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Akito wakes up confused.
First off, there's no alarm blaring. He never turns it off.
Second, the ceiling above him is unfamiliar, and there's already light filtering in through the blinds. Has he slept through his alarm, somehow? Usually, he doesn't even need it to wake up on time.
Most of all, there's an arm wrapped tightly around him, and soft breaths tickle his neck. Is this how people feel after one night stands?
He's about to start freaking out, because what the hell happened, before his brain finally catches up.
Right.
RAD BLAST.
He turned off his alarm when they were allowed to stay over at An's. He's sleeping on the couch in the Shiraishi household, and the person clinging to him is Toya.
Since when does he have so much arm strength?
The thought is not enough to distract his heart, as it speeds up at the thought of the night before. It's hard to believe they did it. He's never sung so intensely before, never felt a heat this scorching. Everyone sounded insanely good, and the atmosphere was so hot it's a miracle COL didn't catch on fire.
A rush of adrenaline courses through his body.
There's no way he can go back to sleep like this.
Slowly, to not wake Toya, he untagles his leg from between Toya's.
He could go for a quick lap around Vivid Street and burn that adrenaline off. He wants to go back to sleep, because he does feel tired. The night's intensity wore him out, despite how much stamina he has.
It's a shame his stupid heart is now all excited again.
He continues to try and get up from the couch. He never would've guessed that his partner is a koala with the strength of an elephant when he's asleep, damn it, Toya's arm really doesn't want to move.
After what feels like an eternity stuck in a one-sided wrestling match, he's free. He makes sure to step softly, to avoid waking up the others, as he slowly moves towards his stuff. Not like he has a lot of it, anyway, because the sleepover was wholly unplanned. He has his backpack, the clothes from yesterday, and the sweatpants he's wearing were given to him by Ken-san.
And wow, does it feel insane to wear something out of his idol's closet.
He digs around for the tank top he wears under his hoodie. He pulls it out of his backpack after a minute of carefully taking out shit that could make noise when mindlessly disturbed. He stands up, and is about to pull it on, when a figure appears in his vision.
“What are you doin’,” Kohane groggily greets.
“Uh,” He rubs the back of his neck, “I woke up, couldn't fall back asleep. Wanna go runnin’ to wear myself out.” He whispers.
Kohane mumbles something, and walks up to him.
“What are you doin’?” He questions back, because he really hopes he didn’t wake her up.
“I went to the toilet and heard noise.” She leans forward with a pout. “An-chan stole all the blankets.” She looks up at him with sad, hamster eyes.
Before he can respond, she leans in even closer, like she's trying to go for the world's most uncoordinated hug. Her hands hang uselessly at her sides, even though her face is now buried in his chest. This isn't even remotely weird. Not at all.
“You're warm, Akito-kun,” She mumbles into his skin.
Huh.
He blinks a few times, like that's going to help him understand better. Did she just call him by his name? He's been trying to get her to drop his surname for what feels like ages, only for her to be barely aware when she finally does it. Damn his luck.
He drops his shirt and tentatively wraps his arms around Kohane.
That turns out to be the right move, because her arms wake up and wrap around him too.
“Don’t go,” She pleads, looking up at him with her sad hamster expression amped up by a thousand.
“I'm not goin',” He assures. He’s certainly not going anywhere with Kohane clinging to him, so he resigns himself to his fate of lying awake on the couch for the next few hours.
“Go back to sleep,” He gently pries her arms off him, only for her to grab his hands once he's done. Are all of his teammates this damn stubborn when sleepy?
“But An-chan stole the blankets and you're warm,” Kohane pouts like a stubborn toddler.
Unfortunately, he finds that he's not immune to the stubborn toddler in front of him.
“Fine,” He sighs, “But you're explainin' this to Ken-san later.”
Kohane lights up when he agrees, and finally lets go of him. They walk over to the couch, and he gently nudges Toya further to the side before laying down next to him. Toya was apparently waiting for that, because he glues himself to him again with a happy sigh. Kohane giggles at the sight and settles right next to him, curled up like an actual small rodent. It's just a moment until she's fast asleep, so Akito closes his eyes and tries to do the same.
Just as he's about to finally fall back asleep, he hears footsteps heading his way. For fuck's sake, he just wants to sleep.
A mass of blankets with black and blue hair appears in his vision. The mass raises an accusing finger at him.
“You stole my partner,” An grumbles.
“You stole her blankets,” He fires back.
For a moment, they just stare at each other.
“There's space next to Kohane,” He offers.
