Close This Empty Space Between Us

Chapter 2

Once [Name] finally made it to the last step of the roof, he opened the door the door just to be blinded by the sun. Blinking his eyes a few times to adjust to the new lighting, he smiled and walked forward. Looking up at the clear blue sky with fluffy white clouds, [Name] smiled. His droopy eyes closed momentarily as he embraced the fresh winds that blew through his [Hair Length] tresses.

"This is nice." he mumbled, raising his arms over his head as if trying to grasp the fluffy white clouds above. Opening his eyes, [Name] set his backpack on the floor and opened up his camera bag to reveal his Nikon D90.

Turning to the rails of the roof, [Name] walked over and started taking pictures of the scenery around him. From the beautiful white and blue skies, to the crowded courtyard, [Name] took pictures of everything around him. As so, he couldn't help but think back to the memory of his class. Makoto and Haruka. He thought he remembered them, but he wasn't 100% sure it was his old childhood friends. [Name] looked up at the bird flying by, he smiled and took some action pictures of it. It was just like back in the day when he would take pictures of the swimming club.

~ * ~

Little [Name] walked into the public swimming pool area with his grandfather following behind with a kind smile plastered on his face. Today, [Name]'s grandfather decided to take the small boy to the pool because he's been inside all day playing video games and sleeping. Opening up the door wide, [Grandfather's Name] motioned for him to go on in. Stepping into the indoor pool area, the boy clutched the strap from his camera bag and looked around at his surroundings.

The floor was wet and slippery because of the pool water that came from the children running in and out of the pool. The air smelled of chlorine and the windows around the area were opened wide so fresh air can come into the place. [Name] sighed in displeasure at all the noise and light. "I want to go home." he grumbled to himself.

Hearing the boy, his grandfather chuckled and nudged him forward. "Now, now [Name]. It's not so bad." he said. "How about you go find us some chairs to sit on and I'll go get us some snacks." he said with a wink and ruffled the boy's [Hair Color] hair.

[Name] looked at his grandfather with narrowed eyes as the gleeful man walked over to some vending machines. "Ugh, old man wants me to do everything." he huffed to himself and obediently went further into the area. As he walked, he couldn't help but look over at the boys who were swimming, they were swimming skillfully and beautifully. [Name] blushed slightly and stopped in his tracks to watch four boys swim back and forth in the big pool.

Without even knowing, [Name] look off his camera bag and laid it gently on the ground. Unzipping the bag, he took out his camera and squatted near the edge of the pool. Lifting the camera up to his eye level, he began taking pictures of the boys swimming. While he took pictures of the boy with blueish black colored hair, one of the swimming boys stopped and looked over at [Name] curiously. Swimming near the edge of the pool, the red head lifted himself out of the pool and walked toward the boy.

Once standing near him, he smiled brightly and leaned closer to [Name]'s face. "Watcha doin?" he asked with a smirk. Startled, [Name] jumped back from edge and clutched his camera to his chest.

Looking over to see who scared him, he looked up to see one of the boys that was swimming. With a red face, [Name] sputtered out a reply, "W-well I-I sa-saw you a-and your f-friends swimming and w-well it lo-looked so cool, I-I just had to take a picture of it!" he yelled out the rest of his sentence.

The boy gave him a blank, confused look but then a smile appeared on his face. "Oh, okay! I thought you were some kind of creep." he stated.

[Name]'s eyes widened in shock, "I-I'm not a cre-"

Before he could even finish, the boy laughed and shook his head. "You're a weird person." he said and smiled down at him, extending his arm out for the boy to take his hand. "My names Matsuoka Rin!"

Taking his hand in yours, you shook it gently. "I'm [Surname] [Name]."

Rin smiled showing off his sharp teeth, and pulled your arm so then you stood up on your two feet. "It's nice to meet you." he said happily.

Before [Name] could even reply, someone behind Rin shouted out. "Oi Rin-chan! Who'd you got there?"

Looking over Rin's shoulder [Name] saw the boys that were swimming. [Name]'s eyes widened and he smile nervously. "It's a boy who was taking pictures of us." Rin said.

[Name]'s blushed and he punched Rin's shoulder. "Don't say it like that!" Rin laughed as the boys were now surrounding [Name].

"You were taking pictures of us?" the blond asked curiously with a tilt of his head.

[Name] looked down played with the ends of his plain black tee shirt. "Yeah." he mumbled.

"Can I see!"  he asked with wide eyes sparkling. [Name] looked up surprised but nodded his head without hesitation. Giving the boys his camera, he watched their reactions as they all crowded around the camera to see the pictures from the small screen. Looking through the pictures, the boys looked at them astonished. The pictures looked like they were taken from a professional!

"Wow, these are good!" the boy with bownish dark green hair said. The quiet boy next to him gave a short nod in approval.

[Name] smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. "There okay." he mumbled, but he couldn't help the small smile and blush that came across his face.

"So what's your name?" asked the quiet boy bluntly.

Looking into the boy's deep blue eyes, [Name] replied,"I'm [Surname] [Name]."

The blond boy's eyes light up and he smiled happily, "Hey! You have a girl's name too!" he exclaimed.

"Ehhh?"

Nagisa smiled at [Name]'s reaction and pointed to himself, "I'm Nagisa Hazuki!" he then pointed to the boy with a friendly smile, "That's Tachibana Makoto-" then pointed at the quiet boy, "-and that's Nanase Haruka!"

"Oh! Well- err, it's nice too meet you all!" [Name] yelled out, feeling slightly flustered from meeting these new boys.

The others smiled back at the young photographer, "Hey so you want to swim with us [Surname]-kun?" Makoto asked.

"Yeah, [Name]-chan you should swim with us!" Nagisa said.

"Uhhh, I don't want to pry." [Name] replied nervously.

"You won't pry." Haruka said finally, it shocked [Name] quite a bit cause he thought Haru didn't like him or something. Guess the boy's just naturally quiet.

"You sure?" [Name] asked.

Rin smiled and patted his back roughly. "You aren't chicken to swim are you?" he asked.

[Name]'s eyes widened but then looked at Rin with a playful glare. "I'm not a chicken. In fact, I'm going to swim!" he stated and took off his black shirt to reveal his [Skin Tone] chest. The boys all cheered and began to get into the water.

~ * ~

[Name] sighed to himself. It's been years since he last saw his friends, and although they all went their seperate ways, [Name] couldn't help but feel as if they'll all see each other again. For sure he'd see Rin since he is friends with Rin's little sister, Kou. But he wasn't really sure about the others. Plus, he wasn't sure if they would want to see him again in the first place. After all, they would've at least kept in touch or tried to reach him, right?

Looking up at the bird flying by, [Name] bit his inner cheek. His eyes followed the birds formation as he lifted his camera up to eye level and began to take on more photos.