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“You have twenty minutes left.”
Toya tenses, pen pausing in its movements for a brief second. Twenty minutes left, and he still has to finish fifteen marks worth of essay; he can manage that. He’s been here for almost two and a half hours now, and although he’s certainly nearing the end of his energy, this last stretch shouldn’t be a problem. He only wishes the school had more comfortable desks.
He rests his head into his left palm, tapping his pen for a moment to remember a translation. This paper isn’t mandatory (thank God, tutoring An and Akito would have been hell), but when his English teacher mentioned an awarded exam, he signed up almost instantly; he enjoys the subject, and never likes to turn down academic challenges. Even Kohane had been a little confused at the decision, but all three of his partners sat with him as he studied.
Just as he ends a sentence, a sharp pain shoots up his wrist, all the way from his fingertips; he suppresses a hiss. As soon as it passes, he keeps writing. No one will notice if his handwriting gets the tiniest bit shakier.
Unfortunately, the pain doesn’t go away easily. His fingertips tingle unpleasantly, and he has to stop resting his head in his hand when his wrist starts aching. He recognises the pains, has been dealing with them for years; really, he should have asked for breaks during the exam given its length, but what’s done is done. It isn’t that big of an issue anyways.
…It might be, when his hand tenses unwillingly and crosses through a word. A soft huff leaves his lips, rewriting the phrase, carefully dragging out each stroke of the letters. He can’t afford to mess this up now. He glances up; ten more minutes. He can handle ten more minutes.
And he can, just barely; the invigilator calls out the end of the exam just as he finishes reading through his final paragraph. He drops his pen, immediately stretching his fingers. The pain flares, and he winces.
Hushed whispers are exchanged as the few students in the room bring their sheets to the front of the classroom. Toya hands his over with a small thank you, packing his pencil case away quickly; An and Akito had offered to wait for him, and he’s embarrassingly desperate to see them both after nearly three hours spent in the stuffy exam room. Much to his joy, the two of them are only a little down the hall when he exits the classroom, An showing Akito something on her phone. He feels a small smile on his lips as he approaches.
His girlfriend is the first to see him, turning with a smile on her face, “Ah, Toya!” She pounces as soon as he’s within reach, hopping up to press a kiss to his cheek; he laughs softly. The girl spins back to Akito, expression smug. “There, beat you to it.”
Akito’s brows furrow, and he quickly leans up to kiss the opposite cheek, turning flustered barely a second later. Toya chuckles at the sight.
“So, how’d it go?” An takes his hand, swinging it gently as the three of them begin walking down the hallway. A small pain shoots up his arm as she squeezes against swollen knuckles, but he doesn’t comment. “We’re meeting Kohane on main street, by the way.”
Toya nods, “It went well, I think. I struggled a little with the timing but got everything done in time.”
“Good on you, man,” Akito says, bumping their shoulders together. “I would’ve died of boredom. Already did waiting for you.”
A soft huff leaves Toya, but it’s nothing but fond. “You must learn to focus, Akito.”
“Focus, whatever, whatever.” Their shoulders bump together again. “I focus on what’s important—”
“That includes your grades—”
“Grades don’t do shit at a live—”
“How are we meant to travel the world if you can’t speak a word of English?” Toya musters up his best glare, making hard eye contact with his partner; Akito shies away, muttering something about a translator. An snickers at Toya’s side.
The three of them exchange idle chatter as they make their way to the shoe lockers; An expresses her admiration for Toya completing the exam, and he feels himself flush far more than he should for a simple compliment (it’s her smile, he tells himself). By the time they reach the entrance of the school, the exam and accompanying pains have almost left his head.
It’s only when he’s pulling his sneakers back on that it comes back to him. He bends down to tie his laces, and finds his fingers fumbling, each pull at the strings sending sharp pains through his tendons until he feels it in his shoulders. He’s grateful that An and Akito are caught up in an argument on the other side of the lockers. Thankfully, he manages to finish it before they come back around to him, but it’s made the ache in his hands much harder to ignore.
Akito quickly takes his hand when they begin walking (because An got to hold his hand after the exam, he guesses). His partners’ back-and-forth banter is always entertaining to listen to, so long as it doesn’t become too heated; occasionally, he chips in, acting as a mediator-slash-judge to their arguments. They’ve started a points system by now.
