Archive of Our Own ^beta

Yuya deigned to understand that at some point or another, Sora would get bored and stop chasing him.

That was not the case after a week, nor after two weeks, nor after three. He noticed that Sora would follow him home in plain sight each and every day, only appearing to look inconspicuous. When Yuya turned around, Sora would look away and pretend to whistle aimlessly, but apparently he had no problem waiting outside in the bushes while Yuya went inside his house and boldly appearing on the doorstep fifteen minutes later. Yoko pitied Sora, as it seemed that he had nowhere to call home, or perhaps it was that she found him irresistibly adorable. Yuya couldn’t tell one or the other, or both, whether it was with Sora or the cats and dogs his mother brought home every night. It didn’t seem like a problem to him at first, he was used to the animals, and he believed that at night his home was the only place he could find respite from his reluctantly appointed “apprentice”. But on the fourth week, that changed.

“He doesn’t have anywhere to go, that’s what he tells me… And he’s so cute! You’re teaching him too, aren’t you? He wants to be just like you, that’s right…” Yoko explained. To Yuya, this was the exact same as every other spiel she went into when she brought a new puppy or kitten home, but at the same time it was different. Sora was not a puppy or a kitten, he was a person, a kid, and despite his young age Yuya knew that a single mom with just one kid was hard work. Yuya tried to be as low maintenance as possible, but he knew for a fact Sora was an entirely different matter.

“Yeah, but…he... He’s always following me around! It’s weird!” Yuya shook his head and looked mildly embarrassed. “Moooom…You don’t understand…”

“Hush. He’s a guest, you know. And we’re always kind to cute guests, animal or not~!” Yuya’s mother smiled warmly. “How about just a week, and we’ll see how it goes? If not, I can call one of m--”

“Okay, okay! Deal. A week-- and that’s it, Mom!” As soon as the words left his mouth, Yuya knew it was going to be a long week.

The first two days went smoothly. Yuya and Sora arrived home, Yoko made them something to eat. There was infinite chatter coming from Sora’s end, and Yuya replied his best, but it was hard for him to keep up with the boy. Yoko was clearly far more able than him, he knew this because often he would catch the two of them in the kitchen excitedly discussing cake recipes or something similar. When the sun set, Sora slept on a pull-out couch in the living room without complaint. He said it was fine; he said it was comfortable, and Yuya felt strangely jealous when all of the little animals would pile up on and snuggle Sora all night. On the third day, Sunday (the Sakakis’ laundry day), there was nowhere to sleep on the couch. Sora, not wanting to cause too much trouble with his new adoptive mother, pleaded with her to just let him sleep on the laundry if no one felt like moving it. Yoko firmly refused every time he brought it up throughout the day.

“Yuya, he’s sleeping with you, and that’s final.”

Yuya looked slightly surprised at his mother’s demand. He had kids sleep in the same bed with him when he was younger and in elementary school, but he was fourteen now, and sleeping with someone would be awkward. He didn’t really understand why his mother didn’t just move the laundry and make a pallet there for Sora, and when he asked she only shushed him.

“I want you two to bond, so that’s the way! He’s always making those cutesy admiring eyes at you, why don’t you just let him do it once?” Yoko pushed Sora gently towards her son as she spoke.

He decided it likely that Sora and his mother were in some sort of “cahoots”, because only the both of them would come up with that idea together. They were ordered to bed shortly after and Yoko only nudged the blue-haired boy closer to Yuya when he started to climb up the pole to the second floor. He thought to himself: “Not only is it going to be a long week, it’s gonna be a loooong night.”

Neither boy spoke when they got ready for bed. Yuya sheepishly told Sora to look away when he changed into his pajamas. It wasn’t that he would normally care, but he was shy and Sora would probably take some chance with shirtless him to be unnecessarily creepy. It confused him when Sora easily complied, with no argument or puppy eyes to convince him otherwise. He felt vulnerable with his back turned to Sora. Any time he had been with him before, he sensed a strange hostility in the young boy’s eyes. When Yuya turned around, he was startled to find that Sora had already changed into.. His grey sweater.

“That’s my sweater!” The taller boy accused, looking much more confused than forceful.

“I know! Your mom gave it to me. It’s really warm~” Sora rocked back on his heels with his hands behind his back and shot Yuya a suspiciously innocent face.

Yuya thought for a second that it looked a little too cute, but shook his head and turned to climb into bed. He quickly situated himself and pulled the covers roughly over his body, lying on his side and facing away from Sora. “Well, now I know where it went…” he grumbled.

Yuya heard close shuffling behind him and briefly wondered how Sora climbed into bed without making a single noise, but put it to rest and simply tugged the sheet further over himself. Sora made a quick sound of uncomplicated indignance and rolled over. Both of them just wanted to sleep, but Yuya’s bed was uncomfortably small and made that task difficult for both of them. Yuya wanted his own space, and Sora wanted more blankets.

Suddenly, Yuya felt the warm touch of a body against him and small arms wrapped around him just below his chest. He sighed and resigned himself to his fate, then squeezed his pillow. Sora was warm, really warm, and it was strangely comforting. He felt the small boy nuzzle his back and fall into a restful stillness.

“It’s a shame.”

Yuya blinked and sat up a bit, lifting the blanket to give his friend a tired, muddled glare. “What is?”

“It’s a shame that we can’t be friends in the end.”

He thought he could see a peaceful but deranged smile, uncharacteristic of Sora, in the darkness underneath the heavy blanket, and in response he simply dropped the cover back down and returned to lying down. Something seemed eerily sincere about Sora’s statement. The thought left Yuya’s mind when he finally drifted off to sleep.

Sora must have been sleep talking.