Now that I think about it, I haven't been in town for ages. Was it always this packed?
After getting off the train, Haruka roamed into town to the place where Rin had texted him to go, telling Haruka to meet him there. Haruka took pride in the fact that it only took him an hour to figure out how to read and reply that message; well, in Haruka's favor, better late than never, right?
Haruka padded quietly to his destination, passing hundreds of people with each tender step forward. His sneakers never made a sound; not a single squeak—much like their wearer, Haruka. Trying to block out the noise from the crowd suffocating him, Haruka stuck his hands in his pockets, scanning the signboards of the many shops he passed.
Is it tha- No. I don't see food; I see dresses and poofy stuff. That's gotta be an Angelic Pretty store. Goddammit I feel gay just saying that na- oh wait. Snap.
Haruka glanced down as he walked quickly past the frilly, girly—not to mention pink stores simply filled with lolita clothes, shoes, socks; you name it, they have it. Haruka grimaced at the thought of ever wearing one of those overly puffy dresses, then gave a small guffaw at how amusing it would be if everyone found out his sexuality via a dress.
Then he quickly cut himself short, because it was actually the worse idea he had come up with in 17 years of his life. Haruka couldn't and didn't restrain the smile forming on his face, though, so he continued walking the whole way with his tiny smile hidden in the neatly folded lapels of his shirt.
It took him a good thirty minutes of solid walking—not a single meter was covered by running—to get anywhere close to that place, and by that time he was close to severe oxygen deficiency from sharing the same air with so many people. Haruka sweated and breathed heavily (he never panted. To him, panting was a sign of weakness) as he tried to calm his pounding heart. He never really did too good in crowds. However, he held out and continued walking, his eyes now desperate to find that one signboard he had been searching for. After what seemed like 3000 miles of walking later, Haruka finally laid eyes on a bright yellow signboard that, in bold, cursive words, said Abiento.
Haruka went gratefully into the restaurant, relishing in the air-conditioning blasting from several outlets on the wall. He looked around the restaurant, looking for Rin, but the cherry-haired boy was nowhere to be found. Haruka raised an eyebrow. He sure as heck wasn't early, and he knew Rin well enough to know that he would definitely not be late. Or, at least, he would never be later than Haruka. Rin was quick when it came to things like this. Haruka knew, since Rin had always been the early one at the Ika Matsuri, and would always scold the others for being late. So, exactly where was he now?
Haruka went outside, scanning the crowd with sharp eyes to see if he could find Rin. But there was no sign of the cherry-haired teen anywhere. His head would have definitely stood out amongst the sea of brown and black heads, and also because he was tall—he towered over Haruka, who was quite petite in size. (Not that I'm bitter.. Not that I'm bitter.) No matter how hard he looked, though, Rin wasn't anywhere to be seen. Frustrated, Haruka took out his phone and called Rin—for once, without stumbling in the slightest.
After twelve whole rings in which Haruka had almost ended the call at least twice, but didn't; Rin picked up.
"Oh hey Haru-"
"Where are you?" Haruka was straight to the point. He swore he didn't imagine the gulp on Rin's line, to which he responded by furrowing his brow.
"Uh. I'm on my way. Be there in.. five..? The train.. sort of.. uh.. broke down. No, not broke down—someone, like, pressed the emergency button so they're going through one of those safety check thingies." Rin said, taking quite some time to connect his words into a sentence (read: make up an excuse); but his uncertainty and shaky voice had already started to make Haruka suspicious.
"..Oh really?"
Rin gave a weak laugh, using his free hand to play with a strand of hair falling on his face. Rin had a habit of playing with his hair when he was lying, so luckily for him, Haruka wasn't speaking to him face-to-face, otherwise he would have been deader than road kill.
"Yeah. Why would I lie?" Rin said, trying his hardest to sound casual, but his voice was shaking too much to sound even the slightest bit casual. Well, too bad for him.
By this time, Haruka had already started to put two-and-two together. Haruka didn't like what he came up with, though; and secretly hoped he was wrong. There was also that tiny little wisp of hope that said yes, please, let it be true, but Haruka simply let his annoyance and frustration override that little spark of positivity. He didn't need that crap right now.
"Oh I don't know." Haruka said, voice unchanging from its slightly accusing tone. "Maybe you arranged someone else to come here, instead of you. In fact, I doubt you were even planning to show up."
Rin bit his lip, smiling nervously.
"Am I right." Haruka demanded, his tone of voice making it sound like it was a statement, not a question.
"..Eheheh." That was it. Rin, with a heart heavier than a crate of bricks, had waved the white flag. Now he simply needed to brace himself from the inevitable rage Haruka was going to be in. First, he would need to hide in a bomb shelter. Yeah. Did Samezuka have one?
