Work Text:
CW: Very brief implications/references to attempted suicide, self-harm, and psychotic episodes.
Already, the morning was off.
When he stirred awake on a Saturday morning, reaching out for Takemichi to pull him into his chest and hide his face from the sunlight peeking in through the curtains, he wasn't there. Immediately, Kazutora was wide awake and shot up from bed in an instant. The two of them have fallen into routine, a schedule they follow to a T, so when Kazutora didn't have to wake up Takemichi he immediately assumed that—oh shit, his boyfriend is dead somewhere. Or kidnapped. Even worse, Mikey kidnapped him. God FORBID Izana kidnap him. That would be so much worse than Mikey.
"Takemichi?" He calls, still slightly groggy. He throws the comforters off and shivers slightly. It was mid September so it's starting to cool down from the usual Japan heat. Fuck, it's not even eight in the morning. That confirms all of Kazutora's suspicions and deems almost instantly; Izana has kidnapped him again. For what, he's not sure. Maybe he wants something baked for him? Who knows, that guy is weird. But it's Izana, most definitely, because Mikey was not a morning person and he physically cannot be awake after 3am and sleeps like a log until at least 8am.
The room isn't as lit up as he's used to, so he stubbed his toe against something Kazutora couldn't see, tripped over a notebook, fell on his face, but rushed out of the bedroom door immediately after grabbing his phone from the night stand.
6:45AM|| Tiger: If you kidnapped my boyfriend to make you breakfast again I'm sicking Kakucho on your sorry ass.
6:45AM|| Orphan: Eat shit bitch. I didn't do anything to your boy toy.
That was equally as worrying.
"Takemichi!" He calls out, because the kitchen light was on.
To his fucking relief, he responds, "Down here!"
So, just to make sure the long list of Kazutora's mental issues aren't catching up to him, he runs downstairs to confirm the voice. And in the apricot-colored sunlight, dressed in the cutest fucking blue apron with a cat patch stitched over his heart, is his boyfriend with crepe batter all over his face and flour on his nose.
He's so cute.
So fucking cute.
"I didn't wake you up did I?" Takemichi asks, slightly nervous that his screeching and cursing had woken Kazutora up—who isn't exactly looking his best right now. His hair is disheveled with bed head, there's dried drool from the corner of his lips to the bottom of his jaw, he's squinting from the sudden lighting change (there's a tree outside of Takemichi's window so it covers most of the light that comes in), and he's not even wearing a shirt. Just sweatpants.
"Fuck man, the hell are you doing up so damn early? I though Izana kidnapped you again," Kazutora sighs, letting his shoulders slump with relief. He's slightly tired and a little woozy from just waking up and sprinting downstairs like a mad man. So, just to make sure he doesn't pass out, he walks over and wraps his arms around Takemichi and rests his head on his shoulder. He hasn't taken a shower yet because the apple shampoo and the strawberry conditioner isn't as strong as it usually is in the morning.
"Ah, a few people told me last minute they're coming over last night so I wanted to get a head start on breakfast." Takemichi laughs, petting Kazutora's hair and really—he could die happy. His hair is a little knotted since he definitely didn't brush his hair before tripping over himself trying to run down here, but it still feels nice. Always.
"Go shower 'Tora. Before I load the dishwasher," Takemichi hums, lightly pushing his boyfriend off his shoulder despite the protesting grumble.
"But-"
"I literally have crepe batter next to me. If I need to give you a reason to shower I will," With a lack of a better choice, Kazutora groans but nods his head. Because who runs this house? Sadly, it's definitely not Kazutora.
But as compensation for giving Kazutora a heart attack, he tangles his hand in the back of Takemichi's head and pulls him closer—licking the batter off the corner of Takemichi's lips.
"Have fun with breakfast!" Kazutora laughs, sprinting to the stair well and narrowly avoiding a spatula that was thrown at him.
"You stupid fucking flirt!"
...
At seven in the morning, Kazutora finally looks presentable and ready for the world. His hair is still wet and not brushed since Takemichi always does that for him, a little thing they decided to keep after Takemichi started brushing his hair way back before halloween. Spitting out the toothpaste into the sink and letting out a sigh, he finally feels awake. Kazutora swears he doesn't feel alive until he washes his face after a shower. He's just...on auto pilot.
Judging that it was Saturday, Kazutora picked up his skateboard that rested against Takemichi's desk, he'd go out for a little exercise. Oh yeah, it was a little bit colder than usual. A tank top probably won't do him much good racing down and bombing hills. Stopping by their shared closet, he smiles to himself when he pulls out a black sweater with a Kuromi patch over the end of his sleeves. He and Takemichi visited a Sanrio shop last month and they got matching Kuromi and My Melody sweaters. Let me tell you, Takemichi is SO fucking cute in it. Absolutely adorable.
