Work Text:
It was a Sunday morning, a couple weeks later Earth Eleven came back to Earth. Now, Shindou, Kariya and Kirino were at Kirino’s apartment hanging out, playing a new video-game that the pink-haired kid bought.
“So, the characters can invocate some kind of avatar.” Kirino explained laying on his bed. “The main character, Yuu, moved up to Inaba for a whole year because of family stuff.” He explained with a yawn.
Shindou, who was seated in front of the laptop, nodded trying to understand the videogame. “So… Yuu is the grey haired character, right?” It was his turn to play the game after Kariya tried to name the character as ‘Face Ass'. “What I don't understand is why there was a bear in the intro.”
“You have to play it to understand it.” Kariya, who was next to Kirino said. “Did Tenma tell ya that he wants to play a friendly match with the guys who played in the space? You know, Sakura, Ibuki…”
“What? He didn't say a thing to us.” Shindou said, turning his head to look at him. “Did he say something to you, Kirino?”
Kirino shook his head with a snooze. “Sorry… and nope, he didn't say anything.” He expressed, sitting on his bed.
“Bless ya.” Kariya and Shindou said at the same time. “I dunno if I would like to have a match with them.” Kariya confessed looking at the glass of juice he was drinking. “I mean, it can be really good to practice, but… you have a lot to study, so the third year teammates have to.”
Shindou paused the game to look at them. “Well… we really have to. But, we also have to have some fun as well. We couldn't play with you for so much time, in a few months we'll separate… I think it can be good.”
The pink-haired kid shook his head. “It can be good, but not now. If we play with them… will Tenma, Tsurugi and you be playing on their team? Will Shinsuke do it as well? Too complicated right now.” He said with a little caught.
Kariya looked at him with a nod. “Exactly! Before that, we should have a big plan.”
Kirino snoozed again. “And wait a bit… we're in winter, maybe it's not the best idea to play it right now.”
The gray-haired kid nodded with a little frown. “Yeah, agreed.” He said, looking directly at Kirino's eyes. “Do you feel well? You have snoozed a couple times already.”
“I do. I just forgot to close the window last night.” Kirino admitted with a calm smile. “Oh, by the way, do you know who sent me a message last night?” He said, trying to change the topic.
“Who?” Shindou asked, standing up to sit next to him, with Kariya between them.
“Sachiko Honjo. Our classmate from last year, the girl who had to move up to Okinawa.” Kirino said, showing him a picture of the blonde girl. Kariya also looked at the picture, raising an eyebrow as he kept drinking his juice.
Shindou frowned and closed his eyes trying to remember. “Your ex?”
“Yeah, she.” Kirino said with a nervous laugh.
“Wait?! Your ex? Kirino, did you have a girlfriend? Do you have a type of something, because you attract all blonde girls, from the past and from the present.” He said, bothering his friend and since a few weeks, brother from heart.
“Well, it wouldn't end very well anyways…” Kirino said with a chuckle. “We broke up after a couple months of dating, a few weeks after white-day.” Kirino said, standing up to close the window.
Shindou took a cookie from the plate, as Kirino started to explain the reasons. He knew they broke up, but never asked why or when, Kirino just didn't tell to anyone, he didn't even cry after the break up so no one could tell what happened.
“But what happened?” Kariya asked. “Didn't she like your kisses?” He joked.
“Kinda.” The blue-eyed kid said, sitting down again. “Do you remember what I told you about sexualities and all that?” The teal-haired kid nodded, the gray-haired one just raised an eyebrow trying to understand. “Well, the short version is that she realized that she couldn't see me with the same eyes that I saw her. But, we ended as friends so it's okay.”
“Wait, that was what she told you?” Shindou asked with a frown. “But a couple months later she moved up… and she kept talking to you, why didn't you take some distance?”
“I can't tell ya.” Kirino said with a frown. “Either to you, Kariya. It wouldn't be okay.” He said with a sigh and another cough. This cough was deeper than the last one, which made Kariya and Shindou share a glaze and ignore the ex topic by now.
“Kirino… are you sure you feel okay? We can go to the doctor… I can call someone at home and they will take us there in half of an hour.” Shindou said, coming closer to his friend.
“I can call Pops, he probably knows what to do.” Kariya suggested standing up and also coming closer to him.
“Or, you could just take some distance and open a window.” Kirino said with another snooze. “If I'm sick by any chance I don't want you to get sick too. I'll call my parents to warn them… and get some sleep.” He said, with a yawn followed by a cough. “Go home, if I feel bad I'll call ya.” Kirino said with a tired smile, his friends could see his eyeballs.
