This chapters out early because I'm going to be watching fireworks for awhile before 12, which is when chapters usually come out.
NO TW OR SPOILER ALERTS. PLEASE DON'T PUT MANGA SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS- thanks.
(Y/N) was exceptionally surprised to find Mikey waiting outside of the apartment complex the next morning. Where is Draken? When she first saw him she had thought maybe he had come with Draken, but as she looked around over the side of the railing, Draken was nowhere to be found. Mikey waves up at her. (Y/N) hurries from her front door to Mikey's side.
"Heya, (Y/N)-Chin!" Says Mikey happily. "Ken-Chin couldn't make it so I came to drive you."
"What? Is he okay?" Asks (Y/N). She worries for Draken. He had seemed fine yesterday so why couldn't he come pick her up? She didn't mind Mikey doing it since the two are friends, but she would much rather it be Draken.
"He's fine he just has some business to do this morning. I also want to bring you to the bridge with us again. It's a common hangout place for Toman's founding members." Says Mikey. He pats the seat behind him so that (Y/N) will sit down.
Once she's sat down and wrapped her arms loosely around his sides Mikey starts the bike. "You know, this is my first time ever riding your bike."
"Yeah, I know. Draken always refuses to let you ride with anyone else." Says Mikey, dramatically rolling his eyes. (Y/N) nods. Draken and her have become quite close within the last two months. Closer than she had ever been with friends before the move, at least. It was the same with Takemichi and Mikey. "I like you, (Y/N)-Chin. We need to hang out more."
"Mikey-Kun, I see you everyday—"
"I mean just us. We're best buddies after all!" Exclaims Mikey. "You hang out with Draken all the time, why not me? Do you not like me as much as Draken-Kun or something?"
"I just only ever see you when other people are around. It's not my fault." Explains (Y/N). "What can we do?"
"Well, it's gonna be us and a few other members at the bridge after school, but I'm sure you and I can find something to do!" Says Mikey. He nods to himself.
"Sure. But let's finish everything else that needs to be done first, Mikey-Kun." (Y/N) thinks about the plans she now has for later. That bridge again, huh? Then a thought pops into her head. "Does that mean Draken will be there?"
"I don't think so. He might if I brag about you coming there tonight. He's preoccupied right now, but not for the entire day so he might show up." Says Mikey. "Enough about Draken, you are my bestie, (Y/N)-Chin! What do besties talk about?"
"Please keep your eyes on the road—"
"Boys! I've heard Emma talking to her friends about her crushes. Tell me, (Y/N), what's your ideal partner?" Asks Mikey.
"Oh, uhm— I like a good personality I guess—"
"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say." Says Mikey. He turns around to give (Y/N) a skeptical look, but he abruptly turns back around when he almost crashes the bike.
"Mikey-Kun, if you crash the bike then I'm never letting you drive me to school again." Says (Y/N) flatly. Mikey doesn't try to turn around and look at her again the entire ride.
"Have a good day at school, (Y/N)-Chin!" Calls Mikey as he vigorously waves at her.
"Yeah, bye, Mikey-Kun." Says (Y/N) as she waves back. Her face turned a faint shade of pink when she saw how many people were watching her. Why was it always like this?
***
(Y/N) went from class to class that day unable to cover up her excitement as the minutes ticked by. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. She had a pop quiz that day and she was certain she aced it, but it made her day seem to go by even slower. She tried to take Draken off of her mind, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't. She had difficulty paying attention and keeping her hand away from her necklace during class.
At lunch she ate outside by herself since Takemichi was doing something. She got to watch the birds gently soar along in the clear blue sky. A cool breeze blows her hair into her face. Today it was colder out than she had expected, little goosebumps formed on (Y/N)'s arms, though she enjoyed being out here. The sun shines down on her face, warming her up a bit.
She dreads the drive to the bridge and back. The icy air isn't too bad when shes standing normally, but she knows it'll be much colder when she's speeding down the street. She shivers a little at the thought. It was strange for it to be cold out, but at least it wasn't snowing.
(Y/N)'s last few classes seemed to be slower than the rest, especially the ones she didn't have Takemichi or Hinata around for. If only the time would pass quicker so that she would be able to go see Draken. And Mikey too, she likes seeing Mikey.
