So, I'm writing this while I'm waiting for my mom to come get me from school again. Also, jamming out to some tunes because I'm bored and I like jamming out to tunes. Idk. I should be studying for my World History AP re-take, but I'm kinda going "screw that class" right now since my teacher sucks with reviews. Bleh. :/
Anyways, I have gotten a few more alerts and a few more reviews, which even if this story doesn't get wildly popular, I will continue for my readers that are reading it and like it. :)
Hiroki sat in the office, sitting on the chair while he stared at the ceiling. He wasn't sure when the noirette was to start this therapy session, and it was the waiting that made him more anxious than anything. The only sound that could be heard in the room was the sound of the air conditioner blowing the cooled air particles into the room, which helped to calm his nerves just a bit. While Nowaki seemed to be getting his materials together, Hiroki took it upon himself to examine the office a bit. The walls were of a dark green color, apparently trying to give a calming effect even though Hiroki felt tense at this. His eyes then moved to the cherry wood bookshelf, with different types of books stacked onto it. He stared a bit harder, recognizing the spine of one of the books as a book he had at home, trying to make out the letters on the side to see who had been the one to write it.
Nowaki was scribbling little notes onto his paper, mostly filling in things he was required to do such as date, patient and signature. Glancing up from the form, he saw Hiroki staring intently at his bookshelf and his mind drifted back to when Hiroki was reading a magazine article as though it were a chapter from a novel. From that, he inferred that Hiroki was one to enjoy reading and decided it would be a good conversation starter. "Do you like to read books, Hiroki-san?" He asked, the man stopping what he was doing to look back surprised at the counselor. He hadn't said a word to him since they had come into the office, though he couldn't understand why he picked such a lame question.
"Er, I'm an assistant professor at a college." He replied, sinking back down into the chair and laying down while he looked over at Nowaki, who was writing something down on a notepad. "What are you doing?"
"Well, I find that getting to know my patients helps me to understand them just a bit better when we actually get into the session." Nowaki said, tucking the pen behind his ear. "I find it helps me to help you, so to speak."
"Oh," He muttered. He wasn't sure what else to say at this point, especially since he had never been to a therapist session before. "So, aren't you supposed to be asking me questions?" He asked, looking over at the dark haired man who looked up from his paper upon hearing this question.
"I will," He said, grabbing his small clock and setting the timer for an hour. "So, your friend...Yoh-san, said that you had something going on in your life…er, something that was apparently causing you to go out and," He paused, squinting at the paper before his lips twisted uncomfortably. "'Drink yourself silly, and sleep with random men.'" He said, quoting the paper that his friend had given him.
'So that's what you think of me, Miyagi?' Hiroki thought sourly, grimacing at what the man had read off of the paper. Thinking back on his reasons, he couldn't help but start to understand more and more why he was sitting in this office in front of this doctor whose sole purpose was to try and make him feel better. Even so, he crossed his arms over his chest and tried not to seem so hurt by what Nowaki had read off of the paper.
"I'm not one to mix my personal lives with my professional but, that night-"
"Yes, we went back to my apartment and had rough, drunken sex." Hiroki finished his sentence without so much as batting an eye. He was already angry over what Miyagi had said, and so his usual philosophy about not talking to therapists had gone out the window due to his random outburst.
Nowaki didn't say anything, but instead went back to writing down something onto his clipboard while Hiroki was fuming in his seat. After scribbling more down, he glanced back up at the angry man who only looked at him with distaste.
"What?" Hiroki hissed, now wanting to just go home and crawl under his covers, possibly watch some mindless television while he gorged on food full of empty calories. He didn't care, as long as he wasn't here right now, now regretting having decided to come in the first place if he knew he was going to be subject to this. While the clock continued ticking, there was the awkward silence that made its way back into the room, causing the two men to shift uncomfortably. However, the silence was broken when Hiroki's phone began to ring loudly, the man whom the phone belonged to jumped from hearing the ringing hit his eardrums. Reaching into his pocket, he looked at the screen and his entire expression went from an annoyed one to a disheartened one in an instant.
