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Takumi asked him to run, and Eito… well, he ran.
He saw him standing in the doorway to his cage and took his hand. Followed him out of the academy's front doors with a backpack full of supplies and now finds himself trailing behind Takumi just outside the wall of flames.
And all because Takumi wanted to fight back agaisnt humanity. He wanted to stop this sick invasion once and for all, and he wanted Eito's help to do it.
At least, this is what he said back at his cage. Eito had questions, of course, but he saved them for later, which has become now. Questions about the academy, the others, the undying flames boy, of Sirei and their future. Things that he probably would have thought about before actually following through with this.
Well, that all hardly mattered now. Eito follows behind Takumi as closely as he can stand to and clears his throat.
"I trust you have a plan," he says, "or are we walking aimlessly until you think of one?"
He watches Takumi's shoulders tense for a moment before he glances over his shoulder towards Eito, who only smiles as if they were on a delightful stroll through a park and not the rubble of a destroyed civilization.
"I have— an idea of a plan," Takumi responds, after a few moments of quiet walking, "I'm still working out the details."
What a Takumi thing to say. Eito,in the time that he's come to known their glorious team leader, has picked up on his language pretty well. Translation: I don't have a plan, but don't worry! I'll figure one out at the very last minute.
Of course. Eito knew this little "defection" was too good to be true. If Takumi really wanted to fight against humanity like he claimed, he should have at least let Eito continue with his own plans, considering he knew them already. Even the ones he hasn't come up with yet. With an accomplice, Eito could have gotten rid of the rest of the SDU before the 100 day deadline, although— ah. That had to be it.
"This brilliant plan of yours…" Eito says, keeping his gaze up towards the clear sky, "It involves eventually convincing the others to join our side, I assume? Is that why you insisted we run away?" He shifts his eyes towards Takumi, watching for a reaction as he asks, "To keep them safe?"
From me, he doesn't say. It didn't need to be said. Eito can read Takumi like a book, and isn't surprised by the way he works his jaw and refuses to look at Eito. Disappointment bleeds through his chest but he tries not to let it seep too far, only allowing himself to sigh as they continue to walk in silence.
They get a good distance away from the wall of flames before Takumi suggests they rest for the night. Shelter is abundant in the city ruins, as dilapitated as they are, and they duck into what looks to be an old grocery store. The shelves are a mess and whatever food may have been left behind was either taken or had gone past bad by then.
It'll do. Eito is only grateful to take a break and try for sleep. The air is easier to breathe out here, even if he's sharing it with the slab of reeking flesh sitting across from him in the toiletry aisle.
Takumi breaks out a few cans of sliced peaches. Eito takes one and gulps down the juice before biting into the fruit.
"My plan…" Takumi starts, after a while of silence, "How do you feel about traveling?"
"Traveling."
"Yes. Across Futurum."
"We're on the run for defecting from the SDU," Eito says slowly, "and you want to road trip across the planet."
Eito wishes he could control the bite in his tone but he can't. He finds he can't really control himself when it comes to Takumi. The urge to jam his spoon into his eye until he's a bloody mess sits at the forefront of his mind.
"We are on the run now," says Takumi, "Everyone is bound to notice we're gone in the morning, and I doubt Sirei will let us go that easily. We should put as much distance between us and them as possible first."
When he puts it that way, it does make sense. Eito can admit that. The first thing he did when he escaped was run until he found an invader base, far from campus and away from any chance of an SDU member finding him (though it wasn't as if they were very keen on searching for him, were they?).
"Alright. We run." Eito levels Takumi with an expectant look. "Then what?"
And there is it: Takumi looks away and scratches at his face. He doesn't know. "We'll… figure it out."
Eito could kill him. He should, really. Save himself from a life spent following half-made plans and surviving off of canned food.
At the very least, he should get up and leave. Going back to campus was obviously out, and who knows if he'd be tolerated with the invaders again, so that only left option C: survive on his own for as long as he can. Which he could do, if he really had to. It'd be better that way. Eito wouldn't have to look at anyone's disgusting mug and swallow back vomit every few moments. Isolation was a friend to him, by now. He'd learned to live in it.
Get up, he tells himself. Set the can of peaches down and walk off. Leave Takumi behind and try to ignore the sound of his voice as he asks you to stay, like nails on a chalkboard. Look away from the pleading look in his bulging eyes and move on.
"Besides," Takumi's voice is soft when he speaks, soft enough to make Eito look up from the peaches he'd been glaring at, "don't people usually travel for their honeymoon?"
Get up, he tells himself again. Get up and leave. Get up and leave this ugly thing behind, talking about honeymoons and proposals and looking at him like— like he cares—
"Honeymoon?" Eito says instead, '"Aren't you jumping the gun here? I haven't even agreed to your proposal."
"You—!" Takumi's face breaks into a flush. It's almost cute, especially as he jabs his spoon in his direction and says, "You agreed to come with me, you took my hand!"
"I agreed to leave the academy with you, but I don't remember vowing to follow you wherever you went. In fact, I don't remember there being vows at all!"
Takumi's flush only grew brighter in the darkness of the store they found themselves in. "Well, if you want some so bad, just— give me some time. You can't rush this kind of stuff."
Eito should leave. He should leave before he grows endeared to this ugly thing promising to write him proper wedding vows as if they were actually getting married. Which was absurd, they're too young, and there's a war to consider, and the fact that they're now on the run from a team of super soldiers who might not hesitate to kill them now.
So Eito really should leave.
Instead, he chews on a spoonful of sliced peaches and says, "A month."
"Huh?"
"We have about a month before the 100th day, yes? So I'm giving you a month to write them. And I'll be writing my own, of course. It's only fair."
Takumi only gapes at him with that dumb, wide-eyed look he's so prone to falling into. A bit too much like a deer caught in headlights.
But he doesn't object, and he doesn't say much else besides a mumbled, "fine, a month," before finishing off his can of fruit. Eito does the same, though he can't help but scrunch his nose at the sweetness of the peaches.
When they eventually decide to sleep for the rest of the night, it's Takumi that settles next to Eito. They aren't close enough to touch, and Takumi doesn't even face him as he lays on the ground next to him, but it makes Eito's stomach turn all the same. It keeps turning and turning until it feels as if something were fluttering inside of his gut.
Butterflies?
He folds his glasses and sets them down harder than necessary.
Unlike in the few romance novels he's read (shoved into his arms by Karua, he'd swear up and down), Takumi does not wake up cuddling against Eito's chest. He wakes up the same as he usually does, sprawled on his back, if only a little sore.
