Smoke swirled around as he looked at the phone, he just got off with Hiroki
Akihiko didn't expect the call from Hiroki to ask him if he wants to drink
He meets with Hiroki often either for editing or just to hide at his new office and they drink together a lot but it's rarely ever instigated by the other and especially lately since he started working,
and seeing that tall boy.
he agreed sensing something wrong in his friend's voice and remembering how the other had looked so lost the other day when he saw him
They drink in quiet for a while and without even asking Hiroki talks, telling him about how his lover had left him how he was so worried and even called his university Dean only to find out that he had left to America without telling him anything
"He just left"
Akihiko can feel anger rise in him it wasn't that usual for him to feel this strongly but Hiroki had always been special to him;
To see the hurt in his usually fierce eyes,
The sadness etched in his proud face,
He felt anger in behalf of his friend.
Akihiko knows Hiroki enough to know that he must be in immeasurable pain to be this honest
Hiroki had always been a private person and even if they are close he knows the other had had many things he didn't tell him
so to not direct his troubles into his own form of anger hide everything and try to move on was even more of a stronger proof to Akihiko of how much this had affected his childhood friend.
But he knows him enough to know that his own words will help with nothing empty comforts and hollow promises of 'it's okay' was never their thing.
So he stays quiet and listen to him carefully
"I don't know why?" Hiroki whispered After a while of staying silent
He sounded so defeated
"Is it over?"
"Do I wait for him?"
"Does Nowaki even want me to wait for him?"
Questions he can't answer and it seems Hiroki didn't expect him to be able to answer them too as he just sighed and drank more.
He must have not been sleeping well or eating for that matter if his looks are any indicator, he looks put together but he can see how his shoulders are bent down as if too heavy of a burden is balanced on them, his shirt more loose then usual but its not his physical state that breaks Akihiko its this deep pain in his countenance
Akihiko quietly stands up and hugs his friend, and after a bit of hesitation his embrace was returned back.
They part after a while Akihiko pretending to not feel the damp spot on his shirt or notice Hiroki's red eyes
They don't utter a word as they continue to drink through the night but this silence was more of a solace than any action or words could ever provide
Akihiko opened the door to be meet with his childhood friend stoic face, this already put him on his guard for a scowling Kamijou is always better than a neutral one
Hiroki enters the house and stands in the entrance
"Why are you just standing there, enter, you are used to just barging in what's wrong" Akihiko then noticed what was clutched in Hiroki's hand and knew what's going on.
Aikawa had wanted some new material for the egoist couple and he had nothing so he wrote an egoist heartbreak part 1
He knows that he fucked up it felt wrong but he had a deadline and for some reason it seemed okay at that time but now the uneasy feeling is back
"Akihiko" Hiroki growled quietly his posture tense and his face still in its cultivated mask
Hiroki holds up the manga book
"Explain"
Against all logic Akihiko just took a cigarette and lit it shrugging
"It was such a good story it sold well" he offered simply "and I had a deadline" instead of an apology
Hiroki got even tenser if possible and his mask broke exposing a mixture of anger and hurt
"I trusted you by telling you that as my friend not for you to turn it into this and publicise it" he said all this in an even voice
They both kept looking at each other for a while no one willing to break the silence that followed, Hiroki in anger at the betrayal and Akihiko because he feels that the other is just making too much of a deal with it and he is used to his friend dramatics.
Even he doesn't believe his thoughts, he just can't bring himself to show remorse
Hiroki lowered his eyes first and it felt so bitter in Akihiko mouth to see how small he looked, Hiroki may have submitted first (and since when did this become a challenge) but Akihiko felt a sense of defeat
"You are not even sorry" Hiroki chuckled twistedly
"Goodbye Akihiko" and the brunet just turned around and left
Akihiko didn't follow didn't say the goodbye back
Just stood there frozen between his thoughts repeating what happened
A week passed and there was no contact from his friend it wasn't that unusual but it felt so heavy,
Another passed and Akihiko started feeling anger and hurt himself
And as another passed he felt too prideful to reach out first
He didn't even try calling him or visiting him
Their friendship was never this bad they never had this kind of dreadfully calm argument with such an impasse
It was the first time they didn't talk for this long since they met
And now thinking about it, it was always Hiroki who would come back, act like nothing happened to salvage his bruised pride, and Akihiko always played along
Akihiko had always known he appreciated Hiroki but as he sits there his mind only occupied by the hurt in those auburn eyes he remembers all the times Hiroki had done something he wouldn't usually do just for Akihiko how he took everything for granted
He had been obsessed with Takahiro and his friend had stood by him and listened to him talk about his crush never judging him but always showed a deep understanding.
and now ,once, Hiroki had come to him to spill his problems of heart he had gone and used it as entertainment for others,
His door ringed and his heart even though knowing it couldn't be Hiroki still fluttered
Aikawa grim face greeted him as he opened the door
They went through their routinely yelling and threats of deadlines
"By the way Sensei, the work you had submitted two weeks ago was off" she said once she got as much as she wring out of him
He tilted his head at her words in inquiry so she continued "your work is usually very polished and the only editing I had to do mostly was of simple mistakes and not for the words used and flow" her words had brought a dark aura over Akihiko yet another thing of those things that he just expected Hiroki to do for him
Editing
Even if his flow of words wasn't that compromised by his inner turmoil but foiled by it, Hiroki not being there to carefully read and edit for him was this palpable
As Aikawa left he had his choice made he is going to reconcile with his friend
Another week passes, of wallowing about his selfish reasons, and after a while of driving aimlessly he finds himself in front of his friend's condo and he is faced with his own cowardice as what he had done becomes a heavier burden on his shoulder
He walks to Hiroki door automatically, it feels so surreal being here after a month, even if it's not much but the meaning behind the absence makes it so
As he waits for the door to open he notices that nothing changed much
The world keeps going on normally even if the ones inhabiting it experience a lot of change
A noise behind the door pulls him back from his reverie in time to see the door opening
Hiroki's eyes widen when they see who was in front of him
And before anything is said or done
Before he even think of it his mouth move on its own
"I am sorry" he blurts
Hiroki's eyes widen even more if possible then after a while without saying anything he leans back in invitation for Akihiko to enter
And for the first time since the day they fought he can feel his body untense and the knots in his chest uncurl
he sighs in relief
They are going to be okay