love is something I deserve (but you, I deserve more)

five

Five years ago (the beginning)

"Hey, you good?"

Kazama startles, almost drops the TV remote he was trying to fix for the past fifteen minutes and turns to face the intruder.

His face immediately molds into a scowl and the intruder laughs a melodic sound, unfazed. "Chill dude, I'm just asking."

He ignores her for the favor of repairing the poor device again and she gets the hint, moving towards the kitchenette to pour herself some water.

A loud banging comes from the front door along with the shouts of We brought the vodka! and both the people in the living room-attached-kitchenette pointedly ignore them.

"Christ, you guys." Shinchan comes out from his bedroom, freshly showered, drying off his hair in the typical advertisement style he had seen a Calvin Klein model do recently and glares at the two occupants of the room closest to the entrance. "What's so important that you couldn't even open the door?"

Kazama holds up the remote and Ai-chan holds up the glass. Shinchan doesn't look any less annoyed.

"Fuckers." He whispers under his breath, but Kazama hears it, considering he's closer to the door Shinchan is now opening, welcoming the troop of four-five of their closest friends and friends' friends.

Masao enters first, two beer cases balanced precariously in his unreliable arms. No one moves to help him still and he grumbles all the way from the door to the kitchenette where he finally deposits them in the safety of the fridge. Ai-chan makes fun of him, he laughs and goes on to say something in his defense, but it gets cut short as his girlfriend shoots him a sharp glare from where she has deposited herself on the couch in the living room after having hugged a moody Kazama, and Masao hurriedly takes his place next to her. 

Megumi and Suzuki come in with bags of snacks and pizza boxes that Ai-chan had gotten delivered a few minutes ago and everybody thanks them for their kind service while Masao complains that no one was grateful for him bringing the bigger necessity of the night, which is alcohol. 

Nene consoles him, lets him sneak in a kiss as everyone else just groans, used to their lovesickness.

Kazama greets everyone, talks to them while practically sitting on the packed game console near the fireplace.

"How's the packing coming?" Megumi is asking him.

He shrugs, a noncommittal sound escaping him, "It's fine. I almost completed mine two days ago and the movers took most of my stuff today, so I'll probably be done by tomorrow."

Suzuki takes part in their conversation, "And what about him?"

"Him?"

"Shinchan."

Kazama pauses, lets his lungs breathe the air suddenly required for he feels weirdly breathless now and looks in the direction of the said person.

He's busy in the kitchenette with Ai-chan, both of them playing around while emptying all the snacks packets into bowls and pairing the seasonings of the pizzas with their respective boxes for their friends' respective taste buds.

At the exact moment Kazama looks at him, Shinchan's laughing and nudging a clingy Ai-chan off of him as Nene comes over to scold them to hurry before the food gets cold and the party spirit starts to wear off.

Kazama thinks the party spirit never even breathed in him to ever even wear off. 

Tonight is their farewell party.

Shinchan and Kazama, after three years of unofficially living together and two years of officially living together, are finally moving out of their shared apartment.