"That's all for today. I'll see you here again next week! Enjoy your weekend, everyone."
There was no formal bell to announce the end of this particular class. Kiyotaka's voice was the only form of dismissal that existed. As soon as he had granted permission, his students stood, some eager and others reluctant.
Kiyotaka released a breath he'd been holding, for some time, deep in his chest. His back was starting to ache. He'd gotten too used to sitting in a desk all day and his back had yet to recover from the switch to a job that involved so much standing. He stretched, which alleviated the pain for an instant. He would have to ask Sakura for advice about that. Or Nekomaru, maybe. Akane swore by the man's massages.
Kiyotaka barely managed to sit down by his desk before two of his students approached him. He recognized both at a glance. One of them was something of a friend of his now.
"About that test—"
"I told you already, you'll be fine," Kiyotaka laughed, interrupting him. "You've been doing very well, Leon. If you're that worried, I can tutor you, but I really don't think you need it."
Leon sighed heavily and leaned forward into his folded arms, which looked as though he had crumpled in half. For someone who wanted to come across as if he didn't care about anything at all, Leon was awfully anxious about the state of his educational pursuits. He had never formally graduated and was now trying to pass his high school equivalence test alongside a friend of his.
"You don't hafta lie to me just so I'll tell people you're the cool teacher or whatever, y'know," Leon scoffed. "I'm already obligated to pretend to like you anyway, aren't I? Daiya will fire me if I don't!"
Kiyotaka, luckily, knew Leon well enough by now to know that he was joking. And he knew Leon well enough by now to know that he didn't need tutoring. They'd already tried it, and Leon had easily recalled everything. He wasn't actually stupid— it was an act that he had perpetrated for so long that he eventually came to believe it himself— and Kiyotaka wasn't going to let him pretend to be.
"If you can tell me EXACTLY what it is that you're having trouble understanding, I'll tutor you."
"That's... right. I, um. I just don't get, the, the, uh—"
"Thought so."
Kiyotaka smirked as he made a show of tapping his stack of papers against the surface of his desk, lining them all up perfectly. Leon sighed. His dreadlocked friend chuckled at his expense.
This was what Kiyotaka did now. He was, finally, a teacher. It didn't pay anywhere near as much as his old job had. And yet, he would not trade it for something that paid more— what the job didn't have in salary and benefits it more than made up for in fulfillment.
Kiyotaka taught people who had fallen off of the tracks and helped them get their lives back in order. Most of his students were young truants who hadn't been able to complete their schooling for various reasons. Bullying, oftentimes, or a difficult home life. Others were adults who had never done so, but wanted to pass the test now so that they could pursue higher education. Kiyotaka's classes often used practice tests because he wanted his students to be certain that they were ready for the final exam. Leon was going to do just fine on his. Yasuhiro, though, standing there idly and laughing with not a care in the world— he did have reason to worry. Kiyotaka fixed him with a stern gaze over the frames of his glasses.
"Maybe we could all study together, if it's so important?" He suggested. Yasuhiro just laughed again. Kiyotaka couldn't force everyone to take things seriously and Yasuhiro had refused all offers of help. Maybe his marks on the upcoming quiz would make him realize that he needed to buckle down.
Kiyotaka's phone rang. Leon grabbed Yasuhiro by the elbow and the two of them scampered off to allow him some privacy. Yasuhiro yelled something like "see ya, teach!" over his shoulder, which Kiyotaka suspected was because Yasuhiro could never remember his name.
Kiyotaka did not have to look at the screen of his cell phone to know who was calling at this hour.
"I was just packing up to go home," he said apologetically. "Classes ran a bit late. My students had a lot of questions. I think that's a good thing!"
"Guess so," Mondo agreed. "Better than not gettin' any just to find out nobody had a damn clue what you were talkin' about when it's time to grade the tests."
"Yes, yes... Did you need something?"
Mondo waited. As if he was leaving space for Kiyotaka to say something else. When Kiyotaka remained silent, he continued.
"Not exactly. Jus' had a bit of a surprise, so I was kinda itchin' to see ya."
"Oh?" Kiyotaka paused halfway through putting away his things. "What kind of a surprise?"
"Tellin' ya what kind of surprise it is defeats the whole purpose, doesn't it?"
"I... guess so. But there had better not be any new pets when I get there!"
"Nah, nah— we're kinda at fur capacity, aren't we?"
"Okay, then. I'll be there soon enough."
"Right. Love ya. Bye."
Mondo hung up without letting Kiyotaka return the sentiment. Kiyotaka huffed and pulled up his text messages. He'd show that man a thing or two.
