Chapter Text
Epilogue I.
On one cloudy late summer weekend, the estate sale at Manor Krakenburg becomes the talk of the town.
Excitement stirs amongst the local public. Everyone knows that the Windmire family owns a vast collection of very old, very valuable, and sometimes very strange antiques and treasures. But it's also rather odd. As far as anyone knows, nobody in the family has died recently, nor are the owners moving out of the manor.
"Just think of it as a bit of spring cleaning," Niles tells one such curious local. "We're not really using a lot of this stuff, so we thought it would be a good idea to rehome it."
The local, a young woman who came in hopes of finding a good deal on something to furnish her new home with, picks up a small figure with a bizarre-looking metal contraption attached to it.
"What exactly is this?" she asks.
Niles studies it for a moment, running his eye over chipped ceramic and faded paint. It looks to him like it could either be a very sophisticated nutcracker or a cock-and-ball torture device. Which, if you asked the right person, wouldn't be too far off from each other. Categorically speaking.
"No idea," he says with a shrug. "But for eight bucks you could take it home and find out."
The young lady lets out a low, vaguely uneasy sound and carefully places the figure back down. "I'm going to keep looking around."
Niles frowns down at the figure. That's another in his streak of failed sales today. He wonders if it could be the figure's bulging, unevenly painted eyes that keep putting people off; or the rust gathering at the edges of the metal attachment. After a moment of consideration, he shakes his head adamantly. That can't be it.
"Niles, you've hardly moved from this spot in the past two hours," Leo huffs when he comes through the hall and sees him.
"Who's going to sell Dad's old wine bottle opener if I leave?"
Leo frowns at the figure, and the same unease Niles has witnessed across dozens of faces today pulls at his expression. "That is not a wine bottle opener."
"No, it's probably not," Niles agrees. "So what have you sold so far?"
At that, Leo lifts a small ledger with the first page nearly filled.
"Well, shit," Niles murmurs as he reads through it. "At least one of us is a good salesman."
"It's not a big deal. Whatever we don't sell we'll just donate," Leo says.
"And we're sure that Xander is fully on board with all of this?"
"Apparently, Takumi went through the entire list of items with him," Leo says. "I wasn't there, but Corrin purports it was a very inspiring moment of growth for all of them."
Niles narrows his eye. "Xander cried like a baby, didn't he?"
"All I know is he fought quite adamantly to keep Dad's armchair, amongst several other items," Leo says. "Everything else is fair game."
Leo pauses to look at the figure again, as though drawn towards it by some odd force. "Maybe it's a candle holder."
Niles tilts his head. "I think I see it." Though maybe he's just run out of guesses.
Unfortunately, Leo's vision remains unrealized by the visitors to the estate sale over the next two days and the figure ends up in the trash, because Niles can't in good conscience bring himself to donate something with such a sinister aura.
He does, however, manage to sell an actual candelabra and the dining chairs he's hated since childhood for their stiff backings and understuffed seats.
By the time dinner rolls around on Sunday evening, the manor feels like the mere skeleton of a home, stripped of over half of its dark furnishings and gloomy decor; and yet, Niles finds himself breathing much more easily within its walls than he thinks he ever did.
They eat at the kitchen staff table, a round mahogany piece that fits everyone in the manor as long as they squeeze in, elbow to elbow. It's not so bad.
"The meeting begins at 9 tomorrow," Xander is saying. He wasn't around during most of the weekend, working to avoid having to watch all of his father's belongings get carried off by strangers.
Takumi frowns. "Do I have to go?"
"You're required at every board meeting, Takumi. You hold too many shares to be exempt."
"Just tell them you speak for me. Nobody there cares about my opinions anyway."
"All opinions at the table are honored equally," Xander tells him patiently. "You know that."
Takumi goes silent, his gaze falling towards his plate. From next to him, Niles watches as he pushes his food listlessly around with his fork and realizes he's sulking.
Biting back a wry smile, Niles just quietly rests a hand on Takumi's knee and gives him a comforting squeeze.
A sigh from Xander draws everyone's gazes back towards him. "I understand your reluctance, Takumi, and I don't mean to force you into this. But—I'll be there, for what it's worth. Whatever questions you have or opinions you want to contribute, you'll have my support and guidance." He raises a hand and, with some hesitance, reaches across the table to put it over Takumi's, enveloping it completely. His arm spans nearly the entire diameter of the table, something Niles couldn't imagine anyone else he knows accomplishing. He's leaning forward, of course, almost lifting slightly out of his seat, but even then.
