I own nothing!
True to his word, Cain ordered room service for them. Or more accurately, he handed her the menu and told her to "Get whatever you want." He had only let go of her when they'd had to perform their morning ablutions. Other than that, he'd been wrapped around her. He was currently draped over her back while she sat in his lap. She called down to room service, then set the hotel phone down and leaned back.
"I'm still mad you threw my phone, nii-san." She pouted cutely at him. "I have so many good photos of you on there that I haven't backed up yet."
"Sorry," he mumbled into her hair. "I'll buy you a new one if I broke it. I didn't mean to get so mad."
"It wasn't even my fault," she said, twisting to make sure he saw her pout. "He forced me in the car. And I don't even know how he keeps getting my number. I've blocked him like ten times." She could smell the anger coming off of him at those words, but understood it wasn't directed at her.
"I'll lock him in a tiny cage." He pushed her hair aside with his nose so he could get to her neck, scenting her. "And lose the key."
"You're so good to me," she purred.
"I'll make it up to you." He dared to press a kiss to her neck and felt her shudder. "Take you out today. Buy whatever you want."
"All I want is right here," she replied, and wasn't sure if she was even in character when she did.
Fortunately for her sanity, room service knocked on the door at that moment. He let out a massive groan and finally disentangled himself from her, placing her reverently in the nest when he'd done so, and then went to answer the door. After all, the hotel staff didn't deserve to see her adorable face any more than necessary.
As soon as he'd secured the food, he returned to the nest and to cuddling. She ate sitting in his lap as he leaned against the headboard. He only ate what she fed him, as he was far more interested in how nice it felt to cuddle again. It had only been a couple days, and he'd missed it sorely. Am I addicted? Whatever. Sobriety was overrated if it meant not having Kyoko.
"Mmm!" Her eyes lit up as she took a bite of a chocolate croissant. "Try this, it's good." She held it up for him to take.
Instead, he took her hand, guiding it so he could take a bite of the pastry, right from where she had. He maintained eye contact until he could see the blush creeping up her neck. Indirect kiss. Score.
She could smell the happiness rolling off of him like cornflowers in full bloom. He must really like croissants. Setsu graced Cain with a smile. "Nii-san, you've got chocolate on your cheek."
She reached up and wiped the drop of chocolate off of his cheek with her finger, then stuck the digit in her mouth and sucked it off. Cornflower jealousy filled the room as he watched that move. No fair. I want to be the chocolate melting in her mouth.
She looked up at him, confused. "Sorry, nii-san, did you want that chocolate? There's more croissant." She held it up for him.
"Nah." He dared to press a kiss into her hair. "You're sweeter."
It was a miracle that she managed not to blush. "Compliments won't get you out of eating breakfast, nii-san."
He chuckled. "Worth a shot.
LINE BREAK
After breakfast, they headed out on the promised date. He wrapped an arm around her waist and kept it there - kept her tucked close under his arm. They'd re-scented before leaving the room, so the other shoppers gave them a wide berth… or maybe that had to do with their appearances. Or both. They didn't mind; anything that kept others away from their precious one was for the best.
Kyoko had to remind herself that they were acting. Ren had given up on that facade long ago.
He led her into a makeup store first. He saw her fight to keep her character in place, and pressed a kiss to her head while she did. "I know you left most of your makeup back home," he said in Cain's low rumble. "Get whatever you want."
"Cain." He pulled back just enough to look down and see her face. "You're gonna regret saying that."
He smiled. "Nah."
Setsu was very choosy about her makeup, sticking to the colors she knew suited her best. She picked out a basic supply, and then came upon something that stopped her dead in her tracks.
It was a princess-and-villains-themed, giant makeup palette, made to look like a book of fairy tales. It was perfect.
But she was Setsu.
"What'd you find?" Cain asked, coming up behind her. He'd taken her other items up to the terrified cashier to have her hold them. Setsu didn't need to be carrying a basket, after all.
"It - it looks like the book you used to read me when I was little," she said, trying to cover up her ogling of something Setsu wouldn't look twice at.
He nodded. "Okay." He picked it up and took it to the cashier without a second thought.
Her mouth dropped open. Wait -
But by the time she got over her shock, he'd already returned to her with shopping bags full of purchased makeup. "Where to next?" He leaned down enough to scent her. Now that he'd started, he couldn't stop doing it any chance he got.
"Let's walk until we find someplace fun," she said, tilting her neck to allow him better access. "Though try not to spoil me too much, nii-san." She gave him a little smirk as he pulled back. "You wouldn't want me to become a brat, would you?"
He gave her a smile that said he wouldn't mind at all.
Their next stop was a jewelry store, where Cain made two purchases. The first was a delicate chain bracelet - "I told you I'd get you chains," he'd joked - that he knew she could also wear as Kyoko. Once he'd bought it for her, he'd latched it on her wrist, kissing her pulse point when he did. The other one he was surprised she'd let him get away with.
