When they'd bought their house, paid for with the money they'd saved up for a while and the promise that they'd maintain steady jobs to pay monthly for close to the rest of their lives, the first thing Kaito did after signing his life away to the debt was go out into the shabby backyard, stepping just outside the door onto a cement patio, and point towards a barren area of the yard. "That's where I'm gonna grow it," he said, shaking his finger in the direction of the dirt. "The garden of my dreams. You'll see it happen, Maki Roll, I promise ya it's gonna."
She was amused at his determination, but there were so many other things going on in her mind at the moment—like how they'd managed to progress from a courthouse wedding to buying a house—that she didn't know how much she wanted to believe him. "Sure thing, but can we focus more on the inside of this place first?"
"Well, of course, but once we've got everything settled that's where the garden's going." He was fired up and there was nothing that was going to distract him from the thought of growing the garden. Together they made quick work of cleaning their new home, redoing the rooms they felt needed to be painted and have new flooring put in, and then furnishing the house to their liking. The colors on the walls went from being plain and boring to vibrant, covered in purples and reds and stars that hadn't existed before, and their furniture matched the overall vibe they were going for with the place, and it was so much better than anywhere either of them had lived before.
Once things were set up and organized in a way to their liking, Kaito began planning out the garden he hadn't really shut up about in all of their decorating. He went and bought a bunch of stones and a strong shovel, and he spent days on end out in the backyard, moving dirt and laying stones to frame the garden space, Maki watching him with amusement from inside the house. She would have been more willing to help him, had she known why he was so insistent on getting things done so quickly. When he had the plot set up she approached him with a new gripe about the home, trying to move him away from the unnecessary garden work to do something else that she felt was more needed. "Why don't we get rid of the concrete and make something nicer out there, since I'm sure you're planning on spending more time outside than inside."
"I'll get there eventually," he told her, pressing his lips against her forehead and trying not to let his sweat touch her face. "It's on the list of things to do, but the garden's gotta come first."
Rolling her eyes, Maki pulled back from him and looked at how red-faced he was, tired from the exertion he was putting himself through to make his garden happen. "I'll believe it when I see it," she replied, smiling at him warmly as he came fully inside, his legs covered in dirt and his upper body drenched in sweat. "For now, though, you've got to take a shower, you look and smell disgusting."
"All in a day's work, Maki Roll!" The days of being able to frantically work on his envisioned garden were few, and once they were used and he'd just barely gotten the mulch down for his plants to grow, he was back at his day job, leaving the gardening for the weekends and for after he'd get home from the office. He spent a lot of time out in the garden, planting seeds in perfect rows and waiting for them to sprout, and Maki almost felt like he loved what he'd created more than he loved her.
There had to be some reason why he was so fixated on getting the plants in order, and as much as she wanted to find out what it was she was sure that asking him about it would end in an explanation akin to whenever she asked him about outer space. Kaito seemed to be happier than he'd ever been as long as she'd known him, but she didn't know why and she wasn't sure she'd ever know.
The first time he had a plant bust through the soil he came running into the house, nearly scaring Maki into an attack position at his sudden outburst. "They're starting to grow!" he sobbed, tears actively streaming down his cheeks at how overwhelmed with emotion the plants had made him. "I actually did it, I managed to grow my own garden!"
"One plant sprouting isn't exactly worthy of claiming you grew your own garden," she pointed out, letting herself sigh when she realized he wasn't meaning any harm with his emotions. "Once you have things actually blooming, then I'll consider it a success. In the meantime…" Her eyes looked towards the back door, where the dingy patio was barely visible. "When are you going to get around to fixing that?"
"I guess now that my babies don't need me," he sniffled, "I can start figuring the deck out. Maybe by the time it's done, I'll have flowers to look out over!" The money for the replacement patio was harder to come by, because he hadn't been setting anything aside for anything other than the garden work, so they were forced to make some adjustments to their lifestyles in order to fund the project. Just when Maki thought it was getting to be rather expensive, the reason for that being so became clear—Kaito might have been fine with digging the garden himself, but the deck he wanted to bring in professionals for. That did mean that work was able to be done while they were both off at their jobs or running errands, so it didn't take as long to come to completion, but the end result felt like the last piece that their home really needed to be theirs.
Kaito spent many hours out on the deck, spraying his growing garden with the hose whenever he thought the plants needed watering. Maki would come out with him on occasion, wrapping herself around him and taking in his warm scent as he worked, slowly finding pride in his passion. Now that he wasn't having to do as much hard work they were able to spend more time together, and once they had furniture out on their deck they were able to lounge there together, taking in the sight of the life in the garden before retiring inside for the night.
