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With a frustrated hum, Yamato scratches his head with the top of his pencil. “I still don’t get it at all.”
“Let me take a look.” Camus leans over and skims the problem. “It’s simply asking you for an explanation.”
“Explain?? What kinda need is there to explain?” The skater boy’s free hand forms into a fist. “Romeo and Juliet were in love and said love was considered forbidden because they were from two different feuding families so their only way of interacting was in secret. Why should that need an explanation?”
Camus couldn’t help chuckling. Well, he could. But Yamato Hyuga is a special case.
“Huh? Hey, what’s so funny?”
“You answered the question with a breeze through that tangent of yours.”
Camus loves watching Yamato connect the dots. He probably has such a stupid smile on his face right now. God, it’d definitely be embarrassing if Hyuga were to point that out.
Fortunately Yamato didn’t say anything. He just scribbles some words onto his paper. His handwriting is quite messy, but that’s what makes it charming. Camus has been tutoring him enough to be able to read it thoroughly.
He has tutored many students in the past, but none have caught his attention as much as Hyuga. They don’t really have anything in common though. While Camus’ at home doing his work, Hyuga goes skateboarding at the park. Maybe Camus should pick up skateboarding too. That might impress Hyuga. He’s never ridden a skateboard before. It’s not too different from ice skating though, right?
“Oi, Camus.” Yamato waves a hand in front of his tutor’s face. “You good? You there? You alive?”
It’s so strange to see Camus with such an entranced look. Yet, his eyes are quite beautiful. If they weren’t doing work together, Yamato would probably just spend most of their time together staring into Camus’ eyes.
“H-Hm?” Camus blinks rapidly, coming back to reality. “Did I...?”
“You were chewing on your pencil pretty hard there.”
...Oh God.
Those eyes that were once filled with wonder now hold absolute despair. Is this something Camus didn’t want Yamato knowing about?
“Shit,” Camus mutters. “Fucking. Hell. God damnit.”
How can such vulgar words sound so elegant?
There’s no point in moving forward anymore. He’s done for. Camus falls forward, hitting his head against the table. There’s no way he can mend this. Where is time travel when you need it? Why did he have to do that in front of Hyuga of all people? He’s probably disgusted by it. His parents already despise that habit of his. He can’t have another person he cares for hate him for that too.
“Um, are you hungry or anything?” Yamato asks. “Or do you need something to chew on? I got some food.”
Camus looks up at Yamato. “You’re not disgusted?”
“Why would I be?” Yamato rubs the back of his neck, cheeks growing a light rose color. “You’re still Camus, and I still like you the same.”
It’s strange to see Hyuga look so embarrassed. But at the same time it’s nice. He looks cute like that.
“A-Anyways,” Yamato stands up, “what would you like? It’d be better for you to have something you like.”
Something he likes? Camus likes Hyuga obviously, but he isn’t food so that’s already out of the question. If he were at home it’d probably only be healthy or bland foods, but this isn’t home. So...
“Do you have anything sweet?”
“I think so. Lemme go check.”
Yamato strolls into the kitchen and looks through the cabinets. He never took Camus for someone with a sweet tooth. Whenever they eat together his lunch is always filled with greens and stuff. Does his family not allow sweets? Man, that must really suck.
Now that he thinks about it, Camus overreacted a bit when Yamato noticed his pencil. Does he get punished for that at home? That’s really unreasonable for punishment. At least Yamato believes so.
And then there’s the fact that Camus would do anything in order to not go to his house. Yamato has suggested it several times before, but Camus always rejected it. Even if Alexander is there, Camus would rather work anywhere else.
How bad is Camus’ home life? Now Yamato can’t stop worrying about it. What goes on whenever Camus gets home? He doesn’t have any bruises, thank God. He seems to react mostly when it comes to other people’s perceptions of him.
Is it okay to have an undying need to fight a friend’s parents?
Is Camus his friend? Well, Yamato wouldn’t mind being more than that. But does Camus see him as a friend?
His hand hits a bag on the counter.
It’s the chocolate almonds Ryuya left for him. Why did he give it to him again? Something about a good job for something.
There’s a note under the bag.
“Maybe you can share these with that boy you keep talking about.”
Oh.
Fuck, was he talking about Camus at the dinner table again?
Yamato represses the urge to yell. These are for Camus. These are for Camus and Camus only. You’re not sharing them with him. You’re giving them to him. That’s it. No big deal. No big...
Yamato swipes the bag and a protein bar and walks back into the living room.
Camus tries to get a look at the bag in Yamato’s hand. “...Hyuga?”
“H-Here.” Yamato sits back down and places the chocolate almonds in front of Camus. “My brother got them for me, but I think they’d be better for you.”
Camus stares at them in awe. It’s been such a long time since he’s last had something like this. With a delighted smile, he turns to Yamato and says “Thank you.”
“Wh-Whatever...”
