Archive of Our Own

"This one?"

"No."

"This one?"

"No, keep going." Tokoyami smirked as the child before him pouted. "Almost."

"This one?"

"Ah. Come on, out of the way.” He nudged the boy. "I need to put the luggage in the overhead."

Instead of moving as instructed, Aki turned to him with a frown. Tugging on Tokoyami's jacket, he got the man to lean forward.

"But I want to sit by the window!" he exclaimed in a hushed plea.

Tokoyami's eyes flicked upward, taking note of the girl occupying said seat. She was looking at her phone, a finger from her other hand pressed against her cheek, expression quietly thoughtful. Glancing sideways, past the wisp of green bangs framing her face, she offered them a quick smile before turning back to her device.

Though she looked friendly enough, she probably didn't want to be disturbed.

"Maybe next time, Aki," he said. "See? The tickets say 17B and 17C, so we'll be sitting here and here," he explained, gesturing at the middle and aisle seats.

"Aw..."

Fortunately, despite his disappointment, Aki clambered into the middle seat with little additional fuss. Truthfully, Tokoyami was surprised he'd had even sat willingly beside the girl in 17A. Though usually shy, it seemed the limited view he was afforded from 17B trumped any qualms he had about sitting next to a stranger.

Sitting in the remaining seat, Tokoyami kept an eye on the child, watching as he tried to raise his small body higher, trying to peer over the lip of the window, chin straining and wings fluttering in his feeble attempt to see.

"Excuse me, kero."

Tokoyami blinked, realizing the girl was looking at him. He was about to apologize for Aki's behavior (the boy completely oblivious, still trying to sneak looks past her), when she continued.

"Did you want to swap seats? He can have my seat if he wants."

"Ah, no. That's not necess-"

Overhearing them, Aki gasped. "Can I? Please?"

The sound of her laughter cut off Tokoyami's protests, standing already. "Of course."

With the speed of an Olympian, Aki bolted over to the vacated chair, the stumps of his wings beating eagerly. Apologetically, Tokoyami unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Here, you can take my seat. You've been kind enough to give up the window seat; you shouldn't be relegated to the middle for that."

The girl shook her head, sitting herself firmly in what was once Aki's spot, now hers. "It's fine. I don't mind at all." She nodded, motioning with her head. "Besides, your legs are longer than mine, so I think you'll need the legroom after a couple hours."

That's certainly true; just imagining his legs bundled up, without a hope of stretching out, makes him antsy. Still.

"It might not be the most pleasant trip to sit beside Aki for so long," he said, voice low so the child didn't overhear him. "He still requires some oversight, so it'd probably be best if I sat beside him."

"Kero?" She tilted her head against her finger, eyeing the boy in question, who has his face pressed eagerly against the glass. "He seems alright to me and you'll be here the whole time if he needs you. I'm sure Aki," the boy perked up at the mention of his name, "and I will be good friends by the time we arrive."

"Yes! I'm Takami Akito, nice to meet you!" he said winningly, shooting her his most charming smile. It made her melt, the way it did all the female populace who encounter the boy; though it simply served as reason for Tokoyami to roll his eyes. When he wanted to, Aki certainly could work his charisma. Like father, like son.

"Well, if you do tire of him," he added, ignoring Aki's tiny "hey!" of protest, "I'm more than happy to swap anytime you wish."

"I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm pretty good with kids. Two younger siblings," she explained, pointing a finger to her chin with a laugh. "So, I've seen pretty much every trick and tantrum in the book."

Glancing at Aki who's become entranced by the people loading luggages outside, she tipped her head at him. "Is he your first?"

"Ah, no," he sputtered. Her inquisitive look had him hurrying to explain. "I'm babysitting. I was on a business trip with my business partner and his family and something came up. So, I got stuck with Aki, while his father and mother had to head back to Japan first. I consider him my nephew of sorts." He asked hesitantly, "Do you have children?"

She shook her head, bangs swaying with the motion. "No, I don't."

He blames it on instinct, really, but he can't help it when his eye slides downward, finding her unadorned left hand. (Doesn't think about why the sight of it, and her response, causes something in his heart to skip a beat.)

Ripping his gaze away, hoping she hadn't noticed, he introduced himself for lack of anything else to say. "Tokoyami Fumikage. Thank you for swapping seats with Aki."

"Nice to meet you, Tokoyami-chan. Asui Tsuyu, but you can call me Tsuyu-chan."

She's friendly and kind, but it's the warmth of her smile that makes it impossible to figure out what to say next.

