The Cat and the Crow

Checking his phone for the millionth time in the last four hours, Tetsuro sighed. It was 11:30pm. Kei had called and said they had just reached Saitama, and should be in Nerima in another half hour or so. He’d cleaned the house, made sure the guest room was ready for Akiteru, and started putting together a late night meal for them. During that time, another three screenshots had been sent by Hinata to the group chat.

1/3
{{I had the idea for my experiment as soon as I saw that video playlist thing Tsukishima made for Kuro’s birthday. By then, I already knew what I was feeling was jealousy, and I wanted to see how it would affect them. I started taking pictures and posting them; I brought up the old roommates joke that only Kuro knew about. I posted to Twitter about how awesome it was to be spending time with Kuro again… all to make Tsukishima jealous.}}

2/3
{{But I miscalculated on a couple things. I didn’t count on them constantly keeping in touch with each other. I also didn’t count on believing my own lies to the point that, if I succeeded in breaking up Kuro and Tsukishima, then I could be the one Kuro turned to for love and comfort. I believed that with Tsukishima out of the picture, it could go back to the way it was before.}}

3/3
{{It wasn’t until you started asking questions, Hinata, that I realized what I’d done. I don’t expect anyone to accept my apologies; I’ve burned so many bridges that there’s no hope to rebuild. I will finish out the year as setter for the volleyball team, but after nationals, I’ll ‘retire’ and let someone else take my place. Someone better suited for the position than I am. If it comes down to it, I’ll transfer to another school for my 3rd year. I doubt there’s anything I can do to right my wrongs, but for what it’s worth: I’m sorry.}}

No one had said anything since the last screenshot was sent. What was there to say? Kenma had explained himself and his actions, and apologized. Tetsuro knew what he should do, but it wasn’t that easy to just repudiate someone you’ve known your whole life. Flopping down on the sofa, he leaned over and braced his arms against his legs. If it had been only him that Kenma took aim at, he could handle it. It’s not like he hadn’t done it before, dealing with the aftermath of an experiment. And that was only after he’d figured out what had happened, in some cases. But Kei had been targeted, and that was… unacceptable. Unforgivable.

Reaching for his phone, he checked the time. Again. Fifteen minutes left. This had to be the longest half hour in the history of half hours, and it was driving him mad. Just as he was about to put his phone down, a notification pinged, and he tapped it.

[How are you doing?]
[I don’t know]
[WHAT DO YOU MEAN? AREN’T YOU HAPPY?]
[Well, yeah. Kei will be here soon, so I’m happy about that]
[And this debacle with Kenma seems to be over as well]
[That's the thing. I don't trust him enough to think it’s over]
[DO YOU THINK HE’D TRY AGAIN?]
[Honestly, I don’t know what to think. I just don’t trust him anymore]
[If there’s anything we can do, let us know, okay?]
[Thanks Akaashi. I appreciate it]

Taking a deep breath, he rose from the sofa, unlocked the front door, and then went into the kitchen. The water for the somen was boiling, so he dumped the noodles in the pot, and then filled a large bowl with ice and water. While the noodles cooked, he took the pickled veggies out of the fridge, as well as the tea. With just enough time to spare, he set the table, and then turned back to stir the noodles, and check their doneness.

“Just a couple more minutes, I think,” he mumbled, stirring them again before making sure the dipping sauce was also on the table.

He’d just finished rinsing the noodles, when his phone chimed with a notification, and he heard the sound of a car door slamming shut. His heart raced; Kei was here. Draining the noodles, he left them in the colander over the bowl, and dried his hands. At that time, Kei had rushed into the house, and skidded to a stop a few feet away from him.

And then, it happened. Seeing Kei standing there, really standing there and not just his memories and imagination working against him, was enough to trigger the tears. Tetsuro had worked hard to keep it all together, to be strong for both of them, but just seeing the person he loved most in this world… and he was falling to pieces. Kei quickly wrapped him up in his arms, murmuring that everything would be okay, that he was here, and that he loved him. Tetsuro couldn't care less what else was happening around him. His entire world was in his arms, and nothing else mattered.

[Letting Go]

“What can I do?” Akiteru asked quietly from the doorway. He was holding Kei’s bag in his hands, his own small bag slung over his shoulder, and trying not to intrude.

Kei quickly scanned the kitchen, seeing that Tetsu had nearly finished making somen. All that needed doing was to serve the noodles. But that could wait. He tried to move a bit to look behind him at his brother, but Tetsu wasn’t having it.

“You can put my bag in our room, which is just down the hall, first door on the right,” he instructed softly, leaning his head on Tetsu’s. “The guest room is a little further down, on the left. The bathroom is at the end.”

“Right,” Akiteru replied, moving toward the hall. “I saw a convenience store down the road. I need to pick up a few things, okay?”

“Okay. Thank you,” Kei said, knowing his brother was giving them some space and privacy.

When Akiteru came back after dropping off the bags in their respective places, he came back into the kitchen. “I’ll be back in a little while, okay? Save some dinner for me.” Kei nodded, and Akiteru put a hand on Tetsu’s shoulder and squeezed it. Then, he left.

“S-sorry,” Tetsu muttered after a while.

“It’s okay. I’m just glad I could be here for you.”