Taka: YOU DIDN'T LET ME SAY IT BACK, YOU FIEND!!
Mondo: whoops. srry, babe.
Taka: You had better be!! >:^(
Mondo: why
Mondo: why did you give it a nose??
Taka: People have noses!
Mondo: i'm gonna have to explain this to u in person, huh?
Taka: I suppose so. I'll see you soon and also I LOVE YOU TOO
He indignantly turned his screen off before Mondo could respond— that would teach him.
Kiyotaka was always getting lectured, now that he actually had friends, about being an "old man", technology-wise. He happened to like his smileys. They had character. Charm. Sophistication.
Two of his coworkers still lingered in the building's lobby, chatting over coffee, as Kiyotaka approached the front door. Kiyotaka asked Aoi if she'd heard anything about Nekomaru's massages, mentioning his own potential interest. Both she and Hajime laughed almost ominously at that.
"I'm sure he'll be VERY happy to hear that," Aoi said. "I don't know what it is with him and his massages, but everybody he gets his hands on is indoctrinated."
"Hey!" Hajime protested. "He knows what he's doing!"
"See? Indoctrinated. He already got to Hajime."
They exchanged some more banter before Kiyotaka hurried off. That might have been the best thing to change when he found a new workplace in the community center— he liked most of his coworkers. After Sonia's wedding, the right choice had seemed almost obvious. A large chunk of the guests had all worked at the same place that they spoke quite highly of, describing a job that was exactly the sort of thing Kiyotaka had once dreamed of doing.
Now, he took martial arts classes with recently-acquired instructor Sakura, or worked out with Nekomaru and sparred with Akane. He took an occasional swim with Aoi and got helpful advice from Hajime or encouragement from Kaede. Coworkers really could become good friends. Former ones, even.
The drive home seemed agonizingly long. Kiyotaka spent the whole of it trying to guess what Mondo was up to. Sometimes, Mondo's surprises were silly but admittedly fun things, and other times, they were genuinely romantic. He was a mixed bag. Unpredictable in a good way. Kiyotaka might have been surprised to find out that Mondo was that sort of doting boyfriend a long time ago, when he'd been "that man I met in a bar once", or "that man that I keep running into even when I'm trying to avoid him". Now it seemed obvious that he would do that sort of thing. Mondo wanted to get Kiyotaka accustomed to a new and very different sort of "normal" than what he'd been used to before.
He tried to look relaxed as he half-jogged to the front door. He was, by now, used to being swarmed by several dogs (and one cat) as soon as he managed to get inside. It always took a while to get to the kitchen with the animals swarming around his feet. He didn't want to step on any paws. Once each dog was satisfied with the amount of scratches it had received, they parted and made way for Whiskers. Kiyotaka's cat. One of Mondo's surprises, actually.
Kiyotaka had not gotten any better at coming up with creative names for his pets, but Whiskers didn't seem to mind her name. Every day, she expected to be carried around for a little while. Like Kiyotaka had to earn her forgivenesses for going to work. She was small enough that Kiyotaka didn't mind. He could easily nestle her in an elbow, or drape her over one shoulder, and still have his other hand free. Each and every weekday, Kiyotaka and Mondo's after-work-reunion kiss involved avoiding the ball of tri-colored fur.
"That WAS pretty quick," Mondo admitted after they'd exchanged that quick peck and the more formal greetings. "You'd better not have been speedin', though. I don't need ya crashin'. Again."
"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"
"Nah."
Kiyotaka chuckled bitterly. His car insurance payment, too, had yet to let him forget about how many times he'd managed to crash his car in a period of about six months. It was a wonder they still let him drive at all.
"What have you been up to?" Kiyotaka asked as Mondo took his earlier seat at the kitchen table. He'd been snacking on some sort of granola bar while sorting through a pile of what looked like bills. "I see you've been very responsible while you waited."
"I'm always responsible," Mondo retorted, his tone cheeky. "Didn't have a lot to do at the shop, so they let me out early and I hit up the gym with Chi. It's been a little while."
"Oh! I was just thinking about her earlier—"
"Mm." Mondo held up a finger with which to silence him and hard-swallowed his bite of granola. "Wrong word."
It took Kiyotaka an embarrassingly long moment to understand what he was being corrected about.
"Ah! Sorry." He nervously adjusted his glasses. "About him. ...I keep forgetting, somehow."
Mondo was right. Chihiro wasn't the shy young lady that Kiyotaka had once thought he was. A truth Mondo had known for quite some time. Kiyotaka still didn't know when or why Chihiro had started masquerading himself as a woman, but it wasn't any of his business. The important thing was that he was slowly learning to accept himself for what he was. He was soft, and he was shy, and he was sweet, and he was also a man, and that was okay. He didn't have to meet anyone else's definition of what a "man" was.
