Surprise! A Kai x Aichi Story

4. Aichi, Put Down that Bottle

Kai and Gaillard were having a leisurely breakfast in their studio apartment back in France the next Saturday morning, the American promotional tour having ended. Gaillard had gone out for coffee and croissants earlier, Kai's chocolate, and his plain, (true Frenchman style). They were both half-watching the news.

Kai's phone rang. He threw a lazy sideways glance at Gaillard. "Toss me that, would you?"

Gaillard picked it up from the coffee table, and glanced at it. His face lit up. "Hey, it's Aichi!" He hit the button to answer the call, and happily said, "Hey, Aichi! Mon Ami, how are you?" Kai sat up a bit and waved his fingers, asking wordlessly for his phone.

"Yes! Of course you didn't wake us up, we are men of industry, not leisure!" Gaillard laughed into the phone. "Yes...No....ummmm." There was a pause of thirty seconds or so, while Gaillard just listened. He looked a little alarmed over at Kai, who sat up straighter. "Aichi....you haven't been drinking have you?" Gaillard asked.

Gaillard jumped up and hopped away over the table in the same moment that Kai's eyes widened and he shot up, lunging at Gaillard for his phone. Gaillard gleefully grinned as he held the phone up and away, while yelling "Way to go, mon ami, broaden your horizons! Last time you drank you caught Kai, now who knows what you can upgrade to!" He collapsed to the floor with hilarity as Kai caught up to him, thwapped the back of his head and grabbed the phone out of his hand.

"Aichi," Kai said, low and focused into his phone. "Where are you? Okay. Good." He sighed in exasperation. "Why...?" He listened intently for a minute. "Listen to me. I'm glad you want to talk about our relationship, but I'm not glad you feel like getting half drunk is the only way you can get through it. I don't want to set that precedent, I want to do this right." He paced around the room, ignoring Gaillard who was sitting on the floor, rapt with attention, arms wrapped around his knees with a grin on his face. "Are you listening? Alright, you are to make a strong cup of tea. Not that chamomile shit you like, use my Earl Grey. Then take it into the bathroom, and take a bath, not too hot." He listened for a moment. "I don't care if the dorm bathtub is gross. Sober up, think about what you want to talk about, and I will call you in an hour. You with me?"

After a moment he sighed, said, "Okay. Talk to you soon," and ended the call.

Kai closed his eyes, tilted his head up toward the ceiling and let out a long shaky sigh as he ran both hands through his disheveled hair. He opened them and looked at Gaillard. "He drank half the bottle of the wine you made me take for Thanksgiving that we never got around to opening."

Gaillard got off the floor and sat on the couch, leaning his chin on one fist on the armrest. "Well, you handled that extremely well, Kai. I am proud of you. Do not be too hard on him. You have had a year and a half of waiting and hoping for Aichi to get around to admitting his feelings for you. You know what you want. Aichi has JUST realized he can have what he has always wanted. You are going to have to give him whatever time he needs to process."

"I know", Kai said. "But regardless, I'm going to need you to go for a long walk."

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An hour or so later, Kai got comfortable stretched out on his bed, and made the call.

Aichi answered on the first ring, and softly said "Hi, Kai-kun. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Aichi. I actually do understand. But even if it's awkward, we need to be able to talk to each other if we want this to go anywhere. I'm sure it will get easier. And while I appreciate you need to let loose a little, can you just wait till we're together? I'd like to keep an eye on you next time you want to try drinking."

"Okay, Kai-kun. It's just....this happened kind of fast. I'm great when we're together, and then when you're gone, I...I just start thinking too hard."

"Aichi, this was the SLOWEST start to a relationship ever." Kai huffed out a laugh. "I mean when did you know...really know that you liked me?"

Kai could hear the intense embarrassment in Aichi's voice as he responded. "Well....I guess from the first cardfight we had. And you got me back Blaster Blade. I didn't know what my emotions were exactly, but I knew on some level that you were my person, you know? And you always would be. I felt like from that time, I was always chasing you, trying to get you to SEE me. It was my whole focus for years..." he trailed off.

"Well, I'm sorry I tried so hard for so long to fight it." Kai responded. "It was hard for me to realize that I had feelings for another guy. I think I did once before, for Ren when we were younger, but I didn't quite recognize my feelings for what they were. Then when I was attracted to you, it made me angry, and I just thought pushing you away would make the feelings go away. It didn't work, which made me act even colder to you and everyone around me."

"Then...then how did you finally come to accept it?" Aichi asked quietly. "That's the part I guess I'm having a hard time understanding. I had given up on the idea of us being together a long time ago. I thought after the shard thing, when you came after me on the moon, maybe.....but you never said anything."

"Aichi, it was 'the shard thing' that made me resolve to make this work. I mean, I was the only person who remembered you. Not the team, not your family, just me? I thought the universe couldn't be any clearer that we were supposed to be together, that we were soulmates. It took time. I had to give up my guilt from Link Joker, I had to give up my regret at all the time I wasted. I resolved that I would try to make myself into the person you needed, be it friends or lovers. Obviously, I'm hoping for lovers." He said with a grin, as Aichi's cheeks heated again.

Kai continued, "Also, you can partially credit Miwa for my change of heart, and for helping me finally lose my guilt. He was always at me even early on, with his stupid platitudes."

"What do you mean?" Aichi asked, sounding much more relaxed and happy.

"Oh, we would be walking to Card Capital and out of the blue, he would say something like, 'You know, Kai, everybody deserves to be loved, even if they're not perfect. No one is perfect!' and I'd say 'What?', and he'd say, 'Do you want to get sushi or ramen for lunch later?'

"Or we'd be wandering around in the mall, and randomly, Miwa says 'You know the first step in coming to terms when you do something wrong is forgiving yourself. Very important!' and then, 'Do you want to check out a movie while we're here?'

"Or the stupid shit, like trying to get me to wear his mistletoe hat around you last Christmas, or always somehow making sure we were matched up whenever we were in groups. How could you not notice? He was such an ass, but I'd always go home to my empty apartment and think about the things he would say, really THINK about them, and about a possible future with you, Aichi."

"I didn't know people knew about....us. That our friends were rooting for us," Aichi said.

"Well, you'd be surprised," Kai said with another huff of laughter. "Some people, Gaillard for instance, reserved judgement until they were sure I only meant the best for you. I'm pretty sure it's the reason he asked me to room with him. He was such a DICK to me in the beginning. A LOT of people love you Aichi, never doubt it."

They talked for another hour or so, until Gaillard peeked his head back in around the door jamb, and offered a thumbs up sign, questioning if it was okay for him to come back in. Kai gave him a thumbs up and a smile in return.

"Alright, you have to go to bed, it's super late for you." Kai finally said. "But seriously, if you start overthinking again, you call me. I'll always answer for you any time, unless I'm in a tournament. But you have my schedule."

"All right, Kai. I'm glad we talked. I feel a lot better."

"Sweet dreams, Aichi Sendou."