Title: Longer than Lifetimes
AU: Childhood friends
Genre: Friendship/Romance (in the end)
A/N: I'm actually very proud of this ^^ Each section is a different year too, just in case you got confused.
"Kuni-chan, do you want to have lunch together?"
A boy around the age of 5 looked up from his coloring project to see a gentle-looking brunet smiling down at him. A bright red lunchbox was clutched in the kindergartener's small hands as he rocked back and forth on his heels. Kunimitsu smiled.
"Sure, Syu-kun."
"What class are you in this year?"
Kunimitsu turned away from the classroom postings to the smiling boy dressed very cutely in the elementary school's uniform. A smile slowly spread across his own lips at seeing his best friend.
"Class 1-4. What about you?"
Syusuke's answer was a brilliant smile as he took Kunimitsu's hand and led him to their shared class.
"Syusuke, what's wrong?"
A concerned Kunimitsu sat next to his crying friend, who hurriedly wiped away his tears, ashamed to be caught crying.
"M-my apple…" he hiccupped, pointing to the dirty fruit in the sandbox.
"You can have mine." Kunimitsu dug around in his bag before holding out a bright red apple towards Syusuke. "Don't cry, okay?"
"…Aah," still sniffling, he took a small bite and smiled gratefully at Kunimitsu. "Thank you."
"Today we will draw what we love the most." Nanako-sensei announced to the 3rd years.
Half an hour later, Kunimitsu glanced at Syusuke's paper and recognized the chibi boy with the X-shaped scar as Yuuta, Syusuke's brother. However, he doubted that he would say "I LOOOVE MY ANIKI!" like the one in the picture was.
"Kuni-chan …what is that?" Syusuke asked, blinking bewilderedly at Kunimitsu's drawing.
"This," Kunimitsu declared, proudly holding up his artwork of a bonsai plant, "is Marilyn."
"Does this look okay?"
Kunimitsu blinked as Syusuke twirled around in the white kitty costume. It consisted of a cat-eared headband, a blue collar with a bell, a shimmery short-sleeved knee-length dress complete with a fuzzy tail, kitty-paw gloves, white tights, and kitty-paw boots.
"Why are you wearing this again?" Quirked eyebrow, skeptical look.
"School play." Innocent smile, a tilt of the head.
"Right…"
"Ow! That stings, Syusuke."
As he cleaned up the bloody scrape that was Kunimitsu's knee, Syusuke rolled his eyes.
"Mitsu, it's your fault for getting in a fight with Genichirou. I have no sympathy for you."
Kunimitsu blinked. "Have you become crueler over spring break?"
"Yuuta made a new friend. That slimy seaweed-haired freak doesn't deserve kindness!"
"OW!"
"Syusuke, please talk to me."
However, the 6th year boy adamantly refused, facing away from Kunimitsu with his arms crossed.
"Syusuke…" he flinched when Syusuke snapped his heads towards Kunimitsu with a cross glare.
"It's your fault we got detention, Kunimitsu." With that, Syusuke returned to giving him the silent treatment.
Kunimitsu sighed—it was going to take a lot of wasabi sushi to make up for this.
"Chiyo-chan, come here! Good girl."
Kunimitsu growled, his patience wearing thin. They were supposed to be studying at Syusuke's house, but then his new puppy waltzed into the room and instead of helping Kunimitsu with his math like he promised he would, Syusuke was now snuggling with Chiyo.
A satisfied smile spread across Syusuke lips as he glanced at Kunimitsu's aggravated expression.
"Fuji-senpai, please go out with me!"
Syusuke blinked at the girl before him, who had suddenly shouted out her confession in the middle of the hall. Almost everyone was staring at them and Syusuke knew from the triumphant look in the 1st year's eyes that this was her intention. No one would dare turn down an innocent girl in front of half the middle school, right? From his position, Syusuke saw Kunimitsu coming out of his classroom and pausing to send him a curious look. Syusuke smiled.
"Sorry…but there is already someone I like."
"幸せなバレンタインデー"
Kunimitsu examined the card and the box that came along with it. The message was printed in beautiful handwriting, though not girly, and the box was heart-shaped, but blue. Carefully arranged inside were chocolates, a red fruit sauce dribbled over them so that it read 不二 across the arrangement of candy. When he took a bite, a cool minty taste exploded in his mouth.
Exactly one month later, Syusuke looked inside his desk to find a bag of his favorite wagashi sweets tied with a white ribbon.
"Stupid liar! You told me you were going to another school!"
The two childhood friends were on the roof on the first day of high school, and Syusuke was yelling at Kunimitsu, who was taking it in silence. However, his expression shifted into one of shock when Syusuke attacked him in a fierce hug and buried his face in Kunimitsu's neck.
"I missed you, Kunimitsu."
"I love you."
The confession was made firmly and determinedly without containing any frivolities like flowers or candy that were common of girls, which was not surprising. But what was surprising was the one making the confession.
"K-Kunimitsu…what?"
"So…Tokyo University…that's a good school."
Kunimitsu cast a wistful look Syusuke's way. They were sitting on the porch of Syusuke's house, close but not as close as they used to sit. The two hadn't been that close since Kunimitsu's confession, which Syusuke never replied to. And soon they were probably going to have to separate. Kunimitsu tightened his grip on his college acceptance papers at the thought.
"Maybe we'll be roommates then, ne?"
Eyes widening behind his glasses, Kunimitsu turned to face his best friend, who was holding up his own college letters, identical to the ones in Kunimitsu's hand. When Syusuke smiled, gentle and accepting, and entwined his fingers with Kunimitsu's, he knew they were going to be together for a very long time.
The Japanese says "Happy Valentine's Day" and "Fuji," respectively. And the white ribbon on Kunimitsu's present for Syusuke signify White Day. I'm not sure if that's a Japanese tradition, but I'm putting it in here anyway.
Requests are also open for future AUs :D