"I'm never doing that again!"
Dropping his green gym bag to the floor, Robert sat down on a bench in the locker room and began to strip out of his uniform. He was there merely because his friend, Kaito, suggested that they both tryout for basketball. Basketball of all things.
"Hey, Robbie, where are you?"
"Over here," he replied, trying to get the jersey over his head.
"Need help?"
"I got it."
"You sure?"
The one on the bench gave a grunt before pulling the jersey off, knocking his glasses clear off his face in the process. Nearly blind, Robert knelt down on the hard floor and felt around to find his missing spectacles, huffing as he heard his friend chuckle.
"You could help, ya' know?"
"You told me that you didn't need any."
"Kai!"
"Alright, jeez."
Kneeling down in front of his friend, Kaito picked up the glasses and eased them onto Rob's face. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he watched his friend's cheeks flush and he couldn't help but laugh as he stood back up.
"See something you like, Robbie?" Kai asked, holding out his hand.
Robert looked up at his friend, his mouth slightly agape. He had known Kaito since kindergarten and they had been nearly inseparable until their sophomore year of high school. It wasn't like their schedules had been filled but along the lines of Robbie's sudden interest in his friend. He told himself that it would be best to just avoid him but, then again, Kai always had ways of getting close. Whether it was waiting outside of class for him, flagging him down at lunch or waiting for him outside of school. The basketball tryouts were his latest attempt and Robbie started to wonder if he'd ever really manage to give his friend the slip. Then again, why would he?
Kaito was nice. Nothing ever really seemed to get him down and he was always around when Robert needed him. After all, they went way back. If history wasn't enough, Rob couldn't get over the fact of how much his friend had changed physically and him standing there with his jersey already off wasn't helping.
"Well, are you gonna' just stay on the floor or are you going to get up?"
"Um, sorry," Robbie said, taking his friend's hand to be pulled onto his own feet. "Thanks."
"No prob," Kaito said, turning his back to open his locker.
Hazel eyes wandered listlessly over the expanse known as Kai's back. Out of the two of them, Kaito had been the one to grow the most. Where Rob stood at five foot four, Kai towered him by at least three, four inches at the most. His once short, violet hair had grown much longer over time and the only reason his back was visible was due to it being pulled up into a high ponytail. The exception was his bangs that clung to his sweaty forehead. When he turned around, his smoky grey eyes locked with the pair behind the rimless glasses, a small smile crossing his fair face.
"You ok, Robbie?" Kaito asked, slipping on a snug white tank.
"Yeah," he replied, pulling on his own looser tank.
"Oh, ok."
Turning to face his own locker, Robert stripped out of his green gym shorts and changed into his gakuran before slipping his white sneakers on. Remembering how he was mad about the earlier basketball tryouts, he threw his bag into the locker and slammed the door shut before hurrying out, his book bag slung haphazardly over his shoulder.
"Hey, wait up, Robbie!"
The teen slowed his pace and turned to see Kai running up to him, his own backpack practically slipping down with each stride.
"You left all of a sudden. What's up?"
"Nothing," Rob replied, walking much slower so his winded friend could catch his breath.
"Wanna' hang at my place and play videogames?"
"Um, will other people be there?"
"Be where?" Kai asked, undoing the band that had bound his hair back all day. "At my house?" Robert nodded once. "Well, not at the moment, my parents won't be home until later this evening and my little sister is going to be spending the night at her friend's house."
"Oh…"
"Is that ok with you?" the purplette asked. "I mean, if it isn't, we could always go play at your house."
"I don't know…"
Robert stopped as he lost sight of his friend walking alongside him. When he looked over his shoulder, he turned to see Kaito looking in the other direction, shifting his bag from one arm to the other, a frown on his face.
"Hey, Rob, can I ask you something?"
"Sure…"
"Are you…are you avoiding me?" he asked. "I mean, did I do something to make you mad at me?"
"What?"
"Because if I did, I didn't mean to," Kai said earnestly. "I'm sorry."
