Home Sweet Hideyhole [Tomomi/Cecil]

Cecil sat alone in his room, feeling rather...blank. Tired...numb. It was another day where he'd come home to study until he wiped himself out completely. It was probably ruining him, but that wasn't something that even occurred to him.
This was the arrangement he'd finally managed to come to with himself.
With the little voice in his head that would never truly give him peace.
But this was the closest to peace he'd ever gotten with it...and right now, that was the same thing to him.
So he let himself crash onto his bed, prepared to lie there until he either fell unconscious or something forced him to get up and act like all was well.
Just like a normal day.

As he shifted and rolled onto his back, he prepared to pull it out and put it in charge, just to pause.
He'd...meant to have Tomomi over, hadn't he?
Yeah. He had.
Groaning, he settled into a position he could write from.

CECIL: Hey, Tomomi?
CECIL: Remember what I said before? If I'm visiting your place, you're visiting mine, too?
He pauses, letting himself go limp as he thinks about the situation with an overworked mind, a loose grip on his phone as the thoughts stagger through his headspace. This inactivity dragged on, long enough for a reply to come in and longer yet after.

They were probably going to poke fun. He should know that.
Couldn't have him too soon. It was getting late today. Dad would probably want to set something up, too, so need time to let him know and set...whatever it was up. The talk of a celebration if something like this happened might have been a joke, but he wouldn't put it past him to come out with something crazy just for the sake of messing with him and whoever came over.
He was going to mess with him anyway if he didn't get the chance...may as well get something nice out of it.

He takes his phone back in hand again, eyes lazily drifting over the screen for replies.

CECIL: Next week good?
CECIL: Warning you...family's probably going to wind you up at every good chance.

Simply sat on his sofa, Tomomi felt a buzzing in his pocket. Removing his phone and looking at the screen after opening it and unlocking, the boy smiled. It wasn't a spam message, but Cecil. From the sounds of it, Cecil was prepared to invite Tomomi to his house. Without even giving himself time to think about it, the boy replied, tapping his fingers away at the phone for a message and clicking send before even registering what he had done.

Tomomi: yes i would love to visit yours if thats cool when do you want me over

After waiting, and waiting, a reply finally came again from Cecil's end. The next week... Getting up, Tomomi looked over at his calendar. Nothing booked, nothing going on, so, he went to reply, before seeing a second message pop up. He... Didn't recognise the expression, and so before replying, paused to load up his laptop, opening up the non-descript search engine, and looking up 'Wind up meaning', before nodding as he read through the definition. So, provoke a response out of him for fun? Well, as long as it wasn't dangerous...

Tomomi: yes next week works for me just send me the address and ill find my way there
Tomomi: oh and a specific time would probably be useful so i dont show up at an inconvenient or wrong time that aside ill be there

Setting his phone away after reading through any further responses, Tomomi smiled to himself, deciding to give this next week his all as he prepared himself mentally. Meeting people was always scary, and now he was going to visit his best friend's house, and meet his family, who Tomomi had no information on other than the fact they existed and weren't dead or missing. It would be... An experience for the anxious boy, if nothing else.

He could come by...that was...good.
He should be happy about this right now. He really should. But he just didn't have it in him.
...he could do it later when he wasn't so drained. He wasn't about to do him the insult of having to force himself to be happy they'd show up.

CECIL: Great.
CECIL: Say...Thursday? 5:30? Just head to...

After providing the address, he plugged his phone in and crashed out, not looking even a second longer to check for replies. This was about all he could manage for now.
He lay awake, staring blankly through the walls.


Up until this moment, Cecil had been eagerly anticipating Tomomi's visit. In what seemed a mercy, his Dad even appeared to have been fairly lax about it all, treating it just as if his sister had plans to bring someone by.
Oh, if only he knew. The delectable scents drifting throughout the house ought to have been a warning that there was more to come.
As Cecil sat on a sofa in the living room, however, he just felt anxious. Just as his visit to Tomomi's home had been only one visit of two in his life, his invitation in turn into his own abode was a definite first. The onus was on him to deliver, here. To make sure all was well...to ensure he had a good time...to make sure he hadn't opened this small window to show Tomomi an abomination that he would regret ever being involved with.
Sure, there were the little things - like how he'd acclimate to the inevitable teasing and prodding from his sister and father - but that wasn't going to be the real issue.

