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A light rumble rubs against the leg of the older detective as he leaves the Station for the evening. He sighs and grabs it out of his pocket. Originally, he was against the idea of having a phone in the first place, but too many people complained about him being hard to contact without Aiba around, so he reluctantly complied. He flips it open and sees a text from Hitomi.
We need to finally talk about us. Tonight if you’re free.
He sighs. He knew that this was gonna happen sooner rather than later. The past month was quite a volatile change for everyone. With the New Cyclops Killer case revealing most of Date’s old memories, returning him to his original body, Mizuki losing her parents, Iris and Hitomi finally reuniting with “Uncle”, and more changing every day.There is barely any time to relax and truly process everything.
A sudden knot twists up in his gut, ‘What if Hitomi doesn’t want me around anymore? What if she doesn’t believe I’m truly myself? Should I even go?’ Date quickly shakes his head and looks back down to the phone, “No, I can’t run from this.”
Ok. I just got out of work, I’m on my way.
He sends and places the phone back in his pocket. It was so much easier when Aiba was around, he didn’t have to do anything. He places his hand over where his left eye used to be. Currently, there is a gauze-like eye patch over it, but a prosthetic should be in soon.
‘It won’t be the same though…’ he thinks as he drags his hand down his prickled face. Five years. Five years of having a constant companion, coworker, a friend. Now she’s gone. Forever. ‘At least… Hitomi and Iris...’ Date takes a deep breath and reminds himself, ‘It wasn’t in vain, they made it. She would be glad...’
Turning to the parking lot, he sighs, “Guess its time to face the music.”
----
Sweat builds up in Date’s palms as he stands in front of the door to the Sagan Household. Only a month ago he had no idea how much this place meant to him and now standing there is like coming home after a long journey. He takes a deep breath, tries to calm his nerves, and knocks.
A few seconds pass before Hitomi opens the door. Her warm smile quickly relieves Date of most of his worries. “Falco, thank you for coming!” He lightly flinches as he hears his old code name. After not hearing it for so long, it just doesn’t feel right. It wasn’t him. Not anymore.
He gently reminds, “Y’know, Date still works fine for me.”
She looks down and softly replies, “Oh yes, that’s right. I’m sorry.” The silence afterwards says all. Being out of their lives for six years and coming back in the weirdest way possible, he can’t blame her for a lack of words. Hitomi looks back up, “Well, come in! I’ll go make us some tea.” She turns around and heads towards the kitchen.
Date takes off his shoes and places them in the shoe box. ‘Don’t be a perv for once’ he kept repeating in his head, it really isn’t the time for it, but man is he tempted to get a sniff. Fighting off his temptation, he takes a seat on the sofa. Hitomi, now standing in front of the stovetop heating up the tea, looks over, “Sorry! It will be a moment!”
The dark-haired man smiled back, “It’s alright!” ‘As long as it’s not too hot.’ Unconsciously, he rubs his hands. The heat from the cup six years ago still burns in his mind. If he remembers correctly, the reason why she always makes it so hot is because Iris only drinks it if it’s scalding. ‘That girl,’ he chuckles to himself. How she could stand that heat is incomprehensible to him.
Breaking the silence, the tea kettle whistles, taking away Date from his thoughts. He looks over to the kitchen and notices Hitomi struggling to pour with her one good arm.
“Oh, let me help!” Date gets up from his seat and walks over to hold the cup steady.
“Thank you, F- Date,” She turns away from his gaze as a blush blooms on her cheeks. Embarrassed or..? Hot. ‘Hothothothot’ he couldn’t help but flinch back.
She faces him in surprise, “Sorry! I forgot you didn’t like it this hot.” Her blush becomes deeper.
Date chuckles back, “Don’t worry, it’s fine just… hand me a potholder.” Hitomi nods and grabs one out of the drawer. It’s… the same one he gave her all those years ago. “You kept it?”
A nod is all he gets as a response.
The duo finishes pouring their tea and takes a seat across from each other on the sofas. Silence. For several minutes there was complete silence. Date can’t help but squirm from the quiet moment. He knows the moments ahead were going to be rough for both of them. Which is why she is just staring at her tea swirling on the table, he assumes.
Suddenly, a break from the silence.
Hitomi looks up and starts talking, “H-How has thing been going lately?”