"Where are you going?" Takemichi asks when Kazutora comes down the stairs with his skateboard in hand and still wet hair—but a big grin nonetheless.
"Let's go skating today!" He smiles, holding up his skateboard. They both skateboarded but Takemichi was much better at snowboarding and rollerskating, but he was still good at skateboarding nonetheless.
Kazutora's skateboard had a black and red checkered bottom with bright yellow wheels. Takemichi had painted white himawari patterns into the bottom of his board as well and it made everything look really damn good. Takemichi was really good at painting, did you know that? He's also good at graffiti. Absolute natural, Mitsuya said, when he spray painted a large himawari mural onto the bottom of the bridge they hang out at every so often. Kazutora, because he's a menace and lives to embarrass Takemichi, slapped on a 'Property of Takemichi' sticker—that took way too long to figure out how to turn into a sticker—onto the middle of his board. He also had a 'Send Nudes' one on the nose of his board but it was a bit faded from doing tricks so often. That sticker he had put on when he was twelve and he's quite embarrassed about it.
Takemichi's skateboard was black and white; a white base and black clouds, and his wheels were a soft blue. They also lit up at night, a present from Inupi because he thought it was cool. Takemichi had a lot of stickers on his unlike Kazutora. He had Sanrio stickers, regular soft blue ones (blue stickers of any kind has always been his favorite), and a singular one that indulged in Kazutora's dumb little prank that said 'Property of Kazutora' and the two of them were made fun of by their friends. The board really fit Takemichi's vibe, in Kazutora's opinion. And really, seeing him fly around the bowl and watching him do tricks with Kazutora's name on the bottom of his board, it distracts him so much that he falls on his fucking face mid trick.
"To where?" Takemichi asks before cursing and turning the heat off the stove after fucking up pouring the crepe batter in wrong.
"Anywhere you want," Kazutora smiles, walking over to set his in the living room for him to take later. Kazutora can deduce that Takemichi has not done anything but brush his teeth because his hair looks more messy than usual and he's still a bit tired looking. But he's really cute. Super cute. Ungodly cute.
Takemichi hums, checking his phone for something before shrugging, "We can decide after breakfast. Now help me you asshole," He responds, pointing the spatula that was most definitely thrown at Kazutora earlier, at his face.
"Okay," Kazutora hums, walking over and wrapping his arms around Takemichi's waist and pulling him in for a kiss.
He pulls away a little just for his heart to flutter at the lazy and sleepy smile on Takemichi's face.
So he kisses him again and tightens his hold on Takemichi's waist when he giggles.
He pulls away again to Takemichi laughing, wrapping his arms around his neck instead and pulling him in for another kiss.
Because really, nothing could be better than this.
But his kissing haven is cut short when Takemichi puts a hand over Kazutora's mouth and laughs, "Breakfast—lover boy. Calm down." But Kazutora really doesn't want to calm down with Takemichi flushing a pretty peach pink and Kazutora can count the faint freckles on his nose but alas, breakfast. Sad I know.
At 7:15AM they have an early breakfast. Crepes, both of their tastes set to whatever they decide to decorate their breakfast with. Takemichi's has whip cream and strawberries and Kazutora has sliced bananas and chocolate syrup.
"You are such a messy fucking eater," Takemichi snickers, pointing at Kazutora who definitely had chocolate syrup on his face.
"And you're dating a messy fucking eater, cry about it." He huffs, stealing a strawberry from the inside of Takemichi's second crepe.
"You bastard!" He gasps, mourning his lost strawberry and tearfully biting into his crepe. He's so cute like this. Disheveled hair, flushed cheeks, flour on his nose that he still hasn't cleaned up yet, and guarding his plate like a dragon guarding treasure. It's adorable, really. Kazutora might just fall in love all over again.
There's a knock at the front door and multiple muffled shouting that makes Kazutora sigh. Of course, morning domestic bliss must come to an end so soon. So Takemichi stands up from his chair to get the door, but before that, he stops by Kazutora's chair.
"What?" He asks, swallowing the banana in his mouth. Without receiving a proper explanation Takemichi bends down and licks the chocolate syrup off Kazutora's face with a smug grin.
"Slow down when you eat, it's not going to run away from you," Takemichi mumbles, grabbing Kazutora's chin and kissing him sweetly before running to get the door. And understandably, because he's a fool in love, he freezes entirely and flushes from head to chest.
"Morning 'Tora!" Keisuke's loud voice shouts, dragging in Chifuyu behind him.
"God, Keisuke. Please the sun is barely up," Kazutora groans, burying his head in his hands so no one will see just how red he is. And I'm talking—BRISK® ICED TEA, RASPBERRY—red.
"Too bad," Emma says, stepping into the house with Inupi hot on her tail. He does not look his best because Inupi was never a morning person. Chifuyu also looks like he's two seconds away from murdering his boyfriend.