"...Rin." Haruka's voice had turned significantly harsher. Rin chewed the inside of his cheeks, waiting for the lecture he was sure Haruka was going to give him.
"Don't tell me you actually asked Makoto to meet me here."
"Well, you gotta tell me this, first; if I say yes.. would you kill me?"
"Rin!"
"Okay, okay!" Rin took a sharp breath in, as if he was afraid that it was going to be his last.
"Yeah, I did. I'm sorry alright," he added quickly, afraid of Haruka blowing up—as if his words were a flame and Haruka was a bomb just waiting to explode. "I just figured you guys might like spending time with each other. I don't know-"
"What do you mean; spend time with each other? I don't know him, Rin!" Haruka snarled. "You know I don't do well with strangers! And this time, I'm going to be alone with him; you guys won't even be there to help. How could you lie to me, Rin?" Haruka's voice dropped to a sad, pretense whisper; simply because he knew he could definitely spark a reaction from Rin if he pretended to be sad.
Okay. That was it. Rin wasn't going to let Haruka (well, verbally) assault his soft side just because he had tricked him. Besides, it was a tiny, docile little trick (putting the train fare and travelling time aside), which wouldn't have mattered at the end of the day, anyway.
"Haru." Rin said, his voice sterner than Haruka had expected. "Just go with it, holy crap. Would spending a little time with him kill you? Really? 'Cause you two seemed like you were doing perfectly—faultlessly fine back at the restaurant the other day. 'Sides," Rin added, the harshness in his voice slowly dissipating with every escaping syllable from his mouth, "You know I'd never do anything to make you upset."
Haruka kept silent for a moment, pondering this. The sole minute (that felt like an hour to Rin) that Haruka took to reply was neccessary to give him ample time to process everything that was going on. Was this really happening? He was actually going to meet up with Makoto—alone? That thought on its own sent shivers down Haruka's spine. He contemplated pinching his arm just to make sure he wasn't dreaming or anything—even though he clearly remembered waking up that morning, to the putrid smell of spoilt natto—but didn't for fear of looking like an idiot. His free hand that was suspended in mid-air, on its way to his arm, made him look equally as stupid as he had dreaded, nonetheless.
"..Rin?" Haruka finally said, trying to keep his voice composed, and quite succeeding seeing as Rin was still quaking from fretfulness at finally hearing Haruka speaking again. Haruka heard the gulp on Rin's line, but decided not to poke fun at him about it.
Rin had to take a few seconds to breathe after the knot of anxiety had loosened in his chest before he could reply.
"Yes, Haru-ch- ..ka?" Of course, the slip of his tongue was obvious, but Haruka let yet another casualty slide. Rin barely noticed how he had been spared another lecture.
"I'll forgive you," Haruka said, pausing for effect, and also to let it sink into Rin nice and deep somewhere in his grey matter, "But on one condition."
"Anything." Rin blurted, barely caring that he sounded desperate. Haruka smiled into his phone.
"..You have to come here, like you promised (you asshole). In fact, you have to come here, right. Now."
Rin was partially relieved since he could hear the lightness in Haruka's voice, but there was also the part of him that was disenchanted to no end. He had honestly wanted Makoto and Haruka to spend some quality time alone to bond, but it looked like his plan had foiled. And terribly, at that.
"..okay, then." Rin sighed in defeat. "I'll be there in a bit. See ya."
And with a click, the line went dead, leaving Haruka ample time to lower his phone from his heated, red ear, smile to the ground, and scrutinize his mixed feelings one by one.
I'm actually seeing Makoto. I'm actually seeing Makoto. I'm actually. Seeing. Makoto.
Haruka had to suppress the squeal aching to get out of his throat.
xxx
YO GUYS
hasn't it been awhile ahahahahahahahhha /bricked
I'm so, so sorry I haven't been updating ugh. Life (read: school) has been obstructing me from writing, although my ideas are overflowing. (My fault for having a shallow mind I guess *snorts and laughs at own joke* ._.)
Before this, on previous accounts, I usually only did one-shots (and they were never really recognized, lol), so I never knew doing a chaptered story was going to be so stressful. But it's so satisfying when I manage to get a new chapter up, and the satisfaction increases tenfold when you guys start telling me how much you love it *tears up*
MMMHM so yea this chapter pretty much sucked, I know. I probably let a lot of you down, especially since I made you wait for so long. I apologize *bows* But I promise I'll have the next chapter up by tomorrow. I figured that I had made the 4th chapter a bit too long, so I decided to split it into two parts, and voilà, I now have Chapter 4 and 5. Besides, at least you have something to look forward to now, right? :) Also, I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, but Chapter 5 is legit awesome omg. It's a lot more descriptive and there'll be a lot more interesting stuff happening :D
Look forward to it guys! :) Again, sorry for making you wait m(_ _)m
~LeiiYou