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Thoughts that Takemichi desperately tried to ignore continue to circle around in his head. Hina dying in an explosion right in front of him, Akkun being the one to cause said explosion, and that it was all set up by one man. Kisaki Tetta. Because of him, Toman had become tainted. And now, it was all up to him to fix it.
And while he believed that he could, the images of the crash continued to haunt him days after he had seen it happen. He was trying to not let it affect him so that he could focus on the mission, but when he was alone at night, his mind flashed with images. Images of bright head lights, of blood dripping down both Akkun and Hina’s faces, of how one minute he was holding Hina as tightly as he could and the next, he was faced with a blinding explosion. Sometimes, they became too much for him. He felt tired and he wanted a break, but if he did, then who would save the people he cares about. So, he pulls himself together, and shakes Naoto’s hand.
The familiar feeling of electricity making its way up his body is what lets Takemichi know that he is now back in the past. As his eyes readjust to his surroundings, all he sees is white. While he is not sure where he is, he is sure that it’s warm and relaxing. It makes him feel as if his struggles are drifting away from him. As if he is capable of anything. He also feels… wet?
I must be in the bathroom he assumes. And, when his eyes finally begin to work, he recognizes that he is indeed in a bath, just not in his house. But why was he at a bath house-
“BOO♡” screams Mikey as he pops out of the water, and Takemichi swears his soul leaves his body for a second.
“M-Mikey-kun!?!,” was all he could manage to get out.
That seems to make Mikey even more amused as he asks him, “You’re that surprised?” through fits of laughter. Takemichi is still trying to wrap his head around the fact that him and Mikey were in a bath together, when he heard a familiar yet stern voice yell, “Hey! Grow up and quit screwin’ around in the bath house.”
“Draken-kun…!?!” Takemichi once again exclaims, because apparently, he could only say names now.
“I don’t think you have any right to talk Kenchin. You still use a shampoo hat even though you’re a third year. A big guy like you afraid to get shampoo in your eyes…” taunts Mikey as he leans back against the wall next to Takemichi.
“Shut up!” is the last thing Takemichi hears before he starts racking his brain, trying figure out what exactly is happening. Me…Hanagaki Takemichi…am casually hanging out with the president and vice-president of Toman. How in the world did this happen???
But then the warm water begins to sooth him, reminding him that here he doesn’t have any stress. Here there are no traumatic accidents, there is no impending doom, there is only relaxation. So Takemichi slouches down until his head is the only thing above water, and lets the water wash away all his worries. He closes his eyes and allows himself to just be. He vaguely remembers hearing Draken say that he was going to head back to the room, but he pays him no mind. He’s in his own space where nothing can hurt him, and he can forget about the pain.
Slowly, Takemichi can feel the water around his hand shift as another hand makes its way closer to his. It’s fingers brush against his tentatively, giving him time to pull away his hand if he wants to. Yet, Takemichi wants the opposite. Something about the other’s hand is comforting and makes him feel safe. And when said hand interlaces its fingers with his own, all feels right in Takemichi’s world. Maybe it’s because of the calluses the mark up the unknown hand signifying its strength, which somehow make him feel even safer. Or the way the hand holds his with such care, as if Takemichi is the most important person to them.
And Takemichi wants to stay like this forever. In his own little world where death can’t weigh down his mind, and comfort is all that is known. Where the weather is always warm, and he yearns for nothing except the hand that is in his own. And he tries to stay there, he really does, but the wall begins to make his back ache, and his butt hurts from sitting in the same place for who knows how long. Reluctantly he opens his eyes, and before he can make his way out of the bath house, another surprise makes itself known.
The hand that held his so lovingly, the hand that had brought him so much peace, the hand that was still in his own. That was MIKEY-KUN’s hand. As if feeling the shock radiating from Takemichi’s body into his own, Mikey calmly opens his eyes to meet Takemichi’s gaping face.
Completely ignoring Takemichi’s expression, Mikey shifts so that he is facing him. “You ready to head back now, Takemitchy?” he asks softly. Too softly. Takemichi didn’t even know Mikey was capable of making such a sound. So, he does the only thing he can do, he shuts his mouth (not trusting himself enough to not say something stupid) and nods.
Mikey gets up, bringing Takemichi to his feet as well. They make their way out of the bath and towards the towel area. And that’s when it hits Takemichi that both Mikey and him are completely naked…and still holding hands. Ignoring the heat that immediately rises to his face, he removes his hand from Mikey’s and is acutely aware of how much he misses the warmth. Mikey looks at him pointedly, questioning why Takemichi’s hand is no longer in his own. Takemichi quickly turns his face away to hide his deepening blush.
