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“Oh, Neku? Are you alright?” Neku saw Joshua turn around in irritation, seemingly noticing that his partner had stopped following behind.
Neku grimaced as the voice dug unto his brain like a splinter. He wanted to snap at Joshua through the migraine; something along the lines of ‘since when do you care?’, but he couldn’t form the thoughts into words in his mouth. He tried again, attempting to form the sentiment into something coherent and tangible, but no sound would come out.
Only then did it dawn on him what was happening, followed by a feeling of immediate dread in the pit of his stomach. No, no, no, not now, pleas-
“Yoo-hoo, Earth to Neku!” Joshua was yelling at him at this point, and Neku slammed his hands over his earphones and growled at the noise.
How in the hell was he supposed to explain this when he couldn’t talk? And of course it had to happen with Joshua, too, the guy who he’d least want to see him like this-
“...Neku?” Joshua’s voice was softer this time, and he had a peculiar expression on his face that Neku couldn’t read- curiosity, or maybe compassion? The latter seemed rather out of character, but—ugh. His head was too clouded to try and figure this kid out right now.
He gave a ‘one second’ motion to Joshua, straightened, and took a few deep breaths. He then reached into his pocket and set his playlist to one of his favorite songs, letting himself drift with the music.
Once the brunt of the headache had passed he tried again, rehearsing the line alright, I’m good in his head a few times over, but much to his dismay realized that his words still weren’t working. He took out his phone, opened up a note app, and typed out a message before holding it up to Joshua.
cant talk, its hard to explain, sorry
He looked away, not wanting to see Joshua’s reaction. Not wanting to be judged, even though he knew better than to care.
“Neku, do you know sign language?”
Well, that certainly wasn’t what he was expecting. He whirled around to see Joshua staring at him without any trace of his usual smugness.
His hands took off as he signed, [Yeah, my mom’s Deaf. Do you?]
“Indeed, not that I know any Deaf people. It would seem that we’re more alike than I thought,” Joshua remarked, holding his chin in thought. Neku wondered what he was talking about, before the revelation hit him like a brick.
“It’s not just hard to understand other people. It’s impossible.”
[Wait, you’re-?!]
Joshua raised his eyebrows with a smirk.
[Oh. Geez, I feel like an idiot for not noticing sooner now.] Neku had been so absorbed with his relationship to the UG that he’d never even taken a minute to really watch him, but now that he was paying attention it was painfully obvious.
“I’m surprised I never figured it out, either. Those headphones of yours are a dead giveaway.” Joshua shrugged, back to his usual cocky self. “Well, whatever. Shall we get going? Udagawa is waiting, after all.”