Chapter Text
It had been 10 years since they had last seen each other.
10 years since their tearful goodbyes at the airport, 9 since Kaoru had stopped picking up his calls, unable to hear Kojiro talk about his life, his friends, his lovers, everything happening without him. Kaoru still had a picture of the two of them together in his drawer, the lip piercing he had long since removed and the boyish grins on both of their faces still jamming themselves into Kaoru's mind a decade later. He struggles to remember the last time he'd been so carefree, only struggling further when he considers throwing the photos away.
He avoided the pictures at all costs nowadays, doing everything he could to escape that hard, sinking feeling that clogged his chest every time his mind showed him flashes of green hair and red-brown eyes. But even though he hadn't seen his face for years, even though the effects of age and work had clearly changed him, Kaoru would bet everything he had that the man currently standing in the foyer of his apartment building was Nanjo Kojiro.
This was exactly why he had been stuck standing at the bottom of the stairs for what must have been at least a minute, staring at his back whilst boxes were brought in through the automatic doors, catching snippets of conversation whilst maybe-Kojiro chatted animatedly with the two boys helping him.
Kaoru had been on the way to go somewhere, but the green-haired man standing so close to the doors had thrown a screwdriver directly into the well-worked cogs of his head. Kaoru's eye twitched as he fought his internal battle, half of him well aware that he had no choice but to go to the meeting he had already agreed to attend, the other urging him to run upstairs into his apartment, lock the door and never come out again.
He had reached about the three-minute mark of standing dead still when the man's head started to turn, presumably sensing eyes on him, and Kaoru bolted back up the stairs. Well. At least that decision had been made.
It took a few seconds for Kaoru to be out of sight around the corner, but he was still certain that the maybe-Kojiro wouldn't have got a good enough glimpse to recognise him.
It probably wasn't him, anyway.
Kaoru huffed to himself once he was safely secured back in his apartment. His watch pinged at him alerting him to a high heartbeat, so he sat on the floor by his door and leaned his head against the cool wall behind him. He remained that way for a few minutes before he heard a commotion coming from the stairs. A realisation shot through his mind and ricocheted around his living room.
There was only one apartment free in this building.
His fears were confirmed as he peered through the keyhole and watched as maybe-Kojiro laughed with the others helping with his boxes and pushed open the door that was directly opposite to Kaoru's own apartment.
Hearing his laugh also confirmed that the "maybe" was no longer necessary. Sure, the tone may have deepened slightly, but it was still the same warm, welcoming rumble that was so unmistakably Kojiro.
Kaoru pulled back from the keyhole as definitely-Kojiro handed some cash over to the boys who had helped him, staring blankly at his back as the two high-fived and ran off down the stairs. Kaoru thanked the gods that he had already decided to sit on the floor, because he was certain that this new development would have brought him down to his knees.
Still, he hauled himself back onto his feet and wandered over to his desk, bullshitting some excuse as to why he wouldn't be able to make it to his meeting after all. His head still reeled, but the more he thought about it, the less surprised he was that Kojiro had ended up so close. He had never planned on staying in Italy forever, only getting his chef training and some experience under his belt before he would return home. Kaoru had decided to keep his business local, so he hadn't strayed from home at all. It made perfect sense that Kojiro would end up back in his hometown, and Kaoru still lived here, so it wasn't an unreasonable situation after all.
What was unreasonable, however, was the fact that -after 9 years of radio silence on both ends- Kojiro would end up in the apartment exactly opposite the one Kaoru had lived in for the past three years. Very briefly, Kaoru considered moving somewhere else, but quickly laughed the idea out of his head. This apartment was conveniently close both to his office and to the high street that Kaoru frequented for meals and groceries and although Kaoru mostly worked from home, he appreciated the almost exact midpoint. Moving anywhere else was out of the question.
