Shadows and Lights

Chapter 9

"Oh, I'm doing well, Daiki. And you?" I respond, shifting my hold on the relatively heavy plastic bags. "It's chilly outside. I wish I'd brought a jacket."

"I spent two hours looking for you!" Daiki hisses irritably, grabbing a few bags from me. His fingers are frigid as they graze over mine. "You didn't answer your phone! Where were you?" I blink at the unusually annoyed bluenette.

"I went to clear my head." I reply coolly. "It didn't work as well as I'd hoped."

"Why did you buy all this?" Daiki asks with a rough sigh, sounding unusually surly.

"I find it irritating to make bentos all the time, so I bought some so I'd have a bit of a break." Daiki falls silent as he helps me place the bento inside the fridge.

"I can always crash somewhere else, Alex..." He starts. I cut him off abruptly with a sharp glance.

"I'm not telling you to leave, Daiki. That isn't what I meant." I respond, blowing hair out of my eyes. "I don't usually make food. When you're at home and it's just me, I always end up ordering take-out or eating at Maiji Burger or something. It's a nice change of pace to actually make food, even if it's usually pretty simple.”

"Besides," I add, glancing at the taller bluenette, "I like helping my friends. You're my friend... aren't you? I don't turn my back on my friends... Especially..." I frown suddenly glancing around. "Where's my candy?"

"Oh, you mean these?" Daiki drawls, lazily picking up the bag and raising it over my head.

"Yep. Gimme~!" I reply, jumping pathetically in an effort to grab the bag from his long arms. "Candy, candy!"

"Didn't you get these for Atsushi? There are quite a few of them, hm?" I jump higher, my fingers brushing the bottom of the bag ever so slightly.

"I like candy!" I reply "They're mine, although I was thinking of sharing until this happened." Daiki gives me a sinister grin as I jump a little bit higher.

"Sweet, sour, salty, but never spicy or bitter, huh?" Daiki grins manically. "What happens when you eat spicy food?" He leans forward as an unidentifiable expression spreads across his face. I'm about to reply when he pops something ridiculously spicy and bitter into my open mouth. My jaws snap shut instantly. My quest for sweets is dropped as I surge forward, rushing for some water before attempting to spit out whatever the hell this is.

"No, you don't." Daiki says, clamping his hand over my mouth firmly. My burning mouth is momentarily forgotten as surprise floods my body. Then the burning heat and strong surge of bitterness comes surging back and I lunch forward. "This is my revenge. I had to go and look for you. You weren't answering your phone, and I had no idea where you were." I attempt to bite Daiki's hand, but my jaw refuses to work.

With my eyes watering, I continue to try to spit out this food from Hell. It doesn't really work since my mouth can't open properly. It's too big to swallow like a pill, and even if I wanted to, I can't swallow pills dry. I gag on the bitterness, and my mouth waters from the heat. Eventually, the stupid thing is small enough to swallow and I down it, feeling it scorch my throat on its way down to my roiling stomach. Daiki's grip loosens, and I turn on the tap as fast as I can before drinking greedily from it, trying to sort the disgust coating my tongue. My eyes are burning intensely enough for tears to form, but not fall.

"Aomine Daiki..." I growl, turning to glare at him. It's then that I realize we're hardly a few inches from each other. I take as much of a step back as the space between the sink and me will allow, but it isn't much. The bluenette looks at me with this unidentifiable expression. My mouth is burning still, but it's been subdued to a mild burn that I can ignore for a while longer. "...Daiki?"