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“I’m home!” Akito called out in obligation from the genkan as he haphazardly kicked off his shoes, the pair of sneakers landing in the far corner. Not sparing them another glance, he turned to Touya and gestured to the wooden tiled floor. “Just leave your shoes anywhere.”
Despite the fact that it wasn't his first time here, Touya hovered uncertainly behind him, lingering at the doorway. His face was impassive as always, but Akito could tell that he was unusually tense from the way his hands tightened around his bag.
Akito felt his own brow furrow. With how uptight Touya was acting, it was better if they minimised interaction with his family. Quickly, he mentally ran through who was at home.
Ena…in her room. Dad…probably holed up in his studio. Mom…
“Akito! Welcome back!” An awfully familiar voice interrupted before he could finish his train of thought.
Just his luck. Akito stifled a sigh as his mother appeared from the kitchen, smiling warmly as she wiped her hands on her apron. Her expression rapidly turned into one of pleasant surprise upon spotting Touya.
“Oh!” she gasped softly. “Akito, you brought home a friend?”
Now that Akito thought about it, this was the first time his mother and Touya were meeting each other. He grumbled, “No need to sound so delighted. I do have friends, y’know.” Even though he rarely allowed them over, with his father and Ena arguing frequently, it was fine if it was Touya, since he knew about the situation. Not all the details, but enough to understand. Touya never pressed for information about his home life, which he appreciated—maybe that was also why they were partners.
“Hello, Shinonome-san. I’m Aoyagi Touya, nice to meet you.” Touya bowed formally, movements stiff.
His mother’s eyes gained a dangerous glint, and before Akito could stop her, she gleefully said, “So you're the Touya I've been hearing so much about! I think half of Akito’s conversations recently have been about you.”
“Mom…” Akito warned, feeling his face start to heat up.
Completely ignoring him, she continued, “Thank you for always taking care of Akito. I get worried about him because he's so reckless, you know?” She chuckled lightly to herself, but the slant of her eyes was kind as she gazed up at Touya. “So I'm glad he has someone like you by his side.”
Akito gritted his teeth together with such force he was momentarily afraid they would break. This was what he feared the most when he had apprehensively invited Touya over for a sleepover—that one of his family members would say something that made him uncomfortable. Surely, with such a line, Touya felt pressured to live up to unnecessary expectations. “Alright, we're leaving. It's getting late,” he announced loudly. He turned to grab Touya and drag him up to his room, but halted in his tracks when he got a good view of Touya’s face. He looked-
Happy?
It was very subtle, but Touya’s eyes were crinkled at their corners, eyebrows drawn closer together, a small upturn of his mouth imperceptible to everyone but Akito. He practically shone with a kind of mirth Akito had never seen from him before.
Head whirling in confusion, Akito blinked rapidly to check if his sight was deceiving him or if he was dreaming, but the scene before him remained unchanged. It took all of his restraint to not let his jaw drop, instead tugging at Touya’s arm to lead him up the stairs. His mother simply shot him a knowing grin, to which he responded by herding Touya into his room and slamming the door shut.
Akito let out a huff. “Sorry about that, man. You can take a shower first while I get the futon out,” he said, nodding towards the end of the hall to indicate the bathroom. When he didn’t receive a reply after a short moment, he swiveled around to check on Touya, concerned.
Touya stood in the middle of the room with a blank look on his face, as though he was dazed. His bag was hanging by an inch on his shoulder, the strap dangerously close to slipping off the smooth fabric of his jacket, yet he didn't seem to notice the shift in weight at all.
“Dude. You okay?” Akito stepped closer to him, arms lifted and awkwardly paused in midair, unsure whether to nudge him or if that action would startle him instead.
At his voice, Touya jolted back to reality, head snapping around to fix Akito with a stare. Akito, whose hands were still outreached and frozen in place. He dropped them back to his sides instantly, resisting the urge to hide them behind his back like a little kid who got caught stealing.
If Touya noticed Akito’s odd behaviour, he didn't acknowledge it. “Ah, sorry. Could you repeat that?”
