Mint Chocolate Cookies (World trigger)

Be Strong

They stood at the platform. Underground, waiting for Inukai's train.

He really was leaving.

Kage didn't want to feel it. Everybody at the platform was a sickening flood of emotions. Kage would survive. For Inukai, he could manage.

Inukai was gripping his luggage tightly, visably nervous beyond belief. His collage was only a few towns over, but it still was far enough away that he would only come back on breaks and long weekends. That really hurt Kage. It really wouldn't be the same without Inukai following him, and warming him with optimism.

The station was a filtered blue color, and for the amount of people Kage could both see and feel, it was eerily quiet. People crying, whispering, in little groups of three and four was about as noisy as it got.

Inukai held his hand tightly, and Kage was afraid of letting go. Getting out of the depressed crowd would be difficult without a meltdown on his way out of the station.

He hadn't said anything though, assuming Inukai knew everything he needed to know without having to ask, and if he didn't, Kage wasn't going to bruise himself trying to explain what could potentially be left unsaid.

Inukai wasn't the same calm figure anymore. He felt hollow, empty, soulless. It wasn't Inukai. Not really.

The physical contact was the same, however, and Kage feared the moment when Inukai's fingers slid between his own, vanishing, and leaving him in the mass of people to fend for himself.

It was the kind of fear you want to beg people to understand, even if you won't, and if it's in vain.

It was a frightening thing to do, and Kage had spent the past few days trying to run from the very idea of being alone, only to realise he was so accustomed to what he had here, he wanted it to stay, and to never let go.

Who would be there for him? Inukai was such a lucky break for him, a stroke of fortune and care, and Kage knew already that nobody else would be able to fill that hole. Nothing ever had.

"You're very strong." Inukai said, finally.

Kage looked up, blinking in surprize.

"You know that, right?"

"What are you talking about?" He tried to growl, but his voice was rough, but something caught up in his throat, and he couldn't force anything but a whisper. No wonder everybody was so quiet.

"You're very strong... I want you to know that." Inukai said again, squeezing his hand. "I'll miss you, but nobody will be able to take your strength away, you hear me?"

...

Kage wanted to spit, wanted to be mad, to yell, to be angry that this was how it would have to be for a long while, but felt something else come out instead.

Tears.

He tried to choke them down, force them to dry, to not show themselves, but he could only lower his head in a futile attempt to hide them and sniffle, almost slapping them away.

"Don't- don't say shit like that."

"Come on... I can tell you're scared..."

"I'm not scared."

"But I know you're strong, right? You can take fear anyday."

"I'm not scared, I'm not strong."

"Yes you are..."

"I'm not scared, I'm not strong, I'm not alone."

"You are, and that's okay. I'm right here, hey, don't cry..."

"You're not there, I'm not crying." He meekly protested, but he was.

"Hey, hey no..." Inukai coddled him gently, turning to him. "Seriously, It's okay... it's not like I'm going to disappear or something, I just need to leave for a bit."

"Stop it..."

"I'm sorry..."

Kage was wiping away tears, cursing at them, the only thing he could really do about it.

"Hey... It's going to be alright, okay?"

Suddenly, Kage heard a low whistle, the horn of the train coming.

Kage grabbed onto Inukai, hands fastening around his arms tightly, without hesitation.

"I don't want you to go." He cried softly, panicked.

Inukai looked started. "I don't want to go either..."

"Then don't go!"

"I have to Kage, you know that... Be strong, okay?"

Kage let out a small sob, free tears making it past his eyes, and running down his cheeks.

"I can't! I'm not strong!"

"Then be strong for me." Inukai insisted, holding fast onto him in response. "I know you can... I do, I really do..."

"What if I can't?" He asked, voice betraying his panic and desperation. The train was pulling in.

Inukai's hand released his, and Kage almost yelped out a protest, until the hands found the place around his neck.

Inukai leaned in, thumbs brushing tears away, and kissed him.

Kage went ridged.

Inukai was kissing him.

They had been dating for a few months, but they actually hadn't kissed before. It wasn't.... Well... it just didn't really suit them. At all.

Inukai's lips were soft and warm, and the feeling they shared was fizzy and bubbly, light in comparison to the other feelings of the platform.

His lips peeled away from his to come back to touch them again, and after a moment, Kage found his tongue was soft and warm.

FInally, the train came to a stiff halt, and the doors opened.

Inukai pushed him away, and he finally did slip through his fingers.

"I love you. " He whispered. "Be strong."

Kage couldn't find his voice for a moment, and just stared at him agast.

He eyes the floor, before taking in the look on Inukai's soft face.

...

"I will be."

...

"I promise."