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“Are you sure that’s everything?” Eijun asked as he stared at the futon on the floor in the second bedroom. “Don’t you want a full bed?”
Furuya shook his head. “No, it’s fine. It’s a lot already. You already had a good apartment, you didn’t have to-”
“We went through this already! It’s fine! My other apartment only had one bedroom, anyway. And it’s not like we can’t afford a bigger place with us both being pros.”
The corner of Furuya’s lips turned upwards and he nodded. “Okay. That’s true. But still, thanks, Eijun.”
It was Eijun’s turn to shake his head, “no, it’s my pleasure! You needed somewhere to move into, and living alone is lonely…”
Well, that was how he felt the past two years, living by himself in an apartment after he’d gotten drafted into playing for the Swallows right after high school. At first, he’d been excited, living alone, being independent, embarking on his new professional baseball journey, but… like he said, it had been lonely.
He still saw his friends and old teammates, but it wasn’t the same. And for the past two years, Furuya had been playing for Hokkaido. But now, he’d gotten traded to the Giants, so he needed somewhere to live. Since they both now were in Tokyo, Eijun had jumped at the chance to move in with him. For convenience, to be a friend, and to be close to Furuya again for reasons he tried to push below the surface.
“Yeah, it was,” Furuya agreed. “Hokkaido is my home, but… so is Tokyo. Since Seido. Since...” He was looking at Eijun in a way that made his face start to go hot. This was a dangerous line of conversation. But he’d missed Furuya so much when he was in Hokkaido. Throughout their three years at Seido, he and Furuya had gotten closer and closer, as rivals, and as friends. Even now, they were still rivals, but the friendship hadn’t faded after playing apart for two years, especially after having kept in touch with texting and occasional video calls.
Eijun nodded. “I feel the same. About Nagano and here, I mean.” He scratched his warmed cheek with a shy grin.
I missed you. I’m glad to be back. Was it presumptuous for Eijun to read those words in Furuya's expression? Maybe it was, but with the way Furuya was looking at him, that’s what Eijun was feeling and it made his stomach swoop.
“Anyway,” Eijun blurted out, hurrying to change the subject, “if there’s anything else you need, let me know and we can go shopping together. We can come up with some kind of schedule for shopping too, especially with pre-season games having started, and we’ll be busier…”
“Right,” Furuya agreed. “I…”
“Hm?”
Furuya shook his head. He looked Eijun right in the eyes and bowed his head a little. “Please take care of me from here on.”
The formality startled Eijun, but Furuya had always been this kind of earnest, polite person. Well, most of the time. Eijun’s heart warmed as he bowed his head and repeated the words back to him.
Then they met each other’s eyes again, and both smiled. Eijun’s heart stumbled. Even after seeing it multiple times, he had not gotten immune to Furuya’s smile. He wasn’t sure he ever would.
Living with Furuya was not the experience Eijun had anticipated. Not in a bad way, but the very opposite. Seeing Furuya every day, except when one or both of them had to travel for a game, was almost surreal. It took a while to adjust, since sharing all these extra moments with him was making him fall harder for him, if possible. It had been his idea, and he didn’t regret it, but how long could he handle seeing Furuya’s morning messy hair, eating together, sitting side by side on the sofa watching television?
Eijun’s heart was in chaos, and it’d only been a few days. It was unfair how attractive and cute Furuya was. Unfair. Despite that, he wasn’t going to complain, though. Being with Furuya was… fun. He hadn’t always thought so, especially in high school when he’d been focused on the rivalry and jealousy, but once getting to know who Furuya was, how to read him, how could someone not like him?
“Ah, he’s not back yet,” Eijun mumbled to himself as he entered their apartment and took off his shoes. He’d celebrated with his teammates for a while before coming back, but he’d still beat Furuya home. Oh, well. He stepped into the kitchen, his veins still on fire from today’s game. The Giants and the Swallows played against each other today, and he was still fired up. In the league, there were countless amazing rivals, but playing against Furuya always lit him up in a way that nobody else could manage.
