Rest has become something foreign to him.
The circles beneath his eyes are worser than hers by now, and there wasn't a single moment where he wasn't running down the lines of a physics book or entire hundred-thousand word articles on his laptop screen. The clock inside his head paced faster and faster, forcing him not to allow even one minute to pass away. He refused to blink, not if that meant he'd exhibit just the slightest behaviour of that woman.
Because he wasn't her.
He was him, and he was someone that nobody else could ever dream to be.
One mistake after another could pile up into a hill, and he'd rather blow up a minefield than create a mountain.
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He let out a yawn. Cheek pressed up against a brick pillar, there was nothing worse than being crammed between a hundred bodies from all different angles, each person waiting for their train to come to a stop on the rails. If he had known he'd be stuck at the station during rush hour, he would've shot up the moment he heard the first ring of his alarm rather than putting it off for later.
Or maybe he really shouldn't have stayed awake until six in the morning.
It was nine now.
If he'd had enough time, he would have taken the usual shorter ー but slower route, by going over that walkway with the bridge instead of suffering shared air consumption like this. But running wasn't exactly something he was in the mood for either.
Finally, after what felt like hours, the train down his line rolled to a stop and the doors slid open, releasing hundreds of college-aged students and office workers heading to the next place on schedule.
Len straightened his back, began to walk away from the pillar towards the border and shuffle amongst the sea of people ー when there was a sudden yank on the cloth of his school jacket that held him back. He fussed silently, assuming that someone had mistakenly grabbed onto him and tried to move on forwards.
But there it was again.
Another yank, keeping him in place.
It took plenty courage to turn around, hoping to god it was just his bloody hem caught onto an object, somebody's bag or the metal barrier and not a pervert hoping to find a body to assault ー only to connect eyes with small ambers, hopefully peering up towards him. A little boy, no more than three years old, with hair as fair as his own had tear streaks running down those plump small cheeks. His tiny fingers was firm on Len's hemline and his lips let out an inaudible sniff, straining to keep a drip of snot from falling down.
The blond considered pushing him away and rushing into the train as fast he could. He did.
He doesn't know why he decided against it.
Len despised children.
He took a deep breath. Bent down to eye-level. "Hey. Where are your parents?" He worked fast in pulling the toddler deeper onto the platform, back to that brick pillar where they'd be safely out of the crowd's way.
No answer from the child. Just a quieter sniff. His face was a mess.
Damn it, Len never carried around tissues.
The blonde wiped away the warm goo beneath that little boy's nose with a thumb, feeling an appreciative blow of air against his skin as response. Once he was done, he uneasily padded his fingers dry with the sleeve of his jacket.
He'd worry about whether that was sanitary after this situation sorted itself out. Because he had the luck of a torn umbrella during a rainstorm, the train doors slammed shut in front of them, rendering the money he'd paid for a ticket completely useless.
Why him, of all people.
The blond tried not to have a break down when the transport drove of view. The morning sun peeked through the overhead glass ceiling, shining across him like the spotlight in a theatre, as if the heavens were purposely insulting him for the sake of entertainment and didn't want to come anywhere near an ending. The dome was cold, though the heat of the bodies around him was too warm for anyone to breathe.
And the little boy's grip on him was stronger than anything else.
"Did you come here with your Mummy?" A shake of the head. "Alright, did you come with Daddy?"
This time, a nod.
Len hesitated. The crowd was not dying down, rather growing by the minute, and he couldn't believe someone could be idiotic enough to keep eyes off their toddler during rush hour or even bring them out in public when there's the risk of this happening. "Did he leave you here?"
"Nooooo..." The little boy sobbed.
"So you ran away from him."
There was no need for confirmation.
He warily eyed the child's attire. A brown backpack in the pattern of a monkey, with peach skin and googly eyes that rattled with each move.
In place of an ordinary pop-out tail was a little loop at the end, resembling a leash. This was definitely not the first time something like this has happened. Suddenly he feels more pity for the parent than anything.
"Come on, I'll help you find your dad."
Amber eyes lightened up to sparkling gold, and the little boy reached out his small hand for Len to take. Right..
The blond winced again, opting to grab the leash instead.
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He reported a lost child to the reporting station before anything to avoid being accused, and an announcement rang out throughout the entire domed building, calling out for the guardian to come to the main kiosk. But five minutes passed, then ten, nearing twenty ー the worry that this was an abandoned child grew and he tried to push it off as generic hysterics.
After dropping him off, Len went to buy a new ticket.
But that strong grip latched onto him again, refusing to let go. Teary eyes resumed and guilt overwhelmed him.
The young man had to think about this logically.
If he'd personally lost a kid in a crowd he'd be too focused over looking for the child through the sea of bodies rather than paying attention to the surroundings, much less the overhead speakers when the most it would often talk about was which train would be arriving on what line.
