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It was just for one night.
In a few hours the sun would rise and he’d walk down those steps for the last time. Savour her wonderful cooking as though it were the last thing he’d ever eat. Walk through those gates as though he were just like everyone else, pretending he had a world of opportunity awaiting him once he’d crossed the threshold with diploma in hand. Tomorrow was a day of firsts and lasts, doors slamming in his face with every action until there was nothing left but a dark tunnel into his future.
He’d known this day was coming since he was in middle school and yet he’d never expected for it to hurt this badly. Even since moving in, he hadn’t considered the possibility that on his last night there he’d be staring at the ceiling, surrounded by swathes of pink, sinking into a plush mattress under an almost suffocating soft blanket.
He didn’t think he’d ever be spending the night with her.
Kyo couldn’t help but turn over, looking over her uncharacteristically messy hair blackened by the darkness of the night. She’d been a wreck that day- supposedly Shigure had told her about what was to happen, though something about her reaction made his heart sink further. She already knew. It should have been obvious; she knew more than she was letting on and now she was finding every reason to blame herself for letting it come to this point. His teeth gritted in frustration for a few seconds before falling again in despair. If he knew her well enough to get that, then he also knew that she wasn’t asleep either. She’d managed to force down her cries enough to reduce them to silent tears flowing from her eyes, soaking the pillow below her as she wondered how things could have been different.
Should he say something? “It’s not your fault. There’s nothing you could have done.” How would that comfort her? He didn’t know what she had been doing while he wasn’t looking, for all he knew she had tried selling her soul to the devil to set him free. Either he’d be allowing her to continue blaming herself or he’d be making all of her efforts seem like an unappreciated waste of time. Usually he was quick to find the right words to strike the source of her pain, managing to tear off that mask and reveal whatever ugly emotions she was hiding so her real smile could pull through when she was ready but now…
Tohru gasped softly as she felt the blanket shift, stiffening as a pair of arms gently eased their way around her and nestled in place just close enough to be of comfort. But that wasn’t enough. She was greedy, pushing them closer with her hands as she struggled to fight the influx of sobs forming in her throat. Her breaths grew even shakier than before at the feeling of a leg wrapping itself over hers, moving her body to greet the ever-welcome warmth of the contact she so rarely received in this house. Closer and closer until his chest pushed against her back, locking together perfectly as though they had been created specifically for one another.
She didn’t get the chance to see his face before a cruel orange explosion threw the sheets in the air, her body feeling an aching cold as she flung herself onto her other side, looking into tear-filled amber eyes. Frustration welled up at the sight of the cat for the first time since meeting him, unable to hold back a wail of misery as she pulled him into her chest, sobbing with all of her might. Kyo couldn’t help the weary smile on his face as he let those years of fear out with a cacophony of yowls accompanying Tohru’s choking cries. Just a few more seconds holding each other was all they wanted, to feel their skin connect for a brief eternity; a selfish desire indeed. The pair continued to shudder, wracking their bodies with their bawling until their eyes burned, pressing themselves into each other until they couldn’t get any closer. Neither of them felt the need to exchange any words, allowing themselves to weep in their mutual agony until exhaustion pulled them into unconsciousness.