Title:Massage (Part 6)
Pairings:NinoxSho
Genre:Fluff, AU,
Rating:G
Disclaimer:I own nothing but the plot
Word Count:1410
Summary:Sho woke up feeling cranky just because he had lost the bet.

Kazu hasn’t noticed that it was the weekend until he walked out of his room and smelled food being cooked; his brother cooked early in the morning while he was still asleep. Despite his brother still sore from the short baseball “practice” on Wednesday, he was surprised to see that he was out and about the kitchen.

“Morning,” he loudly yawned, making his presence known. “What’s for breakfast?”

“A simple French toast,” his brother replied without looking from the pan was busy cooking in.

To Kazu, he sounded pretty angry and he knew why; he couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you sore that bad?”

“Yes, Kazu. All because someone had fun watching me get hit by the baseball.”

“How was I supposed to know you had bad accuracy?!” He asked playfully, although he already knew just how bad his brother’s accuracy was when it came to baseball. But if they happened to play soccer that day, he would immediately lose to his brother without a doubt.

“Haha, very funny,” Sho laughed sarcastically. “Now here’s your breakfast. I’m going to go and take an ice bath.”

After his brother handed him a plate of the french toast, Kazu grabbed his wrist. Again, it was his body reacting, and not him. He told his hand to let go, but it wouldn’t listen to him again.

“I’ll... I’ll massage you...” This time, it was his mouth talking by itself again.

“Eat, Kazu. I’m fine, really--”

He abruptly stood up, interrupting his brother even though he didn’t mean to. However, it wasn’t his body that did the work for him, but himself instead. Besides, he was being rough on his brother that day all because he wanted to get some sort of revenge.

“I’ll massage you,” He repeated, this time with control over his mouth.

“Ok. But after you eat.”

At his words, he smiled happily knowing that his brother can’t easily refuse him, just like he gave in to the bet on Wednesday. After watching his brother leave to the living room, he ate his breakfast as he was told to. He knew Sho would worry if he rushed so he ate with a medium pace to let the food digest properly.

Six minutes would probably be his best record yet since that was how long he ate his breakfast for. After washing up his and his brother’s mess, he immediately headed to the living room, only to find that his older brother was fast asleep while the TV was on at a low volume.

He told himself that he should just let his brother rest, but he didn’t listen to himself. Instead, he carefully sat at the end of the couch, trying hard not to wake him up. After taking a seat, he glanced over at his brother at the same time his lips curved into a smile.

In the past, he loved to watch him sleep, knowing that his brother was not going anywhere, helped him be at peace. But the was the past, back when he only looked up to him, although he still loved to watch him sleep. Without thinking, he pushed his hand forwards and grabbed his brother’s hand in his. It was the same hand he held in the photo he found in his brother’s room. His brother’s hand had definitely changed since that photo was taken, but it was still the same hand. Humming, he began to massage the hand as gently as he could as if it were the most fragile thing he’s ever come across.

“Kazu...”

He didn’t look up at the sound of his brother’s voice, but instead hummed in response.

“Kazu...” His brother repeated in a soft whisper.

Maybe he didn’t hear me? Kazu looked up as he continued to massage the hand. He thought his brother was calling him because he was awake, but his eyes were still shut.

“Sh--”

“It’s ok...” His brother muttered so quietly that he had to lean in to hear what he was saying. “... won’t hurt you...”

Kazu began to worry. It seems his brother was having a bad dream about him being hurt, or something like that. Just as he was about to nudge his brother awake, however, the hand he was massaging disappeared and reappeared behind his back, and then his other hand until his whole arms were around him.

“Sho,” He gasped, trying to snake out of his brother’s embrace. “Wake up.”

“I’m here, Kazu... Won’t let... Hurt you...”

“Sho!” He yelled loud enough to stir his brother awake. “Please wake up!”

“Kazu?”

He looked up and was relieved to see that his brother’s eyes were wide open. They looked around trying to figure out what was happening before they landed right on his eyes. It looked at him with relief before it widen twice it’s size. Kazu cocked his head to the side curiously, wondering why his brother was shocked to see him. It wasn’t until he looked down that he realized why.

“Y-you were having a bad dream!” He told his brother as the both of them pushed each other off and scrambled to both ends of the couch. The air around them suddenly became awkward that it became hard for Kazu to breath. As he got up and headed to the nearest window, he pretended to look outside instead of acknowledging just how fast his heart was beating.

For a good five minutes, it was silent except for the anchorwoman in TV. She kept going on and on about some news Kazu had no interest in. He wished that his brother would say something, but instead, he spoke up first, just because he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Was it... a nightmare?” He asked silently as he stared at the empty road outside.

“Not really,” His brother replied with a chuckle sounding as nervous as he was.

All of a sudden, he took interest in the plastic curtain covering the window. “You kept calling my name though...”

“Oh... I was?”

He nodded.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s ok.”

“It was kind of a nightmare...”

He was so tempted to look up in curiosity, but instead he kept his attention on the plastic curtain. If he kept fiddling with it, he’d probably chipp a small corner on the curtain at the end of the day.

“... but it was just a dream.”

“What happened to me, then?”

From the corner of his eyes, he saw his brother shrug. “I rescued you. That’s all.”

“Oh,” he breathed, taking his brother’s reply as a valid answer. “Ok.”

So his brother was having a nightmare about him after all. It must be because he’s been rescued so much by him in the past that it might be haunting him in some way. He never thought that his brother would have nightmares about those incidents since he never really thought that it would affect him, up the point where he has nightmare about it. Just as he was about to head to his room, deciding that he couldn’t take anymore of the awkwardness between them, his wrist was grabbed by his brother.

“Massage me.”

“But--”

“Massage me, Kazu,” he insisted. “You’re the one who suggested it.”

Kazu groaned inside. It really was awkward since earlier, but he couldn’t back out. Not now, since he was the one who stopped him from taking an ice bath, and insisted on massaging him. Besides, he really didn’t have to face him... right?

He was totally wrong. His brother asked him to massage his hands first before going to his back, so that meant he had to face the side of his head. That wasn’t such a bad thing anyways since it’s not like his brother was a monster. But he kept replaying the scene from earlier wishing that it hadn’t happened, but at the same time he was glad it happened.

When he took his brother’s hand in his, he felt the muscles tense at first as if touching him was the wrong thing to do. However, it relaxed when he began massaging it gently like earlier. He was able to untie the knots that formed in his brother’s muscles, glad that he massaged him after all. Without him realizing it, the awkward air had slowly disappeared at the same time his brother decided to take another small nap even though he had woken up an hour ago.

Still, it was peaceful to watch his brother sleep.

TBC