Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rui gestured to the living room and for a second, Akiko wondered if the male had read his mind. He nodded silently, refilled his cup, and then followed the male to the couch. He sat on the furthest side, leaving the middle cushion between himself and Rui. He took a sip of his tea before Rui held the remote up. He shook his head. “Please.” He said softly and returned his gaze to his tea. He glanced up at the TV when Rui picked a program. He settled back against the couch a bit more. “No, this is fine.” He said, eyes glued to the TV program. Rui offered to listen again, but Akiko didn’t respond. He really didn’t feel like talking. After a couple of minutes, Akiko pulled his legs under him, getting more comfortable as he watched the program and drank his tea. The tea warmed him to his core, and the show was relaxing. Once he finished his cup, he leaned forward and placed it on the coffee table, though his eyes never left the screen. After a couple of episodes and against all odds, Akiko fell asleep, propped up against the arm of the couch.

Daichi woke slowly, to the feel of someone playing with his hair. Trying to sleep longer, he nuzzled into the warm body and tried to hide his face. It didn’t work very well, but it did give Kaoru better access to his hair. He groaned softly, regretfully as sleep slipped through his fingers. He tilted his head and opened his eyes, smiling softly when blue orbs met honey brown. “Good morning.” He said before he lifted his hand to comb through Kaoru’s bed head. “Did you sleep alright?” he asked softly, his voice still thick with sleep.

Akiko somehow managed to sleep through the rest of the night with no new nightmares. When he woke, he remained frozen for a moment while he accessed where he was. Not his house, not his room, not even his new room… the living room of his new… whatever you call this… he sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes. That’s when he noticed the blanket. He looked at it curiously. His eyes followed the length of the blanket before they skimmed over to the other side of the couch and found Rui sleeping there. His breath caught at the sight. Rui looked so peaceful when he slept… so open… Akiko’s fingers twitched. He wanted to reach out and touch Rui, just to make sure he was real. he shook his head and shifted so he could plant his feet on the ground. He quietly got up and folded the blanket, draping it over the edge of the couch before he returned to his room to get ready for the day.

((do you want to skim over the morning therapy sessions? And maybe also the next two days until the move out day?))

Akiko returned to the common area at a reasonable time, for breakfast. “G-good morning.” He greeted, standing awkwardly in the doorway of the kitchen until he was ushered to a chair for breakfast. They ate while Rui did most of the speaking, reminding Akiko of his planned away time and such. They didn’t talk about last night, or the fact that both of them fell asleep on the couch together. Once breakfast was over, Akiko helped clean up the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher so he could start it. There was a delivery… Akiko found a reason to return to his room until the delivery man left. When he returned, Rui had already started to open the packages and direct Akiko to them. Art supplies? Rui had said he liked a paint and write, right? Was he expecting Akiko to do the same things? Same hobbies? Painting and writing sounded like creative activities… Akiko was no creative… he would surely disappoint and that thought made a knot form in his stomach and threatened to make him sick.

He simply nodded at the male and waited for Rui to leave before he grabbed the notebook and pens. He went to the living room couch and sat down, turning to the first page. In small, neat handwriting, he wrote “Rules” on the top of the page. It was easy to fill an entire column on the page… things like, no stuttering, don’t ask for more than you are given, prepare, serve, and clean up after the household, do as you are told (even if you are uncomfortable doing it), never say no, don’t look at other attractive women (or men)…. ((OOC: add any others you want?)). Akiko didn’t put in any of the rules that related directly to Kaoru, since he wasn’t a factor anymore. After filling the first page, he started on the second page. But he didn’t fill that whole page before he had to close the book a take a step away. Writing all his rules down on paper was giving him an anxiety attack. He returned to the quiet of his room and laid on his bed. He pressed the heel of his hands to his eyes and counted even numbers softly to himself as he tried to calm his breathing.



~
The last few days at the main house were mostly the same. Breakfast with his mother, therapy sessions which usually ended with Kaoru crying into his chest…. He hated those sessions… then lunch, followed by spending the afternoon with Kaoru… in the evening, after dinner, Daichi would work on his computer before crawling into bed with Kaoru, curled around the male like he was a teddy bear.

But today was move out day. There stuff was already moved to their new place. Daichi made sure Kaoru’s piano was waiting for him. He was so happy to hear Kaoru playing again. Daichi packed their bags the night before, and stayed close to Kaoru the whole morning. He could feel the tension rolling off his husband, but he wasn’t exactly sure what was bothering him… just the move? Or something more? Rui let them have a group morning session, which went well. At the end, Daichi spoke up about scheduling, now that they were moving. “So how often are we meeting up, both privately and as a group? I need to get back to the office eventually and I want to plan around our sessions.” He said, his arm wrapped around Kaoru’s waist were they sat on the bench in the garden.

After lunch, Daichi packed their car and met Rui and his mother out front to say their goodbyes. “Thank you, mother… for housing us, and for all your help.” He said, hugging the woman before he placed a soft kiss on her cheek. “We’ll come back a visit soon.” He said, moving over to hug Rui goodbye. “Thank you, Rui... And we’ll see you in two days.” He said with a nod, confirming their next appointment. After Kaoru had said his goodbyes, they turned to the car and got in. Daichi waved from the window as he drove off… and then it was just to two of them. “Okay so, all the large furniture has been built and placed, but we can rearrange everything when we get them. The smaller stuff still needs to be unpacked. So I was thinking, we could order in, move into our new place… then maybe afterwards, relax on the couch with a movie?” he suggested, hoping to distract Kaoru from whatever was bothering him.