Even taking into account his impressive height, Xander is the type of man who's always seemed much larger than he already is. A giant among giants, a wall that could never be toppled. The only thing standing between his family and the cruelties of the cold, hard world they live in. Other than the millions of dollars in cash and assets they've all inherited, that is.
"Fine, I'll go," Takumi relents. Then, his expression softens as he stares down at Xander's hand covering his, eyes round with some measure of astonishment, but he doesn't balk. As Xander pulls away to continue eating, Takumi grips lightly at his fingers in a small gesture of reciprocity. "Thanks," he mumbles.
It's a sweet moment—one that makes Niles burn with envy. The hand he has on Takumi's leg drifts higher and higher before squeezing provocatively in what some might label as a juvenile bid for that same attention.
Without looking down, Takumi drops his free hand under the table to grip Niles's middle finger and wrench it back at a punishing angle.
"Ah—" Niles yelps and yanks his hand away, inadvertently elbowing Elise and making her spill some of the water she happens to be drinking in the moment.
"Hey!" In retaliation, Elise shoves Niles back in the other direction until his shoulders knock against Takumi's, which in turn knocks Takumi's other shoulder into Leo's, which makes Leo drop his fork.
"Seriously?" Leo demands, glaring at all three of them.
"No shenanigans at the table, please," Camilla entreats them with all the patience and grace of a woman who's been mothering her siblings for the vast majority of her life.
"I didn't even do anything!" Leo sputters, and that makes Corrin burst into a fit of giggles.
In the next moment, everyone is laughing, elbows bumping and shoulders brushing. It's warm and loud and close, filling the air and making the table shudder. It's home in a way they've never really experienced before.
Niles just watches quietly, intent on committing this moment to memory, tucking it away into that corner of his mind he knows he'll be visiting often when he's gone back to being on his own.
Takumi, noticing his stillness, glances up at him. He takes Niles's hand in his, rubbing a thumb over his knuckles in unspoken apology. "You okay?"
With a small smile, Niles just turns his hand to wrap his fingers around Takumi's. The pain, dealt without any real malice, has long faded. "I will be."
That evening, Niles has to remember to close his window when the AC kicks in. With the newly replaced air ducts, it's so quiet he doesn't even notice it at first, and the gleaming white ceiling vents look almost comically out of place against the backdrop of the graying gothic wallpaper.
The manor will look even more different the next time he's here, though he's not sure what to expect. He's thinking he'll come back for most major holidays, probably at least once every two or three months. The drive is easy, and would most certainly be worth it for family, amongst other things.
He's still staring up at the ceiling, internally debating whether he ought to invest in a new car, when his door opens with a soft click.
Niles lifts his head, then cocks an eyebrow. "Still not bothering to knock, I see," he remarks.
Ignoring the comment, Takumi strides with remarkable confidence into the room. Without pausing, he hefts himself up onto Niles's bed and throws a leg over his prone figure to straddle him in a move that reads as both devastatingly enticing and vaguely threatening.
"I want my pillow back," Takumi announces now that he has Niles exactly where he wants him, knees bracketing his sides.
Niles's hands come up to rest on Takumi's hips, a habit his body couldn't have forgotten if he'd tried. "It was my pillow to begin with." He squirms—not a true struggle, because he doesn't mind what's happening at all, but just to get comfortable beneath Takumi's weight.
In response, Takumi slides his own hands up over Niles's torso, touch warm and deliberate, to bear down on his chest, keeping him trapped on his back. "You forfeited custody when you left it here the first time."
"Then I guess you can take it back when I go again." Idly, Niles slips his fingers beneath the hem of Takumi's shorts and kneads gently at his thighs. He doesn't miss the way Takumi's breath catches lightly at that, and it makes his own breath quicken ever so slightly.
Takumi leans down to let his face hover a mere several inches over Niles's. "I want it now," he demands, voice low. He hasn't broken eye contact with Niles this entire time.
From this close, Niles can see the subtlest line of a smile curving along Takumi's lips, the glint of mischief his eyes, and finds himself utterly mesmerized.
