[luvs-kyu]

𔓐𑇓ି⠀༅₊˚ ಣ𓈒ֵ۫ ˚ Ი ⁠ᰍ

₊˚ ⋅ ۶ৎ ⋆｡𖦹°‧ ಣ𓈒ֵ۫ ˚ ✿𓈒ॱ༉‧₊˚. .˳˳.⋅ॱ˙‧͙

[luvs-kyu]

𝓴𝔂𝓾𝓳𝓲𝓷 𝓶𝓸𝓸𝓭𝓫𝓸𝓪𝓻𝓭 ⋆ ˎˊ˗ ⋆˙⟡

[luvs-kyu]

⛸ shared ice ⋆˙⟡

⋆⁺₊❅ james!cortis ✘ fem!reader

ft. skating team - wonhee!illit and rei!ive ; hockey team - martin!cortis and keonho!cortis

synopsis: a figure skater and a hockey player. one rink. too many things left unsaid to still call it coincidence.

wc: 1.3k

notes: I finally wrote a short story, at least I hope it's short. I have nothing much to say lmao.

enjoy !

𝜗ৎ 𖹭.ᐟ

You step onto the ice rink slowly and carefully, blades scraping softly against the ice, at the same moment the hockey team is already mid-practice.

One of the players winds up for a slap shot, the puck flying across the rink just as another gets slammed into a body check.

"They really think that's impressive?" Rei mutters.

"It's just crashing into each other with extra steps," Wonhee adds, barely hiding a laugh.

You chuckle under your breath. "Ice cavemen."

"Exactly," Rei says, and the team breaks into quiet laughter as you all skate further in.

Meanwhile on the other side:

"Oh great," Martin says, noticing the new group on the ice. "The glitter squad's here."

"Whatever," James laughs. "Finish the round, then we deal with them."

You skate close to the boards, the cold biting through your skin with every glide. Still, you’re used to it by now.

Too focused on perfecting the new move you picked up from one of the senior skaters, you don't notice one of the rivals skating straight toward you.

You find yourself on the ice before you even fully register what's happening—until you collide with someone.

You both go down.

When you look up, it's James.

He's sitting on the ice in front of you, clearly just as stunned as you are.

Then your eyes flick to his head.

It's bleeding.

For a second, neither of you speaks.

Then—

"Watch where you're going!" he snaps.

"You bumped into me!" you shoot back imidietelly.

"You're not even supposed to be skating here!"

You scoff. "What, is this your territory now?"

"It was before your team decided it was 'important to share'," he mutters.

You open your mouth to fire back again, but neither of you notices the silence spreading across the rink.

Both teams are watching, murmuring to each other.

You sigh out of frustration and skate toward the rink's entrance, too irritated to continue practicing.

"Are you okay?" Wonhee asks you, a hint of worry in her voice.

"I'm fine," you answer, hoping you don't sound too harsh. Your mood is already ruined, but you try to stay calm around your teammates.

Keonho’s voice echoes across the rink. "Is this enough proof for you to leave now?"

"It clearly wasn't her fault," Rei snaps back. "If you wanna play hockey, learn how to skate first!"

Martin imidietelly shouts over her. "If you want to use the rink, learn the rules."

Rei scoffs, rolling her eyes, already ready to fire back.

Before she can, you step in.

"Just ignore them."

Rei looks at you for a moment, then sighs. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

⛸ ⛸ ⛸

Next day, you arrive at practice alone and early in the morning. You didn't want anything getting in your way today—you needed peace.

Just as you step into the arena, the sharp sound of skates gliding across the ice echoes through the rink.

"Are you serious?" you whisper to yourself, already losing hope for the quiet you came for.

James is already here, stickhandling across the ice.

You try to ignore his presence as you step onto the rink, skating toward the far side where he isn't.

As you skate, he leans against the goal frame, his eyes following your movements.

You attempt the same jump you’d been trying to learn yesterday—your weakest move.

You fail.

You try again.

You fall.

Again.

And again.

Then you hear his voice:

"You're leaning too far to the left."

