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Brother

"Akashi-cchi had a son?!" Kise said, "I can't imagine!"

"Shut up, Kise!" Aomine said, "It's just too impossible!"

"What is all the ruckus about, nanedayo?" An annoyed Midorima entered the room after being disturbed from his reading. "Can't you see that—"

Midorima lost his voice at the sight of the child in front of him.

"A-Akashi," Midorima said, "What is that?"

Akashi, looking bored, bent down to the boy. "I believe, he is, what you call a child, Shintaro," he answered.

"I know, what I mean is that why is he with you?" Midorima asked.

"Shintaro, Atsushi, Daiki, Ryota," Akashi said, "meet Tetsuya... my brother,"

Everyone froze at his statement, unable to decide what to feel about what Akashi was saying. They don't look alike, in fact, Akashi has red hair, heterochromatic eyes and emitting a scary and confident aura. While, Tetsuya had cyan colored hair, big blue eyes, a blank expression, and a shy stature.

"Oi Akashi," Aomine said, "You're kidding right?"

"Hai, hai," Kise agreed with a smile. "This little bundle can't be your brother,"

Akashi arched a brow at the two. "Why not?" He asked.

"Eh? W-well that's because..." Kise said, scratching his nape and avoiding eye contact. "Ano... Aomine-cchi, you tell him!"

"Eh?! I don't know what you were going to say," Aomine said.

"Mo! You know!" Kise said.

But Akashi paid them no mind when Murasakibara crouched down, leveled to the four-year-old boy with his usual lazy expression, his eyes meeting Tetsuya's big blue ones.

"Neee," Murasakibara said, handing Tetsuya an unopened Maiubo. "Would you like some snacks, Tetsu-cchin?"

Tetsuya cowered behind Akashi's leg, gripping his slacks even more that Akashi was sure it would leave fringes afterward.

"Ne, Aka-cchin, is he mute?" Murasakibara asked.

Akashi shook his head and only did he realized that Kise and Aomine had shut up from their petty quarrel.

"He suffered a trauma," Akashi explained. "Turns out, his mother didn't want him and only kept him because of my father's will. He suffered physical and emotional abuse from her before she sent him to me after hearing my father's death,"

"That's terrible," Kise said.

Aomine frowned, hearing Tetsuya's story and Akashi knew why. Like Tetsuya, Aomine grew alone and unloved by what he considered as parents until they found a chance to dump him at a local orphanage and disappear for life. If anyone understood how hard the situation was for Tetsuya, it would be Aomine.

"Akashi," Midorima called his eyes on Tetsuya, causing the redhead to look down and see the little bundle scratching his eyes while yawning.

"Kawaii~" Kise muttered.

"Shintaro," Akashi said, "Can you fix up the guest room for Tetsuya?"

"Sure," Shintaro said, "But... is it okay for him to sleep alone on the first day here?"

"If you wanted to sleep with the child you could've just said so," Akashi said, causing both Aomine and Kise muffle up the laughter that they tried to suppress to avoid Midorima's wrath.

"That's not what I meant," Midorima said, annoyed. "He seems to cling to you,"

"If he sleeps with me, he won't be able to rest properly as I will be leaving early in the morning tomorrow for a business trip," Akashi said, "Fix up the guest room or if anyone would like, you can have him sleep in your rooms tonight,"

"Ne, Ne, let me do it!" Kise said then crouched down to Tetsuya with a grin. "Konnichiwa, Tetsu-cchi! I am Ryota Kise, I hope we can be friends!"

Kise's unawareness of personal space caused Tetsuya to back away and tremble behind Akashi.

"Now look what you did," Aomine said.

"You scared him," Midorima said.

"Kise-chin looked like a pedophile," Murasakibara said.

"Mooo! You guys are all so mean!" Kise whined.

***

"There," Midorima said after fixing the bed for Tetsuya, making sure that there are enough pillows for him so he wouldn't fall off the bed. "The room closest to yours is Aomine's, so if you need anything, just knock on his door,"

Tetsuya just stared at him, his big blue eyes expressionless.

"Unfortunately, Akashi's room is far from yours and it will be very dark at night," Midorima said, assuming that the boy is asking for his brother. "So I encourage you to not look for him in the middle of the night,"

Midorima walked towards Tetsuya who trembled and backed away at the towering green head.

"I'll just pick you up and put you to bed, no need to be afraid," Midorima said then reached down to the flinching boy and gently put him down on the soft mattress. "Please make yourself comfortable. You may not understand what I'm saying but... even though Akashi shows displeasure with you, deep inside I know he wants to take care of you. I don't know what you can do to change him back, but... I will help you in any way I can."

Midorima left, glancing a look back at the lonely little boy who had instantly fallen asleep.

***

Because of his career as a police officer, Aomine developed a trait of being a light sleeper. So at the moment, he heard something move from outside, he jolted up, expecting trouble for none of his friends wakes up in the middle of the night.

Quietly, Aomine exited his room, his gun strapped behind him for safety purposes in case they had been broken in to. But he didn't expect that the cause of the noise came from their new tenant.

Tetsuya lay on the cold floor just in front of Akashi's room, asleep and cuddled himself. Like a cold rod being poked in his heart, Aomine crouched down and scooped up the sleeping child.

"Geez, Tetsu," Aomine muttered, "You can't be left alone, can you?"