Scentable couples' necklaces had been popular since the invention of the locket. The set that caught his eye was perfect: One was a butterfly that opened to reveal the scentable, porous stone inside. The other was a circular locket with the imprint of the butterfly, also hinged to reveal a scentable stone. They could lock together, one nestled inside the other. The problem? These necklaces were usually reserved for mates. Whether or not Kyoko knew this is up for debate.
But even if she did, Kyoko was currently Setsu. And Setsu would never turn down something like this from her brother. So they left the store with the necklaces in a bag and hands linked.
Outside another shop was a rack of sunglasses. Setsu took her time examining them, and finally selected a pair - only to beckon to Cain to bend down. She put them on him. She gave him an open smile, running her tongue over her top teeth in an almost obscene gesture. "Just like I thought - those look good on you."
He had to bite his tongue to keep himself from saying what he wanted to say, and instead bought the sunglasses. He got her a pair, too, so they could match.
They were already an hour late to the Tragic Marker shoot, and Kyoko almost didn't care.
Next was ice cream - Setsu wanted some, and Cain would deny her nothing. They shared a cup, trading bites and nothings as sweet as the ice cream.
Then Setsu led Cain into a shoe store. She was fashionable, after all, and she didn't have nearly enough shoes to match the new clothes he'd bought her. He pointed out different pairs to make her laugh, including a LoveMe Pink pair of sneakers.
Then his eye fell on a pair he knew both Setsu and Kyoko would love.
"Sit down there." He pointed at a plush chair. "I'll be right back."
She raised an eyebrow. "If you're gone more than two minutes I'm coming to find you."
He huffed a laugh and hurried off. It took flashing his black card for the shop attendant to agree to what he was asking, but in less than two minutes, he was back and kneeling in front of her. It took everything in Kyoko to keep her character in place at the sight of her omega kneeling before her. He gave her one of those looks - one of the ones Cain reserved for Setsu - and started unlacing her boots.
One at a time, he tugged them off, barely restraining himself from pressing a kiss to the delicate skin beneath. Then he revealed the shoes.
They were a pair of crystal-encrusted heels that, at first glance, looked black. But then he moved his wrist, and the shoes appeared to transform, refracting rainbow light. Kyoko was too mesmerized by the shine to question why the bottoms of the shoes were red. He tenderly took her ankles in his hands, one by one, and placed the shoes on her feet.
"A perfect fit," came Cain's low rumble.
"Let me stand, nii-san." She smiled. "I want to know how I look."
"Don't need a mirror for that. You're always gorgeous."
She rolled her eyes playfully and pushed lightly on his shoulder. "Move, nii-san."
He sat back enough for her to stand up. She strode over to the mirror, admiring how the heels sparkled. "I like these. My nii-san has such good taste."
"I do," he echoed, not looking at the shoes.
It was no small miracle that he managed to buy the shoes without her seeing the price. She would have had a heart attack if she'd known how much they cost. Fortunately (or unfortunately), just as the cashier was about to ring them up, Setsu's phone rang. Director Konoe was begging them to please come in, because they were two hours late.
"Boo." She pouted, walking back to him. "You're going to have to take me out again to make up for our date being cut short."
Ren had no problems with this.
LINE BREAK
Whispered rumors jumped from cast member to crew member like a bunny on a pogo stick, all centered around one thing:
"Did you see his neck?"
"It's not a mating bite -"
"Of course not, they're siblings -"
"-but it's awfully close."
"Are they really siblings?"
"Did you notice how he was carrying her around set?"
"Yeah, he said she was sore -"
(Her feet had been sore from going on their walking date in heels. And who was Cain to make his precious sister walk when he could carry her?)
"I'm sure they're really lovers."
"The bite was deep, too -"
"She doesn't have one, though…."
"They're always touching, too."
"And have you smelled them?"
"I know, you can't tell what either of them smell like because they're -"
"Ri-Ri." Manaka abruptly interrupted the huddled gossip session. "I may have encountered Kyoshiro-san. I think he's real."
Murasame's head snapped up; Kyoshio? The soft-hearted delinquent played by Kuu? "Who?"
Manaka then noticed Cain approaching. Not caring that he had his arm around Setsu, she ran up to him. The excited scent of sugar cookies filled the air.
"I understand!" she squealed, hands clasped in front of her. Setsu stared at her in disbelief as she went on and on about how Cain was secretly nice and just shy. Then when Cain insulted her and told her to leave him the hell alone, she spun around joyfully because he'd talked to her.
And then Murasame dropped the bomb: Cain had been somewhat nice to Manaka yesterday.
Setsu turned her head very slowly towards Cain, burning pine fury seeping off of her. "What did you do?" she growled.
