What does it take to be brave? They knew, and they were scared. The answers fell into their hands, but there was no harm. In fact, there was nothing but love.

Oliver drove back home with a feeling he never expected to be feeling anytime soon. Although his visit at Kazehiki's house didn't exactly go as planned, he took courage from it. The every-lasting worries about being too late to help Fukase any longer wouldn't calm down, but there was one last weapon he was ready to outfling.

He parked the car in front of the front door, not bothering to find a parking spot now. After his long talk with his friend and the detour he took to buy Fukase and him breakfast robbed more of his time than he wanted. He hoped Fukase wasn't up yet.

Once Oliver got home, he sneaked from one room into the next, trying to find his partner up somewhere. There was no sign of Fukase, and Oliver almost wanted to sigh relieved, as he suddenly met a pair of red eyes staring up at him. Just as Oliver made his way to the living room, he found Fukase to be sitting on the couch, his limbs hanging loosely.

There was a hunch of curiosity in those apathetic eyes, and Oliver smiled apologetic.

"Sorry, I went out to get us breakfast."

He put the bags on the table and sat down next to his partner. He didn't turn towards him and Oliver figured that Fukase was feeling particularly fatigued again. He ran his hand through the crimson hair as he received both a flinch and a following sigh. Fukase's eyes fluttered shut.

"Do you want to eat something?" Oliver mumbled. There was no reaction. "I know that it's hard to eat anything right now, but you at least need to try. You can always get rid of it afterwards."

Fukase returned from his dozing and glanced up before lowering his head, giving a faint nod. Oliver smiled and stood up, getting cutlery as well as whatever he could find in their empty fridge ready. It wasn't a fancy breakfast, but it was warm bread rolls, so the morning started off better than without any.

Fukase joined him on the table eventually. His eyes wavered across the table a few times, and Oliver was about to help his partner by spreading a dab of jam on one of the halves of the roll, but a hand reaching beside him stopped him. Oliver watched Fukase take a piece of the bread, taking all the energy he had to prepare it himself.

Oliver wanted to take his mind off what was about to come, but his eyes wouldn't stop fixating on Fukase. He was munching on the edge of his slice with a deep frown, but Oliver appreciated the mere attempt to eat something. Fukase was a lot more cooperative, and while this was the first day and not a routine yet, Oliver was happy. The horrid image of a puppet sitting in front of him distorted with every further time Fukase moved his arms to either take a bite off his breakfast or to reach for the glass of water next to him.

Nevertheless, this was not why he brought the two of them to the table. While the distraction might have made Fukase feel a bit better, there was a profound intention Oliver hesitated to reveal. The mere thought of speaking out his concern shook him up, but there was not much time for bashfulness. As much as he tried to ignore his friend's words, there was one aspect to them he couldn't shake off anymore.

Oliver put his bread roll down and gulped the last bit down only reluctantly. Fukase didn't notice his nervousness yet, and he tried to conceal it further. Even though he knew that was far from strong, he wanted to look like it for the two of them.

"I've been thinking, Fukase." Fukase looked up, his expression unchanging. "I think we should find a therapist for you."

Fukase's jaw stopped moving and he froze. Oliver instantly bit the inside of his cheek, almost expecting the stiff reaction, but it shook him up either way.

His thoughts had been travelling around that possibility for a while, and now that Lumi as well as Kazehiki reinforced the idea all by themselves, Oliver couldn't deny their last option any longer. Handing his partner out to others hurt him but it has been overshadowed by his fear of what was going to happen to Fukase otherwise long ago.

"I know that this is very hard for you. This is going to be something completely new, and I know how much you hate change. But we have to change something if we want you and just everything to get better."

Fukase's gaze remained on the table. His jaw slowly moved again, and he gulped the bits in his mouth down uneasily. Oliver didn't say anything, hoping that his partner was not going to ignore him again. There was a long silence between the two, but Fukase breathed in heavily eventually.

"Will you be there?"

"Of course. I can't promise to be close, but I will make sure that they can't hurt you."

Oliver's voice was surprisingly stable. What had made his insides tense up a moment ago, had turned into a pleasant shakiness in his limbs. There was a hint of resentment in Fukase's behavior, but it wasn't near as aggressive as Oliver expected. It almost forced a smile up his face, but he restrained himself for the time being. Nothing had been decided yet, and Fukase was still wary.

"This is a huge step, but you're just so important to me. I don't want to lose you, and if this is what it takes to feel better again...isn't it worth the risk?"

Fukase shifted his eyes up to Oliver but couldn't keep the eye contact for long. His nerves tickled from the sudden stimulation running through his body. It was a vivid emotion, but at the same time, it was one he couldn't act out on anymore. A sigh of defeat left his lips as Fukase retrieved himself from the depths of his mind.

"I want to argue, I really do. But I guess we don't have much of a choice here, huh?"

"I'm not going to force you."

Fukase shook his head, more to himself than to Oliver's statement, and another heavy sigh escaped his throat. 

"Fine."

