#one of these days i'll make a scribble comic and actually be able to keep it a quick scribble | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

chocolatemin · 4 years ago

Text

word count: 7.3k

genre: soulmate au, fantasy, fluff, angst

synopsis: It's been two years, and you still hasn't met your soulmate while everyone did, leading you to think that you are unfortunate and will probably live alone for the rest of your life, and your friend always on the go to help you and cheer you up, helping you feel a little less lonely, would you be able to overcome the loneliness or will your soulmate finally show up?

They say, once you turn sixteen, you’ll be able to find out your soulmate and the only connection with them is through your dream, except there’s one thing you won’t remember about your soulmate: their name, unless you have already met in person. Some are eager and excited to turn sixteen, ready to meet their soulmate; the others are terrified, especially those in a relationship, not wanting to leave their partner behind, afraid that their soulmate will not love them just as or more than their current partner. However, the case for you seems different, you haven’t seen your soulmate, never, in one of your dreams, and now, you are eighteen and still waiting for your soulmate to appear in your dream.

“Say, Kai, you’ve met your soulmate, right?” You ask your seatmate without sparing a glance and continue scribbling on your notebook while waiting for the last period to end.

“Yeah, you still haven’t met yours?” Huening Kai mumbles in a quiet voice, just enough for you to hear, not wanting to get caught.

“I just want to ask what it is like to meet them. What did you feel the first time your soulmate appeared?”

“Didn’t you ask that for a hundred times already?” Your seatmate almost turned his head to you, confusion taking over his features, he meant no harm and he wanted to pat your back, he just didn’t want you to keep being insecured at him.

“I want to experience that too.” Your shoulders slump and you heave a sigh which Huening Kai caught from his peripheral vision, he couldn’t endure you being sad and sneakily place his left hand on your back, giving you a pat, “I know you’ll meet them soon, trust me.” Turning your head to his direction, you saw him smiling at you. You can’t help but to return the smile, feeling a bit better. How can you just ignore his contagious bright smile?

Minutes passing felt like an eternity while your professor continued his lecture. You hear the bell ring, signalling your professor for dismissal. Lost in your own thoughts, you didn’t notice the professor leaving the room and your classmates standing up to fix their things. You stare blankly at your notebook while you slowly tap your pen continuously. You hear a loud sound of a dropped object from your right, causing you to flinch and turn your head, “Thank goodness you’re back!” Huening Kai shook his head while he fixed his things inside his bag, lips forming into a thin line, “Why must you slam your bag on the table? You could’ve tapped my shoulder,” You stood up from your seat, finally arranging your belongings.

“I wanted to try something different today,” he giggles before making a peace sign with his hand, you shake your head and he laughs at your reaction, “I thought, tapping your shoulder might not work anymore. Well, recently, I’ve been tapping your shoulders for about three to five times and you still don’t snap out of your trance.”

“Wait, did our professor give homework?” You asked, slinging your bag on your shoulder, tilting your head to the side.

“Nope.”

“Thanks for walking me home, Kai.” You elbow the young man beside you lightly, while your hands are fixed on the straps of your bag on your side. You turn your heel to face him with a faint smile on your face, the young man beside you returns the smile and nod, “That’s what best friends are for!”

“Head home safely.”

“Our houses are literally beside each other!”

“Oops, I forgot.”

You fished the key from your pocket and inserted it to the door, you heard a soft click and entered. “I’m home!” You spoke loudly while you took off your shoes before heading to your room.

You drop your bag to the chair and let out a sigh as the feeling of loneliness still lingers in your heart, shaking your head and you make your way to the bathroom to take a quick shower. The warm water hitting your skin gently soothes your uneasy mind and aching heart, and slowly helps you forget about your worry for a while. You hear knocks from the door of your room followed by the calm voice of your mother, “Come down, sweetie. The dinner’s ready.”

“I’ll be there in a minute!” You yelled from the bathroom, quickly wrapping your body with a towel, before jumping out of the shower, heading to the mirror to dry your hair swiftly. You wore a light blue pair of pyjamas, with cherries as its design, one of your favorites. You quietly head outside your room and rush downstairs, not wanting to keep everyone waiting.

The dinner is awfully quiet, no one dared to speak, probably having their bad days too. You are used to this, even though this does not occur quite often, you tried striking a conversation before and failed nonetheless, so you did not bother to try anymore. You volunteered to wash the dishes, so that they can rest early and prevent them to start bickering at each other on how tired they were and arguing over who's going to wash the dishes. You carefully dry the plates before placing them on the cabinet and removing the apron after.

You turn off the lights on your way to your room and go to the bathroom to brush your teeth. You plop down on your bed, your body facing towards the ceiling and your thoughts instantly wander on your soulmate, questions start to fill your head. From questions such as: 'Why hasn't my soulmate shown up in my dreams? It's already been like two years?'; 'I'll be turning college in the next few months and I still haven't met my soulmate, would I feel out of place?'; 'Will someone make fun of me for not being able to meet my soulmate yet?' to 'Do I even have a soulmate to begin with?'

Tears start to fill your vision, causing it to become blurry and your breathing gradually becoming uneven. You sob quietly, burying your hands on your face, not wanting the world to see you crying over this thing, not wanting the world to pity you. After about twenty minutes of crying to yourself, sleepiness started making its way on you.

"Why are you crying?" Your head immediately turns to find the owner of the voice, "W-who are you?" You are confused, you were just in your bed minutes ago, and now you are sitting on grass near a lake.

"It doesn't matter, answer my question first." Your eyes traveled to the forest on your right, where the deep, honey voice came from. "Where are you?"

Seconds passed and you did not receive an answer, you cleared your throat, "It was a bad day." You turn to face the lake in your front before lowering your head, loneliness starts to creep up on you and tears slowly brimming in your eyes, just being reminded of your day adds up to the dread you are feeling, you covered your face in frustration.

You feel a warm hand over your shoulder and hear a shuffling noise beside you, "Who are you?"

"Your soulmate, Kang Taehyun."

You immediately turn your head to him, looking like an absolute mess; eyes raw from crying, tear-stain and flushed cheeks, seeing your soulmate looking like an actual angel or something straight out of a comic book, almost surreal-- his eyes are big and pretty, a perfect nose, and soft, pink lips, made you self-conscious and embarrassed, “Sorry, you have to see me like this in our first meeting.” He shook his head and gave you a smile, you noticed that he has dimples on both sides, making him even more handsome. He brought his hand over your face, caressing your cheeks before wiping off your tears using his thumb and inched closer to you.

"I'm so happy to finally meet you, I've been waiting diligently for you to show up." You spoke softly, voice almost cracked, your throat became dry due to crying.

"I'm glad, but it was my fault, I've been a coward. I couldn't bring myself to get out and stop hiding behind the trees," Taehyun sighed, ashamed of his cowardice, "I understand if you get mad at me... I am so sorry." Without further thinking, you get on your knees before wrapping your arms around his shoulder, shifting the weight to Taehyun that caused him to lose his balance and you both fell to the ground, with your body on top of his. Taehyun placed his arms around your waist and he whispered an apology.

