Work Text:
You can thank your stars all you want but
I'll always be the lucky one
Your Universe by Rico Blanco
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
The storm had passed, and Minato and Yori were at home — that being Saori's house.
Three weeks since Yori and Minato were rushed to the hospital. Two weeks and three days since Yori made a home in Minato’s house. And those weeks were mostly spent recovering from the aftermath of the storm. Up to now, charges were still being taken care of against Yori's father and those towards Mr. Hori were being lifted up.
It wasn't an easy three weeks for anyone, but it was the safest the boys have ever been.
It was a dim morning. Mom was out to buy some groceries. Minato and Yori were neck-in-neck, deep in the adrenaline of the video game they were playing. Eventually, Yori won.
"You cheated!" Minato said.
"You let me win!"
Minato teasingly raised an eyebrow. "Did I?"
Yori blew him a raspberry and turned on another match.
Minato made sure to not let him win this time.
—
Minato and Yori have gotten used to sleeping in the same bed. Their backs usually faced each other when they did. Minato thought it was for the best, so Yori could finally sleep soundly at night without having to worry about Minato when a storm cracked.
Minato had slept lightly the past few days. He had held it in for so many nights to not wake Yori up. Instead, he would drift off to the smaller boy's silhouette heaving up and down. Yori was alive. Despite the bruises, he was alive. Minato would match Yori's restful breathing to fall back asleep.
After brushing their teeth and changing into matching striped pajamas, Minato suddenly raised the question. "When are you going back to your grandma?"
Yori did not falter buttoning up his shirt. "Do you want me to?"
"Of course not!" Minato said a bit too sharply. He settled at the edge of the bed, watching as Yori combed his hair. It was growing healthily. Beautifully.
You could stay with us forever. It may not be enough but we'll find a way. "I don't want you to go."
"Neither do I." Yori sat on the floor next to Minato's legs and leaned his head on the taller boy's knees.
Minato carefully plucked the comb from Yori's fingers and carded it through Yori's hair. Yori visibly relaxed.
"I should wake up earlier tomorrow, so no one can see us arrive together." Yori said.
Minato tensed. "Are you angry?"
"No."
"Don't lie."
"I'm not! I just don't want them to laugh at you."
Minato closed his eyes to flush his tears away. Even after the big crunch, nothing had changed. There were still mean people everywhere. Turns out nothing can truly be safe. Minato ached for Yori to be loved. Yori was not a monster.
"I don't want them to hurt you." Minato retorted back.
"I won't let them hurt me." Yori flashed Minato a genuine sweet smile. It hurt Minato that he still couldn't read him fully.
Will you ever let me in, Yori?
They slept with Minato facing Yori's back.
—
When Minato woke up, Yori wasn't next to him.
That little—
Minato dashed to the living room, the kitchen, and the bathroom. No Yori anywhere. He only noticed the empty space beside his backpack.
It took Minato 10 minutes to get ready.
Minato was pushing through a crowd in school. People looked at him weird, demanded him for his problem, some were visibly concerned. Minato paid no attention to them.
He found himself in the music room again with Yori. Yori was standing against boxes of dusty instruments.
"You left."
"I wanted to be early." Yori ran a finger against a metal xylophone. "Do you play?"
Minato put his backpack down. "Not that one." He walked closer to Yori. He regarded the box before fishing for a certain horned instrument.
"A trumpet?"
“A trombone.” Minato rested the instrument on his shoulder. "I don't know how to make it sound good." He blew a loud note right next to Yori's ear. It produced a loud funny tune that made Yori laugh. Yori retaliated with two drumsticks.
"Get behind me, foul fiend!"
"I am not a foul fiend! I'm a siren! Listen to my song, Hoshikawa Yori!"
They chased each other in all corners of the room, almost toppling over fragile instruments that would have cost Saori some money. Soon, they gave up on instruments and toppled over each other in a wrestle. Yori locked Minato's wrists behind him.
"You lost!"
"Never!"
Minato wriggled out of the smaller boy's grasp and flailed his limbs until he was pinning Yori to the ground. Bursting with hearty laughter, Yori tried to break free. Minato's grip loosened as he settled down to Yori's side, but Yori didn't stand. Neither of them did.
A wave rushed through Minato. He reached forward until his hand was hovering above Yori's face. Yori looked at him expectantly.
Minato's hand lightly brushed over the ends of Yori's growing hair. Once. It was barely real.
"Your hair is growing." He said, because what else was he supposed to say?
"Should I cut it?"
Minato shrugged. "If you want to." It’s cute either way.
Yori's fingertips met Minato's over his shoulder. Minato froze, but didn't pull away.
"I think I'll keep it."
"That's good." Minato's hands travelled to the crown of Yori's head, brushing it like Yori would through a garden of tiny flowers.
"Will they think I'm a girl?" Yori joked.
"Why does it matter what they think?"
"It doesn't."
Minato was sensing an invisible “but” somewhere.
To spare Yori the words, Minato said, "You're Hoshikawa Yori. You'll never have to be someone else ever again."
They stayed that way under the window's gray sunlight until the bell signaled their first period.
—
Yori and Minato walked the hallways beside each other, a wide gap bridging between them where rowdy kids passed by.
Minato felt even more sick when he realized it was Yori purposefully setting the distance—all for Minato's sake.
Minato entered the room first.
"Mugino!" One of the boys slung an arm over Minato's shoulder. Minato didn’t like him very much. "We haven't seen you since forever!"
"Yeah where have you been?" another one said.
Yori passed the three boys wordlessly and headed straight to his desk. But all eyes were on him.
The room turned cold.
Minato heard the words before they were uttered. He had expected this, sure, but they could’ve been a lot more subtle.
"Isn’t Hoshikawa dead?" one muttered.
"Is it true that his father's in jail?"
