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Jyushi watched as Kuko put in more effort to find his ring than he did himself. For one, it was just somewhere in his room and he could just find it one day. It wasn’t even that bad, just a plain ring with a faux diamond on it, nothing Jyushi didn’t have enough of already, “You don’t have to do all this…”
“But I will! Just try and stop me, Jyushi!” Kuko shuffled through the vanity’s drawers, even if Jyushi had told him not to check those specific ones. Welp, now Kuko knew exactly what CDs he had before he got into v-kei. Embarrassing.
Jyushi laid back on his bed, sighing and spreading his arms out on the cool, purple comforter. It lifted the fears of having everything he had shoved into his drawers exposed to Kuko, though the sounds of frustrated shuffling and scrounging surely didn’t.
Kuko scampered to Jyushi’s side, his fist tightly clenched around what was probably the ring, “Found it! Jyushi, gimme your hand!”
Jyushi complied. Kuko’s sweaty palms held his larger one and slipped the ring onto the one empty finger. A perfect fit! Jyushi smiled, “Thank you for finding it! Where was it- hold on, are you ok?”
As Jyushi looked back at Kuko’s face, he could feel his hands shaking. Kuko immediately slapped Jyushi’s hand out of his own with all of his strength. A panicked expression overtook his usual crassness.
“Ow! That really hurt…”
Jyushi watched as the flash of red dashed out of his door and to who knows where. That was weird. What’s so wrong with finding a friend’s ring and slipping it onto their finger? Jyushi had no idea. Anyway, he looked back at his hand and smiled. What a nice friend.
“Hitoya. I did something bad. Well, not really bad but still kinda bad.”
“Tell me something new.” Hitoya sipped his coffee, not even a hint of surprise on his face. Kuko was staring blankly at the coffee table in front of his desk, his elbows resting on his knees as he looked anything but comfortable on the couch. Well… this was definitely something new. Hitoya shut the lid of the computer and sighed. He’d have to do something about this, right? Was Kuko even capable of feeling guilt or shame? Time to figure that out. “What happened?”
“I… I think I proposed to Jyushi.” Kuko panted, the words left him like a gust of air.
What. Hitoya squinted at the boy. “You think you did what?”
“It was an accident, I swear! It's not like I really meant to but uh… what do I do now? I gotta be responsible and marry him, right?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I proposed to him with a ring, I gotta marry him now.” Kuko said it in such a matter-of-fact way that made Hitoya feel dumb. He had heard everything right, he had cleaned out his ears just this morning.
“That’s not how proposing works-”
Kuko slammed his hands onto Hitoya’s desk, getting all up in his face and personal space, “And what would you know about proposing, huh?”
“Excuse me? It doesn’t take me proposing to understand how this works, Kuko. You don’t just slip a ring onto someone’s finger and have that equate to marriage”
Kuko folded his arms and huffed, “I gotta take matters into my own hands. I’ll just have to man up and marry Jyushi. I ain’t leading my best friend on after a dumb mistake I made, ya know?”
“No, I don’t.” Hitoya shrugged and just gave up the fight, “Just don’t bully him too much, alright?”
“Actually Hitoya…” Kuko matched his gaze, something foreign and mature in them, “I think that I can’t bully him anymore… this will change everything.”
“Right, have fun with that.” Hitoya simply brushed it off. Kuko cared about Jyushi just as much as he did; at the end of the day ,it should be fine. Hitoya finished the last sip of his coffee and got ready for another day of sifting through client papers and paying some of the building’s fees. Business as usual. That was until Kuko came back into the office just a few minutes later.
“Yo, Hitoya. What does a husband do?”
“Huh? What are you talking about? A husband?”
Kuko folded his arms and nodded, “I need to know for this next part of my life”
“You just… be there for Jyushi? There’s nothing different about being a husband, you just take care of your spouse-”
Kuko sighed, shaking his head, “Of course you wouldn’t understand, Hitoya… being a husband is tough.”
“I bet it is, Kuko.” Hitoya went back to focusing on his screen like it was the most riveting thing. Marriage wasn’t even in the cards for him right now, at least he wasn’t expecting a marriage anytime soon. He wasn’t attempting to get married right now. Hitoya had everything he needed by himself, why need someone else? He was content with his job and these kids. Kuko left again after that.
Still, the thought of Jyushi and Kuko getting married to whoever they chose in the future was beautiful enough to bring a tear to Hitoya’s eye. He was hoping for the best for the two of them, no matter the outcome of Kuko’s misunderstanding.
“Jyushi, when is our marriage?”
Jyushi almost fell from the shock, “WHAT!?”
Kuko shrugged, nonchalant despite the subject matter, “Our marriage? I proposed back there so I gotta do this now, right? I think it’s the right thing to do”
Jyushi was just… confused. Who wouldn’t be? Why was this happening and why was Kuko actually taking something seriously? Why isn’t he kicking him in the balls or something like usual?
Kuko reached up and held Jyushi’s shoulder firmly, “Listen, Jyushi. I can’t lead ya on, that’d be damn cruel. I slipped that ring on your finger and with that, I gave ya my future. I didn’t think it would happen this fast, that it would happen at all, but-”
“You’re scaring me, Kuko…” Jyushi muttered.
