Rises the moon. [Akk/Ayan & Akk/Ray]

Chapter three.

Ray wakes up and stares at the open window for a few minutes with a blank stare. Sighing, he stands up and ignores the shudder in his body as the cold morning wind hits him. He closes the window and, yawning, walks at an awkward pace to the bathroom so he can urinate and brush his teeth.

His room is a mess. His mother had turned everything upside down and then they had a fight, so neither of them had bothered to tidy up the room. He will do it later. He almost trips over the duvet on the floor; if he had, Ray doesn't know if he would have thrown it out the window or had the desperate need to leave everything sparkling.

Scratching his hip with his pajama shirt pulled up, he walks to the front room and enters without knocking. Ayan is still sleeping, obviously. His younger brother is not a morning person.

Ray deactivates the fifth alarm on Ayan's phone, which of course, he didn't hear any, and sits on the edge of the bed to move Ayan. When they were kids, Ray always had the job of waking Ayan up, but he almost always fell asleep sitting up, standing up, or straight into bed with his brother. Now Ray has quite a bit of trouble falling asleep, but he always manages to wake up around five in the morning every days, no exceptions.

"Aye, get up." Ray yawns.

Ayan groans and pushes against Ray's arm, hugging the pillow tighter.

Ray wouldn't say that he is a hypocritical person, but he doesn't like Ayan missing school, his brother still has a future ahead of him. He simply stopped caring if he passed his classes or not.

"My whole body hurts," Ayan complains, without opening his eyes. "Akk was very hard on me yesterday."

Ray raises an eyebrow and looking closer, it's true. Ayan had a bruise on his bicep and hand, his brother loves studying too much, he wouldn't miss school if he didn't feel bad. Furthermore, if Ayan was never missing in Parot, he least of all will be now that he is obsessed with knowing what Suppalo did to his uncle.

"Okay, stay."

Ray gets out of bed and goes to the door, but he hears Ayan stirring in bed.

"Ray," Ayan calls, yawning. "I have to hand in my English homework, can you take it please?"

"Hmm..."

Ray reaches for Ayan's backpack and looks at the uniform folded on his desk. He wanted to clear his mind with something and wasn't planning on going to his own school today.

Shrugging, Ray takes the uniform as well. On top of the desk, there was also a sheet with important dates, such as exams and Ayan had a chemistry exam that day. Well, he already has an excuse for when Ayan asked me why he pretended to be him.

Ray returns to his room to put Ayan's uniform in his brother's backpack and looks for the English homework to put in his own backpack. He throws Ayan's backpack out the window and after putting on Parot's uniform, he goes downstairs to find his mother in the kitchen.

"Good morning, love," Phiao greets, serving breakfast. "How did you sleep?"

Ray casts a judging glance in his mother's direction and sits down at the table.

"Aye isn't feeling well today, he won't go to school."

Phiao smiles tightly and sits across from Ray.

"Okay, I'll go see him later. How are you feeling?"

Phiao reaches out to Ray's hand on the table, but he pushes it away. Ray doesn't think about the sadness reflected on his mother's face.

"I'm fine."

Ray hasn't had a breakfast this tense and awkward in months. Ayan is usually present almost every time his mother is home. It's a relief actually, Ray's throat starts to hurt every time they talk.