Fantasy Theme~ Kevin Krauter

(Saturday, 10.20am ~ Riga, Latvia)

"Babe? Babe wake up."
The redhead opened his eyes blearily, he was used to waking up at 6.30 every day for work but he'd thought he'd at least be able to sleep in a bit on holiday. Apparently Midorikawa had other ideas. He couldn't remember much of what happened that morning, he was sure he'd been half asleep as they both bundled themselves into a taxi cab at 7am to take them to their hotel. All he remembered was that it was dark and a little cold, and that his boyfriend had fallen asleep during the ride. At least that was something- Midorikawa had not slept throughout the entire gruelling twelve hour flight from Tokyo. Hiroto had fallen asleep pretty quickly, but his boyfriend didn't have much experience with planes; the earache was hard on him.

Upon entering their luxurious hotel suite the redhead had suggested he and his boyfriend go back to sleep for a few hours; after all for the two it was still six hours ahead, so they needed to try and adjust to Latvian time. Midorikawa had never experienced jet lag before- whilst Hiroto was slowly becoming a master over it.
"Did you sleep?" Hiroto asked, sitting up slowly.

His boyfriend shrugged his shoulders "Couldn't. But I'm okay, I think I'm just way too excited about this whole trip to be tired, I have so much stuff planned." He beamed down at the other "This place is so perfect!"
Midorikawa had never travelled outside of Japan before, never been to Europe, but he'd always wanted to as a kid. To be fair this entire trip had been pretty spontaneous for the vet, he figured if he was going to go anywhere with the man of his dreams it would be somewhere cliche like Paris or Venice- Riga had been a complete stab in the dark. A brilliant stab though.

"I wandered around the hotel this morning since there weren't many people up. Did you know there's a gym on the ground floor, and we have a private pool and there's even a jacuzzi tub in our bathroom!" He exclaimed, eyes lit up despite their obvious tiredness. "Though I'm not sure you'd be able to fit two people in it- a bit small."
His boyfriend just chuckled in response, of course he knew that- he booked the hotel after all.

Hiroto smiled, they'd been able to get a pretty good deal on the hotel considering how last minute they'd booked it. Even if they hadn't, Hiroto would've made sure to give his boyfriend a weekend to remember, for all the right reasons. Trips abroad were par for the course with Hiroto's work, and he was a well-travelled man; Bruges, Düsseldorf, Seville, San Francisco, you name it. Though he'd rarely been on any in the last year- it would be too lonely without someone to enjoy it with. He wanted to be able to share such a perk with the man he treasured most in his life. Midorikawa deserved the best.

It's not like he could not afford it; it was no secret that Hiroto had money, after all he held a high position in the Kira Group. He worked hard enough for it, no one could say he didn't deserve the benefits of it. But Hiroto was a good man at heart, never took more than he needed, put money back into company or give to worthy causes. Midorikawa wasn't exactly struggling, but his salary as a vet came nowhere near to the other. It would be nice for him to be able to actually do things he wanted, like go on a romantic, spontaneous holiday.

He pulled the other into a tight hug. "I'm glad you like it baby." Then he noticed something. "Ryuuji, you smell really nice." He remarked, kissing him softly in the lips. Midorikawa smiled through the kiss "Mm...I may have wandered down to the spa this morning..." he pulled away from his boyfriend, Kiyama's fingers reaching up to caress that soft luscious hair one more time. "Oh?"
Midorikawa chuckled and tapped the redhead's nose playfully. "Uh-huh, I got a massage and a facial." He remarked before standing up grinning down at his boyfriend. "You should get one too you know!"

A massage did sound nice, and Hiroto could sure do with some good old fashioned R&R; Ryuuji often fussed him about taking things slower with work. Aches and pains were starting to become more of a regular thing with Hiroto, though he was careful not to show it in front of his boyfriend. Maybe he should slow down, after all Midorikawa had always said that life was for living, not everything had to be about work work work.
"Oh that'll be room service!" Midorikawa said suddenly, alerting the other to the knocking on their bedroom door.

