tl;dr+fic+pic(x2) *facepalm* SLEEPLESS AGAIN
the document i am currently working on is called hiromitsu because that is what totsuka calls kitayama (on the jwebs anyway) and i tend to just save my docs as whatever the first word is. it is funny because my computer is slow enough that i actually get to see the "WORD IS SAVING HIROMITSU" dialogue in the lower bar every time i hit ctrl+s and it is like O RLY. ♥ ←...i find it amusing at any rate.
in less (or more) mundane news, belatedly, i am back home! :D the holiday was aaawesome, and i got to see many, many shiny people like mousi and beth and rachel and shimizumiki and talisa and uchikins~♥♥ (oh yeah, and kismai. =v=; teehee. /fired)
missed abc-z's guest appearance! but caught yara's!! (sunday) ♥ YAY. :D which made up for it. kitamitsu was funny~ in the playzone section of the con, there's a bit where he talks to yara's vtr. and he was like, "WHERE ARE YOU, YARA!? (ah~ over there!)" ←i have described it crappily, but anyway. there was also a random bit where kitamitsu struggled to top one of the ramps around the arena and nikaido laughed in his face for it; kitayama made a rolling-eyes-amused expression like 'yeah yeah, brat, one of the rare times. shut up.'
kitayama is generally adorable. he got seriously into it going around on the carts, waving and doing signs and turning around, touching hands and stuff, grinning his head off. and like, on stage he looks like he's going for 110% all the time too, which is completely endearing even if it means he overdances some bits or whatever. ♥ he does not believe in the half-hearted headthrash.
wah, and yodi. xD; god, yodi was also adorable and wee. saturday, he guested. he is not tall usually, but all of kismai were on skates during the talk, and yodi was on stage with them very much without skates and came up to like kitayama's chin jajhjawe.
aside, apologies for disappearing again. since getting back, we have had a bunch of koreans living with us (dad's workmate, wife, son...) and um. now are preparing to move house maybe? god, idek anymore. 8[ mum's the type who can't go 24 hours without doing SOMETHING, but... cry. anyway.
i have been trying to write anything else, but all that's happened is MORE TINY SLEEPLESS. god. like, 2k more. wtf. so have some chibific.
*
Interpolated from the two comment drabbles mousapelli and I wrote before. It is a Loveless AU AU-lol yeah, just like that-in which Kitayama has Ultraman pajamas and he and Totsuka are bonded when they are tiny instead of in their late teens.
Sleepless: Take Two
G; 3060w
Note: Because it seems necessary when writing Tottsu, and I am lazy, Courier is English.
"Uwah, Ultraman-!" Out of place amongst the tables of shoes, the lone action figure sits in its box. "Mommy, can we buy it? Pleaaase?"
Totsuka-san spares her son barely a glance. "Your brother already has one of those, Sho-chan. You can ask to borrow it when we get home."
Totsuka pouts. "He won't let me. He never!" Though only five years old, he already knows that older brothers exist only to taunt and thwart their siblings at every turn.
"Well, we can't have two Ultramen in the house," Totsuka's mother says mildly, shifting her baby girl onto her other shoulder. She picks up a pair of black flats and turns them over. "Their combined power levels would compromise the apartment walls."
With no idea what she's talking about, Totsuka goes back to the Ultraman when she moves on to the next pair of shoes. He stares at it and wills it to be his with the power of his mind.
But suddenly, a rival appears. "Mom! Mom, look! Ultraman!"
Totsuka blinks in surprise.
"Can I get it, Mom?"
"Not today, Micchan," 'Mom' says, passing by. "We're here to look for school shoes."
'Micchan' pouts, lingering behind and eyeing the box on the table.
"My mom told me that too," Totsuka tells him sadly. "Except about the shoes."
Micchan blinks at him, and Totsuka stares back.
"You like Ultraman?" Micchan asks.
Totsuka grins. "Yup! I watched it this morning!"
"Same!" Micchan enthuses. "Remember the bit when he was like, ha! And HA-!"
"Yeah, yeah! And then the baddie, he went all Uwooooh!! and Ultraman went like, CHOP-!"
"Ow!"
"Oww~!" Totsuka rubs his zapped hand, staring at Micchan and his zapped arm. "Did you do that?" Totsuka asks. He's played Ultraman with his brother a million times before, but they never get actual power-ups ever happening.
"It's called static," Micchan explains sagely, waving his hand off to the side. "It's 'coz you have fuzzy carpet at home."
"I-" Totsuka blinks.
"Micchan! Come here and try these on!"
"Fiiine," Kitayama calls back to his mother. He gives Totsuka one last look. "You shouldn't roll on fuzzy carpet," he says, and trots off.