Niles brings a hand up to brush over Takumi's bangs, then tucks a few errant strands behind his ear, knuckle grazing the smooth skin of his cheek. He keeps his touch light, unsure still of what Takumi will allow. "We could always share for the night," he suggests, voice tender and heart yearning. "You could stay a while."
A pleased flush darkens Takumi's cheeks. For a moment he looks dazzled, gaze bright and lips parted in an echo of how he used to look at Niles all the time when they were kids. With a small, almost shy smile, Takumi dips his head until the tips of their noses brush and their breaths mingle. "Convince me."
Niles surges forward while the last word is still rolling off Takumi's tongue, and when their lips meet he swears he actually hears the sound of everything clicking into place. He winds his arms around Takumi, one around his waist and the other over his shoulders, while Takumi melts into him until their chests are flush, his hands coming to cradle Niles's face. Muscle memory, seared into the very bone.
It's been so long since everything felt warm and right like this.
They kiss long and slow, taking the time to reacquaint themselves with each other. And though Niles never forgot the sensation of Takumi's lips against his, their time away from each other has made them clumsy, mouths meeting at sometimes awkward angles and pulling hushed, sheepish laughter from them.
And they've inevitably both changed a bit, too. Boredom motivated Niles to grow out of his lanky build from college years and put on some muscle density early on, earning him a stockier, harder figure. Takumi, on the other hand, has grown a little softer around his edges, delightfully plush beneath Niles's touch. Even then, this slight feeling of unfamiliarity itself is drenched in nostalgia.
They're teens again, freshly sprouted into their new bodies and unapologetically infatuated with each other.
Takumi tastes like the spearmint of his toothpaste when they slide their tongues against each other, and Niles swallows it down his parched throat like it's ambrosia.
The groan he lets out when Takumi grinds down on him is borderline inhuman, and loud enough that Takumi suddenly clamps his teeth around Niles's lip in warning.
"Quiet down," Takumi hisses.
"Relax," Niles murmurs as he runs his tongue over the delicious ache in his lip. "We've done this a hundred times before."
"Not when—"
A muffled whine sounds out from behind Niles's door, accompanied by the shuffling of microscopic paws against the rug.
Niles clamps his mouth shut.
Incredible. For all that Corrin's mutts hate his guts, he would never have expected them to go so far as to cockblock him like this. He lets his head fall back onto the mattress and lets out an unnecessarily dramatic sigh. "Get rid of it."
Takumi rolls his eyes at the display, but acquiesces nonetheless. "Ice Cream," he calls softly.
Immediately, the whining stops as Ice Cream stands at attention. Niles cannot for the life of him fathom how Takumi could possibly have recognized it from the sound of its whining alone.
"Go bed."
An answering whimper. They always try to talk their way out of having to obey. It must be a Windmire thing.
"Bed," Takumi repeats firmly.
With a resigned huff, Ice Cream finally relents, and the jingling of its collar tags fades into quiet once again.
"Good girl," Takumi murmurs, probably out of habit.
Niles frowns. "You never talk to me like that."
Takumi fixes him with a distinctly unimpressed look. "You're gross. And besides, you never listen—hey!" He lurches as Niles suddenly rocks up against him.
"What happened to keeping it down?" Niles asks with a wry grin.
"You're the one who…" Takumi trails off as Niles pulls him down for another kiss, another innocent roll of their hips together. He still looks slightly disgruntled as he pulls away. "Of course you're still in the mood."
"Could get you back into it, too." Niles tightens his grip around Takumi's waist, holding him close as he grinds up again. Heat builds slow and sumptuous in the infinitesimal space between them and he feels himself start to fill out, the beginnings of that sweet ache setting in with each brush of friction.
They fit together so perfectly, molded around each other. Two pieces of the same puzzle, tumblers in a lock.
Overhead, the humming in the vent dies down as the AC comes to rest, and they can't get their clothes off fast enough as they break into a fevered sweat. Sparks jump where skin meets skin, bringing a paradoxically fresh relief against the swelter despite the damp stickiness of it. Niles has never so intimately understood the appeal of fighting fire with fire.
"You know," he murmurs against the column of Takumi's neck where he's trailing kisses and scraping his teeth gently across delicate skin, "we won't have to worry about interruptions at my place."
