"It's just that it does make me curious"

"I don't know," replied Daiki "It's not something I think about, so I don't know."

"So you're so used to being with us that you don't even consider what it would be like to be alone, I see..." said the black haired with much amusement.

"Well that's obvious, you idiot. We’re together everyday, I'd have no reason to think otherwise" Saying this, Masaru looked surprised for a moment.

"Wow... and to think you can say cheesy things without even realizing it, who knew..."

“What? What did I say?..."

"Oh, nothing, nothing, don't worry, it's not like it's anything new. That's what I mean by reading between the lines... even if sometimes there’s really, really, small letters" Masaru gave him a playful look.

"I'm not sure of what you just said but I don’t agree with that."

"Sure. Well…, never mind, I can't imagine how that would be either, so I share the sentiment"

"Hmph..." 

"So... I would indeed miss you if one day I woke up and you were gone" The black haired gave him a somewhat sad smile. After that nightmare, it was impossible for him to say anything different.

The redhead remained silent as he contemplated his expression, he then sighed.

"Masaru, enough of your nonsense, I'm sleepy, just go to sleep" Daiki stood up from the sofa and turned with direction to the bedroom.

"Yeah, you better go to sleep, we have school in a few hours after all."

"Aren't you coming?" Daiki looked at him curiously.

"Not yet, but I'll be there in a bit"

"...Do you want me to stay with you?" the redhead asked as he considered that his brother might have difficulty sleeping after having had a bad dream.

"Haha, no, you already did too much by talking to me," he replied. "You'd better go to sleep unless you want to be in a worse mood later."

"Okay..., but don't take too long" seeing Masaru nodding his head, Daiki opted to go back to the room.

After seeing his brother leave, Masaru curled up on the couch and stared into nothingness. Even if he wanted to sleep... How would he dare to after what he saw? He didn't want to see Daiki or Mitsuru like that. What had that all been about? All his feelings had gone chaotic, and he'd even gotten emotional over wearing a strange choker...

"Masaru?" a familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts. The green eyed boy looked at him curiously.

“Rage..." he muttered. "What are you doing awake? Did Daiki and I wake you up?"

"Well... You know I'm a light sleeper, just feeling you two get out of bed woke me up."

"Eh... I guess that's the disadvantage of us sleeping in the same bed" said Masaru "Good thing it's big enough, but it would still be nice if we had bunk beds at least."

"It's what our uncle gave us, I think he was generous. It has a comfortable mattress and pillows." 

"Well, I can't complain, at least he gave us something to sleep on" said Masaru "Although it will become a problem the older we get..."

"By then I'm sure I can get a part time job and maybe I can get two beds, I wouldn't mind sharing the big bed with Daiki"

"It's not like you're the only one who will work..., you can't just be spoiling us and accepting that like you're our father"

"Maybe, but I'm your big brother and I like to do things for you guys" Daitaro said with a gentle look on his face.

“How do you expect me not to call you submissive when you say things like these..."

"Haha, but forget that, I came to see what was going on with you."

“You know, I'm actually surprised that you wake up so fast, do you wake up even when we go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?" Masaru looked at him very curiously, was his brother even sleeping?

"Sometimes, though, I go back to sleep almost right away when it's like that."

"And why was this time different?"

"Because I heard you two talking… I couldn’t make anything out but at least I knew you both hadn't just gone to the bathroom."

"Oh... And how did you know something happened?"

"He wouldn’t say it, but Daiki looked worried when he came back to bed."

"I see..." Masaru smiled slightly. “Yeah, he's not honest at all."

"So, is there something bothering you?"

"I... just had a bad dream," he replied. "I'm sorry I worried you, I'll be back when I manage to stop thinking about it."

"Hmm... Do you remember falling asleep in the living room in the afternoon?"

"Hm? What about it?"

"Well, Daiki and Mitsuru had ran to the park trying not to do the dishes" he explained. Masaru looked intrigued, of course, he ended up laughing after hearing that. He understood that Daitaro just wanted to distract him so he could sleep. "Apparently they found a boy who was trying to return a baby bird to its nest."

"Wow..."

"Yes, apparently the boy tried to climb up with the baby bird but the branch broke."

"So what did they do?"

"Well... Mitsuru came looking for me, commenting that Daiki couldn't see me because of embarrassment or something" explained Daitaro happily. "So I helped them by climbing the tree and putting the little bird in the nest."

"Ohhh, did you show your skills?"

"Yes..., I jumped like you taught me." 

"Great! Too bad I couldn't-" exclaimed the black haired excitedly.

"Shhh... Not so loud, you don't want Daiki to come and shut us up."

