Warnings :
Stalking
He didn't sleep. At all. Even after Tsukishima cleared that it wasn't his fault, he felt guilty. If he wasn't there then she wouldn't have insulted him and Tsukishima wouldn't have snapped back so much. If he wasn't there Tsukishima could've ignored her or something.
It was currently like what? 2 am? He didn't know so he decided to check and found that he was right. It was 2 am. At least it was Sunday. If it was Monday he'd be screwed beyond belief.
He's been crying for the past hour and finally ran out of tears so he could stop. He shouldn't be so sensitive about it but he is. What the hell would Tsukishima say if he knew Yamaguchi cried over that incident? He wasn't even the one who got slapped across the face! It was so hard that it bruised too. Was that even considered a slap anymore? Because if he had a say he'd classify it as a very aggressive open-handed punch instead of a slap. People don't usually hit that hard when they slap someone.
He opened his messages to scroll through them but no sooner had the app told whoever was in his contact he was online- someone texted him. So he tapped the message that appeared at the top of the screen.
_
Unknown
? :
Hello? Is this that kid following Kei around?
Yams :
Uh... Yeah..? Who is this?
? :
Oh, my stars! I saw what happened with that girl earlier! Are you okay?
Yams :
Who is this..?
? :
Oh. It's Kei's mother. Got a new phone and asked him to give me your number.
Yams :
Oh...
? :
Do you know who that girl was?
Yams :
No, not really...
? :
Her name is Aria. She was Kei's best friend for a long time before Akiteru got involved.
Yams :
That... Makes sense... Wait why are you up at 2 am?
? :
I could be asking you the same thing.
Yams :
Couldn't sleep.
? :
Same.
Yams :
Hm...
I'm going to try and sleep now... Goodnight...
_
Something about this was fishy and he didn't know why. Nor did he know what he should do about it. Should he leave it? Ask Tsukishima if it's true? Would that seem rude to his mother if it was?
He didn't want to seem like he didn't believe her. Then again if it wasn't her then something was wrong. Why bring up Aria though? This was confusing him. He decided to ignore it and e said he would.
Yamaguchi threw his phone onto the bedside table and rolled over to sleep.
---
"Tadashi..." He opened his eyes the tiniest bit to see his mother hovering over him with a small smile. Any normal person would've just pulled the cover over their head but he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
"Hm?" He hummed as he smiled back at her.
"I was going out so I wanted you to know..." She was always so cautious about leaving him home alone. Anything could happen so she always told him first. Then he locked everything just so she'd feel better about leaving. Someone could try to break in and he'd be pretty much useless besides trying to threaten them with a frying pan or some other kitchen supply. He'd never dare to make a threat with a knife because he didn't want to kill anyone.
His mother kissed his cheek and left the room. So he got up and stretched before he went to the kitchen to make breakfast. He took his phone in case someone messaged him and shoved it on the island counter. Then decided he'd make eggs and toast for breakfast, taking out everything he needed to do so. His phone buzzed behind him as he cracked the eggs into the pan and he left them for a second to sizzle as he checked who it was.
Another mystery number sent him a photo. He'd open it later.
Yamaguchi finished making his food and was eating. Now deciding it was to check the picture. His heart rate never increased faster in his life.
His house. The front of his house. A caption reading 'I know you're alone' across the image.
'Oh god.'
He went to check that the front door was locked and then peeked out the window. There was nobody there. That was even more unsettling.
This isn't happening. He ran to his room and shut the door, locking that door as well before he went over to his cupboard and hid in it. Yamaguchi was going to stay there until his mom came home. Something like this had never happened before but his mother told him if something happened, he should drop whatever he was doing and hide if it's serious enough call the police but he didn't know if it was because nobody ever did anything yet. Then he texted Tsukishima.
_
Tsukki <3
Yams :
TSUKKI
TSUKKI
TSUKKI
TSUKKI
Tsukki :
Woah-
Calm down.
What is it?
Yams :
(One image attachment)
Tsukki :
Wait for what?