Takumi's throat bobs with a hard swallow, and the movement feels so satisfying against Niles's lips.
"We can do whatever we want, wherever we want," Niles continues. "The bed, the couch, the floor."
A tiny, nearly imperceptible groan works its way past Takumi's lips as he grasps at Niles, hands moving from his shoulders to his neck to his jaw. They rut against each other again, and fuck—Takumi is already so wet, drizzling slick all over Niles's cock and leaving him wanting so bad it aches all the way to his lungs.
"I could sit you up on the kitchen counter and eat you out until you cry. Or you could—" Niles is the one to swallow this time as a thought occurs to him, surfacing like a headlight through the lust-heavy fog in his mind. "You could bend me over it and fuck me."
Takumi's breath stutters, and his grip tightens almost painfully around Niles's jaw. They had talked about this vaguely before, but had never really gotten around to trying it. There never seemed to be enough time, or the right opportunity. Back then, they were so eager that things always ended up in a bid to get themselves and each other off in the fastest, most immediately satisfying way possible.
In all fairness, Niles wasn't even fully aware of how much he'd enjoy getting fucked until he started meeting people in Gallia.
But damn, now that the idea has resurfaced, it suddenly becomes all Niles can think about. "Want you inside me someday," he gasps, voice thick and chest heavy with longing. "On top of me, just like this, pounding me into fucking oblivion. I know you'd be so good to me—"
Cheeks glowing crimson, Takumi shoves his fingers into Niles's mouth to shut him up. "You're the greediest man I know," he breathes, a reprimand rendered powerless by the fondness in his tone.
Niles sucks on them with the same zeal he'd suck anything Takumi put into his mouth—his tongue, his clit, his strap—and just the thought of Takumi fucking his face until his throat is raw makes him whimper with desperation, saliva filling his mouth and trailing over his chin as Takumi pulls out, soaked to the first knuckle. Niles really should have unpacked some of his toys.
"If I had my way," he rasps, tongue heavy with the taste of Takumi's skin, "I'd be the only man you know."
Unfazed, Takumi says nothing while he slides his hand down and dips his fingers between his folds. Niles's gaze follows, locked hungrily onto every movement as Takumi fingers himself open, loud and messy just the way he knows Niles likes it. He used to let Niles do it for him, liked that Niles's fingers were thicker and longer than his, but he's getting impatient now. He always did when Niles has talked too much, worked him up past the point of being able to do anything other than be driven by his need.
They're both drenched in sweat by the time Takumi finally sinks down onto him, tight and wet and better by far than how Niles remembers it, because memory is weak and unreliable and colored with too much pain. So he chooses to lose himself in the vision before him—Takumi drenched in the deep blue of the moonlit night, panting softly into the air between them, riding him hard and filthy.
For as long as the moment will allow him, Niles lets Takumi become all he knows.
Every breath he takes in is warm and damp in his mouth, the air between them growing hotter and denser by the second. Pleasure rises relentlessly in tandem with the temperature, his blood buzzing and his skin prickling with it.
"Should have opened a window," Takumi murmurs in between his own desperate gasps for breath. But he doesn't stop, nor does he resist when Niles slides his hands down to grip his ass and starts bucking his hips up to meet Takumi thrust for thrust.
Takumi's own hands wander, trailing a scorching path from Niles's shoulders and sweeping feather-light over his collarbones to fondle his chest. Eyes dark with hunger, he squeezes, letting his fingers dig into the meat of Niles's pecs before pinching his nipples just hard enough to send a jolt of sensation straight to his brain.
"Fuck," Niles gasps, seeing stars as Takumi deliberately tightens around him at the same time. He doesn't even have to ask for more—Takumi is already leaning down to close his lips around one nipple, his hand still kneading at the other. His mouth is molten, the sharp points of his canines digging into Niles's skin to send another shock up his spine as he bites into the flesh and sucks, marking him.
The delirium of ecstasy sets in far too soon, and Niles's thrusting falls out of rhythm, turning messy with urgency as the coil in his gut tightens. Takumi responds in kind, bringing his face to Niles's again and bumping their foreheads together in a shockingly tender gesture. Silver hair falls into a canopy of silk around them, enclosing them in their own little world where all they see, feel, and know is each other.
