The Long Distance Not Between Us

by mew-tsubaki

Narita and Kinoshita have always been Ennoshita's staunch supporters, each other's staunch supporters. But, sometimes, approval from others can be important. *An AU oneshot set in my Birds of a Feather AU, but may be read on its own; set during "Opportunity" in the BoaF collection; slash. [NaritaKinoshita]

The Long Distance Not Between Us

A Haikyuu! oneshot

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The Haikyuu! characters belong to Furudate Haruichi-sensei, not to me. At long last, Narikino's official story in the Birds of a Feather AU. BUT! This fic stands on its own so you don't have to read the fics in the BoaF collection to enjoy this. This is something completely different from that untitled Kinonari drabble in Nice Receive. D: Read, review, and enjoy! *Note: Though you don't have to read the BoaF fics to enjoy this, things will be clearer if you do; this is set during the 6th story, "Opportunity" (links at bottom of my FFN profile).

- ^-^3

Funny how a slip of paper could weigh so heavily on one's shoulders.

That was what was going through Narita Kazuhito's mind Sunday afternoon in late April. He sat alone in his apartment, on the couch with his arms crossed in front of his chest, wrinkling one of his favorite button-ups with the folded sleeves, a pale blue shirt with a dark silver rectangular print, a small and tasteful print, something Hisashi knew fit Kazuhito well, which made sense as Hisashi had picked this out for him, a gift for Christmas this past winter.

Yet, here he was, dressed in that nice shirt and khakis even though he wasn't going out anywhere, wrinkling his nice clothes as he contemplated a simple, letter-sized paper on the metal coffee table in the living room.

… …could paper stare back at him…?

Kazuhito groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing how stupid an idea that was. About the only thing not stupid was him having obtained the document in the first place.

…well, to an extent he didn't think so. But there was a small part of him that felt conflicted about it.

Grumbling to himself, he picked the paper up and went to the large bookcase at the wall adjacent to the living room window. He didn't have to scan the book spines to find what he needed—his copy of their high school yearbook—and he pulled it out, flipped it open to ten pages from the back cover, and tucked the paper away. Out of sight, out of mind.

Not.

The thing was, Kazuhito was a cocktail of giddiness and nerves, a mixture that swirled around until it was blended and mostly nerves as he next took his phone from his pocket. He dialed a familiar but rarely used number, and he ran his hand over his black peach fuzz, scratching the back of his head as the line rang and rang and rang.

And rang.

And rang.

The line rang for over a minute, and he almost hung up when it connected. "Hello?"

"Hi, Mom."

"Kazuhito." It wasn't much of a greeting, but he expected that. His parents were…old-fashioned. His mother was on the phone with him, but he could picture her nodding her head as if they were meeting and bowing to each other in person.

"How are you? How's Dad?"

"I am well. The mild humidity and subsequent dryness of the season's wet weather has aggravated your father's bronchitis, but that is the same as every year. And you?"

He let a second pass before answering, not surprised she hadn't also asked about Hisashi. "Fine. Healthy. Work's steady."

"Good."

Kazuhito made a face, wondering if he should sit again. Talking to his parents made him antsy, and this conversation—if he could have it—likely would see him at his antsiest. "So…"

His mother picked up the slack in the conversation with a quiet, matronly sigh. "It is Golden Week. Are you going to visit us, Kazuhito?"

He froze. He hadn't been thinking of that at all. "Um, well, my company… It's too small to let us take off right now…"

She sniffed, and he thought he detected distaste in the sound. "I see. Then you should plan a visit home another time, when you can afford the time off. We would like to see you, Kazuhito."

He bit his tongue to keep from commenting about her underlying "you and you alone" that no doubt went with that sentence. "…I'll see what I can do," he said lamely. As he felt this was not the right time to bring up the topic he wanted to, he finished, "I'll call you again, Mom. Bye."

"Goodbye, Kazuhito." She hung up first.

He tossed his phone on the couch and ran his hands over his face, rubbing his eyes and moaning. His parents were from such a different era. It made it so difficult to talk to them, with them, and he felt as though he'd been walking on eggshells around them since high school. And these jitters he got? He worked them off, going around the apartment and needlessly tidying his and Hisashi's small home. Good thing, too, because the last thing he needed was to be obviously upset when Hisashi got home from work.

The man in question returned in the early evening, right as Kazuhito went to their fridge and pantry to come up with a plan for supper. "A man who can balance the checkbook down to the last penny, or a man who has a sixth sense for knowing when to feed me—I got a man who can do both," Hisashi stated with a giant laugh. He kicked his shoes off by the front door and shuffled over cutely to his lover in just polka dot socks, tugging on Kazuhito's nearer arm and craning his neck up for a kiss.

Kazuhito chuckled to himself and complied, pressing a soft one to Hisashi's lips that was half a second longer than usual. But, after earlier, Kazuhito really needed that extra half a second.

Hisashi didn't mind, humming as the taller man pulled away. "Well, aren't you all cuddly?"

"You did tell me to give you more affection," Kazuhito reminded him.

Hisashi's face filled with color sort of like mercury rising in a thermometer. "I—! You—!" He tried to scowl at him, but his fluster was too contrary to the expression that it was pointless. "I tell you one time that I envy Ennoshita's PDA with Tanaka—"

"It's just googly eyes, 'Sashi."

"—and you run with it."

Kazuhito raised his eyebrows ad looked down at the shorter man. He smirked. "You mean I'll never forget you said it."

Slowly, Hisashi's face morphed as a brilliant smile turned the corners of his mouth up. "I never said it was a bad thing," he quipped.

Now Kazuhito laughed, and he pushed a tuft of dirty blond hair behind Hisashi's ear, even though it was too short to stay put. He jerked his head towards their room. "Why don't you tell me what you're in the mood for, and I'll start while you change?"

"I guess… But you seem dressed up."

"I like khakis."

"You do clean up nice," Hisashi confessed, and he gave Kazuhito an appreciative pat on his rump as he went into the living room to shed his hoodie.

"Uh, no disappearing without making any suggestions," Kazuhito reminded the blond. He pulled some leftover tofu from the fridge and weighed the pros and cons of frying it. Well, they could always work it off tomorrow with a run or a gym visit… But he pushed that thought aside when he realized Hisashi was unusually quiet. He turned. "Hisashi?"

The blond was at the couch, one hand on the back beside his sweatshirt, and his other hand—well, he had something in his other hand. But what…?

Kazuhito abandoned the food and patted his pockets, only to find them empty. Shit.

Hisashi turned and held his boyfriend's phone up, the screen lit. He wasn't happy. "You called home?"

"Please don't go through my history…"

The blond shook his head and took a few steps towards him, passing the device back. "I'm not. You didn't lock it, so I saw by accident when I picked it up. I wouldn't do that to you, Kazu."

"Sorry," the shaven-haired man bumbled. "I know you wouldn't."

"Should I?"

Kazuhito met his eyes, a pair of eyes he loved very much, with irises the color of the cinnamon toast they ate in the mornings. He frowned. "No."

Hisashi frowned, too, and sighed. "I thought that kiss was longer than normal."

Ah. So he had been found out. "I only spoke to my mother, and only for a few minutes."

"Yes, but that's all it takes to work you up, Kazu," Hisashi warned. "You know how they are. They can barely manage a decent conversation with you on the holidays or on your birthday." He shook his head. "I hate seeing you depressed after, so…don't go inviting trouble." He looked away after, but the furrow of his brow and the squiggle his lips made as he fought a grimace were clear: "Don't go proactively calling them."

Kazuhito made a face. "They're my parents, Hisashi."

Unfortunately, the blond was doubtful. "Whatever," he huffed as he walked away.

The taller man searched for something, for the right thing to say.

"And make sweet 'n' sour soup! With fried tofu! And don't forget the pickled ginger on my plate!"

He breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe he'd said enough for one night.

- ^-^3

Monday was smooth sailing. Though breakfast was strangely quiet, Hisashi was back to being his fun, impish, sweet self when they were home after work, and they did two laps around the neighborhood before heading back and taking a bath together, a nice treat they hadn't savored for a while since Kazuhito had had some late nights the past few months at work because of a release his job was pushing.

At his desk down in Nine Lives Net's servers on Tuesday, Kazuhito was glad those late nights were over, and he was relieved Hisashi had shaken his bad mood. It was one thing when the blond was reasonably unreasonable—like wanting to stay up late playing a videogame on a work night or staying longer than they should at the bar. But wanting Kazuhito not to call his parents? That was unfair.

Times like these, Kazuhito was glad they'd befriended Ennoshita in their youth and had remained best friends with him. Though Ennoshita knew not to put himself in the middle of Kazuhito and Hisashi's business, he wasn't completely against taking sides. He could see reason with Kazuhito because they were both pragmatic, but he was just as comfortable showing that mischievous streak when Hisashi needed help convincing Kazuhito to have fun or to lighten up. Since shortly before their Karasuno High days, the trio had shared just about everything, even after the trio had become a couple plus one.

Well, Kazuhito knew truthfully, they tried to share everything.

He got up and walked around the room, dressed in corduroys and long sleeves today. It could be unbearably hot outside, and he would still cover up down here, because of the giant fans and cooling system installed to keep the servers from overheating. Nine Lives Net was a server farm with flimsy ambitions of becoming an internet security company, called a "tech start-up" by its founder who'd started the outfit the year before Kazuhito and Ennoshita finished university. Regardless of what it'd be five months or five years down the road, Kazuhito at least could count on his job security as a systems administrator, just as he could count on Hisashi making sure they ate at the nearby udon shop with Ennoshita, or he could count on Ennoshita to be willing to take their advice now that he was in a full-fledged relationship with The Roost's bartender.

He tightened a few Ethernet cords and adjusted the component cable his coworker, Sakai, managed to trip over each week, much as she tried to avoid it. Then he trekked upstairs to the break room to pick from the assorted snacks left out for employees, as lunch was still two hours away. On his way there, Kazuhito glimpsed Fukunaga and Kozume at their stations in tech support, and his thoughts cycled back around to The Roost.

The bar wasn't near their apartment or Ennoshita's, so the trio of friends hadn't known The Roost even existed until the end of last summer, when Ennoshita had stumbled upon it due to certain circumstances. With Ennoshita intrigued by the bartender, Tanaka, naturally Ennoshita kept visiting, and eventually Kazuhito and Hisashi found themselves regulars, too, drawn in by Tanaka's talent with a tumbler and the lively company of several of the other regulars. The weird thing was that they'd all gone to Karasuno, and Kazuhito, Hisashi, and Ennoshita would've befriended this group of disorderly crows sooner if they had just followed their shared passion for volleyball and joined the club back in high school. Kazuhito, too, would've known Fukunaga and Kozume as more than colleagues and new frequent fliers at The Roost, because they'd played volleyball at Nekoma and had been some of Tanaka and company's friendly rivals.

But the trio hadn't joined the volleyball club. They'd been the "Going Home Club," and even that hadn't been something they'd done all the time together. No, there was that first time in second year when he and Hisashi had stayed behind, offering up a perfectly good cover story to Ennoshita so they could dawdle in an empty classroom, so they could have one afternoon to themselves away from their friend and from their families, an afternoon spent stumbling through a clichéd confession and virgin kisses and roaming hands—

Kazuhito choked on the granola bar he was eating, and he coughed until he drank a glass of water to clear his airway. After, he pressed the cool glass against his warm cheeks. It really didn't do to reminisce about that day while at work. Ennoshita didn't know the details, though they'd told him about their relationship a month later, when third year began, because at least one person had to know and cheer them on.

And Ennoshita had cheered them on ever since. From telling Hisashi to tough it out while he rented a dingy apartment on his own while Kazuhito and Ennoshita slogged through four years of university and living in the dorm, to calling them on their shit when they bickered that first year of living together, to not shying away from meeting them every week at that udon shop, because he wasn't a third wheel when they hung out—something Kazuhito and Hisashi made a conscious effort not to treat him as.

"Narita-kun?"

Kazuhito snapped out of his reveries and saw Sakai standing at the doorway to the break room. He realized he still had the glass against his cheek, and he nearly slammed it down on the counter by the sink, hoping he didn't look as dumb as he felt. "Yes?"

