Komaeda could see the officer grab Hinata's arm and calling out an unfamiliar name to him, and just as quickly Komaeda grabbed Hinata's hand. Like a bear trap, Hinata's hand clutched around Komaeda's immediately in a painfully tight hold. Komaeda smiled at the officer as politely as he could.
"Excuse me sir, who are you talking about?" It took significant effort to keep his voice calm and amiable, even though he could already feel his heart beating intensely. The officer luckily let go of Hinata's arm, and looked at Komaeda. He had an intense look in his red eyes and he seemed like a very passionate type of person; exactly the kind of people Komaeda couldn't handle that well.
"Ah, excuse me!" he said, his voice loud like he was shouting. Komaeda could feel Hinata wince a little bit, and he tried his best to squeeze his hand a little tighter. "Your companion here bears a striking resemblance to a man that was reported missing in Kyoto just couple weeks ago!"
"Kyoto?" Komaeda said in fake wonder. "We came here from Tokyo, to have a little vacation together." It would probably better to make the lie somewhat close to reality; it was a lot easier to fabricate a story close to reality than to make up something completely new. The officer didn't seem affected, and instead his focus fell to their hands.
"Your friend seems nervous though, if you need to hold his hand even!" Komaeda almost clicked his tongue. The officer was more perceptive than he had expected. He said apologies to Hinata in his mind before answering the officer.
"Ah, he's not my friend… We're actually dating…," he said, trying his best to sound like he was embarrassed to say it. It wasn't really difficult, although his reasons for it were entirely different than what he was trying to make the officer think.
"Oh…!" The officer seemed put back by the answer. This was already the second time this had worked, but Komaeda was a bit worried in Hinata's reaction to it. He tried to sneak a glance at him but Hinata's face looked frozen stiff. The officer coughed. "I will still need to ask for identification, to make sure! Do you have your passport or health insurance card with you?" He turned his eyes to Hinata as he spoke, and Komaeda squeezed his hand again. They had gotten the passport for Hinata, but the other seemed a bit put off from being talked to again.
"Do you have either of them with you or are they at the hotel?" Komaeda prompted softly, and Hinata seemed to realize what was going on. He took the card out of his pocket with his free hand. He seemed to be in shock, and Komaeda pressed his lips together as he hoped the officer would let them go after this.
The police began to examine the card closely, and while he was still distracted with it Komaeda leaned a bit closer to Hinata.
"You're doing really well, we'll get away soon," he whispered as quietly and quickly as he could. Hinata just glanced at him, his eyes clearly showing the fear he was feeling. Komaeda just held his hand tighter again to try and reassure him.
"Hinata Hajime, age 23 and current residence is in Tokyo," the officer eventually said out loud and handed the card back to Hinata. "There seems to be nothing wrong. I'm sorry for stopping you, these things happen often!" He laughed loudly after his words, and Komaeda gave him a dry smile while Hinata didn't react at all. All of a sudden the officer's radio began to make sound.
"Officer Ishimaru, we need your help, the Crazy Diamonds are at it again," a woman's voice said through the communicator, and the officer grabbed the communicator.
"As you see, I have work to attend to now! Please enjoy the rest of your evening!" he said before starting to run off, speaking to the communicator as he did. Komaeda let out a sigh of relief as his back disappeared into the crowd, and he turned to look at Hinata who seemed incredibly pale.
"Should we still go to the beach or…?" Komaeda didn't get to finish the sentence before Hinata nodded already. He was a bit hesitant about heading to the beach after this, but Hinata probably knew better. They continued to walk, and Hinata kept clutching at his hand like he was desperately trying to keep himself together.
The beach was empty of people when they arrived. Komaeda led Hinata closer to the sea, and looked around to make sure they really were alone before he looked at Hinata. The other still seemed stiff and there was an empty look in his eyes. Komaeda figured Hinata had gone into some kind of lockdown to keep himself calm.
"Hinata-kun," Komaeda said softly, and Hinata turned to look at him. "It's okay now, there's no one here. You don't have to force yourself to be calm anymore," he continued, rubbing Hinata's hand with his thumb in an attempt to make him feel safer. Hinata just stared at him in shock for a moment, and Komaeda was starting to fear he had made the situation worse.
Suddenly Hinata let go of his hand, and before Komaeda managed to react the other rushed to hug him and knocked him over with the surprise. Komaeda stared at the sky in wonder for a moment, trying to get his bearings when he noticed Hinata was shaking, clutching at him desperately as soon the sound of muffled sobs carried to Komaeda's ears.
Komaeda felt his heart squeeze in pain, and he wrapped his arms around Hinata, quietly trying to say something, whatever to attempt to make him feel better. He knew that most likely this was just all the tension breaking out at once in the form of tears, but he still felt afraid he would hurt the other accidentally so he chose his words more carefully than ever.
It wasn't what he was good at however, so he didn't end up saying a whole lot, repeating the same words over and over again. Once again he felt powerless, with his lack of social skills making his heart feel heavy. He couldn't be of any use to Hinata once again. He had never been good at consoling others in the first place, and he had never had anyone cry on him this, this helplessly.
It was a heavier burden than he had ever realized from books and movies. There were no magic words he could say, nothing. He could just wait, wait and hope he was doing enough. But it was painful not being able to do anything.
Eventually Hinata's sobs calmed down - how much time had passed Komaeda didn't know - but he still didn't let go, still didn't get up. Komaeda just accepted it quietly, not really wanting to disturb the other. His back was wet from the melted snow and his other arm was growing slowly numb, but he kept perfectly still. None of that really bothered him right now.
This was probably the moment he should have said something. But his throat felt dry as he just waited for something to happen, maybe some spark of thought telling him what to do, or maybe Hinata saying anything.
And like some kind of bad luck struck him, in the middle of the silence, the cold creeping up on his neck made him let out a sneeze. It startled not only himself but Hinata as well. Hinata slowly got up from top of him, kind of sitting up but still resting his other hand on the ground. Their eyes met, and Komaeda felt the pang of uselessness as he saw the look on Hinata's eyes.
He looked so… so lost, like he still didn't know what to do with the swirl of emotions that must have been spinning inside of him this whole time. It was a look seeking for some sort of help, like he was expecting Komaeda to comfort him.
And he had nothing to offer. His heart felt tight as he tried to come up with some words, his confusion most likely clear to see from his face as he struggled to push his own emotions aside to come up with something to help the other. The frustration and sadness was about to bring tears to his eyes and he forced himself to open his mouth.
"Hinata-kun," he said, the desperation apparent from his voice despite his attempt to hide it. "Are you al-" His sentence got cut off when suddenly Hinata kissed him.
Komaeda's eyes widened and he gasped in surprise. Hinata had closed his eyes and was desperately seeking comfort from his lips. His teeth kept knocking against Komaeda's and there were tears in the corner of his eyes still, and Komaeda could feel tears come into his own eyes as well as he returned the kiss hesitantly. Komaeda lifted his hands to Hinata's hair, entangling his fingers amongst the cold but soft strands of hair, and Hinata was partially holding himself up instead of laying all his weight on Komaeda.
Their teeth still kept knocking ever so often and Komaeda was acutely aware that his nose was running from the cold, but despite the awkwardness of the kiss they still didn't separate. It was like neither of them wanted to face the silence, the lack of words they both had certainly suffered from.
Instead they escaped into this small solace that they could get from being able to be close to another person.
Thank you for reading all the way here! I ended up taking all the way until Sunday but at least I made it for the weekend as I promised! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next one will be up per the usual schedule at 20th of November, I hope to see you there! Please take care and remember that I'm always here to help and support however I can!
