Work Text:
It was morning. The sun inched its way up the horizon, shining through the crack in the curtains and gradually onto Kakeru’s face. His eyelids fluttered, and he yawned as the brightness woke him up. He sat up, stretching his arms above his head.
“Fwaa, morning already…” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes as his brain slowly caught up. He reached for his phone blindly, managing to switch it on after a few tries. He looked at the screen blearily, his eyes struggling to make out the words properly so soon after waking up.
“It’s from Yamato! ‘I’m looking forward to today’... That’s right! Today’s the day we’re going to Kyoto!” Kakeru’s eyes lit up, immediately wide awake. He checked the clock on his bedside table, scrambling out of bed when he realised the time.
It was five to nine, and their train was at ten fifteen. In just a few hours, they would be in Kyoto! Kakeru could barely contain his excitement at the thought of being back there. It hadn't yet been a year since their school trip, but he had wanted to go back for a while. He wanted to make up for last time, when they couldn’t properly visit the places they had promised to.
Half an hour later, he was ready. He took one last look around his room, making sure he had everything he needed. They would only be gone for a few days, but he felt somewhat like he was going far away. His phone pinged, and he hurried to check it.
‘Yamato: I’m outside, are you almost ready?’ Kakeru grinned, grabbing his keys and heading to the door. He put on his shoes quickly, fumbling with the laces in his rush. He opened his door quickly, hurrying out to the street. Immediately he locked eyes with Yamato, waiting patiently by the gate.
“Good morning, did you sleep well?” asked Yamato, smiling softly upon seeing his boyfriend. Kakeru nodded, beaming.
“I can’t believe today’s finally the day! You have everything, right?” he said anxiously.
Yamato pulled two train tickets out of his pocket, laughing. “Of course. Relax, everything will be fine. We have everything we need except lunch, which we’re buying at the station.”
Kakeru nodded, gripping the straps of his backpack in an attempt to calm himself down. While they’d made this trip once before, that was with their teachers and all their classmates. It was the first time he and Yamato had gone on a trip alone, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous.
They headed towards the station side by side, making small talk about their evening or what they were looking forward to doing once they got there. They had a vague outline of where they would go or what they would do, but they’d decided that they preferred to wander about and go to places that caught their eye rather than have a specific plan.
Having plenty of time before their train, they spent time lazily looking at the shops at the station or choosing between different bento boxes. When the time came for them to board, they found their seats without a problem.
The journey was peaceful and went smoothly, watching the beautiful scenery flash by outside their window as they shared earphones, or eating their bento boxes as they talked about the places they wanted to visit. It seemed as if they arrived in no time at all, stepping out onto the platform of Kyoto station.
Kakeru immediately checked their map for where to go first, while Yamato stretched his legs after sitting in a cramped seat for three hours straight.
“Why don’t we head over here to get something to eat?” suggested Kakeru, pointing on the map to an area with lots of cafes. Yamato laughed.
“Don’t you think we should check into our ryokan first to leave our bags? You really do only think about sweets.” Kakeru’s face went red, quickly shaking his head.
“Hey, that’s not true! You like going to cafes with me too, don’t you?” he protested, embarrassed. Yamato only smiled.
“Only because you drag me along,” he teased back. Kakeru’s jaw dropped, hitting the taller’s arm angrily. Yamato only chuckled, walking towards the exit as Kakeru rushed after him to keep up.
Later they were in a cafe, Yatamo fondly watching the boy sitting across from him. Kakeru had insisted on trying Kyoto’s famous sweets, so they’d come straight here from their room at the ryokan, only stopping to collect their room keys and putting down their bags.
“Aren’t you going to eat yours?” Kakeru said through a mouthful of his matcha parfait. The other smiled, picking up his fork.
“I am, so don’t think about stealing it.” Kakeru pouted, his true goal being discovered. Yamato carefully cut a piece of his yokan, tasting it thoughtfully.
“Hm, not bad.” His boyfriend looked at him incredulously.
