Fic: Homecoming
Title: Homecoming
Characters/Pairings: YuuiFai
Rating: T - incest and kissing?
Summary: Yuui comes home from Italy for the summer, and Fai’s there to greet him. They have communication issues, and then they don't. (And that’s it. ;;; )
A/N: A short thank-you gift for lexi_nyanko, who likes this pairing too. (I really need to work on my definitions of ‘short,’ don’t I? ;;; ) Although, I’ve no idea where this situation came from, and it didn’t turn out like I thought it would. Horitsuba-verse, but a good few years before either of the twins heads for Japan.
Also - apologies for extreme lateness. I’d been recently been attacked by a bad cold, and, for the majority of writing this, my head felt like it’d been stuffed with cotton wool. (You can probably tell when reading this.)
*****
Fai drove. Basel was lit up around them and the lights flashed as the car passed through. The city was nothing but a blur outside the window, streaks and lines, until they slowed at a set of traffic lights, an image bathed in lonely red as they waited for green. It was pretty quiet out, pushing after half-one, and they were going through the calmer districts anyway, away from the city-centre, the bars and clubs spilling people out into the streets. Normally Fai would’ve been one of them, out drinking or dancing with his friends, presenting the perfect image of fun to everyone else (and sometimes forgetting enough to actually have some himself), but there was no way he would have allowed anyone else to pick up Yuui from the airport, not even their parents. It was an unspoken fact - their father hadn’t even had the chance to give the token offer to go pick Yuui up; Fai had cut him off demanding Yuui’s flight details, the time Yuui would be flying in.
Yuui dozed in the front passenger seat of the car - his head was tilted back in its rest and his eyes were half-closed, their lashes fluttering now and then in a vague response to the changing light that patterned across his face, the murmur of the radio Fai had turned down low. For all the late hour the airport had still been busy, people trudging out of the Arrivals gate in weary droves. There was always something incredibly tiring about doing absolutely nothing on a plane for however long, long legs and lanky arms hemmed in with other bodies pressed close. Some of the weary masses gained a new life when leapt upon by loved ones standing waiting for them in the main area past the customs barrier, swept up into hugs like Fai had done for his twin, attacked by sleepy-eyed children near the knees, or grabbed and dragged off at top-speeds by an overenthusiastic significant other with a steely grip on their wrist. Others trudged on unaided, carrying sleeping toddlers, marching with briefcases, tiredly arguing with one another about some petty insignificance that had happened on the flight. Amongst them had been Yuui, tired and laden with luggage, but smiling, sleepy, and happy to be hugged, still comfortable, still Yuui, safe and home.
Seeing him from the corner of his eye Fai wondered what his brother was thinking about - they’d been as good as psychic once, but that was long ago and yet…still… There were moments sometimes, when they managed to organise to meet up across countries, moments when they smiled together or reached out hands together or finished each other’s sentences, less two, but one, and they were small again and barely half of Mama’s height and spoke using the exact same voice. Now wasn’t one of them though, and Yuui’s thoughts were Yuui’s thoughts alone.
They had things to talk about. Nothing was as good as being beside a loved one - phone calls and video-calls were never quite the same as hearing someone in person, and certainly nothing like the warmth of somebody else pulled close in all their contradictory, desultory, charmingly bedazzling glory -, but communications could get garbled between people all the same - both sides smiling and nodding but neither understanding what they meant.
Fai had gone to Italy for Easter - it had been an experience, definitely, but he’d felt lost in Fiumicino Airport amidst the swirl of Italian, the pull and flow of people speaking so quickly, the announcements overhead. He knew a little Italian, could read it, speak it, but faltered for forever until he’d seen his brother in the crowd, Yuui pushing his way through until he could hug him, kissing him lightly on the cheek and pulling him and his luggage out into Roman sunshine.
