Gehenna's Gate

Rain

'Can we talk?'

Vena had never hit the 'call' button so quickly in her life, tapping her foot anxiously as she waited for the ringing to stop.

"Hey, sorry to bother you..." Hearing his voice had the girl letting out a sigh of relief.

"Kazuha, you're never a bother, you know that." Vena could finally take a seat down on the edge of her bed, her tone a mixture of empathy and worry as she tried to console her friend.

"What's going on, bestie? How can I help?" Vena's genuine smile could be heard through her voice, and it helped ease her friend's worries almost immediately as he began confiding in her.

It was the weekend, which Vena had decided to stay in and relax especially since it was going to be rainy, when she'd gotten a text from one of her best long distance friends. They'd met in real life before, him only living about an hour away so they'd meet in the middle somewhere for lunch every now and then and she honestly considered him her best friend aside from Rae, and she took her best friend duties very seriously.

She'd jump at any chance to help, feeling honored that the ones she loved and cared for trusted her with some of their most vulnerable emotions.

She listened intently to him explain his story before he asked her opinion on what he should do.

"Hmmm, if I were in your shoes, I would tell her how you feel despite how scary that could be. I know it's easier said that done, but if you can never get her off your mind and you're that serious about her, tell her! Life is too short to have regrets, and any chance at love is such a beautiful thing." Vena found herself rambling a bit, also almost jealous, but it was toward the fact of how she'd never really experienced those emotions before.

Maybe it was the trust issues always keeping her from allowing herself to feel those emotions in the first place, or even get that close to someone to begin with. To allow herself to be that vulnerable..? Absolutely not, she'd rather die.

And when she'd allowed it in the past, it had always come back to bite her in the ass, so she typically avoided anything past platonic.

Hell, it was hard enough for her to just trust friends, so the mere mention of showing that level of intimacy... she cringed at the thought, but she knew that wasn't the case for most people.

That was just how her trauma had affected her, and she knew she couldn't tell others to do what she would do based on her own problems.

Everyone else wasn't as damaged as she was.

"How do you think she feels?" Kazuha asked, uncertainty clear in his tone.

"You two definitely have chemistry, and I feel like any time we're all playing games together, she's always following you around... I feel like there's something there for her too, but she's just shy about it."

How nice it was to just talk about emotions like it wasn't something to be so heavily guarded. Vena envied his ability, wishing she didn't feel the urge to run and hide any time she showed any emotion on a deeper level than just a vague feeling of 'sad, mad, happy' etc.

How free it must feel to not hide everything behind a mask.

How comfortable it must be to feel safe around another human being.

The two continued this conversation for almost an hour.

"Okay... I'm going to ask her to meet me for coffee tomorrow then." Kazuha sounded ten times happier than how he had when he'd first picked up the phone.