“No. I'm staying.” Kariya said. “I'll call my parents and tell them what's going on, they will be here in less time than Tenma finds a football ball.”
Shindou, on the other hand, looked at his friend who looked deadly tired. Even if he wanted to stay with him, he knew that what Kirino needed was some sleep. When they were kids Kirino always got better after a long day of resting, so he would trust on it and let him rest. “We're leaving Kariya. If he isn't at school tomorrow, we'll be back with soup and facemask so he cannot send us so far from him.” He declared with a frown. “I'm calling you later to check how you are.” The kid said, dragging Kariya with him. “So have a proper rest, take a shower, eat something and go to sleep.”
The pink-haired kid sighed. “Yeah, yeah… I'll be fine, don't worry.” He said, leading the way to the door. “We'll have another hang out next week, okay?” The kid expressed with a tired smile. “I'm still owing you a story.”
“If you don't feel well, call any of us. Please.” Shindou said with a frown, taking Kirino's hand. “We'll be here in a sec’.”
Kariya looked directly at Kirino's eyes, then he glazed at Shindou and Kirino's held hands. “You have my parents' number… if you feel that you need to go to the doctor just call them. Even if it's in the middle of the night, we'll be here as soon as we can.” He declared with confidence. Kirino smiled softly at that, just like Shindou did. “Hey don’t look at me like that!
“Alright, little nurse, we’re leaving Kirino to have some rest. We know where he lives and I know where he hides the emergency key. If we find out he doesn't rest, we'll be here faster than… uhm… I'm bad with comparations…” Shindou expressed, dragging Kariya with him, and whispering that last part.
“Faster than Trainer Endou can eat rice balls.”
“Exactly.”
Kirino turned the lights off as he looked at his friends. “I'm going to sleep, so please… shut up already.” The pink-haired cried, laying on the bed.
“Sweet dreams!”
“Have a proper sleep! Remember to call as soon as you wake up! I know how to break a door, Pops taught me how to do it just in case.” Kariya said, leaving the house and ignoring Shindou’s confused expression and Kirino's resignated glaze.
On Monday morning, at lunch time. Kariya went to Kirino and Shindou's classroom, he wanted to see if his brother was there since he didn't see him at morning practice.
“Hi! Kariya, are you looking for something?’ Hamano, who was behind the teal-haired kid, said with a big smile. “Uhm… I throw away all my old homework, so I cannot give it to you, but probably Hayami keeps it! You can ask him, if you got him some salt cookies he will accept for sure.”
Kariya blinked in surprise and shook his head. “That's not what I… Well, I'm saving the information for myself anyway. I was looking for Kirino.”
“Oh! Yes, he fell asleep at math class so the teacher, who is a really grumpy woman, all has to be said, punished him.” The dark skinned kid said, opening his juice. “He probably will be back soon, the teacher just wanted to have some important words with him about how impolite it is to fall asleep in her class, because not everything can be excused.” Hamano explained. “Ryoma and I are used to it.”
“He did what?”
“Oh, yeah. Kirino looked really tired, he was even wearing a facemask. Shindou tried to excuse him, but Miss Grumpy didn't listen and also punished Shindou.”
Then, Kirino and Shindou came back from their talk with the teacher. Kirino looked like a tired zombie walking with his eyes closed and resting his hand on Shindou's back trying to comfort him. Shindou, on the other hand, looked really sad, as if he would have held his tears after the punishment.
“I'm telling you, you shouldn't have come today. I don't care about the history exam. It's not like it would change the history the fact that you skipped the exam today, if it would affect it, Fei would have come here to warn us.” Shindou said, looking at his best friend. “Do not look at me like that, I know we already know history can be changed, but I don't think you going to do that exam would make any difference in the time line.”
Kirino, who couldn't talk due to his flu, rolled his eyes. Then, he saw Kariya and shook his hand as a way to say hi.
“What’ya doin here? Shouldn't you be at home sleeping?” Masaki said with a frown. “Look at you, you are paler than Tsurugi.” That joke made Shindou and Hanami laugh, which was hard for them to hide. “I'm dragging you to the infirmary and calling my parents, we'll invent something, like… I dunno, that I fell down from the stairs and that there was blood.”
Kirino rolled his eyes again and shook his head. Shindou agreed with Kirino just like, to everyone's surprise, Hamano agreed too. “That's not a good plan, I tried it last year. It didn't go well.” The dark-skinned said. “But, yeah, Kirino should go back home.”
