You glanced over to the person sitting next to you. You had met him once. Kei. He was nice, you supposed. A bit of a narcissist. As if he could feel your gaze, he turned his head to look at you. You quickly whipped around, embarrassed at being caught. You stared at the blank page, struggling to come up with a good design. You envied Kei, who seemed to excel at this.
"Need help?" A voice broke your thoughts.
You turned, surprised to find him watching you expectantly.
"…You won't make fun of me if I say yes, will you?" You muttered.
"No." He scooted his chair on wheels to you, glanced at the blank page, then looked at you with a raised eyebrow.
"What? Not everyone's a prodigy, mister." You folded your arms across your chest, slouching in your seat.
"Project 24? This was supposed to be done on Friday. It's Monday." He stated flatly.
You flinched. Blunt much? "I wasn't feeling that great Friday."
"Too bad. You'll just have to finish it and hope the boss doesn't notice." Kei scooted his chair back to his spot.
"You aren't going to help?" You asked.
"It's not something I can help with. This is supposed to be all you. It's not yours if I do it."
Dang. He's gotta point.
You sighed. "Right, then."
"But I can give you a pointer," You blinked, staring at him in surprise.
"If you find yourself stuck, look around at some sites. Combine some stuff of each and make a design from that." He said, staring at his own screen as his fingers flew across the keys.
You could only stare at him in surprise. "If you keep staring, your eyes will dry out." He offered me a picture...
...of himself.
You sweat dropped, but took it hesitantly. "Thanks, I guess?"
He hummed a reply, never once looking at you. You sighed, dropping the picture into your purse before taking his advice. Twenty minutes later, your fingers were flying almost as fast as his as ideas swam in your brain like little fishes in a bowel. You didn't notice, but Kei shot you a small smile before turning back to his own screen.
You checked out, grinning as your employer handed you your paycheck.
"Thank you." You grinned, then walked out of the building.
Your thoughts flickered back to Kei. You dug the picture out of your purse, staring at it as you walked down the sidewalk to your apartment. Him grinning at the camera. A slow smile spread over your face. His smile made yourself smile and push the depression away for a little moment. After walking into your bedroom, you tacked the picture onto your tackboard, then sat down at your desk to do your homework. The math problems swam in front of your eyes. You groaned as you looked at all the work you had to do. You felt the fear of failing and the utter hopelessness of it all start to crush you.
You glanced over at the window. Third story. Just one move and you'd be sailing and it'd be over. You stood up, walking over and raising the window a smidge. Your fingers stopped almost against your will as you glanced at the board. Kei's smile grinned down at you. You gritted your teeth, feeling your resolve leak out of you. Your limbs moved robotically and you found yourself clutching the picture in your hand as tears streamed down your face.
Kei...You idiot...I don't even know you and you saved me from suicide...
You brushed the tears out of your (e/c) eyes, tiredly standing up. You moved to the desk, propped the picture in front if you, then diligently worked on the homework until it was done. It was late, and you never had dinner, but you felt too exhausted to do anything but sleep. And sleep you did, with the picture next to you.
After school, you quickly raced home and changed out of your school outfit. You felt sightly giddy at what you had concocted last night, and you briefly wondered if you had the guts to do this.
No, (Y/N), you can do this. All you have to do is approach him, say thank you for the picture and that it really helped, then leave.
Sighing, you took the bus to to your job, walked in, then took a deep breath.
Just breathe. It'll be a lot easier if you breathe. You told yourself as you walked to your cubby.
Kei didn't give me a glance as I sunk into your chair. You took a deep breath, then turned to him.
"Um, Kei?" You asked, voice quiet.
"Nn?" He glanced at me, quizzical.
"Yestereday, um," You played with the edge of your skirt. "You gave me that picture. Thank you. It helped."
You quickly turned away and booted up your computer.
"Helped how so?" He asked, staring at you curiously.
"Um..." You paused, scared at how he might react if he knew you struggled with depression.
He waited, slightly impatient. You shook your head, feeling your cheeks flush.
"(Y/N), if you don't tell me, I'm going to think you're making fun of me." Kei said.
You took a deep breath. "Ihavedepressionand yourpicturehelpedmakeitstop." You said in two breaths.
He blinked, trying to understand what you just said as you ducked your head, your (h/c) hair hiding your face.
"Huh. I see," He said thoughtfully.