"I can't be mad at you, but I'm hurt. I forgive you though, I am rather thankful that you finally stepped out of that forest," you nuzzle your head further on his neck, "I thought I was alone all the time and something was wrong with me for not being able to meet my soulmate."

Taehyun gently strokes your hair, something that really annoys you if anyone does that, but to your surprise, Taehyun doing it makes you feel safe and cared for. After some time of talking and cuddling as you both lie down on grass, you did not notice that the continuous stroking of your hair is already lulling you to sleep, unconsciously making you close your eyes, and the last thing you heard before the pitch black darkness pull you to a deep slumber was Taehyun's muffled voice.

"Good night, my soulmate."

“Good morning, Kai Kamal Huening!”

The greeting took your best friend by surprise, furrowing his eyebrows at you, you can’t help but to laugh at the funny face he made, “Wow, you seem to be in a good mood today.”

“Of course! Why shouldn’t I?” You broke into a wide grin. Huening Kai couldn’t hide the smile forming on his face, it’s been a while since the last time he saw you happy and smiling widely. Taking the bus, it took you a good twenty minutes to arrive early, just as usual, earning more time for the both of you to chit-chat. Huening Kai learned that you met your soulmate last night, he was glad and happy for you.

“It is nice seeing you all bubbly and giddy,” you look up to Huening Kai, who is sitting across you, taking a bite of his food, you can hear the sincerity in his voice, “it’s been quite a long time since you last talked a lot. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks for cheering me up whenever I needed it.”

“Don’t mention it. I got you.”

The day passed, without you noticing that it’s already your last period for the day, except you were in a different class from Huening Kai today. You listened intently to the professor, taking down notes, making sure that you only included the important parts, it is your favorite subject anyway.

“Greeks believed that in the beginning, there were three parents: Sun, Moon, and Earth. From the Sun was produced the man; from earth, the woman; from the Moon, the androgyne. Each of these three was a double, one head with two faces looking out in opposite directions, four arms and legs, and two sets of genitalia.”

“Humans were very powerful creatures, fearless and strong, and even dared to threaten the Gods. They threatened to conquer them and rule in their stead and become the new Gods.”

“According to the Greek Philosopher Plato: Gods feared their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.”

Yedam, the genius of the class, raised his hand before standing up, “But Sir, the humans lived in despair, they started to starve themselves to death. And Apollo was instructed to rejoin them temporarily and moved their genitals to the belly side of the body.”

Yedam went back to his seat, Professor Choi cleared his throat, “Yes, that is right. So, he sewed them up, reconstituted their body forms and just left the navel as the only reminder of their original form,” taking a short pause, “humans went from double face and double sex creatures with eight limbs, to single faced ones of a single sex, with two arms and two legs. And they forever longed for their soul and physical other half. ”

Everyone went ‘ooh’, fascinated by the theory.

“Not only that, and according to the myth, when these two halves find each other, there will be a silent understanding of one another, they will feel joined and exist with each other in unison and they will know no greater joy than that.”

“Whether this Soulmate story is purely a myth, or there is some truth in it, we’ll never know, but please respect each other’s belief.” Professor Choi beamed a smile before gathering his books, carrying them in his left arm, “Do you have any questions?”

“None, sir.” Your class answered in chorus.

“Well then, I hope you learned a lot, or even a thing or two from our lesson. We’ll have a test next meeting, don’t pressure yourselves too much. Just do your best, alright?”

“Yes, Professor Choi.”

“You are now dismissed. See you, class. Head home safely.” Professor Choi waved before leaving the room.

Professor Choi always treated his students like children of his own, he always shows his students that he cares, and that he can be trusted with their problems. He gives advice whenever a student approaches him to talk about a problem; whether a relationship problem, problems regarding oneself or even family problems. That is the reason he is your favorite among all your subject teachers. You gather your things, leaving the classroom to wait for your best friend outside the building. You are still mesmerized by the lesson, walking obliviously, you didn’t notice that you already reached your meeting place. You feel a hand grab your arms, regaining your self, you look up to see who it is.

“Oh, Kai.”

“Watch where you’re going, your mind is wandering far away again.” Huening Kai shakes his head.

��By the way, do you have any plans tomorrow?” You asked, having a hard time catching up to Huening Kai’s long strides, “But importantly, can you slow down? You are walking so fast.”

“It’s not my fault your legs are short.” Huening Kai retorted, erupting into a fit of giggles, you smack his arm, “You’re just too tall!” You yelled, earning a laugh from your best friend, that sooner slows down so that you could keep up to him, “You haven’t answered my question, are you hiding something from me?” You eyed him suspiciously, giving him a glare which he stammered in response, you notice how his cheeks instantly turn crimson.

“Is there anything to hide from you?” The young man beside you snickered, “I was just thinking of what I should buy tomorrow for my soulmate. So in case we meet one day, I have something for her. What about you?”

“Oh, right, your family is going on a two-day trip tomorrow. Don’t forget to buy me a souvenir!” You beamed a smile, “My plans for tomorrow are to eat and to sleep.”

“Yeah, you would say that.”

"Taehyun, don't you find the concept of forgetting your soulmate's name every morning absurd?" Sitting beside each other, you lean your head over to his shoulder, grabbing his hand, intertwining it with yours.

"Not really."

"Oh, why?"

"I think that keeps the enthusiasm high and thrill on finding your soulmate. You'd be very excited to meet your soulmate, not only because you will finally see them, but also to finally remember their name, without forgetting it."

"You do have a point."

"The only thing we forget every morning is just each other's name, but not the memory of what happened."

"Yeah, you're right."

Using your free hand, you started to fiddle with the hem of your shirt as you try to recall your dreams. You have not thought that through, why did you realize that just now? Since Taehyun appeared in your dreams, you haven't forgotten a single thing, all the memories are fresh and vivid from the time you wake up and up until now.

Having him around gives a pleasant feeling, like a cool morning breeze in spring and the scent of chamomiles. Taehyun was always gentle and thoughtful, straightforward but caring. He is the epitome of perfection, though no one is perfect, but Taehyun seems to surpass the known saying. It's been quite a long time since you two have met, you've been constantly meeting each other for about a month now. You envied your best friend for being able to meet his soulmate in person, the day his family went on a trip. Not only did he buy you lots of souvenirs but he also brought lots of stories, including how he met his soulmate.

"Do you think we'll be able to see each other soon?"

"Of course, why do you ask?"

"I just can't wait to see you. I bet you are far more handsome in person than in our dream." You chuckle lightly to hide the embarrassment, you mentally slap yourself from the slip of the tongue.

Taehyun laughs before shaking his head, he then pulls you into his lap, hugging your body while his other hand plays with your hair. One thing you learned during one month is that Taehyun is clingy. He loves affection, he loves touching you: pulling you closer to snuggle, holding your hand, leaning his head on your shoulder, caressing your hair, and so on. You find it cute and endearing.

"I don't want this dream to end." You speak softly, feeling the drowsiness make its way to you, "I want to stay for a bit longer."

You yawn, burying your head further against his chest, you can feel his chest rising up and down slowly.

