the sun peeked through the pale blue curtains, its rays creating vertical lines on shun's wall. the boys' alarm has yet to go off, but shun woke up anyways.
yesterday was fun. maybe i can get saiki to sit with me on the rooftop?
shun stretches his arm muscles to get rid of any lingering soreness.
would he even accept the request?
kaidou lays on his carpet and does his morning leg stretches before heading down and eating his breakfast.
this whole week feels like some sort of dream. like i have this incessant need to just hang around saiki more often then usual. is it emotional attachment from when he helped me? or is it something else?
shun takes a bite out of his toast as he listens to his younger brother, toki, talk his ear off about the latest release on some soda superhero. their mother then scolds them for not finishing their food earlier as they both have to get to school.
i'm probably making a big deal out of nothing.
kaidou heads back up to his room and takes off his pajamas, buttoning up his uniform and slipping on his shoes when he reaches the front door.
"bye momma! i'm taking toki to school!"
"what did i say about yelling in the house?"
"not to do it..."
"as long as you understand you may go, and no dillydallying on your way to school alright shun? love you and watch out for your brother."
"love you too."
with the time barely being 7:22 a.m., shun took his younger brother's hand in his and left the kaidou residence, toki ecstatic about his older brother taking him to school.
i always make a big deal out of nothing.
- - - -
shun gives toki a hug and waves goodbye before heading off to the direction of his old school, promising his younger brother to pick him up when the day ends. shun tightens his hold on his bag, readjusting it on his shoulder. he pulls out his phone and scrolls through his playlists, picking his 'liked songs' playlist, putting his earbuds in while 'stay with me' by miki matsubara plays on shuffle.
people crowd together on the sidewalk, cars and bikes whizzing past. kaidou turns up the volume on his phone to block out the loud sounds. kaidou keeps his eyes ahead, looking out for cars when crossing the street, even with this big of a crowd.
why is it so crowded anyway? it's barely seven fifty, it's not even eight yet! wait, since it's so early, i can just get a small snack from that gas station.
kaidou once again looks before crossing and walks into the small store. he picks out an onigiri and one coffee jelly for saiki.
should i even get this?
kaidou stares at the substance with a look on his face, getting a weird look in return from the cashier.
i mean this would be the fourth one i bought for him in just two days... but the look on his face is always so worth it. maybe i shouldn't.
"sir are you ready to pay?"
kaidou walks out with onigiri and coffee jelly in his hands.
- - - -
"wow i barely made it." kaidou sighs in relief.
"oi chibi! where were you this morning?"
"why should i tell you ramen for brains?"
"fine then don't. but partner was being weird and asking where you were."
how out of character...
kaidou thought. but that didn't matter as he felt as if his gut is twisting and turning from... something. kaidou couldn't put a name on the feeling even if he tried. "he was asking about me?"
"uhh yeah do you have wax in your ears or something?"
kaidou promptly ignored nendou's last sentence that came out of his mouth and changed out his shoes for slippers. coffee jelly in hand, kaidou set out to find saiki like a man on a mission (which wasn't hard as the teen loves to sit in the classroom until the bell rings).
"is that jelly for partner?"
"why are you following me?!"
"we're in the same class? man you sure do ask dumb questions."
i don't wanna hear that from *you* of all people.
kaidou rolled his eyes and opened the classroom door, scanning the room in search for a specific hot-pink haired, glasses wearing teen.
"hey saiki! good morning!"
said glasses teen turned his head towards kaidou; he takes that as an acknowledgement from the taller. the blue haired boy sat in a vacant desk next to saiki and placed the coffee jelly in front of the teen.
"again?"
"take it as an apology for not walking with you guys. speaking of... nendou said that you were asking for me," kaidou moved closer to saiki's face and lowered his voice to where only saiki can hear. "is that true?"
saiki stared into kaidou's eyes and a beat of silence falls between the two of them before saiki reverts his eyes to the front of the board, answering with a solid no.
"oh, well i couldn't walk with you guys because i had to take my brother to school. by the way, i was wondering if you would like to head up the the rooftop with me? i go there all the time and it's usually pretty quiet up there."
"sure."
"cool, cool so at lunch?"
"whenever you go."
"alright so lunch time."
kaidou straightens up with his usual smirk and moves to go sit in his assigned seat.
saiki takes a bite out of the gifted coffee jelly, refusing to admit that he felt his face heat up at the octave of kaidou's voice.