Only one more period to go and she's smirking down at Draken's new contact name, which had just popped up.
Tomato Juice Whore
Hey, (Y/N). Sorry I couldn't be there to pick you up this morning.
It's fine, but if you don't mind me asking, what are you up to? What did you have to do this morning?
I'm in class right now. I couldn't come and get you because I had to get ready for school. I woke up late.
That's it??
Yeah. Sorry.
(Y/N) sat her phone down, frowning at it. Why has Mikey made it seem like he has something really important to do? Was Draken lying or had Mikey been over exaggerating? Could have been either one. (Y/N) decided that it didn't matter. Draken is okay and she'll be seeing him later. That's all that matters to her.
Her phone buzzes once again.
Tomato Juice Whore
I know you are probably in class right now but are you going to be at the lake?
Yeah, are you?
Yes.
That definitely made her mood a little brighter. He would probably be the one picking her up then since he's heading over there already, right? (Y/N) decides that makes perfect sense.
Once school finally lets out (Y/N) rushes outside. Expecting to see Draken, she's a little disappointed to find Mitsuya waiting for her. People stare at (Y/N) yet again as she runs over to him. This time, she even hears a few murmurs.
"I'm going to assume you're here for me." Says (Y/N). She smiles a little at Mitsuya. It's strange how comforting he is to be around. Just looking at him seems to slow your heart-rate.
"Yep, and I'm going to assume you want to get where we're going as soon as possible, probably to see Draken and Mikey." Mitsuya says as he smiles back at her. "And you might want this." He hands her his jacket. (Y/N) gazes in awe at it for a second before slipping it on and thanking him.
She hurries to sit down comfortably so that they can leave. Mitsuya speeds away from the school. (Y/N) is extremely thankful for the jacket and even more thankful that he's taller than she is. She shrinks down behind him, using him as a shield from the rushing wind. Usually the breeze had felt nice, but today was a different story. She huddled down under the jacket, wishing Toman rode in cars instead of on motorcycles. She could only hope it wouldn't get this cold again for awhile.
She watched as the city turned into woods. As the trees slowly became thicker and taller, she knew they were close. The distance between (Y/N) and Draken would soon be closed. She found it exceptionally hard to focus on anything when she hasn't gotten the chance to see him yet. Classes that day were hard. Focusing was hard. Not seeing him was hard on (Y/N) and she was finally beginning to understand how much he mattered to her. Simply not seeing him in the morning threw her entire day off.
When had she started depending on him so much? Why did she depend on him so much? She decided that she could bring it up to Hinata at some point and get her opinion.
(Y/N) dismounted the bike before Mitsuya even finished turning it off. "Draken-Kun!" She shouts as she runs over to him. At first she considers hugging him, but that would be weird, wouldn't it? Her face practically glows as she beams up at him.
"Yo, (Y/N)-Chan." Draken says. He places his hand atop her head for a short moment before removing it. His lips curve up at the side as he gazes down at her. "Did you have a good day?"
"Yeah, it was alright." She lies. (Y/N) had thought today to be the slowest day of her life.
"Good. I'm going to go do something, stay here." Says Draken. He walks off to talk to one of the guys off the side of the bridge they had just come from.
"He stopped by to see you, ya know," Says Mitsuya as he walks up to her. He leans on the railing of the bridge, smiling at her. "He wasn't going to come down here today, but Mikey mentioned that you were coming."
"He did?" Asks (Y/N). She gazes at Mitsuya for a long moment before she too leans on the railing. In the water she finds Baji swimming around, but this time he appears to have brought an actual bathing suit. His face pokes out of the top of the water. For a second, (Y/N) had thought he was dead.
"Yeah. He's probably going to leave after he finishes talking." Says Mitsuya, nodding over to Draken. "I have a question for you, (Y/N)-Chan. What is your relationship with Draken?" He asks. (Y/N) turns her gaze from Baji to Mitsuya. His eyes meet hers and they stay connected for a few seconds before she answers.
"We are friends. I think. Why?" Says (Y/N). She isn't all that positive that Draken considers her a friend.
