(CLOSED) any time spent with you is never a mistake

[secare]

WHO: Chiyo & Yukine Matsuoka.
WHERE: the cat cafe.
WHEN: 10/2, late afternoon into evening.
WHAT: a cute date.
WARNINGS: none?

( it's with no small amount of nervousness that yukine makes his way towards the cat cafe. while he's really excited to spend the day with his cousin, he's also really anxious at the idea of talking about everything that went down yesterday. hell, he's still anxious when he thinks about it in general.

it barely seems real. maybe it'll feel more solid this weekend, but for now he's always on the verge of vibrating outta his skin.

yukine ends up getting to the cafe about ten minutes early, which is fine. he takes the time to lean up against the wall of the store front and flip through retrospec just to see what's going on.

as soon as he spots chiyo, he pockets his phone immediately. )

Chiyo!

Comments

[admiringly]

[ Chiyo is happy that things are turning out well for Yukine, but that doesn't mean she's not a little worried. Has he had time to sort out his feelings? That's the question that weighs on her mind the most because she remembers so vividly how he felt after her confessed to Anya. She also remembers how he felt at prom, but has he had time to think it all through? Retrospec makes everything happen so much, and Chiyo feels like she hardly has time to breathe sometimes.

She does want to have a good time with her cousin, though, so asking such heavy questions first thing isn't what she's going to do when she first sees Yukine. She beams at him.]

Yukine! Hi! I didn't keep you waiting, did I? [ She's punctual, give or take a minute or two. ] Ready for some quality cat and cousin time?

[ Instead of R&R, it's C&C. ]

[secare]

Nah. Not at all.

( it's an answer with a smile. it's always so nice to see her no matter how many times they meet. it's definitely worth the wait, but he barely ever has to wait on her. she's like him in this respect: on time. chiyo is usually right where she says she's going to be and he appreciates it immensely.

then his smile turns a little sly. )

Hmmmm. I dunno. I hear the cats are good, but I heard the cousin can be lacking.

[admiringly]

[ She makes a face at him and lightly shoves him, but she laughs anyway. ]

If my cousin says that, maybe I should just talk with the cats instead about his love life? Or I should strike up a conversation with Akira about it instead?

[ She opens the door to the cafe. ]

C'mon, or we'll both be lacking.

[secare]

( he fakes a panicked look, pressing a hand to his chest. )

You can't! They don't know yet! They might think I jilted them!

( then he laughs as he grabs the door, ushering her inside first. )

Probably better not to involve Akira. I think he felt really bad for starting all of that.

[admiringly]

You are. You're abandoning them and me for some boy. [ She sighs, making it as melodramatic as possible. ] Who woulda thunk that the first Matsuoka to get swept off his virtual feet would be the youngest?

[ She walks in. She's not contrary enough to fight for door holding rights. ]

If you don't mind, he shouldn't. I don't think anyone expected that conversation to head that way... except maybe Shouto.

[secare]

Whoa, whoa! Rin was clearly the first.

( waving his hands even though chiyo isn't looking at him. rin was the first matsuoka to fall into this hole! yukine was just following suit!! probably because of his bad influence! )

And I'm not abandoning anyone. There's room in my heart for everyone. So much room!

( then a quiet laugh. )

I don't get it. Everyone thinks I'm upset, but I'm not. It wasn't his fault. ( . . . ) I'm kind of grateful actually.

[admiringly]

Don't follow Rin's lead.

[ Chiyo says that abruptly, bluntly, but without malice. She loves her brother more than words can say, but one of his most glaring and hurtful flaws, the flip side to one of the best things about him, is how blind he can be when he gets so passionate and so in love with something or someone. It's hard for him to see anything else, and she doesn't want that.

She smiles at Yukine. ]

Cats can sense the truth, you know, and they don't want to share. Let's get seated because I'm.... if I'm honest, I am a little worried. It's not Akira's fault, and I don't blame him at all, but... I want to know if your feelings are clear?

[secare]

( it's said so straight-forwardly that yukine doesn't immediately know to respond. there's a brief moment of silence from him as he stares at her, slowly piecing together the words that he wants to say. naturally, he doesn't want to emulate rin in a lot of things because of his general personality, but damn.

he takes a breath. first, he needs to clear the air. )

Okay.

( that's all he can say at first, just some assurance that he won't take the rin route. then he's gently reaching out to take her hand. )

Listen to me, Chiyo. I'm serious, I'm not upset with Akira. There's nothing to be upset about. I'm—

( how does he say this. )

I'm glad. I'm glad that it happened. I'm glad Shouto said something.

[admiringly]

[ She tilts her head to the side. Maybe she didn't word things quite right? ]

I didn't think you'd be upset with him, not really anyway. I'm not, either. It was just very.... sudden? [ It happened so quickly that Chiyo worried things might be a little uncomfortable, and it happened where anyone on the network could see it. It's not the most ideal way for things to unfold, and she knows Akira would've had no idea, but... it's because Chiyo knows how Yukine felt that she worried. ]

I never asked you again how you were dealing after... Anya, and that's terrible of me, as your friend and your cousin. I'm glad that you're glad, and I want you to be happy, but... I remember how you were.

