"It's just that it does make me curious"
"I don't know," replied Daiki "It's not something I think about, so I don't know."
"So you're so used to being with us that you don't even consider what it would be like to be alone, I see..." said the black haired with much amusement.
"Well that's obvious, you idiot. We’re together everyday, I'd have no reason to think otherwise" Saying this, Masaru looked surprised for a moment.
"Wow... and to think you can say cheesy things without even realizing it, who knew..."
“What? What did I say?..."
"Oh, nothing, nothing, don't worry, it's not like it's anything new. That's what I mean by reading between the lines... even if sometimes there’s really, really, small letters" Masaru gave him a playful look.
"I'm not sure of what you just said but I don’t agree with that."
"Sure. Well…, never mind, I can't imagine how that would be either, so I share the sentiment"
"Hmph..."
"So... I would indeed miss you if one day I woke up and you were gone" The black haired gave him a somewhat sad smile. After that nightmare, it was impossible for him to say anything different.
The redhead remained silent as he contemplated his expression, he then sighed.
"Masaru, enough of your nonsense, I'm sleepy, just go to sleep" Daiki stood up from the sofa and turned with direction to the bedroom.
"Yeah, you better go to sleep, we have school in a few hours after all."
"Aren't you coming?" Daiki looked at him curiously.
"Not yet, but I'll be there in a bit"
"...Do you want me to stay with you?" the redhead asked as he considered that his brother might have difficulty sleeping after having had a bad dream.
"Haha, no, you already did too much by talking to me," he replied. "You'd better go to sleep unless you want to be in a worse mood later."
"Okay..., but don't take too long" seeing Masaru nodding his head, Daiki opted to go back to the room.
After seeing his brother leave, Masaru curled up on the couch and stared into nothingness. Even if he wanted to sleep... How would he dare to after what he saw? He didn't want to see Daiki or Mitsuru like that. What had that all been about? All his feelings had gone chaotic, and he'd even gotten emotional over wearing a strange choker...
"Masaru?" a familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts. The green eyed boy looked at him curiously.
“Rage..." he muttered. "What are you doing awake? Did Daiki and I wake you up?"
"Well... You know I'm a light sleeper, just feeling you two get out of bed woke me up."
"Eh... I guess that's the disadvantage of us sleeping in the same bed" said Masaru "Good thing it's big enough, but it would still be nice if we had bunk beds at least."
"It's what our uncle gave us, I think he was generous. It has a comfortable mattress and pillows."
"Well, I can't complain, at least he gave us something to sleep on" said Masaru "Although it will become a problem the older we get..."
"By then I'm sure I can get a part time job and maybe I can get two beds, I wouldn't mind sharing the big bed with Daiki"
"It's not like you're the only one who will work..., you can't just be spoiling us and accepting that like you're our father"
"Maybe, but I'm your big brother and I like to do things for you guys" Daitaro said with a gentle look on his face.
“How do you expect me not to call you submissive when you say things like these..."
"Haha, but forget that, I came to see what was going on with you."
“You know, I'm actually surprised that you wake up so fast, do you wake up even when we go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?" Masaru looked at him very curiously, was his brother even sleeping?
"Sometimes, though, I go back to sleep almost right away when it's like that."
"And why was this time different?"
"Because I heard you two talking… I couldn’t make anything out but at least I knew you both hadn't just gone to the bathroom."
"Oh... And how did you know something happened?"
"He wouldn’t say it, but Daiki looked worried when he came back to bed."
"I see..." Masaru smiled slightly. “Yeah, he's not honest at all."
"So, is there something bothering you?"
"I... just had a bad dream," he replied. "I'm sorry I worried you, I'll be back when I manage to stop thinking about it."
"Hmm... Do you remember falling asleep in the living room in the afternoon?"
"Hm? What about it?"
"Well, Daiki and Mitsuru had ran to the park trying not to do the dishes" he explained. Masaru looked intrigued, of course, he ended up laughing after hearing that. He understood that Daitaro just wanted to distract him so he could sleep. "Apparently they found a boy who was trying to return a baby bird to its nest."
"Wow..."
"Yes, apparently the boy tried to climb up with the baby bird but the branch broke."