Still, they had to be careful about the pronouns. Kiyotaka, Mondo, and Sakura were the only people outside of Chihiro's family members who knew. So Kiyotaka habitually referred to Chihiro with female pronouns even when there weren't any prying ears. He would get past that habit in time.
"He's doing alright?" Kiyotaka asked, and Mondo nodded.
"Great. He's really starting to come into his own, I think. Sakura's a bit more serious of a trainer than I am. And I think she's a pretty good example for him to follow when it comes to the whole gender roles thing. I mean, you try tellin' HER that men are supposed to be tougher." Mondo snickered at a memory Kiyotaka couldn't see. "When I was younger I probably woulda been threatened by it. Always hadta prove how manly I was, y'know? Shit's exhausting after a while."
"I'd imagine so." Kiyotaka didn't have anything particularly interesting to say about his day at work. He rattled through the usual bits of observation quickly enough, and then he addressed the topic that was burning at the corners of his mind: "You wanted me to hurry home, right? Why?"
Mondo grinned. He'd been waiting for that. Kiyotaka couldn't quite tell if that grin was a kind or devious one.
"We'll get to that. Go ahead and get changed first. Somethin' nice. ...Or, I dunno. Somethin' comfortable."
Kiyotaka gave Mondo a proper once-over. Come to think of it, he was dressed a bit more nicely than he would normally be while lounging around the house. And he must have showered after getting home from the gym, because his hair looked freshly-washed. His black sweater was, admittedly, quite well-fitted. And Mondo knew Kiyotaka liked those jeans on him.
"But what am I getting dressed for?"
"A date. Casual. Makoto's stoppin' by to look after the children for us."
"...Oh?"
That had him curious. Fine. He'd play along.
He took Mondo's example and opted for something he knew the other man liked. Which, in his case, was a slightly dressy shirt that Mondo had picked out him once and a very soft button-up sweater to wear over it. Mondo had buried his face in the fabric enough times to tell Kiyotaka how he felt about it. And so had Biscuit, but, still. He finished the outfit off with a slim pair of jeans and his favorite sneakers. He didn't know where they were going, but if it was something outdoors he didn't want to ruin his nice shoes.
When he returned to the kitchen, Mondo had his own car keys in hand and was spinning them around on his finger. Kiyotaka approached. Before he could open his mouth, he was tossed something with Mondo's other hand. Kiyotaka's eyebrows shot up.
A blindfold. Mondo intended to blindfold him.
"Is this a weird sex thing?"
Mondo nearly snorted.
"D'ya want it to be?" Kiyotaka stared at him. "...No. It's not. Promise. Told ya already, we're goin' on a date." He scoffed and shook his head. "What are you actin' like I'm the weird one for, anyway? Ya fuckin' masochist—"
"So the date destination is the big surprise?" Kiyotaka, bright red, desperately changed the subject. His own fault for making the accusation, he supposed. "Such a big surprise that I'm not even allowed to look out the window?"
Mondo squeezed Kiyotaka's shoulder as he stood, and then he guided him towards the front door with a firm but gentle hand.
"If ya look out the window you'll probably recognize where we're headed. An' I'm not takin' any chances."
Kiyotaka didn't argue as they made their way to the car. He just made sure that he had his cell phone and wallet on him. He liked being able to put his trust in Mondo. It was nice, sometimes, to not be in control. He trusted that Mondo wouldn't do anything to hurt him, wouldn't surprise him with something he wouldn't like.
"Alright, then!" Kiyotaka took his glasses off and tucked them into their slim carrying case. "Guess I don't need these if I can't see, do I?"
He put the case in the glove compartment as he slipped into the passenger's seat. He leaned forward and sat obediently still as Mondo took the blindfold from him and tied it in place. The fabric was thick and dark. He couldn't see a thing. There was almost no point in keeping his eyes open.
They chatted about idle things as Mondo drove to... wherever they were going.
Small talk didn't feel so small when they were together. Or, if it was small, it was only in the sense that it was effortless. Kiyotaka didn't have to carefully filter everything he said. And even when it seemed like there was nothing left to discuss, they always managed to think of something. An afternoon spent discussing fish or sports or entertainment news or furniture didn't feel wasted, somehow.
Kiyotaka thought, at first, that they had arrived at a destination quite close to their home, because he felt the car pull to a stop and sat at attention. Mondo patted his thigh. Something like a reprimand.
"You stay put, now. I just gotta grab somethin'."