He's saved from likely putting his foot further in his mouth by the flight attendant who hands him a kid's set of amusements, which Tsuyu takes, giggling at his bemused expression.

"I believe that's for Aki," she said, giving the set to the child who immediately gasps in delight.

She's already smiling as his nephew exclaims over crayons, but he thinks he sees her mouth slant higher, amused, as he mutters in a dry undertone, "Darn. And here I thought those were for me."

She's as good as she promises to be.

She points things out from the window for Aki to “ooo and ah” at, she listens patiently as his nephew chatters away at her, she even manages to get him to eat his entire meal when it comes.

To say the least, he's impressed.

"I don't think I've ever seen Aki finish an entire meal." His nephew is a picky eater, fussy about most things, so seeing the cleaned tray before him is...a miracle to say the least. "Including the vegetables. You deserve to be commended, Ms. Asui."

Tsuyu shook her head with a humble laugh. "The secret is to hide a little in every bite. It helped that it was Mac and cheese; hard to notice any suspicious greenery under all that cheese."

He chuckled in agreement, only for their conversation to be interrupted.

"Tsuyu, I want to color!"

Tokoyami quirked a brow. "What do you say?"

"I want to color, please!"

Smiling at the undue emphasis in his tone, Tsuyu ruffled the boy's head with a nod. Pulling out the coloring book the stewardess had provided, she opened it on Aki's tray and proceeded to help him.

Watching them, Tokoyami couldn't help the downward tilt of his beak. Yes, she's pretty much perfect. If only his nephew wasn't so enamored with her as well.

...as well?

Giving an inward shake of his head, Tokoyami refocused his attention. It must be the altitude or the cabin pressure or something, driving these strange thoughts. (He's not jealous of a 3 year-old. Really.)

"Wow!"

His thoughts were broken by the exclamations of his nephew, golden eyes wide as he watched Tsuyu's hand nimbly draw across the coloring book. Before long, a cute replica of a hawk had appeared on the page.

"Ooo," Aki gasped. He tapped on Tsuyu's arm, holding up his green crayon. "Can you do a dragon?"

"Kero."

In front of both Aki and Tokoyami's astonished eyes came a dragon—Tsuyu’s hands taking up the red, yellow, and blue crayons in quick successions—fighting a broadly smiling...

"All Might!"

Aki beamed, chubby fingers touching the drawing, amazed. "You're so cool, Ms. Asui!"

Very cool, Tokoyami silently agreed. Also, the epitome of a saint, putting up with his nephew's every whim and request to draw everything he can possibly imagine. By the time Aki begins drooping off, his coloring book is a menagerie of animals, comic book characters, and every imaginary creature under the sun.

Despite his multiple attempts to intervene and allow Tsuyu a much-deserved break, his nephew was too utterly enamored by the green-haired woman. In this though, Tokoyami was firm:

"Aki, here. Put these on."

"I don't wanna..." the boy mumbled, words garbled, swatting at the sound-canceling headphones Tokoyami tried to wrangle onto him.

"Kero, let me."

Tokoyami relinquished the headphones to Tsuyu's capable hands. They're steady as she wedged them onto the boy's head, careful not to catch any of the feathery white strands of his hair. With a last blink of his golden eyes, Aki's out like a light.

"Thank you. Hawks and Miruko told me he absolutely needed to wear those on the plane to sleep through the night, or else he'd just wake up every half hour. Which wouldn't bode well for anyone involved."

"You're a good uncle, Tokoyami-chan," she replied, dark eyes studying him. "It's easy to see you really care about Aki-chan."

"Ah." He brought his hand to his neck, embarrassed. "I'd venture to say you're his current favorite though. Those drawings of yours are amazing."

This time, she was the one to shake away his praise. Even in the plane's poor lighting, he could make out the flush of her cheeks. "Kero, just part of my job."

"Which is?"

"I work as a manga artist. An assistant," she said with a humble twist of her lips. "I've been working for several artists over the last few years, building up my portfolio."

"Are you allowed to disclose names of the works you've helped on?"

She is, sharing with him the names of the artists and the manga she's worked on, several of which he's read. It's impressive, and the more she talks, the more amazed he is by the woman beside him.

"Are you planning to go independent one day?" He nodded at the coloring book still lying open on Aki's tray. "I'm no professional, but your work looks excellent to me."

"Thank you." She tilted her head. "Maybe. I'd have to come up with a good story first."