"Neither do I, but we have to. Oh, and you have a test on your first subject right?"

"Yes, I did study but I'm not confident."

"I know you'll ace the test."

"You have more faith in me than I have for myself," you laugh before continuing, "can I get a good luck at least?"

"Do you think you'll be able to perfect the test now?" You can hear the smugness on his voice.

"You're getting ahead of yourself."

"Am I really?" Taehyun mocked.

"I was going to say that first, but here you go." You feel a warm sensation and a fuzzy feeling in your chest as Taehyun places a gentle, lasting kiss on the top of your head, your face immediately heats up from your soulmate's bold move. Sighing in defeat, "Yes, I do feel confident now."

"That's my girl."

"Yah! Kai Kamal Huening! Wait for me!"

"Quiet down, the whole city can hear your voice!"

"Why are you walking like that?"

Struggling to keep up with the tall lad, you walked behind him instead while holding onto his backpack.

"I'm in a hurry today, I have a formal dinner to attend to. Don't you remember?"

"Pancakes, we could've taken a bus!"

"Why didn't I think of that earlier?"

You rolled your eyes, irritated by your friend's amazing life choice. Shaking your head, you jog beside him, "You know what? You'll get home all sweaty anyway."

"So, what are you trying to say?"

"I couldn't let this chance slip away!" You hear Huening Kai's voice from behind as he chases after you.

Smiling to yourself, "the last one to reach our neighbourhood has to pay for the food the next time we hangout!" You smiled cheekily before sprinting off, the cold breeze slipping past your body.

Luckily, the two of you are already quite near your neighbourhood, making it easier for you to win. You huffed from the lack of air, taking heavy breaths after stopping on your tracks.

"Hey! You cheated!" Heuning Kai spoke, panting heavily, clutching on his knees as he inhaled air.

"You always say that whenever you lose to me!" You turn to face Huening Kai.

"No, it's because you always cheat!"

"Just accept your defeat!" You laugh, patting his shoulder.

"I want another round!"

"Fine. The first to reach one's house will get to decide where to eat, and the last will have to pay."

"Sounds good." Huening Kai nods.

"3... 2... 1!"

Both of you dashed all the way to your houses. You feel your legs giving out, tired from running, but you cannot lose to that competition, you paid for both of you last time, you couldn't let your wallet suffer again, especially to the hands of your best friend. He purposely picks the expensive food, just to annoy you, since you cannot say no. It's time for you to get back to him.

"I'm first!" You and Huening Kai yelled in unison, you turn to face each other while standing in front of each other's houses, shock evident on your faces.

"No! Me!" You both speak at the same time.

"No! It's me!" Huening Kai sticks his tongue out to you, until, "Inside. Now."

You both turned your heads to the owner of the voice and saw Huening Kai's mother, standing in an elegant dress at the doorstep, with an annoyed expression.

"Auntie, sorry for bringing Kai late. I asked him to wait for me." You went over to Kai and bowed down to her mother, you sneakily nudged the guy beside you and he muttered thanks under his breath.

"Ah, is that so? I understand, you shouldn’t be left walking alone at night."

"I'm sorry for causing trouble, auntie."

Huening Kai's mother shook her head then smiled at you, "No, it's all good. I'm glad to hear that Hyuka is being responsible."

"I believe you should get going now, Kai." He nods before giving you a wave, parting ways with you.

You smile at his mom and bow once more, before heading back to your house. It must be nice to grow up in a wealthy family, you thought.

Putting the unnecessary thoughts away, you make your way to your room, just as usual, dropping off your bag on the chair and head to the bathroom to wash your body. Somehow, you didn't feel like eating, besides, your parents are away until tomorrow night, you don't really have to force yourself to eat. It's not that you are too lazy to cook for yourself, but there is something inside you that makes you feel uneasy and empty.

I wonder what it is.

Draping the blanket over your body, you took one last glance on the clock, which says 9:45, after finishing all your homework and studying, you can now finally get some rest. Your legs ache due the p.e. class today and all the running on your way home.

You closed your eyes, drifting into dreamland.

You spotted Taehyun sitting cross-legged on your usual spot, his back facing you, “Looks like you slept with your uniform on,” you sat on his left, nudging his side, giggling.

“Well yeah, I knocked out as soon as my body came in contact with the bed,” Taehyun scratched the back of his head.

“That’s fine, you must be tired, eh?” You motioned him to move closer to you, “Why don’t you rest your head on my lap?”

“That’s a good idea,” Taehyun smiled before laying down on the grass, resting his head on your lap. You gently caress his soft locks, trying not to burst from the fuzzy feeling and butterflies erupting in your stomach, and a comforting silence enveloped the both of you.

Minutes passed and you are startled by Taehyun, who suddenly jolted up from his position, turning to face you, “I just remembered, I was supposed to show you something!” Taehyun looks adorable, his eyes twinkling, and his mouth agape.

“Really, what is it?” Taehyun gestured you to get up, offering you his hand which you gladly took.

“Something I found there,” he says as he points towards the forest, “don’t worry, it’s not scary there.” He pulls you beside him, his arm draped over your shoulder as you enter the forest. You realize that it isn’t really scary inside, as the moon is brightly illuminating the path, and is rather mystical, there are floating balls of different colored lights around and even fireflies.

You notice something glowing in the middle of the forest, “What’s that?”

He squints his eyes towards the glowing light, “Wait, let me take a closer look at it first,” he signals you to step aside and wait for him as he takes careful steps towards the object.

“Oh, this is really beautiful,” he turned his head to you, “come over here!”

“Wow, that’s a really pretty flower. Is this the thing you wanted to show me?” You ask.

“Yes, but it looks different now, it isn’t glowing the last time I saw it.” He turns to face you, extending his hand to you, “May I hold your hand?”

You smile, placing your hand over his, but instead, your hand passed through his.

Taehyun looks at you, completely taken aback, “What was that?!”

He stepped closer to you, moving his hand over to your cheek, and you saw how his hand slipped through.

“What is happening?” You took a few steps back.

“I don’t know... let’s try again.” This time it is you, pulling him to a hug but fails.

“Why can’t I touch you?” You asked, heart thumping loudly in your chest, you don’t feel good about this.

“Look! The moon is disappearing! We have to wake up now!” Taehyun pointed his hand to the moon that is currently fading while the two of you get dizzy, your surroundings disappearing to the void of darkness.

“Taehyun-”

Taehyun’s eyes flutter open, a heavy feeling lingering on his heart. He slid his hand inside his pocket and took out a piece of paper, “Why are the letters all messed up?” Trying to recall the memory, he remembered writing his soulmate’s name on the paper, along with a number, 1107, using a pen from his other pocket, “but I can clearly read the date.. Why is that?”

Taehyun got up from his bed to prepare for the day, putting aside the uneasy feeling, hoping that things will go back to normal later.

On the other hand, you are currently lying on your bed, distracted by the recent happening. You can’t seem to figure out the reason why you cannot touch your soulmate, it happened too fast, you were just walking through the woods, holding each other, and in a snap, your hands were already passing through each other's bodies.

Kai kept rambling beside you on your way to school but every word he said had gained no attention from you, it was just passing through your other ear and went out with your other ear.