With that, Kaoru decided that the only real option was for him to avoid his new neighbour like some new, green-haired variant of the plague. So, he settled onto his sofa, started to tinker with Carla's newest feature (light sensitivity) and pushed Kojiro as far from his mind as he could manage.
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One thing Kaoru had conveniently managed to forget about his childhood friend was his ability to expertly thwart every plan Kaoru ever made.
He had only managed an hour of engineering and fiddling with cogs (frequently interrupted by loud thuds and curses from the apartment opposite his) before there was a knock at his door. Kaoru frowned, his hair falling slightly across his face as he turned towards the sound, which was promptly followed by a voice.
"Hello? Anyone home?"
Kaoru bit back the urge to either run and hide under the bed or say something incredibly stupid, instead going as still and silent as he could manage.
"Hello?" Kojiro tried again, knocking once more. Kaoru was easily irritated, and this knocking was starting to get on his nerves. "I could have sworn I heard someone in there." Kojiro grumbled to himself, before retreating back to his own apartment. Kaoru waited until he was certain that he heard the door close before shuffling out into the hallway, finding a box left outside his door with a yellow sticky note placed on top.
"Hello, neighbour :)" it said. Kaoru resisted the urge to smile at Kojiro's familiar scrawl, his handwriting the same as it was 10 years ago. "I moved in today, the apartment opposite yours. Come and say hi!"
Kaoru sighed. He really hadn't changed much at all. The urge to walk four feet across the hall and knock on his door started to grow in Kaoru's gut, but he turned on his heel and walked back into his apartment before he could properly entertain the thought. Snatching the box off the ground, he shut the door as quietly as he could manage so that Kojiro wouldn't know he was there.
He put the Tupperware box on his kitchen table, pulling off the lid to reveal some of the best-looking cookies Kaoru had ever seen. He briefly wondered just how smart it would be to eat food given by someone who was essentially a stranger, but the smell of chocolate chips washed the thought away. He took a bite of one and realised those years in Italy had really paid off; these were much better than the shitty ones they would make together in Kojiro's Mother's kitchen when they were 17.
Nostalgia punched into Kaoru out of nowhere, like standing on the beach and being slammed by a wave you didn't see coming. He chewed slowly, the current pulling him under and jostling him in so many different directions that he could barely tell them apart. Remembering the years they spent together, regretting the ones they spent apart, hating himself for letting the phone calls come to a stop and hating Kojiro for living life so easily without him.
The whole time, Kaoru had been aware that he was more invested in their friendship than Kojiro ever needed to be, but having him move on so quickly had felt like a punch to the gut. Kojiro had always been a social butterfly, making friends with anyone and everyone, easy to talk to and easier to get along with. Kaoru was the opposite, all sharp edges and pointed glares. It had baffled him when he was 9 years old, grumbling to himself in the corner of his classroom and the energetic, universally loved Kojiro had approached him. That confusion only increased when, for some reason, he kept coming back.
It only took a few weeks for Kaoru to be utterly trapped under Kojiro's spell of laughter and energy and meaningless bickering. It wasn't much later when they were decidedly joined at the hip, and soon after that he realised that he looked at Kojiro far too intently for him to be just a friend. Their friendship was confusing to most, but the constant arguing over stupid things and thinly veiled insults were just the way they were.
Kaoru had done his best to keep his feelings to himself in the years they spent together, only occasionally slipping up when they felt rebellious and drank a little too much, and Kojiro would never remember his confessions the next day. Watching the girls become more and more interested in Kojiro had made Kaoru painfully jealous. His friend basked in the attention, and Kaoru glowered at the side, wondering what he would have to do to get Kojiro to see him like that.
Watching this happen right in front of him wasn't exactly the highlight of Kaoru's days, but at least later on it would just be the two of them, bickering and playing video games in Kojiro's bedroom until it got far too late and then falling asleep together on the uncomfortable wooden floors.
