Work Text:
Nothing Gold Can Stay
You miss the sway of those gold tassel earrings, the way they caught the sunlight and scattered it into beams of honey-colored light.
But not nearly as much as you miss the person who wore them.
It had barely been a day, and yet your world felt as though it was collapsing in on itself. As if someone had taken the candle that lit your life and pinched the flame between their fingers, leaving nothing but smoke and darkness behind.
The news of Hayato's withdrawal from Furin High had reached you through whispers drifting through town.
Whispers.
Not a phone call. Not a text message. Not even a hurried goodbye.
Just whispers.
One of your best friends—the brightest part of your days—was gone.
You had thought it was strange when he stopped responding to your messages. Strange, but not alarming. Hayato could be busy. Distracted. He always seemed to have a dozen things occupying his attention at once. Furin had him and the other boys doing a lot around the community alongside their schooling, so you assumed he was simply busy.
You told yourself you were overthinking it.
But now, looking at the growing chain of unanswered messages on your phone, you wished you had listened to that sinking feeling in your chest.
Good morning, sunshine.
Did you eat breakfast?
How's your day going?
Did you see the advertisement for the new tea cakes?
Message after message.
And not a single reply.
You should have known something was wrong.
At first, the news left you feeling hollow.
Helpless.
What could you do when the decision had already been made? When he was already gone?
Then the grief began to boil.
It simmered beneath your skin until it became something hotter, sharper.
Anger.
White-hot and impossible to ignore.
How dare he leave without telling you?
How dare you learn about it from strangers?
People who barely knew him.
People who had never seen the way his face softened when he laughed.
People who had never seen the carefully crafted mask he wore slip when he felt safe.
People who had not spent hours learning how to brew tea or bake different cakes and pastries just to impress him.
You had to hear it from them?
The thought made your hands shake.
As evening settled over the town, shadows stretched across the streets and swallowed the last traces of daylight.
The sun dipped below the horizon, taking what little warmth remained with it.
You stood there, watching the sky fade from gold to coral, and from coral to the rich sappanwood hues gathering at the horizon.
Colors that felt painfully familiar.
Colors that reminded you of him.
For a fleeting moment, the sunset looked exactly as it had the day before.
Then the gold vanished.
The coral followed.
And all that remained was darkness.
For a moment, you wished you could rewind time.
Back to yesterday, before you heard.
Back to any moment where he was still here.
Where your phone still lit up with his name.
Where your days always started with a "good morning, sunshine," and were invariably concluded by Hayato's "good night, moon."
But wishes were useless things.
The sky darkened.
The gold disappeared.
And as much as it hurt to admit it, you finally understood.
Nothing gold can stay.