Heroes Without Capes

Truth

"Get up."

The blanket at Kimishita's feet curled in on itself, groaning. "No."

Clicking his tongue, Kimishita reached out, pulling at the blanket to reveal a messy head of red hair sleepily blinking up at him. "Get up already!"

"I said no!" A hand extended from under the blanket and pulled it back over the head, holding onto it when Kimishita tried to yank it off again. "Don't wanna!"

"You gotta!" Feeling anger rise to his head, Kimishita gave the blanket roll an impatient kick. "Get up, you lazy ass!"

"Five more minutes!"

"Zero more minutes, we're gonna be late!" Giving up on the blanket, Kimishita caught hold of the pair of feet sticking out from underneath it, pulling at them. A pair of arms extended from the sides of the blanket and wrapped themselves around the futon, holding onto it for dear life as Kimishita dragged the whole package across the bedroom floor.

"Kiichi..." he hissed, giving the feet an impatient tug. "Let go!"

"No!"

"Forget it, I'm not dragging your lazy ass all the way to the bathroom! Get up already!"

"Nope!"

"Get! Up!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Fine," Kimishita said with a click of the tongue, dropping his temporary roommate's feet to the ground. "Stay where you are, I'm leaving! Not my fault if you're late and have to run laps!"

Turning on his heel, he exited the room and waited.

He didn't have to wait long. There was a rustling noise, and when he looked back into the room he found Kiichi sitting upright, looking more than a little startled. "Wait a sec, Captain!" he blurted out, annoyance in his tone. "Who says you get to leave by yourself if I'm late? Wait for me, asshole!"

"Oh yeah, because it's totally not suspicious if people see us show up late together!"

Kiichi was on his feet in no time. Blushing, he stumbled past Kimishita, darting towards the bathroom, nearly falling over his feet. "Be right back!"

Kimishita followed him with his gaze, smirking. Part of him had already dreaded this morning; getting Kiichi out of bed had always taken nothing short of a miracle, and on Mondays it required black magic. He had woken up fully prepared to be late for morning practice and a lot of gossip and meaningful looks, but turned out there was no need for that after all. Who'd have known Kiichi could be persuaded by such a simple argument? He really was a child.

Returning to the kitchen, Kimishita finished making breakfast, listening to Kiichi humming to himself in the bathroom, probably thinking he couldn't hear him. It was kind of nice, actually. Having someone around in the morning, some noise to break the quiet of the empty apartment. A little too lively for his taste, perhaps, but Kimishita couldn't really find himself disliking it.

I've missed this, he realized. Someone sleeping in the room across from his, struggling to wake up on a Monday morning. A familiar voice humming in the bathroom, optimistic and slightly off-key. Someone to share breakfast with, to talk to before he left for school. It had only been a little over a week, but now that he had all that back, Kimishita couldn't help realizing how lonely he'd been.

Lonely? Him? That was new. He had never expected to feel lonely someday; if anything there had always been too many people around him, bugging and pestering him and getting all up in his personal space. He should feel the same about Kiichi now... but he couldn't. Even to him, living alone was lonely after all. And Kiichi was... Kiichi was...