Once he moved away to Italy, Kaoru couldn't stand hearing about it anymore. When they talked in person, he could just focus on something else, on the fact that he was at least Kojiro's closest friend, even if he couldn't be more. But the distance meant that Kojiro made new friends with names that Kaoru couldn't pronounce properly, and then hearing about Kojiro's life became far too painful for Kaoru to endure any longer. So, he blamed it on the time zones, on schoolwork, on anything he could come up with to avoid Kojiro's calls. In the end, he stopped calling at all.
Kaoru didn't know how long he'd been standing by his small kitchen table, staring at the half-eaten cookie clutched in his hand. He shook his head, shoving the rest of the cookie into his mouth and wiping furiously at his cheeks when he noticed tears on his face. Kojiro had been away for longer than they had even been friends, so surely Kaoru should be able to pull himself together faster than this. If anything, it was like he was pulling himself further apart, each memory of Kojiro's laugh and his terrible, terrible jokes grasping at a piece of Kaoru and tearing at it slowly, over and over until he was reduced to nothing but a mess on the floor.
Another of Kojiro's forgotten talents was his ability to make Kaoru feel suffocatingly alone. He liked to be by himself, it was how he chose to spend almost every day, but thinking of Kojiro was the only thing that made him feel this small in his own apartment. So, he stumbled into his bedroom, pulled the covers up over his head without bothering to change, and squeezed his eyes closed.
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After about three weeks, Kaoru had started to adjust to his new neighbour. He worked from home even more frequently than he had before, doing everything he could manage to keep from bumping into he-who-must-not-be-named in the foyer. Any grocery trips were done at absurd hours of the night, accompanied by dark hoodies instead of his usual yukatas. Some people would call his plans "ridiculous", but Kaoru didn't have anyone to tell them to, so there was no scrutiny.
Once he reached the four-week mark of complete and utter isolation, Kaoru was invited out to a dinner with some potential clients. Kaoru's business ran steadily off reputation, and these clients were incredibly high caliber, the daughter and in-law of a wealthy businessman. He didn't really have the option of turning them down, at least not without a blow to his monthly profits.
So, there he stood, in front of his apartment door, ready to go properly out for the first time in a month. The hoodies had been ditched and he was once again wearing his navy blue yukata, his hair tied in a low, loose ponytail and swept over his shoulder. He always applied small amounts of cosmetics before a meeting with clients, and tonight was no different, light brown eyeliner accentuating his features, concealer hiding the stress of the past few weeks, red tint applied to his lips. He had learned over the years that if your job requires face-to-face meetings -which his did- then attractiveness was a good way to keep a client's attention. Kaoru specialised in having features just feminine enough to be intriguing, but not scare away his more conservative clients.
Kaoru pushed his shoulders back and picked up his sakura blossom fan before he left his apartment. He imagined dressing himself in his customer service personality as he walked down the stairs to the foyer, nodding his head at one of his neighbours in greeting as he headed towards the door. Her eyes widened a bit, and Kaoru was starkly aware of how long it had been since he had been out of his apartment.
He cringed to himself slightly before making his way to the restaurant his clients had chosen. He had grinned when he saw their suggestion, it had always been one of his favourites and was only a three minute walk from Kaoru's apartment. So, he set off into the night, feeling more like himself with every confident step he took towards the restaurant.
He got there a few minutes early, as was his policy, and waited outside for his clients. The air was warm and dry, and Kaoru relaxed further. This was something he had been doing for years now, and he was damn good at it. The clients were a little late, so Kaoru was lost in thought by the time they appeared at the end of the road. Their car dropped the two of them off, and Kaoru greeted them warmly, leading them inside the restaurant with him.
The waitress at the stand asked for a name, and he offered his surname. She led them to the reserved table, and Kaoru gestured for his clients to sit down first, sitting opposite them at the small booth. They were given menus, and Kaoru noticed a few new options written at the bottom, listed as "fusion". Kaoru wrinkled his nose and ordered his usual, the clients going for a few of the new dishes.