Eito had curled into himself like a cat sometime during the night. Takumi hesitates to wake him, but the sun is rising and the SDU must have noticed they were gone by now. Sirei's probably blowing his top and combing through whatever footage he can find of their escape last night.
Let him, decides Takumi. If they keep on their path, they'll be too far gone to reach by this afternoon.
He stretches and yawns and gives Eito's shoulder a gentle shake.
Bedhead, he thinks, should not look so attractive.
It's a brief thought, one he's quick to push away as he stands and puts a bit more distance between the two of them. Eito sits up, rubs at his eyes, and looks around.
He grimaces when his eyes land on Takumi, which— right. He probably looks like some kind of monster to him, even now. Running away won't suddenly cure his condition. But the disgust on his face is interrupted by a yawn.
"So it wasn't a dream, after all," he murmurs, slipping his glasses back onto his face.
"You dream about me?" Takumi asks, and completely understands the empty can that's thrown at his stomach.
They continue moving further south of the academy. They've agreed to keep any violence towards whatever invaders they come across to a minimum, considering they aren't really invaders. Their armor is only on in case of an emergency: what if someone did manage to find them? What if they'd been followed this whole time? Scenarios that were, frankly, a bit on the paranoid side but at this point anything is possible. Their existences are already something out of a sci-fi novel.
And as they move, Takumi realizes that Futurum is still rather beautiful.
Time continues to march on past the death and destruction of war, manifesting in weed-ridden sidewalks and rotting food in empty supermarkets. Abanoned cars and buses litter the streets they pass through and Takumi almost suggests hotwiring one to take on the road, make this a genuine roadtrip getaway, but neither of them really know how to hotwire a car.
"I don't know how to drive, either," Eito says, "Do you?"
"I…" Takumi shifts from foot to foot. Do those practice laps he did in an empty parking lot with his dad count if they never really happened? "Not really, I guess."
"Looks like we're walking, then."
Takumi's hand rests on the hilt of his sword from where it's sheathed. He drums his fingers against it and glances at Eito's own weapon.
"Is it heavy?" he asks.
Eito looks back at the blade curved behind him. "What, the scythe?"
Takumi nods. "If you get tired, I can carry it for you."
The look he recives is an odd mix between amused and scathing. It's something only Eito could pull off, really.
"Is this your equivalent of carrying my books to class?" Eito coos, but it's much too mocking and his voice takes on an unnaturally saccharine tone, "How sweet, Takumi-senpai. Maybe next we can eat lunch together on the roof!"
He immediately regrets offering. Eito drops the act with a scoff, swinging the giant thing around like it was feather-light.
"I've gotten used to the weight. But if I really need a break, I'll be sure to let my fiancé know."
The smile he gives is too sugary to be genuine. Takumi knows this, but he still can't help but warm at that little word.
Fiancé. Even if Eito doesn't mean it— yet, anyway— he still used the word. He's still thinking about the word, about them.
Takumi could slap himself. Their situation is too dire for him to be acting like some schoolgirl with a crush.
They travel for a majority of the day, passing through collapsed buildings and structures that Takumi could only imagine what they were used for. Some sort of urban area, considering all of the towering buildings and signal lights and wrecked vehicles. Not unlike the Tokyo Residential Complex.
He wonders if the SDU has even sent out a search party, until that makes him think about Nozomi and he quickly shuts down that train of thought before it crashes. Tonight's dinner is sliced pineapple, so he tries to focus on that instead. The juice is sweet and slightly tart when he drinks it down.
"Someone was hungry," Eito comments.
Takumi realizes he probably tore through his can to avoid thinking about Nozomi and the others. He tries for a smile, knowing it probably comes out too forced and too mechanical.
After a few more moments of silence, Eito holds his can of pineapples out, still half-full.
"Take it," he says, "I'm not a fan of them."
"But won't you be hungry?"
Eito's face twists into that scathing-amused look he gave earlier when Takumi made an idiot of himself. It's an emotion uniquely Eito, he thinks, and he resolves to give it a proper name at some point. But for now, his expression softens a tiny fraction and he pushes the can into Takumi's hand.
"You don't know the first thing about relationships," he mutters, frowning as he settles down onto the ground for bed.
Takumi, for once, doesn't argue. He brings the rim of the can to his lips and sips at the sweet pineapple juice and tries not to think about Eito's mouth touching this same spot.
Their impromptu honeymoon continues that way for another week. They wake up, eat a canned breakfast, walk for who knows how many miles, find a spot to sleep, eat another canned meal, and sleep. All things considered, it's not the worst plan Takumi could have come up with. Eito considers outrageous ideas, like joining V'ehxness' forces and storming the SDU or even forming some sort of rebellion force on their own, but he never gets very far in either scenario. Too many things could go wrong; dying being the main worst case scenario.
The weather cools the longer they stray from familiar sights. There's what looks to be a residential area up ahead, the streets lined with houses and cracked sidewalks and destroyed streetlights, and that is where they decide to camp out for the night.
"How far do you think we've gone?" asks Takumi, ducking under the collapsed entryway and over debris before turning back to offer Eito his hand. It's surprisingly sweet, maybe even charming, but Takumi has always been those things and more. Plenty more. That's what attracts so many people to him, after all.
Eito ignores his hand. He steps further into the small house and finds the kitchen mostly intact. "Can't say for sure. I'd like to hope we're far enough that no one will think to look here."
Takumi floats from room to room while Eito searches the cabinets and drawers. He finds two cans of corn among rotten food and adds them to their stash. They're a welcome change from the usual fruit and green beans.
"Looks like a family lived here." Takumi calls from one of the rooms.
Eito hums. "Well, we are in a neighborhood."
Still, he goes off to find his runaway accomplice in one of the rooms furthest inside the house. It's remained mostly intact, save for the cracks webbing from the doorway to the cieling. The furniture, all various shades of blue, is still standing and the bed is completely intact, just dusty. Toys and books line the shelves and bookcases against the walls, miraculously untouched by war.
Eito's boots press onto the fuzzy rug in the middle of the room, just feet away from Takumi. He looks at something in his hands for a moment before setting it back onto the shelf he found it on— a picture frame. Whoever this room belonged to now sits in that frame, flanked by who Eito could only guess are his parents.
Takumi turns towards the bed. "It'd be nice to sleep on something other than the ground, don't you think?"
He isn't wrong. Still, Eito says, "That's a child's bed. You can't expect it to fit the both of us comfortably."
