Chapter Text
Though the weather stayed temperate almost year-round in the southern part of Kalos, the chill of winter would soon be nipping at the heels of the Johto region when Tezuka received a call early on a Sunday morning in mid-November.
It was a short affair, and Atobe, from where he was sprawled across his half of the bed, heard only snatches of Tezuka’s quiet conversation in the sitting room, held in a stilted, standoffish tone. It wasn’t his usual detachment that he used with strangers, either. No, Atobe could tell from the tension in the hurriedly uttered words that this wasn’t the first time he’d spoken to this caller. But just as abruptly as his phone had rung, disturbing the peace of their shared apartment, the call was over and the irritated clatter of Tezuka’s phone being dropped on the coffee table echoed through the place before quiet set in once more.
Not hearing Tezuka’s morning tea ritual commencing after the mysterious call, Atobe drew up the resolve to pull himself out of bed and trudge into the kitchen. His ninetales, who figured her master would be back at some point soon, simply stretched at the foot of the bed, jaws spreading in a wide yawn before she curled up again to snooze.
Tezuka, now just standing at the kitchen counter and staring out the window, heard footsteps behind him, and let warm arms snake around his waist in greeting. He sighed, the tension leaving his body at the familiar touch, and leaned back into Atobe’s firm chest. “Good morning,” he murmured, turning just enough to brush his lips against Atobe’s forehead. He got a cold nose and a smile pressing into his neck for his troubles.
“Is it?” Atobe asked, not bothering to hide his concern. “You seemed...discontent, with that call just now. Who was it?”
Leaning forward just enough to stir the bag steeping in his mug of tea, Tezuka took his time answering.
“That. Was my mother.”
Atobe couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows in surprise. “Your mother? I don’t think I’ve ever heard her call you before.” He would have remembered that tone of voice. Impersonal on the surface, but there was something lurking below, trapped and unable to break free. Or unwilling. Honestly, Atobe knew very little about Tezuka’s family, other than the fact that he had one. He knew they lived somewhere in the Johto region, presumably, but other than that... He was in the dark.
“She doesn’t call often,” Tezuka offered as a poor explanation. But sensing that Atobe was going to inquire further, continued after a moment, “it’s about the winter holidays. She wants me to come home.”
“Oh?” Atobe tilted his head slightly, curious. “Why this year? She hasn’t asked before this, has she?”
Tezuka shook his head, and gently pried himself out of Atobe’s grasp to grab a pan and put it on the stove. “No, I haven’t been to visit since I moved out.” He grabbed an egg from the basket on the counter and ignited the burner. “I have no idea why she would call now, of all times.”
Atobe, sensing that Tezuka was, unfortunately, too awake and agitated to come back to bed, settled himself on a kitchen stool at the counter to watch his better half cook. “Perhaps she misses you. Mothers always miss their sons.”
“Hn,” Tezuka made a noncommittal, disbelieving sound as he cracked the egg into the pan, and the sound of sizzling filled the kitchen. “It’s never that simple, where my family is concerned.”
He sounded so very weary, Atobe thought. There must be some rather unpleasant history, if just one call could leave his usually unflappable lover so on-edge and so tired. Just as he was about to respond, though, his ninetails wandered into the kitchen, no doubt having smelled the egg cooking and immediately assuming it was for her.
She demanded, rather than asked, by way of shoving her chilly, moist nose up under the hem of Tezuka’s shirt to nudge none too gently at the small of his back.
“Ah...!” Tezuka couldn’t help but startle, body twitching away from the fox pokemon as he turned around with a look of exasperation. “Good morning to you too, Bea.”
Beatrix – or just Bea, unless she was well and truly in trouble - simply looked from him to the pan and back again, tails twitching expectantly.
Atobe laughed. “The ice queen requires sustenance!”
“The ice queen can wait her turn,” said Tezuka, raising an eyebrow at Atobe’s companion. He turned back to the stove just in time to pull perfectly cooked scrambled eggs off the burner. “Besides, this one is for-” Before Tezuka could so much as finish his sentence, a black and gold blur rocketed off the couch and across the kitchen to leap up onto his shoulder.
“Ah, Percy, impeccable timing as always.”
His Umbreon chirped happily as he rubbed his face against Tezuka’s ear, staying perfectly balanced as his trainer emptied the contents of the pan onto a small plate. He jumped down onto the counter as Tezuka placed his breakfast down just next to Atobe.
“I thought we had a strict ‘no countertops’ rule,” said Atobe, raising an eyebrow at Percy as he began to scarf down his food, long ears twitching happily. Percival, or Percy, was almost always allowed special privileges by Tezuka, who had an undeniable soft spot for his very first Pokémon partner.
“Not when there’s potential thieves about.” But his irritation was betrayed by the sound of another egg cracking, and Bea sat up a little straighter, ears and eyes trained on Tezuka and the spatula in his hand.
***
Once all members of the apartment had been properly fed, Tezuka and Atobe sat close on their couch, tea and coffee in hand as they let breakfast settle. Percy laid curled in a tight little ball on Tezuka’s lap, who stroked his soft fur idly as he leaned into his boyfriend’s side, eyes half closed in contentment.
“I think you ought to go.” Atobe, as always, was the first to break the silence. “Home, I mean.” He felt Tezuka tense ever-so-slightly against him, his fingers stilling just at the scruff of Percy’s neck.
“Care to elaborate?”
Atobe took a moment to consider his next words, as it was clear that approaching this the wrong way might cause Tezuka to shut down. Ever the private man, there were some things he preferred not even Atobe involve himself in, and this may be one of them. But even so, for Tezuka’s sake, Atobe felt pressed to say his piece.
“All I mean,” Atobe began slowly, “is that there seems to be something unresolved between you and your family. And you don’t have to tell me what that is.” Some of the tension seemed to dissipate from the air around them as he reassured Tezuka of that fact, and it was then that Atobe felt confident pressing on. “But I think it’s something worth trying to get to the bottom of. In all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never been home. Perhaps whatever tension was once there, has faded.”
Tezuka sighed, closing his eyes. Atobe had a point but… “There is…much more to this than you know. There may not be anything to resolve.”
“But isn’t it worth a try?”
Not for something like this, Tezuka wanted to say. It takes two to make peace; one to extend the olive branch and the other to accept it. And I can’t accept what will never be offered to me. He wanted to delete the call from his phone, pretend the morning has started as it usually did, in Atobe’s warm embrace and without a thought about his past.
But what he said instead was-
“Alright. I’ll go.”
Atobe brushed a soft kiss against Tezuka’s copper locks, still slightly disheveled from sleep. “And I’ll come with you.”