Her ponytail swished behind her as she came in and handed him his phone. "You left this downstairs, and it's been buzzing a lot. I thought it might be important."

"Thank you, Sakai-san." Ugh. He really needed to stop leaving his phone everywhere.

He excused himself and went to return to the servers. But he stopped in the stairwell to see who'd called. He was stunned, and he was calling back before his conscience could remind him of his boyfriend's request two nights ago. "Mom?"

"Kazuhito," she said automatically.

"Is everything all right? You n—" He caught himself before he could sound accusatory. "I usually don't hear from you twice in one week."

"Hmm. Well, I did some thinking after you called us Sunday."

He didn't know how to respond. "And…?"

"You've always had a strong constitution. Perhaps you could use a sick day to return home for a weekend."

He rubbed his temple, wondering why someone so straight-laced would advocate playing hooky. And yet… "I'll…see what I can do," he offered feebly, already hearing Hisashi bitching in his head.

"Good, good…" His mother paused, almost as if she had something else to say. But, if she did, she didn't share it. "Goodbye, Kazuhito."

"Bye."

She hung up first, and the silence of the beige stairwell made him feel as if he stood there with a bright red "GUILTY" sign flashing above his head.

- ^-^3

He…did not tell Hisashi about that second call. Granted, Hisashi kept an eye on him at home, trying to see through Kazuhito's act, not vocally bugging him but not entirely convinced nothing had happened, either.

Boy, oh boy, did Kazuhito feel that "GUILTY" sign flash brighter than ever.

Still, he made it through the next several days without any problems. He didn't contact his parents, and they didn't contact him. Hisashi's skepticism lessened as the days passed, and he even felt like being a troublemaker Saturday morning.

"I've got a normal day of work ahead of me," the shaven-haired man reminded his lover right inside the front door.

"And I've got a later half shift Koganei owed me from last month," Hisashi replied. He put his hands on Kazuhito's chest, sliding his fingers under the strap of the latter's sling backpack and pulling the bag off.

"'Sashi, I really can't," Kazuhito mumbled, though he found it so easy to grab hold of Hisashi's waist.

The blond laughed and started unbuttoning his boyfriend's shirt. "You're always…the first or second in the office…always early…you can spare…five or…ten minutes," he said between kisses on and nips at the tan chest in front of him.

Well, he wasn't wrong. And Kazuhito liked that Hisashi was a mildly bad influence on him sometimes. So he put his bag down, ran his hands through Hisashi's hair, and tilted the blond's head back, kissing him deeply and barely waiting to stick his tongue in the other man's mouth.

Hisashi moaned, a sound that traveled pleasantly through their connection. He untied the drawstring on his sleep pants and unbuckled Kazuhito's belt—

—and, of course, Kazuhito's phone rang. "If it's work, I've got to take it," he told the shorter man when he received a pout, and he tried not to laugh when Hisashi's hair tickled his ear as the blond set about "distracting" him by leaving love bites just below where his shirt collar could hide them. "Hello?" the shaven-haired man said, hoping the delight wouldn't come across in his tone.

"Kazuhito."

Fuck. "Mom. Hi," Kazuhito blurted. His eyes dropped to his lover, whose sensuality cooled immediately, but Kazuhito wrapped a quick arm around his shoulders, keeping Hisashi right there, pressed firmly against him despite two futile attempts to push them apart. He pressed a silent kiss to Hisashi's fluffy hair, hoping to be given a moment's latitude.

"You sound out of breath," his mother stated.

"I was on my way out the door," he explained a tad louder than he needed to, but his words covered the snicker Hisashi failed to hide in the taller man's collarbone. "What can I do for you?" he asked, knowing full well Hisashi could and would eavesdrop on the entire conversation since he'd been made to stay.

"Did you give any thought to my suggestion?"

Hisashi lifted his head up and raised an eyebrow, handfuls of Kazuhito's shirt gathered in his small fists. Kazuhito closed his eyes and pursed his lips, his "Hold on a minute" expression. "I have not, but I don't think my boss will agree even if I ask."

She exhaled. "I see," she commented, her voice steady, monotone.

Hisashi looked more confused than ever, though, ready to yowl if Kazuhito didn't wrap things up and explain soon. "Yeah… Oh, but I do have something I'd like to discuss with you and Dad soon," he added before his nerves failed him. "So I'll call again."

"All right. Do not be late to work, Kazuhito," she said, sounding like an average mother for once. "Goodbye, Kazuhito."

"Bye, Mom." And he tucked his phone back into his pocket.

"What's she talking about? And how come you'll be calling them again soon?" the blond questioned, his shoulders tense as Kazuhito wrapped his other arm around them and held Hisashi.

"She wants me to use a sick day and go see them," he answered. "And I'm not telling you about the other thing just yet," he stated, firmly, but it took several more deep kisses to demonstrate that that topic was, in fact, done for now.

"Don't—distract me…," the blond muttered when they came up for air. But he gave up on having it out then when Kazuhito tugged on his waistband.

- ^-^3

Kazuhito did still get in only after Sakai, in the end. He considered it an accomplishment since he and Hisashi had taken more than ten minutes, and he'd had to put a fresh shirt on after since Hisashi had wrinkled the first one too much by holding on to it.

The day flew by, and the only time his phone chimed was when he got a text from Ennoshita, confirming they'd hit the udon shop tonight. Kazuhito agreed and got back to work, but he kept glancing to the stairwell.

Had he been too brash in telling his mother he wouldn't be able to take time off? Besides, the whole point of playing hooky was not to tell one's boss…but, as she'd pointed out, her son rarely got sick, so Kazuhito didn't believe he could use up a sick day without raising anyone's suspicions.

And why was she so insistent he visit all of a sudden? She'd never confirmed that things were fine at home… She'd even mentioned his father's bronchitis… Had she been making light of it, and his father's condition was more serious than she'd be willing to say over the phone?

Kazuhito grimaced at his computer screen, suddenly wishing their conversation this morning had gone differently. He didn't want their next call to be him getting bad news and, frankly, giving them news which he wasn't certain how they'd take.

By the time he joined his boyfriend and their best friend for dinner, the dread had worked Kazuhito over, and he undid his top button after he said, "Maybe we should've done this another night." He sat beside Hisashi and across from Ennoshita.

"Way to look like death warmed over, Kazu," Hisashi teased him, but there was a glimmer of concern in his eyes, likely wondering if Kazuhito's mother had bothered him again. He pecked Kazuhito's right temple, and he relaxed when Kazuhito returned the favor with a sloppy kiss planted on his left cheek.

Ennoshita gave them a dry look. "I don't want to hear about Tanaka and me and PDA ever again," he told them. "Really. The worst he and I do is maybe sending each other big doe eyes."

Hisashi laughed and smacked the brunet in the arm. "Do as your elders say, Ennoshita, not as they do."

"I'm older than you!" Ennoshita griped.

Kazuhito chuckled at that and was relieved to find they'd ordered him a beer. "So, did you end up finding something nice for Saeko-san?" he asked, since Ennoshita had mentioned in a text that Tanaka's sister's birthday was today and there would be a small party tomorrow.

Ennoshita nodded. "I couldn't get out of work on time to look myself, so I had Kinoshita send me pictures from the accessory section and settled for a gold cuff that I think fits her image and had no loose elements."

The shaven-haired man quirked an eyebrow.

"Baby-proof," Hisashi explained.

"Ah," he said. Right. Tanaka's sister was married and pregnant, and the kid was due soon, last they'd seen her around her bar…although maybe that was exaggerated by her small physique. Either way—babies, kids, parents—it was enough to bring Kazuhito's own issues to the forefront of his mind, and he finished his drink earlier than normal for him.

"Uh, bad day?" Ennoshita inquired.

"Long one," he replied, and he flagged the waitress down for another. "Juggling some things at work while my parents keep heckling me." Oops. He hadn't meant to say so much. He sensed more than saw Hisashi wrinkling his nose at the slipup.

But Ennoshita must not have seen. "Your parents?" he echoed, surprised. "Are they well?"

Trust Ennoshita to be so kind and oblivious to how the atmosphere had changed between Kazuhito and Hisashi. Kazuhito's eyes flickered to Hisashi's, and understanding passed between them. Ennoshita didn't know about the issue with Kazuhito's parents—and they were going to keep it that way, especially since Ennoshita was too new to their way of life. "They're fine," the shaven-haired man eventually responded.

"Then why—?"

Kazuhito gave him a strained smile, hoping they'd drop the subject before he slipped up again or before Hisashi became too upset. "Just parents being parents," he insisted.

Ennoshita looked doubtful, but the waitress brought Kazuhito's second beer then. He had no room to push the subject further as Hisashi seized the break in conversation and switched topics to his current favorite TV drama, and Hisashi obviously would not fill in for him the blanks which Kazuhito had left.

"Think we did the right thing?" Kazuhito asked Hisashi when they waved and parted from their friend later.

Hisashi took his hand as they walked home. "We did exactly the right thing," the blond confirmed, going into his mother-hen mode. "Let Ennoshita's troubles be of the purely romantic kind. He and Tanaka had their first fight ages ago. Let that be his biggest obstacle he ever faces," he finished quietly, exhaling slowly and gripping those larger fingers with his own.

- ^-^3

The next day, Kazuhito was reminded of his and Hisashi's biggest obstacle.

With Hisashi working at the department store, Kazuhito did the one chore he had a better handle of than his lover, and he spent a good chunk of his day doing laundry. Once everything was out of the dryer, he grabbed the basket and sat in front of the television, watching a comedy special while he folded and separated their things. It was late in the day, so he'd get a head start on supper as soon as he was done.

…or not, as his phone rang on the coffee table.

Kazuhito folded Hisashi's favorite hoodie—really, one of Kazuhito's he'd filched seven years ago—and pushed the laundry aside. "Please be Ennoshita," he grumbled to himself as he reached for his phone, but he knew that chance was slim, with Ennoshita and Tanaka going to Akiteru-san and Saeko-san's place for the birthday party.

"Kazuhito," his mother said by way of greeting.

He bit back an annoyed sigh. "Hi, Mom."

"Is now a good time?"

Considering Hisashi was at work, of course it was, but his parents knew his schedule, not his boyfriend's. "I can talk."

"Good."

He wondered what her long pause was for this time. "Mom…?" he prompted.

She cleared her throat. "Kazuhito…"

So strange to hear her trail off like that. "Mom?"

"When are you going to stop this foolishness?"

He gripped his phone. He wasn't going to play dumb, nor was he going to ignore the debate as he and his parents had done all along. "Since when is it foolish to love someone?" he retorted calmly, his voice even.

He could hear the frown in her tone. "Only when my son loves another man," she replied.

Kazuhito clenched his jaw. "You finally said it. You actually said it," he said, somewhat incredulous, somewhat impressed by her strength of conviction.

"It's not the normal way of life," his mother pushed.

"If it's so normal for only men to be with women and vice versa, then how do you explain all the gay men and lesbian women and everything between, all over the world? How come you never spoke out against my friendship with Hisashi in the first place?" He was smart. His parents were smart. The spark of friendship with Kinoshita Hisashi had been different from others with other boys and girls, different even from the one with Ennoshita. And they'd never had a problem with Ennoshita.

"We—" She licked her lips and started again. "We didn't see it at first, Kazuhito. By the time we did, in your third year at Karasuno—"

Hell. So Ennoshita hadn't been the only one to know.

"—we didn't know what to say. Your father and I love you, but…it is not easy, trying to avoid disaster and heartbreak. But you are our only son, our only child, and we want what is best for you. We didn't stop you from attending university far away, knowing that boy would follow you—"

"His name's 'Hisashi,'" Kazuhito forced through gritted teeth.

"—because we thought you might get it out of your system. We thought you'd come back after, ready to find a girl and settle down. You still can, you know. Your father and I know some good families—"

He snorted derisively, stopping her there and hating that Hisashi was right, that his mood soured every time he spoke with his parents for too long, that his mood would darken and Hisashi would come home to a depressed lump of flesh masquerading as his boyfriend. But what she said gave him an opening. "I'm not settling down with a girl, Mom. I love Hisashi, and I want to be with him for the rest of my life. I'm going to be with him for the rest of my life," he amended, and he got to his feet. He went to the bookcase ad spied his yearbook, fingering the spine, knowing what lay inside. It gave him courage, and he thought he might win his parents over yet, if he had to talk himself hoarse for the rest of the night or for the rest of the week.

