Chapter 15: More Flowers

Nowaki hadn't had a very good weekend. Friday morning he'd called one of his friends and asked if he could stay for a few days, and so he'd ended up crashing on the couch. It was one of Nowaki's friends from college, and actually one of the men he'd gone to America with. They'd stayed at each other's apartments here and there over the years, but his friend had gotten married after they graduated and it pretty died out after that.

Nowaki's friend had, of course, been curious as to why he needed a place to stay. Nowaki hadn't answered the entire time, but of course he was still more than welcome. He had even watched his friend's two-year-old daughter while his friend and his wife went out to dinner. They had been extremely thankful, since they apparently hadn't had a day to themselves since the baby came along.

He'd been more than happy to do it, of course, and he almost regretted packing up what clothes he had taken with him for the weekend. Nowaki knew that he was more than welcome to stay there longer if he wanted, but he couldn't do it. Hiroki probably would have cooled down by then, and anyway, most of his things were still there at the apartment. He planned to go back, and if Hiroki was willing to let him keep staying there, then it was fine. And if he wasn't, well then, at least he had gone back so he could get his possessions.

It was currently lunch time and recess for the children, so Nowaki had some time on his own. He'd left his friend's apartment fairly early and hadn't used their kitchen to make himself a lunch, so all he had was a box lunch from a convenience store. It didn't taste nearly as good as a home-cooked meal, but perhaps it was just that he was used to that by now. He'd cook for himself even before he moved-in with Hiroki simply because it was cheaper.

Nowaki sighed as he leaned back in his chair. He was in the teacher's room eating. It was a cramped place not because it was a small room, but because it had so many things jammed in there that the teachers thought they needed: books, tables, chairs, vending machines, two refrigerators for some reason, and a number of bags left behind by the teachers who were outside watching the children play. Normally Nowaki would have been out there with them, but he just didn't feel like it that day.

The children had, of course, noticed that something was off with their teacher. When they had asked what, Nowaki just answered that he may be getting a cold or something. The children had almost told another teacher so he would go home, but going home would mean he'd have to go to Hiroki's apartment that much earlier.

It wasn't that he didn't want to. He loved Hiroki, after all, and he loved spending time with him. On the other hand, he had been gone for an entire weekend, and now that he actually had time to think about his actions, he wasn't sure if that time would have made Hiroki cool down, or if it would just make Hiroki madder at him and not willing to accept any kind of apology.

Not all relationships worked out, Nowaki supposed as he put his chopsticks in the empty container. Not that Nowaki had had much experience with them in the past; he'd always been too caught-up in something to have time for intimate relationships, whether it was working after he dropped out of school or studying once he got to college. He didn't need to have excellent grades to keep his funding, but he felt like since the men who sponsored the orphanage were spending so much money on something that didn't really affect them, the least he could do was make the most out of it.

He couldn't say he didn't expect to fall for Kamijou Hiroki, because he'd been taken almost as soon as the man walked into the flower shop. There was just something so inherently sad about him that Nowaki couldn't help but want to make this man feel better even before he knew his name. But, it seemed, that wasn't what Hiroki wanted, and Nowaki just wanted him to be happy, even if that didn't involve him.

"Kusama-sensei?" One of the other teachers poked her head into the room, and she appeared to have something in her arms. When she actually stepped in the room, it seemed to be a bouquet of pink roses.

Nowaki smiled. "Did your boyfriend send you those, Kichida-sensei?" he asked, remembering that his particular woman had been talking constantly about the fact that she was in her first relationship in a year. She had been so happy, and Nowaki couldn't help but feel happy for her.

Kichida ducked her head and looked a bit amused. "Actually, these were delivered for you…"

Nowkai blinked rapidly, not sure he had heard her right. For him? Why would he be getting flowers at all, let alone flowers at the kindergarten? His heart skipped a beat as he entertained the possibility that perhaps Hiroki had sent them, but then he shook his head. Hiroki hadn't even tried to call him during the weekend, so he obviously hadn't cared that he was gone.

"Thank you, Kichida-sensei," Nowaki said, taking the roses from her and bowing. Kichida giggled a bit and went on her way, leaving Nowaki alone.

The first thing Nowaki did with the bouquet was twirl it around, looking for a card. He found one, and he recognized the seal on it as the logo from the flower shop he worked at. He couldn't help but smile for some reason, even though it wasn't all that funny. When he tugged the card free, though, his heart skipped another beat as he recognized the kanji characters on it, along with the simple word 'Sorry.'

xxx

Hiroki's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Akihiko had showed up earlier and despite Hiroki's best efforts, his friend just wouldn't vacate his office. He had said something about how Misaki had complained about how quiet he was in class and that he suspected Hiroki had something especially evil planned, but they hadn't really talked since then. Akihiko had mostly laid on the couch, reading various books and looking like he could have stayed there forever.

"Akihiko, I have a class in fifteen minutes and you're not going to be here when I get back," Hiroki said, narrowing his eyes as he packed his bag. He had another class that day, but he had cancelled it. He wasn't sure he could handle a full day of his students looking at him like they thought he might have been possessed by a ghost. A very mild ghost.

Akihiko just looked amused as he put away the book he had been reading and put his feet down on the floor. "You never did tell me what's wrong. And don't say nothing. Even your students noticed."

