Chapter Text
Tsukasa got off the train and checked the time, it was 4 in the afternoon and his phone had 20% left thanks to him forgetting to charge it last night. He took in his surroundings, there were endless fields to his left and rather old and shabby homes to his right. He could hear the sound of children near the fields, it was their last school day of the week after all. He smiled to himself, everything was so peaceful compared to the bustling city from which he came, he would have to cherish his time here, especially with the one person he was looking for.
A week ago Toya had visited the Tenmas’ household to make a request. It had been years since he lost contact with Akito after the ginger abruptly quit music, and the rest of Vivid BAD SQUAD only wanted to hear from their former member. The guy had apologized for the inconvenience he had caused, and offered to pay for the expense of Tsukasa’s travels to Akito’s current residence, but the blond had kindly declined since it was his wish to see him too, as there was unfinished business between them. Toya thanked him and sent him the address he got from Ena before leaving as fast as the way he came, clearly still feeling guilty for troubling the older man.
Tsukasa dropped by a flower shop on the way, after all, he couldn't just visit Akito unannounced and without a small gift, it was rude! The young florist swiftly wrapped the small bouquet of flowers before returning it to the blond. “Who is the lucky person today, sir?” She asked cheekily.
Tsukasa hesitated, their relationship was hard to even label, finally, he settled on “It's for an old friend of mine.” To which the florist beamed and wished him good luck.
—
He was sitting outside of Akito’s apartment, his phone had died half an hour ago. At this point he felt like he had been waiting there for hours, the food Saki carefully packed for him just in case of an emergency was soon running out, and he was starting to feel like he had got the wrong address.
“Tsukasa?” A voice soon broke the blond out of his trance, he immediately shot up to see the one person he hadn’t met for years, who was clearly annoyed by his presence. “What the hell are you doing here?” The younger took a step forward.
“Toya sent me.” Tsukasa breathed, he was still taking in the person standing in front of him. Almost nothing had changed about the guy, except for the fact that he seemed slightly taller and his hair was styled more neatly.
“I don’t want to hear from him.” Akito grunted and tried to walk past the blond before his wrist was held back.
“W–Wait! I wanted to see you too!” The older scrambled to pick up the bouquet he had left on the floor, “I got this for you, as an apology for coming unannounced.”
The ginger hesitated before taking the bouquet and observing the flowers, they were too pretty to throw away anyway. “You’ve seen me now, shouldn't that be enough?” He sighed as he unlocked the door to his apartment.
“The last train to the city today has already boarded! And I have nowhere else to go!” Tsukasa held him back, the younger clearly didn't buy it, but something in him really wanted the blond’s presence in his apartment, and so he scowled, “Only for this weekend…”
—
“Go take a shower, I’ll make dinner.” Akito said as he looked through his fridge and cabinets, the groceries were running out, but they were still enough for him to whip up a hearty meal.
Tsukasa was picking pyjamas from his bag then, he stared at the younger’s back standing at the kitchen, “Would there be enough food? You didn't expect a guest after all…”
“Quit asking and go before I kick you out of here.” The ginger turned to glare at him, which intimidated him more than it should have. The guy’s attitude had changed so much since the last time they saw each other.
Akito’s bathroom was surprisingly clean for a guy living alone. He had stopped using those stupid 3-in-1 products Tsukasa had pestered him about years ago now, which was an improvement. Inside the bathroom’s cabinet was a razor, some shaving cream, painkillers and fever reducers, average for a guy. The blond didn't mean to pry, but he was simply curious, it had been a while after all. He quickly finished his shower and stepped outside, he smelled like the younger man now, not that he was trying to focus on that detail. Akito was already waiting on the dining table then, he looked at Tsukasa and the older swore he could see a flash of emotion in his eyes. He looked down at his pyjamas. They were his favorite star-patterned ones Saki and her friends made for his birthday, but maybe it looked silly to the younger.
The ginger pointed at the seat across from him for the blond and started eating, “I buy enough groceries for every week, so I just have to get some extras tomorrow.” He answered the question he was asked almost half an hour ago.
“I’ll help you with that.” Tsukasa took a spoonful of curry into his mouth, he wasn't hungry, but God it was delicious.
“Do as you please.” Akito rolled his eyes and ended the short conversation.
They ate in silence, which gave Tsukasa the time to observe the apartment more. The living room was clean and tidy, almost as if a robot was residing in it and not a human. The walls that would be adorned with posters of Akito’s favorite musical artists when he was in high school were now decorated with lifeless paintings that could be found in the “On Sale” section of any supermarket. There was a half empty cup of coffee on the kitchen counter, the ginger probably drank some before dinner, despite him hating the drink years ago. Everything was nice and pleasant, but it still felt uncomfortable, it didn't feel like the Akito he knew.
“What do you do now?” Tsukasa suddenly asked, probably to lighten the tension between them.
“Office work.” The younger answered monotonously, still not batting an eye at the person eating with him.
“I see! I’m still working with the troupe now, we are planning a show for the kids in a local hospital.” The ginger only nodded at that, he wasn't sure if the guy was actually paying attention to what he was saying, but he continued anyway, “Our acting has improved a lot, and we are sometimes invited to perform for national events now.”
Akito wordlessly stood up to wash his empty plate, seemed like he wasn’t listening after all, the blond could only sigh at that. “Wash your dishes when you're done eating.” He said before entering what the older could only assume to be a storage room and coming out with a futon.
“What are you doing?” Tsukasa asked as he watched the younger man set up his futon in the living room, right by the balcony.
