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“Babe, do you know what day it is tomorrow?” Bokuto Koutarou walked into the room, smiling brightly with his voice as cheerful as ever.
Keiji ignored him, continuing to type on his laptop, narrowed eyes scanning for any errors in his 11th email of the day.
“Babe, do you know what day it is tomorrow?” Koutarou repeated, his smile wavering.
The typing became more rapid.
“Babe! Don’t ignore me!”
Keiji yawned before tilting his head to face his fiancé. “Monday?”
“It’s Valentine’s Day! You know what that means!”
He groaned internally. Unfortunately, he knew very well what it meant. Valentine’s Day. As far as Keiji was concerned, while it started as an honourable means of celebrating love and affection, it had turned into another day for companies to mass produce ridiculous themed products and sell them at even more ridiculous prices. That being said though, he didn't particularly feel like being a spoilsport, especially towards Koutarou, who was looking at him like he'd hung the stars in the sky.
"We should do something!"
"We do something every year," Keiji resumed working on his email. "We've been doing "something" ever since we started dating, you should be more specific."
Koutarou hummed to himself. "Well, normally, I'd take you out for dinner somewhere after work, or we'd go out for a walk in the park, or watch a movie, but, it doesn't feel very Valentinesy y'know, besides I'm off early tomorrow. I want to do something special!"
"I do find it special when we go out for dinner. Especially the one time you tried that new restaurant's "Valentine's Day Special" and you got so drunk you started crying about how lucky you were to be marrying a man as beautiful as me even though we weren't engaged."
"Keijiiii don't tease me," Koutarou pouted, the ends of his spiky hair drooping downwards, before shooting up in excitement. "I've got it! We could go to that Sanrio-themed amusement park that opened a while back- wait I think they're closed on Mondays, well then there's also that cheesecake factory near the countryside. I've heard they sell the green tea ones you mentioned wanting to try, and we could go sightseeing around-"
Keiji zoned out after that. Not that he didn't appreciate the enthusiasm, he did truly, it's just that he didn't understand what all the fuss was about. He would be happy no matter what they did, regardless of how extravagant it was. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to do much this year anyway. He had too many deadlines weighing down on him, and too many emails to arrange, like the one he was meant to be working on right now.
If I can finish this one within the next few minutes, I should be able to start reviewing the new entries today and finish them up tomorrow, He thought to himself. Hmm but maybe it would be better if I finished sending the mails to the publishers then work on the entries. I'm sure Mioda-san could wait a little longer for the reviewed copies, but he might get annoyed if I send them late, but then if the mails aren't submitted to the publishers they'll be irritating about it, especially Yamazaki-san, then I'll have to-
"KEIJI!"
He jolted out of his thoughts and back into reality, coming face to face with a slightly worried Bokuto. "You didn't hear anything I said did you?"
Guilt flooded him immediately.
"Of course I did. I think the cheesecake factory sounds pretty good," he said, smiling.
Koutarou furrowed his brows a bit. "I did mention the factory at first but afterwards I said that it wouldn't be possible because the drive would be too long." Keiji's smile dropped. Oh. He must have missed that part.
"Either way, I've changed my mind. I think more than anything, you need a break right now," Koutarou continued, placing his hands on his hips. "We can worry about what we're going to do tomorrow when it comes. Right now, you need to relax a bit. Put your computer aside, you can finish the rest of your work later."
Keiji sighed, knowing that arguing would be futile. "Let me finish sending this mail and I'll join you." He checked the file one last time before clicking send and closing his laptop. I guess Mioda-san and Yamazaki-san will have to wait a while longer. He stood up, stretching his arms and cracking his finger joints. Koutarou grinned, grabbing his hands and pulling him towards the living room. They walked up to the piano in the middle of the room. Keiji pulled the stool out and they both sat side by side, bodies pressed warmly against each other.
"Remember when we were in high school and we'd sneak up to the music room during the break, where you'd play a song and I'd sing?"
"How could I forget? I've played Fly Me To The Moon so many times that I could play it blindfolded at this point," They both smiled at each other softly while Koutarou rubbed his thumb against Keiji's. "So, what do you want me to play?"
Koutarou hummed to himself. "How about City Of Stars?"
"Alright," Keiji fiddled with his fingers a bit. "Let's try something new, you could try playing with me too, I'll show you the keys."
His fiancé's smile brightened more than was already possible. "Okay! Should I pull up the sheet music or can you manage?"
"I can do the melody, you play these notes." Keiji pressed the G key, then the B flat, followed by the D and next octave G note, repeated twice with a short break between the notes before being followed by an F and D again. Keiji repeated the pattern a few times while Koutarou mimicked his finger movements a couple of times before letting out a noise of understanding.
"Okay so first the leftest G, then the second black key, after those two you press the key in the centre of the two black keys, then skip two where the righter G is, play that twice, then go to the note left to it, and back to the Oreo filling key. Oooh, I've got it! Hey hey, Keiji I'm so excited about this, how come we've never tried playing together before?"
Keiji blinked at him. What. Well, as long as he understood the notes I suppose. "Who knows, maybe we were stuck in the moment back then."
"I guess you're right! Hey if we're doing things differently and I'm playing, you should sing with me too!"
Keiji grimaced. "I'm not a singer sweetheart. I think it'd be better if I stuck to the piano."
"Awww c'mon doll, it'll be fun!" Koutarou persuaded him.
"I'll sound terrible though..."
