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“This is unbelievably stupid,” Tooru said, because, well, somebody had to say it. Kikuchihara, the only person who was even mildly his ally in this whole mess, had apparently given up on voicing any concerns, which was so unbelievably concerning that Tooru didn’t even know how to address it.Yoneya Yousuke, the source of so much of Tooru’s suffering, cheerfully ignored him. Tooru knew that he hadn’t been misheard, because he felt Yoneya’s grip on his wrist get tighter. As if Tooru was foolish enough to try and run.Still he tried again.“This is unbelievably stupid,” he repeated, louder this time. He was once again ignored by Yoneya, but Izumi, who was on Tooru’s other side and who was the person assigned to dragging Kikuchihara along, just laughed.“Shush, Narasaka,” Izumi said. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head. The adults have got this covered,”Tsuji, who was trailing behind, and who Tooru wasn’t exactly sure why he was here, said “You’re the same age as us.”Tooru added him onto the list of allies. Technically, this put the Tooru-Tsuji-Kikuchihara coalition in the lead against the Yoneya-Izumi alliance, but… It was Yoneya and Izumi. Tooru and co. were still dreadfully outmatched.“We’re spiritually adults,” Yoneya said, which made even less sense than he usually did. Tooru loved his teammate dearly, which was why he had agreed to this in the first place, but that was before he was made aware of the ridiculous scheme Yoneya had cooked up, and the involvement of the other three. The ridiculous scheme, Tooru could maybe quantify. He wasn’t sure why the others were here at all. Surely, this was an interunit affair.Yoneya, eerily perceptive as ever, said “As the president and founder of the Support-Miwa-Shuuji club, I think that you guys aren’t pulling your weight around here. There needs to be more unity, more concerted group effort. I’m not feeling that you guys are contributing all that you could to the cause, you know?”Tsuji, who had dropped back even further behind the group, said “What?” blankly.Kikuchihara finally said something, voicing “Oh, so this is about Miwa,” and managing to sound even more defeated than before. Which was… fair. Yoneya was devoted to nothing like he was to the captain.Izumi, Tooru suspected, was just here for the laughs.“Um,” Tsuji said, sounding vaguely panicky. Tooru sympathized with him. Out of everybody, he had the least exposure to these kinds of antics. He probably had no idea what was going on. “I don’t mean this in a rude way but… Miwa and I aren’t friends.”Yoneya scoffed. “Sure you are. You’re the same age. And you and him bonded that one time, didn’t you?”“Did we?” Tsuji asked weakly.“Yeah! That time at the vending machine.” It was Izumi chiming in. Tooru didn’t realize how invested Izumi was in this whole Miwa situation. Invested enough to be keeping up with his potential friends, apparently. If that wasn’t terrifying, nothing was.“When… he… bought me juice... because I didn’t have enough change?” Tsuji said slowly, sounding disbelieving.Yoneya and Izumi both nodded.“Yeah, that time! You’re friends, see?” Yoneya said. He apparently judged that Tooru wasn’t about to run and let go of his wrist, taking the chance to reach towards Tsuji and pull him back into the group.“That’s… not how friendship works,” Tsuji said. He was right. It really wasn’t, but Tooru could tell him now that there was no telling Yoneya or Izumi that. Or Miwa, in all honesty. From what Tooru knew of his captain, he probably did consider Tsuji a friend.Izumi waved a hand. “Details, Tsuji. Details.”In the back of his throat, Kikuchihara made a noise that sounded a lot like a choke of despair.They walked for a while more, until they came to a stairway that Tooru vaguely knew lead up to the roof. Izumi assumed position behind the group in the corridor, while Yoneya stood at the head; it was obvious that there was no getting away from this.Yoneya crossed his arms.“Do I need to go over the plan again?” he asked, eyeing everybody. The plan. The fucking plan. Tooru really didn’t want to hear that ever plan again.“Do we really need the plan?” he asked, because, again, somebody had to. “Can’t we just… hug him?”Yoneya and Izumi, in a terrifying show of synchronicity, said “Of course we need the plan,”Right. Of course they needed the plan. There was no getting out of this. Tooru would either die at the hands of Yoneya and Izumi, or at the hands of Miwa. There was no winning this one.He could probably ask Touma to bail him out but that—that was just—that— no .He had to settle himself to this fate.