Amphibians & Reptiles [TsukiYama]

#3: work hard for me

Tsukishima works as a research scientist at a small laboratory in Sendai. He used to work in a museum as while he studied to get a masters degree in biology. Working in a hands-on research lab made the blonde feel happier, and it pays more. Unfortunately, it requires Kei to travel out of town quite often for research purposes. He dislikes leaving Tadashi for days and having to sleep in uncomfortable hotel beds.

"I miss you, Tadashi," Tsukishima whispers to the phone pressing up against his ear. He's laying down on the bed, tired from running around and collecting data at work. Calling his boyfriend every night had been the only thing that kept him going.

"I miss you too, Tsuki. Have you been working hard?" There's the sound of drills in the background. Whenever Kei isn't home, Tadashi will spend more time in the engineering shop doing random projects. Kei groans, "I hope so. It's just been experimenting, analyzing, and writing research papers. I can't wait to come back to you." He rolls over and rests on his stomach. His body pressed against the suffocating pillows and heavy blanket. He throws his phone onto the mattress and puts it on speaker.

"I'm proud of you, Kei. Keep working hard for me, okay?"

"All for you, Tadashi. If it weren't for you I would still be working at that museum in my small studio apartment." The blonde laughs at the memories when he was a growing adult. He lived a simple life with Charmander, who was just a baby bearded dragon at the time. He only had Tadashi, Yachi, and his teammates on the Sendai Frogs as close friends. It was unclear how the two of them started dating, it just happened. At first, Kei expected the worse out of their relationship. He thought it would be one of those situations where they find out they were better as just friends. Despite his insecurities, he did his part in the relationship and Tadashi did his. They were able to form a life together, and most important, they feel comfortable. "I wouldn't be here without you, Tadashi," Kei sighs.

"You give me too much credit, babe."

"Mm, I'm gonna sleep now. Can you stay on call with me? Just tell me about your week or something."

"Why? We've been calling every day, you know what I've been doing—."

"I just want to hear you speak, Tadashi. You can talk about frogs for all I care."

"Well, don't mind if I do!"

As Kei falls asleep, he's comforted by Tadashi's voice and the sound of a bandsaw. Frogs were the engineer's favorite animal and he can talk about them for hours. They even owned an Australian Green Tree Frog named Squirtel. As Kei slowly drifts off into a deep slumber, Tadashi's frog-talk turns into incoherent mumbling. "Goodnight, Kei. I love you," are the final words he can hear before there's only the sound of a bandsaw cutting through wood. Kei mumbled something back, but even he couldn't tell if he had managed to say "goodnight" properly.