"It's not that small." Takumi brushes a bit of debris from the mattress before flopping onto it, sending dust flying. It tickles Eito's nose until he sneezes. "Oh— sorry. Gesundheit."
Eito sniffs indignantly, but sets his scythe against one of the walls anyway. Honestly, he's too tired of sleeping on cold, hard floors to keep up a real argument and the allure of a bed, as ratty as it is, is enough to keep his disgust at bay.
They eat before settling down for the night. There's only one window next to the bed and Takumi insists Eito take that side, popping it open to let the night breeze in. It helps with the smell somewhat, but at this point, Eito knows they both reek.
"We've got to find somewhere to wash up," he mutters, running a hand through his greasy hair with a grimace, "I smell almost as bad as you do."
"There should be a river or creek somewhere nearby. I doubt the water works in any of these houses."
Eito nearly groans. "A hot shower sounds heavenly right now."
"Or a bath…"
"You're a bath person?"
"Is that so weird? I liked going to hot springs when I was growing up— er…" Next to him, Takumi rolls onto his back, eyes trained on the cieling. Eito stays on his side, facing the window. "Well, you know what I mean."
"Mm."
It's quiet for another few moments. Neither of them wanted to approach the topic of their entire livelihoods being one big lie, and Eito is grateful for Takumi's willingness to leave it alone. It seems as though he hasn't quite worked through it either, but it's almost an impossible task. Just the thought made his blood start to boil, hands twitching into fists against the bed. As if there were any chance he'd stay and fight for humanity when they've gone and ruined his life from the very beginning.
The glow from the artificial satellite pours in through the window. Eito fixes his glare on the thing, convinced that if he stared hard enough, it'd burst into flames.
Something shifts next to him. "You still awake?"
Eito is tempted to stay silent and pretend, but instead he sighs and says, "Hard to sleep when I'm this close to an ogre like you."
"Right. Well, you're the one who agreed to run away with an ogre to begin with, so…" He shfits again, now laying on his side to face Eito. It puts him that much closer to him and Eito has to fight off the flurry of butterflies in his stomach as well as the bile rising in his throat in a horrible combination. He doesn't want Takumi's touch and at the same time can't help but want it. Eito wants a lot of things. He's known nothing but wanting, but this— this is a different type of want. It terrifies him.
And it's even more terrifying when Takumi asks, "Why did you come with me?"
Eito squeezes his eyes shut. Maybe he should have pretended to be asleep, after all.
It's complicated, he wants to say. It's complicated and you make it so complicated that I don't know whether to kill you or kiss you.
And knowing Takumi, his ugly face would twist up in a terrible flush over the word "kiss," and he'd stutter and fumble through some weak comeback and… Eito's chest would warm and he'd be endeared all over again.
He's cursed, he thinks. Cursed to a miserable life and cursed to be in love with someone as nauseatingly stupid as Sumino Takumi.
"No one else was going to leave with you," he says instead, "as loyal as they claimed to be, none of them were willing to follow their own leader. Even when they knew the truth."
"I don't blame them. They're scared." Takumi's voice shrinks a little. "I'm scared. Aren't you?"
"Of course I am. But I'd rather find a way to fight back than stay another minute there fighting for the monsters who ruined my life. All of our lives."
His shoulders had started shaking somewhere during his sentence. He wouldn't have noticed were it not for a careful, gentle press against his back. Takumi's palm, he guesses, if he could register what another person's hand felt like.
Despite the inherent urge to pull away, Eito forces himself to stay put and accept the gesture. He waits for his clothes to dampen and sog from the slimy touch but it never comes.
Takumi's hand is just a hand.
His shoulders shake a bit more. The artificial satellite blurs with the night sky.
"Thank you," Takumi says softly, "for coming with me, Eito."
Takumi makes it a priority to find somewhere to wash up after that night.
They both wake up a bit more refreshed after spending the night in an actual bed, but Eito is right: they're in dire need of a shower. Luckily, Eito manages to find soap and shampoo from one of the houses in that same neighborhood and Takumi wanders far enough into the woods surrounding it and finds a lake.
Eito hands him a towel as they stand along the shore in their plain clothes. When he shucks off his coat and shoes, Takumi looks away.
"You're kidding." Eito sounds halfway to a laugh behind him. "You've gone modest, now?"
And as if to spite him, Eito tosses more articles of clothing past him. His shirt, his gloves, his pants, his…
Takumi shakes himself out of it and yanks his hoodie over his head.
The water splashes as Takumi takes a dip, and while it isn't warm like a hot spring, it's just what they need to properly clean themselves up.
"Are you worried I'd jump your bones?" Eito asks with two hands scrubbing at his scalp. His eyes are closed so he can't see the flush that spreads from Takumi's face down to his neck, and he can't see Takumi's eyes wandering down his back, following soap bubbles sliding down muscle and skin. "Cognitive fluke or not, you still look and smell disgusting to me."
He rinses his hair and so he still can't see the frown on Takumi's face. "I'm not worried. Just trying to be polite is all."
And he really isn't worried. If Eito wanted to do something, Takumi doesn't think he would stop him. He wouldn't want to. And that— that's new. Or not really new, but he's thinking about it instead of ignoring it so it's still technically new.
He dunks his head underwater just as Eito finally opens his eyes. Whatever. Whatever.
"Well, aren't I lucky to have such a good, pious fiancé."
Eito's voice is sarcastic even underwater. Takumi makes a fist as he resurfaces and manages to squirt water right in Eito's face. It's an old trick he learned— or thought he learned, anyway— while swimming with Karua growing up. Those trips to the beach were good for something after all, even if they were made up.
Takumi only gets a moment to simper before he's splashed in the face with water. He sputters and coughs but Eito is smiling so he splashes back, and it starts an all-out fight. It's hardly one that needs the revive-o-matic but they're still thoroughly tuckered out by the time the water stills and the sun is low in the sky.
"I haven't… played in the water like that since I was a kid," Takumi says as he catches his breath, "And even then, all Karua wanted to do was play mermaids."
Eito fixes his gaze on the horizon, and the sun beginning to set on it. They swam deep enough into the lake to tread during their impromptu water fight, though Takumi still needs to crane his neck when he looks at Eito. He hadn't really realized how tall he is until now. "I've never done that before. That was… that was fun."
He smiles at Takumi as he says fun, and Takumi nearly forgets to keep his feet moving underwater. Fun. He wasn't sure Eito knew how to have fun in a way that didn't involve harming others in some way.