Wordlessly, An comes over, throws one of the blankets onto the couch, then settles in next to Kohane, still mostly bundled up. It doesn't take her long to start snoring, and he's surprised how long Kohane lasted in her room, because he's already considering strangling her with a pillow.
For some reason, he's able to peacefully fall alseep anyway.
♡
He wakes up again. He's still surrounded on all sides, and there's no way in hell he can move off the couch. This time, it's much brighter in the room, and he can hear shuffling somewhere else in the flat.
He tries to rub his eyes, only to find that both of his arms have been seized by his teammates. Kohane’s still curled up on his side, except now she's also cuddling his arm like it's a teddy bear, and Toya is halfway sleeping on top of him, trapping his arm under his body. At least An is spooning Kohane instead of also being attached to him.
He sighs. None of them are awake, and he certainly doesn't have the heart to wake them up.
And as annoying as it is, his chest feels warm.
He's not sure how long he spends laying awake, when finally, someone stirs. He looks to the side to see An glancing around.
“Mornin',” He greets.
“Morning. Wow, you're being smothered,” An giggles. He should've strangled her when he had the chance.
“Jealous?” He asks instead.
“Kinda, yeah,” She admits, “Must feel nice.”
She sounds a little sad and disappointed, and something is clearly wrong with him, because he actually feels bad for her.
“You'll fit somewhere here. Jus’ don't wake them.” He motions towards himself with his head, because his arms are still occupied.
An's quick to unwrap herself and pull up the cover. She carefully wedges herself between Kohane and Toya, laying down on the previously unoccupied half of his body.
“You're so warm. No wonder those two are glued to you,” She comments once she settles down, sounding very happy about her current placement.
“At this rate, I'm never gonna get up,” He complains, even though he can't really be upset.
“Shush. I can tell you're enjoying this.” An, unfortunately, is correct, so he stays quiet.
An somehow manages to doze off again. He's not sure he could try to fall asleep again even if he tried, so he lets himself enjoy the moment.
“You kids look hella cute,” Ken-san comments, much to his mortification. When did he walk in?
“Mornin' Ken-san,” He greets and ignores how his cheeks warm up in embarassment.
“Good morning, Akito. Give me a moment.” Ken-san disappears, only to show up a moment later holding a camera. Oh no. “I've already taken a photo when you four were sleeping, but now’s the perfect chance to take another.”
Akito can't even begin to run away, so he resigns himself to his embarrasing fate. At least Ken-san's not mad about all of them sleeping together.
“If they don't wake up in half an hour, could you wake them up for me? They're gonna miss breakfast.” Ken-san looks up at him, momentarily looking away from the camera.
“Of course.”
Mercifully, the photo session ends there. Akito glances around until he finds the clock.
He doesn't remember the last time he stayed in bed until nine thirty.
He's been starting every morning at five, to have enough time to go for a run before school. On weekends, instead of school it’s extra time spent on practice. Sleeping in has been a foreign concept for a while now.
He thinks he deserves this, just this once.
Inevitably, his thoughts circle back to RAD BLAST. His brain struggles to understand it all, still; the culmination of the last few years of his life, bursting out in flames for all to see. He's glad to be here, now, surrounded by his team. Without them, he would've never surpassed RAD WEEKEND.
It's incredible, how much has changed. He started out alone, chasing after something out of his reach. Then, he found Toya, and later teamed up with An and Kohane; though the start was rocky, it felt like puzzle pieces fitting together. They were able to work as a team, and improve enough to stand on the stage of their dreams. Their voices were dizzying, electrifying; especially Kohane’s. She improves scarily fast, and her power was enough to give them the opening they needed to reach higher and seize success.
Next time, though, he's not letting her hog all the glory.
Damn it. He feels excited again, heart pumping adrenaline through his vessels.
He glances at the clock. Nine fifty three. At least he can get up soon, then eat breakfast, then run all the way home.
He really hopes he'll be able to get himself under control soon. He can't react like this every time he thinks of RAD BLAST.
But it was fucking amazing, so he thinks he can deal with this today.
Finally, the time comes, and he can begin to free himself. He starts by lightly poking Kohane's thigh, until he hears a sad whine.
“Kohane. Breakfast.” He says, hoping that'll catch her attention. If not that, then maybe the delicious smell will, because he certainly feels hungry now.
“But I'm so comfyyyyyyy, Akito-kun,” She drawls sleepily, and he's glad to hear his name again. Hopefully this means it'll stick.
“But Ken-san is preparing us the breakfast of champions.”
“Mhm…” Kohane remains curled up, but at least she lets go of his arm.
He takes this opportunity to free his arm and use it to lightly shake An.
