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Yu drops her keys into the little tin near the door and wearily shrugs off her coat. She feels a little pang of phantom pain in her wrist from the movement and that brings the still-fresh events back to mind. Her eyes are heavy again and the little lump in her throat grows as she thinks about it, but the feeling recedes when she remembers she's at home now and Masayuki's here too. She can hear him in the kitchen making dinner.
She can smell fresh rice cooking and homemade egg tofu steaming, and can hear the kitchen fan running as a bowl clangs against another and it's a comforting familiar.
"I'm home." She mumbles, slightly less enthusiastic than normal, turning into the kitchen of their apartment. She pulls off her tie haphazardly with her left hand and yanks half-heartedly on her sweater at the same time—and Masayuki spins around at her voice.
"I didn't hear you come in.” There’s only a slight waver of surprise in his but Yu already feels a little warmer inside.
“Welcome home." He says, more composed.
Yu drops into a chair lethargically and avoids his eyes. Her tie and sweater lay over on another chair. Masayuki doesn’t complain.
His eyes narrow suspiciously at her and his metal cooking chopsticks ding as he sets them down.
"What's wrong?" He asks, getting straight to the point.
Yu raises her head up to meet his hazel brown eyes, full of concern that always betray his serious facade—and she almost cries.
"I'm okay. Just a tough day." She sighs instead, looking past him to the wisps of steam from the pot, and rests her chin in the palm of her good hand, elbow propped up on the table. Masayuki makes his way over to her, slides the square of his hand over her forehead and threads his fingers through her bangs for a moment.
It's really comforting, but she swats his hand away gently, almost reluctantly because if she lets him do that, she knows she will end up telling him everything right there. "I'm okay, Masa-chan. I’m not sick." Yu offers him one of her charming smiles, but knows it doesn't go to her eyes. She hopes he won’t notice.
His hands drop to rest at his side, instead. "What's going on then?"
"Nothing, nothing. Just a bad day." She says lightly.
Masayuki is silent for a moment before changing the subject. "I'm steaming the egg tofu I made yesterday and your mom brought over some pickled fish earlier. Thought this would be good enough for dinner. It's kind of late anyway."
Her eyes light up a little at the mention of pickled fish. "Is that what mom said she was going to drop by today for?"
Masayuki nods, turns back to the stove to check the steamer. "She said she was in a rush, but she'll see you on Saturday when we go over for dinner..." He trails off, pulling the tofu out of the steamer and Yu watches for a moment, mesmerized before remembering she really hadn't eaten much today.
She suddenly feels all the hunger that wasn't there earlier.
"Dinner is ready."
Golden words. Yu picks herself up faster than she did all day, rushes to wash her hands before grabbing some bowls from the cabinet and chopsticks from the drawer. She doesn't bother to set them neatly because Masayuki's already topping the tofu with slightly sweet soy sauce and freshly cut green onions.
Unable to wait, she pulls open the pickled fish her mom knows she loves so much and sets some in a bowl.
Steam from the rice puffs out when she flips the rice cooker lid and she feels the comforting heat against her face as she fills Masayuki's bowl with just the right amount before serving herself.
She feels a little better.
"Someone's hungry." Masayuki comments dryly upon seeing her rush around the kitchen with more energy than she had when she walked in.
"Let’s eat." She almost whines, already sitting, swallowing some rice.
"I'm coming. And chew your food." He grumbles, irritated, balancing the soy sauce filled plate in one hand, and another with some stir-fried vegetable.
She swoops in as elegantly as she can, takes a plate from him and sets it down on the table. A waft of unwelcome familiarity hits her nose and she stares at the ridged green vegetable blankly.
Bitter melon.
"You made bitter melon." Her eyes widen.
"What? Your mom dropped two of them off. What did you want me to do with it?"
"How could she—" Her face scrunches up slightly in distaste and over dramatic betrayal in her voice.
"Just try it." Masayuki takes a piece and eats it. "I boiled it first. It's not as bitter and I added taste to it. I know you hate bitter things."
She eyes him suspiciously before reaching over with her chopsticks to take the smallest piece possible.