But now that he was home first, what to do about dinner… should he include Furuya in his plan? They didn’t talk about it every day, their meal plans when they would eat together, but one or both wouldn’t be back at the same time.
But as he was about to make a call to order something, the door slowly opened to reveal Furuya in casual clothes, a hat, and sunglasses.
Eijun smiled. That jerk got recognized so easily so he had to go out like that. Eijun got recognized too, but not as much as Furuya did. How did this guy look so handsome disguising himself, even?
After somehow avoiding gawking for too long, it took Eijun a moment to notice that Furuya was holding a couple of bags.
“Welcome back!” Eijun said, “what do you have there?”
Furuya took off his own shoes, closed the door behind him, and headed to the kitchen with the bags. He took out two large bento boxes and water bottles.
“I’m back,” Furuya said. “And… dinner.”
“Oh,” Eijun said. “Thanks, Furuya!”
“It’s not much, but…”
“No, it’s fine, those are some big bentos. We need the energy after the game!”
“Right,” Furuya nodded. They took turns washing their hands, and then they sat down to eat together.
“So, Furuya,” Eijun said, pulling apart his chopsticks, “you look exhausted today.”
Furuya frowned, patting his face. “I’m fine. No more tired than usual.”
“Are you sure?” Eijun’s tactful look of concern morphed into a grin. “You must be tired after how the Swallows beat you spectacularly!”
A large sigh escaped Furuya as he glowered at Eijun with pursed lips. “How long were you waiting to say that?”
“A while,” Eijun laughed. “But it’s true, we won this one, I think we’re looking better than ever this year.”
“We’ll win next time,” Furuya said, “don’t get cocky.”
“Wahaha! The Swallows will win again and again, and I’ll pitch the team to victory this year.”
“We’ll see.” Furuya shook his head, his intense competitive aura coming off of him. “There’s a long season to go.”
Eijun was still grinning, a lightness filled his chest with bubbles. This was what it should be like. Like old times.
They finished up their meals, no dishes to wash, and found their way to the sofa like they have done every evening when they were both home.
Furuya turned on a baseball game, a replay of the Dragons and Baystars from earlier in the day.
“Do you want to have a bath first?” Furuya asked.
“Oh,” Eijun said. He cleared his throat. “Sure, then.” And when Furuya nodded, Eijun got up and prepared the bath.
This was another strange thing about living together, stuff like this was so normal, it was how one lived, but living with Furuya, these domestic normalities seemed so extra charged. Did it affect Furuya at all, or was it only him overreacting and being flustered for nothing?
When he was done with his bath, and later, when Furuya was done, they got out a board game and kept playing for over an hour, until both of them had two wins and two losses. It was something they’d done a couple nights so far. Eijun had bought it before Furuya moved in, wanting something they could do together, and competing was something they enjoyed. He knew Furuya felt the same. Whether it was pitching, baseball, or small things, their rivalry meant a lot to both of them.
“I’ll break the tie next time,” Furuya insisted.
“Nope,” Eijun argued. “Won’t happen.”
They then sat in silence for a while, comfortable silence, but silence all the same. When Furuya yawned, Eijun snickered. “See, I told you, you were too exhausted from losing today.”
Furuya chuckled. “Maybe I’ll believe it when it’s you saying it, Eijun.”
Ahhh. Lines like that again. Also not good for his heart. Or the way Furuya kept saying his name in that soft voice of his.
“Ah, well… you better believe it,” Eijun dumbly replied.
Furuya stood up and there was a small smile on his face. “Goodnight.” His voice was soft, so soft that it flipped something in Eijun’s chest.
“Night, Furuya,” he replied, his cheeks burning for some reason.
And they went to their separate rooms.
Their rooms just a wall apart.
Something else he wasn’t used to yet.
“I’m back!” Eijun called, entering the apartment. It was late, maybe Furuya was already sleeping? The game was an evening game, and then after a four-hour train back to Tokyo… it was likely Furuya had gone to bed.
But as he stepped in, Furuya shuffled out into the living area, his posture stiff, but a small smile on his face.
“Welcome back, Eijun.”
That smile was… wrong. Furuya’s smiles were soft and gentle, this one seemed kinda forced.