Tetsu leaned back to look at him. The tears had stopped, at least for now, but his face was ruddy and eyes were red. He was a mess. A handsome mess, but still… Kei reached up to gently caress his face, wiping away the remains of his tears.

“How did you know I needed you?”

“I didn’t, not exactly,” Kei said carefully, trying to find the right words. “I knew that, no matter the outcome, this was going to tear you up, and I couldn’t be there for you. Akiteru is the one who came up with the ‘family emergency’ idea. Though, to be honest, I really just needed to be with you.”

“Family emergency, huh?” A glimmer of a smile played on Tetsu’s face.

“Well, yeah, duh. Mom considers you her middle son; Akiteru loves having another little brother. And we won’t even mention the extended adopted family of cousins, uncles, and a couple of proverbial granddads.”

Tetsuro smiled. “And you? What part of the family am I for you?”

Kei smirked, his eyes alight with mirth. “The super annoying one, who I could never avoid, even if I wanted to.”

“Oh ho ho! Rude! Think I’ll have to come up with some sort of penalty for that.”

“Oh come on. You know I love you even more than I am annoyed by you… Which is a lot.”

Both of them stared at each other, trying to look serious, but absolutely failing in that endeavor. Tetsuro snorted, which set them both off, laughing like crazy.

Eventually, as they started calming down, both leaned in for a kiss. It began gentle and hushed; a token of comfort and reaffirmation of their love. It steadily grew into something heated, passionate. As if they were putting everything of themselves behind this kiss.

When it ended, they pulled apart enough to catch their breath, but still remained in each others’ arms.

“Will you help me with something?” Tetsuro asked quietly.

“Of course,” Kei answered. “But don’t you think we should eat first?”

“Hungry, are you?” his eyes glimmered with laughter and heat, his hands had crept up under Kei’s shirt and he gently ran his hand along his abdomen.

“Yes,” Kei replied to both the spoken question, and the implied one. “But you just asked me for my help, and I’m sure neither of us has eaten anything in a while.”

Tetsuro exhaled and buried his face in Kei’s neck. “Right. Food first.” He raised his head and looked into Kei’s eyes. “When is Akiteru supposed to come back?”

“No telling,” Kei replied. “Could be a few minutes, or a few hours. He left to give us time alone. We should leave him some of your somen, though.”

“Will do. Is he staying the night?”

Kei shrugged. “I don’t know. He might, or he might also leave after a few hours’ sleep. He’ll pick me up Sunday night, too.”

“So soon.”

“Yeah, well, we still have school and practice, so even if we hate being apart, we have to do it.”

“Right.”

Finally letting go of one another, Tetsuro made sure the noodles weren’t sticking to each other, and then served them both some somen. Kei praised his cooking, and ate more than he typically did, especially the pickled veggies. Since Tetsu hadn’t thought too far ahead concerning something sweet, they added a little sugar to their tea, and went to their room.

“So, what do you need my help with?” Kei asked as he sat on the bed.

“Not so much anything physically, but more just being there. Make sense?”

“Sure. But what are you going to do?” he asked as Tetsu sat at his desk and booted up his laptop.

At first, there was no reply. Kei moved so that he could see his love’s face. There was such an expression of sadness, of grief, that he started to reach out to him. But Tetsu managed a smile, even as fresh tears began to fall.

“Something I probably should have done when I realized he wasn’t going to stop his ‘experiments.’” came the shaky, almost broken reply. “But how do you say goodbye to someone who was once your best friend? Your only friend?” There was a lengthy pause, and then he spoke again. “I thought I should say something, at least, and then cut all ties.”

Seeing Tetsu like this, Kei felt his eyes prickle with tears, too. But he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Do you have to cut them all at once?”

“If I left anything open to him, he could use that to try all over again. I don’t trust him. I can’t trust him not to do that.” He started opening all his social media accounts, and his email. “Besides, I still have to see him at school, and would have to interact with him, so I think cutting off everything else would be best.”

“Right.” Kei settled back on the bed, grabbed up a pillow, and hugged it close. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Slowly, but steadily, he blocked Kenma from each of his accounts, and changed the privacy settings. It wouldn’t take long for him to find out what happened, but then, it wasn’t really going to be much of a surprise, either. Once he finished up there, he made a single post on each account:

You have to let people go. Everyone who’s in your life is meant to be in your journey. But not all of them are meant to stay till the end.

He closed each account and then turned to his email to Kenma.

Saying goodbye is the hardest solution to any problem. But sometimes it’s the only choice we have. I never thought this would happen. We were best friends for so long, but I guess sometimes, even those types of friendships can come to an end. It’ll take some time to get used to the idea of not being friends. I don’t hate you. I don’t think I ever could. I’m sad, disappointed, maybe even a little angry, but I don’t hate you. I guess what I’m saying is… goodbye, Kenma. I wish you well.

Making sure it was as close to perfect as it could get, Tetsuro finally sent the email, shut down the webpage, and closed his laptop. It was close to 2am. Looking over at Kei, he smiled tenderly. His love had laid down and slipped under the covers, still hugging the pillow he’d grabbed earlier. He got up from the desk, and joined Kei in bed, wrapping his arms around the one he loved.