Teen Romance (Toge Inumaki X Reader)

5

Some nights were hard to go through. Sometimes that dull memory haunted you, and before you could remove it from your mind, it entangled you in its trap like a giant tarantula. And tonight was one of those nights.

You were five years old again, sitting in the corner, hugging your legs, your head hidden, and trying to escape from reality by listening to music. The music did a good job of hiding the sound of your mother's cries for help.

That cloudy evening your father was drunk again. He beat your mother to death and then decided to shoot himself without thinking about their five-year-old frightened daughter.

Even when they were around you, you were all alone but now it was different. Now you felt the cold loneliness filling your lungs.

You woke up finding it difficult to catch your breath, bitter tears ran down your cheeks. You didn't remember where you were.

"Mustard leaf?" Inumaki had woken up after you took your head off his shoulder. He looked at you frightened.

"I'm fine, just a nightmare." with difficulty you managed to whisper between sobs.

Inumaki really wanted to comfort you, telling you everything was fine, but he couldn't, so he decided to show it to you with his actions.

He helped you drink some water. Then he put his hands on either side of your face and wiped away your tears with his thumbs. He smiled at you compassionately and pulled you into his arms. You hid your head in the knot of his neck, his t-shirt now getting wet because of your tears.

You found comfort in his silence. This was much better than him asking you about your nightmare and telling you that its over now, because it wasn't. The nightmare could never actually be over, it was part of who you were now.

Toge gently caresss your back until you fall asleep again. Then he lifted you up in his arms and left you on his bed. You felt his hands break the contact and slightly opened your eyes and grabbed him by the wrist.

"Don't leave me alone, please." you whispered so softly that he could barely hear you.

"Salmon." he climbed on the bed and laid down next to you. You snuggled closer to him and hugged him with your head resting on his chest.

"Thank you Inumaki." you listened to his heartbeat, which you expected to be calm, but his heart was beating like crazy. You smiled lazily as Inumaki started stroking your hair.

For the first time since you knew yourself, you didn't feel alone. The cold loneliness had now been replaced by a burning companionship. You enjoyed every last bit of being this close with someone and you were glad this someone was no one other than Inumaki himself.

A few hours later, you was awakened by Inumaki's alarm. You opened your eyes and leaned on your elbow. Inumaki had also woken up and was just setting off the alarm.

"Kelp." he sat up in his bed and smiled softly.

"Good morning." you returned his smile. Memories of the evening appeared in your head, flooding you with cold water.

You never showed anyone that you had feelings and were actually so hurt and emotional. You knew how to play the role of the strong insensitive girl perfectly, but not in front of Toge. He brought out the real you, which scared you a lot.

"I better go and get ready for the day." you nervously fixed your hair "Thanks for everything." you stood up and went to the door.

You stopped for a second and said "Please don't tell anyone about my breakdown." in response, Inumaki gave you a thumbs up.

After that night, Inumaki stopped avoiding you. Even you sat together in class. When you weren't paying attention, he was looking at you, and when you looked at him, he quickly looked away so you wouldn't catch him staring, but you always caught him. Imperceptibly, both of you began to catch feelings for one another, but both of you couldn't admit it yet.