#maybe bc it's old ahdiofugdfg

[twintailedcryptid]

How The Hideout Got It’s Name

Description: A short oneshot exploring the night that the mekatrio moved into the hideout from Kido’s perspective, thinking that this is somehow their father’s fault ec.

content warnings: Referenced physical abuse & suicide

Notes: Hi ahdiogu this is pretty old now but I’m moving from the hell site that is ao3 so i wanted to post what I had posted already here.

Unpacked boxes littered the barren room when the three siblings finally retired. They were exhausted from the day’s turmoil and from the task of lugging multiple boxes up several flights of stairs. In the moment they regretted bringing so many of their things but they all knew that they would be grateful for the added effort when they needed to take comfort in what little they still could claim for themselves. Even the little things, like old stuffed toys or a beloved book, would offer them the strength and solace they needed to continue on, and that is why when they were dragging a hand-truck of boxes up the stairs together that none of them had complaints as to what the others had deemed necessary to bring.

Finally done, Kano kicked off his shoes and took a few steps before nearly jumping. “The floor’s so cold!” he declared, a slight mix of dismay and amazement in his tone, as though he were impressed with the floor for being cold.

“It’s an abandoned building in November, what do you expect?” Kido asked tiredly before following suit and shuddering slightly as her socks made contact with the floor.

“Ah, that’s right…” He heaved a sigh. “I want to ragdoll but it’ll make me colder…”

“I’ll get the blankets then,” Seto said from behind them. “We left them in the rental.”

“I’ll go with you!” Kido said, her face falling with guilt at the idea of making her brother walk back outside alone in the dark.

“No, stay there okay? It’s fine!”

He left before they had the chance to object and Kido heaved a sigh, sitting down on the floor and not minding the cold. She had other reasons for wanting them to stick together, entirely unpleasant ones that amounted to their safety. Not only that but she didn’t want to be alone with Kano right now, already feeling tense in the awkward silence as Kano followed suit and sat down a little ways away from her.

The worry and guilt from the past two months weighed down on her as she glanced in his direction and then back down to the floor again. He’d been a lot quieter lately, almost the way he had been at the facility over half a decade ago. This time she knew that it was because there was a lot he wasn’t telling them, a lot that she supposed he was afraid to say.

She’d known right away something was wrong when he came home with bruises, on the night of Ayano’s death no less. He’d tried to hide them but like the faint handprints on either side of his neck, she had noticed them. When she asked about them he froze up and looked half ready to sob but simply said it didn’t matter anymore before isolating himself in his room. She’d been confused then, well no, she’d had her suspicions but she’d chosen to ignore them because she was a coward and that was her current guilt to harbor. Still, there was no denying what had happened when he began to flinch up around their father.

She should have noticed sooner, then maybe she could have stopped it all from happening. Her mother's death, Ayano's suicide, and her brother's abuse all could have been prevented if someone had noticed. And yet here she was, despite all the evidence hoping that maybe she had it all wrong. Maybe she was too quick to judge her own father for a bunch of different things and yet here they were, running away from him at Kano's suggestion. Surely, that could only lead to one thing.

She was just a coward in the end.

"Hey," Kano's voice was quiet as he stared over at her. "You okay?"

Before tears could sting her eyes she nodded and slid her hands into her pockets, staring down at her lap and pressing her lips together tightly. "Yeah…"

She breathed a heavy sigh and continued, not daring to look up again, her gaze feeling just as heavy as the rest of her. "I know you're not ready to talk about it...I'm not ready yet either…but…"

She didn't even know what she should say, she never was good with words, that was always his specialty. She searched and searched but nothing suitable- nothing that did this horrible series of events proper justice- was coming to mind so instead, her voice shook and she finally looked up at him.

Her brother- less than a year older but possibly far more mature than she could ever be- was staring at her in concern just like he had been for months. Like always, he thought of everyone before himself and had no time to care about it.

She took a trembling breath and came closer, taking both his hands into her own. "Can you tell me if you're going to be okay?"

His face softened but he could see the pain behind the expression as she began to cry a little. He sighed and carefully pulled her into a hug, letting her cry quietly into his shoulder. He rested a hand on her head to smooth out her hair and for a long while he said nothing.

