Pick Up The Pieces

Decisions

Izumo snuffled before stretching out, feeling a satisfying series of clicks and pops through his spine. He blinked a couple of times before the oxygen in his brain woke him up. Patting his hand about blindly, he smiled as his hand brushed lightly over a familiar set of ribs. He slid his hand over Kotetsu's torso, but it felt different: tense, on edge. He opened his eyes and saw his partner, wide awake; his mouth taut in a grim, severe line.

'Tets, buddy. You okay?' He asked, shaking his head lightly to clear the sleep from his brain.

'Perfectly.' Kotetsu replied bluntly and tactless, staring at the ceiling.

'Liar. Talk to me.'

'What's there to talk about?' He rolled his eyes, still avoiding to look at Izumo's face.

'Well...last night-'

'I don't want to talk about it.' Kotetsu snapped, roughly throwing off Izumo's arm from his waist and peeling himself out of the sticky sheets. He scooped up his wayward underwear and pulled them on hurriedly, feeling Izumo's eyes burning into him from behind.

'Tets...' Izumo started, hurt by this obvious deflection.

'I'm going for a shower.'

Izumo sighed and fell back into the quilting, the squishy mattress that was once cloud-like now felt overwhelmingly suffocating to him. With a grunt of annoyance, he pulled himself out of the bed, shaking off the sheet stuck to his leg and collected his clothing.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-x

'I still don't understand why you're so against, well, you.' Izumo said, placing a plate of pancakes in front of Kotetsu, who watched the syrup fall off the steaming golden discs and making a moat around them. He salivated slightly, eyes following the trail of steam rising into the air where it flickered and danced lazily before disappearing out of existence.

'It just doesn't feel right.' Kotetsu concluded lamely, toying with his food before taking a mouthful; the sweet syrup mixing with the savoury hot cakes perfectly. 'Good stuff, Iz.'

'Thanks, but I'm not straying from point.' Izumo sat down opposite his partner, watching him eat slowly.

'Tets, no one suddenly decides that they're attracted to a particular person. It just happens.'

'But I've known you for years!'

'So?'

'So? So?! I've just known you since I was fourteen and now...'

He stopped eating, and slumped back into his chair; a sadness grew behind his charcoal eyes.

'Now I have to deal with it all over again...'

Izumo looked at him quizzically.

'What do you mean again?'

Kotetsu sighed and mussed his spiky hair roughly. The cards were on the table now, and there was no turning back.

'Wait here.' He said, scraping back his chair and shuffling off back to the bedroom. He returned quickly, a small yellowed piece of paper between his index and middle finger. Taking a deep breath, he held it out to the brunette, waiting for him to take it.

'Here.' Kotetsu said simply.

'Whats this?'

'Take it...please.'

Izumo took it gingerly and unfolded it, noticing how sharp the creases were in the paper. It had not been unfurled since the day it was written, and his eyes scanned over the thin spidery writing, the inflections in the way the g's and y's flicked out longer than necessary. There was no doubt about it: this was younger Kotetsu's handwriting.