A Little bit of Courage

June 1st

A breezy spring made place for an early hot summer.

A summer in which a certain phantom thief had a rather full mind.

The words Fuji's father had spoken to him hadn't left his thoughts. Frankly, he was starting to doubt his own motivations.

And by that, the phantom thief didn't appear in the last few weeks.

But still, he and Tezuka met up regularly at work. There was research to do, after all.

And every day, Fuji did notice: He had his mind only on Tezuka.

And as much as that...Tezuka only had eyes for Tsubame..

.

"This case here still leaves a lot of questions, doesn't it? It's been keeping me wondered for a while now, already."

"Hah..."

"...Fuji?" Tezuka pulled his vision away from the notes he had spread around on the table.

Fuji was spacing off, staring out of the window. He had been clearly listening to Tezuka, even if it didn't seem like that... but really, he didn't want to listen...

"Fuji..." The elder laid a hand on his friends back.

"uh? ...I'm listening, I'm listening." Fuji showed him a watery smile.

That's right, if he could just be cheerful for Tezuka's sake, then that was all that mattered.

Fuji disliked to be selfish. And disliked to have Tezuka troubled too.

So he just smiled at him. Reassuring. Lightly.

Because.. That's how it should be like when you...

..To someone...

.

"Neh, Tezuka... I was wondering..." Fuji grabbed his courage. "Would you... like to go to the botanic garden again?... with me."

Tezuka looked at him, wondering how previous topic had led to this. Then nodded. "Sure... sure, I'd like that."

"Right." Fuji smiled. "A date."

"A date..."

"..."

A rather uncomfortable silence fell.

"Err... I'll get you some coffee, neh?" again, that enigmatic smile and Fuji tried to leave.

"Fuji." Tezuka spoke, grabbing his hand before he could leave.

"...are you alright? .. There seems to be something on your mind.."

Fuji paused for a moment. He couldn't deny that it felt good. To have Tezuka's eyes on him for a moment, a bit worried over him... his slightly smaller hand fitted perfectly in his.

He then chuckled. "It's rare for you to worry like that. I'm just fine."

'...I've made up my mind, after all...'

.

June 5th

It was already quite late when they both walked through the practically deserted garden.

The dusking night sky was cooling after another hot day and so they took their time to enjoy their stay.

Not a word was spoken, though. But it didn't fell like a pressing, uncomfortable kind of silence. It was simply enjoying each other's company in peace.

They discovered a small chapel, deeper in the garden. Fuji chuckled endearing.

"Nah, Tezuka.."

"Hn?"

"...you ever want to get married?" it didn't sound as light of a topic as Fuji had hoped it to sound, but Tezuka didn't seem to realize.

"Marry?..." He glanced over to the small stone building. "If I have time to..."

Fuji felt a bit guilty but relieved that Tezuka hadn't answered 'if I can find someone'.

Not that it meant anything, he knew. It didn't make his stupid question any less embarrassing, though…

"You?"

"Me?"

"Ah.."

Fuji smiled, a bit caught off guard, then gazed at the chapel.

"Hm... if it's at a place like this..."

.

"Wait here for a second, okay? I'll… get us something to drink…" Fuji paced backwards, then left off.

Tezuka decided to sit down on a bench and wait for him.

In the distance, he saw mr. Otori tend to the plants. When he noticed the young reporter, he waved cheerfully.

Next to him was a small statue of a butterfly.

"How beautiful." Tezuka commented.

"Thank you. It's a little bit the pride of the garden. To be honest, it's a bit of a pity that it won't be here soon anymore."

"Eh? How do you mean?"

"Ah, sorry…" Otori laughed a bit clumsy. "Tsubame send a notice that he'll be stealing it tonight."

"Tsubame will be here tonight?" Tezuka got up.

"Yes. I plan on informing the press tomorrow. I haven't told the police, though."

"…aren't you upset about it? The statue seems to be important to you after all…"

Otori thought it over for a little.

"At first, I was a little sad. And stealing is of course a bad thing to do… but ever since Tsubame took the scene, the people of London are more cheerful. Even though we're at war, people even have enough hope and courage to enjoy beautiful things like this garden.

I was thinking that if there were anything I could do for him in return, no matter how small, I wouldn't mind if it was something like this."

Tezuka smiled, hearing that someone agreed to his opinion.

Thinking of it… it was when he told Fuji this opinion that his behavior seemed to have changed.

Why? …

"I'm sorry, I have to go and lock the doors down.

Stay as long as you want, though.

You can just open the main gate from the inside."

With that, Otori left.

Tsubame would strike here tonight, .. huh..

Tezuka gazed at the statue.

He hadn't let Tezuka know, for the first time.

But…

Was it coincidence that Fuji invited him here?

.

"Hey…" a voice sounded behind him.

It wasn't his usual confident 'good evening, reporter-san', but Tezuka recognized it was Tsubame.

"Don't turn around…" He whispered before Tezuka could.

The thief smiled. "I'm happy to see you again."

"Ah… It's been a while."

"…..I missed you.."

Surprised, Tezuka turned to him.

Tsubame chuckled. "Even though I just told you not to. You're a curious one, huh?"

Tezuka's cheeks tinted a bit. "Sorry, I just… without thinking…"

"It's alright, really.." The thief smiled endearing to him, but there seemed something sad about him.

After gazing at him for a while, Tezuka's eyes drifted down to his shoes.

"I… must apologize… because of me, you lost the pearl…"

Tsubame gave him a somewhat mischievous, sly look and revealed something from underneath his cape.

It seemed the police hadn't been able to protect the pearl for long, as it laid shimmering in Tsubame's glove.

"How did you-?"

Again a chuckle. "That's professional secrecy."

Mah, Tezuka could have it to not to know everything.

"So tonight you're here to steal this?" he pointed to the butterfly statue.

Tsubame paused for a moment, then showed a rather anxious smile.

"Well.. that too, but.. I actually came to steal something else tonight."

Tezuka frowned, not knowing what he meant.

"Reporter-sa-.. no… Tezuka-san… was it?"

They stared at each other for a while.

Tsubame's eyes shimmered faintly in the moonlight, behind his mask.

"-Could you… please close your eyes for me?"

Tezuka thought back to what had happened at Tachibana's mansion.

Tsubame might be planning on doing something he doesn't want Tezuka to see again.

But…should he trust him?

…..

Tezuka closed his eyes. And simultaneously, he felt Tsubame's ungloved warm hands on his cheeks.

"….I'm sorry.." the thief whispered unhearably.

And what Tsubame stole that night… was true love's first kiss.