Don't leave my side.
No matter how pretty it may sound to someone's ears, it made you feel uneasy.
"That has got to be the most pathetic thing he had said to someone."
Nagisa, the head priest of the Nagisa Shrine, raises a brow at your verbal thought. You must have been thinking about it for a long time, enough for you to suddenly verbalize and failing to realize it.
"Are you talking about the Minamoto kid?" he raises a brow as he sets his cup of tea down on the floor.
You raise your brows, swiftly turning to Nagisa in surprise. The realization strikes to say that you failed to keep your thoughts in mind, a heavy sigh runs out of your mouth as you now attempt to come up with an excuse to cover up your absent-minded mistake.
"If you dislike the kid so much," Nagisa begins, handing you your cup of tea. He hops off his seat, dragging himself towards the balcony, pointing at the Shrine's usual entrance. "Then you better start hiding."
You stood up from your sitting position, peeking over Nagisa's shoulder to see Teru strolling down the pathway, seemingly approaching your place. Panic wraps up your head as you instantly rushed up to your room. You needed some time away from him. You noticed that the tension between the two of you had grew and is now quite heavy; your simple solution to that is distancing yourself away.
"Nagisa-San!" Teru calls out with such enthusiasm, it would be hard to tell that this guy lacked sleep because of the job that has him dragged out of his home unwillingly.
"Teru-Sama," Nagisa offers Teru a nod of acknowledgment as he watches the blonde exorcist skip his way inside the priest's humble abode. "[ name ] isn't home. She's out with her friends."
Teru hums, his gaze lurking around the area until it fell to the tiny splashes of what he assumes is tea down on the floor. It made a trail that leads up the stairs. He raises his brow, turning to Nagisa with a look of disappointment. One thing this old man failed to consider is that this boy can see through lies and is very attentive with his surrounding. It's the common traits he has to carry because of his sole responsibility.
Supernaturals, after all, can tie a manipulative behavior to an emotional weak human.
"That stupid girl..." Nagisa murmurs, pressing a palm against his forehead. He makes his way towards a nearby drawer, pulling out an old cloth to wipe the tea spills you made while rushing up to your room. "She's upstairs," but before Teru took a step, the priest halts him once more. "But if she refuses to talk to you, then don't force her to."
"Why wouldn't she want to talk?" Teru's tone drops with curiosity. It always seems like he wouldn't cross lines when he's asked to, however, he's the opposite of that. He's more than happy to budge right through your door—just for tease.
"Young master, my niece is a very bold girl." Nagisa says. "She'll show you if she doesn't want to talk to you. She'll make you feel it if she has to."
"I know." Teru brushes his bangs aside to show Nagisa the small, yet visible bump that you gave him yesterday. "She made it clear to me yesterday! The sight isn't so pleasing now, is it?"
Nagisa frowns, letting out a sigh. He didn't expect you to go as far as being physical with the blonde exorcist. However, he does believe that you carry a valid reason to execute such decision.
The priest turns his back on Teru, in a way of indirectly giving the teenager permission to rush up to your room; and so, he did.
"I'm sorta sick of you running away whenever you feel uncomfortable around me," you set your empty tea cup down on your study table, turning to Teru with a narrowed gaze. "Why can't you just tell me that I made you uncomfortable instead of ignoring all my attempt to contact you?"
Denying is the last thing you would do with his accusation. Teru's correct, you do run away when he gets too much. You have this vivid thought that if he you can never reciprocate what he gives, then there's no point of entertaining him any longer. You would handle him, if only you knew how.
The blonde exorcist places his phone down on your table, scrolling through the messages he sent you, hoping that in each one, you would answer; you never did. He wants you to see that. He wants you to know what you did and remind you on why you did it.
TERU MINAMOTO (2:45AM, YESTERDAY): Why were you quiet on our way home earlier? Did I make you feel uncomfortable? Do you still feel guilty about hitting my head?
TERU MINAMOTO (2:45AM, YESTERDAY): I'm fine now. Kou gave me something to make the bump less visible.
TERU MINAMOTO (2:49AM, YESTERDAY): Are you ignoring me? Did I say something wrong?
TERU MINAMOTO (5:12PM, TODAY): Can you at least tell me what I did wrong? I want to apologize.
TERU MINAMOTO (5:12PM, TODAY): I'm sorry.
TERU MINAMOTO (5:15PM, TODAY): I haven't felt that close to you since yesterday. Why does it feel like you're distancing yourself again?
TERU MINAMOTO (5:26PM, TODAY): Do you hate me that much?
Teru can never understand how you manage to pull his strings of emotions with just a single lift of a finger, yet still refuse to tend and acknowledge it whenever he shows it to you.
"You're acting like this again." Teru murmurs, looking down at you. He intently observes and notices your refusal to raise your head again. Your sight is glued set on the his inbox where his messages were left unnoticed by you. "Why can't you just tell me what's wrong? Why do you have to keep leaving me on the edge?"
"Why are you so impatient?" you finally spat out, building a wall of silence between you and the exorcist. He keeps his eyes on you, while you kept you attention occupied by re-reading the his chats that is still visible on his screen. "Can't you wait? Are you so used to getting everything you want, that not receiving an answer right away gets you to barge into my room?"
A thin line subtlety forms Teru's lips, his fingers running through his blonde locks. "Can't you just answer one of my question this time?" he asks, his tone dropping into a quiet one. His confident entrance from earlier shatters upon hearing your thoughts. "Just one." its was quiet and small—but you can hear him deliver a pleading tone that was quite hard to catch if you aren't attentively listening.
"You always talk about yourself. It always had to be you whenever I try to clear things up with us." Teru's tone lingers with frustration, he's been holding back with what he has to say. "What about me?"
Your attention is chained tight with your confused and stirred up feelings, that you failed to notice the blonde boy setting his weapon aside as he sinks into his knees in front of you. "...Just tell me why you're treating me this way." he breathes out.
The Minamoto Clan's youngest exorcist, sets his family heirloom weapon aside, to kneel before you and beg for an explanation.
By performing an act like that, he's setting his pride and dignity aside just to please you; hoping that by doing so, he would get closer to you.
You felt conflicted and cornered. Shame picks on you and devours you slowly as it pushes your head to look at the exorcist kneeling before you; shame wants you to see what the outcome is whenever you run away, what will happen if you proceed to leave this empty hearted boy stranded in his own land of filthy emotions that spawned because of you;
He clings on to you and begs for you to end his misery that circles all around your name.
"...Please, stand up." you hang your head low, refusing to view the sight before you. "Please, don't do this...stop doing this to me."
Teru raises his head, his hand clenched tightly into a fist, his knuckles painted white as he lets his pent up emotions flow right through his clenched fist. "Hey." he gives his head a tilt, an empty smile on his lips, yet his tone seems to have dropped into a serious one. "Why are you making it sound like I'm the bad guy here? Why does it sound like I'm the one giving you a hard time?"
Your heart gives off the feeling of being clenched by someone's hand. It felt suffocating and you felt impatient. You don't know what to do. His fingers are all pointed at you, his alluring features are vivid, his voice tunes out like ominous whispers; as if encountering a supernatural, you felt scared.
You swiftly rise from your seat, pushing your chair aside and rushing out of your room and down to where your uncle is.
"Hey!" Teru calls out, his hand impulsively grabbing his weapon as he raises from his kneeled down position.
But for some whatever strong reason, it felt wrong to detach his knees off your floors.
It felt like he belongs there.
It feels like he was meant to kneel before you.