sweetestsurrender | { Truth Meme }

"Not too bad." His smile warmed as he sat himself back down with Tachibana. He really was a sight for sore eyes. And as usual he wondered just why he would leave his best friend behind so many times. On the other hand, meeting like this always felt the same. Like no time had passed at all.

"Just carrying on carrying on. How're you, Kippei? Hungry? My treat." It was his turn after all.

With anyone else, Tachibana would argue about the paying arrangement, but they had a way of keeping things even. "Yeah, I could eat."

He busied himself with the menu, finding it hard to maintain eye contact for long. "I've been hanging in there."

Tachibana was doing okay...minus the dread in the pit of his stomach over this confession he was working himself toward.

"Just 'hanging in there"? What's up, Kip?" Chitose had sounded amused at first but his second question held concern.

Tachibana wasn't looking at him and it was making him nervous. His fingers began to tap on the table top in a restless way, quietly drumming a beat that could have been mimicking the way his heart was thumping. It was so strange. He'd been happy a moment ago, but a simple lack of eye-contact was making him worried that Tachibana was about to tell him he had hours left to live.

Stupid observant Chitose. He was so unfairly intelligent. Tachibana stole a glance back up at Chitose and sighed. "I guess I can't hide anything from you, can I?" He gave a wry chuckle. "I was hoping to ease into the subject."

Setting down his menu, he let out of deep sigh. "Senri. I'm a werewolf."

Was he serious? Who knows.

It wasn't a matter of being intelligent, anyone could see that Tachibana was on edge. The fact he couldn't even look at Chitose just added to that feeling. So no, he couldn't hide. They'd been friends, bestfriends, for a very long time. He was sure if he'd walked in all edge and suspect Tachibana would have called him out on it too.

So he waited, a brow raised in question, expectantly waiting to hear what Tachibana had to say.

Chitose tried so hard to keep a serious expression. But when his friend told him... Chitose couldn't help it. He burst out laughing.

"Fine, fine. If you don't wanna tell me just say so, don't have to lie." He grinned. "Now if you'd said a werelion, maybe I would have believed you." Maybe. Though probably not.

Tachibana let out a sigh of relief. His little fib had released the tension a little, giving him enough courage to actually approach the subject.

"I just wanted to make you laugh. Your laugh makes me braver." He admitted.

"Senri... I need to be honest with you. I can't handle you going off the grid one more time without you knowing how I feel about you."

So not a werewolf? A little disappointing. That would have been an interesting thing to have known. Would Tachibana have let him pet him? Would he have been able to turn into a huge wolf? Would it have been blond? So many questions that would now go unanswered.

And forgotten.

Before Chitose could say a thing, Tachibana had continued and dropped another bombshell. This one was harder to laugh off. He shifted in his seat slightly, that nervous feeling returning.

"What feelings?" He asked quietly. Don't do this to me, Kippei... Don't mess with me.

Somehow, that wasn't the response he was looking for. It was so much easier when Senri laughed things off. Sure, the other man might be trying to be mindful of his feelings...but that quiet voice made the next part so much harder.

"Senri. We've known each other forever. How I managed to keep these feelings at bay I will never know..." He swallowed his fear and kept going. "I've always loved you, Senri. Everytime you leave, I worry I'll never get to show you how much I love you."

What kind of jerk would be able to laugh off something like this? No way he looked at it there was just nothing funny about his bestfriend admitting to having feelings for him. Feelings that Chitose would never have expected. Maybe should have... But after so long, could he be blamed?

"... Why're you telling me this now? You're not actually dying are you?" He tried for that laugh, he really did, but it sounded hollow even to his own ears. So he flagged the waitress down and ordered himself a coffee before he did anything else. The distraction also giving him a moment to breath and gather his thoughts.

Tachibana quietly ordered himself a coffee as well, struggling to come up with a good reason for the timing. He wasn't dying...he just simply came to a breaking point.

"I couldn't get a hold of you for quite a while." Tachibana said. "The longer I went without hearing from you, the more regret I felt. Regret for not being honest with you or myself."

Once the waitress had left to get their orders, Chitose sighed and leaned back some in his chair. He kept one hand on the table top, still idly tapping with the tips of his fingers.

"So you like me... This is... This is a big deal, Kippei. You feel better having told me?" Chitose gave him a smile then. Maybe he was a bit freaked out, but the man in front of him was still his childhood friend, werewolf or man in love or not. He was still Tachibana Kippei.

"I..." Tachibana stared down at his own hands. There was a massive weight off of his chest...but it was replaced with anxiety.

"I don't feel regret anymore." Tachibana admitted. "I'm not sure I feel better."

