(Completed) Bloody Petals {Miritama}

6

At six thirty, Tamaki got up out of bed and grabbed his jacket. His mom was sitting at the kitchen table, typing something on her laptop. "Mom, I'm going to meet up with Mirio." He said, stopping in front of the door to put his shoes on.

She glanced up and nodded. "Alright, but don't stay out too late."

"I won't." He promised before grabbing his keys and leaving, gently closing the door behind him. It was a twenty minute walk from his house to the park. He remembered the route like the back of his hand. He and Mirio used to walk it every day as kids.

It was still light outside, but not many people were out walking. When he made it to the park, the only other people he saw were packing up their things to leave. He spotted a familiar head of blonde hair sitting on a nearby bench, and slowly went over to sit next to him. He knew this was something serious when Mirio didn't immediately perk up and greet him with a big smile. Instead, he just slowly turned and looked at him.

"We really need to talk, Tamaki."

Tamaki flinched involuntarily. He'd imagined hearing those words from Mirio a million times in his life, and each time it never turned out good. Did Mirio want to stop being friends? Was he finally tired of having to deal with him all the time? All the different scenarios that raced through his mind were enough to make him want to curl up in a ball and wither away.

"Wh-What about?" He asked, nervously rubbing his hands together, trying not to let Mirio see just how scared he really was.

"You and Nejire have been avoiding me lately." He stated bluntly.

"O-Oh..." Tamaki glanced up at the treetops above them. "Um...that's..."

"Tamaki, you're my best friend." He jumped as Mirio scooted over and grabbed his hand. Startled, he turned to stare at him with wide eyes. Mirio was looking right at him, his face entirely serious. "I'd never want anything bad to happen to you. You know that, right? And if something does happen, I want to be there to help you overcome it. But it's kinda hard to do that if you don't actually tell me what's going on."

Tamaki shook his head, trying to tug his hands away from Mirio's grasp. Why did his hands have to be so big and warm? It was almost like his own, smaller hands were made specifically to fit inside them. "I-I'm sorry, Mirio...I-I can't..."

"Why?" Mirio's eyebrows furrowed together. His grasp on Tamaki's hands tightened stubbornly, refusing to let him pull away. "Why can't you tell me?"

"I-I just can't, okay?" It only took one more sharp tug to get his hands out of his Mirio's grasp. He quickly clutched his hands to his chest and scooted to the end of the bench. Mirio let him, watching him with that concerned look and furrowed brows.

"Tamaki..."

"Why can't you just leave it alone?" Tamaki turned his gaze to the ground beneath his feet, blinking rapidly to fight against the burning in his eyes. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

"Because it's like I said," Mirio scooted over a couple inches, but still leaving some space between them. "You're my best friend. I can't just stand by and watch when you're clearly hurting. I want to help you."

Tamaki shook his head. "Y-You can't help me, S-So please...just--"

"That's not true! I can help! You just have to tell me how!"

"You can't!" Tamaki's voice broke, but he didn't care. He stood up and scrubbed furiously at his eyes. Damn it, he didn't want Mirio to see him like this. He didn't want Mirio to see just how weak he really was. "You can't help me, so please just leave it alone!"