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i.
Drip. Drip. Drip drip dripdripdripdrip –
Tsumugi lifts his gaze. The now-dark sky is covered in wispy clouds, the rain streaking downward like fishing line. The droplets fall like miniature comets, each watery tail faintly glimmering as it passes the streetlights.
Tsumugi's hands tense around his backpack straps, and his toes curl inside his shoes as he braces himself to go outside.
"Tsumu," Tasuku interrupts, his small hand landing on Tsumugi's shoulder.
Tsumugi looks away from the sparkling rain. "Tachan?"
Tasuku frowns, his eyes moving from Tsumugi to the window and back. "Tsumu can sleep over. Because it's raining really hard."
"But I live really close," Tsumugi points out. "I can make it home."
The window blurs. "You get sick easily, don't you? I don't want you to get sick."
So Tsumugi stays.
("… But let me ask my parents first."
Tsumugi giggles. "Okay, Tachan."
Much like the water that hits the sidewalk, Tasuku's socked feet patter across the wooden floor.)
ii.
"Oh," Tsumugi says, as the first raindrops drizzle onto the pavement.
Tasuku hikes the bag of soil higher on his shoulder. The bag handle in his other hand crinkles. "Think we can make a run for it?"
Tsumugi purses his lips, then adjusts the bags in his own grip. His new trowels clang together. "It does look pretty – "
The rain drowns out the rest of his words. The sound of each individual drop turns into a continuous rumble, while the falling water colors the street a shade darker.
"Maybe we should wait it out somewhere," Tsumugi suggests over the downpour. "I think Kazunari-kun said there's a clothing store nearby?"
Tasuku scrunches his nose. "I guess it's better than standing out here."
Tsumugi spots the clothing store three doors down. The store itself is cramped, with clothing and accessories littered around the small space on circular racks. The two of them look a bit ridiculous, entering the store like this – hands full, shovels clanging, and in Tasuku's case, a literal bag of dirt slung over his shoulder – but they aren't the only ones waiting out the rain here, and Tsumugi can't find it in himself to be too self-conscious.
He perks up as they walk farther into the store, the rain still rumbling behind them. "Tsumugi?" Tasuku questions as Tsumugi shifts his bags to one arm, sliding between the racks to grab a hat. Tsumugi turns around to place it on Tasuku's head, the wide brim casting a shadow over Tasuku's face.
Tasuku grimaces as soon as the hat is on his head. "Tsumugi…"
Tsumugi only grins and grabs Tasuku's forearm before moving again.
With blind determination, Tsumugi grabs more items from the racks – a cherry scarf, thrown over Tasuku's neck and shoulders. A fake pearl necklace. A hair bow, clipped onto the brim of the hat.
"Tsumugi," Tasuku repeats, some time later. Tsumugi ignores him. "Tsumugi."
"Yes?" Tsumugi says, debating between two different clip-on ties.
"The rain stopped."
"Hm?" Tsumugi pauses. "…Oh."
"You're lucky I was carrying your things," Tasuku says as Tsumugi pulls the accessories off of him and returns them to their racks.
Tsumugi holds up the item currently between his fingers – the wide-brimmed hat, in all its straw glory. "I can buy this for you as a thank you?"
Tasuku grumbles. The late afternoon sun slants across his cheek. "No thanks."
iii.
"You don't need to look that angry," Tsumugi says, before holding back his laughter when Tasuku only grumbles.
The storm outside seems to rumble in reply, thunder and wind both sweeping across the courtyard. The rain is practically horizontal, the slate sky tinting the lounge in pale purples and grays.
Tasuku sighs once more at the window, then turns toward Tsumugi fully. He raises an eyebrow. "You're up early."
Tsumugi rubs the back of his neck. "One of my students canceled on me this morning, so I figured I'd make myself a nice breakfast since I already fought myself awake." Tsumugi shifts from foot to foot. "Would you like to join me?"
For a moment, Tsumugi is certain Tasuku will decline – Tasuku has always been more for protein shakes than large meals in the morning, and Tsumugi doubts Tasuku wants to spend more time with him than he already does – but then Tasuku shrugs and walks to the fridge, and opens the door with a Tasuku-like gracelessness. "Omelettes, right?" he asks, already pulling the eggs out of the fridge.
"Er, um – "
"Or were you making something else for a change?" Tasuku continues, and Tsumugi wonders why he was nervous in the first place.