So he went back to the place it all started (with permission from the security officials, who would broadcast if a parent visited them to claim the child so he'd know when to bring the kid back) leash in hand, even if that little boy kept stretching a palm towards him expectantly.
His eyes were open for anyone that might be searching through the lower area.
Len dropped back to his knees. "Get on my back."
The toddler seemed excited the moment Len dropped the leash and allowed both small legs to drape over his shoulders, lifting him up into the air. They couldn't see over everybody's heads ー Len wasn't pitifully short, but he was average and that was nearly not enough for this to work Results went to prove that they should've done this from the start. Just seconds later, a man weaved down the lane and came to a stop in front of him, sweat running down both forehead and neck.
"Oliver!"
"Papa!"
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As expected, the gates were locked by the time he reached the school compound.
That boy's father apologised profusely and offered him a replacement ticket, but there really was no point seeing as he'd just be stuck here the next few hours. It was an hour after lunch break and his safest bet in keeping what's left of his sanity was to go home.
And then he looked up again, towards the upper level windows, where first years' classes were taking place and it didn't take long for his eyes to find Kagamine Rin's figure, giggling with a figure sitting beside her. She turned towards the window, meeting him, and this time she blinked a few times before looking away.
Her arm rose in the air towards the front of the class. She jumped out of view a second later.
Len huffed.
The scarf around his nose wasn't thick enough to keep him warm. Orange and red leaves, no where near as vibrant as they were back at his grandparents' home, rinsed over the violet skies. He allowed his eyes to close only to feel nothing but the rustles of the trees biting across his skin. And then there was a gentle tap behind him.
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"They think I went to the bathroom, so hurry."
"I'm hurrying."
"Hurry faster!"
His head went in circles, climbing up several flights of stairs. Rin was leading the way. She decided to do him a kindness, opening the school gates from the inside and sneaking him in before a teacher came to check. Now he has to rush for the nurse's office, going the guise of having been at school the entire day ー only being too sick to enter class so that they wouldn't write his name off the attendance list. The walls echoed with the sound of their bated breaths and clank of shoes against the floor.
And then there was the sound of glass breaking.
The girl in front of him stepped onto an object littered across the floor, and the heel of her Mary Janes' cracked in half when she was midway running up a step.
She let out a scream.
White flashed between his eyes, followed with red. He saw a blonde woman sprawled across the floor in a pool of crimson, pale blue eyes staring up at the ceiling, with rosy lips parted for her last breath ー
"Sorry.."
He blinked again.
She was sitting on his lap. He had held his arms out to prevent the fall. His elbows were bruised, but her head was against his chest and both of them had no real injury, safe for a small cut on her ankle that was beginning to bleed. It could be patched up later. Alright, alright, alright... they were alright, he could stop shaking.
It was all in his head. Only in his head. "Stop.. running." Len hissed through his teeth. His eyes were wild, like broken mirrors, and the young lady peered into them with a trembling bottom lip.
"Sorry," Rin repeated. "I think someone left their coke bottle on the ground. Stupid."
She stood up, brushing the dust off her skirt before resuming a march up the stairs at a slower pace. She skipped forwards, ignoring the mess of shards on the floor.
Pale eyes. Pale.
Kagamine Rin had eyes so blue and so deep, an entire ocean could never compare and be put to shame. No, those weren't her eyes that he saw, and he didn't want to know whose it was
It took all his energy to follow behind without taking her hand.
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One week went in the blink of an eye. It wouldn't even be two fortnights to the end of their promised five months. Rin didn't have time to wait in the corridor outside his class at the end of the day, and he didn't think she even would, considering their mutually agreed anonymity within school compound and lack of communication unless he takes the time out of his own schedule to visit her frequent spot by the lake.
And then he remembered it was him that caused this in the first place. She was never the one who didn't want to be seen with him.
That's why Len took it within his own hands to wait outside her class, instead of hoping she'd one day forget he didn't want her around his.
He saw her leave the room behind Fukase, and that boy was grinning at something she'd said. They didn't notice him. Neither were particularly touching or showing anything affectionate, though he didn't know how long that would last.
"Rin," Len called out.
Nearly the entire population inside the hall paused in their tracks at the sound of his voice.
He crossed his arms, leaning against the opposite wall with an impatient quirk of the brow. Fukase was glaring at him, Len knew, it was unsettling and he could feel it, but right now he couldn't care less.
Rin looked between them, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth to consider if this was a trap. She finally decided to walk forwards to his side.
The blond didn't say anything else.
Just took her bag in one hand, her wrist in his other, and began their walk to leave through the front gates. He could hear nothing but his heart beating through his ears and the feel of Kagamine Rin's warmth in his hold. Something inside his eyes spoke that this wouldn't be the last time something like this would be happening.
But it also wasn't in anybody's place to question it.
im tempted to answer reviews but i also don't wanna give out any spoilers so :thinkingemoji:x2 hhhhhahahha good luck guessing