Boys For Hire!!

Chapter 15: I Kinda Like It Though

"Chiseki, wake up."

"Hmm..."

"Chi-se-ki!"

I open my eyes drearily and let them adjust to the light before rolling over to give a damn about other people's existences. I meet the eyes of a gloomy aqua eyed boy.

"What do you want, Hotaka..." The boy sits on the edge of the bed and smiles dimly toward me. "I'm sorry about what happened the other day. Ichi takes full responsibility for it, that he provoked the Boy For-" I can see the muscles in his strong jawline twitch as he jars his word. "Shintaro."

I clench my teeth. "He should tell me that himself." It's been three days past the day of the whole fight between Shintaro and Ichirou. I've refused to come out of my room ever since.

I hear Hotaka sigh as he collapses back first onto the bed, exasperated. "You know he won't, that's not how Ichi works." I can hear the dark haired boy breathing heavily and I lean upwards.

"Is your asthma acting up again?"

"I'm fine, it's just super dusty in your room."

"Gee, thanks."

I hear him chuckle. "It's so dirty in here you could mistake it for a fossil museum." I throw a pillow at him and the dark haired boy swiftly dodges it, landing gracefully on his feet. He smirks and then indicates towards the door, wanting me to come outside. He lazily slouches towards the door and closes it behind him so I can change.

"Stupid emo ecks dee..." I blow a piece of hair from my fringe out of my face and slip on a pair of fluffy purple leggings and a horribly mismatching white and black jumper. I tie my hair up into a bun on top of my head, letting a few strands of hair escape the black clasp. I grab the bronze handle of my door and twist it.

***

"I'm not sorry."

"Just say it stupid."

I chew on my crispy bacon, letting the oil slightly burn the insides of my cheeks. I swallow and take a sip of my orange juice as I continue to watch in on as Katsumi and Ichirou argue with each other.

"You started that fight Ichi, you did. Your the one that made Chi upset, you made her cry. Why are you so stubborn!?" Katsumi lowers the tone in his voice, which is rather rare. But Ichirou does the same.

"Shut. Up. I didn't do anything wrong!" My heart skips a beat when Ichirou slams his chair backwards, standing up hurriedly.

"What happened?" My mother peeks over the marble counter separating the kitchen and the dining room.

I sigh and set my orange juice down. "It's nothing, mum."

***

"He's not gonna relent."

"I know that. Seems like Katsumi isn't getting the idea though."

Hotaka and I sit on the couch which our legs curled up as we glance outside the glass door where Ichirou and Katsumi continue their fight on the porch. I turn my eyes back to the bright screen of the T.V, cringing my eyes as they adjust to the lighting. When I look over to Hotaka, he's got his eyes glued on the fighting pair outside, a sad look on his face.

"They don't normally fight like this, do they?"

The black haired boy's eyes peel away from the window and look to me. "How can you tell."

"It's written all over your face." Embarrassed, Hotaka looks away quickly and let out a small sigh. "You guys... You guys are so confusing."

"What do you mean?" Hotaka crosses his legs on the navy sofa, encircling his toes to escape the cold of the oak floor. I lean my elbow on the arm of the couch, feeling the warmth of my balled up hand on my cheek.

"The Boys For Hire were easy to figure out. They weren't friends, they were brought together for a job, and they were just as easily brought apart when the job was done. They worked together and that's all there was." I blow a strand of my fringe that was tickling my nose out of my face. "But you guys are different. Your friends, your connected to each other and you have empathy for one another. Your not looking for the number 1 spot at the firm," I clench my teeth remembering a certain prince I dare not speak the name of. "Your all working together to make a girl happy."

I feel his gaze on my face. "We're not doing a very good job, are we?"

I chuckle at his slight sense of humour and his worried expression softens to a slight smile. "You may be a desolate, nerdy emo, but your a good guy."

"Honoured." He grins almost too over-proudly and I laugh some more. He looks once more out the window, where the fighting duo I had almost forgotten about has walked away from each other, not talking. Hotaka sighs. "I wish there was something I could do. But if it's gone this far I don't even know if there's any coming back." An idea strikes me and I hop up, almost kicking Hotaka in the face in the process. "Woah, calm down girl!!"

I grin till my cheeks puff up to my eyes, fists clenched near my chest. "There's no point moping around until they resolve it themselves. If there's anything I've learnt with dealing with the mysterious organisms referred to as 'friends', its that even though they have to resolve it themselves, but there's no harm in pushing it along!"

Hotaka gapes at me in disbelief. "Well well, looks who's done a fair bit of human connections psychology research, huh Sherlock Holmes?"

"No time for sarcastic back chat!" I grab him by the collar and pull him to his feet, not letting him go. "I have a plan."

"Your nuts!"

"I know, that's why some people are allergic to me." I snicker at my bad joke as I tug on Hotaka, dragging him by the collar as I prepare for our journey to the grocery store.

"Crazy... Absolutely crazy..."

I hear Hotaka mutter as I tug my combat boots onto my socked feet, fiddling with the lime-coloured laces as I go. When I'm up and ready, I grip onto the black haired boy's sleeve and start dragging him again, sticking my tongue out before returning my attention back to the stony footpath. I can basically hear him smirk.

"I kinda like it though."