"Why are you guys here so early?" Kazutora asked, feeling the heat on his face die down and he looked at the group. Mikey and Draken were actually there as well but it was early enough for Mikey to be quiet for a change. Honestly, how he was even there was a mystery itself.
"Skating!" Emma grinned, holding up her rollerblades.
Oh yeah, now that he's actually paying attention, they all of something to bring to a skate park. Inupi had roller-skates, Draken was holding two skateboards—he can assume that one of them is Mikey's, Chifuyu and Keisuke had their skateboards as well. A lot of people actually skateboarded in their friend group. Well, skating in any way. Hina also had a long board.
"This early?" Kazutora sighs.
"Hey! Play nice." Takemichi scolds, pointing a finger at him.
But, since he was scolded, he lets his shoulders slump and decides Fuck It anyway, "Where are we going?"
And with a grin, Mikey finally speaks up, "Roppongi."
...
It was pretty empty in the metro so they all got to have seats. Judging by the time that they got there it was just barely 9AM.
"Help," Inupi whispered, tugging on Emma's sleeve. Of course, because Emma is just as cheeky as her brother, she just shot him an unapologetic grin and shrugged. Because currently, Mikey was fast asleep on his shoulder while they were in the metro. Yeah, no way in hell are they skating all the way to Roppongi. Draken was on his phone completely ignoring everyone else with his earbuds in, Chifuyu and Keisuke were asleep on each other, and Kazutora was sadly awake so he just opted to rest his head on Takemichi's shoulder.
"Say cheese!" Takemichi grinned, taking a photo of Inupi and Mikey.
"Cruel, you're so cruel." Inupi whimpered, clutching at his jeans and trying to hold his breath. He's heard of the horror stories about what happens when Mikey wakes up in a bad mood so he just hopes that he won't wake up at all. Cruel, but Inupi would like to live to this trip.
"Just don't breathe and you'll be alright," Kazutora joked, pressing a kiss to Takemichi's shoulder and resting his head at a different angle with his forehead pressed into Takemichi's shirt. They decided to go all out and wear their matching Sanrio sweaters and with their matching boards, hopefully, no one would hit on Takemichi.
It's crazy how many people ask for the guy's number.
As crazy as it is irritating.
"Do you know what this trip is all about?" Kazutora whispered, pulling Takemichi closer by the hips and whispering into his ear. He giggled a bit since his ear has always been sensitive and it feels ticklish with Kazutora right by.
"Possibly, but I'm not telling you that." Takemichi snickered, tilting his head to the side to hide his ear. Maybe the gesture egged him on a bit so Kazutora instead pressed a kiss to Takemichi's neck and just decided to burry his head there.
"God, you stupid couples are so gross," Emma said, rolling her eyes before nudging Draken with her elbow, "Right, Ken?" She asks, in that specific Please Notice Me Ryuguji Ken voice.
"Homophobe." Kazutora huffs, pressing a kiss to Takemichi's collar bone to show off because Kazutora is petty like that.
"We're all kinda in pairs huh? It'll be good so we can know where everyone is easier," Draken hums, taking one of his earbuds out and handing it to Emma in hopes that it'll satiate her poor attempts at flirting for now. Because it's 9AM and Draken surely doesn't feel like dying of a heart attack and willing himself to seem calm.
"Me and you?" Emma asks, fluttering her eyes and Kazutora wants to puke.
"No, me and Mikey. You and Inupi." Draken deadpans and a small snort comes from Keisuke who had apparently been pretending to sleep for the excuse of resting his head on Chifuyu's.
"I'll cut your damn dick off, Keisuke." Emma sneers before huffing and crossing her arms.
"It's okay, Inupi is better at skating than you are. At least he can drop into the bowl," And wow, sassy Emma at 9AM? Damn, Kazutora must've taken LSD before he left the house.
"It's not my fault I started only a year ago!" Draken scowls, turning his head to hide the embarrassed blush when recalling that he had talked big shit to Inupi and got his shit rocked in a game of Skate. Inupi could still skateboard but he prefers roller-skates.
Getting a bit bored of the conversation, Kazutora pulls out his flip phone.
9:07AM || Tora: I love you
He waits a bit and watches Takemichi take out his phone and flipping it open, smiling to himself when Takemichi snickers quietly. Slightly surprised when Takemichi presses a kiss to Kazutora's head.
9:07AM || Wifey: I love you too :D <3
"You're so cute," Takemichi whispers with a giggle.
Alright, maybe he can make something out of this early ass skating trip.
...
"You're fucking with me," Kazutora said, mentally suppressing the urge to keep his mouth from hanging open like a dumbass.
