(Wind Breaker) The Green Rose's Thorns

Part 29

"And that's when I fell for Aoi. Oh, Ume's still number one though," Tsubaki wrapped up his story. His cheeks were burning bright and he was close to squealing as he recalled the details of that night.

"Was he just sleep talking?," Sakura missed the point almost entirely.

"If so, then that means he wasn't holding anything back and said what he really felt," Ito reassured Tsubaki, though it didn't really seem necessary.

"So, he works somewhere kinda shady huh?," Nirei had held his pen to his chin as Tsubaki rambled on. He now lowered it to the page, jotting down random pieces of information. Before he could write anything about the secondary workplace, Suo gently dissuaded him by placing his hand over the page and lightly pushing the book down.

"Suo?," Nirei's head swiveled around, greeted with that typical Suo smile.

"If he doesn't want us to know, there's no point prying it out of one of his friends," Suo's voice was smoother than usual as he spoke, his gaze drifting toward something in the yard as he spoke. Tsubaki was somewhat surprised at that reaction, expecting him to be equally as curious if not more than the other two.

"It doesn't bug you, though?," Sakura charged in as blunt as ever.

"Hm?"

"Not knowin' what he's up to. That doesn't bug you? It sounds like it's something dangerous, too," Sakura studied Suo's face as he pressed on with his sudden interrogation. There was the slightest twitch of a brow, which he might have imagined, and nothing else.

"I don't know what you or Nirei do all the time. And you guys don't know what I spend every minute of every day doing. So it's fine isn't it?," Suo used sound reasoning to deflect, adding in just a touch of feigned confusion.

"Are you and Aoi dating?," Ito asked outright. Nirei nearly spat out his tea, Sakura matching his reaction with an equally flustered response. Tsubaki gasped at the older man's brazenness, while Suo's face stayed just the same as before. Like it was stuck that way, though there were cracks at the seams of his composed exterior.

"They're just friends," Tsubaki jumped to his rescue, the first time he didn't want to taunt the boy about his relationship with Aoi. Nirei fell into a coughing fit, reaching for the tissues that sat in the middle of the table. Sakura was a mess, having spilled some of his tea mid-sip in his flailing second-hand embarrassment.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I should know better than to jump to conclusions at my age," Ito bowed his head apologetically to Suo and chuckled. He felt suddenly nervous there, despite the trust he had placed in the delinquent boys seated in his living room.

"It's fine. Sorry, but we're really just friends," Suo finally breathed again, and the whole room's atmosphere lightened back up. There was nervous chatter as they searched for a new topic, shifty glances bouncing from Suo's face to the glass doors facing the garden.

"Oh, but it's getting late!," Ito glanced at the clock. He had no other engagements, but he didn't want to keep the highschoolers out too late.

"I'll go-"

"I've got it," Suo stood up before Tsubaki could, excusing himself from the table and heading outside.

"Hm," Ito shared a knowing look with Tsubaki. They were on the same page, and it seemed that the other two had caught on at some point as well. Regardless of what either of the pair said, there was blindingly obvious chemistry between them and all their little whispers and touches. Even if they weren't aware of it themselves, however astounding that notion might be to those looking from the outside.

Or in this case, from the inside out. Each of the four remaining occupants tried to hide it, but all eyes were fixed on a spot beneath the blooming dogwood. Suo had knelt down beside Aoi, who really was fast asleep out in the grass. It would have been a pretty picture, the boy sleeping beneath the tree with a fallen blossom nestled into his hair. Hair that shone like golden threads in the sunset's warm glow, with a few spare pink petals scattered over his face and chest. One rested on the bridge of his nose, until Suo's delicate fingers plucked it away as he smiled down at Aoi. The only thing souring that view was the broken line of butterfly bandages where his face had been torn up in the battle with Keel. It was healing well, and pretty fast too. But there was still a chance of scarring, which made Ito and Tsubaki frown in synchronized time as the thought occurred to them both.

"It really is a shame," Ito thought aloud. He was thinking about the masks that Aoi almost always wore. He would take them off inside the house, after his late wife Yui had seen his face and nearly burst into tears at the thought of him covering his face up. Yui had really been kind to him, helping him in much the same way she had helped Tsubaki.

They all watched quietly as Suo tried to rouse his partner, first brushing his cheek and whispering. Aoi's face twitched at that, but he didn't wake up. So Suo got more persistent, tugging at his cheek. Then pinching his nose, until Aoi snapped up and rammed his head right into Suo's chin. That got several of the observers snickering, and they all realized the others had been watching right along with them as they looked across the table at each other.

"Not dating my ass," Sakura's face was nearing a shade close to Tsubaki's lipstick as he shakily lifted his teacup. Nirei laughed nervously at that, feeling like he might develop a stomach ailment like Hiragi's if things kept up the way they had been recently.

"You really shouldn't sleep outside like that," Ito gently chided Aoi as the two stepped back inside. His hair had fallen and now obscured most of the bandaging on his face, a few flower petals still sticking out here and there.

"That's not fair," Tsubaki mumbled to himself. Several faces turned his way at that, hearing his voice but unable to clearly make out the words. He just shook his head, pushing up from his knees to stand up.

"We'll be going now. Thanks for the snacks and tea," Tsubaki scooped up the empty plates and cups and carried them to the kitchen. The others followed Ito out of the sitting room, Aoi using Suo's arm as a lead and yawning in the entryway.

"Come by again, if you want," Ito saw them all off with a big bright smile. He pulled Aoi aside for just a second, whispering something into his ear and patting his shoulder. Aoi's face went cherry red at whatever was told to him, and he refused to spill when Nirei and Tsubaki pestered him on the way back to the school.