What are the odds

12

It was early in the morning, his brother and his team had been missing for more than a day now. Tsukishima Akiteru was terrified, but as he stood in amongst the crowd of people that were there to help search for the missing team, he tried his best to keep his head held high.

He was doing his best to listen to the lead rescuers instructions but his mind kept drifting to his guilt. He hadn't come home from college for weeks, had hardly bothered to text his little brother and check-in. He knew he had to find Kei because he hadn't had a chance to spend enough time with the boy.

He already knew that if- no; when they find them, he'll hug his brother and never let him go.

He couldn't help but make plans in his head for all the things they could do together when they find him. They could go watch some Volleyball matches, go out for lunch, go see movies, maybe Yamaguchi could come too, he's such a kind kid. He must be an angel for putting up with his brother as happily as he does.

He spends the entire day out in the valley around the mountain with his search group, the sun making his pale skin turn pink while his muscles began to get sore. When he got back to his family home, he collapsed on the couch, exhaustion clouding the corners of his mind.

He would have fallen asleep there if his phone hadn't rung, the shrill sound startling him in the almost silent house. The name 'Tanaka Saeko,' flashes across the screen with a picture the two of them had taken together at one of their brother's games. He looked at the screen for a moment, as his friends smiling face looking back at him. He had no idea how to talk to her right now, what to say.

He answers anyway, silence loud between them.

"Did you find them?" Saeko asks, her voice quiet in a way that Akiteru had never heard before and never wanted to hear again. His throat closes up as the emotion wells and as he opens his mouth to answer, he finds himself unable to make a noise.

He here's a soft sob on the other side of the line and he knows that Saeko understood his silence anyway. After a moment of listening to her try to pull herself together, she asks, "Can I come over?" A question that in itself felt far too timid to have come from the usually rambunctious woman.

"Please," he replies finally, his chest tight and his voice coming out as more of a whimper than anything else.

Ten minutes later, he hears a knock at the door, and when he opens it he finds a woman who, for a moment, he didn't even recognise as Saeko. Her eyes were red and puffy and her hair was a mess, she had traded her more provocative outfits out for a large sweater that looked like it might have belonged to her brother and her shoulders were curled in protectively.

Saeko was always loud and confident, making her seem larger than life and giving her the appearance of being a lot taller than the 155cm that she was but right now on his doorstep, she looked tiny.

He instantly pulls her into his arms, his body easily enveloping her smaller frame. They just stand there for a while in the doorway, Saeko's small hands fisted in the back of Akiteru's t-shirt. She could smell the tangy scent of sweat and sunscreen with her face pressed into his chest and she found it surprisingly comforting. It was as if she needed the proof that people were actually out there looking for her brother.

Akiteru felt the tightness in his chest begin to loosen just a little. "Come on, I'll get you a beer,"

The elder siblings find themselves on the couch in the living room, sipping their alcoholic beverages in silence for a while until Saeko lets out a snort.

"You know, one time I bought some beers for a party and left them in the fridge while I was in class and I came home to find Ryuu and Yu completely smashed while Ryuu was trying to tape Yu to the tv and Yu just couldn't stop laughing," Akiteru lets out a loud laugh.

"Why was he-" He asks between laughs. Saeko smiles up at him.

"He tried to convince me that Yu was actually Dora the explora's cousin and he'd escaped from the tv. He was trying to get him back in,"

They're both laughing at the imagery now.

"Wow, when Kei got into my Alcohol, he and Tadashi just ended up cuddling on the couch while Kei tried to count Tadashi's freckles. I still have no idea if they're dating or not,"

Saeko coos at the story laughing at the end comment.

They end up falling asleep like that, telling stories back and forth about their siblings and trying to make missing them hurt less. It didn't work but just for that night, they could pretend that they were normal siblings lamenting over their little brothers.