"Didn't ask," you snap imidietelly, not even looking at him.

"Yeah, well," he replies calmly, "you're still doing it."

You exhale sharply, ignoring him—then try again.

This time, you land it.

For a second, you just stand there, frozen.

And you hate that it worked.

"Told you," he says.

You turn around. "I don't need you telling me how to skate."

He scoff-laughs.

"Right. That's why you spent twenty minutes falling on the same jump."

You glare at him. "And yet I landed it."

"After I told you what was wrong."

"Keep dreaming."

"Whatever makes you sleep at night."

Then he skates away and goes back to practice.

⛸ ⛸ ⛸

Today's Wednesday—two days until Nationals.

"I'm expecting all of you to give it your best," your coach calls out. "And on Saturday, I expect to see you holding that trophy with pride. There are only two days left. Work hard, stay focused, and you'll earn the result you've been fighting for."

Meanwhile, the hockey team has qualified for an international tournament in Tokyo, leaving just a day after Nationals begin.

Your team is exhausted after three hours of practice, already heading out of the rink.

Rei glances back at you when she notices you’re not following. "You coming?"

"I’m gonna stay and practice a bit more."

"Just make sure you actually rest when you get home."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow."

The rink is almost empty.

Just the scrape of blades against ice and the distant hum of the lights above.

You spot James easily—you figure he stayed behind to practice for his match. He always does.

You head toward your usual spot, where the ice is always the smoothest, the cleanest glide, the place you go when you actually need to think.

You don’t look at him when you speak.

"So... they just let you play with a head injury now?"

A beat.

The puck stops.

You can feel his eyes before you actually turn yours.

"What?" he says.

You shrug slightly, still gliding forward.

"I mean, I guess hockey rules are different. No helmets for brains or whatever."

A scoff-laugh slips out of him before he can stop it. "It was nothing."

"Yeah?" You finally glance over. "Looked like 'nothing' was bleeding all over the ice two days ago."

He pushes of the boards, skating a slow circle, pretending like this conversation is just background noise.

"You worried about me now?"

That makes you roll your eyes imidietelly.

"You wish."

Silence slides between you for a second.

"I'm just saying, it would be annoying if that becomes your problem during Nationals."

He snorts. "Relax. I’ve had worse."

You hum like you don’t care, adjusting your gloves. "Would hate for Tokyo to be ruined because you got knocked out by a figure skater."

That earns a real laugh from him this time.

"Right. Because that’s what happened."

You finally meet his eyes properly.

"Just saying."

He taps his stick lightly against the ice, watching you for a second too long.

"…It’s fine."

You nod once, like that settles it.

"Good."

And then you both go back to skating like nothing happened.

Like nothing was ever said.

⛸ ⛸ ⛸

Friday—just one day before the most important competition of your life.

The cold hits differently tonight. Every movement feels heavier than usual.

You've been here for nearly five hours.

And of course, James is here too.

When you arrived earlier, he glanced at you and raised his eyebrows in greeting. You returned it before you could think better of it.

Maybe somewhere along the way, the rivalry between your teams stopped mattering when it came to the two of you.

Or maybe that was a thought better saved for another night.

You skate toward the exit, exhaustion pulling at every muscle in your body.

Your hand is inches from the door when his voice stops you.

"Hey."

You glance back.

James is standing near the boards, tapping the toe of his stick against the ice.

"Win Nationals."

A smile tugs at the corner of your mouth.

"You too."

"Tokyo's after Nationals."

"Then win Tokyo."

A quiet scoff escapes him. "Don't mess up that jump."

"You're never letting that go, are you?"

He looks at you for a moment.

"No."

You shake your head, laughing under your breath.

"See you around, James."

"Yeah."

Yeah.

You aren't sure if he means after Nationals.

Or ever.

Maybe there was more to say.

Maybe there wasn't.

Nationals are tomorrow.

Tokyo's the day after that.

And that's all that matters for now.

