Outed...

Chapter 8

                      Hajime's POV

I woke up to my alarm and instantly got up, not wanting to hear the dreaded noise from it anymore. I shut off the alarm and walked, tiredly, over to my dresser, grabbing my uniform and going to the shower. I stepped out of the shower and continued my morning routine. Getting dressed, drying my hair, and grabbing my school bag and finally heading to school. Maybe hopefully catching up to Komaeda. I rushed to the school, finally seeing Komaeda and calling his name, my heart racing.

  "Hey Komaeda!"

  "Hm? Oh Hinata-Kun! You're a bit later than usual." He pointed out.

  "Oh yeah...sorry about that." I apologized, thinking he was actually waiting for me to catch up.

  "No no, it's fine! You don't have to rush to try and meet up with trash like me." He began doing the thing I hated most about him, his self depricating.

  "Komaeda..."

  "Oh sorry." He quickly apologized, remembering my hatred for his self deprication.

  "It's fine. I'm gonna go ahead and get to class, okay?" I told Komaeda, as we almost never walked to first period together.

  "Okay! See you later Hinata-Kun!"

  "Yeah you too!" I waved as I left Komaeda as usual and went to the classroom and sat down. It wasn't too long before I saw Komaeda walk in, he looked at me for a second and then sat down and the lesson started. Time went by quickly, as usual. I quickly got out of my seat and grabbed my stuff, looking over at Komaeda who seemed to be contemplating something. I walked over and tapped him on the shoulder, "Hey Komaeda, you okay?"

  "Oh yeah! Sorry, I was just thinking!" He immediately responded while looking at me.

  "It's fine! Do you want to walk to our next class together?"

  "Oh yeah!" He smiled, seemingly happy.

We walked to our next class together, what we usually did before the rumors started. The day passed as I watched Komaeda endure endless bullying from Souda and Saionji. Soon it because evening time and time to leave the school. I was always slow to getting outside, while Komaeda on the other hand always got out of school quickly. Which also left time for him to get picked on as he waited for me. These past few weeks we haven't walked home together, but maybe we could today. I finally made it outside, only to witness Saionji kicking Komaeda. I knew he was weaker than the pigtailed girl so I hurried over to stop her. I made it and began yelling at her to stop, "Saionji what are you doing?!"

  "Oh boy...what do you want Hinata?" She sighed, sounding very annoyed.

  "I want you to stop. It isn't your place to bully him, let alone anyone. Now go away before I call Koizumi..." I stood my ground while looking her in the eyes.

  "Fine!" She yelled, fear in her voice. I knew she hated when Koizumi caught her on her mean and bullying acts so it was a good strategy to threaten her with Koizumi so she would stop. She ran away and I directed my attention to Komaeda, holding out my hand to help him up.

  "Hey are you okay?" I asked, concern in my voice. He took my hand and stood up.

  "Yeah. Thank you for helping me...but you really didn't have to..." He replied. I took his words as a sign of self deprication so I yelled at him...which in hindsight wasn't the best thing to do in the situation.

  "Komaeda shut up! You deserve to be helped. Nobody should treat you that way!"

  "Oh sorry..." He apologized, his voice quiet. He seemed to condense and I immediately knew what I had done, so I got quiet and began talking to him.

  "Hey hey hey. It's okay, I'm sorry for yelling at you. I just feel you deserve to be loved and cared about." I looked at him as he showed immediate signs of not calming down so I decided to take this into my own hands.

  "Hey Komaeda, let's get you home and we can talk about this, okay?" I looked at him hoping for an answer and I finally got one. He nodded slowly and I carefully got closer to him. I then started walking him home. He was silent throughout the whole walk, a few sniffles escaping his mouth. I immediately knew I fucked up and needed to help him before things escalated. He unlocked the door and I walked him inside. I followed him to his room and then began to distance myself because we were no longer in public.

  "Hey Komaeda, do you need me to leave you alone for a couple minutes?" I looked at him as I waited for a response, he was clearly thinking about it and I'd wait until I got a response. I made sure to keep my distance so I didn't make him uncomfortable. He eventually shook his head and I went into his room with him, still spacing myself from him so he wouldn't be distressed. He walked to his bed and sat down, hugging himself. I was going to sit on his bed as well but I wanted to be sure it was okay with him.

  "Can I sit on your bed?"

He nodded and I slowly sat on his bed. Now I just needed to try and calm him down. I noticed a tear roll down his face, he was silently crying. I tried comforting him, this was my fault after all...

  "Hey listen to me, I'm sorry for yelling at you...I meant well and I forgot about your feelings. That doesn't make this any better but I want you to know I'm sorry. You can tell me to leave whenever, I just want to make sure you're okay." I spoke up, apologizing for what I did, though I knew it probably wouldn't solve the problem.

He looked up at me and I couldn't tell what he was thinking. Was he mad at me? Did he forgive me? Does he never want to see my face again? I really don't know... it's hard to tell what Komaeda's thinking, he's complicated. But that doesn't make me appreciate him any less. Whatever he's going through, I want to help...If he wanted me to leave, I'd leave. Whatever he wanted me to do, I'd do it if it was for the sake of him feeling better...I looked at him and he fell onto me and hugged me. I hugged him back as I felt my face heat up.

  "I forgive you.... please just don't leave..." He begged as he wrapped his arms tightly around me.

  "If it's what you want, I won't leave you, I promise." I held him in my arms as I heard his silent crying turn into normal crying. I caused this...I meant well, I never wanted to make Komaeda cry. I just wanted him to know he deserved to be cared about. I played with his hair, in a hope to calm him down. He eventually fell asleep and it was getting late. I unwrapped his arms around my torso and I layed him back, so he could peacefully sleep. I covered him with the blankets and left a note for him so he wouldn't be confused. I then headed home and layed down exhausted. Instead of sleeping I decided to look through my phone and I was looking through my pictures. Some were normal pictures, like myself or things I'd sent to my friends. As I got farther I found alot of pictures of Me, Komaeda, and Nanami. Then I found a lot of pictures of me and Komaeda. A lot of them were pictures of when we hung out during the summer. Then there were pictures and videos of Komaeda. Just doing random stuff or sometimes being funny. The more I looked at the pictures, the more I felt my face heat up. Then there were some pictures of Komaeda, a lot of them taken when he wasn't looking or didn't notice. The more I looked at the pictures, the hotter I felt my face get. And it was about an hour until I realized...wait....do I have a crush on Komaeda?! I slapped myself and smothered the thought. Of course I didn't, he was my best friend...who I hated seeing with someone else...who I was, I could finally admit, jealous of. I couldn't imagine him with anyone else...if he started dating someone I knew how I'd react. I'd try and be happy for him, but it'd hurt like hell...I'd Komaeda the person I had a crush on the whole time? Is this why it pained me to see him sad...My face got hotter and hotter the more I realized what my feelings were...I did in fact fall in love with Komaeda and not know... it'd be hopeless though, because Komaeda has told me he wasn't interested in anyone. Maybe I realized these feelings too late....

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And boom, Hajime has finally realized his feelings. But he's still dumb asf and takes Komaeda's every word as truth. So yeah. And yes, pictures can apparently make you realize your undying love for your best friend.

1558 words