"Right, sorry...., hehe" Masaru laughed briefly. "So, they were amazed to see your jump?"

"Yeah, they started giving me embarrassing compliments, even though Daiki scolded me..."

"It was to be expected" Masaru reflected on this. "Wait..., you didn't tell him that it was me who taught you, did you?"

"No. I said it had been from videos on the internet. I know Daiki wouldn't leave you alone if he knew..., though I almost ruined it by telling Mitsuru. Since he started saying that I was the most agile and that you couldn't do that, so I told him that you could..., but he didn't believe me, so you're safe" the redhead explained as he apologized with his gaze.

"It's okay, I appreciate that you wanted to defend me, but they don't need to know. Not that I mind, but your twin might get really tiresome if he finds out I taught you something dangerous."

"And wouldn't you want to tell Mitsuru if nothing else?"

"Are you kidding? He's a loose lip, I'm sure Daiki would end up finding out. So I appreciate that you lied, even though it was half lie half truth."

"I'm surprised you were able to learn by watching videos… Oh, Daiki gave me his word. If I get an instructor then he'll agree to let me keep jumping like this."

"Hmm... I guess that instructor can't be me."

"Definitely not."

"Yeah, I figured, so are you planning to listen to Daiki?"

"Well only on the part about jumping too much..., I can't stop practicing but I can do it less often."

“Rage, it's weird when you jump like that. Doing that less often, in your case, means you'll stop jumping."

"Well, Daiki promised he would let me jump like that if necessary."

"What about the instructor part?"

"Maybe I can ask our uncle and insist on it..., it's true that I wouldn't want you to get hurt. Daiki's worries are not exaggerated."

“Huh... So you weren't thinking of asking that guy for the favor if it wasn't because I might get hurt? Rage, think about yourself a little"

"I wasn't planning to do it, so as to not upset Daiki, but, I think it's one of those things I should try."

"But of course you should! It's one of the most fun things there is, don't stop just because Daiki is scared of it" with that said, Daitaro couldn't help but smile sadly. "What's wrong?" "I know you don't remember, Masaru, but, that time you ended up in the hospital... It wasn't trivial" the redhead explained as he remembered his twin's pale expression. "I think jumping is useful and it's true that it's fun, but I repeat that Daiki's concern is not exaggerated" "But what does that have to do with this? I just don't want you to stop jumping..." "You know how he is, if it weren't for the fact that he was there when you got hurt, he would probably see that ability of yours as very useful..., but he doesn't want anyone to jump the same way" "Hmm..." Masaru looked at Daitaro in disbelief. "And if you say it wasn't trivial and Daiki is okay to worry, why did you want to learn how to jump, hm?" "That's..." "Did you want to feel like a superhero?" Masaru asked as he raised and lowered his eyebrows twice. At the question, Daitaro blushed and shook his head. "No, no... It wasn't because of that." Masaru smiled mischievously as he saw his brother looking embarrassed. Daitaro frowned slightly at his expression. "Really, I'm not lying!" "Shh, they're asleep." Daitaro sighed at that, his brother was surely enjoying himself. "Really, I just thought it would be nice to know how to do that in case we had to use it to escape one day..." "Like in an action movie? Hm... Are you really going to deny that it was because it looked cool?" "..." "You won't even admit that it's kind of cool?" “…Okay, yeah, it’s cool. But no, it wasn’t because of that,” Daitaro said as he blushed at his brother’s mischievous grin. “I wanted to have more ways to help, I wanted to be able to do something risky if I needed it, I wanted Mitsuru to feel like I…” “Mitsuru?” the black-haired boy raised an eyebrow at this. Daitaro fell silent and soon closed his eyes trying to calm down. “It’s nothing.” “Oh… You wanted your little brother to see you as his superhero, is that it?” he suggested with amusement. Daitaro pondered his words, sporting a complicated expression on his face. Believing he had embarrassed Daitaro enough, the black-haired boy stood up. “Thanks, Rage, I thinkI feel better enough to fall asleep.” “…I’m glad. I don’t want you falling asleep in class. I'm going to ask your teacher," Daitaro replied moments later. "What? Well... at least I'll try not to." the readhead nodded before leaving the couch to go back to their room. Daitaro, who stared at the dark ceiling, thought about Masaru for a moment. His brother who usually didn't take something like nightmares seriously... Was being affected to that degree by them? Besides this, the redhead tried to look at his blond brother; however, fearing that he could open his eyes at any moment, Daitaro returned his gaze to the ceiling and lightly held Mitsuru's hand. With sadness and disappointment in himself he muttered: "I'm not a superhero."