Hiroto sat up and rubbed his lower back as his boyfriend left to answer the door.
"I thought we could enjoy some brunch on the balcony." He called, opening the door and greeting the staff. "Sveiki, labrīt!"
"Right, I better get a shirt on then." Hiroto replied before fishing in his suitcase for something to wear; he didn't remember changing into pyjamas when he got to their room but clearly he must have.
"Paldies!" Midorikawa called as his boyfriend pulled a shirt over his messy bed head. Hiroto smiled inwardly as he got out of bed and opened the doors to their balcony, immediately being hit with the smell of fresh bread and the hustle and bustle of the small market square below them.

"You're good at that." He mentioned as Midorikawa laid the trays out between them on the small table. He blushed a little as he took his seat "It was only a few phrases, and I'm sure my pronunciation was all wrong. The spa was difficult too; they only had Latvian or English so I had to try and translate the English into Japanese first- I just ended up pointing at stuff and hoping for the best. Though it worked out I suppose! Yeah but I'm definitely not as good as you at languages, I wish I was then I wouldn't sound like such an idiot all the time-"
"-Ryuuji."

The green-haired man laughed awkwardly and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. 'Now you sound like such an idiot with all that rambling.' He hated the fact that he still got like this sometimes when the other spoke to him, or complimented him, or praised him for something. He just wished he could give a normal answer for once instead of turning into a rambling mess like always. He wished he could be as cool and collected as Hiroto.
"Ryuuji."
He looked up at the sound of his name to see the love of his life smiling so sweetly at him. Hiroto grabbed his hand, rubbing it ever so softly. "Ryuuji..." he whispered and Midorikawa could scarcely hear it over his heart that was beating so fast he was sure it would burst out of his chest any second. He couldn't believe Hiroto was still able to have such an effect on him, but to be honest he couldn't care, he loved the fact that Hiroto could make him feel this way, melt just at the sound of his voice, the softness of his touch. Hiroto was perfect.

"-Okay? You're brilliant Ryuuji, please don't put yourself down." Hiroto finished and Midorikawa just found himself nodding along even though he'd completely zoned out of what the other had been saying to him. He was too busy getting lost in the stunning eyes, watching those beautiful lips as his boyfriend spoke. Midorikawa figured what he must've been saying; probably telling him how amazing he was at the language, how quickly he'd picked it up, to be proud of himself and not compare himself to others- it's what Hiroto was constantly telling him. He did always try to listen, but doubts always plagued him. He wished he could be as confident as Hiroto.

"So...what's this then?"
A welcome distraction for Midorikawa. Hiroto knew how much his boyfriend detested talking about his insecurities; it would be better just to move on- and he was genuinely intrigued by the spread laid out before them. Midorikawa's eyes lit up, this was his moment to show off his local knowledge- or at least the local knowledge he'd crammed into his brain on that dreadful flight out here. He pointed to the plate "Well apart from the croissants everything else is traditional cuisine! These are called kotletes, a type of meatball, and there's sauerkraut, beetroot soup and rye bread. A glass of kefir and berry kūkas - strawberry and raspberry tarts! Apparently in the summer berry-picking is really big, and in autumn it's mushrooms!" He exclaimed, pointing to each of the foods in turn.

Hiroto nodded his head, picking up a slice of rye bread. "This is very nice Ryuuji. I'm-" he took a bite of the bread to stop himself; he'd wanted to say 'I'm impressed' but thought better of it. That might come off as talking down to him, he wouldn't want his beloved to feel like that- he wanted them to be equals. He sighed inwardly, maybe he was just overthinking? Relationships were hard.
Hiroto was a smart man, someone everyone came to for advice; but he didn't want his relationship with Midorikawa to be like that. He wanted them both to be able to learn from each other, surprise each other, for instance this whole trip- Midorikawa had suggested it so suddenly, and despite how 'cultured' Hiroto was he'd never been somewhere like Latvia before. He'd suggested they go somewhere a little closer to home, or somewhere the redhead had been before, but Ryuuji was just so excited that he couldn't help but sit back with a smile and watch his boyfriend plan everything for the two of them.