She must've caught his insinuation. "No, you're not," she said angrily, but she was interrupted by a bout of coughing in the background. "No, Heihachi, lie back down," Kazuhito heard her say, and he knew they were coming at him with everything they had.

"Dad," he said into the receiver.

His father coughed again, but his voice was fine and clear when he spoke. "Come home, son."

He scowled. "I would like to," he said honestly, "but not if this is the way I'm going to be treated."

"Kazuhito!"

Instinctively, the shaven-haired man stood a little straighter at the bookcase. There was no denying that strict tone of voice, even if he was twenty-seven and not seven years old.

His father cleared his throat, a gruff, raspy sound compared to his mother's. Then the older man sighed. "Do you know why we named you 'Kazuhito'?"

He was taken aback. That was an odd thing to bring up now. "No, I don't."

"You are our precious son, our only son. We named you 'Kazuhito' because we thought you'd be our eldest son—"

Oh, no. Oh…no. He couldn't hear this…not right now…

"—but you…were our only son." His father sighed again, though this time the sound came out like a sad, low whistle. "Your mother and I are older than your contemporaries' parents. We couldn't have any other children after we had you, much as we would've loved to fill our large house. You…would've been a good big brother, an exemplary brother."

Kazuhito's legs shook at the revelation. It was a revelation, not an excuse, but that didn't make it any easier to hear, and he trudged to the couch. But, instead of sitting, he steadied a hand on the armrest. "I…never knew that."

"Because we never spoke of it. I'm sorry. But we didn't love you any less because we had only you. On the contrary, we made you the center of our universe. We were proud of the good grades you made, and you showed talent when you boys played volleyball together in middle school. Your teachers never had a bad thing to say about you from the time you were in elementary school until you graduated from Karasuno. You had so much potential."

His fingers dug in to the mustard-colored brushed cotton of the armrest.

"We had hopes for you. We placed all our hopes on you. But this…this nonsense with that Kinoshita boy has got to stop. You're no longer a teenager. It is not fair to your mother and me for you to continue this disappointment into your adulthood."

If he'd been of sounder mind, he would've pointed out the irony of his father calling him an adult and Hisashi a boy in the same breath, as the two were the same age. But his courage had abandoned him the moment he'd straightened his back for his father.

There was static and a soft thump on the other end as the phone changed hands, and his mother came back on the line. She sighed, too. "Your father's right," she said gently. "We tolerated you two until now…but we can't anymore, Kazuhito."

He clutched his chest, feeling it tighten.

"Kazuhito?"

He couldn't form a single word.

"Kazuhito?"

He just couldn't.

His mother gave up with another, tired sigh. "…I hope you call again. And see us soon, yes? Goodbye, Kazuhito."

The line, like his heart, went dead.

- ^-^3

"Ka~zu~! Look what I got!?" Hisashi had no sooner closed the door behind him than rummaged in a plastic bag. "Look! Isn't it cute? The accessory counter at the store got these cute headbands in, and Koganei and I were sorting them as we made up the display. I mean, sure, the ears are just shaped wired, but there's a bow attached to the left ear, so we were wearing them just for fun, pretending to be Hello Kitty models, but"—he laughed—"the longer we wore them, the more we liked them. Koganei wore his home and got one for his boyfriend, but, don't worry, I didn't buy one for you. But, see? Isn't it cute?" The cheer faded from his tone. "Kazu…?"

Unfortunately, Kazuhito missed the big reveal. He was at the windowsill, leaning against it, arms crossed in front of his chest, legs crossed at his ankles, eyes closed. He'd been like this for over an hour, trying to calm himself, to rein in his emotions.

"Kazu, what happened?"

Hisashi was in front of him in a few steps, pulling on Kazuhito's arms and pulling the cat-ear headband from his hair. He patted Kazuhito's cheek until the taller man looked at him. He gasped and groaned.

"Oh, Kazu…"

Kazuhito resisted the hug somewhat, because he didn't feel he deserved it. If only he had never called his mother last week…!

Hisashi hooked a hand on his neck and drew the taller man's head down so they touched foreheads. He closed his eyes. "Tell me why your eyes are redder than a rabbit's," he whispered.

"I wasn't crying." Despite that, his voice cracked, but that was from lack of use.

"Kazu."

He took a deep breath. "I spoke to both of them today. And they… They think you are a phase for me."

Hisashi was quiet for a while. "Well…," he began, "…we always guessed they were homophobic. Did they come out and say it directly?"

Kazuhito didn't want to answer and hurt his lover more. But glossing over the truth would be much worse. "They think our being together is a disappointment and that you're not what's best for me."

The blond laughed nervously. "Ouch. But you set 'em straight, right? You refuted everything they said and gave 'em that big verbal knockout you've been dying to for years, right?" He laughed again, a small sound, when he opened his eyes. He was scared. "Right, Kazu?"

Kazuhito sighed and straightened up. "It's not that easy, Hisashi."

"The hell it's not. If they were my parents, I'd let them have it, because this isn't some passing whimsy. This is our life. This is who we are."

But the taller man shook his head. "You don't understand. My family isn't cuddly and close-knit like yours. We love each other, but we have a hell of a time saying that or much of anything else to one another."

"So, what? Being their obedient little star is more important? That's what matters to you?" Hisashi suggested, and he backed away from Kazuhito. His eyes and the downward curve of his lips showed how betrayed he felt.

But Kazuhito felt a devil's concoction of guilt and anger, because Hisashi wasn't listening. "You don't understand," he repeated, his voice getting louder. "My parents are fifteen years older than yours! I don't get to have as much time with them as you will with yours!" He huffed, scowling and glaring at the blond. This was not one of those easy-to-remedy, reasonably unreasonable times with Hisashi.

"You never considered what you might do, if things came to blows?"

Kazuhito scoffed. "What are you talking about?"

Hisashi shook his head, so quiet. He could be loud when they bickered or argued over minor things as every couple did. But he always got scared when the fight was a big one, and he refused to yell back…just as he did now when he spoke softly. "I thought about it. Before and after we confessed to each other. I thought about what I'd do if my parents didn't approve. If they didn't approve of your character, I'd hear them out. If they disapproved of our being gay, though, I would rip apart everything they said, because it's petty to be conflicted over a stupid, minor, useless detail like gender. So I didn't tell them about us while I tried to figure out how life would be if I had to cut them out of mine." He smiled bitterly but didn't meet Kazuhito's eyes. "Luckily for me, they guessed when you and Ennoshita headed for university and I tagged along even though I didn't share that ambition. And they were fine with it and happy for me. My parents have been good to us from the day we met, but I seriously considered never talking to them or seeing them again if I was forced to choose between you or them. You never did the same?"

In all honesty, he hadn't. He'd had delusions of life continuing as it was, with him and Hisashi happy and enjoying the support of their friends and Hisashi's family while his parents kept quiet and begrudgingly tolerated the couple forever.

"…I see," Hisashi mumbled, tucking his toes under him like a child scolded.

"I…," Kazuhito began.

Those brown eyes flashed to his face.

"I…can't just cut all ties with them, Hisashi," he continued, his voice steadier but his tone still angry. "In my family, it's just the three of us. I've got no grandparents, no aunts, no uncles, no cousins—unlike you, I'm all they've got, and they're all I've got."

With that, he thought he'd won the argument. With that, he thought Hisashi would be upset but might start to see reason, to see that Kazuhito would figure something out, something to keep everyone happy.

He thought wrong.

Hisashi worried the hem of his t-shirt in his hands, his eyes wide as if Kazuhito had slapped him—something he'd never done and never would do. "But…what about me?"

Kazuhito furrowed his brow.

"You say they're all you've got—but what about me? What about Ennoshita, our friends? Don't we count?"

Shit. The taller man opened his mouth, scrambling to explain. He grabbed his lover's arm. "Hisashi—"

Hisashi had to struggle, but he twisted out of Kazuhito's grasp. "Don't we matter?" he asked, his pitch high and squeaky, and Kazuhito knew he was talking about just the two of them.

"Of course we do. Hisashi, I lo—"

"Stop." Hisashi shook his head and withdrew more from Kazuhito. "Just stop. I can't hear that, knowing you'll continue to defend them."

"They're my parents, for crying out loud!"

"Kazu."

He shut up.

The blond looked at him, pale and pained. "You didn't hear anything I've said, did you?"

"I have, but—"

"I can't trust that you mean those words while lining up excuses for them."

Now Kazuhito's face drained of all color. "How…could you say that? I do love you."

Hisashi looked away. "Do you?"

Kazuhito reached for him again, but Hisashi slipped out of reach too easily. Crap. Was he trying hard enough to catch him?

"I can't believe you while you refuse to see how things are black-and-white here."

No.

"But I also know you're the loyal son and won't back down."

Please, don't.

"It's over…Narita."

Narita Heihachi and Shizue might have caused plenty of damage earlier, but it was Kinoshita Hisashi who delivered the final blow that night.

- ^-^3

In the morning, he found a box outside their bedroom door full of his belongings. It wasn't everything, he knew, because his half of the closet and his drawers couldn't be emptied into one medium-sized plastic bin. But all of the small things, the visible things Hisashi might see when entering the room, were in that box. There was no lid or any note.

Kazuhito knelt by the box, holding his head in his hands. This…was different from their few big fights before. Sure, Hisashi still had jumped to conclusions, but he'd never even threatened to call it quits before, and he'd never separated Kazuhito's things from his. So…did Hisashi really mean it?

Though the tearstains were long gone on the couch, his eyes were crusty and raw, and he meandered through a shower and his morning routine, only skipping breakfast on his way out the door. He checked his phone after locking up since he wasn't sure if Hisashi were still home, and the clock read 10:15AM. Damn.

…but he didn't have it in him to be angry or frustrated.

He felt eyes on him down in the servers, but he could care less. Work was the one good thing about today, and looking at lines of zeroes and ones was easier than talking to anyone or thinking about handling things with Hisashi.

Nevertheless, Sakai did try asking if he felt unwell, and it was only after he rudely grunted at her that he decided maybe talking to someone wasn't such a bad idea.

After work and before his brain caught up with him, Kazuhito found himself at Ennoshita's door, poised to knock. Then he halted and snapped out of his funk.

What was he thinking, coming here? He could be ruining Ennoshita's plans with Tanaka, for all he knew, since his friend and the bartender both had Mondays off. Or worse—Hisashi was here already, crying on Ennoshita's shoulder. And going to Tanaka's place above the bar was out of the question for the same reasons, even though Kazuhito had come to consider him a close friend in the past few months. Again, Ennoshita and Tanaka might have plans, or Hisashi was there, not unlikely since Hisashi had taken to liking Tanaka just a bit sooner than Kazuhito had.

So, with his ideas shot, he trudged home.

The box with his things was right where he'd left it, so he couldn't tell if Hisashi had made it to work or not. He knocked on their bedroom door. "Hisashi?"

No response.

He tried the handle only to find it unlocked. He stuck his head in, but he didn't have to worry about ducking flying objects. Hisashi didn't throw things, and he wasn't even there to give it a go. Sighing, Kazuhito closed the door.

He looked around the apartment, reluctant to pack anything himself, because he didn't consider their relationship to be over. But he was at a loss for what else to do. So he skipped dinner, tried to watch the news, and fell asleep for the second night in a row.

- ^-^3

Days passed like that.

He rarely ate, and it was a granola bar or a piece of fruit from the break room at best when he did.

Sakai piped up occasionally that he should go home and rest. When she understood her concerns fell on deaf ears, she switched to keeping an eye on him when she could.

At home, sometimes he heard Hisashi in their room or in their bathroom, but they never made eye contact. Indeed, they did their damnedest not to look at the other, even, even if that meant one of them suddenly "went for a walk" when the other needed the living room or the kitchen. Kazuhito, relegated to the living room amongst the laundry he'd never finished folding, was often the one to take a walk.