"That would be illegal, darling." Haitani mother fucking Ran says as he steps out of the way for them all to see even more into the indoor skating park. Which, mind you, is closed today. Only opened per Izana's request solely for them. Kazutora made a mental note to let Izana kidnap his boyfriend sometime.
"Holy fuck!" Keisuke near screams, sprinting about to get a closer look at everything.
"Baji-san! Wait up!" Chifuyu exclaimed, tripping over himself as he rushed after his boyfriend.
"Go ahead and go crazy. Just don't break any bones," Rindou said, dutifully bored, as he stared a hole into Takemichi's head during his last sentence.
"Thanks for having so much faith in me," Takemichi grumbled hugging his skateboard to his chest.
"HAHAHA YOU SUCK!" Keisuke laughed, nearly crying and definitely on the verge of tears, as he points at Mikey. The Mikey who most definitely just ate shit in front of Inupi whom he was trying to impress. Talk about embarrassing.
"You're suck a dick!" Mikey shouted, waisting no time at all before chucking his skateboard straight at Keisuke. Who, surprisingly enough, blocked it with his own skateboard.
"Hey fucker, you could've hit Chifuyu with that. You wanna die?" Keisuke sneered, cracking his knuckles.
"Your little boy toy can kiss my ass," Mikey scoffed. Inupi, bless his soul, tried to calm down Mikey with (a very unhelpful) Emma. But inevitably, Keisuke and Mikey abandon their boards, stepped away from the others, and duked it out with their fists.
But all of that is completely irrelevant. Because currently, Kazutora has his eyes completely glued on Takemichi.
Really, it looks like he's an angel, soaring through the sky with maximum ease and beauty. Kazutora's earrings jingle from his ear, his other piercings glint from the light, and he's doing a power slide after totally flying over a stair set. He's in his matching sweater riding his matching board, and really, Kazutora feels like the most important and most lucky guy to ever exist.
Because that right there, ladies and co., is Kazutora's boyfriend. Yep, that's him. Right there. Looking really pretty and really gorgeous, and really beautiful, and really—really kissable.
"Fuck, you did a six step as a warm up?" Chifuyu laughs, high-fiving Kazutora's boyfriend (boyfriend!!!!!!) and laughing.
"I could've done an eight step as a warm up if we were snowboarding," Takemichi snickers, totally and most definitely showing off, but it's okay because he looks cute while doing so. With his stupidly adorable smile is his kissable dimples and his fucking beautiful faint freckles that are finally coming back now that the cold is starting back up soon.
"Prodigy," Mikey scoffs.
"Like you're one to talk," Draken says after rolling his eyes, still warming up with nose slides.
"You okay, 'Tora? You've just been standing there." Takemichi asks, riding over to him very slowly so he bumps into Kazutora's chests with a giggle, never letting his feet off his board.
His chest tightens up and he nods, "Yeah, I'm good." He says, wrapping his arms around Takemichi's neck and peppering kisses all over Takemichi's face. As usual, it makes him giggle and Kazutora can literally feel how warm his boyfriend's face is against his lips.
"God you two are gross," Mikey says with a grimace, turning to go and chase Inupi somewhere. Mikey's most recent target of his bullying love language has sadly been Inui Seishu, because apparently, his reactions are funny. He either goes stiff as a board and doesn't dare to breath or he flushes a pastel pink from head to toe.
"You're just jealous," Kazutora grumbles, kissing Takemichi's nose.
"Ding ding ding! Correct! Gonna let me kiss your boyfriend as a prize?" Mikey grins, clearly joking, but the implication made Kazutora squeeze Takemichi to his chest a little too hard and his board went flying out from underneath him and the two of them tumble to the floor with a couple shouts.
"Wow, you are so embarrassing." Mikey laughs.
"Ow, fuck. You okay?" Kazutora groans, sitting up and off his boyfriend who he most defiantly crushed. Takemichi, with the wind knocked out of him, just wheezes out an answer and raises a thumbs-up. Well that's good. Hopefully no broken bones.
Putting a hand over Takemichi's head Kazutora leaned over to softly kiss him one more time, "Sorry." He mumbled.
"Fuck—you guys are so gross. Inupi! Let's race!" Mikey grinned, throwing down his board and having an unfair head start as Inupi rushed to catch up to him.
"Dick," Takemichi laughed, kissing Kazutora's cheek before pushing him off.
"Alright, I challenge you to a game of Skate!"
Kazutora grinned, "I like the sound of that. What do I get if I win?"
"What do you want?" Takemichi asks, standing up and leaning against his skateboard.
"15 minutes, all kisses, and then we're making cheese cake afterwards." Kazutora said with a lazy smile.
"Oh you're on, bastard. Get ready to eat shit and prepare me a spa day," Takemichi laughed.
"You're such a male wife."
"That's what you love about me!"
...
"Yeah! Kick his ass Takemichi!" Emma cheered, pumping her fist in her air and jumping up and down despite being in roller skates.
