Chapter Text
“You what?”, Nayuta asked surprised. The information was not something he was not expecting to happen, it was something he did not expect Kanata to talk about.
“I know!”, Kanata did not seem happy with the information but it was his reality.
“So, are you going to ask him out or what?”
“If I don’t, he will never do it”, Kanata complain. “But I don’t wanna ask him out.”
“Why not? You like him and honestly, it’s pretty clear he also likes you, so what?”
“Because it’s humiliating! He’s an idiot!”
“I don’t think your omega thinks he’s an idiot”, Nayuta provoked. Since he started to understand better how alphas' e omegas' minds were very different from betas, he started to think it was fun messing up with his brother.
“Shut up!”
“You’re not denying”, Nayuta continued and Kanata wanted to punch him.
“It’s all because of that fucking heat. Why didn’t you come to pick me up anyway?”
“Why are you suddenly asking me this after months?”, Nayuta asked thinking it strange.
“I just stopped to think about it now. I never thought you would trust Allen.”
“Me neither, but… Shiki and the others trust him.”
“What the fuck? Was their opinion relevant at this time?”
“It started to be on that day because, apparently, I’m part of them.”
“Are you?”
“Yeah. Just like you’re part of BAE’s, you know?”
“But we…” Kanata seemed insecure, just like Nayuta was a few months ago.
“We are still us. It’s just that now we have people we trust, I guess.”
“Have you ever thought about it before the competition?”
“About what?”
“About having other people to trust.”
“I had Shiki but… I never thought one day we would have more people. It’s strange because it doesn’t feel wrong as I expected it to be.”
“It seems too right.”
“Yeah, but I think this is our second gender talking out loud.”
“And do you think this is okay?”
“To trust our other side?”
“Yeah.”
“I guess so. I mean, all our packs are trustable, they are just differently annoying.” Kanata laughed in agreement. “But you know.”
“Hum?”
“I wouldn’t change anything.” Kanata blinked twice.
“You’re right.” They smiled at each other. “By the way, when are you going to start dating him?”
“Him?”
“Your friend.”
“Are you talking about Shiki? Why would I date him?”
“Are fucking kidding me, Nayuta?” The beta did not understand why his brother was so angry at him now. “I’m not good at this stuff, but even for me it’s fucking obvious you’re both like each.” Nayuta laughed at the idea.
“We? Liking each other? No, no, there’s no way.”
“Okay. Think whatever you want.” Kanata’s words were not sharp, but they seemed disappointed and Nayuta did not understand. He wondered why was it so difficult to understand so many things… It was so frustrating and overwhelming that it always made he want to run away to breathe.
“Hey, Kanata. I’ll walk a little.” And it was what he decided to do.
Naturally, Nayuta ended up on his rooftop as always. The sun was starting to set and it was all he needed: an orange sky to calm down his thoughts. He lay down and thought about the fact that his brother would soon be dating an alpha. He was prepared for it, this was definitely not the problem, he was just wanting to run away from the fact his brother exposed him. Liking Shiki was not something he ever thought about because he never liked anyone romantically, so how was he supposed to know he was liking someone?
He sighed. How did Kanata know he was falling for that idiot? He wish he could ask but it sounded embarrassing. After all, why was he so ignorant about this stuff? He wondered if he could ask Saimon or Kanbayashi but none options looked the best when they were the responsible for Shiki. Then, he realized he knew who he could ask for a piece of advice. First, he checked how much money he had in his pocket, it was a few coins, but it was enough for a lamen, and this was all that he needed to go to Raimentei.
“The same as always?”, Haruomi asked when Nayuta sat down on the balcony.
“Yeah.”
“Where’s your brother? It’s rare for you to not be together.”
“We’re not glued to each other, you know.”
“I don’t think I know about it”, the alpha provoked and Nayuta was already regretting going there. “Customers usually come later, so you can ask me whatever you want to.”
“Why do you think I wanna talk to you?”
“Don’t underestimate me, kid. What do you want?”
“Go prepare my lamen.” The man laughed at the evasive answer.
“I’ll prepare it in front of you, so you can ask me whenever you’re ready.” Yatonokami nodded at the sentence.
“Hey, Shura”, Nayuta called after some minutes of silence observing the other preparing his dish. “How did you know you liked Yasha?”
“That’s it? You wanted to ask about love?”
“So what? Wasn’t you who said we were a pack?”
“I’m just surprised you came to ask me. I know we’re not your only pack, so why ask me?” The youngest kept silent again. “Really? I was your only option?”
“So what? Will you answer me or not?”
“I don’t think there’s a right answer for what you want. People fall in love in different ways, so even if I answer you, I think it would be useless.” Shingu put the bowl in front of his client. “Here, enjoy your food.”
“But can’t you give me an answer?”
“I can if you tell me who’s giving you doubts.” A son of a bitch, that’s what the beta thought the alpha was.
“Shiki.”