The weekend neared, and there was no word from Ennoshita until Friday, and his text didn't give away whether he knew about their split:

-Sorry! Can't do dinner tonight. Too much work.

Kazuhito was equally careful in his reply:

-No problem. Another time, then.

Come Saturday night, he got a similar text, and Kazuhito wondered if he'd lost more than just Hisashi in this fight, because it was unusual for them not to eat at the udon shop once a week…and it was far stranger for Ennoshita to postpone those plans two nights in a row.

Though Kazuhito would be lying if he said he could get through dinner with Hisashi and Ennoshita just fine right now.

Sick and tired of holing up at work and running away at home whenever Hisashi emerged from the bedroom to eat, Kazuhito went out on Sunday evening, taking the train to a place about which they'd never told Ennoshita. …though they had mentioned the neighborhood before.

He and Hisashi had first come here in Kazuhito's first year of university, ditching Ennoshita for one weekend so they could be amongst like people for the first time in their lives. Sure, there was plenty to see and do here, but that was mainly for those of a certain persuasion. To this day, Ni-choume remained Japan's unofficial gay capital.

Some of the smells were weird and gross but comforting and familiar at the same time, though he felt less sure of himself as he walked around without Hisashi beside him. He got some interested glances as a lone man walking in this district was wont to, but Kazuhito never looked back, because he knew he could never return that interest, even for one night. With that being his resolution, one might wonder why he'd come here in the first place—but his reason came into view a few feet away.

The Karma Club was one of dozens of nightclubs in the district, but it was the first he and Hisashi hadn't been scared to enter all those years ago. It had a dark gold front with neon lights in blacks and blues flashing above the entryway, and "Karma" was spelt in English script, kind of like The Roost's new sign, post-renovation. It wasn't packed tonight because it was a tad on the early side, so the double doors were opened for him after a quick check of his rarely used driver's license.

Though a walk around Ni-choume was the same in either situation, being at Karma not dressed to the nines was a clear sign the person was not interested in finding a partner. Kazuhito could wend his way easily to the bar in his old jeans and a dingy t-shirt without worrying he'd be approached or groped, and he was relieved to find a head of shaggy red hair at the bar, as if they'd agreed to meet.

"Yo, Kazuhito!" Rin chirped with his shark-like yet friendly grin. He waved, but his eyebrows shot up to his forehead when he saw the shaven-haired man's attire. "Well, damn. Is Hisashi completely letting himself go, too?"

"'Hello' to you, too," Kazuhito groused as he claimed the free seat beside the other man.

"Oh, boy. That's a dark tone." Rin caught the bartender's eye and motioned for drinks for the two of them, though Rin was working on his first one still. Then he turned to his friend. "That and your clothes and no Hisashi—tell me what happened."

Where Kazuhito would feel awkward explaining to Ennoshita, there was no need to hold back with Rin. Rin actually was one of those friends Kazuhito and Hisashi had alluded to when they'd told Ennoshita about making gay friends way back when. Here at Karma, one could make friends as needed because they had all walked the same path, had had the same experiences. There was something exciting, too, about using first names only with strangers-turned-friends, because they didn't have to know all the details about each other's personal lives in order to be there for one another. Although Kazuhito and Hisashi had mused at home what Rin did for a living, since he wasn't around all the time and had the faint scent of chlorine clinging to him in spite of cologne; Rin's partner, Aiichirou, worked at a pool nearby, but that occupation didn't do Rin's character justice, Kazuhito and Hisashi had always thought.

"Fuck," the redhead cursed when Kazuhito finished telling him about what home was like this past week.

"Yeah…"

"Just…fuck."

…okay, so Ennoshita was eloquent where Rin was not, but Kazuhito appreciated the commiseration. "I'd like to think we can recover from this," he said, "but…I'm not sure."

Rin winced. "I'd like to think you can, too, but…"

"Yeah, I know."

The bartender slid them each a shot glass then, and they drank after Rin's "bottoms up" thumb's up.

"Oh, gods…!" Kazuhito coughed. "What the hell did you order?!"

Rin snickered. "Tequila."

"That was disgusting."

"Another round, then?"

"Please."

Their eyes watered with the second round, but Kazuhito was feeling a little better with the alcohol and the hearty slaps on his back from Rin. "But tell me this," the redhead continued after another slap. "What Hisashi asked you—did you ever think you might have to choose between him and your parents?"

"No," Kazuhito confessed. He closed his eyes and grimaced. "But—it's not fair. I don't think I should have to make that choice." He could feel Rin's eyes on him, so he looked at him. "What? Do you disagree?"

Rin took a moment before answering. He leaned his arms on the dark gold counter—gold like the front of the club—and cupped his cheek in his left hand. A gold band glinted on his ring finger, and Kazuhito pouted at it until Rin caught him staring. "I agree with you that it sucks, but you're a sharp guy. I would've though you would've considered it more, being out in our country."

"I thought everything would be different by the time we were adults. Living together, marriage, kids—the whole package. But even this"—he pointed to Rin's wedding band—"is legal in just two parts of Tokyo."

The redhead shrugged and folded his arms so the jewelry was no longer a distraction. "That's a big step for a conservative place like Japan. But I didn't marry Ai here."

Kazuhito gaped at him. This was news to him. "Then…?"

"I've dual citizenship in Australia, but even there the best we could do was have a 'civil union.'" He rolled his eyes and scoffed at the term…and then explained it after he realized he'd said the phrase in English and Kazuhito didn't understand. "It's pretty much like a marriage, but it's not recognized the same way in most other countries."

"So…why bother?"

"Because it means something to us," Rin answered, but he was looking behind Kazuhito, and his eyes softened a fraction.

Kazuhito didn't have to look to know Aiichirou had arrived, but he also took a minute to process Rin's words. Truthfully, Kazuhito understood it. He felt the same way, but a tiny part of him wished he and Hisashi lived elsewhere, thinking that might solve some of their difficulties. The majority of him wished things to be fairer in the rest of Japan—or, at least, for his parents to be as open-minded as those parts of Tokyo which Rin had mentioned.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a tug on his sleeve, and Aiichirou smiled kindly at him; behind him, Rin's expression told Kazuhito he'd given the silver-haired man an extremely glib summary. "You should dance with us, Kazuhito-kun," Aiichirou insisted.

"Uh…no, thanks. I'm good."

Rin snorted and stood, so Kazuhito had the both of them tugging on him and cajoling him to join them. "We're not telling you to forget Hisashi or to meet someone new," the redhead said. "We're just telling you to have some fun with your friends."

Kazuhito groaned as Rin slung an arm around his shoulders and patted his head, laughing as Aiichirou succeeded in pulling him to his feet. "Guys, I don't dance. You and you dance, and Hisashi dances."

"You dance when Hisashi-kun is here," Aiichirou corrected, his blue eyes bluer in the strobe lights.

"So, what? We aren't good enough?" Rin teased.

Kazuhito flinched at the other man's phrasing, because, to him, it echoed Hisashi's "Don't we matter?" But, brash though Rin's language could be, he knew Rin had only good intentions. So Kazuhito relented. "Fine," he grumbled, but he felt laughter bubble up within him for the first time in about a week, and he managed a small grin as Rin and Aiichirou pulled him onto the dancefloor, trying to figure out how the three of them could dance together and being elated when Kazuhito moved around, carefree, not minding if they could call this dancing or not.

- ^-^3

The next several days were better. Not good, but better. Kazuhito owed that in part to Rin and Aiichirou, both of whom he saw again at Karma on Tuesday evening. Friday night it was just him and Aiichirou, but they binged on junk food and relaxed by trying to sing along with the club's music. Kazuhito wondered if Rin really never had told the silver-haired swim instructor that he couldn't carry a tune even with a dozen buckets.

Going home was still awkward, though. Kazuhito didn't feel as pained to see Hisashi in passing, but it was still tough to look him in the eye. Yet, Friday night, he got in shortly after eleven, trying to tamp down his good mood so Hisashi wouldn't think he was fine without the blond. And their eyes almost met.

Hisashi must've been leaving the living room to head to bed when Kazuhito entered. But he pointedly looked away from the shaven-haired man and made a straight line for the bedroom, stepping over the box of Kazuhito's things to get inside.

"Ah—" Kazuhito started, but Hisashi closed the door before he could stop him. Well. Talking was still off the table.

Knowing that, the computer tech heaved a sigh and kicked his hoes off. He turned the TV off, which Hisashi had left on, and then he lay down on the couch, grabbing a sweatshirt to use as a blanket from the still-out laundry pile. Ah… It really was unfair to sleep on the couch with Hisashi's scent and warmth still fresh on it…

He blinked and sat bolt upright. Under his arm, it really—it was so warm. Almost as if…

Almost as if Hisashi had been waiting up for him.

Kazuhito's chest ached, and he lay back down, trying not to get his hopes up but enjoying the smells of Hisashi's favorite soap and that cinnamon gum the shorter man liked to chew either way. As he nodded off, one of his last passing thoughts was that Hisashi's favorite hoodie was missing from the laundry pile….

- ^-^3

Kazuhito opened and closed his mouth. The words "Good morning" were on the tip of his tongue as each man went through their respective routines, but the tension remained too thick for words to intrude. So Kazuhito settled for following Hisashi around with his eyes.

Hisashi pretended as if Kazuhito weren't there.

The circumstances, in plain language, sucked, and Kazuhito had no solution yet for this utter mess. But he refused to believe they were finished, despite some of the hurtful things Hisashi had said. He just needed to take baby steps while he came up with a plan. Being able to look at his boyfriend again was that first step.

In this way, Kazuhito thought, it stank that they didn't work together, because he did have to spend the day without the blond. Nevertheless, his improving mood and attitude meant an amicable atmosphere down in the servers, and several times he had the chance to return Sakai's smile.

"By the way…," he said to her at the end of the day, "…I wanted to apologize for my behavior lately."

Her smile was more sincere and sympathetic, hearing that. "Narita-kun… I figured for someone as cool and composed as you that it had to be something pretty bad. Not a summer cold, huh?"

He glanced at his monitor as the computer shut down. "No… No, I wish it were that. I—had a fight with someone very close, so…"

Sakai nodded as if she completely understood. "I have some friends who are…close and rarely fight, but it's terrible when they do. But you know what I tell Bandou-kun?"

"Hmm?"

She grinned from ear to ear and pointed to her smile. "To smile! That's the starting point, and it makes a world of difference. I've been reminding him since college of this, but, eh—sometimes we all need that reminder."

Kazuhito half chuckled, and he grabbed his sling backpack now that things were off for the night. "Thank you, Sakai-san. May I walk you out?"

"Sounds good to me!"

They climbed the stairs in companionable silence, and they parted outside the main door. Now on his own again, Kazuhito debated tonight's plans—would two nights in a row at Karma be overdoing it?—and then his cellphone rang.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

But, thanks the gods, it was Tanaka calling. "Tanaka? Hey. What's up?"

"Hey, Narita. You're free, right?"

Erm. How to answer…? "I…don't have any plans, no," he confirmed.

"That's what I thought."

"Huh?"

Tanaka growled at himself. "Sorry. I—I was just talking to Kinoshita, and—"

So something had been said. "How much do you know?"

"Only what's plain even to Ennoshita. Kinoshita refuses to open up. But that's not why I'm calling."

Kazuhito wasn't sure whether to be relieved or more apprehensive. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah. Something's been going down at Ukai Corp., and Suga-san called me and said to expect him and Daichi-san and Ennoshita. Pretty much everyone else is here, even Kiyoko-san and Asahi-san, but they're not saying anything until their coworkers arrive." The bartender went quiet.

"Something at Ennoshita's job…so you want me and Hisashi to be there for him?"

"It can't be anything good, and he really does love you two like his own brothers. Karasuno might be the link that brought us all together in the end, but you three have an older bond. So…I don't know what's going on with you and Kinoshita, but please put it aside for one night. For Ennoshita. Please."

Those were a lot of "pleases" coming from someone who thought he'd make a good yakuza with a face like his if he weren't already running his sister's bar. And they did the trick. "No, you're right," Kazuhito acquiesced. "We can be there for Ennoshita."

