Disclaimer: I do not own Brother Conflict
A/N: Sentences written in italic, are Yuusuke's thoughts.
Yuusuke had never in his entire life been so nervous. His heart was beating fast, his throat was dry, hands sweaty and shaking and he had butterflies in his stomach. He felt like he was going to faint. Or to throw up. Or both.
He was finally going to confess his feelings to Ema.
After his university entrance exam, Yuusuke had promised to himself that if he'd make it into Meiji with Ema, he'd confess to her. And today, just a couple a couple of hours earlier, he had received his Backup Candidate Acceptance letter. It had probably been the happiest moment of his life. Not only did he learn that he could continue going to school with Ema, but also remembering Ema's happy smile, after she too had seen the letter, made Yuusuke feel all warm and fuzzy. So, it was finally the time for Yuusuke to keep his promise.
Not that he disliked the way things were between them at the moment. True, after learning that Ema would become his new sister, he had been shocked. And slightly angry too. It was just his luck that the only girl he ever really had feelings for, would become his sibling. But soon he had realized the opportunities which the situation offered. Now he had the chance to see her every day. He had the chance to walk to school with her. He could watch TV with her, eat the food she had made, wish her good night. He could be with her. And that made Yuusuke happier than anything else.
But promises were promises, so now he had to tell her his feelings. Also, the longer he postponed his confession, the more worried he was that someone of his brothers would snatch Ema away from him.
Yuusuke wasn't the only Asahina, who had a thing for Ema. Actually, it would be much faster to count the brothers who didn't. That list would've been very short. Even the official and businesslike Ukyo and the shy and awkward Subaru, who usually cared about nothing but basketball, both seemed to be head over heels for her.
But out of all his brothers, Yuusuke saw Fuuto as his most formidable rival. Because the two were only a year apart, Yuusuke and Fuuto had been competing and quarreling since the younger one's birth. And Yuusuke had to admit that so far he had always been the one to lose. Even before Fuuto's idol-career, Fuuto had always been better than him at everything. At school, with music and arts, with people. And now the little brother even was taller than him!
But Yuusuke wasn't going to lose now. Not to Fuuto, not to anyone else. He wasn't going to lose her.
There's no way she'd ever fall for a loser like me, he thought gloomily, his pessimism getting the better of him. He pressed the button to call the elevator.
He wasn't scared of rejection. Of course, it would hurt if Ema turned him down, but to be honest, Yuusuke was already expecting that. He was more scared that his confession would make things awkward between them. He loved the way he and Ema could just, you know, hang out. On top of that they spent a lot of time together in school. That is why the most optimistic part of Yuusuke's mind believed that out of all his brothers, he was the closest one to Ema. But if she wouldn't feel comfortable around him anymore, after he had confessed his feelings, Yuusuke didn't know what he would do.
Elevator doors opened with a quiet clink. Yuusuke stepped in and pressed the button to the 3rd floor. The elevator started to slowly descent. Luckily the elevator was empty. Yuusuke was way too nervous to deal with his brothers at the moment.
*Kling* The elevator doors opened and Yuusuke could see the door to Ema's room. He gulped.
"Calm down", he said to himself and tried to keep his shaky hands steady, "you can do this."
He stepped into the dim hallway and started to slowly walk towards the door with wobbly little steps. He kept rehearsing what he was going to say to her. He had been refining his confession for months now and he knew the words by heart, forwards and backwards. But sometimes around Ema his mind would just go completely blank. And if at that time someone were to ask Yuusuke his name, the poor boy wouldn't be able to answer them. So, Yuusuke was afraid of that happening now.
Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening. Yuusuke raised his gaze and saw Ema's door creak open and soon the brunette stepped into the hallway.
Nononononono no, not yet, not yet, I'm not ready yet! Yuusuke started to panic inside his head. He still had to pull himself together and now he had been caught completely off guard. For a second he considered about running away, but too late: she had already seen him.
"Yuusuke-kun!" Ema exclaimed and greeted him with a warm smile. She was still wearing her school uniform, but her hair was open and flowing down her back. Her cheeks were stained with a slight pinkish blush. Oh god, she's way too cute.
"I was just about to go look for you", Ema told Yuusuke as she hurried towards him.
"L-look for m-?" The young boy's vocal chords failed him mid-sentence, because as soon as Ema reached him, she suddenly pulled Yuusuke into a warm hug.