He’s never seen Yamato look so red before. Even when he’s out skating he doesn’t look like he’s breaking a sweat at all. What must he be so embarrassed about? Is he red because he’s upset? Is Yamato annoyed by him? Camus thought Yamato did this because he cared, but maybe it’s only because he didn’t want to deal with his odd habits.
“Hey,” Yamato’s voice derails his train of thought, “you’re biting your nails now.” A firm but gentle hand pulls Camus’ own away from his face. “You know that could damage your nails, right?”
Camus didn’t even notice. “Yeah...” he mutters. Yamato is so close to his face. He thought he’d look angry or irked by this discovery, but instead he’s showing concern.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Yamato reassures. “I’m not upset if that’s what’s worrying you. In fact,” he moves away from Camus’ face, “one of my friends used to bite his nails a lot too. He said nail polish helped a lot with stopping it.”
Ah. Nail polish. “I don’t think they would appreciate that.”
“Who? Your parents?”
Camus immediately tenses up. Of course they wouldn’t like it. It’s unnecessary. He’s lucky enough they let him have Alexander. Asking for anything else will have him be deemed as “spoiled” or “greedy” or whatever synonym there is that correlates.
Yamato brings Camus close to him. “It’s okay, it’s only me here.” The poor guy’s trembling in his arms. “Sorry about bringing them up.” He never noticed how cold his tutor was until now.
Camus doesn’t say anything. The hug was sudden, but not unwelcoming. Yamato is warm. He’s never felt someone so warm before. Is this what it feels like? If so, he doesn’t want to leave this feeling.
“Camus, can you look at me?” Yamato asks.
He looks up at Yamato. Eyes shimmering a beautiful amber color accompanied by that alluring smile. Yamato Hyuga has no idea how lovely he can be and it’s tugging at Camus’ heart so much. Between his pointer finger and thumb is a chocolate almond.
“Open wide.” Yamato places the sweet in Camus’ mouth and watches as his face lights up. He’s kinda cute like that. If there’s one thing in life that he’d never want to change, it’d be the first time they’d ever met.
Next time he sees Alexander he’s giving that dog so many belly rubs.
“Why don’t we take a break?” he suggests. “That might help you take your mind off things. And I can feed you all the chocolate nuts you want!”
Camus laughs. “I can feed myself, Hyuga.” He moves back in front of the bag. “A break does sound nice though.”
The two get up and settle on the couch behind them. Yamato turns on the TV and flips to a channel showcasing a movie. Camus looks ahead in awe. “I’ve never seen this iteration of Rapunzel before.”
“Really? I like it a lot.” Yamato puts down the remote. “I’m surprised that you knew it was a retelling of Rapunzel.”
“I used to read fairy tales a lot when I was younger.” Camus puts his head on Yamato’s shoulder. “It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to become someone’s Prince Charming.” He pops another chocolate almond into his mouth.
“Oh, that’s pretty cool!” Yamato wraps an arm around Camus and pulls him closer. “But, um, what if you ended up getting a Prince Charming instead?” He mentally slaps himself. Well, there goes his chances.
The blonde thinks for a moment. This is an interesting question coming from Hyuga. Why would he ask that anyway? Is he in any way interested? Never mind that. Getting a Prince Charming of his own though? If it was Hyuga, then...
“I wouldn’t mind,” he replies. “I wouldn’t mind at all.” He takes in another chocolate almond.
Those words are like the sun driving away the lingering storm clouds in the sky. He has a chance. Yamato has a chance! Wait, does Camus actually have someone else in mind? He’s never really seen him talk to anyone else other than Yamato’s friends. Even so, he isn’t much of a Prince Charming type in the slightest.
“I don’t really care who he is though,” Camus continues. “Classy, elegant, casual, athletic, it doesn’t really matter.”
Yamato looks down at Camus, who he finds is looking back up at him. “As long as they make you happy, right?”
A smile forms on Camus’ lips. “As long as we can make each other happy, that’s all that matters for me right now.” He knows it’s the bare minimum, but something like that is leagues better than home. “Open wide.”
“Huh—“ Yamato gets stopped by a chocolate almond. Wait, no. Two? Three? How many did Camus give him?
“It’s quite unfair that I’m the only one that gets to enjoy them. You should eat some too.”
“I haff—“ Yamato swallows the nuts. “I have a protein bar.”
“You never took a bite out of it, let alone unwrap it.” Camus scoots closer to Yamato. “Well, an eye for an eye, right?”
Immediate fear rushes through Yamato’s body. “W-We have to trade eyes now?!”
“That’s not what I meant!” He doesn’t think he’s ever laughed this much before. “It was a figure of speech. Since I fed you some chocolate almonds, you can feed me your bar.”
After a few seconds of calming down, Yamato opens the package and hovers the protein bar in front of Camus. “You have such a weird sense of humor.”
“I’m more surprised about you thinking I have one.”
They continue conversing and watching the movie together. At some point, they both wonder if this counts as a date. Even if the other doesn’t think so, this alone is good enough.
In the end they didn’t go back to their work, but they didn’t mind.