Flowershop

Twenty Nine

It was almost time for Yao to go, and Kiku was a bit nervous.

Of course, not all of his family would be leaving. Leon would stay. Oh, speaking of Leon! He had to give him his graduation gift.

In all honesty, Kiku did not want to go to their house. He did not want to see Lukas and Mathias. It wasn't because he didn't like them, that was the farthest from the truth! Mathias and Lukas were lovely people, but... If he went to their house, they would invite him to lunch, and of course, invite them to dinner as well.
It was not like Kiku did not have the time, he just... Kiku just wanted to spend the day with Alfred. He had today off, and he knew seeing those two would be an all day affair. But, it couldn't be as bad as he thought it would be.

Lukas and Mathias were great people to socialize with and great cooks, and his little brother was there, so he could keep an eye on them. That reminded him... Emil and Leon... Were they dating? Kiku knew Leon and Emil were eighteen now so he didn't have the right to tell them to break up, but the "biggest brother" part of him wanted so badly to keep his watchful eye on them. He wanted to talk to Emil about it, and talk to him, but he didn't want to be that guy and give Emil the hour long big-brother speech.

all of the stress of thinking about the subject of socializing and family made Kiku even more eager for Monday to come, so he could finally go to work and not have to deal with other people's affairs, even if it concerned him.

He was not planning on having this many people to impress. He came to America to get away from the people, he came only for himself. He came to America to think about himself and take advantage of all the eye opening opportunities he couldn't get back in Japan.
But things began to completely spiral out of his control, and now, it was so much more than that. Yes, he still had every intent of doing what he came here for. Being successful, enjoying an independent life.

But now, was so much more. There was a lot more feeling than he planned on. He originally didn't want to talk to anyone, not waste his breath on anyone else if they did not help him achieve his goal. He wanted nothing to do with them! But then, he met Feli and Ludwig, and soon after, Alfred. ...Alfred. He did not want to converse with people, he only wanted his family to know about his existence and the things he enjoyed, but... For some reason, he wanted Alfred to know everything about him. He wanted him to know his favourite color, his first memory, his back story, even something and small and thoughtless of a seventh grade crush! He wanted Alfred to know things about him he himself didn't, he wanted Alfred invading his personal space. Yes, he wanted Alfred to know his life in detail, but he didn't want to directly tell him... He wanted Alfred to get it for himself. He wanted to see just how much Alfred cared, by getting it out of him.

Caught in these fleeting flurry of thoughts, he had realized how much he had changed. He knew just from his thinking process he was a different man than he was when he left Japan... When he left Japan, he knew he was vain, and he knew he was childish. But now, instead of hating himself for it, he thanked himself for being childish enough to get him to where he was today.

Shaking his head, he called Alfred. After just two rings, he picked up, much to Kiku's pleasure. "Hey, Alfred. I have to drop my little brother's present at... his house, and I was wondering if you could come... because, you know, I wanted to spend time with you today..." He said uneasily, a little freaked out he would seem too needy. But, to his relief, he answered readily in that bright (and unsurprised) tone of his.
"Sure! I was hoping to hang out with you too today, and their house seems like a perfect place!"

Kiku smiled and nodded, hearing the same story for the umpteenth time; He thought, in plenty of ways, Mathias was a lot like Alfred. They both seemed to be hyper at ungodly hours of the morning, and they both seemed to recollect the same stories over and over, so over time, just about anybody could finish the story. Kiku didn't have the heart (or the rudeness) to finish his statement, or at least end it with, an "I know". Nonetheless, he knew it made Mathias feel good to tell these experiences, so he gave a surprised "Really?!" and a chuckle, something he had to learn to do with Alfred.
Kiku and Alfred had to end up talking to Mathias and Lukas for about an hour, since Leon and even Emil seemed to still be asleep, even if it was eleven already. This seemed to bother Mathias a bit, but Lukas paid no mind.
"Just let them sleep a bit longer... They don't want to hear your stories after just waking up," He said, waving him off with a tired hand. Kiku noticed there was no wedding ring there; for a second, he thought he was being stupid, and that it was the right hand, but indeed, his eyes did not deceive him. It seemed Lukas and Mathias were not married, which surprised Kiku. No one seemed to notice his eyebrows shoot up, and he looked around, suddenly conscious of his actions.
He looked sideways at Alfred who was having an animated conversation with Lukas; Lukas and Mathias had been together practically all of their lives, and he and Alfred had only been together for nearly a year. Would he and Alfred ever marry? If so... How long would he have to wait..?