𝐇𝐮𝐞

𝟒-𝐀𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫

. . .

𝐏𝐨𝐯-𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐤𝐢

I woke up the next morning, my face still slightly hot from the thoughts flooding in from the night before. "𝐼 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑘𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑢𝑝," I thought to myself while stretching and rubbing the last grains of the sandman's sand out of my eyes. I walked out of my room lazily stretching my arms and yawning; to my surprise, Aki was cooking in the kitchen. I walked up behind him groggily murmuring a raspy good morning. He turned around looking at me with a gentle smile "good morning~, did you sleep well?" He asked in a chipper and more energetic tone than usual. "You're in a good mood," I said eyeing him with slight suspicion sitting at the table. I could hear the crackle of the eggs he had in the pain, I figured he was maybe making an omelet with rice, it's pretty simple to do. "Well, I realized we're all alone since the squirts are on their field trip and also the guest room bed is amazing! I was finally able to get some sleep," I propped my chin on my resting hand on the table and stared at his backside as he continued cooking. "Hey...so did you break up with him?" Aki stopped for a second before he answered and continued cooking making sure he hadn't burnt the omelet, "not yet Haruki, not yet," I can't help but wonder how it was even possible that they are even having problems, I mean I've never heard of non-soulmates unless it's a rare case that one of the pair has been born with a defect where they were born with the ability to see all colors, sometimes it does vary where the person can tell who their soulmate is by the change of saturation of the colors, others aren't so lucky. I suddenly got hopeful then snapped at myself thinking, "how heartless can you be, all couples can have rough patches.." I was pulled out of my thoughts when Haruki placed a hand on my shoulder reassuring me that he'd be fine. I gathered up the strength to ask him, "is it possible that you can see all colors already?.. I- sorry I was just wondering if there was a possibility that you guys weren't soulmates and that maybe your soulmate was out there.." Aki looked at me with slight amusement and some mischief, "why so curious do you have a crush on me or something?~" I immediately avoided eye contact and shoved some of the food that was placed in front of me in my mouth, I swallowed and changed the subject, "I'm off today since it's Saturday so do you wanna go out or something?" "I think I should probably get my stuff from my place today..." I looked at him with a sense of dread building up in the pit of my stomach, "I could go with you or at least wait for you in the car you don't live too far from here, I could drive you or-" he cut me off with a breathy chuckle, "you're still looking out for me now after all this time aren't you?" He said with a tender smile as he placed his hand on mine, intertwining his fingers with mine, "I- of course, I care about Aki.." we looked in the eyes of each other and stared at them, he looked at my lips and I looked at his looking eyes once more, leaning in...then being interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing, I bit my lip as I looked at his lips once more breaking the connection of our eyes to answering my phone, he slouched in his seat looking up at the ceiling smiling and sighing. "Hello?" I said with slight annoyance in my voice as I combed my hair with my hand, "HI HARUKI!!" "Geez Ritsuka, could you blow up my ears another time," I said in annoyance "oh did I interrupt a session between you and Mr.buzzcut?" I blushed, clearing my throat, "I'm glad you two are having fun on your trip, I just hope you aren't pressuring poor Mafuyu into doing something with you," I teased him, "WHAT I- I- we didn't do anything!" "Ritsuka come back, "I heard Mafuyu on the other side, "oh really now?" "IT"S NOT WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE, I GOTTA GO!" I laughed as I heard the line hang up, "seems like the trip is going well for them," Akihiko said arching his eyebrow and smiling.