Looking at the colorful host of characters she's drawn, it's easy to see that Tsuyu has the talent to go in any direction she chooses. He tells her as much, quietly enjoying the way her cheeks darken yet again.

"I think," she started musingly, a finger on her chin, "I'd actually like to write something small at first. A slice-of-life, maybe with some elements of chance encounters to spice things up."

"Chance encounters?" he echoed.

She nodded, eyes holding his. "There's something about that genre that interests me, that I find the most relatable. Knowing that every encounter we have with others has limitless potential, even the most random or mundane ones."

"The limitless potential of chance encounters." He toyed with the conjunction of the ideas, something about the words catching at the edge of his mind as he looks at her. "Serendipity?"

"Kero, yes, like that." She smiled, pleased. "Serendipitious encounters."

It was the touch of a hand that caught his attention. Even as he glanced down, her hand was already lifting from where his arm had been laying on the armrest, apologetic.

"Kero, sorry."

Dragging his gaze from her fingers—long and pale—he shook his head. "It's fine." Studying her, he asked, "Is everything alright?"

Now that he's looking at her, he saw not only was she awake (where seconds earlier, she'd been fast asleep), her dark eyes were blown wide, hands gripping the armrests—afraid, he realized.

Tsuyu waited as a stewardess passed by, reminding everyone the fasten seatbelt sign was on, before she answered. "I'm a little-" she swallowed a croak. "A little nervous about flying. I've only flown domestic flights prior to this and when I came over, I flew with some friends."

"Ah." He watched as her hands tightened on the armrest with a sharp bump of turbulence. "That's understandable."

"It doesn't seem silly to you?" She tilted her head. "Even Aki-chan is sleeping soundedly and here I am, holding onto these arm rests for dear life."

Flicking a glance to his nephew, he smirked. "Aki can sleep like the dead when he's so inclined. It's how he regains his superhuman energy for the time he's awake."

That at least drew a laugh from her.

Closing the book he'd been reading, he continued, "It's really no shame at all to be fearful of something, especially if it's something you rarely encounter. The only reason I don't notice turbulence any more is because I've flown so much. Personally, I tire of flying as often as I do."

"Kero? For your work?"

He's gratified to see that her hands had loosened marginally in her curiosity.

"Ah. I work in business, so it requires me to travel a great deal and fly extensively. I could go into detail, but I think it would bore you," he shrugged. "It's not half as exciting as your work, I'm afraid."

"Hence the reading?" she asked, nodding at the book in his hand.

It's a book on finance that he's been trying to chip away at for the last month. His beak lifted drily. "Yes. I brought it on this trip thinking I'd get through it, but it's only proved deadweight. I hadn't touched it once, so I figured I ought to make a stab at it while we were trapped here."

"Reading in the dark? You should turn on the light, Tokoyami-chan," Tsuyu chided. To her point, the cabin lights were dimmed as most of the passengers were asleep. In that same frame, he and Tsuyu were carrying their conversation in whispers.

"I didn't want to risk waking you or Aki."

The indignant look on her face amused him, as did her croak of protest. "But still..."

"Perhaps I'm simply using the darkness as an excuse not to read. It was an ambitious hope of mine," he said, holding up the book. "Book learning was never my strong suit. I'm a little better with field work."

Tsuyu's lips twitched, allowing him to shift the conversation. "Hence the business trips?"

He gestured wryly at their surroundings. "I've flown so much over the past few years, there are times I feel I'm going to sprout wings from my back."

Tsuyu giggled softly. "That would be pretty cool, Tokoyami-chan. I'm sure Aki-chan would think so."

He chuckled. "Probably."

"Even if the schematics of it aren't very glamorous, I'm sure what you do is important, Tokoyami-chan," she commented, finger on her cheek. "It definitely takes a sort of acumen to work in business. Most of the artists I know are pretty hermit-like; they wouldn't last very well in the types of settings I imagine you're in."

"Excluding yourself," he returned. It's a true statement; she not only ensnared Aki easily, she's also managed to get him—reserved, reticent him—to talk freely. It's quite a feat. He enjoyed her blush for a brief moment before continuing, "I'm decent at it now, but I was quite taciturn in my youth. I wouldn't have imagined business would be the field of work I'd go into."

"Kero? What changed?"

Beak quirking, he told her about his university days, of entering with little idea of what his career might be and encountering Hawks. He regaled her with tales of his showboat of a mentor, who through a mixture of poking, prodding, and straight-up shoving Tokoyami out of his comfort zone, taught him to be much more comfortable in his skin and confident in his work.

