Heroes Without Capes

Inseparable

They set a date.

Ooshiba didn't have to think twice about this message. He instantly knew what it was about. He knew who they were, what kind of date Kimishita was referring to. It was a no-brainer.

WHEN? he texted back at lightning speed, his fingers nearly stumbling over the phone screen. The message took forever to send. Ooshiba cursed, holding his phone in the air to try and catch a better connection. "Phone, don't fail me now," he muttered, standing up on his bed and nearly losing his balance as his feet sank into the soft mattress. "This is important, you stupid connection!"

The message sent. The sign of Kimishita typing appeared on the screen. Ooshiba waited.

Impatiently.

Damn it, just how long was this asshole taking to write a short message telling him when the damn surgery was? He had been here waiting and staring at the screen for... thirty seconds? No way. It had felt like minutes!

Was the connection still bad, maybe? Had Kimishita already sent it and it hadn't reached him yet? What was taking him so long, he wanted to know–

A message flashed up on the screen. Short and to the point as always.

On the 21st. 1100.

Ooshiba cracked a slight smile. Typical Kimishita. He sounded as if he was telling him about a business appointment, not about the surgery that would determine the fate of his father and his own future for who knew how long, maybe the rest of their lives. Anybody who read this and didn't know better might think that Kimishita didn't care. But Ooshiba did know better. He knew how worried Kimishita had to be, how agitated he must be feeling right now. At least as worried and agitated as he himself was feeling.

Without a second thought, he sat down on his bed and and tapped the call button, holding the phone to his ear. He let it ring once, then a second time. Before it could ring a third time there was a click in the line, and then Kimishita's voice resounded from the speaker, quiet and a little tense. "Hello?"

"Hey," Ooshiba replied in the same tone. "It's me."

"It's almost like I saw that from the caller ID," Kimishita snarked, clicking his tongue. "What are you calling me for, moron? It's late. Shouldn't you go to sleep?"

Ooshiba stretched himself out on the bed. "That's my line, jerk. You're not trying to pull an all-nighter again, right?"

"As if! I don't need much sleep is all." There was a rustle on the other end of the line, as if Kimishita had sat down somewhere. "So? What did you call me for?"

Ooshiba gazed up at the ceiling, deep in thought. What had he called Kimishita for, exactly? He wasn't sure; it had just been an impulse, a sudden feeling in his gut telling him to call, that Kimishita probably needed it. Was it out of worry? Had he wanted to calm him down? Or had he just called him to calm down himself?

"Dunno," he mumbled. "Because."

"Because what?"

"Just because!" He huffed and pouted. "I just wanted to. It felt like the right thing."

Kimishita chuckled. "Impulsive as always."

Ooshiba wanted to snap an annoyed response, but Kimishita's low chuckle reverberated in his ears, pounding through his heart and doing inexplicable things to his body and mind. The image of Kimishita appeared in his head, sitting in his room and holding his phone to his ear and smiling this low, gentle smile that always sent Ooshiba's mind reeling and his heart skipping beats. I made him laugh, he thought proudly. I made him happy.