“What’s up with you?” Eijun asked. Furuya’s posture and general demeanour was all off too.
“Nothing,” Furuya said quickly. His gaze was locked on Eijun, and then he turned around to look at the closed door of his bedroom, and then back at Eijun again.
Yeah, something was weird…
“It’s not nothing.”
Furuya shook his head. He bit his lip. Eijun’s chest flipped with anxiety. Was something really wrong or what?
“If something happened, just tell me! Geez, you can still be as frustrating as ever!”
The moment Furuya relented was clear on his face. His hesitation melted away and he looked resigned, almost guilty about something. He nodded and headed to his closed bedroom door. Eijun followed.
“Hey, what-”
Furuya opened the door.
A bright streak shot out of the room, too fast, chaotic, that Eijun wasn’t sure what he was looking at. His eyes followed the movement around the room, until the source of the chaos stilled, crouching in the corner of the room, eyes wide.
“What! It’s… a cat!” Eijun exclaimed, eyes wide.
“I found her in the parking lot of the grocery store,” Furuya said slowly. “She almost got hit by a car.”
“Oh,” Eijun said. He was silent for a moment, watching the cat, taking a moment to process. The cat was definitely an adult, but still young looking. It was orange, black, and white… a calico.
“I had to bring her back,” Furuya said quietly.
Eijun’s heart flopped over in his chest. Of course he did. Furuya always had a soft heart for animals, and not just polar bears or zoo animals.
“It’s a girl?” Eijun asked.
“Yes,” Furuya said.
“She… looks scared,” was the first thing he noticed. Even though animals weren’t a special interest for him like they were Furuya, he knew a thing or two, back in Nagano there were a lot of cats around, it’s not like he hadn’t been around them before.
“Yeah,” Furuya said, “she might be lost, or a stray.”
Eijun knelt down and held out a hand. “Here, kitty… kitty…”
Even though the cat seemed hesitant, she walked up and sniffed Eijun’s fingers before giving a gentle head rub. Eijun’s heart exploded. He wanted to cry out and squeeze the cat for being so cute, but he refrained.
“So she’s scared, but friendly enough,” Eijun announced.
“Yeah,” Furuya agreed. “Is it okay? I should have messaged you first…”
“No no, it’s fine!” Eijun said. “Your kind heart is one of the-”
Eijun could feel his face redden. He almost said one of the reasons I like you. Even though that line wouldn’t inherently be a confession, it was close enough to one that he wanted to avoid saying it. He stood up and cleared his throat.
“Our apartment is pet friendly, so there are no problems. This poor girl looks like she was on her own for a while, her fur is all matted and dirty…”
“And calicos bring luck,” Furuya added.
“Is that so?” Eijun said with a laugh. “Well, first things first, we should get her looked at.”
“Yes. Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me, you’re the one doing her a favour,” Eijun teased. “Let’s figure this out together.”
“Together…” Furuya said, eyeing Eijun with awe like he said something profound. He nodded. “Yeah, together.”
Thanks to a vet that had immediate availability, they learned the cat was around two years old and healthy, just needed a bath and some anti-flea and anti-worm treatment. She also got her vaccines, and according to a scan, there was no microchip or sign of her having a home. With that knowledge, they also agreed to get her spayed at a later date.
The whole thing was nerve-wracking, but worthwhile to get confirmation she was fine.
After dropping her at the apartment, Eijun and Furuya left again without rest.
They were keeping her.
They didn’t talk about it, it was more like a silent, unspoken conclusion that they agreed on with a shared look.
It wouldn’t be without possible complications, though. They were both busy with training, games, and would be away a lot during the season, for one. At least there was a nice neighbour two doors down that they were already friendly with that they would ask to watch or feed her if needed. And if one of them happened to get traded to another team in the future, and had to move… well, they weren’t going to think about that unless it happened. Eijun had tried to keep those thoughts out of his head already.
Anyway, it all happened so fast.
So fast that Eijun’s mind was spinning.
But now, they had a cat.
They just had to shop for her.
“No, not that one,” Furuya said, grabbing Eijun’s hand. “Let’s get her a better one.”
