Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a rather cloudy day of February. No other day but the one in which couples are supposed to show their significant other just how much they loved them, but in… an exaggerated and capitalistic way, or so thought Tsukasa Suou, heir of the Suou family and also a big rebel, even if no one would suppose that by just looking at him. Tsukasa’s face was round and squishy like a rubber duck’s body, his hair was as red as a strawberry’s color was, and his eyes were, even though quite droppy and round like a doll’s, full of determination and fire. But it wasn’t a burning fire – it was the cold and somehow lonely fire of an adult that had never had the opportunity to enjoy the early years of childhood, puberty or whatever was related to innocence. Tsukasa was nothing but the biggest failure of his family and, at the same time, its only pride and joy.

He had rebelled at a relatively late age, imposing his ideals before his family’s. It was a hard decision he had never thought about taking, but it was also necessary as a human being as things started to get out of hand. A controlling family is desired by no one, even if you love it with all your heart – that was what he thought when cutting almost all ties with his own parents and what he still thought that moment. That moment in which he was simply standing in front of Tsukiko’s door, when it still hadn’t opened – something understandable, as it was still six and a half in the morning.

He didn’t know why he was standing there. He had no clue why he was looking at himself in that door’s panel of glass when he could simply take out his pocket mirror or use his mobile phone. But something inside him led him there, and he followed his heart until he faced what could probably be his biggest fear to date. He was sure it wasn’t the building what he feared – that was a given. No one would fear a building unless it was a haunted house, and that place wasn’t a haunted house at all even if managed by soul lacking beings. Not because they weren’t sensitive, but because they behaved like ghosts more than like vampires as they joked to be.

There was something. Tsukasa was sure there was something about the situation that was off, that would become twisted in a matter of days, weeks, or even months. But he had a bad gut feeling he wanted to supress like crazy, and that he couldn’t be able to control once facing that building’s door, just as if it was estimulated by the presence of the cat café. It was strange and not something he had experienced before, only after Christmas.

He soon heard a meow coming from his feet, and as he lowered his sight, a grey and white cat appeared right there. It wouldn’t stop meowing for some reason, and it was the only cat around there, even though the sun was still hidden. Tsukasa squat down and crossed his arms on his knees, while leaning his head to a side as he looked at the feline that kept making such a noise. “If it keeps like this it might awaken the Sakumas,” that was what he thought before feeling a cold hand landing on his head.

“Suu-chan,” a familiar voice pronounced. “What are you doing here? You should be sleeping, don’t you have a date today, after all?”

Tsukasa stumbled and got up real quick, scaring the grey cat away. He felt upset for a second because of that and because of what Ritsu had said, but he also wanted to keep his defensive position. “Good morning. Yes, I do have that date, indeed, but I wasn’t able to sleep as much as I usually do and something inside of my body led me here. I sincerely apologize for the cat woke you up.”

Ritsu’s cold yet familiar smile decorated his face as Tsukasa was able to see the outline of his figure thanks to a gentle blue light’s glow. His black hair fell upon his forehead and cheeks as he leaned his head to a side, just as he had done before while looking at the grey cat. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t sleeping. I was preparing everything to open the café.”

“R-really? This early in the morning?” Tsukasa asked with obvious shock coming from his voice. He thought Ritsu was a lazy, careless person that only had good luck he was able to manage the café because of the warm nature of its employees. “I apologize again I interrupted your job, in that case. I shall offer a helping hand, mayhaps, if you please. I know how hard it can be to settle everything up some hours before the opening hour all by yourself… After all, cat cafés must require great care, since you keep living beings inside it.”

Ritsu’s smile widened and a gentle laugh came from his mouth. “Oh, really… Is that what you think…? Amusing,” he finally said, winking at Tsukasa. “It’s easier than you think. Cats, even if quite independent creatures, are very affectionate towards those who take care of them. I feed them, give them a place to sleep, people who think they’re cute… That’s all I want myself too, so I can simply look at them and think… Ahh, yes, I get it. If there’s one thing I understand in life, that would be cats.”

Tsukasa winked. “You’re pretty unusually talkative, if I may say.”

“That’s probably because I’ve been awake for an hour now and because I feel lonely.”

Silence fell upon their shoulders, and only then, Tsukasa noticed how Ritsu was covering his shoulders with a red colored blanket hanging from both of them. It looked fluffy and soft, so he kind of wanted to touch it, but kept the desire to do so to himself. But the whole image of Ritsu in pajamas, blanket covering him, messy hair and naked hands setting everything up at five in the morning while being surrounded by cats that purred while keeping close to his legs was, somehow… Something he admired.

“I understand how you feel,” Tsukasa replied to him, looking away. “Though I have the good luck of not having to work while feeling lonely.”

“It’s alright, Secchan will arrive soon… He discovered I got up early and decided to do the same. He’s a very caring guy, isn’t he… Despite not looking like it, he’s also a cat.”

Tsukasa frowned once he heard that name, and Ritsu noticed. Now, he was getting exactly what he wanted – what was inside Tsukasa’s body that led him there. He wanted to get deeper and deeper into him, he wanted to understand him, since there wasn’t something as simple as envy or jealousy – those two often came holding hands with something else, that could be darker and sometimes… even good intentions, even a golden heart that only wanted to be loved, but once it was, it rejected love right away.

“You’re making an interesting face. Why?” And Ritsu wasn’t the kind of person who walked around a same topic only to get to the gist of it in the end – he was direct, blunt, everything he needed to be to make an impact on that person, the impact that could lead him to all kinds of answers, and what had been successful until then.

Tsukasa’s sight didn’t move, and his whole body freezed in time. But his mouth was quicker than his mind sometimes. “Who is he, even?”

Now, that was an interesting question.

“You mean Secchan?”

“Yes. Him,” Tsukasa reassured him, finally raising his head again. “Who is he? I didn’t find an answer to that question yet.”

“But did you really make that question?”

As Ritsu asked that, Tsukasa opened his eyes slightly widely while looking at him. The sun had started to rise from behind the building, so the black haired man’s face was starting to be visible. Nevertheless, his expression was still… indecipherable.

