Work Text:
‟Oh it’s so pretty!” Kin clasped his hands together, looking around the temple garden. He looked much more comfortable here, Keisuke thought, than he had . . . most places Keisuke had taken him over the last little more than a year.
Trying to look at it with a fish’s eye - Keisuke had gotten very good at consciously shifting his perspective over the last year; both his professors and his boss had mentioned it - Keisuke supposed. . . The overwhelming array of green everywhere that could seem like so much for people - especially those like Keisuke who had been born and raised in the depths of the city - was probably comfortingly like the greenery in a good tank or a pond. Though Keisuke knew they would be greeted by shrine maidens and at least one priest once they scaled the stairs to the temple itself, the garden was quiet, with no other people, only them - Kin still found people both fascinating and intimidating, other than Keisuke, even his friends, who had grown familiar. Of course, he could admit his friends tended towards loud and pushy, sometimes rude, but so did he, and Kin didn’t seem to mind.
Keisuke slid a hand along Kin’s forearm and took his hand, tugging him away from the gates and deeper into the garden, following the subtle, elegant path. There were temples closer to home - even several in the heart of the city, one way or another - that did this, but. . .
Well, Kin’s clear delight at being here had Keisuke thinking he’d made the right choice. Besides, the city temples were . . . more likely to be busy, and maybe as a result more brusque in some ways. Kin wouldn’t be comfortable, which would upset him and maybe make things difficult - Keisuke wouldn’t know - and would definitely mean he didn’t enjoy this, which he should.
If they were going to do it at all, it should be something Kin enjoyed, Keisuke thought, squeezing Kin’s hand and tugging him closer.
Kin giggled, nestling against his side, tucking himself under Keisuke’s arm. He felt so delicate, though Keisuke knew he wasn’t, not really - lissom and small, all huge eyes and floating spill of silken hair, which his tie was once more failing to contain.
Keisuke hugged Kin snugly for a moment, then released him, with a brush of one hand over his shoulder, and pulled the tie loose, sweeping his hair back and retying it. It would probably slip again soon, but at least Kin never looked sloppy even when it did - only faintly otherworldly.
A hime from another world, Keisuke thought with fond amusement, smoothing his fingers through Kin’s hair and moving back to his side. Even if that other world was a glass-walled tank, or the series of ponds Kin had spoken of where he had been born and kept before the matsuri where Keisuke had found him.
‟Shall we go up, sweetheart?” Keisuke asked, gesturing towards the stairs still mostly hidden by low, decorative trees.
He was surprised when Kin not only didn’t answer - let alone with the expected return of his bouncy, sparkle-eyed delight - he hung back. Keisuke turned to face him fully. ‟Kin-chan?”
‟Are you sure, ano, that . . . this is all right? Truly? That I can. . .” Kin edged closer still, his huge eyes shimmery and hesitant. He was so adorable, Keisuke thought, smiling and stroking Kin’s face, then tugging him closer and kissing his forehead. Even if he was shy and nervous.
‟Of course. You want to, right?” Keisuke asked, pausing.
Keisuke hadn’t even suggested it, really; Kin had seen not only the resulting marks but the visit to a temple for a revelation ceremony in a daytime drama and asked about it, and once Keisuke had explained the concept Kin had been enthralled and alternately nervous or hopeful. He was pretty confident Kin had wanted, whyever he was hesitating now.
‟Yes!” Kin finally bounced a little, then drew back, biting his lip. ‟But. . . It is for humans, and I am a goldfish.” he said more softly.
‟. . .well, I wouldn’t tell them that,” Keisuke said, imagining the reaction of either shrine maidens or priest if Kin informed them of his origins, in those words or any others, ‟but I don’t think the priest is going to ask if everyone is human before inviting us in.”
Not that Keisuke had ever been near a soulmate searching ceremony before - he had never particularly cared or been interested - but it seemed unlikely.
‟Oh. . .” Kin’s soft fingers crept over Keisuke’s hand, and he spread his fingers, inviting Kin to twine them and clasp comfortably. ‟Are you sure that’s all right, then? It isn’t lying?”
‟I’m sure it will be fine, sweetheart.” Keisuke soothed, squeezing Kin’s hand, and he relaxed again.
