Archive of Our Own

—fall ‘07

Ever since the gang disbanded, the old members of Toman finally started being kids. Children their age shouldn’t have been fighting and beating one another, getting out in the hospital once a week, or constantly wearing a bandage somewhere on their bodies. They began heading to school, getting good grades, and actually doing kid things. Their guardians weren’t worried about whether or not their kid would come home covered in bruises or in a body bag for that matter. For a lot of them, it made them realize that quitting the life of constant fighting was actually kind of relieving, and at the same time, after everything they had been through, it made them feel like they were capable of anything.

It felt weird not having a bandage on his face every day. His cheek not being swollen or having a split lip or a sore, aching body when he woke up the next morning was a different experience. He could run his hands over his face without having to worry about accidentally pressing too hard on a bruise. Out of all of the old members, he was the one who usually had a wound here or there constantly. 

Now? The only wounds that he got were scratches from kitten’s claws or puppies’ teeth. 

He stood at the counter, staring down at his arm with a slight frown on his face. A few animals there were a bit vicious. They’d get scared and bite him a bit but they eventually warmed up to him. It wasn’t their fault. They had a bad history with humans after being abandoned on the streets. He didn’t blame their skepticism of him. 

This time it was a small, white dog someone had found astray and brought it to him earlier that afternoon. He had made an effort to brush out its fur after having given it a bath and it bit him. Probably from being cold and scared. It was a small bite on the side of his wrist he ignored for the rest of the time he tended to the animal and kept his calm about the small stinging. He put the dog in one of the empty cages with a bowl of food and water then moved to finally take care of himself and get a bandaid. 

A chime sounded through the pet shop but the young worker there didn’t look up from his hand. Instead, he picked up a bandage, placed it over the small, slightly-bleeding bite, and then lightly rubbed his hand back and forth on it to make sure it would stay in place.

“You get bit again, Chifuyu?”

“Maybe,” Chifuyu responded. He glanced up from his arm toward the door where another boy walked in. There was a box in his hands that had a sticker planted on it of the company they ordered supplies from. “What’s that?”

“Bowls,” they responded, placing it on the counter. He went to grab a pair of scissors to open it. Chifuyu squinted at his face for a second. Slightly red cheek, and Chifuyu swore if he looked closer, there was a small cut. His eyes wandered back to the box and he noticed the corner of the cardboard box was pushed in.

Chifuyu grabbed his hand to stop the other from taking the scissors from a cup sitting on the counter. “Baji.”

“What?”

“Why is your cheek red?”

“Well—“

“And the box is dented,” Chifuyu cut off. “You got in a fight, didn’t you?”

Keisuke sighed and sat down on the stool behind the counter. “Some assholes were picking on a group of middle schoolers,” he explained. He watched as Chifuyu stepped up to the counter where an opened first AID kit was set out already. For a moment, he thought Chifuyu had gotten it out in expectation that Keisuke would return with an injury but then his eyes drifted from it to Chifuyu’s wrist on the side where the bandage sat. He never made a big deal about getting bit by the animals, he just said that was all a part of gaining the animals’ trust. Keisuke was glad that he found someone who loved animals just as much as he did. He was even luckier that Chifuyu agreed to work with him.

Chifuyu was careful as he reached out toward Keisuke. He tucked the other’s long hair behind his ear so he could make it easier to get to the injury. With a cold alcoholic wipe, Chifuyu pressed it against the other’s red cheek. It stung a little, and Keisuke let out the quietest hiss, but Chifuyu put pressure on it and watched the blood from the small cut soak into the wipe. 

“I haven’t gotten in a fight in a while,” Keisuke said as an excuse when silence was the only thing between them and the disinfectant. It was a good enough excuse. He was a bit rusty. Fighting was fun, he always looked for it, but his free time went more to studying now that he wasn’t in a gang anymore. Especially now that he had an actual dream he wanted to get to. 

“I know,” Chifuyu said, even though it had only been about a week since the other’s last fight, and he took his hand away from Keisuke’s face to reach back into the box, “but no one is going to hire you or sign you any sort of business if you’re beating up every kid on the block.” He placed a small bandaid over Keisuke’s cheek and backed up to look at his work as if it had been a big injury and hard to fix up. “I agreed to help work with you in the pet shop, not to tend to your wounds every time you get into a fight along the way.”

“I appreciate it?” Keisuke said.

“Get your own damn yakisoba on the way home,” Chifuyu muttered. He began to pack away the first AID kit and clean up the mess. Keisuke didn’t argue because he knew that Chifuyu would never let him have his own order of yakisoba. He’d always steal half. 

Chifuyu put away the first AID kit under the counter for the next time that he knew he would need it. Soon he would have to make a run to refill all the supplies in the box. This was at least a weekly occurrence.

He headed into the back office of the pet store where they would put their things along where all the important background information was stored. His backpack sat leaned against the wall under where his jacket hung on a hook. He made his way to the office chair at the desk and sat down. An organizer of folders was on the far back on the surface, and he reached for it, grabbing the folder of papers that read ‘ORDERS.’ Chifuyu flipped through it to find the one that had the new food and water bowls that Keisuke had just carried in. 

“Hey, Chifuyu, where’s the animal that bit you?!” 

Chifuyu paused while flipping a page, raising an eyebrow as he looked toward the open office door. He let the paper drop and move to the next page. ‘Why is he asking?’ He thought. “It’s the white dog in the cage on the far left, why?!”

He didn’t get a response but at least Keisuke was quiet now and Chifuyu could focus on finding the order. As his eyes scanned the page, he opened the top drawer and pulled out the pricing gun. He finally found it, ‘animal food bowls x12’ , with a string of numbers for the barcode and a price next to it. Chifuyu switched the price on the gun to the correct one, returned the order form back to the folder and to the organizer, and stood up to leave. 

The second he stepped out of the office, he planned to call out to Keisuke to price the new item. He began to open his mouth but stopped when he spotted the other sitting at the counter.

Keisuke held the puppy up and glared at it but there was less bite in it than the actual bite Chifuyu had just gotten ten minutes or so ago. He frowned at the animal.

“Biting, huh? I like getting into fights too but you can’t be biting everyone, especially Chifuyu. He’s nice, he’ll look out for you. Trust me, he’s the human you wanna put your faith in.” Keisuke brought his feet up on the bars on the bottom of the stool so he could set the dog on his lap. He brushed back the fur on its head “He did a good job giving you a bath, too. See? He takes good care.” A soft smile was on his face as he petted the puppy. 

Chifuyu cleared his throat and stepped out of the back office. He was smiling wide because Keisuke yelling at the puppy in a nice tone because he couldn’t be mean was actually so cute. “That’s what you wanted to do?” He asked. “Nicely scold the puppy?”

Keisuke quickly snapped his head to look. "I’m not going to be mean,” he defended. “How much did you hear?”

“Enough to make you feel embarrassed so I’ll spare you the details.” Chifuyu placed the pricing gun on top of the box with the new order in it. “Restock these, would you?”

“Why do I have to do it?” Keisuke muttered. 

“Unless you want to be the one to clean the cages, be my guest—“

“Chifuyu, you’re too kind. I’ll get right on restocking,” Keisuke quickly switched to as he stood up from the stool, the puppy cradled in one arm. He had a grin on his face, showing off the pointy teeth. Chifuyu swore the other would sharpen the fangs before when they were all in a gang but maybe they were just naturally like that? It wasn’t as if they all had dropped everything they did from their delinquent era. Already in their second year of high school, Chifuyu was still bleaching his hair blonde. It wouldn’t be surprising if Keisuke was in the habit of sharpening his teeth. Chifuyu would ask out of curiosity at a later time. Definitely not when Keisuke was finally busy doing his job.

With a sigh, he headed into the back office to retrieve the cleaning supplies. Before he disappeared out of sight, he paused in the doorway and looked back at Keisuke who was returning the white dog to its new cage.

“Baji,” he called out. The other turned his head to look at him, hand blindly sliding over the lock on the cage. “After I’m done cleaning, it should be time to close up so start sweeping after you’re done? If not, I’ll do it—“

“I got it, I got it,” Keisuke said. “You gotta stop trying to do everything yourself. I can sweep a floor, Chifuyu.”

Chifuyu smiled and nodded, then left to do his last task of the day.

“It was right over there.”

Chifuyu glanced over from watching in front of him to where Keisuke was pointing. The corner of a street. Since it was late at night, probably near nineteen but the days were shorter and nights were longer, the sidewalk was illuminated by a street light. Even Chifuyu who was far from returning to his era of fights and delinquency could spot a small stain of blood on the pavement.

“You really handed it to them, huh?” He muttered under his breath, knowing that Keisuke was implying that was where his brawl earlier had taken place. Could Keisuke really escape the life of violence? He was brutal, and he loved the thrill of beating the next man to a bloody plump. Unless he was friends with them, of course. One exception was two years ago. The heart-breaking, unexpected apology that Chifuyu got from Keisuke after Bloody Halloween for nearly killing him to prove his fake loyalty to Valhalla. Keisuke paid for yakisoba for a year after that. 

—winter, ‘05

“Chifuyu, hey,” a voice said. He sat down on the stairs of the apartment complex. A prime spot for them to hang out until morning or whenever after school—sometimes a meal of yakisoba shared between them. “I’m sorry.”

“Huh?” Chifuyu blinked a few times. He scoffed. “For what?”

“Beating you senseless.”

“You had to.”

“I could’ve at least told you,” Keisuke muttered. He leaned on his knee, his arm bent up so he could chew on his fingernail. His eyebrows were crossed, his face showing pain and regret. Chifuyu hated that look on his face. Where did the confidence go?

Chifuyu shook his head. “That would’ve ruined it—would’ve messed everything up. It worked because of my blind faith, Baji. It seemed real to them—to me.” He took a deep breath because Chifuyu shoved the memory of Bloody Halloween into the back of his mind. It hurt him to think about it. Every part of him hated remembering when Keisuke was dying in his arms. If the ambulance hadn’t arrived, Keisuke would have—

Yeah.

“It hurt, Baji,” Chifuyu admitted in a whisper, “because for a mere second when you pushed past me because I couldn’t hit you, I stopped believing in you and I just believed you; I thought you really left us for a second.” He lightly grabbed Keisuke’s arm at the wrist and pulled it from his face to stop him from chewing on his nail. “But you don’t have to apologise for that or beating me up or whatever. You did it for Toman. The other founding members are your family, blood or not. You did it for them.

“But I’ll always trust you. I’m sorry for doubting you for that second.”

“I can’t believe you just apologized to me during my apology.”

Chifuyu laughed. He stood up from his spot on the concrete stairs and stretched. A cloud of white smoke extended out in the air in front of him as he let out a huff. It was cold, and he liked the cold but he knew Keisuke wasn’t as big of a fan.  “Come on,” Chifuyu said. “My mom’s making dinner.” He extended an arm out.

“Yakisoba?” Keisuke asked, getting pulled to his feet from the stairs.

“Well, no,” Chifuyu said, “but I’m sure we can make an instant serving of it for a side. She wouldn’t mind the trouble.”

“To split.”

Chifuyu nodded. “To split.”

—current time, fall ‘07

Chifuyu clicked the elevator button and waited for it to arrive down to the first floor. “Coming over or heading home?” He asked. He would never get sick of living in the same apartment complex as Keisuke. It was strange how it ended up like that but neither of them complained; Keisuke was on the fifth floor, Chifuyu was on the second. 

“What do you want?”

“World peace,” Chifuyu replied as the elevator doors opened. Keisuke scoffed and shoved his shoulder into Chifuyu as he walked past him. With a grin, Chifuyu followed. “If you don’t come over, I was just going to eat, shower, sleep, then head to bed,” he properly answered. 

“And if I come over?” Keisuke asked. 

“Oh, I don’t know,” Chifuyu said, clicking the button for the second floor then the fifth. “Probably eat, shower, and then watch you play with Peke J.”

“Weirdo,” Keisuke said as the elevator doors closed and it began to rise.

“It’s amusing,” Chifuyu defended. “You’re like a cat yourself.”

Keisuke stayed silent only because he didn’t have a valid argument against it. It made Chifuyu smile only because he knew he won. 

The elevator stopped, and Chifuyu stepped in the doorway to stop the doors from closing. He looked back at Keisuke who hadn’t had the chance to move yet. "Coming or no?” He asked.

“You get your sleep,” Keisuke said, letting himself fall back on his heels so he could lean against the far elevator wall. “You overwork yourself, Chifuyu.”

“Maybe if you got there on time and not three hours late,” Chifuyu muttered. 

“The police wouldn’t stop questioning me,” Keisuke replied. 

“Well, tomorrow you work and I don’t so you better be there on time.”

“I will.”

“Do you need me to walk you there?”

“I can find it perfectly well on my own.”

“Sure, Poindexter.”

Keisuke stepped forward and pushed Chifuyu out of the elevator. “Get lost.”

Chifuyu smiled and waved to Keisuke as the elevator doors began to close. “Goodnight, Baji.”

“Goodnight.”

—fall, '07

Drumming his fingertips to a beat that only played on his head, it came across as irritating to the people around him that were in earshot. Though he was so bored. Reviewing school material that he already understood far too well only because he went over it a million times while trying to get Keisuke to understand it just once. He knew it like the back of his hand but somehow Keisuke only knew it if he was reading along with it. 

“Chifuyu. Stop.”

“Sorry,” Chifuyu muttered. His fingers stopped making noise against the desk. He didn’t glance over at his classmate who sat next to him and told him to stop. His eyes glanced over down at his notes which weren’t there. He didn’t need to take anything so he was left with a blank page. 

Instead, he started bouncing his knee. At least that was quiet. He just wanted to go to work—which was a weird thing to want, he realized. His mother would come home and complain about her sore feet. He would make her dinner as she took a bath on her worst days. She took care of him, he took care of her. 

He wondered when he would get sick of his job the same way that his mother did. Would he come home wanting to skip a meal and a shower just to collapse on his bed and pass out? He didn’t want to. Chifuyu wanted to enjoy every day at work and live an easy life of relaxation. 

Though that was kind of unrealistic. Everyone had bad days but he at least wanted to have as many good ones as possible. And he worked with Keisuke and the animals. He couldn’t really see anything going wrong—as long as his past didn’t come to bite him in the ass. 

Chifuyu left his past completely behind. He started working a part-time job at the pet store with Keisuke because he loved animals and Keisuke, his best friend, asked him to. His old Toman jacket hung on the wall in his room, and sometimes, he would wear it around the house when he was home alone just to relive his earlier days. He was safer but the thrill in his life was gone. 

Keisuke, on the other hand, was still tied up in some gang-related business. Always coming into work late having dealt with a fight, searching for something to kick, looking for an excuse to throw a punch. A week before, Chifuyu had figured out Keisuke got himself in an underground fight with money being thrown around. He would’ve never got caught if he didn’t let himself get injured but coming in with a swollen face and Chifuyu pressured the information out of him. 

—a week prior

“Stop staring at me.”

Chifuyu glared. His arms were crossed over his chest, his finger tapping on his elbow. He glared at Keisuke who sat on the countertop of the pet shop. They were closed by that time, nothing left to do but turn the lights off and close up. Keisuke hadn’t worked that day, it was only Chifuyu’s day, but he came in after hours to get patched up after being beaten in a fight. 

“Chifuyu.”

“How did you even get beat up this badly?” Chifuyu asked. “ Without me hearing about a fight going on.” He pulled out his phone and checked his messages. “Usually, Takemitchy texts me when he hears about a fight so why is this radio silent?” Chifuyu squinted at Keisuke and leaned closer. He poked the other’s cheekbone to which he hissed. His face was already gaining a dark purple bruise. 

“The police never showed up.”

“So you, Baji Keisuke, got in a fight so bad that even you  got your ass kicked and you’re telling me it wasn’t a big enough fight for the police to show up?”

“I didn’t get my ass kicked.”

“Yes, you did.” Chifuyu moved to the small refrigerator in the room. It had cold drinks set in there for sale at the shop. He borrowed a cold bottle of water and headed back over to Keisuke. Raising it, he carefully held it against Keisuke’s bruised cheek. “I’m surprised too. You usually win. What happened?”

Keisuke stayed quiet.

“Spill, Baji,” Chifuyu said, lowering the bottle from the other’s face. 

Keisuke sighed. “It was underground fighting,” he admitted. “Back in middle school in our second year, the middle school third years were nothing,” he said. “But not fighting for a while and dealing with third year high schoolers on top of that is harder. I got too cocky after winning a few fights.”

“How long were you fighting for?”

“A few hours.”

“How many did you win?”

“Enough to make fifty-five thousand yen.”

Chifuyu paused. He was unwrapping a bandage to put on Keisuke’s face. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Yakisoba’s on me tonight?”

Chifuyu scoffed. “Would’ve been on you regardless as a payment for fixing you up,” he muttered, flattening the new bandage on Keisuke's face.

“The hospital is expensive and they question you.”

“Thought you just said you made fifty-five thousand, Mr Money?”

“They question you then,” Keisuke said. “I don’t like getting questioned.”

“I’m questioning you right now,” Chifuyu said.

“You’re different.”

“Mhm,” Chifuyu hummed. He finished up and packed away the first AID kit. 

“What’s wrong?” Keisuke asked. “You really don’t like bandaging me up that badly?”

“No, that’s not it,” Chifuyu muttered. He left into the back and grabbed his coat and backpack before returning. Dropping the bag on the ground, he slipped on his jacket and looked at Keisuke. “Partly. I don’t like you getting hurt, and I don’t like you fighting.”

“Fighting’s all I’ve got.”

“All you did have,” Chifuyu corrected. “Now, you have a dream and that’s to take over this pet stop,” he said as he looked around. “Or at least have your own.” He picked up his school bag and set one of the straps on his shoulder. “That’s gonna be hard if you’re fighting all the time.”

“You tell me this every week.”

“Maybe it means something then,” Chifuyu said. He walked past Keisuke and headed to the door. “Come on. You owe me yakisoba.”

—current time, fall ‘07

Keisuke was slowing down a bit but he struggled. He still fought, and he still showed up with bruises. Chifuyu was always the one to fix him up because he trusted Chifuyu and hated the hospital. 

“Seriously, what are you thinking about?” 

“Huh?”

“The bell rang.”

Chifuyu blinked and looked around the room. Classmates were filing out and leaving for their next class. One of Chifuyu’s close classmates was standing next to his desk, getting his attention to leave. 

“Oh,” he said. “Yeah, sorry,” he quickly said. “I guess I got bored.”

“Let’s go.”

“Mhm.”

—fall, '07

"It's freezing."

"So you've said."

”I hate winter.”

”I know, Baji.”

Keisuke groaned, throwing his head back on the walk to school. “I bet the animals are cold,” he said. Chifuyu frowned at the thought. He was always scared of how the temperature was at the store. If it was too hot or too cold for them, he would always feel bad. There wasn’t as if there was anything they could do about it. It was all so expensive. It wasn’t cold enough for snow, it was just reaching the beginning of winter, but it was already so cold. 

Chifuyu glanced over at Keisuke. He was like the animals, hating things too cold, hating things too hot. His jacket was zipped up all the way, face attempting to bury itself into his collar to shield himself from the temperature. He couldn’t help but chuckle softly to himself.

Tugging on the scarf around his neck, Chifuyu slowed down walking. It was slow enough that it was basically a stop and it made Keisuke pause and raise an eyebrow at Chifuyu. Before he could ask what he was doing, Chifuyu had the scarf off and was taking a step toward Keisuke. He wrapped it around the other’s neck and tossed the ends over his shoulders.

”What about you, Fuyu?”

Chifuyu shrugged. “You know I like the cold. Come on. The school will be heated.”

—winter, '07

The apron he worked in hung over his arm. He stared down at it as he stood on the other side of the desk. A sigh came from the woman who sat at it, flicking through papers and papers of information. 

“Is our location the problem?” She muttered under her breath. “Why have our sales been down? I don’t understand.”

“Maybe we need ADs,” Chifuyu brought up. He glanced up from the apron to the woman across from him. “Baji and I can head around and put up flyers,” he said while nudging Keisuke in the arm. He stood next to him. Both of them had been called in to talk about the shop and how it was doing. 

“I’m not sure that will work,” she said with a sigh. “People notice the poor lighting in the store and damaged flooring. Word about how poor the place is already spreads around. It wouldn’t work.”

