Four Swords Modern Au

Darting Rabbits

   Vio felt a faint flush of red rise to his cheeks. He turned his head to the window so that Shadow couldn't see. The compliment had been too sudden and unexpected, he hadn't been able to keep his normally placid face from blushing. Shadow had said it so effortlessly and now looked perfectly at ease with himself. Vio, on the other hand, had begun to panick.
   Vio wasn't a spontaneous or rebellious person as a general rule. So, what was he doing? He hardly knew anything about Shadow yet he he was zipping around town with him in Shadow's old beater of a car instead of jotting down notes in chemistry. Now, Shadow was calling him cute? That word brought Vio to the realization that he was in an all too intimate situation with a guy he just met. He tried and failed to properly assess the best way to get out of it because, scarily enough, he wasn't quite sure that he wanted to.
   Logically, it made absolutely no sense. Vio knew that he could have and should have left Shadow at the door and gone to the office. But... he hadn't left and couldn't quite place why. It was almost as though Shadow had some magnetic quality to him that was drawing Vio towards him, away from their shared solitude. It made Vio uncormfortable. He didn't like things that he couldn't explain.
   Yet, he found himself undeniably enjoying Shadow's company the more he listened to Shadow yammer away at him from the driver's seat. They were far from the school, cruising windows-down, blaring music, down empty streets. Vio had never done anything like this before and he was shocked that he liked it. He started to form an ill-founded trust in his new purple-haired friend. Vio had absolutely no idea what Shadow's plan was or really what his own was after this little expedition, but found it was starting to matter less with each red light they blew. He had begun to forget the consequences that would come later and was joking along with Shadow when he was jolted into reality as Shadow slammed on the brakes hard enough to send them both flying forwards.
Vio felt his head smack the windshield as he watched a rabbit scurry across the road in front of them. That was weird considering they lived in the city. Rabbits didn't usually hop around cities as far as he knew. Vio hoped it wasn't someone's pet, that would suck. Dang, his head hurt a lot. It felt like... well it felt like he had just hit his head on a windshield. It made it hard to think straight. Haha think straight that's a good one. He chuckled at himself.
Vio looked at Shadow, who was staring at him with a really peculiar look on his face. Was something wrong with him? Then Vio remembered that Shadow wasn't telepathic and therefore had missed out on Vio's joke. However, Shadow didn't need to be telepathic to hear Vio laugh at said joke. Laughing at things in your head that other people can't hear usually doesn't look good. Well, Shadow probably didn't think he was cute anymore, just a crazy guy that laughed when they had almost run over someone's pet bunny. Why did he have to be so awkward all of the time? It was why he usually kept his mouth shut and kept to himself. Then maybe people would think he was normal and quit being dicks to him.
Vio really hadn't realized how much time he had spent pondering all of this until Shadow finally shook his shoulders lightly and asked him if he was okay. Vio suddenly felt the need to clarify himself to Shadow.
"I promise I'm not crazy. Please, I just though of something funny, but it wasn't and I-
Shadow cut him off. He still had that weird look on his face.
"Umm... why would I think your crazy?"
Goddess, what he'd only laughed in his head too? Vio tried to pull himself together but everything was scrambled and weird. He tried to meet Shadows eyes but looking up made him feel dizzy.
"Hey look, Vi, I don't think your crazy. I'm a little more concerned about this."
Shadow ran his thumb across Vio's forehead and the showed him the smear of blood that had appeared on it. His head was bleeding? That wasn't good, maybe though, it was what he deserved for skipping school.
Shadow insisted that they go to the nearby drugstore and get some ice and bandages for Vio's head. He seemed awfully worried about a person he had just met but Vio sat still and let Shadow patch him up in the car afterwards. Shadow then drove them to the park and they laid down on the short prickly grass together while Vio iced his forehead and closed his eyes trying to kill a nasty headache.
After a while, Vio's mind started to clear and he could think normally again. He felt stupid for what he'd said earlier and was grateful that Shadow seemed not to care. His friend was lying back, shielding his darkly-lined blue eyes from the cheerful sun. He was very pale and dressed entirely in black clothes that made his wild hair stand out. Vio wondered if purple was his natural hair color, it was unlikely but not impossible. Shadow was actually good-looking now that Vio looked at him.
It was strange. He would have never thought that they'd get along. Sure, they still barely knew anything about each other but something about being near Shadow made his heart thump faster and he felt lighter, better than before. Vio supposed that it might actually be nice to have a friend. He never really tried to befriend anyone before. It seemed like a waste of time when there was so much he wanted to do and learn. But suddenly Vio realized that maybe some part of him didn't want to be alone forever.
Shadow smiled when he noticed Vio looking at him. Vio blushed. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to being creepy looking at you like that."
Shadow's grin widened. "Nah, I get it. I am pretty hot stuff. I can't really blame you for not being able to tear your eyes away, but please no photographs."
Vio rolled his eyes. "Your modesty becomes you."
Shadow laughed. He apparently laughed easily.
"So you're feeling better? I don't have to take ya to the hospital to get your head checked? Sorry by the way about slamming on the breaks like that earlier but I've never hit anything before and I'd like to keep it that way."
Personally, Vio was pretty surprised Shadow had never hit anything before the way he drove, but he decided to keep that to himself. Honestly, Vio wasn't the greatest driver either, he tended to speed on accident, so he didn't think chastising Shadow was appropriate.
"Yes, my head feels much better. I'll just need to come up with an excuse for the mark later. Thank you, the ice was a good idea."
"No prob, it was kinda my fault anyway since I dragged you into this. You sure you're gonna be okay? You were pretty out of it earlier."
Shadow sat up and looked intently at the mark. Vio involuntarily held his breath when Shadow leaned closer to him and tried not to back away. He was too close for comfort. Shadow noticed Vio's stiffness and backed away a little. He was still probably closer than was necessary but there was now a large enough distance between them that Vio felt like he could breathe again.
"Dude, that's gotta hurt." Shadow winced.
"Honestly, it still does but it's not as if a little knock to the head is a fatal wound. It'll heal up somewhat quickly I'm sure."
Vio hadn't actually seen what he looked like yet and was growing rather concerned. It couldn't possibly be that terrible.
Shadow didn't look convinced but he leaned back again and resumed staring at the sky with an arm over his eyes, occasionally throwing a glance his way.
"If you say so..."
"Do I really look that awful?" Vio questioned. He wanted to know if Shadow was overreacting or not.
"Aww... I'm pretty sure you could never look awful, Vi."
Vio glared daggers at Shadow. He was dancing around the truth and Vio didn't appreciate it.
"Enough with the false flattery, Shadow. I would like to know how complicated of a lie I'm getting myself into and if I should get more bandages."
"Who said it was false flattery?" Shadow turned to look at him.
Vio was exasperated. Shadow needed to focus on important matters not whether or not Vio believed his unwanted compliments.
"That's beside the point-
"No it's not. Why don't you believe me?" Shadow interrupted.
Vio wasn't sure how he was supposed to answer that question. This sort of thing wasn't his forte. He could memorize any textbook fact and regurgitate it on the test. The answers were simple and concrete. You were either right or wrong. This was different. There was no solid answer he could provide.
"I... I just don't." Vio stuttered.
Luckily, before Shadow could bully a better answer out of him, the chimes of the city's clock tower rang out loud and clear through the air. It was three o'clock. School had already let out a half hour ago. Vio had completely lost track of time.