“Huh? This food brand is popular and has lots of commercials for it!”
“It’s less nutritious, let’s go with this one over here-”
“Ugh, fine!”
“This litter box…”
“Yeah, that’s good.”
“A carrier…”
“I’ve got the toys here.”
“This toy is better!”
“This one is better.”
“Ugh you jerk, let’s just get them both then! And this one…”
“Oh, she’ll also need a small scratching post.”
“Treats? A few?”
“Huh, they have collars and leashes? People take their cats for a walk!?”
“Some do.”
“Beds, big and fluffy or small and…”
“This bed is better!”
“But this one-”
“Grr! Must you argue with me on everything, Furuya!”
After some more mild bickering here and there, they’ve finally managed to buy almost everything they needed. However, since they walked to the store, they had to pick up a wagon along the way to help them bring everything back to their apartment.
“A name!” The startling fact took too long to occur to Eijun. “We need to give her a name!”
“Oh.” Furuya’s eyes were wide as they met Eijun’s. His aura was full of shock. “I forgot.”
“How about Haru,” Eijun suggested. “Since it’s spring when you found her!”
“It’s nice, but a little boring,” Furuya said.
“Oi.” Eijun glared. “How is it boring?!”
Furuya turned his head away, ignoring his complaint. Again, just like old times. Grr!
“Then what’s your idea, huh?” Eijun continued. He stopped walking, turning to face Furuya, who stopped as well, meeting his eyes again
“Kanitama.”
“Wha-” Eijun choked out. He couldn’t decide whether he wanted to laugh or give up. “We can’t name her that!”
“Why not?”
“It’s not the name for a lovely girl cat!”
“If it’s a boy, it’d be okay?”
“No, that’s not what I mean. It just doesn’t suit her. Is it that you’re hungry? Should we stop somewhere?”
Furuya crossed his arms over his chest and gave his version of a full-aura glare. “No, I’m not hungry.”
Eijun glared back. “What about Sakura?”
“... also boring,” Furuya said.
“Why!”
“...”
“Are you arguing for the sake of arguing, or do you really hate it?”
“... both?”
“Grr! You-”
“Mikan,” Furuya interrupted.
Eijun’s brows furrowed. “I don’t hate it, but it’s kinda common.”
“Momo?”
“Wait, why are all your ideas food?”
“Food names are good.”
“You really are a dork, huh…” Eijun sighed. Was there something they would end up agreeing on? They couldn’t just call her ‘neko’.
They kept staring at each other, neither of them looking away, and something about the intensity in Furuya’s gaze made Eijun’s stomach flop and he wanted to take a step closer. This was going to be both of their cat after all, since they lived together, it was serious business.
Their cat. Theirs.
The profundity of that washed over Eijun again all at once and it took his breath away.
Furuya happened to find the cat, it’s not like they planned it, but… what… what did it mean?
A person on a bike sped past, a bell chiming beside them and it made Eijun jump, snapping him out of his thoughts. He huffed. “Alright, let’s go back and think about it some more.”
Furuya nodded and grabbed the handle of the wagon again.
As they brought their stuff inside, Eijun was saying, “I assume you think Hana is boring too?”
“Yeah,” he said.
Eijun wanted to facepalm. This was harder than it seemed. How did parents name their own children?
When they got in, the cat was nowhere in sight.
“Where is she?” Eijun asked.
“Probably hiding,” Furuya said, “it’ll take a while until she gets used to living here.”
“Right,” Eijun agreed.
Together, they found a spot for all the new things they bought, and Furuya went to open a can of wet cat food, and put it into the new bowl.
“Kitty, kitty…” Eijun called.
They didn’t need to wait too long, though. The cat appeared, her demeanour curious as she sniffed the air. She looked up at Furuya holding the bowl and let out a startling, shrieking high pitch meow. And another. And another.
Eijun started laughing. “I think she’s really hungry!”
Furuya smiled softly and went to put the food bowl down while he got the water dish ready too.
The cat ate like she hadn’t eaten in ages. Well, it could be true, they had no way of knowing. As they stared at her as she ate, a flood of affection washed through Eijun’s veins. At the cat, at him and Furuya standing together watching, everything about how his life has turned out.