No, they were never the problems in his family.
"Oi." The soft whump of a body settling into the fabric rank near clear as a bell in Cecil's ears as Rydia settled in next to him and poked him in the forehead. "No moping."
Cecil's face twisted. "I just..."
Another poke. "I said, no moping! You want this, right?" Cecil nods dumbly. "He's your friend, right?" Another nod, more vigorous. "Then it'll be fine. It's not that different from being around them normally. No big deal."
"...thanks."

As the week passed by in a rather mediocre way for Tomomi, the boy waited patiently for the day to come that he would visit Cecil. Work, study, all of which was a slow drag that built up fatigue that the boy allowed to just... Wash over him. He'd be tired, and slog through the days before the visit to Cecil's house, so that he was as rested as possible. After all, he would now be subject to the act of being "Winded up".

The time began to approach, the boy making sure he was up early in the morning, spending the entirety of the morning before school psyching himself up, and somewhat faking his studies that day at school - perks of being a good student, is on days when you slack, people assume you're still working anyways.

School ended, and Tomomi rushed back home to change, before following the directions his phone gave via a satnav. Walking up to the house, and upon realising that it was an actual house and not just a box of a room in a complex, Tomomi couldn't help but feel like he was... Dramatically out of his league. Flipping at his phone to double check the address and time, the boy paused. 7 minutes to go. And for those 7 minutes, the boy stepped away from the house, standing out of sight so that he could get his breath and calm down. Waiting for about 5 minutes to pass while his mind calmed, the boy then tried to get the awkward and scary start of getting to the door over with. Timidly, Tomomi stepped up to the door, before just... Lightly rasping his knuckle against the door, almost startling himself in the act.

Rydia sprouted a cheshire grin at the light knock on the door as Cecil did a double take towards it. "They're he-ACK!" He found himself shoved down as his younger sister sprung up and vaulted the back of the sofa, racing toward the door. "Goddammit RYDIA-!"
The door swung open before Tomomi to reveal a grinning girl with orange-streaked blonde hair, little beads and ornaments woven into and hanging from the strands. She looks him up and down with a predatory gaze, and looks over back to where her brother was currently scrambling to get off the sofa. "Seven outta ten! You've not done bad for yourself bro!"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"
"Nope! Your taste in guys is looking decent so far! He could be a solid eight with a little more confidence!" As Cecil finally gets to his feet and runs down the door, Rydia laughs and sidesteps the attempt to get her out of the doorway. "Come on, no need for that! You can trust me with your beau!"
Cecil seems embarrassed and frustrated as he comes to a halt in the doorway, looking apologetically to Tomomi before turning back to his sister. "Pretty sure you're the only one looking at things that way. Can't say I expected you to take so much interest in him with the way Isabelle's got you wrapped around her finger."
Cecil turns back with a grin as his younger sister flushes and squeals indignantly, laughing at the reaction. "Sorry about that...come on in, though be prepared for more of this."

As the door swung wildly before him, Tomomi felt a sudden fear that he had taken a REALLY wrong turn at some point, the crazy stranger causing him to momentarily not notice Cecil behind her. Seven out of ten? What was the score based on? Or, well, what even WAS the score? Was it on his hairstyle? Because, well... He didn't really brush it, although as she mentioned confidence, was it maybe how he knocked on the door? Was that like, a hobby of this strangers? Rating door knocks? If so... Tomomi felt suddenly proud of how well he had supposedly knocked on that door. Door knocking like a champ.

As Cecil arrived in a rather manic style, all Tomomi could do was tilt his head to the side in borderline bewilderment, completely having no idea what was going on. What even was a beau? Did that refer to Tomomi? He... Really didn't get it. Was it like, a form of English slang he'd yet to hear? Thoughts went round and round in his head, the boy constantly confused. Then Cecil seemed to shoot back at the stranger, who Tomomi was able to work out was Cecil's sister, in a way that caused the crazy person to seemingly freak out.

