[BEING REWRITTEN] Love Petals

Chapter 1 - Reunited

Kiku kind of just awkwardly sat there while Alfred stared at him with a confused look on his face. That gave Kiku time to go over all of Alfred's features. His eyes were a beautiful ocean blue, his hair neatly combed aside from that one cowlick that never seems to want to stay down. Kiku remembered always being fascinated by it when he was younger. His skin looked smooth with just barely noticeable freckles spread out across his nose and cheeks... Now that he was thinking about it, his face looked kind of cute with that confused expression. Kiku was quickly snapped out of his trance by the American suddenly shouting.

"Kiku? Is that really you?! Holy crap it's been years! How're you doing?" The American sat down beside him, seemingly forgetting his search for his younger brother, and Alfred placed his arm around Kiku shoulders in a rougher manner than he intended.

"E-Eek!" Kiku made a little noise of surprise before quietly answering Alfred's question. "O-Oh. I'm doing fine..."

Feliciano looked at the two, surprised. "You two know each other?!" Alfred simply laughed at Feliciano's question.

"Why of course! We went to the same elementary school when we were younger. In grade 1 when he moved here. He moved away for a bit in middle school or some jazz like that." Alfred stood up and smiled again. "Anyways gotta go find Mattie, and also get my gym bag before the bell rings. My locker's on the complete other side of the school from where the gym is so I'll save some time if I get it now. I'll see you later, okay Keeks?"

Kiku was a bit flustered by the use of his childhood nickname and just nodded slowly, still feeling a bit uncomfortable.

As Alfred left the cafeteria, Antonio smirked. "So you two were friends in elementary school?" Kiku stared at his bento box, trying to avoid all eye contact as he mumbled a small 'Yes...'

Seeing Kiku being this timid when answering Antonio's question made Feliciano have an excited look on his face as if his suspicions were correct. "So, um, do you like hi-"

Before Feliciano could finish, he was cut off by Kiku, who was now speaking in an unusually stern voice. "Feliciano, please. Don't."

Feliciano and Antonio gave their significant other a confused look to which they both replied with a simple shrug. Kiku sighed, knowing he'd have to tell them sooner or later. Besides, this is high school, the place where dramatic love blossoms. Whether it be figuratively or literally. He looked up from his bento box and looked at the four. "Um. I..."

No. He couldn't tell them about his secret. They didn't need to know...

Not now at least. He didn't want pity and he wasn't sure that they'd believe him. Besides, the only place you'd find examples of this disease is in angsty and pining fanfiction.

"Never mind."

And with that, he opened up his box, grabbing his pair of chopsticks from his bag and began eating without another word for the rest of the lunch hour.

When the end of lunch bell rang Kiku felt relieved to be away from the loud cafeteria. That is until he looked at his timetable. Instantly, he felt the weight in his stomach returned. Alfred mentioned his next class was gym right? So that meant... Of course he had gym class with Alfred.

Hopefully, it was the only class he had with Alfred, at least for this semester. He started walking in the direction of the gym with a heavy heart. God, he did not want to be in the same class as the guy he used to have a minor crush on when they were younger. Kiku always suspected that flowers didn't grow in his lungs when he was younger because Alfred returned the feelings and that they both kind of knew about their crush on each other.

But things have changed since then. Alfred is now a teenager and probably has a girlfriend or boyfriend or something. When Kiku snapped out of his thoughts and looked up, he realized that he was already at the gymnasium.