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reki-of-the-valley · 3 years

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Another notebook drabble! Another dumb one folks!

Find it on AO3 here!

Reki snorted as Langa dropped his head on his desk, sending his phone tumbling among the books on which it was propped. He had fallen out of view, Reki’s screen going black as Langa’s phone landed flat against his desk, but Reki still choked on his laughter.

“Dude! How the hell did you get 74? The answer is 8!”

Through his earphones, Reki could hear Langa groan. He could hear Langa’s shuffling, his voice coming through muffled and distant. And thick in his tone came that annoyance. He sounded so close to giving up completely.

“I don’t know. I… I just suck at this.”

“I can’t believe you’re this bad at math, dude. It’s not even that complicated!” Reki chuckled as Langa came back in view on his screen, a cold glare pointed in his direction. “Alright, fine, show me again how-” Reki paused, glancing around his desk for a moment. Langa raised an eyebrow, a pen lodged between his teeth, but Reki didn’t elaborate. He had felt a shift in the air; he knew something was suddenly off. “Imma call you back in an hour, man.”

Before Langa could say anything, Reki disconnected the call and spun on his chair to face his door. There stood Koyomi, completely still, just staring at him.

“Can… I help you?”

She stared, big eyes and all, but still, no movement. Not a single muscle twitched as she stood there, no answer coming, just unnerving staring.

“Komi,” Reki narrowed his eyes onto his sister, his voice a little sharper than the first time he addressed her, “if you’re just gonna stand there, then go away. I’m kinda busy doing homework.”

The girl snorted, finally coming back to life, rocking back and forth on her heels. “As if you do homework.”

Reki shouted in offense as Koyomi made her way into his room and dropped her body onto his bed.

“Sure,” Reki rolled his eyes, sounding a lot more exasperated than usual, “just come on in. Not like I just told you I was busy.”

“You’re just using schoolwork as an excuse to talk to your boyfriend.”

Koyomi yelped as Reki threw his eraser at her.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” There was a pause. “Stop assuming I’m gay!”

“Oh my god, I didn’t even say anything!” She threw his eraser back at him, hitting him in the shoulder. “I never said you were gay, dumbass! I just said you can’t get enough of your stupid boyfriend!”

Reki felt his cheeks flare up as Koyomi said ‘boyfriend,’ every syllable well pronounced. He felt the burn in his face as she rolled her eyes, pulling her legs up onto his bed and getting comfortable among his blankets.

“He’s not my boyfriend!”

“‘He’s not my boyfriend,’” she mocked, a poor imitation of her brother. “Sure. That’s why he sneaks through your window like every other night!”

“He doesn’t-! Wait, how do you know about that?”

Reki’s leg began to bounce worse than usual as Koyomi checked her nails, seeming far too cool for it to be natural.

“My room is right next to yours, idiot. I hear everything.”

As quickly as the heat and color had risen to Reki’s face, it drained out, cold dread drenching him. What had Koyomi heard exactly? They hadn’t done anything wrong except their occasional fits of laughter as they bundled up under the covers, but still, Reki felt paranoid. Paranoid about nothing since Langa wasn’t his boyfriend, but paranoia nonetheless. What if she knew about S? What if she knew about his sneaking out every Friday night?

“What do you want from me?”

Koyomi looked up at him, big doe eyes that gave her anything but a look of innocence. “Do I have to want something from you? Can’t I just come see my big brother because I love him?”

“No.”

She sighed. “Yeah, even I didn’t believe me.”

“So,” Reki grabbed a piece of scrap paper which he crumpled up before throwing it at her. Miraculously, Koyomi managed to catch it before it hit her in the face. “What do you want from me?”

“I’m bored. Come play Mario Kart with me.”

Reki blinked at the grinning girl. “You…” He inhaled sharply before pointing his door. “Out. Get out!”

Koyomi’s fingers tightened around Reki’s blanket as she stared at him straight in the face. “No! Entertain me!”

“I’m not your personal clown!”

“I’m telling mom about Langa then!”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“I’ll tell her how you keep me up all night with your gross lovey-dovey whispering!”

Reki almost pounced on the girl. He felt his face burn again. He felt everything flare up inside of him. He felt it all as his grip in his chair tightened.

“There’s no lovey whispering! There’s none of any of that! So cut it out! S’not like he even likes me anyway!”

Koyomi faked a gag before shooting her brother a glare. “You’re so gross with your dumb crushes.”

Reki sighed. He couldn’t stand it anymore. It was just too much. He was giving up, both hands in his face as he let his head hang back over the back of his chair. He was growing so frustrated with Koyomi and her endless pestering. He was growing so frustrated with her, but what frustrated him most was the confusing feeling that came with liking guys – liking Langa! – and not knowing what to do with these growing feelings. And as much as he would have liked to talk about the weirdness of it all, let it out somehow, there was no way he was discussing his feelings with his little sister of all people.

“Just… get out of my room.”

He didn’t need to sit up to know that Koyomi was sliding off of his bed and making her way out. Much like everyone else in the house, she wasn’t particularly quiet when she moved. She could be if so desired, but most of the time, no one bothered to conceal their noise. But when the sound of footsteps ceased, Reki straightened out on his chair and faced his little sister. All traces of their previous argument had faded from her face; she had fallen back into her usual calm but slightly annoyed self.

“Can you at least help me beat a boss battle after dinner? I’ve been trying for like three days now and I can’t do it.”

Reki sighed, but still, he nodded. “I’ll help you when I’ll be done with my homework.”

Koyomi ginned as she chimed a ‘thank you.’ Despite their constant bickering and yelling at one another, they never stayed mad at each other. It was a magical power possessed by siblings, perhaps.

“And, for what it’s worth,” Reki swiveled his chair to face his sister who was standing halfway out the door, half-turned away from him as her eyes locked with his, “Langa would be missing out since you’re pretty awesome. He’d be lucky to land someone like you.”

Laughter, perhaps a little nervous above all, broke from Reki’s lips as he chucked another paper ball at Koyomi.

“Get out of here, you brat.”

Koyomi huffed as she caught the crumpled paper with just as much ease as the first one. And she clenched her jaw as she threw it back with as much force as she could, nailing Reki right in the face.

“I take it back. You’re insufferable and I hate you.”

Reki stuck his tongue out as Koyomi huffed again and stomped away. But as soon as she was out of his sight, Reki burst into laughter. And down the hall, muffled by the walls that separated the two, he heard Koyomi laughing as well. Because no matter what was said, no matter how much they screamed at each other, no matter how much they insulted one another, they knew that deep down, they did love each other. They knew that no matter what happened, they could go to the other. Because in the end, nothing could come between them and their endless bickering.

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