At Cecil's urging to enter, Tomomi shot back to life, nodding like a deer caught in the headlights. Rubbing at the back of his neck in a reaction of what was going on and rubbing out his anxiety, the boy took his first step inside... His terrible mission of having a fun time without being traumatised had begun. And upon stepping inside, the boy just stood there, before raising a hand, and timidly saying "Um... Hi." before waiting to be guided to wherever he was expected to be.

The scent of delectable items drifted through the air as Tomomi entered, Cecil shutting the door behind him. The confusion as to just what on earth Rydia had been talking about hadn't gone unnoticed by either party, though the younger sister wasn't currently able to act on it, still trying to gather herself after the targeted shot from her brother. Cecil himself just chuckled awkwardly as Tomomi appeared shell-shocked, only starting to realise just how vulnerable prey he was. "Come on. This way."

He led Tomomi to the sofas, settling in on one and leaving the boy to make himself comfortable. "Sit down where you like. Doesn't really matter." He shrugs, and glances away. "Hope Rydia didn't bother you too much. Dad's probably gonna join in too when he shows up." He sits back into the sofa and looks to Tomomi. "Admittedly, he's cooking something up, so you might get a break for a bit. Still - watch out."
He shrugs and gives an awkward laugh. "So, ah...welcome to the place."

He glances back where Rydia was to see her gone, and a flash of dread runs over Cecil's face as he anticipates what might be coming before he clamps down on it. "So...how you been?"

At Cecil's gesture, Tomomi sat down, listening to his friend as he gave Tomomi the run down and welcome. A bit out of his element, Tomomi looked around. He hadn't seen an actual house in about five years... Cool.

The flash of dread that was apparent to Cecil confused to Tomomi. Did... Did Cecil not want him here? Oh... Well, last time they met, Cecil did say he didn't feel worth much, so, maybe it was because of that? That... Oh dear. Regardless, Tomomi offered Cecil a smile as he posed the question, laughing slightly as if reminiscing. "Well, you know. The usual, um, routine of... Well, studying, working, more studying, and more working. Sometimes I wish I was made redundant because there wasn't enough work... Buuuuut I know that there's... Well, no chance of that happening. Especially when the government doesn't put enough bins around..."

Falling into a half dejected grumble, the boy crossed his arms for a moment, before shrugging. "What about you? Anything beyond the usual, um, hecticness with you?"... Hecticness was a word, right?

Little did Tomomi know, hecticness was not a word.

Could've fooled Cecil. And in fact, it did.
Cecil scratches at the back of his head. "Nothing much, really...guess I've just been...studying. A lot." He groans. "Gets A-" He chokes on the word coming, breaking out into a pronounced cough. Jesus, his filter was eroding. "Gets that little voice to shut up for the day. Just...kind of tiring."
He chuckles. "I don't know what you're thinking, but...stuff like you walked into isn't normally that bad. It's just a good opportunity to mess with me. Messing with people is practically a family pastime."
"Talking about us behind our backs are we?" A deep laugh sounds behind the sofa as Cecil looks back and winces, spotting an amused look to the face of the older man in the zipped black jacket standing there with his sister.
Cecil's father had made his appearance, and his child was now trying to gauge how bad this was about to be.
He settled down into the other sofa as Rydia opted to lean over the back of the one Tomomi and her brother were on, smiling as he ran his fingers across the ginger-brown hairs that framed his face. "I know your sister already made a fool of herself-"
"Hey!"
"-but I'd have appreciated the chance to at least make a pleasant first impression myself to the young man that's been making my boy happy." Cecil seems to shrink back as his father turns his smirking gaze to him. "Especially when this is his first time bringing a boy home."
Rydia snickers away as Cecil finds himself embarrassed, struck by a sinking feeling as his father maintains his perfect facade. "Seriously? Did you have to say it like that?"
"Why would I not? It's a perfectly accurate summation." The man's eyebrow quirks in amusement, that sign all that he was giving away at this moment. "You've never brought anyone home until now. And now, here we are, my boy sat by one he's been having a lot of happy times with." Cecil's dread continues to amplify as his father's eye turns to Tomomi. "Ah, where are my manners? I'm Luneth. Cecil's dad. And who's the young man who's taken an interest in my boy?"

Cecil begged for Tomomi's obliviousness to continue as Rydia broke out into giggles.

