Fight or Flight - ShigaDabi

Chapter 8

Luckily, Tenko was just able to reach Kai before he disappeared in the mess of the hallways. He dipped and dodged a few sprinting highschoolers to get to him.

"Kai!" Tenko called out to him. "Wait up!"

To his luck, Kai actually stopped and looked over. His eyes were quick to fill with annoyance as he stared Tenko down. Now, Tenko was more hesitant than ever. He just had to push down his fear and continue his approach.

"I'm sorry. For what I said in there." He flicked his head back towards the classroom. "It just kind of slipped out...please don't be mad."

Kai stared at him for a few long moments. The hardness in his eyes softened just a hair before he shrugged lazily.

"It's fine." He hummed.

Tenko blinked in surprise before looking at him. "Wait...you're really not mad?"

"Nah. Why would I be mad over something like that?" Kai asked. "I mean, granted my home life is none of your business and there's the fact that you don't know what happens at home. You really didn't know."

Tenko winced at the words. That's why I'm sorry. He thought to himself. He hated speaking without thinking. Especially with what Kai just pointed out. He didn't know how Kai's homelife was. What he said could have majorly offended him or, like now, he really couldn't give two shits. Personally, Tenko was glad that it was the second option.

After a minute, Tenko gave a sigh. He knew he shouldn't keep standing here. Hana was waiting for him and Kai probably had other places to be.

"So...was that it?" Kai finally asked, snapping Tenko out of his train of thought.

The ravenette looked up at him. He gave an awkward smile as he slowly nodded. "Yeah. As stupid as it was, I just wanted to apologize. What I said was uncalled for and you seemed hurt about it. But, I think I just read too far into it. My bad."

Kai gave a low chuckle. He placed a hand on Tenko's shoulder, causing the other to shift his gaze to the hand and then back at Kai.

"Apologizing wasn't stupid of you." The brunette explained. "It just shows what kind of person you are. You're kind and empathetic. Those are good qualities; they're kind of cute too. At least to me that is."

Tenko felt heat creep its way under his skin and up to his cheeks. He didn't know why those words suddenly made him feel that way. Plenty of people had called him cute before. Maybe it was the fact that the words weren't directed at him, but rather, his personality and characteristics. Whatever it was, Tenko couldn't quite shake the heat.

A low smile graced his face as he turned his gaze away from Kai. "Really? You...think so?"

Kai gave a low chuckle as he nodded. Honestly, it was quite cute to him to see Tenko getting so flustered over a few small words. He wondered what he would look like showered in a few more compliments. However, that experiment would have to be performed some other day.

"Well, I'm going to get going." Kai hummed as he removed his hand and stepped away. "I've got work in an hour and I can't afford to be late again."

Tenko looked at him and nodded softly. "Alright. I'll let you go then."

Kai gave a low chuckle before giving Tenko a brief wave and spinning on his heels. Tenko's lips curled into a low smile as his eyes followed the brunette. That feeling still lingered around in his chest like a freeloader. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it wasn't a bad feeling. Nowhere near.

Taking a deep breath, Tenko gave another attempt to push the feeling down. He then turned as well and wandered off to find his sister. His mind hadn't exactly caught up to the fact that he had abandoned Toya entirely, but half of him couldn't care less. Then again, that half was still focused on Kai's words.