Kuko’s eyes widened, his grip on Jyushi’s shoulder tightened, “Don’t be scared, Jyushi… we gotta start our lives together right!”
“Um… ok then” Jyushi certainly didn’t feel very normal about this. Kuko was acting so strange. His whole thing was acting strange though; was it really surprising? Jyushi was simply conflicted. He was apparently getting married now, and he didn’t really have a say in this. The more Jyushi thought about it, he… actually wasn’t worried about getting married to Kuko because of all of the people he knew, he was the best choice for a spouse! Kuko was a really cool person!
“Sure! I don’t know how to do that though”
Kuko shrugged, “I don’t either, so… do we ask Hitoya?”
“Oh, but he doesn’t know what to do in this situation either, right? He might be the wrong person to ask-”
Kuko immediately burst out laughing, almost falling to the ground with just how hysterical he was getting. “I told him that too!”
“Really?” Jyushi laughed too, though he was obviously much more subtle than Kuko, “We would be quite a good married couple then…”
“Yeah, I think so too” Ah, Jyushi was really thinking about it now. He imagined how nice it would be to share his cooking with Kuko in a less platonic manner. It would be nice to share the same living space too if Kuko would consider it. Jyushi couldn’t help but get the cheesiest smile on his face. “Let’s get married then!”
“Yeah! Let’s fucking do this!” Kuko grabbed Jyushi’s arm and ran out of the place. It was a short walk to Hitoya’s firm but as soon as they barged into the office, Kuko could feel the weight of everything that just transpired rush through him. He was actually scared. He turned around before HItoya looked up from his computer and sighed, “Jyushi. You say it.”
“Say what? I don’t know why we’re here…” Jyushi muttered.
“Well Hitoya should know something , he’s a damn lawyer”
“Oh! You’re right! Hey, Amaguni-san! We need to get married!”
Hitoya blinked. Hard. His eyes felt weird doing that. But no, he was focusing on this. “Jyushi, you’re on board with his bullshit?”
Jyushi nodded eagerly, “Mhm! It’s not a problem, right?”
Hitoya groaned and held his face in his hand, “You two… I don’t even know what to say. Jyushi, do you know why Kuko is asking you this?”
“No? I thought he just wanted to marry me”
“Maybe he does. I don’t know but,” Hitoya sighed and walked over to the water cooler to get a glass. He handed it to Jyushi. “Kuko helped you find a ring or something this morning, right?”
“Yeah, it’s right here” Jyushi flashed his hand at Hitoya.
“He put that ring on your finger and thought it meant that you two were hitched.”
Jyushi went silent for a good few seconds. Kuko blushed even harder if that was even possible. Hitoya wasn’t that surprised.
Kuko gritted his teeth and grabbed Jyushi’s hands, his grip almost crushing them, “Ya know what, Jyushi!? I do wanna marry ya! Let’s just get this over with!”
Jyushi panicked. His gaze was frantic, over to Hitoya, then Kuko, then the ground, then back at Hitoya in a cycle that only made the poor boy dizzy.
Hitoya caught Jyushi as he fainted, “Kuko, I told you not to go too far, didn’t I?”
“I said exactly what I wanted to!”
“Help me get him to the couch.” The two laid Jyushi down on the couch and made their own places on the couch opposing it. “I’m surprised Jyushi was so excited for this”
“What do ya mean? Jyushi loves me!” Kuko didn’t sound so sure but-
“He does.”
Kuko paused. Hitoya looked at him, no hint of sarcasm present in his tone nor eyes. “Wait really? I was just kidding ya-”
“Don’t play with his feelings like this, ok?”
“How was I supposed to know- that- fuck.” Kuko got up and started shaking Jyushi, ”Get up and answer me, ya caked up bat!”
“That’s a new one-”
“Shut up, Hitoya! I need to properly propose to him this time!” These two were hopeless. Hitoya just sat back and watched the commotion.
Thinking about it now, Kuko and Jyushi would be perfect together. Hitoya wrapped up for the day, locking up the firm then getting his motorcycle revved up. He knew the two of them so well, they rapped, cried, laughed, and spent almost every day together. He’d seen the boys at their lowest points, hoping he could save them from their own minds.
When he introduced the two to each other, he wasn’t sure if Jyushi would have made it out in one piece but no, his heart finally became whole after so many months, no, years, of suffering. As the days had gone, Jyushi’s tears had started to dry, started to disappear all together. Sure, he was still as expressive as ever, though he smiled more. He laughed. He had a twinkle in his eyes. Kuko had done great with that training, and of course, with being the best companion Jyushi needed for so long.
They’d be perfect together. Hitoya knew that much. He was sure of it after Jyushi had told him that he really really liked Kuko as he had put it, but even more so now. It’s been quite the ride; he’d support them all the way with whatever they wanted to do, and whoever they wanted to commit to. Hitoya would advise them both against marriage when they were so young, but he’d be here to cheer them on and support them as he had been doing for so long.
Though, getting himself in some sort of relationship would also be great, huh? Nah, he was content like this. The three of them, a team made of trust and undeniable strength.