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"Didn't think I'd find you here, April."
Chikage turns his head at an ever-so-familiar voice, the cold wind brushing against his face as the night sky illuminates the roof he finds himself seated on. He looks up to find Hisoka standing on the ledge, easily jumping towards him with his reflexes.
The green-haired actor wordlessly moves to the right to accommodate his arriving companion, and Hisoka accepts it, settling himself comfortably at the space of the tiled roof. In silence, Hisoka produces a marshmallow bag from his jacket, and he opens it, offering one to the man beside him.
Chikage's eyebrows rise as Hisoka waits for him to take one from the package, eyes perplexed when the said man's lips curve into a small smile when Chikage gives in. He allows himself to grab a single piece, but he doesn't make any plans to put the sweet monstrosity in his mouth. Hisoka thinks that it's enough though. With no words being shared, the men continue to sit on the roof, gazing up the night sky as the stars continue to shine above them.
It's silent, but it's comfortable — much more than when Chikage used to pretend to not know Hisoka at all. The silence before was deafening, continuously torturing, and truth to be told, suffocating. But now, the silence that he has with Hisoka has become a place of comfort he's never going to admit out loud, and it makes him fondly remember all the memories he's shared with him as April. With August and December. With his family.
"Say, April... the moon looks especially bright tonight, doesn't it?" Hisoka asks, gently breaking the silence and Chikage doesn't miss a beat when he replies. "Mhmm."
He wasn't lying when he agreed. Above them, the stars were scattered beautifully, with barely any clouds covering the shine and the shimmer the little white dots give. Along with it was the bright illumination of the moon, lighting the world below with soft yellow. It wasn't usual that Veludo was dim enough to see the beauty of the night sky with the naked eye, but today was an exception. Chikage finds it odd, like he doesn't deserve it, but he mutters a silent thank-you to the heavens as he takes in the view of his night sky.
"You think August would've loved this too, wouldn't he?" Hisoka says, and Chikage's eyes soften slightly as he continues to observe upwards.
August, who was so caring, August, who was so kind, August, who showed them beautiful, August, who showed them love — August would've thought that this view was perfect, and with no doubt, would absolutely have loved it.
"Is that even a real question?" Chikage replies, eyes casting towards Hisoka. Hisoka looks at him too, eyes expecting an answer. So, he gives him one."He probably would have," Chikage murmurs.
Hisoka hums, before he adds, "He would've loved seeing it now too. Especially that it's your birthday."
Chikage laughs softly, mind remembering the antics August used to do on his birthday. He used to not celebrate birthdays, and merely brushed it off as another day, but August always insisted. Even on a busy day, he always finds a way to have his brother celebrate the day he's born, even if April didn't want to.
Everything stopped altogether when August left, and December went missing. He lost all meaning of doing anything, let alone celebrating. Why was he going to celebrate when the only two people worth celebrating were now gone?
But then he caught wind of December again, and the grief turned into anger, and everything went downhill from there. April was lost, confused, and wondering. He wanted nothing but to take revenge, to find someone to blame for making him lose August.
Instead, he finds something so unexpected — something he never thought he'd find once again. The word is still foreign on his tongue, so unfamiliar and experimental, unsure even. He's afraid that when he speaks it into existence, it will just vanish into thin air, like it wasn't there in the first place.
Home.
The first time he spoke it, he called out in the dorms and said "'m home," as he entered the residence. Chikage contemplated it before he opened the door and stepped in and made himself known, and with a wildly beating heart, he waited.
Without missing a beat, all his doubts vanished when he heard Sakuya and Izumi's voices chorus.
Welcome home, Chikage.
Chikage hums from the memory, and as a reply to Hisoka's murmuring, fond. "August would have been busy making some barely-edible spice cake, and we'd be eating that after coming back from headquarters," Chikage muses, and Hisoka lets himself laugh from the mention of August's disaster cooking.
"Yeah. Those were the times," Hisoka comments, and both of them fall back into the quiet night, reminiscing smiles plastered unto their faces.
"Mhmm, it was."
"How about now? Do you think you're happy?"
Chikage looks at Hisoka, and despite being used to hiding his feelings, he feels bare under his friend's gaze. It feels unnerving to let himself be seen, and he forgoes the option of lying to Hisoka. He'll be found out anyway — after all, he knows that Hisoka too, feels the same way.
"Maybe," he replies, straightening his shirt before he stares into nothing. The stars seemed to shine a little more brightly now, and the wind blowing a teeny bit warmer. "Yeah."
Hisoka follows suit, finally lying down on the roof as he continues to observe the night sky, and occasionally, his friend. With the fond look present in Chikage's face, Hisoka was more than sure that he's found new pillars to lean on and a newfound place to make him feel the warmth he's once lost.
Hisoka was sure that like him, Chikage found a family that he can call his once again.
"Then that's more than enough, April. I'm happy for you," Hisoka smiles, eyes drifting close as he sends August a silent message to the heavens.
We're okay, August. We're both living just like you wanted us to.
"Thank you, December. And August too," Chikage smiles. "'m sure he would've said the same thing."
"Probably did. Happy Birthday, April, enjoy it with everyone," Hisoka greets. Chikage says no more, humming as he lets the sky take over, reveling in the silence the night has to offer.
Below them, the noise of the dorm becomes clearer in Chikage's ears, getting louder as he realizes Harugumi's preparations for his measly little birthday. He still isn't used to it — the surprises, the hugs, and maybe even the mere thought of someone to come home to after a long day of work — but Chikage thinks he doesn't mind.
He leaves Hisoka napping on the roof, and with the last glance at the sky, and a silent prayer offered to and for August, he steps back inside the dorm.
With a grin on his face, and for the first time in years, he's once again looking forward to his own birthday, and he smiles.
He steps in and comes back home.