#fireorca

When Sei finally manages to drag his eyes open, he finds himself slumped against the wall of the small 1DK he will now be calling home. He's surrounded by tall towers of cardboard and the sight has him groaning into his arm.

His limbs are still leaden from lugging all his worldly possessions up two flights of rickety stairs (with the help of a few friends who had been compensated for their trouble with beer and a frankly ungodly amount of pizza), and the pitter patter of rain against the window pane keeps him feeling drowsy and unable to summon his usual vigor.

He hadn't, in the end, managed to unpack a thing the night before as Rin and Sousuke had plied him with a reasonable amount of their reward beer in the name of housewarming...

Which begs the question of how exactly he's become tangled up in the Pokemon blanket he'd packed for his brother to use when staying over. Because he's pretty sure he hasn't touched the binliner that he'd stuffed it into the depths of since dumping it unceremoniously into the far corner of the room yesterday afternoon...

Sei flinches as a muscle in his neck spasms from the awkward way he'd fallen asleep in, and he abandons the train of thought in favour of reaching back to poke at the affected area with a wince. A quick glance at his phone tells him it's mid-morning already, which only really gives him the rest of today to finish unpacking and grab some groceries before he's due back into work tomorrow; he'd better get cracking.

He folds the blanket and sets it aside to hunt down the box hiding the coffee from him, and that's the last thought he gives it all.

--

The walk home from the train station after work is made shorter as he chatters to his mother about his day, the apartment and the fact that he still has a suitcase of clothes to unpack when all he feels like doing is collapsing on the sofa and maybe watching a mindless game show or two before crawling to bed. His mother's voice is tinny through his phone's speaker as she catches him up on which idols will be in tonight's episode and an update on his brother's high school escapades; she's badgering him about making an actual dinner before he slinks to the couch ("I will, I will," he assures her while pointedly looking away from the bag of take out in his hand) when he finally arrives home.

He bids her a quick farewell (hoping she can't detect the tiny white lie in his voice) before dumping his dinner in the kitchen to change into something more comfortable.

He undoes his tie on the way, unbuttoning his shirt sleeves as he shoulders through his bedroom door ready to dig through his suitcase for a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt. Only. He's pretty sure he'd left his suitcase open on his bed this morning in his rush to get ready for work (with his clothes spilling out after shuffling around in there to find a pair of matching socks).

Sei blinks and rubs his eyes just to be sure, but when he opens them again the suitcase is still standing closed and propped against the wall.

He ambles over and lifts it up; it feels like it's empty.

Brows crawling up his forehead, his eyes go over to his wardrobe. His wardrobe which should, by all rights, be empty.

Sei slides the door open to piles of neatly stacked clothing, the rack filled with hangers of jackets.

He stares, wondering briefly if he could possibly have started sleepwalking. Then the rumble of his stomach makes him remember that his dinner is quickly cooling in the kitchen and saves the thought for another time.

--

Sei watches the way Momo hugs his jar to his chest, suppressing a smile as he lets his brother into his apartment.

"So you don't think he's given up yet then?"

Momo looks up at him with soulful gold eyes, bottom lip sliding forward into a pout so familiar that Sei has to hold back from reaching over to pinch Momo's cheek.

"If I'd left Pyunsuke at the dorm senpai would probably leave his jar open outside and lock the window so he couldn't get back in!"

"It's okay, he'll be safe with us." Sei ruffles Momo's hair with a grin, honestly glad for the company (Pyunsuke included). He's definitely going to have an eventful weekend; his brother isn't one to sit still and stay quiet after all.

It's one thing to go out for drinks with colleagues after work - it isn't as though Sei's particularly lonely - but there's something about having the hustle and bustle that Momo brings with him wherever he goes that sets Sei at ease.

He cooks up their lunch, lights a candle to clear the air ("Mum would be so proud") and sets a DVD to play on his laptop as Momo snuggles into the couch.

It's once their movie has ended and Momo's squinting at the coffee table that they realise that something might be amiss.

"Onii-chan. I think Pyunsuke's jar might need a heavier lid or something because he is getting way too smart."

Sei glances down at the empty jar and indeed, the lid seems to be ajar. His brows crawl up his forehead as he confirms that the stag beetle isn't easily visible in the room... He feels like as a responsible adult he should probably be shaking his head and sighing... but honestly? It's kind of funny.

