𝗄𝖾𝗍𝗌𝗎 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝖽𝗎𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌©
𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦
♫ ๑━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━๑ ♫
optional - when you see this symbol (♫♫) play the song
A YAWN SHUDDERED through you as you stretched your body and let out a long groan.
♫♫ with your eyes still closed, you crossed the living room and opened the door to the bathroom. it felt abnormally hot and you could almost feel your skin absorbing the heat, sweat already beading on your brow.
you turned the sink on and wet your toothbrush before squeezing on a glob of toothpaste, not even realizing how it slid off the sides. music blasted in your ears, making you feel as though you were in a completely new world—your one true salvation. you shoved the brush into your mouth and began lazily swiping the bristles over your teeth, eyes still closed.
it was hard for you to sleep last night, knowing that semi was only a few feet away from you, across the room. after he "apologized," most of your anger had ebbed away, but despite that, you decided to leave the room and go sleep on the couch.
a tired sigh escaped your body as you leaned against the sink, dependent on its support. slowly, you began to feel more awake, thanks to the bass thrumming in your ears. slowly, you began humming to the song and bobbing your head.
you opened your eyes to wash your mouth out, and that's when you noticed the steam. frowning, you looked up into the mirror to find semi standing there, staring at you with utter confusion holding his features hostage.
you screamed, jumping back and dropping your toothbrush. your heart was beating so fast, you were afraid it would shoot out of your chest and run off.
rounding on him, you set a hand on the boy's bare chest and shoved him. "what the hell, semi?!!"
he looked baffled, mouth opening and closing with no words coming out. "i'm being blamed for this? you're the one who walked in here while i was showering! i knew you were a perv. you were trying to catch a peek, weren't you?" he asked accusatorially, pressing tbe smaller towel he was using to dry his hair closer to his body as if he was trying to hide his body, offended by your perversion.
now you were the one with no words.
the moment your eyes landed on the towel wrapped low around his waist, you whipped back around to face the mirror.
"i—uh, it was an accident, i swear! i didn't meant to—"
"how do you accidentally walk in on someone showering? didn't you hear the water? didn't you see the steam?"
"i had my eyes closed and i had music on! all my senses were quite literally out of use and—" you paused, looking up at the mirror to find semi struggling to keep his laughter at bay. "you know what? i don't owe you an explanation."
and with that, you stomped out of the bathroom, leaving him standing idle.
when the door slammed behind you, you pressed your back against it, breathing heavily with your arms splayed out as if to form a barricade.
when you looked up to find your mom in the kitchen, peering at you from behind the refrigerator door, you thought your morning couldn't get any worse.
"mom! h-hey, when'd you get back?" you asked, knocking your headphones off your head and down to your neck. you went to lean on the kitchen counter, blinking at her innocently and desperately hoping old age had deteriorated her hearing enough that she didn't hear anything. it was a shallow thing to think, and maybe a little inconsiderate, but panic and embarrassment fully clouded your judgement at the moment.
she looked confused, if not worried. "what was all that yelling? is everything okay?" she asked, answering your question with questions of her own.
you closed your eyes briefly, mentally cursing yourself.
"oh, it's nothing, everything is fine," you chuckled nervously. "i just got a little carried away with the music and started—"
then the door to the bathroom opened, semi stepping out. he was dressed in sweats and a graphic tee, though his hair was still wet. a towel hung over his shoulder, as if he'd carelessly thrown it there.
"eita!" your mom exclaimed, looking back and forth between you and him. "but didn't y/n just... when did you go in?" she mumbled to herself, trying to pick up the pieces. then she laughed and made a funny circling motion with her head, her eyes blown wide. "wow, i must be super sleep deprived. i've completely lost the plot! i think i'm gonna stop working night shifts," she chuckled to herself.
she must have to come to the conclusion that she imagined the whole thing, and boy were you thankful.
semi blinked at the both of you as if the tides had suddenly turned and he was the one in an uncomfortable position.
"yeah, i don't like what it's doing to your health," you agreed, trying to divert her attention. "i miss the glow you used to have," you caressed her cheek, feigning introspection.
"get off me, you little cacodemon," she smacked your hand away, smiling. "oh, eita," she rounded back, "you haven't had the chance to look around the neighborhood, right?"
he shook his head, the shaggy strands of his grayish-white hair shifting. beads of crystal clear water fell onto his shirt."i do have to head over to oxford on monday, though, so i'll get to see the area then."