"No way, Kazutora's gonna win." Keisuke said, sticking his tongue out at the girl to clearly let his fangs show. To which Emma responded by sliding her thumb across her neck in a very threatening gesture. Sometimes it's easy to forget they were childhood friends.
"Flat ground or equipment?" Takemichi asks, rubbing his thumb back and forth over the nose of his board.
"Let's just do flat ground since we're both good at it. I'd rather not break my face on a stair step today," Kazutora huffs.
Skate is a game between two skateboarders. Sometimes it's not between just two but generally, it will be. You compete in certain tricks and each time a person fails, a letter is taken away from their word Skate. The two will keep doing a multitude of set tricks and whoever no longer has the word and has run out of letters loses. You don't have to be extremely clean but as long as your feet don't touch the floor, you're off Scott free. But until then, the two skaters go back in forth in a circle and competing in the same tricks. It gets tiring after a while and eventually your stamina will weed out—resulting in sloppy and messy tricks.
"What should we start with?" Inupi asks, the decided overseer of the competition.
"How about something easy going, kick flip?" Kazutora asks.
"Sure,"
As expected, both of them had gotten away just fine.
Then it was a fake kick flip, a nollie flip, switch flip, 360 shuv it, hard flip, and treflip.
"Jesus fucking christ. They even match in skill," Chifuyu sighs, watching as Takemichi does a flawless bs bigspin. Followed up by Kazutora's equally flawless trick.
"Fuck him up, 'Tora! Cash in your makeout sesh!" Keisuke cheered.
Takemichi, because he's a daring little shit, decided to speed up a bit and do a completely clean backside flip. Really, Draken will never know how these two do it so easily. It's like the board sticks to their feet.
"Yeah! Damn show off! Get that spa day!" Emma laughed, waving to Takemichi who smiled at her.
"What the fuck," Mikey sighed, watching Kazutora do the cleanest backside flip he's ever seen.
There was screeching of boards, throwing off hoodies, and just barely saving themselves until finally the first person to break is Kazutora, failing on a switch fs shuv it.
"S goes to Kazutora," Inupi says, mildly shocked at how that was the first letter and they have cycled through at least 15 tricks already.
But again, the two competitors don't get breaks. So they keep going despite the loss of a letter.
A failed frontside flip, "K goes to Kazutora."
A failed switch fs big, "A goes to Takemichi."
A failed sw fs bigheel, "T goes to Takemichi."
And finally—finally—a failed varial flip led to, "E goes to Kazutora!"
The two of them crumbled to the ground in an instant, either bare-chested or in a tank top because the two had abandoned their sweaters—not wanted to get them sweaty—and were now panting and wheezing on the ground.
"You and your fucking stamina," Kazutora coughed, feeling all the fight leave him when Takemichi smiles at him dumbly.
"Possibility of me cashing in a massage too?" Takemichi chuckles, liking the feeling of cool cement against his hot forehead.
"Fuck off you greedy bastard," Kazutora scoffs—yet smiles and laughs.
Oh well, pamper the wifey it is.
...
"Give me some," Kazutora said, leaning closer to Takemichi. Very quick to add, "-please."
With a reluctant sigh, Takemichi offered one of his dango skewers up and tearfully watched Kazutora inhale it. Currently, it was three in the afternoon and everyone had left with a thankful goodbye to the rulers of Roppongi to go get lunch. Mikey wouldn't stop whining for a good hour so they didn't have much of a choice before the tiny tyrant eventually raised hell on them.
"You're the greedy one you dickhead," Takemichi huffed, but all the anger leaves him when Kazutora presses a sticky a sweet kiss to his cheek.
"Nah, I think you just bitch and whine too much," Kazutora grinned, quick to dodge a punch directly aimed for his throat. Yikes, one scary future husband.
"Jeez, don't you know it's abusive to hit your boyfriend?! Be more like Chifuyu!" Kazutora wheezed, staggering back on his legs to avoid a seething Takemichi.
Keisuke laughs, "Oh no way in hell. 'Fuyu kicks my ass each time I skip studying," he says. Because of course Keisuke says something that does the exact opposite of backing Kazutora up because the guy is stupid.
"That's because whenever you fail a test your mom comes and rants to me about it. And I love your mom, but that woman is scary when she's upset," Chifuyu scoffs, angrily biting his takoyaki, still upset after he had lost pretty bad in a Skate match against Keisuke.
Kazutora inevitably sits back beside Takemichi and watches with a pout when Inupi offers up his dango for Takemichi to eat. And because his boyfriend is a dick, Takemichi ate it from Inupi's hand and stuck his tongue out at Kazutora.
"You're so petty," Kazutora scoffs, pulling Takemichi by the neck and giving him an angry kiss on the forehead.
