Okaerinasai
Aug 12, 2020 18:57:21 GMT -5
The Madness Menagerie, mystifyingoracle, and 2 more like this
Post by Kohaku Fujihara =^.^= on Aug 12, 2020 18:57:21 GMT -5
Okaerinasai
OOC: This is a joint piece with me and mystifyingoracle. I suggest reading this piece first, so you'll know where Ko's been before now. Enjoy =^_^=
The rain poured in a steady shower from the darkening sky, thick and heavy with cloud.
As Kohaku Fujihara walked through the streets of Baltimore, slowly getting soaked through, he couldn’t help but think to himself that he couldn’t get married today. It was a stupid joke, one that not a ton of people around here would likely get, but he had to tell it to himself. Anything to get his manner of good cheer up.
The last couple weeks had been hectic. Traumatic, even. And he was too smart to think that this would be the end of it. He’d have unexpected and unwanted company all over again before too long, though now he wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice. Still, he’d cross that bridge when he came to it. Right now, he had stronger priorities.
Glancing around, he looked at the sign over the storefront. Yes, this seemed like the right place. Despite the darkening evening, darker than usual due to the late summer shower, it wasn’t too late. Hopefully, it’d still be open.
T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers sopping wet, brownish-red hair plastered to the back of his neck and sides of his face, Kohaku knocked at the door. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to just come in.
Silvio had just started the autoclave to sterilize his instruments for the next day when he heard the knock. Walking back out into the work area, his eyes widened in surprise to see his erstwhile tag partner standing out in the rain.
“Ko?” he said, pace quickening as he approached the front door. “Hey! Come in!” Opening the shop for him, Silvio let out a little laugh of surprise, shaking his head. “I thought you were going out of town or something. The message you left on my voicemail…”
“...wasn’t from me.”
He wanted to be more elegant. Maybe explain himself in a more gentle manner, artful, perhaps more elusive. But he was too tired to lie, or even to soften the truth. He was tired and hurt and this was the only place he’d wanted to be for days, and now he was here, and in a complete lack of decorum or even suaveness, he wrapped his arms around his partner’s shoulders, trembling a little.
“It wasn’t from me, Sil. I’m sorry. I should’ve been more honest. I might never have seen you again and you never would’ve known that I didn’t leave on purpose because I wasn’t honest. I’m so sorry…”
Part of him was panicking a little from spilling this much. Another part was absolutely relieved.
Brow furrowing, Silvio wrapped his arms automatically around Kohaku, patting his back softly. “Hey, hey...jeez, Ko, you’re soaked. It’s okay. You’re here now and that’s what matters, right? One thing at a time. I’ll close up the shop and we can go upstairs to my apartment. I got some clothes you can borrow and we can get you dried off. Everything else can wait until after that.”
Guiding him into the waiting area, Silvio disentangled himself long enough to lock the shop door and switch off the, ‘Open,’ sign, then nodded to a door that led out the back. Showing Ko out, the pair came to a flight of stairs that Silvio led his partner up to an apartment door. Unlocking it and gesturing Kohaku inside, the vulpine young man found himself in a one bedroom apartment’s dining area, a round table with a wood top and wrought iron legs along with four matching chairs just in front of him. To his right was a little kitchen warmly appointed with maroon tile and a sunny yellow stove, and a living room with what appeared to be a well loved and thoroughly broken-in brown leather sofa. A colorfully patterned round carpet was spread across a wooden floor, and the walls were thick with framed pieces of art and shelves stuffed with books of all sorts. House plants with long, leafy vines stretched along the ceiling.
“Let me get some clothes and towels for you. You can take a shower if you want.”
“Just a towel is fine. I’m sorry for dripping all over your place. I just wanted to get here as soon as I got off the plane and didn’t think of things like… weather.”
He gave the sort of laugh that people make when they’re trying to disperse tension.
“Sil, I need to tell you some things. About myself. I thought I could get away with just not getting you involved in even by dumping the weird mess that is my life in your lap, but… I kind of see now I probably should be more upfront about it, if this kind of stuff’s going to happen.”
What are you going to tell him? Everything? Is he even going to believe it all? Or is he going to think you’re yanking his chain?
Okay. He had to tell him. But maybe he wouldn’t believe everything… so maybe he’d just leave out the most unbelievable bits for now. He’d come clean about the rest of it later.
Silvio nodded and went to his bathroom, returning with an armful of towels sporting a multi-colored fish scale pattern. Offering them to Kohaku, he gave him a reassuring smile. “You don’t have to tell me anything you’re not comfortable talking about. But let’s focus on getting you dry and warmed up. You want some tea?”
Stepping into his kitchen, he opened a cabinet to reveal shelves stacked with tins, boxes, and bags of different teas - black, green, herbal and rooibos. He gave his tag partner a slightly sheepish smile.
