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The day started off like any other. Kazuki woke up before Rei and Miri, made breakfast, ate with the two of them, and was getting ready to go run some errands. He needed to grab a couple things for dinner, as well as drop off some files for Kyutaro.
The only thing that was slightly out of the ordinary was that Kazuki was a little more tired than usual. He and Rei had been up late the night before going through the photos from their most recent scouting mission, so neither of them had gotten much sleep. It was nothing an extra cup of coffee couldn’t fix though.
“Alright! I’m heading out for a bit! I’ll see you two later!” Kazuki announced. Miri and Rei were sitting on the couch playing Morio Kart, or more accurately, Rei was half asleep watching her play.
“Bye Papa! Have a good day!” He leaned over the back of the couch and gave Miri a kiss on the temple, then quickly did the same for Rei before seeing himself out the door.
“See ya.” Rei mumbled, struggling to keep his eyes open.
As Kazuki was leaving he felt like something was off, but he couldn’t place exactly what it was. He patted down his pockets, thinking he had forgotten something, but everything he needed for the afternoon was present and accounted for.
“Let’s see…” He began mumbling to himself as he stepped into the elevator. “I remembered to brush my teeth, I started the dishwasher, I helped Miri make her bed, I gave Miri a kiss goodbye, I gave Rei a kiss goodbye, I cleaned out the fridge…wait.” Kazuki’s eyes shot wide open in realization. He clasped a hand over his mouth, as if that would erase his mistake.
“Fuck fuck fuck Kazuki you idiot!” He chastised himself the entire way down to the ground floor. The elevator doors opened and he stepped out onto the sidewalk, too busy dissociating to pay any attention to where he was going.
Sure Kazuki had thought about kissing Rei before. Honestly, he had really wanted to for a long time. But they were just friends. Friends don’t casually kiss each other goodbye. Maybe in other countries they did but not here! Not them!
Though Kazuki had been paying zero attention to where he was going, his legs led him to Yadorigi’s on muscle memory alone. The doorbell rang as he pushed it open. “Welcome!” Kyu popped up from underneath the bar, holding a stack of freshly washed glasses. Once he saw it was Kazuki, he dropped his customer service voice. “Oh hi, do you have the photos for me?”
“Right here.” Kazuki fished the flash drive out of his pocket and slid it across the counter to Kyu before promptly slumping over at the bar, forehead resting on the polished wood.
“Appreciate it. Coffee?”
“Mmhm” Kyu poured a cup and placed it in front of him, but Kazuki didn’t move.
“Alright. What’s wrong?” Kyu asked with a tired sigh.
“I’m an idiot Kyu…”
“Knowing you, that could mean anything.” Kyu said in a deadpan tone.
“Hey! Don’t kick a man while he’s down!” Kazuki retorted, only staying angry for a moment before slipping back into despair. “I kissed Rei this morning. I was giving Miri a kiss goodbye and without thinking I kissed Rei too.” He was expecting Kyu to be surprised, horrified, something , but instead he just let out an amused snort.
“Took you long enough.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” Kazuki snapped.
Kyu set down the glass he was polishing and put his hands flat on the counter, now giving Kazuki his full attention. “Do I really need to spell it out for you?”
“Apparently you do” Kazuki was getting more and more annoyed, he was already tired and having a shit day.
“For god’s sake, you really are an idiot.” Kyu threw his head back and sighed. “You two are clearly into each other, so what’s the problem?”
“You! We’re not-!” Kazuki sputtered. “The problem is that we’re NOT a couple.”
“I was under the expression you swung both ways.”
“I mean-I do. But even if I was into Rei, which I’m NOT-
“Kazuki.” Kyu said in the same voice he used when he scolded them. “How many times have I told you you can’t hide things from me.” Kazuki sighed in defeat. Annoyingly, Kyu was right.