"oh, that won't do, we can't have you getting lost on your first day," your mom shook her head, making you roll your eyes at both of them. "since you have the day off, why don't you and y/n go take a walk around the city? she can show you where everything is."
semi looked over at you, eyebrows raised. you looked at him, then at your mom, who sensed the bitterness in your gaze, but clearly decided to ignore it as she clapped her hands together and smiled as though it was final.
"perfect! it seems that we've come to an agreement," she exclaimed, closing the fridge. "make sure not to come back too late, my loves," she said, blowing kisses. and with that, she was gone, walking into the protective hands of her bedroom.
you gaped after her, "ma! you want me to hang out with the band kid??" then you turned to semi, irritated, "why didn't you tell her you didn't want to?"
he shrugged, checking the time on his phone. "if i did," he walked over to your bedroom door and opened it, stepping half in, "i'd be lying."
♫ ๑━━━━━━━━━━━━━๑ ♫
cars honked and sped by, passing through puddles formed by recent rainfall. in london, the buildings towered, constructed with cements and bricks of the colors brown and beige, making the city pleasing to the eyes.
semi walked beside you, his steps falling annoyingly in sync with yours. dressed in an array of black shades, he had swapped his sweatpants for baggy black jeans and thrown a brown flannel over his graphic tee; chunky black boots dominated his every step.
one of his hands were shoved into his pockets as the other clutched around a coffee cup. his lips formed a hard line that made him look slightly intimidating, as much as you didn't want to admit. the various selections of jewelry dangling from his ears swayed with his every move and his long, dark lashes brushed his cheeks with each blink.
he glanced at you, your lips forming a hard line identical to his. he knew that was your usual expression, but he couldn't help the question that followed:
"you're not still mad, are you? you do forgive me; i know you do," he said, watching you blow away a strand of hair. when he caught your eye, he frowned, wondering when you got your hair done and why he didn't realize before.
you raised an eyebrow at him in response. "yeah?" you asked, expression rigid. "and why is that?"
"because you're not giving me any of those looks that you usually do." he takes a sip of his coffee. "the looks that are so cold they could make hell freeze over."
at that, your lips kicked up on one end, causing you to dip your chin to hide it.
"but maybe i'm wrong," semi continued, following you down the crosswalk. "maybe you really, really hate me now."
"is that why you've been so quiet?" you asked with a lazy smirk, one you didn't have to hide. "scared of adding more fuel to the flames?"
"hey. i may be an asshole, but i know my limits."
"and soon, you will learn mine," you claimed, breathing hot air into your cold hands before sticking them in your jacket pockets. there must have been a cold front coming, because it was just warm the other day.
semi scoffed, "i'm offended that you think i don't already know. you're even more hot-headed than i am, you short-tempered grouch."
"i am not a—!" before you could finish, you felt semi's hand clasp around your wrist and pull you in. the moment he did, a car sped past, narrowly missing you. after realizing what just happened, you looked up at semi, who looked uncharacteristically angry with his arm protectively wrapped around your waist.
he glared after the car like a pissed off watchdog.
with a shuddering breath, you stepped back and smiled at him, holding back a snort. "well, that was dramatic."
his gaze immediately shot to your face, creased brows smoothing out at your easy expression. then he got angry again. "you need to watch where you're going!"
your jaw hung, "that wasn't my fault, that was the driver's! the walk light said i could go!"
"well, then, he needs to watch where he's going!" semi replied heatedly, looking back in the direction the car went as if it wasn't surely long gone.
"why are you getting mad at me about it, then?" you asked. "we can't do anything about it, anyways. let's just go." you grabbed his wrist and began to walk, but semi didn't move.
before you could yell at him again, he pulled you closer to him, brown furrowed. "are you okay? you're not hurt anywhere, are you? should we go back home?"
you blinked at him, confused as to where all this concern came from and why he even cared. he was still hung up on what just happened minutes ago; meanwhile, you had nearly forgotten about it. something about that unnerved him. your life being endangered shouldn't be that easy to dismiss. that's what he thought. but, if anything, he should be happy if you got hit by a car. right?
"no, semi," you managed to answer his question, though still entranced and bewildered. "i'm fine, we don't have to go home." then you laughed, because it was ridiculous. you looked at his worried expression and shook your head disbelievingly.
"why are you laughing?" he asked as the two of you slowly picked up the pace, him tossing his coffee into a nearby trash bin as if he somehow lost his appetite.
"because you're unbelievable and you do the most confusing things," you said, voice quiet. "you're so weird."
semi was quiet for a while, the sounds of the city symbolizing it's liveliness.
"is it so hard to believe that even though you hate me, and i hate you..." he said that last phrase like he was quoting someone—as if those weren't his words, "...that i still care about you?"
♫ ๑━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━๑ ♫
ketsu <3