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Midori had been sitting at the cafe for a while now.
Sure, he had shown up early, strategically placing a napkin and pen in the middle of the table that could just coincidentally be used as a canvas for a drawing or autograph, perhaps. His fingers tapped the table erratically as he anticipated the arrival of the second guest, quickly checking his breath and straightening what he could of his thick brown hair. But that had been a while ago, and now his hot chocolate was losing steam and the slow jazz music was wearing on his already anxious head.
Yuzuru would not be one to stand someone up, Midori told himself. The butler was known -- trained -- to be punctilious and honest. He wouldn't do something like that. Would he? Midori glanced at the drawing station he had set up on the table and swallowed nervously. Maybe he would, if it was Midori...
Two rings from his cell phone and one glance at the caller's name against the screen's mascot background were all that was needed to pick it up.
"Takamine-sama."
"Fushimi-senpai! ...Um, what's up?"
A small bout of hesitation over the phone made Midori realize he was holding his breath.
"My sincerest apologies, but could you meet me outside of the cafe?"
"Oh, sure?" And the conversation ended. Midori was already up from his seat, grabbing his lukewarm drink and wrapping his green jacket around himself. Yuzuru had sounded a bit strange on the phone, uneasy, almost, and it didn't help that he hung up without any real explanation. He wasn't quite sure what was happening, but the master artist hadn't stood him up, and that was all that was really on his mind. He squeezed his way through the tables of cafe patrons, dropping the napkin into the trash on the way, and pushed the building's door open with ding! from the entrance bell.
Oh?
Yuzuru was staring at him, wide purple eyes, and was positioned about as far away as possible from the large golden retriever he was holding on a pristine, leather leash lined with fine, expensive-looking gemstones. The huge, light blue bow and equally large, sparkling brown eyes were unmistakable; this was the Himemiya's pet dog, King.
"D...og?"
Yuzuru started towards the new presence, glancing to make sure King was following behind. "Takamine-sama, I am so sorry. I apologize in advance. I was preparing to leave to meet you here and suddenly the responsibility of King was dumped on me. You see, this doesn't usually happen... but as a servant, I am in no position to argue. But I didn't want to not show up, because you were so excited...," Yuzuru seemed uncharacteristically troubled. "But I would understand if you want to reschedule for another day."
Midori stared for a while at the sight before remembering he was supposed to respond. "Oh! Uh, no, it's alright!"
It's true that Midori was not spectacular at handling dogs, and a large, fluffy, and energetic one like King was certainly no exception, but he wasn't about to let that ruin his day with Yuzuru, especially since it had already been so difficult to find a day that worked well for both of their schedules. Besides, there was something strained about the way Yuzuru was acting next to this dog that subconsciously hardened Midori's resolve to stay.
"Hi, King," Midori strode forward, reaching towards the noble pet with his unoccupied hand. King gazed up at him happily, panting with a goofy smile. Hah, maybe he could forgive him for intruding on their day. "Shall we go to a dog park instead?" Yuzuru still stood far away, but watched the scene with a tender smile. His tense shoulders were visibly relaxing.
"If you're fine with it," Yuzuru replied even though the question was directed at the dog. "I really do appreciate you putting up with this."
"Yeah. Doing anything with Fushimi-senpai would still be a good time!" The exclamation gained a chuckle from Yuzuru. "Oh, but you didn't get a drink... are you thirsty?"
Yuzuru shifted, moving closer to Midori and King, and started to guide them in the direction of the dog park. King happily took the lead, clearly having been along this route many times, and pulled the two along. "No, it's quite alright. I wouldn't want to leave you alone out there with King, there's a lot of trouble he could get into."
"Eh.. then do you just want the rest of my hot chocolate?" Noticing Yuzuru's pause, he continued, unwavering. "I'm done with it."
Yuzuru stared blankly at him. This boy was incredibly serious. "...Sure, that would be very nice. Thank you."
"Here, I'll take the leash from you too," Midori offered, holding out both hands, one with the drink and one for the leash.