He lets out a snort of amusement which at least gets that tentative look off Momo's face before they settle on a strategy to comb the place for little Pyunsuke before he can get himself hurt.

They search high and low for a solid ten minutes before being able to claim any kind of progress; Momo lets out an excited squeak and when Sei glances over it's to see Pyunske zooming under his desk with surprising speed.

The thing about Sei's desk is, it's really just a normal table. And it's kind of short so his knees tend to knock on there a little when he actually deigns to use it. (Which he hasn't since his first month of residence, at which point any work had been moved to his couch and the desk had become more of a convenient surface to dump stuff.)

Momo's small enough to crawl under the table easily enough, and when he waves his hand backwards at Sei he hands over the jar and lid.

Pyunsuke's safely back in his jar and Momo whips around, grin wide in victory. Only, he manages to smack his head on the table as he does.

Sei would usually find this hilarious, and as he's setting Pyunsuke down again (they'll need to find some way to keep him in his jar overnight without covering his air holes) the corners of his mouth start to tug up into a teasing smile. Until he turns, that is.

Because the jolt of the table is enough to have the candle wobbling precariously in its holder and Sei's eyes widen in horror at the way it teeters over a pile of forgotten paperwork next to the curtains. Momo's still under the table, completely unaware as he scrunches his nose and holds his head where it smarts.

"Momo, the candle!"

Momo somehow manages to scoot out just as Sei's getting close enough to the table to try and snatch the paper away when-

-the candle, which had been about to tip over flame first onto Sei's bills, freezes mid-fall as though it's been caught.

Sei's pretty sure his jaw's dropped open by this point, his wide eyes staring at the tiny part of the candle's base still in contact with the table as the rest of it just hovers. Momo thankfully thinks to pick up the stack of paper that Sei had been going for.

Sei had thought that maybe the paper had been propping the candle up somehow; that that could be the only possible reason he hasn't had a smoke alarm go off just yet. But as Momo sets the paper down far from the flame, the candle seems to defy gravity to straighten into a safe standing position.

And then it scoots back slightly, as though in after thought, away from the curtains that had been so close to going up in flames.

"...You saw that too, right?"

Sei keeps his eyes on the candle just in case it decides to do any more acrobatics, but he catches the way Momo slumps as though his legs have given out from the corner of his eye.

"Onii-chan," he says, voice hushed in awe. "You never told me the place was haunted!"

A day ago - heck, an hour ago - Sei would've dismissed the very idea as ridiculous. But he can't exactly deny the strangeness of what he's just witnessed, and now that he's recounting the previous... incidents for Momo he finds it more difficult to explain away the irregularities.

Though weren't hauntings supposed to be incredibly unpleasant?

If there are any supernatural forces at work in Sei's little apartment then surely they'd already proven to be perfectly benign?

Momo hums at this line of thought.

"I think they're more likely to be a superhero cleaning fairy or something at this point... Though if they are a ghost we could make a Ouija board and ask them questions!"

Sei thinks he might hear an unfamiliar but terrified squeak at that; it's probably just his imagination but he steers Momo away from the idea in any case. Sei's not sure whether the suggestion is because Momo's been watching too many horror movies or not enough. (Because seriously, when do they ever end well?)

Momo starts to collect the dishes, content to chatter about his theories, each growing ever wilder before he moves onto the next.

Sei, after blowing the candle out, follows him into the kitchen with a shake of his head.

--

In the days following Momo's departure the apartment feels a little too quiet; a little too empty.

Sei fills the silence with the clinking of plates as he washes the dishes, the clack of the keys on his laptop keyboard and his own tuneless humming as he putters around finding chores to keep himself busy. He finds himself thinking of Momo's cleaning fairy theory and chuckles to himself as he drops down onto his couch with a bag of clean laundry to fold up.

"At this rate I'll be putting any resident cleaning fairies out of business..."

The curtains rustle in the breeze from the window, but as he picks up the first pair of boxers from the pile he wonders if the tinkling laughter he hears belongs to a guest of one of his neighbors.

(The sound sends a spark of warmth through Sei's veins, and he can't help but hope that if does, that they are invited over more often.)

