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Sakura didn’t really get the big deal about making memories before he came to Makochi. He wanted to completely forget his past considering everything, but all his friends insisted he could make new and wonderful memories here. It seemed they were hell bent on making that happen too.
Kiryu was always going and dragging him into photos, even if they were doing things that didn’t seem all that exciting. Hell he could just be walking with them down the street and suddenly he was getting yanked into a selfie with the pink haired menace. The first several times he looked pissed to be in the photos, but now he at least could throw up a awkward piece sign.
Nirei preferred writing everything down, even little things that Sakura didn’t think mattered. Why the fact that he didnt have a phone case was in the book still baffled him. It seemed to make Nirei happy, so he really didn’t fight it too much, unless he tried to measure him. That book did not need to know if he had finally gotten a bit taller or not.
Suo believed in living in the moment. He constantly was encouraging Sakura to do things he usually wouldn’t do so he would have the memory of it. It was pretty nice at times, until it came to stuff that forced him to do things infront of others. He still never forgave Suo for shoving him on that stage when he got dragged to karaoke with everyone.
Sakura was learning everyone had their own way of sharing these special times together, and now here he was learning about another way. He was lying back on Momijikawa’s couch, going through a scrapbook his mom had made from before she passed. Apparently he only gets to see this because they are dating and because his boyfriend is a big sap.
Sakura would never admit out loud that there was a little part of him that was honored to see this side of Momijikawa. He wished he could return the favor one day.
Going through the scrapbook was definitely a rollercoaster of emotions for Sakura. Was this really something loving families did? Up until a certain point it looks like most of the important events for their family had been captured. A lot of care had been put into decorating the pages as well, showing how much his mother cared about making this special.
Each section also drew out some emotion from him. He never found babies cute before. They were snotty, loud and cry way too much. Momijikawa as a baby made him want to get up and pinch his boyfriend’s face out of some kind of aggression he had never experienced before. How was he actually cute like this?
A particular photo of Momijikawa swaddled up in a blanket with his little fist clumped up near his face had Sakura snickering at the cuteness. When his boyfriend shot him a look from where he was cleaning something in the kitchen he just waved him off. This was some grade A material to use if Momijikawa decided to pick on him later.
The photos with his family tugged at his heart a bit. He felt a sadness for his boyfriend since he lost so much, and unfortunately a little bit of envy crossed his mind as well when he saw just how happy they were. He tried to crush that down as quickly as it showed up. He would not let those emotions cloud his time as he looked at the photos.
Sakura definitely thought Momijikawa took a lot after his father, especially in his smile. His eyes though looked quite a bit like his mother’s. The moments he could remember of Momijikawa looking at him with soft, shimmering amber eyes looked just like how his mother looked in these photos when she looked at her family. Hopefully he had the scrapbook positioned where it hid his flushed face.
Just from the pictures alone he could tell his father and grandfather were hard workers. Even in his old age his grandfather was mostly in his work uniform in the photos. That really explained where his boyfriend got his work ethic from. Since he had been coming back to school Sakura constantly saw Momijikawa helping around with things. When they held an event for the changing of the seasons, he was the first to volunteer with setting up the tents or tables.
It brought a small smile to his face as he went to lightly trace over a photo that had been taken of Momijikawa sitting at some table, a machine in hand as he worked over something he couldn’t see. He had that same scrunched up expression he usually had when he was really focused on something. Momijikawa’s fingers were stained black in the photo, just like Sugishita had said they used to be. It was oddly.. endearing.
His family really wanted to make sure to capture a lot of moments of him. The angle was always different, so something told him that it was someone else taking the photos each time. He really truly was loved.
“And you call me a sap.”
Sakura nearly threw the scrapbook into the air, startling hard from his boyfriend’s amused voice coming from next to him. He turned wide eyes to that infuriating smirk he had come to really like, trying to calm his heart down from the scare. When the hell did he get there?
Sakura let out a huff as he sat up to make room for Momijikawa, still keeping the scrapbook open since he wasn’t done looking. He could feel his cheeks burn as his boyfriend sat down next to him.” Shuddup. You still are a sap.”
Looking back down at the scrap book, he caught that same smirk on Momijikawa’s father’s face in one of the photos. He had his hand on little Momijikawa’s head, ruffling his hair as the kid tried to push him off. It brought a little smile to his face before he looked at his boyfriend.” You look a lot like your dad.”
Momijikawa scooted closer to him so he could put an arm around his shoulders, which brought a blush to his face. One day he would get used to these gestures, it just wouldn’t be today.” Ive been told that before. Some say I’m like a little copy of him.”
“Maybe.. but you have your mom’s eyes.”
That seemed to take the other by surprise as he turned to look at Sakura quizzically.” Huh? What makes you say that?”
Sakura let out a small ‘tsk’ before he went to flip to one of the pages that had stuck out to him. The minute he saw the photo he went to point to Momijikawa’s mother. It looked to be a birthday party for Momijikawa and everyone else was looking at the camera smiling widely. Not his mother though. She was crouched down and looking at his goofy toothy grin like it was some precious treasure to behold.” Here. There are a couple other photos too but you get that same look in your eyes sometimes..”