But that isn't fair. Takumi never really tried getting to know Eito after those first one hundred days, did he? It was staight to the cage until he got out and when he came back, it wasn't any different.
And Eito still chose to run away with him. Despite everything. He said it only had to do with his hatred for humanity, but maybe… maybe…
Takumi could say something. Something incredibly cheesy— "well, as your fiancé, I'll make sure you have fun for the rest of our lives together!"— and something that he knows might get him drowned. He almost says it, just to see Eito roll his eyes or scoff or frown or even splash him with water again.
"C'mon," he says instead, nodding towards the shoreline, "we should eat something and head out."
They re-dress only to change back into their armor. It's safer this way, and with all the noise they made Takumi wonders what or who they might have attracted. But it's been days and nobody has found them yet, so he allows himself to relax as they walk back to the neighborhood they found yesterday. Just one more night in a bed, he reasons, so we can cover more ground tomorrow.
Eito doesn't argue. Now that he's clean and tired from all that time in the lake he's more agreeable, even content with their canned meal that night. Takumi thinks of a way to fish or set up traps for animals as they eat. They can't survive off of canned food forever.
When they finally get to bed, he lays facing away with Eito.
"I'll try to make everyday as fun as today," he says, "for as long as we're together."
It's a bit easier to say like this, but only a bit. Behind him, Eito stays silent for a few moments before Takumi can hear the smile in his voice and the chiding in his tone.
"Stupid Takumi," he sighs, on the way to sleep, "save something for your vows."
Takumi tells him of his plan to set up traps for animals. Eito thinks it's stupid, but goes along with it anyway.
"Why not just fish?" he asks, watching Takumi tie and re-tie some rope into a knot— which doesn't look as if it'll do much to trap an animal, but Eito digresses. He doesn't know enough about hunting to say otherwise.
Besides, it's incredibly entertaining. Takumi pushes hair out of his face and readjusts his grip on the rope. "Do you wanna try putting together a fishing pole?"
"Not particularly." Eito hums, looks off into forest they're in, and looks back at Takumi. He's made no progress on the trap but he's stubborn. Too stubborn to give up and admit he might be in over his head about this "trapping" idea.
And he'll never admit it. They're alike in that regard, Eito thinks. Strange, considering he used to hate the idea of being anything like someone as ugly and awful as Takumi.
It's… different now. He doesn't dwell too long on it.
"Are you sure you're doing it right?" he asks instead.
Takumi holds out the rope indignantly. "If you think you could do it better, then be my guest, Aotsuki."
"We're back to surnames, now? Give me that."
He winds the rope over itself a few times, the same as tying a shoe. Takumi crosses his arms from where he's squatted next to Eito and frowns. "That's what I was doing. You don't know what you're doing, either."
"Of course I don't, dummy, I've never been hunting before," Eito snapped, before muttering just under his breath, "I doubt a rabbit would fall for such a dumb thing, anyway."
Takumi stands with a huff, planting his hands on his hips. "At least I'm trying to get us food that isn't from a can!"
He looks more like a disgruntled housewife than a soldier. Eito's frustration from moments before melts at the sight. This situation is silly, and he knows that Takumi knows it's silly, even if he's acting as if this were the most important thing in the world. The most noble thing in the world, trapping an animal to roast and share with his fiancé. Some old-fashioned breadwinning, as it were.
Eito dusts his hands off and stands up. "Wow," he says, "Is this our first fight? Over something as stupid as your knot-tying skills?"
Takumi's face, fleshy and bulbous and terrifying, scrunches up in the middle. His nose, Eito guesses. That only happens when he frowns. But he sounds a bit calmer when he asks, "Do our other literal fights don't count?"
"Those were before we started going steady. Of course they don't count."
"Going—" Takumi makes a noise somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. He's a little pink when he asks, "Do you have to phrase it like that?"
There it is. Eito can't help the satisfaction that blossoms in his chest, as horrifying as it is. But even more distressing is seeing this gross blob of muscle and bone upset.
"Do you prefer courting?" Eito asks, coy and coquettish as he nears Takumi, "That sounds a bit more romantic. I think I like that more, actually. Courting. And with the intent of marriage—"
Something wrinkly presses against his mouth— cloth, thankfully. Takumi stands in front of him with his hand outstretched, covering Eito's mouth with a furious flush on his cheeks.
"Do you ever stop talking?" he says.
Takumi isn't mad anymore, so Eito takes advantage of his improved mood and bites his palm. The ow! he gets in response is delightful.
Eito is the one to reach for his hand first.
Takumi is almost too shocked and dumbfounded to react right away. It's a few moments before he snaps out of it and Eito yanks him out of the way of an invader attack. Well, it wasn't so much an attack as it was a little swipe. The invader is one of the smaller ones, holding its spear with trembling limbs.
Eito's grip loosens but Takumi squeezes his hand before slotting their fingers together, leading the both of them away from the invader. No use bothering with it.
"I don't think it'll follow us," Takumi says, "we probably just scared it."
Eito hums next to him. "At least it was just one."
"First one we've seen in a while…"
He can't help but think about the others. Has there been any more attacks? Has V'ehxness killed anyone else? It's so easy to spiral. Too easy. Guilt starts gnawing at him at the thought of anything happening to the SDU and it's— exasperating. They may be traitors now but that doesn't just erase the time they've had together.
Takumi realizes how quiet he's gone when Eito speaks up. "You're making an uglier face than usual," he says, before his voice drops off into a murmur, "That's hardly the type of expression to wear when you're holding my hand."
He'd almost forgotten. Takumi starts to apologize and pull away but he's quickly stopped.
"It's fine. I can handle this much." Eito keeps their hands together with a tight grip. Takumi's stomach flops over itself and it's a mighty effort to control the flush on his face. Eito's hand is big against his and it only makes him think of the rest of him and how big that is too, especially as he towers over him and smiles. "Consider this exposure therapy for my sake."
So they keep holding hands and it's… nice. Takumi's stomach doesn't settle down even after the initial adrenaline wears off and their conversation turns more mundane. They navigate through more city ruins and it's almost easy to picture this a little differently. Instead of ruins, a busy city. People, Futurans, walking from place to place, cars and buses lining the streets and the two of them in the middle of it all.
Eito idly swings their hands and Takumi wonders if they could have that. If they really go through with this— whatever this is turning out to be— could they have a normal life like that? Could everything and everyone go back to how they were before?
The road is blocked a little ways ahead. Eito suggests they go into one of the buildings nearby seeing as the sun is about to go down, and Takumi follows. It's mostly intact as they make their way up to the roof.
