Bonds of the Soul

Takoyaki

Yuya's eyes opened to find himself not in his bed. For a moment he was confused, and a bit disoriented. Then, he noticed the snoring around him and saw blue and yellow hair in front of his face, and it all came back to him. He realized that he, Yugo, Yuto, and Yuri must have all fallen asleep together.

Looking around, he realized that they were all still on the living room couch. His parents must have left them there so that they wouldn't wake the others. Yuya smiled softly, snuggling into Yuto's chest again. He felt Yuto's arms tighten around him a bit. Yuto had always been pretty protective of Yuya, and the tomato had felt those protective feelings grow stronger the longer his spirit had been inside him. And it did feel very nice to be cuddled like this.

Eventually, though, Yuya started to feel a bit hungry. Sometimes he woke up at four or five in the morning and went to grab some takoyaki from the nearby 7-Eleven. And he was in the mood to do that now. So, he started to get up.

Only to feel Yuto's arms get a little tighter. This might be a little harder than Yuya was used to. He didn't want to wake Yuto up, but he did want to go get some takoyaki. He did his best to carefully extract himself from Yuto's embrace without waking him. After what had to have been at least fifteen minutes, he managed to successfully wiggle free.

Yuto's face tensed the moment Yuya escaped from his grasp. He was still asleep, but his arms started searching around. "Yuya..."

Yuya grabbed a couch cushion and slipped it into Yuto's arms. The eggplant seemed to calm down and cuddled it. Yuya breathed a sigh of relief and quietly made his way to the front door. He slipped on his shoes and sneaked out the door, closing it quietly behind him.

* * *

Yuto woke up and immediately felt like something important was missing. His eyes snapped open and it didn't take him too long to notice what it was. Yuya. Yuya was not in his arms like he was when they'd fallen asleep. In his place was a pillow.

"Yuya!" the eggplant yelped. A bit too loudly perhaps, as his cry woke Yugo and Yuri. Yugo jumped and tumbled off the couch, landing on the floor with a groan. Yuri leaped off the couch, landing on his feet with his arms in a defensive mode, eyes wide and breathing hard. It took him a moment to realize he wasn't being attacked.

"What time is it?" Yugo groaned from the floor. Yuto ignored him, rushing out of the living room and thundering up the stairs to Yuya's bedroom. Please be there, please be there, please be there!

But Yuya wasn't in his room. Yuto was starting to panic. He ran back down the stairs, and almost ran right into Yusho and Yoko, who had apparently also been awakened by all the commotion.

"What's going on?" Yusho asked.

"Yuya's missing!" Yuto said frantically.

"It's 4:12 AM," Yoko said, looking at the clock. "He's probably just gone to the 7-Eleven to eat some takoyaki. He does that sometimes. There's nothing to worry about!"

But Yuto wasn't about to calm down until he knew for sure that Yuya was safe. He raced to the front door, putting his shoes on as fast as he could before flying out the door and down the street.

"Well that happened," Yuri muttered.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to fall back asleep," Yugo groaned, still on the floor. Yuugou waddled over to him and licked his face. "Ack! Dog drool!"

"Come here, Yuugou!" Yuri said, cheering up a bit as he picked up the puppy.

"Well, why don't you two have a shower and change into some clean clothes while I make breakfast?" Yoko suggested. "You can borrow some of Yuya's clothes. You all probably wear the same size!"

Yugo gasped, sitting up and looking at Yuri. "We can check the Forbidden Closet!" he whispered excitedly. Yuya had a closet that the counterparts referred to as the Forbidden Closet, because he refused to open it for some reason. All of their persistent asking and begging was only met with adamant refusal, and all three of his counterparts were curious about what was in it. Yuya had said it was too embarrassing to show them, which only piqued their curiosity further.

Yuri immediately grinned and started heading up to Yuya's room, followed closely by Yugo. They made a beeline for the Forbidden Closet, and Yugo eagerly threw the door open since Yuri was still holding Yuugou. When they saw what was inside it, they paused and blinked. Then Yuri grinned.

"Oh, so that's why he wouldn't show us," Yugo said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yuya was enjoying a nice snack of takoyaki at the 7-Eleven near his house. It was so yummy, although not as yummy as when his mom made it. Still, he liked it enough to keep coming back when there wasn't any in the house.

Suddenly the door to the convenience store opened, and hurried footsteps rushed towards him. The next thing he knew, he was being hugged tightly.

"Oh my god, Yuya, don't scare me like that!" Yuto's voice said. "I thought something happened to you!"

"Sorry, Yuto!" Yuya said sheepishly. "I just woke up and really wanted some takoyaki."

Yuto gently turned Yuya to face him. "Well, next time wake me up and let me know, ok?"

"Alright," Yuya said softly. "Hey, want some?"

Yuto considered for a moment, then smiled, "Sure!" Yuya held some of his takoyaki up to the eggplant's mouth. "Say ah!"

"Ah!" Yuto said, and Yuya put the takoyaki in his mouth. Yuto smiled as he chewed. "This is good!"

"Yeah, but Mom's is better," Yuya said.

The two boys smiled, snacking on the takoyaki and cuddling together. This was nice.