AN: The cml tag in my profile now has art of Akashi and Kuroko napping on the sofa. Needless to say, it's adorable.

Friday night was weird. Kagami came home to discover that that Akashi jerk was still in his house, and he was not pleased. In fact, he moved to the doorway of the main room and halted there for a bit, staring and blinking. Tetsu and Akashi were sitting on the floor next to the sofa doing a hand clapping game. One that Kagami was pretty sure he remembered seeing elementary school girls playing back before he moved to America, and never since.

So yeah, he stood there and stared. Nobody could blame him.

They were moving slowly, the movements deliberate and careful. A small smile rested strangely on Akashi's face, some emotion that Kagami didn't recognize there since he'd never seen it on Akashi before. Tetsu's face was set in concentration, his eyes slightly narrowed, but he didn't seem to be in pain. He was still too shaky, though. Too weak.

Inevitably, Tetsu fumbled, his hands getting caught between Akashi's as they closed in a clap. It was not a harsh movement, since they were going slowly, and there was no sharp sound when they clashed, only a soft slide of skin against skin. They both laughed, Akashi low and short, Tetsu higher and louder. Then Tetsu turned his head and saw Kagami standing there. His smile broadened even more.

"Taiga-nii! Welcome home."

"I'm back." Kagami took a few steps closer and looked down at them, his gaze switching between the two boys on the floor. He still didn't understand what this was.

Akashi looked up at him. The smile he had held while interacting with Tetsu remained on his face, though it changed in character. A little cooler, a little more distant. He and Kagami didn't know each other, after all. Kagami had only ever met this version of Akashi for a very short time before the game was over and they parted ways.

"Welcome home, Kagami-kun," Akashi said. "We thought that it would be good to do some dexterity exercises to help Tetsu-kun regain his motor control."

"I need a lot of work," Tetsu said. His voice was cheerful.

"Ah. I see." Kagami crouched down next to them, still leaving a healthy distance between himself and Akashi. He was much closer to Tetsu, which made their formation into a rather lopsided triangle. He tilted his head, watching the erstwhile Emperor with care. "You don't have to get home to Kyoto?"

He didn't even try to hide the disappointment in his voice.

"Taiga-nii, it's the weekend," Tetsu scolded. "Akashi-kun was going to get a hotel room somewhere nearby, but of course Hiroshi-san wouldn't hear of it. He'll spend the night here so he can meet with Murasakibara-kun tomorrow. Everyone wants to get together at least for a few hours."

"Hmm. So the whole gang will be back together, huh?"

Tetsu frowned. "You don't have to sound so sad about it."

"It's all right, Tetsu-kun," Akashi said. "Your brother is allowed to be skeptical of us." He was looking at Tetsu again, and his smile was back to the one Kagami had seen when he first arrived. Kagami began to get an inkling of what that emotion was. He thought it might be...affection. He wasn't sure he believed it, though.

Tetsu narrowed his eyes.

Akashi gave him a slow nod. "We have not treated you with the kindness you deserve, and we will have to prove ourselves in his eyes. It does not trouble me to see that Kagami-kun is protective of you. Rather, I'm glad of it."

Tetsu looked to Kagami. His entire body moved in a sigh. "I can take care of myself, Taiga-nii."

Kagami blinked in astonishment at this bald-faced lie. "That is clearly not true, Tetsu-chan." He reached out to poke Tetsu's stomach, only backing off slightly when squirmed. "Have you been eating? You need to eat a lot to get your strength back, you know."

Tetsu pushed back on Kagami's hand, but wasn't strong enough to force him away. His small frown moved into a scowl. "Hiroshi-san has been taking care of me while you were at school, Taiga-nii. He already ordered pizza for us to eat tonight. And then we're going to watch a movie. He said we have to do that at least once a week from now on. 'Father's Orders,' he called it."

"Pizza?" Kagami blinked and sat back, distracted from his annoyance. "Dad ordered pizza?"

Tetsu nodded, frowning in confusion. "Taiga-nii? You don't seem pleased."

Kagami bounced to his feet, all of his concerns about Akashi and Murasakibara and the entire thrice-cursed Generation of Miracles fading away for the moment. "I need to go talk to him. I gotta make sure he didn't order pizza from the bad place."

Tetsu blinked up at him. "...Bad place?"

"You didn't think I wouldn't have tried all the pizza places in delivery distance as soon as I got here, did you? Some of them are okay, but some of them..." Kagami shuddered in barely suppressed horror. "Some Japanese people have really weird ideas about what goes on pizza. I gotta talk to him and make sure. I'll be right back."

