Chapter Text
"So. Where is she?"
"Denji. Pancakes are burning."
Denji cursed and rushed to the cooking plate.
Meanwhile, Power was trying to play the song on the radio with the bell of the cash desk.
"Oi! I ordered those pancakes two minutes ago! I'm going to give the customer service a one star rating and bankrupt this place," she said.
The old owner looked out of the storeroom and glanced suspiciously at them.
Denji winced. He pointed the pancake paddle at her in a threatening way.
"Shut up! I'm working here!"
He twisted his torso and the paddle was now pointed at Aki.
"And you ," he began, "if I find out you lied to me about Reze..."
Unimpressed, Aki took the paddle out of his grasp and flipped the pancakes over to the other side.
"I told you," he sighed, "she covers the afternoon shift. You won't see her 'till four."
"But it's four!"
Aki looked at the clock and found out that he was right.
"She's always late," he added. He handed the paddle back to Denji and took off his apron, preparing to end his shift.
"You can use this time to make those pancakes for Power again. You'll have to make your own bento starting from next month: at least one of you has to know how to cook."
At that reminder, Power scowled and began to grumble.
"We definitely won't eat pancakes for lunch..."
"Ever heard of savory pancakes, genius?" Denji objected.
Aki put on his jacket and shoulder bag.
They’ll survive , he told himself.
He went to the back to put down his apron and take leave of the owner, not realizing that Denji had followed him.
"Hey," he called his attention.
Aki turned.
"Hey."
"So... in a month, huh?"
"Yes."
"Fine Arts Academy."
"Yes..." he repeated slowly, unsure of where he was going with this.
"Well, when you'll get all famous and stuff," he continued, "and we'll see your name written in art galleries, try not to be ungrateful and remember us."
"I doubt that will ever happen, Denji."
He leaned against the doorframe and became serious.
"Okay, I don't know shit about art. But I've seen your drawings, and they're practically... life on paper."
Aki began rummaging through his bag, pretending to look for something. The compliment had flattered him more than he wanted to admit.
"You should see Himeno's canvases," he said after a while.
"Speaking of her."
Here Aki was ready to get an inappropriate question about his sexual life (he already had enough of them because of that bruise on his neck, back then), instead Denji asked:
"Did you tell her?"
He kept his gaze fixed on the bottom of his bag.
"Not yet..."
"Oh, what the fuck!" he let it slip.
He immediately looked over his shoulder after. The owner didn't seem to hear him.
"And when you gonna do it?"
"I don’t know."
"Fantastic."
The place echoed with Power's ringing voice.
"Paaancakes! "
Denji closed his eyes and bared his teeth.
Aki felt a twinge of nostalgia that hadn't actually started yet.
"Please make sure she eats vegetables," he told him.
The blond head rubbed his neck with a grimace.
"I'll try, but no promises."
"I'll make do with that."
He closed his bag and moved to leave, but Denji was still blocking his path.
"You know, you should really stop running away from things that make you uncomfortable."
Aki sighed, mentally wondering where all this wisdom suddenly came from. Denji continued undeterred.
"You need to tell her."
"I will. I just have to… plan the speech."
He stared at him with narrowed eyes.
"You'd better. Just an idiot would let a woman of that scale slip away."
"Yeah, fine… can I get through now?"
Denji moved away, just to stop him again by the shoulder.
"Anyway," he cleared his throat, "we'll miss you. Both of us. Even if Power is too stupid and proud to tell you."
For a long and awkward moment Aki remained silent, completely unused to such displays of affection from those two. Seeing him in distress, Denji held out his hand. Aki reached out to shake it, but he smashed them together before closing his hand in a fist and doing the same.
At that exact moment, the front door creaked and a high schooler with bright purple hair walked in with her usual bored look.
She didn't bother to say hi to Aki when he passed her on his way out.
The door closed behind him and the last thing he heard was Denji performing a:
"If it's not Reze who I'm seeing! What a totally unexpected coincidence!"
"I'm starting the Academy next month."
He told her in the least planned way and in the least suitable setting possible.
Himeno gave him a surprised look over her shoulder. She fidget on the couch cushions, trying to turn towards him, but Aki prevented her by pressing his palm between her shoulder blades.
"Stay still," he ordered. He ran the brush over her bare back.
A daisy appeared on her vertebra.
