Work Text:
Beep...
Beep...
Beep...
“Hey, Kaoru.”
”Kojiro.”
“How are you doing?” Kojiro hadn’t spoken with Kaoru in almost three weeks. He’d been too busy. Well, they both had.
”Can you not see that for yourself, moron? Why are you really talking to me right now?”
“Uh... Well...” Kojiro just chuckled. Kaoru always was snappy when he knew someone had something to say. It was always ‘hurry up’ this, and ‘don’t waste my time' that with him. “I’m not really sure. I kinda wish you could see me too right now though.”
”You know I can’t, not yet.”
“Yeah... Haha... maybe it’s for the best- I mean, you’d look at me like I was psychotic if you could see me, so uh... I don’t know if I do want you to see me yet.”
”And why is that? Doing something more moronic than normal?”
“Nah... nah...” Kojiro shook his head, fingers playing with the hem of his current jumper. “It’s just some sad clothes that somehow are still in my closet.”
”So what you’re saying is you don’t sound moronic... you just look it? Typical. I would just throw that crap away if it was that sad.”
“Yeah, well, it’s comfy so I still throw on, even if it’s only around my shoulders sometimes...” Kojiro sighed out, “Makes us feel a bit closer, you get me?”
...
“God Kojiro!” Kaoru’s laughs echoed in his bedroom, slapping Kojiro across the face with a deep, rich purple zip-up hoodie, accidentally catching the boy’s face with the metal of the exposed zipper – one he’d been meaning to replace for months.
He’d left himself open though, his shock stunning him enough for Kojiro to pull at the sleeve (ignoring the tiniest tear they could both hear in one of the seams – it would add to the collection of damage that Kaoru so adored). He’d managed to use it, and Kaoru’s unstable posture, to his advantage though, dragging the boy up close with a small teasing grin.
“Gotcha.” Kojiro whispered with a small wink, before impulsively planting a gentle kiss to Kaoru’s lips and...
...
“Do you remember the first time I kissed you?” he sighed out, looking down at the tear the had made it’s way further and further around the joint that kept the left wrist cuff in place.
”Of course I do. Your idiot ass ended up tangled up with me, my bed, my duvet, and somehow that damn hoodie that I had to let you keep because yours was soaked from the rain.”
“Yeah, well, I uh... i’m still rockin’ it... even now.” He somehow managed to chuckle, despite the silence outside of their bubble. “It makes me think about about you... whilst you're gone and all that, got me sleeping in it sometimes too somehow. But like- yeah, I see why you used to chew the strings too because- well, somehow, I picked up the habit-”
”That’s disgusting. You had better wash it before you give it back. I didn’t expect you to just live in it.”
“Well, I couldn’t help it. The zippers still broken though, I never had the same handiwork abilities as you-”
”Please never phrase it like that again-”
“Right- sorry.” Kojiro laughed. It really did sound like he was implying something else...
“I started smoking recently too-”
”Now why the hell would you do that?”
“I dunno... You used to and the burns everywhere kinda look out of place when there’s no smokey aura to the wearer.”
”You didn’t even try get rid of those?”
“It’s part of you, Kaoru? I can’t get rid of it-”
...
“Hurry up moron!” Kaoru yelled down the street. The middle of winter, the same old smoke-tainted hoodie keeping him warm, despite his best friend being metres behind, hunched over and shivering.
“It’s fucking freezing! Sorry that I can’t stay as composed as you, princess!”
“Ugh!” Kaoru had stormed right back to him, placing himself next to the other boy and yanking one of his hands into his, and then diving it into the adjacent pocket before walking off again, and dragging Kojiro with him. “There. Now you can’t be slow.”
“Are you blushing?”
“It’s cold. You’re delusional.”
...
“I still think you were blushing.” Kojiro couldn’t help but chuckle.
”My lips are sealed. You also looked like you were blushing though.”
“Maybe I was. You just smelled so good.” Kojiro cooed with a laugh. “And you know I just can’t get over you.”
...
"I dunno, all these things make me feel closer to you.. that's all."
”If you tell me again you haven’t washed it because of that-”
“But your perfume-”
“Cologne.”
“Cologne.” Kojiro mocked before rolling his eyes, “It smells so good. You didn’t ever tell me where you keep it so I have to make do.”
”You know I can’t spill those secrets.”
“Yeah, moron. I can only know what I know... or whatever bullshit you told me-”
Beep...
“Kaoru...?”
Beep...
“Hey are we breaking up on your end or something-”
”I don’t have much time to talk-”
“Well uh- maybe you should take the hoodie back soon- and all it’s mess-”
Beeeeeep...
“Kaoru!”
...
“Kaoru I said take it back, you moron!”
...
“I’m waiting for you! You know that-”
...
“Kaoru... please... you said you’d come back-”
“Mr. Nanjo.” an unfamiliar voice responded
“Just come back and take it-”
“He’s gone, Kojiro. We need you to leave the room.”
Nurses had flooded the hospital room.
They’d seen this same boy almost every day.
Apart from the past three weeks where Kaoru Sakurayashiki had been in intensive care after a sudden operation.
He’d come in about five months ago.
Five months ago, after he’d challenged Adam to skate – to prove he was worthy.
Five months since he’d woken up and been able to see Kojiro.
He’d left him with nothing but the memories they shared, the stolen kisses, and a hoodie.
One hoodie with messy, chewed up strings; a broken zipper with stories to tell; warm pockets; cigarette burns; and tears all over.
One that Kojiro could never return, and would just have to keep in the bottom of his closet for the following years as he got bigger, and fit it even less than he already did – which was only possible due to Kaoru loving massive hoodies.
Yet, he’d still sleep with it, atop his pillow, every single night – the cold metal catching his cheek occasionally just as it had done all those years ago.
One day, they’d see each other again.
They promised.