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“Rikka, can you hold her for a second?” Yayoi held out a screaming Mutsuki, looking harried. Uenoyama accepted the baby girl, settling her in his arms. Mutsuki continued bawling as Yayoi pushed her hair out of her face and disappeared down the hallway.
“Hey, now” Uenoyama cooed at his niece, rocking her against his chest. Shuffling around the living room in slow circles, he began to sing. His voice was soft and low, carrying a gentle melodic tune that Mafuyu recognised as the lullaby that Uenoyama had written for Mutsuki the night Yayoi had given birth.
Mafuyu cocked his head as he watched them. Uenoyama had been so nervous around Mutsuki when she was born. Six months later, here he was, a doting uncle with Mutsuki propped against his hip so naturally that you’d never know he’d once panicked so intensely about how to hold her correctly that Yayoi had cried with laughter.
Incredibly, the song seemed to do the trick. Mutsuki quieted and blinked away her tears, reaching for Uenoyama’s face with tiny hands. He smiled down at her, an impossibly soft look on his face. The scene triggered some unidentifiable pang within Mafuyu’s chest. Until now, he’d only ever seen that look on Uenoyama’s face for… well, him. Creeping closer, Mafuyu dropped his chin onto Uenoyama’s shoulder. Mutsuki turned her head towards him, blue eyes wide with curiosity.
“She has your eyes.” Mafuyu whispered.
Uenoyama stiffened. “Yayoi’s eyes.”
Mafuyu nuzzled into his neck. “You have the same eyes as Yayoi.”
Uenoyama grunted, resuming his song. Mafuyu blinked down at Mutsuki as she reached towards him, too.
A sudden click of a phone camera made them both jump. Yayoi giggled, sliding her phone back into her pocket. “You three look like a little family.”
Mafuyu tightened his fingers into Uenoyama’s sweatshirt. There was that pang again. Mafuyu closed his eyes, biting the insides of his cheeks. Why do I want to cry? What is thi—
“We are family.” Uenoyama’s gruff reply cut through Mafuyu’s swirling thoughts, wrenching him back to reality.
“Really?” Mafuyu shook the fabric in his hand, staring at Uenoyama.
“Of course we are…”
Yayoi beamed, taking Mutsuki back into her arms. Shooting Mafuyu a conspiratorial wink, she rose up onto her toes to press a kiss to Uenoyama’s cheek, making him grumble. With a last fond look at her brother, Yayoi turned and pecked Mafuyu’s cheek too. He flushed, brushing over the spot with his fingertips.
The rest of the evening blurred into Uenoyama-sibling bickering and a genial conversation over the take-out dinner Take collected on his way home from work. Mafuyu allowed himself to relax again, leg pressed firmly against Uenoyama’s under the table.
It wasn’t until much later that Mafuyu returned to that unidentified feeling. It came back to him as they brushed their teeth, elbows bumping in their cramped bathroom. Mafuyu studied Uenoyama’s face in the mirror. Dark circles under his eyes betrayed the fatigue he so often denied, born of an overzealous schedule and too many sleepless nights. Even so, he was handsome. Sharp jaw and clear blue eyes hidden behind thick black hair as he bent down to rinse his mouth. So unlike Mafuyu. He’d always looked softer, with round amber eyes and a curl to his red hair. Mafuyu sighed. “We don’t look like a family.”
Uenoyama scowled at him in the mirror. “What?”
“You and Yayoi and Mutsuki. You match.”
Uenoyama leaned into Mafuyu. “You’re cuter.”
Mafuyu shook his head. It didn’t matter. “Sleep with me, tonight?”
***
Uenoyama tightened his arm around Mafuyu’s waist, propping him up as the steam of the onsen rose above their heads. Mafuyu had fallen asleep almost immediately upon entering the water, head lolling against Uenoyama’s shoulder and mouth hanging open. Uenoyama fought his own post-show drowsiness, eyelids drooping.
“You two have been getting along, recently.” Haruki stretched out next to Uenoyama, hair piled high on his head in a messy bun.
“We always get along” Uenoyama grumbled back, voice low so as not to disturb Mafuyu.
Akihiko barked out a laugh. “Yeah, right. That’s why recording is always so peaceful.”
