reason:
Every time Leo opens his mouth around Adonis it makes me think of a weird girl flirting with an oblivious guy she's testing the waters with. And every time he doesn't push her away brings him closer to being her little boyfriend
Relationships: Gen fic featuring Luka Tsukinaga, Adonis Otogari and Leo Tsukinaga, with casually mentioned AdoLeo (Adonis x Leo)
Synopsis: Adonis finds Luka crying on a hidden spot at Yumenosaki. After the two of them talk, they realise they have much more in common as they thought as younger siblings, so they come up with a plan to make sure they start being taken seriously, even as the youngest in their families.
A/N: This was my birthday gift to @cultoficarus! Hope you all like it, too!
If you prefer, also read it on AO3!
~~**~~
The gentle breeze ruffled the flowers and Adonis' hair as he walked to the cafeteria. This path was longer and somewhat uncared for in the vast artificiality of the academy, but Adonis liked it for its quiet and for the wild flowers that grew along it.
That day, though, an unexpected sound broke through his calm thoughts. It took him a moment to place it until he realised it was a sniffle - a young girl's voice, crying.
He turned a corner and saw the girl sitting down on the steps that led to the back entrance of a building, face down between her knees, so he approached her carefully.
"Hmm, are you okay?"
In spite of his best efforts, the girl startled and raised her head to look at him. The shock of recognition was instantaneous, he would recognise that red hair and green eyes anywhere.
It was Luka. Leo's little sister.
"Luka-chan? What happened? Does your brother know you are here?"
He meant to soothe her, but the mention of her brother made her face contort into a grimace.
"Don't even mention that stupid traitor to me. I hate him! He is annoying, and stupid and his songs aren't even that good and he is an idiot."
Adonis was a bit taken aback by the burst of angry words, but since Luka was crying again as she said them, he didn't take them so seriously and instead chose to sit down by her side.
"Come on... I know you don't hate him. Do you want to tell me what happened?"
"I do hate him! I hate him and his stupid hair and his stupid songs and all the other stupid things about him! I don't know how you can stand him, Adonis nii-san."
Adonis carefully patted her on the back as he considered what to say.
"What did he do that made you hate him?"
"Everything! He is always treating me like I am a baby and don't know anything, and can't do anything! I tried to help him with a song yesterday and he locked me out of his room, then I came up with a song myself and went to visit him just now in the music room and he completely ignored my suggestions for the melody saying I "didn't understand" and only scolded me for ditching class, but he is an idiot because I only did it to help him and now his song will suck forever. He thinks he is soooo smart because he is just a little bit older, but I am an idol just like him!"
Her rant pretty much froze Adonis to the spot. On one hand he was glad her tears were of frustration rather than any real harm, but on the other...
"Ah, I... Know exactly how you feel."
Her eyes widened.
"You do!?"
"Yes, I have three older sisters, and they still treat me like a baby even though I am practically an adult. I'm afraid they'll continue to treat me like a baby my whole life."
"But you are so mature and composed already! Why do they still treat you like that?"
Adonis shrugged.
"That is just how older siblings are, I suppose."
"Urgh, older siblings are the worst!"
Adonis did nothing, but pat her back again, not wanting to say anything bad about his sisters but understanding how Luka felt all too well.
"I wish there was a way we could show them we are just as good as them, so my stupid brother would take me seriously. And your sisters, too."
It was as if those words had lit a light-bulb inside of Adonis' brain.
"Why can't we?"
"What?"
"Why can't we show them we are just as good as them?"
Luka's eyes went wide.
"But how?"
"How do you feel about a collab?"
*//*
Adonis ended up spending all his lunch time bouncing ideas off Luka. He had to admit he had only seen her as Leo's little kid sister until that point as well, but a sense of kinship among younger siblings had blossomed between them. And Luka really had amazing ideas for her age.
In the end, Adonis called the only person he knew that could make their dreams come true, and Anzu ended up joining their rebellious group.
Once more, Adonis got a chance to see why she was considered a genius producer - and why she was best friends with Trickstar: she encouraged their little rebellion with a wide smile and molded their ideas into a feasible collab in a second to both their surprise and delight.