"No reason. I guess Draken just doesn't like talking to people much. You two seem to be close." Mitsuya says as he turns his eyes from her and to the water. "I guess it's just strange to see Draken caring for anyone who isn't a founding member or relative."
"I don't know if I would say we're close. We get along a lot better then we used to, though." Says (Y/N).
"You know, Draken was pretty keen on fighting Moebius. He says one of their guys tried to jump the two of you." Says Mitsuya. As (Y/N) looks back on that day, she finds she can't exactly recall what he had said, but she remembered very clearly that he had acted like the dude was some random guy with beef against Toman.
"Yeah, someone tried to jump us at the park. I thought he said that the guy was just mad at Toman for something. He didn't act like he cared much about it." (Y/N) says.
"(Y/N), when has Draken ever acted like he cares about something?" Says Mitsuya. He grins a little at her annoyed face. "He probably didn't want to worry you."
(Y/N) finds it annoying how right he probably is. Draken has been the type to downplay things when he thought they would worry (Y/N). She knows from experience that he tends to act like he doesn't care when really he does. "You're probably right. Anyways, where is Mikey?"
Mitsuya points over the side of the bridge, and there he is squatting down on the ground. He appears to be searching for something. "Let's go see what he's up to." (Y/N) nods and the two walk down the side of the bridge and to Mikey.
"Oh, Heya, (Y/N)-Chin!" Calls Mikey as he wipes off his hands on his exposed knees. "Didn't know you were here yet."
"Yeah. What are you doing?" Asks (Y/N) as she gestures to where he has previously been crouched down.
"Looking for a flower." Says Mikey with a grin. He didn't look like the type to go flower picking and she wondered if he was telling her the truth or not. "You should bring a swimming suit sometime and jump in the lake, (Y/N). It's pretty clean somehow and there aren't many fish."
As the breeze blew (Y/N)'s hair into her face yet again, she suddenly wondered how cold Baji is right now. She bent over and dipped her hand in the lake. It was freezing.
"Damn, how can he swim in this?" She asks as she nods towards Baji.
"It's usually pretty warm. He'll be fine, anyways, you should consider it." Says Mikey. He pats (Y/N) before sitting down in the grass. "Sit with me, (Y/N)." (Y/N) sits down besides Mikey, crossing her legs.
He'll be fine? It's like 55 degrees out! The water must be freezing.
"Why are we here?" Asks (Y/N) as Mitsuya sits down on the other side of her, putting her right between him and Mikey.
"To hang out. If you have something to do then you can go do it, (Y/N)." Says Mikey. "But if not then we can hang out! We are best friends after all."
"Yeah, the bestest of besties." Says (Y/N) with a grin. Mikey leans his head on (Y/N)'s shoulder, gazing up into her eyes.
"You look so pretty today, (Y/N)!" He exclaims.
"Thank you, Mikey-Kun."
"You're welcome."
"What the fuck are you doing?" Asks Draken as he walks their way. "I told you to stay at the bridge, (Y/N)."
"Oh, sorry. Mitsuya-Kun and I wanted to see what Mikey was up to." Says (Y/N) as she pats Mikey's head.
"Oh. Well, do you want to come with me or not?" Asks Draken. Their eyes connect for a moment before (Y/N) nods.
"No, don't leave, (Y/N)-Chin!" Exclaims Mikey. He clings onto her as she tries to stand up. "We are hanging out! You can't leave your bestie behind, can you?"
"We can hang out tomorrow, Mikey. Okay?" Says (Y/N). Mikey let's go of her with a frown.
"Fine, you better not forget that we are hanging out tomorrow, though." He says, his frown intensifying. "Bye bye, (Y/N)!"
"Bye" says (Y/N). Mikey and Mitsuya wave before she and Draken finally make their way over the bridge and to his bike.
"Do you have anything going on anytime soon?" Asks Draken. He sits down on the bike and she takes her usual spot behind him, her arms wrapping around his stomach in another one of those embraces.
"No." She says. "You're picking me up tomorrow, right?" She asks in a hopeful voice.
"Yeah. Can we hang out at your place?" Draken asks. (Y/N) agrees, and with that Draken speeds off down the side road to the main road. It doesn't take long for the pair to reach her house.
