Work Text:
Suddenly, the world around him blurred dangerously and he stumbled. His head pounded intensely, as if a sledgehammer had mercilessly been slammed into his brain. His legs grew weak, black dots filling his vision as his body eventually gave out.
How had it led up to this?
--
It was 1:08 am.
Akito was working on some music on his laptop, headphones in and totally entranced in the haven to him that was music. He knew it was very late—or should he say early—but he didn’t care. Either way, he probably couldn’t sleep even if he wanted to.
The teenager was solely focused on his laptop, not even Ena’s (obnoxiously loud) chatter from across the hall interrupted him.
That was until something broke him out of his focused trance—an incessant string of notifications coming from his phone, causing his whole desk to vibrate uncomfortably.
He side-eyed the device, grumbling, who was messaging him at this time in the morning?
Debating it for a few seconds more, Akito eventually sighed, giving in and picking up his phone.
VBS
An: (1:09 am)
guys.
An: (1:09 am)
guys.
An: (1:09 am)
guys
An: (1:09 am)
guys
An: (1:10 am)
GUYS
Kohane: (1:10 am)
An-chan? Why are you up so late?
An: (1:10 am)
bc i have some super important news!!!
An: (1:10 am)
wait why ru up kohane??
Kohane: (1:10 am)
You were spamming (╥﹏╥)
An: (1:11 am)
oh sorry kohane!! BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT
You: (1:11 am)
what. do u want.
An: (1:12 am)
link
You: (1:12 am)
i am not clicking that shady ass link
An: (1:12 am)
coward
An: (1:12 am)
srsly. CLICK IT THO
--
Rolling his eyes, Akito clicked the link. It led him to a video of their recent performance on their YouTube channel, and it had 50,000 views.
Akito felt his eyes widen and his mouth gape—this was incredible. This was officially the push they needed to surpass RAD WEEKEND.
--
VBS
Kohane: (1:13 am)
OMG :0
An: (1:14 am)
WE’RE FAMOUS!
You: (1:15 am)
dont get ahead of yourself
An: (1:15 am)
WHAT!!! we totally are
You: (1:16 am)
yeah okay but srsly guys this is great
An: (1:16 am)
way to state the obvious mr wise guy
You: (1:16 am)
go to sleep an.
Kohane: (1:16 am)
Why don’t we all go to sleep! \ (•◡•) /
Toya: (1:16 am)
What is going on?
You: (1:17 am)
click on the link :))
An: (1:17 am)
i dont get itWHY ARE YOU SO NICE TO HIM BUT A FLIPPING ASSHOLE TO ME
You: (1:17 am)
idk what ur talking abt
Toya: (1:17 am)
Oh, wow. We’re practically famous.
You: (1:18 am)
real!!
An: (1:18 am)
oh so NOW we’re famous?
You: (1:19 am)
goodnight
Akito is offline.
An: (1:19 am)
what a dick. im going to bed. goodnight kohane! <3
Kohane: (1:19 am)
Goodnight An-chan .^◡^.<3
Toya: (1:20 am)
Goodnight everyone.
Kohane: (1:20 am)
Night, Aoyagi-kun! ..^.^..zZz
An: (1:30 am)
night!
An is offline.
Kohane is offline.
Toya is offline.
--
Setting his phone down, Akito cast his eyes back towards his laptop. He loaded up their YouTube channel—noting their other videos had also gained a significant amount of views before clicking on the video An had originally sent them.
The video had also accumulated a lot of likes as well as comments—that part peaking his interest. He decides to read some, immediately being blown away by the many kind comments they’d recieved. He scrolled on blissfully, until one comment caught his eye.
Jot.hot69:
they all have really nice voices but that ginger guy’s voice is rlly annoying
At first, he’d brushed that comment off, assuring himself it wasn’t true and people on the internet could be fucking cruel for no reason.
That was until he found a lot more, mostly at the bottom of the comment section. Some talked about how his voice sounded, his dancing, even his outfit and appearance. As much as it felt as if each harsh word cut deeper and deeper into his heart, he told himself not to let them get to him. Even so, he noticed that a majority of the kind comments weren’t even complimenting him particularly, instead the rest of his group. Of course, he was glad about that, everything said was true, they were all so talented and improving so fast—but at the same time, it hurt so badly, and a pit had formed deep in his gut. Hadn’t he been working hard?
