- epilogue -

〚 third person 〛

☾☾☾

"Be back home soon, okay?" Hitomi said as she waved at Tsukishima who nodded. He pulled on his purple jacket, exiting the house with a unintentional frown on his face.

The sky was dark as he walked down the sidewalk, keeping his eyes trained on the concrete beneath his feet. It was probably going to rain soon, but he didn't really care.

Tsukishima shoved his hands in his pocket, kicking a rock that he found along the sidewalk. He hadn't noticed the person who was walking in the opposite direction of him until he knocked them on their butt.

Their book slipped out of their hand, falling in a agonizing manner. The way the pages crumbled when it hit the ground made her grimace.

Tsukishima stepped back, making sure not to step on the book that dropped onto the concrete, faced down. Quickly, his frown deepened as he bent down to her height. "Ah, sorry. I didn't see you there."

The brunette female gulped, nodding as she kept her eyes on the floor. She eyed the book that was messed up and dirty.

"Ah, you read that too?" Tsukishima asked, unzipping his bag that rested on his shoulder to pull out the same novel. "It's a really good book, right?"

Tsukishima took her book out of her hand, placing his in place of it. "You can have mine."

Her eyes filled with such brightness as she smiled at him, flashing her pearly whites his way. He felt his heart skip a beat at her expression, finding it quite cute. "Thank you!"

"You're pretty cute, shorty. Pink suits you." Tsukishima mumbled, brushing past the female as he waved at her. "See you around."

Momo bowed her head, touched that he even considered giving her this book.

'That girl was cute.'

Tsukishima stirred in his sleep, shifting slightly to accompany the body beside him. He peeled his eyes open, blinking slowly at the female who laid asleep at his side.

Her eyelashes were long and thick, making her look angelic as she slept soundly. Her lips were puckered slightly into a pout as soft hums occasionally left her lips.

He turned his body towards her, lifting an arm to caress her cheek. She somewhat stirred in her sleep when the cold metal around his ring finger gently grazed her cheek, nuzzling into his hand. He turned his hand over, pressing his palm to her cheek as she quietly purred with content.

He never knew waking up beside someone he loved would've been so peaceful.

"Kei.." Momo mumbled as she leaned into his hand, not opening her eyes just yet. Tsukishima nodded, humming in response. "Where's Hitoshi?"

"In his crib. You didn't even notice me put him to bed last night? Wow. What kind of mother are you?" Tsukishima snickered, peppering soft kisses on Momo's cheek. She turned her head, kissing him lips tenderly.

"I'm tired." Momo mumbled, wrapping her arms around Tsukishima's neck, pulling him down onto her. He wrapped his arms around her body, basking in the familiar peach aroma.

The soft cries of Hitoshi made them both pull away, glancing in the direction of the crib. Tsukishima dragged himself out of bed, walking over to the crib leisurely.

"You awake now? You heard us talking?" Tsukishima cooed sweetly as he bent over the crib, scooping up the small child. The baby giggled, feeling relieved to see and be carried by his father. "Mommy's still sleeping. Tell her to get up."

Tsukishima placed Hitoshi beside Momo, reclaiming his seat so Hitoshi was sat between them. Momo wrapped her arms around Hitoshi, pulling the small boy closer.

"Hi, baby." She whispered, kissing Hitoshi's cheek softly. The baby giggled, placing a sloppy kiss on his mother's cheek.

"Hey, that's my wife you're slobbing on." Tsukishima scolded playfully, smiling when Hitoshi giggled.

Momo stared at the sight before her, absolutely star-struck that this was all real.

She was married to the love of her life with a beautiful child they could call their own. Seeing Tsukishima smile so often, being able to kiss him all the time and just be his wife was pure bliss.

The distance between the two was now gone.

"I'm kind of glad I bumped into you and knocked down your book." Tsukishima mumbled as he laid beside Momo, wrapping an arm around her and Hitoshi who laid between them.

"You remember that?" Momo asked, eyes widening at the sudden revelation. 'I thought he forgot about that!'

Tsukishima smirked, "Of course I do. How can I forget your pretty brown eyes?"

"Besides, I got beat for giving away my book without asking my mother." Tsukishima added on, chuckling when Momo giggled.

"Well, I'm glad we met too." Momo mumbled, leaning up to kiss his lips once more.

"I love you, Kei."

"I love you too, Momiji."

"Wah."

"Ah, we love you too, Hitoshi."

- end -

a/n : this was a fun book to write because i legit love tsukki so damn much. the dynamic of a younger girl being in love with older, senpai tsukki is something i came to really adore since his "maturity" would differ with hers.

i named this story "kyori" which is basically "distance" because this story was supposed to be more about the fact that momo can't close the distance between her and tsukki. unfortunately, my dumbass didn't even mention it often enough for anyone to catch onto the whole underlying "distance" meaning or whatever. but it's okay :)

i hope you enjoyed this book and look forward to my next book (which will probs come out sometime in june[?] maybe) [most likely will be another tsukki book LOL]

thank you for reading!

- keisgf <3