Red Mark of Fate

...

 Every time you fell in love, a red tally mark would appear somewhere on your body. Not schoolyard crushes, mind you. Real, passionate love. The kind that made your heart beat a million miles a minute, the kind that made your face flush red, the kind that took all the breath from your lungs, and the love that made you trip over your words and fail to form proper sentences. That was the love the tally marks represented.

And Orochi was terrified of it.

Just by looking at his father's arms, he fell in love a lot. There were marks up and down his arms. Some blue. One was black. And the rest of them were all small scars. The small red tally mark would turn a deep blue if your love was not returned. It would turn black if your love died. And the mark would scar if the lovers broke up. It seems his father had a lot of heartbreak, so when his mother divorced his father, Orochi was officially afraid of falling in love. He could barely keep his anxiety under control. How would he handle such a strong feeling like love? If his love wasn't returned, he'd be chasing someone that would never let him catch up. And if that mark turned black, well, then there would be no more love at all. To avoid ever falling in love, Orochi avoided people. He was already antisocial enough, and if it meant avoiding any type of love, then Orochi could not care less.

Except there was one certain person in particular who seemed very intent on breaking down Orochi's walls, and becoming close with him. Orochi had friends, of course, but he never thought of them as anything other than that. And this person was not one of Orochi's friends. He was annoyingly perfect in every way. From the smile to the hair to the fashion sense, Zac the Sunshine seemed like he had no flaws at all, except for being a complete dork. For whatever reason, Zac would always find a way to bother him.

Just like this morning.

Sunrise was Orochi's favorite time of day. It wasn't too hot outside, the air smelled nice and fresh, the sky was beautiful, and most importantly, it was silent. No normal person would ever bother to wake up this early. Sitting on the small hill by the river with his headphones in and feeling the cool morning breeze would never get old. Not even his crippling fear of falling for someone could catch up to Orochi in these moments.

"Good morning~!"

But that certain blonde haired dork could ruin his time. Orochi didn't even bother with forcing a smile. That just wasn't something he would do. Biting back a deep sigh, Orochi stared up at the one who had bothered him. "...good morning, Zac..." Orochi mutters a quiet greeting.

"Mind if I sit with you?" He asks.

"Guess not." Orochi shrugs. He didn't really have a good reason to say no.

"Nice~" Zac plops down next to Orochi. "How are you doing, this lovely morning?"

"Fine."

"Not very talkative, are you?" Orochi rolls his eyes at Zac's question. Zac already knew Orochi didn't talk to people. "I didn't know you were a morning person."

"There's no people around in the morning." Orochi shrugs.

"Not a people person either, I see." Zac just smiles brightly at him. Orochi avoids his eyes, and focuses on the horizon ahead of him. How can anyone be this happy at 5:30 in the morning? "The silence is nice, I suppose." He wishes Zac would stop saying that word."You know, it's really nice to have someone to be quiet with sometimes. The show business gets very loud and busy..." Zac sighs.

Orochi just nods. He can't really relate to that.

"Anyway." Zac looks at him, and Orochi finds himself meeting Zac's eyes. They're perfect, just like everything else about him. And it's really, really annoying. "Isn't the sunrise beautiful...?"