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Tokyo is cold and dry by late October and Yuta’s hands are freezing inside the pockets of his parka but it hardly bothers him, shuffling on his feet in excitement. The station is packed, people are walking in every direction and Yuta’s searching gaze flits from one tall head to another.
Something warm presses to the side of his face and he flinches in surprise. Yuta turns around to the face of his boyfriend, looking dapper in his trench coat and dress shoes.
“Did you wait long?” Jaehyun grins from ear to ear and Yuta doesn’t miss the glint of mischief in his eyes. He takes the vending machine coffee Jaehyun still has pressed to his face with a small pout.
“I did, and you had to ask to meet here of all places, you really thought I could spot you in this chaos?” He pushes his glasses up his nose for emphasis.
“Where’s the fun if you can see me easily?”
“Sadist.” Yuta receives a chuckle for his efforts. Jaehyun leads him out of the station by the hand but drops it once they’re outside. They get a look or two but Yuta has learned to ignore them even though he knows Jaehyun is a little more apprehensive. More for Yuta's sake than his own.
“So where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere quiet.”
“Here I thought you have a thing for crowds.” Jaehyun’s smile lingers and it fills Yuta with warmth when they pass by Asakusa shrine along their way and the younger man nudges him lightly. Their fingers touch mid swing and Yuta’s tempted to link them together. He doesn't.
Wherever Jaehyun is taking him, the walk takes a long time. Yuta takes the chance to ponder about their relationship, how it began with a chance encounter in Tokyo station nearly two years ago. Jaehyun wasn’t completely fluent in Japanese yet and fumbled with directions, and it wasn’t helped by the busy and branching paths from the station.
Yuta was only just starting his new job at a major insurance company, a once in a lifetime opportunity he had been stressing over for a whole month before he bumped into Jaehyun and his iced americano. He ruined a perfectly good jacket and dress shirt but he gained something more precious.
He looks over at the slightly taller man and remembers the first time he had been asked out, three months after Jaehyun spilled his coffee all over Yuta’s business suit during rush hour. It had been in a cafe in Marunouchi where they agreed to meet on the rare chance Yuta didn’t have to stay in the office past midnight.
Yuta walked to their table in confusion because a huge bouquet of roses took up the table space instead of their usual drinks while Jaehyun shyly avoided his gaze. While the affection had been steadily building between them leading up to that day, it had still been a shock being treated to something so special and new. Jaehyun grew up in the US and had all the sensibilities expected of a man of his upbringing and even now Yuta struggles to keep up with his straightforward personality.
Yuta had been too shy to accept the flowers and they had to pretend it was meant for someone else for as long as they had eyes watching them, but Yuta eagerly put them in one of his water pitchers as soon as he was home.
Everything has been gradual between them since that day. Their first kiss, their first time in the apartment Jaehyun shares with another teacher, the first time Yuta openly calls him his boyfriend, and everything in between.
“You’re not planning a picnic this late at night, are you?” He asks when he realizes they’re headed in the direction of the river. There are less and less people with every street they take further away from the touristy sights.
Jaehyun scoffs and his pace slows so Yuta can catch up. “That wasn’t the plan but if you want to we can always grab Mcdonald’s on the way.”
“How about you buy me something other than McDonald’s for a change?”
“What’s wrong with it? Their burgers here are amazing. If you see how boring the menu is in the US you’ll know.” They stop at a particular spot and Jaehyun gestures for him to sit.
Jaehyun finally takes his hand in the cover of darkness and Yuta feels a lengthy exhale from him. It’s been two years but Jaehyun never fails to make his heart race, he makes the startling realization a minute in the silence. Jaehyun squeezes his hand and scoots closer.
“So, you know how my contract ends in a few months right?” The reminder sombers the mood. Yuta hasn’t fully come to terms with the fact that they have little time left before Jaehyun has to come back home. He’s grown so comfortable with the relationship that he doesn’t remember a time where he didn’t feel this happy.
“Sure, you’ve mentioned it a couple of times.”
“Hey, don’t go all sulky on me. You know I’d stay here forever if I can...” Jaehyun’s voice gets lower as he trails off. He leans in close enough that Yuta can feel puffs of his breath on his skin. Anyone who’d happen to see them this way will make no mistake about their relationship.
“So I thought, how about you come back with me for a short while? Meet my parents, see my hometown, you know, those things.”
Yuta pulls away with a frown, “Jay, are you serious?”
“Of course I am. I’ve been wanting to ask. You’ll like it there, I can take us on a road trip and you can go see all the amazing sceneries, the mountains, the desert.”
“But, my work…” Yuta knows for sure he can’t afford even just a few days off. Not in the kind of competitive environment he has to live through everyday.
“Ah, you’re right. Sorry.” Jaehyun doesn’t pull his hand away but Yuta feels the gradual shift in the mood. He knows what it is that Jaehyun wants to hear, and it’s an idea Yuta had entertained many times in the past. After all, his boyfriend had been the one there to hold him every time he came home crying from work because his supervisors expected more than what Yuta was capable of giving.
There was a point he wanted to quit but held back because what ultimately comes after?
He looks back at Jaehyun’s unfailing devotion to him and all Yuta can think of are good things. Happy moments, the light at the end of every tunnel.
Jaehyun is quiet, looking away so Yuta won’t have to see his heart break.
“Actually,”
He lifts their joined hands to his lips and senses the surprise from the younger man. It’s the first time Yuta has openly initiated something so intimate in public. Jaehyun locks eyes with him in anticipation, there’s hope in his eyes that Yuta doesn’t want to extinguish. He cradles the vending machine coffee, now cold, in his other hand.
“That might be a good idea. A few months should let me save up for the trip.” He lays his head on Jaehyun’s broad shoulder and takes a deep breath of his cologne, “And also for contingency while I look for a new job when I get back.”
Jaehyun startles at that and looks at him like he’s grown another head.
“You’re quitting?”
“What, didn’t you see that coming from a mile away?”
“No, I-you, you’ve been working so hard.”
Yuta looks up and watches how the wind tousles Jaehyun’s hair, how his lips thin in concentration. “And I think I've worked hard enough.”
A small smile tugs on Jaehyun’s lips and he swipes a finger under Yuta’s eye, a gentle caress that makes Yuta’s stomach flutter. He looks pleased, not of Yuta agreeing to come with him but of Yuta finally taking the first step away from everything that wears him down. “You’re right, you have.”
He nuzzles Yuta’s hair and they must make one hell of a pair, with their suits still stiffly clinging to their bodies and their hair in disarray from the gentle breeze from the Sumida river. Yuta wants this for as long as he can get it.
“I forgot to tell you. I was offered another teaching position in a private school in Chiba. So I’m coming back by spring. It’s not Tokyo but better than nothing I guess.” Yuta doesn’t disguise the relief that floods out of him but he also doesn’t miss the opportunity to glare at his boyfriend.
“You could’ve told me that first thing.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Jaehyun says as he finally pulls him in for a kiss, and pecks his lips a few more times after they part. He knocks Yuta's glasses askew but fixes them quickly with a self satisfied grin.
“Bastard.”