Hiroto was always a very organised person, but he let his boyfriend take the planning reins this time, determined to make sure Midorikawa would be able to do things only he wanted. Although Hiroto was still in charge of the important things, booking flights and hotels, since the other had seemingly forgotten about the logistics of actually getting to and staying in a foreign country.

"So what have you got planned for us today?" Hiroto asked once he and his boyfriend's bellies were full of delicious food. Midorikawa's eyes lit up to that beautiful sharp coal colour that he adored so much, such a dark smooth black but with little flecks of brown you could only see when the sun hit Midorikawa's face just right.
"One sec, I'll go get it!" Midorikawa explained, rushing off to find his diary as the other rested his chin on his hand, trying to think back to the first time he'd noticed how mesmerising Midorikawa's eyes were.

Midorikawa's handwriting wasn't very neat. It always made Hiroto chuckle- he supposed vets weren't far off from doctors after all.
"There's a couple things I want to do today. Most of them are in Riga though a couple are a little further afield but that's okay."
A couple- it was certainly more than that. Yes because despite how spontaneous the trip appeared, Midorikawa had actually gone away and done lots of research, meticulously planned every last detail to ensure they'd have a weekend to remember. And it was just supposed to be a weekend- barely that if you took into account the time difference, long flight time- maybe they should've taken more than a couple of days for this?

"I really want to see Vērmane Gardens, it's very pretty so I think it will be nice to walk around." Midorikawa explained, going through the notes in his very detailed itinerary. "Ooh and the Riga Art Nouveau Museum would be wonderful! And there's Riga zoo as well, and the International Museum of Vodka! If we go a little further afield we can visit the town of Liepaja, and we absolutely have to check out Rundāle Palace, it looked absolutely beautiful in the pictures I saw online."

Unfortunately for the two Midorikawa had underestimated exactly how many sites and activities they would be able to fit in in 48 hours.
That meant bungee jumping over the Gauja River Gorge was off the table- something Hiroto was not exactly upset about. He'd rather not flirt with death on his romantic weekend-away.

The green-haired man sighed and looked at his watch, no way in hell they would manage to get through so many things. "I should probably just cut our losses huh Kiyama?" He mumbled.
He cast his gaze down to the floor, a hint of embarrassment in his voice. "Sorry, I messed up again. I just really wanted this weekend to be special. I should've just let you plan it."
He felt Hiroto's soft fingers under his chin, lifting his face so their eyes met. "You didn't mess anything up Ryuuji." He said softly "It doesn't matter where we go, or what we do, as long as I get to spend time with you it will already be special. Because you're special Ryuuji, so very special to me."

Midorikawa could hardly hide the blush on his cheeks, why did Kiyama always have to be so romantic! He pushed the other away jokingly and wiped a small tear from his eye. "Did you practice that one Kiyama?" He asked, earning a small chuckle from the other. "No baby, it's just the truth."
Midorikawa puffed out his cheek a little, he didn't want to get anymore flustered. He brought his legs up to his chest and handed over his notebook. "Well...I'm at a loss, what do you think we should do?"

If Hiroto had been planning the trip he would've suggested they see a couple sites, maybe have dinner at a fancy restaurant, then just spend the rest of their downtime relaxing in the hotel. But he knew if he'd suggested that Midorikawa would've just agreed and gone along with it- he didn't want their relationship to be like that, he wanted Midorikawa to be confident to choose what he wanted to do for once. "I want whatever you want to do."
From the look on Midorikawa's face that was not the answer he wanted to hear. Once Midorikawa got embarrassed about something he would often curl up like that, it made Hiroto sad to see his boyfriend get so vulnerable about something as small as a to-do list. Midorikawa had always gotten like this, ever since they were kids.