At the very least, Akito reassured himself again it was better that he was the one facing the harsh online judgement rather than An, Kohane or Toya. Better him than any of them.
That night, sleep didn’t come easy to him. Self-deprecating thoughts involuntarily disturbed his slumber, and it wasn’t until the early hour sun peeped through the blinds when he finally felt himself drifting off.
--
“—Akito! Get your ass out of bed!”
It’s Monday.
Akito slowly blinked his exhausted eyes open, barely catching sight of Ena retreating from his room. Then, a loud slam errupted (presumably from Ena slamming his door shut hard as she did), and he jolted, sitting up.
Suddenly, the memories of last night hit him like a freight train, all the horrible comments he’d read coming flooding back.
Akito suddenly loses all motivation to get out of bed, groaning as he flops back down on to the bed, his arms and legs feeling bound to the mattress.
He lays there for what seems like hours, but was probably only around 5 minutes, and finally musters up enough strength to haul his heavy limbs out of bed with an immense amount of effort.
Slowly, he begins his usual morning routine, walking to his closet and grabbing his uniform.
While changing, Akito makes the mistake of looking in the mirror. Suddenly, the way he looks disgusts him in a way it never had. He’d never really thought too hard about it before, but after the comments he’d read last night, it was hard not to.
He’d skip breakfast today, he decides.
After changing, no more awake than he had been when he’d woken up, Akito sluggishly makes his way towards the bathroom. He takes his time straightening his hair before brushing his teeth, making a point to ignore the dark crescents beneath his eyes.
Tiptoing past Ena’s room, he finally makes it out the door. The chilly morning breeze hits him the moment he’s stepped out, an involuntary shiver making its way up his spine. Akito checks the time: 8:20. 10 minutes until school begins, and the walk there takes 20 minutes. He’s late.
Alright then, he’d run to school. It’d be good for him anyway, he’ll get fitter, that equating to his voice getting stronger.
--
1:00 pm. It was lunch-time. His legs hurt. He was tired.
Dazed, Akito blinks at Toya’s figure in the doorway to his classroom. The day had been going by so gruellingly slow he hadn’t thought lunch would come.
“Hey Toya,” he says, approaching him. Toya greets him back and the both of them walk towards the rooftop.
They sit in silence. It’s unusual, yet Toya doesn’t seem to mind, so Akito stays quiet. Just thinking.
“Didn’t you bring lunch?” Nevermind, Toya’s voice adjourning him from his thoughts.
“Oh,” he says. Of course he’d notice. Toya’s perceptive like that. “Forgot.”
Toya frowns slightly at this. He pushes his bento box towards Akito, motioning for him to have some of his lunch.
It was such a kind offer, yet kindness wasn’t something that should be directed at Akito. He hasn’t earned it. He’s not going to eat Toya’s lunch.
He tells Toya just this, before assuring him he wasn’t hungry either way, and he’d eat later.
This time, Toya’s eyebrows furrow, but he just blinks and nods, the two drifting into silence once again.
--
It was 8:00 pm. Practise with the rest of the squad was really draining. He was tired, hungry and sore the entire time. Either way, he pushed through. He knew his voice didn’t sound the best, though. He knew everyone else sounded so much better than he did. This only meant one thing: he needed more practise—outside of the usual with his group.
He knew it was reckless, he’d known ever since the incident with Arata. It didn’t matter, though. If he wanted to catch up with his teammates’ rapid improvement, he’d need to try harder.
And trying harder he did—Akito had stayed singing at the park until his vocals had run raw, physically unable to sing anymore. He collapsed onto a park bench and closed his eyes, a dull ache in the back of his head.
It was 10:24 pm. His phone chimed; a notification.
--
Ena
Ena: (10:24 pm)
buy me cheesecake
You: (10:24 pm)
buy it yourself
Ena: (10:25 pm)
dickhead.
--
Akito forced his sore body towards a 24-hour store, purchasing a cheesecake, before beginning the straining walk home. Ena had woke him up that morning, anyway. He owes her a favour.
When he got home, he was beyond bone-deep exhaustion. He set the cheesecake in the fridge and slowly trudged his way up the stairs.
