{COMPLETE} Should Have Realized Sooner [Miritama]

3. Sunset Down At The Pier

About two months after meeting Nejire, Mirio was invited over for tea by Tsukareta, Tamaki's mother, and he was now nervously standing on the front porch of the house which he felt like he hadn't been to in years. Mirio was just about to knock when the door opened, if he thought Tsukareta looked worn out the last time Mirio saw her, then there really wasn't any way to describe how she looked like now. Her hair had noticeably started to grey, her features looked gaunt, almost mouse-like, and she definitely hadn't been sleeping well.

"Togata," she said, smiling warmly despite it clashing horribly with the rest of her. "Come in, I've already started the tea, is Hojicha okay?" She asked, stepping aside to let Mirio enter.

"Hojicha sounds perfect," in truth, Mirio wasn't a fan of it, but he knew why she was making it. Hojicha was Tamaki's favorite, he got Mirio to drink it with him whenever he could, drinking it was a sound coping mechanism and Mirio would be happy to participate if it made her feel better.

Mirio, once inside, looked around and immediately felt helpless and small, he had been there countless times, but it still felt alien to him. There was this one time, a few years ago, where he spent almost every day at the Amajiki's house for a month, but here he was, standing in the middle of it all, completely unaware of his surroundings. There was a small bookcase on the right beside the stairwell, except there wasn't anymore. where did it go? They had a family gallery on the front wall of their foyer, except there wasn't anymore. Not a photo in sight. The whole house felt different. You couldn't hear Tomoyo, Tamaki's little sister, playing downstairs, you couldn't see Yukito, their father, making his usual sculptures in the living room, the house was bare and quiet.

"Hun?" Mirio jumped at suddenly being addressed and looked over to Tsukareta, who was now standing in the doorway of the kitchen. When did she get past him?

"Yeah?" He asked, trying not to act as nervous as he was.

"Go sit," she directed, vaguely gesturing to her left. "I'll bring out the tea in s moment."

Mirio situated himself at the dining room table. He needed to stop thinking about where he was right now, his missing best friend's house, he needed to focus on something else. What could he focus on?

Before Mirio could stop it, he was thinking back on one of his favourite moments with Tamaki.

It was a nice calm day, just before school started up again for the year, and the two of them had gone down to sit on the pier. The rickety old structure was still holding on and the boys were pretty well undisturbed due to most people not trusting it to hold their weight. The two of them hung out at the end of the pier, the most dangerous part, and Mirio was surprised Tamaki was ever willing to go out that far with him. Mirio stood there, leaning against the support rails, and Tamaki sat there beside him, hugging his knees close to his chest.

"You shouldn't do that," Tamaki blurted out.

"Hm?" Mirio hummed in question, looking over at him.

"The rails," he said. "They're unstable, you shouldn't lean on them."

"Oh, uh," a part of Mirio wanted to protest, he found leaning there to be the most comfortable, but he was happy Tamaki was voicing his thoughts so Mirio plopped himself down next to Tamaki, rested his chin in his hands and gave him a small yet genuine smile. "Thanks,"

"Thanks?" Tamaki echoed, looking puzzled.

"Yeah, thanks," Mirio said, bumping his shoulder against Tamaki's.

"For what though?" He asked. "I just don't want you to plummet into the water and die," he argued nonchalantly.

"Yeah, that's called looking out for others and I hear that that's a formidable trait to have," Mirio chuckled, elbowing Tamaki encouragingly.