"Why am I still talking? You're not even listening."

"Oh, sorry, what was it again?"

"I asked if you and your parents are free later, Mom kept insisting-- no, bugging me to ask you to have dinner with us this week."

"Oh, have you forgotten? They're out until later night. Maybe on Saturday?" You turn your head to his direction and you see him nod.

"Well then, it's settled. Saturday night at 8. I'll just message Mom later." Huening Kai stuffed his hand into his pockets.

"Alright, tell her I really miss her cooking." You waved before parting ways, heading to your first class for the day.

You really tried your best to listen to what your prof has to say, but no, your mind wouldn't let you. Suddenly, you felt your phone vibrate from your pocket, glancing around you, you then pulled your phone to see the notification. It is from the one and only, Huening Kai. You shook your head before reading the text.

Huening Cat: this class is rlly boring istg!!

You: omg stop messaging me!!

Huening Cat: no i wont :ppp

You: i'm not a delinquent like u

You immediately hid your phone in your pocket again, picking up your pen, back on taking notes. You feel your phone vibrating non-stop, Kai is spamming you messages and you're getting annoyed.

Thankfully, the class is almost finished, all you need to do is wait for a few more minutes. Just as the professor stepped out of your room, you pulled out your phone and saw thirty three unread messages from your best friend, majority of those are nonsense and lame jokes until you read the last message.

Huening Cat: I've heard there will be a transfer student next week. Wanna bet things?

You: can't u just stop messaging me? classes are literally ongoing u dolphin :P

He didn't reply after that and is probably heading to the lab for his chemistry class. Of course, you had each other's schedules memorized.

You sat down on your usual table, near the window. Poking a hole using the straw, you sipped on your favorite drink, strawberry milk, while you waited for your Kai to arrive. You saw him enter the cafeteria, busy eyes scanning for you, you ducked, trying to hide but failed, soon saw your friend already walking towards your seat with a smile placed on his handsome face.

"You look like an idiot."

"So do you, excuse you," you roll your eyes at him.

"How come I am too?" He pulls the chair, settling down across your seat.

"Nothing in particular, you just look like one," you laugh while he makes a sign that he is going to flick your forehead but it was just a threat.

"I heard it's a guy," Kai spoke out of the blue.

"Where did that even come from?"

"Our prof accidentally spilled the tea," he giggles cutely, "it was really funny. The look on Professor Suh– he was even surprised."

"I think you should stop using the bird app for a while, you're using too much slang in one day," you shook your head, smile forming on your face, "but I can imagine Professor Suh looking very surprised."

"Maybe he forgot to drink his coffee?"

You try to suppress a laugh from Kai's remark, Professor Johnny Suh has been quite popular in your school, not only for his good looks and being a great prof but because his family owns a coffee shop near your school and his father is in charge of brewing and making delicious kinds of coffees, and students often drop by there every morning.

The day went smoothly than you imagined, having no interruptions and all, you weren't distracted by the happening last night, the feeling still lingers but you somehow learned a lot and managed to get high scores on your surprise tests. Unfortunately, Kai had to stay for a while in the indoor court for their upcoming basketball match next month for a meeting and it was an urgent one, so you are here walking home all by yourself. You are kind of missing your friend's annoying voice but you aren't feeling lonely, there were times in the past like this. Kicking the pebble in front of your house, you stepped inside the house with heavy steps.

No one knows this little habit of yours whenever your parents are not around– skipping dinner. It makes you feel lonely, dining by yourself, and you didn't want to feel that. After drying your hair, you went straight to bed, looking forward to what your dream has to offer tonight, despite the occurrence, though you are quite unsettled and unsure.

You see Taehyun, standing near the lake, looking up to the moon with his hands inside his pockets.

Grinning, "Taehyunie!"

He feels his heart skip a beat from the nickname, blush automatically creeping up to his face, "Oh hey, angel," a smile makes its way to Taehyun's face.

You rush to him with your arms open wide, ready to tackle him with a hug, but instead, you fall to the ground, face first.

"My angel! Are you hurt?" You look up to see Taehyun offering his hand to you which you tried taking but just like last night, your hand slipped through his. So instead, you stood up all by yourself.

"No, I'm okay," you shook your head laughing off the embarrassment, "what happened by the way?"

"It seems like we can't still touch each other, I saw you running towards me and I didn't even budge but I am surprised that I wasn't able to catch you," Taehyun looked down, disappointment in his eyes.

"Don't worry I'm fine-"

"This isn't fine, I cannot hold you, you cannot hold me, and this is our only way of seeing each other." Taehyun interrupted your sentence, you can feel how hurt he is.

"Everything will be okay, soon." You try to console him, raising your hand to pat his back, but you realize that it won't work so you smiled instead.

"I hope so, because I can't really stand us being like this."

Before you could speak, your surroundings started to fade, pitch black engulfing the both of you.

"What is this?" You sound terrified.

The place lit up with cryptic messages kind of and you stepped closer to each other, bringing your hands over your chest. It looks like you are inside a computer system, your surroundings filled with incomprehensible letters in green, sort of a different language, and to be honest, it creeps you out. A message flashes in front you two.

"This is a notice to those who haven't met their soulmates,"

Your heart starts to beat crazily, the message too bad for your liking, you loathed the way it started, but even so, the next message shocked you the most.

"the soulmate system will vanish at 16:00, the day after tomorrow. Those who haven't met their soulmate in person until the last day will be free forever to love the person they want."

You glance at Taehyun and see him with his mouth agape, obviously shocked too, his eyes glinting utter disappointment and sadness.

"Signing off, the Creators."

Your surroundings gradually returned to how it used to be like, unlike the two of you, still left in shock. You cannot move, as if you are frozen on your spot, only after trying to regain your normal breathing pattern you become able to move.

"Okay, so what was that?! We won't be able to see each other anymore after that?" You turned to Taehyun, looking absolutely shocked and terrified at the same time.

"We need to be quick, we have to meet each other before the soulmate system disappears–" Taehyun pauses to meet your eyes, "unless you want to spend the rest of your life with me…"

"If only you want to…"

The last words are almost whispered, but you are still able to catch it with your ears.

Oh how badly you want to hold him right now.

"Of course, Taehyun. I want to."

You see him flash a bright smile contrasting with the sadness in his eyes, "We don't have much time left, I believe."

"I think so too. What are we going to do now? But I don't think we will be able to meet soon," You bit your lip, unsure of what to do.

Seconds pass and the atmosphere is getting heavy.

"I think we can do something about that," Taehyun smirked, as if he outsmarted a genius, "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"Don't tell me-"

"Yes, my love, we are going to defy the system." Taehyun steps closer to you, one hand in his pocket and the other one pointing to the night skies.

"How are we going to do that?" You are curious about his idea.

"Let's just say I found a loophole in the system," Taehyun pulled a pen from his pocket, and you only notice now that he is wearing his uniform again, "last night, while I was waiting for you, I wrote your name on a piece of paper along with a date."

"The ink remained, however, I couldn't read your name, the letters are all messed up but the date."