In just a few months the backyard had transformed from being barren to being somewhat lively, the rest of the yard still dead and brown aside from the garden itself, with its stone walls and growing plants. "I'll think about doing more of the yard in the future," Kaito said one day, walking around in the dirt and watching it kick up with every step. "Maybe some more garden next year? What do ya think about that, Maki Roll? Next year I could do a vegetable garden, to go with our flowers, and then we'd be growin' our own food!"
"I don't think we'd be able to grow everything we need, but some home-grown vegetables wouldn't be looked down upon." She pressed a finger to her lips as she watched him walk around, finding a spot on the other side of the yard and marking it out with his feet to give a rough estimate of where he wanted the garden. "Depending on how fast you make it happen, we might be able to make some real use of it."
"I know I said next year, but I guess I could at least start getting it built now, then I can put grass and trees and all that in the rest of the yard, so it'll all be ready to go when we need it." Looking at her, he saw how pensive she seemed but chose not to question it, taking her silence as an acceptance of what he'd just suggested. "Yeah, I think that's what I'll do! I've got extra stones, I can at least get a little work done before I do anything else out here."
"Whatever makes you happy," she finally said after watching him come back to the deck, kicking the dirt off of his shoes before coming up to keep things from getting too dirty around them. "Honestly I'm surprised you're this committed to this, I never would've thought that you'd still be doing this for this long."
He shrugged, heading for the door and opening it for himself and Maki to both enter. "I mean, I've always wanted a garden of my own, but we got this house with this killer yard space that was just…nothing. I want to have somethin' nice to spend time with you in, and for us to spend time with our future kids someday…if we ever decide to do that…"
Flustered that he'd suggest such a thing, Maki considered dragging her feet and not going inside with him on that note, but she ultimately allowed herself to enter in front of him, choosing to not even address what he'd said. He apologized later that night, for being so forward about things and not really thinking through what he was saying before saying it, and she tried to believe him, but she knew deep down that he was merely saying things to cover his bases. "I have no problem with you wanting to have children, Kaito," she said after hearing his apologies, "but I do have a problem with you trying to justify working on your gardens with that. Can't you just want to grow nice things?"
"I could, and I do, I really do! I just also wanna have it growing for other reasons that I probably should've just kept to myself." He sounded hurt, his ego wounded at the fact that she wasn't fully down for his plans, and she didn't want to exert the energy to keep arguing with him that everything about his formerly-passion project was silly. They went to bed that night displeased with each other and how they handled things, and for the next several days they made sure to keep their distance from the other, just to make sure they didn't step on any more toes.
Their little argument healed itself after Kaito came inside one day after work with a single, tiny lily bloom in his hand, which he offered to Maki by way of tucking it amongst her bangs behind her ear. "First flower in the garden, and it's for you," he told her, stepping away just in case she wanted to lash out. "Thought it was kinda pretty, it kinda looks like a star, but I thought you'd appreciate having it."
"You gave up the first flower…for me?" she asked, almost in disbelief as he firmly nodded. "Well, color me impressed. I would've guessed you'd keep every flower in that garden alive for as long as you could, not cutting them up just because you wanted to give them to me."
"I-it's not gonna be a regular thing!"
She cracked a smile at how embarrassed he was that she would even suggest something so radical. "Calm down, I figured it wasn't going to be. Thanks, though, I appreciate it. There are more coming soon, right?"
"Should be, most of 'em look like they'll be blooming any day now. There's a couple plants that'll wait until fall to blossom, but that's fine, we'll have nice flowers up until the first frost." He seemed so proud of himself and what he'd accomplished, his cheeks rosy from his shame and from his pride, and she felt herself slipping into a state of being unable to resist his handsome and rugged appearance, his tanned skin with the occasional, usually-hidden patch of freckles for her to admire. This was the man she'd decided she was going to marry and love forever, and she'd never really loved him as much before she loved him in that moment, after he'd given up something he'd worked so hard for to make her happy.
Perhaps his idea of them having children around to enjoy the gardens with them wasn't as bad as she'd initially thought it was after all. And so, when the fall flowers were busting open and he was excitedly tending to them, making sure they were going to last the season, she came to him and said, in the plainest way that she could, that she'd be open to them being able to watch something else grow before they had more flowers to take care of. He gave her an awkward chuckle and asked if she was being serious, and the way she stared at him, hands on her hips, and asked him if he wanted to die made it plenty clear she was serious.
That winter, as he prepared for the next year's growing season of both flowers and vegetables alike, and mentally got himself ready for starting a couple tree sprouts and a full yard of grass, he also had to get into the mindset that by the time the summer blooms were in full force, they'd have something else to be focusing their attention on. Even though she didn't like that he still gave the gardens more attention that her most of the time, Maki found herself paying closer attention to what he was planning on growing, considering all possibilities for what the first flower the child she was growing got to pose with would be.
A/N: I love the image of Kaito as a dedicated gardener, please forgive me