Chapter Text
By now, they had all recovered from the illness the youngest family member had unintentionally brought home. He’d gotten sick first, then all four of his older brothers at the same time, and finally the two oldest. Urami had ridiculously high fever for one day, then it was like he’d never been sick at all. Hantengu had it the worst. He spent two nights in the hospital. Everyone was incredibly relieved when he finally came back home and it was clear he was just as healthy as before.
After that, everything went back to its usual chaotic normal. The five boys behaved just like always. Bickering, getting along again, sometimes avoiding each other, sometimes completely inseparable.
“Uh, uh! Urami, Hantengu? Can we order pizza later?” Karaku suddenly shouted from the couch in the living room, where he was sprawled out with his brothers. “Oh yeah! Pizza, pizza!” Urogi chimed in enthusiastically, grinning. “Not again! Can we order something else for once?” Sekido grumbled, tearing his eyes away from the TV to glare at the two idiots instead. Aizetsu stayed out of it, tapping away on his phone and quietly giggling until one of his brothers kicked him in the shin. “Ow! Why’d you kick me, Urogi?” “Well, say something too! Pizza or something else?” “Urami and Hantengu haven’t even said anything yet, have they?”
Karaku sat up a bit and looked over the back of the freestanding couch. Urogi’s head popped up beside his. They must’ve looked incredibly stupid, the two teens peeking over the backrest, because they could see Urami shaking with laughter. Hantengu just rolled his eyes, though he was smiling too. “Idiots. All four of you.” Hantengu said. “How about this? We’ll order whatever you want tomorrow and in return, we pick the movie for movie night.” “Oh please no!” All four teens groaned in unison. Their older brothers, at least in their opinion, had absolutely terrible taste in movies. Still, they couldn’t miss the fact that the two oldest were genuinely laughing. Urogi flopped back down onto the couch, settling into his previous position. Aizetsu stood up with his phone, stretched, and shuffled toward the stairs.
“Hey, Zetsu, where’re you going?” Karaku asked, lifting his head slightly. One of the others paused the movie in the background. Instead of answering, Aizetsu held up his phone, wiggled it a little and gestured that he was going to make a call. The three on the couch exchanged confused looks. Karaku and Urogi shrugged. Sekido shook his head. “No idea, don’t look at me like that!” “But you share a room!” “Yeah, exactly!”
“You two are annoying as fuck! You don’t know everything about each other either, so knock it off. And now let the damn movie keep playing.” Sekido snapped at them. With audible sighs, they gave up for the moment.
Upstairs, at the end of the hall, Aizetsu peeked into their youngest brother’s room. He was lying on his stomach on the bed, wearing big wireless headphones, completely absorbed in a book. He didn’t even notice Aizetsu. So he moved on to his own room, closed the door, and dropped onto his blue-covered bed. Moments later, his phone rang. “Hey, Daki. What’s up?” “Hey, sweetie! I really need someone to talk to who isn’t my brother. Do you have time for your bestie? I know you heard that! I just need to talk! Oh come on, not now! You know him! Aizetsu. Yeah, exactly. Can I keep talking to him now? Thanks! Sorry… my brother can be such a total asshole!” Aizetsu laughed and nodded, even though she couldn’t see him. He knew that feeling all too well. He had several brothers like that himself. “I’m feeling better now, and trust me, I don’t need to go through that again. It’s fine. I get it. You said you needed someone to talk to. What’s going on?” They talked for almost an hour. Daki complained about a girl she absolutely hated and trash-talked her brother a bit, who could occasionally be heard talking in the background. “There’s only two of you. You don’t wanna know what it’s like here sometimes.” “With that many guys? Sounds like nonstop drama.”
“Sometimes, yeah. It’s so exhausting.” There was some rustling on her end, like she’d gotten up and it sounded like she’d opened a door. “You’re a guy-” she suddenly started, then switched to speaker. “Uh… yeah. Last time I checked, I still was this morning. Why?” “Turn on your camera and look, please.” “Okay…? And what- Why the hell are you not wearing anything?!” “Wait! I need your opinion! Aww, you’re totally blushing. You like what you see, don’t you?” “What? No! I-I mean… kinda? You’re pretty and all, but- Daki, please…” “You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed! I didn’t even mean to show those two. I meant this! Ta-da!” She pointed at her chest in the mirror, then the camera shook like crazy. When the image cleared, she was wearing a cute pink dress. “Looks nice.”, he said honestly. “Where’d you get it? Wait- Is that a corset in the front?” “Yep! And I found it at this adorable little shop at the mall. They have such great stuff! You have to- Oh hey, Gyutaro. Cute, right? Yeah. Yeah, it’s fine. Hey, I gotta go. We’ll see each other tomorrow! And thanks!” “Sure. Yeah, see you tomorrow. No problem, anytime.”
