The Reservation (Nanami Kento || JJK)

Bloody Knees

A week passed. Nanami didn't turn up. The only text I got was after I boldly texted first, asking if he was still alive.

NANAMI: Sadly, yes.

We didn't talk after that though. I knew he was alive, and that was it.

At this rate, I feared we would go back to only seeing each other once a year, and that just wouldn't do. I had a full-blown addiction to him now, and not seeing him was really driving me crazy.

There was no denying I felt some sort of way for him. He was handsome, caring, and just the right amount of brooding. Not to mention his perfect muscles that I wanted to trace with my tongue in the name of perfecting my craft...

My thoughts started wandering down paths they really shouldn't one late night, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep until I did something about it. There was too much pent up energy inside me, so I did what I normally did when I couldn't sleep.

I broke out the treadmill in my living room at midnight for speed walking and music. Working up a little sweat usually did the trick.

In nothing but leggings, a sports bra, and shoes with enough padding in the soles that an elderly woman would think she was walking on clouds all day, I hopped on the treadmill and bumped the speed up incrementally till I was marching along to the beat of the fast-paced song playing through my headphones.

Once I got going, I realized that I forgot how much I loved the treadmill, which had been purchased one late night when I had grand ideals of improving my cardio. I used it for a week, then put it away in a closet to collect dust. It was doing the trick tonight though, making me want to use it more often. It hadn't hurt my budget too terribly to begin with, since I'd gone with a cheaper model. The only downside to it? It didn't have a handlebar. It was just the walking strip on the floor, meaning that if I lost my balance, there was nothing to grab onto.

That hadn't been a problem before. Not until tonight at least.

Lost in my music, I didn't hear the key turning in the door. I didn't hear the door frame creak when someone pushed on it. I didn't even notice the door opening until a figure loomed in the archway of my living room.

With a gasp, I ripped out my headphones, lost my balance, and since I dropped the remote that controlled the speed of the treadmill, I immediately tripped over my own feet and crashed onto the floor spectacularly.

A curse issued from the man who showed up at my door, and he rushed forward to help me up.

"Nanamin!" I exclaimed. I jumped up as soon as he laid his hands on my shoulders, adrenaline coursing through me so I barely felt the pain from my fall. "What are you doing here?"

He stood back, brows pinching together. "You... You gave me a key..."

Shoot. I completely forgot about that. I had given him a key, and I all but begged him to use it.

"Right!" I laid a hand on my forehead, forcing out a laugh as my cheeks flamed with embarrassment. "I did."

"Is now a bad time?"

"No! No, of course not." I tried to lower my voice, because it was too late to be yelling at him. "I was still up, as you can see. You can stop by anytime. Come on, there's leftovers in the fridge I can reheat for you."

"Mae," he intoned. When I didn't turn back, he said more sternly, "Mae. You're bleeding."

"What?" I whirled around, gaze looking up and down my figure. Sure enough, my leggings had ripped at the knees when they collided with the treadmill. Scrapes oozed blood down my kneecaps that I didn't feel the sting of until I was staring at them. "Huh. Would you look at that."