Furuya suddenly spun around, and grabbed a notebook and a pen. He scratched down a couple of characters, and pushed the notebook towards Eijun.
“Emi,” he said.
Eijun blinked. Furuya’s writing of the two characters were clear and legible, when did his writing get so much better?! But the characters, the reading, sunk into Eijun and his heart warmed.
Blessing.
Beautiful.
“I hate to admit it,” Eijun murmured, “since you’re such a know it all, but…”
Furuya looked at Eijun intently, with anticipation, and ironically he looked like a puppy waiting to be praised. Eijun turned his head away and covered his mouth. Damn jerk knows he’s won… and he’s too adorable with that look on his face.
But despite that, Eijun couldn’t argue out of stubbornness this time.
“You win,” Eijun said, only sounding a little annoyed by it. “It’s a great name, let’s go with that one.”
Furuya lit up completely, and Eijun’s heart started racing, that damn thing. Furuya nodded, his eyes shining as he turned to their newest roommate, who was still eating, and smiled.
“Welcome to your new home, Emi-chan.”
The next two weeks were more than enough to get used to their new normal. Emi didn’t take that long to adjust to living in her new home, although there were times she looked longingly out the window, crying to get out, but she would get used to being an indoor cat.
“Hey, you’re kicking me,” Eijun complained. Furuya’s socked feet indeed had kicked against his leg.
“Oh, sorry,” Furuya said. He brought his legs back in, folding them up on the sofa. They were on opposite sides, both reading on their own, like they used to do back in the Seido dorms.
Eijun flipped a page in his manga. Ahhh, he was almost done the volume, and there was drama coming! As expected!
There was a flash in his vision and a furry body blocking his view of his manga pages. Eijun laughed. “Well, hello there, Emi-chan!” Eijun cooed. “Do you want some attention?”
Emi mrow’d and head-butted his book. He set it down, scratching behind her ears. Kitty was more important than the book, no doubt.
“Aren’t you just the cutest girl in the world!” Eijun continued, rubbing his head against hers and kissing the top of her head. She was purring now, and it always made Eijun’s chest burst with affection. “You’re a sweetheart, yes you are.”
He looked over and met Furuya’s gaze. Furuya was pouting and it made Eijun smirk. Yeah, take that, she liked Eijun better!
But Furuya put down his own book—animal book also like old times— and slid over on the sofa, getting closer so he could pet Emi too. But as Furuya moved over, Emi perked up and left Eijun’s lap to go over to Furuya.
“Traitor,” he complained.
But seeing Furuya’s aura, practically bursting with flowers and sparkles, Eijun’s complaint ended up flat and unserious.
When Furuya slid even closer, brushing his shoulder against Eijun’s, his heart raced in response. He wasn’t used to being this close to Furuya all the time now. In Seido sure, they were close, there’d be an arm over a shoulder here, a tangle of limbs when running on the field occasionally, but nothing like this. This casual, intimate contact was going to be the death of him.
Furuya was wiggling his fingers and Emi was batting at them. She even grabbed them and bit them, hard.
“Ah!” Eijun exclaimed. “Are you okay?”
“It’s okay, it’s my left hand,” Furuya said.
Still, Eijun got up and returned with a bandaid. “You little rascal,” he ruffled the fur on Emi’s back. It was a bite in play, but they had to be careful since their hands were important in their careers.
Before Eijun could settle back down on the sofa, Emil jumped down and strolled into the kitchen for some of her dry kibble or water.
He leaned towards Furuya, grabbed his hand and put the band aid on for him. The whole time, Furuya’s eyes were boring into him in a way that made his heart skip around.
“There. Be careful from now on, don’t let her bite your hands.”
“Right,” Furuya said softly.
Eijun moved back to the other side of the sofa and grabbed his manga again, willing his heart to return to normal rate. But it was hard when Furuya’s presence was so large, even with the rest of the sofa between them again.
Especially when-
Eijun choked as Furuya swung sideways, his long legs stretched out, resting on Eijun’s lap.