“You won’t get answers if you don’t ask first, Suu-chan. Secchan is not the person that speaks for himself first and that’s why he won’t play the game of describing himself in three words – he simply can’t but think of negative adjectives and then the game stops being fun,” Ritsu said as he rubbed his left arm. The smile was still showing in his face. “You could ask him if he knows who he is, and he will tell you, with a straight face, that he doesn’t certainly have a clue. That he is simply called Izumi Sena because that’s the name his parents chose for him. But if you ask me,” Ritsu continued, “I will only be able to tell you good things about him because that’s all I can see. That’s all he taught me to see in him. I think that’s the first thing I knew about him – he’s easy to love.”

As soon as those words hit his ears, Tsukasa lowered his head and kept silence for some seconds before speaking once again. “I see. Then I shall return home… And try to sleep for a bit longer even though it might be physically impossible.”

And that was when Ritsu noticed he didn’t have the ability to get further from that point at least in that moment. But it was okay, since he still had plenty of time to explore the vast sea Tsukasa’s mind was. “Get some rest, Suu-chan. Good luck today, we will be watching over you if you need anything.”

* * * *

Once the sun started to shine brightly through the blinds, Izumi opened his eyes in such discomfort he let out a groan, realizing Leo’s head was still resting on top of his chest. Damn, it wasn’t light or anything – the pressure on his thorax was making it hard to even move a hand to rub his eyes so he could see a damn thing in that cursed grey, tiny room of his. He coughed, and noticed how Leo had started to wake up as well, because he moved and frowned.

“Leo-kun.”

“Good morning~” he said happily, sticking his cheek to Izumi’s chest. “Five more minutes!”

“You might have those five minutes… but I have to go to work. Kuma-kun is waiting for me to arrive sooner, see,” Izumi explained himself, trying to get away from Leo’s hug, but it was too hard when Leo was such a clingy creature. “Let go, I need to get prepared.”

“Why… whyyy… On Valentine’s Day of all holidays!” he complained, pouting and finally letting Izumi go. “That boy, Rittsu… He’s evil. I’m sure of that.”

“Well, you aren’t thaaat wrong. He’s evil-minded but warm-hearted after all.” He started to get dressed calmly in front of the closet, knowing Leo wouldn’t look because, after all, despite being a needy gremlin and wanting to get to know him by all means, he still respected his privacy. “It’s Valentine’s Day, so we’ll start wearing those hellish maid attires from today. Damn, how annoying. Wearing tights and stuff… Is this some kind of joke or what?”

Leo hugged the pillow and rested his head on it, with his back facing Izumi and his eyes fixated on the window from which the light entered to the room. “I am telling you once again that you’ll surely look good, Sena. It’s just for fun, I bet we’re all going to laugh a lot together and lots of people will come to see pretty boys wearing maid dresses.”

“I am not okay with strangers seeing my legs, though,” he replied, looking at himself in the mirror. The burn covered a big part of his thigh, it was… quite shocking to see because it was a dark spot on his skin, just as if it was a dog’s fur. It was normal, some people had such burn marks and no one would say anything, though it was quite easy to find oneself staring at it. He put the tights on calmly, letting a sigh out. “It’s not that it looks bad, but… It’s upsetting to be a propaganda tool, if you get me.”

“Rittsu is himself a pretty boy dressed in a maid dress, so it’s not like he’s abusing all of you… And even though you complained, you lowered your heads and said as the boss said, didn’t you?” Leo laughed a bit. “If you truly hadn’t wanted to wear it, you could’ve just started a revolution or something~ Ah, Sena. Let me know if I can help you with the dress or whatever.”

“I was going to ask you just now since I can’t reach my back. If you could lend me a hand with the zipper and the apron, it would be nice,” he replied, as he sat on the bed’s border so Leo could see the zipper and… his naked back. Well, it was okay… It was just the back, wasn’t it?

Leo turned around once he felt Izumi’s weight on the bed, only to see the young man’s back. It was… like a plain canvas – it was wide since Izumi had broad shoulders and yet, he was so slender the bones of his spine were easily noticeable until his neck. His head, lowered, let him see that perfectly, and, for a second, Leo forgot that what he had to do was to fasten the zipper, as he let his lips fall on Izumi’s skin gently and shallowly. Immediately, goosebumps made their appearance as he jumped from the bed.

“The fuck are you doing!? Fasten the zipper, you idiot!” he shouted, as his whole face turned as red as a tomato. And Leo immediately blinked, remembering what he was supposed to do.

“Aah, sorry, Sena! I’m still sleepy, you see. Sorry, sorry!” he repeated, raising his hands until he reached the zipper to quickly fasten it. He also made sure the apron was correctly placed and tied in a bow, looking from above Izumi’s shoulder how it looked like in the mirror. And of course, he found himself staring, to what Izumi would push him away quite violently to go put his shoes on. “Wow, rude.”

“Quit staring and I won’t be so rude,” Izumi replied to him, the blush still covering his cheeks. He was embarrassed, but it hadn’t been the first time he had worn a maid attire and absolutely not the first time he had been stared at. “I have to get going, so if you want to come, make sure you do before we close around night. We will close between breakfast and lunch, though.”

“Okaaay… I will clean and do the shopping, will probably stop by lunch, okay? If you want me to be useful in this house, then you must let me go!”

“I am not dragging you with me or anything. Besides, it’s the least you could do for me, given you will never leave this damn apartment…” Izumi replied in a kind of low voice that seemed more sullen than neutral. “You don’t even like this place. What about Ruka?”

“She’s fine,” Leo said after making a pause in which he visualized the face of his adorable sister. “I’ve lived with Suo for long before, so she’s used to it… I guess the strange thing for her was me staying at home.”

The following silence made Izumi think about his words for a bit, as he made sure to put everything inside the bag – new clothes included, just in case he wanted to change them after some time or if he felt too uncomfortable. It was Ritsu’s fault to not tell him they would do that, just pushed them inside the bandwagon and expected everyone to be okay with it.

“Sena… Do you think I’m a good brother?”

Izumi looked at him and smiled a bit, rolling his eyes. “Well, if you ask me. I have never been a brother myself so I can’t tell you what a good brother is like. I just know many kinds of brothers, all of them are different, and, at some point, they’re asses with their siblings. Too clingy, too cold, too mean, too sweet – it doesn’t matter how different they are, their siblings will always complain about them and feel strange if they correct their behaviour. You just need to look at how much of a bitch Kuma-kun is to Sakuma.”

Leo blinked and folded his legs while sitting on the bed he hated with such passion he could throw it through the window. But he was interested, since Izumi never spoke his mind so often.

“But Ruka hasn’t said a single bad thing about you.”

