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"Ah, Kei! It’s so nice to see you, what a nice surprise!"
He couldn’t help but furrow his brow at him. "We've been planning this visit for a while now..."
"True, but we weren't expecting to see you for another hour or so." Akiteru leaned back and pulled the door wide for him to enter, expecting the usual crowd to follow in beside him. "Tadashi and the kids?"
Toeing off his shoes and setting them to the side, he responded under his breath. "He wanted to take them to the park for a bit."
It was evident by the dark bags under his eyes, the little ones hadn't allowed him to sleep much on the train ride here. He had to cover his mouth with his hand to suppress the grin on his face.
Ah, children.
"Saeko's out buying groceries for dinner tonight but the guest rooms are ready. I can wake you up once Tadashi gets back."
Kei shook his head and sat himself on their couch. Elbows propped on his knees as he covered the bottom of his face and stared at a spot on the carpet.
Akiteru watched him think for a while before excusing himself to make tea. As he set the kettle on the burner and brought out the mugs, he peaked back out to the living room and Kei was still sitting and staring at the same corner of the room. Akiteru turned back to set up snacks for the two when Kei had called for him. "Hmm? Yes?"
He hesitated. "Can I... ask you a question?"
"Of course. You can ask me anything."
Kei dropped a hand to hang between his legs while the other began to mess with his glasses. "How do you... get kids to like you?"
"W...what? I don't understand what--?"
Clearing his throat and running a hand through his hair, still staring at the same spot in the room. "How do you get kids to like you?"
Hearing it a second time didn't help. "Is something in the house?"
"No, of course not."
He expected a follow up explanation. "Could you... elaborate?"
Kei sighed at this and Akiteru can only imagine he'd gotten too accustomed to not having to explain himself to Tadashi. "I don't think the twins... like me very much." When he chanced a look at him, Kei only sighed louder and covered his face.
"Well... what makes you say that?"
"They just... cling onto Tadashi a lot more than... and they're always so excited whenever he says he's going to pick them up from daycare. Always want to show him their drawings and have him carry them." Hanging his head, he took a deep breath before continuing in a calmer tone. "When Tadashi told them I'd be heading here to rest, they didn't even look phased when I said goodbye. Only gave me a quick hug and pulled Yama away to go play."
He had to ask about that Yama part later tonight, but he couldn't believe what Kei was saying. "You're... serious?" Akiteru could feel the corner of his lips twitch into a smile. "Oh my God you're serious."
Kei's upper lip was pulled back in disgust and he crossed his arms defensively. "Niichan, it's not a joke."
Akiteru cut him up with a wave of his hand and shook his head. "No, no it isn't. I'm sorry it's just-" He covered his mouth to keep from laughing. This entire conversation feeling incredibly familiar. "You were the exact same way when you were younger." He chuckled. "You'd spend the entire time in my room showing me your class work and drawings. Mom and dad were worried that you'd never make friends with how quiet you were with everybody else. It wasn't till Tadashi came that they could breathe and even then you only seemed to talk to him about me."
Kei clicked his tongue. "I was never that bad."
Akiteru gave him a look. "Instead of a fireman or cop you wanted to dress up as me for career day."
"What."
"You wanted to wear my old uniform and bring a volleyball too."
"Niichan-"
"You were so cute back then too. Wanted to bring in bag and shoes which were about twice your size."
"Akiteru-"
"Oh and when we'd go to parties-" He was cut off by a pillow tossed at his face. "Bah, alright, alright." Crossing his arms, Akiteru bent down to pick it up and brought it with him to take a seat next to his uncute brother. "You've gotten so old now. A husband. Kids. It's kind of hard seeing you all grown up instead of that chubby cheeked baby brother of mine."
Kei scoffed and tilted his head towards him. "You're starting to sound like dad now."
Akiteru hummed and leaned back against the cushion till the top of his head knocked against the wall. "I guess I'm getting old too." It'd been a while since he and Kei had such a personal moment. Whether it'd be spending time with their families or working, things would come up and plans would be reschedualed. Had it not been for Tadashi and Saeko's insistance on visiting, it probably would have been a few months before they'd have the time to meet up.