Yuzuru stiffened. Had he noticed? Had he made it obvious that being around King made him uncomfortable? He convinced himself that he had no real reason to be. King hadn't shown aggressive behavior in years, and his increasing age had been mellowing him out for a long time. Yuzuru had been with this dog for over half a decade now, he should have gotten used to it. And yet no amount of time seemed to erase the memory of the dog's unrelenting bite leaving him crying, bloody, and scarred, with not even his parents there to help. He never liked being left in charge of the dog, but a butler was supposed to be perfect, and while, admittedly, having Midori at his side helped, he really hadn't wanted him to notice this vulnerable side of him.
Little did he know that Midori was just overly excited thinking about how they would have drunk from the same cup.
The two traded leash and beverage, and Yuzuru relinquished the little warmth left from the hot chocolate against his hands in the chilling breeze, right after the fact that King was no longer in his care for the moment. He was glad to have someone take the dog from him. Just a few minutes earlier he had been anxious that it would just be him and King left alone all day.
Both boys' hearts raced as Yuzuru lifted the hot chocolate to his lips and sipped.
"So!" Midori tightened his grip, feeling the leather edges dig into his hand. The steady clacking of Yuzuru's dress shoe heels against the sidewalk made him feel as if that was his own loud heart beating heavily for the other to hear, and he grasped for a topic to fill the air instead. "How have you been recently? You said you had a photo shoot with fine yesterday, right...?"
"Ha, yes, I did. The flowers they used still had some thorns but disregarding that, everything went about as well as expected. Young Master did everything perfectly after his normal whining, and Hibiki-sama spent most of the time creating things for me to clean up. Not that I minded, though." Recollections of the previous day flowed naturally, as if he had been waiting to talk to someone about them. Yuzuru walked close to Midori, seemingly much more comfortable than before with the original apprehension around the dog almost completely faded. "Oh, I almost forgot! I don't usually do this, but I kept some of the extra photos. This may be too presumptuous of me, but I thought you might like them."
So much for covering his beating heart! The tall boy gazed excitedly as Yuzuru pulled a couple of small photos out of his overcoat pockets and presented them with a sheepish smile. "Oooooohhh...!!!" While Midori may have originally forced the relationship for Yuzuru's art, and eventually cemented himself into pursuing the relationship because of his personality, there was a lot to say about his looks too. And the messy navy hair, light, loose clothes, soft smile, and beautifully delicate flowers adorning him in these pictures were certainly helping his case. "Oooh! Thank you, Master Artist!! These are right up my alley! I'll treasure them forever!"
Blush dusted cheeks and noses, and though the frigid air could serve as an easy excuse, neither felt the need to point it out.
"Maybe you could give me some of you, too-- ah!" Yuzuru startled backward. King had stopped in his tracks, plopping himself down in front of the thin black gate of the dog park, and Yuzuru had almost run into him in his distracted amble. "Oh! I guess we've arrived. Be sure to hold on to him."
Before a response could even be thought of, the gate was opened by a passerby leaving the park, and with no obstacle left, King bounded inside with a flustered Midori being dragged along behind.
"Takamine-sama!" Yuzuru hesitated where the two left him, nervously eyeing all the dogs prancing around the vicinity, but pushed himself into the park anyways.
"I've got him! I've got him!" Midori slammed his feet down into the gravel path, and though his legs shook and feet slid slightly further, King finally came to an unwilling stop and turned to stare at the source of his disappointment. He let out a snippy bark followed by a soft whine, and Midori couldn't help but think how much he reminded him of his owner. "Why do you have to be difficult...?"
Yuzuru finally caught up to him, and noticing his labored breathing, put a gentle hand to his back. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm ok," Midori replied, fiddling with King's harness through his thick fur before getting the leash unclipped. The golden retriever flew, immediately starting laps around the park. Midori leaned back onto the balls of his heels with a large exhale, briefly checking his pocket to make sure his pictures were alright. "Phew, that dog is something else."
