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“Hoshi, a shooting star!” Kaito grins ear to ear, pointing at the meteor shooting across the sky. Ryoma stares at it.
“It’s a falling rock, what’s so special about it?” Ryoma murmurs, eyebrows furrowing. Kaito whips his head towards him.
“It’s from space! That makes it sick as hell!” Kaito snarks back with sass.
Ryoma cocks an eye, leaning back to lay down on the cold grass. “So is everything else.”
Kaito was about to give a piece of his mind before he closed his mouth, realizing that Ryoma was correct. He grumbles, “Shut up,” which causes Ryoma to chuckle dryly, shaking his head ever so slightly. “Won’t you at least make a wish? For me?”
“Isn’t that a bit… childish?” Ryoma murmurs, grabbing a candy cigarette from his leather jacket to pop into his mouth.
Kaito scoffs. “What’s so childish about wishing upon a star? I did it!”
“Case closed.”
“The fuck do you mean by that?!”
Ryoma snickers as Kaito huffs, crossing his arms. After a moment of silence, Ryoma himself broke the silence.
“Momota. What did you wish for?” he blankly asks, not even sparing a glance at the latter.
“If I tell you, my wish won’t come true,” a shit-eating grin slowly forms on his face, which only receives an eye roll from Ryoma.
“Is it about Harukawa?” Ryoma grunts, he knows that Kaito is rather close to her. Maki only had a soft spot for Kaito, that had to mean something, right? Kaito felt his heart drop ever so slightly as his throat dried up a bit. However, he doesn’t correct him on who it was about.
“I guess we’ll never know,” Kaito snickers, falling back against the grass while crossing his arms. Ryoma huffs.
“I guess so,” Ryoma hums, staring off at the sky, admiring the beauty of the stars. He couldn’t help but wish he was as bright as a star, his last name even meant star, yet he would never shine as bright as the stars. Kaito did though. His smile is the sun, brightening every corner of darkness as soon as it is blessed upon the area. As his thoughts transferred to being about Kaito’s smile rather than himself, he started to get a tad bit embarrassed, something that hadn’t happened ever since his girlfriend died.
Ryoma shakes his head, taking a sharp inhale to clear his mind. He munches a part of his candy cigarette off to help soothe his mind. Kaito tilts his head over, staring at Ryoma briefly before speaking, “Hoshi?”
Ryoma looks over, cocking an eyebrow as he fidgets with his candy cigarette ever so slightly. “What?”
“Do you think we’re friends in every universe?” Kaito asks, seemingly completely honest and genuine with his question.
Ryoma thought carefully before replying. “For your sake, I hope not…”
Kaito felt the air between the two sour slightly, as the tension grew even more. What else did he expect? He asked him, knowing damn well he had no self-value. “I think meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me, Hoshi.”
Shock filled Ryoma, and his grip tightened on his candy cigarette ever so slightly. “I’m sorry? Can you repeat that?”
“I said I think meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me .” Kaito shrugs it off.
Ryoma looks at him, genuinely confused. “But why? Don’t I bore you?” he murmurs, his eyebrows knitting together.
Kaito shakes his head gingerly, “No? You’re a great listener, and you’re really understanding. I appreciate your presence a lot, you know. More than the stars’ presence.”
Knowing Kaito, that meant something huge , since he would ramble on and on about the stars and space, all that junk. Ryoma couldn’t help the pink that formed in his cheeks and stammered for a slight moment.
“You’re just saying that.” he manages to utter out.
“Nah, I’m being serious, dude. You’re pretty awesome. I just wish you saw that. That’d you will let me see the real you and not this shell of who you once were.”
Silence filled between the two teens, and the air only got heavier.
"What's the point of trying to show you who I used to be if it just proves that I'll never be good enough? That I was never good enough?"
Kaito felt his heart drop, was that what Ryoma truly thought? That his true self would disappoint? “Hoshi, I’m no pussy! I’m not gonna just leave our friendship behind as if it was nothing!” Kaito sits up, looking down at Ryoma. He was even slightly offended that Ryoma would have ever thought that. “I’ll be by your side till the end, dude. That’s what bros do.”
Ryoma’s heart falters slightly as he’s forced to face the fact that he is in the friend zone. The slight light of hope that was in his eyes fades away from his realistic thinking taking over once again. “Yeah. What bros do.”
