Today was going to be perfect.

Haru had gone out of his way to make sure it would be. The past two weeks had been… rough. He found out they had fallen behind on their utility bills and to make ends meet, he had to start pulling double shifts at work.

Two whole weeks of not being able to walk Aki home from school.

Two whole weeks of not having time to make him dinner and help him with his homework.

Two whole weeks of having to leave his poor, defenseless little brother home alone for hours, unsupervised and unprotected, all by his lonesome.

Every day, every hour, they spent apart was eating Haru alive, ripping his flesh to the bone in agonizing pain as he felt Aki drifting further and further away from him. Aki wasn’t doing much better. His time alone had rendered him listless and a nervous wreck. More so than usual.

So Haru was going to fix that and make today all about them.

He’d gotten the day off from work and called Aki in sick at school. His phone was turned off and the door was locked up tight. Absolutely nothing from the outside could bother them now. Earlier that morning, Haru had snuck out and gotten everything they could possibly need, so they had no reason to even think about leaving the apartment.

Just as Haru finished making their breakfast, he heard Aki begin to stir on the futon. Being woken up to the smell of toast and bacon was very pleasant way to start the day.

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“Good morning, nii-chan,” Aki yawned, stretching his little arms before pushing himself to his feet.

“Good morning, kiddo,” Haru said, smiling at Aki’s wild bedhead. “Can you put the futon away while I finish cooking?”

“Uh-huh.”

It always took a while for Aki to fully wake up, so he hadn’t noticed what time it was yet. He did as he was told like the good boy that he was and got the table out while he was at it. It wasn’t until he was halfway through his toast that Aki had finally caught sight of the digital clock on the DVD player that he realized how late he had slept in, causing his to shoot up and take off stumbling to the bathroom.

“School started two hours ago!” he shouted. “I’m late!”

Haru chased after him and scooped him up before he could make it to the door.

“Hold your horses, kiddo,” he laughed and carried Aki back to the table. “No school today. Just relax.”

Haru set him down and brought over the sacks of junk food and DVDs he’d gotten earlier.

“No school?” Aki asked, tilting his head in confusion. “Why not?”

“‘Cause you’re gonna spend the whole day under the kotatsu with me!” Haru held up the a few kaiju movies in one hand and a couple anime in the other. “Just you and me for a movie marathon in our pjs. I rented your favorites.”

The kaiju movies were for Haru, Godzilla had been his favorite ever since he was little, but the rest were for Aki. They had seen them at least a dozen times, but Haru would still ask questions about the characters or setting so he could listen to Aki’s excited little rambles about it all.

Aki’s face beamed as a blinding smile spread across his face. He loved it when Haru did stuff like this! It was way more fun than sitting in class all day and it looked like Haru went all out this time. Candy, chips, jam buns, the works! Normally Haru was picky about his little brother’s diet, but today was all about fun and relaxing. So if that meant popcorn and chocolate for lunch, he was willing to let it slide. Just this once.

As Haru cleared breakfast away and brought out the kotatsu, Aki put the first batch of popcorn in the microwave and Haru wasted no time in whipping out his phone to record the boy intently watching the bag inflate. He was already so excited, he was bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited.

Several hours later, Haru had Aki snuggled up on his lap under the heated blanket as they started their third movie, chocolate smudges and crumbs littering his little brothers chubby cheeks. Despite being loaded up on sugar, Aki’s eyes were starting to droop. It was so warm and his big brother’s chest was so comfy to lay his head against, he couldn’t help it! Haru saw this, turned the tv down, and began to rock side to side while rubbing Aki’s back. A nap sounded like a great idea.

“Close your eyes,” he whispered as Aki began to doze. “Close your eyes and rest. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”