Then, Takumi braces one hand on the mattress and slips the other between his legs to work himself until his panting grows ragged to match Niles's, their eyes locked onto each other as their chests heave in tandem. They're so close—closer than they've been in years, closer than they will be for the next several months.
"Takumi," Niles breathes, and he realizes it's the first time he's said his name tonight. "Takumi," heavy and sweet and so sorely missed on his tongue, the name that dyes his dreams in sapphire and aquamarine.
"Niles," Takumi replies, voice thick with desire and greed and nostalgia so deep it could drown the sea itself. "Niles—" He cuts himself off with a broken whimper as he comes, his head falling against Niles's shoulder, hips jerking and hole clenching impossibly tight. Slick heat spills into the space where they're connected and Niles keeps going, fucking him through his orgasm, sloppy and desperate.
Mine, Niles thinks, because the curl of Takumi's fingers in his hair and the sweep of Takumi's tongue along his neck lets Niles believe that he's thinking the same. That in this moment, they're still the same boys who fell in love with each other under a cloudless blue sky.
Sunshine-white fills his vision as his release roils through his veins in waves, relentless as the tide itself and so intense he feels his pulse thudding behind his eyes. Takumi lets out a quiet gasp against his skin as Niles spills inside him and, despite the heat and the sweat and the stickiness between them, the two of them press impossibly closer to each other.
They stay like that, wound so tightly together it's hard to tell where one of them ends and the other begins. Niles isn't sure he can even feel his own body right now. Everything is Takumi—his scent, his weight, his velvet warmth wrapped around Niles, still pulsing gently.
It's unbearably muggy in the room, yet neither of them seems willing to pull away just yet. When Niles drags a hand down Takumi's spine, he discovers a small bit of sweat that's pooled in the dip of his lower back.
"Ugh," Takumi groans, squirming back to life. "That's disgusting."
As though in response, the AC suddenly hums back to life overhead.
"Now it turns on," Niles sighs as they finally separate themselves with a sound akin to a wet towel being peeled off of pavement.
Their shoulders knock against each other as Takumi flops onto the mattress beside Niles. The bed feels much smaller for the two of them now than it did when they were kids, but Niles doesn't complain as Takumi's head comes to rest on the other half of his pillow.
They don't talk. Niles can't be sure what's going through Takumi's mind, but he himself is just basking, taking in what he can—the gentle curve of Takumi's jaw, the stray freckles that dot his temples, the mess of his bangs plastered to his forehead. He has his nose buried in the pillow, lashes fluttering as he breathes in its scent.
Before long, the blessed relief from the AC turns frigid, driving them beneath the sheets after their sweat has dried cold against their skin. The edge of the blanket rides up over Niles's back, just a touch too short to accommodate both of them. Takumi pulls him in close, and they curl into each other again, limbs tangled and chests flush.
Niles dreams that night, but won't remember of what when he wakes the next morning.
Epilogue II.
"And it's not that the manager there sucks, but it's kinda…" Niles pauses to stare at his phone screen as Takumi suddenly disappears from view. The camera angle whips around wildly for a moment, and the rustling of wind and general frantic activity spills out of the speaker. "Uh, you okay?"
"Yeah, it's just a little hectic right now," Takumi huffs over the muffled sound of his car door slamming shut. When he comes back into frame, his cheeks are slightly flushed, and there's an almost manic urgency in his expression as the camera shakes with the force of his hasty steps.
"Is everything all right?" Niles asks. Sterile white plaster and laminate flooring come into view behind Takumi. "Where are you?"
"Hospital."
"What? Why? Are you okay?"
"You already asked me that, and yes—I'm fine." Takumi rounds the corner of a hallway with dizzying speed. "It's Camilla."
Niles's eye widens, and anxiety bubbles up his chest. "Oh, shit. Did she…?"
"She went into labor last night." Takumi stops abruptly, eyes drifting up to read something in front of him. "Okay," he murmurs, seemingly mostly to himself, as he takes a deep breath and reaches forward.
A door clicks open, and then there's another rush of sound: the chatter of several voices calling Takumi's name in greeting. Even through the din, Niles recognizes each of them easily enough. Xander, Corrin, and Elise are there. Leo's voice is tinny and crunchy through someone else's phone speaker, and—
Camilla, faint but present nonetheless.
