Aki sniffles as he watches Hiroto walk around the room. He picks up a few shoes put in the wrong place and quietly puts them aside. He's being mindful of Aki by cleaning his room, but instead of having to watch Hiroto do work Aki would've preferred to be hugged by him.
"How are you feeling?" Hiroto asks, kneeling beside him and runs a hand through his hair. "Any better?"
"No," Aki mumbles, shaking his head before leaning into his touch. "Come here."
Aki holds the blanket up and let's Hiroto slip into the bed with him. He shuffles closer to Hiroto, pressing his body against him and stuffs his head into Hiroto's neck. Aki feels a hand massage his head and it slides down to his neck. Hiroto rubs his thumb across the bandaid covering the bite mark on Aki's collarbone. It had been stinging before but now as Hiroto touches him gently, the pain was nothing but a distant memory.
"When Kiyoshi was younger he wanted to be a singer," Hiroto says out of the blue. Aki looks up at him and chooses to quietly listen. "He really enjoyed writing songs about everything he liked. He would write about the things he loved or the things that bothered him. You could say it comforted him."
Hiroto shifts a little so that he is on the same level as Aki and a bitter smile plasters his face. "But that was before he had his first heat. When Kiyoshi had his first heat he was already 17. They said it was a really late time for his body to have undergone that and it took a toll on him. They locked him away for a week and the symptoms were still not going away. In a family where only alphas were born, they didn't know what to do with him. And so, they sent me to Kiyoshi."
"What?" Aki asks, his eyes widening as Hiroto's expression morphs into a pained look.
"I was only about 12 when they told me I had to go and help my brother," Hiroto's voice is strained and Aki doesn't know if he wants him to continue. "So I went into the room and—" his voice cracks and he takes a second to calm himself. "You know what happens when an omega goes into heat. Omegas secrete pheromones that cause alphas to lose all sense. It wasn't Kiyoshi's fault but the whole room pretty much stank of him. It only took me a moment to lose my cool and I—"
Aki covers Hiroto's mouth and shakes his head. He knew where this was going. Was this why Kiyoshi and Hiroto had a different level of closeness?
"When I saw that kid over you," Hiroto's glassy eyes stare into his own and Aki feels his chest tighten. "I just remembered what I did to Kiyoshi and it just made me feel horrible. What right did I have to look down at him when I had done the same thing?"
"No," Aki says, his hand curling around Hiroto's cheeks. "No, you saved me, Hiroto. And I'm sure Kiyoshi thinks you saved him too. If you weren't there, who knows who they would've sent in to him instead."
"But I'm his brother," Hiroto sighs. "No one would ever want their younger brother to see them in such a vulnerable state."
"From what I've seen," Aki smiles, rubbing his fingers across Hiroto's cheeks. "Kiyoshi trusts in you and definitely still loves you the same as he did before."
Hiroto closes his eyes and the tears begin flowing. "I thought I was too late," Hiroto whispers, his hands coming up to grab Aki's.
Aki chuckles softly before leaning forward to kiss Hiroto's eyes. "You're such a cry baby. I'm fine, can't you see."
"He touched you," Hiroto replies, opening his eyes to give Aki a look. "He almost—"
"Hiroto," Aki silences him with a stern look. "I'm the one who was harassed, I'm telling you I'm okay."
Hiroto doesn't say anything as Aki wipes away the tear on his face. There's a silence between them as they take deep breaths. Aki runs his finger over Hiroto's lips and parts his mouth. He closes his eyes and leans forward, slipping his tongue into Hiroto's mouth. It's warm and comforting as Hiroto sucks at his tongue slowly, gently, softly. Aki has never felt this way before, this safe and happy, with anyone. Even when Kanae had been Aki's closest person, the way he touched Aki never felt this intimate. Was it because of the bond?
"Aki," Hiroto says as he pulls away, quickly licking away at the strand of saliva that tugs at their lips. His eyes are dazed and fixated at Aki's. "Are you sure you're okay with doing this?"
Aki's eyes drop down to Hiroto's lips as a sudden memory of Kanae appears in his mind. He takes a deep breath before nodding. "Hiroto, honestly the best thing you could do for me is distract me from it all."
Hiroto nods before capturing Aki's lips once again, licking his way in as he slips a hand around his waist. He pulls him unbelievably closer and sighs into his mouth. It's all so warm and Aki can feel the sweat building up on his forehead and neck, but instead of pushing Hiroto away, Aki wraps his arms around his shoulders and intertwines their bodies further.
"This is enough," Aki says, breaking the kiss and hurriedly stuffing his face into Hiroto's neck. He likes the way Hiroto feels but he doesn't want to take it any further. He worries about how Hiroto would react, but all the older boy does is throw a leg over him and cuddle into his side.
"Sleep well, Aki. I'll wake you up in the morning."
Aki closes his eyes and takes in Hiroto's scent, a lingering shiver runs up his spine and tickles his collarbone. The bond feels stronger rather than weak and Aki feels sleep take over his body. He misses the way Hiroto looks down at him one last time with a face full of guilt.
-
"And you still want to know if he's doing well or not?" Levi looks annoyed, angry, confused— he's expressing many emotions at once that Aki can't seem to understand what he means. "You're too soft for him."
"But I care for Kanae," Aki knows it's foolish to wonder whether or not Kanae was alright but after he had woken up, Hiroto refused to tell him anything related to Kanae. On top of that, Kanae had been absent from university for a whole week now. "He's someone close."
"Was," Levi corrects, shaking his head. "After what he's done, I don't think you should give him another chance."
Aki hums quietly before spinning around his empty glass, the small remains of water splashing the sides of the glass. Levi turns away from Aki and begins to talk to Toshiro, who was surprisingly a lot more tame than usual. Whenever he was around Aki, he would wag his tail around him and speak non-stop. But for once he was simply standing there, listening to Levi complain about the latest shipping of drinks.
"Honestly, I think you should just give up on trying to amend your relationship with Kanae," Levi says once Toshiro disappears among the crowd in search of someone. "He may have been your close friend, but do you really think you can forgive him for what he did and that he will stop looking at you in that way?"
He doesn't know. Aki doesn't know why Kanae is still head over heels for him despite being rejected plainly by Aki many times. Aki doesn't know if he can be alone in the same room with Kanae anymore. But he wants to see Kanae doing fine. He wants to see Kanae move on and apologise.
"I understand what you mean," Aki says in defeat, lowering his head. "Sometimes it feels like I'm the one who has to move on, not Kanae."
Aki opens his mouth to say something else when Toshiro appears beside him again, leaning over the counter to grab Levi's collar. He whispers something in his ear with a large grin on his face and soon Levi's also smiling. Aki doesn't get what's going on, but he knows that it was his cue to leave.
"Alright," Aki stands up and smiles, watching as Toshiro finally acknowledges his existence. "I'll get going."
"I'll see you later, yeah?" Levi asks, raising an eyebrow to him as he slaps away Toshiro's hand reaching for his leg. Aki chuckles and nods.
"Yeah, I'll see you later."
It's a bit chilly outside but Aki holds his arms around him tightly. He walks over to his car, which was actually Haruki's and Aki had to beg him multiple times before getting, and unlocks it. But just before he takes a seat, he feels a pair of eyes watching him. Glancing around him, Aki realises that there was no one around him. Shurgging his shoulders, he slips into the car and turns the engine on, shaking his head for being paranoid.
"I must be imagining things."