⚠️ a little bit of angst at the beginning of this part ⚠️
"Dude, your eyes're really startin' to creep me out." A muffled yet familiar voice said, its sound resonating endlessly.
"W-What...?" He could barely hear his own voice over the fuzzy sounds filling his ears and the echoes.
"Yeah, you should totally wear eye contacts! I bet brown ones would look good on you." A second, more squeaky voice piped up.
"But... What if I don't want to?"
"Then nobody'll like ya 'cuz you're creepy." The first voice rang, louder than ever.
"Exactly! Then, nobody's gonna want to talk to you!" The second voice chimed. "Plus, you're super skinny. So skinny! And kind of ugly. Frankly, you look disgusting. You're lucky I even wanted to talk to you! You need this! Trust us, Rui."
"Oh... O-Okay," He stuttered softly, his voice almost completely drowned out by the accumulating echoes. "I'll start wearing contacts... If my eyes really do bother you that much. I'm sorry, Akane and Tadashi."
"Hah! Ya better be," 'Akane' boomed again. "All this time I've been talkin' to ya feelin' super uncomfy, all 'cuz those eyes of yours're ultra weird 'n' even more creepy."
The overlapping, incessant ringing of the voices of his former friends swirling around in his mind made his head pound.
His lungs felt like they were being crushed by those words. His breaths were short and rapid and his heart was beating so quickly and powerfully that he could feel its throbbing against his chest.
Rui's eyesight became focused again, and he could clearly see his sketchpad and his rough sketches of future machines and mechanisms he thought might be useful for some upcoming shows.
Right, I'm at school... Why can't the day just end now?
Rui inhaled the fresh, cool air, letting the quiet wind mess up his hair as he gazed at the gray-blue sky. The pace of the beats of his rushing heart slowed down as the crisp outdoor air entered his lungs.
The sunlight was wan due to the thin white clouds blocking its source and the temperature was perfect—not to hot, not too cold. The wind was just right, too—not too strong, but strong enough to leave you feeling refreshed and satisfied.
Rui let out a hefty sigh before once again pressing his pencil against the paper of his sketchpad and tracing some soft, messy lines onto it.
After some quiet and peaceful moments of sketching, he heard a loud, strong male voice calling out his name.
"Rui!"
The addressee of the call looked up at the boy calling to him, the adrenaline pumping through his veins.
"Tsukasa-kun!" Rui said back, unable to suppress the excited smile forcing its way onto his visage. "I thought being seen with me would 'kill your entire reputation'?"
"Ah, who cares about what a bunch of people I don't even care about think anyway?" The blonde said dismissively while smiling back widely at Rui. "I'm happy when I'm with you. I like you way better."
Tsukasa's words went thunk! piercing straight into Rui's heart like Cupid's arrow. The alchemist's heart began to flutter and his cheeks heated up instantaneously.
Tsukasa walked over, sitting down next to Rui and leaning onto the shoulder of the latter. His interest obviously piqued, Tsukasa peered over at his friend's sketches.
"Woah, that one looks cool," He commended the purple haired boy's sketches admiringly. "What does that one do?"
"It explodes little kids." Rui deadpanned.
The look on Tsukasa's face was truly priceless.
So worth it.
"Just kidding." Rui smirked. "What does it do, you ask? That's for me to know and you to find out," He said teasingly, looking into Tsukasa's eyes with an amused expression on his face. "when I test it out on you, that is."
Only when his eyes met Tsukasa's did Rui feel Tsukasa's chest pressing into his shoulder. The former began to blush at his closeness to Tsukasa and tore his gaze away from that of his friend, turning it back to his drawings.
"In that case, I take it back," Tsukasa huffed. "Definitely not cool. I will DREAD whatever that machine does!"
Rui chuckled a little but didn't say anything, allowing an awkward and uncomfortable atmosphere to settle in. Only the sound of graphite scratching against paper could be heard, along with the soft sounds of the two boys' small breaths and some faint voices belonging to the other students on the rooftop.
Should I tell Tsukasa-kun about my... eyes? It just doesn't feel right hiding that from him...
Tsukasa's face was close to Rui's—close enough to make Rui crack.
"Tsukasa-kun?" Rui said finally, when he decided that he'd had enough of the silence.
...Do I really want to do this?
"Yeah, Rui?" Tsukasa replied, taking a few short moments to remove his gaze from Rui's sketches and making his eyes meet those of his friend.
...Yeah. I trust Tsukasa-kun.
"...I haven't been entirely truthful to you," Rui admitted, looking back down at his own sketches as he tightened his clutch on the sketchpad.
"Wait, what!? About what?" Tsukasa's eyes widened as he frowned.
Rui set his sketchpad down in reaction to the sight before him.
It broke Rui's heart to see Tsukasa's whole expression drop like that. That expression was an expression that Rui had never seen on Tsukasa's face; one of pure fear. Rui could practically feel the movement of the thoughts flowing like rapids around Tsukasa's mind.
"Oh, it's not anything serious," Rui said in an attempt to reassure his friend. "I promise."
He felt a rush of relief as Tsukasa's expression faded away from complete and utter terror by just a little bit.
"Then what—" Tsukasa began, but was soon interrupted by the school bell, indicating the end of recess.
"Ah! Apologies, Tsukasa-kun!" Rui frowned as he twisted his torso over so that he was facing Tsukasa, who got surprised by his friend's arms wrapping around him and pulling him into a hug. "I'll tell you later, promise!"
Tsukasa blushed intensely at the sensation of Rui's slender arms and gentle hands scooping his body into their comfortable and welcoming touch. The blonde's response was a quick return of the action, carefully putting his arms around Rui as well.
"Okay," Tsukasa said, his heart pounding against his chest rapidly. "Right after school?"
Oh, right, Tsukasa-kun has some club to go to at lunch...
"We'll meet at the gate," Rui gave Tsukasa one final squeeze before letting go and scooping up his sketchpad. "Maybe we could go to my place. Goodbye for now, Tsukasa-kun~!"
"Yeah," Tsukasa said in a faint voice, his body still warm. "Bye..."
Rui could just barely hear his friend's voice as he walked away, a proud and jovial smile sneaking onto his face.
I hugged Tsukasa-kuuun~!
He soon decided to stifle his smile before he got back inside the building so that nobody would suspect anything. Who knows what kind of crazy new rumours that could start!
The school day continued to drag on and on before the last period ended, liberating all the prisoners from the hellhole they had been kept in for seven hours straight.
Rui gathered his textbooks and homework packages, hurriedly thrusting them into his bag. He soon rushed to the front gate and waited. For what? For his dear (self-proclaimed) future star Tsukasa, of course!
"Hey, Rui!" Tsukasa's powerful voice rang merrily. "So, what is it you wanted to tell me?"
Shoot. I really did not think about this.
"Ah. Um—could it wait until we get to my place...? That is, if you're allowed, of course!" Rui laughed nervously as Tsukasa came into view.
Tsukasa shrugged. "My mother doesn't really care where I am... I don't think."
"You're not even going to let her know you're not going home straight away?" Rui asked, concern slipping into his voice.
"...No. She wouldn't care." Tsukasa shook his head, his expression faltering. "Let's go."
"...Alright."
Looks like I'm not the only one hiding something.
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Word count: 1351