- - - -
kaidou spent most, if not all, of his lunches on the rooftop. there, he can relax and just cloud watch to de-stress. the feeling of the wind through his hair made kaidou feel less tense and more at peace, as well as the view from above. watching the clouds on his back, closing his eyes and just listening. to the birds in the trees, students laughing down below, to the distant cars honking during lunch hour.
the double doors of the school rooftop open with a silent scream. the heel of shoes clicked on the cemented floor, a destination in mind. said shoes stopped and the owner looked down to the tuft of blue hair with a blank look. the blue haired boy cracked an eye opened and smiled up at the teen looking above him. he sits up and pats on the cement with two taps, gesturing for the other to sit by him.
the pink haired teen took up the invitation and sat down next to the blue haired boy while he laid back down, head resting on his arms. saiki looked at kaidou.
i don't think i've ever seen him this... content before.
"saiki are you just going to sit and stare? lay down next to me."
saiki mimics kaidou and with his germanium ring on, saiki noticed that it truly was nice and peaceful up here.
"hey saiki?"
a hum.
"am i being... weird?"
"... explain."
"usually we don't hang out this much and now suddenly that's all we're doing." the stretch of the school's uniform from moving was the only sound between the two boys momentarily. saiki was suddenly making eye contact with kaidou and kaidou sucks in a breath. "not that i'm saying that i don't enjoy spending time with you, i'm just asking is all."
"it's not weird to hang out out with a friend." saiki didn't like how the word friend felt somewhat foreign on his tongue.
"ahh... alright." kaidou mumbled, turning his body back to face the sky. saiki looked at kaidou a little longer before reenacting the same movement.
an understanding silence fell over the two teens for the rest of the lunch period.
- - - -
saiki's "friend" group crowded around the hot pink haired boy, all of them trying to get his attention. kuboyasu monologuing about his past as a delinquent (even though he wants to leave that all in the past) is starting to get quite annoying, along with nendou talking about this ramen shop with hairo attempting to challenge the thick-headed idiot to any sport he can think of on the spot.
teruhashi and ever (literal) glowing self was droning on about how she's going to get saiki to say 'oh wow' (to herself) before smiling and acting nice and innocent to the newly forming group surrounding her.
move across the classroom if you want an entourage, just keep your fans away from me.
yumehara's poor attempt at gaining kaidou's attention was failing miserably saiki actually felt a little remorse (satisfaction as well, less competition— wait what?).
speaking of...
the blue haired teen was hastily packing his stuff up while mindlessly nodding along to whatever yumehara was droning on about.
why is he in such a rush?
kaidou, finishing up with his final school supplies, politely asks yumehara to move out of the way, apologizing when he touches her; completely unaware of how red her face turned when his hand grazed her waist. the teen shoulders his bag and gets ready to open the classroom door.
the extremes i take just for these people to leave me alone.
"kaidou hold on a minute."
saiki stood up with his bag and walked where kaidou was standing aware of the eyes of his "friends" on the two. kaidou stares in awe before snapping out of it and rushing out the classroom, now with his pink haired friend in tow.
"we need to hurry, i promised to pick up toki after school."
"your brother?"
"yeah, i was gonna take him to a comic book store so he can get the newest release on some superhero he was talking about this morning."
"superhero?"
"yeah, cyborg-ciderman i think?"
saiki unconsciously tenses at the name, the green haired kid coming into mind. if kaidou noticed, saiki is grateful he didn't comment on it.
with the conversation ending there, the duo took their school shoes off in front of their lockers and slipped on their tennis shoes.
"let's speed this up, i hear the others coming."
"alright," kaidou finished tying up his right shoe and stood up, "let's go." with their bags in hand, the shouts of their friends falling on deaf ears as the two finally exit the school grounds.
"are you going to need help finding the elementary school?"
"haha very funny, but no i'm not. i got here on time this morning right?"
"barely."
"that's the part where you were supposed to agree with me."
"i did."
"but it felt so backhanded."
"that's because it was."
"wow you don't hold back do you?"
saiki turned his attention to the front.
oh you have no idea.
they turn a corner and onto the main street where people are mostly jumbled together.
"so now that you know what i'm doing, why are you still walking with me?"
"with all the questions about why we're hanging out a lot you sound like you don't like my company."
"i do! i do... it's just, why me?"
"why you?"
"yeah, i mean you have teruhashi, of all people, to talk to and yet you chose me."
do you want some kind of pity party? want me to whip out a powerpoint as to why you're better than teruhashi?
"you're probably thinking if i want some kind of pity party, trust me i don't i just genuinely want to know."
are you sure you're not a psi-user?
