6: EXPOSED

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What the?

Akio's phone buzzed inside his pocket in the middle of class.

Who would be texting me?

He attempted to read the message, but his teacher--the one who'd been lecturing him a week ago--caught him and confiscated his cell.

"You can't have it back until after your last class," she scolded.

All day Akio was curious, but somewhere deep down he had a feeling that it would be from the boy whose glasses he'd broken.

The end of the day came excruciatingly slowly and he had to bare through another lecture from the teacher before his phone was finally back in his possession.  As soon as it was, he flipped it open to read the message.

FROM: UNKNOWN RECIPIENT, 9:19 a.m.
SUBJECT: (NONE)
MESSAGE:
hey its yuu kanno :) i forgot to give you back your coat the other night ^^; meet me in the outdoor hallway between the high schools after we get out so i can give it back to you?!?

Akio flipped his wrist to look at the time. 

"Dammit," he muttered before taking off down the hall, deja vu slapping him.

As he ran, he thought about the fact that Yuu had been carrying around his jacket all day.  He once wore his ex's sweater to school, proudly cuddled in the oversized thing.  He wondered if Yuu had felt a similar feeling, carrying an upperclassman's clothes around.

He screeched to a halt outside, wheezing for air, and began looking around for a lanky, blonde kid. 

"Hey!" someone called.

Yuu was slouched against a column, the jacket folded over his arms.  For some reason, Akio was relieved that the boy hadn't left.

"Hey, sorry I took so long!" he huffed back, approaching the kid with a smile.  "Thanks for getting my jacket back to me.  It's kind of the only one I have right now."

"No problem."  Yuu grinned, handing it over.  "Thanks for lending it to me."

As Akio wondered what to say next, wondered whether he should ask if the fight with his parents had been resolved, wondered if Yuu'd gotten away with his tipsiness, he noticed all of the curious eyes on them.  People were whispering, and when Yuu saw him glancing around, he did the same, color rising to his face.

"Uhm," Yuu murmured, "check the pocket."

"What?"

He shifted his footing awkwardly.  "I made you something."

Akio's eyes widened and he fished around until he felt a foreign object, pulling it out into the light.

"Oh?"

In his grip was a strand of leather and, upon closer examination, he realized that intricate patterns had been carved into it.  On one end was a loop, the other a bronze anchor.

"It's a bracelet," Yuu said as Akio marveled over the details.  "It's to say thanks for talking to me the other night."

"You made this?"

Yuu nodded.

"Wow.  Thank you, Yuu."

"Mhmm."

The people around them passed slowly, studying them with inquisitive stares.  All of their eyes, they looked like they didn't understand what they saw at all, and not in a kind way.  Akio suddenly felt protective of Yuu.  He may not have known the boy well, but he figured he knew him better than any of these people.  And for some reason it made him feel special, being the only one who understood him at all.

Yuu's timid voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Well, I'll see you around."

Before Akio could reply, the boy was scurrying away.

He stood dumbfounded for a moment, then tucked the jacket beneath his arm as he wrapped the leather five times around his wrist, pulling it taut with his teeth and looping the knot around the anchor.  It felt like closure, like he'd done a good deed, and the walk to work was buoyant.

Absconded Youth (Boyxboy) ✓Where stories live. Discover now