After the call, he lay there for a while, phone beside him, one arm over his eyes. He liked Daki. Sure, she could be mean and had a sharp tongue, but she was a really good friend and she clearly trusted him a lot. A soft knock interrupted his thoughts. When he moved his arm, Karaku stood in the doorway. Smiling softly. “Hey.” “Hey yourself. Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Just wanted to check on you. You’ve been up here a while. I thought you’d fallen asleep.” “Nope. I was on the phone with a friend.” “That long?” Karaku asked, flopping down next to him on the bed. “Yeah. She needed someone to vent to. Her brother’s annoying.” Karaku laughed. “Sounds like she picked the right person to vent to.” “Coming back downstairs? Urami’s making dinner.” “In a minute. Just give me a second.” “Alright. I’ll let Haku know. Oh and Zetsu?” “Hmm?” “Never mind. Just… don’t fall asleep.” Karaku left, leaving Aizetsu confused. Shaking his head, he changed into his pajamas and went back downstairs to the rest of the chaos. Everything was as usual. Haku and Urogi were setting the table, Karaku was darting around the kitchen, and Sekido was nowhere to be seen, probably down in the basement grabbing something. Later, they all ate together, chatting about all kinds of random stuff. Haku talked about his school day and a project the whole class was working on, Sekido mentioned training. Urogi and Karaku were deep into a conversation about some new game they really wanted to play with a few others from their friend group. “Hey, Zetsu, wanna join us too?” “I’m not really that good at those kinds of games.” “No problem! We’ll show you. That way we’d have a team, and there’s always someone to jump in if one of us can’t.” Aizetsu sighed quietly but agreed to at least check it out. He was pretty sure they wouldn’t even bother asking their other brother. Sekido was way too impatient for stuff like that and fast movements on a screen made him nauseous. He wasn’t a big fan of car rides or similar things either, for the same reason.
Once everything was cleaned up and before the younger brothers could disappear again, Urami asked them all to stay at the table. Hantengu had already excused himself shortly after dinner, saying he was done for the day. Apparently, there was something Urami wanted to talk about. That rarely meant anything good. “Did we do something wrong?” Karaku asked quietly. Urami shook his head and assured them they hadn’t done anything. He just wanted to know what they were planning to do next weekend. None of the five had any plans, which they told him. “Good. Then now you do.” They all stared at him, confused, until Haku finally asked the obvious question. “And what are we doing?” “We’re going on a trip this weekend.” “And where?” “Please don’t tell me somewhere with no signal.” “A beach would be cool!” “No, hot springs!” “Let him finish.” The table fell quiet. Everyone looked expectantly at the oldest. “If we had more time, we could go to the coast and make a proper vacation out of it. But since it’s just the weekend, I thought we’d head into the mountains. Hot springs, some nature and don’t panic, we’re not sleeping in the middle of the woods or in a tent.” He’d noticed their expressions slowly shifting from surprise to horror. At least one of them was happy, Haku, who’d been rooting for the hot springs. “Do we need to take care of anything?” “Just packing your stuff. We’ll handle the rest.” “At least we’re not sleeping in the forest.” “Guess that means reception won’t be a problem either.” “Can we go upstairs now?” “Go on. That’s all I needed from you.”
The week flew by, and everyone went about their usual routines: homework, stress, work, after-school activities. One day, Daki dragged Aizetsu to the mall by himself; another day, both of their siblings tagged along. Some evenings, the four teens studied together. Other times, they lounged on the couch or did their own thing. “So, what time are we leaving tomorrow again?” “That’s the tenth time you’ve asked today, birdbrain!” “Don’t snap at me! You know I’m bad at remembering stuff like that!” “Leave Urogi alone, Sekido! He’s just excited. And don’t take it personally, Urogi, Sekido’s just nervous.” Aizetsu tried to mediate as they were, once again, piled onto the big couch. “Tch! I’m not nervous!” “Nooo, not at all! You’re just acting like even more of an asshole than usual today.” Karaku shot back sarcastically and tossed a couch pillow at him. It actually hit, earning him the middle finger in return. “Enough, all four of you.” Hantengu said, stepping in. The other older brother still wasn’t home from work. “The plan is: we leave once everyone’s up and ready. That means getting up a bit earlier. Are you all done packing?” “Yes.” “Almost.” “Just a few things left.” “I’ll do it in a bit.” He sighed, walked around the couch, and turned off the TV. “Hey!” All four complained at once. He didn’t care. “Upstairs, now. Finish packing and get ready.”
Reluctantly, the teens headed up. Those who weren’t done finished packing and the one who was already done helped out a bit. Every now and then, the youngest poked his head in to check on them. “Are you guys excited for tomorrow too?”, he asked, earning mixed responses but overall, they were looking forward to seeing something different. One by one, they showered and eventually retreated to their rooms. Karaku fell asleep first. Urogi took a little longer. Haku got lost in his book before finally drifting off. Aizetsu was still lying in bed, playing on his phone, when Sekido came back from the shower. “Are you really nervous about tomorrow morning?” “Hmph! No, I’m not. It’s just a trip.” Typical Sekido. Pretending it didn’t matter to him at all. “Hey.” “Hm?” Aizetsu put his phone aside, opened his nightstand drawer and pulled out a small white plastic container with a screw lid. “Here. In case you can’t sleep later.” “What’s that?” Sekido asked, as Aizetsu handed him something that looked suspiciously like a gummy bear. “Something to calm your nerves and help you sleep. Trust me, I take them too when I can’t sleep.” “When you can’t sleep, you do something very different than chewing on one of those.” Aizetsu turned bright red. “Sekido!” “What? You think I’m deaf?” “N-no, but-” “Exactly.” “Just take it. They really help. And if not-” “Thanks, but you can keep your sleeping pills. I really don’t need them.”
Even though he was skeptical, he took the gummy and set it next to his lamp. Later, he ended up taking it anyway. He was the only one still awake. He was honestly surprised by how fast and strong it worked.
Not even five minutes later, he was out cold, sleeping like a rock.