Chapter Text
Bzz… Bzz… Bzz…
Yoshka groaned softly as he stirred, wrapping himself in the blankets and sheets of his bed.
He hit his alarm clock to turn off what he assumed was a school alarm, but nothing happened. The buzzing continued long enough for him to actually sit up and figure out what it was
Looking at his bedside table, he saw his phone, buzzing itself to the edge, beginning to fall shortly after.
He quickly flinched to soften the blow, quickly trying to catch it in his hands.
He opened the top of the flip phone and answered the call quickly, putting it up to his ear.
“...Hello?” he muttered sleepily, slumping over as he spoke
“Yoshka… don't tell me you just woke up.” Kratcy groaned irritably, rubbing his temples.
Yoshka straightened up as he heard Kratcy’s voice
“Of course not! I was just- in the shower…” he spoke nervously, a small, insincere laugh followed, which only made it worse.
Kratcy huffed at his words, “I'll wake up earlier- you're only a bit out of the way, Kratcy, I'm fine.” Kratcy quoted him as Yoshka stumbled out of bed.
“I'm sorry- I'm sorry! I could have sworn I set the alarm.” A small whine followed his words as Yoshka ran to the bathroom.
“…wait for me?” Yoshka said under his breath, leaning against the bathroom counter, closing his eyes, and pleading as if Kratcy could see it.
Kratcy scoffed at his words as soon as they left his mouth, “I'm feeling generous, you get five minutes before I take off.” He huffed out.
“I can catch up! Thank you, dearie…” Yoshka let out a sigh of relief. He opened his mouth to speak more, but instead, he heard a beep.
Kratcy hung up on him…
He could have let him say goodbye.
“Must be grumpy today…” Yoshka laughed softly to himself.
—
Five minutes… I’ll only wait five minutes for Yoshka to catch up
. . .
Just… five
The longer I wait, the less he’ll have to run to catch up
He looks like a fool running so early in the morning. If he went straight to school, he could walk and be just fine, might even get there early
Ten minutes… I'll just wait ten minutes
—
He really didn’t need to be running; he'd be there in time, even with the longer route he took
But Yoshka kept running like his life depended on it. He knew the route Kratcy took; he promised he'd get up earlier today
Why did Kratcy go to school so early? Hed known him for what seemed like longer than he'd known himself and still didn't have an answer…
“Kratcy!” Yoshka yelled out, slowing down his steps until he finally caught up.
“Morning Yosh…” Kratcy hummed, glancing back at him with an insulting expression.
Yoshka groaned slightly in confusion before Kratcy pulled him by his shoulders and started fixing his hair.
He felt a soft tugging; he was being gentle today, which was a tad different from usual.
Two high buns were Yoshka's signature; instead, he had pigtails today, courtesy of Kratcy, a small change, but he noticed nonetheless.
“You can do buns, right?” He hesitated, his hand moving to his hair.
“Of course I can.” Kratcy shrugged with a prideful grin
Yoshka hummed slightly before quickly being stopped again.
“Your skirts are on backwards,” Kratcy said, ridiculiously
He glanced down, inspecting the waist, spinning it around once
“Guess it was… how'd you tell?”
“Backs longer than the front.”
“It is… I thought they only did that with short skirts,” Yoshka hummed slightly
“Ever seen a train on a dress...” Kratcy scoffed lightly, rolling his eyes mockingly
“Spare me…” Yoshka sighed softly
Yoshka sighed softly, “You have practice, correct?”
“Correct.”
. . .
“Wait for me..?” Kratcy dramatically whined out, referencing Yoshka’s prior words, smirking to himself.
“I'm sorry…!” Yoshka whined out, only getting a small snicker from Kratcy
“If you're late, I get to tease, sounds fair.”
“I said sorry…”
“You've said sorry hundreds of times now, and yet I still have to call you when you sleep in.”
“Forgive me,” Yoshka sighed softly
—
The pair sat side by side in a relatively empty classroom, a few other classmates were laughing and talking loudly, but nobody they knew too well.