“That's what I have been saying!” Masaki expressed raising his hands. Then, he took Kirino’s wrist and dragged him to the infirmary. “I’m calling Pops, you are going back home; I don’t care if it’s yours or mine,” he started saying, ignoring Hayami and Shindou’s calls. “But you are getting a rest.” He added, looking at his friend. “And since you cannot talk, you can say ‘no’ either.”
Kirino rolled his eyes again, he tried not to chuckle but he couldn’t keep it. The blue-eyed kid just nodded to let the younger kid be as they kept walking to see the school’s nurse.
Kariya’s plan ended up working, for everyone's surprise. As soon as Kirino and him arrived with the nurse, he called Midorikawa saying that he had some stomach ache and that Kirino had some fever but his parents couldn't pick him up, so if he could pick both of them would be great.
The green-haired man went to pick his son, and adopted son by his own son, although he had to lie saying that he was Kirino's uncle, although they didn't share the same last name because his sister (Kirino's mother) changed it once she got married.
“I'm still surprised that it worked!” Kariya said, drinking some orange-juice. He was seated next to his father in the family car. “Oh, can I pick some candies?”
“Yeah… I'm surprised too.” He sighed. “Didn’t you have some stomach ache?”
“I had… but I'm fine now.” Kariya said with a silly smile. Then, he looked at Kirino, who fell asleep as soon as the car started to drive. “Are we taking him home? Like our home?”
Midorikawa shook his head. “I dunno… he is taller than you, so he cannot use your pajamas. Plus, he is already sick, where he is better is at his own home. But, we don't know where all the stuff we can need to take care of him is.” He sighed. “Okay, we are doing this. First we are taking him to the doctor, don't worry about the money, Hiroto pays for it.”
Kariya kept drinking his juice. “Alright… shouldn't we ask him first? Or at least tell him.”
“We tell him as soon as we arrive. Then we ask him where he prefers to sleep at his own home or at ours. Nah, forget it, he is staying with us.” The green-haired said looking at the stop sign. “We are picking up all the stuff he can need from his own place, and he is sleeping in the guest's room.”
“I know his parents won't be here until next Saturday. Even so, they are starting to call him more often, at least should we tell them?”
“We are telling them, but once we make sure what he really has.” Midorikawa explained, looking at his son. “And your father and I will have an adult talk with them.”
Kariya looked at Kirino, who was still sleeping behind them. Then, he looked at his father again. “Okay. Oh, I should call Shindou and the others to let them know we are not going to today's practice. Knowing him, he will freak out if he doesn't see us there.” He said, taking his phone and sending a couple messages on the group chat.
A couple hours later, Kirino was in the living-room at Kariya's home. He changed his clothes to his pajamas and had a blanket covering his shoulders.
“Okay, the doctor told us that you have to take your medicine between six and eight hours, so… if you take a bit now you have to take the next dosis at… dinner time.” Ryuuji said. He was wearing a facemask to interact with the kid. “How does your throat feel? Can you talk a bit?”
“Yeah…” Kirino nodded, talking was still hurting. “Sorry for… this?” He said, looking at the adult with a tired gaze.
The adult shook his head and smiled at the kid. “It's not your fault to be sick. You didn't choose to have the flu. Plus, it's better to have an adult with you than being alone when you are sick, I know I'm not your father and neither is Hiroto.” The green-haired adult said, sitting next to him. “But you always can count on us if you need something, legal or not, we'll be there.”
Masaki, who went to the kitchen to search for a glass of water, looked at them and nodded. “Listen to him. He knows about what he is talking about, he knows a lot of legal stuff.” The kid said, pointing at the adult with a sassy smile. “You haven't seen both of them in meetings, if you have them as your enemies they're gonna cry.”
“Masaki, shouldn't you be in your own room? Or do you wanna get the flu too?” Ryuuji asked with a frown.
“I want to. I mean, having the flu means no school.” He said with a silly smile. “Plus, I have good genes, I'll be fine.”
“Go to your room.” The adult repeated, standing up. “Or if you wanna help, go to prepare the guest’s room. Prepare some tissues and blankets, and also put a bin next to the bed.” He asked, touching the pink-haired front. “It looks like you have some fever…” Midorikawa said with a worried frown. “I called your parents, they said that they'll be here in a couple days…”
Kirino nodded as he looked at his friend walking to the guest's room with half an onion in his right hand and a couple of boxes of tissues in his left hand. “Thanks… Mr. Midorikawa… sorry for… staying here?” The kid murmured, hugging at himself and trying not to sneeze.
“Don't be silly. You are our auto adopted kid, of course you can stay.”