“No, An-san is right,” Toya says as he attempts to wrap up yet another tirade between the two of them. Akito huffs, “Traitor,” and squeezes Toya’s hand. It isn’t even a hard squeeze, it shouldn’t hurt at all, and yet it does; he hisses under his breath, receiving a little concerned glance from Akito. He shrugs, and thankfully, his partner relaxes.
Before long, they arrive at main street, An quickly disappearing into the throng of people whilst Akito and Toya hang back. She emerges after a moment, a sleepy hamster slung over her back; Toya smiles.
“Found her!” she calls, bouncing the smaller girl a little as she jogs back over; Toya can’t help chuckling at the sight, and Akito beside him laughs, too. The taller boy smiles, “Was that really necessary?”
“Yeah,” Akito snickers, “she’s so small, might’ve gotten trampled in the crowd.”
Opening her eyes to give a half-hearted glare, Kohane grumbles; Akito laughs harder, stepping forward to press a small kiss to her hair. Toya follows his lead, smiling.
They have nothing more than a date at An’s house planned today; a reward for completing his exam, apparently, warming his heart when An first suggested it. Spending simple time together never loses its sweetness, despite the fact that they see each other almost every day.
They arrive at the Shiraishi household soon enough, Kohane having switched over to their boyfriend’s back when it became apparent that An was struggling to keep up. She has no reason to be carried at all, really, but Toya can’t deny that it’s rather cute.
“Dad! We’re here!” An calls as she slips Kohane’s shoes off for her, because apparently she must be carried all the way upstairs. They get a short response from Ken– “Hey, kids!”, and Toya’s heart warms at the normality of it. And that’s what this is, really, normal; Akito, Toya, and Kohane are welcomed like residents of the home, extra ingredients always ready for when they stay over for dinner and the spare futon having moved to live in An’s closet. Toya almost can’t believe he has so many homes now.
By the time his mental musings quiet down, they’ve arrived in An’s bedroom, Kohane deposited neatly on one of the beanbags. On second glance, she isn’t fully asleep, just dazed; Toya tilts his head, coming over to brush back a loose strand of hair. “Kohane-san, did you have a particularly tiring day?”
A few sleepy mumbles tumble out of her before any real words. “Was watching videos all night… found a long video about Phennyland lore.” She stills for a moment, then looks up at him, caramel eyes crinkled at the corners; her arms reach up, making little grabby hands at him. “Toya-kun.”
He can’t help but smile, quickly sitting down on the edge of the beanbag and pulling her to sit between his legs, slipping into the gap she left. Kohane gives a content little sound, quickly relaxing against him. Her hands find his own, gently toying with them, bending his fingers and pushing at the knuckles; it only emphasises the soreness there, but Toya doesn’t protest. The affection welling in his heart is worth the pain.
“Alright!” An’s voice pipes up beside them, her socks thumping softly on the wood floor. She grins, bending down, softly poking the roundness of their girlfriend’s cheek. “‘Haneee, you awake enough for a few rounds of Mario Kart?”
“Ah…?” She blinks tiredly for a moment, then steadies herself against Toya. “Mhm. Gimme.”
“Kohane-san, you don’t have to if you’re too tired,” Toya says, slipping his hands out of her grasp to hug her waist. She shifts again, twisting in his lap to show that heart-melting little smile, “I’m alright, Toya-kun!” Toya smiles, and An grins in turn.
They’re each passed a Switch controller, and An and Akito quickly end up squished into one beanbag together, at the girl’s insistence. It’s only when the game boots up that Toya realises the position he’s put himself in; by the time they’ve finished setting up, the ache in his fingers has started to flare from holding the controller steady. His wrists are begging for a break. But he wouldn’t trade these moments for the world, so he simply clenches his jaw and waits for the race to start.
An begins the first lap with a resounding, “Fuck you, Akito!”, slamming her car against his with a grin. “That’s for making fun of me earlier!”
Toya laughs as he hears his partner sputter. The distraction allows him to move into first place easily. Playing these games together is always fun, in no small part due to Akito and An’s antics; they’re always challenging each other, coming up with dares and wagers with kisses as the prize. Akito’s attempts to pretend he dislikes it are almost laughable.