That felt like a huge relief to Leo, who let out a long sigh, sulking without realizing about it. He wasn’t sad nor frustrated, he simply didn’t know what to do. Somehow he wanted to believe Izumi in both of his statements – maybe he had left Ruka behind but she didn’t voice her annoyance because she was too sweet to speak out the truth about her feelings. But at the same time, he… Looking at Izumi finishing preparing his things as if he wasn’t included in the conversation, as if he had nothing to do with anything – it wasn’t that it drove him mad. But he wanted to be around him. There was something about leaving his dear Sena alone that terrified him, and he didn’t know what it was.

Before he even got to blink, he realized Izumi had squatted down and had his hands on Leo’s legs, looking at him from his now reduced height. He would think “oh, he looks like a puppy” if only his expression didn’t shout “hey, are you crying?”

“Leo-kun.”

“I’m fine,” Leo said before drawing a light and genuine smile on his face. “I just hate thinking precisely because I get looost in the vast kingdom of thoughts and I leave you all behind in the boring and sad world of reality, you know?” he explained, before separating his legs a little so Izumi could rest at ease. “If only I could take you with me, I would leave reality behind like it was nothing!”

There was something in Izumi’s eyes that made Leo’s whole body become a rock. He didn’t even move his mouth, his eyebrows or nose, nothing had changed on his face. But his eyes said more than enough, fixated on Leo’s now fake and dumb smile and those careless words he had just spat out without thinking how Izumi would take them. Someone as fragile, vulnerable, sensitive as Izumi, despite looking like a rock, despite acting like ice.

But all he did was placing his cheek against Leo’s stomach as he hugged his torso with warmth Leo had never expected to get in a situation like that, in which he had said something so misunderstandable as that… He wanted to say something, but didn’t know what exactly.

“I want to tell you “don’t leave,” but you won’t listen to me just like I didn’t listen to my friends. Just know that if you do, I will find a way to go with you,” that came out of Izumi’s mouth as almost a whisper, while he kept his eyes closed and his hug around Leo’s torso tight. “So if you want me to leave, that’s in your hands.”

“Those… those words are just as bad as what I have said, you know?” Leo said with notorious nervousness, making Izumi tighten the hug.

“I could say something worse if you want me to,” Izumi replied, letting himself fall a bit down Leo’s torso while his knees were nailed on the floor. “We’ve just both discovered we dislike reality in different ways, haven’t we.”

Leo made a brief pause and bent over to surround Izumi’s head with his arms, leaving a shallow kiss on his silky and soft hair.

“Dislike is a very soft word, but I guess so. I don’t want to leave because of you all, but if I ever found something in me that made me stay, I would be really grateful to life! Can tell you the same, Sena. Let’s search for it.”

“I’m tired,” Izumi replied, separating his cheek from Leo’s belly to look at him. “But if you’re ready to take breaks, then I will go with you.”

* * * *

Tsukasa held his umbrella tightly in front of the building where they were supposed to meet, staring directly at the void with a straight face. His mind was completely blank, just listening to the pleasant sound of the rain and people rushing to come inside the building because of the falling water. Tsukasa didn’t mind, though – he liked rain well enough to stay outdoors with his coat and his recently acquired scarf. He had sincerely thought Tori would like to see him wearing it, and he chose his whole outfit thinking about what he’d like. Once the notion of everything maybe being a date is what had drove him crazy that morning. But, honest to god, in that moment all he was thinking about is how pleasing the atmosphere was.

Tsukasa enjoyed watching people run, cars come and go, animals sheltering in some low roof around the street or below trash containers. Because that was something he had not been able to do when he was younger – to observe, to stand up and keep his feet nailed to the ground for minutes or hours. To realize how little he was in a world full of people to which he was just a mere ant, easy to come, easy to crush, easy to go. Tsukasa Suou had nothing to offer his country or the world he lived in, not even his own family anymore. So it was just fine for him to do what he wanted – even if that made him remember he was nothing but a derailed train.

As soon as the song from inside the building changed, he saw a quite modest car coming to the entrance of the place, right before its beautiful English-style garden. He was sure it was his car, because he had seen it a thousand times, mostly when they were kid, only for Tori not to get hurt by cameramen and people of the sort. He had never understood how Tori had been able to keep a life tied to his family like that while doing what he loved… Perhaps that was why he was envious of him.

“Hello,” Tori greeted him once he went upstairs with his little transparent umbrella decorated with cherry blossom petals. He brushed his sidebangs until one of the two locks of hair hid behind his right ear. “You came first today, didn’t you! I even made sure I was early!”

Tsukasa looked at Tori in silence for some seconds, with an expressionless face, and the pink-haired boy blinked at that lack of reaction. Wasn’t he going to reply to his rivalry exchanges? Where was the fire? Did the rain extinguish it?

“Tsukasa?”

“… Ah, my bad. Apologies, I was lost in thoughts for a second and I sincerely thought I had replied, but it probably stayed in my mind,” Tsukasa raised a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it a little embarrassed. “I silently replied that that doesn’t really matter as long as we don’t miss the start of the concert.”

“Well, you surely had a boring as hell idea for a date,” Tori said, crossing his arms once he was sheltered by a roof. But as soon as he realized about the word he had just used, his cheeks turned a light shade of pink. “I-I mean! The meeting!”

“You’re free to call it a date if that makes you happy,” Tsukasa told him, closing his eyes calmly. “If you consider it boring, then I am sorry. I thought you would recognize this place, but I see I am im the wrong.”

Recognize? That place? Tori blinked at the same time as he drew his attention to the huge elegant hall in front of his eyes – despite looking like a modest building, it was a true palace inside, and lots of people dressing smartly were gathering in small circles of friends, families… Talking, making those comments only the nobility made, those both of them hated to no end. Tori knew in that moment where he was – the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, the red carpet, the large columns supporting the roof, the statues of people he didn’t even know back then. Everything made sense. It was the place where Tsukasa and Tori had first met, long, long ago. Realizing about that made his heart flutter a little, but at the same time, it made him want to punch Tsukasa in the face and break it to pieces.

“No, I… recognize it. But I thought you hated this place just as much as I do,” he replied, squinting at all those detestable rich people. “You precisely ran from all this, why are you returning now?”

“I wonder.”

