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Of course a spider ended up in Tsukasa’s room when he was home alone.
Tsukasa sat at his desk, bouncing his leg as he worked on his endless mountain of make-up work– he was lucky that his teachers let him complete his missing work. He leaned back in his chair as he yawned and stretched his arms up, but when he opened his eyes, he was met with the horrific sight of the eight-legged creature on his ceiling– right above him. He let out a scream, then lost his balance, and toppled backwards in the chair.
He scrambled up from his awkward position on the floor and quickly darted away from the spider’s location. His heart pounded as anxiety made his stomach turn and his chest buzz. With shaking hands, he took out his phone and texted his mother the situation, but let out a disappointed sigh when she texted him back to inform him that her, his father, and Saki wouldn’t be home from Saki’s doctor's appointment for another hour. He pursed his lips into a tight line and typed a reply that held way more confidence than he felt.
Tsukasa sucked in a cool breath to quell the fire in his chest then looked up at the spider. It hadn’t moved from its place on the ceiling, but he was sure that it would find another place to be eventually. Until then, he could sit in the living room. It wasn’t like he had to do homework in–
The spider started moving, and in response, Tsukasa ran out of his room and down the stairs. When he got to the bottom of the steps, he leaned down and rested his elbows on his legs while he caught his breath. Fear coursed through his veins, and every little shift of fabric against his skin felt like spindly legs crawling on him. He shoved off his cardigan and let it fall to the floor in a heap, but it didn’t help.
Breathing became harder and harder as Tsukasa wrapped his arms around himself. His phone clattered to the floor, but whether or not it was broken didn’t matter to him. He felt unsafe– deeply and utterly so. He slowly sank to the floor as his lips formed a thin line and tears filled his eyes. This was so stupid… it was just a spider!
—
“It’s just a spider!”
At seven years old, Tsukasa soon learned the horror of what little kids could do to other little kids. He let out an ear-splitting scream and quickly clambered away from the other kid before he could throw the insect at him. He always did that. Why did he do that?
Faster than a pair of cats, two other kids appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Tsukasa’s arms. “No! No!” he screamed, but they held him in place as the other kid placed the spider on Tsukasa’s clothes, then started to search for more bugs.
Hot tears streamed down Tsukasa’s cheeks as the spider crawled on him and the laughter of the other two kids filled his ears. Soon, three more bugs were placed on him– a centipede, a ladybug, and a grasshopper. The grasshopper immediately jumped off of him, the ladybug flew up and away from the scene, and the spider found its way onto the hand of the kid holding Tsukasa’s right arm. The centipede, however…
—
The horror of his memory was interrupted by the harsh buzz of his phone against the floor and the incessant chime of his ringtone. Tsukasa sniffed and quickly dried his eyes before he picked up his phone. It was Rui. Tsukasa took a deep breath to steady himself, then answered the call with a cheerful, “Hey!”
“Hi! Do you have a moment to spare? I’m out and about and I thought I would stop by for a moment to visit with you,” Rui said with a soft voice.
Rui’s presence sounded heavenly to Tsukasa, so he answered immediately with a, “Of course I do! I always have a moment for you.”
Rui chuckled on the other line, “Alright, then! I’ll arrive shortly,” he replied.
“See you soon,” Tsukasa knew that Rui would be able to tell that he was upset just by the tone of his voice, but he decided to wait until the other boy said something before he admitted that something was wrong. He looked down at his yellow cardigan and grabbed hold of it before he slowly stood. He should clean up the living room before Rui gets here.
In about five minutes, a soft rapping sounded at Tsukasa’s front door. He quickly rushed to the door and opened it as he greeted his partner with a big smile. “Thank you for coming by,” he said as he crushed him in a hug.
Rui hugged Tsukasa back tight. “Thank you for having me,” he said as he placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head. When he noticed how quiet the rest of the house was, he furrowed his brows. “Where’s your family?” he asked.
“Saki had a doctor’s appointment out of town, so I stayed behind so I could work on my homework,” he rested his head on Rui’s chest as he continued his words, “I wanted to be there for her, but I started falling behind again.”
“I’m sure she understands,” Rui replied with a hum. He slowly released Tsukasa from their embrace and slipped off his shoes, then walked into the house with him. “If you want, I could sit with you while you do your homework! I just needed to see you,” he said as he took his hand and laced their fingers.