"Good." Tanaka really did sound relieved. "See you soon, man."

Kazuhito went for the closest train station, the one a block from the department store where Hisashi worked, and hopped on. It was only a ten- to fifteen-minute ride, and Kazuhito kept trying to spy Hisashi's face elsewhere on the train, since Tanaka had summoned him, too. Alas, he had no luck, and the shaven-haired man disembarked on his own.

But his luck changed outside The Roost as he almost tripped over his boyfriend in front of the entrance. They even locked eyes by accident.

"Hey," Kazuhito said, though Hisashi looked away and went downstairs first. Kazuhito rolled his eyes with the blond's back to him, but…"hey" was progress, right?

Where Karma was gold and colorful, The Roost was more tasteful with its black-and-silver color scheme. It was shinier and newer since being renovated just over two months ago, and it was doing better than ever, to the point of having hired another person, Yamamoto, who also served as Fukunaga and Kozume's tie to the bar.

Tonight, though, Yamamoto made himself scarce, wiping things down as the nest of crows gathered. Tanaka was in his spot behind the bar, and Tsukishima and Yamaguchi sat at their usual booth, but Tsukishima's older brother and Tanaka's brother-in-law, Akiteru-san, joined them for the evening. Shimizu and Yachi were at a nearby table, with Hinata and Kageyama at the table beside them. Azumane was with the dynamic duo, but, stunningly, Nishinoya had emerged from the kitchen to sit across from his bearded boyfriend.

Figuring Ennoshita would take up his favorite spot at the counter, Kazuhito went to sit there, too, only to find Hisashi had had the same idea. Hisashi sat in Ennoshita's spot at the end, so Kazuhito skipped a seat and settled in, slipping his bag off to place it beside him.

Tanaka, as Yamamoto was doing, was cleaning most of his area for the night, but he had no qualms about staring at either man at his counter. After a minute, he leaned on the counter and gave them a reproving look. "Hey," he hissed in undertones. "Are you two really such children that you can't even be civil? I thought I told you: Put your crap aside for one measly evening, for Ennoshita."

Kazuhito frowned and saw Hisashi also pull a face at the scolding, but he gave a short, jerky shrug. "I did say 'hi' just now," he mumbled.

Tanaka raised his eyebrows and walked to the other end of the bar. Once he was out of earshot, Hisashi sniffed and begrudgingly mumbled, "…hi."

Kazuhito internally gasped. He turned to the blond, wanting to push the greeting further, to see if this could become even a small conversation. But that would have to wait, as Ennoshita, Sugawara, and Sawamura arrived.

Ennoshita came right over to them, his eyes wide with delight at seeing his two best friends—though it didn't escape Kazuhito the bags under Ennoshita's eyes or the off pallor of his skin, and Kazuhito doubted Hisashi missed it either. "You guys—!" the brunet started, his voice full of emotion. "How did you…?" He kind of gave up on his question as he embraced Hisashi and squeezed Kazuhito's shoulder.

"Tanaka said we should come," Hisashi explained, picking up his cell beside his drink and then letting it drop back down.

"So we came, for you," Kazuhito expanded, though he knew he wanted most of all to corner Hisashi right now and get him talking again. But that wouldn't do in present company, which Kazuhito surveyed with a quick scan of the room. "You sure we're not interrupting anything?" he asked his friend.

"For the umpteenth time, you're not," Tanaka stated, as if he'd been reading it on their faces since arriving and had been setting them straight the entire time. He gave Ennoshita the usual orange Oddball Quick and started mixing drinks for Sugawara and Sawamura, as well.

Ennoshita smiled and put his briefcase on the empty stool between Hisashi and Kazuhito, and then he sat on the other side of the latter—a kind of silent protest that he would not be involved in their conflict. "I'm surprised about Hinata and the others, though," the businessman said.

"Well, Suga-san mentioned just the Ukai Corp. bunch, but Hinata didn't want to leave when he heard pretty much everyone was coming by." Tanaka shrugged, and he gave Yamamoto the other drinks to deliver. Then he frowned at his boyfriend. "Does this have anything to do with why I've barely heard from you since the middle of the week?"

Kazuhito and Hisashi turned to their friend, shocked, but Sugawara caught everyone's attention with a tap to his glass before Ennoshita could answer. Those at the bar turned around to face the sandy-haired man, just as the rest had their eyes on him. But Sugawara didn't seem nervous to have all that attention in the quiet restaurant. "Hey, everyone. I just wanted to say that…it's nice to enjoy time spent with friends from the past, especially when the future looks so unclear. Also, we might lose our jobs, so drinks are on Daichi and me." With that, he sat back down between Shimizu and Sawamura, and all hell broke loose.

There were various incoherent exclamations, but the main mess came from a trio of troublemakers as Nishinoya spat out his drink on Azumane in his surprise, Hinata on Kageyama, and Akiteru-san on Yamaguchi. Yamamoto grabbed more napkins, but Tanaka stayed put, gawking at Ennoshita. "What the hell?!"

Ennoshita ducked his eyes. "Yeah… We were hacked, and that's led to other issues," he replied, but he looked as if he were talking to his drink, with the guilty way his eyes were glued to the melting ice.

Kazuhito had to wonder if some of the guilt came from not sharing with him and Hisashi—but especially him, since Kazuhito's area of expertise was computers. Regardless, he asked for details. "What kind of hack? Trojan horse? Worm? Remote access?"

Ennoshita shrugged and glanced at his four coworkers at the tables. Kazuhito watched them shake their heads as they didn't know either, but Sawamura eyed him with sudden interest. "Narita, you're a computer guy?"

At that, Kazuhito had the floor, and his face warmed since he was unused to so many people waiting to hear him speak. Still, he nodded. "Yes…," he started. "I work on the servers at a tech start-up, but my boss is more interested in cyber security…" That was why Kazuhito had done some research and learning on his own, so he could keep his job if the company eventually shifted focus.

Sawamura exchanged a glance with Shimizu, and then he locked eyes with Kazuhito. "I can't make any promises, but I'd be willing to bet our I.T. section would welcome the extra help right now. Do you have a card?"

He grabbed one from his bag, and Ennoshita passed it along. "Are we that understaffed in I.T.?" the businessman asked.

Shimizu wiggled her hand, like "so-so." "Not understaffed, but different areas of expertise," she said in that soft voice of hers. Beside her, Yachi frowned nervously at her girlfriend, but Shimizu smiled as if telling her "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Hisashi asked Ennoshita, his brow furrowed. Kazuhito had been about to ask the same.

"I…" Ennoshita sighed, no excuse coming to mind, and Kazuhito had to wonder if they had made telling them anything harder because of the fight. Or, perhaps, the powers that be had told the employees not to say anything yet for fear it might leak to the media.

Sugawara picked up the conversation. "There's still a lot we're figuring out, Kinoshita. It's a lot for us to absorb, too, you know."

Hisashi undoubtedly disliked that answer, as evidenced by his frown, but he shut up and nodded.

"So…," Nishinoya started, "what now?"

Azumane ran a hand through his hair, skeptical. "See how the coming weeks play out," he said.

Everyone was quiet. Some finished their drinks soon after, and they began to leave because there really was nothing else to be said.

- ^-^3

"Holy…crap."

Since the greeting at The Roost, those were the first words Hisashi had muttered to Kazuhito. They'd left together and taken the train together, and they'd almost made it home together in silence when the blond uttered that. Kazuhito glanced down at his lover beside him, not making a big deal out of Hisashi's seeming amnesia that they were "broken up." "Yeah, that was the last thing I expected to come out of Ennoshita's mouth."

They climbed the outdoor stairs to their apartment, Hisashi behind him, and Hisashi tugged on Kazuhito's backpack. "Don't you see? Ennoshita could be without a job—again. What if he can't find another one, Ka—Narita?" he amended quickly when he caught his "overfamiliarity." Kazuhito looked back at him, and Hisashi released the taller man's bag, too.

"It could take a while, but I've no doubt he'll be fine, Hisashi," he answered, not stressing his lover's first name but nevertheless using it on purpose. Kazuhito unlocked the door and went inside, Hisashi still trailing behind him. When Hisashi made no move to come in, Kazuhito sighed and gave him his back. "Look, I get it. We're not under Tanaka's watchful eye anymore. We're home. So you can go back to ignoring me. But," he added firmly, wishing Hisashi wouldn't flinch when their eyes met, "I'm giving you a head's up: I'm done with not talking to you. So expect to hear my voice more often again, even if I have to talk at you."

Hisashi's response? He came inside, kicked off his shoes, and scurried past Kazuhito, enclosing himself in their bedroom yet again.

Well, Kazuhito thought, at least Hisashi had stopped to listen this time, so he'd take it as a sign of improvement.

- ^-^3

It only took days for some news about Ukai Corp., one of Japan's leading sporting goods companies, to break, though the news centered on the company president passing the company along to his grandson. Some media outlets guessed about Ukai Corp. being hacked, but those stories were dismissed as speculative since no one from Ukai Corp. would confirm.

"Have you heard anything new from Ennoshita?" Kazuhito asked Hisashi Wednesday night since he was in front of the news and Hisashi was using the microwave.

Hisashi didn't answer…but he did give a tiny shake of his head when Kazuhito stared at him long enough.

"Me neither."

That was what passed for conversation right now, but Aiichirou told him the following night to take it as an excellent sign. "After weeks of nothing, of course Hisashi-kun would break," Aiichirou said cheerily.

Kazuhito was wary of the exaggerated phrasing. But it reminded the computer tech that they hadn't hung out properly with Ennoshita in weeks, either…

With a small apology to his best friend, Kazuhito admitted to himself that missed time with Ennoshita did not matter nearly as much to him as did missed time with Hisashi.

Yet it was the truth. Kazuhito considered Ennoshita the person to whom he was closest outside of Hisashi, the only person whose opinion really mattered to him outside of Hisashi's…hmm.

He had a sour taste in his mouth at that on Friday at work, because it brought him back to what Hisashi and Rin had asked. Did, perchance, his parents' opinions not matter as much to him as he'd once thought? But, even musing on it that way, Kazuhito wasn't certain it was like that. This intangible distance that had cropped up between him and Hisashi was forcing him to realize that, maybe, he would just have to live with his parents' disapproval, telling them the truth whether they wanted to hear it and living with Hisashi anyway, because it hurt more to think about being without Hisashi than to consider his parents might…come to…hate him…

He groaned at home, wanting to cry. In all honesty, both ideas terrified him, so he got his laptop from off the bookcase and tried to find a movie online to take his mind off things.

The bubbly trills of a video call chimed on his computer, and Kazuhito knew he had to answer if he didn't want this cold war to turn into an actively nuclear one.

"Hello, Honoka-san."

"Kazu-kun! How are you?" She beamed at him, which was kind of a gift, as she was the spitting image of her son, though her eyes were big and black and her blond hair came to her chin in a fluffy but combed bob. There were faint lines by only her eyes, but that made sense as she was a couple of years younger than even Ennoshita's parents.

"I'm fine," he lied. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Honoka-san tittered and flapped a hand at him. "Oh, you…!" Then she leaned in, her bright grin scaring the crap out of him. "Don't you lie to me. Why haven't I been getting my daily texts from Hisashi?"

The shark-like eeriness of her smile briefly made Kazuhito wonder if it hadn't been chance but fate that he and Hisashi had befriended Rin. But, that aside—! How could Hisashi have ignored his mother?! Now Kazuhito had both of their mothers upset with him! "Um…"

"Out with it," she said, her smile not slipping an inch.

"Hold on a sec," he said, and he quickly texted Tanaka to see if Hisashi were at the bar.

Tanaka replied before a minute passed:

-Yeah. Don't worry, he's not lying in a ditch somewhere.

Kazuhito breathed a small sigh of relief, but Honoka-san grew impatient. "Kazu-kun."

"Sorry. I wanted to talk freely, so I had to check that Hisashi was out."

"You couldn't check your own home?"

"I—" He groaned and explained how Hisashi had been hiding lately. "He's so quiet, too, so I can't be sure unless I stick my head in our room."