"So that means, everything we brought to sleep, just like this pen, stays in our dream, and everything we take from here stays when we wake up."

"How did you know that?"

Taehyun got taken aback by your question, "Uh, I remember picking a flower before and when I wake up, I am still holding it," he scratches the back of his head.

"That's so cool!" You are amazed by Taehyun's discoveries.

"Yes, but that's not the point."

"Oh right, sorry." Taehyun just smiles at you.He wanted to pinch your cheeks because of how cute you are right now, but he knows better.

"So, back to what I'm saying, we can write anything, except our names and be able to see and read it when we wake up."

You nod, "And what is the plan?"

"We'll write a location on our arms, on where we are going to meet, in case our memory starts fading due to the removal of the soulmate system."

"Oh my god, Taehyun! You're a genius!" You exclaim.

"And since we don't have much time, we have to think right now."

You squint to see his school logo, "Oh, your school isn't that far from our school, I think we could meet up somewhere between the distance of our schools," you paused, contemplating if your question makes sense, "What time does your class end?"

"Around five pm."

"Mine ends at exactly four thirty. I think you can meet me somewhere nearer your school, since I have a bit more time than you."

"Should we meet at the park then?"

"That will do."

"Okay, so we can write that on our arms," Taehyun handed you the pen, and you proceeded to write the said location.

"Are you sure this will work?" You ask Taehyun as soon as you finish writing on your arm, handing him back the pen so he could write on his arm too.

"Not really, but there's no harm in trying, right?" Taehyun looked up to you, "This is the only solution I can think of."

"I trust you, Taehyun." You gave him a bittersweet smile, feeling your heart ache from the uncertainty, but Taehyun returned the smile nevertheless.

"Say you'll remember me, Taehyun," you feel tears welling up from your eyes, "If ever we fail, know that I will never forget you, my mind may forget, but heart never forgets."

"I'll forever treasure our memories deep in my heart," you sobbed, eventually Taehyun does too, "it's such a shame we only had a month."

"That is my fault, I did not show up earlier." Taehyun wants to hold you, pull you to an embrace, place reassuring kisses on the crown of your head but he can't which makes the situation worse.

"Keep in mind, angel, I love--"

Your eyes shot open, feeling the hot tears streaming from your eyes. You cover your face with your hands, crying your heart out. It is too early to cry, and you still have classes to attend to but you couldn't care any less. You take a look at your arm and see that the location is still there, so you get up from your feet to write it on your notebook and prepare breakfast even if you are still crying. Your tears start drying out while you eat your breakfast and regain your composure as you finish. You did your usual routine and waited for Kai outside your house.

"Why are your eyes like that? Did you cry?" Huening Kai grabbed your arm, concern written all over his face. You shook your head, quickly dismissing off the question which Huening Kai understood. The walk is quiet, and rather heavy, but Huening Kai chose to stay silent, not wanting to force you to talk or speak up about the reason behind your puffy eyes.

Thankfully, no one dared to question what happened to your eyes because you held your head down as soon as you reached the room, and you are lucky you are sharing the first class with your best friend. And your soulmate is right, memories from last night became hazy the more you try to remember it, all you remember is that you won't be able to see him again in your dreams if you don't meet him later and writing on your arm is a really good idea. You can't relax even for a minute knowing that you won't be able to remember him at all if you failed to meet up before 6 pm. You told Huening Kai your situation during lunch break and you are uneasy throughout the day, Huening Kai can't help but to feel bad knowing that he couldn't lend you help. He won't be able to go with you since he has practice after class but you told him it's fine and that you understand, and you are old enough to walk alone. You promised to text him as soon as you get home.

You waited impatiently for your last class to finish, glancing on the clock from time to time, and as soon as your professor exited the room, you quickly gathered your things and rushed outside of your room. You texted Kai that you're on your way to the meeting place, taking a bus. By the time you reached the park, it was already five forty pm. You turned your head from side to side, looking for a sign of your soulmate.

You tapped your feet nervously while you waited for your soulmate to arrive, heart pounding loudly in your chest. You feel your stomach churn from being anxious, you take a look on the time on your phone, 5:50 pm. Saying that you're not losing hope would be a lie, you feel your warm tears starting to pool in your eye, you can barely remember now why you decided to pick the park out of all the places you could've possibly meet. Just as you are about to burst and sob, you heard a soft voice from your right.

“Is that you?” You look up to see a familiar face, a familiar pair of eyes. You immediately knew who it was, rushing to him, “yes, it’s me, y/n.”

“It feels nice to finally meet you,” the brown haired lad stretched out his hand to you, “your soulmate, Kang Taehyun.”

The way he introduced himself seemed familiar to you, “this time, I wouldn't forget your name anymore,” you feel your tears streaming down your face, from all the emotions you are all feeling right this moment, “c-can I hug you?”

He chuckles, wiping your tears before pulling you into his embrace which you immediately melted on, brushing your hair using his right hand, “I love you, y/n.” You feel him place a soft kiss on your forehead and you feel your heart flutter, this time it wasn't a dream anymore.

You hear a loud striking sound of a grandfather clock ringing in your ears, causing you to flinch and step back from Taehyun's arms, “Did you hear that too?” You asked, glancing over to your sides to see if there's someone in the park aside from you and Taehyun. “Yes,” he glanced on his watch, “it's already 6:01, that must be the signal that the soulmate system vanishes forever.”

“Thank goodness we made it on time,” you flash a smile while you take his hand from his side, “Taehyun...” You saw him nod in anticipation to your next words.

“I’m in love with you,” your face heats up from your boldness, “and I’m glad I’d get to spend the rest of my life with you, my soulmate.”

44 notes · View notes

uncannycookie · 8 years ago

Note

(1) So! A new kid moves to Salt Middle School. This is one of those kids that will analyze the shit outta everyone. "8:35am, day 13. today ___ was very quiet and looked kinda sad. Maybe he just overslept and got yelled at bc of it (evidence: coffee and yawning) If it gets worse I'll talk to him." & "2:07pm, day 8: Today ___ asked ___ out during math class. Dude's got some balls and no chill whatsoever." kinda thing.

How dare you, now I have yet another OC that I’ll never be able to use for anything else ever again! T-T

Also shut up your English is perfect and this prompt is amazing, I loved it so much and I love you, thank you!

AO3 link

Going Native

Kenshin can’t help but stare.

Which, okay, is not exactly news. He stares a lot, all the time, at people and things he finds interesting. It usually doesn’t feel particularly rude - but in this instance, there is the unfamiliar thought nudging at the back of his mind to look away and leave it be. He’s not sure what to make of it.

The math lesson drowns on around him while he flips through his notes, the ones that concern themselves with anything but the actual subject matter of the class, and searches for any previous mention of that particular student.

Kageyama, is it? He honestly isn’t even sure about the name. Kenshin has been in this class for a month now and apparently there has not been a single noteworthy thing about this guy before today.

(And Kenshin wrote it down when Hiroki brought a cucumber sandwich instead of his customary tomato one. So Kageyama has literally been less interesting than a cucumber sandwich this whole time.)

Now Kenshin barely wants to look anywhere else.

