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"'Til next time, Shin-chan."
"Yeah. Take care, Takao." Was the last thing he said before he started to walk away.
Now that he remembers it, this is the same place he last saw him, said goodbye to him. He never got to say anything, not even when he didn't know if they would meet again. Once, they were so close, but now, it felt like an infinite void had gotten between them. It was a distant memory, but one he will never forget.
"Keep in touch, okay? I'll see you in another few years." Kazunari chuckled.
"That is real drama, Kazu. It's fine! It's not like I'll forget about you or anything." Mizuki replied. "Take care of yourself, alright? We'll meet again!"
Kazunari smiled. He replied a "yeah, yeah", waved his hands, and bid his goodbye.
Why was it always like this? He always says goodbye to someone, always in the airport. He was always left alone.
Kazunari turned to walk away, heading towards the exit, when a bob of green caught his eyes. He stopped in his tracks. It can't be.
He was standing in the middle of everything, and time seemed to have stopped. He feels so lost, circling around, looking again. Hoping for a familiar face. He turned his head left and right, behind, took a step, and faced front. There, he saw him.
Kazunari can't be mistaken. He never will. Years may have passed but he will never forget that face, those eyes, which is still covered with specs. And then he met his gaze.
It was as if on slow motion, and everything else didn't matter.
He's here. He came back. I see him. I feel him.
Unconsciously, Kazunari took a step forward, slow, trembling, weak. His mouth hanging open, tears welling up in his eyes. A flush of pink on his cheeks.
"Shin-chan..."
As if Shintarou had heard him, even with the distance, and started walking towards him. Still with that passive face, a hand dragging his case, and one hand falling on the side with a phone.
Suddenly, a woman called his name, Shintarou looking at the side, and was caught off guard when she threw her whole weight on him for a hug. Shintarou held her carefully, and realized that Takao was there, just a few feet away.
Kazunari felt his eyes burn, his hands trembling, and resisted the quiver and sob which was about to leave his lips. He smiled, and turned.
He felt lost again, and alone.
Come to think of it, it was also winter when he last saw Shin-chan. When he said goodbye to him. It was a cold night, but it didn't matter. He was there, until the last minute. He saw how the distance between them grew, one feet. Five, ten feet. And Shin-chan was walking away. From him.
"Shin-chan!"
Shintarou turned, "What is it?"
"Nothing." Kazunari smiled, sad. His eyes glinting, and his face turning red. "Take care of yourself."
I love you.
His face gave nothing away, and Shintarou just nodded. He continued walking, not once looking back at Kazunari.
He just realized how thankful he was for Shin-chan at that time for not looking back. Because if he did, Kazunari knew that he'd just run over, embrace him, and he'd never let go.
And then he was outside, on a sidewalk, stopped beside a street light, with just a few cars and people ruling about. But, oh.
It started snowing.
Kazunari felt the cold ice touch his cheeks, and he reached out his hand. It was cold to the touch, but there was something warm in him that wasn't bothered at all. The snow in his hand melted. And he smiled.
He watched. As the starlight gets muffled by the dazzling lights of the city, as the air turned cold, and the snow fell.
"Takao."
Kazunari tensed, his heartbeat, which he managed to peace out earlier, started drumming again, just by hearing his voice. He trembled, his skin flushed, from the cold and from a familiar warmth he didn't know. He turned his head slowly, and there he is, again.
"Shin-chan..."
Tears welled up in his eyes, threatening to fall down his cheeks. Snow was clinging to his hair and coat, but he didn't care. He was here, again. And he called his name.
"Takao..."
Shintarou took a step, two steps. And Kazunari is trembling, a hand up his mouth, a tear finding its way down, and he unconsciously took a step back.
Seven feet, five, three feet. Three steps closer.
"Takao."
He let out a sob, and another, followed by another more. His tears flooding his face, flushed, and he was crying.
"Takao." Shintarou breathed again, this time, closer, louder, warmer. A quiver in his voice, unstable.
He reached out, Kazunari feeling the contact on his cheek, wiping a tear away, and another. A hand on his hair, gently rustling. And Kazunari is crying.
The hands slid down, to his back, his waist, and before he knew it, he was flushed against Shintarou's chest, his heartbeat mirroring his own heart's drumming.
"Takao..."
"S-stop saying my name, s-stupid Shin-chan!" Kazunari managed to choke out, although his voice had a slight tremble in it, making him stutter.
"I'm back." Shintarou whispered, pulling him impossibly closer. His cheek rested on Kazunari's head, hands resting warmly against his body, while snow was falling around them.
It almost felt like a fairytale. And Kazunari never wants to go back to reality, where he and Shin-chan were two different people in two different, far apart, places in the world.
He wants to be always by Shin-chan's side, he wants to always see Shin-chan's face, he wants to always hear Shin-chan shut him up his nonsense ramblings, he wants to be always together with Midorima Shintarou.
"Shin-chan..." Kazunari lets out, a little too shaky. He encircled his hands on Shintarou's body, slowly, as if making sure it wasn't an illusion, and buried his face on Shin-chan's chest, inhaling all of him. It is him.
I never wanted you to go. I don't want to let you go.
"Takao, I..." Shintarou started, letting Kazunari go, and holding his face in his hands.
It's warm. So warm.
"Shin-chan..." Kazunari smiled, looking up at Shintarou, who, after all these years of being in love with him and trying to forget about him, still managed to make his heart beat quickly with just his voice. He, who Kazunari cannot forget, and will never forget.
"I love you, Shintarou."
Shintarou stopped, and smiled.
He smiled.
Midorima Shintarou smiled, and Kazunari felt every problem he had with this world was gone in a second after that.
"I love you, too, Kazunari. I have always been in love with you."
Shintarou, gently, gently, kissed Kazunari's forehead, brushed back his hair, and kissed his eyes, to his cheeks.
"W-wha—" He looked at Shin-chan, looking at his eyes through clear glass, through those glinting emerald eyes, through his soul, and found what he was looking for. "S-stop joking, s-stupid Shin-chan! D-don't make fun of me!" He pouted, although to no vain, because he was sobbing again.
"S-since when?" The only words Kazunari can say through tears and sobs, his hand gripping Shintarou's coat, and looking at his eyes, eyes which reflected love.
"Since you started pestering my life." Shintarou muttered, eyes still held a delicate and fragile emotion.
"Shin-chan!"
"What?"
"You meanie." Takao pouted, and oh, how adorable he looked, eyes almost crystal, and cheeks red.
"You and your antics. You're so annoying, so loud, so beautiful."
"S-Shin-chan! Don't say that!" His face is all red now, both from the cold and embarrassment.
Kazunari sighed, all too comfortable, all warm, even with the snow and the cold air surrounding them.
"I am never letting you go again, Shin-chan. Never."
"Don't let me go, Takao."
"What's this?" Kazunari raised a protruding keychain from Shintarou's coat pocket, a small green frog dangling from it.
"My lucky item."
Kazunari chuckled, which turned into a laugh, his eyes turning crescents, and had a blush on his cheek. Shintarou just looked at him, smiling to himself. A while after, his laugh died down, but a small smile remained on his lips. Kazunari clasped their hands together, and looked at Shintarou.
"You never change, Shin-chan."