“Fine. I’m in love with my roommate! Happy? I love his stupid smile and watching how stupidly sweet he is with Miri and playing with his stupid hair and his stupidly perfect body with his stupid tiny waist and—“
“Stop!” Kyu held up one hand and pinched the bridge of his nose with the other. Kazuki felt a little pleased he had managed to fluster Kyu back, though it did little to solve his problem. “Why don’t you just tell him this instead of bothering me with it?”
“Because it’s Rei smartass. There’s no way he thinks of me like that, it’d probably just freak him out.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure” Kyu said, going back to polishing a glass.
“What do you mean?” Kazuki asked, curious about the way Kyutaro’s tone had shifted.
“You’ve known him a long time. I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that Rei doesn’t let people get close to him, physically or metaphorically. Yet he lets you drag him around whenever and wherever you want, prioritizes your safety over success on jobs, and invited you to move in with him after what…three weeks?
“Two.” Kazuki said softly.
“Right. I’m just saying, Rei has let you in closer than he’s ever let anyone in. Don’t take that lightly.” Kazuki contemplated Kyu’s words. Although he consciously knew that Rei could very easily kill him in an instant if he wanted to, Kazuki had never once been afraid of him. Thinking about it, Rei could have easily taken Kazuki down when he had accidentally kissed him, even if he was half asleep, but he didn’t…
“I won’t. Thanks for talking Kyu” Kazuki said, downing the rest of his coffee and leaving the cafe. As he ran the rest of his errands, he thought about how he would address what had happened at home. Kazuki eventually decided that if Rei didn’t make a big deal out of it, then he also didn’t need to.
————————————————————-
Rei was exhausted .
Not only did they stay up late the night before working on a job for Kyu, but every night this week Rei’s sleep was disrupted by one of his many recurring nightmares.
Nevertheless, he dragged himself out of the bathtub every morning, grateful to the little ball of sunshine that demanded they eat breakfast together for interrupting the bad dreams. He managed to stay awake through most of breakfast, likely because Kazuki had happened to make French Toast, which was Rei’s favorite. After cleaning up and settling in on the couch with Miri however, Rei felt his eyelids start to get heavy with the exhaustion that had compounded over the past several days.
“Alright! I’ll be heading out for a bit. I’ll see you two later.” He heard and felt Kazuki cross behind the couch.
“Bye Papa! Have a good day!” Miri said with a cheerful giggle.
“See ya.” Rei mumbled. As he fought to keep his eyes open, he felt something warm, soft, and comforting press against his forehead. It felt nice, so Rei leaned into it, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.
Did Kazuki just kiss me? He vaguely remembered wondering before losing his fight against sleep.
“I’m home!” Rei awoke to the sound of Kazuki announcing his return. When he had left it was early afternoon, but Rei looked out the window to see the sun was much lower in the sky. Miri had long since moved on from Morio Kart and was now coloring in her new coloring book. Rei yawned and stretched as Kazuki turned the corner.
“Papa! I missed you! How was your day?” Miri ran up to him. In one smooth motion, he set the bag of groceries down on the kitchen counter and hoisted her up. Rei watched them, feeling a smile creeping onto his lips as they talked.
“It was fine. I’m making your favorite tonight.” Miri gasped with delight.
“Hamburg Steak?!”
“Uh huh.”
“Yay!! I love you Papa!” Miri wrapped her arms around Kazuki’s neck. He chuckled and returned the hug.
“Love you too Miri. Bathtime first and then dinner, yeah?”
“Okay!” He set her back down and she took off for the bathroom, eager to eat her favorite meal. They both watched her run away before turning to each other.
“How’d it go with Kyu?”
“Fine, he says hi. How was your afternoon with Miri?” Kazuki started putting away groceries as he talked.
“Slept through most of it.”
“Damn, I’m jealous”. Kazuki said with a laugh. Part of Rei wanted to ask about this morning, about Kazuki kissing him, but he wasn't sure how to bring it up. He wasn’t even sure if it had actually happened or if he had just imagined the sensation, but he was starting to think it was the latter given how nonchalant Kazuki was acting about it.