There were a few reasons why Kaoru liked to meet with his clients over food. For one, it helped for him to get a good idea of their personalities before he started a piece, and he could already tell that these two were open to new things. Aka, they were the opposite of Kaoru.
It was a relatively uneventful meal. They discussed the calligraphy piece they wanted done, deciding on a performative artwork, and the kanji they wanted drawn. The event was an engagement party, so the style would be soft and romantic, etc. Everything was going well.
And then, just as they were all preparing to pay for their meals, the chef decided to walk out of the kitchen towards their table. The tall, muscular, green-haired chef who Kaoru had successfully avoided for the past month. It took every ounce of willpower in his body to stop himself from sliding under the table and bolting out of the door.
Instead, Kaoru brought his fan up to his face, attempting to hide as much of his features as he possibly could without raising suspicion from his clients. The chef -Kojiro, of course it was fucking Kojiro- walked right up to the table and rested his palms on the surface. Kaoru wanted to disappear.
"Hiya!" Kojiro greeted the table, and Kaoru winced. Of course, the one time he actually left his apartment, he'd walk right into the exact man he had been avoiding for what felt like a lifetime.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I know the two of you ordered the newer items on the menu, and I'd love to hear some feedback on them." He was looking directly at Kaoru's clients, so he allowed himself a breath and dropped his fan, feeling relatively confident that he had gone unnoticed. Well, equal parts confident and insulted. Maybe more insulted, actually.
Stupid fucking Kojiro and his stupid fucking friendliness. Kaoru huffed quietly as he refused to watch Kojiro chatting with his clients, a frown forming on his face.
"Oh, shoot," Kojiro cursed, looking back over to the kitchen, worry shadowing his face. "I've only got 15 minutes left of my shift, I should really get back in there."
"Yes, we should get going too." One of his clients agreed, before turning towards Kaoru. "Thank you for your time, Mr Sakurayashiki."
Kaoru's eye twitched at the mention of his name, wondering if this would be what finally damned him. He stared down at the table, forcing his face into neutrality as he saw Kojiro's head snap towards him.
"It's my pleasure, really." Kaoru smiled carefully. "Are the two of you ready to leave?"
The two nodded, and Kaoru really thought he'd managed to avoid some horrifically uncomfortable situation. Every step he took towards the door felt like a century, even if he only managed a few before he was stopped in his tracks.
"Kaoru?"
It was almost whispered, but he heard it. Kaoru's spine straightened, eyes going marginally wider at the sound of his name from Kojiro's lips for the first time in a decade. After a few seconds, he managed to turn towards the voice, so familiar but so different.
Kaoru had spent so long avoiding Kojiro that he had barely looked at him, aside from seeing the back of his head in the foyer weeks before. If he had thought he was attractive in school, he was some kind of god now. Even in his chef's uniform, Kaoru could see his muscled form. His hair was just as wild and curly, tied back at the nape of his neck, his face was ruggedly handsome, and he was just so tall.
"It is you!" Kojiro beamed, an oafish grin blooming on his face. He moved towards Kaoru so quickly that he had no time to respond, the distance between them shortening far too soon for Kaoru's comfort. "I haven't seen you in so long!"
Kaoru could only manage a strangled grunt in reply.
Kojiro tilted his head, and Kaoru felt long-dead butterflies rousing in his stomach as Kojiro looked him up and down. "I get off my shift soon, will you wait for me so we can catch up?"
Kaoru felt like he had been smothered, his high school crush returning in full force. "I- um, yes. I just need to see my clients off, and then I'll wait for you."
"Great!" He smiled again, and if Kaoru were able to freeze time, he would have done it right at that moment. And then he would have ran all the way back to his apartment, locked himself in and thrown the key out of the window. Kojiro walked back to the kitchen, and Kaoru gaped after him for a second before shaking his head and turning himself back towards his clients.
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Fifteen minutes later, Kaoru was sitting back in that booth, picking at the threads of his yukata. He mentally scolded himself for ruining his favourite outfit, but he was so nervous that he couldn't stop himself.
