summary: Hikari's boyfriend comes over for the first time to take care of her when she's sick, but isn't quite prepared for what, or who he finds there.
He felt he was the luckiest boy in the world, having the honor of being Hikari Yagami's boyfriend. They had just started seeing each other, but everyday after class, but before club practice, it was him who all the boys would look at in envy, when he would pass by her room to wish her a safe trip home. And when they were both off early, it was he who had the privilege of walking her all the way to her apartment.
The condominium front concluded all of these with little forehead kisses farewell. There he might linger, just a moment, and count the floors she must climb to get to their unit.
He had never actually been up to the apartment though — until today.
When he arrived at her homeroom that afternoon he discovered she hadn't come that day, that she was out sick. Strange. She hadn't messaged him, but he wasn't surprised.
She had spent that past Sunday watching his game, staying the entire day out in the cold winter chill. When they won, he insisted on walking her home by himself so he could recount to her every detail, every significant play. He was so caught up in delivering that hair-raising final half that it was only when he reached for her hand near her home that he realized how cold it was.
He felt a pang of guilt thinking about it now. He had to make it up to her.
He could bring her some vitamins and snacks to make her feel better. Did she like orange juice, or was it strawberry? He wasn't sure but no matter — he could get both.
He'd have to skip training today, but maybe Taichi wouldn't even mind. It was for his own sister, after all.
After about an hour of scouring their message history for any mention of a unit number, he finally found the right residence: 1306 Yagami.
In his hand was a bag with all the essentials: a few fizzy vitamin C drinks, a dozen lozenges, and some packs of fruit (he wasn't sure which she might like, so he got some of everything by the supermarket counter.)
He was happy to discover that he recalled correctly how a spare key sat in whatever seasonal ornament their mother hung around their home's nameplate. He found the spare stuffed in the soil of the tiny hanging pot with striped carnations — exactly where he hoped it might be.
When he turned the key into the knob though, he was surprised to find it was already open.
Weird. He knew she must have been home alone today. Her mother was visiting an aunt out of town for the week; her father would be at work until later tonight. Taichi, as their team captain, couldn't cut training.
It wasn't like her, but maybe even Hikari could forget the locks when she wasn't at her best. He had to remind her to be a bit more careful next time.
He stepped into the apartment and found it alight, but his girlfriend was nowhere in sight. A kettle sat almost simmering on the stove top, while some fruits and vitamins were scattered on the dinner table. The whole apartment shared Hikari's familiar, comforting aroma. If he could, he might have simply allowed himself to remain captive in the sweet scent for just a moment more.
But he was here on a mission. Recalling his rations at hand, he set for what might be Hikari's room.
It wasn't hard to find. In fact, it had her name on it, hanging upon its door in bright, broad katakana characters. It was dim inside, but the door was slightly ajar. Through the crack in the door, his hand reached in to silently locate the light switch. Once he found it, he pushed the door wide open while flicking the switch.
He wasn't surprised to find his girlfriend fast asleep in her bed — but he was surprised to find the blonde boy standing next to it, lifting a hand to shield against the sudden burst of light, and looking like a deer caught in headlights.
Once the blonde boy's eyes had adjusted to the light, he stopped squinting, and blinked to perceive the new arrival.
"Sorry," he says at the blonde boy, though more of a question than any apology.
"Oh, no I'm sorry. I was just replacing this," he replies, raising in his other hand what looks like a damp cloth. He takes the towel already on the girl's forehead, and replaces it with his fresh one, brushing her bangs away only ever so gently. He looks at the newcomer and whispers "She just fell asleep so I didn't want to wake her with the lights."
He isn't sure if this foreigner was speaking a foreign language.
"My bad. Takaishi, Takeru. Hikari and I are in the same class," he says. "I was bringing her our homework, so Taichi asked if I could check up on her."
Takaishi. Familiar but rings no particular bells.
"How do you know Taichi-sempai?" he asks the strange boy suspiciously.
"We all grew up together," says the boy with a slight smile "You must be Keiji. Hikari has mentioned you. The soccer club, right?"
"She hasn't mentioned you much," Keiji replies a bit rougher than he expected.
"Maybe I'm not too noteworthy," Takeru says with a light laugh.
Just then, the kettle in the kitchen whistles in a boil. Takeru lithely sidesteps Keiji as he rushes to silence it, to avoid waking the sleeping girl. After regaining his composure, Keiji flicks the light back off, and follows him to the kitchen, where the younger boy is already brewing a cup of tea.
"Would you like some, Keiji-san? It's sencha mint —"
Keiji almost gags.
"—Hikari's favorite," Takeru continues with an awkward laugh.
Keiji chokes at the very thought of the combination, before remembering his agenda. He drops his bag of supplies on the table before saying, "Well, thank you, Takaishi-san, for watching over Hikari. Maybe you should get going before it gets dark. Wouldn't want you getting lost, boy."
"It's alright, I know the way well," he said, carefully mixing a measured amount of sugar into the tea. "I promised Taichi-san I'd stay until he got home from training."
A wave of shame washes over Keiji. Was it from cutting club training? Or for Taichi-sempai entrusting his girlfriend to this kid and not him? He wasn't sure, though Taichi-sempai had always looked at him with some sense of discontent. That started even before he began dating his sister though, and only seemed to grow since then.
Keiji was so caught up in these thoughts that he didn't even realize that Takeru had finished preparing the tea and was now waiting in front of him.
"Ah, Keiji-san, would you like to be the one to bring it to her?" he asks, holding the cup out for him to take.
"Yes, thank you very much," he says, clenching the cup with such force that some of its contents spill into its saucer. He tries to cover up his grumbling as he starts back towards Hikari's room.
He takes one from blondie's book this time, and keeps the lights off, the door slightly ajar, for some illumination. He stumbles in the ill-lit room before arriving at what must be her bed. As he places the saucer by her bedside, she shuffles, coughs, then says, "Hey."
"Hey," he replies. "How are you?"
"Sorry, my head kinda hurts," she says with a forearm over her eyes and shallow breath.
"Just get some rest," he replies, words painted with a worried color.
"Thanks for coming," a smile has barely set on his face when she continues, "Takeru-kun."
"Ah, don't worry about it," the blonde replies from behind the older boy, with a shade of surprise even Keiji can't miss. "Just... just get better," he finishes.
Keiji could have noticed the freshly chilled cloth in the blonde boy's hand, but his focus is elsewhere. He wonders how this boy got there so quietly, without staggering as he had across the dark room. Perhaps the layout wasn't as foreign to him. Perhaps this boy did truly know his way.
Suddenly his girlfriend is a stranger, and on her lips hangs the name of this boy he'd never even heard of. Standing between the two, a strange feeling overcomes Keiji, an almost voyeuristic shame, as if involving himself with something he should not.
They are frozen here for a minute, until the sound of shuffling at the front door announces that Taichi has finally arrived, to allow them to escape any of the moment's inevitable implications, at least for now.
A/N: this was supposed to be a short little one-shot. But some people reviewed asking how could Keiji know so little about her, so I feel I did the kid a dirty and might just continue this to make up for that ^_^; we'll see!