Archive of Our Own

Akito was clearly overworking himself again. From the fact that he barely responded to An’s snarky comments, to his eyebags that he covered with concealer, he wasn;t doing a great job of hiding it.

Well, actually, allow me to rephrase that. He did a very good job of hiding it from strangers and others at school. But his teammates noticed something may be off.

“Shinonome-kun? Are you okay, you seem kind of tired.” Kohane spoke up just a couple days ago, when the group was having a study session together.

“Huh? Oh…yeah I’m good, Koha.”

“Seriously? You don’t look like it!” An joked

“What’s that supposed to mean…” Akito glared at the dark-haired girl.

“I’m saying you look like shi-”

“Shiraishi…” “An-chan!” Toya and Kohane interrupted the girl at the same time.

“It..would be a bit funny,” Kohane continued, despite a disapproving look from Toya at that remark, “But Shinonome seems genuinely tired. You should tone down the jokes for now!”

An sighed, “Alright. Sorry, Kohane. And Akito, go get proper rest so I won’t have to tease you anymore.”

“Ha-ha.” Akito replied monotonically, “Like me getting rest would change anything.”

“Even then, it’s important to get a proper good-night’s sleep.” Toya informed.

“Oi! You’re one to talk, Mr. Three-A.M-Reader!” Akito replied, playfully poking his partner’s cheek.

Despite the playful remark, Toya was worried for Akito. His voice was a lot more quiet than usual, even when singing. Akito always puts his all into practice and performance, so Toya took it as a tell-tale sign that something was wrong.

A few days later, it seemed like Akito had gotten back on track. His eye bags were less intense, he was walking straighter, and his voice gained a bit more power. Everyone believed he was good again.

Well, everyone except Toya.

“Aki?” Toya asked, tugging on his partner’s arm before they went to practice with the Vivids in Weekend Garage, “I can tell you didn’t really get much better, have you? You should rest today, I’m sure the girls won’t mind.”

“Nah, I’ll…I’ll be fine, Toya.” Akito replied, hesitating.

Toya narrowed his eyes, knowing his hesitation was due to the fact that his brain was actively running on…who knows how many sleepless nights?

“Practice comes first, don’t worry about me. I’m fine!” Before Toya could protest, the ginger was already walking over to An and Kohane, where they passed him a mic and started their vocal warmups.

Toya sighed and walked over to the group. Akito was as stubborn as they come. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to just ignore his instinct for practice and let Akito rest later?

+++

Big. Fucking. Mistake. Toya realised as he turned around to the sight of his partner losing balance, his legs giving in, and falling on the floor.

“Akito!” Toya exclaimed, crouching down to examine his partner.

“Shinonome-kun!” “Akito?!” Kohane and An stood with panicked expressions.

“Mmmgh…” Akito stirred as he slowly blinked his eyes open, “...Toya?”

“Aki!! A-are you alright?!”

“Ah- yeah, I…” Akito began trying to sit up. He looked at An and Kohane’s visible distress, and then his partner, “I-I’m, uhh. Fine. Let's continue practicing.”

“Um, no way!” An exclaimed, “We’re not gonna go right back to practice after you just face-planted on the floor!”

“She’s right. You need to rest, come on.” He said, grabbing Akito and lifting him into his arms, carrying him like a damsel in distress, “Shiraishi? Is there somewhere we could lay down?”

“There’s a couch when you enter the apartment. Dad isn’t here right now, so don’t worry about intruding. I’ll call him and let him know you’re there.”

“Thanks, Shiraishi.” Toya replied as he walked towards the apartment area of the building.

As soon as he located the couch, he set Akito down, laying him flat up facing the ceiling.

“Ugh…” Akito groaned.

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“My neck…” the ginger mumbled.

Ah, that’s right. Toya didn’t think about the no-pillow situation. He looked all around the Shiraishis’ couch, but surprisingly there was no pillow suitable for resting his head on.

And to add on to the problem, Toya had nowhere to sit either. Unless he…

…

No.

That’s absurd.

Well-

Is it?

Surely normal partners would do that too… But what is the definition of partners in this sense?

Toya shook his head. Details didn’t matter. His priority right now was making sure Akito was comfortable.

Which is why he justified himself for doing this.

He slowly lifted Akito from the couch (much to the younger’s dismay) and sat there. He then slowly let Akito’s head descend and rest again.

Only this time, his head landed on his lap. Akito instantly relaxed, leaning into his warmth.

Actually, normally Akito’s the naturally warm one. But Toya’s face was on fire. And he was very glad that Akito wasn’t awake right now to see how much he was burning, let alone find out he’s using his lap as a temporary pillow for the tired boy.

He looked down at Akito, already fast asleep. Despite himself earlier, he smiled softly at the sight of the sleeping boy.

“You’ve been working so hard, ‘Kito. You don’t need to tire yourself out, though…” Toya whispered, unsure if Akito could even hear him or not. Toya looked at his partner. He was so…cute. And beautiful.