You quietly sighed in relief.
"That's why you weren't here on Thursday and didn't do much on Friday. Lingering affects?"
"Something like that." You replied.
He made a thoughtful noise, then turned back to his computer. You caught him numerous times just staring off into space. It worried you that you had caused him to be like this, which made you feel awful.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully, until Kei asked you something random as you were leaving the building.
"Are you free tonight?" Kei asked.
You blinked, not expecting this. "Yeah, why?"
"Fireworks festival."
You 'ohhed', then paused. "Isn't that technically a date?"
"Only if you want it to be. But technically, yes." He replied.
You felt your face grow warm. You barely know this guy! And he's asking you on a date?!
"I suppose..." You trailed off.
He smiled at you. You slowly smiled back.
"Tonight at 7:30." He gently kissed your cheek, then walked down the sidewalk, presumably to his house.
You stood on the sidewalk, stunned at the sudden turn of events. The heck...
You eyed your closet, unsure what to wear. Dressy or casual?
Sighing, you decided to go with both. A pair of dark jeans, a plain, (f/c) t-shirt and sneakers.
You were slipping on the shirt when the doorbell rang. The thought of, how does he know where I live? flittered through your head, but you quickly brushed it away as you hurried to the door. Kei stood there, expectantly.
"Hi." You said shyly, opening the door for him and stepping back.
"Hello." He smiled at you, walking in and looking around. You waved to the living room.
"I need to get my shoes on then we can leave." You explained.
"It's fine, the fireworks don't start till eight." He said.
Why did you pick me?
You wondered as you grabbed your sneakers from the kitchen.
You grabbed a sweatshirt in case it got cold, then followed him out of the house. You locked it behind yourself, then hurried after Kei. Kei walked down the sidewalk at a leisurely pace, then stopped at the park.
"Here good enough for you?" He asked.
You raised an eyebrow. "Yeah."
He crossed his arms over his chest, watching you seriously. "It hasn't gotten worse today, has it?"
You felt yourself go pale. "N-no, it's been fine. Sorry for making you worry."
You felt horrible for making him worry. It wasn't worth it to worry about you.
You must've said that last part out loud, because he looked at you with a trace of anger.
"It is completely worth it!" Kei grasped your shoulders tightly. "Do you know how pretty your smile is?!"
Your mouth dropped open in shock. He sighed. "You shouldn't think that, (Y/n)."
You couldn't breathe, you felt too shocked. Your mind flashed too all the bullying at school. Tears welled up in your eyes against your will, and you soon felt them travel down your face. Kei pulled you against his chest as you bawled. When your tears turned to sniffles, Kei pulled you away and lifted up your face. (E/c) met gold. Kei smiled a little.
"You're a mess." He used his sleeve to wipe your face.
Your face burned, causing him to sigh almost impatiently. As you opened your mouth to ask why, everything ceased to work as his lips came to touch yours.
Two things excited to you. One was He must've been waiting for the fire works. The second was OMG Kei is kissing me!
He pulled away, leaving you breathless. "Kei..." You trailed off.
He grinned, then dug around in his pocket. "Happy birthday, (Y/n)."
"Wha-how-" you stuttered, completely shocked.
He shook his head, annoyed. "It's your birthday. September 15. I brought you here so we could celebrate it."
You blinked once. Twice. Dazed, you glanced at your hands to find two pictures and a small box. Kei made an impatient noise as you stared at your hands.
"I...haven't gotten anything for my birthday since my parents died 5 years ago." You whispered.
Kei watched you silently as you cradled them to your chest. You couldn't help but smile. You looked at the pictures. One was of yourself, staring off into space. The other was of him, grinning at the photo. You laughed, making him smile at you. They were both perfect. You opened the box, pulling out a necklace with a gasp of surprise. It had your name on it, and sparkled in the light the fireworks gave.
"Happy sweet sixteen, (y/n)." Kei said.
You hugged him tightly and whispered,"Thank you."
Hello, person who might be reading this! I decided to do another one-shot since my other one did so well (in my opinion, anyway.) This one can be read with Kei from the manga OR from the anime, which I thought was pretty neat. I'll probably do one for Go too, and maybe someone else. Just ask and I'll see what I can do! Seriously, I'll go so far as to write it down for other stuff I've promised people...
Point out anything you see wrong! (I'm just worried Kei's OOC...)
Review!
-12