Lumine X Kody

Ch. 1 - Like the old times

Time has passed rather quickly ever since that day. I always kept my head down when I just so happened to walk past someone. I did not dare to look at anyone in case they saw the "changes". To them, I simply seemed scared. To be honest, though, I just didn't want them to worry about me. But, despite my efforts, Kody noticed. He knew how I acted on any other given day. It may have seemed like a misunderstanding at first, but it became obvious after a while.

It was Wednesday and we didn't have school in the afternoon which was nice when you had to do some last minute studying, wanted to play sports, or had other plans. For me and Kody, it meant we had some free time.
We didn't get any snow despite it being winter. The wind was cold and bitter though.
I felt anxious about playing video games with Kody. I wasn't sure if I should accept the offer or if I should decline it. However, it came to my attention that it would make everyone suspicious if I didn't say yes. With that in mind, I cautiously sat beside Kody.
"Finally, I'm not sick anymore. It really did sucked... I was too weak to play anything," he said, whining about being ill. All I did in response was chuckle a little and pat his head, effectively calming him down.
When we were younger we were about the same height, though I was slightly taller than him. But now... he grew up pretty quickly and became taller than me. It was surprising, seeing him tower over me. I being the one who called him "shorty". Now our roles were reversed.

"Lumine... we need to talk."
I started to get this bad feeling and I could feel sweat run down my neck as I heard the tone in his voice and saw his serious expression. "Y-yeah. About what?" I said in response. I was trying and failing, to look calm. He paused the game and turned his whole body to look at me.
"You've been acting... weird lately. What's up?" he asked, leaning forward to place his arms on the couch, his legs crossed. I felt even more nervous seeing him this close. I gulped, not knowing what to say in response.
"I... uh... What are you talking about? I-I'm just my usual self! Haha..." I lied, laughing awkwardly as I tried to move away from him. He sighed and looked away from me. "You can't lie to me, Lumine. Something is definitely wrong.... Are thinking about leaving? Do you... not like it here?" he asked sadly. I've never seen him that sad before. Well not since I mentioned his mother that one time....
"N-no! That's not it! I... I've just been thinking a lot lately... about... umm... other stuff.... I swear I don't want to leave! I mean, uh... I won't leave unless you ask me to so... and-" I was interrupted by a hug. Kody pulled me close to him all of a sudden. "K-Kody?" I asked in confusion as I slowly wrapped my arms around him. "Stop pretending.... I just want you to know that no one will kick you out. You're like family to us...." he paused as if in thought. "If you need to talk about something, then you can tell me. No matter what, I'll be by your side. Even when it feels like... you have nothing left, you'll have me. Got it?" At those words, I started crying. I couldn't help but tell him all feeling and my insecurities. I quietly sobbed on him as I tried to hide my face on his shoulder.

All he did was hold me closer, calmly patting my back, which turned into a gentle stroke. The slow strokes and his calm breathing were comforting. I felt a few tears run down his cheeks as well and they fell onto my neck as I tightened my grip on his hoodie. I didn't want to let go.
We stayed like that for a while, letting our emotions out and being there for each other until it got really hot. At that point, we both let go of each other. It was like this was the first time I've ever seen Kody cry. It made me kind of happy because he was relying on me to that a secret. One meant only for myself and him.
After that, we spent a moment in silence. It felt like forever before he finally spoke.
"Are you going to tell me the truth now? Why have you been so distant?" I stayed quiet as I thought about what I would tell him but considering the fact that I have yet to figure it out myself and not wanting to lie to him, I simply decided on telling him the truth.
"I don't actually know what wrong. I've just..." with an annoyed sigh I tried to continue. "I've been feeling really weird and I didn't want anyone to be suspicious so," I trailed off at the end. I started to play with the hem of the shirt I was wearing, feeling slightly embarrassed at telling him that. He smiled at me and pet my head saying "It's alright. Thank you for being honest... and I want to help you... so what exactly is this weird feeling?"