"So glad you're here," she says to Takumi, voice thin and worn.
"Hi…oh," Takumi breathes. Niles can't see anything (Takumi is holding his phone too close to his chest, having momentarily forgotten about him), but he can hear an incredible softness in his voice.
"Is he here?" Camilla asks, and there's another blur of movement before she appears on Niles's screen, having taken hold of Takumi's phone.
The first thing Niles notices is how exhausted she looks. Her skin has lost much of its usual luster, eyes encircled in dark bags and lips pale, and her hair is an absolute bird's nest of a mess. But she's smiling, tender and adoring, as she tilts the camera down towards the tiny bundle held fast to her chest.
There, with a squat button nose and a thin wisp of familiar lilac hair sitting atop an almost comically round head, is the tiniest human being Niles has ever seen.
"Wow," he breathes.
"Meet your niece," Camilla tells him, one hand wrapped securely and carefully around her baby. Her nails are naked of their ever-present acrylics, slivers of healthy nailbed starting to grow in behind rough, long-abused keratin. She's never looked happier.
"What's her name?" Niles asks.
"I haven't decided yet," Camilla says. "But I can't wait for you to meet her in person."
"Hope she doesn't grow up too fast," Niles finds himself saying, suddenly wishing he were there.
"They always do," is Camilla's wistful reply. "So come down often, all right?"
Before Niles can reply, a thin wail pierces the air as the baby begins wriggling in Camilla's hold. It's enchanting to watch her move, weak and frail as she looks. She's alive, her mouth opening and closing, vocal cords straining to make herself heard.
"Oh," Camilla coos softly, shifting her daughter and reaching towards the ties on her hospital smock. "Hungry again, my love?"
"Already?" Leo asks, incredulous.
"She was born two hours ago, Leo. Cut her some slack," Elise tuts.
There's an indignant squawk that has someone fumbling to turn the speaker on their phone down, rendering Leo in steadily decreasing volume as he defends himself with his usual vehemence. "I wasn't judging her, I was just surprised…"
The rest of their little squabble gets lost behind yet another flurry of sound and activity as Camilla hands Takumi's phone off to feed her daughter, and after some swinging and a brief flash of fluorescent lighting, Niles finds himself face to face with Corrin.
"Guess what," she prompts with absolutely no preamble.
In response, Niles throws out the most horrific prediction he can fathom in the moment. "Mutt count in the house has been brought up to three?"
Corrin rolls her eyes. "First of all, rude."
"Because manners have always been so important to you."
"Second of all, no. We didn't get a third dog." Corrin's mouth slowly curves into a smile, her eyes brightening with excitement and pure, unadulterated joy. "Xander and I are going to adopt!"
Niles blinks. "So…you're about to get a third dog?"
"No, dummy. We're going to adopt a baby. Like…a person."
Niles's mouth falls open, and for a good several seconds, he has absolutely no words.
Corrin takes his stunned silence as an invitation to continue on. "Before you ask, Xander and I have been talking about this for a while now, so it's not just something I'm doing on a whim."
"Ahh, she's becoming self-aware," Niles manages to croak out in reply. In a way, this is a logical step forward. Corrin was never shy about her eagerness to raise a family.
"Anyways. Just letting you know, so you can be happy for me and also expect at least one extra critter running around this winter—oh my gods," Corrin gasps, cutting herself off just to launch into another tangent. "You have no idea how many videos I've been watching of babies running lately. They have the chubbiest little legs, it's so cute and goofy and…"
Niles, being the gracious brother he is, lets Corrin talk his ear off for the next however many minutes she has Takumi's phone. He can hear other conversation going on in the background: Elise and Leo chatting about this and that, having made up already, and Xander and Takumi speaking quietly with Camilla.
Camilla doesn't seem to mind the commotion; in fact, Niles knows she basks in the presence of her family, no matter how chaotic things get. In that sense, he thinks he can understand why she might have wanted a child to call her own, someone to love and nurture now that her siblings are all grown.
Eventually, it's the nurse who shoos them all out. Both mother and baby need their rest, doctors need to check on their conditions, and so on.
It's only then that Takumi gets his phone back, as he takes a seat in the hall just outside the room.