She sighed. "Yeah… That boy—he can be so boisterous, you'd never think he'd really run from an issue."

There, Kazuhito disagreed. When playing volleyball at the high school-level had seemed too daunting, Hisashi had abandoned that dream. Only, Kazuhito and Ennoshita had abandoned that dream, as well, partially so they could stay together.

"But why are you sleeping on the couch, Kazu-kun?" she inquired.

He hesitated for a second. Then, as he'd told Rin, he shared everything from the past…almost month, he realized, with Honoka-san, including the latest involving Ennoshita. "We're almost talking again," he finished lamely, but he dropped his fake smile when his boyfriend's mother furrowed her brow.

"I'm sorry for Chikara-chan. If it's on the news, I'm sure Ai-san and Takara-san are just hearing about it, if he hasn't touched base with his parents yet." She shook her head. "But you and Hisashi… That son of mine shot his mouth off."

Kazuhito gawped at her, never expecting she'd take his side.

She read his expression and raised her eyebrows. "Now, I'm not done yet. You're also to blame, Kazu-kun. You stirred this hornet's nest by calling your parents out of the blue." Honoka-san narrowed her eyes at him. "And it didn't get past me that you carefully avoided saying why you called them in the first place."

Of course he'd avoided that! He hadn't told her, or Rin, or his parents, because he wanted Hisashi to be the first to know. "…it's a surprise," he admitted. "But please trust me when I say I have a good reason for all of this, Honoka-san."

The squiggle of her lips made her seem doubtful, but she shrugged. Her tone was very gentle when she next spoke: "Getting back to your parents… You never told them you're gay?"

His shoulders sank. "You've met them. Sometimes my teachers thought I had my grandparents coming to parent–teacher meetings. They're old and stuck in their old ways."

"I'm not sure I'd say 'stuck,' but every parent is allowed to process something like this differently, Kazu-kun." The woman bit her lower lip. "Would it help if Hiroto and I paid them a visit, talked it over mom to mom, dad to dad?"

"I appreciate the offer, but I'd hate to see you two hurt in all this, too."

She nodded and smiled, in her smile a glimmer he'd seen once before, when they'd come out officially to Hisashi's parents and Honoka-san had told him she was glad because she could see the good man Kazuhito was becoming, and Hisashi deserved someone like him. "You're worrying about little ol' me and my husband when you should be worrying about yourself. People lose loved ones every day, Kazu-kun. Your parents are still here, and I believe them when they said they love you. So you've got to keep trying with them. Maybe not now, but definitely in the near future. Do not burn that bridge yourself," she encouraged. "If they can't come around and lose you, then that's their loss. But I think you'd regret it more if you were the one to cut them out of your life."

"But Hisashi—"

"Fight for them both."

Kazuhito exhaled and gave her a look. "You make it sound so easy, Honoka-san."

She laughed. "You make it sound so hard!"

"Hisashi ended it when I didn't answer his ultimatum."

"And I'll have a talk with him about that. But," she continued, and her eyes softened again, as if she were ready to give him the world's greatest bear hug, "if your parents do choose the wrong option and cut you out of their lives or disown you—"

Now he did tear up.

"—then I still don't want you to worry about being Little Orphan Kazuhito. Know that Hiroto and I stand with you. We can be your parents as well as Hisashi's."

He chuckled at the offer, truly moved. "You and Hiroto-san are too good to me."

"Yes, well, if my suspicions are correct, then we have good reason to be." She beamed at him. "I hope that surprise goes well, Kazu-kun."

He averted his eyes. "Uh, yes…thank you…"

"Either way, I demand an upgrade."

"In what way?"

"No more of this 'Honoka-san' stuff. It's 'Honoka-kaa-san' now." Her grin turned impish, only an imitation of the one he loved so much on Hisashi's features.

He chuckled again. "I'll see what I can do."

"Catch you soon, Kazu-kun."

"Goodnight, Honoka-s—" He tipped his head in apology for the mistake and corrected it. "Goodnight, Honoka-kaa-san."

- ^-^3

Kazuhito didn't know how soon Honoka-san planned to talk to her son. As Hisashi made breakfast only for himself the next morning, he inferred it hadn't happened last night after their video call. So he went to work and hoped it might happen later that day.

The anticipation was irritating, but Kazuhito headed straight home Saturday, to see if they would talk again. Unfortunately, Hisashi was not there, and Kazuhito was eating a store-bought rice ball when Tanaka texted him again to say Hisashi was not sprawled somewhere outside but sprawled on his bar counter.

Come Sunday, Kazuhito felt even more nervous. But, again, he stayed home in the hopes that Hisashi would at least hear him out when the blond came home from work. He even busied himself with the laundry again, since he'd gone through all of his stuff in the living room twice—one shirt, Hisashi's Christmas gift, three times. It was a good way to calm his nerves, though he grew anxious when he couldn't locate Hisashi's favorite hoodie. So much for making everything nice and perfect.

After the dryer cycle finished, he found himself on the couch folding clothes, as he'd done three weeks ago. He kept the TV off this time, as the Ukai Corp. rumors had worsened, and now many thought layoffs were coming. Unlike Hisashi, Kazuhito didn't want to jump to conclusions, but, in truth, he also worried about what Ennoshita would do if he became unemployed again. But that was a chat to be had with Ennoshita himself.

The front door rattled shortly after three o'clock, but it was not a midday burglar but Hisashi. He locked eyes with Kazuhito for a second and then guiltily looked away.

"You're back early," the shaven-haired man stated dumbly.

Hisashi peeked at him over his shoulder after closing the door, but he went straight to their room as had become routine.

Kazuhito began to sigh—but he stopped when Hisashi didn't enter their bedroom. Instead, the blond bent over the box of Kazuhito's things, and Kazuhito saw the missing hoodie tied around his boyfriend's waist.

Furthermore, Hisashi opened the bedroom door only to push the box inside.

"Hisashi?"

The shorter man left the bedroom door open. He turned, bit his lower lip—like mother, like son—and trotted over to the couch. He made a scooching motion with his right hand, and then he sat facing his lover. After a moment, he furrowed his brow and slightly backed away. "Um, Kazu? What's with that terrifying smile?"

"Oh. Sorry. I just— A coworker reminded me a smile's a good place to start when talking to someone."

Hisashi's cheeks puffed out with withheld laughter. "Not unless you want to compete with Kageyama for Scariest Smile…"

Kazuhito blushed, but he was relieved Hisashi had approached him first. And he was worried they couldn't keep this up when they lapsed into silence. Here Hisashi was, finally in front of him again, but he was afraid of what would happen if he reached out right now.

"I'm sorry!" they blurted in unison.

Kazuhito's eyes widened. Hisashi was so stubborn—but he'd actually apologized so soon!

Hisashi continued to chew on his lower lip, but his eyes kept darting to Kazuhito's face, as if to make up for the past three weeks spent looking at anything but that tan face. "Mom chewed me out and consoled me yesterday."

Praise the gods for Honoka-san! "Oh."

"'Oh,' my foot. She said she talked to you, too," Hisashi griped. His shoulders slackened, and he sat up straighter. "She…helped me understand your side better."

"Same here."

Hisashi frowned. "I'm so sorry. I freaked out when it seemed as though you might agree with your parents' viewpoint—"

"Never," Kazuhito interjected.

The frown morphed into a tiny, wet smile. "I know. Honestly, deep down, I know that. I know that." He hung his head. "But I went too far. I wanted to hurt you as much as I hurt then, so I said some horrible things. I lied when I said I couldn't trust you." He balled his hands into fists on his lap, and he wrung one of the hoodie's sleeves in his grip. "There's no one I trust more than you, Kazu. I know I'm the one from the hugger family, but there's nothing better than simply hearing your 'I love you,' because it's full of sincerity I can count on." Finally, he picked his head up, and his eyes brimmed with tears. "I'm so sorry, Kazu. I love you, but I said I can't trust you or your love, I broke us up, I stopped calling you 'Kazu,' I moved some of your things out, I avoided you and ignored you—"

Kazuhito timidly raised a hand to brush some hair behind Hisashi's ear as he'd always done, and he went ahead when Hisashi nodded. The blond sniffled and calmed down as Kazuhito repeated the gentle motion. "Your mother's right, though. We share this blame as much as we share this love, 'Sashi. I never should've raised my voice, and I should've told you what I told your mom about my parents. Did she tell you the advice she gave me?"

Hisashi shook his head.

"Not to give up, on you or on them. I don't know if I'll ever convince them that what you and I have is genuine, but that doesn't mean I can't live the rest of my life happy with the person I love. They didn't want to hear that right now, but it doesn't mean they won't ever somewhere down the road."

Hisashi's small eyes widened, rounder than ever. "You mean it? Even if they—if they disown you?"

Kazuhito leaned forward and rested his forehead against Hisashi's. "I've still got family," he said softly, rubbing the pad of his thumb over Hisashi's cheekbone.

"That's why you called them."

"Yep."

"You were going to ask me anyway."

"I thought I'd tell them and then your parents, but one thing led to another, and I wanted to surprise you."

Hisashi stared at him, his smile wider and less tearful this time. "Do me a favor."

"Sure."

"Don't ask right now."

Kazuhito frowned, wishing that Hisashi would stop being so hard on himself, but he also felt the timing was off. "Deal," he agreed. "But only if you tell me why you're home so early. I don't have to fret about both you and Ennoshita looking for work, do I?"

Hisashi shook his head and leaned closer to rest his head on Kazuhito's shoulder, a motion away from hugging him. "No. After Mom's call yesterday, I decided to fake a stomachache so I could make up with you." He relented and sank into Kazuhito's arms, happy to fall into his embrace as Kazuhito toppled backwards on their couch. He looked up at his lover. "What about you? You haven't been to The Roost very much."

"The Karma Club," the shaven-haired man answered. "But only to hang out with Rin and Aiichirou. I made it clear to them that I wasn't looking for someone else, because I didn't accept that we'd split."

"But…I said—"

Kazuhito shook his head and tucked Hisashi's head under his chin. "It'd definitely make me take a step back if you accused me of homophobia same as my parents. But the only way you're getting rid of me is if you convincingly say the words 'I don't love you anymore.'"

Hisashi buried his face in his chest. "I couldn't say that. I can barely stand to think of the words myself…"

Kazuhito smiled and heaved a sigh of relief. "I know," he said, and he did, because Hisashi hadn't said that, and because Hisashi had come to him…because Hisashi wore one of Kazuhito's sweatshirts still, and because the shirts Hisashi picked out for him were the ones Kazuhito liked best.

Because it'd take a hell of a lot more than a nasty fight to flush ten years of love, almost sixteen years of friendship down the drain.

- ^-^3

"No more sleeping on the couch."

"Agreed."

"Sex on the couch is one thing, but the two of us sleeping there really doesn't work. We don't fit."

Hisashi snorted and laughed at that as they ate instant oatmeal for a late breakfast. "Then maybe we should just get a cozier couch," he suggested.

Kazuhito rolled his eyes, but he wasn't annoyed with the idea. It was just that, cuddling like that last night and then returning to the couch to sleep in the same position after eating a quick dinner, his back was killing him. He kind of looked forward to walking around the servers, checking on connections and hardware and such, even though he was late already.

Still, seeing Hisashi radiant once more made his heart light and put him at ease. Being late was so worth it.

Kazuhito finished eating first, and he uncrossed his legs and stood up from the couch, pecking the top of his lover's fluffy hair. "I've got to head out, so—"

But Hisashi caught his arm and stared up at him. The blond tugged until Kazuhito bent down for a proper kiss—just a small, chaste little peck—and he smiled, though his smile belied some uncertainty. "Y'know, all joking about the couch aside…"

The taller man raised his eyebrows.

"…it's your bed, too, in there," he said with a nod towards their room. "I'd prefer to fall asleep in your arms there."

Despite the mention of sex two minutes ago, Hisashi's connotation was clear to Kazuhito. And, while it felt a tad too soon to make any promises, he pulled Hisashi to his feet and hugged him. "Yeah, I'd prefer that, too." He could feel Hisashi relax, hearing that.