"I received the acceptance by mail," he added.
He felt her kicking her legs with excitement. A heel landed in his stomach.
"This is absolutely amazing, Aki! I'm so happy for you!"
And Aki could tell by her voice that she really was, but that didn't make it any easier to go on with his speech.
He temporized by decorating her spine with another daisy.
"And you? Are you happy?" she asked him softly.
The brush drew a green line between the two flowers. The vertical movement of the bristles made her shiver, Aki bent down and placed a kiss on her upper back, where the colors hadn't touched her skin yet. He managed to distract her just for a moment.
"Hey..."
She sat up, slowly freeing herself from the cage of his body.
"What's going on in that beautiful little head of yours?"
Aki took a moment to admire her half exposed body. The idea of kissing her again and dropping the conversation crossed his mind, but Himeno's eyes stared at him apprehensively, and he knew he had no escape.
"Kishibe suggested paying for an apartment there. You know, for time savings, more convenience... and all."
Himeno smiled.
"Looks like a good idea, considering the distances."
"I’ll be away from you."
The admission slipped from his lips sooner than he expected. He looked at her expectantly, as she took the brush from his fingers and intertwined them with hers. He was leaving paint marks on her palm, but she didn't seem to care.
"Is this what you're worried about?" she whispered.
You're… not?
It was an intrusive thought, tinged with a hint of resentment that Aki couldn't control. He lowered his head, feeling ashamed.
"Aki."
Himeno called him, and as if she’d read his mind she said:
"Just because I'm not begging you to stay, doesn't mean I won't miss you."
Aki pushed back the lump that formed in his throat and stroked the back of her hand as she kept talking.
"I was also an off-site student and I know all the struggles of being one. Kishibe is right: taking an apartment there is really the best choice you can make. You'll do what you like in a place you like, you'll get to know new people with the same passion as you, and all in the best conditions possible."
"I know..." he replied rationally.
"It's just that all of this," he made a shy hand gesture at both of them, "is completely new to me. And I promised you wouldn't lose me… but I don't have the slightest idea how a long distance relationship works, or how to make it work."
"We're in this together, we'll find the best way to handle it together."
He nodded weakly. "Together."
Himeno lifted his chin and forced him to look at her. Her voice was firm and serious.
"I love you, Aki," she said. "And of course distance will hurt... but that doesn't give me the right to keep you all to myself. Especially if it means depriving you of something you really want."
"I..." he hesitated, searching for the right words. "I really want to give myself this chance."
She looked at him softly. "I know."
"But I also really want to be with you."
"And you will, I promise," she reiterated. "Besides, we won't always be apart: we can spend breaks together, and maybe a few weekends, from time to time."
"I promised Denji and Power that I would reserve the first free Saturday for them," he admitted.
"Then we'll see each other on Sunday."
"One Sunday a month for four years... it's so little..."
"And four years is just as little, in the perspective of a life together. Don't you think?"
Aki's eyes widened and his heart did a flip in his chest. A feeling of sparkling hope began to mix confusingly with the affliction.
"Himeno… you mean-" She cut him off.
"Imagine," she began, "a house with a large balcony like this, or a small terrace, so we can have breakfast outside on sunny days. Waffles and almond tofu on a leaf-shaped steel table."
"Leaf-shaped?"
He was vaguely aware of how silly the question sounded, as well as how silly was the smile that tugged at his lips.
Himeno confirmed enthusiastically.
"Yes! I saw one at the store right across the street and thought it was very pretty."
Still dazed, Aki nodded fervently, carried by the sparkle in her eyes.
"Yeah, sure… that would be great," he said.
"Homemade waffles," she specified, "by you."
He nodded again. His brain slowly returning to keep up with the conversation.
"And coffee," he added, "you can't talk about breakfast without talking about coffee."
Himeno smiled.
"And coffee," she agreed.
"We could sit there in the evening too. You'll smoke a cigarette with your eyes on the city, my eyes will be on you, instead, and I'll draw you while you are not looking."
"We'll have a whole room as an art laboratory, with canvases, easels, and colors everywhere."
"You could paint the walls yourself," he suggested.
"I'll paint an open sky on the bedroom ceiling, and we'll make love under a hyper-realistic stretch of clouds. How does it sound?"