It didn't sound very convincing, and almost too faint to take it as proof, but Oliver did so nonetheless. Given the fact that this was their last chance to get things to a better place, he didn't want to let go of it so easily. He would make sure that Fukase was safe this time, is what he told himself, and so he saw no reason to worry too much.

Fukase didn't quite agree with him on the latter as he was sitting there, with every single muscle tensed up. Oliver noticed and bit his lip. He wanted to walk over to Fukase and reassure him with a hug, but he knew that this was only going to overwhelm him. He watched him for a while as another set of thoughts jumped in his head.

Oliver had tried to deny it to himself and push it off as a mere wave of insecurity forming in the ocean of doubts, but those words have gained too much weight to ignore them any longer. With one confession pouring out of him after the other, Oliver was met with an overwhelming feeling of relief. Despite there to be no solid proof of their last plan yet, he could feel cobblestones dropping from his chest and breaking into small splinters down on his feet. It didn't make him happy, but now he had the chance to take a deep breath again.

Fukase stared at his counterpart in curiosity after he had caught him conflicted deep in thoughts. He figured that there conversation would be over, but by the look on Oliver's face, there still was something left untold. Trembling anxiety crawled up his legs the longer the gnawing silence between the two lasted, and Fukase was about to speak up himself as Oliver suddenly interrupted him.

"I also want to apologize."

The two shared silent stares for a moment, and Oliver gulped. As much as he wanted to be honest with Fukase in this crucial moment, his throat would block his way. He needed a moment. 

"I've been acting horrible as well. You always saw me as your hero, someone who would save you no matter what. I wanted to keep up this imagine forever, for both your and my sake, but I can't. I have to be honest with you and tell you that I can't always find a way out."

Fukase cocked his head to the side, and for a long moment, there was a dreamy smile on his face. Oliver stumbled over his own words, which Fukase took as his chance to speak up.

"You're still my hero, regardless of whether you can conquer everything or not."

"I want to be more of a normal human being at this point," Oliver sighed, unsure whether his point was clear enough, "I'm just like anyone else; I get weak, and feel helpless, need others to save me too, and in the end, manage to smile towards the future."

Oliver snapped out of his stream of thoughts and locked eyes with his counterpart, beaming him an enthusiastic smile.

"Let's work on this together."

Fukase watched his partner freeze, and casted a weak smile. The sudden sparkle in Oliver's eyes bewildered him, but at the same time, stirred up feelings he had been storing away. Once more, he bundled up his energy to keep up his smile. It looked bittersweet but this was as much as he could force his body to fight for.

"I was scared for a very long time, Oliver. I still am. But you were right all along; I will trust you no matter what. Please help me finding myself again."

No more words were needed as the two followed their mutual intuition and got up from their seats, and fell into each other's arms. There was a long pause filled with muffled breaths and quiet sighs, with the two soaking in each other's warmth and presence, as simple as it seemed. This time, it wasn't filled with any sorts of pain, fear or doubt—it was genuine love, in the end.

Oliver put the last plate in the dishwasher and ran the machine. Breakfast didn't use up many dishes, but taking care of the kitchen had been one of the least priorities the past weeks, leaving it in an overall horrible state. There hid a spoon in the fruit basket, or an empty glass with the bottom still covered in juice, and the countless of receits piled up against the window—those were the little things Oliver noticed only now that he found the time and mindset to focus back on simpler things.

Fukase pushed Oliver lightly to the side to store away a glass he had hand-dried just now. Standing and doing little chores tore on his body, but he wouldn't sit down. He had quieted down again, and Oliver was fine with that. Pushing his partner to not help him wouldn't feel right, even if it might be for the better at the moment.

Oliver hasn't interacted with Fukase like this in a while. They were still barely interacting, besides the mutual shoving around in the small kitchen, but they were close by, minding their business, and that is what filled Oliver with joy.

Holding back his smirk form growing any further, Oliver peeked at his lover whenever possible. There was still a thin layer of caution between the two, and he was worried to burst it too soon. Fukase didn't notice his staring, however, and continued to finish up his chore. Only once the last cutlery was wiped dry and stored away, he leaned against the shaky table and panted slightly. Oliver bit his lip, struggling to not say anything.

After a few moments, Fukase looked back up, locked eyes with Oliver, but turned his head to the opposite direction. The sudden initiative shook up the tension as Fukase steered towards the water kettle and boiled a cup of water. He then looked back at Oliver and caught up on the surprise written all over his face, but didn't say anything.

Fukase had been too fatigued to do more than the necessary, and Oliver was more than happy to help him whenever. Seeing his partner pushing his limits to get done by himself stirred up a bittersweet feeling. He couldn't quite identify it himself, and before he could think about it any further, the kettle whisteled and Fukase prepared a tray to bring the essentials to his room.

Just as Fukase reached for a cup, his hand stroke across Oliver's and he stopped, hesitated and then poked the dangling fingers, intertwining their hands for a moment and pressing them lightly. It were no longer than a few seconds but those few seconds carried so much meaning. 

Oliver didn't react and merely watched Fukase stumble out of the kitchen with heavy steps. A wide smile grew on his face. There wasn't much change yet, and even so, he felt like they climbed the sun when they couldn't even look at it a moment ago.