“You use my bedroom tonight, I can sleep here.”
The blond opened his mouth to protest, but decided against it ultimately, he quickly finished dinner and settled inside his “guest” bedroom.
The bedroom looked like an average furniture showroom, clean and tidy. There were a few family pictures on the walls, and some casual clothings that somehow still looked very Akito-like to him, but the rest of the room was unfamiliar. The younger’s work desk was filled with scattered papers but was otherwise clean, except for the dirty mug that still smelled like coffee. On top of the mess was the briefcase that the ginger probably threw on hastily after having to tolerate an uninvited guest. Tsukasa sighed and laid down on the single bed, slowly drifting away.
—
Kamiyama High was as bustling as ever, it was the graduation day for the third years of the school. Tsukasa had made some free time from university to pay his beloved juniors a visit. Some students still recognized him as “the loud one from the Weirdo Wombo Combo”, which he didn't mind, it wasn't easy being a star after all. He met Nene, who jokingly told him not to forget about practice that afternoon; he also met Akiyama, who was actually surprised he and Rui came to see her separately and not as a duo, to which he explained they had very different schedules. He went to visit Akito’s class, as they had planned to meet up there.
Akito never came, Tsukasa had tried to call him dozens of times, but the boy didn't pick up. He had assumed the younger ran into some troubles, and so he sat still in the classroom for God knows how long. He only returned to reality when Shiraishi and Toya were standing in front of him. The latter told him that they had got into an argument with Akito and the ginger had run off after that.
“I assumed he would come to you, but he’s really lost it now…” Shiraishi mumbled before sighing.
“What happened? What caused the fight?” The blond stared at the pair, clearly puzzled by the situation.
“It’s… Best you didn't know.” Toya trailed off, “It really was my fault, if only I didn't get mad at him…” There was a look of regret on the boy’s face.
“But it wasn't! That guy was being stubborn again, we will have to meet up as a group to talk to him properly.” Shiraishi said, her tone rather upset.
Tsukasa quietly slipped off when the two friends were still busy talking. The sun was starting to set and there were significantly fewer students on the courtyard then. The blond kept walking in whatever direction his legs were leading him to, until he was facing the back of the one person he wanted to meet on the rooftop.
“Akito.” He called out, his voice was uncharacteristically shaky and he hated that. The junior turned around to look at him but didn't give him any audible response, he continued, “Why were you avoiding me?” That wasn't the question he should have asked.
The ginger kept looking at him, his face wearing an unreadable expression, he was dead silent, and it scared Tsukasa. He could feel himself sweating, his eyes losing focus and the younger’s face going blurry. He tried to squint his eyes, but it was no use, he wiped them, so hard that he could feel tears forming, and he finally made out something. Akito finally opened his mouth and–
Tsukasa shot up, so that was only a bad dream.
—
He grabbed his forgotten phone on the way to the balcony and carefully made his way past the sleeping Akito. It was 2 in the morning and he doubted he could go back to sleep soon. There were at least 50 notifications on Tsukasa’s phone, most were missed calls and texts from Saki and Toya who said if he didn't answer them by tomorrow they would come get him themselves, the rest were texts wishing him a safe travel from his troupemates and his acquaintances. He quickly replied to all of them and turned off his phone. There was hardly anyone outside now, and even if there was, they would probably be weirded out by a random man staring at them from a balcony anyway. It was breezy outside, the only sound that could be heard was from the wind chime in Akito’s apartment. The fields he saw in the afternoon seemed to stretch out even further when they were enveloped by the dark, and there were a few sparkles of fireflies that illuminated the scenery, all of which somehow managed to calm his mind.
It had been years since the day on the school rooftop, he thought he had forgotten about it already. He rarely thought about it as he was so busy with the rest of the troupe that by the time he had time for himself, he would be too exhausted to do anything. So naturally he wouldn't expect to have a dream about it, especially during his supposed vacation, when he was staying with the cause of his misery, maybe he brought this upon himself now that he thought about it. Tsukasa sighed and looked inside the house, Akito was still sleeping soundly, how lucky the guy was. He still had to wake up early tomorrow, so it would be best if he could somehow knock himself out now, he contemplated so as he returned to the bedroom.
Tsukasa was laying wide awake on Akito’s bed again. It wasn't uncomfortable to say the least, there was no bedsheet, which was fine, and the pillow smelled like the ginger, which was not. He pulled the summer blanket over his head, but even then it still smelled like Akito, and he immediately rolled off the bed in defense. But as the blond was scrambling to get up, he noticed something under the bed. It was a rather clean box, seemed like the owner frequently took it out. Tsukasa looked around, surely no one could be watching him now, unless there were hidden cameras in the family photos on the walls. He mentally apologized to the ginger for sneaking around like this, but he was just curious.
There was stuff from their high school days, matching shirts, matching phone cases, matching phennys, hell, there was even their shared diary. When Tsukasa brought up the idea to Akito, the younger had scowled so defiantly he almost took it back, luckily he warmed up to the idea very quickly, so much so that most of the texts written in it were from the ginger. The blond dug more into the box, and he found a letter, one that was new and he had never seen before. The date on it suggested that it was only written last year, and it was even subjected to him! Tsukasa checked his surroundings again, he was the recipient of the letter after all, it wouldn't hurt if he read it now, he slowly peeled it off, until there was a noise outside.
The blond quickly returned the letter and the box to their original place under the bed before hiding under the blanket himself. It turned out his housemate liked to do bed checks at 2:30AM.