The Sweetest Part

When Toby was home, his existence was a drab one. The place was cramped and unimpressive, and he did little more than sleep in his apartment. Not that he didn’t love sleeping… but sleeping in here wasn’t exactly cozy. At least he had Kiku, who now sat purring next to him on his ragged, creaky couch, as he sipped a cup of tea.

Unexpectedly, a knock on his door cut through the steady purring of his companion. He turned his head towards the closed entrance, pushed himself to his feet, and stretched thoroughly before making his way to the door.

When he found a good friend of his, Yuzuki, behind the door, a warm smile curved his lips. “Hi, Yuzuki,” he greeted him pleasantly. “It’s nice to see you. Are you well?”

Much to Yuzuki’s relief, the door opened and Toby greeted him with a smile. Yuzuki returned the expression and nodded slightly, a small bow in greeting. “Hello, Toby. It’s nice to see you as well.” He gestured to the bag he held with a sheepish smile. “I hope you don’t mind, but I was craving some dishes from home, and you’re the best person to go to for fresh fish, in my opinion.”

“I second that. Nothing good comes from summer, screw its heats and constantly feeling like you’re in an oven.” He grumbles quite passionately. His hatred for this upcoming season was extremely large for various reasons. The heat was one but he also factored in a lot of his apparel was awful for the weather. He had already been looking forward to counting down the days until it was over.

His head perked up at the mention of that. The other male didn’t peg him as someone who’d make accessories but again Sebastian could learn to not make assumptions based off appearances. “Oh? Really?” It was something he hadn’t pay much mind too but being a fan of all kinds of gems to minerals… it was cool to hear about being able to create something with the usage of them. “How long have you been doing it for? It seems neat.” 

Having finished gathering the appropriate amount of the first gems on the list, he set the box currently filled aside and began to tackle the next. “If you want to share I’m all for seeing some pictures.”

“Oh, certainly. One moment,” Yuzuki spoke as he reached for his bag to draw out his cell phone. It was a purchase he had made only when he had moved to Leuda, as it ended up being an essential for the busy island, as well as for his business. Back in Tsuyusuka, everyone lived close enough that a phone call was hardly necessary. Letters, however, were far more common. 

The bell on the door ringing causes his head to snap up away from the spot on the ground his eyes had been fixated on. The activity of the store wasn’t bad and most of the people who came in were frequent customers. He didn’t know them personally but he was able to recognize faces if he consistently kept seeing them.

 “Hey.”

His head nodded in acknowledgement to Yuzuki’s greetings. “It has and I wish it wouldn’t in all honestly.” He shrugged casually but his attention turned to the list in the hand of his customer after he announced it. “It’s no trouble, just hand it on over.” Sebastian was working here for a reason anyways, it literally would be trouble if he refused.

He retrieved the list from the other and had read down the list of gems. “So, what’re you using these for?” Normally, he’d work in silence but he’d be here a while so the conversation was welcomed. Sebastian turned around and moved to start the retrieval of the gems from their cases. 

“I can’t help but agree... The hot weather makes me tired...” As much as Yuzuki wanted to admire and enjoy the change of seasons from winter to spring, he couldn’t help but feel more inclined to stay indoors. Perhaps it was residual habits from his childhood wrought with illness and careful procedures, or perhaps he just didn’t enjoy being in the sun as much as most others. The summers back in Tsuyusuka were much more mild compared to the islands... He was sure that Iluka and Siluka preferred the heat wave as opposed to the cooler seasons, anyways. 

“The usual ones, as you might expect,” Ford said, never failing to let the humor fly straight over his heads. “Mainly checking your vitals. I might request a few other tests if I find something abnormal, just to make sure that this isn’t a symptom of something new, but I doubt that that’s the case.” 

He began wheeling Yuzuki to the hospital room. “Assuming it is the usual problem, I have some medicine I could give you that might give you some of your energy back, and would keep you from having to stay overnight… But I would have to insist that you take it exactly when instructed, and that you go straight home, and don’t do anything labor intensive. Otherwise you’d risk having a massive relapse.”

