Toya was late.
If it was anyone else Sho would've figured he'd been stood up and left an hour ago, but this was Toya. Toya hadn't yet turned any of his invitations down and always showed up, no matter how busy he was with classes or council work. Sure, there were days when he was late before, but he had always texted Sho beforehand to let him know. Standing Sho up without a message just didn't seem like him.
Sho had sent several text messages already, all of them still without a single reply. At first he wasn't worried, but he kept checking his phone and now his battery was low, and—great, there it went. He sighed and pocketed his now-useless phone, wondering how he would be able to contact Toya now.
This was unusual. Toya had always shown up without fail. The reason or location didn't seem to matter, because Toya simply smiled and agreed every time he asked. Sometimes it made Sho wonder if Toya was pushing himself again, but he always looked like he was enjoying the time they spent together. There wasn't a reason Toya wouldn't show today, unless—Sho instinctively grasped his phone again before remembering it was dead.
This was not the first time Toya had been late, but it was the first time he'd been this late.
It'd been two hours now, and rain had begun falling.
There wasn't any shelter nearby at the meeting spot he'd told Toya about, and since his phone was dead he couldn't text a new location to him. He sat on the fountain's edge and listened to the rain hitting the water, his clothes soaked and sticking to his skin. In a way he was still lucky, he thought, because the summer heat made the rain feel warm and not at all uncomfortable. The only problem was protecting his phone, useless now at communicating with the person he wanted to see.
And he wanted to see Toya badly, badly enough to sit out here in the rain and wait for hours without any way of knowing if Toya would even show at all. He'd discovered how much he liked him ages ago, so much more than just a simple friendship. Suppressing it didn't help, because pretending he only wanted to stay friends was killing him. But it was difficult to move beyond that when they were both guys and hanging out together just seemed so normal, and despite his best attempts Toya had not picked up on his hints at all.
So today was the final effort, the one chance he had at making his feelings absolutely clear. He regretted not dropping by the student council room to remind Toya, but today his nerves were fried and he couldn't muster the courage to look at him without wanting to call everything off. He'd rehearsed the words he'd wanted to confess today over and over for more than a week now, and he couldn't afford to let his efforts go to waste in a cowardly moment.
Granted, he wasn't that sure of himself to begin with, but right now whatever was left of his determination seemed to wash away with the rain, gently pattering his back almost as if it was consoling him.
Just a little longer, he thought as he wiped the water from his face, and then I will give up.
He'd always been bad at giving up, and today was no different.
His clothes were thoroughly drenched now, and a lot of odd stares were thrown his way as people hurried by to get out of the rain. Understandable really, since he himself didn't know why he was still here. He thought about how odd he must look to everyone else, this strange boy who had been out in the rain for hours, completely soaked to the bone and yet making no move to get out. The imagery made him laugh quietly under his breath. He hadn't known just how badly he had it for Toya until now.
The sky was darkening, the only sign that he'd been waiting far too long for a single person. It was time to give up and go home. The nervous anticipation in his stomach had faded, replaced with an odd, numbing feeling. It wasn't like Toya to be this late, but he could've sent a message to Sho that he couldn't come—a message he couldn't read. This was not how things were supposed to go.
Just as he was mustering the energy to get up and drag himself home, he heard the sound of running footsteps, muffled by the rain. Not expecting anything he looked up, only to have his breath caught in his throat.
It was Toya rushing up to him in the heavy downpour, looking just as drenched as Sho. He was still wearing their school uniform like as if he just ran out of school and straight to the park by foot, his usual calm and composed demeanor replaced with a raw urgency that Sho had never seen before. The prestigious, usually unshakeable student council president was sprinting through the rain, without any regard to how soaked and muddy his clothes were getting. The moment they caught sight of each other Toya's eyes lit up with a strange, indescribable emotion—another expression Sho had yet to see till now.
"Sho!" Toya called, a mix between relief and dismay in his voice as he approached. His breaths were ragged and raw as he stopped next to the dumbfounded Sho, rainwater streaming down his guilt-stricken face as he hovered over him. "I'm so sorry. I got caught up in family matters, and I—there wasn't—there's no excuse, really. I'm sorry."
The apology almost went unheard, because Sho was too busy gawking at Toya to listen. If it was absurd of him to wait this long, it was even stranger that Toya came running out in the rain at this hour, just on the off chance Sho was still waiting here.
"Why did you come?" He blurted out, and it was not what he wanted to say at all, not remotely close to the rehearsed lines he had planned for this moment. The question seemed to catch Toya off-guard too, and he took a moment to brush the water out of his bangs before answering.
"The same reason you are still waiting here, perhaps."
His words sent Sho's heart soaring from the bottom of his stomach into his throat, and he marvelled briefly at how much a single sentence from Toya could change how he felt in an instant. It was a frightening thought to not be the only one in control of himself, and yet he didn't mind.
"Come on, let's get out of the rain." Toya offered a hand, and Sho grasped it after a moment's pause. As they ran for shelter Sho couldn't help but laugh. Toya tossed him a quizzical look over his shoulder.
"It won't make a difference even if we get out of this." Sho gestured at their wet clothes, and Toya laughed at that too.
The day did not quite began the way Sho had hoped, but for now the words he'd been meaning to confess could wait a little longer.
