aya_magic | [Fic] À la Prochaine Fois (Reply)

Title: À la Prochaine Fois*
Author:iris_aya (me ^^)
Beta: spread_da_love
Pairing: Akame
Rating: PG
Genre: Fluff, AU, maybe a little angst?
Warnings: boyxboy pairing. AU universe
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with JE, and obviously I cannot "own" these people. I also, in no way, make monetary profit off this.
Summary: Even though they’re thousands of miles apart their love still remains strong. (I just want to emphasize that this is not canon, which will be obvious if you read it)
Word Count:1,750
Author’s Note: Another drabble I wrote in hopes of conquering this writer’s block. I asked sou_kiri /shuu_cream for a fluffy drabble prompt and she sent me these two pictures: this and this. I decided to incorporate them into one drabble, obviously. Lots of love to her for telling me that this idea wasn’t horrible when I was about to throw it out.
Lots of thanks to TJ for translating the longer French for me and beta’ing this. I also google’d and wiktionary’d a few phrases as well so feel free to correct me, just politely please? And of course thanks to sweetpaopuwind for coming up with the title idea, trying to name this was so vexing.
This was for spread_da_love ’s [August Fluffy Month Project]. As always, comments = ♥ and I love hearing what you guys think.
Anything marked with a number or * has a definition/etc at the bottom.

--

Kame took a deep breath. Cold, crisp air filled his lungs and he tugged his scarf up a bit more and tried to pull his sleeves down to cover more of his gloves. He considered running back up to the apartment to put on another layer, if he was already this cold in the doorway to the street he could only imagine how it would feel once he started walking outside. He checked his watch and sighed, he needed to leave now or the bakery would close soon.

A quick trip to his mailbox in the lobby later and he stepped out onto the narrow street. His winter boots thudded against the brick street and his shoulders hunched up against the cold wind. He shuffled through his mail, bypassing a couple bills and random mail, and smiled at the sight of a familiar scrawl. He fingered the thick envelope, this time a simple brown instead of the baby blue from a few days prior. His pace quickened and his motivation to get to the bakery and back just a little faster was just that bit stronger. He couldn’t open it here, no matter the potentially mundane things written in the letter it was far too personal.

The familiar ache for home, the hustling streets of Tokyo and the warm embrace of Jin, grew stronger and he found himself, once again, counting down the days until he would be home. Three more months and his studies in Paris would finish and he could return home. He tucked the letter into his pocket, careful to button it for fear of losing it.

He nodded in greeting to his neighbor as she walked towards their building. She was a lovely old woman who welcomed him with chocolate crepes on his second day in the building. At first he thought it had been his imagination, and his homesickness kicking in, when she started to fuss over how much he ate, just as Jin always did at home, almost every time he saw her. He had quickly confirmed that, yes, he was already homesick but that it wasn’t just him projecting onto the woman.

He looked at his watch one last time and smiled, he had thirty minutes to spare before the store closed. He slowly opened the door to the bakery, the chime he’d come to be familiar with ringing out, and breathed in the warm air laced with the scent of freshly baked breads.

“Bonsoir¹,” the woman behind the counter greeted him.

“Bonsoir,” he smiled in return before he began to examine what they had for sale. He skipped over the sweets, he simple wanted a snack and something for the morning.

"Pardon²,” he smiled when he was ready to order. "Je voudrais trois croissants aux amandes et deux pains au chocolat, s'il vous plait³."

“Est-ce tout⁴?” she asked politely.

“Oui⁵.”

After a few moments he handed over a few euro to cover the cost. “Bonne soirée⁶.”

He stepped back into the cold and fumbled to pull his phone out when it began to buzz in his pocket. He grinned at the name on the screen, “Moshi-moshi⁷.”

“Aww Kazu, you know I love it when you answer in French,” he could imagine Jin pouting this very moment.

“I know,” he chuckled. “What are you doing up? It’s what… 1 a.m. there?”

“I know, but I didn’t want to bother you right after you got home so I waited a while. What are you up to?” Jin asked.

He couldn’t find the will to scold the other for being up so late. “I just stopped by the bakery to get some croissants and bread.”

“Are you eating enough?” Jin asked. “I wish I could be there to see for myself, and you’re always wearing so many layers when you’re on your webcam… and the image is so crappy even if you weren’t I couldn’t tell.”

“Don’t worry. Mrs. Clément is doing a great job making sure I eat enough,” Kame chuckled. “But I’m worried about you. How are the paintings for your upcoming show doing? You tend to lose weight when you get stressed. Are you eating enough?”

“I’m glad she’s still looking out for you then. And stop worrying! I am actually perfectly on schedule, even my agent is amazed. Maybe you were what was always slowing my painting down all the time,” Jin teased.

Kame scoffed, “you can’t completely lay the blame on me. You never complained. But you didn’t answer my question, have you been eating enough?”

“Yes, yes I have. You got Pi and Ryo to nag me about eating every chance they can. I can’t believe you’d put me through such- what the…“

Kame paused in his walk back down the street. The sky was blanketed in clouds and the slowly dimming light signaled the coming darkness.

“What’s wrong?” Kame prompted.

“Nothing, must be my imagination…” Jin answered. “But I can’t believe you put me through- maybe it wasn’t my imagination.”