Who is that?
Yams :
I don't know!
I'm hiding
Tsukki :
Well, what are you texting me for!? Call the police!
Yams :
They haven't done anything else!
Tsukki :
Yeah and don't give them the chance too!
Yams :
Okay, fair point-
Tsukki :
No shit
_
He dialed the number and it rang for a second.
"Hello, what's your emergency?" A lady responded.
"SomeonesentmeanimagethatsaidheknewIwashomealoneandtheimagewasofmyhouse-" He was talking too fast for even himself to decipher.
"Woah, slow down."
"Someone sent me an image that said he knew I was home alone and it was off the front of my house so now I'm hiding because I don't know who they are." He repeated slower than before.
"Alright, we'll send someone over. Don't panic alright? Stay on the line if anything happens." She sounded way too calm to him.
So he just waited silently until three loud knocks echoed on his front door. Then he scrambled out the closet and the room door to the front door. He glanced up at the officer with a nervous look. He smiled gently in response.
"What was the image?" He asked as he watched Yamaguchi immediately fish out his phone, type in the password hastily, and open the chat. Then showing him the screen.
The officer glanced behind himself for a moment.
"Alright. Relax. I'll search the premises for someone and if I can't find anyone and this happens again in the future we'll bring a team. Okay?" The smile on his face was so forced that it was threatening to fall. Yamaguchi could tell when people faked a smile. He didn't say anything about it though.
"O-okay thank you..." His voice was just barely above a whisper as the officer walked off to look around his house.
He just wanted this day to end so he could go back to school with Tsukishima. Anything was better than staying home alone with this going on. Why all of a sudden though? First Aria comes out of nowhere and now this. Those messages that he still wasn't completely sure who sent. The picture and the less-than-friendly statement. Was he being stalked? Was this connected to Aria somehow? No way right? That was an aoontitimehing and he should stop thinking about it. How come he's never heard of Aria though? Did Tsukishima not want to tell him or didn't think it was relevant? So many questions and no answers to them.
If he wasn't a mess enough already. Too much chaos in two days. Then it dawned on him that he should probably tell Tsukishima everything was fine. Did he care though? He probably wasn't even waiting for a message. I mean he told him to call the police but that was probably more a common sense thing than genuine concern.
Not long after the policeman left, his mother pulled up in the driveway and smiled at him.
"Hello..." She said as he walked over to help carry the things.
"Did anything happen while I was gone?"
She asked gently, sensing something was off.
"No, just thinking about something that happened to Tsukki." He half-lied. He was still thinking about that thing with Aria.
"Oh! Kei Tsukishima right? That tall blond that came here once." They went inside and started packing away for groceries. Then she smirked playfully.
"The one you have a crush on?" He'd forgotten he told his mother about that and squeaked in surprise, nearly dropping a tin.
"Y-yeah him." He was flustered beyond belief now.
"What happened?" She asked cautiously, expecting something really bad - like a friendship issue. He decided to tell her what he knew about it and left out his random thoughts about who the hell Aria was.
She paused for a moment when he was done.
"I would've punched her if I were him." His mother was dead serious. He shook his head.
"Tsukki wouldn't punch someone for that!"
"Not only did she insult you right in front of him but she also slapped him! He has every right and reason to punch her!" The woman in front of him didn't back off. Yamaguchi knew she was right though. Although insulting him had nothing to do with Tsukishima's reason to punch her.
"I-I don't think insulting me has anything to do with that!" He squeaked.
"You're his best friend! It has everything to do with that!" She finished packing the stuff away and opened her arms to him.
"Anyway... Hug?" She smiled again. He could tell this was because she knew he was insecure about everything Aria had insulted. Some part of him didn't want the pity, however, he accepted it anyway and hugged her.
"My beautiful baby..." His mother whispered lovingly as they embraced one another. He was glad he had a loving mother. His father was also kind but he was always overseas so he rarely visited them.
Right now though, he felt safe in his mother's arms.