It made her laugh, kept her mind off the turbulence that arose several times throughout the conversation, the latest jostle not even fazing her.

"I never would have guessed, Tokoyami-chan," she croaked. Her eyes fixed on his, dark and contemplative. "You seem utterly confident to me."

"I believe it depends on the task set before me," he murmured, turning his head slightly away from her frank gaze.

Like now. If Hawks saw how bashful he's being in the face of Tsuyu's curiosity, he knew the blonde would be teasing him mercilessly. "I'd say the same of you, Asui. You seem like a rather fearless individual to me."

"Kero-" The rest of her reply was cut of as the plane gave a wild buck, her hands grasping the armrests tightly. With a shaky laugh, she finished. "You're certainly right, Tokoyami-chan. Bravery is really dependent on the situation, and I believe flying to be your strong suit, not mine."

Eyeing the whitened knuckles clenching the armrest between them, gathering his marginal scraps of courage, he placed his hand carefully over hers. Catching sight of her rounded gaze from the corner of his eye, he coughed.

"Ah. If it would help, you can," he swallowed, "…hold my hand. Aki used to do so when he was a toddler and it helped him. I don't mind."

He couldn't quite look her in the eye, but he felt her hand curl into his, quietly placing her trust in him. "Kero, thank you, Tokoyami-chan."

It's harder to keep his voice steady with the weight of her hand, slight and smooth, in his, but he managed. He kept up a stream of chatter--some about his school days and the antics Hawks would pull him into, some about the antics Aki gets him into nowadays--knowing the words weren't quite as important as having a point of distraction was for her.

It was probably the most he's ever talked continuously, but as her head dropped, falling against his shoulder, he found he was glad. It's a small return for managing Aki earlier and more importantly, it's...nice to have her hand in his, nice to have the subtle weight of her head resting against him.

Peering sideways at the girl in 17B , who's currently sleeping peacefully against his shoulder, his gaze softened. Quietly, he opened his book, careful to keep his arm as still as possible, to allow Tsuyu the rest she so deserves.

Somehow, some way—somewhere along the lines of listening to Tsuyu's steady breathing against his shoulder—he fell asleep.

The sound of the meal cart, the wheels rattling and catching on the walkway, woke him with a start.

"Good morning, kero."

"Morning Uncle Fumi!"

Blinking, Tokoyami turned his head to find his nephew beaming at him and beside him Tsuyu's quieter, but bright smile, causing him to waken fully. He nodded slowly.

"Good morning."

Looking at his hands, it took him a minute to realize they were empty, of both his book and—he flushed—Tsuyu’s hand. Of course, he berated himself silently, she wouldn't leave her hand lingering in his any longer than necessary.

His book on the other hand, had appeared to mysteriously vanished. For a second, he thought he might have dropped it in his sleep, but a quick glance around had him realizing that it had been tucked safely away in the seat pocket before him. Likely, he thought, peering sideways where she was listening patiently to a chatty Aki, Tsuyu's doing.

He can't recall the rest of the flight. It passes in a blur of keeping Aki entertained, too-brief snatches of conversation between him and Tsuyu, and the nagging persistence that he should say something.

He doesn't, chickening out every time his beak starts to open, until the captain is announcing they're thirty minutes to landing and to stow their tray tables away and put the chairs in an upright position.

It eats away at him even as they start their descent, even as Tsuyu points out the growing landscape of Handea Airport to Aki, even as her hand accidentally grips his again as the wheels gently bump to the tarmac in a relatively smooth landing.

How twelve hours on an airplane—one he usually abhors taking—could have flown by so quickly, he doesn't know.

Well. He does know—the reason for that standing beside him, stretching her back out and forcing him to keep his attention locked on gathering his and Aki's belongings (lest he find himself staring slack-jawed at her).

"You can go first," he offered, noting how she had her backpack in hand. "I have some things in the overhead, so it'll take us a second."

"Are you sure? I'm in no rush."

"Ah."

She smiled in response, but turned to crouch slightly so she was face-to-face with an oddly quiet Aki. Ruffling the boy's hair, she spoke.

"It was nice to meet you, Aki-chan. Be good for your uncle, okay?"

"Mhmm! It was nice to meet you too, Tsuyu-chan! Your drawings are so cool!"

With a modest laugh, she straightened, turning back to Tokoyami and bowing. "It was nice to meet you too, Tokoyami-chan."

"Ah, you as well."

