Calxmity Art

"She stayed with them" Tenma admitted, his eyes shrinking away from his brother's gaze, not daring to meet his eyes "she chose them" he continued voice soft and shaky.

He didn't expect to feel hands on his shoulders and when he looked up in surprise there were tears in his eyes "it's going to be okay" the man told him, his hands caressing his arms and grounding him to the room "you'll be okay"

"I said so many mean things to them" Tenma admitted as a son wretched through his throat "I was so mean when I left"

"they'll forgive you" the man told him, enveloping the younger one in a hug

"was this what you wanted me to do?" Tenma asked, his own arms wrapped tightly around his brother "Aoi said this wasn't what you wanted- I- I need this to be the right think" he continued, his voice shaking with sobs

"I'll make sure everything is okay" the man only replied, closing his eyes as he hugged Tenma even tighter, his face kissing the back of his head "I'll make sure you're okay"

"I betrayed them" Tenma admitted in a soft realization, his breathing picking up even more "I need all this to be worth betraying them, Shuuya, I need this to be worth it"

The man only hugged the boy tighter, his eyes flying around the room for a short moment before he was able to reply "we'll save soccer" he then replied simply "I'll make sure we save soccer"

They stayed in that room, alone with each other, for a long time after that, tending to each other as only they knew how.

Gouenji Shuuya liked to believe he was a good brother. He had come a long way from when he was thirteen with a sister in a come he was convinced he had put her in. He had come a long way from believing it was his fault. And ever since she woke up he liked to believe he had been a good brother to her just like he liked to believe he was a good honorary brother to Tenma. It was a conviction solid enough for him that it had become hard for him to question it.

But now as he held Tenma tightly in his arms, hearing the way his breath came uneaven and feeling the boys trembles, that certainty began to crack.

It was something that he should've expected a long time ago, ever since Tenma forced his way into helping him in his plan, or maybe even before that, when Shuuya made up his mind about that plan in the first place. He should've known that one way or another this situation would've broken his brother.

The worse part was the way Tenma clung to him, as if Shuuya was the only thing that kept him from breaking down completely, from falling apart. And maybe he was.

But Shuuya knew exactly what had brought Tenma to break down, it was a knowledge that weighed heavily in his chest, a knowledge that lumped in his throat. He was the reason that Tenma was breaking down in the first place.

And in that moment, as he uttered sweet and soft reassurances to the boy, making sure he wouldn't make any promise he couldn't keep, he had a realization, the kind that took the breath out of someone. 'Maybe I'm not the good brother I thought I was'

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

Hello hello, I'm sure you all are confused!

This... Whatever this is, not a snippet, not a one shot, maybe an exercise? A character study? Idk. Whatever this is it was supposed to be inspired by this prompt

( @creativepromptsforwriting )

In the end I didn't really use it BUT BUT BUT I will eventually cuz I do have a scenario in mind for this exact prompt and with the same AU used in this post.

I'll get around to it eventually I'm sure.

I don't even know if you guys like when I make this "writing prompt" posts but I sure as hell love making them because they give me the chance to write extremely interesting scenes and scenarios without having to give any context whatsoever.

Like this is loosely inspired by a fic I've been working on but it's probably not gonna make it to the actual fic because it's build different.