It might be nothing. The blue-purplish marks peeking out underneath his high uniform collar could simply be a rash. Those can take pretty strange forms and colors sometimes. Even… vaguely hand-shaped forms. Probably.

Or. Maybe he got some paint on him. He might be an artist. Or maybe his parents are redecorating and he had to help with painting the walls. Maybe he was playing with finger paint with a younger sibling. Maybe it’s not paint and he simply has a girlfriend who got a bit eager. Really, there could be a number of reasons. Kenshin needs to learn not to jump to conclusions all the time, it gets him in trouble or, at the very least, into a multitude of awkward situations.

The quiet, boring, most invisible guy of the class does, however, finally get an entry in Kenshin’s notebook.

Thursday, math class. Kageyama. Weird marks around neck. Possibilities: rash (most likely,) paint, love bites (very unlikely)

He hesitates a bit before putting down choke marks as well. It seems unlikely too? But it is a possibility, so it should be on the list. If he’s already keeping these nonsensical notes, he might as well do it properly.

Kenshin isn’t all that good at talking.

Honestly, he isn’t all that good at a lot of things, especially those involving other people. He is trying right now, trying to get better, trying to not completely freak out at the thought of being the new guy in a school full of people who have already known each other for years.

The fancy little book his sister gave him for his last birthday is clutched hard between his hands nearly at all times. His legs are jiggling frantically up and down under the table, a movement that seems entirely out of his control. He knows it isn’t and that knowledge changes nothing.

The pages are rustling loudly between his fingers as he flips to an empty page. Imako is staring again, he writes down, even though he knows that taking notes during lunch will only make him seem more weird. He can’t help it, the back of his neck is crawling uncomfortably and he has to get rid of the tension somehow.

Don’t know what her problem is. Seems annoyed though, tired too, worse than yesterday. Think she studies way too much.

He’s not at all sure if this is helping, actually. It helps with keeping his thoughts and nerves in order, that’s for sure, but whether sitting quietly by himself and writing all the time will make him fit in with people here is pretty questionable.

Mariko is being way too obvious about her crush on Anzu again. Pretty sure she’s just humoring her at this point. Too nice to turn her down properly.

Kageyama is not in the lunch room, as far as Kenshin can see. Since this is the first time he’s actively looking for him during this period, it’s impossible to say whether or not that’s unusual. Maybe he’s never at lunch. Probably has some club or another that he eats with.

Those marks didn’t really look like paint, actually. And if they’re love bites then - well, it’s not as if Kenshin has all that much experience in this regard, but even as an outsider he’d have to question if a girl that leaves marks like that is entirely human.

(He puts alien girlfriend on the list. Just. For the sake of completion.)

There was a fight the day before.

A sort of turf war, apparently. Nobody really seems to know what happened and who exactly was even involved, but it doesn’t stop anyone from talking as if they know.

Kenshin is not the type to be interested in scandal. But the fact that Kageyama doesn’t show up to class again after lunch has his nose itching with something of an oddly triumphant curiosity.

He’s onto something here. He’s almost sure of it.

“Can I sit here?”

Kageyama doesn’t move his head. He just keeps facing forward, chewing slowly, shoulders drooping a little and hands lightly curled around his chopsticks on the lunch table. His eyes flick up to Kenshin’s face and down to the empty seat he’s pointing at, then up again.

“I think so,” he says.

That’s. Not exactly a friendly invitation. But it’s so soft spoken that it doesn’t exactly sound as rude as it could either.

Kenshin will take what he can get. Shoving his tray on the table, he climbs into the seat next to Kageyama and turns to face him.

The marks around his neck have receded a bit and are turning a sickly greenish yellow color around the edges. At this point, Kenshin seriously wonders why nobody else seems to be noticing this.

“You weren’t in class on Friday,” he says.

Kageyama keeps stoically watching Kenshin without actually bothering to face him.

“Hm,” he makes. His chopsticks clink lightly against the rim of his half empty bowl of rice. His temples look a little sweaty all of a sudden.

Kenshin can relate. The decision to try and talk to Kageyama was made in the heat of the moment, right when he noticed him sitting by himself in the lunch room, and he was so eager to go through with it that he sort of forgot his own inability to people.

Doesn’t help that Kageyama seems to be, unsurprisingly, not much of an expert either.

“Were you, uhhh - sick? Or something?” Kenshin is scratching his cheek nervously, already berating himself for asking such stupid, obvious things. “I mean, yeah, I guess you’re better now, right.”

“Who are you?”

The question takes a second too long to register. As soon as it does, Kenshin’s hand drops from his face. “Uhm?” he starts stupidly. “I’m - Kenshin. Yamato.”

Kageyama keeps looking at him as if still expecting an explanation.

“We’re in the same class?” Kenshin’s legs are jiggling frantically again. “I transferred here last month.”

“Oh. I didn’t notice.” He is so incredibly soft spoken that Kenshin barely hears him over the noise of the lunch room around them. At this point though, it doesn’t actually soften the harsh blow of his words anymore.

“I. Introduced myself in front of the class and everything. You didn’t notice that?”

Kageyama’s eyes flick around the room quickly. He shrugs. “No. Sorry.”

Kenshin’s mouth opens and closes in a probably quite comical way. Good thing Kageyama doesn’t really seem like the type to laugh. Ever.

The laugh that breaks out of Kenshin instead is too loud, just one single awkward guffaw, and then he’s already scrambling to flee the scene, yelling “Okay bye!” and tripping over his own feet.

Just as he’s left his seat he catches Kageyama finally turning his head a bit, but his quiet and slightly worried sounding “You forgot your food,” only really registers with Kenshin when he’s already out of the door.

Monday, lunch. 3 possibilities:1. Kageyama is super unobservant 2. I’m super forgettable3. Kageyama is actually savage

Kageyama looks around inconspicuously in class after lunch. When he finds Kenshin sitting a bit in front and to the left of him, he does this tiny, maybe satisfied nod and turns back towards the teacher again.

So he really, actually didn’t know they were in the same class. Kenshin buries his burning face in the pages of his book and wants to die.

Well. Looks like he’ll never try talking to anyone ever again.

He’s better at watching anyways. Observing. Who needs to talk to people to figure out why they came to school with super obvious choke marks on their neck? Not him. He can deduce things, like a cool detective. This is going to make everyone included feel so much less uncomfortable.

Kenshin doesn’t stalk people, he’s not that low. So it’s actually an honest coincidence that he’s right there around the corner when Onigawara comes up to Kageyama, who is struggling with carrying his books.

Onigawara! The guy who just recently nearly got expelled for his - delinquent dealings with girls’ recorders, of all things. It’s strange and disgusting and the talk of the school right now.

And this guy, barely looking like he’s holding himself together as it is, straight up offers to carry Kageyama’s books for him. And Kageyama kindly refuses. And then they walk off to Kageyama’s body building club together, with Onigawara sort of respectfully following behind a few steps.

Kenshin scribbles a huge What is happening?? underneath his neat accounts of Kageyama’s boringly routine school days and doesn’t even begin making a list of possible explanations. It’d end up three pages long and filled with the most ridiculous ideas.