Totsuka blinks after him.
Their floors at home are all lino.
*
"Ummahhh, no way!" Totsuka's brother exclaims later, back home in the bathroom. "Is that a tattoo?"
"What is?" Bewildered, Totsuka follows his brother's eyes to his own shoulder-and gives a shout of surprise. It certainly looks like a tattoo, all black ink and burnt-red around the edges. He tries to scrub or scratch it off, but the strange letters don't budge.
"Mo~mmmm!" Totsuka's brother yells. "How come Sho got a tattoo!?"
"Sho has no such thing!" Totsuka-san yells back, but comes into the bathroom anyway. Only to stop short as well. "…oh. Sweetie, when did this happen!" she asks, kneeling by Totsuka's side to inspect the brand (and the red strikes across it from Totsuka's nails).
Totsuka's tail curls self-consciously as he tries to shy away. "At the shops?" He has no idea, but it wasn't there when his mother got him dressed in the morning.
"Can you remember who you met?" his mother asks. "Did you shake hands with anyone in particular?"
Totsuka shakes his head quickly, put on the spot. His brother's glaring at him too, for stealing all the attention, and Totsuka wonders uncomfortably why he's the only one with black marks on his shoulder all of a sudden. He wishes he wasn't.
"Sho-chan, it's okay," his mother smiles, fond, and ruffles his hair. It dispels at least some of his discomfort. "Don't worry about it, alright? It only means you've found your life partner somewhere out there. Good for you!" Turning, she forestalls anything her eldest son might have to say by squeezing a dollop of shampoo onto his head and rubbing it in vigorously so his ears flatten. "Your turn will come, Ryo-chan. One day, you'll find your special person, too. Or," and here she winks back over her shoulder at her younger son, "maybe they'll find you."
*
"Micchan," Kitayama's mother calls, poking her head around the corner. Kitayama stands in the foyer. "What are you still there for? Dinner's ready."
Kitayama glances at the front door again. He's not hungry today; he has other things to do. It's not that he can't reach its lock-he's not that little-but if he opens it (when he opens it, really) he's not sure he'll know where to go. The only roads he knows are the ones to his school, and he's only allowed to take them with the other kids. But the other kids won't be going to school now because it's dark, and anyway Kitayama really wants to go in the other direction.
"Mitsu?" Kitayama-san asks again, concerned.
"I need to go, Mom," Kitayama says. He hasn't put his shoes on yet, though has packed his school bag with snacks and managed to get his coat down from its hook. It's on the floor.
"The toilet isn't this way, Hiromitsu," his mother says with a frown. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine, Mom," Kitayama says and straightens his shoulders when he remembers he is supposed to be the man of the house. He looks his mother in the eye. "It's just I have to go see someone. Can you drive me? I can tell you the way probably."
Strangely, his mother looks like she gets it. But, "…dinner's waiting, Hiromitsu," she says.
"Mom, I-"
"I understand," she assures him. "Have dinner with me first? Then we can go."
Kitayama stops arguing then because his mother looks sad. He takes her hand when she holds it out, and walks away from the door with only a glance over his shoulder.
I'm sorry, he thinks at the vague voice he can hear. It never sounded angry or anything though (maybe just a little bit alone), so Kitayama figures it might be okay for now. I'll only be a minute.
*
Totsuka goes up to the room he shares with his brother early, much to his father's surprise. He'll usually fight the boredom of bedtime tooth and nail, but today's a little different. Not that he can sleep.
He sits in bed and pokes again at the weird marks that're still on his skin. He can't read them-they're not hiragana; not even katakana. He wonders where they really did come from and if they mean anything at all. (He was going to ask his mom, but then his baby sister started crying again and his mom was busy.)
Maybe, he thinks, he got them from the shops after all. Maybe when the Ultraman power-ups happened? Maybe all superheroes get them, and he has superpowers now just like Ultraman and he just doesn't know it yet.
Or maybe not.
A palm blast at the wall does nothing, even with High Concentration, and a karate-chop yields only pain.
Totsuka sighs. If it's not power-ups, then he hopes he hasn't been possessed like by Babadi in Dragonball Z. Majin Tottsu is a scary thought-though the mark isn't on his forehead so maybe it's okay.
He has a new thought then, half inspired by his mother's weird talk about the life partner or whatever. His eyes widen in the dark, tail swishing behind him at the potential epiphany. Maybe it's like the fusion dance. Maybe it needs both him and Micchan from the shops to work. Since it was Micchan who he did the power-ups with.
Excited, Totsuka wriggles his feet. There's no way to find out right now, but he wishes Micchan would come over again so they could try.
