Forgiveness (Kazuscara)

Chapter VI

Aether suddenly opened his eyes, the sunlight waking him up. Then, as he came to his senses, he started crying uncontrollably. 

He remembered Scaramouche's ice cold gaze towards him, as if he despised him deeply. He remember how the same man emotionlessly told him "I've never loved you anyway" like it was not such a big deal. Oh, how he regretted doubting Kazuha's words...

The blonde was suddenly suprised out of his train of thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. First surprised, he then realized it was Xiao. Right, they were roommates now.

"- Hey Aether, you okay ? Can I do anything for you ?

- Xi-Xiao... Sorry about that, I'm fine...

- Are you sure ?

- Yeah..."

There was a silence, where Aether was trying to avoid Xiao's gaze.

"- ...Can I hug you ?"

Aether turned to the young man who just talked, a light tint of pink on his face. He was surprised, as Xiao had recently been quite distant with him... Precisely when he started dating Scaramouche actually. But even though he wanted to show Xiao that he had been hurt by that, Aether really needed a hug right now.

"- Sure.

- Thank you."

Xiao immediately embraced Aether with his arms, holding the blonde's head in his collarbone. Aether leaned into the other's comforting heat, the last tears on his face drying quickly.

This is only then that the blonde realized that Xiao was shirtless. Feeling a different heat than Xiao's one coming to his face, he hurriedly broke the hug.

"- W-why aren't you wearing anything ??"

Xiao looked quite hurt that Aether broke the hug, but cluelessly blinked as he heard Aether.

"- Well, I had just woken up, and it's quite hot outside so...

- I don't care ! Just go put something on !

- Why...? I mean, if you want. Can I borrow you a shirt ?

- Um, sure..."

Aether felt his face burning hot, even if he didn't really understand why. He was hiding his face from Xiao until the dark-haired man told him he was done.

But as Aether looked at him, it was even worse. 

"Shit, why does seeing him with my shirt on makes me so flustered...?"

But he couldn't let it show, so he just stood up from his bed and made his way outside of his room, followed by Xiao.

Once in the kitchen, both holding a cup of coffee, both young men stayed silent until Aether talked.

"- Hey, I just wanted to ask... Why did it look like you were mad at me recently ? You wouldn't talk to me, or even look in my direction !"

Xiao was startled at the question, but he also expected it to be asked at some point. Though he didn't know how much he should explain.

"- Well... I didn't like how that guy treated you, he was awful with you, whatever you said ! And also, you would hang out with us less often, I felt like it was because you prefered him to m... to us ! But now I know it wasn't you fault, of course !

- I'm still sorry about it... I didn't realize how much he gaslighted me, I just thought he was acting for my own good  !

- I can't say I'm surprised he's that good at manipulating. I also noticed that (Xiao observed Aether's face, hoping he wasn't going too far) he was always flirting with someone different, anytime he had the occasion..."

Aether did not seem really taken aback at the information, even if he looked hurt.

"- I'm not really surprised he did that, it feels like no one is able to catch his eye well enough for him to not get bored of them..."

Then, the blonde was suddenly reminded of something he had noticed.

"- By the way ! I understand that you were mad that I didn't hang out with the group as often as usual, but the others didn't seem as mad at me as you were... Did you have something personal against me ?"

Xiao felt heat reaching his whole face. Since when was Aether so perceptive ?

"- Well, we are best friends, aren't we ? So, I was really worried about you ! Because... I li- care about you a lot..."

Xiao hesitated about adding "as friends" to his sentence, but he ended up telling himself that some ambiguity wouldn't be so bad. It led him to be red as a pepper though. However, Aether was in a similar state.

"- I do care a lot about you too..." mumbled Aether timidly.

There was an embarrassing silence before Aether eventually spoke up :

"- A-Anyway, I feel kinda bad about leaving Kazuha in the same apartment as Scaramouche... I hope they won't kill each other...

- Yeah..."

°°°

At the exact same time, Kazuha was once again walking around shirtless in the apartment, in front of Scaramouche.

"- Gosh, Kazuha ! Can't you put a shirt ? Why do you always have to not have one ?"

Kazuha gave Scaramouche a dark gaze.

"- I'm in my apartment, so I do whatever I want. Also, I just came back from the gym, so I don't want to put back on my shirt full of sweat.

- So you do go to the gym..." mumbled Scaramouche.

"- Huh ?

- Nothing ! Anyway, just go take a shower and stop walking around half naked ! I almost feel like you want to flex your abs on me or whatever..."

Kazuha couldn't help but laugh.

"- Hah, as much as I remember, you had nothing to be ashamed of in comparison to me in that field..."

Scaramouche felt his face flushing  but he didn't say anything. Even if that was the case then because he used to go to the gym everyday, he had stopped doing it when Kazuha left him. These two events had, of course, no correlation between them.

"- Hm ? You have no answer ? Well, I'm going to take a shower, I'm going out tonight."

After saying that, Kazuha left to the bathroom to take a shower, leaving Scaramouche to wonder.

"I'm supposed to go out tonight too... Could we be going to the same party...?"

°°°

At 8 p.m., both young men were ready to go out. Kazuha was wearing a white shirt, black pants and a red checkered shirt around his waist. He had accessorized it with a lot of rings, a necklace and ear piercings. On the other hand, Scaramouche wore a sleeveless black turtleneck under a white hoodie with a zipper and navy blue shorts. He also wore a lot of jewelry.

Each young man couldn't help but check the other out. They were both remided of their time together, as they would often dress up and go out together to parties.

Kazuha was the first to talk :

"- So you're going to a party too ? Is it-

- At the Kamisato's ? Yes it is.

- Oh great, we're going together. Let me warn you, I'm staying with Heizou and Yoimiya, I have no intention to hang out with you.

- I never asked you to.

- ...Alright, well let's go."

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Words : 1157

Published on : June 6th 2024

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Hiya ! Here's a bit of Xiaother for you guys  ! Don't worry, it will stay a side ship :)

So we're going to a party next chapter ! We all know a lot of exciting stuff happens at parties~ I hope you're eager to see what's going to happen hehe !

I'll post the next chapter in not too much time, so see you soon guys <3