A frown worked itself onto the other's face as he continued to stare at the frowning purplette. Kaito hadn't done anything wrong and yet he was taking everything much too hard. Seeing Robert frown, the taller of the two let out a silent sigh and walked past his friend.
"I'll just see you around, Harukana."
"Kai…"
Sighing himself, Robert ran to catch up to his friend, only to trip over his own feet and fall into the one he was trying to catch up to in the first place. Both went down, though Rob's fall was cushioned by the purplette that seemed to have fallen face first onto the school's courtyard. When Kaito didn't move, the teen on top realized that he had his friend pinned. From underneath him, he heard the other mumble something incoherently.
"What?" Robert asked, getting off of his friend.
"I had asked you to get off," Kai said as he sat up, rubbing his nose.
"Oh, s-sorry about knocking-" Rob noticed the stream of blood slowly running down his friend's face and quickly shoved his hands into his pockets in attempts of locating a napkin. "Ah! I'm sorry!"
Kai tilted his head a bit before feeling the red liquid run over his upper lip. "Oh." He tilted his head back and stood up slowly. A smile worked its way on his face as he heard his friend apologize once more. "It's ok, really, Robbie. It's just a bit of blood."
"I know but I'm so-"
"It's fine, really," Kaito said, taking small steps forward. "I'll just go home and clean it up."
"But you can't walk all the way home with your head tilted up!"
The purplette tilted his head to see hazel eyes staring hard at him from behind the oh-so familiar glasses he had become accustomed to over the years. His smile grew as he watched his friend's cheeks burn red. He never quite understood why.
"I'll be fine," Kai said as he walked slowly across the courtyard. "I'll see ya' later, 'kay?
"But it's almost a twenty minute walk to your place and you can't cross the street if you're looking up at the sky, idiot!"
Robert covered his mouth as the purplette lowered his head and looked back at him asking, "Are you worried?"
"Don't ask such dumb things," Rob said, walking up to him and tilting his friend's head back.
"What are you-"
"Since I live closer, you can come to my place and clean up."
"Very well," Kai said, a faint hint of amusement in his voice. "I see that you're taking responsibility for your actions."
"Tch, be quiet, Kai."
The taller of the pair chuckled and placed his hand on the shorter one's shoulder. It earned him a small tremor and he lowered his head to look at his friend, only to have it tilted back up.
"Oh, c'mon, Robbie. No need to be bashful now," Kaito teased as he began to follow. "I was just kiddin' but since we're headed to your place, wanna' play some video games or something. I mean, if you're not too busy or anything."
Robert looked back his friend whose gaze was directed towards the clear skies and smiled at the thought of spending some time with him.
"Sure."
"Jay!"
"What is it Kay?"
"Do you know what this is?" Kay asked, holding up a small paperback book.
"It looks like a manual."
"It is a manual!"
"Ok, and?" Jay asked, looking up at the computer screen.
"You didn't put it with the PDA?" Kay asked incredulously.
"Well, you were with it last so I figured you'd do it," the other replied, looking at the panicky partner. "Again, you can't expect me to do everything."
"But you-you don't do anything to start with!"
"I find that a bit offensive," Jay said huffily. "I do do things."
"Like what?"
"I made the questionnaire!"
"That crappy thing," Kay said, looking up at the computer screen.
"Aw, Kay~ why ya' gotta be so mean?" Jay whined. "I do other things too."
"Like what?" Kay asked skeptically.
"Well, for starters, I had the PDA sent out."
"What?" the other asked, eye twitching slightly as he looked back at the one leaned against a lab table.
"Don't look at me like that!" Jay shouted. "Computer, send a copy of the manual to our volunteer, please."
"Understood."
"See?" Kay looked over at him, his eye still twitching. "And stop looking at me like that!"
"I'll stop looking at you like 'that' when you stop to think!" Kay shouted, pointing an accusing finger at his partner. "Until then, you're taking responsibility for anything that goes wrong."
"But Kay~"
"Ah, ah, ah," he interrupted. "Responsibility!"421Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrvspggh7p
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