Realistic or Modern -- kissin' strangers [ sunghee x s0ybean ]

[sunghee]

xx

thriving in the gourmand's paradise of osaka lies two boys. muse a exists in an ideal life whereas muse b stacks up on piggy banks. while muse b seems to be disadvantageous in life, muse a struggles with bullies due to his recluse nature. muse b sees this as an advantage and thus befriends muse a to protect him.

however, their friendship unexpectedly blossoms into something pure and authentic. they're inseparable throughout high school. so close, in fact, that they were on the brink of confessing their feelings towards one another... until one day, muse b ups and disappears without a word or trace.

years fly by. muse b comes back. they finally see each other, but their reunion is not one to expect:

muse a is kissing the lips of another.

cs . ooc​

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[sunghee]

...
Tsumugu Isaki
​

Can I trust you again?​

.

...

Brown hues like burnt umber clashed against cooler tones of saltwater upon direct eye contact. Pools of light drew organic shapes on naturally tanned skin when creatures within the massive tank stirred in their wake. Much like the glittering scales of the fish, precious memories of his youth flashed vividly in his imagination. This aquarium became a fond reminder of the day they spit swore to stay friends forever. A scoff erupted from his broad chest of how foolish that presently sounded. Tsumugu should have known better not to settle on ridiculous vows. Neverthless, exchanging them a second time meant seeing him again.

He had questions that demanded answers, ergo his high hopes to see his best friend once more. Not a day went by where Tsumugu sat at his desk and wondered where'd he been all this time. If the hands of a grandfather clock could turn back easily, then why couldn't time as well? That way, those words he held in all those years wouldn't result in pain and regret periodically devouring his soul. Maybe, just maybe, if they hadn't met at all...

"... Isaki?" A familiar voice brought the dazed man back to reality. Tsumugu perked his head up with doe-like eyes, causing the other to chuckle in amusement. The teacher pouted as his date pinched his cheek playfully, finding his innocent stupor adorable. "Are you alright? You seem surprised!" A shake of his head was Tsumugu's answer. "Well, it's about to close soon, so let's go to the park now. The festival is starting tonight!" His date exclaimed while leading him to the exit by grabbing his sleeve. Tsumugu smiled, though he frowned to glance over his shoulder before leaving. Watching the double doors slowly imprison the radiant blue tank within darkness gave the ominous notion that it was about time...

... time to let go of the past.

Both men merrily walked to the park where festivities would start soon. For kicks and giggles, his date challenged Tsumugu to race him up a grassy hill. Reaching the top first, Tsumugu rested on the grass with his chin pointed to the sky. Stars like milky speckles were held in his gaze when a lantern floated up towards the crescent moon. Clumps of paper lamps followed suite after his date tiredly plopped down by his side. "There you go again with your mouth open..." Teased his date with a gentle murmur as he leaned closer. Obviously spacing out again, Tsumugu turned his head to ask what the other had said. Words never left his mouth as tender lips met his. Timing couldn't have been more effective as fireworks were ignited all around, illuminating every shadow of the park with beautiful colors.

Tsumugu peeked his eyes open when their kiss was broken for air. Before breaking out in a bashful tantrum, out of his peripheral vision stood a man that seemed so familiar to Tsumugu. Where did he come from? What did he see? Who was he?

That's when Tsumugu realized he recognized those troubled eyes. They made him speechless, more so than the surprise kiss.

After all, you can't forget a face that had been the light in your darkness.

"What? You know him?" His date broke the underwhelming silence.

"Yes," Tsumugu replied.

"Well then, who?"

"Seijo Agishi."

A long, painful pause.

"C-Can you give us a moment, please..?" Telling his date to give them privacy and waving him off, Tsumugu turned his attention back to Seijo. He waited for his best friend to say something quickly-- anything at all, because emotions were wrecking too much havoc in his shattered soul to speak up again.

code by pasta​

 

[Clouds]

Seijo Agishi

Seijo had moved back to Tokyo not that long ago due to a better situation for his shop. In the small town that he lived in, they didn’t appreciate tattoos and shunned them, meaning that he didn’t have much business. It was kind of like he was forced to move back to his home city. The place where he grew up in, created memories and… disappeared. He had his reasons but he could’ve left with at least an explanation to his friends. He regretted to have left like that but he didn’t have another choice. They didn’t have the time to say their goodbye to everyone and left in the morning, only the neighbours knew about it.