Luka had completely forgotten she had been crying and just kept jumping up and down, clapping her hands excitedly as they decided on a theme and she threw some preliminary ideas for the song at Anzu. Like brother, like sister it seemed.
With things more or less settled, Anzu had to run to ES to work after school, and Adonis volunteered to walk Luka home since he didn't have any work until later in the day.
Luka was still happily humming and squeeing as they walked. She spinned around and then grabbed Adonis'a arm.
"I just can't believe I am actually going to do a collab with the Adonis from the Undead. Now I am also going to be a demon princess of the night, and my brother is going to eat his words. And my friends, too!"
"Your friends?" Adonis repeated. That was new information.
Luka seemed slightly embarrassed for a moment.
"Yes, actually... I didn't want to skip class today, but my friends insisted. They are always saying I am too much of a goody-two-shoes and a baby. But now they'll see!"
"Ah..." Now Adonis understood why she had loved the dark concept for their collab so much. "I don't think you are a baby at all, Luka-chan, and I'll do whatever I can to help you show this mature side of you to others, too."
"You are the best, Adonis nii-san!" She hugged him tight. "Don't you want to be my brother instead? You are much better than that idiot brother I have."
"Don't say that. Your brother loves you very much."
"Humpf. He has an idiot way of showing it then."
"Well... Let's wait until he sees our new song first, ok?"
"Urgh, fiiiineeeee."
*//*
Turned out, they didn't even have to wait that long.
As they were approaching the Tsukinaga's house, a weeping Leo bolted out the door and came running to them in full speed.
"Luka-chaaaaaan!!!!!"
He threw himself at his sister, hugging her so tight Adonis didn't think she was able to breathe.
"Where were you!? You were supposed to be home hours ago! I was so worried you had run away from home because of what I said to you earlier! Your brother is sorry for being such an idiot, please forgive meeeeeeee!!!!!"
Leo was a sorry sobbing mess, and to Adonis's astonishment Luka was soon sobbing too.
"Why do you always have to be so selfish, nii-san? I just wanted to help you with your song and you completely ignored me! I was so saaaad!"
"I'm sorry! I am so sorry! I am never going to ignore you again, I promise!"
"I am just as good a song writer as you! You know I am an idol just like you and that I write the songs for my unit, so why do you never take me seriously!? I am not a baby!"
"I am sorry! I promise I am always going to take you seriously from now on, so please never say you hate me and then run away from home again!"
"I promise I won't, nii-san! I love you!"
"I love you, too, Luka-chaaaaan!"
"Nii-saaaaan!"
The loud and teary spectacle had drawn in all the neighbours from the nearby houses, as well as a small crowd of passers-by that were pointing to the three of them and whispering like crazy.
Unfortunately, Adonis was the only one among them even aware of that, and also the only one among them that possessed a sense of ridicule, so it was with cheeks burning from embarrassment that he finally managed to pull and coax the teary pair of siblings back into the safety of their own house.
At least all was well that ended well? Apparently?
Adonis certainly hoped so.
Adonis was still a beginner at the art of managing over-dramatic and inconsolable Tsukinagas, so after safely manoeuvring them back inside, he did the only thing that came to his mind: sat them down on the kitchen and made tea.
The siblings were still crying and sniffling as they talked and apologised back and forth, so Adonis also procured a box of tissues from the downstairs bathroom and put it down on the table together with the tea and waited as they both composed themselves.
“Right… Are you both feeling calmer now?”
Two nods.
“So, Luka, do you want to tell Leo why you were so upset and what we are planning to do?”
The girl sniffled once more before starting:
“I was upset because both you and my fiends keep treating like a baby, like I’m naive and don’t know anything, but that’s not true! I can make great lyrics and work as an idol just as well and just because I’m nice doesn’t mean I’m stupid-”
“I don’t think you are stupid, Luka-chan-”
“Then why wouldn’t you let me help with your song? Even after I went through all the trouble of finishing it and going to hand it to you?”
Leo looked down in shame, fiddling with his tea cup.