Kratcy glanced over a paper in his hand while Yoshka was organizing colored pens in his pencil pouch.
“Ponytails.” Yoshka heard from behind him as his hair jostled slightly
Cheppy hit his hair upwards repeatedly, seeming content with the rising and falling of it.
“Good morning, Cheppy,” Yoshka smiled at him even though Cheppy was obviously distracted.
“Morning,” He responded with a softer smile, sending Yoshka's hair up one last time before taking a few steps away to his own seat
Soon after came Zara, he didn't have much to say, only glancing at Yoshka, eyes obviously stopping at his hair.
“Morning!” Yoshka repeated cheerfully
“Morning.” He mumbled dryly.
—
Kratcy let out a harsh groan as he kicked. The ball in front of him went flying directly towards a teammate, hitting him directly in the face, which seemed to be on purpose
“Volkov!” The coach yelled out, only getting a sour look in return from Kratcy.
“You're out for practice! See me after…” the coach called afterwards
Kratcy scoffed in return; he was practically red with anger as he yelled in defense of himself.
Yoshka glanced up from his work at the sound of yelling, simply staring at the group.
Soon after Kratcy was sent his way, angrily slumping down beside him
“It's a bit early for practice to be over,” Yoshka hummed softly, putting his eyes back on his assignment.
“Don’t patronize me…” Kratcy quickly quipped in return, his arms were crossed firmly complimenting the harsh scowl on his face.
Yoshka sighed under his breath.
“Was it on purpose?”
. . .
“Thats not for you to worry about…” Kratcy said under his breath, purposefully avoiding his gaze.
“Kratcy! If you keep acting up, you’ll get removed from the team.”
“How is it my fault morons can't even kick a ball! He could have easily avoided it!”
“I thought you said you were already on thin ice, if your dad heard about this-”
“He won't hear about anything, if I'm NOT getting kicked off the team- they depend on me, do they not?”
“...”
Kratcy grumbled softly under his breath, basking in the near silence for only a moment before speaking.
“Sorry.” He muttered halfheartedly, glancing back at the field.
“On the bright side, you're out of practice early.”
“I suppose so,” Kratcy shrugged, dusting his hands off as he stood on the bleachers.
“I waited for you this morning, so you have to wait for me!” He bluntly stated while walking away, grinning.
“But you take forever!” Yoshka complained in return, watching as he ran off, heading back into the school
Kratcy gave him a small, teasing salute at the door, rushing inside after.
…
The pair walked side by side wordlessly, the sun was on its way to setting, making the evening sky a bright orange mixed with the leftover blue.
“Kratcy” Yoshka broke the silence between the two, sounding more serious than usual
“If not for yourself, then for me, be careful in practice… it'll be terrible if you actually are forced to leave.”
“fine, fine.. Only for you, Yosh.” Kratcy agreed halfheartedly.
“But-” he quickly added
“Be a dear and tell me what time it is.”
Yoshka nodded in agreement, letting out a soft noise of amusement as he dug through his bag
. . .
It wasnt where he usually put it-
It could be in the middle pocket… no
Zipper pockets? No
Before he knew it, he was scouring through his bag for his phone. It wasn't hard to find, usually- a purple flip phone with charms was not exactly discreet.
“Lose something?” Kratcy chimed in curiously, slowing his pace down to stay by him.
Yoshka nervously continued digging anywhere he thought it might have been hiding to no avail, letting his head fall in defeat once he triple checked every compartment,
“I can't find it…” he said with a strong pout.
Kratcy beconned for the bag, and once it was in his grip, he scoured through it as well, letting out a pained groan after he accepted defeat.
“Where’d you leave it?!”
“I’ll go back and grab it, head home without me…” Yoshka pouted, taking a step back before turning around and speeding up his pace.
Kratcy only let out a noise of surprise, quickly followed by an irritated huff
He debated with himself for only a second before he turned and ran to catch up with him.