Yuusuke just froze. Completely. He couldn't move a muscle and his mind wasn't able to produce any coherent thoughts. He couldn't even get his brains to send the nerve impulse to his hands, so he could've wrapped them around her. All he could do was to feel the blood rushing to his face.
After a short while (a way too short one, in Yuusuke's opinion) Ema pulled away, but she still left her hands resting on Yuusuke's shoulders. She saw his completely red and dumbstruck face, and couldn't stop herself from letting out a small giggle. Finally Yuusuke regained the control of his voice, but he was only able to blurt out a very surprised "E-eeeh?!"
"Sorry", she giggled again, but this time it had ever so slightly nervous hint in it, "It's just that... well, when we found out that I got accepted into Meiji, you hugged me, remember?" She looked him straight in the eyes. Like he could ever forget. But at the moment he wasn't in a any condition to give her an answer or even nod. "So I just wanted to repay the favor", she finished, finally looking away and the blush on her cheeks darkened slightly. She was feeling too embarrassed.
Yuusuke just stared at her blankly for a couple of seconds. His brain was desperately trying to figure out what was going on and how to get Yuusuke's muscles moving again.
"I'm so glad that we still get to go to the same school", Ema smiled shyly, still keeping her gaze at the floor. She took a tiny pause before whispering: "It would've been lonely without you."
Ema's words finally managed reboot Yuusuke's brain. He wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled Ema into a tight embrace, causing her to let out a shocked gasp. She however recovered quickly and hugged him back.
"Thank you", Yuusuke whispered hoarsely into her ear. Ema had no idea, why her brother was thanking her, but she decided to play along.
"No need to thank me", she told him, "You did this. And you deserved this, since you worked so hard. I'm so proud of you."
Her words made Yuusuke shiver. He tightened his grip, pulling her closer. For a while they just stood there, in the middle of a dark hallway. She was so near, Yuusuke could feel the heat radiating from her body, he could hear the pace of her heartbeat, even smell the slight scent of her shampoo. He wanted to hold her in his arms for all eternity.
But unfortunately, nothing lasts forever. Ema was the first one to move and Yuusuke had to reluctantly let her go. Ema took a careful step back and smiled to Yuusuke. But then her eyes widened because of a sudden realization.
"Hey, maybe we get to be classmates in Meiji too!" she exclaimed happily and clapped her hands together.
That was too much, he couldn't handle her cuteness anymore. He had to get away. It was time for evacuation. Yuusuke did a quick turnabout and started to make his way towards back to his room, back to safety. Ema was left behind, feeling surprised and confused. Had she said something wrong? She gazed at him. The way Yuusuke was waddling towards the elevator, somehow reminded her of a penguin. She couldn't help but laugh. Hearing that, Yuusuke quickly turned around. It took a little while for Ema to collect herself.
"Good night, Yuusuke-kun", she wished him, wiping away the tears of laughter. Even from this distance and in the dim lightning, Ema could see the blush rising to Yuusuke's cheeks. With a small smile, the redhead nodded, before turning around again to face the elevator. At the moment, he didn't trust his voice anymore.
Back in his room Yuusuke was sitting on the floor, leaning against the door. His heart was beating so fast it almost hurt his chest. He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to reminisce and savor the warmth of Ema's body. It would've been nice to be able to hug her like that every day. If only I had enough courage to confess to her...
Confess? Why did that word have a somehow familiar ring to it? Like he had been thinking about it a lot lately...
CONFESS!
I was supposed to confess my feelings to her! He had completely forgotten that! Ema hugging him out of nowhere had just totally wiped his confession out of his mind. I gotta go and tell her now! Yuusuke instantly sprang up to his feet. His hand was already on the door handle, but then he stopped. Slowly he lifted his hand and rubbed the nape of his neck, right where Ema had held him. He could still feel the warm touch of her skin. Classmates, huh?
Maybe, he turned away from the door, it wouldn't be so bad if things stayed like this... for a while.
A/N: First of all, let me just say that I've got no idea whether or not universities in Japan, or anywhere else in the world, have classes, but for the sake of this fic, let's just pretend they do, m'kay?
Second of all, thank you so much for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this lil' one-shot. But if you happen to come across any mistakes, just let me know, and I'll do my best to fix them ASAP. See ya! :)