"So what did they do?"
"Well... Mitsuru came looking for me, commenting that Daiki couldn't see me because of embarrassment or something" explained Daitaro happily. "So I helped them by climbing the tree and putting the little bird in the nest."
"Ohhh, did you show your skills?"
"Yes..., I jumped like you taught me."
"Great! Too bad I couldn't-" exclaimed the black haired excitedly.
"Shhh... Not so loud, you don't want Daiki to come and shut us up."
"Right, sorry...., hehe" Masaru laughed briefly. "So, they were amazed to see your jump?"
"Yeah, they started giving me embarrassing compliments, even though Daiki scolded me..."
"It was to be expected" Masaru reflected on this. "Wait..., you didn't tell him that it was me who taught you, did you?"
"No. I said it had been from videos on the internet. I know Daiki wouldn't leave you alone if he knew..., though I almost ruined it by telling Mitsuru. Since he started saying that I was the most agile and that you couldn't do that, so I told him that you could..., but he didn't believe me, so you're safe" the redhead explained as he apologized with his gaze.
"It's okay, I appreciate that you wanted to defend me, but they don't need to know. Not that I mind, but your twin might get really tiresome if he finds out I taught you something dangerous."
"And wouldn't you want to tell Mitsuru if nothing else?"
"Are you kidding? He's a loose lip, I'm sure Daiki would end up finding out. So I appreciate that you lied, even though it was half lie half truth."
"I'm surprised you were able to learn by watching videos… Oh, Daiki gave me his word. If I get an instructor then he'll agree to let me keep jumping like this."
"Hmm... I guess that instructor can't be me."
"Definitely not."
"Yeah, I figured, so are you planning to listen to Daiki?"
"Well only on the part about jumping too much..., I can't stop practicing but I can do it less often."
“Rage, it's weird when you jump like that. Doing that less often, in your case, means you'll stop jumping."
"Well, Daiki promised he would let me jump like that if necessary."
"What about the instructor part?"
"Maybe I can ask our uncle and insist on it..., it's true that I wouldn't want you to get hurt. Daiki's worries are not exaggerated."
“Huh... So you weren't thinking of asking that guy for the favor if it wasn't because I might get hurt? Rage, think about yourself a little"
"I wasn't planning to do it, so as to not upset Daiki, but, I think it's one of those things I should try."
"And do you think he would say yes?"
"No. Although, if I tell him it's so we can run away in case it's needed, and he ends up saving money for what could happen..."
Masaru squinted at the unsettling assumption.
“You’re thinking of telling him that it would be convenient so he wouldn't have to pay a ransom? Do you even think he would pay for that?"
"I think he would. He'd do it for our parents, although since he'd surely want to save that money... Maybe he'd agree."
"Don't you think if that's the case he would have signed us up into a martial arts class?"
"Hmm… Now that you mention it... Wouldn't it be nice to try to get him to get us into a class? You know, it saves money in the long run” Daitaro suggested very happily.
"Eh... You do have a lot of faith in that being convincing..." Masaru commented as he considered this option, he then nodded strongly. "But I like it, I think it could work. Though Mitsuru would sure hate to be forced to go."
"Yeah, he'd probably say that he doesn't have to go because he runs fast, that the ones they'd catch first is us and so he doesn’t want to be involved."
They both shared a laugh as they could imagine their brother saying that. After calming down, Masaru wiped away a tear before nodding resolutely.
"Thank you, Rage, I think I feel better enough to sleep now."
"I'm glad. I don't want you to be falling asleep in class. I plan to ask your teacher."
"What? Well..., I'll at least try not to" Masaru said as he stood up. Daitaro nodded before likewise leaving the couch to go back to sleep.
Daitaro, who stared at the dark ceiling of the room, thought about Masaru for a moment. His brother who usually didn't take something like nightmares seriously... Was being affected to that degree by them?
Not that they never affected him either, but it was very strange, and he believed that this was the first time he had seen him so disturbed, to the point of having to go to the living room in order to avoid going back to sleep. This being so, it was impossible not to feel a little sorry for him, so he hoped that at least the conversation they had had..., would help his dreams be about something different.
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