Shizuo woke to a feeling of utter contentment, something that was steadily becoming a regular occurrence. Especially since he had fallen asleep with Atsuko on top of him, head on his chest. He slowly blinked his eyes open, tightening his slight grip around Atsuko's small frame. He could really get used to this. He heard her breathing; a strip of hair that was lying across her nose flitted up and down with each breath. Shizuo snapped out of his day dream and couldn't help but wonder when he had become such a softie to anyone. It wasn't his nature to cuddle, it wasn't his nature to really let anyone get close enough to cuddle.
Trying to remember when this had happened to him, he noticed a creak come from the hallway, Hideaki had woken up. Sure enough he came padding barefoot into the living room a moment later, blue pajamas wrinkled and his hair sticking up in an oddly familiar way, just a tad shorter. The boy seemed to notice the two adults on the couch and began beaming from ear to ear, only to be covered by his hand to stifle his laugh.
"Morning Shizuo, sleep well?" Hideaki was a bit too smart for his own good, especially in matters concerning his sister's new found love life. He made sure she never knew of his awareness about her feelings, but Shizuo was a different story, he was just too fun to tease. He blushed almost as much as his sister!
"Kid, aren't you a bit young for this type of thing?" Shizuo asked, for once not getting mad after being caught doing something like this, or anything normal for a man his age. He felt Hideaki knew what was going on, but the fact that he didn't mind his sister having Shizuo over made the older man's ego swell a bit from acceptance.
"Well, I'm not the one participating in PDA…" Hideaki clasped his hands behind his back, swinging back and forth on his heels, and grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Okay, that kid definitely knew too much for his own good. Just as Shizuo was about to retort-most likely with just a growl-he felt Atsuko shift above him, grumbling something before twisting out of his arms completely. Before he could react and catch her, she fell to the ground on her butt with a small thud and an irritated oof.
"Morning, sis!" Hideaki yelled, jumping to her side, landing on his knees beside her head. She just groaned in response before turning onto her stomach, hands to her sides.
Usually when Shizuo woke up, she was already up and about either cooking breakfast, tidying up the living room, or both. She was always peppy in the morning, not like how she was acting now. Maybe it was because, for once, he had managed to wake up before she did. If she was awake, Shizuo didn't even want to look at a clock to find out how early he just woke up.
After a few moments of just lying on her stomach, however, she crawled into a ball, pushing her legs underneath her, and getting up like that. She looked from Hideaki to Shizuo to Hideaki, and back to Shizuo a few times before she looked down at herself and leaned her head back and flopping back down, this time on her back. Hideaki burst into a fit of giggles at his older sisters behavior, not at all shocked by it, while Shizuo's eyes had widened considerably, unaware that this was how she always acted when she woke up earlier than she was used to.
"Shizuo, would you mind helping Hideaki get ready? I'm not sure I'm quite ready to tackle the day just. So, doing as she asked, Shizuo got off the couch and Hideaki took his hand to lead him to his bedroom down the hall. Passing by an open door, he could clearly see a light purple painted room with a small bed peeking out from behind the door, reminding Shizuo that though he pretty much lived with the two of them, he had yet to see most of the apartment unit.
Across the hall from what was probably Atsuko's barely used room, Hideaki turned the two of them into another room, this one a light blue, with a big fluffy bed in one corner, and a small wooden desk in the other. There were a few books, a few dinosaur models, car models, and drawings he obviously drew. But on the bedside table was a small picture in a black frame of a little baby being held by what appeared to be a much younger Atsuko, baby Hideaki was waving a fist at the camera, eyes closed, mouth wide open in a still laugh. Atsuko was smiling lightly, but it didn't reach her eyes, she looked more afraid then happy.
"Oh, that was the first picture of me that we have. Atsuko says we were going through hard times, and the person who took the picture was helping us out. I've asked her who it was, but she won't say," Hideaki said, letting go of Shizuo's hand and walking over to a small dresser by the desk. Obviously he didn't notice his sister's fake smile.
