Chapter Text
Flowers adorn the expanse of the garden. He doesn't particularly enjoy gardening, but he does it as it was something someone he cares for deeply always wanted to do. Watching as the seeds grow from small shoots into flowers, masquerading around the fence. That fence is no longer white, the paint has chipped, revealing the true brown of the wood. Akane runs his hand along the fence, walking and admiring the flowers.
"They're beautiful, aren't they, Ao-chan?"
He's aware she can't hear him. Even if she were there, he knows she would politely brush him off. Stopping in his tracks, he sees a small forget-me-not starting to grow outside of the flower bed.
He cleans the crushed petals of a forget-me-not off his shoes. He doesn't enjoy gardening. He'd much rather be doing anything. Friends are out of the picture. Nobody wants to be friends with Akane Aoi, the boy who loses his shit whenever his childhood friend is mentioned.
Which is why a knock at the door catches Akane off guard.
"Who is it?" he yells out from inside, reaching for his bat in case it was another person who wants to call him names and laugh when he cries. He doesn't like when people laugh at him. It makes his stomach twist and churn like a washing machine filled with rocks.
"I just wanted to say that I uh... I saw your garden and it looks kinda awesome." The voice sounds friendly. Bat isn't needed.
Akane walks to the door, and opens it, to see a tall, yellow haired boy standing there, phone in hand, and backpack carried on one shoulder. His eyes look intimidating. Akane laughs at this boy.
"Why are you laughing...?" the boy asks, in a perplexed tone.
Akane doesn't respond. Instead, he keeps laughing. He hasn't laughed in a long time.
Intimidating yellow-haired boy starts backing away, slightly scared. Akane reaches out and firmly grips his arm.
"How did you see the garden?"
"Oh, I have a cool drone so I can take videos from high up! Wanna see?"
God, this strange boy's overwhelming.
"I'll pass." says Akane, letting go of the boy and slamming the door in his face.
Just as he begins to walk back to the garden, he hears the knock again. Curiosity is a strange thing.
"What do you want?" Akane speaks in the softest tone he can muster, despite being frustrated beyond belief. This idiot! Why didn't he just go away? He can't handle his dumb yellow hair and stupid headband.
"I want to see your garden." says the boy, a serious tone to his voice that, paired with his eyes and intimidating stature, push Akane to reluctantly oblige.
Akane leads the boy through his house. It's generic, nothing special. Everything is neat and it's not too cluttered, but there's a layer of dust on everything that gives the boy the idea that Akane's the only one who's been here for a while, and he hasn't needed to use any of these objects. A small bell was amongst the items.
"Stop gawking and follow me."
Akane steps into the garden, the boy following close behind.
"This is... incredible." The boy isn't wrong. The garden is beautiful, tulips and lilies amongst chrysanthemums and roses.
"It's even better up close! Thank you, uh... what's your name?"
"Akane. Akane Aoi."
"Your garden's so cool, Akane! I'm Lemon Yamabuki."
Again, Akane is laughing at the yellow haired boy.
"W-what a stupid name! Perfect for a stupid face like yours- Lemon Yamabuki?!" Lemon doesn't seem too phased by Akane's rude comment.
"I get that a lot." mutters Lemon, crouched down to smell a lily. Akane stops laughing, out of pity, and leans against the outside of the house, watching Lemon intently, making sure he doesn't harm the flowers.
"Do you go to school around here?" Lemon questions, still admiring the flowers, but not enjoying the silence.
"Why should I tell someone who's name is 'Lemon Yamabuki' and who has hair that looks like a canary had a bad day?" snaps Akane, not appreciating the personal question.
Lemon apologises and the two mind their own business. In silence. Lemon wishes flowers could talk, they'd be better at keeping conversation than this weird loner.
"I should be. I stopped going around two and a bit years ago. I take online classes." Lemon turns to Akane and frowns slightly.
"Sorry to hear that... it explains why I don't recall you."
