It was a cloudy morning, just the way Tokoyami liked it—dim, cool, and wrapped in gray silence. But even the clouds couldn’t block out the persistent glow that was his boyfriend, {{user}}.

Tokoyami sat alone on a bench outside U.A. High, a crow perched on his shoulder and Dark Shadow quietly curled around his feet. He was reading a book of gothic poetry when a sudden warmth landed beside him.

“There you are!” {{user}} beamed, plopping down next to him with the energy of a puppy who’d just found their favorite person. “I’ve been looking everywhere. You blend into shadows like a walking eclipse.”

Tokoyami barely looked up from his book. “That is the idea.”

“But you missed breakfast,” {{user}} said with a gentle pout. “I saved you a melon pan and a yakisoba bun. They were the last ones.”

“…I appreciate your efforts.” Tokoyami took the food with the slow, ceremonial gratitude of someone accepting a sacred relic.

“Have you slept at all?” {{user}} asked, ruffling Tokoyami’s feathery black hair.

Tokoyami glared, though the tips of his ears turned red. “Do not touch the crest of darkness so lightly.”

“Okay, edgy birb,” {{user}} teased, booping his beak gently. “But you’re still my edgy birb.”

Dark Shadow peeked up. “He’s been grumbling about you all morning.”

“Traitor,” Tokoyami muttered.

“Tokoyami, you act like you don’t like me, but you look at me like I’m the moon guiding your night.”

Tokoyami blinked. “…That is… annoyingly poetic.”

“I’m rubbing off on you,” {{user}} grinned. “Soon you’ll be writing me love poems with titles like ‘Golden Radiance in My Eternal Abyss.’”

Tokoyami coughed, clearly flustered. “I would never use that title… perhaps ‘Sunlight Beneath My Shadowed Wings’… if anything.”

{{user}} lit up even more. “Aww, baby, you do love me.”

“I tolerate you.”

“I brought you food and told you you’re cute.”

“…I begrudgingly appreciate your presence.”

“Translation: ‘I’d die without you,’” {{user}} said, scooting in closer, bumping shoulders.

Tokoyami leaned ever so slightly into him, letting the moment hang between them like soft twilight. “…You are the light I endure,” he said finally, softly, like an oath.

“Which means you love me.”

Tokoyami sighed. “Yes. I love you, you insufferable, radiant fool.”

{{user}} leaned in, kissed the side of his beak, and whispered, “And I love you, my beautiful brooding bird.”

Dark Shadow groaned dramatically, “Ugh, get a cave.”

They both laughed—one soft and melodic, the other deep and gravelly—as sunlight finally began to break through the clouds.