“I’m gonna go help Miri with her bath,” Rei yawned. Even though he had managed to get a couple hours of sleep, he was still tired.
As the night went on and Kazuki continued to act like nothing was amiss, Rei became more and more sure he had imagined what had happened that morning. The more sure he became that it had been a dream, the heavier his chest felt. It felt so nice, and so real, he was weirdly disappointed it hadn’t really happened.
Maybe it was because he was thinking about this kiss as he fell asleep, or maybe sheer exhaustion finally overrode Rei’s brain, but he passed out on the couch again shortly after dinner and miraculously managed to sleep through the night.
He was actually coherent enough the next morning to hold a conversation with Miri, much to her delight. After breakfast Kazuki took Miri to her room to get ready for Daycare while Rei stayed in the kitchen and did the dishes. Once he was done, Rei sat on the step to the entrance of their apartment and helped Miri into her shoes.
“Alright! Time for school, we’ll see Papa Rei later, okay?” Kazuki rounded the corner holding her bag.
“Okay! Bye Papa! I love you!” Miri turned and threw her arms around Rei’s neck. Rei reciprocated the hug and gave her a light pat on the back before letting her go.
“See you in a few. Can you throw a load of towels in the wash when you get a chance?” Kazuki said on his way out the door.
“Papaaaa!! You didn’t give Papa Rei a goodbye kiss!” Miri whined before Rei could answer. They both stared at her in silence for a moment.
“Miri? What are you talking about?” Kazuki asked with a nervous chuckle, Rei just sat there dumbstruck.
“You HAVE to give Papa Rei a kiss goodbye like you give me a kiss goodbye. It’s the rules.” She said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“You’re…gonna be late” Rei said quietly, hoping it would be helpful to point out. All it did was made Miri plant herself and cross her arms.
“We can’t leave unless Papa Kazuki says goodbye to Papa Rei properly!” She said firmly.
Kazuki sighed and rolled his eyes in defeat. “Fine” Before Rei knew it, Kazuki had crossed from his side of the room to Rei’s.
“Bye Rei. I’ll see you later” Kazuki said in a playful tone before crouching and giving Rei a kiss on the cheek.
“See you later.” Rei mumbled. It was the exact same feeling he had yesterday. The one that had felt so soothing and warm and wonderful he had convinced himself it couldn’t have been real. And just like yesterday, it was gone much too quickly.
“Alright, now come on Miri, we’re seriously gonna be late!” Miri cheered that her plan had worked and ran to the door. Kazuki’s face was pink when he turned back and shot Rei a sheepish smile.
Once they were both out the door, Rei ran his fingers across his cheek, lingering on the residual feeling of Kazuki’s kiss. Rei had never been kissed goodbye growing up, or kissed at all for that matter. Miri had kissed him on the cheek a few times recently, and while it made something inside Rei feel lighter, it felt completely different to be kissed by Kazuki. There was an intensity to it that was almost electrifying. Like if being shocked felt good. Part of Rei wondered if he was still dreaming.
He leaned back and laid flat on the floor. Rei’s life had been anything but normal, so he was still learning what ‘normal’ really was. Was it normal for two friends to kiss each other on the cheek? If it was…then why hadn’t either of them done that sooner? If it wasn’t…did it mean that they were more than friends?
Though, if it was a romantic thing, did it really count if Miri forced Kazuki to do it? But then, Kazuki had kissed Rei on the forehead unprompted the day before. Kazuki also didn’t seem to hate doing it, and Rei sure liked it too.
Rei sighed and sat up, remembering Kazuki’s request to throw the towels in the laundry. He had initially been intimidated by chores when he started learning how to do everything, but now he was finding he enjoyed the routine they had built together. He also enjoyed the praise from Kazuki, if he was being honest with himself.
With any luck, maybe the goodbye kisses would become a part of their routine too.