She chews it carefully before shoveling rice into her mouth.
"Hey! It's not that bad!"
"I know." Yu smiles captivatingly back at him between bites and reaches over for more pickled fish. She almost forgets it all.
Masayuki pauses for a brief moment, then shakes his head and pulls the bitter melon closer to him.
Dinner is a quiet affair tonight. She’s much too hungry for idle chatter and Masayuki doesn’t bring anything up. She’s thankful for that.
"You're going to choke." He bites out at one point.
Yu swallows hard.
"Chew." He snaps; his voice more exasperated than angry.
She takes another piece of fish and makes a point of chewing it slowly and meticulously; her face deadpans and Masayuki rolls his eyes. "Well," he begins after a few minutes. It comes out as a grumble, but Yu recognizes his way of reaching out and she can’t help but feel bad. "How did the rehearsal go today?"
She freezes mid-bite and then swallows before talking. "It was fine." She says quickly and dismissively, lowering her chopsticks to her bowl. “How was your day?”
His eyebrow furrows slightly. "What happened? You're acting really weird."
"Nothing!" Yu grins and leans back, eyes slightly averted. "I'm full. Thanks for the food, Masa-chan!"
"What the heck?" His chopsticks make a little noise when he sets them down harder than necessary.
She jumps up suddenly and picks up her bowl to take to the sink, but stops close to him and gives him a kiss on the cheek; she pauses briefly against his face, and breathes, "don’t worry, Masa-chan, I'm fine! Really. I'm just going to take a bath.”
Yu gives him a little nuzzle with her nose and runs off to get some clothes. She vaguely remembers it’s her turn to wash the dishes but hopes Masa-chan would look the blind eye tonight; hopes he won't demand an explanation, but she kind of knows that one is empty wishing.
It’s a bit of relief amidst the disappointment, but for now, she lets the hot water wash it all away.
**
Forty minutes later, she’s lying on the couch, her legs dangling over the hand rest—it was always too short for her anyway. She’s staring at the ceiling when Masayuki walks into the living room, clad in his pajamas. He's glowingly clean and his bangs fall over his forehead.
"What are you doing now?" He rubs a towel through his damp hair.
Yu tears her eyes away from the ceiling again to give him her attention, and arches her head back to look up at him better. "Hmm?"
"What are you doing?" He repeats, coming closer. "It's so quiet. Turn on the TV, at least."
"Nothing much." She says simply, half-sighing, relaxing her body again, eyes drawing back to stare blankly at the ceiling.
"What the heck's wrong with you today?" He says, finally fed up with her unusual quietness. "Are you sick?"
Yu scoots over as Masayuki plops right down in the space her head had been occupying a millisecond ago.
"No, I'm okay! I'm fine! If I feel anything, it's probably the bitter melon." She doesn't look at him, absentmindedly fiddling with her wrist.
"You barely ate the bitter melon and you were weird the moment you walked in. Quit lying—wait, what's wrong with your wrist? What happened today?"
Her surprised eyes come up to meet his. His voice is so full of irritation and annoyance, but there's so much concern in his deep brown eyes—and Yu looks away, pushes herself up till her head is resting on his lap.
"Hey—?!" Masayuki almost recoils in surprise.
She turns on her side and plays with one of his buttons, and presses a kiss to his stomach. "—one of the girls got injured." She whispers quietly, nonchalantly into his shirt; she tries to sound casual, but it’s not hard to miss the little hitch in her voice.
"Huh?" He asks.
She takes a deep shaky breath.
"It was my fault." She’s almost pouting, as if to compensate for the fact she feels like crying.
"Haah? What did you do?" His tone is slightly irate, but his hand comes to rest gently on her arm and she feels the silent encouragement to continue.
"A piece of the set that I helped set up this morning fell over and I couldn't stop it from falling."
"You were always ruining all the stage work in school anyway." He comments more lightheartedly.
She turns her face up and gives him a watery glare and Masayuki sighs. "It can't be your fault alone. Why were you setting up the stage in the first place?" He flicks her on the forehead. “That’s not your job.”
