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“Suo~!”
A pair of arms suddenly wrapped the redhead’s waist, the person’s head resting on his shoulder. The familiar scent of musk mixed with orange zest lingers around Tsukasa’s nose, the kind of scent that he misses these days. It’s been so long ever since he received such close physical contact with his senior. He may not admit it verbally, but he really missed the sensation of the orange head’s hugs. With Leo being out of Japan most of the time, the time they spend together decreased drastically. However, the orange head in question has been spending a lot of time in Japan these days for some unknown reason.
“Wah! Leo-san! You startled me!”
“Wahahah! What’s up? You busy today?”
Without releasing his arms, Leo tilted his head to get a better view of the redhead’s face. Their faces are literally only a few centimeters away from each other, feeling each other’s hot breaths through the bridges of their nose. Their eyes locked for a good number of seconds until Tsukasa felt too much heat on his face already and decided to break the silence.
“L-leo-san… you’re too close…”
Tsukasa’s words brought Leo back to his senses, whose face actually have a hint of pink on them without him knowing. The shameless Tsukinaga Leo, now a blushing mess? Who would’ve thought that it would be his cute redhead junior who can bring out such expression on his face? Not everyone, even his silver head best friend, could make him flustered like this.
“Sorry, Suo~!” The older released his arms for once as he scratches the back of his head. “Sometimes I forget how you can easily be embarrassed.” A weak laugh escaped Leo’s mouth, making Tsukasa’s face redder. “Shut up! I’m not!”.
“I’m being cursed at in English… AGAIN?!” Leo reacted with a shocked expression. Tsukasa tried not to laugh, but the older male’s words kept repeating on his head. Tsukasa laughed loudly, which made Leo a bit embarrassed. But looking at how happy the young king was, he can’t help but laugh as well.
“By the way, do you need something from me, Leo-san?”
“Ah right!” Taking his composure back, Leo grabbed Tsukasa’s hand, making the younger puzzled. “Are you free today? I want to show you something!”. Before Tsukasa could even ask anything else, Leo started walking while still holding the younger’s hand. “At least tell me where are we going!!”. The orange head kept his pace without looking back. “Just wait and see!”. Tsukasa wanted to ask more details, but he decided to tag along and find things out himself.
After minutes of walking, Tsukasa find their track familiar. Realization hit him when he saw the familiar doorsteps in front of them. Leo took him to the archery club, the place where they once both shared their hidden feelings.
“We’re here!” Tsukasa looked at Leo who is standing proud with a big grin on his face, his hands now on his waist. “Why did you take me to the archery range, Leo-san?” Tsukasa tilted his head in confusion. Leo then looked at him with a wider grin. Tsukasa swear he just felt his cheeks getting hotter.
“Just see for yourself, Suo~!”. The orange head then opened the door of the range, revealing the usual hall where they take rests or have chats before. Tsukasa’s still trying to process everything, not knowing the point of all this trouble until he saw two familiar creatures walking towards the both of them. “Surprise!”
A pair of fluffy cats walk towards them while meowing loudly, the orange one circling around Tsukasa’s leg while the other one went straight to Leo. The redhead almost didn’t recognize them because of their larger size compared with their last encounter, but the behavior of the said cats never changed at all.
“Suo-san! Leo-san!”
Tsukasa petted ‘Leo-san’, to which the kitten responded lovingly. They both sat down and the kittens went on their laps. Just like before, ‘Leo-san’ seem to be really fond of Tsukasa, licking the redhead’s nose and purring loudly. ‘Suo-san’ on the other hand, while he’s the more reserved one, seem to be playful and clingy towards Leo, too. Turns out that the two cats are adopted together by the same foster parents while the other three,’Sena’,’Rittsu’, and ‘Naru’, are all adopted separately.
“It’s been a while! What are they doing here by the way? Where are their foster parents?” Tsukasa asked, holding ‘Leo-san’ on his arms gently. “You’re as energetic as before, aren’t you? And you grew bigger already!” The redhead rose the kitten up to his nose line, making eye contact with the little fella. To his surprise, the cat rubbed its nose towards Tsukasa’s and the red head reciprocate the affection. Meanwhile, Leo’s carefully observing the two, not aware of the forming pinkness on his cheeks. “Cute…”. How he wished he could record this moment right now! “Phone! Where’s my phone?!”
“Leo-san? What’s wrong?”
