Nagihiko hobbled slowly into the coffee shop, careful not to place too much weight on his tender ankle but too stuborn for a crutch. If he'd actually walked the entire way he would have grabbed the one he rarely had to use, but Aunty was going shopping anyway. If he listened, he could hear the engine of her ancient Beatle chugging down the road.
He waits in line, Temari and Rhythm perched on either shoulder. The youngest of the two looks downcast while the eldest organzes the contents of her sleaves.
"It'll be okay." The words are calm and assuring, but he takes as much comfort out of them as the charas do. "It's a light sprain. A couple weeks off my feet and I'll be fine."
He gets to the front of the line and orders. Coffee still isn't something he indulges much in, and the last time he'd had some had actually been in the same cafe. And soon he'll be joined by the person who had been there with him.
He takes his number and leans against the wall, playing a game on his phone.
This is perhaps the first time in weeks his schedule hadn't been insanely busy. He wonders if the rolling of his ankle hadn't been a subconcious decision. He's worried, yes, but there'd been so many practices, so many performances. He had a few more shows taped and edited, some by professionals and others by media students, and maybe he'd find a way to sneak it into Kukai's things. You know. Just in case he wanted to watch.
So yes, finally, he's home. And finally, unless something happens between now and the very soon then, he'll get to see Kukai. But he still feels weird and restless. This is the first time since the Wrist Sprain of '13 that he isn't traveling or part of the show.
There were monsters in the darkness. Villains, plotting wickedness. Thugs and criminals intent on their crimes. And none of that mattered to Kukai, despite this being the day when he was previously going to patrol, because Nagihiko was in town and free for the evening and had hurt himself. The mix of various sorts of nerves in Kukai's stomach were interesting, to say the least.
The cafe on the north side of King Penguin Park is still doing quite well, gourmet coffee still being a rarity in Japan, but Kukai finds it in his heart and wallet to stop by once a month or so. It reminded him of the first time he'd been here, and ended up chasing Nadeshiko down the street. And the other times they'd been here. It was almost as much a player in their interactions as the two of them were.
The building looms up in the distance as Kukai approaches, but he doesn't see any purple hair inside. Still, he opens the door, entering and looking around, and immediately his eyes latch onto Nagihiko, leaning against the wall. Even the lovely scent of strong coffee can't distract him as he goes over to Nagi and grins. "Hey... is it safe to hug you? You said you were hurt, but.."
He jerks out of whatever subspace pocket of reality his brain had entered at the sound of Kukai's voice. His face splits into a wide, happy grin as he answers Kukai's question with an almost forceful hug. And there's one long, contented sigh before muscles knotted with worry loosen.
He pulls back a little, the smile less bright but it's still there in his eyes. "It's only a sprained ankle. I'm sorry if I worried you."
While part of him had considered coming as Nadeshiko, because it's easier to be a girl on a date with a guy than a guy on a date with a guy, he's happy he doesn't have to pretend to be bashful and shy for the public eye.
But the bad thing about being here as Nadeshiko is his masks aren't as in place as they could be. There's a flicker of worry in his eyes, because its his ankle and his feet are his livelihood.
But instead of calling it up verbally, he snugs against Kukai's arm, just happy to be here. "I've been craving coffee almost as much as being with you. Think this week's special will be good?"
Kukai grins as Nagihiko jerks back to reality, but then lets out a surprised and happy 'ack' as the purple haired boy wraps his arms around him with surprising strength. His own arms go around Nagihiko's middle, hugging him back almost as tightly. That long, contented sigh is enough to send a warm, excited shiver through Kukai, that sound from Nagi that signifies 'I missed you and wanted to be with you and now I'm here.'
Kukai leans back and then winces at the announcement, especially since he catches that flicker of worry. He knows how much Nagihiko's legs and feet mean to him. "Oh, honey. No, it's ok. That's not good... But it'll recover, I know it will."
He hugs Nagi close as he snuggles in, grinning like a fool. Best feeling ever. "Yeah, I'm sure it will be. It's always good. Did you order one for me or should I go add mine to yours?"
Nagihiko's answering smile to Kukai's proclamation is a small smile, one that could be mistaken for as shy. In moments like these, that embarassing part of him decides that if things don't turn out okay, they still would be okay just as long as this boy was around.
Not that he'd say that out loud, of course. Maybe if he was absolutely certain no one else was around, but between his small but nosey family and Kukai's large and very nosey family, those moments were few and far between.
"I ordered a caraff of it. I wasn't sure how long you'd be, so just in case. And if you were going to be longer than expected, well, I can risk being jittery every now and then."
Speaking of, his name is called and he hobbles forward. On the tray is indeed a caraff and two mugs, and of course the tea part of him refuses to have a warm drink without something to nibble on. Small little pastreys that were more creamy and savory than sweet sat in a uniform little pyramid on a saucer.
He picks up the tray and tilts his head a little. "But if you wanted something else, you could get it. More for me and all that, or something."
Kukai grins back at that small, heartfelt smile, still hugging him for a long moment before leaning back. As far as he knew, everything was going to be all right in any case. He wouldn't say it in public (or in most private situations) but he always felt things were going to be all right whenever he was around Nagihiko. Not that things weren't going to be all right anyway, but instead of having moments of worry and terror and concern, with Nagi around he knew it was all going to be all right. But just like Nagihiko, saying that around Auntie, or heaven forbid his brothers, was a bit more than he could bear to handle.
"Oooh. A whole carafe for us? Awesome. And I actually threw off a bunch of things to get here faster than maybe I should have, but.." He gives Nagihiko a long look of blushing happiness, the sort that says 'it wasn't as important as this.'