He hustled off down the hallway, followed by a shocking sound he didn't recognize even a little bit. It was Akashi's laughter, soft and kind and...fond. He really was fond. Not just of Tetsu, but of Kagami too? That made no sense at all.

Whatever. Kagami could figure that out later. Right now he was much more worried about the food.

Fortunately, Dad had picked one of the decent places, almost certainly by blind luck. He definitely should have consulted Kagami before making a decision about something as important as pizza. The delivery arrived not long afterward, and they ate pizza kneeling at the table in the main room, one "sausage", one mayonnaise and potato, and one seafood. Tetsu and Akashi ate their way steadily and contentedly through several pieces of pizza each (Tetsu eating the least of any of them, of course), while Kagami and his dad reminisced somewhat bitterly about plain old pepperoni pizza from one of the brick-oven restaurants in LA.

"I just don't understand why it's difficult," Kagami said, raising one hand toward the ceiling in a gesture of supreme exasperation. "It's bread with sauce, cheese, and meat on it. And yet you will never anything that simple at any of the pizza places in Japan."

Dad patted his shoulder sympathetically. "I know it's worse for you because you spent so many of your childhood years in America," he said. "Too much of your palate was formed there, and that's my fault. I should have at least made sure you understood the joys of a good seafood pizza."

("And natto," Tetsu piped up in the background, and was soundly ignored.)

"But I feel it too!" Dad went on. "Margherita pizza! It's a simple recipe! Basil, tomato, fresh mozzarella. No! Never! It doesn't exist!"

"Dad, you've only been back in Japan for a week. You could have had American pizza earlier this month if you wanted to. You don't know my pain."

Tetsu smiled at them both through the entire thing, small and sweet and lovely, just enjoying it all. Akashi watched them more coolly, keeping himself at a bit of a reserve. Kagami did his best to ignore him. He and Akashi would never be friends. Kagami was willing to tolerate his presence because Tetsu appreciated his company, but that was all.

When Dad began to run out of things to say, though, Akashi sat forward a bit. "Kagami-san, if you really miss margherita pizza that badly, I might be able to point you in the right direction."

Dad turned to look at him, his eyebrows rising to his hairline. His eyes were skeptical behind his glasses, but very attentive. "Oh yes?"

Akashi gave Kagami a nod. "I'm not aware of a restaurant that sells an American-style pepperoni pizza, though." He looked back to Dad. "But margherita, that's the classic form from Italy, is it not? In recent years, Tokyo has seen the introduction of a few small restaurants devoted to an authentic Italian experience. Japanese chefs have made it their cause to perfect the classic pizza pie, just as other chefs in our great nation have devoted themselves to many other kinds of cuisine."

Dad nodded slowly. "This is good to hear. I wondered if it would ever happen."

"Oh, it has. None of the restaurants I'm referring to deliver, though, and it might be a bit of a struggle to find them."

Dad leaned forward, thoroughly intrigued. "Tell me more."

Akashi nodded smoothly and went on, outlining the names and locations of three places that sounded to Kagami like they were basically holes in the wall. Dad stared at him without blinking, his mouth even dropping open a little. Kagami could all but see the drool.

Kagami looked at Tetsu. Tetsu gave him a small smile, nose wrinkling and eyes squinting almost shut. They were sharing the secret of their amusement at their father's antics.

Kagami was still sad that no one could point him in the direction of plain old pepperoni pizza, though.

Then they watched Spirited Away. It was an excellent movie. Just as with every Studio Ghibli film he'd seen so far, Kagami was immediately and completely drawn into the world of dragons and spirits and mystical forces and flowing water and parents turned into pigs and children turned into mice. It was beautiful and it was moving. He didn't even pretend that he didn't love it.

The three teens sat on the sofa, Tetsu in the middle with Akashi and Kagami on either side, since it was the only arrangement that could be considered truly amicable. Dad sat on the floor, leaning back against the sofa between Kagami and Tetsu's legs. It had been weird, at first, but Dad had picked his spot first and would not be gainsaid, no matter how uncomfortable both Akashi and Tetsu were at taking a comfortable seat while the nominal adult was on the floor. Kagami was used to his dad acting like this, so he'd found no need to comment on it. It was just Dad being Dad.