Tsumugi grabs a pan from the cabinet while Tasuku starts cracking the eggs in a bowl. The common area is surprisingly empty, with the school kids gone and the adults at work (or, for some certain someones, sleeping in). The fork in Tasuku's hands rings like a bell as it hits the sides of the bowl.
"Remember when we first made these?" Tasuku absentmindedly reminisces. "You had to use a step stool to reach the stove."
Tsumugi frowns before taking the bowl Tasuku hands him, and pours the beaten eggs into the pan. "It's not my fault I didn't have my growth spurt like a certain someone." The pan sizzles, and Tsumugi tilts it, spreading out the eggs. "Besides, who was it that made a mess cracking the eggs and always spilled onto the counter when he tried to beat them?"
Tasuku silently cracks another egg into the bowl for a second omelette. "… I wonder."
iv.
"You're not going home yet, Tsukioka-kun?"
Tsumugi shakes his head, eyes never leaving his script. "I just want to go over this scene one more time."
"And you, Takato-kun?" their upperclassman continues.
Tasuku shrugs. "I'm walking him home. Besides," he replies, "we might as well wait out the rain."
Their upperclassman laughs. "Good thing I brought my umbrella, unlike you two!"
With a final wave and a reminder to lock the door, their upperclassman finally exits the room, but Tsumugi barely notices. He continues to mumble his lines under his breath, his feet moving through stifled blocking on their own accord. His movements grow bigger as he continues, until he's running through the scene at full power, right there in the classroom.
"You should be more aggressive there," Tasuku interrupts from his spot on the floor.
"Really?" Tsumugi asks, briefly falling out of character. "But Satou-kun is pretty gentle here, isn't he? And I don't want to overshadow him."
Tasuku rises to a stand. "If you're more aggressive, Satou will follow. Let's run through it."
"Eh? With you?"
Tasuku doesn't comment, instead taking the place their underclassman usually would, and the man that is Tasuku Takato falls away for someone different.
I never want to lose this feeling, Tsumugi thinks, as Tasuku runs through the scene with him. Tasuku's presence fills the room, and Tsumugi isn't in the classroom anymore – he's on the stage, and a thousand worlds away, all at once.
I never want to lose this feeling.
When they finally leave the building that night, the stars are already high in the sky. Vega twinkles at them like a promise.
+i.
"You're going to get sick if we stay out here," Tasuku points out. The rain around them blurs like feathers in the sunshine. "Let's go back."
Feathers…
"But I love her!" Tsumugi shouts, instead of listening. "Why can't you see that, Raphael? I need to be here."
Tasuku blinks once, twice – then standing before Tsumugi is Raphael, his sunshine feathers glittering at his back. "But you won't be able to return to heaven! Does that not matter to you at all?"
Tsumugi finds himself smiling without meaning to. "As long as she's okay," he continues, "I'll do anything."
"So you'd just leave me all alone?" Tasuku cries. "I'm sorry. I'm being selfish." Tasuku turns away, then, like Michael isn't meant to hear him anymore. "… I think you are, too."
Tsumugi exhales, and Michael drops away.
"Sympathy, huh?" Tasuku comments. "What made you bring them back?"
The rain begins to pour harder, and the two of them finally turn back toward the dorms. "I guess they're just important to me."
Tasuku nods in understanding. "They're important to me, too." His shoes splash into a puddle, which Tsumugi quickly sidesteps. "You're a bit like Michael," Tasuku tells him.
Tsumugi tilts his head. "Well, he was written for me."
"I mean," Tasuku elaborates, "I think you're finally being selfish, too." A pause. "It's a good thing. I think."
Tsumugi hums.
Around them, the rain continues to fall.
v.
"I told you you'd get sick," Tasuku says, replacing the cloth on his forehead. The cold is soothing against Tsumugi's overly warm skin, like cool rain on the summer sidewalk.
"Some things never change, I guess," Tsumugi croaks. "But the rainy season isn't so bad, don't you think?"
Tasuku rolls his eyes. "Says the one sick in bed."
"But I have you to nurse me back to health, right?"
Tasuku bites the inside of his cheek before looking away. "…Right."
("You're too good to me, Tachan."
"Don't call me that," Tasuku automatically responds. "And… you've done a lot more good than I have, Tsumu."
Tsumugi giggles. "Agree to disagree, then.")