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Walking into his and Leo’s bedroom, Tsukasa heard running shower water. He made a mental note to thank Leo for taking care of his hygiene. Usually, he’d be slumped over his desk writing absentmindedly until he’d finished. Although, he had made quite the mess of his desk and the area around it. Tsukasa sighed.
Papers were scattered over the desk, some covered in ink and others almost empty. Tsukasa scanned over a couple of them, softly humming the melody to himself. He’d become quite good at reading the scores Leo composed, he thought. Living with Leo meant he had to listen to a pen tapping the same tune for hours on repeat. Even if it drove him to the brink of insanity, at least he was getting something out of it.
He didn’t pay much mind to many of the papers; most of them were scrapped symphonies that Leo mustn’t have thought were up to stand him. But he stopped piling the sheets when he came across one with thick letters across the stop.
FOR SUO
The messy writing only confirmed it was Leo who wrote it. Tsukasa scanned through the tune, playing it back in his head. It seemed he had attempted to write lyrics to the song, written messily below the bars. They were nothing spectacular, but they matched the song well and made Tsukasa’s heart flutter.
He read it once, then again, and a third time just to engrave it in his memory. It truly was a beautiful piece; something completely different from the things he’d heard from Leo prior. Leo, on multiple occasions, expressed his distaste for sappy love songs. He’d claim they all sounded the same, which, to a degree, Tsukasa could agree with. It seemed Leo had taken a unique approach to this one, however, and the thought of Leo tackling something he hated just for Tsukasa warmed his heart.
“Tsukasa!” A voice bellowed to Tsukasa’s left. Leo, whose hair was still slightly wet, raced over, snatching the paper out of Tsukasa’s hair. “You weren’t meant to see it...” he muttered. Tsukasa was fairly certain he’d never seen Leo so flustered before; it was kind of cute.
“Sorry, Leo. I was just cleaning up. It’s... really pretty,” Tsukasa admitted sheepishly, running a hand up and down his neck. Leo shook his head, gathering up other pages that remained strewn across his desk.
“You ruined the surprise!” he whined, stuffing the papers into a drawer. Tsukasa felt bad; he’d feel even worse when he told Leo he’d memorized the whole thing. “Now I’ll have to write a whole new song... it could take me weeks to get that inspiration back!” Leo’s complaining was like that of a toddler.
“If it makes it any better, I only read the first few bars...” Tsukasa lied. He didn’t want Leo to have to compose a whole new song just because he’d incidentally stumbled upon it (although, Leo probably wouldn’t mind all that much). Tapping his pen against the desk, Leo huffed.
“I guess it doesn’t matter, then. Just don’t go snooping anymore, Suo!” Leo groaned. Tsukasa nodded his head bashfully. He felt guilty having ruined Leo’s surprise like that, whatever it may be. That night, all Tsukasa could think of was the beautiful harmony Leo had composed just for him.
Weeks passed, and Leo had seemed to have forgotten about the song, much to Tsukasa’s disappointment. He was looking forward to whatever Leo had in store and knowing he was the one who ruined it only added salt to the wound. Tsukasa had brought it up a couple of times, only for Leo to shut him down.
Having forgotten about it, he thought nothing of the text from Leo asking him to come to the auditorium after school. The academy had been kind enough to let recent third years use the school’s facilities for a year after they’d graduated to kickstart their careers, so Leo had probably just organized a Knights meeting. It had been a while since he’d seen his old friends, so he was looking forward to it.
What he was not expecting to see as he walked through the auditorium doors was a stage decorated so beautifully; colored in blue, gold, and silver, reminiscent of the lives Tsukasa and Knights put on two years ago. Tsukasa looked around for anyone else, but the only occupant seemed to be himself. He took a seat in a row towards the front. As if on queue, music began to blare, and out came is four ex-unitmates. Among them, of course, was Leo. The tune seemed all too familiar to Tsukasa, then it clicked. This song was the very one Leo had tried to keep a secret from him all those weeks ago.
It was disorienting at first; as he watched his old unit performed choreography Tsukasa had never seen before, he pondered on how they were able to keep this all a secret, (especially with Arashi, who was known to be quite the tattletale). Tsukasa paid special attention to Leo, who seemed to be putting in his best effort. Tsukasa could feel tears welling up; he was unsure whether they were of happiness or pure shock.
The lyrics had been changed, probably for the better, Tsukasa thought, but regardless, the song was beautiful, and knowing that it was all done by Leo made it all the more special. As the music drew to a close, Arashi, Ritsu, and Izumi stepped off the stage, leaving only Leo and Tsukasa to stare each other down.
“Well, Suo? Did you like it?” Leo asked, breath heavy from performing so well. Tsukasa was rarely at a loss for words, but this was one of those moments. All he could do was nod sheepishly, thankful for the darkness that hid the heat running up to his ears.
“It was beautiful, Leo,” Tsukasa admitted, standing to give applause. Leo chuckled and took a bow, curling his finger as to beckon Tsukasa over. Tsukasa joined Leo on stage and took his hands. “How did you do all this?” he asked, starstruck.
“Suo, do you think I’m that bad at keeping secrets? You wound me...” Leo whined playfully. Tsukasa jabbed him in the arm and pulled him in for a hug. “I’m glad you liked it. I’m sure you would’ve liked it more if you hadn’t seen the song before. That should be a lesson not to go through my stuff!” Leo pouted. Tsukasa giggled, placing a kiss to Leo’s forehead. Even if he had the whole score memorized, seeing Leo and the rest of Knights giving it their all just for him made his heart flutter.
“Sorry about that, Leo. You were amazing,” Tsukasa repeated. Leo nodded, reaching up to ruffle Tsukasa’s hair. Without another word of warning, Tsukasa closed the gap between their faces, his lips meeting Leo’s for a warm embrace. When they separated, Leo only muttered one thing.
“I love you, Suo.”