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It was only the second occasion Chifuyu had taken Takemichi back to his place, though this time his mother wasn’t home. They sat in his room with the door open, on his bed, the window letting a breeze in. The places in this time, in the past, never really felt like home for Takemichi, even when the people there were so real. Everything around him - the settings, the streets, the school - all of it was like a backdrop in a play, and the actors were the only ones who really mattered.
Chifuyu, Hina, Draken, Mikey…
“Hey, Takemitchy.”
He blinked and raised his head at the sound of the nickname that had become as second nature to his ears as his real one. Chifuyu smiled at him. “You looked like you were a million miles away.”
“Ha...yeah, I guess I was just thinking.”
“About what?”
God, he wished he could say. If he could tell one person, if he could just stop trying to hold back all of the horrible things he had seen between this world and the one in the future, if he could just not be alone in this version of his life with all of the pressure built up in his head about to explode...if he could tell one person, it would be Chifuyu.
But would it be fair? When Chifuyu was only just beginning to act like himself again? After he finally got past a month following Baji’s death, after all the days he spent just going to his family grave, now when he was smiling at him again? Because for a long time that felt like something that seemed impossible, like he would never see Chifuyu smile ever again.
Except in that one horrible version of the future he hoped now to avoid…
Maybe...maybe he could chance it...
“Actually—”
They both jumped at the sound of a knocking, loud and clear. Chifuyu stood up and walked into the living room across the hall and opened the front door. There was a woman on the other side of the door who Takemichi had never seen before, tall and gorgeous with rich black hair that fell in waves down her shoulders. She pushed a black cat into Chifuyu’s arms.
Takemichi couldn’t tell if she was angry or if she was upset. Her voice shook as she launched in. “He got in again. I closed the window the first time, and I don’t know how it keeps happening. Matsuno-kun, please —”
“I’m sorry.”
“I just hear him meowing and meowing, and I have to go in, and...I can’t keep doing it right now, so please—”
“Of course. I understand.” The cat squirmed in Chifuyu’s arms, and when he turned and put him on the floor, he went scampering toward the bedroom, jumping onto the bed and rubbing against Takemichi’s side.
As he gave the cat a few pets, Takemichi thought about how surprised he was at Chifuyu’s polite tone. There was only one person he was ever this respectful with; everyone else got to hear the same delinquent dialect that they were all used to.
Chifuyu bowed before closing the door. “Thank you for bringing him home.”
The cat climbed into Takemichi’s lap and rubbed its face under his chin. He grinned. “I didn’t even know you had a cat, Chifuyu. He’s so sweet. Hey there, kitty…what’s his...name…”
Takemichi trailed off when he glanced in the doorway and realized that Chifuyu had stopped walking back in. His body was stiff and still, arms straight at his sides, fists shaking. Actually, everything was shaking. When Takemichi saw his face, he watched as huge silent tears ran down his cheeks so quickly that they were dripping and soaking his chest, his lip jumping. The moment he finally opened his mouth, the sob that shot out was like something dying.
Takemichi jumped off the bed and grabbed him because he swore he thought Chifuyu was going to buckle and fall to the floor. Just like that, he was weeping into his shoulder, burying his face in Takemichi’s button-up shirt. The cat jumped off the bed and ran down the hallway out of sight.
“Chifuyu…” He tried to wipe his tears away, but more just kept coming, his brows pinched together so hard he couldn't see any space between his his eyes. “I’m...I’m here.”
It felt like they stood there for hours, although it was probably only a few minutes. Finally, Chifuyu stopped crying, and they sat back down on the edge of the bed. When he started talking, Chifuyu’s voice sounded quiet and broken. “We lived in the same building. That’s why I don’t come home as much anymore. And only so it won’t make my mom sad. And to take care of Excalibur. Or, uh...Peke J, I guess.” He smiled a little, shakily.
Takemichi put his hand against his own stomach. “Oh.”
“Back when we got him, he would escape and sneak down to his apartment, and we only realized what happened after we met and I came over and saw him in his room, eating. Fucker was getting double meals…” Chifuyu laughed, but when he closed his eyes, new tears dropped into his lap. “I let him out now because he paws at the window and I can tell he hopes he’ll be there...and I open it and let him go because I hope that...too...sometimes…”
The last words crumbled under their own weight, as Chifuyu put his head in his hands and fell apart all over again. Takemichi rubbed his back and scrubbed away the moisture building in his own eyes. He held Chifuyu’s hand tight, and he held on even tighter.
When he finally calmed down enough to straighten back up, Chifuyu relaxed his grip on his fingers but didn’t let him go. He tried to smile. “Sorry about that. What...what were you going to say before, Takemitchy?”
...
“Nothing. It was nothing.”