The conversation and banter between Cecil and his family made Tomomi quite happy. It was nice to see that his home life was positive, since Cecil often seemed melancholic at times. As Cecil's father, who introduced himself as Luneth, spoke, Tomomi's expression shifted from bewilderment to a genuine smile. Still, his enjoyment was perhaps furthered by his blissful ignorance. Was this what not-awkward people talked like? Probably.

Still, Tomomi was still very confused, looking over at Rydia who giggled, Cecil who looked distraught, and Luneth, who looked at Tomomi expectantly. Smiling, the boy nodded as he replied. "Ah, my name is Tomomi. Tomomi Jōmyaku. I, um... Nice to meet you sir."

Nodding his head out of respect, Tomomi then returned to looking around bewildered. After a quick look around, something that Cecil's dad said stuck out to him and finally twigged, Tomomi's eyes darting to Cecil as he spoke up. "Wait! Cecil... I'm the first one you've had around? Um, awesome! Well, I mean, um, well, I am, uh, honoured, and uh, thanks, and uh... Well..."

That could have been worded better. Still, he had to get it across, hoping that Cecil's family didn't pay heed to his blunders. "Um... Thank you for inviting me over!"

Smooth Jōmyaku, smooth.

Somehow, the boy hadn't caught on, to the amusement of half the room. The look in Luneth's eye shifted, one little mischievous glint acknowledging the opportunity for what it was.
Cecil's fate had been sealed.
This would be continuing for as long as it took Tomomi to realise, or until Cecil broke and told him.
"Hey, just call me by my name. You're making me feel old." He grins at Tomomi, chuckling away. "You're my boy's special friend. Just call me Luneth. Or Mr Dad Guy, if that's better." Luneth grins genuinely as Cecil's mortification is solidified.

The boy himself startles as Tomomi starts talking to him, looking down and away in a shift of the eyes that only goes unnoticed to his sister. He reaches up and scratches at the back of his head, smiling awkwardly. "Hey, it's...not that special. I've just never..." He trails off, swallowing. "...I'm just glad you came by."
"You know..." Luneth leans forward, cutting in before anything else can be said. "I don't think I know much about you, Tomomi."
Rydia takes this as a cue to vault the sofa back, quite deliberately placing herself between Tomomi and a startled Cecil before leaning in with a catlike grin. "He keeps so quiet about you...sure, we know about you, but he just won't say what you are to him. What you've been getting up to that he has to keep so quiet."
"You have to have been getting up to something, don't you?"
"Can't always be secret meetings in places kept private, all that."
"So go on...introduce yourself to the family. Let us know what's been going on whenever he's slipped away to see you."

The questions really confused Tomomi at first, as they seemed interested in what Cecil and Tomomi got up to. Not sensing any intent from this, and taking it at face value, the boy just spoke honestly with a naivety that was... Well, very... Tomomi-esque.

Head still at the very confused tilt that it was, Tomomi paused, putting a hand to his chin in thought, before speaking as he recalled. "Um... Well, a couple of times he's helped me out with work... I mean, unless Cecil has a contract that means he can't help someone with, uh, work? In which case, um, he didn't, like, officially? Oh, and we played Bash the other day with lemonade and Joggers. The game crashed, but it was pretty easy to say Cecil won, like, um, all of the rounds we played... And uh..."

At that, Tomomi shrugged. "As for introducing myself, um, I'm Tomomi. Oh, wait, I already said that... Uh... Oh! I, um, I have a secret talent for animal spotting! And um... Yeah! So! That's the um, that? Oh, also, we found a place that does good black bean sauce and beef! I, um, don't know if Cecil told you, but, he said that was like, a test for how good a place was food wise, so, um, I guess it passed?"

Pausing, Tomomi ran through what normal people were supposed to do in this situation. "So! Um, tell me a bit about yourselves? If that's a, uh, okay thing to ask?"

That was a normal person thing right?