Today there wasn’t school for his daughter so she went to her father’s work, but she was mostly occupied in her “rainbow corner” where other employees played with her once in a while. He got nagged at by other parents who said that it wasn’t a place to bring a child but he didn’t care as she was never in any danger there. Actually, she was more protected in the parlour than at home even. Nobody dared to even rob a tattoo shop in the first place, seeing the people who worked there and the customers. They shouldn’t be taken lightly at all. One tried to pick a fight but cooled off pretty quick as he saw that he was pissing everyone off and not just one person.

But, the later it got, the more Nanae seemed to become impatient. Eventually when there were no more customers for the moment, she ran up to her dead with one of her stuffed animals, a wide grin to be seen. ”Can we go to the festival? They have goldfish ! Please dad…” She said with a pout, making him unable to resist her. One could say that she was his absolute weakness and they were right. He nodded and ruffled through her hair before getting up and leaving the place to the others until closing time which was not that far away anymore. They didn’t mind and told them to enjoy themselves.

The two of them first went home to change into more suitable clothes and went off towards the festival. Nanae was wearing her kimono, her bunny in one hand and the other was holding Seijo’s. Seijo was wearing more western clothes, a white shirt that let others see his fit body with some black jeans and shoes. Once they arrived, they saw a lot of stuff going on, lots of stalls that contained food, toys, souvenirs, etc. There was something for everyone. Eventually they went to the goldfishes and tried to scoop one up but the net broke constantly, making them slightly sad as they didn’t manage to get one after 4 turns. They had to give up.

A squeaky voice called out Nanae her name, which made the both of them turn around, only to see it was one of her classmates. Seijo chuckled and allowed Nanae to go with the other girl and her parents. He was craving for a smoke as he hadn’t had one since this morning. He went more to the outskirts of the festival where the grass started again. He put on his cigarette and smiled as the smoke circulated his mouth, before breathing out again. However he didn’t expect the sight in front of him at all. Two men kissing one another. But that was not what shocked him, he was shocked by who it was.

When the male came walking towards him, he tried to relax as much as possible as this was going to be quite… awkward. They hadn’t seen one another at all after he moved away. The silence was heavy on his conscience, but it didn’t stop him from taking in the appearance of the other. ”Long time no see, Isaki.” He broke the silence with that as it became heavier with the seconds. ”You changed your looks quite a bit. Let’s say… more mature?” He commented with a light grin but it disappeared just as quickly as he didn’t know how to act around this guy anymore.

 

[sunghee]

...
Tsumugu Isaki
​

Can I trust you again?​

.

...

The man subconsciously flinched when his surname was spoken, almost as if a stranger had tabs on him when Tsumugu knew nothing at all. This threw him off balance since stability was in his nature. Elevating up and down the stature of his friend, he noticed few variances of his appearance. His friend was never scrawny as Tsumugu was in the past, however he never expected him to become more slim than buff. Toned is a fitting word. Pupils then settled on his western-styled clothes. Not that it was unusual considering they lived in modern times, but the outfit was foreign to him.

Sadly, so was Seijo.

A small cough blew away the smoke trail ghosting up from the cigarette Seijo held. Since when did he smoke? Compared to the shift in the wind's direction, Tsumugu's emotions veered from confusion to bitterness. What was so important to his friend that he couldn't receive a text or call back from him? He could have believed in the worst. Really, anyone could when you completely severed ties with someone you trusted your entire life with. Despite years of not hearing back from him once, Tsumugu never gave up him, and he didn't know why. What he did know was that he was torn between loving or hating the man he once knew and grew fond of.

"Yeah.. you too, Agishi." He'd stare at the grass in hopes of finding something interesting there. It was better than gawking at that face. "I, uh.. yeah, I guess I changed too." Glancing in time to see the gentle grin, the teacher suddenly narrowed his arched brows. With that facial expression alone became the catalyst to precipitate his pent-up anger. "...How could you leave me like that?" A sort of hiss after his question added to Tsumugu's stingy attitude.

