear Reader,
If you happened to be harboring a dangerous weapon, Akihiko would like to propose that you put him out of his misery now.
The night was nearly unforgiving, with its harsh cold and even worse winds. It was like a slap to the face—or several. Aki’s face was red, and the cold left its equivalent of a hand mark in its onslaught to punish him.
Stiff, lanky legs carried him stride by shaky stride down the block. Streetlights lit the way, a couple flickering as he passed. The sky was dark, thick clouds promising rain obscuring his view of the stars.
“Damn,” Akihiko cursed, folding his arms tighter around himself. In his haste to leave his house, he only managed to grab a hoodie and his shoes. He was lucky enough to have been wearing a thick pair of sweatpants, but his hoodie was doing next to nothing to save him from the cold.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, pulling the thin string that was his patience ever tighter. Aki was overstimulated, and honestly, on the brink of another wave of tears. His hands shook as he fished his phone out of his pants, giving the contact a quick glance before declining the call.
(He knew it would be his sister. But he couldn’t help the fearhope that it might’ve been his older brother.)
Sniffing, Aki roughly swiped at his face with his sleeve. His eyes ached, sore, and puffy. His nose was red from his constant wiping, and his head was pounding in tandem with his racing heart.
Really. It couldn’t get any worse.
The first plop of rain hit his phone screen as he fumbled for a familiar contact photo. Akihiko’s breath caught in his chest as he strained his neck up, more than ready to succumb to the next two minutes of his walk. Or maybe it was more like five. The second Aki had left his house, his pace had slowed enough to lose a competition with a turtle. It was a sad sight, really, but the self-deprecating joke made him chuckle sadly. Harumi was rubbing off on him.
In the next moment, the dark clouds let loose an onslaught of tears, and Aki couldn’t help but sympathize.
Hah? A disgruntled voice said in his mind. Y ou’re feeling sorry for clouds now? Maybe I really should tell Big Sis to get you a therapist. Or at least a prescription. Aki imagined a teasing grin splitting across pale skin, accompanied by silvery, ash-blond hair.
His steps began to quicken, seeking his voice. His stupid, endlessly teasing smirks. Even the mushroom haircut that he somehow managed to pull off.
In no time, Aki’s clothes stuck to his skin. Heavy and wet. His hair was plastered to his face, and each step felt heavier than the last. And maybe he cried again. Just a couple of tears. A few… several dozen.
When Aki finally reached his door, he was more than a little surprised to raise his hand to knock, only to blink as the door swung open to reveal a sleep-addled and maybe a bit pissed-off Harumi. Yeah. Pretty pissed off.
Harumi took Aki in.
Aki’s brown eyes looked muddled and dark. Puffy red circles that somehow managed to highlight the exhaustion carved beneath them. His hair, normally straight (artificially, Harumi had learned.) began to curl up at the ends where the rain had soaked him. He looked more than a little high, with red eyes and snot residue– telltale signs of his friend’s crying fits. And his shoulders were hunched inward like an invisible weight was crushing him, and he didn’t know how to set it down.
Aki didn’t know what he’d expected to come out of Harumi’s mouth, but it seemed to snap whatever spell was cast on him.
“You,” Harumi shoved a finger into Aki’s chest. “Are the biggest idiot I’ve ever met. And my school is full of them, so that’s saying something. Are you crazy? You could’ve gotten kidnapped by some weirdo, and you’re totally going to get sick–”
Aki’s ears tuned the rest out, choosing instead to pull all of his attention to Harumi and not the words tumbling out of his mouth. His face was pinched with worry, and his hair was stuck up in all sorts of directions. Aki could tell he’d been asleep less than a few minutes ago, and there was just the tiniest bit of white crust in the corner of his mouth. Drool. Harumi was shivering, and Aki realized distantly that he was, too. His arms were crossed over his chest, but the more he got into his Aki-you-idiot-I-can’t-believe-you-I-was-about-to-come-find-you-myself ramble, his arms began to wave wildly with expression, like his words wouldn’t be enough to convince Aki that, for the fifth time, he was an idiot.
Tears began to pool in his eyes again, but this time, for another reason. Aki heard himself apologize before rushing into Harumi’s arms with force. Harumi let out an ‘oof’, stumbling back to regain his balance.
“I’m sorry,” Aki said, somehow feeling small in Harumi’s arms. His head tucked into the crook of Harumi’s neck, and his clothes quickly began to soak Harumi’s hastily thrown-on jacket and pants. Aki noticed he only had one shoe on, probably in the process of putting them on to find Aki. “My sister– we fought, I couldn’t stay there. I’m sorry for intruding and I know I woke you up but canIpleasestayheretonight.”
Harumi blinked, eyebrows furrowing. He’d imagined hugging Aki before, but he never would’ve guessed their first hug would happen under… these circumstances. His clothes were uncomfortably wet now, but Harumi physically found himself unable to step back from the boy, metaphorically and physically.
“Aki, what did I tell you about asking for things?” Harumi said after a moment, realizing that Aki was waiting for an answer. He brought his arms up hesitantly, wrapping them around Aki’s shoulder blades. He felt a physical release of tension in Aki’s body, and a surge of possessiveness washed over him. Harumi hooked his chin over Aki’s shoulder, pulling him closer. He was cold. Damn. Harumi breathed in the scent of wet grass and the stupid vanilla 3-1 shampoo Aki used. “Of course, you can stay, dummy.”
