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Handa, I know I’m just some thug right now, so I’m not someone worthy of being friends with you.
But still…! I hope that you can think of me as your personal bodyguard that’ll always keep you safe from danger despite that because I’ll…
I’ll always be watching you no matter what.
That was an internal promise he had made to himself a while back, that he would always serve as Handa’s loyal bodyguard from afar as thanks for everything he had done for him. It was a commitment he took seriously after all, he made sure to follow Handa everywhere, whether it be between classes, while he was running errands after school, or even when the shorter boy was walking home like he was now, he was never too far behind him.
So that was why, when he noticed how oddly paranoid Handa seemed about something on his way home today, that it caused him to nearly step into the busy street traffic because of how much he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, there was no way he couldn’t intervene and save him.
“Handa-kun watch out!”
It felt like his life had nearly flashed before his eyes when it happened, he had been running on pure adrenaline when he had suddenly ran up from behind the young calligrapher and quickly wrapped his arms around his waist so that he could pull him away from the oncoming cars.
Crap, it’s the one person I’ve been actively trying to avoid this whole time! Handa mentally began to freak out as he felt the taller delinquent boy pull him so close to him that the back of his body was now flush against his own broad manly chest.
He had been trying to lose Tsutsui for a while now, the other teen had been tailing him for blocks now with this intense look in his eyes he had as he did it, so could you really blame him? I mean he had even done every trick in the book to do it, he had taken different routes that he usually did to lose Tsutsui, he had tried to take shortcuts he had never used before to confuse the other teen, and he had even tried to sprint at certain points in hopes that the other boy would finally get the hint that way too, but unfortunately the only thing that came from all of that was the fact that he had almost nearly gotten run over by a moving vehicle.
Huff… Puff… Huff… Puff…
Handa felt his heart suddenly drop at the reminder of his current situation by the way he felt the other boy’s breath suddenly brush against his ear and neck as he panted next to him like this.
That was right… Tsutsui had been following him for a while now, so what was he going to do now that he had him trapped in his arms like this?! Was he going to do what he had been secretly plotting to do this whole time to him? Was he going to try to fight him now? Was he going to kidnap him to try to make him do his bidding or something? Was he going to take him for ransom and extort his parents for loads of money for his safe return to them because everyone knew that he was the son of a famous calligrapher?
“You’ve got to be more careful Handa!” Tsutsui began to break the other teen out of his spiraling thoughts and said, “You could’ve gotten seriously hurt if I wasn’t here to help you!”
Not that he was probably one in particular to talk about that kind of subject, I mean delinquents like him weren’t exactly known for making safe choices after all and given how much of a badass Handa was he probably was the same way, an adrenaline seeking junky that couldn’t resist chasing a high no matter how dangerous it might’ve been to go after it.
“Huh? You’re concerned about that?” Handa looked back at the other teen and disbeliefly responded.
To be honest, he couldn’t believe it, I mean what was the other guy’s angle here? Was he actually concerned for him or was he just worried about damaging (him) the prime merchandise, since it might affect whatever scheme he had been planning to use him for?
“Of course I am! Anyone would!” Tsutsui hurriedly insisted in such a loud voice that it would’ve frightened anyone at first, “I mean loads of people at school are always worried about you.”
The only reason they worry about me is because they don’t want me to be around because of how much they don’t like me, Handa bittersweetly replied to himself at the other boy’s claims.
He wasn’t blind to how the whole school felt about him, how everyone kept their distance from him like he was some unapproachable object, how they always seemed to talk about him in whispers whenever he went by, and even how they all seemed to single him out in some way, he knew that everyone hated him. Tsutsui didn’t need to pretend it was anything different.
“Hey, you’re going home right now Handa?” Tsutsui’s voice suddenly broke him out of his depressing thoughts once more and asked.
“Yeah… why?”
A part of him thought that might’ve been a bad idea to answer that question truthfully, but he had already let it slip out naturally so it’d be hard for him to lie now and try to take it back.
“I’ll carry you home then!” The taller boy began to insist with a determined look on his face, “I’ll keep you close by my side the entire time to help make sure that you stay safe on the way there!”
This was it, Akane-kun! This was the time to show your idol, Handa-kun, your expert bodyguard skills and prove to him how dependable a guy you can be when it comes to keeping him safe!
And maybe just maybe… This would finally allow the two of us to become so close that Handa could finally see me as a worthy man in his eyes and make him love me.
Tsutsui felt his heart start to race and his face warm at the thought, he was going to be a man that made Handa proud to have by his side.
“Don’t you mean walk me home?” Handa corrected him with an awkward expression.
Now he couldn’t deny that scenario certainly also had its own problematic undertones too, since he wasn’t exactly sure if it was that smart to tell the person that had silently been stalking him for over a half hour now where he lived, but….
“No, I mean carry,” Tsutsui straightforwardly answered him after that, as he quickly swept the other teen bridal style in his arms after that to prove his point, “this is the best way I can make sure to protect you as we go back to your place to the best of my ability!”
If he carried Handa in his arms like this all the way back to his house, then he could protect him from any danger on the ground that might come their way! It was a full proof plan!
Holy shit! This is definitely a kidnapping situation! I’m totally being taken hostage here!
Handa nervously began to squirm in the other boy’s arms at the sudden development, while Tsutsui just continued to carry him off with a cheerful expression on his face anyway, totally oblivious to his internal plight.
Tsutsui definitely had to be using him for money here right?! He was totally going to carry him back to his place and extort his parents for money by saying he wouldn’t return him unless he got payment, right?! It was the only reasonable explanation for all of this wasn’t it?!
I’m sorry mom, you're really about to find out what everyone at school really thinks of me, Handa internally began to apologize as he wrapped his arms around the other boy’s neck so he wouldn’t fall off.
She was about to find out that her son was being bullied so much at school that he had become the hostage of money extortion. He didn’t know how much Tsutsui wanted from his parents, nor what intimidation tactics in particular he would use, he just hoped that he didn’t do anything to make them more worried than they already would be about him when they saw him in such a desperate vulnerable state like this.
…
Though maybe the strangest outcome did happen after that, because when his mother had opened the front door of their home and saw him in Tsutsui’s arms when the two of them returned home, she wasn’t worried or alarmed, no actually she looked at the two of them with a small smile and said…
“Ah! You have a boyfriend and brought him over to visit Handa? Why didn’t you tell me I would’ve prepared snacks and drinks if I knew! Come in! Come in! Tell me all about yourself, since my son seems to have kept a handsome young man like you a secret from me!”
“Really…? I’m not all that good at talking about myself,” Tsutsui shyly replied at the sudden development while still holding the other boy in his arms.
Honestly, even though he knew he wasn’t actually Handa’s boyfriend he was kind of flattered to think that anyone could think he could pull the look off at least, because it meant that at least to others that it looked like Handa and him were closer to each other than they were to most other people.
“It’s fine I can just ask Handa about anything you are nervous about then!” Handa’s mother responded, quickly throwing her son under the bus as she began to lead the two of them inside, “so please come in and stay a while! There’s a lot I want to talk to you both about!”
“He’s just someone from school, he's not my…!”
But no matter how much Handa tried to correct her, that Tsutsui was in fact not his boyfriend and just someone who had been stalking him, her mother hadn’t seemed to listen at all to him, while Tsutsui did the equally insane thing of nervously entertaining her idea of the two of them being a couple for the entire evening.
To be honest, now that he thought about it he’s not really sure if this route was more preferable to the extorting money route he had believed would happen when Tsutsui first carried him here, but what he did know was that it would’ve probably been a hell of a lot less confusing than this fake romance route one was at least.