--

Over the weeks following, life goes on much on the way it always has. Sei goes to work, comes home, and tries his hand at making a decent meal when he can muster the will to.

He still finds the odd chore completed before he gets the chance to get around to doing it himself; dishes from dinner cleaned and drying after he's left them to soak in the sink, finding items he's misplaced sitting innocently on the coffee table after giving up on ever seeing then again...

Sei starts to catch the occasional flicker at the very edge of his vision; a sparkle of lively green, a soft looking tuft of brown. Surely he must be imagining the slight quirk of smiling lips he catches reflecting back at him from the window.

He thinks back to Momo's visit, and while Sei would never seriously consider his brothers Ouija board idea, he wonders if he can maybe thank his helper another way.

He leaves a simple but unmissable note on the coffee table before he goes to bed:

"I really can't thank you enough for how much you've been helping me. I don't think I've even introduced myself to you properly even after so long. Which is pretty rude since I guess you've been living here longer than me and I just kind of barged in. But hi, as you probably know by now I'm Mikoshiba Seijuurou. Can I ask your name, roomie?"

Truthfully it feels a little silly, but he's still optimistic. Sei leaves a pen beside the note, which has plenty of space left on it for a response to be written if his unexpected room mate feels inclined to reply.

They do not feel inclined to for the first couple of days.

Sei first think much of it when he first gets back from work and the pen doesn't seem to have moved at all; it's not like his mysterious helper makes their presence known every day, and Sei makes sure not to leave chores undone as much as possible.

Human or not, Sei does not want to take them for granted.

He shrugs and goes about the rest of his evening, thinking that maybe he'll have a name for them tomorrow instead.

The pen is still in exactly the same place the next day after work, and although it makes Sei pull a face, he tells himself to be patient. He can't really dwell on it since he has a presentation to prepare for work the next day, and his evening passes far too quickly as he goes through his cue cards.

He lays out his suit that night to ensure he won't run late, but can't find his lucky tie for the life of him. He turns his wardrobe upside down trying to find it and has pretty much given up when he gets up to grab a glass of water from the kitchen. As he sinks down onto the couch to rack his brains for where else the damn thing could be hidden, he looks up to find the very tie he's been looking for folded neatly on the coffee table.

Sei sags back into the sofa. "Thank you," he says with feeling.

It's not until he's in bed that he remembers his note, and his heart sinks a little at the realisation that it seems like it's just being ignored.

He lets out a soft groan before his eyelids flutter, finally allowing him to sink into sleep.

--

Sei collapses face first onto his bed when he gets in.

The presentation had gone well and his senpai had taken him out for a drink or three to celebrate the success.

He isn't drunk, but there's a pleasant buzz in his mind that has him grinning mindlessly into his duvet. Still, he manages to drag himself upright, rolling up his shirt sleeves and feeling around to loosen his (already discarded) tie before making his way over to the kitchen for a glass of water and some painkillers to stave off the possibility of a hangover.

It's on his way back that he sees the note again. Except that when he squints, he can see that the space he'd left blank... Is no longer blank.

"My name is Makoto. Thank you for not being scared."

"Makoto," he says to himself softly. "Nice."

He falls asleep right there on the sofa; he has exactly zero awareness of his surroundings when, a few hours later, he finds himself swaddled in Momo's Pokemon blanket once again. There's a faint sensation of fingers brushing hair away from his forehead, and when Sei's eyes flutter open he sees the faint silhouette of the hand's owner hovering over him.

"Makoto..?"

The fingers thread through Sei's hair, running through the silky strands softly with a low hum.

"You should get some rest."

In Makoto's gentle lilt the order sounds more like a suggestion, and Sei frowns. It's becoming increasingly difficult to keep his eyes pried open, but-

Sei's protest is cut off before he can even start to make it, when Makoto interrupts, sounding a little more firm. "You should really get to bed. But even if you stay here you should sleep." There's a moment of quiet hesitation that Sei almost misses in his drowsiness, but Makoto shrugs it away. "I'll still be here in the morning. So. We'll talk then. I promise."

The crease that had been forming on Sei's brow smoothes, and Sei sighs into the sofa's cushions. "I'll hold you to that."

Then he allows Makoto's soothing touch to send him back into slumber.

~Hollyrose~

Notes:

This took waaay longer to finish than it should have, and even then the ending's a bit rushed ^^' Oh well.