It took me a moment to think before I started to say "Well... I don't know.... I feel... heavy sometimes. Like there's something on me. Sort of like... a leash that keeps pulling me towards you," I admitted, looking down at the floor as the feeling started to creep back up on me. I looked up at Kody, waiting for an answer from him. However, all I could see was his blushing face. He was biting his bottom lip a little and I was confused by his reaction.
"Uhm... L-Lumine uh..." he stayed silent for a moment, thinking about what to say before proceeding. "It's alright... um... I'll help you overcome that. You probably feel like that because you've seen me a little differently since we grew up... haven't you?" Thinking about it, it actually made sense and I nodded. "Yeah... that's probably the reason. Soo, all I have to do is spend more time with you and convince myself you're the same old Kody?" He nodded and we both smiled, managing to overcome this obstacle, I immediately felt the weight lift and quickly hugged him again as a silent "Thank you" before we both started playing games as usual.

We let the days pass, the two of us talking to each other more and remembering the past. It was nice, I had stopped avoiding eye contact with those that walked past me and I started to feel like myself again. Thanks to Kody we both became even closer friends and we seemed to find out new things that we never knew about each other. Things we never figured out in the three years that we've been living together. There is obviously so much more to people than you can imagine, it was nice finding out more about him. It made me very happy.

But one day, at school, something happened. Something very unusual and unique. At lunch on Thursday, a girl walked up to us. She had curly, red hair, and blue eyes. She was slightly tan and it seemed like she dyed her hair. "Hello! Would you, perhaps, be Kody?" the girl asked. All he did in response was giver her a confused look but nodded anyway. "Great! Then can you please answer some questions? I'm an honorary member of the journalism club and I thought that a page about you and your friend... would be appreciated!" Her excitement was almost nauseating but I kept quiet as Kody nodded once again.

Lunch passed by as the girl asked all kinds of questions about why I was attending school without attending classes and why I followed Kody everywhere. It seemed like more than half of the questions were about the unique situation I was placed in. Then she took a picture of us both and rushed off, humming happily. I tried to shake away the feeling of discomfort and went on with the rest of the day, feeling slightly suspicious towards the girl and I was right to have this feeling. The week after, the journal was released and all sorts of things were there, but what disturbed me the most was the picture of me and Kody. It was on the front page and the article about was not only under the picture on the first page but on the last one as well.

The title said, "Not a Student, Then What?" before proceeding to spread all manner of false information about me and Kody. Since we weren't dumb, we didn't tell her about me being his bodyguard and instead, we simply said that I was his best friend from another country who finished school way before him. Not being able to hang out often, I asked the principal if I could sit in the halls and wait for him. Giving me permission to do so, I was allowed to stay at school whenever I wanted. It wasn't a very believable story, but at the very least it worked.
After the journal was released, the entire school started talking about me and Kody. Many girls and guys who were skipping classes would sit with me and ask if I liked Kody as more than a friend and they kept teasing me. It was getting really annoying and I started to miss having my alone time. Getting really bored of the flow of students, I decided to start passing time on the rooftop. NO one was there and no article was saying I liked going there. I was actually quite afraid of heights, but for the sake of my mental health, I had to take the risk.

Winter was passing by quickly. On the holiday vacation, we stayed at home and watched a few movies with the others, spending some quality time with the group. Other than that, nothing new happened. I could tell from the nice warm feeling the sun was giving me that spring was coming. The rumors had slowed down but I knew that the girl would come back, begging for another article to write. Luckily Kody didn't get bothered as much as me. Everyone's been kind of scared of him ever since the day he flipped his desk because of a mosquito that kept flying around him. To be honest, I was scared too. That mosquito must have been really annoying if it got on his nerves like that.

Anyways, I guess I was quite lucky because I never actually got to Kody's nerves. Not even in the three years that we've known each other. It would be unfortunate if I did. Luckily I'd managed to gain his trust in the first year and the other two were spent as best friends. We never actually got mad at each other and hopefully, that'll never be the case.