About the time that Chihiro and her friends got on the train to visit Zeniba, Tetsu began to droop. Kagami saw him starting to nod out of the corner of his eye and immediately angled his body to encourage Tetsu to rest his head on Kagami's shoulder if he wanted to. Akashi gave him a glance at a movement, and Kagami chose not to look at him. Akashi could try to offer his shoulder if he wanted, but Kagami knew quite well that Tetsu was loyal to one shoulder only. He had leaned on it a lot in the last two weeks.

Sure enough, a few minutes later Tetsu yawned enormously and let his head thump down on Kagami's upper arm. Kagami did not radiate smugness, nor did he give Akashi a triumphant look. He wasn't that petty. This was the natural way of things, that was all. Tetsu-chan leaned on his nii-san when he was tired or overwhelmed. It was the way the world worked.

When the movie was done, Tetsu dragged his head upright and turned to look up at Kagami with a sleepy smile. "Did you like it?"

Kagami nodded. "It was great. I'm kind of...um. I'm kind of proud of Chihiro. Even though she's not real."

Kagami yawned again and let his head rest back against the sofa. "That's the power of fiction. You can be drawn into the world and empathize with characters as if they were your friends in real life."

"Yeah." Kagami sort of got why Tetsu was so fond of reading, now. A book had a lot more room to let you get to know a character than a movie did. Through his books, Tetsu must have lived many lives. Perhaps part of it was the pleasure of escape, the ability to take himself away from his difficulties for a little while. But also, it was just fun to get to know someone and watch them grow through the things that happened to them and the things they accomplished.

"Chihiro grew up a lot over the course of the movie," Akashi said softly, daring to interject himself into the conversation. "I wonder how changed she was afterward. How different her life was because she learned to rely on herself, to give to others instead of only taking."

They were silent for a moment, considering. Then Dad abruptly clapped his hands and stood up. "All right! This is starting to get a little maudlin. Why don't you boys go ahead and get ready for sleep? You don't have to go to bed yet if you're not tired, but I know Tetsu-chan needs more rest. And a bedtime snack."

"Ah. I'll take care of that." Kagami extricated himself from the sofa, making sure that Tetsu wouldn't fall over with the sudden loss of support, then moved to the kitchen. There were still some convenience store onigiri in the fridge, as well as mochi he could serve if anyone wanted a dessert.

A few minutes later, Tetsu wandered into the kitchen, dressed in his sleep clothes, already looking heavy-lidded and about to tilt over. Kagami was finishing up the matcha and arranging treats on a tray, and he looked up with a frown when he saw Tetsu waver on his feet. Tetsu gave him a smile meant to be reassuring and caught himself with both hands on the counter, leaning over to watch Kagami finish his preparations.

"Why didn't you wait on the sofa, idiot?" Kagami asked. "I was just about to bring out the tray."

"I like watching Taiga-nii in the kitchen," Tetsu said. His voice was sleepy, too, and he didn't seem to have full control over his words. "It's like watching Aomine-kun on the basketball court."

"What, irritating and infuriating as his ego expands to fill the entire building?"

Tetsu shook his head and reached out to snag a mochi triangle. Kagami let him do it, though he frowned at the conspicuous empty spot now evident in the plate he'd arranged the mochi on. "Graceful and confident, very skilled and smoothed. Like a dance. It's a pleasure to watch someone enjoy their work, even if it's something as ordinary as a household chore. Especially then, I think. I often have that feeling after watching a Ghibli film. They make hard work seem beautiful and honorable."

"Yeah." Kagami leaned his elbows on the counter and watched Tetsu work his way through more mochi. Again he had that little burst of pleasure in his chest of watching someone enjoy something he had prepared. What had Akashi said? Giving to others instead of only taking?

No one was better at that than Tetsu, really. The guy had basically devoted himself to supporting others. It was only right that someone else supported him when he needed it, and Kagami was immensely pleased that circumstances had conspired to allow him to be that person.

He filled a cup with matcha tea and set it near Tetsu's hand, and Tetsu picked it up and drank it without a pause. It truly was the most natural thing in the world.

"And did you notice?" Tetsu asked, blinking at Kagami with his huge, sleepy eyes. "In the movie? It really struck me."

Kagami tilted his head. "I'm not sure what you're talking about right now. What did you notice?"

Tetsu smiled, slow and wide and brilliantly happy. "The power of names. Having a true name is very important. A name that belongs to you, that is remembered and given. It is the heart of power and magic."

"Ah. Yeah, I did notice that. It was pretty cool."

Tetsu drank his tea. "I really like my name, Taiga-nii."

Kagami swallowed. He couldn't speak for a moment. Then, "Yeah," he whispered. "I know you do. I like it, too."

Tetsu smiled.