There are times when Hideki gets so exhausted and tired he lays in bed pretending to be asleep long after Ryu is awake. He lays still and stiff hearing his husband shriek and shout and cry in confusion. He lays there until he can suck up the threatening tears that burned in the corner of his eyes. Those days, to Hideki Asagiri, are the worst. Anyone who would dare peer into their complicated life could tell Hideki loves and always will love his husband, Ryunosuke Nakahara. Not that they have many visitors.
He refused to let go because to Hideki, he was his whole world. Perhaps, that was the reason, the very first-time Ryu had his temporary recovery episode followed by regression, it broke him into a million pieces.
Hideki groaned and turned as he felt an arm securely wrap around him under the sheets. Followed by, his eyes fluttering open and his jaw-dropping at the sight of his husband's face smiling brightly at him.
"Ryu...?"
"Hmm?" He snuggled into the other's chest smiling.
"I love you, you know, that right?" He smiles and hugs the other and lays in unparalleled bliss for a while.
"You remember me?" Hideki asked when he sensed Ryu was about to doze off, fear creeping in. In response, the male earned a chuckle and a raised eyebrow.
"Am I not supposed to?" He was too shook to explain and he much rather not, he did not want guilt to take place of that bliss just yet. He sat up in his bed with an enthusiasm of a child.
"Want coffee when I go down?" he asked putting on his shirt and walking over to the adjoined bathroom that Ryu had spent many mornings crying in. He splashed water onto his face to wake himself up fully. He looked at himself in the mirror one last time before leaving the bathroom. Ryu sat on the edge of the bed and wore a look of slight confusion.
"Where are my kitty slippers, Hideki?" he asked as though it was unordinary for them to be missing and that he ought to know it. On the other hand, Hideki did not have the slightest idea as to what he was talking about but he felt too cautious and instead smiled and replied.
"They were getting too weary. So, I stored them away. Will those do for now?" He pointed at the fluffy slippers next to the bed which Ryu often wore. Ryu nodded and started to head downstairs.
Hideki prepared their morning beverages as the other took a seat at the small wooden coffee table near their kitchen.
"You aren't meeting up with Noya?" Ryu asked softly and that's when Hideki realised that the era Ryu woke up to this morning was the early years of their marriage. That was more than enough for him at the moment.
"Not really, he wants to enjoy his Sunday."
"No wonder, you guys work him to the bone!" he scoffs."You look different today, you know Hideki?" of course, he did, he thought. After all, he was years older and not in the deadly profession anymore.
"Growing out my hair, you like it?" the redhead says flashing a warm smile.
"You look even more handsome," his husband replies grinning back at him. Hideki ruffles Ryu's raven hair and hands him a hot mug of mocha and sits down to have his own tea.
They talked about nothing in particular as they sat there drinking from their own mugs in peace. The weather was cool, it was changing from autumn to the chilly winters. When the two mugs were empty Hideki took them towards the sink and asked his husband to go sit in the living room and open the windows to let in the sun and the nice air.
He complies and goes over to the living room doing what he was asked to, before sinking down on the couch. He felt utterly happy and content. His eyes wandered off to the windowsill where a small sparrow sat and soon before he could realise, he drifted off into sleep. Hideki in the kitchen was ecstatic that his husband recalled him for a change and wore a stupidly wide smile for someone doing the dishes. He hurried and discarded the towel he was drying his wet hands with on the kitchen counter and walked towards the living room calling out to his partner. He froze when he saw the tranquil sleeping figure of the small black-haired man.
He felt the strength from his legs seeping away, as if, he suddenly realised how annoyingly tiresome it was to keep one's body standing up. Thus, he didn't make any delay and went over to sit next to his husband.
"Ryu? Ryu Nakahara?" He called out his husband's name as he gently shook the other awake. He might have asked if he remembered who he was but when he saw the emotions in his pitch-black eyes, he didn't feel like he needed to.
"W-who are you?"
He felt hot tears gliding down his own cheeks as he sat there. He didn't budge nor show any signs of getting up and explaining to his husband the ordeals of his memory nor his past or to comfort him. He just sat there, staring at his husband and crying, as if, his heart and soul just shattered into a million pieces, like an antique vase.