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Baji-san was like a sunset to Chifuyu. Fast and impulsive, setting fire onto the horizon, purple and red and blue and all the colors that a bruise can take. His hair was like the night, and Chifuyu sometimes imagined that he was the blue on the other side of the sky, following the sunset until the colorful sky would be replaced by invisible stars, faded by the neon lights outside his bedroom window.
The other day, Baji-san had taken him to an abandoned house. According to google, it was haunted. But according to google it also wasn’t haunted, so Chifuyu just followed Baji.
There weren’t any lights around, and when Chifuyu flicked on his flashlight, he shivered. Flashlights always made things scarier. Baji’s voice was like a wave on sand in the silence, and Chifuyu took a little shuffle closer to Baji.
They opened the front door of the house, and Chifuyu coughed from the dust. Baji-san just laughed and slapped his back, glancing back at him as they entered the genkan. Chifuyu quickly caught up with Baji. The shadows from the flashlight made it look like they were holding hands. Chifuyu blushed.
The floor creaked under their footsteps. Chifuyu had a sudden thought of the floor breaking beneath his weight, and plunging down forever as Baji’s face above him became smaller and smaller. It wasn’t a very nice thought, and Chifuyu tried to avoid making the floor creak. He failed.
Baji-san yelled something from the kitchen, making a banging with pots and pans. Chifuyu quickly looked in, the floor screaming under him. Baji-san was twirling , holding a rusted pot in his hand, and a whisk in the other. He smiled at Chifuyu, hair dancing like a cloud during a windstorm. Chifuyu smiled back.
The floor was crying now, under the stomp of their feet as Baji-san and Chifuyu spun together. But Chifuyu wasn’t scared. If the floor broke under him he’d just float away with Baji-san into the red sky. The plants would soak up their laughter, and eventually the house would dissolve into nothing. The plants would overtake it, and Baji-san and Chifuyu would still be twirling today, feet brushing against bloody clouds.
But right now, dusty brown light was flitting through the kitchen, and Chifuyu was being overpowered with such a sense of longing for something he hadn’t even realized he craved. Baji-san kicked at the door frame on the way up the stairs. Chifuyu jolted. The house still felt haunted.
It was such a big house, too. Much too big for Chifuyu and Baji. All they needed were streets and deserted alleys and Baji’s bedroom, filled with life. Why would they stay in a big house, with dead eyes watching their bliss? Chifuyu smiled and toed open the door to a bathroom. Baji-san was lounging on an unused bed, fingers tapping out a beat that Chifuyu couldn’t decipher.
It was so nice.
—
Chifuyu opened his eyes, blinking himself awake. Baji-san was passed out on the floor next to him. A lollipop stick they had bought from a candy store was lying next to him. Chifuyu bet Baji’s breath still smelled sweet, like it. Chifuyu wanted to smell like it too. To be so indistinguishable from Baji-san that no one would ever try to separate them. To watch Baji-san and know that Baji-san was watching him.
Chifuyu sighed contentedly. His finger brushed against Baji’s arm. Chifuyu shivered, and slowly sat up. The morning was so beautiful. The curtains were drawn, and Baji’s bedroom was still dark, but there was a certain sense of hope in the mornings. There was an entire day ahead of him. Nothing was happening right now, but he could do anything he wanted.
The harsh sound of water rushing into his cup broke Chifuyu from his musings. It was a weekend, too. Not that that changed much for Chifuyu, but sometimes it seemed Baji-san felt guilty when going home after skipping class. So since it was a weekend, only good feelings would be felt. Chifuyu popped five pieces of toast in the toaster, setting out jam and butter as he wiggled to the song stuck in his head. He couldn’t exactly remember the words or beat, but he was pretty sure it was a love song.
Sounds from Baji’s bedroom let Chifuyu know that Baji-san was grumpily waking, and Chifuyu carefully finished setting their plate with toast.
“Baji-san ! I made toast!” The first words of the day always left a slightly sour feeling in Chifuyu’s mouth—like seeing an imperfection on a seemingly perfect lake—so Chifuyu tried to make the disturbance of noise worth it. Saying Baji’s name was always worth it. Sometimes when Chifuyu would wake up alone in the dark, he would whisper Baji’s name before getting up. The taste of his name would wash the unsavory taste from Chifuyu’s mouth like the drips from a leaking fire hydrant.
“Hrng.” Baji-san groaned from Chifuyu’s room. Chifuyu shuffled to his room, squinting as he opened the blinds, the outside world forcing itself into their peace. The white light turned yellow as it hit the wooden walls, and it seemed like Baji-san and Chifuyu were sitting in a room of gold. It was so cozy. Baji-san was careful about eating toast; he hated leaving crumbs on Chifuyu’s floor.
Chifuyu didn’t mind. It reminded him of Baji-san whenever he swept.
Chifuyu loved Baji-san so much. The kind of swaying, swirling, dancing, all encompassing love that stripped him of common sense so that he yelled all those embarrassing things in front of Baji. Fondness sat on a throne in Chifuyu’s stomach as he gazed at Baji. Baji-san did a double-take as he looked up at Chifuyu, and smiled wide. His fangs on display.
“Want to get ice-cream later?” Chifuyu cursed himself, shoving toast into his stupid mouth. He had talked Baji’s head off last night about the newest chapter of his shojo, where the love interest gets asked on an ice cream date by three different guys ! It was crazy! The drama! But now Baji-san might realize the romantic subtext of what Chifuyu was saying and—
“Sure. We can be like that chapter you were talking about.”
Crumbs fell all over the floor as Chifuyu’s mouth fell open.