Miyuki's Zetsuai Page Zetsuai 1989/Bronze
Strange Days, Part 9
By miyuki-chan

Takasaka suspected that Katsumi's sudden decision to ask him round for dinner was due to boredom. He knew that Katsumi was no cook (he was better than Koji, but who wasn't?) so the only reason for the invitation had to be that he wanted something. Takasaka had a fairly good idea what it was and the thought embarrassed him. He knew that Katsumi… well, he knew the boy loved him, but…

He didn't quite know why it was the invitation worried him so much. It was certainly a very nice idea, yet Katsumi's motives troubled him. What if he decided that what was going on now wasn't what he wanted after all? That would have been worse, a lot worse, than if they had never even started on this so-called relationship.

It was the 'so-called' which had led him to accept the offer. Katsumi wasn't happy with 'so-called', and when it came down to it nor was he. Maybe it was wrong to play things so safe. Katsumi was how old now? He wasn't a child anymore, that was for sure, so why was it hard to see him as anything but? But nonetheless, Katsumi was well able to know his own mind. Well able to make decisions regarding his love life. If he said he wanted something, Takasaka had to assume that he knew in a reasoned, adult way exactly what that implied, but that didn't mean he was necessarily the best person to talk to about relationships. For all that he acted as a counsellor to Koji and Izumi when they had their numerous crises, he'd never actually had a proper relationship himself. And he was nineteen next month. Besides, Takasaka's own track record in terms of relationships was hardly fantastic. It seemed highly unlikely to him that two people who were so unlucky in love should be able to make a relationship work.

Katsumi was, after all, old enough to know better than this, but probably young enough not to care all that much.

"So. What about it?"

Katsumi interrupted his thoughts. He'd walked into the office without bothering to knock, as usual, and had chosen to announce his presence in the room by leaning on the back of Takasaka's chair and looking over his shoulder. Mildly off-putting to say the least. Takasaka looked round, startled, and knocked a few papers to the floor. For someone who normally went out of his way to make an entrance, Katsumi could be very quiet when the mood took him.

"I wish you'd knock," he said, mildly irritated but not minding the interruption all that much.

"Ah, come on. Surprises are good for the soul." Katsumi replied cheerfully, stooping to pick up the fallen papers, taking the opportunity to look at them as he did so. "What are you doing? It looks pretty boring."
Takasaka looked down at the papers that remained on the desk. "Nothing too important." And, he added to himself, it's even duller than it looks.

Koji's flu, for all that it meant that the potential for fresh scandals to deal with for the time was highly limited, naturally meant a lot of rescheduling, most of which had fallen to Takasaka. Katsumi, by contrast, had very little to do when there was no Koji to chase after. He had spent most of his morning reading through Koji's fan mail for entertainment purposes, placing personal phone calls to people he'd been at middle school with and talking to Takafumi about nothing in particular in between his various attempts to convince Takasaka to let him help with the paperwork (a sweet thing for him to want to do, even if Takasaka wasn't sure he trusted Katsumi considering the speed with which he could lose things).

"Then it can wait for half an hour or so, if it's not so important." Katsumi said, and he tugged determinedly at one of Takasaka's hands. "Come on. Get up."

"What are you doing?"
"Forcing you to relax. Come on. You need to get out more. I swear you'll put down roots if you stay in that chair much longer."
"It's raining."
"And? It's only a shower and I like walking in the rain. You have an umbrella, don't you, and I don't mind getting a bit wet. It won't hurt you to spend a few minutes out. Everyone else takes lunch breaks, I'm going to show you what you're missing."

One of the big problems with Katsumi is that he doesn't take 'no' for an answer, Takasaka reflected, as the blonde half-dragged him out of his office.

***

Drinking at lunchtime was not something Takasaka normally did. He didn't have a very high tolerance to alcohol, and he hoped that he'd be able to get through the afternoon without falling asleep. Katsumi didn't seem to care about such things. Firstly, he didn't get drunk quite so easily and secondly there was nothing special he needed to do after lunch so who cared if he was a bit drunk? Of course, his uncle probably didn't see things in quite the same way.

"So, you got any special dietary needs or anything?" Katsumi asked after a small pause. Despite the silence, neither had felt uncomfortable. Katsumi enjoyed it. It was unusual that he actually felt comfortable remaining silent in anyone else's presence. "You don't mind if I keep things simple? I don't trust myself making anything big."

Takasaka looked up, mildly startled. He'd been thinking. "What? Oh, no. Not really."
"That's okay then." Katsumi replied, then fell silent again. Great, now he couldn't think of anything to talk about. Not like me, he thought.

He needn't have worried. Takasaka had a question of his own to ask.

