on blessed winds

She’s so pleased! And Kazue gets a smooch to the top of his head.

She wants snuggles.

   “Hm…? Did you say something, Kazue?”

   “I feel like I may need to properly assess what I say and its effectiveness.”

Haruka listens to Kazue, continuing to pet his hair softly as he spoke–she would pet his hair until he told her to stop, basically. She chuckles bashfully, shaking her head at the compliment towards her cooking, honestly incredibly flattered.

“Aww, poor Issei-kun…” Haruka sighs sympathetically. “I hope they didn’t spend the whole time harassing him about that… but I’m glad your food was good.” Absently, she brushes Kazue’s hair from his eyes and leans in to peck his forehead. “Do you know his girlfriend? Is she a nice girl, at least?”

   -- ; “WELL SHE’S an upperclassman, but that’s all I really know about her.” Timidly fidgeting in his spot, Kazue moved from playing with his bangs to fumbling with the bottom of his sweater. It really made no sense for the rest of his friends to gang up on Issei just because he was dating someone a year older than them. God... just thinking about what happened earlier made Kazue feel a small amount of guilt just thinking about how he couldn’t help Issei with the pestering at all. This was why he preferred heading straight home some days.

Haruka can sense Kazue’s hesitancy, but she doesn’t question it–call it mother’s intuition, but she can tell he feels bad for what he’d said, and he was subtly trying to make it up to her.

But she’s more than happy to cuddle with Kazue, and so she makes room for him, naturally able to accommodate for the size of her teenage son. She wraps both arms around him, pulling his head to her chest gently and petting his hair. “Calm, and quiet. I got a few things done.” She kisses the top of his head quickly. “How about you, baby?”

   -- ; HE DIDN’T hesitate to take the spot next to his mother, finding enjoyment in spending time near her. While it was a bit embarrassing how she could be Kazue thoroughly enjoyed spending moments like these close to his mother. It wasn’t as if someone he didn’t know would burst through the door to disturb them after all. Even if he wouldn’t say it out loud... Kazue loved to be near his mother whenever he could even if she was embarrassing beyond words. He truly loved his mother.

“Hmm? It’s not on your desk? That’s usually where you keep it…” She takes a quick glance around the room, her lips pursed as she tries to think of where his notebook could be. “If it’s not there… I feel like I remember you working in the kitchen this morning, so look in there.”

   -- ; “O--OH YEAH... It probably is there...” Letting out an awkward laugh the young man proceeded to move to the kitchen for a few moments before returning to where his mother was and awkwardly scooting closer to her. This was something fine to do, right? Sure... it was less awkward to do these things when he was smaller, but it was still a bit embarrassing.

Oh… she probably wasn’t supposed to hear that. Oh well, she’ll just smile and continue on as usual, and tuck that small twinge of hurt away deep where no one will see.

“Does this mean that uncle Rei-chan is the best?”