"'Long time no see'? It's been years since I've seen you. What about saying 'Oh, I'm sorry I haven't contacted you'? I don't give two shits if you had bad connection o-or you didn't want to be friends with me anymore, but that's something you couldn't even do!" Baffled, Tsumugu ran a hand through his styled hair to clench thick locks tightly. He couldn't even speak in a fluent manner, voice faltering with minor stutters.

Frowning made his soft face harsher and almost terrifying. "Do you know how it feels to have someone you looked up to run away without saying a word?" Tsumugu felt his heart clench and rib cage tighten. Unbeknownst to the teacher, tears were on the brink of trickling down his flushed cheeks. How embarrassing this was for an introvert. He did another thing that surprised himself: Tsumugu walked up to Seijo and grabbed him by the collar.

He had to stop and think. Was he taking this too far?

Their breaths intermingled, his of minty scent. All he did was stare at him directly in the eyes. The angry man's heated rant drew in sharp inhales and deep exhales. Tsumugu nearly lost himself exploring his face within chocolate hues, holding his gaze steady before rearing back and letting go. He caught a tear from falling with his sleeve, masking away not just his weeping, but his lingering feelings he harbored for Seijo as well.

Then, after all sounds ceased, he spoke in a slow whisper.

"Seijo," Tsumugu said his name, "I waited so long.. for you."

code by pasta​

 

[Clouds]

Seijo Agishi

Once the other coughed because of the smoke from his cigarette, he held it a little lower so the wind wouldn’t blow it his way anymore. It was rude if he didn’t do anything about it after noticing it. He wasn’t a bad guy. But he was a jerk, a big one at that as he left his friend all by himself in high school without even looking back. He regretted it, yet there wasn’t anything that he could do to change the past. He didn’t have that kind of power inside of him and honestly, he didn’t want it as it would make things even more complicated in the end. It was better to just remain the present and do what was possible.

When Isaki exploded, he didn’t say anything and let the other ramble on. It had to get off the man his chest now, that much he knew. Especially now that they had the chance and saw each other after a long, long time. He nodded slightly as he agreed with what the man was saying, he couldn’t deny it. The stuttering though made him feel even worse about it. There were so many things that he could say and do in order to calm the other down but he didn’t. He didn’t deserve to be pitied upon by telling his background and what had happened as to why he had to move away so abruptly.

The part of looking up to Seijo himself, was like a slap in the face as he didn’t feel like the other would think that way about him at all. He never did anything to have deserved that kind of respect from his friend. Not then, not now. There were so many things that he messed up, both in school as well as outside of it. Having trouble to keep a steady job once they found out that he was kind of a delinquent in school. They fired him almost immediately as he didn’t give any response. It was the truth so why would he lie about it. That was why he started working in a tattoo shop as they didn’t really care too much about it and looked at the present. Hence the reason why he set up his own parlour. A place where “different” people could go to.

Blinking rapidly as he was grabbed by the collar, almost dropping his cigarette on the sand. Tilting his head to the side as he noticed the man tearing up, though wiped it away as soon as he felt it. One however managed to escape. Seijo reached out and wiped another tear away with his thumb. His face more serious, flinging his cigarette into the small pond. Yes, he knew it was a bad thing to do but it was burning up anyway and there wasn’t a bin in the neighbourhood.

”I’m sorry.” He responded as there wasn’t anything else that he could say. ”I’m sorry for having kept you in this state for so long. I didn’t know that I caused you this much pain…” His words were sincere, meaning every single one of them. But then, a squeaky voice called out to him: Dad. He looked in the direction of where the sound came from and smiled lightly. Nanae ran towards him, making Seijo push the hands of Isaki away so his collar would be free. Just then he caught her as she made a jump, making sure that the way he was holding her wouldn’t make her drop on the ground before looking back at Isaki. ”This is my daughter Nanae. The both of us make a great team.” He introduced her with a chuckle as he noticed the small frown on her because of the way Isaki grabbed him before.