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“Maan, I’m beat!” Bright yellow eyes watched as Neiro stretched his arms out, the ravenette leaning back from the small coffee table that they’ve been hunched over for the past few hours. Hachimitsu intentionally copied the action, breathing out a sigh of relief when his muscles relaxed. “Good work today.” He flipped the notebook on the coffee table shut, deciding that he’d officially reached his limit for today. Hachimitsu was never a fan of studying in the first place, but doing it with Neiro made it a lot more tolerable, and a lot easier as well. It also meant that there was someone around to make sure that he didn’t end up moving to his computer and playing games an hour in. Though, Hachimitsu wouldn’t have invited Neiro to study alone with him in his bedroom anyway. The living room is a much safer choice.
Hachimitsu picked up his phone only to pause when he saw the time. It’s 9:30 already? When did it get this late? “Nei-kun, you’re going to miss the train if you don’t get going by now.” Hachimitsu’s place was by no means far from the train station, but it would still take some time to get there by foot. Neiro quickly glanced at the clock hung up on the wall, gasping when the realization hit him as well and began to frantically pack his things up.
“Ahh, I can’t believe I didn’t notice!” Hachimitsu watched as Neiro scrambled to get on his feet, making sure that there wasn’t anything of his left behind before getting up too. He followed Neiro to the entryway, slipping on his own shoes as well. The ravenette paused, turning his head to look over to Hachimitsu with those stupid shiny eyes. “Why are you putting your shoes on too?” Neiro straightened up, hands on his hips with a confused stare. His head tilted to the side like a dog would, and Hachimitsu wished he could take a picture with his eyes.
“I’m walking you to the station.” Hachimitsu replied in a tone that left no space for objection from the ravenette, but of course Neiro did anyway. “No way, no way! Just stay, I’ll text you when I’m home. Thanks for today, Micchan!” A smaller hand pushed on to Hachimitsu’s chest, shoving him backwards as Neiro hurried out the front door — only for Hachimitsu to trail behind him anyways.
There really wasn’t any time for them to be debating over this, so Neiro kept walking on towards the station — all while telling Hachimitsu to turn back around. “Just go back, Hachimitsu! I’ll be fine.” Hachimitsu paid his words no mind, a small smirk tugging on the edges of his lips. “It’s dangerous, y’know?” It wasn’t entirely a lie. There weren't really any cases as of late, yet Hachimitsu couldn’t help but worry over Neiro walking alone this late at night anyway. He knows that he could hold his own if anything ever happened to himself, but Hachimitsu wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if anything happened to Neiro while the ravenette was on his way back from his place.
“But I’m a guy! It’s not as dangerous.” Neiro spared Hachimitsu a glance, one that he could only describe as an angry kitten’s. His heart thumped, ‘This is exactly why you shouldn’t be walking alone at night.’ his mind supplies, but the words don’t come out from his mouth. “I know. Even men get harassed these days.” Again, there was truth laced into Hachimitsu’s words and Neiro couldn’t really find it in himself to retort against that. The ravenette’s well aware that he couldn’t really put up a fight, nor was he able to run very fast. Hachimitsu walking with him does make him feel a little safer. “Hmph, well.. yeah.” A quiet admission was all his ego urged him to respond with.
The rest of the walk was quiet, silence filled with chirping of birds. Neiro sways a little from side to side as he walks, an unintentional habit that he picked up. The ravenette’s shoulder bumps into Hachimitsu’s and Hachimitsu’s suddenly made very aware of the distance — or lack thereof between them. He doesn’t mind it, because of course he doesn’t. Why would he ever mind being close to Neiro? Casually, Hachimitsu slips Neiro’s hand into his — a cold palm meeting the ravenette’s surprisingly warm one and tugs him closer to his side.
He receives a confused look, to which Hachimitsu only smiles in return. Neiro glanced around, quickly noting that there wasn’t anything suspicious going on around them. “What happened?” Neiro whispered, looking back to Hachimitsu again. “My hands are cold.” It’s a flimsy excuse, but the grey-haired boy gets away with it. Neiro rolled his eyes in response, but the edges of his lips curling up was obvious. It wasn’t really that cold at all. Neiro’s hand holds on to Hachimitsu’s a little tighter, shoulder right against Hachimitsu’s as they walk. There was significantly less distance between them now, but nobody else was around to witness it anyways.
Thankfully enough, Neiro does end up at the train station on time. The last train was about to arrive any minute now and if they’d messed around any more while getting here, the ravenette might’ve had to stay the night at Hachimitsu’s place — an idea that Hachimitsu both was and wasn’t opposed to.
“You can go now, the train’s gonna be here.”
“I wanna see you get on before I go.”
Neiro groans, having completely given up on putting up a fight against Hachimitsu now. He stands in front of the taller boy, holding on to both of his hands while he looks into his eyes. It feels a little weird, like Neiro was recreating a scene from some sappy shoujo anime. The ravenette only stared, not saying anything. “Nei-kun?..” Hachimitsu tries, his gaze flooded with worry. “You’re so nice to me, Micchan.” Neiro murmured, soft enough that Hachimitsu would’ve missed it if he wasn’t so focused on Neiro right now.
What? That’s so stupid. “You’re my friend, of course I would be.”
“Actually, um—”
Before Neiro could finish, the train pulled to a stop at the station. Hachimitsu’s heart thrashed in his ribcage as the ravenette pulled away, heading towards the train as its doors opened. Instinctively, his feet follow Neiro’s steps — but Hachimitsu has just the right mind to stop right in front of it. He can’t get on. “What? What is it?” he pries, urging the words out despite their time constraint right now.
“It can wait, I’ll tell you next time, promise!”
“No, what?! Neiro, tell me now!—”
The doors shut, and Hachimitsu took a step back as the train pulled away. Fuck! What the hell was it that Neiro was going to say?
832
< What was it? >
< You’re leaving me anxious here. >
Neiro
< www >
< You’re so impatient >
< I just wanted to tell you that I want to study with you again next week >
< That okay? >
Oh. That’s really it?
832
< Yeah, sounds good. >
< You can come over whenever you want. >
Neiro
< Okay!! >