"Nothing, really."
"He picked up my coin and smiled and petted my head!" Manaka squealed. "When I dropped my coin in front of the vending machine I was sooooo scared but he was so nice!"
"You petted her?" Setsu's voice was deathly quiet. "My nii-san did that?"
DANGER, Kuon's instincts screamed. My alpha is MAD. Must soothe.
She glared up at them, everyone else forgotten.
"She reminded me… of a hamster." Of you when you're scared. "Even I'm compassionate towards animals."
While Manaka caused an explosion of cloyingly sweet sugar cookie scent, Setsu continued to glare at him. Murasame intervened and carried Manaka away.
"Are you mad?"
She looked away. "I'm not mad."
"Really?" He bent down a little to look at her.
Shit. Setsu would've pouted openly. However, she was still too pissed at her omega putting his hands on someone who wasn't even pack to gather Setsu's spirit. So she turned on the heel of her boots and stalked off. "I'm not mad."
"Ah." He trailed after her as she made her way to the lunch room. "You are mad."
"I'm not so childish to get upset over something like that," she said, heaping random foods onto his plate. "Start eating. I'll get hot water."
He smiled up at her, and she felt some of her anger dissipate. Unfair.
"I'll wait for you."
Kyoko closed the door behind her and closed her eyes, sighing. I'm in trouble.
LINE BREAK
Kyoko blushed, hard. Ren had handed her a bag containing everything Cain had bought Setsu yesterday as she'd been about to leave. When she'd gone to protest that these belonged to Setsu, not her, he'd pulled out the big guns.
He'd been sitting on the bed, so he looked up at her, eyes huge and pleading. Then he'd whimpered, "But I thought you liked them?"
Well, she'd not had much of a choice after that.
So now she was back in her room at the Daruma-ya, getting ready for some good old-fashioned girl time. Before, she would've called it pack time, but Ren had been busy. And something told her that the taisho would not take well to a man joining her sleepover.
So she put her new jewelry away in the box, set her sunglasses on her dresser, tucked her shoes in her closet, and set about prepping her nest. Kanae and Chiori arrived soon after, and they started their usual pack activities. Namely, light scenting, running lines, and doing one another's hair.
"Moko, you said we would cuddle!" Kyoko pouted as she braided the older girl's hair.
"I said maybe," she teased. "We'll see how we sleep tonight."
"You're so meaaaan," she said, putting in the hair tie and draping herself over Kanae's back.
"Get off," she protested half-heartedly. "Ew, why does this hair tie smell weird?"
Kyoko sniffed it. "Oh, I think that's one of the replacements Ren-san got me. Sorry, I'll get you a different one."
Chiori snorted. "Did he seriously scent hair ties for you?"
"I don't think he scented them intentionally. You know he doesn't have a good sense of smell." She replaced the hair tie with one that smelled like pine, preening when Kanae didn't protest.
"Sure, keep telling yourself that." Kanae rolled her eyes.
"No, seriously, remember how he said he doesn't smell emotions?"
"That's not what I was talking about, but whatever." She stretched her arms. "You want to do my make-up?"
"YES!" Happy pine filled the room.
Chiori lazed on the nest, flipping through a magazine. "Kanae, this would look good on you." She pointed at a sleek dress. "Oof, that's pricey, though."
"Moko looks good in everything," Kyoko extolled, grabbing her makeup.
Kanae's eyebrows shot up at the sight of the fairytale palette. "Uh, where did you get that?"
"It, um, was a gift." She blushed, trying not to think about how nice it had felt to have him spoil her.
The other two exchanged a look. "A gift," Kanae echoed.
"I think I saw that being advertised," Chiori hummed. "It was kinda up there."
Damn it, Cain! Spendthrift nii-san! "It was on sale?" It wasn't, but they didn't need to know that.
Kanae rolled her eyes again, but let it drop. If Ren was going to help her best friend shoulder the cost of being a woman in the entertainment industry, she wasn't going to spoil it for her. She'd just have to make sure he didn't do anything else.
"Kyoko-chan, where's your other blanket? The blue one?" Chiori asked halfway through Kanae's makeover.
"Mmm." She focused on drawing Kanae's eyeliner perfectly before replying. "Uh, closet. Bottom shelf."
"Cool." She crawled over to the closet and opened the door to grab the blanket when her eyes fell on something else. "What the fuck?" she yelped.
"Chiorin, you made me mess up the eyeliner!" Kyoko whined.
She ignored her. "Where the fuck did you get these?" she demanded, holding up her new heels.
"Um. They were also. A gift." She could feel her ears going red. Pine embarrassment filled the room, warring with mint and lavender shock.
"Kyoko, those are red bottoms," Kanae said, when she'd rehinged her jaw.
"Yeah, the bottoms are red?" She blinked at her.
"Like, Christian Louboutins," she clarified.
