Study Buddies

Chapter 5: Relax

After a long day of stressful exams, all their hardwork was put to the test, literally. Mondo felt fairly confident that he did ok, but he had no doubt Ishimaru aced his tests. Ishimaru knew Mondo would do great, but have very low confidence in himself. A C- would be a blessing at this point. His anxiety was through the roof after they were done with all their exams. Mondo could sense Ishimaru wasn't in the best of spirits so he decided to try and do something to cheer him up. He still couldn't quite figure out what his feelings towards Ishimaru were. Was it just friendship? A brotherly bond? Love? Mondo wasn't sure. All he knew was it was new and very frightening. He found Ishimaru at his locker once school was over and ran over to him
"Ishimaru, hey!" He smiled.
"Hello Mondo! How were your tests?" Ishimaru grinned
"Good, I think I did pretty well. All thanks to you! Which is why I am taking you on an adventure tonight! Forget all the stress and just do cool stuff with me" Mondo smirked cockily whilst leaning on the lockers in front of Ishimaru, quite close to his face. Ishimaru blushed a fiery red at the sudden advance
"Well- I- uh- I'd love to!" he finally mustered out
"Great, let's go! My bike is waitin' for us" Mondo winked before doing what Ishimaru did to him that morning and pulled him by his arm to his motorcycle. The pair went out to the motorcycle and donned their helmets before riding off into the sunset.
Ishimaru felt a bit more comfortable on the motorcycle now that they were going at a bearable speed. He looked at all the trees and buildings that appeared as quickly as they disappeared and marveled at how nice it was having the breeze in his face. It was magical. Mondo noticed Ishimaru was having a good time and decided to take a more scenic route. He took a back road that not many people drove on. There were hardly any buildings, just trees, flowers, and grass. The trees shielding against the sun but let in enough light to show the beauty of the hidden road. It was so abundant in flowers they nearly covered the entire road. Ishimaru was entranced by it all.
"Woooaaah" he mumbled in amazement.
"I take it you like this road?" Mondo chuckled at his astonishment "I like it too, it's really pretty" he smiled. Ishimaru looked at him and nearly lost his mind. Mondo, smiling so peacefully, surrounded by beautiful plants. Could this be any better? Mondo turned to look at him and he quickly stared at a patch of grass. Little did he know, Mondo was feeling the same wave of weird emotions Ishimaru just had looking at him. Ishimaru's face was just lit so softly by the setting sun. It made him look ethereal, almost. It made Mondo's heart skip a beat. Was it a good thing or very unhealthy? He didn't know. All he knew in that moment was he wanted to stay in this moment forever. The pair chatted for a bit before Mondo decided to take him somewhere else for even more fun.
They headed to a big park area that was having a carnival, the most notorious spot for dates and such. Ishimaru wasn't much of a carnival person but for Mondo's sake he would give it a shot.
"Hey Taka, do you think I could hit the dude into the dunk tank on the first try?" Mondo smirked
"If you channel the spirit of Leon, you might" Ishimaru chuckled. Mondo took this as a challenge and they walked over to the dunk tank. He grabbed a ball and threw it at the target. He missed completely. How he managed to do that, nobody knows. It made Ishimaru laugh though, which was good enough.
"I'm just warming up, that didn't count" Mondo explained. Ishimaru gave a thumbs up and this time Mondo did hit the target, but it wasnt hard enough to dunk the man. Only one more chance. He threw it as hard as he could and sure enough he hit that target and down the man went! Mondo grinned in triumph.
"See? I told you I could do it" He bragged to Ishimaru.
"Indeed you did" Ishimaru chuckled, playing along. The two walked together and played more little carnival games. Mondo won a little rabbit plushie for Ishimaru and Ishimaru won Mondo a plush purple snake. Needless to say, they both loved the gifts more than expected. Over the course of the evening they found themselves staring at each other more than normally, or more than normal people do in general.
The sun was gone by the time they decided to go on the ferris wheel then go home. There weren't a lot of being at the carnival anymore, so they decided to make the most of it. They squeezed into a ferris wheel seat and ascended to the top. To say the view was breathtaking was an understatement. The stars were brighter than ever, the city shined in the distance, and they were sitting next to the person they had grown closest to in the past month. It felt like a fairytale. Mondo looked at Ishimaru and felt that all too familiar warmth in his cheeks appear.
"I wanted to thank you for helping me study, I know I can be..difficult..at times but I'm really happy you stuck with me all this time" Mondo spoke from the heart, but it came out in almost a whisper. They were sitting so close that it was loud and clear to Ishimaru, though. He looked at Mondo and smiled.
"I enjoyed helping you, you're quite nice to be around. We should study or do stuff like this more often..together" He sheepishly admitted. The two sat there for a good minute just staring into each other's eyes. It felt so surreal, but not unwanted. Every second that went by, it felt like the little space between them was closing. They were practically touching noses before they came to their senses due to the ferris wheel moving them back down to Earth. They got off of the ferris wheel and left the carnival. Before they got on Mondo's motorcycle, Ishimaru decided to live life dangerously.
"Hey Mondo, you're an experienced motorcycle driver, right?"
"Uh yeah, why?" Mondo was curious why Ishimaru would ask this now after riding it several times.
"Do you think we could ride..without helmets?" Ishimaru shyly asked "I trust you wholeheartedly"
"Of course!" Mondo exclaimed, very touched knowing Ishimaru trusted him.
The pair got on the motorcycle, now with no helmets, and headed off.
The moon and stars shined brightly in the night sky as the dynamic duo headed home. Ishimaru laid his head on Mondo's shoulder, happily looking at the moon. Mondo smiled to himself. They had spent nearly 7 hours together but it only felt like 10 minutes. But those 7 quick hours were pure bliss. They made it to Ishimaru's house and Mondo helped him off the motorcycle.
"Thank you so much for tonight. I really needed it, i've just been so stressed and-" He rambled before he was stopped by Mondo hugging him. He hugged back.
"I enjoy being with you" Mondo whispered.
"I like being with you too" Ishimaru whispered back. The two just stood there hugging for a solid minute before they let go.
"Goodnight Taka" Mondo smiled.
"Goodnight Mondo" Ishimaru replied. He started to walk away before turning back. He ran up to Mondo and kissed his cheek.
"See you tomorrow!" He yelled before running into his house with a red face. Mondo just sat there stunned for a moment before it really sunk in. He was just kissed by Ishimaru. And he liked it.