Banana Fish AshxEiji

~part seven~

I wake up to find Ash still on my chest, sleeping soundly. I carefully move out from under him and put a pillow in replacement of me hoping he won't notice. He's too exhausted to realize anyway, I walk out of my room avoiding the creaky floorboards. I grab my phone off the table, 20%. I call Ibe-san, it rings four long times before he answers.

Ibe-san: "Hey Eiji how are you?"

Eiji: "good, how are you"

Ibe-san: "...you're talking?"

Eiji: "Ibe-san don't call me crazy okay?"

Ibe-san: "why? what happened?"

Eiji: "Ash came back."

The line goes dead, damn it he thinks i've gone insane, I sigh and set my phone down moving over to the kitchen. It's a disaster, I try to remember the last time I cooked a real meal, I hope I havent lost my touch. I start doing the dishes excited for Ibe-san to bring me groceries so I can make Ash breakfast, just like I used to. As if planned, when I finish drying the last dish I hear the knock I've heard every week for the past months. I quickly stumble over to the door losing my balance and tripping over my own feet, I curse out my body for getting so weak. It's pathetic that I can't even keep myself standing anymore.

I get back up, my legs trembling slightly. I went to click the lock but I guess no one ever got to locking it last night, I opened the door to see a distressed Ibe-san standing there. He runs in leaving the groceries outside my door, I carefully pick them up and set them on the dirty countertop.

"No one's here Eiji" Ibe-san says with tired eyes, looking at me with pity. Despite this I smile and say, "not here, follow me," he hasn't heard me say so much in a long time. I bring him to my room to reveal a still sleeping Ash Lynx, "holy moly, you weren't hallucinating," I shake my head and stare at Ash's chest rising and falling in a rhythm, his face looks relaxed there's no cuts or bruises, he looks like a normal 17 year old boy.

"What's with the smile?" Ibe-san questions cheekly, I let my smile fall quickly and quietly say, "I didn't even notice I was smiling". Ibe-san chuckles and motions for us to leave and let Ash rest, we walk back out to the kitchen and him and I unpack the food he brought me.

I look at Ibe-san thoughtfully and say "I've never fully thanked you have I? Thank you you're more of a father to me than my father will ever be. Thank you for helping me through these last few months, i'm eternally grateful for you." I finish, taking a quick breath. Tears brim his eyes and he pulls me into a hug, he can't come up with the right words. I understand the feeling. We move past our sappy moment and sit together on the couch, drinking coffee and talking about how his meeting went yesterday. He interviewed with the hiring committee of a large landscaping firm, he wants to become the official photographer for their website.