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It’s raining on their walk home. Doppo looks up at the pregnant clouds, and mutters under his breath. “My shoes are wet,” he whines, picking up one soggy foot. Hifumi sighs, “I love the rain, but I hate getting wet.” They run to a bus stop together, and all it takes is one look at each other to make the two start laughing.
Doppo takes off his uniform jacket, shaking the drops off, and Hifumi begins to wring the water out of his sweater. Doppo glances at Hifumi from the corner of his eye, looking at the way Hifumi’s shirt clings to him and his hair sticks to his face. Doppo quickly looks away when Hifumi begins to talk, asking how much longer he thinks the rain will last. Doppo shrugs in reply, and sits on the bench. Hifumi sits next to him, and laughs into the small space.
“I can't believe we forgot our umbrellas!” Hifumi continues to chuckle, and Doppo finds himself joining in, throwing his head back, necktie flopping uselessly against his chest.
When the rain lets up, Doppo watches Hifumi run around, slipping and falling in mud. Hifumi only laughs, and picks himself up again, sweater stained and mud splaters on his face.
That night, Doppo writes another letter to Hifumis’s mother. He never sends them, he couldnt find the will, the courage to do so, yet he does it anyway.
“Dear Izanami-san,” he begins, “I believe I love your son. When he gets older, I think he might be the one. He has such beautiful bones and never lies, or picks up his phone. Sometimes in the pouring rain, he falls in the mud and gets back up again, like today. Sometimes when he looks at me, I know he needs you, that he misses you.
Izanami-san, I love your son, and for some reason I can't help but think you do too.”
Doppo leans back against his bed, and folds the note quickly. He hisses when he cuts his finger on the edge of the paper, sticking the cut in his mouth and checking the paper for blood. He's relieved to find none, and puts the letter in an envelope as best he can. He leaves the envelope unmarked, not that it’s ever leaving his desk drawer anyway.
Doppo falls asleep believing those letters will never see the light of day again.
He doesn’t know that every time Hifumi sleeps over, he opens that desk drawer and reads all those letters, chuckling under his breath and looking fondly at the creator of them. Doppo doesnt know that Hifumi carefully places those letters back in the drawer where he found them, kissing the seal of each as he does so. Doppo doesn’t know that after Hifumi does so, he places a kiss on Doppo's forehead before getting back in his futon.
Doppo does know that one day he found blood on an envelope, but immediately attributes it to that one papercut. He never stops to think it might fresh blood.