i need you so much closer

There it was again, that funny strange feeling that welled in his chest. His heart skipped a few beats after his words were spoken, carried on the wind that gently flowed through the bamboo stalks. He wasn’t sure what his next steps should be - should he say more? Maybe even express that deeply longing, suppressed feeling- no, no. Far too soon, even with his long they had known each other. Even after a harrowing reunion. His friend had just begun the recovery from pneumonia, and he had butterflies in his stomach? Such a conversation would have to wait. Those emotions accompanying it, too. But he knew, on some level, Kunai felt something remotely similar, the way Usagi’s words of wanting him to stay clearing having an effect on his expression, his pause, his inability to speak - no, that could just be the illness. Dry throat and all.

Kunai had cleared his throat, expressing that Usagi’s desire for Kunai to stay wasn’t selfish at all. The bunny-eared wolf felt relieved on that level. He knew wishing for someone to stay wasn’t inherently selfish, but he needed to get the reassurance regardless. After all, he didn’t want Kunai to feel like he was being pressured to stay in a strange land, even with their surroundings, their native tongue, and other koi-wolves reminding them of home. Without his parents ominously watching over him. But Usagi’s mossy gaze settled upon the flashing teeth and then the fading smile, the sadness in the man’s eyes. Oh, how he wished he could erase that sadness. His parents no longer had any bearing upon him except in his memories - arguably some concept of someone forever imprinted in one’s mind seemed worse than in real life. Because even thousands of miles away, the bad memories lingered. The shorter man, himself, had some demons lurking in the shadows - but he’d had yet to face them. They hid, for now. Kunai was his priority. After the pause, Usagi let his expression soften. Even his nub tail, so still and unmoving, he forced it to wag a little. Just as a sign of the enthusiasm he never knew how to express behind blank frowns and stoic eyes. "For what it’s worth, Kunai, I’m so glad you’re here." He never expressed such emotion even in his words, though his voice remained flat as it always did, it brimmed with warmth. And love. Lots of love, too. The love he couldn’t say aloud just yet.

Speech