He conveyed his approval with a breathy 'yes', before realizing that it didn't exactly answer the question.
Himeno chuckled and leaned towards him. Her arms crossed behind his neck and her warm voice caressed his ear shell.
"You can think about this when the distance will seem too much. I’ll do the same."
For a moment Aki stood with his hands in mid-air, afraid to touch the wet paint on her body or leave green marks where he wasn't meant to. Finally, he placed his clean hand on her nape and dipped his fingers into her hair, already thinking about how much he would miss doing it in a month.
"In the meanwhile, that doesn't mean we can't take advantage of this distance thing to have some fun..."
She pulled away and gave him a mischievous smile.
"I don't know 'bout you, but I've always wanted to try phone sex."
Aki couldn't do anything but nod. He reveled in the sight of her face lit up by all those promises, and in that teasing smile that drew his lips to itself.
"Or, if you really can't bear to be away from me, I could even apply to come and teach at your Academy," she offered. She tilted her head and brought her lips to his neck. "What do you think? Would you like it if I taught you in class, Aki-kun?"
"It would be a disaster," he replied frankly.
Himeno parted her lips and Aki gasped at the pressure of her teeth on his skin.
"Yeah, it would…"
Her wet kisses were bliss to the serpentine creature languishing in his abdomen. Aki felt his pants press against his crotch. He curled his fingers in her hair to release the frustration: she was naked from the waist up right in front of him and he couldn't fully touch her.
"Himeno..." he panted, "Y-you should... wash the paint off yourself first."
The movements of her lips slowed. He felt a puff on his neck and Himeno moved away.
"Not before the shooting" she reminded, "I want to see how it turned out!"
She stood up and settled herself in the light as he turned on the camera. He fiddled with the zoom and focus rings, trying to tame his impatience and do things right.
He looked at her through the viewfinder and the frame raised a sigh of awe and wonder from his chest. A row of white and pink daisies defined her spine, in decreasing order from bottom to top; spirals of climbing ivy curled around the length of her arms.
"How do I look?" she asked, folding her arms backwards.
Aki drank at the sight of her as if it was the first time.
"You're the most beautiful work of art I've ever seen."
Himeno turned slightly.
"Oh my… what poetry."
The tone was playful, but a faint blush had spread across her cheeks. Aki pressed the shutter to capture the proof.
His personality trait to get things done with the greatest dedication possible prevailed over his body desires. He made her try out different poses, shooting from different angles, worshiping her through the camera lens until he was fully satisfied with the work.
"They're beautiful," she commented when he showed her the photos. "It's almost a shame removing the paint."
Aki brought his hand to her hip and began to run his knuckles up and down her waist.
"I'm afraid we have to."
Himeno smirked at him knowingly. She took his hand and moved it to the fly of her jeans.
"Oh dear! I don't think I could scrub the paint off my back properly all by myself," she said dramatically. "If only there was a gentleman nearby kind enough to help me..."
Aki didn't know if the goal was to turn him on or make him laugh, but either way she succeeded.
Holding his hand, Himeno began walking backwards towards the bathroom.
They stumbled, and laughed, and kissed against the furniture and walls along the way, like two teens discovering each other. As if those interactions were new and not daily occurrences by now.
Himeno crossed the bathroom threshold already naked, while Aki stayed behind to pick up her clothes from the floor. When he reached her, he caught a glimpse of their toothbrushes kissing on the sink (there were two of them since the first time he'd stayed over the night).
And at that instant he realized that other small signs of his presence were scattered around that house: there was a sweatshirt of his in Himeno's wardrobe, a hair band of his on her nightstand, and some of his dishes – or rather, Kishibe's – in the dish rack (they'd been there since he found out her eating habits on busy days).
Lately Himeno always had almond tofu in her fridge, and a mug with a printed fox that always ended up in his hands when they had coffee together, as if she had tacitly decided that it was his.
Collecting all these things, it wasn't difficult to imagine a new daily routine together. And Aki knew there wasn't another person in the world he would’ve wanted to spend the daily routine of his entire life with.
Himeno pulled him into a kiss and knocked the clothes from his hands.
Aki took that kiss and all the future scenarios they had built together, and he made sure to keep them in the safest corner of his heart. Where daisies bloomed on salt and the walls were painted green.
A confession whispered on smiling lips.
"I love you too."