Disclaimer- I dont own the twins. Subaru and Hokuto are the brain children of CLAMP
Hey! this is angst free! i must not be feeling well or something... i was rewatching Tokyo Babylon (my ooooooold vhs copies!) and i wanted to write something for the two of them. Subaru and Hokuto really are adorable....
as always, reviews are appreciated! even more than pocky!
-fireun
It had been a long night.
He huddled against the door, trying to settle his breathing into something less frantic and ragged, something that was less likely to give him away. Not that he could avoid it, his shirt was torn down the left sleeve, and most likely bloody. It had been a hard night. A tough job, almost enough to make him want to huddle on his bed, curled in his quilts with the lights on and hope no one bothered him until he was more centered and calm.
Hence pressing desperately against the exterior of his own front door. There would be no escaping the attentive concern of his sister once he entered that apartment. And he hated making her worry. Hated being a bother.
Which is of course why the latch on the door chose that moment to click, announcing that someone was about to open it and peer outside.
He managed to pull himself into an only slightly wobbly upright position, and plaster what he hoped was a convincing smile across his pale face. Thus he was prepared when the door opened, revealing his mirror image of a sister, dressed in something that was juxtaposition between a toddlers pajamas and a lingerie stores wet dream; all in pink and black and somehow managing to contain both lace and fleece. Her face was creased in a sort of thoughtful half-frown as she stood in the door.
"Subaru?"
The apartment behind her looked to warm...so comfy...his room was so tempting... "Sorry I am late, Hokuto. That job took longer than I thought it would." He gazed longingly past her, towards the quiet depths of his domain.
"I was starting to worry!" she admitted with a smile. "I should know better though! There is no job my brother cant handle!" It was a loving sort of teasing, her way of trying not to let him know how much she worried when he was gone.
"Hokuto!" His was a blushing protest, trying not to let her know how exhausted he was. "Just let me get to the shower and then I need some sleep or any job will be too much."
"I have some tea waiting for you. I will heat it up." Finally she moved out of the doorway, allowing him to finally drag himself the last few steps to home.
"You really don't have to wait up for me all the time." She looked half asleep, hair mussed and wearing slippers that were more fashion disasters than footwear.
"It is not like I have anyone else to wait up for." She curled him into a hug as he tried to pass, and must have felt a bit of his trembling exhaustion for she didn't keep him for too long. "Get in the shower, and then get your esteemed rear into bed! Its not good for you to get this run down."
"I'm sorry!" He was well past her and almost into the bathroom when she finished her motherly directions, so she couldn't smack him as she told him to stop apologizing.
He fumbled with the faucet, clawed his way out of his sweat and blood dirtied clothes, and hauled himself beneath the steaming water. He was luxurious, the feel of hot water over aching muscles, pulling away the dirt of a hard evening of work, teasing strain into lethargy. He pressed his head against the wall, letting the pounding water do all the work.
It is terrifying how some things will only bother you once you are too relaxed to worry about them consciously. It is like the mind is politely trying to remind you that while you might be comfortable it still has things it would like to be taken care of. Which was how Subaru came to be huddled in the bottom of the shower stall, arms wrapped tightly around his slender form, trying to deal with the fact that tonight he had come close to dying. He knew his line of work was dangerous, knew a misstep or could have disastrous results...but theory is always an entity quite different from experience. And tonight that experience had been overpowering. His body remembered the fear- the sweating, the pounding of his pulse and the screaming of his mind. His mind replayed it for him, not out of any malicious intent, but more so as to attempt to work out how this could be avoided the next time around.
It had been a long night. The sun was due to rise any minute now, and Subaru was too tired, too strung out to wait through the shock and manage as he usually did. Lacking his distinctive elegant grace he stumbled out of the shower, toweled dry, and pulled on a clean set of black pants and an odd sort of red, sleeveless top his sister had found for him. Moving on instinct he made his way to the closed door of his sisters bedroom. There cognition kicked back in, made him pause. It had been a long time since he had huddled in his sister's bed, more a puppy blindly seeking comfort than any sort of adult human. It had been years; he was an adult now, and more than a little hesitant to beg the same comfort of his likewise grown sister...
The door swung open revealing his sister, and the sleepy concern in her eyes was his undoing. "I didn't drink my tea..." The words came out as an undignified, almost plaintive, whimper, as if he could think of nothing more upsetting than his inability to drink the tea his sister had lovingly prepared for him.
"Subaru..." She hauled him into a tight hug. "It's ok. You were in the shower so long I am sure it has gone cold again."
Safe. He was safe here in the protective circle of his sister's arms. She would keep the entire world at bay if he but asked her. It was so tempting, to just curl there and ignore the world, to let her stand a buffer between himself and reality, even if just for a little while...His eyes pressed tightly shut, he didn't protest when she urged him to move, guiding him for a few moments, then helping him sit. He opened his eyes then, peered around. The room was far too...pink to be his own, the furnishings not near plain enough for his more quiet taste. "Hokuto..."
"Hush." She fluffed a pillow and pressed one hand against his chest, urging him to lie down. "Can't have the thirteenth head of the family get run down."
"But, Hokuto...this is your bed..."
"And you will let me take care of my brother when he needs it. No complaints, so protests." She wagged a warning finger in her familiar, teasing way, but her eyes were concerned. "You need rest, and you aren't going to get it sitting alone in your room."
There was no use arguing with her, there never was- he never could win. Subaru gave up and rolled over onto his side, trying to take up as little room as possible. Hokuto settled onto the bed with a sigh, and Subaru tried desperately to find sleep somewhere behind his eyelids...but the stress and fear of the evening continued to chase his thoughts in frantic circles around his mind. So intent on trying to avoid his own anxiety, he almost leapt out of bed with an undignified squeak as he felt someone touch him. Hokuto snuggled close, her breath heavy in sleep, instinctively seeking to comfort her brother. Always...she was always there for him...Subaru relaxed into her arms, finally able to concentrate on something apart from the events of the past hours. Somewhere, between listening to one of her breaths and another, he drifted off to sleep.
It had been a long night, but as they curled up against each other, it proved to be too short before the world interjected itself and demanded attention again.