It took a long time for me to win back Izuna's trust.

Or just to win it in the first place; I honestly didn't know whether I'd had his trust to begin with.

I worked so, so hard for him, and for us, but I never felt sorry for myself because of it. Because it was the easiest thing in the world. Nothing had ever come so natural to me.

Ever.

Izuna was terrified. He had great trust issues, both because I had left him out of the blue, but also, he told me during one of our heart-to-hearts, because it was in his nature.

But there was something else that frightened him, and it was my late ex-wife.

At first, I had believed it was because he was afraid I hadn't let her go. But when we talked about it, Izuna told me that it was quite the opposite. He was afraid I would feel he didn't want me to think about her at all.

"You need to mourn", he said, looking down and blushing in that adorable way of his. "You don't need to pretend she doesn't exist."

"Izuna", I told him, forcing him to look up at me the way I only did when it was vital that he really, really listened to what I said. "I've never felt that. I've never felt you provide me any problems regarding her. But, truth is..." I took a deep breath. This is it. "I don't believe I mourn her anymore." There. I said it. I had felt so much guilt regarding it, yet it couldn't be helped. It was just the way things were. "I don't mourn her anymore. It's been so long. I've dealt with all of that."

The more time we spent dating, Izuna and I, the more comfortable he seemed to become in the relationship. He also thrived at work, and after a year there, I offered him a contract to stay permanently.

He signed it.

We still lived apart, at least for the time being. Izuna was a man who needed space, and I was probably a bit like that, too, at least nowadays. I realised then how much I'd changed since I'd been a married man, and it struck me that my ex-wife would probably have changed, too. I whole-heartedly believed that if she's been alive, we would have lived together for the rest of our lives, even if we were two completely different people now than when we got married. But truth was, she didn't live, which meant the person she would be by now would always be a stranger to me, and the person I was now would always be a stranger to her.

It helped me let her go, that way of thinking.

Izuna calmed down, becoming the man he was meant to be.

Becoming my person.

As I became his. 

I leaned my head in my hand, my elbow on the table, looking out at the sunny street. It was autumn in New Zealand, and everything looked so lovely.

I absent-mindlessly stirred my coffee, letting my mind wander. If you would ask me what I was thinking about, I wouldn't have remembered.

"Hi."

I looked up, was immediately engulfed by the soft presence of him.

I couldn't help but smile as I saw him. He lit up my entire universe, even after all these years.

I stood up and hugged him, and planted a kiss on his mouth. The ring he had in his lower lip felt pleasantly cool against the sensitive skin of my lips.

"Oh, wow, what have you got there?" I said as he placed a plate with a piece of strawberry and cream cake on the table.

I reached my hand out to take the fork to have a bite, but he pulled it away.

"Nope! Mine!" he said.

I smiled. I knew he would crumble soon enough. He always gave me what I wanted.

"How was work?" I asked.

"Finished the design for the page that will show our partners", Izuna said and took a bite of his cake. When the flavour hit his tongue, he immediately gave me a bite with his fork, wanting me to taste it, too.

It exploded in my mouth. I had expected a sour strawberry, but it was sweet. Just as he was; my Izuna.

"God, that's good", I said.

We chatted for a bit about work, then went on to plan this year's trip that we would do together. There was a warmth between us that I really liked, a warmth that spoke of choice.

It wasn't a particularly eye-catching moment in our lives, having coffee and eating sweet strawberry cake together. It was a moment that would melt into all other moments in our lives, feeling crucially important in the moment but not really having a huge impact.

But that was what I loved about life. That such insignificant things could be so important in the moment.

"What are you thinking about?" Izuna asked, forcing me out of my trans.

I frowned, thinking.

"I don't remember", I said.

"How on earth did you manage to get so rich which such a short memory span?" he teased, flailing with his arms. He really was adorable.

"I don't know, but whatever I'm doing, it works. Also, I have, like, fifty hot girls after me", he said.

"Fifty? That's not a lot", he said. "You should see my harem at work."

"But you're gay!" I exclaimed.

"I can change, I swear."

I laughed heartily, and Izuna smiled.

Then, he reached his hands out, and took mine in his.

I looked down on our hands, mine quite sticky and rough, his smooth and slender. It was usually the other way round; I took his hands in mine. But now, his little hands were holding on to mine, providing comfort.

"I love you", he said.

I looked up at him. He was looking down with a blush.

"I love you, too", I said back.

And maybe, that little detail would cause this moment, or this day, to etch itself into our memories. The fact that Izuna had taken my hands instead of me taking his.

Life was full of little things like that. Little things that would make one moment go from insignificant to significant. That would make a day go from insignificant to significant.

And life with him was full of little things like that.

He took the last bit of sweet strawberry on his fork and offered it to me. I smiled at him, my hands still in his fork-free one.

"I love you", I said.

He winked at me and put the sweet strawberry into his mouth before I'd had a chance to take it.

End.