The Cat and the Crow

Tetsuro woke up to the smell of something good cooking. He rolled over onto his back and stretched. Judging by the way the sun was coming in the window, they’d both slept until rather late in the morning. He checked the time on his phone. Only 10am, which wasn’t as late as he was thinking. Resting his hand on his chest, he smiled. If he hadn’t already figured out that Kei was his match in every way, then he certainly knew it now.

“I was going to wake you up, but I guess that idea is out,” he heard Kei say from the doorway.

“Oh yeah?” he replied, rolling onto his side and propping his head up on his hand. He grinned wolfishly when he saw Kei wearing his black tank-top and red shorts, and smiling that brilliant smile. “Pretend I’m still asleep. How were you going to wake me up?”

“You’re wide awake and staring at me. Kinda takes all the fun out of waking you up, yeah? Also, even if I did pretend, breakfast would get cold.”

“Fair point,” Tetsuro conceded. “But don’t for a minute think I’m going to let you off so easily. We have all day…” his voice trailed off. “Damn.”

Kei’s smile had dimmed. “I made a rice omelet, soup, and some veggies. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

“Right,” Tetsuro said quietly.

He hadn’t meant to, but he’d effectively reminded them both that time wasn’t on their side today. In fact, Kei’s train back to Sendai left at 7pm. It didn’t really matter that he’d be returning for the Shinzen camp in a week, though Tetsuro would be happy to see him again. The fact was that he’d have to get used to being alone again, and that was what sucked the most. Once Kei had set foot in his home, it felt like he had always been there.

Determined to make the best of their day, he got out of bed and grabbed some clothes, heading for the shower. Ten minutes later, he showed up in the kitchen, wearing Kei’s white t-shirt and black shorts. He found Kei sitting at the table, writing something down on a note card. There were several more note cards, already written on, nearby. Curious, he picked one up, bent to kiss Kei on the head, and then sat down at the place set for him. Before he started eating, he noticed Kei hadn’t eaten much of his own breakfast.

“Aren’t you going to eat, too?” he asked quietly. Picking up his chopsticks, he took a bite of the rice omelet. Tetsuro had to admit, the second thing he was going to miss most was Kei’s cooking.

“I had a few bites. I needed to do this first,” Kei answered absentmindedly. He stopped writing for a moment, tapped the pen against his lips, and then started up again.

Tetsuro picked up the card he’d filched and started reading. It was the recipe for pork dumplings. “Oh, Kei…”

“Don’t say anything,” he heard the quiet plea. “Just let me do this.”

Tetsuro waited until Kei was done writing, and quickly moved to steal the pen from him before he could start another. Kei tried to snatch it back, but failed. Standing up, Tetsuro went to Kei’s side of the table, pulled him up out of the chair, and kissed him.

“Let’s not make what’s left of our time together be one massive downer,” he said, caressing Kei’s face, and running his fingers through his hair. “I know we weren’t supposed to go anywhere today, but would you be willing to go out with me?”

“What, now?”

“I mean, after we get a little more dressed than we are now, but yeah.”

Kei snorted. “Alright. But where are we going?”

“There’s a little park down the way. It’s quiet there, barely any foot traffic, and I kinda made it my place to go when I needed some downtime.”

“Okay. Let’s clean up first.”

“Deal,” Tetsuro said. He felt bad that they were throwing away most of what Kei made for breakfast, but getting them both out of their funk was more important.

Once they were dressed for being out in public, they left the house; Tetsuro carried a volleyball, and Kei had the little bag he’d bought at the shrine. Curious, he wanted to know what was in the bag, but didn’t ask. They walked for the next twenty minutes, holding hands. Neither of them said anything.

At the little park, Tetsuro took Kei to his favorite spot. There were trees for shade - and privacy - and a little stream babbled nearby. A little further down, there was an open spot, and that’s where he stopped.

“Figured we could practice a little,” he said, handing the ball to Kei. “Serve me one.”

“Alright,” Kei said, carefully folding the bag and stuffing it in his pocket. He took position, and served it straight to Tetsuro, who received it easily.

They went back and forth, serving and receiving, even working a bit on sets. Tetsuro offered bits of advice and pointers when he noticed Kei needed them, and was pleased to see them put to use almost immediately. He decided to do the same, but with blocking, when they were at Shinzen.

After a while, they stopped and sat down under the trees, Kei in front, and Tetsuro wrapped around him from behind. This was yet another thing he was going to miss. Holding on a little tighter, he buried his face in the crook of Kei’s neck.