(In one corner, using very small letters, he does write down secret gang leader? and then crosses it out again. That one’s even more unlikely than the alien girlfriend.)

Something weird and a bit scary is going on at Salt Middle. Kenshin manages to keep his head down and stay focused on his notebook. He’s not the only one walking through the halls with his eyes decidedly averted from everything. It’s one of the best strategies to stay out of trouble at the moment.

Only it’s exactly that strategy that comes back to bite him in the ass, seeing as he’s walking with so little attention to his surroundings that he bumps right into one of those student council members that are waging war on seemingly everyone right now.

The guy is smaller than him, a year younger too, and he still scares the piss out of him with his dead eyes that somehow manage to both look right through Kenshin and burn into him so ferociously that he’s immediately pinned to the spot, unable to flee.

“Did you know that running in the hallway is forbidden?” the council member asks coldly.

Kenshin takes a hasty step back, but the kid follows immediately. They’re standing in the middle of the hall and none of the whispering students all around dare to walk past them.

“I wasn’t running,” Kenshin hurries to say.

The council member kid tilts his head to the side with feigned disbelief. “No? So it’s not that you were just too fast to notice me in time, but you ran into me on purpose?” Kenshin barely has enough time to shake his head and hectically suck in a deep breath to prepare his protest before the kid already snatches the notebook right out of his hand. “Or I suppose you were just too busy with this.”

It doesn’t even seem as if he means to look. The whole encounter so far really doesn’t appear to be the least bit interesting for him. Kenshin feels like the kid is playing his part, and Kenshin was ready to play his own part, grovel and apologize and then scurry off for all the curious onlookers to witness exactly the kind of power play they’ve come to expect these last few days.

But the notebook is open and Kenshin’s writing is pretty large and the other just needs to glance at the page for a mere second to quickly glean the contents.

Kenshin is frozen. Something in the kid’s eyes becomes clearer, a sudden flare of interest, of surprise and - something else that makes the color drain from his face.

Slowly, he looks back up at Kenshin. His face hasn’t changed one bit, but when he speaks, his nostrils flare with disgust for a moment. “What sort of creep are you,” he says, low and monotone and dangerous.

Kenshin’s mouth is too dry, but he still tries to swallow and it scratches his throat. “I, I’m not -” he starts, but the knowledge that he has no chance anyways drains any will to fight out of him and he practically feels himself deflate on the spot.

Watching the kid roughly turning some pages, covered to the rim with lists and notes about various classmates and mostly Kageyama, he feels his mind detach itself and gently float away from the situation. It’s kind of nice, actually.

“How sad,” the kid sneers, hands crumpling the pages, “that people like you manage to go unnoticed for so long.” The book is closed with a snap and held up delicately between two fingers like a disgusting trophy. “At this school, we have respect for other people’s privacy. Obviously that’s a lesson you still need to learn. As a first step, this,” and he gives Kenshin’s fancy, expensive notebook a little shake, “is of course being confiscated.”

“Ah,” Kenshin hears himself make softly. “Of course.”

The council member kid stares him down for another few seconds, then finally steps to the side. “You’ll be late for class.”

“Okay,” Kenshin says, and proceeds to class. His limbs feel a bit wobbly, as if he’s moving them by pulling on strings attached to the joints from far away. Some people might be staring at him.

Kenshin is not the least bit surprised when he’s stopped by another council member the next day and the investigation of his bag reveals a pair of girl’s underwear he’s never seen before.

It’s okay though. Unlike most other people this happened to, he doesn’t have friends or any kind of image to lose.

His family doctor has known him for years and asks not a single question before agreeing to put him on sick leave for a few days.

Kenshin stays home, in bed, only crawling outside sometimes for a bowl of cereal or something, and hopes that the doctor’s word is enough to keep his parents mostly away for a while, seeing as his illness is apparently “harmless, but highly contagious.”

His sister texts him from the next room and sometimes he even answers. She asks “btw did that notebook help a bit?” and Kenshin sends three of the weirdest and least meaningful emojis he can find and shuts off his phone.

At some point, a group of delinquents stands in front of his window, throwing pebbles at it until he opens and then dramatically requesting that he join them on their quest for revenge against the student council kid.

Kenshin blinks for a while and then slowly closes the window again. After about a minute of him hiding his head under a pillow, they stop throwing pebbles and just leave.

When Kenshin has to go back to school, he still keeps his head down, but now while paying attention to where he’s going. Things seem to have calmed down a bit for now, though Kenshin wasn’t here so of course he doesn’t know what changed.

He’s kind of lucky, in a way. Not enough people had any idea who he even was and so many more interesting students got in trouble at roughly the same time, so his own personal stalker-slash-pervert scandal didn’t really get a lot of recognition all around.

Except in his class, of course. Because they do sort of know him. They are the ones who have been sitting next to him all day every day, the ones for whom his whole shtick of The guy who writes all the time was brutally turned inside out and changed to The guy who was stalking people and stole girl’s underwear.

Kenshin stops halfway through this train of thought, because he vaguely remembers that it started with “I’m kind of lucky,” but now he can’t recall the point he was trying to make to himself at all.

Either way, he makes sure not to take notes anymore. On anything. Not even on the stuff he really, really should takes notes on. Listening to the teacher in math class makes the few days he missed feel like a few years and he seriously needs to write this down, but every time he moves his fingers towards the pen, suddenly a thousand pairs of eyes are boring into his neck all at once.

The cheap, lined paper in front of him stays empty.

So do the seats next to him during lunch.

He doesn’t sit there for long, the happy chattering all around the room is just as deafening as the silence of no one actually talking to him and that apparently bothers him now even though it never did before. Better to just up and leave and flee to the empty hallway with the vending machine.

Just as he’s fishing around his wallet for coins, there is suddenly a very small, very reluctant “Uhm, excuse me?” from behind him.

With a pretty undignified squawk Kenshin jumps and nearly crashes face first into the vending machine before he finds his footing and quickly turns around.

Kageyama takes a hasty step back. “Ah. Hello,” he says, eyes flitting from left to right and back again.

Kenshin can’t possibly decide what horrifies him more right now - the fact that this guy is actually talking to him and that creepy council member kid could walk around the corner at any moment and see, or the fact that Kageyama looks as if he comes fresh from a wrestling match with a fucking bear.

The choke marks are almost completely faded, but Kageyama’s entire face is covered in darkening bruises, bandages and fresh scratches. His lips are split and his eyes bloodshot.

Kenshin’s silent, dumbfounded stare visibly makes his shoulders tense the longer it goes on. “I, I’m Shigeo Kageyama. Mob,” he finally says, even softer than Kenshin has heard from him before. “We’re in the same class.”

Kenshin swallows hard. “Yeah. I know that.” Even with his heartbeat hectically pounding in his ears, he can’t stop himself from putting emphasis on the I, knowing full well that this is not the time to get snarky, he’s trying to keep a low profile so he really shouldn’t be seen talking to - and being snarky to! - the guy he technically stalked before this whole mess.

Granted, nobody but creepy council member kid knows about that, probably, but still.