He shrugged, “Not bad, it was my first day back from my leave. It is a bit awkward there now since everyone isn’t used to well,” He gestures to his entire body. She gives out a bit of a chuckle. Truth be told he wasn’t quite used to be being back to his old body either, god he misses the extra height… and some other things.
Looking gently at her, he continues, “but… that isn’t what you asked me over for, is it?”
“I...” she pauses as she looks at her tea, “I need to know… why?” Her eyes begin to tear up, “Why did you…” she groans, its obvious she’s having a hard time finding the right words to say. There is no hint of anger from her, only confusion.
The clock ticks on in the background as the former couple stares at the cooling tea. The near-silence is harsh to both of them. After a minute or so a rough voice speaks up.
“Swap bodies with Rohan?” She doesn’t look up as she gives a slight nod.
Date leans back in the couch and exhales, “I-- I did that to protect you.”
She looks back up, eyes close to bursting with tears, her voice cracks out, “Protect us? Why would we need to be protecte-,” she pauses as she saw Date’s face turn grim. “Oh...” The detective solemnly nods back. He knew that she realized that Rohan found out about Iris. How he would do anything to cover up the loose ends to the murder all those years ago. It didn’t matter that they were a single mother and daughter to him, they were just living proof of his failure.
“And after the shooting; you and Saito were like -that- for all these years?”
He gulps, “Y-yeah.” It is an ordeal to wrap one’s mind around what was in a way, Soul Musical Chairs, even speaking of it is awkward. However, he didn’t mind, it's better to talk this mess out than let it fester.
“All these years I was actually talking to the man who wanted us dead.” This hit him hard. Date never really thought about it, but that’s right. All these years, she was visiting not him, but Rohan in the prison. Why did he pretend to be Falco for so long? To gain her trust? Maybe to hurt her when the moment was right. That must have been it. There is no way for anyone to find out the truth.
“I- I am so sorry, Hitomi.” His voice cracks as he continues, “All I could think about was keeping you two safe. Inever really thought of the aftermath.” That was a half-truth, he didn’t consider how they would feel about ‘Falco’ being dead, or the way it turned out, in jail. The only thing he considered was how he would’ve dealt with becoming Rohan for the rest of his life, just to keep them safe.
He continues, “I was a complete idiot. My impulsive decision caused so many more problems, it- it,” Tears start forming in his lone eye, “it caused you to get hurt… I hurt you an-” The memory of her lying on the floor, in a pool of her own blood fills his mind. He promised to protect her, to never bring her harm. She was the first person in a long time to make him feel something again, and he almost killed her.
He looks up to her, tears falling down his right side, “I am so sorry.”
No response. Date could barely see at this point, but he could tell that she has the same warm, loving look she usually has. But? Is she also crying too? He could not tell.
“I...” her warm voice cracks as she went on, “I know, Date. It’s okay.” Tears came flowing harder now. “After what happened last month, I connected the dots to what happened six years ago. It’s okay.” Hitomi got up out of her spot and went over next to the former assassin. She wraps her good arm around him and leans, “I just… wanted to know for sure.”
His weight sinks into hers. He feels her head upon his shoulder, slowly getting wet from her tears. For some time, they sit there, comforting each other with their presence; their warmth. They are not alone anymore. If things will ever go back to normal, they aren’t sure, but no matter what, they had each other. He was home and will never leave them again.
----
Date’s phone violently rings on the coffee table, awakening him from their unexpected nap. Hitomi is surprisingly a deep sleeper.
He reaches over, trying his best not to disturb her, answers with a hint of grog in his voice, “Hello?”
“DATE, WHERE ARE YOU? DO KNOW HOW LATE IT IS? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HOME HOURS AGO.”
‘Oh shit, Mizuki.’ He looks over at the clock. It’s Nine PM. He promised her that he’d be home at Seven for dinner. In his quietest voice possible he replies, “Sorry Mizuki, I’ll be home in an hour.”
Date feels Hitomi stretch and looks up at him, “Is… that Mizuki?”
‘Damn the kid can be loud.’
“Was that Miss Hitomi? WHAT ARE YOU DO-”
“SEE YOU IN AN HOUR.” He slams his phone shut and looks down into her warm brown eyes, “Sorry, Mizuki needs me home.” She simply nods and smiles as she moves over for him to leave. Its been too long since he slept casually with someone. It was nice.
Still sleepy, Hitomi asks, “Can you… come and visit tomorrow? Iris would love it if you came with me to visit her in the Hospital?”
A smile grows on the grizzled detective’s face, “I would love to.”