It had been so long since they had last talked, what was Kaoru even supposed to say? "Oh, fun fact Kojiro, I'm actually your neighbour!" or maybe "Yeah I've been avoiding you with every bit of my strength for the past month, how funny." or "What kind of idiot makes a fusion menu in a perfectly good restaurant?"
He didn't even want to entertain the other options.
After a few more minutes of non-stop worrying, Kojiro slid into the booth opposite him, having changed out of his chef uniform into the tackiest button up shirt that Kaoru had ever seen. You would assume that this would make it easier for Kaoru to ignore his face and body and literally everything, but it had become very clear that the gods were not on his side recently. Kaoru knew full well that he was looking at his childhood best friend, someone he had spent years of his life with, but he couldn't stop his eyes from wandering. He could already feel his cheeks heating up.
Luckily for both of them, Kojiro had brought some wine over with him and placed it in front of Kaoru. "On me, don't worry about it."
Kaoru tried to hide his relief. Normally he wasn't into alcohol, but right now he couldn't see another way to stop his eyes from popping out of his head.
"Thank you." Kaoru reached towards a glass, taking a slightly larger sip than he normally would.
"So, you've definitely toned yourself down." Kojiro grinned, looking him up and down, crossing his arms over his chest. "Where are the piercings and the black eyeliner?"
Kaoru scowled at him. "One of us had to grow up over the last decade."
He regretted it slightly, worrying that his tone might have been too harsh, but Kojiro tipped his head back and laughed loudly.
"Man, you really haven't changed, have you?" He laughed, and Kaoru's frown deepened. "You might look less prickly, but that's all it is."
"You have an accent." Kaoru observed, rather bluntly.
"Well, I lived in Italy for 10 years. I think it's stuck."
"Unstick it. You sound obnoxious." Kaoru sipped at his drink again, watching Kojiro laugh and ignoring the squeeze in his chest.
"So, what's with this whole 'Mr Sakurayashiki' thing?" Kojiro leaned forwards, resting his forearms on the table. "I thought you were all anti-business and stuff."
"Needed money." Kaoru huffed. "This got me money."
"Fair enough." Kojiro laughed again. "Do you want to go walk? It's kind of loud in here."
Kaoru nodded, downing the rest of his wine in a move he will definitely regret in half an hour.
"Woah there, am I really that horrible to spend time with?" Kojiro gawked at him as Kaoru swallowed the contents of the whole glass at once.
"You'd be surprised." Kaoru grumbled.
"Wow. I never thought I could miss someone who was so generally unlikeable."
Kaoru chose to ignore that before any too-familiar hope could start to bloom again. Instead, he kicked Kojiro in the shin as he stood up from his seat. "Are you coming or what?"
Kojiro yelped, grasping at his calf and glaring up at Kaoru as he shuffled across the chair and stood opposite him. Kaoru refused to look up at him.
"Where are we going?" Kaoru asked, staring at the floor.
"We could head back to mine?" Kojiro suggested, tilting his head.
”God, I wish he'd stop fucking doing that.” Kaoru thought, trying to unscramble his brain.
"Yeah, sure." Kaoru answered before he realised why that was, in fact, probably the worst place they could go. But Kojiro had already started walking out of the restaurant, and Kaoru had no idea how he could come up with an excuse fast enough along the way. He was already walking much faster than Kaoru's casual pace, the three minute walk probably shortened to one at this rate. Meaning that Kaoru's time to come up with some escape plan was definitely dwindling.
He hurried after Kojiro, having to hold his yukata as he struggled to match his pace.
"Would you slow down, you big oaf?" Kaoru huffed, yanking on the back of Kojiro's shirt. He didn't even wobble.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, your majesty." Kojiro laughed, turning his head back to look down at Kaoru. "Are your skirts tripping you up?"
"It's called a yukata, seaweed-brain, and yes."