It had been terribly clear Yuui loved the city - it had been the world he’d run off to, after all. He’d smiled so brightly there, taken Fai out on a tour - oh, there’d been parades and parties and beautiful weather, and it had blurred into a tangled mess of noise, happy colours, and Yuui’s hand on his arm, the sweet ice-cream they’d eaten with ridiculously long spoons. That soft, glowing time - the churches he’d taken pictures of - Mama had asked for photos -, the different kinds of wine, and that light apartment his brother kept - so much tidier than his own house - where he’d kissed Yuui one glorious afternoon, leaning in when his twin was still laughing at some bad joke he’d made and covering his mouth with his own.
The lights changed at last - green light, and Yuui slumped in his seat almost entirely, the right of his face against the cool glass of the window. He seemed to have fallen completely asleep, delicate fingers lax in his lap - Fai remembered them sifting flour, poking him in the ribs, wiping a smudge of icing sugar off of his wrinkled nose. He remembered them being fisted in his cotton t-shirt, cupping his cheeks, at the nape of his neck.
(Driving at night left far, far too much time for remembering. Wondering, wandering time, driving in a car in a city with no people.)
Yuui had kissed him back, tilted his head, that soft slant of a mouth, and looked mildly surprised afterwards, but they hadn’t discussed it, still chest-to-chest, eye-to-eye, and breathing out against one another’s lips. They hadn’t discussed it all the time Fai had been in Rome - and yet they’d kept kissing over the span of that holiday, absent brushes to the cheek and brow, kisses pressed to the palm and neck, day, night, outside, inside, deep, heavy until they both gasped for breath, lips swollen and limbs tangled on Yuui’s couch. They’d got no further than that - hadn’t quite dared to - and Fai had eventually flown home, back to Switzerland and the rest of the family and friends and university. To sanity, perhaps - oh God, what had he done? He’d wrecked his relationship with the one he loved the most - and yet he’d still wanted Yuui with him so much it had hurt, maybe more than when Yuui had left in the first place -, to apologise, to hold him, to kiss him again, but even when his twin had called they hadn’t spoken about it, about those few weeks in Italy, and Fai half-wondered sometimes whether he’d imagined it all. Yuui hadn’t sounded any different over the phone, hadn’t changed at all, talked about his day and his course and his friends and the strange cat in the neighbourhood that had recently taken to following him home. Maybe Yuui had experienced it and forgotten it, or written it off as ‘an Italy thing’ - like one of those holiday flings people were supposed to have, something to do with the sunshine, the climate change, the foreign language.
It wasn’t an Italy thing, though. It was a Yuui thing - if nothing else, Fai was at least certain of that.
#
There were violins playing quietly when Yuui woke up, and he had a few moments of general stupidity at wondering how someone had snuck (and managed to fit) an entire orchestra into his apartment before he slowly processed he wasn’t in said apartment anymore - not even Italy in fact, but that was a minor detail quickly lost to silent unfavourable oaths against stiff necks, late flights, and uncomfortable seat designs. He ached, stiff from the flight, a low-level throbbing present behind his eyes. He couldn’t sleep while flying, so night-time flights were a literal pain.
The cellos kicked in when Yuui opened his eyes, taking in the fact that Fai’s precious car had come to a stop, parked haphazardly at the side of a road, in a street full of houses. (Fai loved his car - their grandfather had bought it for him the year before, because Icchan doted on his family but was still quite shrewd enough to figure he might as well spoil his grandsons with something useful. (He’d played hide-and-seek with his grandchildren when they’d been very small, although eventually, when they’d turned six, they’d had to solemnly forbid him from playing any more - yes, even though he had always found the best ever hiding spots - after he’d continuously given himself away by leaping out far too early with an overly dramatic yell. They’d had to console him by letting him play ‘snap’ with them instead - with all the yelling that game involved it had been perfect for him.) Fai had fawned over it and taken pictures, emailing them to Yuui and recounting the day he’d tried to christen his new ‘baby’ - apparently he’d tried to take a champagne bottle to it like they did for ships, but Icchan had caught him before he could smash the bottle and smacked Fai upside the head a few times with a rolled-up newspaper. Then he’d terrified Fai with extra driving lessons - Icchan was a scary teacher. A really scary teacher. Since then, though, Fai had been even more protective of his ‘baby’, and hell hath no fury like the judgement Fai rained down on any idiot fool enough to so much as scratch the car’s perfect paintwork, never mind actually think about denting the thing. (Yuui, in another country entirely, had had money of an equivalent amount transferred into his bank account instead.)) They’d arrived.