“Manager, we have to do something,” Chifuyu said. “Or we’re going to get shut down.”

“We don’t have the funds to remodel,” the manager spoke. She took a deep breath. “I know how much you boys love this place but I can’t do anything. We just have to keep going until we lose.”

Keisuke picked up a rock that was sitting on the steps and threw it. He frowned and placed his hand in his palm. The wind outside moved his hair in front of his face but he didn’t react. He was too bummed out to care, and he was too bummed out to complain about the cold but the red cheeks made it obvious that he was.

“‘We just have to keep going until we lose’,” Keisuke repeated under his breath. “The fuck does that mean? We’re not gonna lose. We can’t lose.”

Chifuyu glanced over at him but didn’t say anything. They were going to lose, eventually. It was only a matter of time. How would they be able to stop the shop from failing? They couldn’t. The two of them were just kids. They would have to wait and watch it shut down. 

“We’re not going to fucking lose, Chifuyu. I don’t lose fights,” Keisuke said. “Are you gonna stay silent? Say something.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Chifuyu said. “I don’t want it to close down either but I don’t know what we can do—if we can do anything.”

“We have to do something.”

“We’ll do all we can, Baji.”

“Baji.”

Keisuke and Chifuyu both froze. It wasn't Chifuyu who spoke, this voice was different yet familiar. They looked away from each other to the voice in front of them. 

“Kazutora,” Keisuke said. The frown on his face turned into a grin and he stood up. He quickly moved to Kazutora and pulled him into a hug. “You’re out.”

“I’m out.” Kazutora returned the hug and smiled. He was far different than how he was before he was put behind bars. 

—Bloody Halloween, fall, ‘05

“I’m staying with Baji,” Kazutora said. He walked over to Keisuke’s side, staring down at him. Keisuke was barely holding on by a thread, laying in Chifuyu’s arms. Chifuyu looked up at Kazutora with a hard glare. “This is my fault. If he dies, it’s my fault,” he said, dropping to his knees. He held out his arms for Chifuyu to hand Keisuke over. “I want to take responsibility.”

“Not a fucking chance,” Chifuyu said through his teeth. “You keep your damn hands off of him, Kazutora. You’ve done enough.”

“Chifuyu, let him handle it.”

Chifuyu looked up toward the voice. “Mikey.”

“If Kazutora wants to take responsibility, we let him,” Mikey said. “I’ve learned that with Pah-Chin.”

“Chifuyu, go.” The voice was scratchy and nearly silent but Chifuyu could hear. He put his eyes back down to the boy in his arms. Just a kid. Keisuke was just a kid—they all were. He can’t die here. Not today. Not like this. “If I die, I die. You don’t want to be here for that, do you? I don’t want you to be here for that.”

“Baji-san…” Chifuyu whispered. 

“You trusted me. Thank you. But do me one more favor and get out of here?” 

Chifuyu took one shuddered breath. He hugged Keisuke one last time, shutting his eyes tight in hopes the scene would change when he opened his eyes again. Maybe this could all just be a bad dream. Anything would be better than this—even if Chifuyu opened his eyes to being kidnapped or something. 

But no. It was still the same view when he opened his eyes and he had his arms wrapped around Keisuke.

“You better make it out of this alive,” Chifuyu whispered to him. “I can’t eat yakisoba alone.”

“Leave half for me?”

“Of course.”

—current time, winter, ‘07

“I only got two years,” Kazutora said. “They let me out a few days ago. I figured it was about time I came and talked to you.”

“If you’re here to apologize, save it, Kazutora,” Keisuke said. “I forgave you that day. Once a member, always a member of Toman.”

“What’s up with Toman now?” Kazutora asked. It seemed to make Keisuke finch a little. He took a slow, deep breath. 

“Disbanded,” Keisuke said. “Mikey disbanded us about two years ago.”

“Oh,” Kazutora said. “I see. Where’s Mikey now?”

“We don’t know,” Keisuke said. “Gone. Not even Draken knows.”

“I’m going inside, Chifuyu suddenly interrupted. The two looked and watched as Chifuyu stood up from the steps. He didn’t give them a glance back. Without a word, he headed up the steps to the apartment complex and left inside. 

“He still doesn’t like me, does he?” Kazutora asked.

“To be fair, you did stab me trying to kill me,” Keisuke said. 

“Not like I tried to kill him,” Kazutora muttered. 

“I think it was because it was me that you tried to kill that he’s so bothered,” Keisuke explained. He looked down at the empty container of yakisoba that sat on the steps. Leaning over, he picked it up to take care of it. A single pair of chopsticks that they shared to split the instant meal nearly slid off but he caught it with his thumb. “I’m not sure he’d care as much if you tried to kill him.”

“He really cares about you, huh?”

“I guess so.” Keisuke sighed but then he paused. “You have a phone now?”

“Mhm,” Kazutora hummed and nodded.

“Let’s exchange numbers. You’re gonna need a start somewhere now that you’re back and without a gang to hang out with.”

—winter, ‘07

The following week changed. Keisuke told Chifuyu to take the whole week off of work. It didn’t sell Chifuyu at first because that was completely ridiculous. Stop working and leave everything to Keisuke? Baji Keisuke? The one that Chifuyu had to remind to do his homework? The very same person who got into a fight nearly every time he walked down the sidewalk? 

It took a little bit of begging for Keisuke to get Chifuyu to actually sit out for a week. 

“Do you trust me, Chifuyu?”

Chifuyu backed off after that. He agreed to take a week off.

It was weird having the opportunity to head directly home after school without any plans. And he didn’t. Chifuyu headed to the park and hung out there, stayed after school in the library, went out to eat with Takemichi and Hinata. It was fun, sure, but it was nothing like hanging out with the animals at the store, laughing at Keisuke for making stupid mistakes, closing up late at night, and walking home on a peaceful, quiet, dark night. 

Since he couldn’t resist wanting to go to the store and Chifuyu kept true to his word, he waited exactly a week before he returned. He didn’t tell Keisuke that he was coming back. If he told him he was returning finally, he was afraid Keisuke would ask him to take more time off. Chifuyu was deathly curious why Keisuke was wanting him away from the store and he was wondering how everything was going without him being there for a week. Now he would figure it out. 

Chifuyu stepped into the pet store that he felt like he hadn’t been inside in ages. The sounds of the barking dogs was like music to his ears. Right away, without even setting down his bag first, he walked up to the cages and wiggled his fingers through the bars at them. He couldn’t help but smile watching as the dogs inside quickly wagged their tails and jumped on the cage doors. The cats stood up from where they laid and rubbed their bodies against the gate. 

“Chifuyu.”

Chifuyu turned around. He smiled and waved at the other as he made his way from the cages to the counter. “Baji,” he said as he placed his school bag on the counter.

“What are you doing here?” Keisuke asked.

“It’s been a week. I’m back.”

“Uh, well,” Keisuke struggled to say, “do you think maybe you can take more time off? I mean, you need the break.”

“What is wrong with you?” Chifuyu asked. “And I mean that in the nicest way possible.”

“Nothing—”

“Baji, I got the boxes.”

Chifuyu froze as he looked at the person who walked in from the back office. They paused in the doorway when they spotted Chifuyu. Their face went pale—a ghost white pale. 

“Baji,” Chifuyu said. 

“Hear me out—”

“We can’t be hiring more people anyway,” Chifuyu said right away, and he pointed to them. “Hiring Kazutora? Aside from my own and what should be your own personal reasons, the store can’t afford to pay a whole other employee. Did you talk to the manager about this?”

“Of course, I did, Chifuyu.”

“Then why is he here?”

“I’m not being paid,” Kazutora finally spoke. He walked the rest of the way to the counter and placed the box down. “I’m just here to help out.”

“Here to help out?” Chifuyu asked. He felt furious. “Like you helped Baji during Bloody Halloween?”

“Chifuyu.”

“How could you just forgive that he stabbed you, Baji?” Chifuyu looked only at Keisuke now. “How do you know you can even trust him?”

“I’m standing right here.”

“Two years in prison can change someone,” Keisuke replied. They both ignored Kazutora’s comment.

“And you would know that because?” Chifuyu asked.

“Chifuyu, do you trust me?”

“Why do you keep asking me that?”

“Do you?”

Chifuyu took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and pointed his head down. “You know I do.”

“I’ve forgiven Kazutora,” Keisuke said. “I need you to forgive him too. Give him another chance.”

“I’m going to clear my head,” Chifuyu responded. “Good luck with—work.”

Chifuyu headed home. He took a long shower, letting the water hit the back of his neck as he stood there lost in his thoughts. Every time he looked at Kazutora, Chifuyu thought about Bloody Halloween. How scared he was, how much he was shaking, how much he was crying. Chifuyu’s face remained red for the rest of the night, even when he was in the hospital waiting for Keisuke to wake up. 

—Bloody Halloween, fall, ‘05

Soaked in sweat and blood, Chifuyu kicked down the side stand and jumped off the bike. As he ran up to the doors of the hospital, he heard a crashing noise. He took only a quick glance over his shoulder to see what it was. His bike was crashed on its side, but Chifuyu didn’t care and continued speed walking. 

He searched around for the sight of anyone he knew. Down the hallway, he spotted a head of hair that was familiar, short, and lavender. He rushed over to them quickly and put a hand on their shoulder.

“Mitsuya.”

“Chifuyu,” Takashi said. He looked around both ways in the hallway before coming back to Chifuyu. “Did the police see your face? Do they know—?”

“No, they don’t know I was involved,” Chifuyu said. “I had to hide for a while but I got impatient. Where’s Baji-san?” He spoke quickly. After Bloody Halloween, all the members spread out and hid away from the police that night. If they knew that they were involved, they would definitely be brought in for questioning, especially since someone was stabbed.

“In there,” Takashi said. He pointed to a door ahead of them. Chifuyu could spot the sign that read ‘SURGERY IN PROGRESS’ above the door. It was the only thing holding him back from going in there—or maybe Takashi was because he knew the other would grab him by the neck to stop him from interrupting the doctors. “They’re stitching him up right now. He’s alive but unconscious.

“Kazutora was arrested for attempted murder,” Takashi said. 

“Good,” Chifuyu muttered. He dug the palm of his hand into his eye and took a seat on the waiting benches outside the surgery room. 

“Come on, Chifuyu. Baji forgave him.”

“I don’t.” Chifuyu leaned on his knees, tilted his head down with his fingers tangled in his messy hair. “I don’t care. I don’t forgive him.”

“Chifuyu, go get some medical care.” Takashi placed a hand on his shoulder. “Baji isn’t going to want to see you all beaten up and gross when he wakes up, is he? You have to take care of yourself too.” Chifuyu lifted his head and looked at Takashi. “You got beaten up pretty badly. Go.”

“Okay, mom, whatever,” Chifuyu said as he stood up. He paused. “My mom,” he said. “She might be here.” 

“Have her fix you up,” Takashi said, putting a hand on his back and shoving him back down the hallway. “Clean up, eat something, then come back.”

Takashi didn’t let Chifuyu back until he did everything he said. Chifuyu cleaned up, changed into new clothes, a baggy, black sweater and joggers, and ate half an instant meal of yakisoba noodles.  He carried the other half of the meal into the hospital room that he was finally allowed into and waited with it sitting in his lap. His legs were crossed and brought up on the chair he sat in. He stared down at the meal, the container covered as he tried to keep it warm, and sat there in silence listening to the steadily beeping machine. 

Chifuyu lost track of time sitting there. The meal was far from being warm anymore. His back hurt from sitting in the same position for however long. 

“Chifuyu.”

Chifuyu snapped his head up. “Baji-san.” He scooted his chair closer. Setting down the yakisoba on a small table in the room, he grabbed Keisuke’s hand with both of his. Keisuke’s hands were cold. “Baji-san, hey. How are you feeling?”

“Hungry. Tired. Like I just got stabbed in the back.”

Chifuyu let out a breathless laugh. He let his head fall, bringing up his and Keisuke’s hands and holding them against his forehead. Even though he thought he didn’t have any more left in him, Chifuyu felt tears beginning to form in his eyes. He bit his lip, squeezing Keisuke’s hands. 

“Chifuyu, I’m alright.”

“What if you weren’t?” Chifuyu asked. His voice was shaky. “Fucking hell, Baji-san. I really thought I lost you.”

“You would’ve been fine,” Keisuke said. 

“I wouldn’t know what to do,” Chifuyu responded. He looked up, feeling a few tears now making their way down his face. It rolled down all the way and soaked into the collar of his sweater. “I would’ve been lost, Baji-san. I can’t lose you, especially not like that.”

“It’s alright,” Keisuke said again. He grinned. “I’m fine. Everything worked out, right?”

Chifuyu nodded.

“Then it’s alright.”

“Seriously never do anything like that ever again,” Chifuyu said. “Or I will hit you.”

Keisuke laughed. “Alright,” he said. He looked over at the table. “Is that yakisoba?”

“Huh?” Chifuyu glanced over too. “Yeah, but it’s probably not any good now. I can go get you more.”

“No, no, hand me the damn yakisoba. I’m starving.”

Chifuyu sighed. He grabbed the yakisoba from off the table and handed it to Keisuke. “Here.”

—current time, winter, ‘07

Chifuyu stepped out of the shower and dried off. He changed into clean, soft pajamas and left into the kitchen to clean. There were a few dishes from last night he hadn’t taken care of because it had been so little. He finished up and began cooking dinner. His mother would probably be home late again. Recently, delinquency was increasing and more teenagers were coming into the hospital with injuries. He was sure his mother would be tired once again.

Boiling a pot of noodles, Chifuyu stood at the stove with his phone, chewing the inside of his cheek as he scrolled through social media. Peke J was at his feet, rubbing his back against Chifuyu’s legs.

“What, Peke?” Chifuyu asked with a sigh but a smile. He set his phone down and leaned down to pick up the small cat. “I’m cooking right now,” he said, carrying the cat into the living room. “You can’t be next to me.” Chifuyu was about to place Peke J on the couch when the doorbell rang. He looked over and blinked a few times before he walked over to open it.

On the other side was Keisuke. He had his hoodie over his head that was damp and his hands shoved in his pockets. 

“Are you wet?” Chifuyu asked.

“It started snowing on the walk home,” Keisuke said. “Can I come in?”

Chifuyu sighed and stepped aside. “You couldn’t have stopped by your place and changed before dropping by?” Keisuke walked in. He pulled the hoodie off his head and turned to Chifuyu. 

“No, it wouldn’t feel right,” Keisuke said. Chifuyu raised an eyebrow as he lifted his hand to pet Peke J. “I wanted to say sorry.”

“For what?”

“For hiding Kazutora working at the store from you,” Keisuke said. “I shouldn’t have done it especially when you started working there for me.”

“Well, it’s not like I hate it,” Chifuyu muttered. He took a deep breath and sighed. “Kazutora is—fine,” he said. “He’s fine. I’m just scared.”

“Of him?”

“For you.”

“You’re being scared of him for me?”

“Can you fucking listen?” Chifuyu asked through a sigh. “I’m scared something might happen to you.”

“Because of Kazutora?”

Chifuyu shrugged and nodded. “Maybe.” He pursed his lips and closed his eyes. ‘I don’t need a Bloody Halloween repeat.’ Chifuyu took one step closer and let his head hit Keisuke’s shoulder. “Just try to stay out of life-threatening danger.”

“So normal danger is okay?”

“I’m not going to ask you to do the impossible.” Chifuyu lifted his head off Keisuke and took a step back. “You’re gonna be getting into fights until we’re seventy.” Keisuke scoffed but smiled. “Go home so you can change out of the wet clothes.”

“Fine,” Keisuke muttered. He turned around and headed to the door. 

“I’m coming to work tomorrow, too,” Chifuyu added. 

“See you there,” Keisuke said before he waved and shut the door. 

Chifuyu heard a sizzle in the kitchen and jumped. He let Peke J jump from his arms and ran to the stove. “Shit.”

—winter, ‘07

The cages were left open. Animals roamed free around the store and played with each other, dogs and cats together. Chifuyu was grabbing all the food and water bowls from the cages and placing them in a dish bin. It was about time to clean the dishes themselves before he washed the cages.

He headed to a room off to the side which had a sink and a dog bath. Setting the tray on the counter, Chifuyu started taking the bowls out and placing them in the sink, then he turned on the warm water. He washed them and set them aside to dry while he cleaned the cages. 

When he headed out of the room, someone was entering the pet shop. They let out a ‘woah!’ as they used their feet to block the animals that attempted to run out at the chance of the open door. Chuckling, they walked into the store after the door was shut and the animals had no chance of running loose. 

“Sorry about that. I didn’t think the animals would be running out like this,” he said as he looked around. Some dogs jumped on him, some kept their distance. The cats weren’t bothered by his presence. Only one or two walked up to him. 

“It’s alright,” Chifuyu said with a smile. “Good to see you, Draken.”

Draken smiled and walked over to the counter. He boosted himself up on it and looked around. “Good to see you too, Chifuyu.” His eyes wandered around the shop. “Lighting is a bit poor, isn’t it?”

Chifuyu sighed while he made his way to the cages. He started to gather all the animal beds and toss them into a basket. “Still not doing good,” he admitted. “We’re trying but there’s not much we can do.”

“Mhm,” Draken hummed. His eyes still scanned around the shop, probably making a mental list in his head of all the things in the store that were falling apart. 

“What’d you come here for?” Chifuyu asked. “I know it wasn’t just to get covered in animal fur.”

“Well, I don’t wanna rub anything in,” Draken muttered.

“I won’t be offended, I promise.”

Draken patted his hands on his lap and sighed. “Alright,” he said. “Inui and I just bought a building a few blocks down. We’re gonna open a bike store.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Dead serious.”

Chifuyu laughed. “That’s awesome.” He pulled out another dog bed from the cages and tossed it in the laundry bin. Wiping his hands together, he brushed off the fur that got on his hands. Some animals were shedding badly. 

“But hey, this place is looking better,” Draken pointed out. “The floorboard didn’t creek when I walked in.”

“Yeah, well,” Chifuyu trailed off. He leaned down and picked up the basket stacked with dirty animal beds. “Kazutora fixed it,” he said before heading into the back room. 

“Kazu—hey!” Draken hopped down from the counter and followed Chifuyu into the other room. He watched as Chifuyu started throwing the beds into a washing machine. “Kazutora is out?”

“And Baji has him working here,” Chifuyu responded. He poured in detergent and paused, squinting a little. “He’s actually been kind of helpful.”

“I see,” Draken muttered. “I didn’t know he was out already.” Chifuyu just nodded as he kept working on the laundry. Poured in some softener, something to make it smell nice that wouldn’t give the animals headaches. “And Kazutora is? Alright?”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s..?”

“If you mean is he like how he was during Bloody Halloween then no,” Chifuyu said with a sigh. He closed the washer and looked at Draken. “No, even I can tell he’s changed as much as I hate to say it.”

“So you still hate him?” Draken asked.

“I don’t hate him,” Chifuyu said. He walked past Draken. “Call it dislike.”

“And Baji?”

“Him and Baji made up on Bloody Halloween,” Chifuyu said as he grabbed a bucket and began to fill it with hot water and soap. “I was the only one who has really had a problem with Kazutora,” he muttered quietly. “He stabbed Baji. It’s hard to forgive that.”

“We were kids.”

“We’re still kids, Draken,” Chifuyu said while shutting off the water. He stood up straight and looked at Draken, crossing his arms. 

“You know what I mean. We’re definitely a lot more mature than we were when we were fourteen driving around on bikes and beating up random gangs who tried to take us out.” Draken clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You’re almost seventeen.”

“Oh, really? Thanks for telling me. I wasn’t sure.” Draken slapped him on the back of the head. “Ow.”

“Ass,” Draken hissed. “Let me know if you ever need help around here,” he said.

“Not when you have your own store to take care of now.”

“If you ever need money like to fix something up—“

“We got it, Draken,” Chifuyu cut off. He picked up the bucket of water. “Go.”

“Whatever, whatever,” Draken said. He turned around and started to leave. “Let Baji know I stopped by, and tell Kazutora I said hi. They should both come by the store, all of you should.”

“I’ll let them know,” Chifuyu said. “Later.”