Hiroki just stared at his friend as he put the last of his papers in his bag. It had been a while since Akihiko had really seemed like he cared when something was wrong with him, and now, it didn't seem to matter much to him, either. He was only asking because Misaki had complained about it. He probably only cared because Hiroki's mental state directly affected Misaki's grade in his class, at least in Akihiko's mind, and failing would mean trouble and probably less time spent together because Misaki would have to make up for it.

Finally, Hiroki hunched his shoulders. "You know what's wrong with me?" Akihiko rose his eyebrows, looking amused. "I haven't seen Nowaki since Thursday because I was stupid enough to think I still loved you." He ducked his head and made his way out of the office before Akihiko could react. He passed Miyagi in the hall on the way to his lecture hall, but he didn't even look at the man despite Miyagi's attempts to get his attention.

"I don't have time for your inane efforts at flirting with me, professor," Hiroki said, not even trying to be polite.

"Well no, Kamijou-" Miyagi started to say, but when he saw that Hiroki wasn't going to pay attention, he just shrugged and went back to his office. Clearly what he had to tell Hiroki wasn't so important that it couldn't wait until after his class.

Hiroki's class started about the same as always, but the students by then had figured out that something was wrong with him and were watching him the entire time. Normally he would have liked that his students were actually putting away their cell phones and looking where they should, but he doubted they were actually paying attention to the lesson so much as trying to figure out what was going on with him.

About fifteen minutes into the period, there came a knock at the door. Hiroki rolled his eyes when he saw that it was Miyagi. Obviously whatever he had to say couldn't wait until after the class. Hiroki decided to just ignore it, and he was about to go back to his lesson, but Miyagi just kept knocking. Finally, Hiroki threw the notebook with his lesson plan down on the floor and stomped over to the door. If he'd been looking over to his students, he would have seen that they had looks of relief on their faces. Apparently it was more comforting when he was angry than when he was docile.

"What," Hiroki said, flinging the door open and nearly making it collide with Miyagi's face.

Miyagi didn't look like he much minded that his face had almost gotten rearranged, though. "There's someone here to see you, Kamijou."

"And that can't wait until after I've finished my class?" Hiroki asked, narrowing his eyes. He looked especially fierce with his glasses, he'd been told in the past, but Miyagi didn't seem to mind. Then again, Miyagi hardly ever seemed to see Hiroki as scary. "Just tell whoever it is to wait. If they care enough they'll still be there in an hour."

"Kamijou, it's your boyfriend."

Hiroki had been about to close the door again, but he stopped at that and started blinking rapidly. "It's who?"

"Kusama, was his name?" Miyagi considered this as he looked up at the ceiling. "Anyway he's at our office with a big bouquet of flowers and said he needed to see you."

There was a general murmur in the classroom, so the students had clearly heard what Miyagi said. Hiroki narrowed his eyes again and stepped forward, closing the door behind him. He had to resist the urge to start crying, for some reason, and he let Miyagi lead him to their office.

Sure enough, Nowaki was sitting there outside it, the bouquet of pink roses sitting in his lap. When he looked up and saw Hiroki approaching, a smile broke across his face, and he quickly jumped to his feet and covered the last few feet of distance between them.

"Hiro-san!" he said. He ignored the amused-looking Miyagi, but he couldn't ignore the fist that came down on his head. "Ow! That hurt." He frowned, rubbing the spot Hiroki had just hit him.

"You idiot," Hiroki said, folding his arms. "Where the hell have you been?"

Nowaki blinked twice before saying, "I was staying with one of my friends, Hiro-san. You just seemed upset so I thought…" He noticed that his explanation wasn't satisfying Hiroki in the least. "…I'm sorry, Hiro-san."

Hiroki grit his teeth and looked away. "You could have tried talking to me first!" he said, his voice elevating. Luckily there weren't any students going through the hall at that time, so they weren't really causing a scene. On the other hand, Akihiko apparently hadn't left the office and was just now coming out of it since he heard Hiroki's voice. "Everyone seems to think they know what's best for me! You, my mother, Akihiko, even that idiot Professor Miyagi!"

"Hey!" Miyagi said from the office, but everyone ignored him.

Hiroki expected Nowaki to get mad at that, but he didn't seem to mind the verbal assaults that were being thrown at him, so he continued. "Just because I didn't want to be in a relationship with you didn't mean I wanted you to disappear! Do you have any idea how hard it was for me, thinking you were just… gone?" He could feel the tears falling this time, and he reached up a hand to wipe them away, pushing his glasses aside to do so. He opened his eyes in surprise when Nowaki reached forward and took off his glasses.

"Hiro-san…" Nowaki said, leaning down. He wiped away some of the tears before their lips met in a kiss, and he was glad when Hiroki didn't protest. It didn't last long, though, and Nowaki laid his forehead against Hiroki's. "I'm sorry."

There was about a minute of silence between them, in which all either of them were aware of was the other. That was how long it took Hiroki to realize that his students down the hall were watching them, as well as Miyagi and Akihiko over in the office.

Predictably, his face warped into a scowl.

"Shouldn't you be teaching right now?" he asked, pushing Nowaki away. When Nowaki looked sheepish, Hiroki added, "I have a class right now, anyway. So just… go back to work. We can talk more later, at home."

Nowaki lit up at that, but before he could hug Hiroki or kiss him again, Hiroki was down the hall.

All the students scrambled away from the doorway, but they were still watching Hiroki as he went back up to the chalkboard. He'd taken his glasses back from Nowaki, and he put them on and said, "What?"

Every single student ducked their head.