Kiyotaka was left alone and curious until Mondo returned a couple of minutes later. He heard the crinkling of what sounded like a paper bag and he definitely smelled food. Something fantastic, if he had to guess.
Detour aside, the ride wasn't terribly long. Kiyotaka was pretty good at gauging time in his head even when he couldn't see a clock, and so he knew that it was a trip that took about twenty minutes, give or take another five.
"Hang on," Mondo commanded when the car had stopped, and this time properly. "Gotta scope the place out first. I'd prefer to be alone."
Kiyotaka heard the driver's side door open and close. There was more sound. The trunk, as far as he could tell, was opened, the back seat pushed down and folded flat to make room for something. The back of this particular car could become quite spacious when necessary. It had come in handy when the two of them had moved Kiyotaka in.
"What are you doing back there?" Kiyotaka asked, his tone almost accusatory. Mondo just clicked his tongue at him. He was definitely doing something, but these sounds were quiet enough that Kiyotaka couldn't quite discern their messages with his ears alone. Whatever it was took him several minutes and he didn't answer Kiyotaka's question. Part of the surprise, of course.
"Nobody's here," Mondo huffed. His footsteps looped around, and then he was standing beside Kiyotaka. He opened the door for him. "C'mon out."
"Where are we?"
"Just trust me."
"Oh, but, you know..." Kiyotaka dramatically placed the back of his hand on his forehead. "I can't see anything! How am I supposed to—"
"Yeesh." Mondo pretended that he was annoyed when he sighed, but he wasn't very good at faking it. Kiyotaka could hear him smirking. "Alright, gimme a second."
Kiyotaka was still as Mondo lifted him, very carefully, out of the car. It was apparent by now that Kiyotaka wasn't heavy enough to give him much trouble. He shut the door behind them, apparently with his foot, and carried Kiyotaka a short distance before setting him down on what felt, below his feet, like uneven asphalt. He could smell pine, and he thought he heard birds. They were contrasting mental images for him, leaving him less certain of where he was than he had been.
"Can I take it off now?" Kiyotaka whined, touching the fabric that was still wrapped around his face. He was beginning to get impatient. The suspense, after all of these theatrics, was almost killing him.
"Allow me," Mondo said, and then there were agonizingly slow hands on the back of his head that, eventually, released him from the blindfold at last.
Kiyotaka could only describe the sound that came out of his own mouth as one thing, and that was as a squeak. He didn't care if that was embarrassing or not. No one else was around.
Mondo had cleared out enough space in the back of the car to create a surprisingly enticing space. He'd laid out a purple blanket and arranged pillows and strung up string lights. There was a bottle of wine, and there was indeed a brown paper bag full of what Kiyotaka could only assume was the food he'd smelled.
"That's—" he had to catch his breath. "That's not bad!"
"Don't say that like you're surprised," Mondo teased. Kiyotaka felt his face get hotter than it already was. He covered his eyes in shame.
"I-I-I meant for the back of a car—"
"I knew what ya meant. ...And, anyway, I did have help. I don't really have an eye for this kinda thing. But Komaru does. She was kinda psyched about it when I asked her."
Mondo's smile was a soft and fond one. The sort that he often wore when he wasn't thinking about it. When they were tangled together on the sofa, perhaps, trapped on either end by a pile of animals, Kiyotaka's fingers absently carding through Mondo's hair. His eyes, though, were a bit warmer than they were in those moments. That told Kiyotaka that he had been looking forward to this. That he was satisfied with the reaction.
Kiyotaka spun around. He was hit by a new wave of shock when he recognized the landscape. It was a small lot hidden from the road by a barrier wall of trees, overlooking the nearby city by way of a gap in the foliage that gave way to a cliffside. He knew where they were, alright. It was no wonder that Mondo had covered Kiyotaka's eyes.
"We... We haven't been here since then, have we?"
Kiyotaka was trying to remember exactly where he'd been standing when they had shared their first kiss here. He hadn't been paying too much attention to his surroundings at the time.
"Nah. But maybe it's best we save it for special occasions, yeah?"
Kiyotaka took a moment to recover and wiped a few small tears from the corners of his eyes. This gesture was sweet. A bit too sweet, even. When he was certain that his face was dry, Kiyotaka glared a warning at Mondo.
"Y-You'd... better not be proposing right now—"
"No, no," Mondo denied. He faked a shudder. "Nothin' like that! I had my fill of wedding talk too, y'know."
"Good." With that confirmation, Kiyotaka moved to give Mondo a hug. Mondo squeezed him back tightly and Kiyotaka could feel laughter in his broad chest. "Thank you," he finally said.
"Yeah, yeah." He patted Kiyotaka's back. "You're welcome."