“Cheesecake’s in the fridge,” he called out—the sound of his hoarse voice causing him to wince. Not awaiting Ena’s response, he shut his bedroom door and collapsed to the ground. He was thoroughly worn out, and sat there on the floor, too tired out of his mind to even form a coherrant thought.
Finally, he changed out of his uniform and fell face-first onto his bed. Checking his phone, It was 1:03 am. He heard Ena’s voice coming from her room down the hall. How had so much time passed him by?
Did it matter?
Akito fell asleep.
--
It’s Tuesday.
The day had started much the same as the day before, besides Ena waking him up. He was unbelievably tired, as expected, and struggled his way towards the shower. (He had avoided a glance at the mirror.)
Because Ena hadn’t woken him up, by the time he’d finished his shower, his hair and made it out of the house, it was 8:24 am. Akito sighed, before beginning the run to school.
His mind felt jumbled today, too many thoughts whirling around in his head, yet one stood out amongst the rest: this was for the best. Everything he was doing was taking a toll on him, yes, but he was doing this to benefit not only himself, but his group, too. He was only bringing them down and holding them back.
--
“Where’s your lunch, Shinonome?” Tsukasa questioned him, leaning into his personal space.
It was 1:38 pm.
Kamishiro hadn’t been at school today, meaning Tsukasa had sat with he and Toya today, mostly making conversation with the latter, thankfully meaning Akito didn’t have to say much.
“Did you forget again, Akito?” Toya asked, displease and concern lacing his voice.
“Again?!” Tsukasa gaped dramatically, Akito winced, “Well! This will not do! As a star, on top of your kind and considerate upper-classman, I will lend you my lunch!”
“I don’t want that,” Akito said, rolling his eyes and feigning disgust towards his upperclassman’s food, before turning to face his partner. “It’s okay Toya, I’ll buy something from the canteen later.”
Toya smiled—Akito smiling back (guiltily, knowing he’d just lied through his teeth), while Tsukasa had a hand placed on his heart and an offended expression.
This caused Akito to snicker and Toya’s lips to inch up slightly.
--
They didn’t have practise today given Toya had library duty and he himself had work.
This thoroughly bothered Akito with the knowledge that he needed to improve.
Meaning he found himself back at the park from the previous night.
This time, his practise session had ended slightly earlier, his voice giving out. This only told Akito that he’d need to do much more in order to improve, and with that, he decided to run home.
--
The view of his home came into view at 11:02 pm, and he noticed something that instantly made his heart drop to below his stomach.
His Father’s car in the driveway.
He took a deep breath, and made his way to the front door before unlocking and quietly creaking the door open—silently praying his father had already gone to bed.
Luckily, his prayers were answered. The house was unnervingly quiet as he toed his shoes off, making sure to carefully make his way up the stairs.
“Ena?” Akito quietly called as he knocked on her door. No response.
He sighed and opened the door. Ena was at her desk, painting, with a tear-stained face. Akito felt a pang in his chest at this. Despite all their arguments and moments when they struggle to get along, he cares deeply for his older sister and he always will. Even through the times she’d break down and take all her anger out on him, be it through words or less occasionally physical (the scratches forever engraved on his skin), he’d always toughed through it and made sure to be there for her despite it.
“Get out, Akito.”
“What happened?” He asked, plopping down on her bed.
“Get your heavy ass off my bed, you’ll break it.” She grumbled without looking at him, her eyes glued on the painting before her.
“Hey!” He shouted back, yet he still felt his heart ache slightly, the quip a reminder of a particularly awful comment he’d read.
Instead of dwelling on it, he picked up one of Ena’s pillows, playfully throwing it at her. She retaliated with a paint brush, the action evolving into a back and forth of the two siblings throwing anything they could find at eachother.
“Ew, Ena! Don’t throw your bra at me!” He yelled. Ena laughed a bit, finally full-on facing him before suddenly they dissolved into silence again. It wasn’t awkward, only tense.
A beat passed, before Akito spoke, “Do you wanna talk about it?”
Words were left unspoken, yet they both knew what he meant.
Ena shook her head, eyes downcast. “Maybe another time,” she said. “I’m gonna get back to painting. You’d better leave before I throw another bra at you.”
Akito smirked and got up to leave. Before he could open the door, though, his hand on the doorknob,
“Hey, Akito?”
“...Hm?”
“Thanks.”
His eyes widened in shock and turned back to the brunette, though unsurprisingly, he was faced with the back of her head.