Akito shook his head fondly, but acquiesced.
Once Touya left the room, Akito began rummaging around his closet for the guest futon. He was distracted as he sifted through various stacks of clothes, mind stubbornly stuck on Touya’s expression earlier. Why had he looked like he had been bestowed the highest honour one could receive, like he had ten birthdays occur at once, like those were the words he had always been waiting to hear?
(Why didn't he say them first?)
Akito’s thoughts ran in an endless circle no matter how much he pondered over it. They had been partners for a while now, and Akito thought he had been making steady progress in understanding Touya as a person. But every time something similar happened, he felt as if he never knew him at all.
It really made him wonder—would Touya one day stop being such a mystery to him?
Akito wouldn't say that he had difficulties falling asleep, since he was usually sufficiently tired out by practice that he’s out like a light the moment his head hit the pillow.
So, it made no sense that he was currently lying awake and staring at the ceiling in the dark tranquility of the night. It wasn't possible to develop insomnia without reason. Logically, if the only difference tonight was Touya’s presence, then that must be why he was having trouble going to sleep.
It was definitely the most likely option. Akito heard another rustle of bedsheets caused by Touya tossing and turning, which he had been doing every few minutes after settling into the futon. Clearly, he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep.
Akito knew Touya didn't exactly have a normal upbringing. Therefore, it was perfectly reasonable to assume that he never had a sleepover before, unlike a typical teenager of their age. Because for all Akito claimed that he wasn't that close to his old soccer teammates, he had stayed overnight at their houses for ease of soccer games at least once. In other words, Touya was probably uncomfortable sleeping on the futon, which was also made worse by the unfamiliar environment.
Upon reaching that conclusion, Akito sat up. “Touya,” he called in the direction of the foot of his bed where Touya was located, keeping his volume low. “You awake?”
There was a beat of silence, then a reply from a voice rough with fatigue. “Yes.”
“Sorry, Akito. I’m not used to sleeping on the floor; when I stayed over at a family friend’s house as a child, he would always insist I take the bed. Am I making too much noise?”
Akito didn't answer, still hung up by the revelation that this wasn't, in fact, Touya’s first sleepover. Right. Of course someone of his family’s social standing would have days when they were too busy to care for a child and pawned him off to a trustworthy friend. Akito wasn't bothered by that information at all.
They were left with only one choice. Akito shuffled out of bed and towards the futon. “Let’s swap then,” he said decisively. “I’ll take the futon, you take the bed.”
That got Touya to stand up, eyes wide with alarm. “I can't possibly ask you to do that; I’m the guest here,” he argued stubbornly. “Don’t worry about me, I'm used to all-nighters.”
Akito returned sternly, “Absolutely not. You need rest if you're going to practice.”
Locked in a standstill, they stared at each other wordlessly for a few seconds. Touya backed down first, tearing his gaze away to fix it on the bed instead. “Akito…the bed is big enough for the both of us.”
“What?” Akito blurted out, slightly too loud, before the implications of Touya's sentence hit him. He floundered. “No. No way we’re sharing a bed.”
“Please, Akito.” A sliver of moonlight slipped through the crack in the curtains and casted Touya in a soft glow amidst the darkness of the room, making his face shine in a way that accentuated its tones and angles more than usual. Akito could clearly make out the crease of his forehead and the downward tug of his lips. Touya would be the type of person who’d carry guilt over such a situation, if he didn't agree.
Akito relented. “Fine, fine, let’s just go to sleep, it’s way too late.”
Satisfied, Touya climbed onto his bed, crawling over to the far side next to the wall. Akito gingerly followed suit, feeling the bed dip lower with his weight. They both rolled over so they were back-to-back, but that didn't stop Akito from being able to sense Touya’s movements, agonisingly aware of the thin, barely present space between them.
Despite that, Akito gradually felt himself relax, be it due to the additional warmth or the day’s exhaustion finally catching up to him, his eyelids drooping closed and he drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
Akito awoke to the sound of his alarm ringing softly beside him. He blinked blearily, trying to adjust his eyesight to the surroundings. It was only then that he noticed he had an arm draped over someone, his face almost touching the crook of their shoulder.