"Oh you are not one to talk," Emma laughs, pointing a skewer stick at Kazutora's head.
"Seriously, the two of you are just dating hypocrites," Mikey mumbled, half a dorayaki stuffed in his mouth and Draken forced the guy's mouth closed. Which, good. Because no one wants to see that.
"At least we're dating," Kazutora laughs, flipping off Mikey who flipped him off back with just as much passion.
"Yeah," Takemichi huffs, letting his head fall onto Kazutora's shoulder. While everyone else starts to clean up the park bench they were at, Takemichi moves his head to press a kiss to the back of Kazutora's ear, "We are dating."
And really, having it pointed out, it might just be the best thing that's ever happened to Kazutora. Because he really, really loves Takemichi. Truly, life wouldn't be remotely the same without him and his dumb little smile and his annoyed face that has his cheeks puffing up like mochi—nothing would be the same.
Without Takemichi, there is nothing. Nothing to look forward to in his day, no one to brush his hair in the morning, no one to wear matching sweaters with him, no one to patch him up when he takes a nasty fall on his skateboard, and no one to make him feel so loved and just so special.
Kazutora loves everything about Takemichi. To each messy and curly black hair on his head and the bullet scar on his foot. No one can make him feel like this; make him feel so important, so pretty, so loved, and so forgiven. Because even though Takemichi has seen Kazutora kill, his now best friend, with his own two eyes—he still shares a bed with him at night. Even if he knew that by killing Shinichiro, he was the true start of Mikey's downfall, he still made breakfast for him every morning. That even though they barely spent time together in the previous timelines, and during those times Kazutora was making Takemichi feel fear, he still loves him.
Through Takemichi was the only way Kazutora could truly see the light at the end of the tunnel. Where he truly started to realize that maybe, just maybe, Kazutora deserved forgiveness. That he was completely deserving of this second chance. That it wasn't entirely his fault that Shinichiro was dead and that it was all a big accident, that he wasn't totally together when he killed Keisuke, that it wasn't his fault when his mother couldn't look at Kazutora's face anymore without being reminded of his father—but even if it was his fault, Takemichi made damn sure to make Kazutora still feel like he deserved as second chance.
He can breath easier with Takemichi by his side, he looks more put together and happy when Takemichi is looking over his shoulder at his appearance in the mirror, he feels the most alive when Takemichi is running his fingers over his face and mumbling how lucky he was to have Kazutora in his life. So he makes damn sure that he tries his hardest to make Takemichi feel this way too. Because Takemichi was important, more than important, he was beautiful—gorgeous even, and that he was just so kind and deserving of forgiveness.
Because it wasn't Takemichi's fault that he could find Draken in time on the battle of 8/3, it wasn't his fault that Keisuke still died on Bloody Halloween, it wasn't his fault that Emma was still caught up in the gang life, it wasn't his fault when Chifuyu was shot in front of him, it wasn't his fault that he couldn't get Hina out of the car fire, it wasn't his fault that Atsushi had jumped in front of him, it wasn't his fault that Naoto took a bullet for him, it wasn't his fault that Izana had died, it wasn't his fault Mikey still ended up in a bad place. None of it was his fault.
But even so, Takemichi still blames himself every day for it. He's been getting better with time and with care but there are still those days. Days where Takemichi can't even look at himself in the mirror without being sent into a psychotic break, days where Takemichi feels so compelled to draw blood on his thighs to just feel that he's doing a good job, days where Takemichi is in such a daze and Kazutora finds him with a knife to his throat or submerging himself underneath bath water, but even so—Kazutora would never leave Takemichi. He'd never leave his side.
It took so long, months upon months, but Takemichi has started to see the end of the road as well. He's starting to consider forgiving himself for events that weren't his fault, he's started to smile at himself in the mirror and even wear clothes to bring attention to himself in public, he's started picking up new hobbies instead of journaling his life away and obsess over the end. But slowly and surely, Kazutora taught Takemichi how to love himself. And soon those deep drawn marks on his thighs turned into scars, they no longer had to buy new mirrors every week, and Kazutora no longer had to worry about leaving Takemichi to bathe by himself.
They've both started at forgiving themselves since they already forgive each other. Pushing and nudging each other to the healthy side of things. Days like these, spent with his friends, laughing and having fun—days like those does Takemichi smile the brightest. And days like those does Kazutora fall in love all over again.
Truly, Kazutora could never see himself without Takemichi by his side.
But with him here, it might just be the best thing in life.
"Yeah," He mumbles, a dumb little smile on his face as he takes Takemichi's hand in his own, "—we are."
...
"Why are you all coming home with us? Fuck off I'm giving my boyfriend a spa day," Kazutora grumbled, power sliding in front of Keisuke to purposely scare him as they were all riding home from the metro line and to Takemichi's house.