If they got super powerful, it would be really cool. Totsuka's brother wouldn't even be able to compete. They could play with his Ultraman and kick him out of the room and then Micchan could share the room with Totsuka instead and they could have sleepovers and everything.
*
Dinner is nice, but Kitayama isn't really hungry. He still eats everything though (except for the pickles), and soon enough they're done.
"Tell me about this voice, Hiromitsu," his mother says while she's clearing the plates. Kitayama blinks. He doesn't remember ever saying anything about a voice. She's told him off before for talking about getting hit by spirits and things, and he doesn't want to get in trouble.
"It's probably, um…" Kitayama chews his lip, realising he doesn't even know the name of the boy. But it's definitely the one from the part of the shop with the shoes. Kitayama can't hear words exactly-the call is more like an echo-but it sounds like him for sure. "He likes Ultraman, too."
His mother sighs. "It's getting late. Are you sure this can't wait 'til tomorrow?"
Kitayama shakes his head. "It's not late," he says. "It's…" He squints at the clock for a bit, since his mother changed it back from digital to the hands one just to confuse him. "It's only seven and a half."
"Half past seven," his mother corrects absently. "Are you sure he's still awake? It's going to be your shower and bedtime soon, too."
Again, Kitayama shakes his head. His mother is frustrating sometimes. "It's okay, he's still awake," he says firmly. "He's got a lot of energy, so…"
Kitayama only trails off because his mother's face while she's washing the dishes doesn't look happy.
Picking up a tea-towel from the bench, he goes over and tries to help. She gives him a half-smile, but it only makes him frown. "Why are you sad, Mom?"
"Because you're my baby boy, and I love you," she tells him, handing him a plate (and adding that he should mind not to drip any water on the floor). Kitayama wrinkles his nose. He doesn't like it when his mother calls him a baby, and anyway her reply doesn't make sense, but she continues before he can say anything: "Who's going to be my little man of the house after this?"
"What? After what?" Kitayama demands. The plate drips. "I'm not going anywhere, Mom. I'm always gonna be your man!"
His mother rinses off the last of the dishes before she speaks again, and kneels to wipe the floor dry with some paper towel. She's smiling when she looks up, though still doesn't look any happier. "Words like 'always' or 'never' are dangerous things to say, Hiromitsu," she tells him, looking into his eyes in that way where he can't look away. "Words have power, and you should be careful with them at all times."
Even more confused, Kitayama frowns and lets his mother take the tea-towel out of his hands. "But… I mean it, Mom. I really mean it."
His mother kisses his forehead. "I know, Hiromitsu," she says and smiles again-but properly this time. "That's why you're going to be a great fighter. Just like your father."
"A… hey, what! Mom!" Kitayama blinks. "Dad was-?"
"Shall we go?" his mother asks instead, with a tilt of her head toward the front door. "Your sacrifice is calling you, isn't he?"
"Oh!" Wide-eyed, Kitayama nods and dashes off to scoop his coat up off the floor and find his backpack again. "Yeah, let's go!"
*
In the car, he uses the dictionary on his mother's phone to find out the meaning of the letters across his shoulder that he saw before, when his shoulder was burning-they've already learned the English alphabet at school, but whole words are beyond him. It's a special word though, and connected to the voice he can hear. That much Kitayama knows.
S, he types, concentrating hard. L... F. He frowns. "Mommm~ how do I make it give me two E's?"
"Press across first, Micchan," his mother tells him. "Are we still going in the right direction?"
Briefly, Kitayama looks up and thinks. "…yeah. It's more this way. And then a bit that way." He waves a hand in the general direction of over there.
"Okay," his mother says.
At length Kitayama reads out, almost to himself, "Su-rii-pu-re-su. Without sleep. Watchful. Alert. Always active…"
"It means you'll never let your guard down," his mother tells him, and Kitayama thinks it sounds pretty cool when she says it like that.
*
"I'm terribly sorry for calling on you so late," Kitayama's mother says at the door when they finally get there. "This may sound silly, but my son here is convinced somebody from this house has been calling him…"
Kitayama pokes his head out from behind his mother in time to see the lady who answered the door tap her shoulder with a questioning look. His mother nods, and then the lady crouches down so she and Kitayama can see eye to eye. "What's your name, Sweetie?" she asks. She seems nice.
("Introduce yourself properly," Kitayama's mother cautions.)
"Sleepless," Kitayama says, bowing at the waist. "Nice to meet you."
Then with a thunder of feet down the hall, the boy from the shops skids around the corner. "OH, YOU!" he shouts.
"Sho-chan!" his mother admonishes. "Manners hat on, please!"
"Yes, Mom~" 'Sho-chan' says, trotting up to Kitayama with a wide grin and tugging on his hand. "Come in, Micchan! Do you want some water? Have a sit!"