Nowaki watched this, catching onto such facial expression change and scribbling more onto his paper. His paper was full of so much information, and he hadn't even really begun the session yet. Still, he felt that everything the man was doing could be important to helping him break such irrational behavior. So, he listened silently, pretending to continue to write while Hiroki picked up the phone.
"What do you want, Akihiko?" He said, his tone of fake annoyance sounded much different from his tone of real annoyance, as Nowaki could tell due to the fact that he was purely annoyed only minutes ago. He saw Hiroki's eyes shift over to where he was, causing him to move his gaze downward back onto his clipboard as he pretended to continue writing.
Deciding it was okay to have a brief conversation, he continued. As he listened to what his friend was saying, he continued to look more depressed than angry. So much, in fact, that it looked as though he was pleading with him to stop his talking at once before he burst into tears. It appeared as though he hadn't a clue what his face looked like, until his train of thought ended and the person on the other phone was calling out to him. "Hiroki? Hiroki?" The voice called.
Hiroki quickly came from his daydream, putting on his angry front once more. "Yes yes, I heard you," his expression changed to a bored one. "Why don't you just steal him away to live with you? I don't think he would mind, especially since he's got that brother of his. I think you helping to take care of his lovely little brother would be enough for him to fall in love with you." He spoke the last line sarcastically, practically taunting the man as though he were some kind of idiot.
"You know I can't do that. He'd never let me get in the middle of him and that boy."
"Ah, ah I get it. Well, I tried, didn't I?" Hiroki said, trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible. "Well, I'm in the middle of something so I'll have to call you back." With that, he promptly hung up the phone without as much as a goodbye. Looking back at the man sitting in the chair, Nowaki's eyes darted to the clock. Only 20 minutes left.
"Well, Hiroki-san. We do have 20 minutes left, and I would like to try and make this effort to come as well as my effort to try and help you as fruitful as possible, so why don't I ask you a few questions? Just simple things, that I'm sure an assistant professor such as you could answer." Nowaki complimented, giving a warm smile to try and brighten the mood of the room as well as the other mans spirits.
"Go ahead." The other almost whispered, a hand over his face while he shook, trying to contain himself from breaking down in front of some stranger whom he had been in the same room as for merely a few minutes now. Nowaki frowned at this, although he was used to seeing patients break down in front of him all of the time due to built up stress or bringing up traumatizing events, none had looked as pathetic and vulnerable as this man had right now, the fact that he was trying to hold it in only made Nowaki feel worse, since he wanted to encourage the man to break down into pieces.
Deciding not to continue with what else he was to do, he instead put the clipboard down and stood, making his way to the door. His hand almost touched the handle, a raspy voice calling out to him.
"Where are you going?"
"I wanted to give you some time to yourself. Don't worry, I won't peek." He teased while he turned the knob. However, he was stopped once more by the voice.
"It's fine, I'll leave." Before Nowaki could reassure him that it was fine, Hiroki was already walking towards the door in front of him. Making the choice not to stop him, he pulled away and allowed Hiroki to throw the door open as he practically ran out of the building. The timer back in Nowaki's office rang loudly; the sound falling on deaf ears as Nowaki could only be terribly confused watching him run. Though, he did snap back to reality when he saw Hiroki stop at the doorway and turn around.
"…You will be here tomorrow, won't you?" He asked.
"Er, yes. I always will be." Nowaki replied reassuringly.
"…I'd like to come back, if you don't mind." The other requested, feeling terribly embarrassed for saying such things.
Nowaki smiled at this, a bit happy knowing that someone who needed his help the most was finally asking for it.
"Of course."
Blerg, I felt this chapter kind of sucked a little. I want it to get better, but my beginnings are never good anyways. Still, I hope that it was good enough to gain a few more readers. :) Since I love all o fmy readers. Haha.