Takumi sucks in a breath when they reach the top. They aren't very high, but high enough to see the sprawling expanse of the area they'd just passed. Green overruns the ruins as nature slowly begins to take back what it lost when all of these buildings were built, and even the roof is crawling with vines and weeds sprouting between cracks in the ground.
"If we had a picnic blanket, it'd be a nice spot for a date," he says as he pops open their rations for the night. They're sitting on the edge of the roof, letting their legs dangle as they take in the view of whatever city this once was.
"A candlelight dinner, hm?" Eito huffs out a laugh. "You're pulling out all the stops. Are you that desperate to woo me?"
"Well, is it working?"
The silence they fall into is pleasant. A breeze brings a slight chill to the air as the sun disappears down the horizon and night settles in. The only light they have is from the artificial satellite, hanging in the sky like a constant reminder of their original purpose here.
Takumi can't help but stare at it. Maybe if he stared long enough, it'd turn into a normal moon. Like the ones Karua told him about. Something to help pull the waves and maintain gravity or whatever else she read about in her books.
"You're making that awful face again."
Eito doesn't sound as mean as his words are. If Takumi tries hard enough, he can pick up on the concern in his tone. It's slight, but it's there. When had that been a thing?
He sets his empty can of food down next to him and swings his legs as they dangle over the edge of the roof. They're out of their class armor for once, tired of wearing it so often and honestly, they were pretty convinced they were far enough from campus that no one would find them out here. One night in regular clothing wouldn't kill them. "I thought every face I made was ugly to you."
"Yes, but this one is particularly distressing," says Eito, "what are you thinking so hard about?"
Takumi finds one of the drawstrings to his hoodie and fiddles with it. "It's… hard not to think of the others at the academy. I keep wondering if anything's happened to them, like an attack, or if they're all dead, or…" He sighs, taking a moment before continuing. "I know you hated them, but we were all friends."
"That isn't true." Eito sets his empty can down, too. There's a retort on Takumi's tongue that dies when he says, "I didn't hate them. Shouma was kind to me. Tsubasa, too. And you—" He looks at Takumi with warmth and it almost knocks the wind clean out of his lungs. "You could have killed me, but you didn't."
"I couldn't," Takumi barely manages to whisper, "I couldn't kill you, Eito."
Not again, he doesn't say. He couldn't kill him again. He couldn't bear to drive his sword through his chest and feel his heart spasm around the blade. He couldn't stomach the thought of feeling his blood on his skin again.
"However you feel about it, you chose to let me live. Shouma and Tsubasa and even the others— you've all shown me more kindness that any human has. I can't help this disorder I was saddled with, but I can deal. I'm choosing to."
Eito is the one to reach for his hand again. His skin is warm through his glove.
"That was always the plan, right, Leader?" he smiles, "To go back. To convince the others to fight."
Takumi looks at him in a daze.
"I want to kiss you right now," he says, "really bad."
It's comical how quickly Eito's face drops. His eyes widen and his mouth goes slack, and he's so stupid pale that his flush practically glows in the dark.
His voice is strained when he finally speaks, "I don't think— I don't think I'd be able to stomach that. Yet."
Yet! Takumi could cartwheel across this rooftop. "Not even on the cheek?"
Eito groans. "Do you want me to puke on you?"
"Okay, okay!" Takumi laughs, giddiness filling him from the inside out. At least Eito didn't say he didn't want to kiss him. He only said yet. And what did he say earlier about exposure therapy? "Um… here, what about…"
He presses his fingertips to his own lips before reaching his hand out to press them to Eito's.
"There," Takumi says, cheeks hot, "we can work our way up to a kiss from that."
Eito blinks owlishly at him. "You're horrible," he croaks, "you can't— you can't do something so cute, Takumi-kun. I really might be sick."
They settle down for the night under the stars, using their jackets for pillows. Eito doesn't sleep facing away from him for once, so Takumi takes his hand and holds it until he falls asleep.
Takumi twitches under him for the fourth time.
"Hold still," Eito chides, "I'm almost done."
Takumi hisses as Eito pushes a needle through his skin and pulls the thread through. They're lucky he happened to read up on a few medical texts before he ran off the first time, and luckier still that they packed these supplies in case of such an emergency. Stitches were no easy feat, and without any anesthetic, Takumi just had to tough the pain out and bite onto his own fist.
"You said that," he takes in a shuddering breath, "ten minutes ago."
"Well, now I'm even closer to being done than I was ten minutes ago."
Behind him, the roar of the waterfall they found continues on. They crossed the river it let out to towards a thicket to try to look for something to eat that wasn't canned, syrupy fruit and Takumi got the bright idea to climb up one of the trees to look for a bird's nest. He made it up just fine, but getting down…
Eito doesn't think he'd ever moved that fast in his life. One moment Takumi was complaining over the lack of eggs in the nest he found and the next he was just— falling. His leg caught on a branch as he tumbled down and Eito barely made it in time before he cracked his skull. Still, the branch scraped him pretty badly. Eito couldn't help but grimace at the smell of blood and the sound of Takumi groaning in pain, like needles being pushed into his ears.
After another few moments, he cuts the thread and sits back, looking over his handiwork. It's not the cleanest set of sutures, but it'll do until this nasty gash heals up. "There we are. That wasn't so bad, right?"
His patient is teary-eyed when he looks up at Eito. And against his better judgement, Eito reaches out to brush a bit of hair matted to his face. He'd been sweating bullets.
"You've been through worse, Takumi-kun," he says, before frowning, "and you're lucky you only got a scrape. What if you broke your leg?"
Takumi juts his bottom lip out. "You wouldn't carry me?"
Eito pinches his cheek between his fingers and pulls until he gets a laugh out of him. "Obviously. I can't just leave my fiancé behind, now can I?"
"Yeah, well…" The redhead rubs at his cheek with little sigh, "I can't even find us any food. Or hunt, or fish, or…"
"Please. Are we living in the stone age? I'm not marrying you based on whether or not you're a good hunter."
He steps away to wash the needle and his hands in the river. Eito can't help but give himself a metaphorical pat on the back; he's getting better with touching. His tolerance has certainly built up more since they've set out on this little honeymoon trip, which is handy for situations like these. He doubts Takumi would have been able to do his own stitches without passing out.
His glasses slide down the top of his head as he bows over the river. They would have made that procedure more difficult had he kept them on. Wrong prescription, and all.