Kitayama follows Totsuka in through the foyer under their mothers' noses and makes sure to line his shoes up neatly. "Actually, my proper name is Hiromitsu," he says. "It's what Micchan is short for. What's your name?"
"I'm Totsuka!" Totsuka replies, smiling so his eyes disappear. "Shota! You actually came here! Wow!"
*
"So, I think you know, Hiromitsu," Totsuka says to Kitayama, an amiable little motor mouth now that he has someone who'll listen, "we can totally be like Trunks and Goten!" He stands on his tip-toes to put their plastic tumblers into the sink, tasty orange juice gone.
"I get to be Trunks, right?" Kitayama says, tail swishing. "'Cause, your hair and ears are black mostly, and your big brother can be Gohan!"
Totsuka giggles because Kitayama doesn't know yet, but there's no way Totsuka's brother could be as cool as Gohan. "We could totally beat him if we do the Fusion Dance and become super powerful Gotenks! Or… Shomitsu! Like, HA-!"
But nothing really happens when their pointer fingers touch.
Totsuka deflates, his theory disproven. But Kitayama's hands are warm. Distracted, Totsuka takes them in his own hands and remembers that they were only playing Ultraman just that afternoon. It feels like a lot longer ago. Their hands are the same size, too, like matching, even if Kitayama's Already At School and Totsuka's only in kindergarten still. (But it's the end of the year, so he'll get to go to school soon, too. He wonders if he'll get to see Kitayama there. He hopes so.)
Kitayama says after a while, looking down at their interlinked fingers, "I think we just become Sleepless."
"Hm?" Totsuka's ears flick up at the name that Kitayama says, and somewhere he can feel… something. That he's supposed to know. "Instead of Gotenks? Is Sleepless us?"
"Yeah," Kitayama says. "Sleepless is us. And I think we gotta learn how to get strong. Mom says I'm gonna be a great fighter like my dad. But I don't think I am yet."
Totsuka tilts his head, not sure he likes the sound of that. "What's a fighter? I don't want you to get hurt, you know." When weak people fight on TV, they always get hurt before they power up and kill the baddies.
But Kitayama just grins. "It's okay. I've been Mom's man of the house since forever, so I can definitely protect you, too."
*
They're supposed to be changing into their pajamas, but Totsuka is sitting on Kitayama's bed, looking around at his posters. They're too young for sleepovers, he'd heard Totsuka-san tell his mother, but his mother talked Totsuka's into it and so now Totsuka is sitting on Kitayama's Ultraman sheets, swinging his feet and looking for all the world like he belongs there. He does belong there, Kitayama thinks, and Kitayama doesn't want him to be anywhere else ever.
Then Kitayama frowns at himself because that doesn't really make any sense. They'd get bored if they stayed in Kitayama's room forever.
"Tell me about the special school again," Totsuka says abruptly, turning back to meet Kitayama's eyes. Totsuka's ears are perked and his tail is curling lazily over Kitayama's sheets, and Kitayama feels an echo of the shock from their hands touching.
"We aren't old enough yet," Kitayama answers, giving up on the pajamas and crawling onto his bed to sit cross-legged, next to Totsuka. "You have to go to school still, but they teach you to fight, and there's lots of other pairs."
"And we'll be roommates," Totsuka says, not quite a question. He reaches over to stroke the fur of Kitayama's tail flat, and Kitayama shivers. "We'll have sleepovers every night."
"It's not a sleepover if it's your room," Kitayama retorts, but Totsuka just smiles his weird Totsuka smile. "Won't your mom miss you though? Mine doesn't want me to go."
"Mm," Totsuka hums thoughtfully. "There's my brother and sister, though. She tells my dad she needs a break from us all the time. Maybe your mom should just get you a little brother or sister so she won't be lonely."
"That's what I've been telling her!" Kitayama insists, grinning at the way that Totsuka totally gets it. "When she goes to the supermarket I always tell her to come back with a cute little brother but..." Kitayama trails off with a frustrated noise.
"Mothers," Totsuka sympathizes. "Ne, Hiromitsu."
"Hm?" Kitayama eyes Totsuka, wondering why the way Totsuka says his name makes his ears fold flat. "Why do you say it like that?"
"Like what? Hiromitsu." Totsuka laughs when Kitayama's ears collapse again. "Say mine."
"Shota?" Kitayama tries, but it's not like when Totsuka calls him. Totsuka should have a different name, one Kitayama gives him. "Tottsu."
"What?" Totsuka laughs, his ears not folding back, but they fan out cutely instead, and Kitayama likes that better. "Get tired in the middle?"
