Ground Yourself - Chapter 5: Tomato Omelet

"Kei... It's going to be alright." whispered Freya's soft voice as she caressed his hair, his head on her lap.

"No... No it's not." Kei choked out these words as he curled into a fetal position.

"Shhhh... It will." Freya leaned down and kissed his temple, and pressed her forehead onto it. "You can make it through this."

"How!? My mom just threw me out, Freya. I'm sixteen, what am I supposed to do?" Kei sat up and looked at her with tears glazing his eyes.

"Kei," Freya cradled his head with her hands, and said, "Where there is darkness, there is light. Darkness is what you see right now, but wait a while and endure... then soon the sun will rise."

"What if it won’t rise?"

Freya pulled him closer into a hug, "It will rise, and it will be the most beautiful light you would ever see. Now sleep... you didn't get to have any, right?"

Nodding, Kei resumed his position on her lap, and closed his eyes. Slowly, he fell into slumber with her relaxing touch and beautiful voice.

When he was sixteen his mom had kicked him out of the house because his grades started slipping. He got lower scores than usual, and even fell down the honor rankings.

It was not a good time for him.

But Freya never left his side even when he was at his worst. He had no money and no home to go to. Freya had a job as a freelancer, accepting any job that she could do through the computer, and she was very good at it too. Anything that included being a writer was her specialty.

He had other friends to help him too.

During times like that it was obvious who your real friends were... it was heartbreaking seeing others leave, but Freya was with him. As long as she was there he was alright.

She was his ground. She was his base. She was his everything. She kept him sane.

It's funny how literal that last one was.

Kei sighed and rested his chin on the palm of his hand, waiting for class to end. This lesson was boring. Usually, psychology would interest him in some way, but now the teacher was just repeating things. Just in a different way of teaching it.

When the professor dismissed the class, he made his leave. Kei held his notebook in his hand and spun a pen on the other as he walked through the halls, until he bumped into someone.

"Pfft... It's the Asian letter guy." it was the self-proclaimed 'jock' of the campus, "You know," he said as he elbowed the guy right next to him, and then made actions as if he was having a seizure, "C-c-c-c-crazzyyyyy!" he covered his ears, and in an overly dramatic voice, said, "Get out... oh, help me! Get out of my heeaaad." afterwards, he and his friends proceeded to laugh.

Kei huffed and walked away. Things like this were normal. It wasn't their fault, they were ignorant. Their brains were too small to even understand what he was going through.

There were other times when he had broken down in the university, and they weren't pretty times. Kei guessed that he had left an impression on the students schooling here-- just not the good kind.

Looking around, Kei thought that Teff should've been here already. He usually was here waiting for his class to end, but he didn't show up. Well, things can't always be a regular thing now, can they?

Kei adjusted his black bag on his back, and walked out of the campus. He had no class for the rest of the day, and he wasn't able to eat a proper breakfast so Kei was feeling hungry. He was feeling in the mood for scrambled eggs... or maybe coffee.

As he got closer to the university's gate, he noticed that there was a scene. He wasn't able to make much clear of it since all the girls around were huddled up together whispering things as they blushed. He was able to hear parts of their conversation.

"Hey, who's that?" whispered one.

"I don't know, but he's cute..." replied the other.

Who was who? Kei pushed through the crowd with effort, and was finally able to breathe properly when he escaped the death trap of human bodies... only to see something that made him wish he had stayed inside of the building and starved to death instead of going outside to eat.

There was a very handsome fellow leaning against his parked motorcycle, a beautiful thing that was obviously taken care of, and shades upon his black gelled hair. His denim jacket clung to his skin, showing fit arms. He wore a white inner shirt that showed jussst a bit too much collarbone, and to make it worse, it was tight.

He was just texting with a smile on his face, when Kei heard a ding in his pocket. He didn't need to pick it up to know who it was from.

"Ritsu!" he hissed the name with venom. Showing up in front of the dormitory multiple times was more than enough, but in his school?

At the sound of his name, Ritsu looked at him with surprise, and then gave him a killer grin that, apparently, made the girls in his school scream. "Hey! I was waiting for you." he said with a wave.

Kei stomped to his front and grit his teeth, "Ritsu... why are you here and why are you dressed like that? Where are your glasses?"

"Aww... Kei, are you mad at me? I dressed up all special for you, and this is how you repay me? I broke my glasses, I'm getting new ones later."

"Ritsu, you're causing a scene!"

Ritsu leaned in and whispered, "Well then, why don't we escape?" he smirked playfully and patted the seat on his motorcycle.

"I can walk, thank you very much." whispered Kei, biting out every word.

Ritsu closed his eyes and sighed, "Then I guess I have to take out one of these girls for a ride instead, I'm sure they'd be happy." he glanced at the crowd of people and gave them a two-fingered salute, "Hey." at the sound of their screams, he turned back to Kei with a triumphant grin, who was crossing his arms.

"Fine!" Kei lifted his arms in the air in defeat and got on the motorcycle, "I want food... you will pay for it."

Ritsu chuckled and put on his helmet, "Yes sir."

With the rev of the engines and Kei's terrified screech, they were off.

Teff sat on the benches near the large tree back by the dormitory, staring at his phone waiting for Kei to text him back. He was expecting a 'Are you an idiot? I'm coming, wait.' or a 'You should've told me earlier.' but there was no reply. Teff was pretty sure that his class would be over right about now, and that Kei wouldn't have anything else to do, but why wasn't he replying?