Eito slips them back on when he returns to Takumi. He's a little more blurry and less hideous with them on, but he can still make out the smile on his face as he looks up at him.
"You look good without them," he says, gesturing to his eyes, "the glasses."
"You think so?"
"Mhm. More grown-up. Handsome."
Eito busies himself with cleaning his wound to keep from squirming. He still smiles like a dope at the praise. "I take it I don't look as handsome with my glasses on, then?"
"No, you do. You've always been attractive. I like how you look in whatever you have on." Takumi leans forward a bit, matching the smile on Eito's face with a shy stretch of his lips. Eito's breath catches in his throat when he looks up, hand stuttering on his calf. "I just like you, Eito."
Unfair. Unfair unfair unfair, he isn't being fair. Eito nearly kicks and screams about it.
His stomach rolls as he lifts Takumi's leg at the same time he leans down, but he wills the nausea away for a moment. His lips press against the skin just next to the stitches.
And it isn't disgusting. It isn't wet, slimy, throbbing, pulsating— it's smooth. Prickly with hair, but soft. Like his own leg, like the rest of him.
"I like you, too," he confesses, soft against the rush of the waterfall behind them, "Takumi."
(He only has to dry-heave a few times afterwards. He counts this as a win.)
They find a beach far from the academy on the 90th day. The sand is white and the water is impossibly clear, and like that bedroom they found weeks ago, seemingly untouched by war.
It makes Takumi think of his childhood, or what was supposed to be his childhood: beach days with Karua and his parents on the weekends, packed lunches and sticky fingers from watermelon slices. Playing mermaids and racing and volleyball until the sun went down, then being carried to the car in his dad's arms.
So he suggests they spend the day there. Eito doesn't even try to hide his excitement at the idea.
"I've never been to a beach," he says, unzipping his jacket before shrugging it off, "The idea of being surrounded by so many people always made me sick. But I've always wanted to try making a sandcastle."
It's more work to construct one without the help of a pail, but they manage to build a fortress of sand, complete with a mote surrounding it. Takumi finds a thin stick with a leaf sprouting from the top and uses that as the fortress' flag.
"And the prince finds the princess sleeping in the castle," he says.
"He has to fight the dragon first. It breathes fire and flies."
"Well, he has a sword. He throws it right through its heart and—"
"How can he throw it that far? That's unrealistic." Eito rolls his eyes. "And stupid."
"What— but the dragon isn't unrealistic? They're not even real. And it's a little unfair that it can fly."
"It's a dragon, it has to fly."
"It doesn't have to."
"Does too."
"Does not!"
Their debate gets so heated they take to the ocean to race it out. And that turns into a splash fight which turns into a breath-holding contest (which Eito easily beats him at) until they've forgotten what they were even debating about in the first place. Something about dragons and princes, Takumi thinks as they stand along the shore. The tide laps at their ankles, foamy and soft.
Eito takes his hand again. He isn't wearing his gloves, and his skin is wet with ocean water.
"Go on a walk with me?" he asks.
Their feet leave wet footprints behind as they walk aimlessly, slowly, towards the sun low in the sky. Night would come soon and bring a chill with it. They ought to find somewhere to sleep soon.
Soon, though. Right now, Takumi looks up at Eito and asks, "Have you thought about what you want to do after all of this?"
Had this been a few months ago, he'd have asked what he wanted to do when they got back to the artificial satellite. Back home, as it were. But now…
Eito hums, breathing in the smell of salt and sea. He turns his eyes towards the ocean that seems to stretch on forever, Takumi following his gaze. After a moment, he says, "I think I could try being a writer. I've always liked reading. It's all I did as a kid."
"What would you write about?"
"Maybe a history on the war. Something of a memoir, even. I could write about the SDU, and what went on between humanity and Futurum…"
Takumi chuckles. "Sounds like a lengthy book. There's a lot you could say about the SDU."
"You could help me write it, then," he turns back to Takumi and squeezes his hand, "What about you? What do you want to do?"
"I… don't really know," he confesses, "I guess the only thing on my mind before was getting back to my parents and Karua, but it's different now. It's kind of scary, actually. Not knowing what to do." He gives another little laugh, trying to make light of the conversation he started in the first place. "And now there's no home to go even go back to."
Takumi considers kicking himself. This isn't how a romantic afternoon beach stroll is supposed to go. The ocean is beautiful, the sky is beautiful, Eito is beautiful, and Takumi is only bringing the mood down.
"Now that isn't true," Eito says, tugging at Takumi's hand until he looks at him, "you have everyone at the academy. You have me." He brings their hands to his lips and presses a kiss to the Takumi's knuckles, "We'll always wait for you."
He feels heat rush to his face in seconds. He wants to throw himself into the ocean to cool off but can only manage to barely keep himself upright on weak knees. Eito's eyes are pretty, and just like when he was stitching him up, his stare is intense. It's always been intense, even when they were at each other's throats, and he almost can't tell the difference— it makes him shiver all the same. All of Eito draws him in. His eyes pull him under and he's lost to the rest of him like a sailor at sea.
Takumi nearly forgets himself. He leans closer, and almost boosts himself up onto the tips of his toes until Eito's face goes pale.
He looks down and pulls his hand away with a gasp. Takumi watches as a small crab scuttles away from Eito and off into the water.
"That crawled over my foot," Eito says, pressing a hand over his chest, "I thought it was a bug or something."
Takumi doesn't fight the laugh that bubbles out of his chest. He'd never seen Eito so flustered. "I guess I'm going to be the one to kill the bugs in our place, aren't I?"
"Our place?"
Eito's eyes are on him as he squats down, digging into the wet sand until he finds a pretty white shell. Its ridges gleam with the setting sun and he runs his fingers over it. "I don't know all of what I want to do when this is all over, but I do know that we'll need a place to live together," Takumi gestures for Eito to join him near the shore and presses the shell into the palm of his hand, "Since we'll be married by then."
And Eito makes a funny face at that. He's always been rather expressive, but this is something new. Takumi can't quite put a name to it. The sound of the waves fill the silence between them for a few moments before Eito opens his mouth.
"I'm going to try something," he announces stiffly, "so just… close your eyes."
The eyes. It's the eyes, Eito thinks. Definitely. Maybe it's always been the eyes.
His eyes are his favorite part of Takumi. That's why he asks him to close them because he really doesn't think he can handle seeing them right now. Not when he's swallowing back all his anxiety and fear and leaning towards his face.