"Tottsu," Kitayama repeats firmly, reaching over to tweak Totsuka's ear that has the white tip.
"Hm," Totsuka's eyes narrow to slits as Kitayama smooths the fur of Totsuka's ear with his thumb, "I like it."
in less (or more) mundane news, belatedly, i am back home! :D the holiday was aaawesome, and i got to see many, many shiny people like mousi and beth and rachel and shimizumiki and talisa and uchikins~♥♥ (oh yeah, and kismai. =v=; teehee. /fired)
missed abc-z's guest appearance! but caught yara's!! (sunday) ♥ YAY. :D which made up for it. kitamitsu was funny~ in the playzone section of the con, there's a bit where he talks to yara's vtr. and he was like, "WHERE ARE YOU, YARA!? (ah~ over there!)" ←i have described it crappily, but anyway. there was also a random bit where kitamitsu struggled to top one of the ramps around the arena and nikaido laughed in his face for it; kitayama made a rolling-eyes-amused expression like 'yeah yeah, brat, one of the rare times. shut up.'
kitayama is generally adorable. he got seriously into it going around on the carts, waving and doing signs and turning around, touching hands and stuff, grinning his head off. and like, on stage he looks like he's going for 110% all the time too, which is completely endearing even if it means he overdances some bits or whatever. ♥ he does not believe in the half-hearted headthrash.
wah, and yodi. xD; god, yodi was also adorable and wee. saturday, he guested. he is not tall usually, but all of kismai were on skates during the talk, and yodi was on stage with them very much without skates and came up to like kitayama's chin jajhjawe.
aside, apologies for disappearing again. since getting back, we have had a bunch of koreans living with us (dad's workmate, wife, son...) and um. now are preparing to move house maybe? god, idek anymore. 8[ mum's the type who can't go 24 hours without doing SOMETHING, but... cry. anyway.
i have been trying to write anything else, but all that's happened is MORE TINY SLEEPLESS. god. like, 2k more. wtf. so have some chibific.
*
Interpolated from the two comment drabbles mousapelli and I wrote before. It is a Loveless AU AU-lol yeah, just like that-in which Kitayama has Ultraman pajamas and he and Totsuka are bonded when they are tiny instead of in their late teens.
Sleepless: Take Two
G; 3060w
Note: Because it seems necessary when writing Tottsu, and I am lazy, Courier is English.
"Uwah, Ultraman-!" Out of place amongst the tables of shoes, the lone action figure sits in its box. "Mommy, can we buy it? Pleaaase?"
Totsuka-san spares her son barely a glance. "Your brother already has one of those, Sho-chan. You can ask to borrow it when we get home."
Totsuka pouts. "He won't let me. He never!" Though only five years old, he already knows that older brothers exist only to taunt and thwart their siblings at every turn.
"Well, we can't have two Ultramen in the house," Totsuka's mother says mildly, shifting her baby girl onto her other shoulder. She picks up a pair of black flats and turns them over. "Their combined power levels would compromise the apartment walls."
With no idea what she's talking about, Totsuka goes back to the Ultraman when she moves on to the next pair of shoes. He stares at it and wills it to be his with the power of his mind.
But suddenly, a rival appears. "Mom! Mom, look! Ultraman!"
Totsuka blinks in surprise.
"Can I get it, Mom?"
"Not today, Micchan," 'Mom' says, passing by. "We're here to look for school shoes."
'Micchan' pouts, lingering behind and eyeing the box on the table.
"My mom told me that too," Totsuka tells him sadly. "Except about the shoes."
Micchan blinks at him, and Totsuka stares back.
"You like Ultraman?" Micchan asks.
Totsuka grins. "Yup! I watched it this morning!"
"Same!" Micchan enthuses. "Remember the bit when he was like, ha! And HA-!"
"Yeah, yeah! And then the baddie, he went all Uwooooh!! and Ultraman went like, CHOP-!"
"Ow!"
"Oww~!" Totsuka rubs his zapped hand, staring at Micchan and his zapped arm. "Did you do that?" Totsuka asks. He's played Ultraman with his brother a million times before, but they never get actual power-ups ever happening.
"It's called static," Micchan explains sagely, waving his hand off to the side. "It's 'coz you have fuzzy carpet at home."
"I-" Totsuka blinks.
"Micchan! Come here and try these on!"
"Fiiine," Kitayama calls back to his mother. He gives Totsuka one last look. "You shouldn't roll on fuzzy carpet," he says, and trots off.
Totsuka blinks after him.
Their floors at home are all lino.
*
"Ummahhh, no way!" Totsuka's brother exclaims later, back home in the bathroom. "Is that a tattoo?"