"Gatekeeper," Emma huffed, jumping and turning to skate backwards and in front of Kazutora who sticks his tongue out at her.
"Be nice, the more the merrier right?" Takemichi says, pinching Kazutora's arm right after landing a kick flip. He's always been a natural at flat ground most likely from years spent with Takuya and Soroha snowboarding.
But since the wifey insisted, Kazutora could put up no protest with that blinding smile of his. Damn it. He needs to find a way around the Takemichi smile or he's going to be cheated out of his free time again and again.
"Jeez, glad to know how much you love having us around," Keisuke said, rolling his eyes.
"I'll stick gum in your hair so you're forced to chop off your luscious locks, shut up." Kazutora warned, flipping him off.
"You're so cruel to me, 'Tora. Remember that time you stabbed me with a knife?" This dickhead is going to get kicked off his board and off a cliff.
"You stabbed Bajii?!" Mikey shrieked, nearly falling off his board.
"No! He didn't! He's lying! Right, Keisuke?" Chifuyu said, grinning towards Keisuke. At the use of his given name the man visibly shudders and nods excessively. Right, not everyone knows about the whole time travel bullshit. Forgot.
"Baji's always had an imagination of his own, huh?" Takemichi smiles. Mentally, Keisuke prepares his will and schedules his funeral.
Not too long after, they kick off their boards, or they untie their roller-skates, and they come back inside.
"Did we turn the lights off when we left?" Kazutora asks, looking around. By the time they got back it was nearly five in the afternoon. But why the curtains were closed and the kitchen was pitch black was beyond him.
And then Kazutora feels his soul leave his body when the lights turn on and multiple people shout at them, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAZUTORA!" was shouted loudly throughout the apartment.
"AAAAAAAA-"
Safe to say, Kazutora fell over and hit his head on the way down, gaining a bloody nose. And even though Keisuke was aware and quite literally took part in the planning, he still got jump scared and punched Yamagishi in the face on pure and utter instinct.
"Baji! What the fuck!" Yamagishi whined, getting his bloody nose that just stopped cleaned up by Hina.
"Fuck man! I'm sorry, you were the closest thing to punch! Did you have to shout?!" Keisuke screeches, still clutching at his chest to calm down his erratic heart rate that was definitely faster than healthy.
"You alright now?" Takemichi laughs, planting a little kiss on Kazutora's nose who was still deeply dazed and not fully aware of the MOUNTAIN of people in their living room and kitchen right now.
But when he nods, goes to the kitchen faucet to clean out the blood around his nose, he turns and is met with—oh right, this was a surprise birthday party.
A surprise birthday party?
A birthday party?
"Oh my god. Is it my birthday today?!" Kazutora exclaims, clapping his hand over his mouth in utter embarrassment when everyone turns to him with either tired or completely shocked expressions.
"Don't tell me you thought we did this purely out of the goodness of our hearts, 'Tora." Keisuke said, a smug grin on his face.
"Eat shit and die."
Takemichi was the first to burst out laughing, because again—Kazutora is dating an asshole, "No fucking way! Hey man, I love you and all, but I don't wake up at the ass crack of dawn to make breakfast!"
And Kazutora scoffs because, "Wow, how sweet of you lover dearest. Truly you make me feel of the upmost loved."
"Did you seriously think Mikey waking up early on a weekend was normal?" Mitsuya asked, arms crossed over his chest and grinning because he is one maniacal and cunning bastard. Stupid devils with pretty faces. God damn it.
"Yeah man, you're not that special you egotistical fuckwad." Mikey says, completely as a joke, and grins when Kazutora flushes a rosy pink.
"Well excuse me for believing in the little goodness in your heart you dickswab!"
"Hey! Don't bully the birthday boy, what the fuck?! You too mister, your his damn boyfriend, go make him shower while the cake gets finished," Soroha, the sweetheart she is to come and celebrate Kazutora's birthday, scolds as she points to Takemichi. And because Takemichi can never refuse her, he nods quietly and takes Kazutora's hand to lead him up the stairs and to their shared bedroom.
"A birthday party for me? Who came up with it?" Kazutora asked when he was tugged into the bedroom.
"Questions later, shower first. Be quick or I'm joining you in there," Takemichi said, grabbing Kazutora's skateboard from his other hand and setting their matching skateboards against the wall.
And because a little playful flirting has always calmed Kazutora down, he sends a smug smile as he tugs off his sweatshirt and is left bare-chested, "Don't tell me you're trying to get me naked?"
And because Takemichi loves to joke around and is a snarky little shit, he walks over a pulls Kazutora towards him by his fucking ass, "Oh absolutely." He mumbles, smiling into a short kiss before he swivels Kazutora around and pushes him to the bathroom.
"Just kidding! If you keep getting distracted I'm gonna let everyone eat the cake without you!" Takemichi grins, waving off his boyfriend who was definitely red in the face and who was definitely flipping him off.