“Just ‘not bad’? Maybe I should steal it after all, I would savour it more than you. Honestly, coming all this way to Kyoto and not even appreciating the sweets properly…” He trailed off, mumbling angrily. Yamato huffed a laugh at how cute Kakeru was being.
“Alright then, I’ll give you half. Are you happy now?” He actually quite liked the yokan, but it was worth giving half of it away to see the wide smile that spread across his boyfriend’s face.
They returned to their ryokan late in the evening, having gone for a walk through the streets of Kyoto admiring the beautiful city. They’d visited the same shrine as last time, and then had dinner at some local restaurant. Kakeru flopped down on his futon, breathing out a sigh of relief.
“Finally, I’m so tired!” he complained, kicking his feet childishly. Yamato sat on his own futon next to him, laughing quietly.
“What are you talking about, we spent most of the day sitting down on the train or in the cafe! We’ll do a lot more walking around tomorrow.” Kakeru rolled onto his side to meet Yamato’s eyes with a pitiful look.
“Is there any chance you can carry me around instead…” he said in a baby voice. The other smiled lovingly at his boyfriend’s silly antics.
“No, but I can buy you more sweets if it can give you the energy to walk by yourself.” At this, Kakeru sat up and beamed.
“Yay! Then I’ll walk around with you as much as you want.” Yamato rolled his eyes at the switch-up, getting up to get his pyjamas from his bag.
“Always so single-minded,” he muttered teasingly. Kakeru huffed a sigh.
“Hey, I mean it! And anyway, I want to make tomorrow special. Last time we were in Kyoto, things didn’t go quite to plan...” He blushed thinking about Yamato’s confession on Togetsu bridge. “But this time, I’m determined to properly visit Arashi-yama and the views you love!”
Yamato smiled at him happily. “I’m looking forward to it. For now we should get an early rest, so we can get moving bright and early tomorrow morning.”
Kakeru nodded, standing up to collect his belongings as well. “Shall we head to... the bath then...” he trailed off. Last time he successfully avoided a situation of going to the shared bath with Yamato, but this time there didn’t seem to be a good excuse.
Yamato noticed his change in attitude and spoke up. “You can go first. I have to check the routes for tomorrow, so I’ll go once you come back.” Kakeru looked surprised for a moment, then relieved.
“Okay, I won’t be long,” he replied, clutching his pyjamas to his chest and heading out to the corridor quickly. He was grateful to Yamato for creating an excuse for him, and now he could bathe in peace.
Yamato watched him leave with a slightly worried look on his face, hoping he’d done the right thing. He knew that Kakeru could get nervous about these things, and the last thing he wanted to do was to make him uncomfortable.
He let out a sigh, lying down on his futon and looking up at the ceiling. He had nothing to do until Kakeru returned, since he already knew the area of Arashi-yama well. He stifled a yawn with the back of his hand. He didn’t admit it before, but he was quite worn out too. He’d been up quite early that morning, baking cookies to surprise Kakeru with tomorrow on their trip. They were hidden safely in his bag, in a tupperware box so they wouldn’t get crushed. I hope he likes them, was his last thought as he drifted off to sleep.
Kakeru walked down the corridor back to his and Yamato’s room, towelling his hair dry with one hand. He entered their room, closing the door behind him.
“Yamato, I’m ba-” He turned around to find his boyfriend sleeping peacefully. He must have fallen asleep while he was waiting. Kakeru felt a little bad, he must have been more tired than he had let on. He put down his towel. Walking quietly over to where Yamato slept.
“Yamato, wake up. You can go for a bath now, sorry to keep you waiting.” Yamato opened his eyes slowly, blinking to get used to the light.
“Was I asleep? I guess I was more tired than I thought... I’ll go now, thanks Kakeru.” He smiled, quickly picking up his pyjamas and leaving.
Kakeru was left alone in their room. He walked to the window, pulling back the curtain to admire the view of Kyoto at night. It was such a charming city, he was really grateful to come back here with Yamato to spend more time together. Although they saw each other at school every day, and hung out at each other’s houses often, it was different to come to an entirely different city just the two of them. He was looking forward to tomorrow, to properly admire the views that Yamato had described so beautifully.