"Yes, he sure is. I am eternally grateful to have you with me. You'll have to let me repay you some time." Failing to elaborate any further than that, Yuzuru removed his hand from Midori's back and pulled a dog toy out of the little doggy bag around his torso. Squeaking it once was all it took to distract King from his frolic and find himself right at the butler's feet, and though he had tried to prepare himself, Yuzuru still stumbled back slightly at the dog's sudden movements before quickly composing himself again. Embarrassed, he glanced quickly to try and read any reaction on Midori's face.
Midori looked concerned. He moved closer, holding his hands out. "Fushimi-senpai, I can throw the toy for King!"
Yuzuru cringed inwardly. He had to of noticed, there was no way he hadn't. This park full of dogs and a slobbering mouth of teeth right at his feet was getting to him, and he was more self-conscious about it than he wished to be. It was incredibly unprofessional for him to need it, not to mention a blow to his pride, but Midori was kind to try to offer help. He held out the doy toy for the other to take.
Yuzuru's hands were all that was on Midori's mind. Those hands, so adept at creating masterpieces. Against this harsh, frigid air, skin already dries and cracks, but with endless toy throw after toy throw, how would they fare? Midori couldn't let anything happen to them. Sacrificing his own hands was the best option, thus he offered them up and grabbed the toy from Yuzuru's now safe hand.
"Thank you, Takamine-sama."
"No problem at all!"
He began the cycle of throw and receive while Yuzuru finished the last of what was now simply a cup of cold chocolate. King had an endless supply of energy, despite evidently being fed a little excess by Tori, and Midori silently affirmed with himself that this was the right choice when his wrist started to ache.
Yuzuru began moving, which got the round-eyed attention of both King and Midori. They oddly resembled each other, a thought that made Yuzuru crack a smile. He gestured to the empty cup. "I'm just going to go throw this away very quickly. I'll be right back."
"Got it. I'll be here!" Midori lugged the toy over his head again, and King happily followed, fluffy tail flowing behind and kicking up dead leaves in his wake. The dog was pretty cute--the Himemiya's surely knew how to pick out a pet. He sort of resembled a mascot character, almost. If you thought about it hard enough. Maybe Midori would've gotten a dog too, if they weren't so lively and such a big responsibility. And being with King surely wasn't the worst way to be spending time with Yuzuru, either. They didn't get to have the cafe date they planned, but this wasn't so bad. The crisp winter air, a fluffy prancing dog, a shared drink, candid shots of his favorite artist, a scream...
A scream?
That was surely Yuzuru.
A sound he had never heard before and never thought he would hear in his life. Yuzuru hardly ever even shared his smallest worries, despite Midori's protest, let alone show genuine fear. The unfamiliar noise sent some sort of fight or flight instinct through him, and without thinking, his feet were already moving in the direction Yuzuru had gone. The strong, bitter air threatened to choke him, but his legs pushed him onward anyways. He spotted the trashcan ahead, Yuzuru's bag discarded beside it. The blue-haired boy was on the ground, only partially visible behind the trashcan with his back turned to Midori and a hand assumedly up to protect his face.
Midori was completely at a loss for what could have caused this sort of reaction from the usually so coolheaded Yuzuru, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good, and he was determined to get in between them. Dying while protecting the master artist didn't sound too bad. At least he got to choose how he goes!
"Don't worry, I've got you!!" Midori flung himself in front of Yuzuru's spot on the dusty ground, eyes closed and braced for impact... but no impact came.
Instead, two paws climbed up his shin, scratching away at the thick fabric with tiny claws accompanied by a flurry of furious squeaks.
Midori opened an eye.
A chihuahua?
"I'm so sorry!" A stranger rushed up to them and scooped up what was presumably his dog, ending the futile offensive on his leg. "She wasn't supposed to get off leash. Did she do anything?"
"Ah, yeah--wait, no--um, it's ok," Midori stuttered, straightening his posture awkwardly as if he hadn't just been limbs spread, breath held, and chest puffed to face a chihuahua head on.
"Ok, good," the dog's owner huffed. "Sorry for any trouble."