"Oh, is that the store brand?"
"I may actually be having a stroke," Chiori said, looking at Kanae. "Did she just ask if red bottoms were a store brand?"
Kanae dropped her head into her hands. "I think those ones are even limited edition. I saw the article on them."
While the two of them were having an existential crisis, Kyoko was slowly piecing together that Ren had managed to buy her a very expensive pair of high-fashion designer shoes. Before she could work herself up about it, though, Kanae posed a question that stunned her to her core.
"Kyoko," she said carefully, "these weren't a courting gift, were they?"
"What? No!" He would never want me, she insisted to herself. "Of course not! It was just - a pack thing."
"Are you sure?" Chiori asked. "Because, uh, last I checked, people don't tend to buy each other super expensive makeup palettes and designer shoes just because they're packmates."
Kyoko buried her face in her hands and let out a whine. "I know."
"...You know," Kanae echoed, staring at her best friend. She knew that whine. "Kyoko. You're hiding something."
She whimpered again, looking up with pathetic eyes as shameful pine filled the room. "...Yeah."
"What did you do?" She stared down at her, letting the silence stretch between them. Chiori watched, amused.
"The unforgivable," she said, at length.
Kanae exchanged an exasperated glance with Chiori. "You took Fuwa back?"
"What? No!" Kyoko reeled back in revulsion.
"Okay, so it's not the unforgivable." Soothing lavender started wrapping around her. "So you can tell us. It's clearly eating away at you."
"I… Imaybeinlowiresn."
"Once more, in Japanese?" Chiori asked.
"I may be… in love with… Ren-san," she choked out, burying her head in her hands.
"Ah." Kanae hadn't been expecting her to say it so quickly. She looked over at the red bottoms. "So those are a courting gift?"
Kyoko shook her head. "No, but… I think… this might be." She dragged herself over to her jewelry box and slowly pulled out the necklace he'd bought her. "He… he has a matching one. That interlocks." She handed it to Kanae, trepidatious pine swirling.
Kanae stared mutely at the necklace.
"Holy fuck, Kyoko," Chiori said in awe.
"I don't… I can't." Her lip quivered. "I can't - can't become that girl again."
"What girl?" Chiori prompted.
"The girl who is blinded by love. Who gives up everything and jumps in headfirst and becomes stupid." A tear rolled down her cheek. "I can't do it again. But I can't -" she choked back a sob.
"You can't?"
"I can't see him with someone else's mark on his neck." She laughed then, bitter and horrible. "I can't have him, and I can't not. I'm such a fool…."
"So use this," Kanae said, finally breaking her silence.
"What?" she looked at her, bleary-eyed.
"Use these feelings and become a better actress." Sharp lavender started to surround her. "The ugly bits, the angry bits, the sad bits - and the happy ones. Use all of it."
"But what do I do?"
Kanae gave her a rare, soft smile and handed her back the necklace. "I think you already know what you want, Kyoko." And I will personally rip out his throat if he hurts you.
She sniffled, but nodded.
"Okay, enough of that." She nodded sharply back at Kyoko. "I promised cuddles."
"Moko, you only said maybe -"
"Do you want your damn cuddles or not?"
"I do, I do!"
Kyoko fell asleep that night snuggled between her two packmates, content.
LINE BREAK
While an emotionally drained Kyoko slept, Kanae and Chiori created a group chat with Ren.
Kanae: wtf u got her red bottoms
Chiori: dude u have no subtlety
Ren: she liked them
Kanae: if she liked the goddamn eiffel tower would u buy her that
Kanae: don't answer that
Ren: i do have a request
Kanae: ffs
Kanae: what
Ren: i need help with her white day gift
Chiori: did u already buy her everything she wants lmao
Ren: i want to give her tickets to dayjoweyland
Ren: but i am concerned that she won't accept anything else from me in the near future
Chiori: no shit sherlock
Kanae: just fucking ask
Ren: How do I get her to accept the tickets?
Chiori: frame it as a pack thing
Kanae: i hate what im about to suggest
She exchanged a look with Chiori over Kyoko's sleeping head.
Kanae: and know that if u fuck this up. i will stab u
Ren: (pleading emoji)
Kanae: don't even that won't work
Ren: (same pleading emoji, but bigger)
Kanae: chiorin and i will both be busy on the day of the trip.
Kanae: but if u fuck this up
Kanae: i will cut out ur damn scent glands
Ren: You have my solemn vow.
Kanae: ew
Chiori: lmao
Kanae: just be good to kyoko. She's had enough shit in her life.
Ren: I will.
Kanae let out a low growl and shut her phone off. She hated sharing Kyoko. She would never admit it under torture, but she did. But Kyoko was her best friend, and she deserved the world.
"You're a good friend, Kanae," Chiori whispered.
"Shut up and sleep."