"What is?" Bewildered, Totsuka follows his brother's eyes to his own shoulder-and gives a shout of surprise. It certainly looks like a tattoo, all black ink and burnt-red around the edges. He tries to scrub or scratch it off, but the strange letters don't budge.
"Mo~mmmm!" Totsuka's brother yells. "How come Sho got a tattoo!?"
"Sho has no such thing!" Totsuka-san yells back, but comes into the bathroom anyway. Only to stop short as well. "…oh. Sweetie, when did this happen!" she asks, kneeling by Totsuka's side to inspect the brand (and the red strikes across it from Totsuka's nails).
Totsuka's tail curls self-consciously as he tries to shy away. "At the shops?" He has no idea, but it wasn't there when his mother got him dressed in the morning.
"Can you remember who you met?" his mother asks. "Did you shake hands with anyone in particular?"
Totsuka shakes his head quickly, put on the spot. His brother's glaring at him too, for stealing all the attention, and Totsuka wonders uncomfortably why he's the only one with black marks on his shoulder all of a sudden. He wishes he wasn't.
"Sho-chan, it's okay," his mother smiles, fond, and ruffles his hair. It dispels at least some of his discomfort. "Don't worry about it, alright? It only means you've found your life partner somewhere out there. Good for you!" Turning, she forestalls anything her eldest son might have to say by squeezing a dollop of shampoo onto his head and rubbing it in vigorously so his ears flatten. "Your turn will come, Ryo-chan. One day, you'll find your special person, too. Or," and here she winks back over her shoulder at her younger son, "maybe they'll find you."
*
"Micchan," Kitayama's mother calls, poking her head around the corner. Kitayama stands in the foyer. "What are you still there for? Dinner's ready."
Kitayama glances at the front door again. He's not hungry today; he has other things to do. It's not that he can't reach its lock-he's not that little-but if he opens it (when he opens it, really) he's not sure he'll know where to go. The only roads he knows are the ones to his school, and he's only allowed to take them with the other kids. But the other kids won't be going to school now because it's dark, and anyway Kitayama really wants to go in the other direction.
"Mitsu?" Kitayama-san asks again, concerned.
"I need to go, Mom," Kitayama says. He hasn't put his shoes on yet, though has packed his school bag with snacks and managed to get his coat down from its hook. It's on the floor.
"The toilet isn't this way, Hiromitsu," his mother says with a frown. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine, Mom," Kitayama says and straightens his shoulders when he remembers he is supposed to be the man of the house. He looks his mother in the eye. "It's just I have to go see someone. Can you drive me? I can tell you the way probably."
Strangely, his mother looks like she gets it. But, "…dinner's waiting, Hiromitsu," she says.
"Mom, I-"
"I understand," she assures him. "Have dinner with me first? Then we can go."
Kitayama stops arguing then because his mother looks sad. He takes her hand when she holds it out, and walks away from the door with only a glance over his shoulder.
I'm sorry, he thinks at the vague voice he can hear. It never sounded angry or anything though (maybe just a little bit alone), so Kitayama figures it might be okay for now. I'll only be a minute.
*
Totsuka goes up to the room he shares with his brother early, much to his father's surprise. He'll usually fight the boredom of bedtime tooth and nail, but today's a little different. Not that he can sleep.
He sits in bed and pokes again at the weird marks that're still on his skin. He can't read them-they're not hiragana; not even katakana. He wonders where they really did come from and if they mean anything at all. (He was going to ask his mom, but then his baby sister started crying again and his mom was busy.)
Maybe, he thinks, he got them from the shops after all. Maybe when the Ultraman power-ups happened? Maybe all superheroes get them, and he has superpowers now just like Ultraman and he just doesn't know it yet.
Or maybe not.
A palm blast at the wall does nothing, even with High Concentration, and a karate-chop yields only pain.
Totsuka sighs. If it's not power-ups, then he hopes he hasn't been possessed like by Babadi in Dragonball Z. Majin Tottsu is a scary thought-though the mark isn't on his forehead so maybe it's okay.
He has a new thought then, half inspired by his mother's weird talk about the life partner or whatever. His eyes widen in the dark, tail swishing behind him at the potential epiphany. Maybe it's like the fusion dance. Maybe it needs both him and Micchan from the shops to work. Since it was Micchan who he did the power-ups with.
Excited, Totsuka wriggles his feet. There's no way to find out right now, but he wishes Micchan would come over again so they could try.
If they got super powerful, it would be really cool. Totsuka's brother wouldn't even be able to compete. They could play with his Ultraman and kick him out of the room and then Micchan could share the room with Totsuka instead and they could have sleepovers and everything.
*
Dinner is nice, but Kitayama isn't really hungry. He still eats everything though (except for the pickles), and soon enough they're done.