Hiroto thought for a moment, why not just choose a few things that they'd both enjoy? "You love history, and I love art, so the Art Nouveau museum is a must, don't you think?" He said, watching Midorikawa's eyes brighten up just the tiniest bit. He carried on, tapping the notebook with a pen as he did so. "The zoo we can probably skip since it will most likely be quite crowded anyway, but it would be a terrible shame to miss the Palace so we have to go there." He offered, seeing the other's body language open up a little more, much to Hiroto's delight.
"And then...maybe to finish off we could go to the gardens? It could be prettier at sun set..." his boyfriend added softly.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea."
It was.
The two decided to visit the palace first as tour slots were limited. It was exceedingly beautiful, as opulent as Midorikawa had thought it would be. The group was very small which meant they were pretty much free to roam around at their leisure for a couple of hours- this suited the green-haired one perfectly as he spent the time gushing over the architecture and regaling his boyfriend was numerous historical facts. He was in his element, that was clear from his energetic and entertaining demeanour; this was what Hiroto had wanted to see- his boyfriend having a great time.

He loved the other's little facts, Ryuuji had always been fascinated with history- it came part and parcel with the famous sayings and proverbs he was known for. Hiroto used to sit on the other's bed when they were small; listening to Midorikawa read out of a big book on Ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, Medieval France, you name it. In fact Hiroto and the others were surprised their little friend hadn't chosen to study history at university. Midorikawa loved learning about the history of the world so much, it was part of the reason Hiroto was so keen for him to be able to travel- see all the places he'd only ever read about.

Kiyama was happy to just sit back and be taught by his boyfriend; knowledge was a very valuable asset after all, and it helped that his boyfriend had an amazing voice, of course.
Tour concluded, the two headed off for the museum, and now it was Hiroto's turn to dazzle his boyfriend with his knowledge (or at least his opinions) of art. Midorikawa knew next to nothing about art, other than that he thought Suzuno was pretty good at it; Hiroto was pretty good too- the pencil sketches to Suzuno's watercolour works. They were both so talented. And they'd both given it up to pursue 'proper' careers. It was a shame, really, Hiroto had such a soft, beautiful creativeness to him; a side he was never allowed to fully delve into.

"You getting tired huh?" Hiroto asked, pīrāgi-the couple's impromptu dinner- in his hands as they walked around Vērmane Gardens. Midorikawa nodded slowly, the lack of sleep clearly getting to him now. "Maybe...we could just...sit for a bit..." he drawled, already heading over to a small fountain at the end of their path. It was pretty late, 8.30pm, and the fountain had been switched off; Midorikawa wondered how beautiful it would have looked in the early morning, when the sun was just coming up.

"That's better..." he muttered, glad to be able to finally take the weight off his feet. "Come here baby..."
"You were right, it is beautiful Ryuuji..." Hiroto whispered softly, tracing the patterns carved into the stone absentmindedly- cherubs and angels. "We can just sit here...for a bit..." He heard the other say, Ryuuji's head resting on his shoulder as his eyelids fluttered closed.

Midorikawa wished they could stay like this forever, the warmth of their bodies, the sweet scent of flowers and trees, the cool freshness of water. The silence.
Hiroto felt the same. He loved his life, and loved it even more now that he had Ryuuji in it; but before coming out here he never realised how tired he really was. He'd always been a hard-worker, that was his life goal, his ethos, he wanted to make something of himself, make others proud of him. But that meant sacrifice. And God...he had sacrificed. Friends, family, opportunities, passions and things he loved. People he loved.
Midorikawa.
God...if he'd just told that man how he felt, how much his heart ached to be with him, the nights he lay awake thinking about him...if only he'd told him sooner...

"Kiyama..." Hiroto tilted his head to gaze at the wonderful man next to him. Midorikawa did not move, head still resting on the other's shoulder. They should get going. It was getting dark now, a few grey clouds hardly visible now against the black sky. "Okay." Was all Hiroto said. He didn't want to leave, he wanted to tell the other that he loved him, even though he'd said it a thousand times; it felt important, it was different. "Ryuuji..." He knew the other knew, but he still wanted to tell him.
"Your hands, they're like ice."
"I suppose they are...have we really been outside this long?..."
"Come here..." A back and forth, but still not the right words. They should get back to the hotel.