“I was in a bad mood because the song wasn’t going the way I wanted and I took it out on you… I’m sorry.”
“Well, I forgive you as long as you promise not to do it again.”
“I won’t! I promise!”
Adonis smiled and ruffled both their hairs.
“Good, so that’s settled.”
Leo took his hand and kissed his palm, starting to play with his fingers.
“So why were the two of you together, anyway?”
“Oh, we are doing a collab project together!” Luka told him excitedly.
“What!? Since when?”
“Today.” Adonis answered, to Leo’s even bigger confusion.
“Adonis nii-chan found me when I was upset, and we started talking about we both being younger siblings that are not taken seriously by our older brothers and sisters and we decided to show all of you how amazing we can be!”
“Did you now?” Leo shot Adonis a funny sideways look, and he avoided the stare. He knew this project would help Luka’s situation far more than his, but it was good to let some of the frustration out from time to time.
“Yes! And Anzu nee-chan helped, too!”
“Even her?” Leo laughed. “Then I’m sure this project is going to be really amazing.”
“It will! You will see!”
To all their surprises, Leo’s eyes started getting wattery again and he blubbered:
“Uhhh, my little princess is growing up into an amazing queen.”
He fell into a teary, melodramatic whining again, but when he tried to get a new tissue to blow his nose, he saw they were out…
So he turned to the other side and blew his nose on the side of Adonis’ uniform shirt.
“What the– Leo, ew, why?” Adonis pushed him away sending down a disgusted look at his ruined shirt.
“Sorry, it was the first thing I saw.”
“You could have used your own shirt!” Adonis still complained, pulling the soiled fabric away from his skin so it didn’t touch him.
“Didn’t think about it.” Leo said, simply.
“I can wash it for you!” Luka offered, getting up. “It’s the least I can do for all the help you gave me today.”
“But…”
“No buts! Give me!”
Adonis really needed to do something about his inability to say no to Tsukinagas, it seemed. He took his shirt off and gave it to Luka, who disappeared into the laundry room humming a tune.
“Guess you are gonna have to sleep here now.”
“Huh, why?”
“Are you planning to go back home shirtless in the cold?”
“No, but my shirt…”
“Is gonna take hours to dry. Again, because it’s cold.”
“Then you can lend me one of yours.”
Leo widened his eyes at him.
“Do you really think any of my clothes will fit you?”
Adonis was going to argue, but he had a very vivid thought of tearing one of Leo’s favourite shirts by accident, so instead he just sighed.
“Guess not…”
“So it’s settled. I’ll prep things for you!”
Leo seemed way too happy about it, and Adonis had half a suspicion he could have done that on purpose, but, oh well, it wasn’t like he was going to complain about spending the night at his boyfriend’s house either.
He wasn’t expecting the news to spark another fight between the siblings so soon, though.
“Adonis nii-chan is going to sleep in my room!”
“No way! He is sleeping in my room!”
“Why does he always have to sleep in your room?”
“He is literally my boyfriend???”
“And he is my friend!”
Adonis thought it was best to interfere before they ended up right back where they had started.
“I’ll sleep with Leo tonight since he already put down the futon, and we can have a slumber party next time, okay Luka-chan?”
The girl still pouted for a bit but then relented.
“Fiiiineee. Good night to you two then”
She disappeared inside her bedroom and the two boys got inside Leo’s. Adonis was already used to it, he bypassed the futon and laid down on Leo’s bed, opening his arms so Leo could snuggle on top of him.
“Thank you for helping my sister today,” Leo said, kissing his cheek.
“It was no big deal.”
“Yes, it was. It’s a shame you don’t have any younger siblings. Luka’s right, you’d make a great nii-san.”
Adonis blushed.
“Go to sleep now.”
“Hmm? I’ll go in a moment. I have to give you your reward.”
Leo kissed him slow and lovingly, and Adonis forgot everything eles in the world for a while.
His and Luka’s collab project ended up being a big success, and it turned out he had been wrong about one thing: it did make his sisters start treating him better from that point on, too. If he had known all it would take was them finding an even younger sibling, he would have started begging his parents for one a long time ago.