"Tell me about this voice, Hiromitsu," his mother says while she's clearing the plates. Kitayama blinks. He doesn't remember ever saying anything about a voice. She's told him off before for talking about getting hit by spirits and things, and he doesn't want to get in trouble.
"It's probably, um…" Kitayama chews his lip, realising he doesn't even know the name of the boy. But it's definitely the one from the part of the shop with the shoes. Kitayama can't hear words exactly-the call is more like an echo-but it sounds like him for sure. "He likes Ultraman, too."
His mother sighs. "It's getting late. Are you sure this can't wait 'til tomorrow?"
Kitayama shakes his head. "It's not late," he says. "It's…" He squints at the clock for a bit, since his mother changed it back from digital to the hands one just to confuse him. "It's only seven and a half."
"Half past seven," his mother corrects absently. "Are you sure he's still awake? It's going to be your shower and bedtime soon, too."
Again, Kitayama shakes his head. His mother is frustrating sometimes. "It's okay, he's still awake," he says firmly. "He's got a lot of energy, so…"
Kitayama only trails off because his mother's face while she's washing the dishes doesn't look happy.
Picking up a tea-towel from the bench, he goes over and tries to help. She gives him a half-smile, but it only makes him frown. "Why are you sad, Mom?"
"Because you're my baby boy, and I love you," she tells him, handing him a plate (and adding that he should mind not to drip any water on the floor). Kitayama wrinkles his nose. He doesn't like it when his mother calls him a baby, and anyway her reply doesn't make sense, but she continues before he can say anything: "Who's going to be my little man of the house after this?"
"What? After what?" Kitayama demands. The plate drips. "I'm not going anywhere, Mom. I'm always gonna be your man!"
His mother rinses off the last of the dishes before she speaks again, and kneels to wipe the floor dry with some paper towel. She's smiling when she looks up, though still doesn't look any happier. "Words like 'always' or 'never' are dangerous things to say, Hiromitsu," she tells him, looking into his eyes in that way where he can't look away. "Words have power, and you should be careful with them at all times."
Even more confused, Kitayama frowns and lets his mother take the tea-towel out of his hands. "But… I mean it, Mom. I really mean it."
His mother kisses his forehead. "I know, Hiromitsu," she says and smiles again-but properly this time. "That's why you're going to be a great fighter. Just like your father."
"A… hey, what! Mom!" Kitayama blinks. "Dad was-?"
"Shall we go?" his mother asks instead, with a tilt of her head toward the front door. "Your sacrifice is calling you, isn't he?"
"Oh!" Wide-eyed, Kitayama nods and dashes off to scoop his coat up off the floor and find his backpack again. "Yeah, let's go!"
*
In the car, he uses the dictionary on his mother's phone to find out the meaning of the letters across his shoulder that he saw before, when his shoulder was burning-they've already learned the English alphabet at school, but whole words are beyond him. It's a special word though, and connected to the voice he can hear. That much Kitayama knows.
S, he types, concentrating hard. L... F. He frowns. "Mommm~ how do I make it give me two E's?"
"Press across first, Micchan," his mother tells him. "Are we still going in the right direction?"
Briefly, Kitayama looks up and thinks. "…yeah. It's more this way. And then a bit that way." He waves a hand in the general direction of over there.
"Okay," his mother says.
At length Kitayama reads out, almost to himself, "Su-rii-pu-re-su. Without sleep. Watchful. Alert. Always active…"
"It means you'll never let your guard down," his mother tells him, and Kitayama thinks it sounds pretty cool when she says it like that.
*
"I'm terribly sorry for calling on you so late," Kitayama's mother says at the door when they finally get there. "This may sound silly, but my son here is convinced somebody from this house has been calling him…"
Kitayama pokes his head out from behind his mother in time to see the lady who answered the door tap her shoulder with a questioning look. His mother nods, and then the lady crouches down so she and Kitayama can see eye to eye. "What's your name, Sweetie?" she asks. She seems nice.
("Introduce yourself properly," Kitayama's mother cautions.)
"Sleepless," Kitayama says, bowing at the waist. "Nice to meet you."
Then with a thunder of feet down the hall, the boy from the shops skids around the corner. "OH, YOU!" he shouts.
"Sho-chan!" his mother admonishes. "Manners hat on, please!"
"Yes, Mom~" 'Sho-chan' says, trotting up to Kitayama with a wide grin and tugging on his hand. "Come in, Micchan! Do you want some water? Have a sit!"
Kitayama follows Totsuka in through the foyer under their mothers' noses and makes sure to line his shoes up neatly. "Actually, my proper name is Hiromitsu," he says. "It's what Micchan is short for. What's your name?"
