Title: Missing You
Author: Rapis-Razuri
Beta: greatnerdowl
Word Count: 987
Game: Fates
Characters/Pairing: Takumi/Oboro, others mentioned
Prompt from otpprompts on tumblr
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Oboro glanced between the dishes in the sink and the microwave clock not few minutes since she last checked. She still had some time, but she would be late if she loitered any longer.
Long-distance relationships were difficult. She knew that and had been ready to turn down a job offer in Shirasagi to accompany Takumi to Valla, where he was attending graduate school. She even went as far as looking into potential employers in the area that would hire her for her degree in Fashion Design and by no means unimpressive resume. In the end, Takumi convinced her not to, pointing out that the job offer she got here was too good to pass up.
Not being able to see her boyfriend of five years for most of the year was something Oboro could live without, but she knew it was for the best, so putting forth the extra effort to maintain their relationship was worth it. She could at least count her blessings that they were still in the same time zone, which made staying in touch much less of a hassle. They texted each other often, which always helped made trying days much easier to deal with, and a Skype call in the morning had become routine for them.
Except today she might have to do without. Her coffee was down to its dregs and his status icon was still marked offline.
Siiiiigh.
She didn't want to be late so she decided to wait for anouther ten minutes and if he still wasn't online by then, she was going to leave a message and try contacting him again later.
It was then as though some higher power was just waiting for her to settle on that decision when Takumi's status blinked green, followed by a call request. Pressing accept a little more quickly and eagerly than necessary, Oboro found herself smiling before he even appeared on the screen.
He's in his pajamas and his hair was still in a messy ponytail, but there's an odd sort of liveliness in him that she doesn't usually see in the mornings.
"Good morning," she said, "Did you sleep well?"
"Morning," Takumi replied with a yawn and an eye rub, "Surprisingly, yes. How have you been?"
They started talking as they always did. Oboro told him about some of the appointments she had today, though mindful not to bore him by gushing too much about some of the custom orders she was looking forward to completing. When she was finished, Takumi regaled her with a few stories of the undergrads he was acting as a teaching assistant to. The minutes ticked by and it wasn't until Oboro received a warning alarm did she ask if he had any dreams last night.
Takumi suddenly seemed more interested in something on the lower corner of the screen. "It was good by my standards."
"Tell me about it," Oboro prompted as she always did. Helping Takumi through the bad dreams and getting him to focus on the good ones was not something a petty detail like distance was going to stop her from doing.
"Well..." It must have been a really good dream if thinking about it was enough to make him smile to himself again. "I was at the park where Sakura and I used to play with our dog... Except Raijin wasn't there – gods, I can't believe I actually miss that stupid mutt, but anyway, I was watching a group of kids playing. I called out to one and..." Takumi was grinning rather tenderly now. "And the boy with your hair color came to me and called me 'Dad...'"
Takumi trailed off there, waiting for her reaction to this last part of his dream. She didn't reply at once because the meanings hadn't quite dawned on her yet, but it did.
Oboro made a sound like a fox being trodden on and ducked offscreen to collect herself. Blushing, she was glad that there was currently no one else in the apartment to see her like this. While Beruka wouldn't care, Selena would have a few things to say about her still acting like a lovestruck idiot. He could be lying, but if he could make up sappy domestic visions like this one to cover up the contents of his real dreams, she never would have found out about his frequent nightmares.
"...Oboro?" He sounded rather anxious. Worried that he freaked her out, perhaps?
She slapped her cheeks a few times. Get a hold of yourself! "I'm okay," she said, straightening in her chair, though she was still quite flustered. "So... um, you had a dream about our kid?"
"...I think."
She smiled, "I can see why you considered this dream better by your standards," she said. "What happened after?"
He sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. "Nothing much. He fell asleep on the walk home and I gave him piggyback ride for the rest of the way. When we got home, you showed up to put him to bed." Once again, Takumi decided that the corner was more interesting than his girlfriend's face and his voice turned into a mumble, "And then we, uh... did what parents do... when their kid is asleep..."
This time, it was Takumi who turned bright red and covered his face with both hands in embarrassment.
He's so cute, she couldn't help but think, despite knowing how much he objected to that particular adjective. Oboro covered her mouth to stifle her giggles, but it wasn't as effective as she hoped since he reappeared on the grainy screen, still looking rather bashful and just a little bit indignant.
Smiling, she lifted an arm and prodded the screen, wishing she could touch him for real. "Come back to me soon, okay?" Oboro whispered, "I miss you."
He was quiet for a moment before he too reached out to touch the screen, his hand not quite lining up with her's. "Okay," he said. "I miss you too."