Ten years on….
Souichi sat half-submerged in a leather armchair, forcing himself to remain focused on the heavy biology book he was reading rather than Tomoe and his husband Kurokawa, who were snuggled up on the sofa across from him chatting with his old man.
Kurokawa's hand was on Tomoe's thigh, Souichi noticed, and felt his left eyes twitch.
It was the summer, and his family were all gathered in a small house by the beach that they'd bought a few years back.
His family plus a few infiltrators, Souichi thought darkly, as a peal of laughter came from one of his little sister Kanako's friends, who were clustered around her in a corner of the room. Groups of teenage girls really hadn't gotten any less annoying than what he remembered from high school, he mused.
Busy scowling at his sisters friends, Souichi didn't notice the presence behind him, and jumped as a hand clamped down on his shoulder. He twisted around and found himself staring up at Morinaga.
The annoying teenage girls weren't the only infiltrators.
Like usual Morinaga had insisted on tagging along, and since Souichi was still supposed to be angry with him about this, he forced back his usual 'good morning' and gave an irritated grunt instead.
Morinaga didn't reply to the grunt, and just stood there staring down at Souichi with an infuriatingly worried expression, as if he expected a man not to be startled when someone grabbed at him out of the blue….
His face had gathered a few creases about the eyes over the years, but it still had the same affectionate expression as always when he looked at Souichi.
Unfortunately this suited him, making him look kindly, and also making it far harder for Souichi to stay angry at him.
"What do you want?" Souichi snapped finally, much louder than necessary to cover his embarrassment.
Morinaga chuckled at Souichi's tone, "nothing in particular, I'm going to drive around to our place and water the plants so I was wondering if there was anything you wanted me to grab for you."
"No, I'm fine." Souichi said quickly, trying to convey his desire to be left alone.
Rather than taking the hint Morinaga lingered behind him and trailed his hands over Souichi's shoulders, giving them an affectionate squeeze. Scowling, Souichi batted away the man's hands hastily.
Morinaga gave a little sulky huff, and leaned down over Souichi under the guise of examining his book, practically resting his head on his shoulder.
"You haven't said good morning to me yet" he murmured.
Their faces were a hairs breadth away from each other, and Souichi couldn't help breathing in the other mans aftershave.
The scent made his neck heat up, and he fidgeted as Morinaga's hair brushed against him.
"Of course not. Just go away" he ground out, and glanced around the room quickly to check if anyone was watching them. It didn't look like it, but he still gave a small sigh of relief when Morinaga finally drew away and left, asking the room at large if anyone wanted him to get them anything as he went.
Souichi realized he was following the other man with his eyes and cursed himself, directing them firmly back on his book.
…
However just as Souichi had managed to settle back into his book, he overheard a snippet of conversation from Kanako's friends that grabbed his attention.
"Morinaga Senpai's so cute, Kanako!" One of the girls was gushing, her eyes dreamy.
Souichi fought back a snort at her bad taste, and was deliberating on whether or not to make a disparaging comment out loud when he realized that the rest of Kanako's friends were chiming in with their agreement.
His mouth dropped open at the imbeciles. Their taste was so bad it was actually irritating him.
His sister looked surprised as well, "you think so?" she said with a frown, and then casually added "well I wouldn't get my hopes up anyway. He's dating my brother Souichi…..."
Although quietly spoken, the comment traveled through the suddenly silent room so well Kanako might as well have shouted it.
Souichi just had time for a brief moment of satisfaction at the disappointed looks on Kanako's friend's faces, before the full impact of what she'd said hit him.
He burst into a coughing fit, choking on the air, and felt his face turn bright red. "Wha- what did you say?" he finally wheezed at her.
She just stared at him, "I said that you're dating Morinaga. What's so strange about that?"
Souichi looked around the room wildly, searching for a face expressing appropriate disbelief at his sister's words.
He didn't find one. Except for on his sister's friends. Everyone else was just looking back at him with varying degrees of amusement or pity showing from beneath their carefully blank expressions.
The whole situation felt unreal, and Souichi found himself praying that it was actually all just a horrible nightmare, and that he was safe at home asleep in bed, not being accused of anything, with Morinaga wrapped around him like a warm, extra blanket….
Wait! Souichi caught himself. He'd be sleeping alone. And even if Morinaga was there, it wasn't like it was his fault. He couldn't help it if Morinaga kept sneaking in, the guy was just too persistent.
Souichi felt suddenly furious. "ARE YOU CALLING ME A GODDAM HOMO?" He exploded, rounding on his younger sister.
"Well you guys have been living together for ten years," said Kanako in a reasonable voice, looking unperturbed by his outrage.
"We're just shari-"
"And neither of you have dated anyone else in all that time" She added firmly, cutting through his attempted protest.
"We're just too busy!" he snapped. No one appeared to be taking his words seriously though.
An awkward silence filled the room as Souichi tried to think of some way to convince them. Then suddenly his old man jumped up, flung himself on top of Souichi in a crushing hug, and declared warmly, "don't worry Souichi. We've all accepted it."
"Of course we have," agreed the rest of his family in unison.
Too shocked to even push off his old man, Souichi gaped at them all. They stared back at him cheerfully, as though they were waiting for him to burst into tears of gratitude and start reenacting a scene from some soapy….
He could feel his temper boiling, his jaw and eyebrows clenched, his eyes narrowed into murderous slits, the muscles in his arms tingled and his figures began to twitch.
"I'm just glad that you can be happy…." declared his old man solemnly.
And just as the warm, fuzzy silence was getting too much for Souichi, his dad suddenly snapped his fingers. "I just remembered," he stated as he got off Souichi and crossed the room to stand in front of Kurokawa with a smug grin, "you owe me dinner at the restaurant of my choice, your treat!"
Kurokawa's face paled, and he glanced at Souichi apprehensively as his father in law continued happily. "Remember our bet on whether Souichi would ever admit it?"
"I don't think he actually admitted it" Kurokawa mumbled, carefully avoiding all eye contact with Souichi.
"Oh come on! He as good as admitted it! Hey Souichi, do you admit that you're dating Morinaga?" his dad threw the question across the room as casually as if he were asking Souichi where he'd eaten dinner last night….
It was the final straw. Souichi snapped. He leapt up from his armchair and hurled his book at the pair of them. It wacked Kurokawa in the head with a satisfying thunk.
"HEY" Tomoe yelled reproachfully as his husband yelped in pain. But Souichi had already stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him so forcefully it made the windows rattle.
A hush fell, and everyone glanced at each other, most of them holding back laughter
"I hope we haven't just made Morinaga's life hell" Kurokawa finally said, looking guilty.
Kanako scoffed, "oh he'll be fine. I'm pretty sure he has Souichi wrapped around his little finger by now." She sounded so sure of herself that most of the family nodded in agreement with relieved grins.
Her friends looked at each other doubtfully.