Kojiro laughed again, but he did slow down, even if it came with an onslaught of snob-themed insults. As they walked, Kaoru realised that really nothing had changed. They still bickered incessantly, Kojiro still attracted women like light attracts moths, and Kaoru still sent all of them death glares strong enough to bring down an elephant.
They reached his (their) apartment building before Kaoru could even begin to come up with an escape route, far too wrapped up in their arguments to scheme. He only realised how thoroughly screwed he was when Kojiro scanned his card at the main entrance, and they walked into the foyer.
Kaoru hoped and prayed that none of his acquaintances in the building would appear down here as Kojiro made his way over to the elevators. He turned back, expecting Kaoru to follow before noticing him stood stock-still in the center of the room.
"Still hate these things, huh?" Kojiro laughed, and Kaoru frowned down at his feet, the embarrassed flush spreading across his face really downplaying his anger. "Fine. We can take the stairs, but I don't want to end up carrying you if your legs get tired."
"I can make it up a few flights of stairs, idiot." Kaoru fumed, marching towards the stairwell. "As if you'd be able to carry me anyway, those muscles are probably all for show."
"Oh, these ones?" Kojiro followed behind him, flexing obnoxiously and winking. "Don't worry, they're fully functional."
It hit Kaoru that one of the main things that had changed about Kojiro was that he had become fully aware of his ridiculously good looks. It made Kaoru so much more flustered, and Kojiro so much more insufferable.
"Stop preening yourself, peacock." Kaoru shoved his shoulder, grinning as Kojiro stumbled down a few steps. The almost-smile promptly disappeared as Kojiro looked up again, a menacing look in his eyes, and Kaoru narrowed his eyes skeptically as he stared him down.
Kojiro went still for a few seconds before launching himself towards Kaoru, who had already started to sprint up the stairs two at a time. Half of him was lecturing himself for being so childish, the other whooping in glee at this feeling of freedom that he hadn't felt for so long. He decided to let the second one win, laughing breathlessly as Kojiro barreled up the stairs behind him, closing in gradually.
Kaoru was by no means unfit, and Kojiro's sheer size meant he wasn't as good at turning the sharp corners, so he managed to maintain a healthy distance from Kojiro until they reached the floor that he knew his apartment was on. Before Kaoru could declare his victory, Kojiro had a final burst of speed and went barreling into him, tackling him onto the ground in the hallway and beaming in triumph. He had never been one to go down easy, and neither was Kaoru. Kicking Kojiro straight in the ribs, he attempted to wriggle out from underneath as Kojiro yelped. He hauled himself onto his feet and sprinted towards Kojiro's door, touching the wood just before his friend could.
"Ha!" Kaoru laughed as he turned back to Kojiro, his long hair falling almost completely out of his ponytail and resting around his face. "See, those muscles didn't help you after all! I maintain my winning streak."
"Uh, I think a 10 year break calls for a new start." Kojiro huffed, clearly chagrined from losing the game that he started.
"Sounds like something a loser would say."
"You would know, Pinky." Kojiro rolled his eyes, a smile on his face. "Anyway, I can't get into my apartment if you're standing in front of the lock."
"Maybe losers don't deserve to be let into their apartments." Kaoru shot back, moving to the side anyway.
When Kojiro opened the door, Kaoru was greeted with a coffee table, a sofa, and so. Many. Boxes.
"I'm sorry, just how long ago did you move back here?" Kaoru turned towards his friend, exasperated.
"Like, a month?"
"And there are still thousands of boxes lying around?" Kaoru gaped at the room, stepping inside and somehow finding more of them.
"Ok, you know that there aren't thousands." Kojiro huffed. "That's 5 at most."
"How did you get that much up here?" Kaoru was genuinely curious about that one, he swore that there were only two or three when he saw Kojiro in the foyer.
"Gradually." Was his only reply. Kaoru shrugged, deciding that was good enough.
