Chapter Text
When Tori lightly taps on the glass, fingers slightly curving to make more noise, Hajime’s eyes jolt open. He didn’t even realize he fell asleep, but now he feels it in his bones – the sore pain in his neck, back, the dryness in his throat. How long has he been waiting? He blinks once, twice, head falling to the side for a second before he sits up on his knees and turns to the wall, lightly scratching the white, soft skin of his legs in the process.
Tori smiles wide, hand resting on the glass surface and forehead pressed there – he reminds Hajime of that time Nazuna nii-chan brought him and the others to the aquarium, and Misturu-kun was jumping between the tanks, gluing his face to them every time a fish passed near the glass. Tomoya-kun was way calmer than him, but he still looked at the dolphins and the penguins too closely; Hajime remembers how funny their faced looked, eyes shining in awe and mouths wide open. Tori looks cute, with his cheeks glowing in the faint glow of the evening, his expression so happy it makes Hajime feel warm. Hesitantly, he presses his hand on Tori’s, trying to push the sadness in the back of his brain when he only feels the coldness of the glass on his fingertips.
« Tori-kun » he mutters. He can’t hear his own voice, just feel the words rumble down his tongue in a way that’s maybe a little bit unpleasant, but Tori smiles and nods, his forehead rubbing against the glass, making his so perfectly brushed hair mess up a bit – Hajime wonders how much time it took to style them that way, and if one or two servants did it.
« Hajime » he smiles widely again when he says his name, and Hajime can feel it, the echo of the smile in his voice. It reminds him of the sweet scent that his jasmine and sweet alyssums give off, making him smile as much as he’s doing now, lips fully stretched in a wide, wide smile. He hopes it’s as bright as Tori’s.
« I… I was afraid you wouldn’t come » he admits, with a tint of shame, blinking quickly to hide the flash of sadness he knows has stormed his violet eyes, « but I’m really happy you’re here now, Tori-kun! I’m deeply sorry I doubted of you... »
Tori pouts, his pink lips putting up a cute, annoyed frown, puffing his cheeks and exhaling with a soft noise; his breath clouds the glass for a second, and Hajime nervously taps his fingers, almost if hoping to reach the hand on the other side.
I’d never doubt your good heart, Tori he’d say, squeezing his hand, so lightly, I know you’d never break a promise. It’s just my cotton-filled head making me unnecessary sad sometimes, you see? Can you forgive me?
« I was telling Yuzuru to let me come here! It took a lot of time! And I had to promise I would eat all my vegetables if he didn’t tell mom and dad that he let me come here alone! »
He sounds annoyed, but not angry. Maybe he never was in the first place. Hajime smiles faintly again, letting his forehead tap the glass, his fingers slightly bending in a semblance of a grip.
« Did Yuzuru-san let you? » for how long he’ll let you be here alone? goes unspoken, and deep inside, he hopes Tori doesn’t catch it. Hajime can’t understand it, how it should feel to be the elder son of a rich, important family, having someone have to follow you and keep you safe. His parents didn’t even notice how he slipped away from his bed, careful not to wake up his siblings; he brought a blanket, washed so many times that the colors have started to fade, and his pillow. They’re abandoned on the grass now, and he would have forgotten them if Tori didn’t point at them, interrupting a speech Hajime wasn’t quite following about how yikes the vegetables Yuzuru makes are.
« Hajime » Tori taps his fingers on the glass, in a singsonging tune that makes Hajime smile once again; he sounds so happy, he lets his attention drop low once again, just for a second « did you forget about the promise? »
He hasn’t, it’s pretty clear he hasn’t. Hajime smiles warmly at him, apparently unable to do much else – but his heart is so filled with joy, pure, clean and liquid, he can’t seem to stop smiling.
It’s a quiet night, not even a cloud in the sky. They set their blankets down as close as possible to the wall, Tori rolling on his side to look at Hajime – Hajime covers his face with the pillow, muffling some words he can’t quite spell himself, and hoping it’ll hide his blush.
They’re not sure what their relationship is. Tomoya-kun once said that the person you can hear on the other side of the wall is your soulmate, the person you’re supposed to be with one day. Soulmate. One day. They’re words too big for this, for them, for the way their fingers reach for each other through the hard, cold glass wall. Hajime can just imagine how it would feel to hold Tori’s hand, hear his laugh clearly, move the fluffy mess of pink hair out of his face when it rubs against the glass.
But for now, he just points at the sky, connecting the stars with small imaginary lines.
« That’s a constellation, Tori-kun » Tori nods, and he can imagine how he lets his head loll to the side, as if to let it rest against Hajime’s shoulder, « like the ones I told you about yesterday. »
« I know what a constellation is! I knew it even before you told me! » there’s clearly a pout in his voice, and Hajime laughs, « Yuzuru has told me about – hey, don’t laugh at me! »
« That » Hajime murmurs, some of the laugh still spilling from his lips (he can’t hear it, but Tori can, and he stops his offended remarks to better listen at him) « is the dolphin. And that near him – »
« It looks more like a goldfish to me. »
Hajime blinks, turning to him. Tori isn’t looking at him, but that was predictable; his noise is pointed up, staring at the stars Hajime had been pointing to just a second before.
« A goldfish? »
« A stellar goldfish » the smaller boy agrees, looking pretty serious about his statement « one that can swim across the wall. I’m sure he swam across the sky plenty of times. He doesn’t care about how high the wall is, he... » Tori hesitates, and Hajime feels a gasp tumble down his tongue when he looks at his face again – Tori is sad, and it makes his heart ache (he didn’t mean to made him sad) « … he can swim higher than it. And meet everyone he wants on the other side. »
He has nothing, but he’d give it all to touch his face now. To run a hand between his hair and tell him he doesn’t have to be envious of the goldfish. He has everything, he has (Hajime thinks, a bit selfishly) him, here. Across the wall, but here. They’re soulmates, he’d like to say. Everything will work out.
Tori turns to him, and there’s a shiny glint in his pretty green eyes. Slowly, so slowly, Hajime taps the glass just below his cheeks, where the tears have just started falling.
Everything will work out.
He hopes the goldfish hears him, and can carry his thoughts to the other side.