"Probably also due to the fact you ask random strangers if you can go in their house and look at their garden. I wouldn't want to associate with someone like that."
Lemon sighs and stands up, brushing off the mud from his knees. 'This kid is an asshole', he thinks to himself. However, he doubted Akane had any friends, and that was something Lemon could sympathise with. He checks his phone. It's probably time to go home.
"I should get going, thanks for showing me your garden! I'll see myself out." Like that, the boy is gone. Akane sighs, relieved. He doesn't like talking to people. Loneliness is a normal feeling for him. So as he walks up the stairs to his room, the loneliness tugging at his gut is a familiar yet unwelcome feeling. He walks into his room and looks around.
It's the same as always. The made bed in the corner, next to a bedside table with an alarm clock on the top. The piano he gave up on learning. The desk with a computer. The photographs of Aoi. The papers strewn across the floor. He doesn't care to pick them up. Instead he lays down on his bed, face first, and grips the pillow.
Leftovers for dinner again. Akane is useless at cooking. So when his parents go on their business trips or whatever, he has to reheat leftovers. He considers just skipping dinner, but his body compells him to at least make some cheese on toast.
So that's exactly what he does. He spends his evening slowly eating his 'dinner' while thinking about the boy from earlier. Would he come back? Somewhere deep down, Akane hopes he'll come back. He's had enough of being lonely. Yet the idea of having a friend upsets him. He doesn't want to get attached to anyone. They'll just die and leave Akane to be alone again.
As he drifts off to sleep, thoughts of the boy, Lemon, cloud his mind. He hadn't laughed or made fun of Akane. But still, he can't get attached.
Dawn rolls around and Akane groans as he presses the alarm clock to silence the incessant ringing. 7:30. It's Saturday, so he doesn't need to worry about school. He gets up as usual to water the garden, slipping on his outdoor shoes. Picking up his watering can, he fills it up at the outside tap and begins to water the flowers. Lisianthuses. They symbolise calming thoughts, yet all they did was make Akane's thoughts of Aoi race.
She'd laugh at him and tell him that he should move on. Just like everyone else. Just like his parents, and everyone at school. He can't imagine moving on any time soon.
He waters the red roses. The same red that stained the pavement that morning. Her terrified expression. The screams of the passers-by. He could've saved her. He could've jumped in the way. Nobody would miss Akane. His parents were never home, he only had Aoi and she was gone so suddenly. Why couldn't he have died instead?
"Hey dude, are you okay?" A soft voice and careful hand placed on his shoulder Akane brings him back from his thoughts. He turns to the voice.
"Yamabuki...?" It suddenly occurs to Akane that he's crying. Embarrassed, he wipes his tears and scowls at Lemon. What is he doing here?!
"Sorry for barging in, I left my backpack here and nobody was answering the door. It was unlocked so I let myself in-"
"That's no excuse to trespass! If I had my bat on me right now I'd beat you to a pulp, stupid birdhead!" Akane spoke with such distaste that it made Lemon shudder slightly; he takes his hand off Akane's shoulder.
"Sorry, but your threats don't really have the same effect after I just saw you hugging a watering can and crying." Lemon was going to just take his backpack and leave, but he feels bad for Akane, who is currently standing there, embarrassed and not knowing what to say.
Lemon awkwardly pulls Akane into a hug; Akane responds by shoving Lemon out of the way.
"You come in without invitation, and then you try to touch me? Who the fuck do you think you are?!"
"I was trying to hug you, dumbass! You may be an awful person, but I feel bad for you!"
"Don't touch me!" Lemon gets the hint and backs away. He doesn't leave though, instead he sits on the ground, in the shade. It's a week until the summer holiday, so the heat isn't too bad. Still, Lemon burns easily, and he forgot to put on sunscreen. He doesn't want to take any risks.
"Are you going to leave or not?" Akane says with little patience, tapping his foot on the ground in frustration. Lemon smiles at the frustrated redhead.
