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It always stung a bit after Kuzuha left the house after their business affairs. Kanae longingly staring at his counterpart’s back as he left through his front doors, bidding a brief goodbye at the other.
It was never always like this though. Perhaps it was the lack of time or the gradual increase in workload that made the vampire want to leave Kanae’s house in the blink of an eye.
… or maybe it was just me that made Kuzuha want to leave that quickly
A stray thought letting itself slip into his mind, making him overthink.
He truly didn’t know what happened between them. As time went on, moments spent together dwindled. From constantly being attached to the hip, to only meeting up only for work. Often packing his things and leaving immediately after business matters were settled.
Before, Kanae would attempt to make the latter stay a little longer, by making food or asking him to watch a bit of anime together before he left; however, he never stayed, just packed the food to go or simply rejected the offer. This was often the response Kanae received, so he decided to stop bringing up the offer altogether.
Furthermore, when their relationship was brought up by a viewer during one of Kanae’s morning streams, he was afraid of saying that they were close friends, considering the current state of their relationship. At the end instead of blatantly lying, he played safe and said that they were “Business Friends Only”. This sparked some gossip, but it wasn’t too severe.
However, on the other side of things, what Kuzuha was feeling was completely different from what Kanae imagined.
Kuzuha was facing himself and his ever-growing feelings towards the angel-like man. It started when they both went to a karaoke place together and Kanae complimented his singing, something that was rarely done by his friends. Fortunately for Kuzuha, the dimmed lights and the low brightness karaoke machine assisted in hiding the blush on his cheeks.
Since then, those feelings grew at a rapid pace, forcing Kuzuha to sort them out. After thinking it through, he came to a conclusion that it would be best to avoid the other at all costs and limit their time spent together, in order to alleviate his feelings for the other.
Kuzuha feared that he would accidentally blurt out his feelings on a whim if they interacted any longer after doing their responsibilities. He was afraid that Kanae would react negatively as a response to those feelings and end the friendship, which was something Kuzuha dreaded.
To him, every moment spent with the other was special.
Honestly, the vampire’s friends took him as the type to not bother with meticulous details, and was often misunderstood as a shallow person.
However, contrary to what his friends said, he had every little thing about Kanae memorized. From the blue flecks in his eyes that appear whenever the sunlight hits it, to the way his hands curl up whenever it gets too cold or when something gets too scary.
Every small thing about the other was precious, so the thought of having to lose such beautiful sights over a confession made him regret catching feelings for the other.
As much as it hurt, whether it was to spend less time with him or to talk to him less, he was dead set on throwing those feelings down the drain.
Due to that, Kanae and Kuzuha were never able to sync up the same way they did before, rather they just went with the flow and never bothered to break out of it. Always keeping each other at arm's length. Never too far, but never too near.
Despite his willpower to get rid of those feelings, it never happened and instead, it festered and gradually grew. On the other hand, Kanae couldn't go out of his comfort zone to ask the other to stay a little longer. In the process of trying to protect themselves from the feelings they had for each other, they hurt each other unintentionally, thus causing a dent in the relationship.
Often known as someone who couldn’t adapt to changes easily, it was no surprise that Kanae was the first to get frustrated with the relationship. From the short meeting sessions to the even shorter messages, Kanae wasn’t having it and didn’t want their friendship to end this way.
So, after a recording session at his house, he finally took the initiative to stop Kuzuha in his tracks before he could leave.
“Are we okay ?”
Kanae starts hoping for a favorable response.
“Yep”
The response is short and stern. As expected.
Kanae sighs and decides to be more straightforward about this.
“Are you sure about that?...”
Kanae presses, trying to get the answer he wants.
“... I was going through Twitter the other day and many of our fans have noticed that we’ve been a bit distant lately. I think, despite the fact that they aren’t aware of what goes on between us offline, I agree with them. We don’t talk the way we used to, we don’t click the same way we used to and it's getting kinda frustrating.”
Kanae continues, hoping that Kuzuha would at least notice the situation their friendship is in.
“Oh.. I didn’t think it was like that.. Sorry.”
Kuzuha Responds, eyes fixated on his own lap.
“Ah… Well, you should stay over since its starting to get a bit late”
Kanae asks, hoping for a favorable answer.
Kuzuha glances at the window and Kanae’s right, it is starting to get late.
“Uh..um..”
Kuzuha hesitates a bit, still trying to figure out what he wants. While his mind is telling him not to stay, but his heart is telling him otherwise. Time is running out so he blanks and blurts whatever choice comes first.
“I’ll stay.”
Is what comes out of his mouth and Kuzuha doesn’t even try to stop it from doing so.
Immediately after that response, Kanae’s eyes light up like stars in the night and gosh seeing the reaction it got him, Kuzuha does not regret deciding to stay.
Buzzing with joy, Kanae quickly prepares Kuzuha’s futon next to his and with a contented smile, they both fall asleep peacefully.
Surprisingly, the first to awaken is Kuzuha. He makes good use of the time by admiring the brunette's features, spending a little more time on the other’s eyelashes that seem to flutter every now and then despite him being asleep.
After approximately thirty minutes, Kanae’s eyes flutter open, pretty grey orbs staring back at red ones filled with warmth.
“Morning”
Kuzuha greets with a small smile on his face.
“Un”
Kanae responds with a groggy voice, turning his body to face away from Kuzuha.
“Do you want to get up and eat?”
Kuzuha asks.
Without saying a word, Kanae shakes his head, turns around to face Kuzuha again and scoots closer to him.
“You don’t want to eat?”
Kuzuha asks again in a higher pitch, almost as if he’s talking to a child.
Once again, Kanae responds by simply shaking his head.
At this, Kuzuha understands, decides to stop asking, and pulls Kanae closer to his chest by the back of his head, almost cradling him.
Kanae leans into the hug and they both fall asleep, but this time in each other's arms.
Once they get up, they eat and talk about their feelings for each other, clearing up their previous misunderstandings.
Despite the warm and intimate atmosphere, they still had streaming activities and work to do, so they both parted ways, albeit rather reluctantly.
The following streams after they made up were a lot more low tension, both basking in the comfort of each other while doing what they love the most. Although the low tension sparked rumors from antis suggesting that Kuzuha disliked collaborating with Kanae because he constantly sounded bored compared to when collaborating with other streamers, they both enjoyed the atmosphere. The silence was never awkward and the stream was often incredibly comfy, save for the regular banter and taunting during a particularly close battle.