Chapter 3:
When Kaiba entered the room, I didn't need my ears to know that he was there. The air shifted just to meet him, everyone's face changed to something defensive. They all ganged up on him, each one swiveling their heads in order to glare at Kaiba as though all of this had been his fault. When in all reality it had been my own.
I could see Honda's mouth moving, I could see the anger in his face. He must have been warning Kaiba not to start any trouble. That it was definitely not welcome in this moment. I was still mourning my loss of hearing, and his insults wouldn't reach me anyway. I couldn't be his plaything anymore, and if that made the billionaire cry? Well then, good.
He turned to my friends, and by the shaking of their heads, he had asked something of them that they could not deliver on. He gave a huff, turned back to me.
Kaiba pulled out his phone. A smart move to be sure, I hadn't even thought of communicating via cellphone, and that was what the damn things were made for.
First, he asked me how I was doing, an odd sentiment coming from Kaiba, I didn't think he actually cared. He never seemed to. He thrust the phone into my hand, so I could type my reply to him, and I wasn't sure of what to write.
I told him that I was fine, that he, of all people, didn't need to be worried for the likes of me. I was away from home, despite my now being deaf, and how shittily I was holding up with all of this, I was away from home, and that was a reason to be happy for. I'd tell him this, because of all people, I was aware that he already knew of what my home life had been like. He had been the one to walk in on me that day, he had been the one to help me return to normalcy. I knew that he knew, and I wasn't quite sure that he knew that, but I decided to go with it for now. If he found himself to be shocked at my knowledge, I'd tell him what an idiot he was. As usual, or well, as usual, but vice versa. I was usually the idiot, and he was usually the one telling me that.
His eyes only rolled at my response, one would think that they would take it upon themselves to roll right out of his head if he didn't have them fixed to his head. He rolled his eyes a lot. Like a lot.
The next question took him a while, as though he were thinking it over. As though he wasn't quite sure if he should ask or not. I wasn't sure what he wished to asked, but it kind of scared me, just thinking about it. What could he possibly ask that was so bad he couldn't bring himself to actually ask it? I was scared that it was some form of insult, a play for how I was deaf now. If he were to have made some joke on that, I may have tried to punch him. I may have just attacked him. The wound was still fresh in my mind, and I would not appreciate Kaiba throwing salt into it. Despite how it may or may not help me get over the issue at hand.
He finally turned the phone over to me, and clear as day I read his request, something so simple, that asked so little and yet so much of me. It wasn't something I was sure that I could do. I was certain that he'd just have to cope without it, without me, and I was sure that was as he preferred it. I doubted that he'd like to deal with me, at all, but the question remained nonetheless.
"Live with me."