"And? It's just us here, I'm not going to judge you for it."
"It's easier if I just play the piano." Keiji began to play before a pair of hands grabbed his hands and his dark cerulean eyes met lustrous golden ones.
"I'm having none of that! Remember what I said? Think about what's fun, not easy!"
Keiji chuckled at that, Koutarou was too cute. "Well, how can I say no to that."
His fiancé's chest puffed up in pride. "You can't! Because I'm amazing like that."
He rolled his eyes. "Are you going to spend the rest of the night praising yourself or are we going to get started?"
"Alright alright!"
Koutarou began to press the keys, a bit clunkily, as his fingers slipped between the black and white keys and the pauses between the notes was a bit too long to be natural. He frowned to himself, before repeating the pattern a couple of times until the pauses became clean and his fingers became sturdier. He looked towards Keiji expectantly while his fiancé nodded and began to play the rest of the song.
"City of stars, are you shining just for me," Koutarou sang, voice melodic and strong, but not too low pitched. "City of stars, there's so much that I can't see. Who knows? I felt it from the first embrace I shared with you"
The corners of Keiji's mouth turned up, forming a fond smile as the two of them exchanged glances.
His voice is still as beautiful as it was all those years ago, he thought mesmerized before shaking his head, No time to get caught up in my thoughts right now, not when it's my turn to sing now. I hope I don't mess up.
"That now, our dreams, they've finally come true." He inhaled as Koutarou nudged him reassuringly.
"City of stars, just one thing everybody wants, there in the bars and through the smokescreen of the crowded rest-aur-ants," His voice cracked and to his surprise, his smile became more prominent. "It's love, yes, all we're looking for is love from someone else."
"A rush,"
"A glance,"
"A touch,"
"A dance,"
"A look in somebody's eyes, to light up the skies,
to open the world and send it reeling,
a voice that says, I'll be here,
and you'll be alright."
Their voices harmonized together, voices becoming both too fast and too slow, going sightly off tune at some points, and even sharing a giggle when Koutarou missed a lyric. It wasn't a perfect harmony, let alone a perfect duet, but it didn't matter, not when they were stuck in the moment, like they were all those years ago in that Fukurodani music room.
"I don't care if I know,
just where I will go,
'cause all that I need's this crazy feeling,
a rat-tat-tat on my heart,"
"I think I want it to stay."
Koutarou stood up suddenly, as Keiji stared at him a bit confused, but Koutarou gestured to continue playing. Keiji repeated the song, fingers dancing between the white and black keys gracefully, while his eyes followed his fiancé, who had begun to hum the main melody while swaying around. He grabbed a broom lying near the wall, extended his arm so the broom was at a distance from him, before twirling it towards him and engulfing it into his arms, as if it were a dance partner and not a cleaning utensil. He swept the broom across the living room, circling Keiji and the piano.
"See 'Ji, we've switched roles. Before you were the world and I was the star, now I'm the world going around my sun."
"You're such a sap Koutarou-san."
Koutarou continued to slow dance with the broom for a bit, then he returned it back to its original position.
"As fun as it is to dance with a broom, I imagine that dancing with a person would be even better," He turned towards Keiji, who was still playing the piano, and held out his hand towards him.
"Dance with me."
Keiji took his hand and stood up. He wrapped his hands around Koutarou's waist, while Koutarou hung his arms around his neck loosely. He hummed the song and they began to sway to the music. Keiji took a few steps back while Koutarou mirrored him, or at least tried to.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry! Are you okay?"
Keiji flinched a bit in pain before giving Koutarou a weak grin. "I'm alright don't worry. Be careful though."
They continued to dance, slower and more cautious, as Koutarou continued to hum. His humming grew louder and louder with every second until all background noises became numb. Keiji joined in, before twirling his fiancé around a few times. They switched positions and Koutarou led Keiji around the room like he did the broom. Their movements became more carefree as Koutarou swung Keiji away from him, then towards him, repeating the movement several times. They changed roles again, and Keiji moved them back towards the piano, pausing near the sofa to dip Koutarou, before dropping him. Then, Keiji fell near him, panting. They both looked at each other and started laughing. Once the laughing subsided, Keiji got up, resting on his forearms, and glanced at the clock. 11:52 it read. Ah. I have a day off, but still, it's been a while since I've gotten more than 5 hours of sleep.
"We should sleep. It's almost midnight."
Koutarou stood up suddenly. "HUH? BUT WE DIDN'T FINISH THE SONG?"
"We can finish it while we get ready to sleep. Didn't you want to go somewhere special tomorrow? We're probably going to have to wake up early for that."
"You're right but...it doesn't feel right if we don't finish singing the song! There's only one last verse anyways. Please?" Without waiting for an answer he sang anyways.
"City of stars
Are you shining just for m- "
Keiji turned to him, before pulling Koutarou up and into his arms. Koutarou yelped and wrapped his arms around Keiji.
"Hey, that's not fair, I wasn't done! Keiji! Put me down!" He complained, pouting, but didn't try to escape.
"You're such a baby you know?" Keiji walked them towards the bedroom, smiling affectionately.
"You love me though."
"Whatever you say, honey."
"Oh, c'mon you could admit it for once? Keiji? Keiji!"
Later, when they had both brushed their teeth, changed into their pyjamas and Koutarou was sleeping softly, Keiji gently removed a strand of hair from his face, staring at him fondly.
"City of stars...
...You never shined so brightly."