This World To You | tokyo revengers x reader

[35] Care For Oneself

"No, not yet!" You tried to pry his hands away from his face, practically pinning him back down onto the couch. "It's only been two minutes! You have to leave it on for ten!"

"Fine!" Baji pushed himself back up and snatched another mask from the table, "If you say you're not taking care of yourself, then I will." He ripped open the packet and held it up to your face. "Now close your eyes." You sighed at his antics, but did what he said. He, on the other hand, was struggling to unfold the mask. It took him a few tries (he almost dropped it on you), but he eventually got it. He placed the mask on your face, smoothing the creases and folds so that it would be nice and flat. He was actually trying really hard to make it perfect.

"Done?" You opened up one eye to see where he was at, but you were momentarily startled when you realised how close his face was to yours. "...Um."

"Yeah, I'm done. I think I did a pretty good job." Instead of leaning backwards, Baji stayed still and looked down at your face. He couldn't believe that he was this close to your lips like this. The boy nervously gulped and just out of sudden instinct, he placed his hands onto your shoulders. You blinked a few times, internally wondering what he was up to with that stare of his.

Baji then tilted his head and began to lean forwards; you were still currently stuck in one spot by his hands. But before he got within a centimetre of your face, he stopped himself and grinned. "You were right! I can't take you seriously while you're wearing that! Makes you look like a monster." You could hear your heart beating in your ears. What was he about to do just now?

"I do not look like a monster."

"Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that." He pat your head and started to get comfortable in the blankets, making sure that you were also covered up. "Oh! I watch these game shows all the time with my mom." He pointed towards the television. "They do all this random crap and it's funny how they fail. Mom doesn't like it when I laugh at them though—she thinks I'm rude."

"It is a game show, they have to fail to get good content." Yourself and Baji immersed yourselves in the principles of game shows, arguing which games were the best and whether or not you could complete them or not. At some point, the discussion got pretty heated since he said he could do everything, but you argued that he couldn't. He got a bit sad after that.

Now that your face masks were off and his hair was back to normal, Baji made his second advance of the night. He moved closer towards you and wrapped both his arms around your neck, pulling you closer into him. "Don't want you to go to sleep cold."

"Thanks, Keisuke." You snuggled yourself into the warmth of his arms. Usually it would be the other way round—but you weren't complaining about it. Being in his arms felt a bit better.

"Say, if you do have time... like after school, or before you go to bed..." He muttered, "You should take that time to do something you like. Like do some meditation or reading. I like to play with the cats that come into my room. It's relaxing taking care of them, even though mom yells at me after."

"Hm... I would love to do something I like, but I don't necessarily have any hobbies right now. And all my free time kinda goes into homework." You then turned your head towards him, "Why the sudden suggestion?"

"Well, I just want to make sure you're looking out for yourself. I know you've broken out of your shell over the past few months, and I'm glad. But I know you have stuff that you don't want to tell us. So, I don't know what the best way to make sure you're okay is. That's why... even if we're not here, you'll be there to look out for yourself. Everyone goes through their hardships in life, and to overcome them is to acknowledge the problem. During that process, you also want to care for yourself."

"...You can be really cool sometimes, Keisuke."

"What do you mean? I'm always cool!"

You chuckled, "Thanks for the advice. I'll make some time for myself. Maybe I can do some origami in my spare time." Baji nodded in response. Any type of hobby would ultimately be fine in the end.

For the rest of the night, the two of you engaged in deep conversations about the secrets of the Toman group. Baji was spilling secrets left and right. He did not have a filter. Seemed like he liked to expose his friends.

"...And you know, [name]-chan, I kinda always wanted to tell you this." He put his head on top of yours, "I really, really care about you. There's not a moment where I don't go about thinking of you. That's how deep my love for you goes. I don't... want to believe that you're going somewhere far. Please stay with me. Please stay with us." Baji lifted his head off yours and glanced down at your face. "...She fell asleep."

He let out a sigh—disappointed that you didn't get to hear what he said, yet glad you weren't listening to something embarrassing like that. Baji leaned down towards your forehead and pressed a chaste kiss onto it. He followed that with a kiss on the cheek, the nose... then the corner of your lips.

"Man... I wish you were awake, [name]. I want to ask if I can kiss you on the lips."

Stage 2: complete!

word count—1655