“Technically was Kariya the one who…”
“You are our auto adopted kid, let's forget about details. Although, according to the school you are my nephew and I'm your mother's adopted brother.” The green haired adult said, helping the kid to stand up. “I'll discuss with your mother the details at another moment.” Kirino chucked at that, walking slowly with Midorikawa’s help. “You are already part of this… unusual but lovely family.”
“Thank you… uncle?”
“You're welcome, my not that little nephew.” Ryuuji said, patting Kirino's head with a soft smile. “Now, get some sleep, little man. I'll wake you up at dinner time so now rest. Masaki, don't bother him and let him sleep.”
“I wasn't going to bother him!” The kid protested. “I was going to be there, playing with my phone and sending some pictures of him to the oblivious pianist.”
“Just… do not.” Midorikawa sighed, dragging his son with him. “Help me to prepare some soup.”
Almost an hour and a half of another later, Hiroto finally came back home. When the red-haired man arrived he saw his boyfriend and son in the kitchen finishing to prepare the dinner.
“I'm telling you, he needs some carrots too. They have vitamins that will help him.” Midorikawa said, with a frown. “You also should eat them, you are growing up and you also need vitamins.” He pointed with the spoon. “No excuses. Go to wake him up carefully and bring me the thermometer.” He asked.
The teenager sighed before turning around and walking to the room very slowly. Although, first he went to say hi to his father. “Hi! Papa, Kirino is staying here a few days because his has the flu and his parents are du…” he glazed at the swearing can before continuing his talk. “Not too smart.”
“You know you can say dumb, right?” Hiroto said with a chuckle before patting his son's head with affect. “I mean, yeah we started that method because we realized we had a little problem with swearing… but if you need to swear do it. I can give you a coin.”
“The hell you can!” Midorikawa yelled from the kitchen. “We have to… try to control ourselves.” He said going to the living room where Hiroto and Kariya were. Then he kissed Hiroto’s lips and smiled. “And yes, I know swearing can be good and help us with stress… but, the other day we almost screwed it up with a client…” He said, dropping three coins on the can, two for himself and one for his son. “It's a way to… control us?”
“That doesn't make any sense…” Kariya sighed. “But you are an adult, so… I'll make it like I'm following your rules. I'm going to wake up Kirino, don't do adult stuff while I'm out… I don't want to get more traumatized than I already am.” He joked, before running to the guest's room.
Hiroto hugged at Midorikawa with a silly smile. “I think the can is a good idea. I saw it on the internet and in some TV shows, plus, my sister used to have one when she was a teenager…”
The green-haired man smiled. “It's a good idea. Look at us, we didn't swear that much!” He expressed with a smile. “Plus, if someone doesn't like it… I would love to see them raising a teenager and having an important business at our age! We are doing great, and we are doing it without crying too much.” He said proudly.
“Right?” Hiroto expressed, hugging his boyfriend and smiling softly at him. “Plus, we are having another teenager in our house. A teenager that was technically adopted by our own kid.”
“They are still kids.” Ryuuji said, leaving a soft kiss on Hiroto's check. “They are still figuring out about living, and stuff with that… You and I know that it's hard when your parents are not the best ones… even if they try it.”
Then, both teenagers showed up behind them. Masaki was the first one to talk. “Wow, I didn't know you would know everything about life at twenty-five, look Kirino, you'll be knowing everything in almost ten years, you are almost there.” The teenager joked, crossing his arms.
Kirino chuckled looking at his friend. Then he glazed at the adults with a calm smile. “Thanks for letting me stay… and sorry for making you pick me from school…”
Midorikawa shook his head. “I already told you, it's okay.” He expressed with a smile. “Plus, you are staying here tomorrow, and I'm staying with you. Masaki, you are going to school, so don't go to sleep too late.”
“What?! Why can't I stay too?”
“Because you are not sick.” Hiroto said with a calm smile, trying to calm the kid. “Alright, kids, wash your hands, we are having a good dinner together.” He expressed with a big smile, leading the way to the bathroom.
“Can Midorikawa take a day off? Another day off I mean… I can go to school if that will be a problem…” Kirino whispered to Kariya, he was looking at his own feets.
Hiroto, who was listening to everything, turned to look at him and rested his hand on the pink-haired kid's shoulder. “It will be okay. Kirino, don't worry… I would stay too… but I have an important meeting with some business partners from Germany…” he sighed. “And since Ryuuji can work from home, he will stay here. He already decided it, so… you cannot make him change his opinion.”
“Germany?” Kariya asked with surprise. “Ow man, shall I learn German for the future?” He joked, trying to cheer up Kirino. “Because… I have no idea, but ask me something in Spanish and I can prove that I will know the answer! And if it's a curse I will know it for sure!”