So the older man helped the rambunctious boy into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, if he wasn't there, Hideaki would have gone with his last Halloween costume-a vampire. No wonder Atsuko had him help, Hideaki was still a small boy anyway.
AS they left Hideaki's room, the smell of eggs, pancakes, and hash browns hit their noses. So she was finally up and starting her morning routine so fast. They heard her humming along with the radio, this time with a Doo Wop song from America, Atsuko had played them before, this group was called The Ronettes. Shizuo never could understand her love for American music, but he's found that it isn't so bad once you get used to it.
"Morning, boys, now sit down, breakfast is ready, and Hideaki, you and I are going to need it," Atsuko said, scooping some hash browns onto the last plate not on the table, most likely hers.
"Why do we need the energy? We're not going anywhere today, are we? But it's the weekend!" Hideak complained loudly, taking his seat at the table.
"I have to go on the hunt for a dress for me to wear, but I could get your babysitter if you'd prefer," Atsuko said, putting her plat down and going to reach for the phone.
"Wait, why doesn't Shizuo hang out with me instead?" Hideaki's eyes shone craftily, Shizuo could tell he had something planned, and he wasn't so sure it would turn out well. "I mean, it's not like you can't trust him, right? He'll be a great babysitter while your out doing your dumb old girly stuff!"
"Kido, I'm sure Shizuo has better things to do, and it's rude to put people on the spot like that. Besides-"
Shicuo interrupted, holding up his hand, "I don't mind watchin' him I have the day off today anyway, everyone's paid up that needed to." He might regret it later, but he thought maybe he could learn a bit more about Atsuko from her brother while she was away. Maybe he could figure out what made her so…her. That and he wanted to prove to her that he could handle a bit of responsibility, and he hoped he didn't prove the complete opposite.
"Well, if it's okay with Shizuo, it's fine with me. Thank you, Shizuo, I really appreciate it," she blushed, smiling a little, and sat down beside him, finally getting to her breakfast after she gently took his hand for a second, and squeezed before letting go.
Breakfast went normal from there, she told Hideaki about the party she and Shizuo were going to, and that she would get him a babysitter, and she would expect him to be in bed by the time they came back home.
Soon it was time for her to leave, both the boys walking her to the door as she was making sure she remembered everything.
"Hideaki, I want you to be good for Shizuo, if I hear one bad thing from him, well, neither you nor me will be very happy campers, understand?" Atsuko warned as she got down to peck him on the cheek, only for him to wipe it off, grinning playfully before darting off to his room for toys to show to Shizuo and hopefully play with. After he disappeared, she turned to Shizuo, and he gulped, she might be small, but she was very protective of her younger brother.
What she really did surprised him. She had leaned up and given him a kiss on the corner of his mouth, putting one hand on his shoulder to being him closer down to her level. He almost stayed in shock too long, cutting it close to missing his chance to return her sweet gesture. He turned her face more towards his, moving her lips just over his own, her chin in his thumb and forefinger, not wanting to scare her, but wanting just a bit more than a peck.
It was just another short kiss, a bit longer than the last, but it was just as wonderful, if not better. As the pulled away, his eyes opened as he saw that hers were still closed, her cheeks turning red, and a large, goofy smile-which he knew mirrored his own- was planted on her face.
Waking up, she blinked a few times and stuttered out, "Um, I-I'll be home in a little while, it shouldn't take too long to pick out a dress. Be careful, both of you." And with that, she opened the door in front of her and darted down the hallway.
So, now it was just him and Hideaki. He was dead set on learning some new things about Atsuko, he just didn't know how to go about asking. Little did he know was that Hideaki was planning on finding out more about who his big sister liked. He may be young, but he wasn't about to let some guy take advantage of her, and though he liked Shizuo, he had his mission to take care of his sister just like she took care of him.