Leo froze for a moment, feeling as if a big inspiration just left his body. This time, ‘Leo-san’ is now placed on Tsukasa’s lap. “Aah! I wasn’t able to record it! My inspiration!”. He didn’t want the younger to wait further though so he quickly recovered, shaking it off with “It’s nothing”. The orange head decided to divert the subject back to Tsukasa’s earlier question
“Well, their foster parents asked if we can take care of them for today since they’re going to go somewhere. I missed them anyway so I agreed! Besides, looks like they missed you a lot as well!”. Leo’s face was so serene as he speak while. Shades of pink tainted the younger male’s cheeks.
“Is that so?” No words left out of Tsukasa’s mouth after that. All he could do was to pat the kitten’s head. Looking directly at his senior right now would be dangerous, mainly because he can feel his heart thumping so loud as if it’s about to burst. The image of Leo’s expression earlier has been running on his head for quite a while.
“Suo~.”
Tsukasa’s thoughts got cut off upon hearing the older male’s voice. As he finally spares a glance on his predecessor, he saw him staring lovingly at the cat on his lap, but at the same time, traces of regret and pain linger around the male’s shiny jade eyes. The redhead wanted to respond by the call of his name, but he cannot open his lips for some reason. “Ah, he’s talking to the cat…”
“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I caused you so much pain for my own selfish motive when I promised you that I’ll protect you, that I’ll bring you to a safe place. You even almost got physically hurt because of it. Because of me…” Leo took a deep breath, then caressed the kitten’s head. “I will never forgive myself if something bad really happened to you, you know? If that blade indeed reached you, I don’t know what I would’ve done. You’re always been a ‘knight in shining armor’ in my eyes, well until now you still are, but I failed to see that you’re still hurting, and I made it worse.”
“Leo-san…”
Tsukasa knows. He can always tell how Tsukinaga Leo’s brain operates. He can decode all of Leo’s cryptic messages way back then, and it’s no different from what he’s hearing right now. He knows that the words coming out of Leo’s mouth right now were directed at him, the real “Suo”. They did something similar before at the exact place they’re in, back when Leo was still a student of Yumenosaki.
“I hope you’re not mad at me though? I’d rather be dead than for you to hate me.”. Leo playfully flicks the cat’s nose, who let out a cute soft meow. Hearing all of Leo’s unsaid thoughts, Tsukasa can’t help but let out a chuckle as he started to put his gaze back his senior’s cat counterpart.
“I’m not mad though. I will never get mad at you.”
This time, it was Leo’s turn to glance back at Tsukasa, who’s seemingly having a conversation with the cat who’s now resting on the floor, somewhere within Tsukasa’s reach. The redhead’s purple eyes glisten with so much adoration which made Leo’s eyes glued on the beauty. “You’re right. I was really hurt when I thought you abandoned us. My judgement was so clouded with so much pain back then that it took me a while to realize your intentions. But not once did I ever think of hating you or Ritsu-senpai. Deep down, I know that you love [Knights] so much. For some reason though, my weak, ugly side comes out whenever you’re nearby. You must’ve thought of me lowly right now? “
“That’s not true! Suo will always be beautiful in my eyes! Always shining!”
Leo suddenly blurted out; his voice echoed the entire room. It was so loud that the two cats were fazed as well. He realized the situation he’s in when he looked at Tsukasa who has his mouth wide open in shock by the sudden outburst, his face as red as his own hair. The orange head is visibly on a state of panic, trying to think of ways to clear out the awkwardness. His suffering didn’t last long though when Tsukasa started to laugh a bit louder.
“Ahahah aren’t we talking to the cats, Leo-san?”
The older male’s face starts heating up in embarrassment once again. If there’s one person who can make the shameless Tsukinaga Leo flustered like this, it’s no other than his own king. Leo pouted his cheeks as he grabbed ‘Suo-san’ on his arms. “Of course! I’m talking to Suo~ here, you know!” Tsukasa chucked by the sight of his senior’s behavior, which made the older male’s face even redder.
“Leo-san”
The seriousness in Tsukasa’s tone brought back Leo to his senses. Silence filled the air inside the club room that you can hear the rustling of the grass outside. No one dared to break the calming silence, it was until the two cats started playing around together. The two males shared glances at each other as they both laughed. Having their unsaid thoughts got out of their chest, they can finally move forward on each other’s side. It’s like a stronger oath of loyalty for each other had just been pledged all over again.