When he didnt get a response he went to look over at his boyfriend, only to find his face a lovely shade of pink. He was staring at Sakura, that very same look he was talking about already forming on his face. Fuck, he couldnt handle it this close.
Sakura turned his head away from him quickly, his eyes shut tightly as he tried to calm his face down.” Y-Your doing it right now!”
A quiet laugh filled the air before he felt a gentle kiss land on his shoulder, causing him to try and squirm away from the big sap.” Sorry Haruka, you just drag it out of me I guess.”
Letting out a huff he went to turn back to look at the scrapbook, trying to get back to the spot he had been before.” Y-Yeah whatever. Quit distracting me.”
Momijikawa at least gave him the grace to look a little more, leaning on him a bit as they looked together. Sakura never thought he would like any of this sentimental crap, and honestly if it was anyone else he didn’t know if he would be so invested. It was Momijikawa though and it made him feel special to know he got to see this side of him that others usually didn’t. There were moments where he felt his eyes flicker over to his boyfriend though, trying to make sure he was okay going through this.
Surprisingly to him, Momijikawa seemed pretty alright. Sometimes when his grandmother popped up he saw a flicker of something in his eyes. It was during those times he would lean a little more into him, trying to offer some comfort where he could.
He was sure the others at school would flip if they saw that the great ‘Lone wolf of Furin’ was such a cute kid when he was younger. He definitely had matured quite a bit, and had morphed into a very handsome guy. There was a part of Sakura that wondered how much he himself had really changed since he was a kid, but he would never get to compare that.
“Hey, Haruka. This might be a dumb question… but do you have any photos of you from when you were younger?”
Sakura froze at this, his hand freezing from where he had been about to change the page. He shifted his eyes over to his partner, noticing the hesitation on his face but also the curiousity behind his eyes. Letting out a heavy sigh, Sakura went to lean back against the arm that was around him.” I got one.. If you want to come over tomorrow I can see if I can find it.”
“You dont have to show it to me if it’s a lot to handle..” He felt the arm he was leaning on move as strong fingers lightly graze the hair at the back of his head. It was a bit embarrassing to admit, but it always calmed him when his partner did this. It felt way too nice.” I was just curious is all, I can handle not knowing.”
“It’s fine, I told you before my past is behind me now.” Mismatched eyes lingered on another photo of Momijikawa before he looked over at his boyfriend, a barely there smile gracing his face.” I think it’s only fair if I get to see all of this anyways.”
For whatever reason that earns him a kiss on his forehead, which nearly had him reeling back. He quickly held the scrapbook up between them to keep from getting anymore surprise kisses. He heard a mischievous chuckle from his boyfriend before the arm around him left.” Alright then, I’ll come by your place tomorrow. I’ll get dinner started now so you can keep looking.”
“Y-Yeah, get to it. You freakin’ sap.” He said this, yet his eyes wondered back to one of the images of little Momijikawa on the page between them. He felt free to let the smile grace his face once more before he moved the book back down to his lap.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Okay, make yourself comfortable and I’ll see what I can find here.”
Sakura went to make his way into his apartment as Momijikawa followed him in, ignoring his boyfriends grumbling about letting him fix the door from him. He would do that himself thank you very much, eventually.. someday.
As Momijikawa made his way over so he could go sit and lean against his folded up futon, Sakura made his way to his closet so he could find the one box he still hadn’t unpacked. He didn’t have any shelves or anything to put the stuff on, so it only made sense to keep it packed up. Plus he was so used to having to be ready to leave on a dime, unpacking fully just didnt seem right to him.
Once the box was retrieved he went to make his way over to sit next to his ever so patient partner. It was just a shoe box that he kept some little trinkets he found while he would wonder around by himself as a kid. People were always getting rid of perfectly good things that sometimes caught his eye.
He could feel Momijikawa lean closer to him as he flipped the lid up before he went to rummage to the bottom. He didn’t know a lot about photo care but he knew that it was probably best to keep it flat if he didn’t want it messed up more so then it already was. Once he found it he went to pull it out and hand it over to momijikawa, not bothering to look at it.” Here.”
Sakura already knew the photo well enough. It was small since the rest of it had been cut out but there he was. It looked like it was taken minutes after he had been born, He was swaddled up in a blanket and being held in what he had to guess was his mother’s arms in a hospital bed. It was all just a guess since again, someone had cut him out of the photo. He had been born with some hair on his head, which even back then it had the same split that it does now. His baby self looked calm, almost comfortable leaning against the person in the photo. His fist curled up close to his face and peaking out from the blanket.
It confused him when he first found it crumbled up in the trash. He had been told his mother died from giving birth to him. Further research told him that death didn’t have to come right away, it could sometimes take minutes to days. Did his mother suffer long because she had him?
Besides the very pale hands that held him in the photo, he couldnt make out anything else of his mother. It was probably the most disappointing part of finding the photo. He knew what his father looked like. He hated to think he looked more like that man than possibly his mother.
When he finally glanced at Momijikawa to see his reaction, he didnt expect to see him with that same frustrated face he saw when he first told him his story.” Momijikawa?..”