The two continued their stargazing, as Kaito once again began to ramble on and on about a specific star that was visible that night. Ryoma however could not get it out of his head. The friend zone. The damn friend zone. He hated it, no, despised it. After years of mourning for his lost girlfriend and family, he finally fell in love again. But, of course, it wasn’t returned. Ryoma wasn’t listening whatsoever after that.
Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months of no response from Ryoma. He was practically ghosting anybody who texted him. It was concerning his friends.
Especially Kaito .
After getting avoided every time Kaito saw Ryoma in the halls, he was finally putting his foot down. He wasn’t going to let one of his closest friends continue isolating himself.
After school, Kaito knocks hard on Ryoma’s apartment door. Despite the somewhat pissed-off expression on his face, he was rather stressed over the situation. Over the thought of what might happen to Ryoma if he is left alone long enough.
No response…
Kaito knocks once again, louder and harder this time. “Hoshi Ryoma! Open the door right now!” Kaito demands, his eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly. “I’m not playing this avoidance game anymore.”
No response once again.
Kaito huffs. “That’s it. I know where you keep the keys,” he grumbles, squatting to pick up the filthy matt to grab the backup key that was made out of shitty plastic.
After a minute of struggle, the lock clicks, and Kaito swings the door open. He enters Ryoma’s apartment and closes the door behind him. It was dark. Darker than usual. Kaito’s eyebrows knitted together as concern fills him ever so slightly. “Hoshi?” he calls out, taking off his shoes and bag, abandoning them near the front door.
Ryoma didn’t utter a single noise.
Kaito felt anxiety fill him as he started to urgently search the house. While on his way to Ryoma’s bedroom, he stepped on a small box. He froze and looked down to pick it up.
A cigarette box.
“God dammit, Hoshi… you said you would quit…” Kaito murmurs, anger filling him at first at the discovery of Ryoma’s relapse into smoking. But then sadness fills him after, realizing that his friend was struggling so badly that he turned back to his old, horrible habits. Kaito sighs and opens the door to Ryoma’s room slowly.
He was met with a Ryoma lying on his bed, on his back, clothes all over the place as it reeked. He hadn’t cleaned in who knows how long and hadn’t done laundry, that part was obvious.
But Kaito didn’t care.
The only thing Kaito cares about is his friend being okay. He rushes to the bed, making sure to not trip over anything whatsoever. “Hoshi. You made me worried sick. What the hell happened?!”
Ryoma couldn’t even turn to look at his face… he feared for what he might see. “Just go home, kid,” was all he uttered out.
Kaito felt his heart drop. “I can’t just leave you like this, you’re my sidekick!”
“How many of these sidekicks do you have? I’m nothing special,” Ryoma blankly replies, staring at the popcorn ceiling, not even bothering to make eye contact during the important conversation the two were having.
“That doesn’t matter! What matters is… I… I care for you, Hoshi. I care for you a lot,” Kaito huffs, his hands clenching into fists as he felt so frustrated yet so worried. He felt as if he was going to puke from all the anxiety, and he could feel his eyes stinging already. But he has to stay strong. For Ryoma.
“Leave me alone, can’t you tell whenever somebody doesn’t wanna talk?” Ryoma scoffs, turning to his side to point his back to Kaito.
Kaito felt his throat clench up and dry up, as dry as the Savanah Desert. “Dude… how can I leave you alone if I… if I love you too much? I can’t just let go of this… let go of us .”
Everything went silent, you could hear a pin drop. Tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Kaito gulps down the lump forming in his throat.
“What?” was all Ryoma managed to say. But what Kaito said got his attention. He was sitting up now, looking at Kaito with wide eyes.
“I said I love you, okay? I’m tired of holding these feelings from you. I… I loved you ever since I met you, man,” Kaito sighs as he finally confesses. “I want to fix you, to make you feel better.”
Ryoma’s heart flutters in his chest and his cheeks turn pinker than they normally are. “Really? Well… color me shock-”
He was interrupted by Kaito abruptly grabbing his chin and kissing him on the lips. Ryoma jolts in shock from the sudden kiss, but slowly melts into the gentle, loving kiss.
After a moment, they pulled away, both being a flustered mess. Ryoma couldn’t help but dryly chuckle. “Wow, that was amazing…” he murmurs, looking up at Kaito’s eyes, with a new shine in them. Perhaps hope…?
Well… maybe, just maybe he really is good enough for Kaito.