After Harumi had forced Aki into the shower, something about catching a cold and not on my watch. But hey, Aki wasn’t complaining too much. He got to use Harumi’s array of hair products and strawberry body wash. His hair felt like silk in between his fingers, and he could still smell the strawberries hours after his shower.
Now, however, he was sat in Harumi’s bed with him doing face masks. He hadn’t felt this relaxed in ages, it seemed.
Harumi was scrolling on his phone, but Aki could tell he kept shooting him glances every other minute. He was worried, of course, he was. It was only natural, it seemed, for Harumi to worry so much about him.
“I’m guessing my sister called you,” Aki said finally, smiling dejectedly. “Seeing as you already knew that I had left my house and were on your way to drag me by the ear.”
Harumi set his phone down, huffing as he glanced at the clock by his bed. Nearly midnight.
“Yeah, well. Who else was going to come save you from getting waterboarded by Mother Nature?” Harumi leaned over toward him, not meeting Aki’s eyes as he peeled the face mask off for him, tossing it in the trash can.
Akihiko hummed, his gaze dropping to Harumi’s mouth as he spoke. His breath was warm and minty. His eyes drooped, pouting. “I think we both know the answer to that. No need to rub it in.”
“Says the one who can’t physically live without me, but alright,” Then, like an afterthought, Harumi added, “Bunny.”
Aki smacked his arm, his face quickly heating up again. “I hate you.”
Harumi snickered as Aki sunk beneath the covers, grumbling.
“Nah, you don’t.”
“Proof?”
“Your pants are on fire.”
Aki blamed everything wrong in his life on Harumi and the pure lack of sleep he’s had these past two weeks when he yelped and threw the covers off, checking, indeed, if he had somehow caught fire on a rainy night in Harumi’s perfectly flammable bed.
Harumi cackled as Aki promptly buried his head in a pillow and tossed the covers right back on him.
“You’re the worst,” Aki promised, deadpanned and exhausted. He took a peek at Harumi’s face as he fought back his laughter, and Aki couldn’t help but sigh and laugh softly along with him.
After a minute, they collected themselves and Harumi settled down beside Aki, sitting up on one elbow. He sobered up a bit, thinking before he spoke. “Yeah. Big sis called me. Said you ran out of the house and weren’t answering her calls. She didn’t know who else to call, since she couldn’t leave little bro alone.” Harumi watched as Aki’s face fell again. “She was really worried, Aki. I mean, so was I. I was about to sprint outside and call you every name I could think of and wake up the whole block.”
Aki huffed a laugh, adjusting himself so that he was lying on his back. “Yeah. I noticed.” The rain pounded against the walls and roof, and Aki thought he heard thunder in the distance. He found Harumi’s eyes again, biting the inside of his cheek. “I’m sorry. Again.”
The room was dark, but Harumi could nearly perfectly capture and burn the image of Aki and his exhausted eyes, grateful smile, and a smidgen of something else he couldn’t really decipher quite yet. Harumi’s ears burned.
“Stop apologizing. Of course, I was going to look for you.”
Something akin to an animal growled in the pit of Harumi’s gut. Maybe it was whatever gave him the god-awful nickname of ‘ Ice Prince ’, but right now, it could only rumble something protective and possessive as he watched Aki mouth a broken ‘ Thank you .’
Harumi hummed, disregarding the sweat that began to collect on the nape of his neck as he forced himself to look away. He couldn’t handle this much gratitude in one night. Nor the way Aki looked so soft , sagging in relief when Harumi suggested they get some sleep– and yes. They were sleeping in, God forbid Aki think about waking up at five in the morning to study again.
They were long past the futon at this point, ever since the night Harumi’s heater broke and the weather outside was harsh, cold, and unforgiving. Much more so than tonight. Harumi, in his half-asleep state, had crawled from his bed, taking the covers with him and plopped right down next to Aki, and practically leached off the heat that Aki so naturally gave off.
Tonight was no different. Harumi turned, his back facing Aki as he shoved himself into his personal space, grabbing Aki’s hand and draping it over himself, urging Aki closer.
Harumi chose to ignore the way Aki’s breath caught in his throat, hesitating only a second before wrapping himself around Harumi. He was cool, a pleasant contrast to Aki’s constant warmth. He hummed contently, burrowing closer. Aki was not at all accustomed to physical touch, and Aki couldn’t imagine why Harumi was as touchy as he was, but unlike the people back at his school– this was welcome. Strange, at first, but welcome.
(Maybe somewhere in the back of their minds, they knew this probably wasn’t something friends did. At least, not usually. The thought of anyone from their schools finding them in this position was more than a little mortifying– but, they didn’t have to worry about any of that right now. Aki was more than content to keep whatever they had going.)
“Thanks again, Harumi. Really,” Aki said, gentle and wispy, his breath tickling Harumi’s ears. They began to burn again as Harumi turned his face further into his pillow.
“I said it's no problem, stop thanking me.” He said. The warmth blossoming from Aki’s chest, enveloping him, was making him think stupid thoughts and say even stupider things. “If you’re the reason I’m staying in Japan in the first place, what makes you think I wouldn’t do anything for you.”
Aki tensed behind him before laughing gently, nervously. He pulled Harumi impossibly closer.
“Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
“Of course I am,” Harumi said. And really, Aki should’ve expected this. Not one nice thing could be had with the boy in his arms.
A long moment passed. And then, a snicker, and, “ Bunny .”
“I hate you.”