Tsukasa said that once he started walking towards one of the doors that were at the end of the enormous hall, to hand the tickets in so they could be checked and enter the place where the concert would take place. Tsukasa hated that place indeed, but if he was going to torture himself, he was going to do it seriously. He wanted to make sure, he needed to know if he held, at any possibility, such feelings for someone. His sullen and turned off heart couldn’t feel a thing that wasn’t jealousy or loneliness, fear of being left behind – perhaps if he focused on something else… Perhaps if he found someone who would make all those thoughts disappear…

But Tsukasa couldn’t think of himself dating someone, or worse, putting those personal insecurities on someone else’s shoulders. The mere thought of doing so made him rot inside, feel like he was being selfish or some kind of lazy person when, in reality, he might just be… tired.

Once the tickets were checked, Tori followed Tsukasa into the audition room. It was huge just as the whole place was, full of luxuries, seats for important people, and the stage was perfect for classical music concerts. They were the only ones there yet, since they arrived… Perhaps, too early. Tsukasa was quick – he went ahead to the middle of the whole row of seats and turned around to look at a troubled Tori, who tried to get through the chairs without tripping over any of them. He didn’t understand how Tsukasa had looked as if he was levitating, was he a ghost or something? But his frustrated thoughts were interrupted.

“Tori-kun.”

Tori looked visibly annoyed as he raised his sight to Tsukasa’s face, furrowing, before realizing he was standing there, in the middle, with both of his hands hidden inside the pockets of his long coat. They were indoors, but he hadn’t taken it off, and it probably was still a bit wet from the rain. His expression was a different kind of lonely he hadn’t seen before, but it wasn’t sadness. It was distance, it was feeling like Tsukasa was unreachable at that point. And his thoughts might be right – perhaps he was no match for him, someone who had taken so many decisions, someone who knew himself as well as Tsukasa did… Little did Tori know about what was going on not in Tsukasa’s head, but in his heart, about himself, about Tori. About them.

“I know you might get bored with this,” Tsukasa spoke, raising his voice volume lightly. “So you’re free to leave whenever you want. I can enjoy music on my own.”

Tori frowned again and crossed his arms, asking himself how cryptid Tsukasa was going to act that afternoon. He was acting strange and not like Tsukasa at all… There might be something bothering him, but he didn’t want to ask him yet. “Hah. I won’t just leave, I’m stronger than that. I can bear with more hatred than you think.”

The next thing he saw was Tsukasa’s gentle and sweet smile, that appeared exactly when he didn’t expect it to come at all. That single and slim curve made Tori’s whole body shiver for a second, and to grip strongly at the back of the seat he was leaning on. Tsukasa made him so mad – he couldn’t stand him nor how handsome and tender he could be in a simple blink of an eye. Perhaps what Tori liked about him was that, despite being so empty inside, Tsukasa managed to fill himself in with memories and actions for the sake of others. That was how he helped Leo get some money to pursue his dream career, for example… Tsukasa had always been there, but at the same time, he hadn’t been there. Tsukasa was there, but he had no presence – just a rather quiet adult, with an expression that made it look like he had been about the same thing for ages and still didn’t give it an explanation or a solution. Tori couldn’t stand watching him like that, but once he was taken out of his own little world, he would act like he was just like “one of us”.

“Don’t smile at me,” Tori ordered, feeling his cheeks warmer than before.

“Oh. I didn’t know smiling was a bad thing until now,” Tsukasa replied, sitting down right on the seat he had next to him. “Do you really not want me to smile at you?”

Tori wanted to kill him. Gently, but stabbing him a million times.

“No. I just know why you’re smiling and I don’t like it,” he explained, sitting down right next to him, drawing his attention to the stage where the conductor would later stand.

“Why do you think I am smiling, then?” Tsukasa tilted his head to Tori’s side, to what the pink haired reacted nervously.

“Y-you thought I would tell you, hah. Quit it, we’re not children anymore, are we?” Tori looked away once again, hiding his head between his shoulders. “I think that—”

“I smiled because I thought you were cute.”

Tsukasa’s face was some centimiters away from his, and he was looking more serious than ever. Tori felt his whole face go bright red, he was so red he could be seen in the dark. But Tsukasa was unamused – what on Earth has gotten into him? Tori placed a hand on his face to push him away quite violently, closing his eyes with frustration.

“I like being called cute, but you’re not allowed to do it! You idiot, shut your mouth up! When is the damn concert going to start!?” he yelled, making some of the people who were starting to come inside the room stare at them, making disgusted and confused faces. They probably knew who they were, or didn’t understand how such childish behaviour was admitted in that place, but it wasn’t as if those gazes were going to change anything between them.

And if they knew them, they probably also knew it was best not to talk to them rudely or to require some manners. The Himemiyas and the Suous were powerful in their own special way, even though they weren’t rich families that liked to stand out too much. But they probably also knew that both of them had almost nothing to do with their family names at that point, and that, instead of being together having a date at a classical music concert, they should be holed up in their large mansions repenting from their life choices and leaving their loved ones behind. And if they thought that was what happened, they probably were wrong.

* * * *

There was something about the atmosphere that made Izumi feel uneasy. Everyone was happy and enjoying their meals, their coffees and everything they served. Some girls had tried to flirt with him and some others complimented him and his colleagues, and photos were being uploaded to social networks since the waiters had given permission. The café started to get more and more lively as time passed, but sometimes he wished he had just had enough time to pet the cats a bit more, like he always did. Leo, on the other hand, was enjoying it like a little kid, talking to the rest of the waiters and signing autographs some fans asked him to. It was fun, it was calm, and he felt like it had been a good day for everyone, not only for him.

Leo raised his hand and Izumi came to assist, almost annoyed since Leo’s facial expression was as readable as a neon advertisement. “What do you need?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to tell you something,” Leo said as he locked his mobile phone on the table, placing his chin on his hands and his elbows on the table. A wide smirk appeared on his face. “I will probably ask Rittsu to go drink for a bit later, so I will probably be back pretty late, hm.”

“Well. As long as you don’t wake me up,” Izumi replied, taking his empty coffee cup away. How many of them had it been already? Four? He would not deliver anymore, he didn’t want Leo to get sick from drinking so much coffee, despite knowing he could handle all the caffeine in the world. “And as long as I don’t need to drive you home, do as you please.”

“What do you mean wake you up?” Leo grabbed Izumi by the wrist so he wouldn’t just leave in the middle of the conversation. He knew he would soon as he was already looking at other tables. “Hey, wait. You better be still up when I arrive.”