Kiyotaka had been clear about his desire not to rush into getting married for a while.
He had planned a good half of Sonia's wedding by himself, which had taken up just about all of his time for about four months. And even before that, he had been involved in a convoluted fake-engagement. One with both of the involved families being so suffocating with their celebrations and plans that the mere mention of champagne or engagement pictures was enough to make Kiyotaka want to scream. So, no— no wedding for the two of them. Not yet.
Once he had released Kiyotaka, Mondo gestured at the little room he had created as if to say "after you". Kiyotaka didn't wait to be told twice. He hoisted himself up and took a seat. It was somewhat difficult for Mondo to squeeze past him, but once he was far enough inside to sit down he was able to move a bit closer to the back of the space and leave Kiyotaka plenty of room. He apparently needed to be in the center of the arrangement, anyway, so that he could distribute the wine and whatever goodies he had waiting in that paper bag.
A pause.
"Y'don't know what today is, do ya?"
Kiyotaka stiffened. Was he meant to know? It wasn't Mondo's birthday, and it definitely wasn't Kiyotaka's.
"I... don't. I'm sorry."
"Hey— Don't apologize." Mondo laughed like he was slightly exasperated and shook his head. "I thought ya might not. Wasn't exactly traditional and you've been pretty busy lately. I only remembered the exact date myself 'cause I was lookin' through my old texts a little while back."
"Okay, but what is it? What's today?"
Mondo reached for the bottle of wine, retrieving it and a couple of small glasses. The popping of the cork seemed like a dramatic introduction to a speech.
"Well... Exactly one year ago today, you an' I fucked in the back of this car." Kiyotaka started to half-heartedly protest that phrasing, but Mondo's self-satisfied smirk faded and was replaced by a more sincere expression. "...AND, y'know, became official, so. Means it's our anniversary, right?"
Kiyotaka's mouth fell open. He made no effort to cover it or to close it. He just stared out at the horizon and let that statement, in all of its significance, sink in.
A year. An awful lot could happen in a year. Almost everything could change. Kiyotaka had always known that to be true, but even that, somehow, felt like an understatement.
"Time FLIES," he said. A cliché, to be sure, but an applicable one. Mondo seemed to agree.
"Sure, but it kinda feels like it's been longer, too."
"I was— I was just thinking that." Kiyotaka laughed sheepishly. "I-I probably should have remembered, but... I-I guess I wasn't sure when things really 'started'. Things were so weird between us for a while."
The timeline wasn't quite a standard one. They had exchanged declarations of love before they'd actually decided to be together, and they'd done so over the phone. And then they'd sort of rushed right into things. It was hard for Kiyotaka to nail down exactly when they'd fallen in love, or exactly when they'd become an item. When could you start calling someone your boyfriend?
"I mean... Okay, yeah, it was kinda weird," Mondo relented, scratching the back of his neck. "Not like it's MY fault you're so fuckin' dense."
"Hey! I caught on!"
"When I beat ya upside the head with it, yeah, ya did!"
Before Kiyotaka could argue that point any further, Mondo handed over one of the glasses he'd been holding. It was a shot glass, Kiyotaka realized. He wondered, at first, why Mondo would have grabbed two of those rather than opting for the traditional wine glass. Then he spotted the logo. He was so caught off guard by it that he laughed. Mondo grinned.
"Y'recognize it, huh?"
"I do!" The glass in his hand bore the logo of a particular bar. A bar that wasn't especially memorable for its food or its beer or its decor, but where quite a bit, both good and bad, had happened. That alone made it a special place. Mondo's memories of it, surely, were happy ones. He'd frequented the place with Akane long before Kiyotaka had fallen into his lap there. "Where did you even get these?"
"The bartender knows me pretty well by now. I told him the plan n' he wanted in."
"And what, exactly, is the plan?"
Mondo filled Kiyotaka's little glass with wine.
"A trip through memory lane," he answered. "Kinda corny, but fuck it, right?"
Kiyotaka pumped a fist in the air.
"Fuck it!"
"Don't—" Mondo chuckled affectionately. He took a moment to bury his face in his free hand. "I'm still not used to you doin' that."
"That's the idea."
Once Mondo was finished laughing, he poured himself a glass. Kiyotaka was quiet as he waited for him to explain his little scheme. He was acting like it was no big deal, that he hadn't been planning this for all that long, but Kiyotaka suspected otherwise. If he'd recruited Komaru to help him stage it, he must have wanted it to be special.
"I guess I just wanted t'give ya a little break," Mondo admitted. "To reminisce about that stuff again. You've been workin' really hard at changin' your course. I think it's alright to look back every once in a while n' see how far you've come." He offered what appeared to be a toast. Kiyotaka giggled as he clicked their glasses together. "I kinda like to look back on all the good stuff. Like meetin' you."
