negl i have been thinking about Them. so i am happy to oblige with a few more thoughts about them!
satoru, you think, is annoying.
he stabs one of your hairpins into place, the metal chiming, a sweet summer sound. sunlight catches in the ornate petals of it. you reach up and adjust it; it's cool against your fingertips.
he doesn't look at you, picking up another hairpin, this one burnished with age, its pearls gleaming, moon-touched. you wonder when he stole it from his grandmother.
he's more careful with this one, tucking it into your hair with long pianist's fingers. you tilt your head to help him, but he nudges you back into place.
you glance at him in the mirror. he's wearing sunglasses today; you can just make out a sliver of blue, the sky come down to earth. heaven devoured.
he reaches out for another pin.
you grab his wrist. infinity is slick against your skin, a glass wall, but then you feel the warmth of him. the quiet rhythm of his pulse.
"i don't like you this quiet," you say.
"i don't like you getting married," he returns.
you hum. "is that what you're sulking about?"
he makes an outraged noise. "i'm not sulking."
you eye him in the mirror, raising a brow.
he huffs. slips another hairpin into place. he runs a gentle finger over it; it clinks quietly. you think of the windchimes that hung in the plum tree, the way your mother closed her eyes to listen to their song.
she was not invited today.
you take the final hairpin before satoru can. it slides into place perfectly. your brother's hands slips to your shoulders; he squeezes, one long, hard pulse.
"he won't treat you right," he says.
you tilt your head, considering. naoya is oddly careful with you, despite his sharp pride and even sharper tongue. you think of the way he looks at satoru and sigh.
"i think he will," you say.
"because he thinks of me as something of yours."
"—is a zen'in," you say. "really, it's to be expected."
satoru pauses. then, slowly, he reaches up and takes off his sunglasses. you meet his eyes, the burning comet-tail of them.
"i'll kill him if he hurts you."
"not if i kill him first."