“Wha-”
“Is it okay?” Furuya asked.
“Gah,” Eijun flailed, losing his page in his manga, “y-yeah, whatever.”
Furuya looked down at his animal book again.
Did this guy ever get flustered or affected by anything? So unfair!
Emi loved the feather wand.
Furuya waved the wand around the wide open space in front of the sofa, and Emi was going hard on that thing. She leapt up, sinking her claws and teeth into it every time she was able to catch it. Furuya ran down the room and Emi chased after him. When she played for a while longer, Furuya put the want up on a shelf and Emi stood there, staring at the spot intently.
In one move, she jumped up onto the shelf and knocked it onto the floor.
Damn, she had moves!
Furuya chuckled and picked the wand up again. “Guess she’s not done playing.”
Eijun frowned. He got onto the floor and grabbed another toy, a catnip-infused toy fish. He waved it in front of Emi. “Emi, come here, you wanna play with this too, right?”
But Emi didn’t budge, all her focus was right on the feathers.
Furuya met his eyes and gave a pleased aura, since he was a competitive egoist jerk, but then again, so was Eijun. They always have been when it came to each other, this fire could not be quelled.
“Don’t get cocky,” Eijun said, “she likes me just as much, if not more!”
“No, she likes me more,” Furuya said in a deep, intense voice.
“Pffft, maybe in opposite land!” Eijun was having fun with this now, but he didn’t interrupt Emi’s playtime with the feather wand again.
“I won’t lose against you in pitching, or taking care of Emi.”
“Hey, that’s my line, you bastard.”
They locked eyes and both smiled.
Furuya was going to get home any minute now. The Giants had an afternoon home game, which Eijun had watched on the television, and they’d won. Of course they had, and Furuya pitched perfectly. That’s how it should be, since he was Eijun’s best rival and all.
To be nice… or well, whatever, he decided to make dinner. Eijun really wanted to have this done, and have it done well.
It didn’t make it any easier having an eager cat threading between his legs, making it hard for him to do anything.
“Hey, I don’t want to step on you!” Eijun scolded. He turned, and his elbow knocked the frying pan onto the floor. Damn, well at least there was nothing in it yet.
“My apologies,” Eijun called after Emi who skittered away into another room at the clanging sound. He picked up the pan and washed it again and got to work.
He hadn’t made this before, but it should go over well. He was confident. After all, he, Sawamura Eijun, could do anything he put his mind to! He wouldn’t lose to Furuya, cooking, and himself in general!
He got all his ingredients ready, and Emi came back, getting right underfoot as she started meowing in a way that could only be classified as yelling at him.
“Geez,” Eijun said with a laugh. He went to the table to grab his phone. He’d never actually looked up what he could give cats as a treat…
After a bit of research later, Eijun was putting some cooked crab meat in a bowl for her, which she was absolutely thrilled to gobble up.
There was that, now back to work. A while later, after mixing everything together and adding the ingredients for the sauce, there was the sound of the door opening and closing.
“... What’s this?” It was Furuya’s voice.
Eijun turned and grinned. “It’s almost ready! Sit down and get ready for a treat, Furuya.”
As he came in, Emi mrow’d and wove between Furuya’s legs. Furuya bent down to pet her as he looked up at Eijun.
“... You cooked?”
“Yep! Hey wait, why do you have a hesitant look on your face?”
“Uh…”
“It’ll be good,” Eijun insisted.
“But that time when you made Miyuki-senpai that smoothie-”
“Will anyone ever let me live that down? It was healthy, that’s all that mattered! Besides, I followed a recipe this time.”
“Hmmm,” Furuya said. “It smells good.”
“It’ll taste just as good too! You’ll see,” Eijun proclaimed.
As Furuya changed and washed up, Eijun plated the food.
When Furuya came back, he stared at the plate in awe. “It’s kanitama.”
“With some sweet and sour sauce,” Eijun boasted.
Furuya sat down and put his hands together. “Thank you for the food.”
Eijun blinked, Furuya was wasting no time in going to try it. But despite how confident and boastful he’d been outwardly, of course he was still kinda, kinda worried that it was a flop. It was Furuya’s favourite after all.