He found himself frozen as she slid past him, the warmth of her body so close to his, it caused all his brain functions to stop working. It wasn't until she was in the aisle, backpack tugged on, that he found his voice.

"Tsuyu?"

"Kero?"

"Ah, um." All his nerve fled at the sight of her dark eyes, the words he'd been working up the courage to say for the past twelve hours evaporating in an instant. "Thank you."

If she was disappointed, if she expected him to say something else, she didn't show it; lips quirking into a beatific smile. "You're welcome, Tokoyami-chan. Good-bye."

He watched helplessly as the impatient jostle of people in the aisles surged forward, sweeping her along with it. Before he knew it, Tsuyu was gone.

"You should have kissed her."

"What."

He turned his disbelieving gaze downward to his nephew, finding the boy staring back at him with an arch of his brow that's unmistakably Hawks'.

"If you like her, you should kiss her," Aki said, tone painstakingly patient, like he was the idiot. "That's what you're supposed to do when you like a girl."

"What? No. There's an order to these things and-" Tokoyami cut himself off with an incredulous shake of his head. He is not having this discussion with a 3 year-old of all people. "Just...go get your backpack."

Though he yanked on the small All-Might embellished backpack obediently enough, Aki still cast him a petulant, miffed look. Pulling down the luggage and setting it in the now nearly empty aisle, Tokoyami sighed.

"What?"

"But you do like her, right?"

It's rather annoying that Aki's inherited both his father's sharp eyes and his mother's dogged persistence. It makes it very hard to lie to his nephew. Grabbing the boy's small hand, he started down the aisle with a terse nod.

"Ah."

"Daddy! We're home!"

"Aki! I missed you, little finch!"

Tokoyami watched, beak quirking at the reunion of father and son, the exaggerated mannerisms Hawks is known for turned genuine at the sight of his child. Scooping him up and blowing a raspberry into the protesting child's cheek, Hawks then turned to Tokoyami with an easy grin.

"Hey, thanks again for watching him. Hopefully he wasn't too much of a problem on the plane."

Tokoyami shook his head. "No. We managed well enough."

Even as he said it, he found his thoughts turning to her, the girl in 17B. His "we" could be understood as him and Aki, but Hawks is one of the best in business for a reason--nothing gets past his shrewd eye.

"We?"

Tokoyami fell silent, head turning away. Of course, that was when Aki decided to pipe up.

"Uncle Fumi made a friend on the plane!"

"A friend?"

"Hawks..."

The blonde's grin is sharp and salacious; the only reason he wasn't saying worse was because he was still holding Aki in his arms. Even so, his tone was filled with annoying innuendo. "A lady friend~?"

Tokoyami's eyes narrowed at the man, keeping his tone carefully dry. "Yes. She was seated at the window seat, but was kind enough to swap with Aki."

"And she was really nice and draws super good and she's so pretty!"

…one day, he's going to duct tape his nephew's mouth.

At this point, Tokoyami wasn't sure who he wanted to smother more, Aki or his father. Hawks' next words made that an easy enough decision at least.

"So pretty huh? Did you think that too, Tokoyami?"

"Hawks."

"Did someone order pizza?"

"MOMMY!" Aki burst out, squirming to be put down so he could run to a pizza-laden Miruko. Hawks released the boy, his smile widening as he watched her gather their son up easily with one arm, balancing a stack of pizzas easily with another. Still, he remained where he was, waiting pointedly for an answer.

Tokoyami sighed, surrendering. "She was...beautiful. Kind. To both Aki and myself," he muttered, refusing to meet Hawks eye. Pivoting the attention from him, he added, "And she got him to eat his entire meal."

Hawks eyes bulged comically. "All of it? Even the vegetables?!"

"Ah."

"Tokoyami that wasn't just some beautiful girl you sat next to, that was a freakin' angel!" Hawks exclaimed. He quirked a brow. "And you didn't ask for her contact information?"

"...no."

The muffled noise of Hawks' despair drew Miruko and Aki's attention, even as Tokoyami averted his eyes from the man's embarrassing show of emotion.

"What's wrong with him?" Miruko asked, walking over. Balancing Aki on her hip, she was still holding the pizzas with no visible effort. Tokoyami didn't have a chance to respond as Hawks lifted his face from his hands, causing the raven-headed man to balk. Were those actual...tears in Hawks' eyes?