“So it’s the boy from The Cat’s Whiskers.” Haruomi got out of his kitchen and sat next to the Yatonokami. “Yasha is an idiot and fucking selfish. I don’t know how or why I got attracted to him, but when I noticed, he was someone I couldn’t live without. He’s so important that there’s no music or stage that mattered more than him.”
“That’s why you stopped Buraikan at that time?”
“Yeah. To be honest, before that incident, I didn’t think love could mess this much with someone, but I guess it can.” Nayuta could notice how the man was being sincere and how much he loved Yasha. It was beautiful and he wondered if he could have it too.
“Thank you.” It was all Nayuta could say, but by Shura’s smile, he could tell it was enough.
“Maybe you can ask yourself if being friends with him will always be enough.” Nayuta and Haruomi jumped out of scare on their seats.
“Don’t appear so suddenly, idiot”, Shingu complained and the blonde smiled.
“I’ll think about it.” Nayuta’s answer seemed to satisfy both.
“Why are you here anyway?” Nayuta thought it was fun how Shura was embarrassed for being overheard by his lover.
“I’m always here. But today I wanted to discuss our schedule.”
“Our… Ah… It’s already this time?”
“Yeah.” The beta finished eating and put the coins on the balcony.
“Thank you for the food.”
“It’s okay, you don’t need to pay today.” Nayuta looked at Haruomi for a second and got his coins back.
“The loss is yours.”
“I can’t believe this is his way to say ‘thank you’.” The beta heard before getting out of the shop.
Nayuta put much more effort to think about it than he expected since he fell asleep while thinking about it, but when he woke up in the middle of the night still stuck in his dream that was a memory from a few months ago, he knew he had his answer. After it, it became a challenge to fall asleep again because he deeply wanted to talk to Shiki with urgency. Somehow he entered his dreams again after more than two hours awake in full energy but he woke up before his brother with the sun rising anyway.
He left a message for Kanata on the SNS and went to his precious rooftop.
“Shiki? What the fuck are you doing here now?”
“Nayuta? I can ask you the same, it’s so early in the morning.”
“I couldn’t sleep.” He sat next to Shiki. “What about you?”
“Ryu woke me up. He said he needed to walk and something felt off so I went with him, but we found Hokusai in the middle of it, so I noticed their walking was already something planned and he was fine.”
“Why didn’t you come back home?”
“Because the sun was rising and I was close to here.”
“Is that so…”
“Why couldn’t you sleep?” Nayuta kept silent for a time Shiki felt uncomfortable, but he did not say anything.”
“Do you remember when I told you something about us was off?”
“It’s been a long time… Did you find an answer?”
“Yeah.” Nayuta thought about how to put his feelings in words for a few seconds. “You… I think I could say you always felt like a missing piece of a puzzle. I always felt grateful you were there for me. It’s just that now…” He sighed, why was it so hard? Then, he felt Shiki’s hand over his and smiled. “Now, I noticed there’s another piece missing.”
“This piece missing it’s what feels off?”
“Exactly. But this is because I like you.” Nayuta did not want to look at his friend now, it was too embarrassing, but he needed an answer, even if it was just a look, and he got surprised when all he found was Shiki so red that he almost thought it was a fever.
“I- I…” Shiki wanted to run away. Why he could not produce a single sentence?
“I already died here, Shiki, you can’t do the same”, Nayuta joked trying to calm him down and Shiki wanted to slap him.
“Never say it again, this is fucking horrible.”
“Wow! You know how to say bad words!”, he continued and Ando rolled his eyes and hide his face in the middle of his arms resting on his bent legs. Nayuta thought it was fair to receive silence as an answer for the moment but it was killing him as the second were passing by. “Shiki, can you at least tell me we’re still friends and I’ll not be kicked off of the pack?”, he tried to ease the atmosphere once more.
“I like you.” It was a whisper. So low that Yatonokami almost did not listen. “I like you so much it hurts”, Shiki confessed. “You don’t know how messing up was understanding I liked you when I saw you dying just a few hours before. When it was my fault you-” Nayuta hugged the ball Ando was now.
“It will never be your fault, you know that. I’m sorry for joking about my death, I won’t do it again. Maybe.” Nayuta heard a weak laugh from him when just a puff gets out of the nose, which was a good thing for now. “I didn’t know you liked me for so long, but thank you.” Shiki laughed weakly and got out of his ball, undoing Nayuta’s hug.
“Why are you thanking me?”
“For keep liking me.”
“Still doesn’t make sense.”
“Shiki, you have a great family and have a chance to like a better person than me.”
“Bullshit.” Nayuta wondered if we would keep hearing him swearing like that in the future. “You’re Nayuta and you’re amazing.”
“If you keep praising me I’ll get spoiled.” Shiki smiled, he did not have an answer for it since he wished he could spoil Nayuta as much as he could. However, he could spoil him in a different way.
And Nayuta could not be happier than he was when Shiki kissed him because now his puzzle was officially complete.