I was actually unpacking my own stuff when I started writing this so it miiight have been suggested that a helpful unpacking ghost friend was just wishful thinking on my part - and I wouldn't say that's inaccurate either XD

(Not that he’d be letting Sei know of this detail; it’d only make Sei hang on for even longer when he inevitably got Momo into a headlock. And although Momo wasn’t averse to the occasional manly punch to the shoulder, his arm still smarted a little from the one he’d received when they’d met briefly at nationals.

…Momo just needed to bulk up a little more to match, so it wouldn’t continue to be a problem!)

It took the whole of Friday night after practice to wade his way through his homework (with breaks to bug his senpai every now and then!), but bright and early on Saturday morning, he’d signed himself out of the dorms for the weekend and was catching the next train home.

He tapped his foot impatiently as he let himself be swayed by the motion of the carriage, flashing his grin at any cute girls that might catch his gaze.

It made him think of joint practice with the Iwatobi team, of the resident cute manager that had caught his eye immediately, and of the fact that apparently Sei had had the exact same reaction to her.

Good taste apparently ran in the family.

He wondered idly at how different things would be next year with the third years gone, of how strange it sill was to think that his own brother had held the mantle of team captain until last year and of how Captain Matsuoka would be passing the title on this year as well.

It would be strange to have joint practices without the weird competitive energy that everyone seemed to get caught up in when he and Nanase inevitably went head to head at least once each time.

His own competition would be missing as well; as much as he may sass Tachibana, Momo knew that there were things he could totally still learn from him, and that no one else had managed to get Momo nearly as fired up and motivated to succeed.

It didn’t hurt that he had a cute smile, either.

By the time he had left the train station (bidding a quick farewell to the new friend he had made through idle conversation) it was around 11:30am and Momo knew his parents had probably already left the house to run their regular weekend errands.  Sei would b in though, and he’d definitely be awake – just because he had a week off from weekend swim practice didn’t mean his big brother would slack off in the meantime! He’d probably forgone the luxury of a well deserved lie in to go on a morning jog across town, as usual.

It would be great to see him after so long; they hadn’t really had the chance to catch up at nationals, and Momo had the coolest stag beetle to show him. He was pretty sure that even in all of their boyhood adventures catching bugs, they’d never come across a beetle quite like the one in his jar.

He’d even managed to keep this one from Nitori-senpai and avoided freaking him out this time!

Making quick work of the front door’s lock, he stepped into the landing and called out a quick “tadaima!” as he kicked his shoes off.

He didn’t get a response, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything since his brother could easily be in his own room with his headphones on.

He left his bags in the hallway, plucking out his jar before stepping around them to make his way up the stairs.

Sure enough, Sei’s bedroom door was shut (instead of open the way their mother would have left it – something to do with open spaces and letting air flow around the house). As he had since about age five, Momo gave a mental shrug and burst into the room without much ceremony.

“Have you seen th-?” He stopped half way, when his brain fully registered what his eyes were trying to show him.

Hair in a complete disarray and kiss swollen lips parted in shock was Tachibana Makoto himself, flannel shirt halfway down his arms and starting to pool at his waist and his black t-shirt starting a slow crawl up his stomach by the hands that had pushed it up.

Sei’s hands, incidentally.

Seijuurou, for his part, only looked a little surprised, his brows rising slightly at the interruption. He didn’t however, move his hands away.

Colour rose high in Tachibana’s cheek, and it was only when he let out a half embarrassed, half scolding wail of “Seijuurou” that his brother retracted his hands with an amused but clearly affectionate roll of the eyes.

“Oh.” Momo scrutinised them both for a moment more, enjoying the adorable way Tachibana was squirming and also to see if his brother would crack, before clapping his hands once (making Tachibana flinch). “I guess I’ll leave you guys to it. Remember to play safe!”

He turned around slowly, deliberately, strolling out of the room at a leisurely pace just for the fun of how annoying Sei would find it. He shut the door with a quiet click that seemed to echo through the house.

(He thought he might have heard a quiet thump from behind the door which was probably Tachibana trying to smother himself with a pillow in mortification. But he could have imagined it.)

Well. That certainly explained a few things.

And he couldn’t exactly fault Tachibana for his tastes.