A Moment Too Soon (Yaoi boyxboy)

Yuuichi

Elisa had left before me, and I only had about 30 minutes left to get to school, but we lived pretty close to it. I could probably get there in a matter of minutes. That was nice, considering the fact that if I was late for some reason one day, my aunt wouldn't have to bother with driving me there. I wasn't ever usually late anyways, but still...it was convenient. I grabbed my bag from the small seat next to me by the door, and did a quick check over myself to make sure I had everything.

"Alright..." I mumbled to myself after being certain I was ready. "Bye guys!" I called out to the others. My aunt came around the corner with her baby in one arm and said goodbye to me. My uncle called out from the living room next. My parents were actually in another state at the moment. I had to move in with my aunt and uncle because my parents weren't home enough to take care of me. It had always been like that.

When I was younger they used to bring me to my grandparent's house all the time, and I would spend weeks there sometimes. You'd think now that I was in high school that I would be able to take care of myself, but it was hard when my parents were gone all the time. There were times when they didn't pick up groceries for days. My aunt and Uncle didn't like that, so they offered to let me stay in their extra bedroom until college.

I happily agreed of course. I did feel a little bad though, like I was invading their space. Still, I didn't think I had much of an option either after I told my parents about their offer, they insisted that I go multiple times until I finally just decided to do it. I was also lucky that my cousin was here. She introduced me to people right away. All of her friends were pretty nice, in my opinion...I wasn't sure about Nowaki though.

Elisa's story flashed back into my head then, and felt the small ache in my chest for a moment. I pulled my focus away from it by counting the cracks in the sidewalk as I made my way to school. When I got closer to the school, I suddenly caught sight of Elisa. She waved me over and I jogged over to her. She smiled at me brightly, along with some of the others.

"I was wondering if you were ever gonna get here." She joked.

"I wouldn't miss the first day." I let out a soft laugh. "How come you're all waiting out here?"

"We were waiting for Nowaki. We always do." Cheyenne explained. I nodded.

"Has he met Nowaki yet?" One of them asked. "If he hasn't, he should know about-"

"He knows, Jacob." Elisa stopped the conversation that was about to start in an instant. "Let's not worry about any of that. If we just act normal, He'll come around."

"Do you guys think he'll even come today?" Aiden asked, scanning the people walking in the gates. Elisa looked hopeful, but I could tell by her tone that she wouldn't be surprised if he didn't.

"I think so. We saw him out taking a walk last week, actually, so that's a good sign." She said.

"Anyone can just take a walk, Elisa." Jacob replied. She gave him a sad look, and he didn't make anymore comments. His friends really cared about him...it was nice to see, but I wasn't nice to see that they worried so much. It even made me feel kind of nervous, and I had only just learned about Nowaki's story. It may not have even been the whole thing, either. Only Nowaki knew everything, but I wouldn't dare ask him. He wasn't in the right state of mind for that.

"Oh!" Elisa gasped as she spotted someone. "Guys, he came!"

I turned my head to see him. He was closer than I expected, so he reached us in a short amount of time. Elisa and everyone looked at him with smiles on their faces, but he didn't return them. Instead, it seemed like it sapped the energy out of him to see their faces. He had his hands in his pockets as he looked at us.

"Thanks for waiting for me..." He muttered. They all laughed and said,

"We always do."

"Ah, you know, I don't think that I ever introduced you to my cousin. He was with us on that day we saw you heading to the park." Elisa waited for a response. I saw his face go blank for second, and then twinge with slight guilt.

"Oh...yeah." He said. Elisa grabbed my arm and pulled me forward in front of him. I looked up at him. He was definitely taller than me, for sure. I didn't say anything at first, but then he broke the awkwardness between us.

"...I'm Nowaki." He stuck out his hand to shake mine, and I took it quickly with mine politely.

"Yuuichi." I replied, staring into his eyes. Something different flashed in his eyes for the smallest moment. I wasn't sure if I had seen correctly, because when I blinked, his eyes looked tired and pained just like before.