"Was Minato really lying about Mr. Hori?"
Minato pushed through the boys and settled quietly on his desk.
The teacher entered the room, and despite how boring class was, Minato was glad to have a sense of normalcy. Somehow.
Minato did not join his "friends" when lunch came. The classroom was emptied until it was only Minato and Yori. Yori looked at Minato for the second time that day with a smile.
It wasn’t enough. Minato rushed to Yori, then realized he didn't know why he did that. But the scene was so familiar to when they were in their hideout. When Minato grabbed Yori's collar, begging him to stay.
Stay, stay, stay.
Be by my side.
Or right in front of me.
Anywhere I can see you.
Minato's chest was a fluttering butterfly. Yori was looking at him, offering him a chance, a space to fill in. All Minato needed to do was move.
Minato's pinky gravitated towards Yori's hanging hand. Without breaking their shared silence, Yori's did as well.
"It's okay. We're okay. I won't let anything happen to you… to us. I'm so sorry–"
Yori kissed his cheek.
It lingered for half a millisecond before the shorter boy stepped down from his tiptoes. Yori looked to see if anyone outside saw, but Minato's knees were jelly. Yori smiled and... wait was that a smirk? Oh that little— "Let's go. Your mom cooked us something nice today." Yori fully intertwined their hands and dragged them both to the hallway.
...
That was the first day people saw Hoshikawa Yori swing his and Mugino Minato's intertwined hands peppily in a hallway. No rowdy kid passed in between them since.
—
Now here's the thing,
Hoshikawa Yori was special to Minato because he was the only friend he never had to talk about girls with. Or crushes.
Actually scratch that. Yori was his only friend.
Given their ... situation ... which Minato honestly couldn't describe. Yori seemed so normal about this. They were normal. This was normal. Minato didn't know where that placed him. All he knew was that he liked Yori. Very very much. And Minato knew that Yori liked him too
Did he?
They were back in their hideout. They have taken to cleaning the abandoned train, fully rebirthing it after the storm.
"If you were to be reborn, what would you become?" Yori asked. He was tiptoeing on a seat, trying to tape the paper planet-edged yarn to the ceiling. Minato was on the seat behind it, doing the same.
Of course he had wondered what life could be like as... well... anything. Anything that wasn't in the body of a human with a pig's brain—that was what he used to think.
He didn't think of it as that anymore, but fear seeped through the tiny crevices of his heart. An eerie voice, one he had heard once, told him he was unnatural. Burnt his skin and called him a monster.
And Minato wished Yori didn't have to face all that. He was a child. They were children.
"I don't know."
"Just pick something."
"A bird maybe... or a deer... or a raincloud."
Yori raised an eyebrow. "Why a raincloud?"
"So I can follow you around and bother you."
Yori threw the roll of tape to him. Minato smiled. "You didn't answer your own question."
"Hm?"
"If you were to be reborn, what would you become?"
Yori paused for a second. He regarded Minato from head to toe and back and smiled.
"Anything."
"Anything?"
"Anything. I'd become whatever you are."
Yori was the braver one. Always turning the other cheek, smiling over bruises, and always standing tall. That was what Minato liked so much about Yori.
But now as Yori said his words, his head was ducked, voice timid, hesitant, but true. It was true. Yori could never lie to Minato.
Minato swallowed. "Then we shouldn't change at all."
—
They were back in Minato's room that night. They had just finished a quarter of their missed homework and were ready to end the day. Their routine was slower that night.
Or maybe Minato was just overthinking it. He noticed the way Yori took longer to brush his teeth than Minato. He noticed that Yori was quieter tonight. He noticed the way Yori bid him good night with his back facing against him.
And Minato was restless.
He didn't know how much time had passed as he stared holes into Yori's back. The childish part of him imagined his thoughts being so strong it would actually reach Yori.
He didn't know if he wanted that. Everyone had secrets, after all.
But Minato spent so long keeping Yori like a secret. He wanted to keep Hoshikawa Yori like a promise.
A promise that maybe they didn't have to move to another planet or be reborn into something else. A promise that maybe Minato and Yori could just exist as they were, right here right now, happily.
"I can hear your thoughts."
Minato's heart jumped.
"What?"
Yori chuckled. "I'm kidding. I know you've been awake."
"How?"
"I just do."
"And why aren't you sleeping yet?"
"I'm not ready to dream yet."
There were many times Minato missed chances. Oftentimes he refused them, even.
This was not one of those times.
Minato grabbed Yori's shoulder and slowly pushed it down so Yori was facing the ceiling. He reached over the other boy's chest and pulled his other shoulder up. Now, they were both facing each other.
Yori touched the side of Minato's cheek. Minato closed his eyes and shifted under his cold palm. Yori gently drew tiny shapes with his thumb. Three lines, four circles, then another line.
For the first time in his life, Minato wished he wasn’t anything else.
"Minato?"
Minato hummed.
"I have a secret."
"Tell me."
"When we became friends, I made up a planet in my dream. We're the only ones there. In it we plant our own flowers. We eat our own food. And we grow old together. Before you found me in the tub, I tried flying back to our planet. But you weren't there. I thought you left to fly on your own. I thought maybe you didn't want all that."
A tear escaped Minato's eye.
"What then?"
"I burnt it."
Minato was barely keeping in the choked sobs.
"But that was dream-me and that was dream-you. We aren't dreams, Minato. We make them." Closer, softer, quieter, "I want to keep dreaming with you."
"Me too.” Minato pressed his forehead to Yori's. They were both anchoring each other through the endless ocean that was the world.
It dawned on Minato—he really really loved Hoshikawa Yori.
"That's all I need to know." Yori said as he finally yawned into sleep.
Before Minato joined, he made a mental note to pass by the hill to collect a few flowers before going to school.