[ Are his feelings truly sorted? That's what Chiyo's not sure about.

It's been a while, but if there's one thing the Matsuoka cousins share in common it's that they feel strongly, intensely. It's what makes Chiyo hypocritical in her criticism of Rin. ]

/2

[secare]

( there's a small laugh at that, but he nods slightly towards her. )

Yea.

( there's no denying it. that day kind of felt like a car crash. a very public car crash. )

It was definitely sudden. I wasn't even sure it was really happening at first!

( a wave of his free hand as he tries to stress how conflicted he had been at the time. he was terrified that shouto was kidding or somehow pressured or anything else that would mean that his feelings weren't completely genuine. yukine's still not sure how he would have dealt with it if it had been anything less than what it was. )

I 'unno. It's Shouto, so I didn't really expect him to be the type to like know when he liked someone. If you know what I mean? Like. . .I was kind of expecting him to be someone who'd have to get hit in the face with the fact that he even liked someone like that in the first place! I didn't think it'd just come so easily to him.

But it did and it took like . . . the slightest of pushes for him to say anything.

( a small sigh because he's the slightest bit jealous of him. it wasn't an easy conclusion for him to come to that he liked either anya or shouto. both things had been incredibly obvious to everyone but him—well, at least the anya thing was. he's not sure how obvious the shouto stuff was. or maybe it's because he's also a boy that it's easier to overlook? or something like that? who knows. )

[secare]

( then chiyo is talking about failing to check in with him and yukine doesn't think that's really right or fair. it's not okay to expect her to do that for him. maybe if things were like they used to be before the app, yea, but these days?

shit. as long as she's still here, everything else is gravy.

still, he gently pokes her in the shoulder. )

I don't think that's fair. It wasn't terrible of you. It wasn't really an easy thing to ask. How do you even begin to approach something like that? Geez. Then on top of it, there's really no good time to try to do that because something messed up is pretty much always happening! Just all the time! I didn't even really get a good chance to tell you about it either.

( which is true. the way things have been happening, yukine feels like there just isn't enough time in the day to squeeze in a feelings jam. )

So, don't worry about it, okay?

( then a considering pause. )

Mmm, I talked to Anya a bit after things had settled down the other month. I mean, I had to, right? I couldn't just let that be the end of it or let stuff linger in the air. I don't think that'd be fair to Anya. Well, that and. . . It's probably all I thought about it what feels like forever? I kept thinking about how I screwed it all up and how I just bled my feelings on her without considering hers.

[admiringly]

I'd approach it because I love you and I care about you, and it's not something I should shy away from because we're family. [ And family is so, so important. Yukine is so, so important. Their relationship is important. It's not something she'll just let go. It's not something that she can let go.

She pokes him back, a mirror image. ]

You didn't screw it all up, and it's not like you forced her to answer your feelings. Would you have thought that way about Shouto if you didn't like him, too? He really is kind of surprising with how blunt he is, isn't he?

At least you won't have to worry about him not being honest with you.

[secare]

Still, I don't think you should feel bad about it or anything.

( he says it casually, but he feels pretty firm about it. chiyo honestly shouldn't be feeling bad about anything as minor as this when she has much on her plate already.

he flinches a little at the poking, but doesn't return the favour this time. )

Uhm, well—Hmm.

( that's not so easy to answer. how he feels about talking to anya about his feelings and shouto telling him his feelings is completely different. it almost feels like talking about entirely different things! apples and oranges! )

I don't think so. Even if I didn't like him back, it's his feelings and I'd be glad that he told me about them. Maybe not so much how he told me though since that was public as hell and would have made a rejection crazy embarrassing for both of us.

( he's not sure if either of them could live something like that down. what was wrong with shouto? why the fuck would he make it so public? didn't he even consider the possibility of being turned down? or was it just no big deal to him? )

I don't get how Shouto can be so freakin' fearless and blunt. It makes me nervous just watching him sometimes.

( pressing a hand to his face. )

I can't believe I like someone like this, but I like him a lot.

[admiringly]

[ That gets Chiyo to smile brightly. Those are the words she needed to hear to put some of her worries to rest. She hugs Yukine real quickly. ]

Okay, I'm convinced. [ About all of it, that his feelings are clear, that he's not jumping too fast into it, everything. Usually, Chiyo would jump to support someone's relationship, and she'd jump to support Yukine generally, but she wants everything to be right for him. She thinks about Yukine so much. The death he could regain always looms, darker than a shadow. ] I don't get how he could say it like that either since it didn't seem like an outburst, but I'm happy it ended the way it did. Now it's only a little embarrassing and not crazy embarrassing.

[ Considering how anyone on Retrospec can see it. Honestly, that's crazy embarrassing, too, but she's here to raise Yukine as high as he can go, not drag him down. ]

Have you guys planned your first date yet?