"One of the backstage princesses asked me for help. But I couldn't stop it from falling and then the director got really mad at her for being clumsy, but it really wasn't her fault at all. She hurt her arm and had to leave. Then, the director was in a bad mood all afternoon and he wasn't satisfied by anything we did, so practice went a lot later than normal.
I tried talking to him, but he called me talentless and worthless." She mutters dryly. She’s not sure what part bothers her more but she can’t deny it was jarring.
"What —" Masayuki begins, anger evident in his voice. Yu sits up quickly and wraps her arms around his neck. She presses a kiss to his jaw line and mumbles quietly into it. "It's fine ! It's really okay. It's nothing compared to what Hana-chan was probably feeling." Her voice trails off rather glumly.
"Yu, you're not talentless or worthless. And I’m sure your coworker will be okay." Masayuki wraps his arms around her now and her body is twisted on an angle to face him, but he manages to press his forehead against hers.
"I know." She nudges his nose against hers gently and finds his lips somewhere there; warm and soft from his hot bath. She presses forward for another kiss, plays with his bottom lip and feels his breath against her mouth.
She kisses him a few more times. “It’s fine,” she says between their lips, “it's just a bad day.”
Masayuki pulls away slightly, “what about your hand? Did you hurt yourself?”
She shakes her head, “it’s nothing serious. I didn’t twist it or anything, but I guess I caught the piece at a bad angle. It hurts a little. It’ll be better in a few days.”
He sucks in some air and Yu knows he’s not happy.
“I’ll put something on it before I sleep.” She promises, lying back down on his lap, playing with his shirt again.
"What do you want to do then? Sit like this?" He asks after a few minutes of silence, stroking her head gently and running his fingers through short soft hair.
"Mmm yeah, just for a little longer." She murmurs sleepily.
"You better not fall asleep here." He mumbles before they lapse into silence again. He sounds a little sleepy too, but it is late. The little clock on the television stand ticks, ticks to 11:54 PM and the night air whistles outside.
Masayuki breaks the quiet a moment later; distractedly hums a familiar tune.
Yu can’t place it for a moment but it’s so comforting, she knows this song—
His tone and the tune make her freeze a moment later. She’s standing under that Roman High sign again, on that familiar stage and that music is playing.
He stops suddenly, as if he realized what he was humming too.
“No, don’t stop!” Yu blurts out.
“Hah?”
“Keep...going. Can you sing the lyrics too? I haven’t heard this in a long time.” There’s a slight hint of begging in her voice.
Masayuki looks slightly startled, exposed and a little embarrassed. “Do you even know what that is?”
“Of course,” she murmurs, calmer.
She closes her eyes and brings herself back ten and some years ago to that stage; small and cluttered and worn from many years of use, many students and many memories. It was that stage where she danced a ballad more times than she could count, that stage where she slayed unnumbered rivals and saved the day; that stage where Masayuki provided the vocals for that one play she was told he couldn’t find a “last minute” replacement for, or so she has been told. She never found out.
While many memories may have faded, few she kept onto and never let go. This one was simply tucked away, sitting in the closet of life.
On a stage just for you.
She lets him finish. His voice trailing off on the last line as if slightly rusty from unuse, but still gold perfection to her ears. Seldom are times she hears him sing anymore and yet she yearns to listen more than he’ll ever give.
“Prince Hunter,” she mumbles to herself, too low for him to hear, “that’s what it is.”
She sits up slowly, feeling better than she did all day and gingerly wraps her arms around Masayuki's shoulders, as if overwhelmed that she couldn’t imagine loving him any more than this and leans her forehead against his head.
"What are you doing? Are you sure you're okay?" He asks skeptically.
Yu nestles her cheek against his and presses a kiss into his clean washed hair. There's the soap he used, mingled with a faint scent that's only Hori Masayuki.
"Mmm." She closes her tired eyes and takes a deep breath.
Masayuki shifts slightly and awkwardly and quietly wraps an arm around her torso.
“Thanks, Masa-chan.” She breathes quietly into his hair and feels the love in his embrace and knows everything will be okay.