"Right." Kiyotaka nodded. "The good stuff."
They both treated the shot glasses like they were, well, shot glasses, downing the wine in one swig. Kiyotaka set the empty cup down in anticipation.
"So... What have you prepared for dinner?" Kiyotaka gestured at the bag with his eyes. "The smell's been driving me crazy. I, uh, skipped lunch."
"Some old habits die hard, I guess." Mondo took Kiyotaka's question as a prompt and retrieved their package. Kiyotaka steeled himself, hoping that his stomach wouldn't growl. "I didn't cook, obviously, but I did pick somethin' up that might jog some more memories."
He fished around in the bag and produced, for Kiyotaka, a container with a plastic lid snugly fixed in place. It had successfully kept the heat trapped inside and the food was still warm. He pulled back the plastic and the scent that greeted him was as familiar, somehow, as it was delicious.
"This... is..."
It was pulling at the corners of his memory, but he couldn't quite place it. Mondo gave him a hint as he located the utensils and opened his own container.
"If I was goin' for total accuracy I woulda gotten ya the one with the broth, but I didn't wanna risk havin' it spill everywhere. This stuff's good, though. The cutlets are probably my favorite."
"Oh!" Kiyotaka would have slapped his own forehead, just for emphasis, if he could. The bit about broth was what had reminded him. "I— I get it. And you're probably right about the soup."
Mondo had opted for the fried udon this time. And the pork, in this dish, was in the form of cutlets that were breaded with a beautiful golden-brown crust. One evening, well over a year ago now, Kiyotaka had felt a strange craving for a bowl of udon. If he hadn't done that, things might have turned out quite differently. Kiyotaka's gut had been the thing to send him in the right direction that night. Literally.
"I wonder..." Kiyotaka took a testing bite of his food and concluded that it was, in fact, as good as Mondo had said it would be, and even more so when he was so hungry. "Does that count as our first date?"
"I dunno— maybe in retrospect? Probably not at the time, since you were tryin' so hard to get rid of me."
"I was only pretending not to like you."
"Trust me, I know." Mondo shrugged. "I guess the first official date would be... breakfast at my place, probably. After we left here."
"Wouldn't dinner count? You made me stir fry first. It was beef and veggies."
"Oh, that's right. Forgot about that one."
"Our car rides were... kind of like dates, I think." Kiyotaka looked up as he tried to remember the exact contents of those rides. The kinds of things they'd talked about. "Even though I was being grouchy."
"You could say that. ...I think I DID say that."
Having dinner in the back of a car felt strangely normal. Not much different than their usual dinners at home. The same conversations, the same atmosphere. Kiyotaka had thought the same thing on their occasional excursions to fancy restaurants. This wasn't a bad thing. Mondo's presence just had a way of making Kiyotaka feel safe. Maybe everywhere was home now if they wanted it to be.
When they were mostly finished the food, Mondo chuckled at something under his breath. Kiyotaka gave him a questioning stare until he explained himself.
"It's just— Komaru and I couldn't think of any romantic way to implement a fuckin' pothole." Kiyotaka laughed pretty hard at the mental image of Mondo intentionally crashing the car just to relive their early meetings. "Or the rental place. You know the one."
"Where you first told me you liiiiked me?" Kiyotaka dragged out the 'i' in as mocking a way as he could. Mondo fake-laughed.
"Shouldn't have had to tell ya, but, yes, that one."
"If you wanted to incorporate that you should have just worn a feather boa."
It took Mondo several seconds to recall what Kiyotaka was referencing. It was nice that it wasn't just Kiyotaka that had overlooked a couple of those details. Memory was a bit strange in that way. Certain things that shouldn't have been important were vivid and he remembered them in perplexing detail. Others slipped his mind entirely unless something dragged them up. It wasn't so much a linear timeline as it was a collection of stories.
"Right, right," Mondo laughed. "Feather boa and, uh... High heels, I think? I don't remember what stupid shit I said. I was kinda flustered."
"Sunglasses," Kiyotaka supplied. "It was Gucci sunglasses."
"Pretty sure I can't afford those, but sure. Guess I coulda made some fakes."
Mondo was finished with his food. He set his empty platter down. Kiyotaka, a bit too careful and tidy when he ate, had yet to catch up to him.
"I did think about doin' this near the ocean," Mondo said. "That cliff spot I took ya to on my bike. It's a real nice view. I usedta go there to relax for a reason."
"Oh? That would've been nice, too."