𝐏𝐨𝐯-𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫

Time had passed and Haruki drove Aki to his apartment, well old apartment now. The car had stopped as Haruki parked it in the parking lot in front of Aki's old place, they sat there in silence for a second before Akihiko took a deep breath, and Haruki placed his hand on Aki's shoulder for reassurance that everything would be ok. Akihiko walked out of the car the sound of the car door closing behind him and his shoes on the gravel, it always felt dark and gloomy in this area and especially at his place. He took his key out of his pocket as he stepped down the stairs to the door, shakily sighing as he put the key in the lock wanting everything to be done with already. He opened the door and it was quiet, he was glad Uegetsu wasn't there he had planned to leave a note. He took the note out of his pocket and left it on the countertop with the key. He walked around the place he had called, "home" and went to grab trash bags and put all the clothes he had in them hoping Uegetsu wouldn't come home at that very moment. Images and memories replayed in his head from sleeping on his bed and Ugetsu combing through his hair while not saying anything but letting the sun rays kiss their bodies that looked so pale from being in such a dark place for so long to Uegetsu throwing a mug to the ground, Aki knew the cup wasn't the only thing that shattered that day. He couldn't believe there were moments of happiness in that place between them or even a relationship at all, it's as though once the cord is cut then so are the feelings cause he had already felt sad and now he just feels like nothing really. He can't seem to wrap his head around it is the fact that when that cord is cut it's like the memories leave too like a dream that eventually will disappear from his head completely. After he was done he locked the door from the inside and walked out he saw Aki headed toward him helping with the bags and placing them in the back of the car. Aki just stares at him wondering "How the hell did you come into my life?" He was so happy to feel free but not have to go through the whole process alone he smiled as he sat down in the car after putting everything else away. "Why are you smiling? I mean not that it's bad I just wanna know so I can keep you in a good mood," Haruki said while keeping his eyes on the road smiling, Akihiko just turned and smiled at him and said, "cause I have you." Haruki became super flustered and couldn't speak he just smiled like an idiot. They sat there in a warm silence and Akihiko was reliving the memories he made in that place it wasn't called home to him, a home is a place where you feel safe and loved. He thought what he had was loved but when you're wearing rose-colored glasses then the red flags look like flags and nothing else.

"It's just the two of us so where should we go?" Haruki said while driving. "How about we get some ramen or something ya know near that place we'd go to after practice in our freshman year of college?" Aki said looking out at the sky with a whisper of a smile left on his glowing face.
They made it to the ramen shop, it felt just like old times maybe not too old of course but it felt nice nostalgic almost. The smell stayed the same, even as so many months went by everything stayed the same in this one shop it was like a little excuse to cling on to something that hasn't changed, maybe that's why some people keep things that they don't need anymore just for the memories because they refuse to acknowledge how much the present has changed hopefully for the better but sometimes it feels as though things don't get better until it gets worse. They sat there in comfortable silence. Heading home felt like something they couldn't do just yet, it was like they were both making up for lost time staring in each other's eyes. Where did it go wrong? was the only thing on both of each other's minds. The food had arrived at the table and they had both ordered the same spicy miso ramen they did back in their freshman year. Tasted the same and in a way so much better, maybe it was the new ingredients? no that couldn't be it, the company? maybe and possibly the new feelings that have found a way to make something old feel new again. Haruki and Aki both finished their bowls, paid, and head out to walk around aimlessly with no direction. It was getting dark and the clouds started to gather snatching the day away. Raindrops started to trickle softly then came crashing down, "come on let's get out of the ran," Haruki said grabbing Akihiko's hand. Aki stared at Haruki's hand in his and he smiled everything was brighter even though it was raining. They hid under one of the strips of stores roofs and it so happened that the old arcade they'd go to was there. "Why not go in and play one on one?" Aki asked playfully, "what's in for me if I win?," Haruki asked slyly, "the loser has to take the winner out on a date?" Haruki turned and looked at Akihiko in disbelief and slight embarrassment. "What?" Haruki was confused he didn't know if Akihiko was joking around or being dead-serious. Akihiko smirked and leaned closer to Haruki backing him against a wall in the process, "I hope you lose," he walked in the arcade leaving poor Haruki flustered and confused but after a good 5 minutes he went in and joined Akihiko.

. . .

𝐀/𝐍

Midterms have been killing me and I don't have my phone and I took a mental health break because my life was in shambles so the usual. Have a good holiday season, stay safe and remember to find love in yourself.

-Author

𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛...𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 5- Playing games