—winter, '07

Chifuyu chewed on the plastic straw of his smoothie. He slowly drank it, not wanting to already go through one drink before the other person arrived to meet up with him. They planned to get lunch on a Saturday at some small cafe that sold coffee, tea, smoothies, and sweets. It had special deals on Saturday but this was Chifuyu’s first time getting to experience them since he had usually worked Saturdays. But with Kazutora working at the store too, it gave Chifuyu a little more free time.

“Hey, you’re here. Sorry,” his friend said, slightly sounded out of breath. He rubbed his hands together quickly, trying to warm up from the cold. The inside of the cafe was luckily very warm.

“It’s alright,” Chifuyu said. “Hey, Luna, Mana.”

“Chifuyu!” They both said at the same time. The two young girls hugged Chifuyu’s legs before they took a seat on both sides of him. 

“Taka, can we get the sweets?” Mana asked.

“You know you can,” Takashi said. He took the last seat at the table across from Chifuyu. Raising an arm, he got the attention of a waitress there. She smiled and nodded then disappeared into the kitchen. 

“What was that about?” Chifuyu asked.

“I actually take them here every Saturday,” Takashi said. He looked at Chifuyu. “So we have a usual by now. The waitress knows me well.”

“Finally, a love interest for you, Mitsuya,” Chifuyu muttered with a grin. Takashi didn’t think it was very funny. He glared at Chifuyu but didn’t get anything but a snark look in return.

“Be quiet,” was all Takashi replied back with. 

“Taka, can I get two donuts?” Luna asked. She jumped in her seat a little excited. 

“I don’t have deep pockets, Luna,” Takashi said. Luna frowned and sank down in her seat.

“Make deep pockets. Like stitch it or whatever.”

“Chifuyu.”

“What?”

“You are not funny.”

“I thought it was pretty funny,” Chifuyu said with a shrug. 

“Anyway,” Takashi said, rolling his eyebrows. “How’s the store?”

Chifuyu’s grin dropped. He put his mouth back on his straw. The two girls sitting next to him looked at him with a frown, noticing how his posture had sulked as well. “Not well,” he admitted. “The bulbs flicker and have terrible lighting, the floorboards are all old and messed up, the AC is and has been broken in the summer and spring and the heat is nothing during the fall and winter—I feel bad for the poor animals.” Chifuyu sighed and leaned his elbows on the table. “Baji doesn’t even know most of it.”

“He can’t tell there’s no air conditioning or heating?” Takashi asked.

“No, I mean like the numbers. The statistics. Behind the scenes,” Chifuyu said. “Baji doesn’t do any paperwork or things like that. He’s probably never even sat at the desk in the back office,” he said. “He just carries in shipment boxes, or fixes up things, or prices things from a simple sheet, or even is friendly with customers—sometimes he gives popsicles to the kids that come in. It’s actually really cute.

“It’s not that I think he’s stupid and he can’t handle doing anything like that, I just don’t want him to know.”

“Know what?” Takashi asked.

“Know just how close we are to being shut down,” Chifuyu said in a mutter.

“Shut down?” Luna sat up and tugged on Chifuyu’s sleeve. “Do you mean we won’t be able to see the animals anymore? No more Peke J?”

“No, no, Luna,” Chifuyu said. “Peke J is mine and you can stop by my house any time to play with him.” He ruffled her hair and she nodded. “The other animals would probably go to a shelter and conditions are terrible there. I can’t take them in, Baji can’t, Kazutora can’t, our manager can’t.” He sighed. 

“How much time do you think you have?”

“I’d give it three months before the bank takes the store,” Chifuyu said. 

“Damn,” Takashi muttered. “Can we do anything to help?”

“Draken already asked and I turned him down.”

“We’re here to help, Chifuyu.”

“I know and thank you, but we have to figure it out ourselves,” he said. “You guys have your own things to focus on.” He grabbed his straw and stirred around the smoothie. “We’ll figure it out.”

“If you say so,” Takashi said through a sigh. “Though I really think you should let us help.” 

Chifuyu didn’t reply. He thought if he kept fighting, he might fall into asking for help after all.

—spring, ‘08

The cat purred as it sat in Chifuyu’s arms, his hand brushing back its fur. He stood back and watched as the other two workers in the pet store worked together to give the door a new frame. 

Kazutora stood on a ladder holding a new piece of wood in place while Keisuke stood in the open doorway with a hammer.

“Hold it still, shithead,” Keisuke said.

“I am,” Kazutora retorted. “Are you too afraid to use a hammer?” He teased

“I’m going to use the hammer on you.”

“Scaryyyy—hurry up, Bob the Builder. I hate standing on ladders.” That explained why his face was a bit pale. 

Chifuyu snorted. He got a glare from Keisuke but he wasn’t affected by it. Keisuke returned to focusing on the door frame. He looked up and reached his arm up. As he grew up, Keisuke got even taller. A couple more inches maybe. Chifuyu only grew an inch through the past two years. 

Keisuke could reach the top of the frame and helped Kazutora keep it in place for a second. He then grabbed a nail from his pocket and got it set in position.

“Don’t move it—especially when I start hammering—“

“Would you hurry up, Baji?”

“Shut up. Yes.”

It took probably twenty minutes just to get the frame done. Keisuke wacking the hammer, Kazutora whining about how it was too loud. Eventually, Kazutora was allowed down from the ladder. Some color returned to his face. He really didn’t like the height. 

They then moved to work on a few things around the store. The day before, Kazutora and Keisuke had picked up a few sheets of wood, then they worked on measuring some parts of the store that were necessary to replace. Fixing the door frame was first, next was probably the window frame. They were beaten up and messed up from times when it would rain or when people would slam them shut.

The two worked as a team. They bickered a lot but it was clear nothing was serious. Chifuyu cleaned and took care of the animals. A lot of them were afraid of the banging noises from the hammer. He’d have to calm them down and let them know everything would be okay.

“Matsuno, you should head home.”

Chifuyu paused and glanced over. “Huh?”

“Baji and I are just fixing things up. We probably will be for the rest of the day. We got the shop covered,” Kazutora said. “Didn’t you say you had shopping to do?”

“I—yeah,” Chifuyu said. His mother and him had both been busy. They didn’t have time to do their own shopping. Chifuyu decided that on his way home, he’d head to the twenty-four-hour supermarket. He would end up getting home late but it would be the only store open then. If he left now, he wouldn’t have to go out so far. There would be an open store within walking distance. “Yeah, thanks.” He started gathering his things. “You guys sure?”

“Yeah, head out,” Keisuke said. “See you tomorrow.”

“If you say so,” Chifuyu said, lifting his bag and setting it on his shoulder. “Thanks, guys.”

Chifuyu left straight for the store. He had a list in an app on his phone that he had typed up the night before while looking through the kitchen to see what they needed at the house. Then he asked his mother if she wanted anything specific. She gave him a few things, and he put them down. 

He spent a few hours shopping but got home late. His mother was still working the night shift at the hospital so she wasn’t home yet again. He had to carry the groceries home and put them away all by himself. There was a lot but he got it done with one big sigh when he was finished. 

Peke J jumped up on the counter when he was done. He pushed one of the empty plastic bags with his nose and knocked it to the ground.

“Peke,” Chifuyu said with a sigh. He gave him a quick pat on the head before leaning down to pick up the bag. Peke J sat down and looked up at Chifuyu as he stood up, crumpling the bag up and tossing it with the others. “You’re such a troublemaker,” he said. “Guess I have a type,” he said quietly, his hand petting the top of Peke J’s head. 

There was a knock on the door. He paused and glanced over. Peke J looked over as well. 

“It’s late,” Chifuyu muttered. Another knock. “They sound in a rush.”

Peke J meowed and jumped from the counter. He headed to the door and sat to the side of it so that Chifuyu could still open it. 

Chifuyu figured he should open it despite not wanting to ever open the door for anyone after twenty-two. But Peke J wanted him to open the door so he would. He walked up to the door to see who was at his apartment so late at night.

And he froze. Chifuyu felt his body run cold at the sight in front of him. His throat suddenly felt dry in fear that the person standing on the other side would suddenly drop dead right there because he certainly didn’t look alive. Like a walking, beaten corpse minus the decomposing.

“Baji?!” Chifuyu finally broke himself to say something and make a move. He quickly acted and helped the other inside the apartment to bring him to sit at the kitchen table. 

His hand went to his back pocket and pulled out his phone. There was a trail of blood going down the side of Keisuke’s face that told Chifuyu the other probably had some type of concussion. He turned on the flashlight and tilted Keisuke's head up, then he shined the light in his eyes.

“There’s a slight sign of a concussion,” Chifuyu muttered. “Baji, what happened—hey, stay awake,” he said quickly when he noticed Keisuke’s eyes shutting halfway.

“I’m awake,” Keisuke finally spoke. “I’m awake, I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” Chifuyu said. He started to pull the jacket off Keisuke’s shoulders and tossed it to the ground. His shirt was soaked in blood and had a few cuts. It was completely trashed. He carefully pulled it over Keisuke’s head. “Don’t move. I need to see where you’re bleeding. Is all this blood yours?”

“Probably not. No.”

Chifuyu checked around. There were a few tiny cuts that he could ignore for the time being. The one big on his upper left shoulder that was deep was what Chifuyu needed to put attention to. How was Keisuke not dead? He was pale, wobbly, and barely keeping consciousness. What fight did he get in?

“Can you tell me what happened, Baji?” Chifuyu calmly asked. He slipped on a pair of gloves and asked Keisuke questions. It was either to keep himself calm, keep Keisuke calm, or keep Keisuke from passing out. Maybe all three.

“Kazutora and I,” Keisuke began to say, “we were heading home.”

—two hours prior

Kazutora and Keisuke finished up with the rest of the wood they had. They fixed up the door and window frames, a little bit of the flooring, and washed the windows. Kazutora even replaced old papers that were taped to the windows and printed out new ones. . 

“We work together well, you know?” Keisuke said. He wrapped an arm on Kazutora’s shoulder and looked at the new frames. “Even though you might be kind of annoying.”

“I’m not annoying. If anything, you’re annoying. I’m just whiny.”

Keisuke shrugged. “At least you admit it,” he said. “Gather your shit. Let’s go.”

The two of them walked home after closing up the pet store. They made sure the animals had food and water, too. Staying late to work at the shop made the two of them feel like they were really growing up. 

They were just about to reach the road where they would part ways when a group of teenagers stepped out in front of them. It was clear they were all third years, maybe some second but they looked older than they probably were. All black outfits with red accents. 

“Hanemiya. Baji,” the man in front called out. “Kind of ironic that the two of you are hanging out together.”

“Why do you say that?” Keisuke asked. Kazutora didn’t seem to want to take another step. Was he scared? He couldn’t be. This was Kazutora, though it did seem like he worked harder to stay away from fights ever since he had been released. He wasn’t scared of a fight, he was scared of further damaging his record. 

“Didn’t he stab you two years ago?” The man asked. “What do they call that day?”

“Bloody Halloween,” someone from their group said. The leader snapped his fingers and grinned. 

“Bloody Halloween. That’s right.” He snickered under his breath. “Hey, you both had a wonderful performance in that fight.”

“And?” Keisuke asked. 

“So how about you join my gang? We could use some strong, experienced members such as yourselves.”

“No thanks,” Keisuke said. He grabbed Kazutora’s sleeve to get him to follow him. Even though they were supposed to part ways then, Keisuke figured they’d go the same way until they got the gang off their backs. “We don’t fight anymore. Child’s play.”

Two people stepped in front of Keisuke to block their path.

“Move,” Keisuke said. 

“How about this?”

‘You’re still talking?’ Keisuke thought, and he mentally groaned. 

“If you can beat us all up, you can go and we’ll leave you alone. If we win, you have to join the gang.”

“Seriously?” Keisuke scoffed. “Is that it?” He looked over the group of teens. There were at least fifteen of them. 

“That’s it.”

“Alright,” Keisuke said. He ran his fingers through his hair, pulling it back before he tugged on the band around his wrist and tied it in his hair. “Are you helping me, Kazutora?”

“I guess,” Kazutora said with a shrug. “As long as you keep my name out of this fight that I did anything.”

“Alright, let’s fight.”

It started off with Keisuke swinging his leg back into some guy’s jaw. He was trying to sneak up on him two seconds into the fight. Already using dirty tricks. Kazutora and Keisuke had to be cautious in the fight.

A man went for a punch at Keisuke’s face, and Keisuke took a step back, wrapped his fingers around the man’s wrist, gripped, and twisted it causing the man to fall to his knees. Keisuke let go and moved back again when another came at him.

He looked around for Kazutora for a moment. His teammate squatted down, placed his hands on the ground, and twisted in a circle with his leg out, tripping at least five guys. It seemed that Kazutora never lost his touch. 

Keisuke felt something strike him in the head. It wasn’t soon after that a warm liquid trailed down the side of his face. Blood. His skull was bleeding. He started to see a few spots and stars. But he didn’t get distracted with the shapes and spun a kick at the person who snuck up on him.

He wobbled back as he turned to look who hit him. A man crouched down holding the side of his face with a lead pipe laying beside him. They were seriously playing dirty. 

“Asshole,” Keisuke hissed. His head was beginning to pound. Before the man could get up, Keisuke swung his foot up in his jaw, knocking him out and kicking him flat on his back. 

He turned around to deal with the others. Kazutora elbowed someone in the jaw while pulling back a fist to punch someone else in the face. The problem was that more people were beginning to surround Kazutora. They distracted Keisuke with people with weapons and went to dogpile Kazutora. 

Keisuke quickly rushed to the group of people. He pulled back on the jacket of someone and pulled them to face him. Drawing back a fist, he punched them hard enough in the face to break their nose, then he pushed them off to the side, throwing them to the pavement. 

He grabbed his next victim but fisted their hair and sent a knee into their gut. It was enough to make them almost throw up. They clapped a hand over their mouth and stumbled off to the side. 

Since most of the guys were beaten and thrown on the ground, it was easy to see as one pulled out a switchblade and started to head toward Kazutora. It made Keisuke’s scar itch. He rushed to get to Kazutora as the man with the blade was getting closer and Kazutora was oblivious since he was dealing with someone else. 

Keisuke jumped in the way of the attack. He pushed Kazutora into the man he was fighting so they both crashed to the ground and tried to dodge the knife at the same time. It got him in the shoulder, and he bit down on his tongue as he immediately retaliated. He grabbed their wrist with one hand and sent his fist into the attacker’s face. They stumbled back and dropped the switchblade. 

“Baji!” Kazutora was next to Keisuke in a flash. “Are you alright? Why did you take the attack? You could shout out to me or something!”

Keisuke tapped his temple with his finger and groaned. His head was still throbbing. 

A man stood up and they both looked his way. They glared at him enough to where he let himself fall back on his knee.

“Fuck!” 

Keisuke looked over. He watched as Kazutora fell to the ground, and seconds later, a lead pipe was struck against his side. Again. And again. And again until Keisuke finally did something about it. The pain in his head was not making him register the fight quick enough. He tackled the guy to the ground and punched him three times before he felt them go limp underneath him. 

Someone grabbed Keisuke by the shoulders and tossed him to the concrete. He could feel himself get cuts and bruises all over his body. Getting back on his feet wasn’t quick at all. He wobbled a little, and his head spun. But he found his ground eventually.

Yet another stood in front of him ready to fight. Over that guy’s shoulder, Keisuke could see Kazutora dodging attacks from a knife. He was backing up out of the way of a man who was stepping close and swinging a blade, sometimes slashing Kazutora in the stomach. Keisuke needed to help him. 

He charged the man in front of him as quickly as he could. At that point, he wasn’t very fast. He got punched in the mouth and could feel his lip split. Keisuke was lucky enough to snap back quick enough. He grabbed them by the head with both hands and slammed his knee into their neck. It was a bit brutal, knocking the wind out of them like that, but Keisuke didn’t care. 

They dropped to the ground, choking and coughing up spit, maybe even a little blood. He must have bit down on his tongue. That wouldn’t even have been Keisuke’s fault. 

The man was still slashing at Kazutora. He was too busy doing that. It was easy for Keisuke to sneak up behind him and put him in a chokehold which eventually knocked him out. 

“Holy. Shit,” Kazutora said in two breaths. “Are you alright?”

“Ask yourself that,” Keisuke replied. “My head is throbbing,” he said, turning around and looking at the defeated gang around them. “Let’s get out of here before they get up to fight again. We’re taking this win.”

They walked slowly. Kazutora wrapped his arms over his stomach and flinched every time he took a step. Keisuke’s shoulder was going a bit numb. 

“I need a hospital, I’m not gonna lie,” Kazutora admitted.

“I’ll drive you,” Keisuke said. 

“And you?”

Keisuke sighed as he tried to think. His headache was affecting his thinking ability. “We’re walking to your place,” he began to say. Kazutora nodded. “I’ll drive you to the hospital on your bike and then ride to Chifuyu’s. He’ll fix me up.”

“You sure you shouldn’t get actual medical attention? It’s bad this time, Baji.”

“I hate the hospital.”

“I know that.”

“Chifuyu has stuff from his mother anyway,” Keisuke said. “He can do stitches, too.”

“Not too many though,” Kazutora muttered. “After like fifteen, he gets all jumbled and messes up.”

“Then I won’t get more than fifteen.”

Kazutora squinted at him. “That’s not how it works.”

“Shut up,” Keisuke said. They walked up the path of Kazutora’s house. His bike was sitting in the open garage with a tarp draped over it. Keisuke tugged on it and pulled it off. “Come on, before you bleed out.”

—present time, spring, ‘08

“And then I drove him—OW!”

“Sorry,” Chifuyu said. It was the last stitch. The eleventh. ‘Thank god it was only eleven because they were right about my stitching ability.’

“Then I drove and dropped him off at the hospital then came here.”

“You should've just gone in to see my mom,” Chifuyu mumbled.

“And have her think worse of me?”

“She doesn’t hate you Baji, she likes you.” Chifuyu ran his fingers through Baji’s hair. “Gross,” he muttered. “Go take a shower, clean the blood out of your hair then I’ll put bandages on everything.”

Keisuke stood up, a little shaky, and Chifuyu held his hands out in case he had to catch him.

“Are you sure the stitches won’t come out?”

“Do you want to go to the hospital or not, Baji?”

“No.”

“Then trust me,” Chifuyu said. He pointed to the hallway. “Shower. Go. I’ll get you a towel and clothes.”

Keisuke grumbled some things under his breath but he listened, slowly making his way to the hallway. When he disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door behind him, Chifuyu started moving again. He fished Keisuke’s keys from the jacket he had basically tore off him and left out of the apartment.

Chifuyu rode the elevator up to the fifth floor. He walked to Keisuke’s apartment and opened it, dropping the keys back into his pocket. 

“Keisuke?”

‘Shit.’ Chifuyu didn’t expect Keisuke’s mother to be home. She was supposed to be on a business trip according to Keisuke. Chifuyu popped his head into the living room where Keisuke’s mom was sitting on the couch, looking up from a magazine as she waited for someone to walk over.

“Hey, Baji-sama,” Chifuyu said with a smile and a wave. ‘I can’t tell her about Baji.’ He swallowed back the truth. “Baji was gonna come over and forgot clothes so I came to grab some for him.”

“He’s making you run errands?” His mother scoffed. “Lazy kid needs to do things for himself.”

Chifuyu laughed. “We had a bet and I lost so,” he lied. “I’ll just grab something and leave. Sorry for disturbing you, Baji-sama!” He said as he made his way to Keisuke’s room.

With a relieved sigh, he closed the door with his back. Lying to Keisuke’s mother was always so hard. They both had that look in their eyes that was difficult to lie to.

He pulled himself together and got to doing what he went there to do. There was a sweater he grabbed, a t-shirt, sweatpants, underwear, socks. He scanned his eyes around the room for anything else that he thought Keisuke would want or need. His eyes stopped on the open window. He really kept it open to let stray cats in. There were even cat toys on the top of his dresser and a bowl of food and water that was always filled. Chifuyu smiled before he left the room

Passing by the living room again, he waved to Keisuke’s mother. “Sorry for intruding,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it, Chifuyu! Make sure you get him to study a bit while he’s there. You’re a big help to him. I’m thankful,” she said. Chifuyu nodded and left. 