A while ago he had sent him a message telling Kei to meet him where they usually hanged out, because he had made the both of them lunch. His favorite: Scrambled eggs filled with sliced tomatoes.

With a sigh, Teff kept his phone in his pocket. Maybe he should just wait a little longer.

"So... this is where you're staying?" Kei said as he looked around his hotel room.

"Yeah, it's not much, sorry." replied Ritsu as he rubbed the back of his neck and placed his motorcycle keys on top of the kitchen counter.

"Not much? Ritsu, this is four- no, five times bigger than my dorm room!" Kei ran to the sofa and leaped onto it, laughing when he got a face full of fluffy pillows. "Who even needs this many pillows?"

Ritsu smiled as he unpacked the groceries that both of them had bought on their way there, and started cracking eggs.

Curious, Kei looked over his shoulder, which was quite a feat considering how short he was, and asked, "What are you making?"

Laughing, Ritsu took out some vegetables from the bag, "What do you think we bought eggs and tomatoes for? I'm making your favorite..." he looked behind him and raised a brow, "It is still your favorite right? Because I'm not so sure anymore."

A sparkle danced around Kei's eyes when he shook his head, "It's still my favorite."

Ritsu mixed them around with a fork, "Good! Because this is literally the only thing I know how to cook besides rice."

"You were always bad at cooking."

"Don't tease."

"You took all of the tomatoes! That's not fair!" Ritsu pointed his fork accusingly at Kei.

"You don't even like tomatoes." Kei munched on each and every one with satisfaction, "I take back the part where I said that you were bad at cooking."

Feeling smug, Ritsu huffed and nodded, "I have impressed the mighty Kei."

With his plate empty and his stomach full, Kei relaxed from where he sat. "It's been a while since I ate that... thank you, Ritsu."

Ritsu grinned and gathered all of the dishes, "You're welcome, but you're washing this."

"What, why?"

"It's only fair since I did all of the cooking."

"Oh, would you look at the time." Kei said while looking at his nonexistent watch, "I better get going. I have so many things to do." he took his bag from the pillow covered sofa and headed for the door. "Bye, bye, Ritsu."

"Wha-! Kei, you cheater!"

With that, the door closed leaving Ritsu finish up the clean up all by himself.

It was already halfway past noon when Kei got back in the dormitory. When he was about to make his escape from the dishes, he had been captured against his will and forced to stay longer inside the monster's caves of death.

It was... enjoyable. Minus the chores that he had to do. It had reminded Kei of how things used to be when he was still back in Japan with his friends and family. Back when everything was alright.

He couldn't help but want to stay longer.

Of course, he still had some things to do that were more important than fluffy pillows and hotel rooms. Kei needed to keep his grades up.

Something was bugging him, though. For the whole day he had absolutely no idea where Teff went. There was no text and no call. Not a single sign of his red locks or his freckled skin.

That's why he found himself standing in front of his dorm room, knocking.

The door swung open to show Teff with messed up bed hair and doughnut crumbs on his dirty shirt. "Kei?" he seemed shocked to see him. Well, of course, since Teff's usually the one going to Kei.

"Hey... what have you been up to the whole day?" Kei asked awkwardly.

Teff grinned and gave him a hug, "Dude! I've been worried sick about you! The question is, where were you? I sent you a text, you didn't get it?"

Kei slipped out of his arms and brushed his sleeves, "A text?" he took his phone out of his pocket and checked the messages.

Teff: Meet me at our usual spot. I have something for you.

"Oh... Teff, I'm so sorry. I was doing something. Ritsu showed up out of nowhere in front of the school's campus and I had no other choice but to go along with him." Kei thought that the text he had received was from Ritsu, "W-what was it that you wanted to give me?"

Teff grinned, "Nah, don't worry about it. I was going to prank you anyways, so in a way Ritsu saved your life."

"I guess so. He made the most heavenly tomato omelet." Kei said remembering the taste.

At that, Teff's grin faltered by just a bit. "Omelets? So you've been at his place the whole day?"

"The day's not over yet, but I guess I was there most of the time." Kei said, unaware of what was going through Teff's head.

"Ah... I see..." he was silent for a while, and that made Kei worry for a bit until he laughed, "I have some things to do over here, so I need some quiet time to finish it up."

Kei raised a brow, "Teff actually doing some work? Is it the end of the world?"

"Hey, I do my own kind of things every now and then. Now I really need to do the thing. Don't forget to drink your medication."

"Oh, okay. Bye." and then the door was shut.

Frowning, Kei walked back to his dorm. That was strange...

It was then that he had the realization that he had not taken his pills during lunch time, and there was not a whisper of its voice or a shadow of its figure. That... this was... this was good.

Kei lied on his bed, and laughed. He really was getting better. But why? For the whole day he had been spending time with Ritsu... that may be it.

So Kei had been with Ritsu the whole day, and ignored his text to boot.

Teff stared at the boxed lunch that he had made for Kei on top of his tiny dining table. He sighed and took it in his hands. There was no helping it, he guessed. Teff spilled the lunch box's contents into the trash bin, watching his effort go wasted.

Teff clicked his tongue and threw himself onto his bed, trying to tell himself not to get mad, that this was Kei's childhood friend. He couldn't just rip them apart. They haven't seen each other in a while.

He groaned into his pillow and shut his eyes. He needed sleep.

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