“Why?”

“Sena.” Leo raised his eyebrows.

“If I’m tired after today, you better get rid of that idea.” Leo was, at the very least, glad that he had noticed the message. “It’s not like today is thaaat special or anything, so don’t develop any fantasies of the sort.”

“Alright, alright~ I just wanted to let you know.” Leo then let go of his wrist, smiling widely at him. “Go keep on working, Sena. You’re doing great.”

Izumi sighed and had nothing else to do but to keep attending the rest of the customers, ignoring the fact that Leo had stood up and started walking towards the stairs in the building. Yes, those exact stairs that were covered by a door saying “only Sakuma family members allowed”. He needed to talk to Rei for some seconds, because Rei was someone who somehow knew about everything and that was relaxing to talk to. The corridor he ended up in was rather dark and everything was surprisignly gothic-decorated, unlike the cat café right below the house. It seemed like a vampire’s mansion, but the ceiling was actually not too tall and it seemed lonelier than any place in the world.

He knocked on all doors before he heard someone mumbling something. He guessed it was Rei, so Leo opened it to find the black haired man inside the bed, with a wet towel on his forehead and his cheek slightly pink. He was… sick?

“Hi, Rei! Are you alright? Do you need something? Sorry to come visit when you’re sick,” Leo said, coming inside the room carefully since he didn’t really want to get sick as well. “You look as if you were dying.”

“Oh, that’s… Because I feel like dying~ You are lively, Tsukinaga-kun. But I am not as sick as I look like, it was just Doggy being extremely worried about me, so he tucked me in bed, put the towel on my forehead, and told me not to move. So here I am,” Rei explained, sighing with, somehow, relief. “Though I wish he believed me when I said I’m not as weak as he thinks I am in terms of health… That boy never changes.”

Leo smiled and took a chair to put it next to the bed so he could talk more comfortably to Rei, his friend from highschool. They had been studying in the same classroom for years and they shared a great passion for music and instruments, as well as playing them in the school band. He knew Rei was older than him, of course, but it wasn’t a big difference. Rei was simply easy to go missing and not coming back to class until two or so months later… He couldn’t blame him, though. There was a time in which he disappeared from the Earth’s surface, and he had just learned about how Ritsu felt about it and that it was still unknown why.

“Well, having caring people around is always nice!” Leo said, crossing his legs. “I came to talk to you for a bit, because as Suo isn’t my representative anymore, I thought about talking with you beforehand. I believe in Rittsu blindly, but you’re the owner of the building after all, and I’d like to hold another concert here soon,” he explained in quite the direct way so Rei’s weakened mind would understand quickly. “It won’t be much, I just realized today that I miss this place being as lively as it was when it first opened.”

“Oh. Do you perhaps think we’re decaying as a business?” Rei asked, avoiding the proposal for the live. He was clearly more interested in Leo’s view of the cat café.

“I didn’t say that!” he exclaimed, crossing his arms. “I saw so many people coming today, so I realized… I kinda miss parties. We’ve all been so under the weather lately, I miss having lots of fun and meeting new people and stuff! Bring a good atmosphere to this place! Flood it with acoustic melodies full of passion and emotion! I miss that, Rei!”

The black haired man smiled widely as his eyelids fell low, looking at Leo. He was as lively as always, despite being such a damaged person. He admired him for that and was glad his little brother was his friend… Having someone like Leo around was always nice – even if he wasn’t as caring as Koga or Izumi could be.

“I get what you mean. I just wanted to know your thoughts on it,” Rei replied, closing his eyes slowly. “I will accept your proposal, of course. Your music is quite nice to hear to before taking a nap and even while doing so, so I can’t oppose. Besides, I believe my friends will also come visit if we do something like that… They’ve been missing for a while, after all.”

“Ah, you mean the pigeon guy, Mr. Bubbles, ugly hair, and magician dude? But magician boy works here! I saw him wearing one of those cute maid dresses,” Leo tilted his head to a side, and looked quite confused. “If you miss them, just tell them to come here, can’t you?”

“I… can’t,” Rei shook his head slowly so the towel wouldn’t fall from his forehead. “They’re busy or minding their own business, and I can’t blame them, either. I’ve been busy as well, we all have problems to take care of… I simply think it would be nice to see them again, if the concert brings the opportunity to do so,” he concluded, turning his head around to look better at Leo. “However, I’m more curious about you.”

“About… me? Wahaha, why?” Leo separated his legs and looked at Rei with wide eyes.

“Tsukinaga-kun. It has come to my attention,” Rei then turned around again, to look at the window in the opposite side of the room’s walls. “What business… do you have with Tenshouin Eichi?”

“… Nothing too special,” Leo replied, changing his mood completely, to a sulky figure just sitting down on a chair, in front of a sickly friend. “I…”

“You came for more than just the concert, didn’t you? Tsukinaga-kun,” Rei asked him, raising his hand to put it on top of Leo’s head. “You’re someone difficult to see through, but I can do just as much as to notice that.”

Leo fell silent, and Rei waited for the worst of the worst. He preferred to prepare his own mind for that, even if he was sick, just in case he had to come up with an intelligent reply to Leo’s questions, or, more than questions, his never spoken thoughts that would later bring him some kind of gentle relief. They weren’t that close, but if there was something happening on Earth, Rei would probably know about it, it didn’t matter what it was.

“… Rei, I was wondering,” Leo started talking, in a very low voice. “What… kind of model agency does the Tenshouin family manage? I’ve learned about something recently that apparently happened not too long ago, but I, somehow… didn’t know about it, and it felt bad. Because it happened to someone very close to me.”

“You don’t need to hide it. If you’re talking about “problems” that happened in the Tenshouins’ model agency, the only person that would come to mind is Sena-kun,” Rei smiled softly, putting his two hands on his stomach, over the blankets. “Ritsu probably told you, didn’t he… He can’t keep secrets for too long to people that he holds dear, after all, as long as they help those people develop their thinking skills. And by that, I mean that Ritsu probably thought Sena-kun would never tell you about that. He does indeed want to forget it and to not be remembered because of it, or so he personally told me.”

Leo lowered his head, furrowing a bit violently and clenching his fists on his lap. It was frustrating, because he did want to know everything about Izumi, but what concerned him the most was that… He could be defending someone who he shouldn’t be defending. Someone genuinely mean. He didn’t know. Eichi was his friend, but, to what extent could he forgive him and his family?