He got back to his own apartment and threw Keisuke’s keys onto a small plate that held his keys. In fear that Keisuke might have slipped in the shower or passed out, Chifuyu sped walk to the bathroom and knocked on the door. He didn’t even wait to be invited in, Chifuyu just opened the door slowly.

“Baji?” He called out. The shower was running and the rest of the clothes Keisuke had on were laying on the ground. 

“Yeah?” Keisuke answered. At least he was alive. 

“I got clothes. Did you know your mom is home?”

“Huh? Really? I thought she was still out of town.”

“Me too,” Chifuyu said through a sigh. He walked over to the cabinet and grabbed a towel, then he tossed it over the shower bar. “Here. I’m gonna go make you something to eat, Poindexter.”

“Yakisoba.”

“Is that all I am to you?” Chifuyu joked, and he laughed. “No, you need something more filling than a half a meal of yakisoba but maybe I’ll make it a side.”

Keisuke pulled the curtain aside to pop his head out. “What’re you making a whole meal?”

“Baji, do you have any idea how much blood you lost? You need to eat, not snack.”

“Fine,” Keisuke muttered and disappeared back behind the shower curtains. “I’ll take my time then. Maybe use up all this nice smelling shampoo.”

“Baji.”

“I have a lot of hair, Chifuyu. It might not be an option.”

“If you use all my shampoo, I’m not letting you sleep with Peke J.”

“I won’t! Don’t go that far,” Keisuke sternly said. “God, you dickhead.” Chifuyu laughed before he left the bathroom.

Since he had just gone shopping, there was a lot to pick when it came to wondering what to make. He looked for a bit until he figured something to make and then quickly began putting it together. As he cooked, he pulled out his phone and brought up his contacts. Kazutora fought with Keisuke based on the story and was not left uninjured. It’d be wrong not to check in on him. 

He called him, listening to the phone ring. It was continuous, and after a bit of waiting, Kazutora never did pick up. It concerned Chifuyu a little. He called his mother after that.

She picked up after three to four rings. “Chifuyu? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, ma,” Chifuyu reassured. “Did um, did Kazutora happen to come in?”

“Hanemiya Kazutora? Into the hospital?”

“Mhm.”

“He did, actually. I patched him up myself. Tons of cuts on his stomach and chest—poor kid. A small conclusion. Broken rib.”

“Broken rib?”

“From what he explained, the fight was brutal,” she said. “But he honestly held up his own very well for fighting solo. I just wish kids wouldn’t be getting in such horrible fights.”

‘Fighting solo?’ Chifuyu thought as he bit his lip. ‘Kazutora protected Baji’s name even though it would probably damage his more.’ If Kazutora said Keisuke was there with him, it’d be less stress on his already damaged reputation. Leaving Keisuke out of it and being thought to have taken on an entire gang by himself? It couldn’t look good. It would make Kazutora seem a bit insane. As if he never changed which was not true.

“Yeah,” Chifuyu muttered. “Yeah, Kazutora can hold his own in a fight, that I know.”

“Is this the same Hanemiya you hate?” His mother asked.

“That I hate?” Chifuyu mumbled quietly. “No, I don’t hate him.”

“Dislike?”

“No,” he said, trailing off. “No, Kazutora’s my friend, I think. He’s different now.”

“Different from how when you were thirteen and you came into my office crying that some ‘dickhead Kazutora stabbed Baji and probably killed him’ and had you sobbing the entire time that you didn’t know what to do if Baji died and that you were lost and that you lost the one that you lov—“

Chifuyu hung up. “That’s enough of that,” he mumbled. He felt his face get warm but he blamed it on the stove.

—Bloody Halloween, fall, ‘05

After Takashi’s order, Chifuyu headed to his mother’s office at the hospital. He didn’t bother knocking but invited himself in and closed the door behind him. 

“Chifuyu?” 

“Momma,” he hiccuped. His mother scooted back in her chair. She dropped her pen and shifted all her focus to her sobbing, young son. “Momma, it was bad this time.”

“Chifuyu, what happened?” She stood up and made her way over to him. He had a beaten-up face. Blood and scratches everywhere. A few bruises were already formed and getting worse with purples and blues. He was shaking. It hurt to see him like that but no matter how much she told him to stop fighting, Chifuyu didn’t, and she knew how much Toman meant to Chifuyu so she never fought with him about it. “Chifuyu?”

“It wasn’t supposed to go like that,” Chifuyu said. He hugged his mother no matter how much they should have focused on fixing him up first. “Valhalla—they—I wanted to win but not by a thread like this.”

“‘Valhalla’? Chifuyu, you need to get out of this gang stuff,” she said. She pulled away and put a hand on her son’s busted cheek. “I’m worried for you.”

“Baji-san,” Chifuyu hiccuped. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve which wasn’t a good idea. It smeared dirt and blood on his face. 

“Baji? Baji Keisuke?”

Chifuyu nodded. “He’s hurt, mom. Really badly. Stupid Hanemiya Kazutora. Dickhead. Insane. He stabbed Baji-san, momma. I hate him,” he said through sobs. His face was burning red and puffy. Most of the time he didn’t feel like a kid. He tried to stay strong. Turn away from tears and act like a high scholar despite being only fourteen. But every time he thought back to Keisuke, he fell into being a kid again—which was refreshing sometimes to act like a normal kid. “He’s gonna die, momma.”

“What?”

“He’s in surgery right now, Mitsuya is waiting with him, but he’s not gonna make it. He—momma, he’s not gonna—“ Chifuyu hiccuped again. He fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands. Every ounce of faith he had of Keisuke surviving slipped through his fingers when he allowed himself to break down. “The first person I-I ever wanted to follow is gonna die—the first person I ever loved, Momma, what do I do?” He said in one breath taking a deep inhale when he was finished followed by another hiccup.

“Chifuyu.”

Chifuyu sniffled a few hundred times and looked up at his mother. She kneeled in front of him and gave him a soft, warm smile as a way to calm him down. 

“Let’s clean you up, okay? Then you can go see Baji-san.”

“But he—“

“Is going to be perfectly fine.”

Chifuyu took a deep breath, and then another, and then another one after that trying to get his breathing back to normal—or at least as normal as he could get it. He stood up with his mother’s help and nodded. 

—current time, spring, ‘08

Chifuyu chewed on his lip. His choice of words during the time had been weird. Not saying Keisuke was ‘the first person I ever wanted to follow.’ That was true. Keisuke was the first person he really wanted to follow, and Chifuyu would admit that to anyone who asked. The ‘first person I ever loved’ stuck with Chifuyu because why did he say that? It just slipped out in the moment. 

‘I was fourteen,’ Chifuyu thought. He mindlessly stirred the pot of food that was beginning to bubble in front of him. ‘Saying the first things that came to mind. It doesn’t count.’

“That smells good.”

Chifuyu nearly dropped the spoon but held tight. He looked over his shoulder and watched as Keisuke slowly walked over. His body was still a little pale. Chifuyu thought about sending him to the hospital anyway but he knew Keisuke would never agree so he didn’t even try. 

“Sit down at the table.”

“Why the table?”

“So you don’t pass out on the couch, Poindexter,” Chifuyu said, pointing to the kitchen table with the spoon. “Quit arguing.”

“Quit arguing,” Keisuke mocked but he still listened. 

Chifuyu finished up the food and brought a bowl of it over to Keisuke. He set it down in front of him along with a glass of water. Then he disappeared to grab the first AID kit. 

“Shirt off," he suddenly instructed Keisuke.

“What?” Keisuke asked. He looked at both his shoulders and then down on his shirt. “Did I get something on it?” 

“No, idiot. I have to put a bandage on you,” Chifuyu said. 

“Oh.” Keisuke set down his spoon and took his shirt off. “Duh.”

“Unless you want to go to the hospital.”

“Quit threatening me. I did it,” Keisuke muttered. Chifuyu laughed quietly to himself, and just then, Keisuke fell oddly quiet. He ignored it but he was also curious as to why Keisuke’s fingers twitched around the spoon. 

The bandage was just large enough to fit over the entire area of Keisuke’s stitching and a little more. Chifuyu ran his thumbs along the edges and then lightly smoothed his hands over the whole bandage.

“Ow.”

“Sorry,” Chifuyu said. He put his hands on Keisuke’s head and brushed back his hair, tilting his head back to get him to look at him. “Headache at all?”

“A little.”

“Sleepy?”

“Always,” Keisuke said.

“You are concussed.”

“I know, Chifuyu.”

“You should’ve stayed out of that,” Chifuyu mumbled. 

“I didn’t really have a choice.”

“I know,” Chifuyu said through a sigh. “I know. That’s why I can’t be mad.” He ran his fingers through Keisuke’s hair. “At least your hair is soft now and your skull stopped bleeding.”

“Doctor Chifuyu.”

“Don’t.”

Keisuke grinned, and Chifuyu couldn’t help but scoff. He leaned down and rested his forehead on Keisuke’s. It was silent for a moment, just standing there. Chifuyu took a deep breath that was a little shaky, and he dribbled his fingers in Keisuke’s hair.

“Chifuyu?”

“You scared me,” Chifuyu whispered. “I know you couldn’t avoid the fight but it scared me when you showed up half-dead on my door. You can’t do that to me.”

Keisuke reached back and found Chifuyu’s hair. He started his fingers at the bottom of the other’s roots and brushed up. “Sorry, Fuyu.”

“It’s—“ Chifuyu sighed, and he lifted his head. “Fine. You can go sit on the couch or whatever.”

“Is it safe to sleep?” Keisuke asked. 

Chifuyu nodded. “But I have to wake you up every two hours or so.”

“Are you sure I shouldn’t just tell my mom and have her do it?”

“Why would we do that?”

“I don’t want to bother you through the night because you have to wake me up every two hours,” he said. “That means you have to wake up every two hours.”

“I’m fine, trust me. It’ll make me feel better knowing you aren’t in a coma.” He lightly patted Keisuke’s back. “Put your shirt back on and go. I have to make sure everything is cleaned up before my mom gets home”

Chifuyu cleaned up while Keisuke watched T.V. on the couch. He had Peke J in his lap playing with some toy. His mom had texted him that she would be home late. The group that Kazutora and Keisuke beat up were there so more help at the hospital was needed.

After he finished cleaning, Chifuyu took a quick shower. He slipped on boxers, socks, soft sleeping shorts, and then he paused at the shirt. His eyes bounced between the shirt he brought to change into and the sweater he grabbed from Keisuke’s apartment that Keisuke decided he didn’t need. 

He picked Keisuke’s sweater. 

It smelled like Keisuke, which made sense since Chifuyu got it directly from the other’s bedroom, and it had some cat hair on it that Chifuyu didn’t mind because his clothes always had animal hair on them. His hair was getting a bit long, and he brushed aside his bangs a little but didn’t put much effort. 

He headed back into the living room and plopped himself on the couch next to Keisuke. Peke J looked at Chifuyu for a moment but his attention was taken back from the toy Keisuke bounced in front of him. Chifuyu pulled his legs up on the couch and watched Keisuke and Peke J instead of the T.V. 

Keisuke looked over at Chifuyu. “What?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Whatever, weirdo,” Keisuke said and put his attention back to Peke J. “You can go to sleep. I’ll set a two-hour timer before I fall asleep.”

“No,” Chifuyu said but he let his head fall on Keisuke’s shoulder. 

Keisuke laughed. He lifted his free hand back and ran his fingers through Chifuyu’s damp hair knowing that the other was already closing their eyes. 

—spring, '08

It had been almost a month since the huge fight that Keisuke and Kazutora got tied up in. The cut on Keisuke’s back still hurt if a ton of pressure was applied and it was hard to do repair work around the shop but he got it done. Kazutora stayed away from fixing things up since he was constantly irritating the many cuts on his stomach. They were still sore and bandaged up. 

The air conditioner buzzed in the room. It provided enough cool air for the two boys to focus on studying without being distracted from the summer heat beating down on them and making them sweat. Cold drinks with ice sat on coasters and were pushed up on the table so they didn’t accidentally knock it over. 

A groan came from one of them, and he fell back on the floor. He reached out and grabbed the small, black cat that was sneaking around and placed him on his chest. 

“Homework is bullshit, isn’t it? Stupid annoying shit that won’t be useful to me in the future. When the fuck am I going to use long division?”

“Baji, please don’t teach my cat swear words.”

“Well, you’re not going to.”

“You should do your homework while you’re here, Baji.” Chifuyu glanced over at Keisuke. The other boy didn’t look up from the cat in his arms. He had found a toy and played with it instead. A small fake mouse on a string and stick. He bounced it up and down in front of the cat. Peke J clawed at it and tried to reach it but every time that he tried to grab it, Keisuke yanked it out of reach. “Baji.”

“I’m busy. I’m playing with Peke,” Keisuke said. He twirled the stick in a circle. 

“Play with him later.” 

“With what time?” Keisuke asked. “I work. I deserve to come home and relax.”

“You should’ve done your homework while you had free time during work,” Chifuyu muttered. He sighed. “I doubt it was busy.”

“It never is,” Keisuke said. “It’s failing.” He dropped his hand that held the stick with a mouse on a string. His smile fell. “If it doesn’t get better, it’s going to be forced to shut down.”

“I know,” Chifuyu said. “It’ll be okay though,” he added. “Everything always works out for us.”

“Yeah,” Keisuke said. It seemed like he wanted to say something else. His mouth opened, but he paused and closed it. He looked back down at Peke J instead and rubbed his finger back and forth on Peke J’s tiny nose. “I’ll get my school bag,” he suddenly said. Keisuke still held Peke J as he left the room. 

‘What was that about?’ Chifuyu chewed on the inside of his cheek. ‘What did he want to say?’ Chifuyu figured that when Keisuke was ready to tell him, he would. It was only a matter of time.

Keisuke returned with his bad and plopped down. The issue was more Peke J than him. The cat went straight for his lap once he was sitting down. Keisuke immediately got distracted.

“Can you do your work?” Chifuyu asked. “We have exams to study for.” When Keisuke didn’t look at him and kept playing with Peke J, Chifuyu threw his pencil at his forehead. “You’re not getting held back again this year.”

“I would just drop out honestly,” Keisuke said.  “I’m sick of school. I don’t really need it to run a pet shop, do I?”

“I mean,” Chifuyu began to say as he looked over at Keisuke, “technically, no? You’ll probably use nothing you learned but you might need a high school degree to do some things.”

“Like what?” Keisuke asked.

“Like, I don’t know, why don’t you do your work?” Chifuyu said. “And give me my pencil back.”

“No, I think it’s mine now.” Keisuke sat up with Peke J still in his lap and picked up the pencil that Chifuyu had thrown at him. He twirled it between his fingers and then stopped, pausing when the eraser pointed up. It had a small eraser on the tip of it that was a kitten. Something stupid that Chifuyu had ordered off of the internet. “This is cute.”

“Shut up,” Chifuyu said. “It was three dollars on Amazon.”

Keisuke turned around the eraser and observed it. It was still in perfect condition. “Do you even use this?”

“No.”

“Then what’s the point of having an eraser at the end of your pencil if you’re not going to use it?”

“Like you said. It’s cute.” Chifuyu reached across the table. “Give me that,” he muttered. “We're nearly done with the school year.”

“And then we have to go back.”

“One year left, Baji.”

Keisuke groaned. He brushed his hair back from his face and picked up his own pencil. “Whatever.”

—summer, '08

Chifuyu leaned against the pole of the swing set. It was a park nearby the school—actually, the same park where he had met the person he was currently waiting for. He was there for a bit, chewing the inside of his cheek as he looked up at the sky. 

‘Should I text Baji and ask if he’s at work?’ Chifuyu worried he might have gotten into a fight on the way to work. Keisuke was getting out of fights and he could take care of himself but Chifuyu knew Keisuke wasn’t the best at avoiding the temptation of beating someone up. 

“He’s not typically late, is he?”

Chifuyu glanced over. “No, he’s not,” he responded. Hinata stood next to him, waiting with Chifuyu as well. 

“Do you think something happened to him?” She asked. 

“Could have,” Chifuyu answered honestly. “But this is Takemitchy we’re talking about.”

“Yeah, but sixteen-year-old Takemitchy,” Hinata said. “Not twenty-six.”

Chifuyu sighed. “Yeah, you’re right, but the Takemitchy of this time had adapted to fights when we still ran Toman.” He looked over at her and smiled. “I’m sure he’ll be alright regardless.”

“Mhm,” Hinata hummed. 

It took a few more minutes of waiting. Hinata and Chifuyu usually talked. They were fairly close ever since he and Takemichi became friends. Sometimes she would ask about the shop but it seemed she was too worried about Takemichi to be asking any personal questions.

Thankfully, Takemichi came walking over with a smile on his face and a wave as he made his way to them. He didn’t have any noticeable injuries and his hair was—well, not exactly ‘okay’ but it was normal for him. Chifuyu would have to teach him how to style his hair back like how he did in his first year of middle school. 

“Why are you so late?” Chifuyu asked. 

“Sorry, Akkun needed help with something,” Takemichi apologized. He looked at Hinata and a faint blush came on his face. Even after two years of dating her, he was still kind of nervous around her. “Are you guys ready?”

“We have been,” Chifuyu said. 

“Were you waiting long? I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Hinata said. Her voice was always kind and sweet, and it never failed to lighten the mood. Chifuyu had no clue how someone like Takemichi managed to get a girl like her. “Let’s go before they close.”

Chifuyu went with them as a third wheel. Against his will, kind of. He wanted to go with—clothes shopping with Hinata was actually quite fun but not when Takemichi was there being a nervous, flustered mess. 

Hinata held up a yellow sundress with a smile. It was gorgeous with patterns of flowers painted on it. The length went down a little past her knees when she held it up next to her.

“What do you think, Takemichi?” She asked.

“I—me? Well, I think—I mean you look good in anything, Hina,” Takemichi stuttered in a string of words that were difficult to understand. 

Chifuyu mentally facepalmed. He cleared his throat. “You should try it on, Hinata,” he said.

“Are you sure?” Hinata asked. “I don’t want to be trying on things and have you guys wait for me,” she said with a hint of worry in her voice.

“It’ll be fine,” Chifuyu said. “Go on.” He ushered her to the changing booths, and she laughed and finally agreed. “We’ll be looking around nearby so just call out to us when you’re ready. We wanna see.”

“Okay!”

Chifuyu grabbed Takemichi by the ear and dragged him a bit away from the changing booths. The other hissed from the mean tug but followed the other to the section of clothes that were nearby.

“Could you be any more embarrassing around women?”

“Says the one who doesn’t even have someone they’re talking to,” Takemichi snapped back. 

“I’m doing fine, thank you,” Chifuyu grumbled. “You’ve been dating for three years.”

“I know.”

“So what are you still so nervous about?”

“Let me be skeptical,” Takemichi muttered. “She could leave me for anybody at any time.”

Chifuyu remembered the time in the park that Takemichi had meant to give Hinata a valentine's gift. It ended in a promised marriage proposal for twelve years in the future. But of course, this wasn’t the same Takemichi. He wouldn’t remember or know of that.

“She won’t,” Chifuyu reassured. “Trust me, Takemitchy, she won’t.” He turned around and started looking at the clothes around them. “You should get a shirt or two though. We’re shopping together, not just assisting Hinata.” He glanced over his shoulder at Takemichi. At least he was looking at clothes too as he walked with his hands in his pockets. “Hinata would be a lot more comfortable shopping with you if, you know, you actually shopped with her”

“I get nervous. What if I grab something that she thinks looks stupid?”

“You always look stupid.” Chifuyu grabbed a shirt off the rack and turned to look at Takemichi. “Buy this for me.”

“After you just insulted me? Not a chance.”

“Come on,” Chifuyu pleaded. “It’s got the blue tag, it’s like ten percent off.”

“Then you pay for it,” Takemichi said.

“No. This pays for the second-hand embarrassment I get every time you try to talk with Hinata.”

“Hey.”

Chifuyu spotted Hinata first. She came up from behind Takemichi. The sundress fit her perfectly but the tag looked silly sticking up from her shoulder. 

Takemichi spun around and paused. He didn’t say anything—or maybe he couldn’t. His words were definitely caught in his throat. 

“It looks perfect, Hinata,” Chifuyu said. He elbowed Takemichi. “Don’t you think, Takemitchy?”