***
"Anyone home?" Shouts (Y/N). When nobody replies she comments, "looks like it's just us again. Wait out here." (Y/N) hurries off to her room and changes into something more comfortable.
As she changes, she realizes she still has Mitsuya's jacket. She makes a mental note to ask Draken for his number after she finishes up in her room. She quickly throws a few pieces of clothes laying around under her bed in case they move to this room to hang out.
"Hey Draken-Kun, can you give me Mitsuya's number?" Asks (Y/N) she smiles as she finds him sitting awkwardly on the sofa, his eyes darting around to different things.
"Yeah, why?" He asks, but he seems to find his answer as she notices his jacket. "If you were cold then I could have given you—"
"Mitsuya let me borrow his jacket for while we were driving so that I wouldn't get cold." (Y/N) explains. Draken nods. "Thanks for the offer though."
"It's supposed to be cold tomorrow. I'll bring you a jacket." Says Draken. He nods to himself before returning to looking around from the couch. It is?
"You don't have to do that." Says (Y/N) as she pulls out her phone. Draken takes her phone and adds Mitsuya to her contact list, along with Baji.
Mitsuya
Hey, this is Tachibana (Y/N), I forgot to return your jacket so I was going to bring it to you next time I see you. Sorry!!
Okay that's fine. Tell Draken I said hi.
"Mitsuya says hi." (Y/N) says to Draken as she shoves her phone into her pocket. Draken pulls out his own phone out. She watches over his shoulder as he texts Mitsuya a quick hello.
The two spent the rest of the afternoon together. They played card games, watched whatever was on the television that fascinated them. They ate dinner together, Draken doing most of the cooking. He laughed loudly at her as she made a complete mess while trying to help out. As they slowly grew bored, Draken helped (Y/N) with her homework, practically giving her every answer. (Y/N) could have done her homework on her own, but having him there made it easier since he's a year above her and did all of this last year. He threatened a few times throughout their visit to leave if she brought up his deep love of tomato juice.
The sky was slowly becoming a beautiful shade of pink when (Y/N) walked Draken to the door.
"(Y/N), I have one question for you before I leave." Says Draken. (Y/N) nods, signaling him to ask. "Were you upset you see Mikey here to pick you up?" He asks in a soft voice.
"I was definitely a bit disappointed to not see you, though I wasn't exactly upset to see Mikey. Him and I are friends so I wasn't mad. It made me worry about you quite a bit though." Says (Y/N) sincerely. "You better be here tomorrow morning or I'll be pretty upset with you, Ken-Kun." She realizes what she's said much too late. "Oh, sorry, I—"
"It's fine, don't apologize, (Y/N). You can call me whatever you want." Says Draken. His voice is gentle. The embarrassment (Y/N) had predicted to follow didn't come.
"Okay, Tomato—"
"I fucking hate you." Draken cuts her off quickly with a scowl, though when she looks into his eyes she can see that he isn't mad. "Cya, (Y/N)." He says as he turns to leave, his hands in his pockets.
"Cya, Ken-Kun!" Calls (Y/N) as she waves to him. He seems to perk up a little when she calls him that. His reaction reminded her a little of a dog. When you offer a dog a treat it'll usually perk up just as Draken had.
Mikey
(Y/N), you and I are spending tomorrow together and that's final!
Don't forget >:((
Okay, sorry for canceling, Mikey!
(Y/N) did feel a little bad for having cancelled their plans, but she couldn't resist the opportunity to spend another afternoon with Draken.
She looked forward to seeing him the following morning.
TO BE CONTINUED....
Word count: 3,342
The next chapter is going to be a bit about Mikey and (Y/N) but it's not going to be the entire chapter so don't skip it because you don't care about Mikey >:((
I want to grow more on their relationship before focusing on any of the other ones like Baji, Emma, Takemichi, or you know Draken.
Thank you for 3k :)) at the time I'm editing this we're almost at 3,500 and that's amazing!
Any feedback? Things you like, don't like, or want to see? I'm watching fireworks tonight with my friend so I won't be able to read/respond to comments quickly!
Upvotes/Comments/Follows are much appreciated :))