However, when Nagihiko's name is called, Kukai is right there besides him, reaching out to try and take the tray. "Hey, here, let me have that. If your ankle gives out on you you'll throw hot coffee all over the cafe and you'd make them have to clean it up. C'mon, just lead us to somewhere to sit and we can talk about the past few weeks."
One of these days, the two will exchange theories on whether Aunty or Kukai's brothers were worse. (Aunty had legit winked at Nagihiko as he'd crawled out of her antequated vehicle.)
Nagihiko's blush reflects Kukai's and he grins. "Well, at this moment I'm almost glad for the whole..." He gestures both hands toward his ailing ankle.
And then he's grumbling. "Sure, fine. Use logic on me." He grumbles as he searches for a table. FOrtunately it's not too crowded, so finding one near a window that also provides some semblemce of privacy wasn't hard. He wobbles a bit as he spins toward Kukai on his good foot. "Tada!"
And of course, because he's stubborn, as soon as the tray is on the table he's pouring coffee into mugs and serving up the light nibbling snacks.
Well, stubborness and it's what he's been doing since his diaper days.
"So what all have I missed?"
Kukai would probably say Aunty was scarier. That's his opinion, anyway. He nods after a moment and then grins. "Yeah, but your adoring fans are missing you, I'm sure. You only had, what, a couple more weeks?" He winces. "Or had somebody planned on having you dance all the way up to Christmas or something?" There's a blank thought on his face for a second - he'd forgotten until now to actually shop for Nagihiko. Or his brothers. Or their friends. Or anybody. Oops.
He sets the tray on the table, then winces at Nagi. "Be careful, or you'll really hurt yourself. At least spin on the other foot." And then Nagihiko is fixing the tray and preparing things - Kukai just rolls his eyes and lets him work, sitting down in the booth.
"Um. Hmm. Amu finally got over being sick. Tadase has been practically wrecked with how busy he's been. I've been patrolling and doing that sort of thing - Oh. One good bit of news, a bunch of us separated Shiniko from her Shadow Book." He stops for a moment, thinking, then shrugs. "Did you know that Shiniko was Sora? Explains a whole lot, in a way. I haven't seen her since then, though. I wanted to destroy the book, but I got overruled." He thinks. "Several people in town have been having weird Puella based dreams. Or nightmares. Or something like that. I don't know a lot about it. And I met a new magical girl - young, don't panic, unless her friend gets another 5-6 years on her and stops crushing on her suddenly and then you're in serious trouble - named Sakura. She uses magical cards. Or chases magical cards. Or uses magic made of cards. Something like that. Oh, and I met another girl who uses her tennis racket as magic. I think." He rubs his head. "I think that's everything I've been aware of."
He blushes again and bites his cheek at the thought of having fans. It's both humbling and an incredible ego boost. "Well, I think there will be offers of either full or partial refunds for those who go to see me. And there's talk of something around Christmas, but those are always in Tokyo anyway."
And that's okay, Kukai. Nagihiko hasn't exactly had time to shop, either. And yours will probably be last. Oop.
He sticks his tongue out at the admonishment but is careful.
He listens as he serves everything up, nodding and humming where appropriate. His eyebrows shoot up high at the news about Shiniko and Sora, though. Then he thinks back to the climax of the Daichi/Lady's Man Fiasco. "Makes...an odd sort of sense, if you think about it."
And then a very wry arch of a single eyebrow. "Or maybe you'd be the one in trouble." He flips his hair, but he nods along.
He cups his hands around his mug and takes a sip. So. Good.
"I'm glad Amu's feeling better."
And then he remembers that they haven't really talked about that since the dance. He studies one of the small pastry with Much Interest. "I knew about the Thing...It probably would have went better if I'd...well, you know. Interfered or something."
Stupid Best Friend Clause.
Kukai nods, then grins. "Well. If you're well enough at that point - and I'm not sure you will be, so don't push yourself - maybe I'll let you go dance." He sticks his tongue back out at Nagihiko, then takes a sip of his coffee. "oooh. That is very good."
He sighs. "Not really odd, but yeah." He blinks at Nagihiko, then laughs. "Maybe. And yeah, I am too. She's still taking it easy, though, but... I mean, as easy as Amu ever does." The next bit, though, confuses Kukai quite a bit. "The... Thing?" He scoots in a little closer to Nagihiko. "What thing? I dunno what you're talking about. What's going on?"
He snorts. "I'll be sure to get your okay on that." His voice is light and amused, but he knows that at the very least, Kukai's second opinion on the matter would be a good thing. He likes to think he can dance through anything. Or if nothing else, dancing off an injury would make it better. (Even if he knows this is BS.)
He sighs then, and shifts. "I knew about Lacrima. I was going to keep an eye on...everything, but I didn't really do the best job of that."
He shifts a little. "She told me not to tell. And on paper, that's the sort of thing you're supposed to agree to. Right?"
Kukai grins and nods at Nagihiko. "You'd better or I'll end up sitting on you until your leg heals. And that wouldn't be any fun for either of us."
And then... Nagihiko says that he knew about Lacrima and Amu. Kukai looks at him for a long minute, then sighs and shrugs. "I'm not mad at you, Nagi. It's not the smartest thing she's ever done, but it was something she did. And in the long run hopefully she'll stop now. It's a screwy thing, but her heart was in the right place. If it's not I'll rearrange it." He grins at the purple haired dancer. "And yeah, it is. I found out on my own. I guess next time we'll have to make the decision then."
Nagihiko's mouth opens and closes, and after a few times of this he's able to hide his grin in his mug but not his blush. "Well, sounds fun to me."
And then a bit of the stress he's been holding for the past month and more melts away. "Well. If she doesn't, maybe we can get Tadase to sit on her until she behaves. But I still say that's not the best threat certain people can make."