Archive: NO.

Reviews: Appreciated. :D This is the second to last chapter of this story, by the way XD After the final chapter, there's actually a sequel so I hope you'll stick around for it.

Satisfaction

Chapter 19

By Miki

It was ironic, Yuuta's English teacher thought, that her student had apparently spent more than three hours studying English the night before her lesson, but had entirely forgotten he was supposed to hand up an essay today.

She wondered whether she was supposed to believe him or not, and watched him for a moment from her desk. He didn't look as though he was paying any attention to what was going on in the classroom, though she suspected he never normally paid attention anyway. Still, she reasoned, it didn't really matter whether she thought he was telling the truth or not. She wouldn't penalise him as long as he handed up his essay today.

And what better way to ensure he'd write it than to give him detention?

(S)

"Atobe?" Jirou smiled.

Atobe leaned back against his chair and crossed his arms. It was the beginning of their English class – the second class of the day – and Jirou was already looking sleepy.

"I was just wondering… You know, about the mouse and the cheese and –"

"Jirou, we've already been through this," Atobe corrected quickly, a little annoyed. He wondered why Jirou was suddenly bringing this up again.

He didn't want anyone else to overhear this sort of thing and the classroom was hardly the most discreet choice of location.

He could swear the girl next to him was listening to his conversation because people who were usually concentrating on finishing their last-minute homework usually didn't draw lines that ran off the paper and onto the desk.

"But Atobe, it's just that I was thinking…" Jirou pressed on, ignoring Atobe's tone, "could I do anything to help… help things with Yuuta?"

(S)

Atobe stepped into the lobby of St Rudolph's boys' dormitory, eyes immediately flicking toward the counter and finding an unexpected face there.

Unwanted too.

Mizuki.

He hesitated for a moment, and wondered if it was a good idea he'd come at all. His hands were sweaty and he felt hot in his blazer, but… Since when did he care so much about what other people thought of him? He'd left practise early, had the bother of enduring rush-hour traffic to get here, and now that he was actually standing here, he wasn't going to give Mizuki the satisfaction of seeing him leave without seeing Yuuta.

Perhaps because of the time of day, there were a lot of students going in and out of the building. Some of the ones walking in had sports bags, and Atobe was pretty sure Yuuta should have finished training by now. If Mizuki was sitting at the desk, Yuuta should probably be up in his room already.

Trying to ignore the feeling he was being stared at – and not in the nice way he was used to – he raised an eyebrow at the boy behind the counter. Somehow, it felt a little like déjà vu…

"Mizuki."

A pair of eyes looked up at him quickly, surprise covered up quickly by a look of severe annoyance.

"Atobe."

"Is Yuuta in?"

Mizuki pursed his lips for a moment and gave a quick answer.

"No."

"Oh," Atobe said, glancing toward the stairs. He'd never been past the lobby before, but it struck him now that Mizuki could be lying or telling the truth and he'd never know unless he asked Yuuta later…

Not that that seemed like it was going to happen. Maybe Yuuta just didn't want to see him.

The effects of Jirou's unwanted – but still appreciated, even if he wasn't about to admit it – pep talk were starting to wear off. Confidence was something Atobe had never been short of, but whenever it came to Yuuta lately, he just didn't know what he was doing.

Even his mother had noticed it, which really said something, considering the amount of time they spent together was possibly less than what Atobe spent with his chauffeur.

Atobe recognised through his jumbled thoughts that Mizuki was talking to him. But he really couldn't care less what the other boy was saying, and he merely stepped out again through the glass doors and started walking back to the limousine.

What if this was it? What if…

Atobe pushed a hand into his pocket, the other still clutched around the book he'd been playing with while in the limo.

Wait…

Atobe looked down at the book quickly. It wasn't one he was going to lend to Yuuta, but all of a sudden, it made him think… He didn't even like the book. There was nothing fun about reading it, but he was doing it because he had to. Because he'd been instructed to.

… Just like so many other things in his life.

What was he moping about for? Was he really so stupid he'd give up something – and someone – he really liked over something so little?

His spare hand felt quickly in his pocket for a pen and a piece of paper… A scrap or a receipt even –

Anything he could write on.

He knew exactly what he wanted to say to Yuuta.

(S)

"Mizuki-san?"

Mizuki ignored Yuuta's voice.

