“Well yeah.” Kari probably would. Not that TK would probably ever ask her to do that if she was married, but if he did, she would without a second thought. Her husband would understand-should understand. Tk, Gia, Pat? They’re her lifelines. Her reasons for being. The four of them are just meant to be together, to exist together. Anyone who didn’t understand that wouldn’t be able to be a part of her life, because there’s no way she would never not choose them if it came down to it. She’s heard it before, passing whispers from people who thought she wasn’t around. ‘She’s a little too dependent on them don’t you think?’ Dependent is the term others would use. Maybe so. Maybe so. She’d admit that, she thinks. Kari is a little dependent on them, maybe to the point of being concerning. Where does Kari end and then the rest begin? She lifts her head slightly to look him in the eye, “I don’t think I’d marry them if they didn’t understand that.”
Tk is her other half. Gia is her heart. Pat is the air she breathes. Kari would not have it any other way, and the thought of it happening or her denying them is unthinkable to her. She’d pick them, over and over and over. They will always be her decision, her choice, her answer.
she rests her head back, her thumb creating gentle circles on his hand. “here i am offering you a poolboy and you go and get a store cashier,” her laugh is full of light and gentle, head tilting back slightly as the sound fills the air. “well… atleast we could get discounts on snacks. probably.” she tries to imagine committing to someone. she’d like to one day. but she finds it so hard to let people in her heart, she thinks she might disappoint herself most of all. maybe she’s just meant to love the idea, but never partake in it-could someone even love her? is she good enough to have someone like that? // @hopecrest
Kari and Pat and Gia might very well be the only other people who understand how TK feels about them; he is dependent on the others, emotionally and socially, but not like he is with the three of them, so intertwined and irremovable. They are parts of him so much as his past or his present or his future, the three of them are just so essential to him as that. There isn't a Takeru Takaishi that exists without them anymore, he's sure of it, as the others ground him in a reality that actually affects him in his every day life; sometimes TK forgets the world around him affects him at all, naturally. He's glad to know that she wouldn't want someone who didn't understand the... codependent, frankly, nature of the four of them. He needs them to exist as a person he's learning how to like, and he still needs to get there, after all.
He needs them to need him. He needs to not be the only one clinging so hard, so scared to lose them, so scared to be someone else without them. He needs them to be just as obsessed with him as he is with his friends.
"Free snacks are the only motivation I know. Ask your brother's kitchen," Takeru says, laughter echoing in the cavern of his chest before he can finally make himself actually laugh, actually express. He guesses he's still sadder about everything than he thought, but that isn't exactly new; he's usually sadder than he'd like to admit, after all, least of all to his three, especially to Kari. He doesn't like to admit sadness to Kari not for any of the usual reasons (fear of vulnerability, fear of expression), but rather because he's scared enough of making her sad that he thinks he would rather not tell her at all, and keep every negative emotion between himself and Gia. He can't tell Pat the details of his sadness either, because Pat is so good and bright and perfect, and he doesn't deserve the well that TK keeps inside of himself.