Eito doesn't know what he's doing. He likes to think he does, and a good 90% of the time he really does, but ever since leaving the academy… No, ever since meeting Takumi he's felt clueless.
And nowhere else does he feel more clueless than when it comes to romance.
So he doesn't know what he's doing when he presses his lips to Takumi's. He's never wanted to kiss anyone before now so he hadn't cared, and certainly hadn't gotten any practice. There was no need to.
But now—
Takumi goes stiff against him. Eito wonders if he's opened his eyes after all, but his are screwed shut so he can't see. He doesn't want to. He can't. He doesn't know what he'd do if he saw his eyes right now. Adrenaline keeps him in place, lips pursed and planted right against Takumi's when all he wants to do is run straight into the ocean with that stupid crab that interrupted their moment earlier.
He should pull away. He really doesn't know what to do beyond this. Move his head? Open his mouth? Use his tongue? How would that even work?
These questions go unanswered. Eito scrambles to plant a hand behind him to keep himself upright because Takumi is pressing back against him in the next moment. Hard.
Too hard. Eito falls backwards against the sand and Takumi doesn't leave him for a second, hardly giving him a chance for air before he's kissing him again, and again and again and Eito doesn't want it to stop. His stomach rolls and turns and tumbles but he keeps his lunch down long enough to reciprocate as best as he can, following Takumi's lead when he tilts his head this way and that. It feels a bit like a game of keep-up and Eito isn't one to lose so easily.
He realizes then that Takumi is on top of him. Crawled over him like that crab from earlier except Eito much prefers him to that little thing. They're still close to the shore and the tide is low enough that it only brushes against Eito's head and body, though that isn't what he's afraid of drowning in. Takumi kisses like a storm. Or what he'd always thought storms would feel like: hard, unrelenting, messy and passionate. It's filthy, it's disgusting, it's gross, gross, gross gross gross but he thinks he actually might die if they ever stopped.
Takumi settles his weight on his lap and Eito really thinks he might get swept up in everything that is Sumino Takumi. He's still clueless as hands card through his hair and cup his face, shell-shocked by how gentle it feels, but he somehow musters the courage to touch back. Skims his hands up Takumi's arms and shoulders until he's clutching at his hoodie with one hand while the other still holds the shell tight. If he were shirtless Eito would have worried about scarring. But he isn't, and Eito can wonder why that frustrates him later.
They're both pink in the face when they eventually part. Eito's mouth feels wet. Slimy is a more accurate word for it but it isn't completely stomach-churning. Takumi is staring at him with his pupils blown out wide and shiny lips, breathing as heavily as he does.
"Sorry," he blurts out, "I know— that was too much, wasn't it?"
Eito quickly shakes his head. "I'm okay. I think. Just a little nauseous."
Takumi makes to move off of his lap but Eito keeps him still. "I'm serious! I'm fine. Please don't move away."
"But your clothes are soaked, we should—"
A whine breaks from Eito's throat. "In a minute. Can't we keep going?"
The flush on Takumi's face darkens to a cherry-red. He doesn't try to move away again. His legs stay exactly where they sit on either side of Eito's lap, slotted against him like a puzzle piece. His weight is both comforting and invasive at once but entirely addicting. Eito really doesn't care about the waves soaking his hair and clothes. Takumi looks heavenly on top of him.
"You'll get sick," Takumi tries.
"I have you to nurse me back to health," Eito says, "and I'd do the same for you."
The ugly blob of muscle and bone on his lap makes a cute expression. What Eito imagines is his nose seems to scrunch up as he frowns. It makes the urge to kiss him again ten times worse. "We should still move."
Eito barely stifles a groan. "Why?"
"Because I'd like to go further than just kissing," Takumi practically snaps, all wound up into a ball of sexual frustration, "and I don't want sand or water getting into places where it shouldn't be."
Oh. Oh! Oh.
Eito's heart seems to soar. Excitement and anticipation mix with the nausea already in his stomach and he—
He scrambles to cover his mouth. Takumi seems to know what's coming and he clambers off of Eito's lap, giving him enough room to stumble and empty his guts a fair bit away from the shore.
Embarrassing is the only word he can think of as Takumi rubs his back through it all. How embarrassing.
"I was wondering when that would happen," he says apotogetically, "I should have… controlled myself better."
Wiping his mouth with the hem of his shirt, Eito shakes his head. "I'm very happy you didn't."
Takumi's face goes cherry-red again, but he doesn't frown like before. The corners of his lips twitch into a smile and he tugs Eito by the hand towards their infusers. "C'mon, let's get you dried up. We gotta find a spot to sleep for the night, too."
Sleep. Eito wonders if they'll really be sleeping at all.
They shouldn't rush. They have time. They have the rest of their lives to do this sort of thing all they want.
This is what Takumi tells himself in his head as Eito sucks on his tongue. He tells himself this and also can't help but think: thank god they brought their toothbrushes along.
There were tall houses along the beach the further down they went, held up by columns with staircases leading to the front doors. Abandoned, and most of them in disrepair from what they could only guess was the ocean itself. Hurricanes, Takumi remembered hearing Kaura say at one point. Tsunamis and monsoons, too. Ferocious storms too powerful for anything to withstand.
He doesn't think of Karua right now. He doesn't think of anything else but how good it finally felt to kiss Eito, how gratifying to pull him into his lap and tug at his clothes. Takumi had tossed his jacket aside before they even reached the couch they found, torn off somewhere in between Eito kissing him and pulling him towards the cushions. It's all a bit of a blur till this point; Eito is eager to pick up where they left off.
And that's satisying, too. Knowing Eito wants this just as bad, and for him to be the one to initiate it— Takumi pulls him closer just at the thought. Their difference in size doesn't go unnoticed, especially when Eito is trying to fit himself onto his lap like a dog still convinced it's a puppy. His jacket is off so Takumi can finally feel the muscle under his shirt for himself, squeezing and pinching everything and everywhere he can reach.
Eito gasps, gripping the back of the couch tight. "You're so— handsy."
"Sorry," Takumi loosens his grip for a moment, sheepish, "I'll let up."
"You're fine, dummy. You're really too nice." He shifts towards Takumi's temple and breathes in deep, inhaling salt and sea and sweat from earlier that day.
"Don't I… smell bad to you?" asks Takumi.
He recieves a hum in response. "You do," Eito says thoughtfully, "but it's strangely comforting. Familiar. I don't mind it anymore. Besides, it's something I ought to get used to if we're going to be living together."
Takumi's chest feels as though it's gotten an extra heart. There's too many heartbeats going too fast for his body to keep up with.