And Akiteru was going to cherish every moment spent with his not-so-little brother.
"Have you talked to Tadashi about it?"
He shook his head. "He'd just say I'm being ridiculous."
"Well you kind of are." He moved his foot just in time to dodge Kei's stomp. "But I doubt he'd say it out loud."
"Yeah... I know." The corners of Kei's lips twitched as he resisted upwards and Akiteru wanted to laugh at how sappy his brother was.
"Well if they're anything like you then just give it a few years till they find a freckled friend of their own to cling onto next."
Kei snorted and tilted his head towards him. "I did not cling."
“Mmm, no. It was definitely cling.” He grinned at memory of little Kei coming home and talking about what he and Tadashi did in club or that look on his face when mom agreed to let him sleepover for the weekend. All starry eyed as he called him saying it was okay and telling him what to bring. Nowadays though he seemed less like that cute child and more like a brick wall. He sighed dramatically and waved his hand. “Bah, what happened to my adorable little brother?”
“What are you talking about?”
“What’s who talking about?” The both turned their heads to Saeko with heavy bags in her hand, holding the door open with one foot for Tadashi and the kids. “Is he speaking without context again?”
“Again?”
“He does it a lot actually.”
“Hey, hey, whose side are you on anyways?” He quickly moved to take the bags off of her hands and give her a kiss on the cheek. Akiteru jumped when he felt two pair of tiny hands gripping the side of his pants. “Wha-“
“Uncle!” They both cheered. “Good afternoon!”
“Ah, Satoshi, Satoru.” Careful not to the bags on their heads, he set the groceries on the table then turned to ruffle their hair. “Look at the both of you, you’ve gotten so big. In a few years you’ll be even taller than your daddy.’
“I’m gonna keep growing till I’m taller than Fuji!” The one on his left grinned, hooking his hands around Akiteru leg and giving him a tight hug.
“Me too, I’m gonna keep growing till I’m tall like Tokyo Tower!” That seemed to come from the one on his left, clinging to the jeans with a matching grin.
Their bright eyes and baby fat, was enough to bring tears to his eyes. There was no possible way these little guys came from his brick wall of a brother.
“Satoshi, Satoru, why don’t we go unpack your bags before you give uncle a heart attack.” Kei said, Tadashi standing beside him.
No possible way he could have had a hand in creating such tiny balls of sunshine.
Before Kei could take another step towards the kids, Tadashi grabbed his hand; trying (and failing) to suppress a grin. “Actually, before we unpack, Toshi and Toru wanted to show you something.” He turned to said twins who’d since left Akiteru’s side once hearing their names. “Wasn’t there something you wanted to show daddy?”
“Yeah!” They both began to dig through their pockets, Satoru pulling out a pair of plastic glasses. “Mama, let us keep them when we meeted Auntie at the store.”
Satoshi struggled taking his out but once he managed to untangle it, eagerly placed them on his face and grinned. “We look just like you, daddy!”
“Uh huh, we look just like you.” Satoru pushed his glasses up trying to imitate the way he’s seen his dad do so many times. “Pathetic.”
Akiteru nearly lost it. The Kei in them was now incredibly obvious. It was impossible to miss it now. He looked up from the twins, who were now having a back and forth on who could say pathetic most like daddy, to Tadashi trying to suppress a grin of his own while holding Kei’s hand.
“Mama! We look just like daddy, right?” Satoru said, tugging on his pants and raising a hand to do the same with Kei. “We look just like daddy don’t we?”
Looking to said dad, Akiteru felt the grin on his face slip. His eyes started to water as Kei covered his mouth, trying to suppress the growing grin on his face.
“Yes… Just like daddy.”
Akiteru couldn’t hold it in anymore. Deep down his adorable little brother was still there. Hidden under all that apathy and awkwardness, was the adorable baby brother he remembers from all those years ago.
It was just enough to make a grown man cry.
“Oi, Aki, were you making tea earlier? Because you forgot to put down the— eh? You’re crying already!?”