Bringing his focus back to the screen, he’s steadily in the lead, the other three scattered further behind him. This is typical for these games; Kohane never cares too much about winning, and Akito and An are more focused on each other than the game, so he’s usually able to secure first place. He feels guilty for it at times, but… honestly, it’s really funny to see An’s face when she loses.
“Toya-kun, there’s a blue shell coming.”
He smiles, exhaling a laugh as he rests his chin on Kohane’s hair. “You know, you aren’t supposed to tell me.”
“I feel bad…” The pout is audible in her voice, and if he weren’t so dedicated to maintaining his win he’d certainly be taking in the utter adorableness of the expression. For now, he simply chuckles, angling his head to press a little kiss to the honeyed locks; she giggles in his hold, and his heart squeezes tight.
Just as Kohane had warned, the item alert pops up on his screen soon enough, and he’s swift in pulling off his usual manoeuvre to avoid it. Normally, it’d be no problem, but today—
“Ah–!”
—The shell slams right into his little kart, and he’s tipped upside down.
“Ha! Take that, Toya, knew you couldn’t stay in first place forever!” An’s triumphant exclamation really doesn’t hold much weight, given that she’s still neck-and-neck with Akito in the middling spots of the race. Toya, meanwhile, bites his lip as he tries to maintain focus; as it turns out, playing in this state really wasn’t his brightest idea, hands teetering on the edge of locking up as he continues to control his kart. Apparently, quick button smash and repetitive strain injury don’t pair well.
But, he can keep playing.
By the end of the first race, he has to move his head off of Kohane’s so that she doesn’t feel him grinding his teeth together. To grin and bear it, something he knows all too well; he’s spent years concealing the pains to appease his father, a few more to keep his partners unworried isn’t a problem, as horrible as it feels to place them in that same category.
This is different, he tells himself. He simply doesn’t want them to fuss needlessly. He can manage fine. And he does, if only for the next race. By the final round, his hands are begging for something to soothe them, but he continues regardless.
Kohane has managed to creep up behind him halfway through the race, and adorably, he can feel her fidgeting excitedly in his lap at the (unfortunately, rare) success. Part of him wants to let her win– she deserves it, and her reaction would be cute– but he knows perfectly well that she’d hate for him to go easy on her. So he doesn’t, ignoring the way that his knuckles ache as he manoeuvres his kart. As Kohane comes up to his side, he grits his teeth, hands tensing as he quickly twists his trajectory to knock her off the track, and—
“Ah–!”
His controller is dropped into Kohane’s lap, arms nudging against her as his hands instinctively squeeze together with a hiss. Pain shoots through his fingers, his wrists, sharp and hot as his hands lock up; he presses his face against Kohane’s hair, trying to breathe through it as his car spins off the track. Of course, her attention shifts to him instantly. She drops her controller too, hands coming up to hold his own, calling a soft, “Toya-kun?” as she shifts in his lap to look at him.
“S-Sorry,” he squeezes out as his teeth clench in pain, eyes squeezed shut.
Kohane coos softly, “No, don’t apologise…” She turns to the other two, “An-chan, stop the game.”
An and Akito look over, and the game is quickly paused. Akito pushes his way up, gently shoving An in the process, and comes to kneel beside Toya; a warm hand lands on his cheek, the other joining Kohane’s on his hands. “Partner?”
“I-I’m sorry,” he hisses again, pushing his head forward to rest against Akito’s shoulder, “the exam strained my hands…”
“Toya,” Akito says, hand shifting up to card through his hair; his voice isn’t exactly harsh, but there’s a certain weight to it, as if he’s disappointed, and that hurts far more than the pain in his hands. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
He swallows thickly, pulling his head up a little. “I like playing with you all. I didn’t want to disrupt that, or make you feel as if you had to look after me…”
“Toya, don’t be silly,” An murmurs, having moved to sit with him beside Akito. “You’re our teammate, and our boyfriend. It’s literally our job to look after you.”
He frowns. “No it isn’t that’s, that’s—”
“Nope! It was at the bottom of the contract.” An gently lifts his head, and when he finds the courage to look at her, she’s smiling. “Look after Toya when he’s an idiot.”
He feels himself pout childishly– she’s so sweet, he can’t help giving in. With a soft laugh, An pats his head, “Come on, let’s get you sorted.”
