Work Text:
They don’t have that many rules at the dorm, since they’re all fairly easygoing people, but it’s especially in groups like these that the one person who is not fairly easygoing is the one that has to bear most of the burden for mundane tasks, like vacuuming the living room or doing the dishes. Or, as is the case today, replenishing their snack cupboard. Maki’s understanding is that there’s an unspoken rule to buy more snacks if you’re the one that eats the last of them, but being a hungry, growing boy, Maki tends to be the one who finishes the snacks most of the time, thus he ends up having to replenish them, which has led to the unfortunate state they now find themselves in, which is that everyone assumes that snack-buying is Maki’s responsibility. Which it is not! But that doesn’t change the fact that the snack cupboard is currently empty and Maki is hungry so now he has to go buy more snacks.
Harua is still curled up on their living room sofa where Maki had dropped him off before his shower, and Maki has dutifully set the bath running to his liking, so he’s now free to head out. Going to their nearest supermarket would be the cost-effective and smart thing to do, but it’s late, and they’ve only just got home from practice, and Maki is tired - so convenience store it shall be.
The weather’s been unpredictable lately - hot one moment and raining the next, but it’s a pleasantly clear night, and Maki finds himself humming absentmindedly as he walks down the street. The moon is bright and feels so close, peeking out from between the buildings and the trees. Maki is glad for the change, and for the fresh air, especially after what had happened at practice earlier. Yuma had gotten all bristly and Nicholas had become so skittish and Jo had turned really, really pale after Fuma had yelled. Maki knows Fuma can be loud but he was loud and legitimately furious, which, Maki is not ashamed to admit, had been pretty terrifying, because Fuma never gets angry. Taki had probably had the most honest reaction out of all of them, i.e. bursting into tears, which had not been fun to watch. Maki had turned to see what Euijoo would do but his eyes had taken on that blank look he gets when he’s dissociating, and to top it all off, Harua had vanished shortly after, leaving a stressed-out Maki to wait for him in the driveway alone.
It’s no secret that Yudai’s knee has been bothering him - at first Maki thought it was because they’d horsed around too much and he’d hurt Yudai somehow because he couldn’t control his strength or something (no, Harua, he’s not a gorilla, thank you very much), but Maki had looked it up and he thinks it’s probably just the strain from overuse, god knows it could happen to any of them, what with the way they practice. His mum had always told him to put his shoes on properly and tie his laces tight, which, according to at least one Reddit thread, is probably what’s saved him a lot of pain and potential blisters. It’s nice to have a strong, big brother role model in the group, but Maki really just wishes Yudai would take care of himself like he takes care of the rest of them. Probably would have saved them a lot of worry over the last few weeks, but who is he to say?
The convenience store is, reliably, a wonderland of temptation. After minimal deliberation, Maki selects an upsized U.F.O. yakisoba bowl, a couple of salad chicken hunks, and a large bottle of Sprite. There’s a new flavour of that cute gummy that Harua likes so he grabs a pack, too, because Harua had finished those mini Haribos so quickly in the car. The street is empty when he steps out of the store, except for an abnormally large person walking just ahead of him - it looks like they have an extra pair of limbs dangling from their hips, and what might possibly be two heads.
Maki doesn’t want to freak out, but it’s dark and he’s but a lone boy outside in the dead of night. He is having a brief internal debate on whether he should call Fuma to come rescue him or not when the large person passes under a streetlight and Maki realises that it’s not one abnormally large person but two people - one of them is piggy-backing the other and making a decent pace down the street. Still an unusual sight, but fortunately nothing paranormal. The one who’s being piggy-backed suddenly laughs - Maki would know that laugh anywhere. He jogs a few paces to catch up.
“Kei-hyung? Fuma-kun? Did you guys walk all the way back?”
Yudai jerks in surprise and nearly topples them both over.
“Maki! What are you doing out? A boy your age should be in bed by now!” Maki should be annoyed that Yudai still treats him like a baby, but he’s just relieved that his smile seems to be genuine, for the first time in what feels like forever.
“It’s exactly because I’m young that I can be out! I’m surprised an old man like you is still awake!” Maki retorts.