...
Now that Kazutora's head was clearer, aftermath from his shower with damp hair, he kind of stares stupidly at the sight. There was a cute little banner filled with little doodles and sketches Kazutora couldn't see from across the room with the words 'Happy Birthday Kazutora!' on it. A sea of friends either eating snacks, playing games, watching others play games, or just lazing around and waiting for Kazutora to come back.
"Eat shit bitch!" Keisuke laughed, slamming a +2 card down in a Uno pile.
"You fucking slut," Sanzu growled, muttering curses as he picked up two more cards from a stacked pile.
"Takuya, feed me," Mikey whined, pulling on his sleeve.
Soroha rolled her eyes, "Feed yourself brat."
"I will literally raise hell on you," Nahoya grinned, pointing at Ran who towered over him with a smug grin.
"Are you even tall enough to do so?" He responded despite Rindou whispering towards him to shut up.
"How the fuck are you so good at Mario?!" Yamagishi whined.
"Maybe you just suck!" Emma laughed, absolutely crushing him in the digital race.
"Guys!" Takemichi's shout alerted everyone's attention, Emma paused the game. "Birthday boy is here! Let's cut the cake!"
Cheers and laughs erupt throughout both rooms and Kazutora is left to watch in amazement as everyone sprints to the kitchen. There's just so many. Oh yeah, the cake. It's sat on the island and Kazutora can definitely tell that it was home baked and not store bought. Something about that made him happier than it should've.
"Vanilla, my guy. Strawberry topped vanilla cake." Keisuke grins, patting an empty spot by him so Kazutora could get a closer look. It smelled delicious. Oh my god, has Kazutora even had cake since he's gotten out of juvie? He's had cheesecake but really, has he had something like this? Like, ever ?
"W-What, hold on, who-?"
"Takemitchy baked it. Woke up at four in the morning to prepare it and surprise you," Hina smiled, pushing Takemichi towards Kazutora with a grin. Honestly, it feels like Hina is the biggest KazuTake supporter in the entire friend group.
"You what?" Kazutora asks, still baffled and still flustered as he turns to Takemichi with wide eyes.
Takemichi only offers a bashful smile as he plays with Kazutora's earring, "...surprise?"
"Wanna know what I got you for your birthday?" Keisuke grins. Before Kazutora could even respond the guy pulls out a large bow, ties it around Takemichi's neck, and clips a little tag to the sleeve of Takemichi's My Melody sweater. On the tag it states,
To: Tora!
From: Kei!
1 cuddle session ticket for Takemichi, cash in any day :)
"You beautiful bastard," Kazutora grins, pulling Takemichi into his chest and fist bumping Keisuke. Alright, he can give the guy a bit of room to breathe.
"Fuck yeah!" He laughs despite the heaving sigh leaving Takemichi's lips.
"Hey, you aren't the only person to get him presents! Back off!" Pah exclaims, pointing a finger in Keisuke's face.
"Alright alright, before everyone gets carried away, I think there's an honorable mention to be named," Takemichi announces, unclipping the tag and shoving it in his pocket.
"Oh yeah, Takemichi wasn't the only person who brought up the idea of a party," Mitsuya commented, to which Kazutora turns his head in surprise. Someone else? Who else would think of that? For him?
It's when Emma pushes a bashful Mikey into Kazutora's field of vision does he feel a weight in his heart drop, "Ah, yeah. Takemitchy and I thought of um, you know, a party. Cause' you're uh- important to us...and stuff. And we wanted to- um, to show you that we care."
Mikey's never been very good with his feelings and showing them off, but he's trying.
For Kazutora.
For the man who took away his older brother.
Only in that moment does the true weight of forgiveness lay heavy in Kazutora's heart, and it's only when he feels the tears start to run down his cheeks does he realize that he's crying.
"Oh shit," Keisuke mumbles.
"What the fuck. You made the guy cry on his birthday? The hell?" Soroha scolds, turning to the group of teens who lower the head in shame. Because she's always been like that, a protective mother.
"No! No, it's- I'm happy. Really happy," And a little broken chuckle has Kazutora trying to wipe away his tears, "-this is the first birthday party that I've ever had. I just, I never thought that it would be you guys to, you know, care."
And that has everyone exploding and throwing him compliments that probably has him crying even harder.
It's only when Takemichi wraps his arms around Kazutora's neck, looking very beautiful all tied up in a soft blue bow, does he feel a large smile come across his face.
"Happy birthday, Kazutora." He whispers, pressing a soft kiss to his lips and hugs him tighter.
On Kazutora's sixteenth birthday, September 16th, is the very first day that Kazutora realizes he's been forgiven by people other than Takemichi.
And on that day does he receive his very last and final push for Kazutora to truly forgive himself.