“What? Yeah, gorgeous—I mean—you look really nice, H-Hina. It suits you—well.” Takemichi scratched the back of his head, and Chifuyu wanted to bang his head against a wall. How could one man be so flustered and not die?

Hinata was unphased by it, somehow. She giggled and smiled. “Thank you, Takemichi.” She pointed to the shirt that Chifuyu grabbed. “That looks nice too! Are you getting it, Chifuyu?” 

“Actually, Takemitchy agreed to get it for me,” Chifuyu said, slinging an arm on Takemichi’s shoulder.

“Wh—“

“Aw, that’s so kind of you, Takemichi,” Hinata said.

“I mean, yeah. I’m buying it for him,” Takemichi quickly changed his mind—or was forced to now that Hinata was complimenting him. He slapped Chifuyu in the stomach. Hard. But Chifuyu held back how much it really hurt and smiled through the pain. He wanted that shirt. 

“I think I’ll get this,” Hinata said, looking down at her dress. She did a spin and nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

When Hinata left back to the dressing rooms, Takemichi pushed Chifuyu off his shoulder. 

“You’re a pain in the ass.”

“I got a free shirt so it doesn’t even matter.” Chifuyu nudged him in the arm. “Get something too. You look lame.”

“I don’t have all the money in the world.”

Chifuyu grinned and responded with a shrug.

“You have a job. Why can’t you buy your own clothes?” Takemichi asked. 

“It’s not fun when I spend my own money,” Chifuyu said. “That reminds me,” he muttered. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket. “I should see if Baji is at work.”

“Why wouldn’t he be?”

Chifuyu looked at Takemichi and blinked. “He’s Baji.”

Chifuyu [18:03]: Baji

Chifuyu [18:03]: If you don’t answer in 5 min I’ll call you 

Keisuke [18:04]: what

Keisuke [18:04]: is happening

Chifuyu [18:04]: Are you at work

Keisuke [18:04]: are you really checking in on me

Keisuke [18:05]: yeah

Chifuyu [18:05]: Without getting in a fight on the way ??

Keisuke [18:05]: i said i would get to work on time not perfectly

Chifuyu [18:05]: What happened 

Keisuke [18:06]: nothing actually someone just tried to invite me to do an underground fighting match

Keisuke [18:06]: i turned it down 

Chifuyu [18:06]: I bet that made you twitch

Keisuke [18:06]: shut up

Chifuyu [18:06]: I’ll drop by when I’m done 

Keisuke [18:06]: you dont work today tho

Chifuyu [18:06]: I want to

Chifuyu [18:07]: I’ll close up with you and you can come over 

Chifuyu [18:07]: Peke J misses you

Keisuke [18:07]: are you fr 

Keisuke [18:07]: did he say that or are you saying that

Chifuyu [18:07]: He’s a cat Baji he didn’t actually say anything 

Keisuke [18:07]: metaphorically ?

Keisuke [18:08]: shut up you don’t know peke j like i do

Chifuyu [18:08]: He’s my fucking cat 

Keisuke [18:08]: for now

Chifuyu [18:08]: ???

Chifuyu scoffed and slipped his phone away. There was a grin on his face—he realized it was there when he dropped it. “What?” He asked, noticing that Takemichi had been watching him.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were staring at me.”

“You were texting like a teenage girl talking to her crush.”

“What?” Chifuyu swatted Takemichi on the arm. “I wasn’t, and as if you have any room to talk, Mr. Smile Giddily At My Phone While Texting My Girlfriend Of Three Years.” 

“S—“

“I’m ready! Sorry that took so long,” Hinata apologized as she came out of the dressing room. She fixed her hair with one hand as the other one had the dress draped over her arm. “Are you guys ready? I have to get back home. My parents need someone to watch Naoto.” 

“I’m good,” Chifuyu said. He gave a thumbs up. “You, Takemichi?”

“Mhm. Ready.”

Chifuyu carried his single shopping bag in his hand with the shirt he forced Takemichi to buy him. He parted ways from Hinata and Takemichi at the park and headed in the direction of the pet store he worked at. 

The ride there on the train was lengthy so the ride back was also lengthy. It was around nineteen. The shop closed at fifteen. Keisuke should’ve stopped waiting, closed up, and went home at least an hour ago. 

Chifuyu planned on heading home. He was a bit tired from hanging out with Takemichi and Hinata for the day. Especially Takemichi. The kid needed some lessons on how to have a girlfriend or something. 

He paused on the sidewalk. The lights from the front of the pet store were on. ‘Did Baji leave them on?’ Chifuyu sighed very heavily. If Keisuke wanted to own a pet store, he couldn’t keep doing things like this. It was a good thing Chifuyu had the shop key on his keychain. He’d have to close it up himself. 

Chifuyu opened the door to the shop. It was unlocked. ‘Great. He forgot to lock it too.’ He stepped inside with a sigh and let the door shut behind him. At least Keisuke remembered to change the sign to say ‘CLOSED.’  

He headed to the counter and placed down his shopping bag. Since he was there, he figured he would check on the animals and their cages before he went home. He peeled off his jacket and tossed it on the counter along with his keys. 

“Chifuyu?” 

Chifuyu paused. He glanced up toward the door to the back office and stood there, watching as someone came out from the office. “You’re still here?” He asked, the surprised tone in his voice being very evident.

“You said I would be able to hang out with Peke J,” Keisuke said. 

“Really?” Chifuyu smiled. “Well, that clears my migraine. I thought you left the store lights on and the door unlocked.”

“I’m only stupid when it comes to school. I know how to run a store,” Keisuke said. “I cleaned the cages already.”

“You did?”

“Don’t act surprised, shithead.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Chifuyu defended. He picked his coat back up and put it back on. “Then let’s head home.”

Walking, Keisuke glanced over at Chifuyu. He pointed to the bag in Chifuyu’s hand. “What did you buy?” 

Chifuyu returned the gaze and looked at Keisuke. He lifted the shopping bag and looked at it for a second before putting his attention back to walking. “I didn’t,” he said. “I got Takemitchy to buy it for me.”

“Nice,” Keisuke said with a grin. “Tricked him?”

“Of course.”

“Mhm.”

“I’ve taught you well.”

Chifuyu shoved him in the shoulder. “You know, I did fight before I met you.” 

“Not very well.”

“Oh, shut up, Poindexter. You wouldn’t be passing school without me nor would you have a job,” Chifuyu said.

“I would have a job.”

“The manager didn’t trust you before I put in a good word for you.”

Keisuke muttered some words under his breath. Probably swear words, but he didn’t snap back with a reply or any sort because he knew that Chifuyu was right. Instead, they kept walking.

They made their way to the apartment building all the way to the second floor where Chifuyu lived. The two of them stepped inside, and Chifuyu announced that they were home.

“Mom!? I’m back, and Baji’s here too!” He slipped his fingers into the back of his shoes and pulled them off. Keisuke followed along and did the same. They headed into the kitchen, looking around for Chifuyu’s mother. There was a note sitting on the table. Chifuyu set down his shopping bag so he could pick up the note.

I’ll be out for the night, Chifuyu. Something came up at work at the hospital. I’m sure you can find something to make. I’m sorry :((

—mom <3

“She could’ve texted me,” Chifuyu muttered. He tossed the note back on the table and turned to Keisuke. “You want to take a shower first?”

“With Peke J.”

“You are not taking a shower with Peke J.”

“Fine,” Keisuke said, dropping his own school bag on the ground. “I’ll be quick then.”

’He’s in love with Peke J,’ Chifuyu thought, smiling softly to himself. He thought it was cute. 

Suddenly, Peke J jumped up on the counter. He ran his head into Chifuyu’s side and purred. Chifuyu didn’t yell at him for being on the counter even though he should have. He pet him instead.

”You love him too, don’t you?” He asked Peke J. In response, Peke J let out a meow, and Chifuyu scoffed. “Yeah, I don’t blame you.”

—summer, ‘08

The summer was hot. It was even hotter without air conditioning. Being inside to stay away from the heat was useless. The sun beat down through the large glass windows of the pet store. It made working so hard, and it made getting customers even harder.

“I just feel bad for the animals.” Chifuyu looked over at the voice next to him. Kazutora stood, leaning on the broom he held. He was sweeping the floors a bit. There was a small gust of wind from the open door that was carrying in some dirt. Kazutora changed up his look a little bit from before. He let it grow out even longer and usually tied it back into a high ponytail, leaving his bleached bangs hanging out.

Keisuke sat on the ground in front of them. He had a box of tools sitting on the ground next to him as he tinkered around with the air conditioning. Cats would walk around him and wonder what he was doing but he was so focused on trying to fix the AC that he ignored them.

“Me too,” Chifuyu finally said. “I might take one home every other day or something so they can hang out in my AC for a little bit. I won’t be able to take home more than two though.”

“My apartment doesn’t allow animals,” Kazutora muttered. He sighed. “I wish it did.”

“Can you guys stop fucking standing around me and go do something? I’m trying to work on this and you’re hovering,” Keisuke snapped.

“Oh, we can all poke tools at a machine. Don’t think you’re doing anything special, Baji,” Katzutora said as he tapped Keisuke’s back with the tip of his toe.

“At least I’m doing something aside from fucking sweeping all day long.”

“And the floors are beautifully swept.”

“I’ll kill you.”

“Maybe three years ago you would.”

“I’ll hit you.”

“Now, that I believe,” Kazutora said. Keisuke started to get up and Chifuyu put his hand on the top of Keisuke’s head and pushed him back down off his feet. 

“Stop it or we keep losing customers,” Chifuyu said.

“We don’t have customers because it’s hot as hell in here and the building is shit, not because I’m going to beat the fuck out of Kazutora,” Keisuke defended. 

“Which is something I’ve been meaning to bring up to you three boys.” The three of them turned their heads and looked toward the voice. They could all recognize it as the manager of the pet store who was also the owner. “We have been getting more customers because you’ve been pitching in and fixing up a bit, which I have my undying gratitude for. And even though it’s been helping a lot, I can’t have you boys continue to pitch in your own funds to help the store.”

“What?” Keisuke asked. He stood up from his spot on the floor, completely pushing aside his project on the air conditioner. “What do you mean?”

“You can fix things up, like the AC I have no problem with, but spending your own money on buying things to help build part of the store, I can’t have you continue to do that.”

“Why not?” Kazutora asked.

“You don’t own it, you boys just work here,” she said. “And secondly, you’re teenagers with one year left before college. You should be spending your funds for other things, not this crappy pet store with no surviving chance.” That hurt them to hear. They were putting part of themselves into the store. Getting told it was crappy with no chance? Chifuyu bit his lip and looked down at the floor. He saw the cracks in the tile and closed his eyes instead. “And Keisuke, no trying to secretly fix it up while I’m not here,” the manager said, pointing a finger at Keisuke whose eyebrows were furrowing in anger. 

“Who even said I was thinking about that?”

“Just don’t or I’ll have to do something I don’t want to do.”

“Like what?” Chifuyu asked. He opened his eyes and lifted his head.

“If you boys do anything else like buying lumber to fix the store, I’ll have no choice but to let you go.”

“Let us go…” Kazutora trailed off. “You mean fire?”

The manager nodded. Keisuke was about to say something, probably argue, but the manager’s phone ringing in her pocket cut him off. “Excuse me, boys,” she said, taking her phone from her pocket and leaving into the back office.

“Fire us,” Kazutora muttered. “I technically don't even work here. I don’t get paid.”

“She would still be able to legally stop you from coming into the store,” Chifuyu said.

“Whose side are you on?” Keisuke asked.

“Huh?” Chifuyu looked at Keisuke. “Are there sides?”

“If this place gets shut down, what do we have left?” Keisuke asked. “We have nothing.”

That wasn’t true. Chifuyu still had the idea of becoming a pilot. Kazutora was smart and would most likely be able to work his way up some corporate ladder. Keisuke was speaking for himself. What would he do? All he had was fighting beyond the store. He would turn to gangs, getting all beaten and bloody, near death. Chifuyu shivered in the thought of Bloody Halloween. 

Keisuke didn’t say anything else. He plopped back down on the floor and continued to try and make an effort to fix the air conditioner. 

Kazutora exchanged a glance with Chifuyu. Keisuke’s actions worried them. What they could picture happening in the future worried them even more. Though, nonverbally, they agreed with a nod that they would give Keisuke space and continued to work. 

On the walk home after closing everything up, it was different. The air was thick and it was hard to breathe but that was only because of the person walking next to Chifuyu. 

Keisuke wouldn’t relax. He was tense and had an energy around him that wasn’t good. It was clear his mood had dropped immensely ever since the manager told him that he basically had to let everything go. 

The two of them were about to cross a street when Keisuke stopped. Chifuyu paused once he realized Keisuke wasn’t walking with him anymore. He turned to look at him, hands deep in his pockets with his bag hanging on his arm. His shoulders were scrunched up just a bit as he forgot his jacket and it was still cold at night. 

“Baji?” Chifuyu asked. “Why’d you stop? What’s wrong?”

“Just go home,” Keisuke said. He dropped his own bag on the sidewalk and started heading in a different direction. It wasn’t back toward the shop or their apartment complex, it was somewhere completely different.

“Baji, where are you going—“ Chifuyu took a step forward to follow Keisuke but hesitated. The way Keisuke looked over his shoulder at him. 

“Don’t follow me,” Keisuke said, and then he turned and continued to walk away.

Chifuyu bit his lip, afraid of what Keisuke planned to do. He looked down at Keisuke’s bag he left on the ground. Knowing Keisuke, he probably left it in plans to come back for it but Chifuyu knew better. He knew that Keisuke would completely forget, never retrace his steps to grab his bag, and head home in a different direction. 

Worried, Chifuyu picked up the bag and then looked in the way that he let Keisuke leave. He could at least return the bag to Keisuke’s apartment, which he would do for him without needing to be asked.

‘He probably just needs time,’ Chifuyu thought, turning to head home. ‘I hope. I hope that’s all this is, is just a breather.’

—summer, '08

Chifuyu took the broom and swept the outside of the pet store. The sun was hot but it wasn’t like it would be any cooler inside. Keisuke hadn’t even shown up yet for work. Where was he? Chifuyu hadn’t heard from him since he parted ways from him the night before, and he didn’t even get a text from Keisuke saying that he made it home. It was a bit worrying but Chifuyu trusted Keisuke.

“What if he’s kidnapped or something?”

Chifuyu lifted the broom and swat the other in the ankles. “Not even funny to joke about because it’s incredibly possible.”

“Ow!” Kazutora whined. He lifted his leg to baby his new injury that was really nothing. “I wasn’t even joking, that’s why. It might have been three years since he’s been in a gang but Baji is still wanted by other gangs, either from petty, three-year-old grudges or wanting to claim him as a part of their gang.”

“I know that,” Chifuyu said. He sighed and looked down the street in the direction where he and Keisuke would walk to work from. No Keisuke, just a family of four walking past. “Have you tried calling him?”

“Have you?”

Chifuyu shook his head.

“Neither have I,” Kazutora admitted. “I wanted to give him space but it’s nearly noon.”

“Yeah,” Chifuyu quietly mumbled. “I should’ve gone up to his apartment before I left,” he said. “Here. Finish sweeping,” he told Kazutora as he handed him the broom. “I’m going to call him.”

“Mkay,” Kazutora said. He accepted the broom, and Chifuyu walked past him and headed into the pet store. 

Chifuyu went straight to the back office and grabbed his phone. He didn’t waste time ringing Keisuke’s number.

“Yeah?”

“Baji?” On the other end, Keisuke’s voice sounded kind of groggy. “Where are you?”

“I’m at home. Do you need me?”

“Well, no,” Chifuyu admitted. He put his back to the wall and slid down it, sitting on the floor. “I was just worried. Are you okay?”

Keisuke didn’t answer for a moment. There were some shifting noises, Chifuyu assumed he was rolling around in bed or something. “I’m fine.”

“You’re lying to me.”

“Only because I can’t see your face.”

Chifuyu laughed lightly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I can’t lie to you in person. You always have this look on your face.”

“Mhm,” Chifuyu hummed. He felt his face feel a little warm, and he clapped a hand on his cheek, sinking lower on the floor. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ll be there in a bit,” Keisuke said instead of answering his question.

“Are you sure?”

“Do you not want to see me, Chifuyu?” Keisuke teased.

“That’s not it. Like I said, I was worried.”

“Then I’ll see you in twenty.”

Keisuke hung up after that, not giving Chifuyu a chance to slip in another word. Chifuyu sighed, letting his hand drop into his lap. He stared at the phone screen until the screen timed out and turned off. That settled it, Keisuke was alive, and Chifuyu took another sigh as he got to his feet.

When he got out, Chifuyu could see Kazutora outside still sweeping. He decided he would leave him with the rest of the task and work inside the store. There wasn’t much to do. A lot of it was working the front. The cages were clean, the food and water bowls were filled, the items were priced and restocked. He figured he could dust things to pass the time. 

Chifuyu used a ladder to reach the top shelf. He ran the duster along and cleaned off the gross layer that covered it. There was so much done bit Chifuyu was nearly done getting all the top shelves which was the most annoying place to reach because he had to keep moving the ladder. He would have Kazutora do it since he was taller but the other did not like ladders.

“Eck,” he muttered, pulling the duster down to look at it. 

“Yeah, that’s gross.”

 Chifuyu jumped slightly. He grabbed onto the ladder to keep himself from falling. Turning, he looked to see who was standing beside him. 

“Baji,” he said, the shocked expression on his face quickly turning into a smile upon seeing the other. He set the duster on one of the steps and quickly climbed off it. Before he could stop himself, Chifuyu hugged Keisuke.

It wasn’t normal for them to do that, which made Chifuyu twitch when he realized he did. Sure, they hugged. Chifuyu held Keisuke before but it was the situation that mattered. Bloody Halloween when Chifuyu held him in his arms. That was different. It was the context behind it. Keisuke didn’t seem like the affectionate hug type of person to just hug because he missed someone. Hang on Chifuyu’s shoulder? Sure. Hug him because he wanted to just hug someone? Chifuyu wasn’t sure. 

He was going to slowly pull away and apologize for the sudden action but he felt himself freeze when hands were on his back. Chifuyu didn’t expect it either but Keisuke squeezed him in the hug, pulling him even closer than Chifuyu had initially gotten. Keisuke was warm. Maybe that was why he didn’t like the cold because he liked to keep his warmth to himself. So many questions Chifuyu had about Keisuke that even though they had known each other for five going on six years, he was still too afraid to ask.  

“Baji?” Chifuyu quietly asked. His hands were planted flat on Keisuke’s back. It was much different than how he was during Bloody Halloween. Three years ago, his body had been much smaller, which was one of the reasons why Chifuyu was freaking out so quickly then because he knew that a fourteen-year-old with two stab wounds would most likely not survive. They dodged a bullet—or a blade. 

His hands curled up around Keisuke’s shoulder, and he buried his face into the other’s shoulder and closed his eyes. It felt—nice. Really, really nice. Chifuyu typically didn’t hug anybody. Who was there to hug? Only his mother but this was different. He let out a soft sigh of relief and felt his own shoulders relax, falling into the soft comfort of his best friend that he didn’t even know could comfort like this. This was a lot different than just falling asleep on Keisuke’s shoulder when he got too tired while watching T.V.

Finally, Keisuke pulled away. Or maybe not finally. Chifuyu definitely could’ve stayed there for longer but maybe it was a good thing that Keisuke ended it. The other looked at him with a blank expression at first, but then his lips twisted into a grin.

“Your face is red, Chifuyu.”

“Huh?” Chifuyu slapped a hand on his face. He rubbed it a little, feeling the slight heat. Was he blushing?  “It’s probably the heat,” he muttered as an excuse but the way his stomach felt told him it was most likely something else. Chifuyu walked past Keisuke to head to the front of the shop. “I told you that you didn’t need to come in, especially if you were feeling sick.”

“I wasn’t feeling sick,” Keisuke replied. He spun around and followed Chifuyu. Oddly, his hands were buried in his pockets which was only odd because of the way he did it as if he were trying to hide something. “I was just—” Keisuke shrugged. “I don’t know. I forgot to set my alarm, that’s all.”

“Uh-huh,” Chifuyu said, not completely sold but he decided he wouldn’t pry any longer. Especially when he could notice a family walking in the pet store. He looked over at them and smiled, giving them a wave. “Good afternoon,” he said, customer service voice and all. 