"Hey," he says, and Niles can hear his voice ring slightly in the quiet of the hall. Elise, Xander, and Corrin have gone to grab lunch—they've been with Camilla since before dawn, apparently, and haven't eaten in hours.
"Long time no see. How are you doing?" He only asks because Takumi heaves a sigh so long and loud he looks like he might deflate entirely.
"Fine," is Takumi's immediate reply, before he backtracks with another wavering sigh. "Well, stressed. But I'll be fine."
Niles wishes he could at least be there to take Takumi's hand in his or pull him into a hug, for lack of the right words to say. Instead, the best he can do is give him an indulgent smile. "She looked kinda lumpy, huh?"
The distressed pinch in Takumi's expression melts into utter bewilderment. "What?"
"The kid. I wasn't expecting her to look so much like an unbaked ham."
That startles an incredulous laugh out of Takumi. "Niles."
"What? I'd still die for her," Niles insists. "And she's healthy, right? Both her and Camilla. That's what matters."
"Oh, trust me—Camilla's the least affected out of everyone by all of this," Takumi grumbles, eyebrows coming together again. "She still won't tell anyone who the dad is, which is stressing Xander out, and when he's stressed it stresses me out, and the fact that Corrin isn't stressed about it at all stresses both of us out even more—"
"She knows, doesn't she?"
"I don't think Corrin and Camilla are physically capable of not telling each other everything." Takumi runs a hand over his face, haggard and worn in a way that makes Niles's heart twinge with sympathy.
"You look like you're about to pass out," he says, honesty born from concern. "Maybe we can talk later? You should get some rest."
"No, I need you right now," Takumi says, voice tightening slightly with urgency.
"Okay, I'm right here. And we'll see each other soon too, yeah?"
Another quiet groan. "God, I completely forgot to tell you. I'm probably going to stay for another week to help out with Camilla."
Niles can't help that his smile turns rueful as his heart drops a little. Takumi was meant to be in Cheve by this time tomorrow, and the idea of having to wait an entire extra week rings sadly against the hollow in Niles's chest. "Why don't I drive down, then? I could stay at the manor for a week and we'll come back up here together afterwards."
But Takumi shakes his head. "You don't have to. I'd rather we spend our time together at your place. Just—um, with the two of us."
Niles feels his cheeks grow warm to mirror the soft blush on Takumi's. "Me too, honestly. I do miss you, though."
"I know. You say that, like, five times on every call."
"I know."
Takumi's blush darkens. "I miss you, too," he finally says back. "A lot."
A somewhat melancholy quiet settles between them, fitting itself into the spaces between the periodic crackle and hum of background noise filtering through Niles's phone speaker. They both agreed that they'd make this work, but he doesn't think it's ever going to stop sucking that they have to be apart at all.
Takumi is the one to break the silence. "Would you ever move back in?" he asks, voice small. "It wouldn't have to be sometime soon, but eventually. Maybe when the house is—better?"
Niles thinks about all the things that he still…well, thinks about. Like the way he now knows Xander will reach across the entire expanse of a table to hold Takumi's hand, the way Takumi will grip his fingers in return. The way Corrin and Xander's child will inevitably be as much Takumi's as it will be theirs, and the way Camilla will rely on him, as well. The way Leo will seek him out for his time on his breaks from teaching, and Elise will find him on her breaks from school. The way even Corrin's mutts will listen to nobody's commands but his.
The way Takumi has been inextricably woven into the tapestry of the Windmire family's future and legacy.
The way he'll never be Niles's alone.
It's not just about the house—at least, not to the extent that Niles made it out to be. It never really was. He doesn't care that much about the creaky floorboards or the bleak decor or the ever-looming presence of his dead adoptive father.
But he doesn't have to tell Takumi that. It's not what Takumi's really asking.
"Probably," Niles says eventually, and it's tentative, but it's the truth. He'd felt an old ache when he saw his niece's face, pink and grainy through the screen of his phone. It's the ache he'd learned to ignore when he first moved to Gallia, told himself he was doing fine on his own. It sits now, tight in his chest, and soon it will be too much to keep him away.
"We wouldn't have to spend all our time there. There's always the beach," Takumi tells him.
A soft smile pulls at Niles's lips. "Yeah," he agrees. Salt and sea, and the blue horizon. "There's always the beach."