“So I can dry off and put on a robe,” is all Takemichi says. Mikey nods understandingly as he goes to do the same, but his face is still dissatisfied by the situation.
After drying off his body with a towel, he puts on a yukata and begins to pat dry his hair. And once his hair is dry enough to be comfortable, he makes his way over to Mikey, who has already dried off. His yukata is messily done and there are droplets of water going down his face from his hair. He had obviously been rushing (So that he could hold Takemichi’s hand again) and completely neglected to dry his own hair.
Sighing, Takemichi makes his way over to him with a new towel in hand. He gently tugs on Mikey’s arm and asks, “Can you sit on that bench over there so I can dry your hair?”
Mikey nods sleepily and makes his way over to bench, with Takemichi not far behind him. Mikey sits down and Takemichi begins to pat dry his hair. Takemichi finds himself humming an old tune as he carefully drags the towel down Mikey’s hair. Once Mikey’s hair is dry enough, Takemichi taps his shoulder to let him know that he is finished. He then makes his way over to the used towel bin and throws the towel away. When he turns around, he finds Mikey’s face right in front of his own and surprisingly he isn’t shocked for the first time that day. Instead, he studies Mikey’s face. His head was drooping due to his fatigue, but his eyes were as sharp as ever. Dark orbs that seemed to hold nothing and yet everything inside of them. Takemichi became so lost in them that he hadn’t noticed when Mikey had reconnected their hands until he felt himself being dragged out of the towel room.
“Where are we going, Mikey-kun,” whispered Takemichi, still not exactly knowing where they were. Mikey had brought them out into a long hallway that seemed to go on forever. There were portraits of what he assumed to be past managers lining the wooden walls.
“Back to our room, so we can sleep,” Mikey said through yawns. Oh, right Draken-kun had said something about that.
After reaching the end of this hallway, Mikey turned to the left down another hallway, except that one had multiple doors leading to multiple different rooms. He stopped in front of door labeled 250 and began to search through his pockets. After shuffling for a few seconds, Mikey seemed to realize something and started to bang on the door. Loudly.
“Mikey-kun, what are you doing?!?” Takemichi exclaimed.
“I forgot my key.”
“But do have to knock so loudly? You’re gonna wake up everyone on this floor!”
“Well, that’s the point, we can’t get in unless-”
Suddenly, a sleep deprived, red rimed eyed, Draken opens the door looking less than impressed by Mikey’s antics. It made both boys quickly stop squabbling and walk into the room without a sound. After they were both inside, Draken pushed right pass them and went directly back to his futon to sleep. If he did notice their conjoined hands, he was too sleep deprived to care.
Takemichi began to scan the room, looking for an available futon. That’s when he realized how large the room was. It was big enough to fit multiple different futons, which was helpful since apparently the captains and vice captains of Toman also came along on this trip. There were only two futons left, both on either side of Chifuyu’s futon.
Looking over at Mikey, he whispered a quick goodnight, reluctantly let go of his hand, and walked over to the futon on the right side of Chifuyu. He got inside as quietly as he could and waited for sleep to come.
What he didn’t expect was for someone to come into his futon and put an arm around his waist. They then quickly laid their head on Takemichi’s shoulder, blonde locks tickling his neck.
“Mikey-kun?!? What are you doing in here???”
“Warm,” is all Mikey responds with.
“Ehhh! That’s it??” whisper-yells Takemichi and Mikey only grunts in affirmation.
“But what about tomorrow morning?? What’s everyone gonna think when they see us…here…sharing a futon???” Just saying that out loud had turned Takemichi’s face into the shade of a tomato.
“If they have anything to say, they can bring it up with me,” says Mikey sternly as he tightens his hold on Takemichi’s waist just slightly. And Takemichi knows that’s the end of the conversation, because who in their right mind would go against ‘The Invincible Mikey’?
Takemichi knows that he should have more of a problem with this and he definitely knows how embarrassing it’ll be when they, and everyone else, wakes up. But, right now, with Mikey’s soft breathing tickling his neck, and the warm feeling of his arm across his waist, Takemichi just didn’t feel like making any more of a fuss. If Mikey wants to sleep next to him, then so be it. He would leave all of the embarrassing thoughts for the next day. For right now, he snuggled closer into Mikey’s warmness, and hoped that with Mikey by his side, the dark images would be chased from his mind.