You know all these bits of language and you can't read subtext?!
While Luneth sat comfortably looking for all the world like this was a normal conversation with nothing underlying it, Rydia snickered away, finding the utter cluelessness of the boy that she had stolen Cecil's place to sit next to adorable. "Once more, the power of bro's Cobra penetrates through the naive and unsuspecting."
Cecil looks at his younger sister in disbelief, jaw hanging open. "Do you really have to do this?!"
"Hmm?" Rydia smirks at her brother with a challenging look in her eye. "What's wrong? Come on, tell me what I'm doing."
Cecil stares down Rydia...and is the first to look away, muttering under his breath.

Luneth simply chuckles as the interaction plays out, remaining focused on Tomomi. "Perfectly fine. No need to be shy - this is your house as much as ours while you're here. Can't hurt to know who you're living with." Luneth's finger and thumb settle on his chin, stroking his beard as he thinks. "So, let's see...well, I work as a chef for living. Those delightful little smells you might have noticed floating around the room are my work. I've got a little thing for board games I've managed to imprint onto my children, though sadly one of them refute my taste in musical theatre." Rydia turns and sticks her tongue out at her father at the comment, to which he returns with a silly face of his own. "Hmm...and you, my dear daughter? I figure it's your turn to say a little about yourself - let them know what you're interested in...apart from tall, muscular women, of course."
With a blush and a furious pout that brings a little smile to the faces of father and son, Rydia slumps back into the sofa, arms folded over her chest. "Shut up! It's not a big deal!"
"You sleep with that plushy Isabelle won you every night."
"How do you-I-I mean I have no idea what you're talking about." Her head whips to Tomomi, the girl only flushing deeper as Cecil starts laughing. "A-Anyway...I go out, I cosplay, and sometimes these two drag me into their games. Which I beat them at."
"In your dreams."
"I won the last time!"
"You were playing your brother in a bluffing game. I don't think I have to elaborate to you here."
"...don't you need to check on the food?"

Luneth chuckles as he rises. "I think it's about time to, yes." Before he leaves the room, he turns his gaze one last time to Cecil. "Try not to let Rydia bother you too much while you're with your boyfriend."
Cecil simply sputtered denials as his laughing father left the room.

As Tomomi watched as an ignorant witness to the family interactions and jest. Seeing closeness, even if he was unaware of any of the context, was nice for the boy who had spent years alone to see. It was nostalgic in a way, and he felt himself calm and be content for the time. At least, he was, until the entirety of what had been said recently finally twigged with Luneth's parting words before he left to check the food.

The gears in his head began to turn, Tomomi tilting his head, as the word "boyfriend" hit him. OH! The comments on Tomomi being a special friend, the snickering, Cecil's dismay, and all the other minute details made a lot more sense at that moment. Rather than seem embarrassed or dismayed however, the boy simply nodded in understanding, thinking on how to sort of... Clear the air.

"Ah, um... I'm not Cecil's boyfriend. I don't know where you got a misconception like that, but, um, that's not the case." At this, Tomomi nodded, no shame on his face as he shrugged. "Unlike as it sounds is the case for you and what I'm guessing from context is your girlfriend? Probably? So, um, if that caused you to be confused because me and Cecil reminded you of your own relationship, then, um, sorry?"

Shrugging a second time, the boy retracked. "Oh, cosplay and stuff is cool. Same with, like, um, cooking and stuff. So, um, cool!" He replied, offering an innocent smile that betrayed no emotion other than just happiness at being there.

There are certain expectations in these situations - a payoff that is awaited in the moment of revelation that would put the capstone on all that led to it.
This payoff was absent, much to Rydia's chagrin and Cecil's bafflement. It was like watching a child's toy being taken from them as Rydia gazed upon Tomomi.
"You..."
"She wishes she was her girlfriend." That one earns him a glare from Rydia, prompting her to get up and storm over to the other sofa. "Anyway, uh...they knew? They knew the whole time. They didn't actually think that." He laughs awkwardly. "...they like to wind me up about getting into a relationship. A lot. Me asking you over just gave them another chance to do it while messing with someone else on top."
"Pretty much." Rydia sprawls out across the other sofa, head at one end and feet at the other. "He makes it way too easy. It's fun."
"No, it's not!"
"The way you keep making a big deal of it? Yes, yes it is."
"I do the OPPOSITE of that! I keep telling you I don't really care about all that!"
"And you do it loud every single time. Come on, bro, you're not fooling anyone."
"Gaaaaah..."