From A-Z, and Everything in Between

Inferiority Complex

"What do you mean?" Soraru asked. He didn't like where this conversation was going.

"It feels like you're mad at me for some reason. Did I do something wrong? It's okay to tell me," MafuMafu said.

He sounded so sad, and it made Soraru feel even worse. Great, now not only had he yelled at MafuMafu, but it seemed he was about to make the albino cry too. He was seriously the worst friend ever.

"You didn't do anything," Soraru said.

"Then why are you acting like this?" MafuMafu asked. "Why are you getting so mad if I didn't do anything?"

"Just drop it," Soraru muttered.

"Soraru-san, I don't understand. You've been like this for weeks now. You never come see me anymore, you don't even call me. And every time I invite you out somewhere you refuse. I know that you don't have that much work because we're working on the same project, so I just don't get it," MafuMafu said.

"What does it matter to you? You've got tons of people you can hang out with. You had three of them over like an hour ago," Soraru pointed out.

MafuMafu was confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"There are so many people that love you and want to spend time with you. Why do you care if one person doesn't?" Soraru went on. It felt like he was rambling at this point.

"Because you're the one person that I want most to love me," MafuMafu said quietly.

All the words that Soraru had in his mouth suddenly vanished. He sat there, shocked, and watched as MafuMafu stood up and quickly disappeared down the hall. It took a while for MafuMafu's words to register in the dark-haired male's mind, but once they did Soraru felt like hitting himself in the face. What did he just do? He was always screwing something up. Because of him, MafuMafu was really upset now. This was exactly the thing he was trying to avoid.

Soraru got to his feet and glanced over at the front door. He could just leave now and pretend like none of this ever happened. But he still hadn't found his phone, and leaving MafuMafu alone after saying something like that was just asking for something bad to happen. Soraru veered his gaze to the hallway. MafuMafu probably ran off to his bedroom. There was a good chance he locked the door behind him, but Soraru figured there was no way to know for sure unless he went over there to check. So, reluctantly, he forced himself to go to MafuMafu's room.

The door was closed, which wasn't surprising. Soraru walked up to it and just looked at it for a moment. What was he even going to say if MafuMafu let him in? Apologize for being a complete jerk and say it wasn't his intention to hurt MafuMafu's feelings? That seemed like a good place to start. That is, if he could get himself to say all that. Usually when we get in fights I let MafuMafu apologize first, Soraru thought to himself. But this time it's entirely my fault. I'm sure if I left him alone for long enough he'd convince himself that he did something wrong and say sorry anyway, but I don't want that. I'm tired of him being the better person. Soraru raised a hand up and, taking a deep breath, knocked on the door.

"MafuMafu. I know you're in there, so let me in," Soraru said. He silently cursed himself for sounding so demanding when he meant to sound gentle.

There was no response. Soraru wasn't surprised, so he decided to try the doorknob. It was unexpectedly unlocked. Soraru stood there for a few seconds trying to compose his thoughts, before he pushed the door open. MafuMafu was curled up on his bed, facing away from the dark-haired male. Soraru carefully walked into the room.

"Hey, um, can we talk?" Soraru started slowly.

MafuMafu just curled in on himself even more. Soraru tentatively went closer to the bed.