Right. Touya. Sharing the same bed.
It took all of his self-restraint to not yank his hand back like it had burst into flames. It would be worse if Touya woke up from that large reaction while they were still in that awkward position, even if it was an accident. His arm was wrapped around Touya’s torso, pulling them closer together, legs pressed flushed against the other’s. At this distance, he could smell the faint scent of his own shampoo on Touya’s body.
Akito really needed to go on his morning run.
As gently as possible, he inched away from Touya while being careful not to jostle the bed, his skin tingling with the lingering heat from their proximity. Just as he was about to extract his hand from its place, he felt slender fingers curl around his wrist.
“Aki…to…” mumbled Touya, “don’t go…”
Akito froze. He held his breath, afraid of waking him if he so much as twitched a muscle, until he was sure the moment had passed. Touya’s breathing returned to being even, although his grip remained surprisingly strong.
Theoretically, Akito could wrench his hand away, or pry Touya’s fingers from his hand one by one.
However. Touya’s face was scrunched up and pallid, as though he was in pain and Akito’s hand was his only lifeline. As his partner, Akito couldn't possibly leave him alone while he was having a nightmare. Not when he looked like that.
His jog could be delayed for a little longer.
Just as quietly as before, Akito laid back down on his bed, arm resuming its hold around Touya’s waist almost protectively. He hesitantly combed through Touya’s hair with his free hand, strands of silky blue running between his fingers, his heartbeat echoing like an amplifier was connected to his ears the entire time. The repetitive motion seemed to calm Touya down even as Akito’s knuckles occasionally brushed against his nape, his face eventually smoothening out and gaining a peaceful expression.
Akito had always had this thought, but as the sun spilled its first rays of golden light across the horizon, so early it seemed the still-silent world solely contained the two of them, it drifted directly to the forefront of his mind. Touya was incredibly good-looking. No, a more accurate term would be photogenic—with that flawlessly clear skin, perfectly long lashes and the beauty mark right below his eye, he looked like he belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine.
The atmosphere now was vastly different—softer, somehow, like they had entered a watercolour painting—but it was all too easy for Akito to imagine the sunbeams as bright stage lights, his room as a livehouse, and Touya with the same clean, sharp side profile as they performed side-by-side on stage-
Akito’s face burned.
Perhaps having an (objectively) attractive partner had its drawbacks.
He wasn't sure how long he stayed there watching Touya sleep like a guarding knight, but soon enough, his partner stirred.
Akito immediately scrambled to leap away, heart jumping to his throat. Touya didn't seem to be aware of anything that had happened earlier in the morning, still in a half-conscious state as he squinted up at him. “Akito…? Haven't you gone for your morning run?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna head out now,” Akito replied, trying to sound flippant. He could feel his heart continuing to thump off-kilter against his chest. “You should get more rest.”
“No need, I’m quite alright. I’ll wait for you to be back,” Touya murmured, sitting up and moving to the edge of the bed.
Akito shrugged, then headed to his closet to grab a sweatshirt.
Akito sucked in another breath of cool air, his shoes pounding against the trodden path as he jogged along his usual route. The wind felt refreshing as it whipped past his face, and focusing on his rhythmic footsteps allowed him to clear his mind.
This was a much needed run after the events that transpired the previous day and at daybreak had left him wondering, unbalanced as though he was tipping over an invisible boundary.
Every one of his actions were all for the sake of being the best partner. That was all—nothing more, nothing less.
He was going to surpass RAD WEEKEND with Touya by his side. He didn't need anything else.
He gathered all of his unrelated thoughts and shoved them to the back of his mind as far as they could go, akin to stuffing them into a nearly overflowing box labelled Things To Ignore, locking it then burying it in the depths of the ocean, never to resurface again.
Akito nodded to himself. Yeah, it was much simpler for him to just…forget about things.