"I'm Totsuka!" Totsuka replies, smiling so his eyes disappear. "Shota! You actually came here! Wow!"
*
"So, I think you know, Hiromitsu," Totsuka says to Kitayama, an amiable little motor mouth now that he has someone who'll listen, "we can totally be like Trunks and Goten!" He stands on his tip-toes to put their plastic tumblers into the sink, tasty orange juice gone.
"I get to be Trunks, right?" Kitayama says, tail swishing. "'Cause, your hair and ears are black mostly, and your big brother can be Gohan!"
Totsuka giggles because Kitayama doesn't know yet, but there's no way Totsuka's brother could be as cool as Gohan. "We could totally beat him if we do the Fusion Dance and become super powerful Gotenks! Or… Shomitsu! Like, HA-!"
But nothing really happens when their pointer fingers touch.
Totsuka deflates, his theory disproven. But Kitayama's hands are warm. Distracted, Totsuka takes them in his own hands and remembers that they were only playing Ultraman just that afternoon. It feels like a lot longer ago. Their hands are the same size, too, like matching, even if Kitayama's Already At School and Totsuka's only in kindergarten still. (But it's the end of the year, so he'll get to go to school soon, too. He wonders if he'll get to see Kitayama there. He hopes so.)
Kitayama says after a while, looking down at their interlinked fingers, "I think we just become Sleepless."
"Hm?" Totsuka's ears flick up at the name that Kitayama says, and somewhere he can feel… something. That he's supposed to know. "Instead of Gotenks? Is Sleepless us?"
"Yeah," Kitayama says. "Sleepless is us. And I think we gotta learn how to get strong. Mom says I'm gonna be a great fighter like my dad. But I don't think I am yet."
Totsuka tilts his head, not sure he likes the sound of that. "What's a fighter? I don't want you to get hurt, you know." When weak people fight on TV, they always get hurt before they power up and kill the baddies.
But Kitayama just grins. "It's okay. I've been Mom's man of the house since forever, so I can definitely protect you, too."
*
They're supposed to be changing into their pajamas, but Totsuka is sitting on Kitayama's bed, looking around at his posters. They're too young for sleepovers, he'd heard Totsuka-san tell his mother, but his mother talked Totsuka's into it and so now Totsuka is sitting on Kitayama's Ultraman sheets, swinging his feet and looking for all the world like he belongs there. He does belong there, Kitayama thinks, and Kitayama doesn't want him to be anywhere else ever.
Then Kitayama frowns at himself because that doesn't really make any sense. They'd get bored if they stayed in Kitayama's room forever.
"Tell me about the special school again," Totsuka says abruptly, turning back to meet Kitayama's eyes. Totsuka's ears are perked and his tail is curling lazily over Kitayama's sheets, and Kitayama feels an echo of the shock from their hands touching.
"We aren't old enough yet," Kitayama answers, giving up on the pajamas and crawling onto his bed to sit cross-legged, next to Totsuka. "You have to go to school still, but they teach you to fight, and there's lots of other pairs."
"And we'll be roommates," Totsuka says, not quite a question. He reaches over to stroke the fur of Kitayama's tail flat, and Kitayama shivers. "We'll have sleepovers every night."
"It's not a sleepover if it's your room," Kitayama retorts, but Totsuka just smiles his weird Totsuka smile. "Won't your mom miss you though? Mine doesn't want me to go."
"Mm," Totsuka hums thoughtfully. "There's my brother and sister, though. She tells my dad she needs a break from us all the time. Maybe your mom should just get you a little brother or sister so she won't be lonely."
"That's what I've been telling her!" Kitayama insists, grinning at the way that Totsuka totally gets it. "When she goes to the supermarket I always tell her to come back with a cute little brother but..." Kitayama trails off with a frustrated noise.
"Mothers," Totsuka sympathizes. "Ne, Hiromitsu."
"Hm?" Kitayama eyes Totsuka, wondering why the way Totsuka says his name makes his ears fold flat. "Why do you say it like that?"
"Like what? Hiromitsu." Totsuka laughs when Kitayama's ears collapse again. "Say mine."
"Shota?" Kitayama tries, but it's not like when Totsuka calls him. Totsuka should have a different name, one Kitayama gives him. "Tottsu."
"What?" Totsuka laughs, his ears not folding back, but they fan out cutely instead, and Kitayama likes that better. "Get tired in the middle?"
"Tottsu," Kitayama repeats firmly, reaching over to tweak Totsuka's ear that has the white tip.
"Hm," Totsuka's eyes narrow to slits as Kitayama smooths the fur of Totsuka's ear with his thumb, "I like it."