“It’s…” Furuya dragged out his syllables slowly. Definitely to screw with him. But after a second, he finally said, “delicious.”
Relief washed over him. He grinned. “Of… of course it is! What did I tell you?”
Instead of saying anything else, Furuya got up. Huh, so suddenly? Where was he going? He wasn’t done eating, right? But Furuya was walking right up to Eijun, stopping right in front of him. He leaned forward. Eijun’s heart stuttered and skipped around. What was he doing-
A pair of warm, soft lips landed on Eijun’s cheek.
“Wha-!”
“Thank you.”
Eijun’s whole body was on fire. Furuya just… he just… kiss- “Huh? Yeah…yeah?”
“Come on and eat too,” Furuya said.
Eat? How could he eat like this!? How could Furuya do stuff like this with no comment?
“Right…” Eijun mumbled. His face on fire, he pulled a chair back and sat down.
That Furuya was really going to be the death of him.
“I’m home,” Eijun said as he came in. His body ached, but he felt good. The Swallows didn’t have a game today, but he’d had a long morning practice, and then a bunch of teammates, Eijun included, had gone to eat together. It was still early, so Eijun had the rest of the day to read and hang out with Emi and…
When he entered the living area, the sight before him made him stop in his tracks.
Furuya was lying on the sofa, sleeping. And Emi was curled on top of his chest.
It was actually the cutest damn thing Eijun had seen in his whole life. He stepped closer, taking quiet, careful steps.
“Hungry…” Furuya murmured in his sleep.
Eijun snorted. Of course he was.
“I can keep pitching…”
What a subject change!
“Emi…”
Emi was at the baseball diamond?!
“Eijun…”
Eijun’s face heated at the mention of his name. What was he dreaming about?!
He slid his phone out of his back pocket and angled it just right to get a good photo of Furuya and Emi.
If he saved it as his wallpaper, nobody would have to know.
“Oh,” Furuya said. “You’re back too.”
Eijun grinned. “Fancy meeting you here, Furuya.”
“It’s in front of our apartment,” Furuya said.
“Geez, can’t take a joke,” Eijun muttered. He opened the door and they both stepped in.
“Congrats,” Furuya said. “I saw the Swallows won too.”
“Thanks—hey wait, too? Were you just saying that to brag that the Giants won?” Not that he didn’t already know that. When he and Furuya both had away games, he did make a point to look up the results if he couldn’t watch it on tv.
“I said the Giants would win it all,” Furuya said plainly.
“Hey,” Eijun said. “You really seem more competitive than usual. Not that I dislike it or anything. Anyways, the Swallows will-”
“Where’s Emi?” Furuya said.
“Eh?”
Both of them stared into the empty kitchen and living room area. Usually Emi would greet them, or she was sleeping in her bed that they’d set not far from the sofa. But now, she wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“I’ll check the bedrooms,” Furuya said and disappeared down the hall.
Eijun jumped into action too. He went to look in the bathroom, and then even went to the balcony. He and Furuya didn’t usually step onto the balcony, but who knows, maybe one of them did and forgot.
“Emi! Emi-chan!” Eijun called out.
Furuya came out shaking his head. “She’s in neither of our rooms.” His face was pinched, his eyebrows furrowed. A swoop of worry hit Eijun’s stomach, too.
“She’s gotta be somewhere,” Eijun said, trying to convince them both. “She didn’t get out. There’s no way she did.”
“If she ran out when we left, we would have noticed, right?” Furuya asked quietly.
“Yeah, yeah, we would have!” Eijun agreed.
But now they both clearly weren’t so confident in that.
“I’ll go ask a couple of neighbours,” Furuya said.
“Oh, oh, okay. It didn’t happen, but just for peace of mind, right?”
“Yeah.” Furuya left the apartment.
Eijun did another look through their apartment—under the kitchen table, on the chairs, under the couch, the bathroom, the balcony again, and there was no sign of her. What were they going to do if they lost her? A wave of despair hit him right in the chest. They’ve only had Emi for a matter of weeks, but she was important, a roommate, part of their family.