Kame heard an excited gasp followed by a high-pitched squeal, one he was sure the other would deny later on. “What’s happening?”

“It’s snowing Kazu!” Jin exclaimed.

Out of habit, at the word ‘snowing’, Kame looked up and his eyes nearly crossed as they instinctively followed the delicate snowflake to its spot on the tip of his nose. Above him perfect little snowflakes were falling and he took a moment to stare before bringing the phone back to his ear.

“Jin… it just started snowing here too,” he murmured.

“Really? Like, really really? You’re not just teasing me are you?” Jin demanded.

“I’m serious, it just started snowing. A flake landed on my nose right after you told me it was snowing there.” Kame rolled his eyes.

“It’s obviously a sign of our bond, Kazu! It’s a sign, a sign!” Jin insisted.

“I’m sure it is Jin,” Kame smiled.

An hour later he had finally convinced Jin to go to sleep, even if the idiot had insisted he would only wake up in another hour with a perfect painting planned. Kame had a feeling this perfect painting would involve snow and a red thread but he had held back the comment. He would just have to see, hopefully from the next letter, if he knew his boyfriend as well as he thought he did.

He took another sip of his slowly cooling coffee and finally slit open the brown envelope. He ran his index finger over the first folded sheet, his own name written upon it. Inside were five pages, written on both the front and back of each sheet. He smiled and tipped out ten photos, each numbered.

As he read through the letter, ranging from proclamations of how much the other had missed him to telling him what he’d eaten for breakfast on one particular day, he occasionally came across a description of an idea or event with an accompanying number.

As always, the number corresponded to one of the photos and he would excitedly find the correct one. The first showed a partially completed painting of Ran-chan: her peeking up from under the kotatsu*, the quilt fanned out around her. He flipped it over to read the note.

I thought Ran-chan looked super cute and since you couldn’t see her in person I wanted to paint it for you so you could have it special! I didn’t think just a photo was enough to show you how cute it was! But… I guess if you want you can see the photo too, but only when you get home.

He continued to read about the things Jin had done the past week and felt necessary to tell him. A change in pen or slightly different tilt to the writing showed when Jin had left off and picked up writing again when something new had happened or he felt something particularly poignant (at least in his own measure).

The accompanied pictures varied, some were of Jin, often with his friends when they’d gone out. One in particular was just of Jin smiling brightly, even though he saw the tiniest hint of worry in the eyes he knew so well.

Sometimes I worry you’ll forget what I look like when I remember just how long you’ve been gone… and will be gone still. That sounds dumb, doesn’t it? I know. But knowing that doesn't make me stop worrying..

His heart ached and he wished he could call the other right now and tell him: It’s not dumb. And just wait, I’ll be home before you know it and you’ll see just how I haven’t forgotten what you look like and never will. He settled for sending a text and hoping the other had listened to him and turned his phone on silent. He knew Jin would know exactly what he was talking about, even if he had taken the picture days before.

A few pictures were of other paintings Jin had either finished or was still working on. Each told him what the subject was and what he wanted to still accomplish with it, even if it was finished. And each also counted down how many paintings he needed to finish before his showcase. Kame smiled, Jin hadn’t lied, if his calculations were right the other was exactly on schedule for finishing on time.

He reached the last few lines of the letter and didn’t even try to contain a smile.

I can’t possibly write how much I miss you or love you but I know that you already know. You’re already more than halfway finished and I know you’re doing just as amazing as you always have. Good luck, stay healthy, and make sure to eat. I love you. Jin (11)

He tapped the ‘11’, had he missed a photo? He pulled one last square from inside the envelope. It was another picture of just Jin, sitting in their apartment at the kitchen table. With one hand he obviously held the camera and with the other he formed half of a heart.

The distance is only physical, my love.

His eyes began to tear up and he thought about their talks, the letters they exchanged, the hundreds of photos they both had tucked away by now, and even the snow showing their bond⁹ and he couldn’t agree any more. Suddenly, three months didn’t seem nearly as long as they had before and he couldn’t resist picking up the nearest pen to continue his own weekly letter.

Glossary (all but the last one are French)

* À la Prochaine Fois (the title) – Until we meet again/See you soon

1. Bonsoir – Good Evening

2. Pardon – Excuse me (to gain attention, not in apology)

3. Je voudrais trois croissants aux amandes et deux pains au chocolat, s'il vous plait – I would like three almond croissants and two chocolate breads please.

4. Est-ce tout? – Will that be all?

5. Oui - Yes

6. Bonne soirée – Have a good evening.

7. Moshi-moshi – The phrase for answering the phone in Japanese (I know most of you know it by now, I only put it in this way to mark the change from French to Japanese. I am far too lazy to translate their whole conversation *no matter how simple* into Japanese.)

8. Kotatsu – a table brought out in winter (in Japan) that has an attached blanket/quilt. It has a heater attached to the underside of the table and you cover your legs with the blanket to keep warm. I’m bad at explaining this here’s the wiki article: here.

9. Just some clarification? From what I’ve read and researched it’s not particularly common for it to snow in Paris or Tokyo. It does snow but usually in small patches fairly rarely sometime during or after Decemberish. I guess that just adds to Jin’s exclamations of their bond and why the snow is a sign.