"why? because you're better than her."
"b-better?" kaidou stops in the middle of the street with a blank stare and a small hue of red dusting over his cheeks.
"yes. i'm serious, you are better than her kaidou."
"you're just saying that."
"i answered your question didn't i?"
"yes, but answer truthfully!"
"do i ever lie kaidou?"
kaidou was stunned into silence for a solid minute. "MY BROTHER MUST BE WAITING FOR US WE BETTER HURRY!" kaidou, with his face as red as a cherry, announced quite loudly. he caught the attention of passerby's and they all had one thought.
is he okay?
saiki almost, almost, laughed at the whole scene kaidou was making.
he can give teruhashi a run for her money if the boy really wants to.
he smiled, an actual smile that didn't feel forced and wasn't because of coffee jelly. it was because of kaidou. chuunibyou obsessed kaidou shun.
the blue haired boy stared at saiki in awe. "i don't think i've ever seen you smile to anything other than deserts." saiki schooled his face back to the resting bitch face and diverted his eyes, kaidou's embarrassment rubbing off on him.
"let's just hurry up and pick up your brother so you no longer have to be in public."
kaidou nodded, laughing nervously (his face still as red as ever, but it's dying down) with his head tilted down to cover his red blotched face.
we're both messes kaidou, don't feel like it's just you.
- - - -
with the time barely passing 3:40 p.m., kaidou and saiki finally reached toki's school. the school looked just about cleared out with a few children left straggling around on the playgrounds, toki being one of them.
"toki!" the goggles wearing kid turned at the sound of his name and practically lit up like a christmas tree when he caught sight of his older brother. he climbed off the playground and said goodbye to his teachers, running up to kaidou and giving his brother a big hug with a wide smile. kaidou ruffles his tuft of blue hair and picks up his kid brother into his arms.
"hey toki, how was your day?"
toki wraps his arms around the junction of kaidou's collarbone and neck while talking animatedly about his day.
"oh by the way toki, this is saiki, my friend."
toki tries to sink himself deeper in the crease of kaidou's neck and stares at saiki with an untellable gaze. "is he your underling for the jet black wings?" the boy had such an innocent look it wasn't even funny. watching kaidou squirm was somewhat humorous, but now it was starting to just get sad.
good grief.
"let's just go, people think we're a family."
it was true. mothers and their children were starting to stare and it's getting weird. kaidou answers with a sure in response.
"sorry to cause you trouble, again, but could you please hold my bag? i mean i would do it but my hands are currently occupied..."
"hand it over."
"thank you saiki." a grateful smile washes over kaidou's face. just as about the two teens and child were about to leave, the shout of ciderman made the three stop. there stood (more like bouncing) iridatsu yuuta with literal starry eyes while staring at saiki.
kaidou mentally backtracked. ciderman? saiki? wait does this kid have something do to with saiki tensing up earlier?
for such a blockhead he sure is observational.
"can i leave with you?"
what.
"my mom is still at work, but you can call her and ask if you can take me home since you're here..." the kid twiddled his thumbs to make himself look more innocent.
what about the teachers—
saiki glanced at them and noticed that the teacher did not care and just wanted the children gone.
wow.
"saiki do you know this child?"
"he's my neighbor's child, i babysit him."
"you babysit? i didn't know that."
figured it wasn't important.
"well," kaidou contemplated, "since you know him and you literally live next to each other i don't see the problem."
either toki wasn't paying attention or frankly didn't care, the boy kept quiet until the shout of 'yay!' made him finally pay attention and the boy gasped. toki squirmed in kaidou's hold and the teen had no other choice than to let him go. (kaidou kindly asked for his bag back when toki ran up to yuuta.)
"are you coming with us to get cyborg-ciderman too?!"
"yeah!"
we don't know for sure.
well this wasn't how i planned my afternoon to go.
kaidou turned to look at saiki while the two children ranted about ciderman in front of them. "i didn't expect two children."
yeah no kidding.
saiki stared at the two kids in front of him. never did he imagine that yuuta and toki would be friends. (never did he imagine him and kaidou being friends, but here he is.)
but in that moment, saiki felt content— hell happy even. with kaidou laughing about something next to him, two little kids playing around, him holding yuuta's bag while kaidou holds his kid brother's, he oddly felt... like a family.
which is odd because he and kaidou aren't even dating yet, and he's barely seventeen but if his future ends up like this; saiki would gladly wait for the oblivious idiot next to him until the end of time.