I was today years old when I rediscovered the Misc. Animanga category... i guess this will do ^w^

no i STILL haven't watched HeroTaru, yes i am 10000% Liphiyo trash don't come for me i'll fite

Hiyori had many moments during her walk when she thought she should turn back. Walking down her front steps. Reaching the corner. In the middle of the crosswalk, splashing through a puddle (thank goodness she wore rain boots). On Aizo's street. She ignored the urge every time, and now here she was, raising her hand to the doorbell, and it was like she was moving through molasses.

But she rang it. Less than a minute later, Aizo opened the door. "H-Hiyori?!"

Whatever had pushed her all the way there broke open. "Aizo-kun," she said plaintively, "it's cold, and it's wet, and I'm lonely, and I needed to see you."

He let her in. She had the wherewithal to take her boots off, but her coat proved troublesome.

"Here." Aizo touched her shoulders, tugging gently.

Her vision blurred with tears.

"Whoa—"

"Sorry, I'm sorry…!" Crouched on the floor, Hiyori couldn't stop crying.

"N-No, it's okay…"

He knelt by her, she thought, and then knew for sure when her body was pulled to his, arms tight. She clung to him and cried harder, a wail leaving her.

Movement. His voice. "…get over here now. No, I don't… doesn't matter… she…"

It had been a long time since she'd cried this openly, like a child. Over nothing that was really something, even if she couldn't name it. Before her awareness shut down, she felt herself being lifted up. She couldn't stop crying.

Then she gasped, and her chest hurt, and she was on the couch wrapped in a blanket, a warm mug in her shaking hands. Her eyes stung. She drank from the mug (jasmine tea, half gone already) and looked for Aizo.

Yujiro's concerned face met her gaze instead.

Tears threatened again. "When did you?"

"Ten minutes ago," Aizo said, on Yujiro's other side.

"How? W-Why? I don't…" Her brain didn't want to form full sentences, it seemed.

"He called me, obviously." Yujiro patted her head, more soothing than awkward. "You don't have to explain anything. Even though we're worried about you."

"Yujiro-kun…!" She sniffled, drank the last of her tea to stave it off, and started crying again anyway.

And that's how she ended up in Yuujiro's lap, facing Aizo behind him, both of their arms around her, her arms around them. Between that and the blanket she suddenly felt so warm and safe that her tears stopped.

Aizo, his face so close to hers, yet she could still see how he leaned into Yujiro's neck.

Yujiro, stroking the back of her neck so casually, head tilted to rest against Aizo's.

All the tension left her, warmth curling through her head to toe.

"So," Aizo said, not quite a whisper. "Here's what we'll do. We'll get takeout from Yu's favorite place."

"And we'll watch more of that drama you're in the middle of," said Yujiro.

"And then you two will stay over."

A distant part of her was shocked that Yujiro reacted to that statement with nothing more than agreement. The rest of her cuddled further still against them, sighing at their tight embrace and the soft edges of their closeness.

Hiyori had had something to tell them; that was the underlying force that had pushed her all this way, the miserable weather simply the last straw. But right now, held by them both, it felt like she already had without saying a word. They had certainly accepted it.

Drowsily, she lifted her head until she could reach Yujiro's cheek for a kiss. She kissed Aizo's cheek too. "Thank you," she whispered before she fell asleep.

She woke sometime later to mouthwatering aromas, still cocooned in a blanket and having burrowed into the couch corner. Feeling revived, she was still content just to watch as Aizo and Yujiro laid out the food and set up the TV, bickering over who wanted what and how much.

And when they settled in on either side of her, it wasn't long before they were all sharing bites and twining limbs as naturally as if they'd been doing it for months.