"So what would make you better?" Chitose asked then, the hand that had been tapping lifted to scratch at his cheek and then brush through his hair as he laughed. "Would confessing the same make you feel better? I could. It'd be true and everything. I just didn't want to make it feel like it was a competition, like I was trying to one-up you. You said a nice thing to me, Kippei and I... I mean it's a huge deal! What do you expect me to do with it here of all places? I can't grab you in a hug or kiss you or do anything right here, can I? You didn't think this whole confession thing through."

Was he babbling? Maybe a little bit. But shock will do that to a guy.

It took a lot to get Chitose babbling like that. It took Tachibana a moment to process his friend's words. "Wait..."

He heard that correctly...right?

"I...I wasn't looking for a confession." He said. "I just don't want to ruin our friendship." He smiled. Feeling bashful.

"But...hearing that does make me feel better."

Maybe he hadn't thought this through. "Maybe the location is bad, but I didn't think I would manage to admit it so quickly..."

"Then what were you looking for? If being a werewolf or lion wouldn't ruin it why would you think this would? You could tell me you'd murdered people and I'd still be your friend. There are very few dealbreakers here, Kippei." Okay maybe he was pushing it with the murder, but if the murders were justified and all bad people, like Batman, maybe he could get on board a bit more.

"I think I should feel offended you'd think this would ruin our friendship!"

Tachibana gave an embarrassed smile. "You have every right to be offended." And he did. Senri would never be the type to hold this against Tachibana.

"I guess...I guess I was just so afraid of losing you, I forgot how amazing you are."

He cleared his throat. "Please have better standards though. If I start murdering people, please do the right thing and turn me in."

"Then I'm deeply offended and fully expect you to make it up to me." Chitose grinned. "Forgetting how amazing I am as well? You've a lot to make up for, Kippei." And he was only half teasing. Because he really was expecting Tachibana to make it up to him. Would even let him use his own imagination on just how he could do that.

"See, you say that, but if you'd secretly been Batman I think I could get behind you murdering bad guys for justice." He laughed, pleased that the strange, awkward cloud that had hovered over them seemed to be dissipating now.

Tachibana couldn't help but laugh. Chitose had a way of making everything better. " I promise I'll make it up to you." He smiled.

He snorted at the whole Batman thing. "I don't think I would be able to pull that look off." He admitted. "There is something I think I can pull off, though."

He nodded, satisfied by that. Though his brows did rise then in interest. "Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Well." Tachibana stopped to receive his coffee and took a sip before continuing. "Iwould never ask you to be something you're not. I would never ask you to settle down knowing how you are. However..."

He offered Chitose a small smile. "I'm not set on settling in one place. So...if you'll have me...maybe I can join you on your journey?"

Chitose thanked the waitress and took his own coffee, though he didn't immediately drink it like Tachibana did. He set it on the table. He was more interested in what his friend had to say.

It was hard to keep that grin off of his face. And damn Tachibana for asking to meet here so he couldn't kiss the idiot.

"No." He attempted to school his features into a look of innocence, a tricky thing when he was grinning just a second ago. Chitose went and took a sip of his coffee to finish the look, only to hiss and cover his mouth with his hand. "Hot! Damn..." Down the mug went, back on the table and away from his poor, singed tongue.

"See, it's nice having a place to come back to, Kippei. Maybe it's about time I limited my travels to certain times. And you could join me then?" Tachibana was no wandering soul. Not like Chitose was. Dragging him around would be just as cruel as trying to pin Chitose in place. But maybe they could meet in the middle?

At first, Tachibana's heart was scrambling. It had taken a lot of thought to ask to join Chitose, and a "no" made his heart sink for moment...

Just a moment.

Then, he realized whatbwas happening. A compromise. At the end of the day, Chitose was kind and fair.

"I...I think I like the sound of that."

"Hoped you would. I'd sort of planned to stick around more before you'd even said anything. Now I have a better excuse than 'getting old and lazy'." Not that he was old OR lazy, but he had realised something. Wandering the world alone was... not nearly as fun as it had been when he was younger. Now if Tachibana was at his side? Man, that would be the best.

So would it really hurt if he stuck around in one place for longer just for the chance to be with someone he cared for? No. The answer was a resounding no. It wouldn't hurt. It would feel pretty damn good.

"Old and lazy, huh?" Tachibana laughed. "You certainly don't look old." Lazy? Maybe.

Still, he loved this man. And to hear that he wanted to be with him more made Tachibana deliriously happy. He reached out to touch Senri's hand. "You're sure about this?"

"Oi." He pulled a face, not missing that Tachibana had missed a word out there.

Chitose let it go though, because it wasn't really wrong. Then he smiled and turned his hand under Tachibana's so he could hold it back. "I'm positive. I think this is a good change. Miyuki'll be happy too. So I'll kill two birds with one stone." And lets face it, how could he take the time to explore his feelings, and Tachibana's feelings, if he was off seeing the world?

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