He nods, and Kohane quickly shifts off of his lap to let him up. Without the additional pressure from her hands, the pain flares; he hisses as he stands, joints shifting with the movement. Akito grabs his hands again as soon as he’s able, gaze sympathetic. “That bad?”
He nods, and Akito frowns; again, the disappointment stings. An gently swipes a hand down his back before turning to the door, “I’m gonna go grab some stuff, okay? I’ll just be a minute, sit down on the bed.”
The three of them nod, and she disappears into the hallway. Toya sits on the edge of the mattress, as instructed, and Akito helps manoeuvre him to the middle of the bed without having to lean on his hands. Akito sits in front of him, and Kohane latches onto Toya’s side.
“Toya.”
He looks down.
“Toya.”
Akito’s hand lifts his chin back up. Toya sighs softly, relenting; the scolding is inevitable, and he can never disobey his partner for long. His expression is stern and yet kind, obviously disappointed, but not angry. “Toya, come on. You know you should tell us these things.”
“I know—”
“Then why didn’t you? We could’a helped out before it got bad.” He frowns, hands holding Toya’s again. “You’re not meant to use your hands much when it flares up.”
“I know, Akito, I do. I just…” He pauses, biting the inside of his cheek. “I don’t like that it… disrupts me. I’d much rather have fun with you all than think about… that.”
It’s skirting around the words he should say, but it’s enough for them both to understand; Akito’s eyes soften, and Kohane sinks further into his side. They’re quiet for a moment before Kohane pipes up softly.
“I know you don’t like to think about it, Toya-kun. But…” she shifts, pulling his chin to look at her, “Maybe we can make it easier for you? We can have fun whilst helping you.” Tucking a hair behind his ear, she smiles. “It’s important to all of us that you aren’t in pain, okay?”
His breath hitches, and it takes a moment for him to eke out a response. “…Okay,” he mumbles; he can’t really say much else, not when she’s that sweet on him. With his agreement, she hums, leaning up to plant a kiss on his cheek and murmuring a soft, “Good,” and Toya is momentarily entirely distracted from the pain in his hands.
His fluster is dispelled a moment later when An bursts back into the room, items gathered in her hands. She drops the pile onto the bed beside Akito before sitting down herself; Toya sees a wrist brace Ken had bought him, a box of painkillers, a tea towel, some frozen peas…
His breath hitches a little as he realises just how cared for he is.
“Right!” An’s chipper voice sounds, handing the ibuprofen and a water bottle to Kohane and wrapping the frozen peas in the towel. “Toya care plan is a-go! ‘Hane, you help him take those. Akito, we’re on hand duty!”
Toya laughs softly at the enthusiasm– misplaced for a situation like this, really, but she always has a way of cheering him up. Kohane picks up the box of tablets, sliding them out and popping two out of the foil; she sits up a little, smiling at him. “Toya-kun, say aaaah.”
He can’t help blushing a little at the command. But there’s not much else he can do, so he opens his mouth with a cracked, “A-Ahhh..,” allowing his girlfriend to deposit the pills onto his tongue and swallowing them down with the water she holds to his lips. She giggles softly, settling back into his side.
As soon as he’s finished, An seizes his attention again, gently tugging his hands forward to press the makeshift cold pack against his knuckles. She hums sympathetically, “Your knuckles are all swollen, Tou.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Quit apologising, jeez,” Akito huffs, though Toya can easily sense the affection in his tone. “Just tell us next time, ‘kay? Gotta take care of yourself.”
An scoffs. “Bold words from you, Aki.”
“If you weren’t currently helping my partner I’d strangle you.”
Toya and Kohane both laugh at An’s faux-offended gasp, and she momentarily pulls the frozen pack away from Toya’s hands just to jab it in Akito’s face. He sputters, shoving An back, but quickly relents with a huff so she can continue icing his hands. The cold is soothing against his knuckles, numbing the pain slightly, though it persists after a few short minutes to warm back up. The treatment continues for ten minutes before An pulls back.
“Okay! Does that feel a little better, Tou?”
“Yes, a bit. Thank you.” He flexes his hands a few times, but it still makes him wince; the problem isn’t solved that easily.
“Alright!” An grins, leaning over to her bedside, rummaging through the top drawer for a moment. “Time for phase two of the Toya care plan!”