The car lights were off but the radio was still playing - not that Fai really seemed to be listening to it anyway, Yuui noted; his brother’s arms were on the steering wheel and his chin on his arms, staring out at the night. They’d arrived - only why Fai hadn’t woken him so they could go inside (where there were hot drinks, pyjamas and actual beds) was a mystery.
“Fai?” Yuui asked curiously and raised his head - ow - from where it had been pressed against the window, ignoring the damp line of condensation that trickled down his cheek. “Why are we still sitting in the car?”
Fai jumped like there’d been a gunshot, his eyes as wide as any animal’s caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. “Ah!” He banged his elbow on the car door and Yuui winced in sympathy - and then he calmed, cradling his arm, and affected an apologetic smile. “You looked like you were having a good dream.” Yuui looked at him. “But now you’re awake-!” He flung open his door before Yuui could speak and got out, slamming it shut again and hurrying around to the car boot. When Yuui did nothing but continue to sit in his seat rather blankly Fai waved at him through the window, a clear motion for him to get out as well.
Yuui sighed, undoing his seatbelt and turning off the radio before slowly getting out, bracing himself for the cold of the air after the warmth inside the car. He felt more tired than he had before he’d slept, heaviness sneaking into all of his limbs and making every step a ponderous thing. His laptop, he was sure, as he picked up its bag from where it had been resting by his feet, weighed twice as much as it’d done when they’d left the airport.
They went inside. The house was pleasantly warm, Fai gaily trotting in and dumping down his brother’s luggage in the most awkward place possible in the hallway, continuing on ahead to the kitchen without switching the hallway light on. After shutting the front door, setting down his laptop and almost tripping over his own luggage Yuui followed him in, shielding his eyes from the artificial lights overhead with one hand - before promptly having that hand stolen by another before his eyes had had time to adjust, and being pulled back out into the dark hallway.
“Fai-!” Yuui almost tripped again as his brother dragged him along, his feet smacking into a step as Fai began leading him upstairs.
“I’ve put the kettle on,” Fai arbitrarily explained, sailing gloriously once more over the actual point his brother had been aiming for as they reached the upper landing. “I’ll bring you up some hot chocolate when it’s ready so you can drink it all comfy in bed~.” He stopped abruptly before one of the few doors on the landing, flinging it open and reaching in to flick the light on. He was still holding onto Yuui’s hand, warm and firm, and looked at his brother. “This will be your room. Is it alright?”
It was more than alright. Yuui would’ve been happy with the couch, and yet the room before him had a bed, a cabinet, a nightstand, cheerful and welcoming with odd trinkets Fai had collected over the years spilling out on the windowsill, the curtains tied back with what looked suspiciously like one of their old school ties. “Isn’t this the room that’s usually used as a personal study in these houses?”
“I can study in any of the other rooms.” Fai smiled, squeezing Yuui’s hand a little tighter - he’d clearly wanted a spare bedroom more than a study. “So there’ll always be room for Yuui.”
There was a few seconds pause, Yuui slowly smiling back at the comment, warmth blossoming in his chest. Before he could speak, however, Fai was off again - this time dropping his twin and darting into a door just a little further along the upstairs hallway. Yuui watched him go, a little bemused. Something really had his brother’s gears pushed all the way up that night; Fai was acting like a hyperactive toy puppy with its button stuck in the ‘on’ position, visibly see-sawing through a spectrum of emotions. When they’d been little, he’d only ever acted that way when he’d been nervous, tacking on a determinedly positive face as -
“Here we go!” Fai abruptly shoved something soft and powder-blue into Yuui’s hands, skidding back into the spare bedroom with a flourish. “Pyjamas,” he added rather blandly, when Yuui did nothing but blink at him for a few minutes, “so you don’t have to unpack your suitcase tonight to get at your own. They should fit you because we’re still the same size, right?” Yuui glanced down at the pyjamas in his arms, fingers curling into the flannel. Fai continued on. “Unless Yuui hasn’t been eating right while he’s been away from home, in which case I’m going to tell Mama and get her to help me fatten you up again because it’s not right, Yuui, and you should take care of yourself.” Fai wagged a finger in front of his brother’s nose - the appendage wrinkled rather interestingly at the motion, and blue eyes returned their attention to Fai.