“Right,” Yoneya said. “If nobody else has any complaints,” a comment which was accompanied by a glare at Tooru, “let’s get into position.”Sighing, Tooru stepped towards his designated waiting spot. The rest of the group departed as well, all tucking themselves behind corners or flat against the wall.It doesn’t take long for their target to show himself, stepping down the stairs with a quiet weariness. It… it was a little awful, seeing the way exhaustion dragged at Miwa’s shoulders. His mouth was downturned and there were bags under his eyes; even for the standard that Miwa usually held for himself, this was bad.Tooru felt a little bad for his earlier protests. While they could definitely be going about this in a better way… the sentiment was well placed and highly called for.He steeled himself. Miwa was at the last step now.As soon as he was out of the shadow of the stairwell, Tooru heard Yoneya’s cry of triumph. Izumi, hands full with a blanket that Tooru wasn’t sure of the origin of, ran at Miwa, throwing the blanket ahead of him like it was a net and effectively trapping Miwa underneath.That was his cue, Tooru supposed. Yoneya came from the side, leaping at Miwa. The rest of them ran in too, with varying levels of delicacy. Kikuchihara had managed to catch both Miwa and Yoneya from being sent toppling after Yoneya’s leap, and Tsuji and Tooru had both calmly stepped into the position, but Izumi barrelled in without a thought.With Izumi’s force, they went down and fast. The blanket broke their fall a little, which Tooru presumed was its main purpose, but Tooru was definitely sure he’d have some bruises from where he hit the floor tomorrow.At least Miwa had remained unscathed, shielded by all of the people crowded around him.After some pointless flailing, Miwa emerged from where the blanket had been dumped on him, and glared at all of them.“What the fuck,” he hissed, sounding pissed. Tsuji and Kikuchihara both looked a little apprehensive. Yoneya and Izumi seemed delighted. Tooru, who had been dealing with this for years, was immune to his captain’s wrath.“Hey,” Yoneya said, completely casual. “Fancy seeing you here.”Tooru laughed at that.“What are you all doing,” Miwa spat again, trying to wriggle his way out of the blankets and Yoneya’s vice grip to no avail. Izumi, lacking any sort of self-preservation, pet him on the head gently.“It’s obvious," said Izumi. "Cuddle pile. Come on, man, you’re supposed to be smart.”Miwa looked torn between incredulous and murderous, his gaze moving between the five of them. Tooru shifted a little, and managed to get into a position where he could reach Miwa’s face. Keeping his face straight and praying to all high heavens that Yoneya could contain Miwa, he pinched his captain’s cheek.“Cuddle pile,” he said solemnly.Kikuchihara just sighed and put his face into Miwa’s shoulder. Tsuji, who had somehow found himself near the very centre of the pile, offered Miwa a weak smile.“What the fuck is wrong with all of you?” Miwa asked. He was hitting incredulous more than murderous now, which was a pretty good sign.Yoneya sighed, squeezing Miwa, and by proxy the rest of them, closer.“You aren’t alone,” he said softly. “You have us. Don’t forget that, okay idiot?”The hidden message was clear enough in that. Even Miwa couldn’t avoid it, or ignore it. Not with all of them here.There was a pause, a silence, where Miwa considered that. His expression was still dark, but Tooru could watch how some of the anger eased out of it.With a groan, Miwa stopped fighting. He wasn’t hugging any of them back, but he relaxed into their grips, which was something. It was a start.Yoneya was right. Maybe the rest of them really should start pulling their weight, especially Tooru. It wouldn’t do to have his trainwreck of a captain run himself into the ground, after all.Miwa squirmed a little, working his arm free of the pile. “Can you put this much effort into in-battle ambushes?” he muttered, viciously poking Yoneya and then Tooru in the forehead with this newly freed arm.Yoneya smiled, bumping Miwa softly with a headbutt.“Only if you put as much effort into taking care of yourself as you do into fighting,” he countered.Something pulled at Miwa’s face, but it only lasted for a second before he closed his eyes, acceptance settling into his features.He wrapped an arm around Yoneya’s shoulders, which Tooru tried hard not to roll his eyes at—the rest of them were here as well, but he couldn’t expect much more from Miwa, he supposed.With a sigh, Miwa said “Okay, fine,” and then there was no more debate, just six teenagers sprawled on the floor, providing each other what comfort they could.