"Oh, no issue..." Midori watched the two walk away, and although they were preoccupied with a back-and-forth of scolding and yapping, Midori was wishing he actually had been killed protecting Yuzuru.
Oh yeah, Yuzuru! He turned around hurriedly. "Fushimi-senpai, are you ok?"
"Takamine-sama..." Yuzuru got up from the ground, brushed the dust off of his dark clothes, and squatted down to pick up his bag from where it had landed. It was quite obvious that he was avoiding eye contact. "It must be embarrassing..." Midori already knew his actions in the past minute had been humiliating, but he was still taken aback by such a blunt response. He rose his head to speak, to try and spit out some kind of defense for himself, but Yuzuru wasn't done there. "To deal with me in this state... I'm sorry. It's a stupid fear, I know." His voice was quiet, ashamed, and all of it unnerved and admittedly confused Midori, taking the place of his previous worries.
"...fear?" Midori approached the shorter boy, who looked up concernedly from where he was spending more time than needed to correct every little thing in the bag.
"You mean, you hadn't noticed?"
Dots connected.
"Fushimi-senpai... are you afraid of dogs?"
"..."
"..."
Yuzuru hesitated, but in meeting Midori's genuine, worried blue eyes, he found some sort of confidence he hadn't been able to find in himself for years. He lowered his head, finally addressing the long-neglected topic. "...I was bitten when I was young." He still couldn't bring himself to drag Tori's beloved King into it, though. "I still find it difficult to be around them. It's embarrassing, but I was sort of glad that, of all days, today was the day King's duties were pushed onto me, because I'd have you here by my side... I wish I could just be rid of it already. It's foolish and a disgrace to my job as a butler."
Midori felt the weight of Yuzuru's words in every delicate movement, and he moved down to match the other's position, cautiously grabbing his hand, maybe to anchor him in the present moment, maybe to simply be closer. "There's no shame in it, I think. It's normal to have fears and worries, it's a part of life for everyone, and honestly I think it's what makes us human... I even know someone afraid of eggplants," nope, bad example, "Sorry, bad example. But the point is, it's normal, and common, there's nothing wrong with it, and it doesn't even have to make complete logical sense. It can be worked through, or it can be beautiful by itself. It sounds bad, but I actually see you in a brighter light knowing you're not flawless... it doesn't make you any less of a butler, or even a person, and even if it somehow did, you'd still be wonderful in my eyes."
He felt a squeeze in his hand, and Yuzuru looked up to him with wavering, warm pupils. "Thank you. I'll try to keep that in mind from now on, especially if it's coming from Takamine-sama."
Content that he had somehow gotten through what he had wanted to convey without messing up too much, as well as made Yuzuru feel at least a little bit better, he let a smile fall onto his face. "I'm glad."
Yuzuru smiled back. Midori gave him someone he felt he could be open with, be himself with, be someone other than the textbook butler he had been raised to be. It was the first time he had heard those words, and, selfishly, he hoped it wasn't the last. But as he took a deep breath, a pondering look crossed his face. "If you didn't know about my fear before now, why did you jump in front of that dog like that?"
"Well, you seemed in distress, and," Midori couldn't bring himself to tell Yuzuru he was about to sacrifice himself for his sake, so he helplessly said the first thing that came to mind. "Uhh, the green flames are the mark of compassion?"
Strangely enough, Yuzuru laughed, a genuine, hearty laugh that made Midori's heart skip a beat, and it caught King's attention, who trotted up to them with the toy dangling from his jaws. Midori stared wide-eyed as he watched Yuzuru's reaction, ready to intervene at any moment, but Yuzuru only took a deep breath and reached forward with his free hand. It was a nervous, hesitant gesture, but his fingers ran through the dog's dense golden fur, something he hadn't done since that day so many years ago. King's tail wagged profusely.
Their eyes found each other again, and wistful smiles spotted the air. With a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, Yuzuru leaned down to where their hands still connected the two of them, and placed a gentle kiss on Midori's knuckles, setting his heart and face ablaze.
"Well, thank you, Ryusei Green."