Silence.
“…You know, Yuui,” Fai said conversationally, still waiting on some sort of verbal response from his twin, “you’d make a brilliant zombie.”
Yuui’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. “I’ll tell Grandpa that you still suck at parallel parking.”
“Did I say zombie? I meant action hero. My little brother is just glamour material -”
Yuui shoved the pyjamas back in his brother’s face.
#
Yuui had clearly just finished changing when Fai returned to the spare bedroom, a steaming mug filled with hot chocolate in both of his hands. The pyjamas fit Yuui well - they were slightly baggy, in fact, the way Fai liked them, with plenty of material to allow for easy bending without restriction on the joints, Yuui scooping up his discarded clothes for the night and folding them with deft, practiced movements. (Fai had never quite mastered that folding no matter how many times his grandmother had demonstrated it - but then, he didn’t care about creases as much.)
“I’m back~!” Fai announced his presence just as his brother finished folding his clothes and laid them on the top of the cabinet - they were probably just going to go in the wash-basket anyway -, Fai sauntering over to him and handing over one of the mugs. It had overenthusiastic cartoon puppies tumbling all around it as decoration, ‘paws off’ proudly emblazoned across one side.
Yuui turned around to face him, taking the mug and smiling as the warmth bled into his hand. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Fai had wanted something hot to drink himself. “But,” he said, putting down his own mug and reaching for the front of his brother’s shirt, “you’ve buttoned this up wrong.” It was just a case of a missed hole - one button dangled free at the bottom, and one hole was missing its button up at the top.
When Yuui reached down with his free hand to try and fix it Fai batted it away with his own, already at work fastening the pyjama top up as it ought to be. “Drink your chocolate.”
“Yes sir,” Yuui gently teased, and raised the mug he was holding to his lips, taking a careful sip, wary of the drink’s heat.
Fai finished buttoning the other’s shirt up but didn’t remove his hands, absently smoothing down the top’s lapels, laying them flat.
Yuui looked down at him, bringing the mug back down again, carefully setting it on the cabinet beside his brother’s. The heat would probably leave a ring in the polish, but the mark could probably be wiped away, covered up with another trinket brought home with a smile. “…What is it?”
Fai shook his head, still focusing on his twin’s shirt, the edge of his collarbone where the cloth gave way to pale skin near his throat. “It’s nothing.” He glanced up slightly, in time to see Yuui’s lips curve down into a slight frown, one corner still touched with a little amount of froth from the chocolate drink. “Here…” Fai reached up with one hand to wipe the froth away, his thumb lingering at the edge of the soft skin of his brother’s mouth, fingers curled around Yuui’s cheek.
There was a long pause - and then Yuui sighed, very gently, and dipped his head forwards. Fai drew in a quick, involuntary breath - expectation, surprise -, his hand sliding to his brother’s shoulder, but Yuui only dropped his head down onto Fai’s opposite shoulder, forehead against Fai’s white shirt. His hair smelled of apples - Yuui had changed his shampoo, another thing different to add to an ever-growing list. Another little thing…Yuui had changed out of sight, little by little by little, but all little things added up, and they couldn’t be a looking-glass to each other anymore.
Fai breathed in, let his muscles relax - this was Yuui - and wrapped his arms around his twin’s waist, pulling Yuui closer and resting his chin on the top of his younger brother’s head. The pyjamas he’d handed over were soft, fuzzy under his hands, Yuui’s breath drifting across Fai’s throat when Yuui tilted his head slightly to the side, steady as the rise and fall of his shoulders, the press of his chest where their bodies met.
“Hey…” the mumble came against Fai’s neck after a few moments and Fai leaned back as he felt Yuui’s head nudge up - but he was surprised when Yuui didn’t straighten up completely or pull away, instead using the slight lift to lean that last little way in, pressing his mouth to Fai’s in a firm, brief kiss.
