"ACHOO!" Aomine sneezed loudly at the dusty attic he and Kise were assigned to clean. "Damn it, Kise! Stop dusting those rags! You're making me sneeze!"
"Well, how do you think will we clean them up if I don't dust them?" Kise whined.
"I don't know but stop waving them around like that!" Aomine complained. "Baka!"
"So mean!" Kise whined, "Why do we even need to clean up this dusty old attic? No one comes here anyway, it's full of spiders and creepy crawlers-- eew!"
Today was a holiday and they all agreed to do general cleaning around the mansion since Akashi stopped employing maids and butlers to do household work and had the whole gang clean the house every time the five of them had a day off together. Today was one of those days and Kise and Aomine were assigned to clean the attic, Midorima and Mayuzumi cleaned the garden, while Akashi and Murasakibara were all around the mansion sweeping and dusting.
Tetsuya, despite Akashi's objections of making him clean, tried to help them as much as he can by cleaning his own room and help Midorima and Mayuzumi outside.
"Just shut up and start cleaning or we'll be forced to sleep here if Akashi spots as slacking around," Aomine stated and started rummaging through the junk stacked a the attic.
"I wasn't slacking around, you are!" Kise said and started to dust the rest of the attic.
"Kise-nii? Daiki-nii?" Tetsuya called and they both spun in surprise to see him up in the dusty attic with them.
"Tetsu, what are you doing here?" Aomine asked, "You have to get out, it's dusty here,"
"I want to help," Tetsuya said.
"No need, Tetsuya-cchi," Kise said with a smile as he held a duster. "Aomine-cchi and I can do this ourselves,"
"Please?" Tetsuya said, "Shintaro-nii and Chihiro-nii are already done tending the garden and nii-san won't let me help him and Atsushi-nii and I really, really, really, really want to help,"
Aomine and Kise exchanged looks and sighed. Four years staying with them, and they still can't figure out how to say no to the cyan-haired child.
"Alright, Tetsuya-cchi, but you have to find something to cover your nose and mouth with because the attic's pretty dusty," Kise said.
Tetsuya broke into a smile and dashed outside the attic to come back with a handkerchief that looked belonged to Mayuzumi. Aomine proceeded to tie the handkerchief around Tetsuya's head, covering his nose and mouth but not too tight to let him breathe normally while he helped them clean.
"Okay, your job will be simple," Aomine said then pointed at the dusty old bookshelf that was resting by the wall of the attic. "Take those books out and start wiping the dust off, before putting them back in the bookshelf,"
"Okay!" Tetsuya answered and did his assigned task, stopping a few minutes to try and read what the books were all about-- most of them contained old business proposals and other papers that belonged to Masaomi Akashi.
But one tattered black leather notebook caught Tetsuya's attention and after wiping the dust off of it, he decided to keep it and have Midorima read it to him tonight.
They finished cleaning the house as dusk and were exhausted to the bones so they decided to eat dinner to be able to rest early.
As scheduled, Midorima was assigned to tuck Tetsuya in for the night and after a quick shower, he asked Tetsuya to start picking a story for the night. But Tetsuya smiled at him and brought the notebook he found in the attic.
Midorima's eyes widened. "W-where... where did you find that?" he asked, shocked to see the very same notebook he had never laid eyes on since he was still a child.
"In the attic," Tetsuya answered, unaware of the green-haired doctor's astonishment upon seeing the tattered notebook. "I helped Daiki-nii and Ryota-nii clean the attic earlier and found this on one of the bookshelves, and-- Shintaro-nii? Are you okay?"
Midorima was still in shock about what he was seeing and couldn't help but remember when was the last time he saw that old thing.
An eleven-year-old Midorima looked at a ten-year-old Akashi through his thick-framed glasses, a black leather notebook resting on his lap while Akashi lied on the grass, his hands rested below his head as the redhead admired the beautiful blue sky while Shintaro sat beside him.
"What do you think?" Midorima asked, closing the notebook.
"It's okay," Akashi answered, "But Taro seemed sad..."
"He isn't sad, nanodayo," Midorima answered, pushing his glasses.
Akashi smirked. "Isn't he?" he asked then lied on his side to face his best friend.
Midorima nodded. "Taro was a flower, he is expected to bloom when needed to and to wilt when the time comes," he said, "He should be happy he had a purpose,"
"But what about his dream?" Akashi asked, "What about his dream of being the sun? Of being the one to provide his fellow flowers the amount of energy they need to continue blooming?"
Midorima had been a weird and peculiar child-- always just behind the spotlight, observing. It was almost a miracle that someone like Akashi Seijuro would be friends with him. Everything about Akashi screamed power, while Midorima mostly looked like his personal assistant than his best friend whenever they're together. But Akashi understood his weirdness and found it enjoyable to be with Midorima and listen to his tales-- tales he himself wrote.
Midorima came from a family of doctors and he was expected to be one in the future. But the child knew what he wanted to be when he grows older-- to be a writer, to be able to provide stories, to be people's escape from a harsh reality. Like the little flower named Taro, he wanted to be the sun in his own little tale called reality.