He takes a shaky breath.
"I know it's a little early," he says, "but I'd like to give my vows now."
Eito goes still for a moment. He draws back to look at Takumi properly. There's no light beside the light pouring in through the windows behind them from the artificial satellite, and it illuminates every part of his face. The long curve of his nose, his cheekbones and pale eyelashes. Takumi resists the urge to kiss him again the longer they look at each other.
The boy in his lap hides in his hair again, nodding. "Alright. You first."
Takumi's chest swells with warmth. He wants to be cute now of all times?
It's a little easier this way. Takumi rubs his thumbs in circles against Eito's waist to calm his nerves.
"I don't… really know how these things go, as I'm sure you've noticed. Honeymoon before the actual wedding, and all. But I mean it when I say I'm glad you came with me, Eito," he leans up, nuzzling at Eito's neck as he murmurs, "and I'm going to try to understand you better. I want to meet you halfway and more. You can tell me anything and I'll listen. And I swear I'll try to be patient."
One of his hands move to rest along the curve of his jaw. "I promise you can always rely on me to keep you safe. I'll take care of you now and for the rest of our lives, and I'll make every day as fun as this has all been." Takumi's lips find Eito's pulse on his throat in a kiss. "I promise to make you laugh and let you call me names when you're embarrassed, and I'll let you win every fight. Even when I know you're wrong." He smiles against his skin. "I'll make you happy."
He tilts Eito's chin towards him and kisses him, tasting salt. Eito's tears seem to shine like pearls as they well in his eyes.
"I'll be your partner in whatever crimes you come up with," says Takumi, "for as long as you'll have me."
Eito stares at him.
"Stupid," he mutters, "stupid, stupid, ugly, awful Takumi."
He looks smaller, somehow. He stands at six feet easily but here, curled over Takumi's lap, he looks small. Like a kid stuck in a body too big for them. It's incredibly endearing.
Takumi thumbs away the tears and kisses him again, warming his hands on Eito's flushed cheeks as he pulls him close.
"It's your turn," he murmurs against his lips, "you said you'd make your own, too."
"You— You basically said everything I was going to say already."
"Then say it again. I want to hear it from you." Takumi pecks his cheek. "Please?"
Eito relents, which Takumi files for later: he's weak to pretty pleases.
He takes a breath and sits up a bit straighter on his lap. He's serious as he says, "Unlike you, I've at least read a few love stories. They always used to confuse me, though. I always thought the strongest emotion I'd ever feel was hatred, and it was for a long time.
But now it's… different. You made it different." Eito's eyes are pale and stormy and warm while looking at Takumi. It's a furious whirlpool of emotions that he's suddenly afraid to drown in. "I'm going to try to understand you better, Takumi. I'll meet you halfway and even more than that. I swear I'll be patient, and I'll try not to win every fight. Even if I'm completely right."
Takumi's laugh is a bit wet, but he swallows the little lump in his throat and listens. "I promise to call you the meanest names I can think of because I know they make you laugh. And everyday doesn't have to be fun. I just want everyday with you. I'll— I'll make you happy."
It's difficult not to kiss him. But he doesn't have to restrain himself; Eito leans down halfway through his last sentence and meets Takumi's lips again in a frenzy. There's nobody to officiate the marriage but it's as good as an I do as any.
They pull at each other's clothes until Eito is sans shirt or pants and Takumi is wriggling out of his pants ungracefully against the couch.
His fiancé— no, his husband helps pull them off and they're finally skin to skin. Eito's arousal is as prominent as his own and just as sticky against his boxers. The sight is dizzying. Takumi's mouth waters like a dog in heat and he wants to touch, wants to taste.
His hands move before he thinks better of it, swallowing the gasp that leaves Eito's mouth with his own. Eito is big and it drives him a little mad, and a little scared. How will that fit—?
Eito pulls away and pulls Takumi back to the moment. "It's our wedding night," he says between breaths, "we're not really going to do this on a couch, are we, darling?"
Takumi's brain short circutis for all of five seconds. Darling. He wants a recording of that little word to play on repeat now.
"No, we are not," he says, lips stretching into the dopiest smile he'd ever given, "let's go find a bedroom, sweetheart."
When they wake, it's to sunlight. Takumi is the first to stir, rolling away from where he'd stuck to Eito's body in the night like some sort of koala. Eito wakes up when he feels a lack of heat against his back.
But Takumi is still right next to him when he turns towards the windows. The sea greets them just outside and he's almost too distracted by the beauty of it to enjoy the kiss Takumi pecks onto his temple.
Eito feels warm all over and realizes where they are, what they did, and what they have to do.
They watch the waves for a few moments until he speaks.
"We should go back."
It takes a moment for Takumi to look at Eito, but when he does, he can feel the shift in the air. There's still a war to stop. There's still people to save. There's still a school, and there's still the Special Defense Unit to convince to their side.
Their honeymoon has to come to an end sometime.
They re-dress and prepare for the journey back in a facsimile of domesticity. They brush their teeth at the same sink, share a canned breakfast together and sneak kisses between it all. If they have a life waiting for them after this is all over, Eito hopes it's just like this. A home next to the beach where the sun and moon reflect off of the water brilliantly. A sight to behold every morning and evening.
Takumi stops him when he makes for the door. His hand is closed around something.
"I don't have the budget for a ring right now," he says, looping his arms around Eito's neck, "but until then, wear this."
He's sheepish when he steps back, waiting for Eito's response. A necklace sits fastened around his neck with thread, and sitting between his collarbones is the seashell he gave him yesterday from the beach. The hole he cut was tiny and precise.
For the second time in his life, Eito is too sunned to speak. He stares at the shell between his fingers like it would disappear if he took his eyes off of it for a single moment.
A smile stretches across his face. Giddiness fills him from the inside out.
"It'll do, I suppose," he says, tucking the shell under his jacket and shirt, "ugly Takumi."
The seabreeze is cool and the smell of salt hits his nose when they open the door. Takumi starts down the white, wooden staircase towards the beach and Eito watches him go. He moves with a newfound bounce in his step.
And for a moment, Eito thinks he could still run. Leave Takumi behind and try to ignore the sound of his voice as he asks him to stay, like a song he'd learned to love. Look away from the pleading look in his pretty blue eyes and let the world end on its own.
Takumi turns and holds his hand out.
"Ready?"
Eito takes his hand and squeezes. The pretty shell tied around his neck stays firm in place, close to his heart.
"Let's go."