Fai’s belly gave a slow, pleased half-lurch but Yuui had already dragged his lips across Fai’s cheek and ended that chaste kiss, hiding his face at the curve of his twin’s jaw. Fai could feel Yuui’s fingers splayed out across his back, pressing in, his mouth still tingling pleasantly with the after-taste of warmth.
Yuui’s voice was soft. “You can still tell me anything, you know.”
“…You -” Fai started, dumbfounded, then faltered, and lost his voice.
A beat.
…
Fai started laughing.
Yuui lifted his head, thoroughly confused, and his expression of bewilderment only made his brother laugh harder. There was still honest concern in Yuui’s eyes - honest, loving concern -, a wondering that had prompted his earlier assurance to slip out in the face of Fai’s strangeness, the apparently palpable half-awkwardness that had hung between them since the airport. The assurance to tackle that awkwardness head-on - because that was how Yuui had always approached things, albeit discreetly, especially relating to his twin.
Fai was still laughing when his brother took his face in his hands, worry flicking across Yuui’s expression. “Are you feeling alright?” More laughter. “Fai!”
Nothing had changed.
More laughter still.
“Fai!” Yuui was beginning to sound exasperated, torn between being utterly perplexed and wondering whether his other half had completely lost the last of his mind.
Nothing important had changed.
“Yuui,” Fai breathed out, his lips still stretched wide into a laughing grin, and turned his head to press a kiss to one of his brother’s palms, still chuckling when Yuui continued to look mystified at him. “Don’t worry~.” Yuui was making his wrinkly face again, so he leaned forward to kiss it impetuously, bumping noses on the way and feeling Yuui still and sigh out against his mouth, still wonderfully confused. “You’re not that bad a kisser.”
Another beat.
“I wasn’t worried about that!”
Nothing important had changed - so why…why had he been expecting Yuui to change dramatically as well? Yuui hadn’t perceived a problem with how things were until Fai had perceived that problem for them. Yuui was acting like he’d always done, because they loved each other as they’d always done and - and a few kisses surely couldn’t change all that, all those years -
Yuui was slowly turning pink, the colour staining his pale cheeks with spots of bright colour as he protested his innocence, Fai laughing once more, actually happy. They’d both forgotten their hot chocolate.
“You’ve gone mad,” Yuui said eventually, tiredly, giving up on his conversation with his (lunatic) brother and flopping down onto the room’s bed on his back, his legs dangling over the edge.
“Totally,” Fai agreed with a smile, and sprawled out lazily beside him, one hand propping up his chin. “But I’m glad.” He flopped his other arm out over Yuui’s chest - a loose, languid hug. “It’s the special kind of mad I reserve only for Yuui~.”
Yuui smiled for him, weary from travelling and talking, but still soft, accepting all the same. A silent communication that would always remain, even though the unspoken conversation altered a little over the years, and the recipients changed their outlooks and addresses. Something precious, and something wholly theirs.
Fai dropped the hand holding up his head, going completely horizontal and cuddling up to his brother; resting his head on Yuui’s chest as Yuui wrapped one arm around him. It was as comfortable as it had ever been.
“Welcome home.”
A/N: One day - one day - I’ll be a prompt writer who gets her work out on time. ;-; I try to keep my promises, though some of them are extraordinarily delayed, but I think I’ve had a-hold of this plunnie too long; I’m beginning to hate even thinking about it. (Too much introspection? Idk, but it’s not my favourite by any means. Lexi, I’m sorry. ;o; )
- Personal headcanon - and heavy influence from my Fai-in-RP, Oz - says that Fai and Yuui are from Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. In particular, added to that, I say they came from the canton of Jura, roughly located in the far north-west of the country - meaning the nearest international airport (that I could find) is the EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, which is the only airport in the world to be jointly operated by three countries: Switzerland, France, and Germany. It’s actually located on French soil, but is closer to Basel than any of the other major cities of France of Germany.
Going by this information, I can tell you - because you’ll all really want to know - that since Yuui came from Rome, he flew with Easyjet Switzerland. X3