"Katsumi, a few days ago I asked if you were happy, and…" He tailed off. He didn't feel comfortable being so direct.
"…and I didn't tell you." Katsumi finished his sentence for him, his eyes averted. He'd known he'd have to answer the question at some point. "And you wondered why I didn't. It's because I don't know, Taka-chan."
"You don't know what?"
"If I'm happy." Katsumi still wasn't looking up. "It's hard to tell. At times I think I'm happy, but other times… normally when I'm by myself… I feel terrible."
Takasaka frowned. "Then why pretend you are?"
"I guess it makes it easier to cope." He sighed. "Or maybe because I'm scared of what would happen if I stopped. I know it sounds stupid. To tell the truth, I can't even remember when I started it. Sometimes I kinda wish I hadn't bothered, it's tiring." He paused for a few seconds before speaking again. "But it's not always pretend, you know. Maybe it's just criminally easy to make me happy. I dunno, it confuses the hell out of me, too."

After another silence - rather strained this time - Katsumi startled Takasaka by turning his own question round. "What about you? Are you happy?" He wondered perhaps if that was pushing it a bit. Taka wasn't comfortable talking about himself.

"…why do you ask?" Takasaka said, once he'd got over his surprise.
"Because. I barely know anything about you apart from your name, age and blood type. Tell me something I don't know."

Takasaka hesitated before beginning. "There's not much to tell. It's all pretty normal. Pretty dull." He smiled, mildly embarrassed in the face of Katsumi's sudden curiosity.

"You should do that more often."
"What?"
"Smile." Katsumi appeared to be on the verge of laughing. It really doesn't take much to make him smile, Takasaka thought. If the boy wasn't happy, he was at least content, and Takasaka liked that.
"Do you want me to carry on?" he asked.
"Go on."
"If you're sure you want to hear. My life's been quite boring. Well, it was quite boring."
Katsumi did laugh then. "You're cute, Taka-chan. And I can wait all day to hear this if I have to. I'm more patient than I look."
Takasaka couldn't help but wonder about that. Katsumi had many good points, but patience had never struck him as one of them. On an impulse he said as much out loud, causing his companion to fall silent for a moment before blushing and suppressing another giggle. "Stung. Oh, and when you say your life 'was quite boring', do you mean that you'd rather it was dull? And are you referring to me or to Koji here? I don't know if I should be insulted or not."
"It was quite dull until I left school." He hesitated, not feeling entirely comfortable talking of his childhood to Katsumi. It had been totally ordinary - if you denied the existence of his father's mistress, which Takasaka couldn't. He'd first found out about her when he was ten, although his mother had tried very hard to keep it from him, to keep up appearances at all times. "Well, it was until I met Koji."
Katsumi nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Koji tends to make things very complex very quickly. I'm glad he's got the flu right now. It keeps him out of trouble, although I feel sorry for Izumi. " Looking up, Katsumi caught Takasaka looking at his watch. "Oi. Do I have to keep reminding you that we're here to relax? Stop looking at your damn watch."

***

"Koji still not in?" Katsumi asked Takasaka a few days later, regardless of the fact that the man was busy (Time, tide and Katsumi Shibuya wait for no man).

Takasaka turned round and raised his eyebrows at what the boy was wearing, before replying that no, he wasn't.
"Right." Katsumi said. "I think he's had quite enough time off sick, don't you?"
"But you had this flu as well." Takasaka said. "Don't you think…"
Katsumi, who had already walked to another desk and picked up the telephone, yelled, "Yeah, and I didn't take almost two weeks off work! He's bunking off, Taka. Anyway, I saw him watching Izumi play football yesterday. He's no sicker than I am!"

Muttering darkly to himself about the opportunistic bastard he'd got as a best friend, Katsumi sat on the edge of the desk he was at and waited for Koji to answer the phone. After waiting for the best part of three minutes (Katsumi had learnt by long experience that the only way to make sure Koji actually got up to answer the phone was to be incredibly patient), he yelled "Why aren't you at work?" into the phone, then bit his thumb in an attempt to stop himself from laughing. A few feet away, Takafumi and Keisuke broke off their own conversation in order to better listen in to Katsumi's.

Katsumi listened with very little patience to Koji's claims about still being sick, then asked "If you're so sick, how the hell did you manage to drag yourself off your deathbed to go and watch one of Izumi's football practices yesterday afternoon? If you're well enough to watch Izumi play, you're well enough to come to work. Don't tell me you had a relapse."

Koji muttered some unconvincing explanation about "having a headache".
"Yeah, it's called a 'hangover', Koji. Are you going to get your lazy butt out of bed by yourself or do I have to come over and do it for you?"
"Go to hell, Shibuya." Koji said crossly.
"You're definitely feeling better if you can be bothered to insult me. One last thing, Koji. If you're not at work by eleven I'm coming round to get you, even if I do have to drag you out of bed and take you to work in your pyjamas. Yes, that is a threat. Bye." He put the phone down before Koji could reply, and jumped off the edge of the desk. He couldn't help but notice the funny look Keisuke was giving him.
"I didn't know Koji wore pyjamas." Keisuke said.
"He doesn't, or at least he didn't last time I looked." Katsumi replied, then turned his attention to Takafumi. "When Koji finally deigns to honour us with his presence, do you want to lay into him first or shall I?"

