Sometimes
Author's Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.
Disclaimer: Set during episode 35 of EXE. I do not own anything related to or of the Rockman EXE series.
Pairing: Netto x Tohru.
Summary:
Hikari Netto and Hikawa Tohru work through their burgeoning feelings for each other during their trip to Okuden Valley.
Chapter 2: Tohru
Sometimes, I feel you're the only reason I wake up every day. Morning after morning, I rise, bereft of the thing that departed me long ago. I make my bed, brush my teeth, shower, and descend to the table. It's just Otosan and me, all alone in that big house. I'm lucky if he's even there, if he hasn't already been pulled off to the waterworks.
I search for you on the right side of the mattress, expecting you to be curled up and snoozing like a rock, but you are gone. Dekao-kun's snoring is loud and sort of frightening, even through my earplugs. You'd laugh at that, I'm sure.
When you said we'd be bunking together, I was ecstatic. For once, maybe I could awaken to your handsome face. Perhaps, fingers crossed, my troubled dreams would give way to a semblance of normalcy, instead of an empty pang. It's the middle of the night now, but still, I crave your warmth.
It's wrong, I confess. To ask you to share your body heat with me, aware my intentions are not a hundred percent pure. You, in your infinite generosity and mercy – some say gullibility – would gladly throw your arms around me, though. Is it so egotistical of me to desire this feeling?
Without my dad, without Iceman, I'd be null. They repeat that Okaasan died in a car accident, but I know it's a lie. She abandoned us before I could even walk, yet I can't bring myself to blame her for leaving. A son's life to his mother is in theory cause for celebration. I was not the happiness she envisioned, therefore she deserted us. Deserted me.
Unlike her, this frigidity won't forsake me.
I am parched for love. The affections of my father and NetNavi are not enough. I want a love that is apart. One who is not bound to me by obligation, whom I love, and who loves me back. I'm sorry it had to be you. Meiru-chan would kill me should she discover my predilection. She is taken with you too, you know?
Do you know? Or are you really that innocent? I can't tell. You gather allies so effortlessly, I'm certain your future is full of tenderness. She'll succeed where I have failed. Meiru-chan is lively and beautiful, while I'm plain meek and a studious bother. A boy isn't supposed to ache for his male friends.
Yet, as I lie here, stroking the groove on the cot left by your absent sleeping form, I cannot help but hold on to a slim hope. For you, my love. The light I desperately chase. What I wouldn't do to feel your lips against mine.
Netto-kun…
Sometimes, I wish I were yours.