Ugh. Tests. 

After having spent his entire childhood enduring a multitude of them, Yuzuki had grown more than sick of the routine checks. He knew, of course, that they were essential and were for his health, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t find them incredibly annoying. 

Elli gave a small laugh. It seemed she was getting a little bit ahead of herself in her excitement. For that, she was sheepish at best, embarrassed at worst. But she knew Yuzuki was right. She would definitely have to ask the children what they would like to grow. After all, she was doing this for their sake. Everything was for their sake.

“Oh, I didn’t know about your grandparents. Guess there’s a lot of things I still don’t know about you. But you don’t have to tell me right now. I can ask the kids when they wake up or tonight over dinner.”

“Ah, I do suppose I don’t talk much about myself, hm?” Yuzuki gave a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his neck feeling a bit embarrassed. “I don’t mean to be secretive, I just don’t speak about it unless I’m prompted, I suppose.” He continued to fold the laundry, folding a few towels into neat squares. 

“Oh.”

So it was just the storekeeper.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll come inside…” Why the hell not, right? It was probably weirder to just stand around and leave. Besides… If he was going to rob the joint, he might as well know what was worth stealing. And if there was too much security, he could decide against coming back. 

“I see, come on in then.” 

Ford kept frowning, not buying into the other man’s excuses. “Even so, you know that your condition can lead to situations like this. Living independently can be good, but you really need to have a plan for predictable emergencies. Otherwise, you’re simply setting yourself up for disasters like this.”

“Now, don’t move until I get back,” he instructed, leaving to go fetch a stretcher. He used the time to go over a checklist of the typical treatment Yuzuki required in situations like this, preparing himself to go through it. He swiftly returned with a stretcher, and positioned himself to help Yuzuki onto it.  “All right, careful now… Stand up, and… Onto the stretcher. There.”

Yuzuki always disliked being lectured, especially by others his own age. Even his childhood friends did so, due to Yuzuki’s own recklessness when it came to his health. After all, he just wanted to life a normal life without worrying about a childhood illness. Unfortunately, though, it still lingered despite his having grown up, and it haunted him like a ghost, waiting to strike when Yuzuki let his guard down. The lecture was warranted, but Yuzuki still detested hearing it. 

“A garden, huh?”

Elli vaguely remembered something from long ago, her grandmother telling her about a man she knew when she was younger who started by growing a garden, which turned into a full farm. Funny how the simplest of concepts can bring back such fond memories of her grandmother’s stories.

“I think that’s a lovely idea. We could even grow fruits and veggies for the kids to eat, as well as all kinds of flowers. I think it would really brighten the place up.”

“I agree,” Yuzuki said as he began to fold some tee shirts, the fabric still warm from the dryer. “It certainly would be nice to have some flowers on the table every now and then, wouldn’t it?” Adding some color would make the space look more like a home, and having those flowers be available through the efforts of the children would be uplifting. 

Elli quieted her tone just a little to make sure she wouldn’t wake any of the children. “I’d love to.”

She hadn’t had any tasks she had to tend to immediately, leaving her enough time to help Yuzuki with his chore. Honestly, the only chore that she was specifically assigned to before she headed home for the evening a few hours later would be cooking dinner with a few of the other workers.

But there was time before that, so Elli had no trouble leaving the preparation for that until later.

She made her way to the laundry room with Yuzuki in tow, telling him about all the endearing things the kids had done today. They were so sweet. Elli saw them as her little brothers and sisters.

“But enough about me. How are things going with you, Yuzuki?”

Yuzuki lent his ear to Elli as she described the events of her day, chuckling here and there when she mentioned something one of the kids did that was particularly entertaining. By the time the question was turned to Yuzuki, the two were already well into the process of folding up laundry from the dryer.