“Did… he have something to do with the scandal?”

“Do you want me to give you an answer?” Rei asked back, to which Leo didn’t reply. “… I understand. There’s just so much you don’t know yet, Tsukinaga-kun, but it won’t be long until you do… Secrets can’t be kept forever, though. Ritsu has many of those you probably wouldn’t think of, but whatever flew once needs to land on the floor again after some time. Just wait, and you’ll see.”

“I can’t just wait and keep doing something that could be… bad! I can’t do this!” Leo yelled at him, getting up from the chair. “You don’t… you don’t understand because you don’t know. You know many things, but not everything! I’m asking you because… Because if he did something to Sena, then I—”

“Tsukinaga-kun, please, calm down,” Rei gently asked him, still smiling. “I might not understand, but even if you were defending him if he did something to Sena-kun, if he knows that and he still stays with you, then—”

“He doesn’t know shit!!!”

That shout left Rei speechless, unable to say anything else. But Leo had finally faced the real problem – everything had to be born in him. If he didn’t open himself first, then, why did he expect others to do so? No one besides Eichi, Tori and Tsukasa knew about the silence fees. No one knew anything about him and Eichi being in contact, because he still foolishly believed in him. He had made Tsukasa worry over him, when he didn’t even care about himself… Then why? Why wasn’t he able to say a single thing on the matter?

Was he… for the first time in ages, was he afraid of something?

Rei opened his lips to talk, but then fell silent. He tried again, putting his wet towel aside, and looking directly at Leo, with a straight face, he finally spoke.

“Sena-kun was sexually abused in the Tenshouins’ model agency repeatedly. You probably knew this from now, but – the guilty person is running free out there.”

“Why the fuck is he running wild out there!? Why did they let a pedophile keep his life on like that!? Who allowed it, did Tenshi do it, did Sena do it!?” Leo asked Rei, furious. “How is that possibl—”

“The same way as you were bribed into silence with money but you used kindness as an excuse,” Rei interrupted Leo, “Sena-kun might have put other matters before his own safety and mental health.”

Leo changed his expression, letting his arms hang from his body, once he heard that. The possibility hadn’t crossed his mind – Sena would do that. It sounded exactly like him, and he didn’t like it at all. As weak as his body suddenly felt, he whispered. “Why? Why would he…?”

The vampire-looking man closed his eyes.

“Don’t act like you don’t know,” he replied. “Sena-kun’s parents have been sick for a long time now, Tsukinaga-kun.”

* * * *

Once the concert was over, Tori and Tsukasa made their way out of the music hall, but to Tori’s surprise, he was holding Tsukasa’s hand, as he was pulling him all around the masses not to lose him as tiny as he was. It wasn’t embarrassing – it was just a security thing, wasn’t it? No hard feelings. No romantic thought could break the perfect shell he had made around his feelings for a while now.

It was still raining outside, but they ended up sharing the umbrella. They walked around the garden calmly, not talking at all, just Tori complaining about work and Tsukasa nodding as if he was listening to him, as if he was agreeing with him. The manager this, the producer that, the camera-man is a shithead, and then, his parents.

“They’ve… Been ignoring me quite a lot lately, I wonder what’s going on,” Tori said, as he stood still in a single point of the park with the umbrella. Tsukasa had to stop as well, as he hadn’t opened his and didn’t really want to get wet. “Everyone’s been ignoring me, actually. They’re all… So busy with whatever thing they’re doing, aren’t they, Tsukasa? Is it just me or is everyone worrying too much while looking stupidly happy?”

Tsukasa stared at him for some cold seconds before looking away, hands in the pockets of his coat. “Perhaps. It happened the same to me. Today, I— I went to visit Tsukiko at dawn, and encountered Ritsu-san. He was working hard even though it was still very, very early in the morning, the sun wasn’t even out yet… But you know, he had a blanket covering his shoulders.”

“Why is the fact that he had a blanket that important—”

“Why use a blanket when you could use a sweater or a coat? Ritsu-san… He was wearing short sleeves and a blanket. He simply… didn’t care, or didn’t notice. Everyone’s minds are over the clouds, and…”

“You’re just like that as well now.”

Tsukasa fell silent when Tori interrupted him, who leaned his head to a side slighltly, looking at him with those big, brilliant, innocent green eyes he had deemed of an enemy’s during all his childhood. But he was there, on a date with him, he was acting cute but he was stabbing him right where it hurt.

“I… Do you think I’m the person that is acting strange?” Tsukasa furrowed, feeling his whole chest in pain all of the sudden. He didn’t know if it was because of how difficult it was to breathe due to the cold weather or because an unexpected scar has just reopened in his heart. “Me?”

“I don’t know why you sound so surprised about it. You probably know better than me, Tsukasa.” Tori got closer to him making sure the umbrella didn’t hurt him or anything. Tsukasa hated it, he despised how close he was – it hurt more and more, and he had started to think about things he would rather not see around his mind ever again. “You’re suddenly so nice, why? But you’re nice in your actions, not in how you behave. Where are you, Tsukasa?” And he poked his forehead with a single finger.

Tsukasa grabbed Tori by the wrist quite violently, to his surprise. He lowered his arm progressively as Tori saw how his expression became impossible to guess, like ancient scripts no one was able to translate yet. In all his life had he seen Tsukasa like that, despite having known each other for so long, despite having gotten on each other’s nerves for that long. But Tsukasa was… he was furrowing, he looked nervous, troubled and… hurt?

“I should ask you. I should ask you why you’re suddenly  so nice with me. I laughed at you, I basically made you miserable for some years of our puberty, I gave you insecurities, I don’t even treat you particularly politely now.” Tsukasa’s grip became stronger as he spoke, and Tori almost felt it in his bones.

But it was okay for him. He had it very clear. His reply had appeared in his head for longer than he had expected to be.

Tori had waited for years for the feeling to disappear. He distanced himself from Tsukasa thinking it would fix it, thinking he would be able to forget about him and all the things he liked about him despite him being mean towards him sometimes and vice versa – but it was in vain. He had always, always known Tsukasa wouldn’t feel the same, he knew how he would react to it, he knew he was going to be rejected and he would be embarrassed about it for all his life. Tori wasn’t stupid or an idiot, he knew it very well. But something he would do right in life would clearly be choosing between eternal hatred or unrequited love.

And he chose.

“Because I am in love with you.”