Hisashi disentangled himself from his lover's arms and took his empty bowl. He turned Kazuhito around and ushered him to the door with a pat on the rump. "Now, off with you before it becomes lunchtime."

"Yes, yes…" Kazuhito put his shoes on and grabbed his bag. "I'll see you later," he said on his way out.

"Have a good day at work!" Hisashi said brightly.

Kazuhito made it to a seat on the bus before he dropped, sapped of all strength. If Hisashi said everything as sweetly as that, the blond would win every quarrel for the rest of their lives…!

Luckily, Kazuhito regained his composure when he spirited himself inside Nine Lives Net. He didn't get any funny looks from those he passed on the way down to the server room, but he mused that that might be due to his recent odd behavior. In a way, that was helping him right now…

"Narita-kun," Sakai said, her face serious as he went to his station beside her. "Boss wants to see you."

…or not.

Kazuhito groaned as he trudged back upstairs, convinced his luck finally had run out. Up on the third floor, he knocked on his boss's office door and entered after being permitted.

And, less than ten minutes later, he returned to the servers, his face frozen.

"Narita-kun…?" Sakai asked. "How did it go? What did he say?" Her eyes dropped to what he had in his hands, and she gasped. "You've been demoted?!"

"No, nothing like that…"

- ^-^3

Hisashi was still laughing the next day when they left their apartment after meeting up after work, on their way to the udon shop. "You thought you were fired…!" He laughed so hard, he clutched his middle and grabbed his boyfriend's arm to steady himself. "And then! And then! Sakai-san thought it was a demotion…!"

"Let me know when you're done," Kazuhito groused, red-faced. "And thanks for asking how my first day was, by the way."

Hisashi coughed and wiped a tear from his eye. "Sorry, sorry, Kazu… How was your first day at Ukai Corp.?"

"It was long and mostly introductory. I didn't actually think anything would come of giving Sawamura-san my card, but the I.T. department head contacted my boss directly after researching our company online, and now I'm working at Ennoshita's company for now."

"Have you told him yet?"

Kazuhito shook his head. "I.T.'s in the basement, and Kobori-san spent the day giving me the lay of the land. Nakamura and Ryugazaki briefed me on the hack after, so I never wandered upstairs to Marketing. But we're about to see him now, so I'll just tell him tonight."

Hisashi shrugged. "I'm kinda surprised we're eating together on a Tuesday evening, though. He usually likes to hit The Roost when it's first open for the week."

The taller man wondered that, too. But then they reached the udon shop and found Ennoshita at a table in the middle, and his happy, sleepy smile at seeing them told Kazuhito that he'd missed them as much as they'd missed him. Kazuhito returned his smile, and Hisashi sat across from him and playfully pinched his arm. "I take back what I said before," the shaven-haired man began as he sat beside his lover. "We shouldn't ever push eating together off. I've missed this."

"Considering it's been weeks, yeah," Hisashi quipped. He brightened when he saw that Ennoshita had ordered tea for the table, and he drank a whole cup before he poured another and asked, "Things still crap at work?"

Ennoshita shrugged. "Kind of," he replied. "The idea of maybe having to move is lingering in my head, but—"

The couple gaped at him. "Move?" Kazuhito repeated.

"Uh, well," the brunet fumbled, "I mean, Tanaka says I'm being a worrywart—" He stopped and squirmed as they didn't tear their eyes away. "Guys, it's just a possibility."

"So Sugawara-san really wasn't joking when he said you might be laid off?" Kazuhito asked. "And you'd really have to move? Where?" Though he had a feeling.

Ennoshita made a face. "I don't know. The only reason I'm entertaining the possibility is because of last fall. Remember before I got my job back, how I was hunting for work? I was coming up with squat," he continued, "and I can't imagine the job market has changed much since then. So… I might even move back home. My parents are all right with that, too."

Shit. Kazuhito's instincts were right. But—Miyagi? Back home to Miyagi, on the other end of the country? Just when he and Hisashi had gotten back together, too. Now Ennoshita was threatening to break the three of them up.

Their waitress came during the tense silence at the table, and the trio of friends placed their order. When she walked away, Hisashi ignored their tea, leaned across the table, and lightly smacked Ennoshita on the head. "No," he stated.

"Ow! What do you mean, 'no'?!"

Hisashi grabbed Ennoshita's right hand and put it in the middle of the table. Then the blond placed Kazuhito's hand on Ennoshita's, and he covered both with his own. "You can't break this up," Hisashi announced, motioning to them and their hands in a circle.

"Kinoshita—"

"No," the blond repeated. "You're not allowed to move back, not when we left together." Funny though his actions were, Kazuhito felt Hisashi's hand tremble slightly on his; it bothered the hell out of him, too, what Ennoshita was saying. "It's—it's illegal," Hisashi added. "You're our Ennoshita, and you're staying put."

Ennoshita raised his eyebrows, unconvinced by his friend's antics. "Kinoshita, exactly what law would I be breaking?"

"Shush. I'm sure there's some law."

Kazuhito chuckled and received a look from their best friend.

"You two are more possessive than my parents, you know," Ennoshita said, so the other two ran with his statement and each hooked a finger around one of his when the businessman went to pull his hand away.

After a moment, Kazuhito and Hisashi shared a look. Hisashi nodded, because they were on the same page and thinking the same things once more, but he'd let Kazuhito make the offer. They released Ennoshita shortly before the food arrived, but they left the food alone, and Kazuhito cleared his throat. "Why not move in with us?" he suggested.

Ennoshita eyed them awhile. It was as if he were trying to find a hint of that old staleness between the two, an excuse to turn them down. Kazuhito knew he wouldn't find anything, but Ennoshita smiled, bittersweet, nevertheless. "Guys… I appreciate that, I do," he said. "But me moving in with you is different from staying over for a night or two."

His answer didn't surprise them, and the couple frowned. Kazuhito began eating, his imagination coming up with other living solutions, but he kept his ideas to himself.

So of course Hisashi voiced what ran through both of their heads. "What about Tanaka?" the blond asked as he rudely pointed at Ennoshita with his chopsticks.

"Hisashi…!" Kazuhito hissed.

Ennoshita shook his head but didn't seem bothered that it'd been mentioned. "No, I don't think either of us feels we can bring it up to the other. For one, I don't want to be presumptuous. For another…it hasn't even been a year yet." His voice was softer, and he dropped his eyes to his food.

Ennoshita was right, though. He hadn't been dating Tanaka for long, and he hadn't even known the bartender for a year. To their knowledge, Ennoshita stayed over in Tanaka's loft above The Roost sometimes, but—as Ennoshita had told them a moment ago—staying over and moving in were two completely different things.

Hisashi opened his mouth to backpedal, but Kazuhito caught his eye. "Don't meddle," he said.

Hisashi rolled his eyes and gave up. But he got his boyfriend back by bumping his hip against Kazuhito's, and he grinned impishly as Kazuhito spluttered into his broth as he tried to eat.

It didn't escape them that Ennoshita relaxed again, watching them act like teenagers. But, hey, if that was one thing they could do for him, then so be it.

- ^-^3

In all the commotion, it slipped Kazuhito's mind to tell Ennoshita his news. But he decided to make his opportunity the next day at work, and he rolled his chair over to Ryugazaki's area shortly before lunchtime. "Ryugazaki?"

The bespectacled man turned his head Kazuhito's way. "Yes, Narita-san?"

Kazuhito forced a smile. He liked everyone so far in I.T., but Ryugazaki and Nakamura especially were hard to read. He had the feeling Ryugazaki would be a different guy if he smiled more and stopped pushing his red frames up all the time… "Um, as you know, I'm friends with Ennoshita in Marketing. I thought I'd have lunch with him today. Mind showing me the way?"

"Very well." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and stood, but he at least waited for Kazuhito to join him before he headed for the elevators.

They rode the elevator in silence up to the fourth floor. When they got off, they rounded a corner and entered the marketing department. They strode past the desks in the bullpen and went to a back corner, where a couple of closed offices were located. Ryugazaki chose the door on the left, so Kazuhito concluded the other office belonged to Sugawara, who was Ennoshita's boss.

"Ennoshita-san?" Ryugazaki asked, knocking on Ennoshita's door.

"Sorry. Did you need something?" Kazuhito heard his friend ask.

Ryugazaki gestured to his left. "Narita-san wanted to see you."

"Huh?" Ennoshita asked, confused as Kazuhito stepped inside and Ryugazaki left with a polite bow. "Narita?"

Ah, Ennoshita was pretty adorable when he was surprised, all round, wide eyes and mouth popped open in a small "o." The sight made Kazuhito smile, and he took a good look at his friend's office while Ennoshita emerged from behind his desk. The office was a good size, though the walls lacked much personalization…in contrast to Ennoshita's desk, which had a couple of different stacks of sticky notes in one corner and a pen cup filled with crappy pens for others to borrow beside it—and, in another, there was a familiar picture frame, and Kazuhito didn't have to look to know what was in it, because he and Hisashi each had one, a photo of the three of them at their high school graduation. But he shelved his memories now and held up his visitor's badge, clipped to his belt. "I forgot to bring it up the other night, but Sawamura-san came through," the shaven-haired man said. "He passed my info along to Kobori-san in I.T., and Kobori-san contacted my boss. I'm on loan for now."

Yet that wasn't what stunned Ennoshita very much, as he looked his friend up and down. "Uh, I thought you didn't have a uniform…?"

Kazuhito glanced at his ensemble. The khakis were his choice, but the company shirt? This was what had shocked Sakai the other day. Then again, walking around in a bright red polo with the Nine Lives Net logo on the left surely stood out at a typical workplace like Ukai Corp. "Ah, this? Yeah, I'm usually good with a button-up, but my boss thought I should 'advertise.'" He rolled his eyes. "Typically it's only the tech support like Fukunaga and Kozume who have to wear this, not server guys."

His friend nodded his understanding.

"Kobori-san and Ryugazaki mentioned people start taking their lunch breaks around now. Want to grab a bite?"

Ennoshita nodded again and grabbed his suit jacket, and they left. Not far up the street was a tiny Korean barbeque shop, so they bought two ready-made lunches and ate as they strolled back. "Do you like it here?" Ennoshita asked.

Kazuhito knew he meant Ukai Corp. He thought about it. "It's not bad," he said, "but I think I prefer the servers back at work."

"Yeah. When did you start?"

"Yesterday. I'm helping to get a more secure network protocol off the ground."

"Did you guys ever figure out who hacked us? Mom told me she saw on the news—the media's claiming it was Kumo Japan."

Kazuhito pulled a face. He'd heard the competitor mentioned in passing down in I.T. at the end of work the other day, but that was due, again, to speculation and not to fact—though Kazuhito understood their worry. "We haven't, and we might not," he answered, deciding to explain the reason behind the rumor, "especially if it was Kumo Japan. Their company president, Hanamiya Makoto, has a reputation in the digital world as being a hacker for shits and giggles. Unfortunately, that's only his suspected reputation. No one's ever been able to prove anything, though the word is that he's been leaving his mark since his high school days."

"He just screws around with his competition?"

"If you can't beat 'em, hack l'em." Kazuhito gave his friend a sympathetic smile. "But that's where I come in. You can count on me."

Ennoshita snorted. "Kinoshita can, too, right?"

Damn. So he'd been called on his shit. Kazuhito felt warmth creep up his neck, but he answered truthfully as he thought about the past few weeks. "Yes, Hisashi, too." He paused, wondering how to sum it up without saying too much. "Sorry, we've been…on the outs. But we're on the same page now, and we're good. Better than," he added with a small smile to himself as he thought of the paper hidden in his yearbook. He reached over and stabbed a vegetable from Ennoshita's lunch. "And I'll take this as an offering for you being nosy."

"Hey!" Ennoshita yelped. "Eat your own lunch, jerk."

"Drinks on me, jerk." He smirked then, knowing Ennoshita would back down with that.

They finished eating right before they returned, and they split in the lobby. Kazuhito could find his own way back downstairs, and the rest of the day passed with review of the email system that had caused the incident. Kobori was easy to get along with, but the inherent poker faces Ryugazaki and Nakamura seemed to don all the time made Kazuhito long to see Sakai's cheery smile.