Yudai’s mouth drops open, scandalised. “Fuma, we cannot take this provocation lying down, if you charge at Maki I’ll grab his hair, go go go!” He kicks at Fuma’s thigh like a jockey spurring on his racehorse, and Fuma, for someone who’s probably been walking at least an hour with a very tall man on his back, charges at Maki at an alarming speed.
Maki screeches and sprints ahead, out of reach of Yudai’s grabby hands. Here, a few steps in front of them, he can see the carefree grin splitting Fuma’s face - another sight that’s been in short supply recently.
“Fuma-kun, did you want me to take over?” The dorm’s not far now but Fuma must be tired.
Fuma shakes his head and hoists Yudai further up on his back with a small bounce, grip tightening around his thighs. Yudai sniffs haughtily, leaning back to place a regal hand to his chest. Maki is in awe at how Fuma still manages to keep his balance.
“I am quite happy with my trusty steed, thank you Maki, but as my squire, you may have the honour of taking our bags.” He gestures down to where their bags are dangling from Fuma’s left arm.
It takes a little manoeuvring but Maki manages to wiggle their bags out without Fuma losing his grip on Yudai, and they’re off again, walking in companionable silence under the moonlight.
Well, almost companionable silence, because Maki doesn’t actually deal well with those, and needs to voice his thoughts.
“Kei-hyung, maybe you need to sit out a couple of practices, or maybe just sit more in general, and Harua says that you have a knee brace so you should definitely be using that, and some parts of the internet say that you need to have better shoes, though that probably is more for running rather than for what we do, I guess.” They’re at the last traffic light before turning into the small road that leads to their dorm. “I could cover your parts, too, if that helps?”
Yudai lifts his head from where he’d been nuzzling into Fuma’s neck. “When did our Maki get to be so grown up?” He says, reaching across to ruffle Maki’s hair. “I’ll be okay, Maki, thank you.” He sounds like he means it, which is good enough for Maki.
Fuma still refuses to put Yudai down even though he has to crouch to make sure Yudai’s head doesn’t hit their doorframe, and Maki helps to pull Yudai’s shoes off as they step in. He trails after them all the way to Fuma’s room, dropping their bags off just inside the door and shutting it quickly behind him; whatever they get up to in Fuma’s room is really none of his business and he would prefer it stay that way.
Maki has just finished eating and is rinsing out the yakisoba container when Harua joins him in the kitchen, cheeks still flushed from his bath. He chucks the gummies he bought at Harua, who barely scrounges up the motor skills to save it from smacking into his face with how sleepy he is. He levels a glare at Maki, which only manages to look like a cute nose scrunch, and tears the gummies open.
“Do you think Papa and Kei-hyung made up?” he asks, offering Maki one of his gummies. Maki leans in and eats it out of his fingers.
“I guess so? They seemed pretty chummy when they came back together just now.”
Harua does his nose scrunch again. “Do you think Kei-hyung will ever fork out the money for our earplugs?”
Despite Maki’s room being on the same floor as Fuma’s, he’s honestly not overheard any lewd goings-on in the dorm, which could be in part because he’s been very meticulously turning a blind eye and ear. Yudai and Fuma are basically like his parents, right? Just thinking about them doing the nasty gives him a severe ick. It also doesn’t help that the two of them are so weird (mainly Fuma) and lame (mostly Yudai) all the time, so he can’t imagine them getting it together enough to, like, actually bone.
Maki barely suppresses a full-body shudder. “Over his dead body, he’s probably holding out just to spite you at this point.”
Harua lets his head flop onto the kitchen counter in despair, though he doesn’t stop nibbling on his gummies. Maki kinda wants to do the same, but he also just wiped that counter, and he isn’t about to waste any of his skincare by letting it transfer onto the laminate. He tugs at Harua until he peels his face off the counter and pointedly wipes at the spot until it’s sparkling, then escapes to his room before Harua can retaliate.
Just as he’s settled down, he hears a muffled thump coming from Fuma’s room. Casting his eyes heavenward for a second, Maki chooses to count his blessings - this state of affairs is admittedly a substantial upgrade compared to the heavy, choking tension that had been in the air since Yudai got hurt - he calmly grabs his noise-cancelling headphones and fits them securely over his ears, letting himself be swallowed up in some blissfully mindless TikTok scrolling.