“Mister Worker Sir!” A small girl ran into the store. 

“‘Mister Worker Sir’,” Keisuke muttered under his breath, leaning toward Chifuyu, and Chifuyu couldn’t help but scoff with a small laugh under his breath. 

Chifuyu kneeled down to the young girl’s level who ran up to him. She had pigtails, bright purple hair, and a line of freckles that dotted her face. One of her front teeth were missing, she had dirt smudges on her clothes, and a tiny bandaid on her left cheek. She kind of reminded Chifuyu of himself when he was younger, he just hoped she wasn’t getting herself into any gang fights.

“Matsuno Chifuyu,” he introduced himself with a smile, holding out his hand. “To whom do I owe the pleasure?”

“Akane Yuuki!” She said. Yuuki accepted the handshake from Chifuyu. Suddenly, her very confident aura dropped. She put her hands behind her back and began nervously rocking back and forth on her heels. Her eyes had dropped to the floor away from Chifuyu’s. “I was wondering,” she began to say quietly, “if I could see the kitties? Please, Matsu!” She jumped and looked at Chifuyu. Her energy was all over the place.

“Of course,” Chifuyu said with a smile. He stood up and headed over to the cages. “Any kitten you have in mind specifically? Or is this your first time in here?”

“First time.”

Chifuyu nodded. He opened one of the cages that had a white kitten in it. The kitten was calm, he knew, and she wouldn’t attack or be afraid of Yuuki. He thought it was a good fit. They were both very playful. He held the kitten and took a seat on the floor of the pet store, cursing in his head when he heard the floorboard creak a little, but sat down with his legs crossed. Yuuki followed and sat in front of him, crossing her legs as well. 

“She doesn’t have a name yet,” Chifuyu said, slowly handing her the kitten. “She was very shy when she came in at first. Baji found her wandering lost by the pier without an owner. But she warmed up to all of us pretty quickly.”

Kazutora was actually kind of surprised when someone walked into the pet store. He quickly finished sweeping, because you would be right if you said he was working slowly to kill time, and headed into the store. Setting the broom to lean against the counter, Kazutora moved to stand next to Keisuke. He stood with his hands in his pockets watching Chifuyu hand a small, white kitten over to a little girl.

“She was very shy when she came in at first. Baji found her wandering lost by the pier without an owner. But she warmed up to all of us pretty quickly," Kazutora heard Chifuyu say.

“Does he remember every single animal in here and how they got here?” Kazutora asked in a whisper to Keisuke.

“Yeah, that and how they act, how they respond to humans, what brand of food they prefer—” Keisuke took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “He’s amazing, really. And I thought I loved animals.”

“You guys are kind of perfect together if you think about it,” Kazutora said. Keisuke looked over. It was impossible to read his face. Or maybe there was just nothing to read because it didn’t seem like he was processing or understanding what Kazutora had said. “Like, as a duo. Working together,” Kazutora said. 

“Mhm,” Keisuke hummed, and he looked back at Chifuyu. He was getting the kitten back from the small girl and returning it to its cage then heading for another one. “Yeah, I guess we are. That’s probably why we’ve lasted five years knowing each other.”

“Mm, well, that sure helps,” Kazutora said. “But you and I have known each other longer, and we don’t work nearly as well together as you two do.” He poked Keisuke in the temple and got slapped in the hand but was unphased by it. Actually, he chuckled. “There’s something else at play here.”

“Huh?”

“Figure it out, Baji,” Kazutora replied. “It’s not fun if I have to guide you through the process.”

“‘Guide me through the—‘,” Keisuke repeated as he watched Kazutora leave his side and head back for the broom he set aside. “What?” Kazutora never explained and disappeared into the back office. 

Chifuyu handed the girl another kitten. This one was black with a white patch going across its face. He thought it was cool, she thought it was cute. When she got the kitten in her hands, she lined her finger on the white fur. 

“I want all of them, Matsu,” Yuuki muttered sadly. “But momma said I can only have one. Do you think you can get her to let me have more than one? Can you, Matsu?”

Chifuyu laughed nervously. “I’m not sure I can do that, sorry, but any kitten will be happy to go with you.”

She nodded quietly. “I need to think,” Yuuki mumbled under her breath. 

“Take as much time as you need,” Chifuyu said. He stood up and wiped off any dirt that happened to get on his clothes. “Come find me when you figure it out, okay?”

Yuuki nodded again. 

With that, Chifuyu walked back over to the counter. He stepped behind it and reached underneath where a small file cabinet was. Opening it, Chifuyu grabbed out the folder filled with empty adoption papers.

“Are they really getting a kitten?” 

Chifuyu looked up, pulling out a sheet of paper and blindly returning the folder back to its place. “I mean, it seems like it. If she can pick one out,” he said, looking over Keisuke’s shoulder to the little girl. She stood up with the kitten in her hands, staring at the other cages with a small frown as she struggled to figure out what one she wanted to take home with her. Her parents stood next to her, asking her questions and trying to help her decide. “I’m just getting prepared in case they do.”

“Always prepared, aren’t you, Matsu?”

Chifuyu felt as if something ran up his spine. His back straightened out, maybe his face even got a little red. He lightly swatted Keisuke on the arm but it wasn’t near enough to hurt him. Hell, Keisuke probably didn’t even feel it. 

“Shut up? I’ll give you a nickname.”

“Will it be as cute as Matsu?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Keisuke asked with a teasing frown.

“Because,” Chifuyu said, and he crossed his arms, “my name is cuter than yours.”

“You know, it’s the person that helps make the name cute. My name is cool, not cute because I am cool,” Keisuke said. 

“Are you calling me cute?” Chifuyu asked with a grin.

“Yes.”

Chifuyu froze, holding the blank adoption paper in his hand. His fingers twitched a little, and he pursed his lips, rocking around the pressure he pushed down. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.

Keisuke laughed. “Wow, so you can really dish it out but you can’t take it?”

“I can—what? Go away,” Chifuyu stuttered. 

“Your face is red.”

“Then go fix the AC and cool this place down,” Chifuyu snapped back through his teeth. He set down the paper and walked away from Keisuke because he needed some air. 

Instead of worrying about—whatever that was—Chifuyu headed back over to Yuuki. He kneeled down and looked at the kitten still in her arms then up at her. 

“Have you figured it out yet, Yuuki?” He asked. 

“I think so,” Yuuki said quietly. She looked down at the current kitten in her arms. “Him.”

“Have you given him a name yet?”

“Hiro,” she mumbled. 

Chifuyu smiled. “That’s a cute name. Come on. Let’s go get Hiro some of his favorite food.”

Chifuyu helped the young girl get Hiro’s favorite brand of cat food, helped her pick out some new food bowls, a small cage to carry him in, a collar with a small bell—all with the parents’ permission, of course. 

Yuuki’s father held the cage with Hiro sitting inside of it. Her mother filled out the paperwork to adopt that kitten while their other bags sat on the counter. Chifuyu leaned on the surface trying to help her out, conversing with her to be friendly. She was, replying back with smiles.

“I’m glad this pet store was here. I know a lot of friends who complain about having to go so far for their animal care. This place is right here?”

Chifuyu nervously laughed. “Yeah, well, if I’m being honest the place is kind of falling apart but the workers here have heart.”

She laughed. “I can tell.” Yuuki’s mother was looking at something or someone. Chifuyu glanced over to see. 

Keisuke kneeled in front of Yuuki now. He handed her a popsicle and smiled. It was the first time that day Chifuyuy realized his hands were covered in a bandage wrap. “Here,” Keisuke said. “Beat the heat a little.”

“Thank you!” She accepted the popsicle. With one hand, she held it, and with her other hand, she reached out and touched Keisuke’s long, black hair. “Your hair is beautiful, mister!”

“I—thanks,” Keisuke said. He seemed a bit taken aback by it, reaching a hand up and touching over the hair that Yuuki had touched. “But your hair is purple,” he said, quickly moving aside how new it was for someone to touch his hair. “It’s a lot more beautiful than mine.”

“Mhm,” Yuuki hummed as if she were really thinking about if there was a right or wrong answer. It made Keisuke laugh, and he ruffled her hair and stood.

“Quickly eat that before it melts.”

Before the family left, Chifuyu promised the little girl the store would still be here the next time she needed to come here. That was probably true. The bag of cat food they bought was quite small and they would probably need to return in a week to get another. Chifuyu was certain it would still be there a week later. That they would still be there in a week. 

He boosted himself up on the counter and checked his watch for the time. Nearly time to close up. “We haven’t found a kitten a home in a while,” Chifuyu said.

Keisuke always liked how Chifuyu worded that. An old man had asked before ‘you sell any kittens?’ But Chifuyu said ‘find a home. ’ He smiled because Chifuyu always found a way to say things better. Keisuke thought he was smart, and kind, and—some other good words he couldn’t think of because he was never that good at words.

“Yeah, it felt nice,” Keisuke said. He stood next to where Chifuyu sat, leaning his back against the counter. “Matsu.”

“Can you drop that?” Chifuyu sighed. He put his face in his hands. 

“Why’s it make you embarrassed when I say it?”

“Because she is a cute, little girl,” Chifuyu said, dropping his hands so that he could glare at Keisuke. 

“I am a cool, handsome best friend.”

“Yeah, cool, with your sharp teeth and long hair.” 

“That sounded sarcastic,” Keisuke mumbled.

“Good.” Chifuyu hopped down from the counter. 

“Did that girl take a kitten home?” Kazutora came into the room, cutting off Keisuke from arguing with Chifuyu. 

“She did,” Chifuyu said with a nod.

“We should celebrate.”

“Celebrate for doing our jobs?” 

“Well, when you say it like that,” Kazutora muttered quietly. 

“Actually, we can,” Chifuyu said. “There isn’t any more cleaning detergent here so I was going to bring all the pet beds to my house and clean them.” He brought out a few big pet beds and laid them on the floor. “Help me get out all the animals.”

“How does cleaning animal beds count as a celebration?” Kazutora asked disappointingly. His shoulders slumped and he frowned. 

“Because I will make you idiots food and we can hang out, I guess. Come on.”

The three of them worked and set the animals down. Some found the beds already while others wandered. Then they gathered the beds and placed them into three separate laundry baskets. Keisuke got out food and water bowls and set them on the ground, Chifuyu made sure he had gotten all the beds, Kazutora said he would ‘stand and keep watch of the animals’ —completely unnecessary. 

They all picked up a basket, closed up the shop, and then left for Chifuyu’s apartment.

Kazutora nudged Chifuyu in the arm on the walk there. “Hey,” he said, “if the manager figures out you’re using your own things to clean the animal beds, isn’t she gonna be mad?”

“Then don’t let her know,” Chifuyu replied with a shrug. “Don’t tattle.”

Chifuyu held the apartment door open with his foot for Kazutora and Keisuke to walk through. Before he could announce that he was home, his mother popped his head in the doorway.

“Chifuyu! And Kazutora and Keisuke, hello, boys,” she said with a smile. 

“Hey, momma,” Chifuyu said. He dropped the basket in his hand by the wall. “Are you headed out?”

“Nightshift,” she said with a sigh. She was dressed in scrubs with the hospital logo on it. “Laundry? Did you clean out your locker?”

“Funny,” Chifuyu muttered. He elbowed Kazutora in the side when he heard him snicker. 

“I just remember when the teachers would call me telling me you had the messiest locker,” she said, grabbing her coat off the hanger. “They always told you—“

“‘It’s your locker, not a closet,’ I remember, mom.” He wanted her to leave because all she did was bring up how he was when he was younger and the embarrassing things that he did. 

“Though enough teasing,” she said through a sigh. She walked over and placed a hand on Chifuyu’s cheek and then kissed him on the forehead. “I’d love to stay and hang out with you boys but I’m going to be late. Have fun, you three.” She left after that, shouting some nonsense but Chifuyu closed the door on her. He let out a loud sigh with his back to the door.

“I love her,” Kazutora said. “She knows all the things you don’t want people knowing.”

“Shut up.”

“I bet you pissed the bed till ten years old.”

“You can order your own food,” Chifuyu said, kicking off his shoes. He picked up the laundry basket he carried and left for the laundry room. The other two boys followed him, and Kazutora said nothing because he knew that Chifuyu wouldn’t actually let him starve but at the same time, he wasn’t going to push his luck. 

They dropped off the baskets and left the laundry room while Chifuyu started a load. He found them in the living room when he was done. Keisuke was on the floor in front of the couch already playing with Peke J—how he always found him so quickly, Chifuyu would never know. Kazutora was laying on the sofa taking up quite literally every single cushion that he could. 

Chifuyu sighed and took a seat on the floor a little away from Keisuke. He pulled out his phone and tried to relax a bit. 

It was a bit of them sitting there doing their own things. Kazutora turned on the T.V. and Keisuke watched while playing with Peke J. Chifuyu was online shopping wondering if there were any clothes that he could get before school started again. Maybe he could just have Takashi make his wardrobe. 

“Hey, when can we bother you and ask for food?” Kazutora shifted on the couch and leaned his head off the cushions. His hair dropped down which he released from his hair tie after ten minutes of being inside. He shot it at the wall somewhere. Reaching over, he bothered Chifuyu by tapping the top of his phone and then stabbing him in the cheek. “Hungry.”

Chifuyu lightly slapped his hand away. “What do you want?” He asked.

“I don’t know,” Kazutora said. “Food. Some soup or something.”

“Baji?” Chifuyu asked.

“Whatever you make is fine, I like all your cooking,” Keisuke replied, not looking up from Peke J. The cat sat curled up in his lap. Chifuyu stood up with a sigh and headed to the kitchen to begin whatever he could make that would make it so Kazutora didn’t complain. 

‘So much for a celebratory party. Why did I think this would be a good idea?’ Chifuyu thought, pulling down instant boxes because Kazutora did not deserve anything homemade. ‘I’m just feeding them. The only thing they were good for was carrying the laundry.’ Which would probably be split between Keisuke and Chifuyu on the way back since Kazutora lived in a separate apartment building as they did. 

While cooking, Chifuyu could hear footsteps but he ignored them.

“Matsu.”

Until it was that nickname again. Chifuyu wanted to whip the spoon he held. He sharply turned around instead and glared at his grinning best friend. The only reason he didn’t throw the spoon was because Keisuke held Peke J and he didn’t want to risk accidentally injuring the poor cat. 

Keisuke let Peke J jump from his arms, and the cat made his way out of the kitchen as Keisuke stepped in—by now, Peke J knew he wasn’t allowed in the kitchen. Chifuyu turned his back to him. Ignore Keisuke. That was a new method. 

But he couldn’t when he felt something on his shoulder. Keisuke rested his chin on him, and even worse, he let out a low hum. Chifuyu had his breath get caught in his throat, his fingers twitched on the handle of the spoon, and he shifted the weight his foot leaned on. 

“Your roots are coming in.”

“Huh?” Chifuyu said. Keisuke didn’t respond. Instead, he reached up, digging his fingers at the roots of Chifuyu’s hair and dragging them up, letting the strands drop before he repeated it again, and again, and again, slowly and softly. It felt good, but Chifuyu didn’t want him to know it did so he didn’t tell him it did but he also didn’t tell him to stop. 

“Did you stop dying it?”

“I wanted to go back to my natural hair color,” Chifuyu muttered. 

“Dark brown,” Keisuke said. He stopped his hand at the bottom, holding it back so he could see. “I think it’d look good. You should grow your hair out like Kazutora and I.”

“No.”

“Why not?” 

“Too much money for hair products.”

“Is that seriously your reasoning?”

“Well, one of them,” Chifuyu said.

“What’s the other?” Keisuke asked. 

Chifuyu shrugged. “I just don’t think long hair is for me,” he said. “Mind your business. Why are you bothering me?”

“You happen to be fun to bother.”

Chifuyu moved his elbow back and lightly hit Keisuke in the stomach. Finally, Keisuke lifted his chin off of Chifuyu’s shoulder and backed up, protectively wrapping an arm around his gut. 

“Ow,” he exaggerated.

“That could not have possibly hurt you,” Chifuyu muttered. He turned down the fire on the stove and set down the spoon, then turned to face Keisuke. “Though speaking of,” he said quietly. Chifuyu put a hand on Keisuke’s cheek. There was the faintest scar there from a busted cheek one time. “I’m glad you haven’t been getting in fights recently.” His thumb ran on the edge of the scar. He found Keisuke's wrapped up hand and lifted it, lightly pressing his thumb into the other's palm. "Ignoring this."

"That wasn't a fight," Keisuke said, and he sounded slightly embarrassed. "I punched a wall."

Chifuyu licked his lips and then bit his lip with a small nod. He continued the conversation and pushed past it, dropping Keisuke's hand. "Unless you have been getting into fights and have just been going to Kazutora or someone else to fix you up so you can hide it from me.”

“If I went to anyone else to fix me up, I would feel like I would be cheating on you.”

‘Please find another way to word that.’ Chifuyu swallowed. “Right,” he said in almost a whisper. He let his hand fall from Keisuke’s face. “Yeah, anyway, it’s relieving, to say the least.” Keisuke stared at Chifuyu for a few moments. In silence. Chifuyu was confused. Was he going to pass out or something? Chifuyu almost started snapping his fingers in the other’s face to get him to snap out of whatever weird trance he was in. But he never had the chance when he noticed Keisuke’s fingers twitch, then his hands, and then Keisuke took one step forward and wrapped his arms around Chifuyu.

He felt like the wind was taken out of him because Keisuke was hugging him again. Without a word, either. He was just hugging him. Keisuke let his head drop, let his face bury into Chifuyu’s neck, and let his arms completely hold Chifuyu because they were long enough to wrap around his torso. 

Again, it was warm. Chifuyu could get used to it. He was hesitant but he set his forehead against Keisuke’s shoulder and hugged back. Chifuyu could feel when the other relaxed. Keisuke let out a deep sigh, he let his weight lean against Chifuyu a little more, he shifted his head around and repositioned it—like a kitten trying to get comfortable.

Chifuyu quietly cleared his throat. “Baji?” He asked softly. His hand began to slowly rub back and forth on Keisuke’s back. 

“Little more,” Keisuke hummed in reply. Chifuyu wasn’t going to push Keisuke off of him. So Chifuyu nodded.

“Okay.” 

Chifuyu stood, slowly getting more used to the feeling of hugging. He could get lost in it, and he was getting lost in it. Two minutes could've passed by but so could have ten.

“Chifuyu, hey,” Keisuke quickly said. He pulled away which was what actually got Chifuyu’s attention. “Hey.”

Chifuyu looked at him because for a second he was afraid that he did something wrong, but then he heard the bubbling behind him and quickly spun around. The food was boiling.

“Oh, fuck.” Chifuyu quickly grabbed the spoon and stirred the food. When it didn’t start to settle, he turned the flame off. It was probably done, and maybe something was burned to the bottom of the pan, but Chifuyu was just lucky he didn’t set the apartment on fire. 

“Do you want me to change the laundry?” Keisuke asked. Chifuyu looked over at him. 

‘How can he act normally? I feel like melting.’ Chifuyu bit his lip and tried to act normal as well. “Uh, yeah, please. If you could.” Keisuke nodded and left the kitchen. 

Chifuyu took a sigh and stepped away from the stove. He backed up into the counter island and then slid down, sitting on the floor with his back to the cabinets. Taking a few deep breaths, Chifuyu ran his fingers through his hair. He pulled himself together and then stood up. If he didn’t get the food out to them, they would either complain or ask what was wrong. 

With a tray, Chifuyu carried three bowls of soup into the living room. He placed it down on the table and let out a sigh. 

“Here,” he said. 

“Thank you, my best friend, my one true—“

“Save it, Kazutora,” Chifuyu cut off. “You’re annoying. I get it.”

Kazutora said nothing but grabbed his food and returned to the couch. Keisuke came into the room from the laundry room and grabbed his own bowl without a word, taking a seat on the floor. With a deep inhale, biting in his tongue, Chifuyu sat down next to Keisuke and began to eat. 

Sitting and actually watching T.V, Chifuyu had his legs pulled up to his chest and his chin resting on his knees. Kazutora was still sitting on the couch, probably half asleep at this point. It was getting pretty late at night, and he would probably end up staying the night instead of walking home. Keisuke had his spoon in his mouth even though he had been done with his food a while ago. He bounced it around while petting Peke J and watching the T.V. as well.