He met up with Ennoshita in the lobby after work, and they took the train together to The Roost. Downstairs, Hisashi had beat them there, and he was in Ennoshita's spot again at the end of the counter. But he wasn't there for long, and he laughed as Ennoshita shoved him over. "What the hell was that for?" Hisashi asked, but his laughter stole the offense from his tone.

"You're just looking to annoy me," the businessman quipped as Hisashi moved over and sat between him and Kazuhito. Ennoshita showed no offense, either, but that had more to do with his bartender boyfriend showing him a winning smile.

"Is it working?" Hisashi tried.

"Nope," Ennoshita replied, and he sipped the drink Tanaka made him.

"Then this probably will," Hisashi said, and he gave Kazuhito a quick squeeze of the knee so as not to be scolded again—yet. The blond waved dramatically at Tanaka. "Tanaka and I were just discussing how you're not allowed to move back to Miyagi."

"And I was eavesdropping!" Nishinoya piped up from the kitchen. The cook even stuck his head out of the backroom, his blond tuft preceding him. "You're not allowed to go anywhere, Chikara."

Kazuhito and Tanaka nodded in agreement, and Kazuhito decided to let Hisashi have this one since the meddling this time had their best friend laughing.

"You guys—I get it, I get it!" He laughed a bit more, but he calmed as all four of them scrutinized him and chose to trust that he'd no longer fret about the topic.

Nishinoya returned to the kitchen first, but Hisashi caught Kazuhito's eye when the body language of bartender and businessman alike shifted. Hisashi scanned the other patrons, and he tugged Kazuhito over to Yamaguchi, who sat by himself for once. They slid into the booth across from the freckled crow and peeked at the cozy atmosphere they'd left behind.

"You guys really do look out for Ennoshita-san," Yamaguchi said enviously, bringing their attention back to him.

"Friends are important," Kazuhito stated simply, and he wished he'd been by the bar more often now, seeing Yamaguchi looking unusually unhappy. He and Hisashi liked the younger man, an early friend they'd made at The Roost and someone they often sat and ate with when they had the chance and weren't interrupting Yamaguchi and Tsukishima. Speaking of which… "Speaking of friends, where's Tsukishima?"

Yamaguchi glared at the table. "Home. I'm fighting with Tsukki right now."

Kazuhito exchanged a knowing look with Hisashi, who reached forward and patted Yamaguchi's shoulder. "I can tell you one thing, Yamaguchi: That fight won't last. Whatever's wrong will seem inconsequential someday. Could be tomorrow, could be further out than that." He slid his eyes back to Kazuhito, offering up a sincere smile and perhaps words meant just for him: "The fight won't last, but it'll make you realize the things important to the both of you, so hang on, just for that."

- ^-^3

Funny how a slip of paper could weigh so heavily on a person's shoulders.

Kazuhito found himself on that mustard-yellow couch once more, thinking that thought and looking at his yearbook on the coffee table. Again, he was dressed nicely but this time in a pair of black jeans and a soft metallic green button-up with the sleeves folded back on his forearms. He was going out tonight…with Hisashi, if the blond would decide on an outfit already.

Kazuhito opened his mouth to remind Hisashi of the time, but he kept quiet as his eyes lingered on the yearbook. There wasn't any rush to head out. Who knew if Rin and Aiichirou would be at the club tonight? They didn't have their contact information, just their first names, so it always felt a bit like fate, seeing whoever showed up on any given night. So there was no need to hurry, really…

…same as with that slip of paper that was the root of all Kazuhito's problems as of late.

He picked up his yearbook and opened it from the back, flipping through ten pages until he had the paper in his hand. Then he got up and returned his yearbook to the bookcase, having all but made up his mind.

Hisashi had asked him not to ask him…at that time.

But it'd been several weeks since then. June was halfway gone now, and life was back to normal for them. Their weekly udon meals with Ennoshita had been reinstated, they were hanging out again at The Roost even if Ennoshita or Yamaguchi or any of the others weren't around to hang with, Kazuhito's work at Ukai Corp. was bearing some fruit in the form of a new set of personalized firewalls that were being beta-tested, Ukai Corp. had had a round of layoffs that came and went and spared Ennoshita and the other Karasuno alumni, and Hisashi thought he knew the real reason for Kazuhito referring to his mother as "Honoka-kaa-san."

Of course, Kazuhito knew it wasn't that Honoka-san and Hiroto-san were going to adopt him suddenly. But, speaking of adoption… His eyes roved over the paper—the form.

Names required.

Age required.

Address required.

Basic demographics required.

Occupation required.

Contact information, generic financial summary, reason required.

And, of course, specific birth dates, because who was older mattered.

Kazuhito ran his hand over his mouth as he reread the form for the hundredth time. He'd read over it so many times because he'd had the chance to; he'd had this since shortly after Hisashi's twenty-seventh birthday back in February. He didn't know how long he'd have it before showing Hisashi. Maybe waiting until after his own, twenty-eighth birthday later in the summer would be better… Or next February…or the February after…

No. He'd waited long enough. He wasn't going to wait until they were thirty to surprise Hisashi with this.

"Hey, Hisashi—"

"I know," the blond called from their bedroom. "I'm taking forever. But I haven't been to Karma in so long. I want to cut loose and have fun and look good doing it."

Kazuhito rolled his eyes. "'Sashi, you look great in anything."

"I don't want to be upstaged if Shou-san's there tonight, decked out in those dumb chipmunk accessories!" Hisashi yowled.

"He'd be mad if he heard you call Risujirou 'dumb.'"

"Yeah, well, he's pretty. I've got to have something to make fun of him."

Kazuhito sighed and scratched the back of his head. How the hell was he supposed to make a decent segue from a cartoon chipmunk to the form in his hand?

"Ooh!"

"What?"

"I forgot about the cat-ear headband…"

Kazuhito had a vague memory of a black wire headband with an orange bow on one ear, and he ignored recalling that horrible fight that had happened the same night Hisashi had come home with it. "Hisashi, I am not going out with my boyfriend dressed like Hello Kitty."

"Pssh. Yes, you will. I'm cute to begin with, and these only make me cuter."

The shaven-haired man blushed at the mental image of Hisashi wearing the cat-ear headband and nothing but the cat-ear headband. "…then maybe leave them at home, for me," he compromised.

Hisashi poked his head around the doorjamb, forcing Kazuhito to hide the paper instinctively, and the blond's eyes crinkled as he smirked. He snickered, too. "Perv."

"Yes, well," Kazuhito spluttered," you, uh, are taking forever, to use your own words. Rin and Aiichirou and Shou-san will be long gone and Karma will close for the night if you don't get dressed."

Hisashi rolled his eyes and disappeared. "I'm gonna tell them you're picking on me…"

"I'm not picking on you…!" Kazuhito groaned exasperatedly as he heard Hisashi snicker again. Sometimes it amazed him that they were in love.

Other times, it was easy to recall why, and it was perfectly clear to him why anyone would, as Rin had put it, "bother" to take that extra step. Even if it didn't mean something in other countries. Even if it didn't mean something in most of Japan. Even if it meant nothing to his own parents.

It meant something to them.

Hisashi heaved an overly dramatic sigh and emerged at last, wearing skinny jeans and not the sweatshirt he'd stolen from Kazuhito years ago but a light blue t-shirt he'd stolen from his boyfriend just today. On him, though, the neck was invitingly wide. "All right, all right… Let's get going…"

"Sure you don't want something…less tantalizing, 'Sashi?"

The blond laughed. "I promise the only bathroom sex I want to have is here at home with you, Kazu." He cocked his head to one side, trying to peek at what Kazuhito had behind his back. "Kazu? What's that?"

As good a segue as ever. So Kazuhito slowly produced the adoption paper and began, "Well, I wanted to show you something, Hisashi…."

- ^-^3

:D For fans who don't know the significance of this particular form in this context and may have jumped to the wrong conclusion, allow mew to explain: As of 2017, there are only 2 places in Japan where gay marriage is legal and recognized. Thus, it is still common practice for gay couples to "adopt"—that is, the older adopts the younger in the couple to add him or her to the older's family register, therefore changing the younger's surname and essentially "marrying" the younger partner. This is not to say that most gay couples get married, but those who do bother with the process go about it this way. :) Fascinating stuff…and something I've had planned for Narikino for a while in this AU. I've known for a long time that my headcanons about Narita's and Kinoshita's families being the way they are would turn out like this, and I'm pleased to have written them finally. I do wish the best for Narita's fam in the future, as Honoka hopes, but I'm actually not sure how that will turn out. It really could go either way—but at least Narita knows he has Kinoshita & fam & friends. -w-

Some other notes:

-Golden Week (copied from my A/N for "Opportunity): In Japan, this week from April 30th to May 5th (or until May 6th if April 30th is a Sunday) is a time of kind of…national vacation? A lot of companies have their employees take off here, so there's a LOT of travel, and it's a popular time of the year for clubs to hold activities and training camps at schools. Not all companies participate, & the canon of BoaF is that some companies are too small or have other offerings for flexible time off (as U.C. does) to allow Golden Week vacations. -w- [As mentioned in this fic, Nine Lives Net—NLN—is too small for the holiday.]

-Narita's comment early on about Kino demanding more affection: This is a reference to the untitled Kinonari oneshot done for a tumblr ask; you can find it as ch8 in my fic collection, Nice Receive.

-Sakai-san: This is actually Sakai Chihiro from Cheer Danshi! I love her a lot, & the "Bandou-kun" she mentions later on is Haruki, who sometimes fights with his own Kazu. XD CD! really is an underrated show…y'all need to watch it. :'3

-Other namedrops: Koganei is probably a lot more familiar than squirrel-fan Shou (tho the latter, again, is a CD! reference -w-). Nakamura is tied to Kobori~

-Narikino keeping Ennoshita in the dark: Honestly, they didn't tell him the details of Narita's parents' homophobia since Ennoshita's new to the life, & Enno's experience as a gay man and around other homosexuals has been relatively honky-dory so far. Frankly, Narikino are doting, protective parents to him like this. :')

-Narita's 1st name: What Narita's dad says to him about why they chose him to be "Kazuhito" is a headcanon I developed based on Furudate-sensei's reasoning behind Narita's name, that it sounds "oldest-son-ish," implying that Narita might have younger siblings (or Furudate-sensei thought to give him some at one point). Mixing this with my headcanons that Narita doesn't come from an extremely close family and that his parents are older than others, poor Narita was dealt such a blow… I'm so sorry, my boy. ;w;

-Rintori in BoaF: Damn right those are my boys from Free! :D Since BoaF spans various fandoms, I thought about who might make good friends for Narikino that Enno wouldn't necessarily know, so Rin & Ai played their parts well, esp Rin…tho they're not the only married gay couple in BoaF. ;] Also, they're not even the first Free! charries to show up; obvo Narita doesn't know that Ryugazaki is more than just a computer tech, but there was a familiar name in "Glass Shards" that fans will know. -w-

-Ennoshita's issues: If you want the full story, go read "Opportunity" in Birds of a Feather! :]

-Kino's parents: Isn't Honoka a treasure? And Kino's such a mama's boy, texting with her daily. Cutie pie. :3c

-Yamaguchi's grumpiness: Read "Variable" for his story. ;]

-The form itself: Honestly, I've glimpsed one of those adoption forms online (hunted for it for research yrs ago), so I mostly had to bullshit what was on it. Still. Legitimate sounding. XD (I also researched Australia's stance on it, too, hence Rin's explanation. Wow. :O)

-Lastly, the music behind the fic: At first, mostly Epik High's "Umbrella" featuring Younha matched the mood of the story, but also two of Clazziquai's newer songs off Travellers, "Make Up Break Up" and "Speak of Love," really work, too.

Thank you very much for reading, and please review/comment/leave an ask! The next fic in the BoaF collection, "Personal Day," will take a while since it has its own fair share of side stories, but I hope you can enjoy the other side stories while you wait, and please visit the BoaF tumblr page (on my tumblr, le-amewzing) for lotsa stuff~! Show your support for this AU, and share your excitement for it, too!

-mew-tsubaki :'3