Tsukasa freezed for some seconds. It wasn’t like he didn’t know – he had talked about it with his friends, after all. But hearing it directly was a completely different experience, something he thought would never come to his life. And yet, here it was. From the last person he thought he would get it – from the last person he had ever expected to feel such a thing for him as love, despite all he had done to free himself from the chains locking him away from the heaven he had created in his mind. Mind that was now blocked, completely blank, unconscious enough to not be able to notice he had started crying while still holding Tori’s wrist.

The other young man, on the other hand, kept the silence between them, waiting for an answer. He hadn’t made any questions, so it was natural for Tsukasa to not reply. But something he wasn’t expecting was tears, and not precisely happy tears. “Are you sad that I love you?”

Tsukasa got rid of Tori’s wrist roughly and, after taking his scarf off and throwing it at him, he turned around and started running as the rain fell upon him. He heard Tori calling him and following him for some seconds, but the pink haired young man surrendered early as the rain was getting heavy and also Tsukasa’s will to get away from that situation.

As he ran away with all the energy and willpower he had left, he felt relieved there was no difference between his tears and the drops of rain that fell on his head and whole body. He didn’t want that hellish scarf, he didn’t want to open the umbrella, he just wished he drowned in a puddle of tears from the sky and never woke up again. To be loved, why was it so scary? Why was he running, and where was he running to? What would people think of him?

As soon as Tsukasa found a bench to sit on in a bus stop, he felt his whole body become water with the rain. He was so cold, not sheltered at all, and just… a mess. The mess he had never felt he was before. He took his phone out, hoping it wasn’t too wet to ask his friends to pick him up, as it was getting late in the evening anyways and it was time to go back home. As soon as he wrote the words “it didn’t go well”, Leo sent a photo of him and Ritsu holding some alcoholic drinks, and Ritsu replied to him. He didn’t know if it was a good time to type, he didn’t know if he was the only fucking person in that chatroom who was feeling like his whole world was shattering into small pieces.

His shaky hand, however, forced him to send the message. As soon as he did, everyone in the chatroom started asking him what happened, and then, he saw a single message from Izumi, saying “send your location right now, I just got out of work”. He didn’t know if he wanted to see Izumi at all, but… he didn’t want to be a bother for the other three people.

His eyes were still crying as time passed waiting for Izumi to arrive on his car, hugging himself while the roof of the bus stop barely tried to keep him away from the raindrops. He soon saw the lights from a vehicle that seemed just like Izumi’s, so when he saw the window rolling down and the man telling him to come inside, he simply stood up and got inside it.

There was a silence of a few seconds in which the two of them looked forward, until they turned around to see how each other was a mess in their own way. Izumi was wearing a maid dress. Tsukasa was Nessie. It was ridiculous, but even if it was the tiniest detail ever, he felt, for some seconds, like he was safe.

“Kasa-kun,” Izumi started talking. “What happened?”

Tsukasa looked at him for some silent seconds, repressing the tears, as he didn’t want to cry in front of him, of all people. But it was okay. He was in a group of friends, and Izumi was in it, so… Was it okay to consider him his friend, after everything he had thought about him? Was it okay for him to reconsider his feelings, all his emotions, just because he had just been confirmed he’s loved, wanted? That someone would totally do just was Izumi and Leo, but with him? Was it okay for him to…

“Wow. There, there.” He gave him some tissues as Tsukasa’s eyes flooded with saltwater tears, taking the freedom to clean his face a bit himself. “You’re a mess, we’ll talk later. I’ll drive you home.”

* * * *

When Izumi said “home”, Tsukasa wasn’t expecting that.

He totally wasn’t expecting to be sitting down on Izumi’s flat’s sofa, after having showered in Izumi’s bathroom, using Izumi’s clothes –that looked considerably big on him–, and drinking hot lavender tea from Izumi’s teacup. A snot came down his nose sometimes, so he had to use tissues continuously.

But the most uncomfortable fact of them all wasn’t that he was feeling just like if he had just been adopted by Izumi, but that… he was still wearing the maid attire. Why. Just. Why.

It was even worse to look at him sitting on the armchair while spreading his legs, sitting like a drunk man that hadn’t shaved his bear in weeks –it wasn’t the case, thankfully– and his cheek on his fist, elbow on the armchair, looking at a tiny, awkward Tsukasa covered with a fluffy and soft blanket, just like a sheltered animal.

“I would be thankful if you stopped staring at me, Sena-san,” Tsukasa said, still barely showing his face from between the blanket’s sides. “You probably don’t know, but you’re rather, uh… Intimidating.”

“Glad to know I’m still intimidating despite wearing a maid dress,” he said like it was nothing, quite relaxed. “It will stay like this until you tell me what happened. I know you’re a little insect that will get away easily if I blink too many times, so…”

“That’s kind of pushy, if you ask me.”

“If you want me to be pushy, I will. I will push you out my house.”

“Rude.”

“Yup.”

Tsukasa looked at a fixed point on the living room’s table for some seconds, smelling the tea’s scent. The perfume Izumi had used for the clothes was also really nice – everything seemed clean and somehow welcoming in that house despite it being all muted colors and, at first glance, sad. It was probably because he had had fun in there and the memories filled his head with good things about that place. He still had mixed feelings about Izumi, but it had felt so nice to be taken care of like that, especially coming from someone as cold-looking as the older one was. He had no doubt Izumi’s heart was warm and caring, he would never believe Leo was dating someone who wasn’t like that. He understood why he was in love with him, he cared for each other a lot but… Then, what was it that didn’t make them, Leo and him—

“Kasa-kun,” Izumi crossed his arms on his chest, while still looking at him, but this time with a more sincere glance. “I might be able to understand and help you. I know you’re not comfortable around me, but if you don’t get that out of your chest you will probably suffer alone.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do, indeed. I don’t think my friends should be bothered by my problems,” Tsukasa replied, calmly, and in a low volume.

“But you are bothered by others’ problems. Give yourself a rest sometimes.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong. He thought it would be better to be direct and brief, as he didn’t want to concern Izumi too much. The reason why he has ran away, the reason why he was crying so much – he didn’t need to know about that.

“Tori-kun confessed to me. I didn’t know what to say or what to do, but I… Returned his scarf, ran away, and started crying. I was so focused on getting away from that situation I didn’t even think about taking my umbrella out… So I apologize for all the inconveniences I caused you, Sena-san.”

“… Izumi-san is fine.”