"Tokoyami missed out on asking out a girl he totally had a crush on on the plane!" Hawks said, turning distress-filled eyes to his wife. "She was an absolute angel and he didn't ask because he's too much of a chickenshit. She even got Aki to eat vegetables!"

Rumi's brows rose, her sharp red eyes honing in on Tokoyami like a laser beam. He shrunk back in fear.

"She got Aki to eat his vegetables?"

"Ah."

"And you really liked her?"

"Ah."

"And you didn't ask her out?"

"...ah."

"You..." the pizzas vibrated furiously as Miruko muscles bulged. "You little chickenshit!"

The room erupted in chaos as Miruko dressed him down, Tokoyami raced to catch the falling pizzas, Hawks laughed himself silly, and Aki wondered aloud what exactly a chickenshit was.

"What a mad banquet of insanity."

Staggering into his apartment—a quiet, dark sanctuary, compared to the chaos he had just departed, Tokoyami heaved a sigh, depositing his suitcase and backpack unceremoniously to the ground.

Dinner had been exactly as chaotic as he anticipated anytime he was in the Takami household: Hawks and Rumi shouting boisterously over one another, Aki's growing voice and vocabulary (today's lesson: Don't say the word "chickenshit" in front of a 3 year-old) joining in eagerly, and Tokoyami just doing his best to bunker down and survive. He'd been so busy fending off Hawks and Rumi's double-pronged attack that he hadn't eaten much either; his stomach growling at him in reminder, telling him he'd need to do a grocery run to fill his barren-fridge.

The realities of living alone.

He sighed again.

The disheveled nature of Hawks and Rumi's house was a stark contrast to his calm abode, but he could admit feeling a touch of envy as he'd departed, watching them wave at him from their doorway, one of Hawks wings wrapped around Rumi as she held a drowsy Aki in her muscular arms.

Mad, chaotic, messy, and yet...perfect in some ways.

It takes no effort for his mind to conjure a similar picture of himself with Tsuyu by his side, a green-haired child in her caring grasp, smiling up at him. Takes no effort to imagine coming home to her and her smile, or to picture holding her hand on all flights, be they long or short.

Tokoyami shook his head, clearing his mind of the vision. Enticing though it may be, he missed out on the possibility of making any of that reality by watching her walk away from him, having said nothing of consequence to her.

What was the point of this serendipitous encounter—mind flashing to her words—if he didn't do anything about it? If only he'd been brave enough to say something, brave enough to ask her...

He cut off that fruitless train of thought, frustrated. Truth be told, the evening of beration by Hawks and Rumi was nothing in comparison to how hard he'd been kicking himself since he'd left the plane.

With a sigh, he unzipped his luggage, knowing if he put it off, he was liable to leave his baggage as it was for the next week. And truthfully, he'd rather not have the remains of this particular flight lingering, reminding him with every glance of his cowardice.

It's as he's almost finished taking out the contents of his backpack that he finds it. Pulling out the book he'd scarcely touched on the plane, a slip of white fluttered to the floor. Quirking a brow, he picked it up, eyeing the scrap of paper curiously.

On it, is a drawing.

Unlike the ones she drew for Aki, this one is done in black ink and is startlingly realistic. It's him.

She's captured him as he is perfectly, from the gradation of his feathers down to the serious look in his eye. The only modification—the thing that makes his beak quirk—is the addition of wings, large, shadowy ones, sprouting from his back.

Reading the words written beside it, his smile grew. What's written there confirms what he already knows—between the two of them, she's the braver one by far. At the very least though, he's been given a second chance, and this time, he's definitely going to see it through.

Picking up his phone, he punched in the numbers. Doesn't have to wait long for a response:

"Hello?"

"Hello." He cleared his throat, clamping down on his resolve. "I was wondering if you happened to be free for dinner. If you weren't too tired or jet-lagged from the flight."

The sound of her laughter, already familiar, sounded through the receiver. "Kero, I'd love to."

He's already out the door, on his way to dinner with the girl who's been on his mind for the past eighteen hours, her note on his nightstand.

To the boy who flies:

Hello Tokoyami-chan. I just wanted to leave this note as a quick thank you for your company on the flight. Truthfully, I was a little nervous about flying, which is why I'd initially picked the window seat. But I couldn't say no to Aki-chan's cute face asking to switch seats. I'm glad he did though, so I got the chance to sit next to you. Thank you for holding my hand during the flight, it helped a lot. In case you have time between all those flights of yours, maybe you'd like to get dinner? My number is XXX-XXXX

From: Asui Tsuyu (the girl in 17B)