When the commercials came on, Keisuke looked over at Chifuyu. “Should I switch the laundry?”

“Huh?” Chifuyu glanced over. “Oh, I can do it if you want.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Keisuke stood up, Peke J jumping from his lap and running off somewhere, and stretched. “It’s your detergent, the least I can do is be the one to switch it. Be right back.” Chifuyu nodded, and Keisuke left the room, Peke J running back into sight and following close behind him.

“Chifuyu.” 

Chifuyu jumped. He placed his hand over his heart and quickly turned his head. “I thought you were fucking sleeping. You scared me.”

“I was getting there,” Kazutora said. He sat up, leaning on his elbows as he laid on his stomach, and looked at Chifuyu. “Are you guys alright?”

“What?” Chifuyu raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? What kind of question is that?”

“I—” Kazutora sighed and looked over at Chifuyu. His eyes went to the doorway where the laundry room was and then back to the boy in front of him. He lowered his head and voice. “I saw you two earlier. Two times. I don’t know if there was another time but…” Kazutora trailed off.

“Two times what?”

“Hugging?” Kazutora said, a bit hesitant. 

Chifuyu felt his face get warm again. He clapped his hands over his cheeks, trying not to be too dramatic about it. His head turned in an effort to avert his eyes from Kazutora’s. Stupid tiger. “We’re fine,” Chifuyu answered quietly. “If I’m being totally honest, I have no idea what it was about either. Baji isn’t the type to just hug someone—well, at least in that context. He’ll jump and hang on you but never—” Chifuyu struggled to find the right word.

“But never affectionately in that context,” Kazutora finished for him. Chifuyu could only nod, and he looked back over at Kazutora. He sighed. 

“I don’t know why he did it, and the first time, it was me who hugged him. It was an accident but he didn’t move away.”

“You like him, don’t you?”

Chifuyu was confused. He laughed. “Well, yeah, he’s my friend.”

“No, like, you like him, Chifuyu.”

“Now, are you telling me or asking me?” Chifuyu joked around because he didn’t think that Kazutora was being serious.

“I’m telling you,” Kazutora said. Deadpan expression. It was good, Chifuyu thought. He even laughed and looked back at the T.V, relaxing and leaning his back against the sofa. 

“Your sense of humor is bad but you're a good actor. I'll give you that.”

“I’m not joking.”

“Okay.”

“Admit it.”

“There’s nothing to admit.”

“Chifuyu.”

“Kazutora.”

“Matsuno Chifuyu.”

“Hanemiya Kazutora.”

Kazutora tackled Chifuyu. He wrapped his arm around his neck as he dragged him down and then pinned him to the floor. Chifuyu kicked, trying to get the other off of him, but Kazutora was bigger and stronger for that matter. His hands held Chifuyu’s wrists against the carpet and his legs wrapped around Chifuyu’s legs in an uncomfortable position to stop them from kicking around. 

“Kazutora!” Chifuyu yelled. He tried to lift his arms off the floor but it was pointless, though he still fought all that he could. “Get off of me.”

“Admit it.”

“This isn’t even funny anymore. It was funny but now it’s not.”

“Admit it.”

“There’s nothing to admit!”

“Say you do!”

“I don’t!”

“Look back at every moment something is brought up or you get close and tell me you don’t!”

“Look back—” Chifuyu stuttered and scoffed. He thought it was ridiculous but he tried to think of what Kazutora was implying because if he didn’t, the other would refuse to let him go.

Even though he thought he didn’t have any more left in him, Chifuyu felt tears beginning to form in his eyes. He bit his lip, squeezing Keisuke’s hands. 

“Chifuyu, I’m alright.”

“What if you weren’t?” Chifuyu asked. His voice was shaky. “Fucking hell, Baji-san. I really thought I lost you.”

“You would’ve been fine,” Keisuke said. 

“I wouldn’t know what to do,” Chifuyu responded. He looked up, feeling a few tears now making their way down his face. It rolled down all the way and soaked into the collar of his sweater. “I would’ve been lost, Baji-san. I can’t lose you, especially not like that.”

“It’s alright,” Keisuke said again. He grinned. “I’m fine. Everything worked out, right?”

Chifuyu nodded.

“Then it’s alright.”

That couldn’t count for anything. Keisuke had been on his deathbed. 

"Can you fucking listen?” Chifuyu asked through a sigh. “I’m scared something might happen to you.”

“Because of Kazutora?”

Chifuyu shrugged and nodded. “Maybe.” He pursed his lips and closed his eyes. ‘I don’t need a Bloody Halloween repeat.’ Chifuyu took one step closer and let his head hit Keisuke’s shoulder. “Just try to stay out of life-threatening danger.”

“So normal danger is okay?”

“I’m not going to ask you to do the impossible.” 

Chifuyu was just worried for Keisuke then, which was a completely normal reaction. Kazutora, the man who had stabbed him before, had just gotten back. Chifuyu was wary of him at first. Sue him.

Chifuyu nodded. “He’s hurt, mom. Really badly. Stupid Hanemiya Kazutora. Dickhead. Insane. He stabbed Baji-san, momma. I hate him,” he said through sobs. His face was burning red and puffy. “He’s gonna die, momma.”

“What?”

“He’s in surgery right now, Mitsuya is waiting with him, but he’s not gonna make it. He—momma, he’s not gonna—“ Chifuyu hiccuped again. He fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands. Every ounce of faith he had of Keisuke surviving slipped through his fingers when he allowed himself to break down. “The first person I-I ever wanted to follow is gonna die—the first person I ever loved, Momma, what do I do?” He said in one breath, taking a deep inhale when he was finished followed by another hiccup.

Again. That couldn’t count. Keisuke was about to die. 

"Ow.”

“Sorry,” Chifuyu said. He put his hands on Keisuke’s head and brushed back his hair, tilting his head back to get him to look at him. “Headache at all?”

“A little.”

“Sleepy?”

“Always,” Keisuke said.

“You are concussed.”

“I know, Chifuyu.”

“You should’ve stayed out of that,” Chifuyu mumbled. 

“I didn’t really have a choice.”

“I know,” Chifuyu said through a sigh. “I know. That’s why I can’t be mad.” He ran his fingers through Keisuke’s hair. “At least your hair is soft now and your skull stopped bleeding.”

“Doctor Chifuyu.”

“Don’t.”

Keisuke grinned, and Chifuyu couldn’t help but scoff. He leaned down and rested his forehead on Keisuke’s. It was silent for a moment, just standing there. Chifuyu took a deep breath that was a little shaky, and he dribbled his fingers in Keisuke’s hair.

“Chifuyu?”

“You scared me,” Chifuyu whispered. “I know you couldn’t avoid the fight but it scared me when you showed up half-dead on my door. You can’t do that to me.”

Keisuke reached back and found Chifuyu’s hair. He started his fingers at the bottom of the other’s roots and brushed up. “Sorry, Fuyu.”

“It’s—“ Chifuyu sighed, and he lifted his head. “Fine.

That was—something else. ‘A promise is what that was,’ Chifuyu mentally excused. ‘Baji just made a promise to me not to be stupid again.’ He swallowed back a lump in his throat. They were just close. Close friends. Friends. 

Chifuyu bit the inside of his cheek.

Keisuke looked over at Chifuyu. “What?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Whatever, weirdo,” Keisuke said and put his attention back to Peke J. “You can go to sleep. I’ll set a two-hour timer before I fall asleep.”

“No,” Chifuyu said but he let his head fall on Keisuke’s shoulder. 

Keisuke laughed. He lifted his free hand back and ran his fingers through Chifuyu’s damp hair knowing that the other was already closing their eyes. 

That had felt warm, but they fell asleep on each other all the time. Maybe not wearing the other’s sweater but those were just insignificant details, right?

“Baji?” Keisuke’s voice had sounded kind of groggy when he answered. It made Chifuyu worry even more. Was he sick? “Where are you?”

“I’m at home. Do you need me?”

“Well, no,” Chifuyu admitted. He put his back to the wall and slid down it, sitting on the floor. “I was just worried. Are you okay?”

Keisuke didn’t answer for a moment. There were some shifting noises, Chifuyu assumed he was rolling around in bed or something. “I’m fine.”

“You’re lying to me.”

“Only because I can’t see your face.”

Chifuyu laughed lightly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I can’t lie to you in person. You always have this look on your face.”

“Mhm,” Chifuyu hummed. He felt his face feel a little warm, and he clapped a hand on his cheek, sinking lower on the floor.

So he couldn’t lie to Chifuyu. That didn’t mean anything. Chifuyu couldn’t hit Keisuke. It was just respect for one another.

“Baji?” Chifuyu quietly asked. His hands were planted flat on Keisuke’s back. His hands curled up around Keisuke’s shoulder, and he buried his face into the other’s shoulder and closed his eyes. It felt—nice. Really, really nice. Chifuyu let out a soft sigh of relief and felt his own shoulders relax, falling into the soft comfort of his best friend that he didn’t even know could comfort like this. This was a lot different than just falling asleep on Keisuke’s shoulder when he got too tired while watching T.V.

Finally, Keisuke pulled away. Or maybe not finally. Chifuyu definitely could’ve stayed there for longer but maybe it was a good thing that Keisuke ended it. The other looked at him with a blank expression at first, but then his lips twisted into a grin.

“Your face is red, Chifuyu.”

“Huh?” Chifuyu slapped a hand on his face. He rubbed it a little, feeling the slight heat. Was he blushing?  “It’s probably the heat,” he muttered as an excuse but the way his stomach felt told him it was most likely something else. Chifuyu walked past Keisuke to head to the front of the shop. “I told you that you didn’t need to come in, especially if you were feeling sick.”

His stomach did feel odd during that moment. Butterflies. And Chifuyu definitely wasn’t stupid. He knew from movies and books how having a crush felt like but that didn’t mean anything. You could get butterflies from anything. Right?

“Always prepared, aren’t you, Matsu?”

Chifuyu felt as if something ran up his spine. His back straightened out, maybe his face even got a little red. He lightly swatted Keisuke on the arm but it wasn’t near enough to hurt him. Hell, Keisuke probably didn’t even feel it. 

“Shut up? I’ll give you a nickname.”

“Will it be as cute as Matsu?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Keisuke asked with a teasing frown.

“Because,” Chifuyu said, and he crossed his arms, “my name is cuter than yours.”

“You know, it’s the person that helps make the name cute. My name is cool, not cute because I am cool,” Keisuke said. 

“Are you calling me cute?” Chifuyu asked with a grin.

“Yes.”

Chifuyu froze, holding the blank adoption paper in his hand. His fingers twitched a little, and he pursed his lips, rocking around the pressure he pushed down. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.

Keisuke laughed. “Wow, so you can really dish it out but you can’t take it?”

“I can—what? Go away,” Chifuyu stuttered. 

“Your face is red.”

“Then go fix the AC and cool this place down,” Chifuyu snapped back through his teeth. He set down the paper and walked away from Keisuke because he needed some air. 

Keisuke was purposely teasing him then. It was supposed to make Chifuyu feel something.

But why did it have an effect?

Chifuyu hated it. He hated being called out—he especially hated being pinned to the floor and forced to think back about all of his feelings that he was most definitely ignoring for at least three out of the near six years he knew Keisuke.

“Chifuyu.”

“Get off me.”

“Say it.”

“I do! Okay? I do! Now get off me before I—” Chifuyu struggled again, using a lot more strength than before. He got his arms off of the ground a little.

“Okay, okay, stop fighting and I will,” Kazutora finally said. Chifuyu calmed down a little, and Kazutora sat up, removing his arms from Chifuyu’s wrists.

“What is happening in here? Why are you guys shouting?”

Chifuyu tilted his head back, still laying on his back on the ground. Kazutora looked toward the hallway where Keisuke stood. 

“Why are you shouting ‘I do’? Did Kazutora propose or something?”

“Or something,” Chifuyu muttered. He pushed Kazutora off him and the other fell back but was uninjured. Even though he was just using all his strength to fight against Kazutora and was a bit tired, he stood up quickly. “I’m going to take a shower,” he said, gathering up the dirty dishes and leaving the room.

“What did you do to him?” Keisuke asked when Chifuyu was gone.

“I—” Kazutora stuttered. “Pushed him a little bit.”

“Like physically or verbally?”

“Both?”

“What’d you do?” Keisuke asked as he plopped down on the couch. 

Kazutora chewed the inside of his lip. Getting involved was definitely something that he thought he should do. Watching the way that Keisuke and Chifuyu interacted for the last year was, no doubt, painful. Though he shouldn’t play something on both sides. That would probably lead to problems. Chifuyu was more stubborn, so Kazutora would stick with breaking him. 

“Nothing,” Kazutora lied with a shrug. “He’s just sensitive. You know how he is. Drama queen.”

Keisuke bit his lip, looking toward the doorway that Chifuyu had left down to take a shower. They could both hear when the water started running. He sighed and stole the couch from Kazutora without another word. 

Laying on his back, staring at his ceiling, Chifuyu tried to think of anything but Kazutora’s point. He was right but that didn't give him any right to point it out to Chifuyu who hadn’t even realized. Keisuke was always there. He was strong, maybe a little stupid but he made up for that by being smart in other ways like fighting and strategizing. And he was funny, calm, and collected—when he needed to be. Keisuke made Chifuyu feel safe and for once, wanted by another human being. Not that he didn’t have good friends but Keisuke was always just different.

“Chifuyu?”

Keisuke had gone home to his apartment. His mother was home and she wanted to spend some time with him before she had to leave out of town for work again so he said they were playing video games together—she was a closeted video game fanatic. Even though Kazutora pushed Chifuyu into confessing to Kazutora before he even did to himself, he let him stay over instead of walking home in the dark considering it was already so late. He laid on a makeshift bed on the floor of Chifuyu’s room. 

Chifuyu put his hand on the top of Peke J’s head who was resting on his chest. “What?” He asked. 

“I’m sorry.”

Chifuyu sighed. “It’s fine,” he said. “It’s about time I had a wake-up call anyway.”

“You seriously couldn’t piece it together yourself though? After six years?”

“I guess I just never thought of it,” Chifuyu said with a shrug he knew Kazutora wouldn’t be able to see. Though out of the corner of his eye, he could see the bright yellow strands of hair from Kazutora’s bangs. 

“You guys literally dropped honorifics.”

“We dropped them after Bloody Halloween,” Chifuyu muttered, remembering the exact conversation. “He had said he would regret it.”

—winter, ‘05

Keisuke stood up from the hospital bed. His gut hurt and he held a hand over the bandaged, healing wound. Chifuyu stood in front of him, holding out his hands in case he needed to catch Keisuke. He was finally standing after a week of healing—he should’ve stayed for longer but Keisuke was stubborn. 

“Baji-san, are you sure you’re alright?” Chifuyu asked. He placed a hand on Keisuke’s shoulder to help. “You should really rest more. Even Draken rested more.” 

“Baji.”

“What?”

“Forget the honorifics,” Keisuke said. “I was too close to death,” he said, looking at Chifuyu. He smiled at him. “I would regret it if I died and you were still calling me ‘Baji-san’.”

“Baji,” Chifuyu mumbled under his breath. He bit back a smile and nodded. “Baji.”

“Try Keisuke.”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself now,” Chifuyu said, beginning to help Keisuke take a few steps. 

“I call you Chifuyu.”

“Everyone calls me Chifuyu, Baji-san.”

“Baji,” Keisuke corrected.

Chifuyu sighed. “Everyone calls me Chifuyu, Baji.”

“See? Sounds nice,” Keisuke said. “I’ll settle with just Baji. Come on. Let’s go get some bad hospital food.”

—current, summer, ‘08  

“He really tried to get me to call him Keisuke then too but I refused,” Chifuyu whispered.

“Yeah, ‘cause he likes you too, dumbass.”

“Now you’re just fucking with me,” Chifuyu said. He sat up, Peke J jumped and laid off on the side—poor kitty. Looking over the side of the bed, he glanced down at Kazutora. “I believe the me liking Baji thing but no.”

“Whatever,” Kazutora said with a sigh, turning on his side and putting his back to Chifuyu. “Night night.”

—fall, ‘08

The last year of school began slowly. Maybe it was the heat but it was cooling down little by little. Chifuyu walked down the street from the school. His bag was heavier now than it was in the summer considering all the schoolwork he now had to carry. 

He stepped into the pet store and let out a deep sigh of relief when he felt the cool air. It was taking a bit to get used to but he knew he would get used to it quickly. Keisuke finally fixed the air conditioning.

“How’d you beat me here?” Chifuyu asked. He walked up to the counter where Keisuke stood at the register, flicking through some papers in front of him. Ever since the manager started to tell them about the failing pet store, Keisuke started to ask more about the paperwork behind the scenes. 

“Because I skipped last period.”

“Baji.”

“Eh, who cares?” Keisuke said. He leaned on the counter as Chifuyu set his school bag down on it. There was a grin on his face. “You know, Draken and Inui are stopping by.”

“Are they?” Chifuyu asked, tugging at the sleeves of his jacket to take it off. “For what?”

“They finished remodeling a motorcycle and want me to take it on a ride.” Keisuke seemed really happy about it. “I haven’t driven a bike in ages.”

“You’re excited.”

“I am,” Keisuke said with a smile. “This day better end quickly.”

“For you, I hope it does.”

Keisuke smiled again. “I’m gonna go do work in the back,” he said, gathering his papers. “Time flies by quickly when I’m working on paperwork.” He was quick to jump up and head to the back. “Man the front, Chifuyu!”

Chifuyu could only laugh and shook his head. 

A roaring sound came from outside. It was four hours past closing but that was because Keisuke really wanted to ride the bike and they had tons of paperwork to go through. Shipments they couldn’t pay for needed to be canceled, new prices needed to be given out or they would never be able to stay open, and some other stuff that Keisuke was doing that Chifuyu honestly had no idea what was. 

Keisuke came from the back office and rushed outside. He didn’t even say anything to Chifuyu at the front who looked up from his laptop—he moved onto school work about two hours ago. From the large window, Chifuyu could see Keisuke walk around the bike a million times.

Chifuyu decided to head outside to check it out. 

The bike was gorgeous. Draken and Inui had done a beautiful job. It seemed brand new even though they all knew it had been recreated from old, busted parts. 

“I can take it out for a ride, right, Draken?” Keisuke wrapped an arm on Draken’s shoulder, practically jumping him. He slapped him on the chest and stared at the bike. “Come on, baldy, let me take it around the city.”

“Baldy?”

“Draken, please,” Keisuke whined, shaking him by the shoulders.

“Alright, alright, okay, fine,” Draken caved in. He dug into his pockets and handed Keisuke a pair of keys. “Here. Don’t crash it.”

“Sweet,” Keisuke said, snatching the keys. He rushed to the bike. “Chifuyu, hop on.”

“Huh?”

“Get on! Let’s go!” Keisuke said, already on the bike. Chifuyu exchanged looks with Draken, who shrugged with a smile and nodded. He took that as his sign and hopped on the back of the bike. 

Keisuke drove fast when they got around the eyesight of Draken. Chifuyu had to scrunch down to dodge Keisuke’s long hair that flew around in the wind. He kept his arms wrapped around Keisuke. Usually, he would lean back, but Keisuke’s hair was so long. Even when leaning back, Chifuyu would get hit in the face with it. So he kept his arms around Keisuke.

It wasn’t like he minded it. He hadn’t been on a bike in a while either. Maybe there were some other reasons too but whatever.

—summer, ‘05

“You serious?”

“Yes, Baji-san. Why is it so hard to believe?”

“Because you’re so like—“ Keisuke paused, scratching the back of his head while the other hand held onto one of the motorcycle handles. “Badass. How have you never been on a bike before?”

Chifuyu shrugged. He was a bit irritated that Keisuke was making fun of him about it. “I never had the chance.”

“Well, come on,” Keisuke said, holding out a hand. “Get on. I’ll take you on your first bike ride.”

Keisuke road around town for a bit—just a little bit. He slowed down and stopped near a park. Chifuyu was a bit confused. He unwrapped his arms from around Keisuke and blinked at him when he looked back at him.

“What?” Chifuyu asked. 

“Are you okay?”

“Huh?”

“You were squeezing me.”

“Was I?” Chifuyu asked quietly. He looked down at his hands when back at Keisuke. “Sorry,” he apologized. 

