50 Ways to Express Love and Affection Without Having Sex

#21 Get friends to serenade your special someone

It was silent that night, only the sound of the few bugs chirping, or the sheets rustling when either of the twins rolled over in the bed. Sleep wasn't coming easily for either of them, mostly from the excitement of finally going on that trip early in the morning—on Kaoru's part—and just having to go to bed a few hours earlier than either of them were use to—on Hikaru's part. The idea of waking up far too early for both of them to properly function wasn't too appealing, but their parents wanted to get a head start and get the most out of the vacation time that they could.

Kaoru, for the sixth time in about five minutes, rolled over and faced his brother, finding Hikaru's eyes shut tight in a pathetic attempt at sleep. He couldn't help but smile at how rather silly it looked.

"…Hikaru?" He called out softly, faint boredom present in his voice.

"Mmnh…?" Hikaru didn't bother with a more intelligent reply.

"I can't sleep…" The tone would have been matter-of-fact if not for the soft murmur that it was.

"I'm sorry," the apologetic tone was clearly absent in his voice. Hikaru's eyes finally opened, looking right into Kaoru's that were playfully glaring at him; a small smirk tugged at his lips. "We've gotta at least try. At this rate, we're gonna be like the walking dead in the morning." With that, he brought his arms out in a welcoming display, one that was strongly familiar between the two, for his little brother to come closer. Kaoru took the invitation, just like every other time.

Quite surprisingly—and yet rather expected—both of the boys were finally finding sleep in each other's arms, the early time and anxiousness long forgotten. Soft mutters of "good nights" were the only things registering now in their minds. A faint sound, like white noise, though, broke though the settling silence, stirring them both awake again. Neither put much thought into it, assuming it was a television someone in the estate left on. A new sound, much louder than before, alerted them that it was not a television. It was music; a recorded acoustic guitar, and both boys shot their eyes open. One staring with surprise and slight annoyance with the fact sleep eluded him yet again, the other more easily described by the words that flew out of his mouth at the realization of what and where the music was coming from.

"Ah, shit."

Hikaru abruptly sat up, almost falling out of bed as he tried to rush to the window, hastily muttering something along the lines of "I told him I was just joking around…!!" Kaoru just sat up in bed, watching his brother pull back the large, heavy curtains, searching outside desperately, as a deep, yet familiar voice accompanied the guitar's steady notes.

"Nani mo iwazu ni sugu soba ni iru yo
Donna toki mo
Kanashii omoi wa sotto tsutaeke yo
Kiiteru kara"

As the voice was singing, Kaoru slipped out of bed and crept up to his brother, watching as he seemed to be trying to stop the person—from what he could gather—but to no avail. Curiosity getting the better of him, he looked out the window wondering who it could be. His eyes widened with shock.

"Umaku iezu ni kimi o komarasete
Shimau no nara
Hitomi o tojite sotto yudanete yo
Dokishimeru kara"

"M-Mori-senpai!?" Upon further examination, they both found their senpai standing in a clearing below their window, a large speaker next to him, singing his heart out. But… Why? The question screamed in Kaoru's head as he glanced over to his twin, finding him with his forehead pressed against the glass of the window in what looked like defeat; He couldn't get the older boy's attention. Kaoru was slowly piecing everything together from what his brother had said and how he reacted, and the events yesterday.

"Hikaru, why did you ask Mori-senpai to do this?" it was an accusing tone, yet not harsh in any way whatsoever. Hearing this, Hikaru just rolled his head against the glass, toward his twin, with quite a severe frown overtaking his features. He was silent for a moment, thinking.

"I didn't ask him to do this… exactly." His eyes looked away from his brother, out the window again. All Kaoru did at that was continue to stare, a narrow eyebrow raised, skeptical of what his brother was saying. There was no way, no reason for Takashi to do something like this on his own, so why was he here now, and why was Hikaru freaking out as much as he was over it? Kaoru had his suspicions, and he knew Hikaru would fill him in sooner or later. He was going to make sure, though, that it was sooner than later, if push came to shove.

Hikaru sighed heavily, "So I may have mentioned something like this to him before he left yesterday… But, I swear! I was just joking around! I even told him that!" Things just didn't seem to be adding up in Kaoru's mind, though. But he couldn't flat out say that Hikaru was lying, because he knew Hikaru wouldn't lie about something like this to him. But he still couldn't help but wonder why his brother would even suggest to their senpai to do something like this. It was just odd.

Kaoru's eyes went back to the window, looking down at the third-year and noticing that he actually seemed to be enjoying himself, despite how awkward this was no matter how someone was to look at it. The words, the lyrics were starting to sink in a little bit, and Kaoru had to wonder about his song choice.

"Itsu datte kimi to hohaba awase
Kore kara mo kawaranai omoi ga aru kara"

The younger twin chanced a glance at his brother, and was a little surprised by what he saw. Hikaru was staring out the window, a faint blush of embarrassment gently setting on his cheeks. It was almost as if he wasn't embarrassed of what Takashi was doing in general, but was embarrassed of the words and letting Kaoru hear them. A soft smile grew on Kaoru's lips.

"Daki shimeta sono nukumori ga
Itsu made mo kienai you ni
Koboreta namide wa bokuga nuguu kara
Zutto soba ni iru yo"

The two of them were silent for a moment, not sure what do to or say anymore. With a small sigh, Kaoru took a few steps closer to his brother, and taking his hand tugged him back toward the bed. There wasn't much resistance, but Hikaru still wore that frown on his face; Kaoru laughed a little to himself at that.

"C'mon. Let's get back to bed." The music was still playing and their senpai was still singing, and Kaoru didn't mind anymore. Even if it was totally unintentional, he couldn't help but feel a bit excited about the whole thing, even if it was a little silly of an idea. Kaoru laughed to himself once again, and Hikaru just stared at his brother, a bit skeptical.

"You're so weird, Hikaru." He smiled as he pulled his brother down to the bed with him. Sleep didn't elude them for much longer after that.

"Daki shimeta sono nukumori ga
Istu made mo kienai you ni
Koboreta namide wa bokuga nuguu kara
Zutto soba ni iru yo"

Outside, as Takashi was picking up his things he had brought, he silently had wondered why Hikaru would ask him to do this for a favor of his father's. Odd, he thought, and he couldn't help but feel that that it was not the case and that there was another, underlying meaning to it. But it wasn't his concern, he concluded. He wouldn't ask, either.

Author's Notes:

"Without saying anything, I'm right by your side
At anytime
Gently tell me your sad thoughts
Because I'm listening

If my inability to express things well
Troubles you
Then close your eyes and gently entrust me
Because I'll embrace you

I match my pace with you all the time
Because I have still an unchanging thought now

So that the warmth of when we embraced
Won't ever disappear
I'll wipe away your spilling tears
I'll always be by your side

So that the warmth of when we embraced
Won't ever disappear
I'll wipe away your spilling tears
I'll always be by your side"