Akiko was sitting on the bed, feet propped up on the side rail, elbows on his knees, head in his hands. He looked up when he heard Rui’s knock. He had heard the male enter the apartment, and while his heart was racing because he left the list of rules on the counter, he couldn’t get himself to leave his room and watch Rui read the list. He just couldn’t. So like the coward he was, he stayed in his room. He stared at the door for a long moment, heard Rui walk away, and still he remained where he was. He sighed after a long moment. Rui would get worried if he remained in his room… and surely the male wanted to talk about the notebook, or the other art supplies… so, as much as he wanted to crawl into bed and just sleep, he pushed himself up and walk over to the door. He quickly looked at himself in the mirror and deemed his appearance presentable before he opened the door. Akiko slowly walked out to the kitchen, then nodded at Rui. “H-how was your s-session?” he asked, walking over to the kitchen counter. He sat on the other side, slipping into the bar stool. He clasped his hands together, his eyes shifted down to the notebook. He reached out and touched the corner of the book with his finger. “I wrote down what I c-could remember… I’m sure I’ve forgotten s-some.” He felt like he needed to apologize.


((do you have a picture of Akiko? I can't find a good one))

Akiko said a soft thank you for the tea and immediately wrapped his hands around it, focusing on the warmth instead of the notebook. He nodded at Rui’s words, but kept his focus on the tea. H lifted the cup to his lips, blew on in, and then took a sip before setting the cup down. He repeated the action again before Rui spoke again. He froze a bit at the question; he bit the inside of his cheek and looked up at Rui. He really didn’t want to talk about his nightmares… they were awful, sometimes even repeat memories he wished he could forget. But maybe Rui wouldn’t mind if they focused more on the after than the nightmare itself?

He glanced down at his cup. It was nice to have Rui next to him on the couch… to watch something peaceful afterwards… Rui gave some suggestions, waking him up after a nightmare, sleeping together on the couch, sharing a bed… the last one made his breath freeze in his lungs… but Rui clarified… he still shook his head at the idea. Maybe eventually, if he could learn to really trust Rui, but right now, that sounded like a terribly dangerous idea.

He shrugged when Rui wondered if having someone around help ease him after his nightmare. “I-I don’t usually sleep afterwards…” he said softly. “I-I’ve never had… N-No one’s ever s-sat with me afterwards… Akane—“ he flinched at his wife’s name, “She’d g-get annoyed I would wake her, s-so she’d kick me out, sometimes t-to the living room or-or the guest room o-or...” He stated, and by the tone, it sounded like it was an acceptable course of action… even if it was his wife’s falter he had nightmares in the first place.



((do you have a picture of Akiko? I can't find a good one))

Akiko tried not to tense when Rui moved to his side of the counter. He did better than the day before, but it was probably still noticeable. Rui put his hand on Akiko’s back and Akiko felt the warmth and comfort the male was trying to imbue by the action. He turned his head to look in Rui direction as he spoke, even if he couldn’t maintain eye contact. His wife’s name was mentioned and in his flinch, he looked back down at his tea, his shoulders hunched slightly, his head dropped. He sighed and forced himself to relax… hardly said than done. Luckily it acted as a distraction as Rui described him as strong and confident, otherwise he would have been shaking his head perversely.

Akiko perked up at the mention of a laptop for his own use. He tried to hide his curiosity and excitement… in the past, anything that got a rise out of Akiko was usually removed from the home. He waited for Rui to leave, distracting himself with his tea. Once he was finished, he moved to set the cup by the sink and looked over into the living room. Rui was working on his laptop, distracted. Quietly, Akiko gently picked up the laptop from the box and moved to sit with Rui on the couch, leaving the middle seat cushion between them again. He opened the laptop, glancing for at Rui while he waited for it to boot up. He looked like he was just waiting for Rui to snatch it away. But Rui didn’t even notice him.

After the initial boot up sequence, Akiko started to set up his emails. He didn’t get many these days, but sometimes his daughter would send him stuff to look at and he’d consult for her. He got a bit distracted, reading an email from his daughter. It was more on the personal side, asking about Akane and what was going on. “My daughter is requesting information about my wife. C-can I…” he pointed nervously at his email. “Is it alright if I tell her what’s going o-on? And W-where I am?” he asked.

Akiko felt relieved when Rui said he could email his daughter. He started to respond to her, proving his efficiency with a keyboard when he could still look over at Rui while typing. “No, Akane loved her too much… and when my d-daughter was younger, Akane was… g-gentler… Things got worse after… after I ch-cheated on her…” he said with a soft sigh, clenching his hands tightly before he resumed typing. He turned his attention back to the laptop and quickly wrote out a long and detailed email describing the situation. The typing was distracting, and old skill he had glad he never forgot, but the subject matter was making him a bit tense. He shook his head a bit when Rui suggested she could come visit. “She’s pretty busy with the company. I wouldn’t want to be a burden.” He said softly as he finished up the email and hit send.

He opened up another file, some financial or quarterly report for the company and started to read it, losing himself in the task. He didn’t even notice Rui was humming until the male spoke. “Hmmm? Oh, no… not at all.” He said, trying a soft smile before he returned to his reading. There wasn’t much for him to do, however, on the computer… it had been a while since he had free access to the internet… and he couldn’t think of anything to look up on the top of his head. Rui had said he was going to draw or paint after he was done working… he wondered if Rui would make him participate too… he tried to think of something he could draw or paint in case Rui asked him… again he was drawing a blank… hobbies were hard.