celestial - tsukiyama

three

If tadashi thought the stars were breathtaking, he hadn't seen anything yet. kei wasn't just breathtaking, he was ethereal. And they had only known each other for a few minutes, but tadashi was captivated.

"Wait, it's tsukishima kei right?" tadashi suddenly asked, his voice slightly shaky.

kei nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"So this is your house? It's your dad's party?" tadashi questioned him.

kei nodded with a sigh, "Unfortunately. I honestly believe my parents are going crazy," He said, glancing back at the house. This earned a laugh from tadashi. And kei had to admit that his laughter sounded not just adorable, but genuinely happy and bright.It was so contagious that kei found himself laughing along too. On the other hand, tadashi was in love with kei's laugh himself. He couldn't have imagined how it would sound like, so hearing it right at that moment was wonderful. tadashi had to admit that he really loved the sound. A few moments passed before any of them spoke. Simply enjoying each others presence and the cool, crisp air of the night. During their silence, tadashi was just a little tempted to look up again at the stars. But by then kei had finally spoke again.

"So anyway, how did you end up getting invited?" The older boy asked, his attention fully on the younger.

tadashi actually had to ponder the thought for a while, thinking back to yesterday's dinner. He bit his lip and slightly puffed out his cheeks while he thought. The moment he saw that, kei was so tempted to take a picture of him, and scream about how cute it looked forever.

..He couldn't of course.

"Ah, right! Apparently our dads were good old friends and they just met again for the first time in ages. Then I guess your dad told mine that his birthday was today and well, here we are." tadashi finally answered.

kei grinned a bit at his answer. "Oh? I'm honestly surprised it wasn't something more crazy than that. My parents have met some people in the weirdest ways."

tadashi raised an eye at his last sentence, curious as to what he meant.

kei simply shook his head,
"You don't wanna know."

tadashi shrugged it off and thought he'd be better off not knowing.

-

What seemed like hours passed and the two were still talking. It was surprising to tadashi since he hadn't talked to someone like this for quite a long time. kei had learned that tadashi was only a year younger than him. And surprisingly that they even attend the same school. Although, talking about school was mostly avoided since none of them wanted to ruin the summer holiday mood. tadashi had also found out that kei was an only child and his parents weren't that close with him. It made tadashi's heart hurt since he has two kind siblings and parents who cared for him, even though his father was unsupportive. kei had reassured him, telling him his life was still alright. And he always had someone to keep him company. tama, his beautiful dog. Now tadashi always loved animals but he could never keep one due to his allergies that kei soon found out about. So imagine how delighted he was to hear about her. And how eagerly he listened to kei's many stories about her.

"Where is she now?" tadashi asked with curiosity, he really wanted to meet her. Despite his allergies, he could at least see her from a distance.

"Upstairs, in my room. At least hopefully she is. I left the door slightly open so she might've snuck out. I can assure you she'd never come downstairs right now though. She hates noise." He chuckled. tadashi giggled a bit. Even though he was just slightly disappointed that he couldn't meet her. Only slightly. kei noticed the sad look on the other boy's face and it made his heart twinge with guilt. He really wished he could bring her down but he knew she would absolutely hate it and he didn't want to do that to his precious dog. Even though it looked like tadashi understood, he still felt bad.

"..Hey, how about seeing her another time?" kei suggested, looking hopefully at tadashi.

tadashi visibly perked up at his words, (ironically reminding kei of tama). "What do you mean?" He asked.

tadashi suddenly got a bit nervous and played with his hands. "I mean.. You could always come over another time? You know, when we're not hosting some crazy out-of-control party." He added with a small laugh. The way tadashi's eyes lit up at his words made kei feel like he was the happiest person alive.

"Really?!" He asked incredulously.

kei tried his best not to laugh any more, "Of course. It's summer break anyway and I probably won't be doing much." He replied with a smile.

tadashi was ecstatic and kei would be lying if he said he wasn't too. He smiled at the other boy, and tadashi smiled back just as bright.

-

Half an hour later and the party was still somehow going strong . tadashi was honestly surprised his parents hadn't left yet.

...Or maybe they did.

Without tadashi.

He panicked a bit before taking out his phone, and he was immediately greeted with a bunch of texts and missed calls from his parents. Most of them along the lines of "where are you?", "we're going home hurry up!" and "if ur not showing up in 5 minutes we're leaving". tadashi checked the time those texts were sent and realised it had been around an hour since.

He was so fucked.

kei currently hadn't noticed what tadashi was doing. He was simply looking off into the distance, lost in a thought.

"..Hey, tadashi? " kei began, eyes still unfocused. "I wanted to ask you something about wh—"

He was cut off when he finally saw the younger staring at his phone screen with wide eyes and trembling hands.

"tadashi.. What happened? Are you okay? " kei asked him, voice laced with worry.

"They l-left." Was all the younger could manage to get out.

"Who?"

"My parents were looking for me, they wanted to leave but they couldn't find me so they just left." He said in a small voice.

kei sighed and soothingly tried to rub tadashi's back. "It's okay, it's okay. How long ago was it?" He asked him. tadashi's reply was short and blunt.

"An hour."

kei hastily took out his phone and checked the time. It was almost nearing 1am. They'd been talking for around 4 hours? kei was shocked, but he wasn't about to think it was a waste of time. He really did enjoy every second of it.

"Hey, it'll be fine, you could just—" kei bit his lip, wondering if he should continue, but the look on tadashi's face made him say it.

"I mean.. If you want to- you could just, stay the night."

And once he said that, kei felt himself being pulled into the tightest hug he'd ever experienced. He almost couldn't breathe. But he didn't mind the faint smell of cherries and soap, mixed in with some random cologne filling his senses. When tadashi eagerly asked him if he really could, kei chuckled and found himself saying yes.