“Wake up and get off me.”
Kohane lets out a sleepy giggle. An remains unfazed.
“An. Off.” He tries again.
“‘s my house. I do what I wan',” An mumbles into his arm.
“Yeah, and you're using my body as a pillow. Get off.” He shakes her again.
“I'll kick you out,” She threatens, but does move off, wedging herself between him and Kohane.
“I'd like to see ya try.”
He turns his head away from her mumblings to face Toya instead. He looks so peaceful, Akito almost doesn't want to wake him. Almost.
“Toya,” He starts off gently, “Wake up.” He lightly shakes him.
Toya doesn't stir.
“Toya,” He tries again, more forceful this time. Toya still remains asleep, and in fact, his death grip only gets tighter.
He hears a smug giggle somewhere next to him, so he pulls his arm away from Toya to jab his elbow into the offender.
“Ow, what the hell.” He seems to have reached his target, based on An's reaction.
“Toya. C'mon, man.” He shakes Toya again. “Ken-san's makin’ breakfast.”
Finally, Toya reacts, even if it's just to cuddle more into him and respond with an unhappy murmur.
“Toya. Please?” He tries a different strategy, because his body is now starting to wake up too, and he worries that if he doesn't move soon he'll remain stiff forever. And he needs to use the bathroom.
Reluctantly, Toya lets go of him and moves off. Finally, he's free. He sits up and gets off the couch before any of them change their minds.
“Did you hate cuddling with us that much?” An teases.
He ignores her, rolling his eyes, and stretches his arms over his head, wincing when something pops in his shoulder. He then leans all the way down, to stretch his posterior chain. He feels stiff as hell, and he hopes he can work that out at home.
For now, though, he's more than happy to be able to walk, so he goes to pick up his tank top, then quickly heads to the bathroom. Once he's done, he returns to see that the other three have more or less woken up. An is handing some clothes to Kohane, who still looks sleepy, but is at least sitting up.
Toya, however, is still laying down, cuddling the pillow Akito's been sleeping on. It would be cute, if it wasn't for the fact that he's supposed to be up.
“Toya.” Akito walks over to the couch to pry the pillow out of Toya's arms. “You know you need to get up.” He manages to wrestle the pillow out of Toya's grip and toss it onto the other side of the couch.
“Akito,” Toya pleads.
He's not going to get puppy-eyed into relenting, no matter how much Toya tries, so he continues to hover over him with a frown.
“You look like a disappointed mom,” An comments with a shit-eating grin.
Akito, not to be outdone, walks over to where he tossed the pillow and whacks An with it.
“I will kick you out,” She threatens again.
“Toya. C'mon, you can't sleep forever.” Akito ignores her in favour of getting back to the task at hand.
Toya lets out another unhappy grumble, but does move into a sitting position. Thank fuck.
“See? Wasn't so hard,” Akito says and walks over to grab Toya something to wear, since he still looks miserable and unwilling to do anything himself. He throws his turtleneck onto the couch, and Toya thankfully puts it on without protest.
“Are you guys up?” Akito glances up to see Ken-san peeking into the living room. “Come on, or the food with get cold.”
Akito pointedly looks at Toya, who wordlessly gets off the couch.
“Don't,” He points to An, who was already opening her mouth to say something.
“Ugh, fine,” She gives up and they head into the dining room.
Akito feels his mouth water at the sight. It's like a small buffet table, so they can pick and choose whatever they'd like. His eyes zero in on a small stack of pancakes, which look so fluffy he can almost imagine the godly soft texture.
“This looks amazin’,” He comments, because what the hell. If this is how An's breakfast looks like every day, even if at a smaller scale, he might have to get on his knees and beg Ken-san to adopt him.
“Hehe. I promise it tastes even better.” Yuka-san gestures to the table. “Don't be shy.”
He doesn't need to be told twice, so he takes one of the free seats, Kohane and Toya following shortly after him. An is already seated, even though he's not sure when exactly that happened. However, that doesn't matter, because heaven is within his reach; golden and circular and tall and the way his fork sinks into the pancake already tells him these will be the best pancakes of his life.
“Be careful, Kohane. The pancake monster's attacking.” An giggles, and he ignores her to instead load his plate with the pancakes. Every second she spends talking is a second he gets to use to make sure the fluffy heaven will be his.
He leaves a few pancakes on the plate, in case anyone else wants to try them, because he's not a monster, thank you very much An. Instead, he takes the condensed milk and pours it generously onto his pancakes. With that, he's ready to ascend.