“Anytime,” He replied softly before stepping out and shutting the door behind him.
If he slept a little better that night, it was nobody’s business.
--
The days passed by like this, each day Akito practising with his group before practising extra at the same park for hours afterward. Despite this, Akito hadn’t improved, infact he felt himself start to slip.
At the same time, their videos had gotten even more popular, and despite himself, Akito had read some more comments he’d soon regret reading afterwards. It was alright, though. In a twisted way, they were what helped him gain the motivation to improve.
Days of this turned to weeks, and suddenly it had become three weeks of this routine. Eventually, some people had noticed his change in demeanor, but after him constantly brushing it off, people had stopped asking. Which was good.
That’s the way it should be.
--
Vivid Bad Squad had a live event in just a week.
It had been a while since they’d all performed together and to say the least, Toya was so excited to perform together again as a group. Not only that, but recently they had been gaining in popularity and soaring higher than they ever had before.
It was a Friday and the group had plans to practise today in the back of the Weekend Garage after school.
He’d just come through the door, bell chiming and Ken greeting him from behind the counter.
“Aoyagi-kun!” He heard the familiar sound of Kohane’s voice to his right and glanced in the direction, noticing both her and An waving to him from a booth.
“Hey Kohane, An,” He greets, sauntering over to join them before glancing around. “Where’s Akito?”
“Not here, I thought he’d arrive with you.” Replied An, her eyebrows raised.
Kohane nodded at this with a hint of anxiousness, “That’s right... Shinonome-kun does usually arrive with you.”
Actually, he hadn’t seen much of Akito recently besides practice. Lunchtimes they’d rarely catch eachother these past few weeks, and honestly, it did worry him, but he knew Akito was strong and independent and Toya didn’t want to seem too clingy. Even so, the ginger boy had seemed pretty tired the last time they’d spoke—doing nothing to calm his nerves—but the other had just brushed it off when Toya asked.
“...Well, I couldn’t find him after school so I assumed he’d already left.”
An opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by the bell chiming. They all turned their heads in the direction, spotting Akito who’d just arrived.
“Akito!” Toya called out, and once the boy turned to face him, he noticed the condition of the other boy. He looked utterly exhausted and he was pale with bags beneath his eyes.
Akito must have noticed Toya’s expression upon seeing him, because he sent a questioning look at him.
“What’s that look for, partner?”
An then stepped up from the booth, glaring at Akito incredulously. “Yo, Akito, have you been sleeping well? No offence but you look like crap.” She accused, folding her arms and raising a brow.
“Guess that makes two of us,” Akito snarked back, mimicking her folded arms.
Before she could retort, Kohane touched her shoulder and spoke. “What An-chan meant to ask was - are you alright, Shinonome-kun?” Kohane was frowning at him, her eyebrows creased with clear concern.
Akito’s arms unfolded and his expression softened at this. Kohane was always kind and gentle with everything she said, and Toya was inwardly thanking her exponentially for her words, being that he was currently at a loss for what to say to his partner and best friend.
“I’m fine, just didn’t sleep well last night. My sister was being a louder than usual.” he said, though Toya hadn’t felt fully convinced. He knew that typically Akito was a very heavy sleeper and that commonly, Ena’s volume didn’t often effect that.
“Seriously, don’t worry about it, guys.” He reassured them, rolling his eyes. “Let’s just get to practise, yeah?”
They all reluctantly agreed, beginning their vocal warmups. The whole time, Toya wasn’t totally focused though—instead, he watched his partner closely. Akito had also seemed pretty out of it, and his voice wasn’t up to par with how it usually was. This only further worsened Toya’s concerns, but he didn’t have a proper chance to talk to Akito in private so far.
Once they’d begun rehearsing their dance routine and songs though, Toya’s concerns floated to the back of his mind as he found himself lost in the music, a true sense of contentness washing over him as he danced and sung with his group.
They’d continued like this for a couple hours, he’d say, being that it had began getting dark. So far, it had been going smoothly. That was until Toya noticed Akito’s voice getting shaky and his movements sloppier.
If he’d had half a mind to ask to stop the music, he probably wouldn’t be catching his partner as he suddenly fainted.
“Akito!” He shouted, shaking the boy collapsed in his arms.