"Nah, I don't think I will. Not yet anyway." His smirk pisses off Akane. He starts to walk inside to get his bat in order to teach Lemon a lesson. This makes the taller boy stand up in a panic.
"No, no wait! I'll leave if you want me to! You just seemed sad and I'd feel bad leaving you alone to be sad... Where are your parents?"
"Dead." says Akane, without skipping a beat. Lemon's eyes widen.
"Oh my god, I'm so s-" Akane interrupts with his annoying laughter.
"I'm joking- they're on business trips or whatever."
Lemon's shocked expression turns to one of relief and slight anger.
"I'm glad they're not dead, but seriously! You made me feel like an awful person!" He huffs. "What jobs do they have?"
"My mom's a lawyer and my dad's a doctor." This leaves Lemon almost as shocked as when Akane joked that his parents were dead. He looks around. It does explain the rather large house, and the big garden, as well as the fact Akane was able to do online classes, as those can't be cheap.
"That's so cool! You're a rich kid then?"
"Shut up, you're embarrassing." The redhead with glasses looks away from Lemon.
"You must be lonely though, huh." Akane doesn't respond. He just keeps looking away from Lemon, avoiding eye contact. He only turns around when he can almost hear Lemon's obnoxious smirk in his tone of voice.
"We should be friends then! I don't have any friends either. The way you act, I'm doing you a favour!" Sure enough, a smirk is apparent on Lemon's face. His last sentence drips with sarcasm.
"I think I'd literally rather drop dead right here, right now." Akane sticks his tongue out at Lemon. He honestly really does want to be friends with this boy, but definitely not out of pity. Lemon rolls his eyes. Akane's loss.
"Geez, I get it." Lemon says while getting up, brushing dirt off his knee length shorts. "I guess I'll be going then." He pushes past Four-Eyes to leave, but is stopped when Akane grabs onto the back of his t-shirt.
"You didn't get your backpack." Akane says quietly, the quietest Lemon's heard him before. He lets go of Lemon's shirt and holds out his well-worn orange backpack. "Everything is inside."
The guest just stares at Akane for a second, bewildered at his change in attitude. Taking the bag from Akane's hands, he smiles and remarks,
"Aww, is someone going soft?" Akane laughs at this, and calls Lemon delusional.
"And to think I was going to show you something even better than the garden." This peaks Lemon's interest, and his eyes light up at the idea.
"What?! Duude, I wanna see! Come on!"
"Hmm, are you scared of heights?"
"A bit, but I should be fine."
He is not fine. Akane had lead Lemon onto the roof of the house, claiming it was safe and a good view, but the idea that he may fall is all Lemon can think about.
"What the hell Akane? I would punch you right now but I'm too scared of falling! Are you trying to kill me?!" Panic is clear in Lemon's voice. Akane turns his head to look at Lemon and smirks slightly.
"No, I'm not trying to kill you. It'd be an elaborate plan but even I'm not that mean. Just lay there and wait."
The two lay there, staring up at the clouds in silence, with the occasional 'Are you sure you're not going to murder me?' with an 'I'm sure' as the response. They lie there for what felt like hours, but was more like half an hour, when the sun starts to set. It isn't much, but the sky is patterned with ornate clouds that glow pink and orange, like calm fire enveloped in the whites and greys of the clouds. Lemon stares up, awestruck.
"You lied... this is cool but it's nowhere near as awesome as your garden."
"Shut up dumbass."
After a few more minutes, the awe subsides and Lemon's fear sets in again. Akane helps him down, and leads him to the entrance of his large house to see him off.
"You're totally soft."
"Say that again and I will actually murder you next time." The redhead holds out Lemon's bag for him. He takes his bag and opens the door.
"See you sometime soon, friend!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Bye." Akane shuts the door as Lemon walks away and smiles slightly. He isn't getting attached. He can just tolerate Lemon for a little while.
Lemon got sunburnt.