Uenoyama grimaced. “That’s… I mean…”
“Relax, Ue-sama. I dare not question the methods of you artists” Akihiko said, flourishing his hand in the air.
“Whatever.” Uenoyama rolled his eyes.
“How’s Yayoi going? I’ve been so busy with the tour preparations that I haven’t been over in ages.” Haruki sighed wistfully. “Little Mutsuki will have doubled in size by the time I see her next.”
“She’s fine. Bossy as ever.”
Akihiko and Haruki both snorted at that.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Akihiko sank deeper into the water with a groan. “Man, this setlist is a killer on my calves.”
Uenoyama adjusted his grip on Mafuyu, tugging him in closer. As his eyes drifted closed again, all he could see was Mafuyu’s face from that day at his sister’s house. “Really?” he’d asked, eyes huge and glistening. Why did he look like he was about to cry, then? Of course they were family. After ten years together, what else would you call it? Did he need to do something more to prove that? Did he want a ring, like Akihiko? Or…
Mafuyu straightened, blinking awake. Uenoyama jolted at the sudden movement, releasing his grip on his waist. Mafuyu frowned slightly, as if he didn’t expect to wake up in a hot pool surrounded by his bandmates. Without warning, he stood. Uenoyama made a startled sound, staring at the ass that was suddenly right in front of his face. Just above that, on Mafuyu’s lower back, slightly to the right of his spine, sat a little mole. It was one that he’d often admired, when they… Uenoyama swallowed, shaking his head. Not the time.
“Uenoyama-kun.” Mafuyu turned, holding out his hand. “Let’s go to bed.”
Dazed, Uenoyama linked their fingers and allowed Mafuyu to tug him out of the onsen towards the showers.
“Uh, guys?” Haruki asked, eyebrows raised.
“Have fun, kids!” Akihiko hollered after them.
***
Mafuyu grinned as Uenoyama paused outside the tattoo parlour they’d chosen, scratching nervously at the back of his neck. “Are you sure you like the idea?”
“Yes.” Mafuyu had loved the idea ever since Uenoyama had mumbled it into his shoulder, after slow, sleepy sex in a far away hotel room. They’d gone a week without talking about it afterwards, and Mafuyu had begun to worry that he’d only dreamt it, until, finally collapsed onto their own couch after weeks away, Uenoyama had sent him a link to a tattoo parlour with a reputation for being discreet. Mafuyu had agreed to go without hesitation. They were family. They should match. Grasping Uenoyama’s wrist, he tugged him through the door.
“That’s all you want?” the tattoo artist asked, eyebrow raised. “I could also do a name, or a matching small design?”
Uenoyama shook his head. “We want it to look natural.”
Mafuyu nodded. He thought it was romantic – a private promise, as if they’d been made for each other.
***
Mafuyu never brought the tattoos up afterwards. Uenoyama wouldn’t expect him too – it wasn’t in his nature to be verbose. But he knew, even months later, that Mafuyu loved them, because whenever he was close to Uenoyama – curled up on the couch next to him, down on his knees in front of him, sprawled beneath him under the covers – Mafuyu’s fingertips would inevitably drift to that little brown spot just above his right hip.
That’s what Mafuyu was doing right now, circling the spot with his thumb as he nestled into Uenoyama’s side. His hair, soft and fluffy and warm from the blow dryer, tickled Uenoyama’s throat. At least, that’s what he was going to blame for the sudden constriction he felt there. “Mafuyu…”
“Mmm?” Mafuyu sounded half-asleep already.
Uenoyama rolled, slipping his hand under Mafuyu’s shirt so he could press the pad of his middle finger onto the corresponding spot on Mafuyu’s hip. They didn’t say it out loud very often. It was implied. But if he didn’t say it right now, his chest would surely burst. “I love you” Uenoyama croaked out, into Mafuyu’s hair.
Mafuyu mumbled out a sleepy response that Uenoyama couldn’t quite make out. Still, he could feel the smile against his neck and the curl of Mafuyu’s fingers around his waist. Uenoyama didn’t need more. He spent so much of his time anxious, running at full speed just to keep up with Mafuyu’s shine. But here, in their bed, with Kedama at their feet and Mafuyu pressed impossibly close, he believed the speech that Mafuyu gave him so many months ago, on that late drive home. This is enough.