"Well, this is unacceptable." Kaoru took his hair tie out and re-styled it into a tight ponytail at the top of his head. "Roll up your sleeves, I'm helping you go through these."
"But Kaoru," He whined, following him further into his apartment. "It's fine, I'll do them eventually."
"You really haven't changed, have you?" Kaoru rolled the sleeves of his yukata, placing his fan down on the coffee table as he lifted the top box of the pile closest to him and placed it onto the floor. "I remember having this conversation about every single piece of math homework. If I don't help you with this now, you won't get it done for at least another month."
Kojiro grumbled something unintelligible but rolled up his own sleeves and started on another box.
"How have you lived here for a month and not unpacked your kitchen supplies?" Kaoru marveled, holding up a handful of spoons. "And who needs so many spoons?"
"I've just been eating leftovers at the restaurant..." Kojiro grumbled, and Kaoru's eyebrows shot up.
"For a month?" He gaped at him, the spoon haul still clutched in his hands. "Kojiro, you aren't 15 anymore! You can't live off leftovers forever."
"Well, I'm doing fine." He bit back.
"Clearly."
Kaoru started to sort pots and pans into Kojiro's cupboards, noticing with no small amount of relief that he had at least got himself a few bowls and some cereal. He hadn't been completely running off scraps. Kojiro was dealing with his stash of apparently useless cookbooks, placing them half-heartedly on his previously empty bookshelf.
As he opened the fridge, Kaoru audibly groaned. "Kojiro, do you not even have a carrot in here?"
The fridge was completely empty aside for milk. One carton of milk.
"How... how on earth have you survived for this long?" Kaoru turned to find the man in question looking extremely sheepish. "Unacceptable. I'm taking you grocery shopping tomorrow."
He finished unpacking the 'kitchen' box, flattening the cardboard and placing it by the door before turning to another one.
"How are you so efficient?" Kojiro marveled. "You're like a strange pink robot. Kind of the human version of that weird tin can that you would always fiddle with in high school. What did you call it, Corndog? Cyprus?"
"Her name is Carla, you ape." Kaoru moved onto the second box in the pile, labelled 'fragile' and covered in stripy tape. He was grateful that Kojiro at least had the sense to pack his possessions sensibly, even if his unpacking was dismal.
"Why did you give it a girl's name, weirdo?"
"Shut up." Kaoru opened the box, pulling out a few vases under the layers of bubble wrap. He absent-mindedly started to pop the bubbles as he sat himself on the floor, crossing his legs. If he hadn't been so preoccupied, maybe he would have noticed the way that Kojiro stopped what he was doing to admire the way his hair fell into his face.
Once he was satisfied with the number of bubbles popped, he returned to unboxing Kojiro's belongings. He pulled out a few picture frames; views from what Kaoru presumed was Kojiro's place in Italy, a picture of Kojiro smiling surrounded by very european-looking colleagues, etcetera. He didn't have many pictures, but the last one caught Kaoru's eye.
It had been wrapped in an extra layer of bubble wrap that fell off as Kaoru lifted it out of the box, stopping still.
The picture showed two teenage boys, one with pink hair, one with green. An arm slung around each other's shoulders and bandaids on their cheeks, grins plastered on both of their faces. Kaoru was gazing up at his friend like he had just cured world hunger, Kojiro facing the camera and laughing joyously. It was the exact same as the picture Kaoru kept on his bedside table, and Kojiro had kept it all this time.
He was so submerged in the picture that he didn't notice Kojiro standing behind him until he spoke.
"I looked at this every time I felt homesick." He confessed, rubbing the back of his neck. Kaoru stood up, face to face with Kojiro for the first time since he got back. "It reminded me that one day I'd come home again, and you would be here."
Kaoru's eyes started to sting. He wasn't good with words, so he stepped towards Kojiro and wrapped his arms around his waist. Kojiro settled his head into Kaoru's shoulder, holding him just as tightly in return.
"I missed you too, idiot."
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