The greenhead shrugged his shoulders. "Flowers cannot be sun after all," he said.
Akashi frowned. "I don't like your story today," he said, "It sounds sad... as if he was trapped, as if he had no other choice; as if his fate was already written in the paper; as if he can't do anything to change who he is,"
"Can you tell me of any other way how can a flower be a sun?" Midorima asked.
Akashi sat up and pointed at Midorima's head. "I'm supposed to be the realistic thinker here, and you're supposed to be the imaginative one," he said.
Midorima didn't answer.
"Are they forcing you again?" Akashi asked, "Is that why you decided to end your story with little Taro choosing his reality instead of making his own world?"
Midorima kept silent.
Being born from a rich family is fun and all-- you had everything you need, you can have anything you want, you are bought things that catch your interest, and you don't have to worry about anything because everything is already provided for you. However, being born rich has a catch-- especially if you're an only heir like Akashi... or carrying a bloodline of doctors like Midorima. Both boys are expected to follow their fathers' steps the moment they were born and none of them could do anything about it.
Akashi frowned. "Change the ending," he said, "I don't like it,"
"I've already finished it," Midorima said.
"And I'm telling you as your only reader, I don't like the ending," Akashi said, crossing his arms. "Change it or I won't listen to your stories every again,"
Midorima spotted a black car driving up by the parking lot of the Akashi manor and knew that it was his ride home. He stood up and handed Akashi his notebook. "You change it,"
"I'm not a good writer like you, Shin,"
"Well if you wanted to change the ending then you do it," Midorima said, "Because I won't change the story if I had to do it all over again,"
"I'm not kidding, Shin," Akashi said, glaring up at his friend. "Change the ending or I won't listen to your stories ever again. Don't say I didn't warn you,"
Midorima smiled and held unto his notebook. "You don't have to listen anymore," he said, "Taro's story will be the end of my tales,"
Akashi could only gape at him as Midorima walked away and towards his ride home. He asked his chauffeur to stop as soon as he spotted a trash bin just outside the premises of the Akashi manor. He got out and threw his notebook away and got back in the car without a second glance.
Years later, he was now one of the country's best trauma doctor there is and have saved millions of lives-- he chose his path to be a doctor and leave his dreams of becoming a writer like he used to want as a child. But none of his success brought Midorima a smile on his face because deep inside this wasn't the path he chose to take, it was a path that was laid out for him to walk-- the bitter reality of life.
***
Akashi did his usual rounds around the manor. Despite the whole day's work of running around and cleaning the house, he still felt restless and couldn't find sleep while the rest of his friends, as well as his brother, snored the night away.
He stopped at his tracks, though, when he spotted his best friend sitting by the kitchen island and looked like he was reviewing his notes. Akashi would've let the greenhead be if he hadn't spotted his old friend smile-- the kind of smile he used to do whenever he visits Akashi to tell him a new story, something he had stopped doing after Taro's tale ended.
He took a step closer and stopped when he found the same old notebook in Midorima's hand as the green-haired doctor read with a smile on his face.
"Do you have any idea how much pride I threw away just to get that out of the trash bin?" Akashi asked as he approached Midorima who whipped his head towards him when he talked.
"I didn't think you'd be dumb enough to actually dig in the trash just to get this old thing," Midorima said as he flipped through the pages carefully.
"Call me dumb one more time and you'll wake up bald tomorrow," Akashi threatened but Midorima couldn't help but smile at his best friend.
"Do you know who found this old thing in the attic?"
Akashi smirked. He didn't need Midorima to tell him who as he already know very well who it was.
He sat down next to Midorima. "So what's your plan?"
"What do you mean?"
"I told you, didn't I? I'd stop listening to your stories unless you change the ending in Taro's tale," Akashi said, "But that doesn't mean I wasn't waiting and god forbid I have waited long enough,"
Midorima didn't answer-- shocked that after all those years, Akashi still believed that Midorima's dream of becoming a writer would be a reality someday.
"You have me for your reader, and now it looks like you have Tetsuya too," Akashi said, "So what do you say? Is Taro's dream of being the sun still impossible for you?"
Midorima smiled.
"Don't dare change his name," Akashi said, "I like the name Taro, it's weird, it's different, it's unique. Kind of like that green-haired boy I knew since childhood who never stopped trying to live his dream through this tattered old notebook,"
Midorima snorted. "Who are you and what did you do to Seijuro Akashi?" he asked, causing the both of them to chuckle.
The next day, Akashi spotted Tetsuya looking through the archway to the kitchen as if he was watching someone.
"Tetsuya? What are you doing?" Akashi asked, wrapping himself in his robes and approached his brother. He stopped in his tracks to see a sleeping Midorima by the kitchen island-- his glasses resting on his hand and his head above his arms, his laptop sat by the island close to him with a word document open on the screen that read, "Taro's Dream".
*** A/N ***
I've run out of ideas. Help T_T