*:･ﾟYou Bet I Stare ･ﾟ:*

CHAPTER 10 - atlantis

SOUSUKE
—❁—

I look up to find Kou standing in a sorry position, and I felt my heart brew up with a certain emotion. It's like I want to go off on him, but I can tell he has something to say. Like I want to hear what that something is, but I also wanting that silence to be the only thing he leaves with. He just stares at me before holding a box out to me. I look down at the box, "What the hell is this.." I mutter as I grab the box from him. "It's flan.. like what you like—you don't have to eat it, I just.." He steps back, I could tell he was limping. "I can go if you want me to. You don't have to listen to what I have to say, but—" I watch his hands weaken, like he was about to break down in front of me. "—but I.. I think it would be better if you did hear what I want to tell you.." We stand in silence for a second, then I point at his lip, "Your lip is bleeding." He nods in response, not making eye contact with me. I then sigh and turn before walking inside, but I leave the front door open for him to come inside.

I set the flan he got me on the counter before looking back at the door. He was still standing outside, his posture was off now that I could really look at him. "Are you gonna come in or what?" I watch him limp inside, and I walk past him to shut the front door. I shut it and lock it, then I turn and look at Kou. He was crying, but I could tell that he didn't want me to know; and his hand gripped harder on his side. I could feel myself getting emotional for him as we just stood there; and it was difficult for me to tell if he was just trying to make me feel bad so that forgiving him would be easier—or if it was something else. I then walk up to him, but he didn't look up at me. I could feel myself frown as I hesitate to bring my hands up to his cheeks, lifting his face up so he'll meet my gaze. "I.." Kou mutters, his nose pink from crying; and his eyebrows narrowed. I then shook my head as I wiped his tears with my thumbs, trying my best to comfort him. "Tell me after we get you fixed up." My voice was soft as I looked up at him, and he only responded with a nod.

I helped him get to the bathroom of the small apartment me and my mom shared. Kou situated himself on the side of the tub and wiped his eyes with his hands as he tried to calm himself down. "This isn't just a ploy to try and get me to feel bad for you, is it?" I look at him as I place the first aid kit on the counter, but he didn't answer me. My chest slowly raises and lowers as I exhale, walking over to him. "You're gonna have to get rid of your shirt if you want me to help you clean your injuries." I remove his uniform tie and set it on the counter, then I soak a cotton ball with some peroxide as he undoes his uniform shirt and pulls his black undershirt off. "Does your brother know you're over here?" I use some tweezers to pick up the soaked cotton ball; but Kou just shakes his head as he stares down. I look at his torso and begin cleaning up his injuries. He flinches as I dab his injuries with the peroxide, and I could tell he didn't want to make eye contact with me. "Sorry—it's gonna burn for a second but it's just cleaning the wounds." I continue to dab his injuries clean and patch him up before standing up straight and grabbing his chin with my hand. This causes him to look up at me, his cheeks turning a subtle shade of pink as I tend to his busted lip. "I can give you some curry that I made a bit ago if you're hungry, there's enough servings for both of us." Kou then softly nods, still watching my face as I tend to the injuries he had on his body.

Soon enough I had all of Kous injuries patched up, and I was now sitting across him at the small dining room table, he's been quiet ever since he got here. I didn't want to force him to talk if he didn't want to, but I felt like I deserved an explanation. We just silently ate the curry that I made, hardly even looking at each other.

I just hope that things won't be jacked up between us.. or if they are, it's easy to fix.