“I kinda collect them, so you having some would help free up some space.”
“Hey, I can think of way worse things to collect. If you’re offering, some green would be nice, with honey if you’ve got it, thanks. As to which kind… surprise me.”
Unfolding one of the towels, he rubbed it over his hair and face, drying off his clothes as best he could, opting to sit down afterwards on a kitchen chair that he wouldn’t ruin if he got it wet. Sighing, he traced random designs on the tabletop.
“Like I said, that wasn’t me who left that message. I guess I should start there. That was… someone I thought was an old friend of mine. He’s… I guess you could say he’s good at mimicry.”
“I’ll say,” Silvio agreed. “It sounded just like you.” Turning to put on the kettle, he selected a mint-flavored sencha from the cupboard for Kohaku and a spiced black tea for himself. Scooping the loose leaves into a pair of metal strainers and placing them into mugs that looked like the result of a Value Village raid, he turned back to his guest. “I didn’t want to pry or anything; I figured you’d tell me in your own time if you felt like I needed to know.” The kettle whistled and he poured the boiling water into the mugs, fetching a half-full honey bear container from another cupboard and bringing the lot of it back to the table. Taking a seat, he frowned, giving Kohaku a concerned look. “Is this guy someone dangerous? Do you need help dealing with him?”
“He could be. But… nnngh. How to explain all this. Beginning at the beginning, I suppose.”
Sighing again, Kohaku inhaled, the brewing tea and general homey feel of the place setting him at ease a bit. He squirted a liberal amount of honey into his tea, stirred it, and wrapped his hands around the mug, warming them while looking down into the pale amber liquid.
“My father is a very powerful person. He expects me to work for him, and to be honest, I’m not wholly against it. The thing is, I’m not ready yet. I don’t want to settle down and devote the rest of my life to doing one thing in one place when there’s so much I haven’t experienced. I mean, I’ve been a lot of places and the closest I’ve found to someplace I want to settle is, well, here. I like it here. I like all of you. I… heh. Like you in particular. But… dad wants me home. Now. And he sent my old friend Kaz to fetch me.”
Hands gripping at his elbows, Kohaku lightly blew a plume of steam away, his expression sad.
“I told him I wasn’t gonna go. And after pestering me about it for a while, he apologized. Said he didn’t mean to force me into a life I didn’t want on my father’s behalf. Poured out some good Kyoto sake as an apology gift… and like an idiot, I drank it.”
His grip on his own arms tightened, eyes closing.
“He’s always been a tricky cat. I just didn’t think he’d do me so dirty as to spike my drink and kidnap me.”
There wasn’t a pretty word for it. That’s what it was, wasn’t it, when you took someone from their home against their will?
Silvio’s brows shot up and he sat straighter in his chair, eyes wide. “Holy shit, Ko.” Reaching out, he placed a hand on the other man’s shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “I’m not crazy about the cops, but do you want to get them involved here? Or at least...Christ, do you want to go to the hospital? He didn’t...if he tried anything…”
In spite of himself, Silvio felt his skin prickle as possible acts of retribution cycled through his mind in a whirlwind. He hadn’t forgotten how to pick locks and work around home security systems when he decided not to do any more of his B&E-related side hustle. He hadn’t forgotten how to hot wire cars or sweet talk his way into getting folks to do things they wouldn’t normally do, but gosh, he was such a nice, handsome young man, maybe they’d make just one exception. He hadn’t forgotten how to get to people where they were vulnerable and show them their theater of security was just that - a little fantasy played out for them. A distraction that left them open to anyone with the right wits, daring, and planning.
Without realizing it, his grip on his partner’s shoulder had tightened, and he quickly released it. Giving him an apologetic look, Silvio let his hand rest on the tabletop, open for Kohaku’s should he choose to take it.
“What do you need from me to make this better?”
“No, I don’t think he did anything bad to me outside of taking me back to Kyoto by force, though that’s pretty shitty enough on its own. As for calling the cops, it wouldn’t do a bunch of good right now. He’s still in Japan, I was probably way clear by the time he noticed I was gone. I had some help from a friend, one who’s pretty top notch at disguise and he kind of volunteered to be a Me Decoy. I kind of wish I could have seen the look on Kaz’s face when he realized we duped him.”
He gave a little chuckle in spite of himself, reaching out and taking his partner ’s hand.
“For now? If I can name anything I need from you that would help? I’d… could I stay the night? We don’t… we don’t have to do anything, and for once in my life I don’t think I’m really in the mood for it anyway. I just want to be close to you. Can… can I do that?”
He looked up, blushing a little.
Thoughts of revenge dissolving, Silvio looked to Kohaku’s hand, squeezing it gently, then back up to meet his eyes. Smiling, he nodded. “Yeah, Ko. Anything you want.”