The softest of whispers, his hands buried deep in Hiroto's pockets as they both just stood there, not moving. "Kiyama..."
"Ryuuji..."
And suddenly the warmth of those hands was gone, instead replaced by arms outstretched towards the heavens. At the stars the glittered in the sky, at the moon which illuminated Midorikawa. An ethereal being, not of this world, Hiroto's own personal angel. "It's so pretty..."

"It's beautiful..." Hiroto replied, completely mesmerised. Here he was, standing in front of the most beautiful person in the whole wide world, the man he'd pined over for years. Nothing could be as perfect as this, little moment.
A kiss, barely there yet somehow the most passionate the two had ever shared. He needn't say the words, the kiss said it all:
I love you.
I'll never leave you.
I want to spend the rest of my life with you.

"I thought you were asleep."
Midorikawa chuckled, hand on his hip. "And that's an excuse?"
It was almost midnight now, the two had retired to the hotel, Midorikawa instantly falling fast asleep as soon as his body hit the soft bed. Hiroto had said he would come to bed soon, but Ryuuji had woken a few hours later, noticing the distinct lack of warmth his boyfriend usually provided.

"Kiyama, you're not supposed to be working, you're on holiday." The red haired man looked up from his laptop to see his boyfriend standing over him. "Ah I know, was just checking some emails is all. I promise."
Midorikawa bent down and kissed his forehead before smirking "I'm sure they can manage without you for two days." He said and the other couldn't help but feel a little guilty, he shut the laptop lid and stood up, hugging his boyfriend tightly "You're right, I'm sorry."

Hiroto really could do with loosening up a little. Maybe they should spend tomorrow in the spa? He pulled away from the other, about to suggest the idea when he noticed the pale grey hoodie his boyfriend was sporting.

"Is that?..." he pointed to the hoodie Ryuuji was currently snuggled in. "Suzuno's?"
Midorikawa pursed his lips, burying his hands in the pockets. "I will neither confirm nor deny that to be the case."
Hiroto chuckled, pulling the other close to him "Oh right, it was you who went to Tsuji culinary school wasn't it. My mistake." He said smugly, motioning towards the embroidered red letters in the top right.

"So mayyybe I might have accumulated a couple...of Suzuno's clothes." The other admitted, stroking through his boyfriend's bright red hair. A couple? It was more like a collection by now.
"But it's not my fault the man keeps forgetting to ask for them back. Though...I'd be quite sad to part with these babies, they're all so soft and smell of potpourri! It's not my fault." He pouted down at the other.
Hiroto sent him a small chuckle "He probably doesn't even realise they're gone."
They both laughed.

"Ah, I'm gonna take a shower baby, okay? Then I'll join you, I promise." Hiroto said, kissing the other chastely on the cheek. They'd spent pretty much the whole day walking around, his muscles were definitely in need of rest. Midorikawa just hummed in response, treating Hiroto to a final kiss on the lips before flopping onto the bed.

However when Hiroto returned, his boyfriend was nowhere to be found.
"Ryuuji?" The redhead called, there was no response. Before he could ponder where his boyfriend had disappeared to his text alert went off:

Come to the pool x

He opened the door to the pool just as he saw Midorikawa lower himself into the crystal blue water. The other locked eyes with the redhead before reaching up slowly, taking his hair down from its loose bun, green locks cascading over his shoulders. "Care to join me Kiyama?" He asked, a sultry hint in his voice.
Hiroto could barely speak. His boyfriend just looked so...magical, stunning, beautiful. He wasn't even aware of his feet walking towards the edge of the pool, eyes still staring at that beautiful face, that beautiful body.
His body.
Hiroto had not expected that.

"The pool is ours." Midorikawa explained, swimming backwards a little to give Hiroto enough room to get in. But the other did not move. Midorikawa reached a hand out "Well? You gonna join me or just stare keep staring at me?" He asked hurriedly. He was beginning to feel doubt creep in- maybe this was a bad idea?
However good he'd felt about himself in the last few minutes quickly evaporated, he grabbed his shoulders self-consciously, turning his head to the side as a pink blush began to spread all over his face. "Ah never mind it was stupid! A stupid idea sorry!" He confessed quickly, moving further backwards- the water sloshing about as he did so.