Akito was very handsome, it’s a fact. Lots of girls asked for his Snap or asked him out all the time. So it was totally normal to have these thoughts about his partner, then. It was totally normal for Toya to wonder what it would be like to feel his lips against his own, or to hold him and awaken to his beautiful smile each morning in a lovely future life.

Toya relaxed in his spot, moving his fingers to play with his partner’s fluffy hair.

Again- totally normal. I mean, Akito ruffled his hair a lot too. But the way he was dragging his fingers through the strands felt far more…intimate. It wouldn’t really be particularly romantic (I mean, platonic activities like this DO exist,) but thanks to the way his face was heated abnormally (reference), and not to mention the fact that he kept having not-so-straight thoughts about his partner, he tried to use denial to escape the romantic feelings.

Suddenly, he felt Akito shift underneath him.

“Oh, sorry…am I bothering you?” Toya asked

“No…” Akito replied, “My head just hurts.”

“Ah…is there anything you think would help?”

“...Probably a proper meal, honestly.”

Toya blinked slowly, before realization dawned upon him, “Akito, have you not been eating either?”

“Uh…yeah.” He answered sheepishly, “I assumed it was kinda obvious…”

Now that Toya thought about it, yeah, it was pretty obvious. With the way Akito ate merely a granola bar during lunch instead of a proper meal, or the fact that he refused foods other than pancakes and cheesecake since last week. But it was also just another sign of how good Akito is at covering up his struggles.

Toya frowned, “Akito…why would you do this to yourself? I thought we established that it's okay to take breaks.”

“I just…I need to work more. I feel so powerless right now. And working this much at the cost of my health just satisfies me for some reason…” Akito cut himself off before he could get any farther in his rant.

“That’s not the answer, Akito. We should work together and rely on each-other, right?”

“Yeah…”

Toya, despite being disappointed, smiled at his partner, “Get some rest, Aki. you can eat after you wake up.”

“Ugh…it hurts, though…”

“Is there anything I can do to help you fall asleep quicker, then?” Toya asked.

Honestly, listening to Toya’s beautiful voice was enough to relax his mind a little more. But there was no way in hell he was outright saying that. So, he settled on subtly pleading for the next best thing.

“Ah, well, uhh…there is, um, something…but…”

Toya tilted his head, “Aktio? No need to hesitate, if you need me to get something I'll be happy to.”

“No, no, it’s not that. But…hmmn….” Akito looked away, avoiding eye contact as Toya stared at the immense blush on his face.

‘What could possibly make him act this way…?’ Toya thought.

“Could you…c-continue what you were doing before…maybe…”

“Akito, you’ll have to clarify a little more…” Toya gave his partner a confused look.

“Y-y’know. The…” Akito trailed off, running a hand through his hair and hoping toya would finally get the hint.

A lightbulb seemed to go off in Toya’s head as he finally spared Akito from any more questions.

“Ah…I see,” he said.

“Mhm…” Akito nodded.

And to his own horror, Toya smirked.

“I see…”

“...Wh-what do you mean? Why did you repeat it- Oi!! What’s with that expression?!” Akito interrogated,

“That's just so cute, ‘Kito. How unexpected…”

“Wha- Don’t call me cute, man!” Akito retorted as his face was tainted with scarlet.

“Why not? It’s simply an observation.”

“Gosh, you’re insufferable, you know that?” Akito told his partner, despite the smile on his face.

“I know that’s not true,” Toya smiled even more, “Otherwise you wouldn’t be asking for this.”

Before Akito had another chance to react, Toya raked his fingers through the ginger hair as the younger one quieted down. The flush on his face was soon simply a pink hue highlighting his cheeks, but Toya was the one who continued to be scarlet. He had his hands in the hair of none other than… AHEM AHEM his crush- I mean…his platonic amigo.

Toya was once again knocked into his own thoughts when he heard quiet, even breathing coming from the boy on his lap, and he looked down to see Akito resting peacefully with a smile on his face. His hands loosely held on to Toya’s unoccupied arm, something the blue-haired boy wasn’t even aware of.

Toya rested his own head against the headboard of the couch. He looked over at Akito, and decided that maybe it wouldn't hurt to get some extra sleep. It also would mean more immunity to reading-late-nights.

Toya lowered his head a little to whisper to his partner, “Sleep well…Akito…”. He debated on making the risky move to kiss his cheek or something, but that would be too risky for sure. For now, he just settled on letting his partner get his well-deserved break.

Unbeknownst to him, a cell phone camera peeked in from the crack in the door and snapped some pictures. The culprits snuck back down to the main area, failing to hide a few giggles here and there.

“Look at how damn gay they are!! It’s, like, genuinely pathetic. Affectionately.” An said

“They’re so cute together!” Kohane gushed, “They remind me of us a while ago. Akito looks so peaceful with Toya! And look at how red Toya is!”

“I can’t wait to see Akito’s reaction! He’s gonna get so embarrassed! Right Kohane?” When An got no response from the blonde girl, she tried again, “Kohane?” She looked to her right and saw Kohane standing still with a troubled expression.

“An-chan…” Kohane started. “Isn’t spying like this illegal?”