Brown and Orange - Soukoku

22

Chuuya's POV

"Dazai why are we in a park in the middle of the night?" I questioned. "Stop acting questions.. follow me!" He dragged my wrist as we ran through the whole park.

I tripped cover one of the branches on the ground and fell onto the ground of autumn leaves. The leaves were pretty, the color of the leaves look absolutely beautiful.

Brown and orange.

"I wasn't even running that fast" he giggled as he held a hand out for me, which I slapped away annoyed. He held my hand as we walked over to a wooden bench.

He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and put one in his mouth. "Smoking isn't good for you" I mumbled. "Mhm.. it's only a few, I only do it once in a while.

As he lit the cigarette, I was just staring at him. "Do you want to try?" he turned around to face me. Why not? It's only one after all. It wouldn't hurt to try, what harm could it do?

He took a puff of the smoke and brought the cigarette away from his mouth closer to mine. "Open" he gestured to my lips as I followed his orders.

He put the cigarette in between my lips carefully as I looked up to him. I could stare at him all day, his eyes were focused as the lighting around us made him seem hypnotizing.

I took a long puff of the smoke and I immediately started coughing. It literally felt like my throat was on fire. He took the cigarette away from me as he started giggling.

"Don't overdo it" he was gently rubbing circles on my back trying to stop the coughing. It felt comfortable, the touch of his hand always manages to calm me down somehow.

"Look, take small hits" he put the cigarette back in my mouth. "Breathe" I did as told. His hand was still making circles on my back, it made it easier to relax and not choke on the smoke.

"Okay, now exhale" I listened to his instructions and let out a puff of smoke. The smoke cloud was quite noticeable in the chilly fall air.

This time, I didnt cough at all. "See? You're a professional already" he smiled. He brung the cigarette to his own mouth and took a hit.

We continued like that for around seven minutes until the cigarette burned out. He threw the cigarette on the ground and stomped on it to make sure the flame went out. After all, we wouldn't want to start a wild fire in the middle of these trees.

"How was that? Not so bad huh?" he asked. "Mhm" I replied. I was more at ease now. "You just have to trust me sometimes" he responded.

He brought his hand towards me and inside his palm was his lighter. "You can keep the lighter, I have too many" he explained. As we sat on the bench, my head was starting to turn heavy.

I felt sleepy and my eyelids were threatening to fall. I leaned my head on his shoulder and he didn't seem to mind. Instead, he moved my head from his shoulder to his lap and started making soothing circle on my back. I felt so tired yet so comfortable.

I could stay in this park with him forever and never want to leave. I was about to fall asleep when he stopped moving his hand. "No.. don't stop. It feels good" I mumbled.

"Since when were you so needy?" he signed. He started massaging my back again. "Sweet dreams, Chuuya" he whispered before I fell asleep in the eerie silence.

.

That memory ran through my head at the speed of light.

I wish I could go back to that day. I wish I could put it in slow motion. I wish I could replay that moment over and over. My wishes are just wishes. Not all wishes come true.

Akutagawa looked at me with confusion in his eyes, he must be wondering what I was zoned out about. "No need to worry Akutagawa. I'm just thinking about something" I tried to do a natural smile.

Thinking about someone. Thinking about him. I'm really starting to miss him for some reason.

"Come on, let's start heading back" we moved the containers of drugs into the backseat of the car and I started driving. It was kind of dark out here, the roads looked blurry and the rain that started to fall was not helping.

If we were in the city, I would have gotten at least seven tickets already and would've been stopped by the police. I literally can't see anything right now and nearly crashed into a tree.

I do have to thank the drug dealer for picking a rural area for his plug house. If he didn't, I wouldn't be crashing into random plants and bushes. I would be crashing into cars, people, and buildings instead.

Akutagawa wasn't the least fazed. He didn't mind nor question the rough turns and bumps I would take. I'm not bad at driving. I'm just not the best at driving cars, my motorcycle hardly has any scratches.

After a few left turns and a few right turns, Akutagawa spoke up. "Chuuya-san, I'm not one to judge your driving skills but we've been going in circles for about twenty minutes" he was looking outside the car windows.

A normal child would probably be imagining a rain droplet race of some sort. This kid was a little different. How is remembering these directions? All the paths look the same to me.

"I think you should ignore the turns on the next exit and head straight. You've been taking left turns this whole time and I'm getting a little dizzy" he signed.

"I kno-" I saw something on the side of the road. It was a brown cardboard box that seemed to be moving. I'm not even driving very fast, I'm only going 70mph. My eyes are probably trying to play a trick on me.

.

7 years into the future

"I mean, the choice is yours" he shrugged.

"I hate it when you do that, every time you say that I don't actually have a choice" I signed.

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1043 words