Keisuke didn’t think I’m a goldfish was the kind of truth that should be required anywhere, lying or not, actually, and besides, Kin was human-shaped - at the moment - and as good as human, at least. Keisuke kissed him lightly and nudged him towards the stairs, and this time he hurried on happily.
They were greeted at the top of the stairs by a shrine maiden almost as pretty as Kin, and he shrank back against Keisuke; he might have been wide-eyed but it was difficult to tell. Keisuke hugged him lightly and urged him forwards, bowing to the girl, who smiled and guided them onwards.
Surprisingly, Kin was cheerfully happy to return the priest’s greeting, and didn’t hesitate to put himself forward and ask questions . . . even when Keisuke felt a sudden rush of hesitance himself - not that he was uncertain of what they had come to ask for, but. . .
Kin stepped away from Keisuke’s side, but kept hold of his hand, and Keisuke rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand and tried to listen carefully to the instructions they were given. It wasn’t complicated, but . . . he didn’t want to fuck up. He so much didn’t want to fuck up, both for Kin’s wide, expectant eyes and . . . well, it might have been Kin’s hope that brought them here, but. . .
Keisuke smiled, clasping both of Kin’s hands, crossed over one another as the priest wrapped them with an intricately wound scarlet cord. He had warned them of course that there were no guarantees in such things, that they might not have a bond - of any kind - that could be found and brought forth, that the ceremony could in fact bring up latent bonds with others and leave them with those marks, and Keisuke had assured him they knew and squeezed Kin’s hands comfortingly when he wavered nervously.
Keisuke would love his sweet little goldfish no matter what, as strange as he would have found the idea as little as two years ago - more for the idea of having such an easy devotion in his heart than Kin’s origins, which still felt like a very strange dream - and he couldn’t think his darling Kin-chan would be any less.
. . .but he wasn’t really surprised, either, when the marks shimmered into being, the priest giving a happy shout of success and Kin nearly squeaking as he raised their hands to look at his left wrist.
Keisuke grinned, drawing Kin in tight and kissing him, nearly overturning the table beside them and laughing as he tried to apologise. The priest smiled at them warmly, and Keisuke was so glad he’d brought them out so far, to this nice, half-hidden temple, even if it had been a hell of a long train ride.
‟What is it?” Kin asked, fingers curling around Keisuke’s wrist. ‟What do you have?”
Keisuke laughed a little and offered his wrist. He had a brilliant red goldfish with feathery fins outlined in gold, a shimmery pattern that suggested hearts and perhaps eyes along delicate scales, a blue twist a little like a crown, a little like a ribbon, and a little like rippling water falling along the ridge of the fish’s body from head to tail. Kin blinked at it, wide eyes shimmering.
‟Oh! It’s me!” Kin said happily, and Keisuke stifled a laugh as the priest smiled proudly at them. He had heard some people took issue with the marks that represented themselves even when bonds were found in such ways, and the priest had no way of knowing Kin was being . . . entirely literal.
‟What am I, then?” Keisuke asked curiously, kissing Kin’s cheek. He trilled and offered his arm, and Keisuke held him close and- ‟Oh.” He blinked. Then he laughed. Apparently Keisuke was also a fish, though a rather less elegant or striking one. ‟Not so pretty as you are, my sweet Kin-chan.” he said lightly, and Kin looked up at him, pouting a little. ‟Kingyou-hime. Are you happy?” he asked softly.
Kin beamed at him, nodding rapidly, and twined his arms shyly around Keisuke’s shoulders. He held Kin close, bowing his head to rest their brows together and toying with Kin’s long hair where it fell over his hands. Maybe it was a little blatant, but Kin still had yet to grasp what levels of emotion or affection displayed were rude in public and wouldn’t notice or care, and besides that . . . this temple offered the ceremony to reveal soulmate bonds. The priest was surely more than used to affectionate displays - and probably other types of emotional outburst as well, Keisuke considered.
He glanced sideways at the man and found him still smiling warmly at them.
Keisuke gave his little goldfish hime a light kiss, then eased his embrace, bowing his thanks to the priest; he offered congratulations to them both, but was swiftly overrun by Kin’s bubbly delight, and Keisuke laughed, drawing Kin against his side and letting him go on as he would.