'Of course it's a terrible idea! Skinny-dipping?!' It's not as though they hadn't seen each other naked before, but those times had always been as the result of obvious reasons- this wasn't one of those times! 'It's just so tasteless! Not to mention it's way too forward, what is he gonna think?! You're making yourself seem so desperate!' The criticisms were never ending, only making him feel even worse.
For once Midorikawa just wanted to feel like the sexy one. Hiroto was always sexy, clothes on or off, even doing something as mundane as writing reports or doing the washing up there's was just a charm that he had, the confidence, the personality, the body, the eyes; it all came together to produce the most perfect, sexy man-all for Midorikawa.
Ryuuji would never be able to match such a standard, not with a body like his. He was just embarrassing himself.

Hiroto had recently started going to the gym with Nagumo (less so now that his friend had a child), the other redhead had always been a bit of a gym rat, always working on his muscles, but Hiroto instead just wanted it stay in shape. He'd always been an active child but with as long and stressful his desk job was it was nice to be able to let off some steam every now and again. But for Midorikawa it was more than that. No- to Midorikawa, Hiroto had a perfect body, he didn't need to change anything.

Midorikawa needed to change. Midorikawa was self-conscious of his body. It's not as though he wasn't physically fit, but he always felt he could not compete with Nagumo, Suzuno and the others. Whenever they played football as kids he would always push himself too hard to try and catch up. He would exhaust himself, end up feeling faint or throw up. He was constantly beating himself up about it, constantly trying to be better.
Nothing had changed. He still felt as weak and scrawny as he'd felt as a child. He was just embarrassing himself.

Hiroto knew this, he knew how little self-confidence Midorikawa had, despite the way he presented himself to the outside world.

"Ryuuji."
He hadn't even noticed when Hiroto got in, when he'd gotten so close that he was able to place those warm hands on his face.
"Forgive me for staring Ryuuji, I was just so mesmerised by how sexy you looked."
Midorikawa looked up, eyes meeting with those gorgeous pools of teal. Sexy? Hiroto thought he was sexy? "Wha?" Was all he managed to stumble out. His boyfriend smiled softly at him "I don't say it enough, but you're really sexy Ryuuji, seriously. Beautiful too."

The green-haired man just hugged his shoulders tighter "It was a stupid idea! You didn't have to do it too, we can just get back into our shorts..."
Hiroto grabbed a hold of the other's shoulders gently "No, this is fun." He laid a hand on the other's damp hair. "It's good to have a little fun sometimes, right?"
"...Fun?" Ryuuji muttered, arms slowly lowering as he leant into his boyfriend's soft caress. Hiroto swam back a little "Yes, fun... Like this!" He splashed the other with water, laughing heartily. "You- brat!" Midorikawa spluttered, sending wave of water straight back, drenching the other. And thus, a splashing war commenced.

"Come back here!" the redhead yelled, swimming after his boyfriend. "Got you!"
Midorikawa giggled as the other grabbed him by the waist, lifting him partially out of the water. He laughed again, wrapping his arms loosely around Hiroto's neck, connecting their lips together in a passionate kiss. The redhead smiled throughout, placing his boyfriend slowly on the pool floor, Ryuuji pulled him down to his height more, wrapping one leg around him and deepening the kiss. Hiroto's hand soon found itself entangled into that silky soft hair, the other one gripping tighter onto Midorikawa's waist.
Just as things were about to get more heated, both their ears pricked up to a rather loud, annoying sound.

"Mmm Ryuuji?-" Hiroto asked through the kiss, immediately recognising it to be his boyfriend's ringtone. Midorikawa detached himself with a sigh and swam over to his phone which was lying neatly on his towel. He dried his hands, picking it up when he saw the caller's name. "It's Hitomiko-nee-san. What could she want right now?"
"Hello?" He asked curiously, pressing the speaker button.