Finally, he spoke up softly. "Have you been worried about me this whole time?"

"Of course you idiot! I've always been worried." Her voice didn't have any real bite to it as she clung to him. "Now say it! Say you'll be okay so we can make it happen!"

He chuckled lightly but tears were streaming down his cheeks when he nodded. "Twist my arm why don't you? But seriously, yeah, I'll be okay, okay?"  

The door opened just then, causing them both to flinch up but of course, it was only Seto. Kido carefully pulled away to wipe her eyes as Seto stared awkwardly in concern a moment before sighing and shutting the door behind him, making sure to lock it.

“Okay...We can make this work,” she said, more to reassure herself than anything before she stood to help Seto with the blankets.

Together, they piled the blankets and pillows onto the floor directly next to each other and then snuggled up to fight the cold of the new, rather unfriendly looking, place that they would now call their home. They wanted to go to sleep immediately, to wake up in a time and place where they could feel happy again, but in the dark with nothing but a dim flashlight propped against the wall to keep their bearings, they felt more vulnerable than ever and could not sleep.

“Are you sure this place isn’t haunted?” Kido asked in a whisper, not to any brother in particular.

“I didn’t have much time to case the place, sorry Tsubomi…” Kano passed up teasing her because he pretty clearly wasn’t in the mood either.

“Well, if we encounter any ghosts I’m sure they’ll be totally understanding,” she replied in gentle sarcasm.

“Maybe the ghosts will be nice,” Seto reasoned. “If they’re people who have already died then maybe… well we know people who have died and they were nice.”

“We’ve known evil people who have died too,” Kido pointed out, referring to her biological father but she left this up to interpretation. “I hope ghosts aren’t real though...I’d like to think that… well that they’re somewhere better right now...and not watching this dismal display.”

Seto swallowed and stared up at the ceiling sadly. “Yeah...I hope so too… I think this would make them cry…”

They were silent for a little while and then Seto spoke up in a whisper again. “Do you think they’ve found each other already?”

Kido tried to imagine it, Ayano and their mother reunited in some sort of afterlife or resting place, it was a comforting thought to some degree but on the other the thought of it made her want to scream. Why were they gone? Why was she left to huddle in the dark with her siblings like castaways when she’d been so sure that their troubles ended their last day in the facility? She loathed it entirely, she wanted to scream, cry, lash out, do whatever it took to bring them all back to a good timeline again. Instead, she forced the beginnings of a smile for her brother’s sake and nodded. “I’m sure of it…”

“If they can they have…” Kano said it with such certainty that it gave Kido a pause but she dismissed it as being Kano’s optimistic nature.

Some time passed and they managed to fall asleep for a few hours, then they heard a noise and all jolted awake, ready to fight some unknown attacker or beg a ghost for mercy, only to find after doing a quick search of the apartment that it was still empty. As they shivered and returned to their pile of blankets, Kido ran her hands over her torso and stretched, groaning. “I can’t stand this.”

She felt ready to cry but Kano smiled a little. “At least we won’t be woken up for breakfast at six in the morning.”

“And we aren’t in the monster room…” Seto added helpfully.

Kido just groaned again. “Don’t remind me…” She laughed dryly then. “You’re right, now we’re in the monster apartment.”

“I don’t like the sound of it…” Seto whined as he laid back down and the others joined him.

“What did you say our group name was again, Kano?”

“Ah fuck...what was it? Uhhhhhhh…Oh right. We’re the Mekakushi Dan.”

“Fine, Mekakushi apartment it is then,” she said dryly.

“Isn’t that kind of a mouthful though?” Seto asked meekly.

“Is it?”

After a few moments of silence, Kano announced quietly, “Hideout. We’ll call it the hideout.”

The others agreed with this and then started to fall asleep again but Kano’s words struck her. That really was what they were doing now, wasn’t it? Hiding from their own father, their mother and sister dead, the three of them orphans again. They even went back to calling each other by their old surnames again, just like they had at the facility. Just like that everything they had, all the happiness they had built was dashed away again.

Here they were back at square one but this time around that square seemed a lot less charming.

Still, as dismal as everything was now, she took a deep breath in and reminded herself; She was happy once, happy twice, and if they survived this they could learn to feel that joy again. She’d only have to wait and see.