Tsukasa blinked while looking at the grey haired man, who had just stood up to walk towards him. He sat right next to Tsukasa, and rested his arms on his lap. “You were scared, weren’t you.”

“N-no! It was nothing of the sort, I just…” he doubted, falling silent and looking at the inside of the teacup. “I didn’t understand…”

“Well, you were scared because you didn’t understand. It’s fine, some of us experience us,” Izumi rested his back against the sofa and Tsukasa put the teacup on the table, lowering the blanket from his head to his shoulders, progressively, as Izumi kept talking. “Momo-kun won’t judge you or hate you for that, and if he does, I will smack him. You two just need to talk.”

“You talk like you have experience in relationships, Se… Izumi-san,” Tsukasa spoke, covering himself better with the blanket. It was warm and it felt nice, he didn’t want to let go of it ever in his life. And, on top of all, it smelled nice!

“Because I do. I’ve been in three so far, each one better than the previous one, and well. You know, it will always be scary, no matter how many times you experience it. Love is bullshit,” Izumi put a hand on Tsukasa’s head, rubbing it a little, gently. “But when everything else is bullshit as well, it could light your days up. Once it helps you once or twice… It’s not that bad.”

Tsukasa kept silent, lowering his head when the hand was placed on it. It felt… nice? Though he was still uncomfortable for the sudden confidence between them, it was nice. Izumi’s hand comforted him and his words, though they didn’t heal his wounds at all, served as good temporary band-aids. Tsukasa would need to find his own cure, he would need to find something that made him heal progressively. And it would take time, he knew about that very well.

“Oh, I forgot. You work with him, don’t you…” Oh, fuck. He was right. “Try to avoid the topic… And avoid him a little, it’s fine. It will hurt him and you as well, but it’s better before hurting each other any further. That sucks, but it will be solved soon – Momo-kun doesn’t actually like conflict… Though you ask me a lot about him, you probably know this better than I do.”

“Actually… It’s not like I know him. I’ve not talked that much with him, just watched from afar… So I don’t get why he…”

“Asking why will probably be no good. If you asked me why I am in a relationship with Leo-kun, I wouldn’t know how to reply to you,” he admitted, smiling without much remedy, letting a soft laugh out. “He probably doesn’t know either.”

Tsukasa shrugged and felt how Izumi’s hand pushed his head a bit, until it rested on the grey haired’s shoulder. Huh? What?

“It’s Valentine’s Day. You’ve rejected someone, I’ve been replaced by beer, isn’t that nice?” Izumi joked, closing his eyes.

“You… didn’t go with them, Izumi-san?”

“No. I don’t drink.”

“Why is that? If I’m allowed to ask.”

“I have to take some pills for stupid old depression as if they helped me in any way, but I pretend they do,” Izumi replied, stroking Tsukasa’s head softly. “I still have a long way to go, I suppose.”

“Depression must be really hard to deal with. Leo-san… he was a completely different person back then. He recovered, but he’s still fighting after all, as well,” Tsukasa sulked a bit as he tried to find a more comfortable position to lean on Izumi. “I’m… jealous, Izumi-san. It might sound childish, but since he’s with you, he’s… changed. For the better. I thought I was useless to him as nothing changed in him when we were still the closest comrades… I couldn’t understand how I wasn’t able to make him happy and then some stranger comes and in some weeks, he’s already in love. I was so confused and so lost…”

“I get it. Hey, you don’t need to sulk so much about that, everyone has thoughts like that at some point, even if we try to supress them. At least once… Well, if you’re the kind of person who thinks too much about your impact on others,” Izumi explained, closing his eyes as well. “I am talking as if I was an expert but I am actually just trying to make you stop crying like a baby over something as simple and at the same time as complex as love is. I know nothing about people and know very little about myself, but that’s something I share with many people. It’s just a matter of time you and everyone realize what our limits are… And he’s still really close to you, you know.”

As Tsukasa didn’t say anything, Izumi continued.

“He still loves you. A lot. With his whole heart. And I’m telling you this because he has told me so several times.”

Hearing Izumi saying that made Tsukasa’s eyes get wet again. He rubbed them with the blanket quite clumsily from his position, trying to think about something to say to that, but… He simply felt like a shitty person for having developed those feelings of hatred towards Izumi when he was nothing but a… person with emotions and mental burdens, just like him. They weren’t that different in that matter – everything he had talked about… He felt some kind of connection.

As soon as he stopped sobbing, he heard the sound of keys opening the door. A drunk Leo came inside the flat, and looked at Izumi in a maid dress, comforting Tsukasa like that… What was happening?

“Hello,” Leo raised a hand in which he was holding a plastic bag. “Since you didn’t have any last time, I bought condoms. What’s up?”

“I hate it here,” Tsukasa groaned. “I can’t stand this anymore.”

Izumi’s face went red, having to get up from the sofa to close the door behind Leo. “You aren’t that late! Did you just go to get drunk? Did you seriously just do that? Just to get all happy easy-going to do whatever you planned to do today!?”

“Uh. I don’t know? Hello, Sena~” Leo kissed Izumi’s cheeks and finally came in, jumping a little while walking. He threw the bag on top of the table and the box of condoms rolled out.

“I didn’t want to know that,” the red haired boy said.

“What?”

“The flavour.”

“You bought them flavoured?” Izumi asked. “Seriously?”

“You didn’t reply to my texts so I did the fuck I wanted to do. Got a problem with that?” Leo smiled stupidly, clinging to Izumi.

“No, no, no! Stop right there! Kasa-kun is home, we’re not going to do anything at all, alright? Besides, he’s staying for the night, so get your shit together!” Izumi yelled, strying to get away from Leo’s drunk-hug.

“Eeeeeh!?” both young men said in unison.

“Yes! You there, go to the bathroom, take a shower, get hygienic, and come back because I have to take one too and put my pyjamas on! You do the same. We’re all sleeping in the same bed.”

“You’re just telling me to die,” Leo laughed outloud. “Not even you and I fit in that damn fucking bed!”

“Stop swearing, Leo-san!”

“Shut the fuck up!”

Izumi smacked the back of Leo’s neck and pushed him to the bathroom, locking him inside. Tsukasa looked at them quarrel right in front of the door until Leo finally gave in.

His straight, serious and somehow hurt expression became a warm, happy and comfortable canvas for that gentle and sweet smile he now knows Tori loves with his soul.