Hiroto chuckled as he scratched his son's hair. “There's no need to learn more languages right now, at least you want to learn it.” He said with a soft smile. “Ryuuji and I won't force you to be in the company if you don't want that for your future.”
Masaki kept his mouth closed, he didn't know what to say for the first time in the whole day. Then he glazed at Kirino, who was still looking at his feets. Kirino's blue eyes showed tiredness and a bit of sadness and loneliness, no one likes to be sick, and no one wants to be sick in a house that isn't your own home, with parents that are even carefully and lovely, are not your own parents.
The teal-haired kid could tell it. At first, when he was just adopted by Midorikawa and Hiroto, he tried to avoid telling them everything, even when he was sick. Luckily, both adults were patient with him, after all, they knew the feeling of not knowing where you belong.
“Kids! Dinner is ready! Did you wash your hands?” Midorikawa yelled from the kitchen dragging Masaki back to reality. “That applies for ya too, Hiroto! Wash your hands or you won’t have any food!”
“Coming!” The teal-haired kid yelled back, grabbing Kirino’s wrist and running to the kitchen. “Do not eat my pudding! I saved it for tonight’s show!”
Ranmaru chuckled looking at his friend running to the kitchen to make sure no one eats his dessert. Behind them, Masaki’s father was following them, also running to the kitchen. Masaki's family was definitely a lovely family.
That night, Masaki went to the guest room at midnight. There, Kirino was still awake, he was using his own phone chatting with someone. Slowly, Masaki opened the door and entered the room, at first, the pink-haired kid didn’t notice him so focused on his chat, but, as soon as Kariya dragged the chair and put it next to the bed, he finally did.
“Shouldn’t you be sleeping? You are sick, remember.” Kariya said, bothering his friend. “Who are you talking with, by the way? Your parents already know you are here… Pops called them when you were sleeping.”
Kirino, who almost dropped his phone, turned too fast to look at the boy next to him. “Same goes for you. You have class tomorrow… and If your parents don’t notice it, I will too.” He said with a soft smile. “I was talking with Shindou tho… he asked me how I was, he even sent some messages crying.” He explained with a sigh followed by a soft chuckle.
“Some messages crying?” Kariya asked, standing up to sit next to him on the bed. “Sounds like him.” He said with a smile.
“Yeah… he is a lovely idiot.”
Masaki glazed at Kirino, who was trying to hide a little blush. “You should tell him someday. What you feel for him I mean…” he started to say, carefully and looking at his own hand. “I mean! Isn't it better to have a bad answer than live without knowing what could happen?” He murmured, scratching his own nails. “We both know how hard it is to lose somebody and not being able to tell them anything; plus knowing Shindou-senpai he will be careful with your feelings, he cares about you.” The teal-haired kid said looking at his friends. “Even if he doesn't notice your feelings, at least you tell him first.”
The pink-haired kid chuckled again after the last comment. “I don't think I'm ready to tell him anything about it yet. But… I will, I promise that I tell him what I feel, although I'm gonna go step by step, first I'll tell him that I'm bi… maybe later I'll finish the story about my ex.” He said with a little cough.
“You still owe me the rest of the story.” Masaki said, covering with the bed's blanket; sharing it with Kirino who stepped to the right, giving the teal-haired kid some space. “I mean! You cannot leave a story like that! You said she broke up with you, but until I could see you look like a good boyfriend.” The brown-eyed kid expressed with a sassy smile. “So! Split the tea, Ran.”
“Ran?” Kirino asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, to short Ranmaru.” Masaki explained. “Better than Kiri, isn't it?”
“Alright…” Kirino said with a soft smile. “Well, there's not too much to say, she realized she was a lesbian while she was dating me. She apologized, even if she didn't have to.” He explained with a tired voice. “I loved her romantically, she loved me platonically. That's all.”
Kariya looked at him in surprise. “Oh…” He expressed. “Sorry…” He said, resting his head on Kirino's shoulder.
“It's okay. I mean, it's better to break a heart that can still heal and grow up than to live in a lie, she would suffer and I would suffer too. It was the best for both of us.” Kirino said, resting his head on Kariya's.
“So… it's better to tell Shidou what you feel, don't ya think?” He said in a low voice, hearing Kirino's slow breathing.
After a few seconds of silence, Kirino nodded. “Yeah… someday…” he said with a yawn, falling asleep. “Good night, ‘Saki…”
“Saki?”
“Better than Masa, don't you think?” Kirino joked.
Kariya laughed after that. “Alright, good night Ran.”
The next morning, Masaki would have to stay at home because of getting sick too; but until then, both brothers would have a good rest together, feeling the trust and care of each other.