It was just a few weeks after the distortion was sealed. Everyone has tried to get things back to normal…except for J and Hayakawa. Their relationship is still rocky, but at least they're civil with each other.
On a full moon night, Hayakawa was checking up on J from the window, like he usually does, only to hear whimpering. Alarmed, Hayakawa quietly opens the window and steps inside, looming above J's bed. J tossed and turned, a cold sweat on his forehead, whimpering and clenching the blankets. 'I never realized he's been suffering this much and facing it alone, no less,' as Hayakawa brushes a hand through J's hair, trying to comfort him.
It's dark, like an abyss with only J inside. Then, he hears voices.
"Look…it's the Young Master…"
"Tenna-sama is the Blood Spirit. She's way more important than her brother."
"J is just Tenna-sama's, the Blood Spirit's, brother. Ignore him."
"He's worthless as a Butler…"
"Shut up!" J yells at the voices, covering his ears, trying not to listen.
Then, he sees Tenna. "Tenna?" J tries to run toward her, "Wait up! Tenna!"
Just as he was about to hug her, she turns into sparkles, disappearing into nothing, "No…No! Please don't go!" He pleads, on his knees, "Don't leave! Don't…leave me alone…!"
J gasps as he wakes up, a cold sweat on his forehead, panting as he sat up. He sees Hayakawa, right by his side, rubbing his back, trying to comfort him.
After calming down, J asks, "What're you doing here?"
"Just checking up on you. … You OK?" Hayakawa says, not telling him that he's been checking on him for a while now.
"Yeah…" J sighs.
Hayakawa then went out of the room, only to return with a wet towel and warm milk with honey.
J grabs the towel and rubs his face before sipping the cup. Hayakawa is silent before asking, "So…nightmare?"
"Mm…" J hums.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Hayakawa asks as he sat on the bed with J.
J keeps silent. Hayakawa keeps talking, "Talking about it might help."
"I…" J hesitates, "I dreamt about the past…about Tenna…"
Hayakawa gets it now, "I won't ask you to forget her…but she would want you to be happy."
J retaliates, "The same goes for you too. I suggest you take your own advice."
"I…suppose you're right," Hayakawa admits, which gets him a strange look from J, "What?"
"You've never said that to me before. I don't know how to respond," J says, a bit of red on his cheeks, which makes Hayakawa speechless.
After a drinking the whole cup of milk, J puts it down, and looks at Hayakawa, acting a bit jittery.
"J…I know that look. What else aren't you telling me?" Hayakawa calls out.
"It's nothing…" J tries to dodge the question, looking away from him.
"Stop being so stubborn. You can talk to me," Hayakawa says, a determined look in his eyes as he forces J to look at him in the eye.
J sighs, giving in, "OK…but it stays between us." Hayakawa nods, "Tell me."
"I've been keeping a secret, a side of myself deep inside, locked up to never see the light… My resentment towards my own sister… I never wanted anyone to see it, especially Tenna. I do love her and I don't blame her, but… everyone else…just sees me as the Blood Spirit's brother. Being compared to her… I accepted it long ago, but… It's hard, being in the shadow of the Blood Spirit," J sadly smiles, thinking to himself, 'A part of me still resents her, even now…'
Hayakawa is silent, absorbing the information before saying, "J… I'm sorry. I never noticed…"
J glares, "What do you have to apologize for? It's…fine," he looks down.
Hayakawa shakes his head, slightly angry at the people who gossiped about J in the past and himself for not realizing sooner, "No, it's not. Forget them. You're not just the Blood Spirit's brother, you're Jinguji Kouma. That's all you need to be, J."
J is speechless, his eyes shining in the moonlight, "Hayakawa…t-thanks…" J shyly says, not knowing what else to say.
Hayakawa sighs, "You're welcome. Now, get some sleep."
J falls back onto the bed as Hayakawa cleaned up. After cleaning, Hayakawa looked at J, who was trying to go back to sleep. 'He's…actually being obedient for once…'
Hayakawa was about to leave when he felt a tug on his sleeve. Turning around, he sees J tugging on him, "J?"
"Can you…stay until I fall asleep?" J whispers, his face flushed with embarrassment.
Hayakawa, seeing J acting like a child, could only smile, "Sure…"
Just as Hayakawa sat back down on the bed, J pulled him into the bed, right by his side, J's arms around Hayakawa's waist. "Woah!" Hayakawa yelped.
Hayakawa blinked, seeing J clinging to him, his head snuggled in Hayakawa's chest, before whispering, "J…?" only to hear J's soft breathing, sound asleep.
Hayakawa sighs, not willing to wake J again, 'Guess I'm sleeping here tonight…' He pets J's hair and cheeks soothingly, "You're so troublesome…" He looks at J's peacefully sleeping face, illuminated by the moonlight by the window and smiles, 'But worth it.'
Wrapping his arms around J, Hayakawa closes his eyes to sleep, "Goodnight."
The next morning, Hayakawa wakes up first, seeing J still asleep, cuddled to his chest. He quickly kisses J on the lips before backing away, arms still around J. It was less than a minute later that J opened his eyes.
Upon seeing Hayakawa in bed with him, smiling at him, J blushes as he remembers last night, "Not a word of this to anyone," he growls.
Hayakawa keeps smiling, "Of course."
After they both got up, had breakfast and got ready for the day, they went their separate ways. To this day, Hayakawa has kept the fact that J's a cuddler (plus the kiss J doesn't know about) to himself while J now has a better opinion of Hayakawa, and is willing to improve their relationship.
