For Kaito, though he'd never voice it, it was always Aoko. There was never a different time, never a different chance when it couldn't have been her. Nakamori Aoko was his absolute, the steady smile and heated temper that kept him tied to the ground. Kaito never took Aoko to be interested in dating or much less romance and love. She's never had a particular preference towards Rom-Coms or Nicholas Sparks novels. He never saw her flirting or taking an interest in anyone. And so he nearly falls out of his chair when he asks Aoko if she'd want to study for a test at his house and she gives him one of those steady smiles that he's fallen in love with. "Actually," she stutters a little embarrassed. "I have a date after school."
"Oh," he says, and his world falls apart a little bit. His chest tightens in an unsettling sort of way. "Oh," is all he can say, and it seems to echo in the busy classroom. Akako glances up from her class work, a knowing look placed on her face. She remains wordless and watches Kaito's poker face, how close it looks to breaking, how beautiful the cracks of his plastered mask looks.
And Kaito thinks of how terrible of a person he is. How selfishly awful he is for his jealousy. "I'm happy for you," he presses out. He forces a smile, trying desperately to ignore the pain in his throat as he says the words. "I bet you managed to find a real catch."
Aoko smiles widely. God, she looks so happy. "I guess you could say that," she says amused. And it must've been because they were so close; she could open up to him like this. The depth of their relationship allowing Aoko to shyly open up a little secret to him. He wants to say something more, but he's not sure what's left for him to say. He's already had his chance. He's had twelve years worth of chances. There's snow starting to fall outside. And Kaito thinks of how close he is to Aoko, yet how there was still a distance in between them that he couldn't seem to close.
Class starts with the teacher giving a brief reintroduction of parallel lines and Kaito works especially hard, immersing himself in the lesson, refusing for his heart to catch up with his thoughts.
Kaito's life starts and ends with Aoko, just as her existence is tied with his, he once thought. As cliché as it was, he believed in some form of a soul mate. One where the beginning of the universe started with dust and debris forming into galaxies and stars based from the reliance whereas as long as Nakamori Aoko would rise every day, the sun would as well. He loved her a little too much, and he showed too little of it, perhaps taking her presence to be an absolute, never realizing how fickle people can be. They were two parallel lines running through time and sky, perfectly aligned and synchronized, how infinite they were, yet never touching.
She sits next to him as the class drones on. Their elbows close to touching. He can smell her perfume faintly lingering and he thinks it's the foreign perfume he bought her for her birthday years ago. It was a tiny bottle, as he couldn't afford anything bigger but he remembered how her face lit up upon opening the package and promising him that she'll make it last by only using it on special occasions. 'She must really like this guy,' he thinks bitterly, taking in the scent of beach wood, amber, and passion flowers. She smells like the hot summer days you'd wish for on a day as cold as this one.
The bell rings, dismissing the class from school much too early perhaps for Kaito's tastes. He remains sitting in his desk as the rest of the class erupt in conversations and make their way to the door, ignoring the teacher assigning homework. Finally, he hears Aoko stand up, and say to him, "Kaito, come on." He sighs deeply, "Your date, right." He hates how his voice sounds, a little too loud and forced. He grabs the strap of his bag and roughly lifts it to his shoulders. "Alright, let's go," he says, preparing himself to let Aoko go. He stares at the ground as they walk out of the school. They don't speak a word, their usual bickering and too loud laughing dissolved into thickly stewed tension.
As they walk on the softly fallen snow on the school courtyard, Kaito sees Aoko waving back at a pair of waving hands, Keiko and Hakuba's. God damn. "You're going on a date with Hakuba, that bastard?" Kaito nearly yells. Aoko jabs him in the side with her elbow, "don't call him that Kaito," she sighs, ignoring the question. Kaito has lost count of the disappointments that he's come across in the last eight hours. He doubts the sun is going to rise tomorrow.
The pair makes their way closer to Hakuba and Keiko's direction. "Aoko-chan, Kuroba," Hakuba greets. Kaito says nothing in return while Aoko gives a cheery response in that voice that Kaito swears he'll never get enough of. Kaito focuses on the gray sky, intensely watching the snowflakes flutter down, and trying not to cry because god damn it, he never would have thought that it could have been anyone else but Aoko, and he never realized that Aoko wouldn't have thought of him as the same constellations and shooting stars that he thought of her as.
"Hey, we should leave the two alone, they're supposed to be on a date, you know," Keiko scolds, and Kaito wants to snap at her. There are too many things he wants to say and somehow he settles for saying nothing at all. And Hakuba answers for him.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, I would've never guessed, I didn't mean to intrude," the detective answers flustered and apologetic, and Kaito can't breathe. "No, no, it's fine," Aoko laughs. The two say their goodbyes to Aoko and Kaito, with Aoko the one responding. They head home, leaving Aoko and Kaito alone.
"Listen," Aoko says, and maybe it's because of the cold but her cheeks are red. "I don't want to spend the rest of today standing outside of the school, cause guess what? I've got a date today with a really cute boy, and his name's Kaito."
"Oh," he says, and his world falls back together a little bit, as he makes sense of the situation. "Oh," is all he can say and it seems to echo amongst the silence the two shares in the snowy school courtyard.
"Let's go Kaito, I'm actually really cold," she says and takes her hand into his and god, it feels so natural for their hands to be intertwined like this. And it's like a dream, what's happening. A perfect dream that Kaito doesn't want to wake up from. Her hand's so warm in his and he's still speechless, thinking of the girl that guides him into the town that they grew up in. Everything's perfect. Like a brilliantly shining star that finishes a constellation deep within the heart of the universe and perfume that smells like the warm sun in the peak of winter. It just feels natural for the two to be holding hands, their fingers warm and safe in each other's grip.
"Aoko," he says finally, his voice cracking just a little bit. "Yeah," she answers quietly. But he just keeps saying her name and kissing her hand. "Aoko, Aoko, Aoko." Where her name became a declaration of love in a language only she understood. She loved him so, too. And finally, when Aoko brings Kaito into the park where they first met, she lifts their hands- still weaved together, and kisses his, right as he kisses hers. There's a tremble on her lips that tells a story Kaito can easily read and relate to about being nervous and loving too deep and gathering all of the courage of one lifetime and Jesus, Kaito loves her so much.
He pulls her into a hug, embracing her as everything she is. She shivers into his warmth, a smile resting on her lips. He can't help but laugh, holding her closer. "Hey Aoko," he whispers, and when she looks up, he takes the opportunity to kiss the corners of her mouth. The clock tower rings as they pull apart.
"I love you."
That night, Kuroba Kaito dreams of parallel lines that touch.