Family…?
When had Eijun started considering them family? He and Furuya were…
Ugh, he was thinking too much again! He couldn’t lose himself in this pining for whatever life that it felt like they had, when it was all in his head.
He had to find Emi.
When Furuya came back and shook his head, Eijun’s shoulders slumped
“Where is she?” he murmured.
“I don’t know…” Furuya replied.
They glanced at each other, their hopeless feelings mirrored in the other’s eyes. What could they do now? Ask more neighbours? Go and put up posters? At least they had plenty of photos to choose from-
“Mrow!”
The sharp, high pitched squawk made Eijun and Furuya’s gazes fly to the left, down the hall. Emi was standing in front of the slightly ajar closet, yawning before licking her paws.
“Pff-” Eijun choked. Relief washed over him as he stumbled backwards. “She was there the whole time?”
Furuya’s eyes were wide, but his body language relaxed with relief, too. He reached over and grabbed Eijun’s hand, squeezing it. “She’s here.”
“She’s here,” Eijun said, squeezing Furuya’s hand back. And then he laughed. And laughed some more. He went over and picked up Emi, bringing her over to Furuya so they could both fuss over her.
“We were so worried!” Eijun exclaimed. “Not that you did anything wrong, you just found a new place to nap, huh?”
“Emi…” Furuya sighed. “Well, we know next time she has a new spot.”
“Yeah.” Eijun chuckled. He shook his head. All this panic ended anticlimactically, but it didn’t matter anymore, since there had been no problem in the first place.
“I can’t believe we worried so much for nothing,” Eijun said with another laugh as Emi squirmed and jumped out of his arms, heading towards her food dish.
“Yeah,” Furuya said. “But it’s natural to worry. We’re her parents.”
“Yeah,” Eijun said, before the words Furuya actually said processed in his head and he gaped. “What? What the heck!”
“What?” Furuya questioned like he had no idea what his nonchalantly said words just did to Eijun.
“You… Furuya!” Eijun squawked. “You can’t just stay stuff like that!”
“Why not? It’s true. Together, we’re her paren-”
“Ahhh!” Eijun yelled. Question marks and exclamation marks were exploding in and around his head and he was sure his face was bright red. “But that makes it sound like we’re a couple or something!”
“Oh…” Furuya said. He looked at Eijun, his gaze soft and sincere. “Sometimes I forget we aren’t.”
“What?” Eijun said dumbly. He… he forgot they aren’t? His heart started pounding, an electricity shooting through his veins. “What does that mean?”
“Since we’ve become roommates, it feels like we’re already dating.”
Eijun was astonished. Absolutely bewildered. His eyes were wide. Had he really heard Furuya say those words just now? It wasn’t like Eijun had never felt like that too sometimes, of course he had, but…
“I thought that was just in my head,” Eijun admitted, embarrassment flushing his skin even hotter.
Furuya’s eyes widened as he stared at Eijun with awe. “No. It’s not. So, does that mean we are dating?”
Eijun wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. “But we hadn’t even confessed to each other!”
“Ah,” Furuya said, nodding. “That’s true.”
As he stepped closer, and closer yet, Eijun’s whole body was on fire. From the look in Furuya’s eyes, from the situation, from what he knew was coming and yet couldn’t believe it at the same time.
“I like you, Eijun,” Furuya said. He touched Eijun’s face. “I have since Seido.”
Eijun’s heart could have exploded just now without him realizing it. Furuya’s words, his expression, it was like a dream.
“I like you too, Furuya. Also for just as long!”
Furuya took a moment to process this, staring at Eijun with what could only be deep affection, affection that Eijun had tried not to read into until this moment, where the clarification changed everything.
“Eijun, can I-”
But before Furuya could beat him to it, Eijun pulled Furuya closer and closer and kissed him.
And it was better than he ever would have expected.
No matter what the future would bring with their careers, he and Furuya had each other.
“Mrow!”
And they had Emi, too. They pulled away and smiled at each other before sitting on the living room floor as Emi walked between them to play.
Eijun’s life had been pretty damn good before, but there was no doubt it was better now.