Metanoia.「skephalo」

16 | Trauma.

"Wow, it really is far from yours." Zak murmured, turning the key in the lock pushing then the door open.

The short boy entered the apartment followed by Darryl, who stayed silent for the whole time.
Then, he threw with nonchalance the bag he had on his shoulder on the small couch, turning on himself to admire his new 'home'.
He glanced at the older boy who was smiling softly at his excitement, and stopped in the curtains, and after approaching and pushing them away revealing only a simple window, a disappointed groan escaped from his mouth.

"There's no balcony..." whined purposely overreacting, turning toward Darryl with an exaggerated pout.

"We are in the first floor, you muffin. What did you expect?" pointed out the older boy, chuckling softly at his acting. "But since you like balconies so much, if you want we can study where there's one, or rather at my dorm." proposed slightly widening his smile.

Realizing how bad he formulated the sentence way too late, Darryl's heart started racing.

"Wait, what? Really?" asked the short boy sitting on the backrest of the couch, his eyes fainly brightening.

"Of course! I'd rather stay away from the library since everyone has eyes on us, and especially on you. So, from now on, I repeat: only if you want, we can study together at my dorm." proposed smiling, totally not flustered.

Zak's eyes landed on his emerald ones, and after struggling to look away for some seconds, he ended up to abruptly turn his head in the opposite direction.

"That'd be awesome, thank you." murmured smiling slightly, tapping his fingers on the pillow. "If I ask Vin-" his heart ached, it was hard to process what happened between the two. "... If I ask Harvey, to tell me what they did today, will you help me with it?" asked while getting off the couch as an excuse not to look at him.

"Sure, when would you like to?" Darryl questioned a little concerned on his correction, searching for his eyes that got slightly hidden from his raven hair.

"Well, tonight? Since the average is now super high I rather start studying immediately." shrugged, tucking his hands in the Jean's pockets. "Also, I have training tonight, so it'd be better to study this afternoon already."

Darryl stared at him for some seconds before answering, frowning at his words.

"Zak... you really should rest. A lot of things happened this week, especially today. Plus, last night you barely slept two hours. I'm really worried for your mental and physical health, I won't hide it." admitted the older boy, arching his eyebrows into a concerned expression.

The short boy eyed at him, looking away immediately with a small shake of his head.

"I'm fine." Zak sighed, furrowing his eyebrows in turn.

"How?"

"'How' what?" asked now frowning, glancing at him.

"How can you be fine after what happened, Zak. There's no way you are." Darryl insisted, shaking his head.

"Don't worry about me, really." murmured concluding with a little scoff.

'It'd be a huge waste of time.'

"Do you really expect me to ignore your healt just because you say so, you muffin?" asked approaching him, then softly passing one hand in his messy raven hair, revealing his chocolate eyes.

"Whatever..." murmured, slightly moving his head away. "I really need to study, and you know it."

"Zak..."