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The wind around them felt cool, tingling against their skin. Yoshiki sat by the shore his knees tucked below his chins, his sling bag long abandoned in the sand his hair damp with sea water. He watched Hikaru, who was further out in the ocean catching some fish with his shirt.
"hey Yoshiki take a look at this will ya!" he yelled out picking something up from the ocean, ouch!" Hikaru hissed, Yoshiki got up with a sigh walking in the ocean. The cool water crept up his knees, seeping in the hems of his shorts as he came closer he can see a tiny crab latched on the tips of Hikaru's fingers.
"what? ya' should let it go to its home" Yoshiki said trying to pull the crab away from Hikaru's finger, Hikaru flinched pulling his hand back, "hey! it'll be fine with me" Hikaru laughed it off, shaking it off his hand "see? it don't even hurt" the crab skiddled off between rocks and finally hiding in one.
Yoshiki frowned he can clearly see Hikaru wincing from it, Yoshiki rubbed the tip of Hikaru's finger "ya' should stop doing dumb things" Hikaru snorted smiling and turning his hand around as if looking for scars "ya' keep saying that"
" 'cus ya' keep doing dumb things" Yoshiki replied, turning away
the wind picked up leaving the light breeze brushing through his damp shirt, he wrapped his arms around himself without thinking.
"Yoshiki.." Hikaru said quietly
"yeah?"
"..so you ever wondered how things would end?" Hikaru stopped for a moment "ya' know, If i never really went here?"
Yoshiki froze, the chilling air around him suddenly stopped he turned around "don't" Yoshiki huffed out.
"i think it'd be better like that" Hikaru rubbed the back of his neck "you'd stop pretending"
Yoshiki froze his hands clenched on his side. The Hikaru now wasn't the one Yoshiki was pretending him to be.
"..i know ill never be the original Hikaru" he said the words lingered longer than it needed too, then he continued speaking "i don't even like the things he liked" Hikaru sighed "maybe if i never went here you guys could grieve him properly and you wouldn't have to suffer this much'
"stop"
'i just wanted to be with ya' that's all..i don't know if its Hikaru's feelings being jumbled up in me but," the silence in the air was tight, it felt hard to breathe, Yoshiki can feel Hikaru's gaze on his neck.
“…really,” Hikaru said softly.
“i love you.”
A beat settled between them.
“…Yoshiki.”
Yoshiki didn't turn around but for the first time he didn't think about the Hikaru he lost,
"you know what lets forget i said that it sounded dumb" Hikaru tried to shrug it off, walking past Yoshiki but Yoshiki held onto his wrist "hold on will ya' did you just say all that and expect me to just shrug it off?" Yoshiki scoffed
"it sounded pretty dumb yeah, so i guess?" Hikaru looked at his wrist then to Yoshiki's face,
"do-do you know what that means to me?" Yoshiki said, a half-desperate scoff escaping him "did you think it through before you shrug it off? because a confession like that means a lot to me" Yoshiki admitted, shame rushing over him this wasn't even the human Hikaru why is he confessing to a monster.
Hikaru's breath hitched, the grip on his wrist softening he glanced back towards Yoshiki's it was trembling slightly but the look on his face was a tell.
Hikaru hesitated for a moment.
"does it mean a lot?" Hikaru turn around facing Yoshiki,
"even from me?"
"especially from you" Yoshiki admitted, the feeling of guilt and shame washing over him.