"Hello Ryuuji. I tried calling Kiyama, but you know how he is, never answers his phone-"
Hiroto frowned a little- that wasn't an entirely fair statement to make. It wasn't as though he didn't care for his friends, he was simply always so busy with work that he hardly had any time to get back to missed calls, he always forgot to call back. Maybe Midorikawa was right? Maybe he should slow down with work a bit? It would be nice to have the pressure off for once.
"I'm right here nee-san, what do you need?" He asked, swimming over and wrapping his arms loosely across Ryuuji's shoulders.

Hitomiko's voice sounded far away and distant, like she was busy looking for something. "Remind me, you have some of the old camping stuff right? I thought we still had it but I can't find them all."
The redhead kicked his legs up into a floating position, causing his boyfriend to chuckle. "I'm sure I do. They're tucked away in the house somewhere." He replied. He'd been planning on taking Midorikawa up to Mount Yoshino some time ago, it would be just the two of them, camping under the stars. He would've confessed to Midorikawa then- that had been his plan. But it hadn't turned out that way.

He didn't mind though.
"Ah wonderful. We're taking some of the older ones up to Mount Yoshino next weekend." She explained, the two men smiling fondly at the memories of those camping trips when they were small.
"That'll be great fun!" Ryuuji mused "We could bring them to you sometime next week? Right Kiyama?" He asked, the other nodding. "That's fine with me. Although I think some of the sleeping bags could do with replacing, so I'll do that before we bring them over."

"Thanks, I appreciate that you two. I hope you're having a nice time out there as well." Hitomiko said lightly. "I keep telling Kiyama he needs to take it easy every once in a while." She continued, to which Midorikawa made a noise of acknowledgement. Then her voice took on a strange turn. Strange because she had always been quite a stern (maybe matter-of-fact was a better word?), she'd certainly changed quite a bit in the last few years- seemed a lot friendlier. Hiroto and the others supposed that this was down to most of the original Sun Garden children reaching adulthood- she'd certainly found her stride. Hiroto was glad for it. He loved seeing her happy.

Still it was always strange to see this side of her come to the forefront. "A romantic weekend away sounds fun...make sure you two stay safe yes?"
Midorikawa didn't even try and hide his embarrassment.
"W-what do you mean?! Hitomiko-nee-san!!! W-why would you even t-tthink that that-!"
Hiroto uncontrollably burst out laughing, admittedly out of nerves and second-hand embarrassment, only adding to the awkwardness of the entire exchange.

"I'm just saying- regarding travel to a foreign country of course..." A tiny laugh poorly masked in Hitomiko's voice, making the couple squirm even more.
Midorikawa replied shakily, wishing the ground would just swallow him up. "O-of course!" Anything but this.
Hiroto, having finally been able to get the reflex under control, figured it was probably time to end their little conversation, nice as it was.
"Well it was nice speaking to you but we have to-"
"-we have to go now! Bye Hitomiko-nee-san!" Ryuuji finished, ending the call with shaky hands before she could torment them further.

For a moment neither of them- both completely red in the face- dared to say anything.
That was torture, absolute torture!
Finally, Midorikawa spoke up, voice still shaking. He turned to look at the other slowly. "Hey...you don't think that...Nagumo told her that..." he trailed off, shuddering slightly at the memory of that particular encounter with Nagumo- and the threat that followed.

Hiroto pulled the other close to him, a light chuckle falling from his lips. "Not with the dirt I have on him, he wouldn't dare."
Midorikawa gave him a sly smile, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend's shoulders. "What exactly did happen in Osaka?"
Hiroto grinned. "That, is a story for another time..."

((Whoop finally got around to this one, I could not ignore it any longer! I feel it's a vast improvement from before so I hope you all like it :) I feel it's a lot more in character now and more realistic too, I had to do lots of research!

Some translations:
Sveiki, labrīt! - Hello, good morning!
Paldies! -Thank you!
(Speka) pīrāgi- (bacon) pies))