“It’s fine,” Keisuke said, and he grinned. “You get used to it. Hang on.”

—current time, fall, ‘08

The first time Chifuyu had ever been on a bike was with Keisuke. 

Over the sound of the bike, Chifuyu swore he heard a laugh. And then he realized he did. Keisuke’s shoulders bounced. He was laughing. Keisuke was laughing so hard he pulled over, stopping on the road near a bridge over a river. He kicked down the footpeg and stood up from the bike.

Chifuyu got off, a bit wobbly on his feet from his first time being on a bike for so long, and walked forward to look at Keisuke. “What in god’s name are you laughing at? You could’ve crashed.”

“I’m just thinking,” Keisuke said. He tossed his leg over the bike and got off of it. Stretching his arms above his head, Keisuke started to walk over to the bridge. Chifuyu followed—just by instinct. 

He leaned on the railing of the bridge, staring down at the water. With one deep breath, he smiled, and then it dropped. “Chifuyu, can I tell you something?”

“Mm-hmm,” Chifuyu hummed with a nod. “You can tell me anything, Baji.”

“I’m uh,” he began, “I’m going to keep the pet store alive.”

Chifuyu mentally sighed in a sad tone because it sounded more of a delusional dream if anything. They couldn't do anything about the pet store being shut down. And no matter how much Chifuyu wanted Keisuke to be able to achieve his dream, it was impossible. 

“Baji,” Chifuyu said softly. “Listen, I know—“

“I got a plan,” Keisuke said. He stood up and faced Chifuyu. His hands found Chifuyu’s hands and held them. “I’ve been saving up for a few years,” he admitted. “I’m going to buy the pet store before the bank gets it.”

“Come again?” Chifuyu asked.

“I’m going to buy the pet store. It’ll help the manager by giving her the money. We won’t have to worry about half the stuff she does because—I mean, we still live with our parents so we have an advantage like not having to worry about personal bills, just the store. Like Draken and Inui,” Keisuke rambled off. He bit his lip and looked down. “And I want you to do it with me,” he said. “I can’t do it without you, Chifuyu.”

For a moment, Chifuyu didn’t know what to say. He was stunned for a bit. The feeling of Keisuke’s thumbs rubbing on the back of his hands pulled him from it.

“Wh—I—us?”

“Us,” Keisuke said with a nod.

Keisuke and Chifuyu. Running the pet store together. Owning it together. ‘Me, Baji, the animals.’ Chifuyu’s breath got caught in his throat. A smile was slowly forming on his face. He nodded.

“Yeah,” he breathed out quietly. Then he nodded quickly. “Yeah.”

“Yeah?” Keisuke asked.

“Yes,” Chifuyu said through a laugh. “Yeah, let’s do it!”

Keisuke laughed, music to Chifuyu’s ears, and he hugged Chifuyu, his arms wrapping around him and pulling him a little off his feet. It made Chifuyu laugh even, giggling as his toes were the only things that touched the pavement. 

When he was back on his feet, they didn’t let go. Chifuyu still held Keisuke; Keisuke still held Chifuyu. He rested his head on the other’s chest, sighing deeply with a smile. 

Then he heard a quick thumping.

“Baji, your heartbeat?” Chifuyu whispered.

“I was nervous, okay?” Keisuke muttered. He sounded kind of embarrassed. Was he flustered? Chifuyu had to see. He looked up, catching a glimpse of Keisuke’s face. A light red on his cheeks. 

“You thought I would say no?” Chifuyu asked.

“No, I—“ Keisuke stuttered. “There was—“ he kept stopping himself. Eventually, he stopped trying and dropped his head, letting his forehead hit Chifuyu’s shoulder. “Forget it.”

“Baji?”

“Let’s go back,” Keisuke quickly changed, grabbing Chifuyu’s hand. “Come on.”

—fall, '08

The two of them got Kazutora in on their plan of buying the store. He still wasn’t being paid to work there, which might have been illegal but he didn’t care about being paid, but he would help regardless. Chifuyu had always had money saved up on the side from saving a percentage of each paycheck. Keisuke had his initial start of funds. He paid for a majority of it. 

They sat in the bank with the manager and Chifuyu’s mother. All of them were a bit nervous. 

“You boys,” Chifuyu’s mother said with a smile. “My little business boys.” Chifuyu kicked his mother’s chair’s leg but didn’t say anything. She just chuckled in response. 

It took them probably three hours. Money was transferred, signatures were signed, responsibilities were discussed because they were just kids, the bank subtly threatened them they would take the store if they failed it—they ignored that negativity.

Because by the end of it all, Keisuke walked out of the bank with a copy of the document saying that the pet store was owned under his name. 

Chifuyu drove because he was actually able to afford his own car since he wasn’t the one putting all his money toward saving up to buy a store. His plan was to drop Kazutora off at his house but Keisuke stopped him.

“Drop by the store,” he said.

“What? Why? Aren’t you tired? I wanna go home,” Chifuyu said. “It’s late.”

“‘Cause, I got a surprise there,” Keisuke said. “Go.”

Chifuyu sighed but he agreed and turned to head to the store.

The three of them walked in. Kazutora headed straight for the counter and took a seat on it. Chifuyu did a quick check on the animals in the cages. Keisuke ran into the back for something.

When Chifuyu was coming back to the counter, Keisuke was walking out of the office with his hands behind his back.

“What are you holding?” Chifuyu asked. 

“Ready?” Keisuke questioned. 

“I’m gonna grow old being ready,” Kazutora said. “Hurry up.”

Keisuke rolled his eyes but showed what he held. A bottle of wine. 

“Really?” Chifuyu asked through a chuckle.

“My mom had it,” Keisuke said. He set it on the counter while he dug in his pocket. Pulling out a pocket knife, he used it to get the cork out. Why Keisuke had a pocket knife with a corkscrew? They wouldn’t know.

They passed around the bottle because there weren’t any cups. The conversations just consisted of them being excited and discussing their plans for the shops. Kazutora wanted to repaint. Keisuke wanted to finish repairing things first. Chifuyu finally wanted to reorganize the system for orders. 

After a good hour or so, Kazutora hopped down with a sigh and a stretch. “I’m gonna head on home,” he said. “My mom still gets worried.”

“Cya,” Keisuke said, and Chifuyu just gave him a wave with a slightly tired smile. He dropped his hand when the door closed behind Kazutora.

With a yawn, Chifuyu let his head fall onto Keisuke’s shoulder. He sat next to him on the counter. Chifuyu's eyes wandered around the store.

“It’s yours.”

“It’s ours, ” Keisuke corrected. 

“You paid for most of it.”

“Still ours.”

Chifuyu chuckled lightly. “Okay, alright. It’s ours,” he said. He yawned again. “I’m tired. I told my mom we shouldn’t have gone out to eat after.”

“I don’t know. I liked being treated to a meal,” Keisuke said. 

Chifuyu looked up at him, lifting his head off Keisuke a bit. “Of course you would.”

“Mhm,” Keisuke hummed. He was close to Chifuyu, foreheads nearly touching. Chifuyu thought Keisuke would back up after a second but he didn’t. He reached over, skimmed the back of his hand down the side of his face, and then cupped his cheek in his hand. Leaning forward just a little, it was enough to make their foreheads touch. “Chifuyu.”

“Baji,” Chifuyu whispered back. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just like being this close to you.”

“Do you realize how close you are?” Chifuyu’s face was burning red. He felt a slight headache. Or maybe it wasn’t a headache. He wasn’t sure. Chifuyu couldn’t think.

“I’d like to get closer.”

“Baji?” 

“Can I?” Keisuke asked quietly.

“I’m not sure what you’re asking.” 

“Can I kiss you?”

Chifuyu felt like it was out of nowhere. But he didn’t care.

He reached over and slipped his fingers through the hair on the back of Keisuke’s head, threading it through once before he closed the small gap between them. Keisuke’s soft lips finally pressing against Chifuyu’s. All those feelings that Chifuyu had felt—every single fluttering feeling that Keisuke had ever made Chifuyu feel was hitting him at once. A shiver up his spine. His fingertips tingled. 

The kiss was short. Right when it was over, Chifuyu let his head drop to the side and hit Keisuke’s chest, hiding his face and how red he was because he knew Keisuke would only make fun of him. 

“Chifuyu?” Keisuke asked. He began to run his fingers through Chifuyu’s hair. When Chifuyu only replied by repositioning his head, Keisuke sighed with a smile. “I wanted to confess before we started this—the store—together.”

Chifuyu took a shuddered breath because how was this real? “How long?” He asked quietly.

“Probably the whole six years. Want me to go into detail?”

Chifuyu groaned, lifting his head off of Keisuke. He pushed himself off the counter and ran his hands down his face. “God no. Maybe later. Too much right now.”

Keisuke jumped down too. “Alright, let’s go home,” he said. Chifuyu grabbed his hand and looked down at their hands clasped together. He bit back a smile which was nearly impossible. “Cute.”

“What?” Chifuyu looked up at Keisuke. “Shut up.”

“Your face is so red. You should see yourself.” 

Chifuyu rolled his eyes and turned to leave. Since he was holding his hand, Keisuke yanked him back and kissed his cheek. It made Chifuyu's stomach flutter. He wanted Keisuke to stop. Not because he hated it, because if this was a dream and he woke up, he would be annoyed even more.

“Stop,” Chifuyu said through his teeth. 

“What are you embarrassed about? No one is here.” Keisuke asked. Chifuyu just sighed.

They finally started to leave. Keisuke shut the lights off behind them and Chifuyu kicked the door. They began to walk again, and Keisuke grabbed ahold of his hand.

Chifuyu stopped at his apartment door. He stared down at the keys in his hands and purposely struggled to find the right key. 

“You’re stalling.”

“I’m wondering if I should invite you over even if my mom is home,” Chifuyu muttered. 

“Oh, so now it’s different?”

Chifuyu looked over his shoulder and glared at him. 

“Just go in,” Keisuke said with a grin. Chifuyu sighed and opened the door.

“Chifuyu!” A voice shouted from the kitchen barely even three seconds after Chifuyu had opened the door. His mother popped her head in and she smiled. “And Keisuke, of course. Do you boys want a snack before bed? How late are you planning on staying up?”

“Just ask all the questions, mom,” Chifuyu mumbled as he took off his shoes. “We’re just gonna head to my room,” he said. He tugged on Keisuke’s sleeve. “Come on.”

“See you, Matsuno-sama!” Keisuke said with a wave. 

Chifuyu shut the door behind him with a sigh, closing it with his back. He walked into the room and tossed himself on his bed. 

“Really?”

“I told you I was tired,” Chifuyu said, muffled by the pillow he had his face in. Keisuke just laughed. He turned the light off and walked over, letting himself fall on the bed next to Chifuyu. After a moment or two, Chifuyu turned his head so he could look at Keisuke. The other had his eyes closed, laying on his back. Like a vampire. 

Chifuyu sat up on his elbows and stared at Keisuke’s face. Reaching over, he poked him in the cheek. 

“What are you doing?” Keisuke asked.

“Oh, so it’s fine when you bother me but not when I bother you?” 

“Correct.” 

Chifuyu groaned and dropped his head, resting it on Keisuke’s chest. “I give up,” he said.

“G’night?”

Chifuyu sighed but smiled. “Goodnight.”

—winter, '08

Keisuke put a strip of clear tape on the wall. “It’ll be funny,” he said.

“He’s going to get pissed, Baji.”

“I know, right?” Keisuke backed up from the wall and looked at his evil prank. He placed a strip of transparent scotch tape on the wall where Kazutora needed to paint next.

“It’ll be a waste of paint too,” Chifuyu said through a sigh, arms crossed as he looked around the shop. It was nearly done getting fixed up. Keisuke had one more wall he wanted to put some work to and then Kazutora had the rest to painT. There wasn’t much more paperwork that Chifuyu wanted to reorganize and fix either. The rest of the work currently sat in a few piles on the counter. He had been working on it that late night when Keisuke called him over. “He’ll have to redo the whole wall.”

“So?” Keisuke asked.

“You know buckets of paint are like, a little over four thousand yen, right?”

“Wait, are you serious?” Keisuke’s shoulder dropped and he frowned. He looked between the tape on the wall then back at Chifuyu. “Take it out of my paycheck?”

“We own the store, we don’t have paychecks.”

“I’ll make yakisoba?”

“They’re instant packages,” Chifuyu said with a scoff.

“Still kind of hard to make.”

Chifuyu sighed. He reached forward and grabbed Keisuke’s cheek. Taking one step forward, he caught Keisuke’s lips with his and kissed him, shutting his eyelids and smiling against Keisuke’s lips. Keisuke was always quick to return with some type of gesture whether it be put his hands in Chifuyu’s hair or on his waist. This time it was his waist so he could pull him a bit closer to him.

“Fine,” Chifuyu said quietly against Keisuke's lips. His hands moved and straightened out the apron sitting on Keisuke’s shoulders. “I’ll go along with your little prank and make sure Kazutora doesn’t give away any extra paint if there is any.”

“Did I ever tell you I love the way you think? Like right now was really good, that’s smart, but like just in general.”

“Did I ever tell you that you’re really corny? I know you’re eighteen and have never used pick-up lines on anyone before but it’s kind of sad,” Chifuyu retaliated.

“You are all bark and no bite.”

“And you have little baby bites.”

“Excuse me?” Keisuke asked. He moved his hands quickly to Chifuyu’s stomach, slipping his hands past the apron and his shirt. “What about this?” He began tickling him, and Chifuyu instantly took a step back. His hands swatted at Keisuke’s but no matter how hard he tried, there was an arm that wrapped around him that he couldn’t escape.

“N-no! Baji! Cut tha-that out! I’m serious!” He struggled through laughs. Chifuyu kept taking steps back further and further and further—

Until he tripped and the two fell crashing to the floor. A can of pet food spilled, a ladder was knocked over, a box or two tumbled. At least Keisuke stopped tickling him.

Chifuyu sighed and let his head hit the floor. He closed his eyes.

“Fuyu?”

“Yes?”

“Open your eyes.”

Chifuyu did, and he met eyes with Keisuke who leaned over him. He looked down at him, sharp, fang teeth, cocky grin, amused expression.

Keisuke didn’t say another word but leaned down and kissed him.

—summer, '09

“This place looks—“

“Wow.”

“I’m actually surprised. Did you get a painter in here?”

“I did that.”

Everyone looked at Kazutora. He stood with a frown and crossed arms.

“You did not,” Takashi finally said. He stepped up to the wall of the pet shop and pressed his palm on the wall. “It’s a really good paint job,” he muttered.

“You don’t think I can paint?” Kazutora asked.

“Aren’t you the same person who tried to match stripes and plaid?”

“Oh, sorry, Mr Fancy Designer,” Kazutora said in a mocking tone. “I was twelve.”

“Twelve with no sense of style,” Takashi whispered under his breath, a grin on his face.

Kazutora turned to Chifuyu. “Defend me?”

“He did it all by himself,” Chifuyu said. He boosted himself up on the counter—the new counter. No scratches on it or stains. Brand new and replaced. Everything in the store was replaced and new. There was a fresh scent to everything as if it had come straight from the packaging. It took months but it was all worth it. “Baji did the reconstruction and I just did behind the scenes stuff or whatever,” he said, flicking his wrist in the air when he breezed through his contribution.

An arm wrapped on his shoulder. “Don’t say it like you did nothing, Fuyu. You’re the brains of this,” Keisuke said with a grin.

Still, Chifuyu was getting a red face from Keisuke. It wasn’t as bad now but he still had to bite back on his tongue. “Thanks, Baji,” he responded quietly. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, it took a while but this place is really ours,” Chifuyu said.

“Have you brought Peke J here?” That was Hinata. She was kneeled down petting a cat that had been walking past her. Takemichi stood and watched her. It was clear it was not the twenty-six-year-old Takemichi. The kid needed to get a grip.

“Not yet but I’m sure he would love it here,” Chifuyu said.

“Can I go get him?”

Chifuyu glanced over at Keisuke and raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“I can grab champagne or wine or whatever I can get from my mom’s liquor cabinet while I’m at the apartment building,” Keisuke offered though it was clear he just wanted Peke J. The shine in his eyes—something that Chifuyu could never say no to. He lifted his leg a little to pull his keys from his back pocket and handed them to Keisuke with a sigh.

“Here.”

Keisuke snatched the keys with a grin and began to rush out the door. “Pah-chin, come on,” he said, grabbing the large boy by the collar of his shirt and dragging him out of the store. “I’m gonna need someone to carry the drinks.”

Having everyone in the pet store made Chifuyu a little anxious only because he didn’t want to scare or frighten the animals. But as the night went on and they drank and played music at a low volume, they let the animals out of their cages and played with them.

Draken, who was somehow someone who was getting drunk off of little to drink, was playing catch around one of the aisles with a small lab. Inui watched him to make sure he didn’t hurt himself. It was strange, Draken being the one to have someone monitoring him, but hey, at least he was finally getting to act like a kid.

Kazutora was talking to Takashi about the painting he did. Takashi would either insult him or compliment him—complimenting him was rare. Though he did get flustered whenever he did, that was just the kind of person Kazutora was. It showed he wasn’t that used to compliments. He deserved them more.

Pah-chin, Pah-yen, Hakkai, and Yuzuha were messing around and looking at the cute toys that were on display.

Takashi had brought Luna and Mana who clung to Hinata as she talked with Takemichi. Still, he was an embarrassing mess around her. It made Chifuyu sigh into his cup as he went to take a sip.

“What’s wrong?”

Chifuyu glanced over. “Mhm?” He hummed against the rim of his glass. Keisuke reached over, at first touching Chifuyu’s cheek. Then Chifuyu slowly lowered his drink and Keisuke grabbed ahold of his chin.

“Your eyes are pretty.”

Chifuyu slapped his hand away and turned his head. Warm cheeks. He would never be used to it. “Stop that. Someone is gonna see,” he said under his breath.

“Please. Everyone is either too drunk or distracted. Look, Draken is trying to put a leash on Inui.”

Chifuyu looked up. He watched as Draken now chased Inui around with a blue leash as the other tried to get him to stop.

“Get him, Draken!” Keisuke shouted with a laugh roaring from him after. He tilted his own drink at his lips as he kept his eyes on the two playing chase. Chifuyu chuckled, and he took a quick scan around the shop to see if anyone was looking before he put a quick kiss to Keisuke’s cheek.

Keisuke nearly spit out his drink, coughing and then beating on his chest. He nearly fell off from his seat on the counter. This time it was his turn for his cheeks to get red though they never did get nearly as bad as Chifuyu’s did.

“What was that for?”

“I don’t know,” Chifuyu said with a shrug. “I like you or something.”

Before Keisuke could respond, there was a shout—specifically, a shout for him. They both looked over in time to Kazutora darting toward him.

And then jumping at him.

Chifuyu shifted and dodged out of the way, backing up a bit, but Keisuke wasn’t that lucky. Kazutora jumped at him, hands on his shoulders as he pushed him off and over the counter to crash to the floor.

“You piece of shit! I’m gonna really fucking kill you now!” Kazutora shouted. He punched Keisuke a few times but no one was really concerned about that. They were all wondering why Kazutora was so mad.

And then Chifuyu realized.

The stupid fucking scotch tape on the wall.

“You could’ve helped me.”

Chifuyu grinned, biting on his bottom lip to hold back how funny the situation actually had been. They sat in the back office because Kazutora was still quite pissed. The others tried to calm him down from murder while Chifuyu got Keisuke some medical care. He held a cold ice pack to Keisuke’s cheek.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Kind of funny,” he admitted.

“It’s not funny. I got punched. Eight times.”

“You’ll live,” Chifuyu said. He pulled down the ice pack and tilted Keisuke’s head to the side to look at it. “You’ll probably have a pretty sizable bruise for a while.” He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to the skin that was already darkening purple.

“I’m gonna need one of those every day,” Keisuke said.

Chifuyu held up the ice pack. “These? Probably.”

“No,” Keisuke said. He stole a kiss from Chifuyu to which the other blinked a few hundred times as if it was the first. “One of those. Healing powers.”

“You’re corny.”

“Still works on you.”

Chifuyu rolled his eyes and stood up. He grabbed Keisuke’s hand and pulled him from his seat. “Come on. You have an apology to deliver.”