At quarter past eleven, Koji finally showed up. In spite of the furious expression, he looked quite healthy and Katsumi laughed on seeing him.

"Told you didn't I, Taka-chan? There's nothing wrong with him, apart from his temper!"
Takasaka had to agree. He wondered if he was glad at Koji being back at work or if it was more a curse than a blessing. No doubt there would be another scandal to sort out in a week or two. He'd actually rather enjoyed the unusual ease of his job over the last few weeks.

Koji's mind was on other things by this point, however. "God, Shibuya. What the hell happened to you? Did your dress sense finally die or something? What the hell do you think you're wearing?"

Katsumi pretended anger. "You're just jealous. I like my clothing. Yoshiya wanted to know where I bought the shirt, so there."

Koji looked at Katsumi again in incredulity. He wore the blue 'Hello Kitty' t-shirt he had brought last week, a necklace of coloured wooden beads that had once belonged to Madoka, a pair of tan shorts (it was early October, but Katsumi didn't bother all that much about weather conditions and just wore what he wanted to) and a pair of loosely-laced boots. The sole concession to the slightly less than clement weather was his jacket, even though he did have the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

"I shouldn't be surprised, should I?" Koji said to no-one in particular. He really did not understand that Hello Kitty top.

Katsumi again attempted to look cross (when he wasn't angry, he really could not pretend anger with any conviction). "Hey, at least I don't spend the best part of a month's salary on buying a jacket for eight hundred thousand yen."

"It's not most of my month's salary." Koji pointed out.

"Yeah, well we all know how much you get paid. It's a wonder that uncle hasn't gone bankrupt having to pay your salary every month." Katsumi illustrated this last comment by pointing at Koji, forcing Koji to realise that Katsumi had painted his nails petroleum blue.

***

Since Katsumi's illness, Takasaka had got into the habit of leaving work a little earlier and taking some papers with him, unless of course he was dealing with something that absolutely had to be finished before he went home, or he needed to have access to the firm's computers or something. It was far nicer to work at home than to stay in the office, especially considering what an awful night it was turning out to be: outside it was raining heavily. For early October the weather was quite appalling.

It was about ten o'clock when he heard someone knock on his door. This was unusual-he wasn't the kind of person who had visitors and didn't think anyone from work knew his address. After a few moments in which he'd hoped whoever it was would go away, he sighed, got up and opened the door.

"Katsumi? What are you doing here?" Takasaka couldn't help but feel surprised, though logically he should have expected it-who else would remember where he lived?

"My car's broken down." Katsumi said apologetically. "Well, it won't start, so I left it at work." Thinking back, he suspected this might have been because he had run out of petrol. It had happened more than once before. "And the office was locked and I didn't have any money to get home on the trains. Well, I left my bank card at home and spent most of the change at lunch… sorry, Taka-chan."
Takasaka knew that he didn't live all that close to the office, but he also knew that Katsumi lived further out than he did. "Did you walk here?" he asked.
"Well…" Katsumi began. He looked like he'd fallen in a canal, so the answer was obvious. "Most of the way."
Takasaka looked up and down the hallway to check that the married neighbour he detested was nowhere in sight, then turned back to Katsumi. "You'd better come in. You're cold."

In the living-room, Takasaka tried to work out what to do with Katsumi's jacket whilst Katsumi himself rubbed one arm in an attempt to get some warmth back into it, looking rather distracted. As he usually did when Katsumi had his mind on other things, Takasaka took the opportunity it afforded him to look more closely at the boy. He was very wet; his hair was stuck to his cheeks and his clothing was clinging to his body in a way that made Takasaka feel decidedly uncomfortable. It was painfully obvious that Katsumi needed to take a bath and get changed but how on Earth was Takasaka meant to mention this to him without getting embarrassed?

He didn't have to bother. Katsumi, looking just as embarrassed as Takasaka felt (he was blushing, Takasaka noticed with mild surprise) asked him if he could borrow some clothing. After that, it was fairly easy to ask him if he wanted to take a bath. After all, it wasn't like Katsumi hadn't done it before…

And somehow, after that, it became quite easy to ask him if he wanted to stay overnight. It was too late for him to go home, his clothing was wet-Katsumi was, at present, sat on the sofa wearing a yukata, examining his varnished nails and complaining half-heartedly ('I look like a girl in this stupid thing')-somehow, instead of seeming inappropriate and embarrassing, it just seemed like the next thing to do and only logical.

Takasaka hoped Katsumi could see the logic in it, but again he needn't have worried.

Onto part 10

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