“I was trying so hard not to say it, but I wish I didn’t have to leave,” Kei said after a long silence. “It’s odd, but I think my mom knew this was going to happen.”

“What do you mean?” Tetsuro asked.

“It was just how she said she was going to miss me so much. It was like I wasn’t coming home. That I wouldn’t want to come home.” He leaned his head back against Tetsuro’s shoulder. “She was right.”

“I remember seeing you before we left. You looked like you’d been crying. Want to tell me about that?”

“Yeah, but can we go home? We can make rice balls for lunch.”

“You’re starting to sound like Bokuto, wanting to eat all the time.”

“I do not. We didn’t eat breakfast. Not really.”

“Excuses,” Tetsuro teased, helping Kei to stand. “Let’s go home.”

[Rings]

Two hours later, they lay cuddled up together in bed, and Kei had just finished explaining his red-rimmed eyes from a few nights before. He’d retrieved the bag he put in his pants earlier, and was now untying the drawstring. He paused for a moment, and shifted a bit so he could look at Tetsuro.

“I wasn’t sure when I was going to do this,” he started saying. “I knew I wanted to give one to you before I left, but I wasn’t sure when would be a good time.”

“Give me one what?”

Kei upended the bag, spilling the contents onto the bed. He picked up one of the necklaces, letting the ring swing gently back and forth. Tetsuro slowly sat up, and reached out to catch the ring in his hand. Kei let the necklace go so that Tetsuro was now holding the rose gold band. He watched as his love brought the ring closer so he could read the inscription.

“I love you most,” he read softly. Tetsuro’s eyes found his, and Kei started his story.

“My parents gave each other these rings while they were dating. Promise rings, she’d said. They wore them until they married. Before my dad passed away, they decided to give the rings to whichever of their sons found the love of their life first. She gave them to me right before we left to come here. I bought the necklaces in Gion. They came with a little moonstone pendant,” he picked up one of the milky, iridescent stones and put it in Tetsuro’s hand. “Anyway, she said that if we wanted to wear them, we’d need to get them resized, but until then, we could wear them on a necklace.”

Tetsuro was speechless. He wasn’t sure he could say anything, since he was on the verge of tears. With great care, he took Kei’s hand and let the necklace gather in the palm. And then realized he’d screwed up when he saw the panicked expression on Kei’s face.

“Shhhh… I’m not giving it back,” he reassured Kei, cradling his face gently. “Please don’t cry. We’ll both be a mess if you do.” He tried to smile, but that wasn’t exactly working. Taking a deep breath, he let it go slowly and looked deep into Kei’s eyes. “Put it on?”

“W-what?”

“You do the honors. You put it on.”

This time, he actually did smile, as he watched Kei’s eyes light up with remembrance. He’d said the same thing himself when Tetsuro gave him his charm necklace. Slowly, he undid the clasp on the necklace, put it around Tetsuro’s neck, and reclasped it, letting his fingers drift along his skin. He leaned in to kiss his mouth, and then down to kiss the ring where it had settled over his heart.

Tetsuro copied everything Kei had done, and more. They were lost in each other for a little while longer.

[Going Home]

Not long later, they stood together on the platform waiting for the train to arrive. To pass what little time they had left, they each took a picture of the other, with the promise ring displayed outside their shirts. Then, they asked a fellow passenger if they could take a picture of them together, and so they had a few more pictures taken. Thanking their temporary photographer, they went to sit on a nearby bench and send each picture to each other so that they each had all shots.

“Do you want to share them yet?” Tetsuro asked, although he could guess what the answer would be.

“Let’s wait a little bit.”

“How long?”

“An hour? You can share the pics in the group chat and with Kenma, and I’ll send them to my mom, brother, and Tadashi.”

“Do you mind if I also share them on my social media accounts?”

“Not really. I just want to share them with our closest friends and family first.”

The train arrived on time, and they were forced to part. Tetsuro held on for as long as he could, unwilling to let go. “I wish you could stay with me. Forever. I’m going to miss you being here.”

“Yeah, same,” Kei replied quietly. “But, we’ll have next weekend to look forward to, at least.”

“I guess.”

The signal that the train was about to leave sounded, and Kei quickly boarded. Before the doors closed, he smiled and said, “I love you more!”

“I love you most!”

The doors shut, and the train began to glide away, taking his love away. It was a good thing the train was already out of sight, too. Tetsuro reached up and wiped away a few tears as he turned and went back home.