"On the surface, maybe. Decided against it for a reason." He paused to think about how to word what he was trying to say. He was often ineloquent. Which wasn't his fault, considering his lack of an education, so Kiyotaka was always patient with him. "It's pretty n' all, but the conversation we had there was pretty heavy. The kinda secrets that are hard to... the kinda stuff that's better off left there."
"That's... probably true," Kiyotaka realized. He thought about how hard he had cried out there. About the punch in the metaphorical gut he'd received when Mondo had finally gotten to talk. "It was a catharsis."
Mondo snapped a finger and pointed at him.
"You always know a better word."
"Not always! Just because it's a fancy word doesn't mean it's a better word. Sometimes 'fuck' is just the right word."
"Heh." Mondo nearly blushed. "Thanks."
Other people might not have interpreted that as a compliment, but Mondo knew what Kiyotaka meant. Kiyotaka finally finished his food. Mondo took the liberty of throwing it and the napkins and the utensils into the trash, essentially, by repurposing the takeout bag.
"Even so," he continued, which startled Kiyotaka because he had thought Mondo's statement was finished, "I wanted to implement that night somehow. Some kinda tribute. Heavy as it all was, it was pretty fuckin' important. For both of us."
"I'd say so," Kiyotaka confirmed. "It was when I decided to turn my entire life around."
"N' I finally quit smoking," Mondo said with a firm nod. "I wanted to commemorate it somehow, so... I got another surprise for ya."
"Is that so?" Kiyotaka asked, his tone challenging. Mondo sat with his legs dangling out of the car and gestured for Kiyotaka to join him, to come closer. He did what was asked of him. He liked being near him, anyway, so it wasn't like Mondo had to demand it. "What are you still hiding?"
Mondo rolled his right sleeve, the one nearest Kiyotaka, up past his elbow. That revealed a protective sort of bandage that Kiyotaka recognized. He'd gotten tattoos— Daiya had added to the diamond since Kiyotaka had gotten it. Mondo's bandage, though, was not transparent, and it seemed to be freshly applied as if for this very moment.
"That's why you've been wearing long sleeves," Kiyotaka huffed. A little over a week ago he had jokingly chastised Mondo for it. He'd been wearing long sleeves even to bed, and he normally opted for tank tops if he wore shirts to bed at all. Mondo grinned at him almost wolfishly and Kiyotaka preemptively rolled his eyes.
"I know you were real bummed about it, but I did have my reasons." Mondo settled down after a second or two. He placed a hand over the bandage. "...Do you remember writin' your number on my arm?"
Kiyotaka tried not to look too eager.
"Yes, I do."
"Right, well... Ever since that night that spot has looked kinda empty without it. An' I figured it was time to finish the sleeve with somethin'." He brushed some stray hairs behind his ear, gaze serious and focused as he explained. "I thought about recreatin' the number, but I thought I probably shouldn't advertise that everywhere. An' I feel like names and dates and shit like that are kinda tacky. Like you're just askin' to break up and be stuck with it."
"I understand that," Kiyotaka said, and he was being truthful. "It's a bit on-the-nose for my tastes anyway. I think it's nicer when it's something with more than one meaning, or something with its own artistic merits."
"An' I tend to agree. So I tried to do somethin' like that. ...Do you, uh, remember the note ya left me? That one morning early on?"
Kiyotaka instantly smiled a very soft smile. Mondo could plainly see, without having to be told, that Kiyotaka did remember that note. And as far as he knew, Mondo had treasured that piece of paper. Kiyotaka had been surprised to find it in a drawer while cleaning up once. He'd assumed that Mondo had thrown it away months prior.
Mondo was referring to something that had happened when they'd only been dating for about a week. Kiyotaka had been sleeping at Mondo's place out of a simple desire for companionship while he tried to adjust. And against Mondo's advice, Kiyotaka had decided to visit his parents. Just one last time. Only to retrieve some things that they had of his, and to make it very clear that he had no intention of going back on his word, since they'd been relentlessly attempting to contact him through several means. They'd assumed that Kiyotaka would chicken out. He had wanted to prove to them, and to himself, that he had meant it when he told them he was finished.
So, Kiyotaka woke very early that foggy Thursday morning. Too early to wake his new boyfriend. Kiyotaka couldn't stand the thought of leaving Mondo to wake alone with no understanding of what was going on. To remedy this, he wrote a simple but very emotionally honest note explaining his whereabouts and assuring Mondo not to worry. He promised to return that evening. And in a flash of what felt like poetic brilliance, he ended it with a little slogan. A new motto for himself to follow as he navigated the dismantlement of his relationship with his controlling parents. Something that Mondo would understand, because it was to the point rather than needlessly wordy. And he left the note on the nightstand.
