Day 42: Magus Park [evening]
The temperature was starting to cool down, but that was okay with Akihiko. It wasn't that much different from winter evenings back home. He was feeling better, having been outside most of the day, but still. That niggling stress from the previous few days was still getting to him. He sighed, looking up at the darkening sky and thinking about it all
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As they headed into the park, though, Yukito glanced up at the sun in the west and frowned just slightly. "Shouldn't we be heading back soon?" He didn't think they'd stayed this late last week, but...well, he didn't think too much about last week. Or tried not to, whenever possible. "None of the staff members seem to be pointing anyone to the buses yet."
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He caught sight of a small playground, touched by the last vestiges of sunlight, and smiled lightly. "C'mon," he said, tugging Yuki's hand as he moved towards the swings. "They already think we're nuts, it couldn't hurt to indulge in some nostalgia, right?"
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"Good thing we don't have to fight any actual children for it," he observed, hesitating for just an instant before he released Touya's hand again and carefully lowered himself onto one of the swings. "Maybe Sakura-chan would've liked to play, too?"
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"Let the monster run around and terrorize the town," Touya said with a grin. "She'll be where we can see her soon enough."
He sat down on the swing next to Yuki, swinging back and forth a little. "I'm... kind of glad we got some time to ourselves, though. She'll be around us nonstop for the next few days."
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Yukito's smile brightened even more, likely looking rather out of place in the form he was currently wearing, and he reached over to give Touya a gentle push on his swing. "So am I," he replied, with clear sincerity.
He could have added more about his worries for Sakura in a place like this, but it didn't seem necessary - Touya would be feeling the same way, and he didn't want to spoil this moment with thoughts about what would inevitably come after dark. Instead he just enjoyed their time together now, for as long as it would last.
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"Why?" he asked, kicking off the ground a little to swing back and forth a bit more. "You and the brat tend to get along pretty well, I'd think you'd want to be pushing her on these swings right now. Or at least watching over her all day."
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"Sakura-chan is cute, yes," he agreed, with a cheerful grin for his friend, putting perhaps just a touch of emphasis on her actual name in mild chiding for the name-calling. "And I'm sure she'd enjoy the swings. But she still isn't you, Touya."
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Maybe he was pushing this a little, but the setting seemed right. The sun was going down, he and Yuki were alone on the swings, and the desperate situation he'd suddenly found himself in called for saying what he thought had to be said the moment he thought to say it.
"She's not you either, Yuki," he said, pushing his friend again.
Dammit, he was totally blowing this.
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He carefully kicked off from the ground again, pushing his swing a little higher but not wanting to go too high. Yue might not have a care for injuries, but he certainly did. He was having far too much fun to stop swinging entirely, though.
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Aaagh, he was really messing this up. He'd meant to ask something like, 'why do you want to be with me instead of Sakura?', or 'when we rode to school together, were you thinking the same thing?'
Obviously he was terrible at this.
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"If you want to embarrass yourself by calling me nicknames like that, Touya, you're more than welcome to try it." In fact, it might be amusing if he did in front of Ken, just to see how his roommate reacted.
And...considering the way that Touya harassed his sister to hide how much he cared about her, Yukito could allow himself to think the same was true in this case as well, without having to ask the question he hadn't quite dared to just yet.
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"I suppose I'd be embarrassing us both: me for coming up with such a stupid and lame pet name and implying that I might call you that when the two of us are alone. You'd probably lose major points with Ken," Touya said with a smirk, pushing Yuki. He had to be careful of the hair, though. The last thing he wanted was for Yue to stop the swing and start talking about his hair. It meant that his and Yuki's little foray into their one-on-one time would come to a rather abrupt end--which wouldn't do when Touya still was working around to his question about the future.
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And a fragment of memory from Yue told him that nickname really wasn't all that far off from how Sakura's other guardian apparently referred to him. That he hadn't known about before, but still found amusing.
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Not that he didn't already, probably, but Yukito hadn't noticed it or hadn't taken it that way... yet. "You wouldn't want me to look like a moron, calling you names and you not batting an eye either way, right?"
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A similar topic had been brushed by any number of times in the last few months of his memory, and he'd sometimes wondered if Touya meant what he thought it meant. But both of them had just let comments slip by as though they didn't mean anything at all, even if they were, well, incredibly close friends.
"I suppose it's up to you what you want to sound like, Touya," he finally replied, lowering his feet to brush the ground as he went by this time, slowing the swing's motion. "I don't mind either way."
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Crap, he was stopping the swing, he'd messed up. Shitshitshit. Backpedal, abandon ship, say something!
"Yue probably would, though, huh?" Touya said awkwardly, stepping away so Yukito could stop himself with enough space. "He'd probably get all annoyed that I'm running around calling you by a nickname."
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