His partner didnt look at him, instead his thumb lightly traced the baby in the photo.” How did you get this?”
Momijikawa never liked hearing more about the treatment he received when he was younger. It always put him in a foul mood, but he never directed it at him. No if anything, Sakura found himself smothered in more attention the days following. Tasty food, homemade drinks, his pick of whatever movie they watch, he was always spoiled and it used to annoy him greatly. After a good talk though, he had learned to accept it. Sometimes it did make him feel nice and it made Momijikawa feel better as well.
“I uh.. I got it out of the trash. I guess they came outside to throw it away after they cut me out.”
Momijikawa let out a frustrated sigh as he looked over at him. There wasn’t pity there, but definitely hurt. It made sense though when you compared his family to Sakura’s.” I don’t like your family. Did they really think your mother would want this?”
Great question, Sakura had asked himself that a lot when he was younger. It’s not like he had any answers though.
Sakura shrugged as he glanced down at the photo in Momijikawa’s hands.” Who knows. Not like I knew her. All I have ever seen of her are the hands in that photo.”
“They didnt even let you..” He heard Momijikawa take a breath before he went to point at something at the top of the photo.” What about this? Could this be her hair?”
Huh? What was he talking about?
Sakura leaned over closer to look before feeling his body stiffen up. Up towards the upper half of the photo he could spot what looked to be the end of long white hair. How had he never noticed that before? How many times had he stared ay this photo and not seen that? Maybe because he was more so trying to figure out what he could have done at such a young age to get treated the way he had been treated.
Lifting one of his hands to card it through the white side of his hair, Sakura felt his eyes widen just a bit.” Huh..”
There was a silence between them for a moment before Momijikawa sat the picture down gently on his leg. Sakura watched as he grabbed his bag that was next to him, unzipping it and pulled out the scrapbook from before.
Sakura watched him warily as he went to flip through it for a blank page.” You brought that to school? What if something happened to it?”
“I left my bag in class so I wasn’t worried about it. I just wanted to have it just in case.” Once Momijikawa found a blank page he looked at Sakura, grabbing the picture so he could hold it up.” Can I put this in here?”
There was a part of him that hoped his confusion was clear on his face. He wanted to put his baby picture in the scrapbook? With his families pictures? Why would he want to do that?!
“W-What?! Thats your families scrapbook though.. I shouldn’t be in there..”
Momijikawa rolled his eyes now as he went to nudge him with his elbow.” You’re my boyfriend and I at least have no plans of changing that anytime soon.. if it did I’ll give it back, but I think this should be safe somewhere. Plus we can add to it with our own memories.”
He.. didn’t completely hate the idea. It was probably better than in a bottom of a shoe box. Knowing there was another bit of his mother in the photo too made him want to protect it even more.” Okay.. You can put it in there.”
Momijikawa gave him that warm smile of his before he went to pull the plastic back so he could slide the picture in there.” There, now everyone who is important to me is in one place.”
Sakura felt his face go red as he turned his face away from his snickering boyfriend.” D-Dont just say stuff like that!”
“Why not? Would you rather I talk about how much of a cute baby you were?”
Sakura couldn’t help the scuff he let out before he went to whip around so he could point at the scrapbook.” Oh you don’t want to go there! You were probably the first baby I ever found cute!”
Momijikawa’s face went a light shade of pink before he went to motion to Sakura’s baby photo.” Are you kidding me? Look at you here. Even the color split looks adorable.”
“You are nuts if you think I was cuter than you were. Switch to a page with your baby photo and I’ll show you.”
Momijikawa smirked at him as he kept the scrapbook right where it was.” Nah, I think i like this page just fine. We can keep looking at it.”
Sakura let out an embarrassed huff before he went to lean over to try and grab the scrapbook from him.” Just flip the page, asshole.”
Unfortunately for Sakura, Momijikawa had no problem using his slightly bigger size against him and went to close the scrapbook so he could hold it away from him.” No, you looked at my baby photo’s plenty yesterday.”
Oh, so this was how it was going to be? He didn’t mind playing these games.
“We are looking at the photo so you can see how wrong you are!”
Sakura went to launch himself at Momijikawa, trying to reach for the scrapbook. Unfortunately his boyfriend knew him too well and dropped the scrapbook in turn to grab his wrist.” Gonna have to get past me first!”
Maybe this is what his friends meant about making memories. Times like this, where him and Momijikawa could just fool around and not have to take the world too serious was nice. It was something he looked forward to whenever they were going to hang out. It was also something he looked back on when the days felt a little darker and colder.
Even with his friends he gets times like this. Kiryu trying to teach him out to play video games with him. Nirei letting him rest against him whenever they had to travel out of town. Tsugeura taking him to the gym with him. Suo trying to explain the differences in tea to him. Maybe it was different but it was things that he would never forget and times that he enjoyed quite a bit.
He couldnt help but enjoy himself as he rolled around the floor with his partner, almost forgetting what started the whole thing. There was one thing for certain though, and it was even if he didnt have a photo of this, this was something he would never forget. Another happy memory to add to the ever growing field he started since coming to this town.