"Mizuki-san?"

People who earned themselves extra-long detentions and thus missed practise were not, in his opinion, deserving of his attention. Even if it was Yuuta. And even if he was technically Mizuki's favourite player.

"Um… Mizuki-san? I'm sorry for missing practise today," Yuuta persisted, leaning close to him across the counter.

"What?" Mizuki looked up sharply, frowning.

Yuuta stepped back quickly, straightening his back. "Er, well… The thing was –" he began explaining, only to be cut off by Mizuki.

"Here," Mizuki pushed a book across the counter.

Yuuta blinked and picked it up, turning it over in his hands. "What's this?"

Mizuki looked unimpressed.

"It's a book. Isn't that obvious?"

Yuuta flushed a little. "But, I mean… Where did it-"

"Atobe left it for you," Mizuki replied curtly, cutting Yuuta off again.

"Atobe?" Yuuta suddenly blurted out. He swallowed, quickly, nervously, trying to hide the funny feelings he felt just at the mention of Atobe's name, but they were written all over his face.

Why had Atobe come here? It couldn't have just been to drop off the book, could it? "When… When did he come?" he asked Mizuki, and Mizuki frowned at the urgency in Yuuta's voice. He sighed, twirling a piece of hair in an effort to look bored as he looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Oh, about five minutes ago."

"Five minutes," Yuuta repeated, heart thumping quickly in his chest.

He looked down at the book, flicking through it quickly, wondering why Atobe would lend it to him. At least, if he came to lend him a book, it meant he didn't not want to see him… right? It meant…

Yuuta swallowed. He really needed to apologise to Atobe… about not seeing him, and not returning his calls, and turning off his phone…

Yuuta stopped flicking the pages as a small piece of paper fell out and fluttered to the ground. He looked down at it, confused for a moment before he picked it up and looked at it carefully. It looked like it could be a bookmark that Atobe had left in there by accident, but…

Yuuta turned it over.

There, on the scrap of white paper was Atobe's handwriting. It wasn't neat, or messy, but Yuuta remembered seeing his writing when he'd been in Atobe's room.

The note he'd written wasn't special. The words weren't poetic, or even sweet; they were straight to the point and demanding… But they were definitely Atobe's words.

"Mizuki!"

Mizuki looked up, for a moment scared by the tone of Yuuta's voice.

"Did Atobe say where he was going when he left?"

Mizuki sighed. "No… I don't…"

He paused; uncertain. It wasn't that he didn't have a conscience. He just really didn't want Yuuta to spend any more time with Atobe. He didn't like Atobe. He didn't like the way he monopolised Yuuta's time, or even his thoughts and emotions… And yet, he could understand it perfectly.

"Mizuki?" Yuuta asked again, and Mizuki sighed as he looked at him.

"He mentioned… going to the library," he finally said, biting his lip to stop himself from saying anything else.

"Thank you Mizuki," was all he heard, before Yuuta rushed out of the lobby and was gone.

(S)

Yuuta slammed the door of the taxi shut and started running.

Oh, he couldn't believe it. What was he thinking? It was peak hour and he still had another three blocks to run! He'd given up on the taxi because the roads were even worse than the footpaths, but what was he doing?

If Atobe could see him right now, he'd probably laugh.

He must look like an idiot, running along here, running as fast as he could, nearly banging into people and only just catching the pedestrian lights before they turned red.

He was sweating now; his body flushed hot but his skin cold as the evening wind hit him head-on. His tie kept blowing over his shoulder and he gave up on pulling it back down as he sprinted the last block; legs working faster and faster as his heart thumped quicker and quicker in his chest.

Feet pounding, pounding on the cement, he saw the library building just ahead. It was so close, he was nearly there.

It felt like it took him a long time to run up the library steps.

Too long.

And when he finally pushed open the tall doors at the entrance to the library and stood there, completely breathless, falling over his own feet…

There was complete and utter silence.

Only one of the librarians looked up at him, frowning at the amount of noise a single person could make. Yuuta ignored her and simply walked down towards the last of the aisles to the English fiction section.

He hoped Atobe was there, because if he wasn't, Yuuta didn't think he'd have the courage to do this all over again.

Grasping Atobe's book in his hands – he hadn't let it go since Mizuki had pushed it at him – he turned the last corner and stared down the aisle.

.tbc.