Thinking on that— on that snappy little catchphrase— Kiyotaka had a sneaking suspicion about this tattoo. And if it was what he thought it was going to be, then it was, quite possibly, one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done for him. Once, Kiyotaka would never have believed that someone would want to have a piece of him permanently on his own skin. That he could mean that much to somebody.
"...Well, as I'm sure you already know, I kept that," Mondo continued. "So I took it to Daiya, and... I guess I should just show it to ya."
Mondo moved to peel the bandage off. He seemed surprised that Kiyotaka insisted on doing it instead. With his fingers rather than his words, but the message was apparent, and his fingertips made quick work of it and peeled it away in a swift but gentle movement. Kiyotaka made another embarrassing sound at the fact that it wasn't quite what he'd been expecting. It was even better. Daiya had gone to the effort of using the letter itself to perfectly replicate Kiyotaka's handwriting. Rules were made to be broken.
"I— This is— It's—"
"D'ya like it?"
"I... I love it, Mondo." Kiyotaka wrapped himself around the other man's side. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me," Mondo laughed. "It's kinda a present for both of us, isn't it?"
"It's about what it MEANS, though," Kiyotaka argued. Mondo shrugged. As much as he could when Kiyotaka was pinning his arm in place.
"...Yeah. It is."
Mondo held him close for a minute. Kiyotaka thought about rules. About why he'd written that phrase down in the first place.
Not so long ago, he'd forced himself to follow some ridiculous rules. A set of restrictions that forbade him, above all things, from being happy. He HAD to work at the IT center. He HAD to meet with his parents for dinner at least three times a week. He HAD to work out just as frequently, and he HAD to wake at four in the morning, and he HAD to get married— it was an increasingly bizarre checklist that never seemed to end.
But things had changed. Mondo hadn't just helped Kiyotaka escape those boundaries. Kiyotaka had ended up doing things that he knew his peers and his parents would disapprove of, whether it was his hip tattoo or the car sex or the motorcycle rides. And he was better for it. Those rules, after all, were best left behind him.
"You know," Kiyotaka said, "if I had to do it with anyone, if I had to do it eventually... I'm glad I broke the rules with you."
Mondo didn't respond. Not verbally. He smiled, and then he leaned in for a kiss. Kiyotaka returned it. It wasn't like the last time they'd been here. This kiss was slow and sweet. No hesitation. The thrill of something new and enticing was long gone, but it had been replaced a warm sense of comfort far greater than that.
The sky, when Kiyotaka next looked, was tinted a deep bronze and streaked with red. He looked at it, then back at Mondo. They shared an idea. Mondo retrieved Kiyotaka's glasses for him. Then, once they were safely back in place, he beckoned for Kiyotaka to come even closer and draped a throw blanket over them both.
He might have been much more relaxed than he once was, but Kiyotaka still didn't often take the time to watch the sun set.
There was an overlapping of limbs, a tangle of fingers, and personal space bled together. Kiyotaka's heartbeat slowed. He felt another kiss at the crown of his head. This arrangement was the sort of thing that could definitely escalate. They might end up establishing an erotic tradition here. Or, maybe, they wouldn't. Kiyotaka just wanted to enjoy the moment. To do whatever felt right for them in that very second and to continue doing so.
He laid his head against Mondo's shoulder. He watched as the sun disappeared behind the trees, behind the distant buildings, and watched the lights twinkle on as the last of the day's light faded. He did not mourn its passing. He instead looked forward to the moon, to the stars, to what the next morning might bring.
He breathed.
Kiyotaka Ishimaru was, at long last, happy.
————
A/N: THE (GROTESQUELY FUCKIN CORNY) END EVERYBODYYYYY! once again, i'm uncertain about this one compared to previous ones i've been proud of (19 and 22 in particular), as the tone feels off-brand or something, but i think i got the point across.
as an aside, i know almost nothing about cats compared to dogs. while googling cats, i saw one that was black, white, and orange-brown, kind of in blotches, and it LITERALLY looks like their cat lovechild?? so yeah whiskers is that cat but little. initially i was just gonna use another white cat also named snowball (the second), but i don't think mondo would get him a white cat knowing what happened. that would be the kind of gift that could be really meaningful, but also backfire and just drag up really awful memories.
anyway, i MIGHT eventually add a little epilogue to this tale about when they do decide to take the plunge and get engaged! i'd just need to come up with a good enough idea, so no guarantees as to when that will happen. whatever i decide to do, thanks a TON for reading this whole thing. it started as a fun little side project where i was updating daily and somehow became one of the most popular and intensive things i've written!