The thought of homework made Tsukasa think of his room, which made him think of this spider, which made his stomach turn with anxiety. “Well,” he exclaimed with a barked laugh, “I can’t… go into my room right now,” he said with a nervous expression. Rui tilted his head in confusion, so Tsukasa kept talking at a fast pace, “I was doing work in there, but I leaned back to stretch and saw a spider on my ceiling, and I got too scared to get my homework and carry it down here so I just ran,” he started to wave his hands rapidly as he spoke, and when he was done, he took a breath and let it out in a quick huff.
“I can remove it, if you want,” Rui replied, then quickly added, “I don’t mind! I have to take a lot of bugs out of my room at home since it’s technically outside.”
Tsukasa hummed and thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. “I’d really appreciate that. I’m glad you’re here,” his voice was full of relief as he spoke.
Rui and Tsukasa found a jar, then made their way into Tsukasa’s bedroom. Nerves jumped through Tsukasa’s body, but with Rui by his side, he knew he could rest easy. The spider had moved onto the wall next to the door, so Rui was able to catch it with ease. As he capped the jar, he brought it close to his face and squinted his eyes. “Oh,” his eyes widened with recognition, “this bird dropping spider– completely harmless,” Rui looked at Tsukasa and smiled, then held the jar towards him, “here, take a look–”
“No!” Tsukasa yelled as he cowered back and held his arms in front of his face. “I mean, no… I can’t, I– just please take it outside, please,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. He had started to shake again.
Rui’s eyes widened, and he pulled the jar back towards him. “Of course. I’m sorry, Tsukasa,” he said sincerely. He walked down the stairs and out the front door to turn the spider loose.
Tsukasa stood in his room and tried to regulate his breathing. Anxiety clawed at his chest as his throat started to close and fresh, hot tears welled in his eyes. Rui didn’t mean to, he didn’t mean to, he–
“Tsukasa, come sit” Rui’s voice filled his ears as he joined him once again and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Tsukasa didn’t even hear him come inside again.
Tsukasa covered his face and nodded. Rui led him to his bed and slowly sat down next to him. “I’m sorry…” Tsukasa managed to say.
“No, no! I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to make you look at the spider,” Rui apologized as he wrapped an arm around his waist. “... I will say, though, this is different from your normal reaction. Is something the matter?” he asked.
Tsukasa leaned into Rui and rested his hands in his lap. “... nothing happened besides the spider thing. I just started remembering how mean other kids were to me when I was little,” he explained slowly.
Rui hummed in response and rested his head on top of Tsukasa’s. “What would they do?” he asked gently.
Tsukasa closed his eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. “On the playground, these same kids would always throw bugs at me. It freaked me out, but it was manageable. One day, they…” he slowly opened his eyes, “they went too far. His friends grabbed me, and they put bugs on my clothes. A centipede crawled on my face, Rui,” he let out a small, defeated laugh as he finished speaking.
Rui’s eyebrows furrowed as he listened. “Tsukasa…” he whispered, “I’m so sorry. Is that why you hate bugs so much..?”
“Partly, yeah. I’ve always hated bugs, they freak me out, but that just made me hate them even more,” Tsukasa replied with a nod. He slowly shifted to wrap his arms around Rui’s neck and rested his face on his shoulder. “I know you didn’t mean to upset me, though– I’m not mad at you,” he said with a small smile.
“I know, my love,” Rui said as he held Tsukasa close, “I thought I would show you the characteristics of that type of spider so you’d recognize it next time you saw it, but I didn’t realize that it wasn’t appropriate. I’m sorry again, darling.”
Tsukasa hummed and shook his head. “Don’t worry, Rui, I know. Thank you, though,” he closed his eyes and let himself relax into the embrace.
Rui gently kissed Tsukasa’s temple. “How long do you want me to stay?” he asked as he carded his fingers through his hair.
At the sensation,a low chuckle sounded from Tsukasa’s chest. “You know I don’t mind how long you stay, but I think my parents might want to have time for family when they get home. They like to do that after Saki’s big doctors appointments,” he explained. “They should be home in thirty minutes or so, I think,” he added.
“I’ll stay until then! What do you want to do?”
“... honestly, just this.”
“That’s okay with me.”