Curious, he tilts his head to the side; the unspoken question is answered as An brandishes a tube of hand lotion. She motions for him to bring his hands forward again, and he obeys, allowing her to deposit generous dollops of the cream onto each hand. He can’t help but fluster a little as the scent reminds him that this is the same lotion his girlfriend uses every night.
An smiles, dropping the lotion and taking hold of one of his hands, nudging Akito with her elbow. “Come on, 20 grams sugar, put some work in.”
Akito looks at her, exasperated, “I thought we agreed to retire that…” Despite his grumblings, he follows the actual direction without question, taking Toya’s other hand between his own and beginning to rub the lotion into his skin. Toya hums softly as both his hands are massaged.
“Is that okay, partner?” Akito asks, voice soft. Toya nods; Akito’s hands are warm and strong, rubbing around his knuckles and relieving the tension there. An’s are smaller, softer, being careful not to scrape at his skin with her manicured nails. Pain continues to shoot through his hands, though dulled by the painkillers and the ice; each time he winces, Kohane hugs his side a little tighter, cooing softly.
An and Akito chatter quietly as they treat his hands, though Toya soon zones out of the conversation itself. How could he focus, when they’re touching him like this, so careful and attentive– how is he supposed to think of anything other than the warmth in his chest? It squeezes tight, and he has to breathe slowly just to relieve the feeling. This, this love; it was unfamiliar to him for so long, his heart isn’t equipped to take it. The action is so simple, and yet it makes his mind hazy with affection.
“…Toya-kuun?”
It takes a moment for him to reconnect, looking down at Kohane with an airy hum. She meets his gaze, and after a moment, smiles sleepily; he tilts his head in question, and she murmurs, “Nothing. You were making a nice face.”
At that, he can’t do anything but blush, averting his gaze. Kohane giggles softly, nuzzling into his side.
Eventually, An and Akito pull away, Akito rubbing a final circle into each of his knuckles before he does so. A little hesitantly, Toya flexes his hands a few times; though the pain is still present, it’s reduced to just a twinge in his knuckles, perfectly manageable and something he’s sure will fade quickly. An looks at him, expression soft. “Feel better?”
Toya nods, and she smiles, “Great!” She grabs the wrist brace, slipping it over his right hand and pulling the fastenings tight. The pressure is soothing, and Toya sighs in relief.
An sits back, leaning on Akito. “Alright! Movie time?”
Toya nods, and she grins, hopping off the bed to fetch her laptop. Akito sets out rearranging the pillows, plushies and cushions pushed together into something of a throne at the head of the bed; An’s prized hamster plushie is set to the side, and Akito settles back into the nest, beckoning Toya to do the same.
Smiling, Toya begins to shift forward, only to be halted by a weight at his side. When he looks down, he’s entirely unsurprised by the sight he’s met with; Kohane, tiny hands curled into his shirt, whining sleepily with her eyes closed. He can’t help but smile at the sight, carefully pushing his fingers through her hair. “Kohane-san, we need to move.”
“Mm… comfy…” Her voice is small, slurred with sleepiness. It’s almost impressive how quickly she turns from a human into an incoherent little hamster, but it’s endearing in a way that makes Toya’s heart swell. He tries to move again, to the same outcome; Akito scoffs, and leans forward.
Carefully, he scoops the girl up into his arms, tugging her away from Toya and nodding for him to sit. He shifts over to the cushions, relaxing back into them; Kohane is promptly placed back into his lap, and he chuckles softly, wrapping his arms around her and nosing into her hair. Akito’s hand lands in Toya’s hair, short nails scratching his scalp, and Toya hums happily.
An comes crashing back onto the bed soon enough, tucking herself against Toya’s free side and balancing the laptop between their legs. A packet is dropped into Kohane’s lap– his favourite chocolate chip cookies, and enough to share. His heart couldn’t get any warmer.
Soon enough, the soft sounds of a movie begin, continuing Toya’s apparently vital Ghibli education with Kiki’s Delivery Service. An settles further into his side, Kohane twists to feed him the cookies every now and then, and Akito’s hand doesn’t leave his hair. It’s overwhelming in the best possible way, being utterly drowned in their love like this; the pain in his hands fades soon enough, replaced by the all-encompassing warmth of his partners.
Surrounded by affection, Toya relaxes, his mind and body soothed. There isn’t anywhere he’d rather be than here.