It should have been the perfect, peaceful morning for Takuto. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, and his infant daughter was sleeping with her lavender haired mother in bed. It was quiet, there was no rush. All three of them could have relaxed there forever.

However, Takuto couldn't be as calm as the other two. Not with that disgusting weight sitting at the bottom of his stomach. And he was staring right at the cause of it. His best friend had sent a text to him earlier in the morning. It was a short simple text and didn't bother him too much when he first read it. He was just glad the other finally contacted him after so long.

The two had been separated for months after he decided he couldn't leave Akane alone with their new child. He wanted Ranmaru to come with him, he wanted to take care of him too, but his friend refused his request and left on his own. He left with a smile, but Takuto knew him well enough to notice that smile was filled with pain. They did keep in contact for a little while, and Ranmaru would tell him all his troubles, unknowingly making Takuto upset about how he was powerless to help. But eventually, too soon, those messages stopped, and he had know way of knowing if his friend was OK. And given the nature of his last texts, he couldn't help but worry something terrible happened. Though he couldn't worry forever, he had to put these thoughts aside, for his family.

As time passed, the new text made him feel increasingly uneasy. That feeling eventually escalated to disturbed and prevented him from typing a reply.

Now he sat under the window, with the quiet snoring of his small family in the background, staring at the words on the bright screen as if there was a hidden meaning he could discover, like it was a complicated math problem. His mind came up with every possible meaning behind it, each one twisting his stomach more than the last. Eventually, something told him speculation wasn't going to help, and he needed to act quickly. The only way he would really know if Ranmaru was OK was if he saw the boy for himself.

And so, despite the other being miles away Takuto still took off, confident that Akane would be safe alone with their child. At that moment, Ranmaru was infinitely more important.

He found him too, after searching all around the rundown town in places he remembered the other used to hang around. The other didn't ever answer his texts asking for his location, but that only motivated him.

The door was left cracked open, so Takuto got into the room easily. There, he saw his blond friend, standing in the middle of the sunlit room, staring back at him.

For a split second, Ranmaru's eyes softened at the sight of his best friend, the person he loved more than anything else in the world. The person who could always make him feel safe and cleanse his mind of all the dark thoughts that would arise. He thought that maybe, now that he was here, things would get better. Maybe the other would say he loves him back, take him by the hand and they would solve all his problems together. That's what it was like before, when they grew up together. They would take care of each other, there wasn't any issues they couldn't get through as long as they were together. Maybe it could be like that again...

Ranmaru quickly turned away from Takuto, to stop himself from making a mistake. That wasn't how things worked, and that nagging "maybe" in the back of his mind only stressed him out, he wanted it to go away. Being together helped him so much in the past, and he knew the other could say the same, but as grateful he was, that time was over. He accepted that already.

And yet, before Ranmaru could do anything, he felt Takuto collide into him, holding him from behind as tightly as he could, and they both heard a sharp clatter onto the floor. The sound distressed Ranmaru but relieved Takuto ever so slightly. His already weak knees ended up finally collapsing and they both fell onto the floor. And it hurt, it wasn't nearly the worst pain he ever felt, but the way the red-head was holding him and the clumsy way they fell, it hurt.

Takuto didn't know his grip hurt the other, that was the very last thing he was thinking about. It didn't matter. He just held him as if it was his last chance to ever do so, burying his face into his neck.

Eventually, Ranmaru fell limp and they both lay onto the hard wood floor. He didn't even react when he felt his friend's tears on his neck, or heard his quiet sobbing. His only thoughts were let me go and you're confusing me. It wasn't until he heard the other's desperate pleading did he start paying attention. He heard Takuto speaking to him, words only meant for him, like how much he loved and cared for him, how much he hated what he saw just now, how he felt like he abandoned his best friend, and anything else he could think of. That's just what happened when he talked to Ranmaru, he could tell him anything. There was so much he hadn't said to him, so many things he hadn't told him about and it was almost as if he was trying to say it all right then and there, through his crying and shaky breathing.

Eventually, something made Ranmaru react. Takuto didn't know what it was he said that caused it, he said so much. Although it could have been everything his said, or maybe only the sound if his voice. Whatever it was, it must have gotten through that barrier Ranmaru put around himself. His friend finally lay his head on the floor and started weeping, something he has done too much but at the same time not enough. And he shook his head slowly, as if finally realizing what was going on, in disbelief of where he was in life, while his tears dripped onto the floor.

They lay there on the floor together, their breathing in sync. It was OK to just lay there, finally together after so long right? There was nothing that could bother them, or hurt them or upset them any more than it already has. They both knew the instant they moved, things would go back the way they were, nothing would have been changed or fixed no matter how long they held each other. That truth would forever be in the back of their minds.

But at the very least, it was quiet, now that they both cried all the tears they could manage, and Takuto finally couldn't think of anything else he could tell Ranmaru. The sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky, and maybe that was all they needed to pretend that it was a normal beautiful day and everything was OK.