The pancakes taste even better than they look. Perfectly soft and fluffy and delicious, he could die right here and right now, and he would do so happy. He surpassed RAD WEEKEND, he got to taste the best pancakes of his life, he doesn't need anything more. Fuck, he could eat those for the rest of his life. He's had so many pancakes during his time on Earth, but these are the only ones to have such a delicate fluffiness, these really are the perfect soufflé pancakes.
He comes back to present time once his plate is empty. He realizes that all the eyes are on him, and that the others barely touched their plates. Shit.
“You looked so euphoric, Akito,” Toya comments, barely restraining his amusement.
“He was in a whole other world. Didn't even hear a word we said!” An laughs, pointing her fork at him.
He can't even protest, because An's right, so he busies himself with his coffee instead.
“Well, it's been a while since I’ve seen such an enthusiastic reaction to my cooking. I'm glad you like them, Akito.” Ken-san sounds amused as well, but Akito chooses to ignore that.
For a moment, it's quiet as everyone goes back to eating instead of staring at him like he's a circus attraction.
“I still can't believe that we did it.” An rapidly puts her utensils down.
“I getcha,” He agrees, and out of the corner of his eye he can see Kohane and Toya nod. “My heart goes crazy jus’ thinkin’ bout it.”
“Is that why you couldn't sleep, Shinonome-kun?” Kohane asks, and oh no, she doesn't get to do this.
“You do know you used my first name twice earlier, right?” He turns his head to look at her.
“Um, I didn't mean to.” She blushes a little.
“Then mean it. We surpassed RAD WEEKEND together, and you're not gonna call me by my name?”
She stays silent for a moment.
“Alright, Akito-kun.” And there it is. He smiles at her and nods. “But then, Toya-kun should also drop our surnames.”
“I guess that's only fair, Kohane-san.” Toya sounds like it took actual physical effort to say, even if it's barely an improvement.
“Hey! That's barely any better!” An points her fork at Toya in offense. Akito can't help but sympathise, because making Toya use his first name was a hell of a process. He's never been happier to not have to deal with this anymore.
“At least he's trying?” Kohane defends, even though she sounds doubtful.
“Fine,” An relents with a sad expression.
“He'll get there eventually,” Akito pats her on the shoulder.
“How long is that gonna take?” An laments, having since lowered her fork to instead put her head in her hands. So dramatic and for what.
In the midst of all this, Toya looks really lost, with his head tilted to the side like a confused puppy. Akito shakes his head to tell him not to bother. It's a little satisfying to see them go through the same thing he did those few years ago.
“Um, anyways, yeah, Kohane,” He suddenly remembers he was asked a question he didn't reply to. “I woke up, probably ‘cause I'm used to wakin’ up early, and when I tried to go back to sleep I kept thinkin’ bout RAD BLAST, makin’ me too excited to settle down.” He grabs a piece of toast to gather up the condensed milk on his plate.
“Why did you even stay with them?” An asks, trying to sound nonchalant and failing. Ha. What a loser.
“I went to the bathroom, and heard Shi—Akito-kun. And I was cold and he’s warm, so I stayed.” Kohane thankfully corrects herself. “But you ended up sleeping with us anyway, An-chan.”
“Yeah, because you left! I went looking for you, checked the living room and what do I see? Betrayal, that’s what! My precious partner left me to cuddle with Akito, of all people.” An dramatically stabs her chopsticks into her rice.
“Akito is very good for cuddling,” Toya chimes in before Akito can even begin to form a reply. Of course he says that, Akito couldn't move the whole night because of him.
“Don't worry, that was obvious. You two looked really cute together.” An teases.
“Oi, you don’t get to tease when you were jealous of us.” Akito gives An a flat look. She doesn't comment.
“Oh, is that so? An-chan, I'm sorry for leaving you,” Kohane apologizes, sounding the tiniest bit guilty.
“No, no, it's okay!” An tries to reassure, “I shouldn't have taken all the blankets.”
“Blanket thief,” He jumps in, “I made sure Toya was warm the whole night.”
“Poor Kohane-san,” Toya adds, “So cold during the night.”
“You're not allowed to gang up on me, it's my house,” An protests.
“Actually, it's mine.” Ken-san joins them.
“Dad!?” An shrieks.
Breakfast passes in the accompaniment of banter, cheery and warm. The atmosphere is comforting, so much so that when it's time to leave, he can't help but linger. He wants to stay with them, instead of coming back to the house where he eats breakfast alone.
He'll be fine. Now, that they want to take on the world, they'll be seeing each other even more often. But as he runs through the streets, he can’t help but wonder when they can all sleep together again. It felt so warm.
Above all else, it felt like home.