He heard gasps before the music stopped, and two footsteps approach as he layed Akito on the ground carefully.
“Oh my god. I’ll go get Dad!” He heard An say, though it was muffled as he felt his breath speed up.
Toya couldn’t believe he’d missed this. Of course Akito was overworking himself. How hadn’t he noticed? Why hadn’t he payed attention? How could he let his partner, his best friend, collapse? What kind of partner was he? He should have pushed him more, so what if he thought it seemed clingy? Now he was unbelievably concerned for Akito’s health...
Speaking of which, he glanced down at the shorter boy. His eyebags stood out, starkly contrasting his skin which had an even paler complexion. His expression also looked to be slightly distressed, breaking Toya’s heart. It hurt more than anything seeing someone else in pain, even more so when it was Akito.
“He’s so pale...” Kohane muttered, voicing Toya’s thoughts, “Shinonome-kun’s been overworking himself again, hasn’t he?”
Toya only winced and let out a shaky breath, running his finger’s through Akito’s soft, ginger locks in hopes that it would bring the boy some sort of comfort.
“He’s over here, Dad!”
Ken came beside Toya, placing a hand on his shoulder.
He sucked in a short breath at the sight of the boy limp on the floor, before quickly standing back up. “We need to get this kid home.” Toya nodded quickly, relieved by the adult who could provide them advice. “Bring him to my car, I’ll drive. An, you go and serve the customers.”
“But— Dad!—” She protested.
“An. He’ll be alright. Go serve the customers, you can check on him later.”
She looked ready to protest again before Kohane spoke, “An-chan, it’s alright, I’ll help you with the customers. We’ll go to see Akito once this place closes?” She eyed Ken when asking the last part, to which he nodded, before the both of them left—not without An’s hesitation.
Toya then faced Akito again, lifting him up in a bridal carry.
“Need help lifting him?” Ken asked.
“Ah, no thank you, Shiraishi-san...” He replied, eyebrows furrowing as he pulled Akito’s head towards his chest. “He’s not heavy... Concerningly so.”
It was true, the boy in his arms was worryingly light, let alone for an athletic guy. His legs also felt too bony from where his hands supporting him were. Not only that, but Toya didn’t consider himself a physically strong guy. He suddenly remembers back to a few weeks ago when he’d continuously ’forget his lunch’, before they’d stopped having lunch together so often.
Ken eyed Akito with a worried expression before sighing and gesturing for Toya to follow him. They left through a back door, so as not to disturb any customers and made it out to Ken’s car.
The car ride was quiet as Ken drove them to the Shinonome household, Akito’s head rested on Toya’s shoulder as he once again ran his fingers through the shorter boy’s hair, this time the action comforting Toya as it calmed him down from the intense panic that he’d felt earlier. The moon illuminated the ginger’s face, this time a calm expression painting his features. Toya couldn’t help but admire his partner. He looked so pretty, so peaceful now.
Once they’d arrived, Toya once again carried him towards the front door. Ken knocked, and they waited a while to no answer. Perhaps they shouldn’t have automatically assumed someone would be home and instead brought him to Toya’s or An’s pla—
Surprising Toya, the door suddenly slammed open, to which he flinched at.
“Akito! I thought you had a key, dumbass—Oh. Oh shit, is he okay?”
Of course Ena was home. What was he thinking?
“He passed out at practise, so we brought him home.” Ken replied. “He’ll be okay. Sorry to intrude, can we bring him inside?”
Ena moved out of the way to let them in, her face wide eyed as she looked on at her brother limp in Toya’s arms. She was clearly extremely concerned, but Toya hadn’t any idea what to say to comfort her, let alone comfort himself.
“Toya, I’d better go check up on An and Kohane. I’ll bring everyone by later on, will you two be alright taking care of Akito by yourselves?”
Toya wanted to say no, that he didn’t know what to do, but he kept his mouth shut. Ena nodded anyway and Ken left.
After that, he and Ena set Akito down on the couch with a pillow beneath his head and a blanket over him.
“He’s burning up,” Ena muttered, after placing her hand atop his forehead. “I’ll go get a wet rag.”
