Awakened

Chapter 16: Insecurities

We've been together for a month now. And still, we haven't come out to our teammates.

There were times I was okay with it. But there were times I felt frustrated over it.

I felt especially frustrated whenever Shouyo shows me a text message from Kenma. Which, okay. I'm not even sure if the guy is gay. And the dude's in Tokyo, anyway.

But still. It didn't stop me from being a little insecure. Especially that the guy's a great setter.

I just wish we could come out, so I didn't have to worry about other people hitting on Shouyo. Ugh.

Someone suddenly placed a finger between my brows.

"If you put your eyebrows together all the time, you'll have wrinkles when you grow old!" Hitoka teased.

Ever since that day I opened up to her, we've gotten a bit closer. I wanted to update her about Shouyo and me, but it was Shouyo's secret as well. I didn't have the right.

I was about to answer Hitoka, but a voice cut me.

"Tobio!" Shouyo shouted from the other end of the school.

Hitoka and I glanced at the direction, surprised. Shouyo never called me by my first name in public.

He sprinted towards me, then wedged himself between Hitoka and I.

"Thanks for waiting for me, Tobio!" Shouyo said, but he was eyeing Hitoka.

Hitoka looked confused herself. She blinked a couple of times before asking, "Oh. Uhh, you guys have plans?"

Shouyo answered for us. "Yup! We'll go see the movies! See you later, Hitoka!"

"M-movies?" Hitoka repeated, looking flabbergasted.

Then, Shouyo grabbed me by the elbow and started pulling me towards the school gate.

"You called me by my first name in front of Hitoka," I noted, still a bit stunned. "And you told her we'll watch a movie."

"Mhmm," was all the answer I got from Shouyo. He was still pulling me, so I grabbed his hand instead. But he still didn't look at me.

"What's wrong, Shouyo?" I asked.

At that, the short guy finally looked up at me with a pout. "I didn't like how Hitoka touched your face," he admitted.

A hardly contained smile made its way to my face. "Jealous?"

His frown got deeper. "You're getting a kick out of this, aren't you?"

Unable to control myself, I placed my arm around his neck and started chocking-slash-hugging him. "Dumbass. As if anyone can compare to you."

Shouyo laughed, then placed his hand around my waist. I felt a myriad of emotions go through me with that single touch.

I really had it bad for him.

Unable to control myself, I asked him a question that we've been avoiding ever since.

"So, when are we coming out?"

Shouyo's hold on me tensed a bit. "Can you give me a little bit more time to resolve.... These things going in my head?"

"Tsh." Talk about unfair. He calls me by my name when he gets jealous. But how about when I get insecure? People naturally gravitated towards him all the time, and it made me jealous countless times already.

In the movie house, Shouyo let me decide on the film. I chose a horror movie, because he was cute when he got scared. He looked like he wanted to argue about my choice, but abandoned the idea. Maybe he felt bad about the not-coming-out thing.