Kageyama nods. “Okay. I wasn’t sure. It’s been a few days since we talked.”

At first, Kenshin thinks he should mark it as a success that this time, Kageyama at least remembers him. But before he can get that far, Kageyama is already moving to hold something out towards him and any possibility of feeling good about himself today is snatched away in an instant.

Kageyama has his notebook.

Why does Kageyama have his notebook.

This is the worst.

Kenshin would very much like to stop existing now, thank you.

“Is this yours? My brother had it,” Kageyama is saying, though there appears to be a bit of a delay before the words actually reach Kenshin’s ears, and even then they sound oddly slowed down and far away. “He meant to give everything back he confiscated, but I think he forgot about this one.”

Kenshin’s arm is back to being tied to a string and being dragged forward by it all by itself. He barely even feels it when his hand loosely closes around his book once again.

“Did you read it?” he apparently decides to ask, though how and when that decision was made he couldn’t say, he wasn’t present at the time.

“No.” Kageyama starts to shake his head but then stops halfway. The movement must hurt. “Was I supposed to?”

“Not at all,” Kenshin answers strangely cheerfully. With an unnecessary look around - nobody ever uses this vending machine, it’s way too expensive and often broken so he knows the place is empty - he drops the notebook into his bag and then clutches it in front of him with both arms. “Why does your face look like that?”

(Why has Kenshin’s brain decided to just barf things out through his mouth without his permission, this is not fair and he would like it to stop.)

With a glance past Kenshin and towards the shiny surface of the vending machine, Kageyama appears to check his own reflection.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“You know!” Kenshin crudely gestures to the bandages and bruises, flipping his hand back and forth between the two of them. “All - beat up like that.”

“Oh. That’s because I got beat up.”

In a way, Kenshin is grateful for the terrible, terrible confusion this whole conversation is dropping on him, because it’s sort of forcing him to come back to himself so he can actively try to figure out what’s even going on right now.

“Cool?” he starts, slowly. “That’s. I mean. That’s cool. Sure. And, uhh,” he wriggles his forefinger towards his own neck, “that? You had bruises there too, kinda looked like… choke marks?”

Kageyama’s nod is slow and thoughtful. “Someone did choke me. That’s probably where it was from.”

It’s not a surprise anymore at this point, but some small part of Kenshin was still hoping for the answer to be rash or alien girlfriend.

He takes a deep breath, trying hard to swallow the frustration that is coming included with these half-answers he’s getting. “Are you, like - alright?” he asks reluctantly, voice carefully lowered. “Do you need help or something?”

Kageyama puts a hand to his chin as he seems to consider this. “Did you understand the math lesson today?” he asks.

Kenshin is too dumbfounded by the question to do anything more than slowly shake his head.

“Ah,” Kageyama makes, and this time there is almost an emotion in his tone. It might be disappointment. “Then I don’t need your help, thank you.”

“Okay?” Kenshin laughs awkwardly, too loud and too shrill once again, the constant loops he’s being thrown for in this confrontation are starting to get to him. “I meant with whoever was choking you and beating you up? Because that seems kinda bad?”

Kageyama’s eyes are flicking around the hall again, from one side to another, sweat glistening on his forehead. “We stopped fighting. It’s fine now.”

Suddenly leaning forward into the other’s space, Kenshin lowers his voice and whispers: “Was it Onigawara?”

Kageyama is leaning back in turn and drawing up his shoulders, eyes widened as far as possible, considering they’re bruised and almost swollen shut. “Who?”

“Gah!” Kenshin wants to throw his hands up, but remembers just in time that he’s clutching his bag to his chest as if it’s a giant teddy bear and he kinda needs his arms to keep it from falling. “You know, the guy with the recorders! The, the, he’s got this hair and is leading a gang and all!”

Something like reluctant understanding is ghosting over Kageyama’s mostly empty expression, but it’s drowned out by the persistent question marks that remain in his eyes regardless. “I don’t really get it,” he says, “but you don’t need to worry. I just meant to give your book back. It looks expensive.”

Kenshin looks down to his feet in shame, fingers picking at the straps of his bag. “It was,” he mumbles. And even though Kageyama said he didn’t read it and Kenshin is actually inclined to believe him, he really can’t stop himself from trying to justify this whole thing. “I didn’t mean to make anyone uncomfortable with it,” he says, barely even tripping over his words. “It just - helps me clear things up in my mind, you know.”

The way Kageyama tracks the nervous movement of Kenshin’s fingers and then looks up to meet his eyes again seems almost politely interested. “I don’t know,” he says and at this point Kenshin is not even surprised anymore, this guy has literally only given him both the strangest and at the same time most mundane answers. “But it sounds useful. Ah, apart from - making people uncomfortable, I guess.”

Kenshin snorts lightly. “Yeah,” he says slowly, glancing down at the floor again and then off to the side, not sure what to say next.

Neither is Kageyama, it seems. It’s just for a few seconds that the silence stretches between them, but it feels terrible and that just after they agreed to not make people uncomfortable, it’s ironic or something, Kenshin is sweating and he wants to leave but he has no idea how to gracefully end the conversation and -

“Well,” Kageyama says softly. “Bye.” And he turns and walks away.

Kenshin stares after him with a strange sort of respect. The sort that makes him think “next time, I gotta try and end a conversation that way,” even though he knows he’d never have the balls to do it.

Just as he starts to lower his bag, meaning to finally fish out enough money to buy a goddamn chocolate bar, he notices someone stepping up to Kageyama at the end of the hall from the corner of his eyes.

With a quick double take, Kenshin whips around again and watches as Onigawara leans down to Kageyama, talking casually, seemingly offering to carry his school bag. Shigeo-who-is-Onigawara-never-heard-of-him-Kageyama gently shakes his head once again.

And somehow, somewhere in that conversation, Kageyama must have said something about Kenshin, because suddenly Onigawara looks up and straight at him.

Kenshin stops moving. It’s what he’s heard you’re supposed to do when being stared down by a dangerous animal. Or, wait, was it actually what you’re not supposed to do? Was it actually “walk backwards slowly and don’t make eye contact” or - dammit he doesn’t remember!

Just as he’s silently reaching the peak of his panic, Onigawara straightens up at the end of the hallway, still staring him down with that customary frown of his, and nods at him. Once. While tapping his own chest with his fist in a sort of - respectful way? Or. Not respectful. Just, kind of, in a way of nearly friendly acknowledgment.

Then Kageyama starts walking again and without a single word or signal or anything, Onigawara loyally follows behind.

Ah.

He already got it right before.

Secret Gang Leader.

Makes sense.

Kenshin finally gets his chocolate bar, the cheapest one he can find. He replays that conspiratorial nod in his mind. He doesn’t hope it means he’s some sort of honorary gang member now.

(Except he really does.)

(Because shit, he’s never been that cool before.)

#maple-maypole #mp100 #writing prompt #oneshot #fanfiction #also #art or sth #cause I fell in love with Kenshin a bit and I had to draw him #I went in a slightly different direction with him than in your prompt... sorry about that >.<#but this one really helped #I'm starting to feel a bit less horrible about my writing again #bless you 💙

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