When she retured, a tense silence hung in the air as the two sat by the passed out teenager on the couch. Toya couldn’t help wondering why Akito hadn’t confided in him if he’d been feeling such intense emotions that led him to overwork himself so intensely. At the same time, he was also ashamed that he hadn’t noticed or done anything a lot earlier to prevent this from happening. The guilt pooled at the pit of his stomach, unwavering. Despite not knowing much about the sibling’s relationship, he was sure Ena would have been feeling the same way, with her perpetual frown since she’d first caught sight of her brother in such a state.
“He overworked himself again,” Toya quietly said. “He hasn’t been taking care of himself properly. I wish I’d noticed sooner...”
“Again...?” She whispered, eyes widening as she stared down at the ginger.
Toya glanced at her, hadn’t she known? Then again, he didn’t fully know their relationship, and Akito didn’t like to reach out for help, so he wouldn’t assume. He glanced back down at Akito and took his hand, thumb softly making a circular motion.
Oh, Akito... If only you weren’t so stubborn...
--
Akito peeled his eyes open groggily before immediately shutting them again. The intense light from his living room only further worsened the pain in his head. Wait—living room?
He sat himself up on shaky limbs, a cloth falling from his head as he glanced around.
He was on his couch? And beside him was Toya sleeping in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position. He had his head in his arms which were folded atop the couch, beside Akito’s torso.
What was going on?
“Hey, Toya,” He shook Toya awake, the boy slowly blinking as he came to, sleepily gazing up at Akito.
Then suddenly, his eyes widened and he jolted awake, throwing his arms over Akito, tight, and pulling him in for a hug.
This was so unlike Toya that Akito spluttered, his arms frozen middair as the split-colour haired boy held him as if his body would disintigrate any second.
“T-Toya?!” He stuttered, his voice raspy. “What’s going on?!”
“Akito, you’re so stupid.”
“Hah?!!!”
“You got me and the others so worried. You collapsed, remember?”
The memories suddenly came flooding back and Akito went quiet, ashamed. How could he have been so selfish as to scare everyone like that? They shouldn’t have to feel worried for him... What kind of person is he? Only causing pain to the people around him?
“Akito,” A voice cut through his self-deprecating thoughts, and he cast his gaze back towards Toya’s face.
“Why didn’t you talk to us? Instead you went and overworked yourself to the point your body collapsed on it’s self. What’s wrong?”
Akito’s eyes only widened as Toya continued, “You said you would rely on us more. Come on, Akito. We care about you. I’m your partner...”
Toya’s eyes were filled with so much genuine worry, so much that all of a sudden Akito felt as if he couldn’t control his emotions a second longer.
His nose burned as he felt hot, wet, tears fall from his eyes and cascade down his cheeks. He began to sob as all of the emotions he’d been bottling up these past few weeks suddenly came to a head. He hid his face in his hands and suddenly felt warm arms wrap around him once again.
“Oh, Akito...” Toya whispered.
Akito cried very rarely, and as much as it was embarrassing and pathetic (especially in front of his partner), it admittedly felt incredible to finally let it all out.
By the time he was done, he’d wet Toya’s shirt, his head was pounding even more fiercly than it had before and he was suddenly exhausted again.
“Do you want to talk about it, Akito?” Toya questioned softly, rubbing his arm.
He shook his head, scrubbing his eyes. “Later...please.”
“Okay then. Later.” Toya got up, retracting his hand from Akito’s arm, the lack of Toya’s warm touch upsetting him. “I’ll get you something to eat.”
Too tired to refuse, even despite his knowledge of Toya’s history with cooking, when Toya came back not long after with a steaming bowl of rice for the both of them, they sat in comfortable silence as they ate. (Well, not so comfortable for Akito, given he was still thoroughly embarrassed).
That was when suddenly his front door was slammed open, causing Akito to flinch while Toya didn’t seem to bat an eye.
“Akito... I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”
“What?— An— GET OFF ME!”
An began attempting to strangle Akito, while Toya and Kohane were desperately trying to intervene (and failing).
“An-chan! You’ll hurt him!” Kohane gasped from behind her, trying to pull her away.
“You dumbass, Akito! Why didn’t you talk to us!” She yelled, “You fainted! FAINTED! TOYA HAD TO CARRY YOU—”
“hold on, CARRY?” Akito repeated, cutting her off and turning to the taller slack-jawed./p>
“Yes, CARRY—”
“You carried me, Toya?!” He shouted, eyes wide, gaping at him.
Toya smiled, “Like a princess.”