[Rescue Fire/Gaia fusion] For Tatsuya

[hotshotlightning]

He wasn't going to pace. He was going to wait patiently for Tatsuya to arrive, not give in to nerves before he'd even got there. So what if they had a lot to talk about, that was no reason to be nervous.

Yeah, right. They had over ten years worth of stuff to catch up on and it wasn't exactly all sunshine and rainbows.

He glanced down at his watch and sighed. Come on, Tatsuya.

Comments

[fire1]

Tatsuya, narrowly missing the puddle beside the door and the "Caution - Wet Floor" sign guarding it, greeted Katsumi with a wave and asked what he wanted to eat as Tatsuya was going to queue for the food before they ran out of the latest limited edition milkshake flavour. He appeared to have no idea how late he was and his hair was as usual sticking straight up.

[hotshotlightning]

Some things just didn't change; in spite of his annoyance, Katsumi felt his lips twitching upwards in a smile.

"I'm good with anything. Just don't drown my stuff in ketchup."

[fire1]

Tatsuya returned with a tray groaning under the weight of burgers, fries, limited edition milkshakes and at least three dozen packets of ketchup. He began tearing them open in rapid succession and squeezing out the contents onto his chips, "mouuuuu ... I wish they'd just give you a bottle."

[hotshotlightning]

Not bothering to hide the facepalm, Katsumi took a moment to shake his head before liberating his burger from the tray.

"Maybe you should bring your own next time."

[fire1]

"I tried, but last time it leaked all over my clothes. Ritsuka-san said I was disgusting ... and I couldn't get the stains out." Tatsuya made a glum face at the memory and then resumed squeezing on ketchup with free abandon.

[hotshotlightning]

...Of course it did. Only Tatsuya. "And you didn't try carrying it in a bag because...?"

Katsumi swiped one sachet before Tatsuya could empty them all, then edged his fries and drink away from Tatsuya's elbows and the accident waiting to happen.

[fire1]

"I d'no. What if I lost the bag? Or we had to evacuate the building and then I had to leave it behind?"

Tatsuya stole a fry from Katsumi's box, despite having plenty of his own left, and dipped it into the mountain of ketchup before popping it into his mouth.

[hotshotlightning]

"How likely is it that we'd even have to evacuate?" He wasn't going to comment on the possibilty of the bag getting lost: that one was higher.

"Hey!" He lifted a couple of fries out of Tatsuya's box in retaliation. "Hands off. Eat your own fries."

[fire1]

"Hey! Don't take my-" Tatsuya flailed his arms and knocked the precious limited edition milkshake straight onto the floor. "Now I'll have to order another one." He stepped around the milky puddle and went back to the counter. Within a few moments he'd returned with a plain chocolate milkshake, "I told you! They ran out."

[hotshotlightning]

"Not their fault you knocked yours over," Katsumi pointed out, popping one of his fries into his mouth. "Be more careful next time."

[fire1]

"It's your fault." Tatsuya pouted and sulked for a while but before too long appeared to have gorged himself into a pleasantly pliable sugar and ketchup-soaked state.

[hotshotlightning]

"How is it my fault?" he demanded, tempted to flick a fry right at Tatsuya's forehead before reminding himself he wasn't a child anymore.

Still, it didn't seem to make much difference as Tatsuya seemed happy enough, over all. Was now a good time to bring it up?

[fire1]

"Cos you made me knock it over." Tatsuya swiped his hand across his mouth to wipe some ketchup away, and then continued "why'd you ask me here? Just to catch up?"

[hotshotlightning]

"I did not," he retorted indignantly. "You started it when you started stealing my food."

He leant back in his seat, suddenly finding the far wall fascinating. "Something like that, yeah."

[fire1]

"You're my brother and you won't even give me a fry? I would've given you mine." Tatsuya looked like he would have liked to continue in this vein for longer; but, on seeing Katsumi distracted, waved a hand in front of Katsumi's face.

[hotshotlightning]

"You didn't even ask," Katsumi pointed out. Oh, now he was channeling his aunt. Not a good sign.

He blinked as Tatsuya's hand waved in front of his face. "Hm?"

[fire1]

"You're away with the fairies." Tatsuya flashed him a ketchup-smeared grin then took advantage of Katsumi's absent-mindedness to commandeer Katsumi's milkshake.

[hotshotlightning]

"Am not... Hey!"

Katsumi eyed him in resignation, not bothering to try and get it back. That would only result in it hitting the floor as well and then the servers would have another mess to clean up.

[fire1]

Tatsuya's face fell at the sight of Katsumi's expression and without taking a sip he passed the milkshake back, "... sorry." He chewed up the last of his fries in silence.

[hotshotlightning]

"No, it's fine," he said hurriedly, pushing it back. "Yours ended up the floor, we might as well share it."

Well. This was awkward.

[fire1]

Tatsuya took the lid off the milkshake so they could each stick a straw in and slurp. For once in his life he actually took a moment to give Katsumi a head start.

[hotshotlightning]

Katsumi's eyebrows rose slightly. Was Tatsuya actually waiting for him to do something instead of running on ahead?

"What happened?" he blurted, unsure if he meant what happened that day or just in general. He knew the basics of what had happened to his parents, his aunt and uncle had never hidden it from him, but he didn't know anything concrete. And even now he still didn't know why they'd been separated in the first place.

[fire1]

"What happened to who?" Tatsuya blinked and took a smaller than usual sip of the milkshake, trying for Katsumi's sake not to slurp.

[hotshotlightning]

...Was he really that dense? He didn't remember Tatsuya being quite this clueless.

"Mom and Dad," he said eventually, picking up one of the serviettes and methodically shredding it. Well, it was as good a place to start as any.

[fire1]

"Right ..." The question threw Tatsuya a little as his mind had still been on milkshakes, and he wasn't expecting Katsumi to just ask about something like that. He wasn't sure where to start, "you know about most of it, right? When you were in the hospital."