Chapter 2

Just Another Evening

"Well? Well?! You liked it, didn't you? I'm sure you did, don't try to deny it!"

Such forcefull questioning came from his right as Ai's gaze zeroed in on him with the intensity of a bright sun. He would have recoiled back already, both because of the fire in her eyes and because of how close she was leaning in by now, but it wasn't like he had the room to move as the twins were sitting to his left and the couch wasn't exactly the biggest one.

It did not help that he could feel the equally, if not somehow even more intense looks coming from the brats themselves.

And the reason behind it? The damn concert that he had just been forced to watch from beginning to end.

Now, the first thing he had to admit was that he had nothing against Hoshino Ai's line of work.

He just didn't really care about idol stuff at all.

Especially since he just used to ignore most of the stuff surrounding that industry.

That was something that became harder to do with Ai's presence in his life now, but that didn't mean he went out of the way to look at the stuff.

He wasn't like Komachi, who he would describe as obsessed on a good day.

And Hoshino Ai knew this, for this wasn't the first time she had all but forced him to watch one of B-Komachi's presentations as if seeing them would change his outlook on life.

It never did, to say the least.

But since this was not his first rodeo, he knew he had to choose his words carefully, for not doing so could end up with Ai whining and pouting like a child for god knows how long.

And that was ignoring what the twins would do…

Like seriously, they made Komachi look normal sometimes!

But getting back to the matter at hand.

"It was…ok." He spoke slowly, not wanting to lie which made him choose his words carefully. The song had been catchy enough, and he did see clearly how hard Ai and the rest of her group had worked on that stage, that much he wouldn't deny.

It just wasn't his thing at all.

'…shit.' But it seemed his choice of words had been the wrong one, as Ai did not reply to his statement, and instead simply narrowed her eyes, with them shining in a way that his body and brain were already conditioned to know it meant a headache.

"Just ok, he says…" She said, her words somehow hollow as she suddenly stood up from her seat, making him frown. He kept his gaze on her though, as he didn't dare to turn around and see how the others were reacting.

Not like he needed to as he could very well feel the hole both Ruby and Aqua were burning at the back of his head.

"I think it's time I leave…" He whispered to himself as he stood up slowly, not wanting to do any quick motions for fear it would make them react.

"I'll show you!" But as soon as he said that, it was Ai who declared it loudly right before she marched right to her room. "Ruby, be a dear, and don't let Hachi leave!"

Wait what?

"On it, mama!"

No, wait-

"Ugh…get off me!" And before he had time to react his right leg had been trapped by the youngest member of the Hoshino family.

And by trapped he meant Ruby was now hugging his leg like a koala.

"Oi oi, stop it, Ruby, I mean it." He warned as he tried to shake her off without much force, fearing she would get hurt if he tried harder, but his words only made Ruby glare up at him, an honest to god dangerous glint in her eyes.

No six year old should be able to display a look like that.

"Not until you accept Mama's the bestest!" That wasn't even a word. "Onii-chan, some help here, please!"

Great, and now she was calling for reinforcements.

He stopped trying to shake her off, his gaze going to Aqua, who was still on the couch, admittedly glaring at him with his own scary eyes but at the very least not participating in the madness.

Aqua was usually far more mature than Ruby, so perhaps he wouldn't-

"Aqua dear, be a good brother and help your sister!"

God dammit.

He didn't even have time to curse Ai in his head before he had his remaining leg seized by another brat.

Great.

"You brought this upon yourself, Hikigaya Hachiman." And why was Aqua talking as if he was bringing some sort of divine judgment down upon him?

He stopped trying to shake them off after a few seconds, a sigh leaving his lips as he realized he was really getting caught up in the rhythm of a pair of children of all people.

He was the adult here, and he needed to start acting like it.

"Look, you two…" He started whispering low enough so only they would hear him, for since he didn't have in it him to just be more forceful physically, that didn't mean he couldn't use other options. "If you let me go, I'll get you two whatever you guys want, how does that sound?"

Like bribing them.

Bribes were cool like that.

And probably the only thing that could sway them to not follow their mother's orders.

For how bratty they could be sometimes, they sure were an obedient pair when it came to Ai.

At the very least, his words did make them stop glaring up at him, with Ruby's gaze turning thoughtful before she turned her attention to Aqua, who was regarding her with a raised eyebrow.

He didn't know if it was a twins thing, but sometimes he felt they could actually communicate with just their eyes, and right now he was witnessing that with the way Aqua's gaze narrowed while Ruby simply nodded resolutely.

He focused on her, as she was apparently the spokesperson of the two right now, waiting to see what kind of silly thing she would ask. Whatever it was, he would probably just agree to it if it meant being able to leave before Ai-

"But what if we want you to stay?"

Her words made him pause, his eyes widening in surprise just as Ruby's own gaze slowly turned from defiant to something far, far more vulnerable than that.

His attention moved slowly to his other leg, or rather to Aqua, just to see him looking at the side, seemingly refusing to meet his eyes, which honestly told him everything he needed to know.

Another defeated sigh left his lips just as he brought a hand to his face. What was he supposed to say here? It was far different when the pushy ones were them rather than Ai. Her he could handle, even if it was difficult sometimes, but these two like this?

It was…hard, to say the least.

"Yosh!"

But for once though, he was actually glad for Ai's timely appearance, as the tension that had been building up between them suddenly vanished, with their attention going to a newly dressed Ai.

"Ohhhhh!"

And somehow, even though their personalities usually clashed, both Aqua and Ruby had the same reaction of amazement at the sight.

Meanwhile, he could only groan as Ai stood there, clad in the same outfit she had been wearing at the concert they had just watched. Why she had that thing in her closet, he did not know, nor did he care, really, but he knew exactly what it meant.

"Prepare yourself, Hachi!" She declared with a grin, one of her eyes closed and in a pose that he supposed was meant to be seen as cute. "I'm giving you a private performance just for you. No need to thank me!"

Great, another one of those.

Because he definitely had not heard enough of them for a lifetime by now.

This story is very chill to write for me personally unlike others that I have

Reception seems great so I hope you like this one even if the chapters are on the short side

Some questions about the timeline of this story. Everything should become clear after I start showing stuff that has already happened by the time this story starts, but it's going to take a few chapters for that. Gotta show stuff like this first.

Thank you for reading this far! And thank you for favs, follows, and reviews!

Next Chapter: Support.