[luvs-kyu]

ᯓ★ ʟᴇꜰᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴀ ɢʟᴀɴᴄᴇ ⋆˙

pairing ⟢ riki ✘ fem!reader warnings: cigarettes, vulnerable vocabulary

summer camp: you can't sleep and start sneaking out to sit by the lake every night. one night you discover you're not the only one. the camp's golden boy has been doing the same thing. you start meeting every night without telling anyone. catching feelings for him was your biggest regret.

notes: my first fic ever and I don't know how do I feel about it, so I'll let you be the judge of that. it's a little long, I'm not good at writing short stories. also, english isn't my first language, sorry if the writing is bad. ^᪲᪲᪲

enjoyy 𖹭.ᐟ

⊹ ࣪ ˖

You've been dealing with insomnia for a while, and it's not getting any better. You don't know what is causing it—staying up late or overthinking exactly when you're supposed to close your eyes. The sleeping pills don't work, and you don't think it's that serious to visit a doctor. So you just accepted it.

It was 6 a.m., and while I should probably say that the sun peeking through your blinds woke you up like everyone else, the truth was that you were already in the kitchen, pouring yourself a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Even though you had the whole morning to get ready for the trip, you still managed to be late. You ran out of the door with untied shoes and half asleep eyes. Your hair was already damp with sweat from running, and your lips were completely dry since you hadn't had time to put on any lip balm.

"Wait, I'm coming!" you shouted as you saw the bus pulling away. The driver slowly pulled over, giving you time to get in and find your seat.

"God, y/n, I was scared you won't come!" your friend, Iroha, yelled quietly.

"Relax. You know I always come just in time."

Iroha chuckled.

—

It's been two hours since you got in the bus. Everyone's sleeping, while you can't stop your unnecessary thoughts about why they're sleeping. "Maybe they have family issues. Or their grades got lower. Wait, maybe they lost their pet recently so they can't sleep... Or maybe because it's 8 in the fucking morning."

Everyone's eyes opened widely when the bus stopped, and made them lurch forward.

"Everyone, we're here!" the teacher announced, although everyone was already awake.

—

After one hour of the most exhausting walk, you've made it to the cabins. Everyone settled in theirs, including you and your friends. The first activity is in two hours, so everyone spent their free time doing something different. Iroha and Wonhee went outside to explore the area, while Minji went to sleep, though she had slept the whole ride. You put your wired earbuds in, took your sketchbook and continued the drawing you started last night.

—

You went back to your cabin after a long day of hiking and trying every flavour of ice cream you could.

"I'm so tired, I just wanna sleep," Iroha moaned and collapsed onto the bed.

"It was pretty fun though." Wonhee said.

"I'm going to shower, don't come in." Minji added.

"When do we need to wake up tomorrow again?" you asked.

"What, like you're gonna sleep?" Iroha replied with her face smushed into the pillow.

Right.

"Anyway, it's at 9 a.m., so be ready till then." Iroha said and got up to change into her pjs.

—

You picked your phone up to check the time, only to see it's already 3:30 a.m. Everyone around you is sleeping, and of course, you're not. It's driving you crazy, how you can't sleep even if you want to. No matter how hard you try, you just can't close your eyes and keep them shut for more than five seconds. You went outside and headed toward the lake to get some fresh air. It's dark and cold, you regret not bringing a hoodie with you. You found a pillow on the grass—someone probably forgot to take it with them, so you sat on it. You stared at the lake, clear and still, as the cool air chilled your arms. In the freshness of the air, you smelled a strange smell you didn't recognise at first. "Is that a... cigarette?"

You slowly turned your head to the right when you heard the sound of footsteps approaching the lake.

The hell?

You realized you weren't alone. Riki, the attention-seeking, most annoying guy at your school, stood there with a cigarette between his fingers, admiring the misty view. Before you could even get up and walk away, he already spotted you.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, not turning around as he still observed the landscape.

Crap.

"Just... walking," you answered quickly, hoping he wouldn't ask anything else.

"At 4 a.m.?" he still didn't turn around. "How rude," you thought.

"And you? Sneaking out to have a smoke?"

"At least I'm reasonable. Unlike you." he slowly let the smoke drift from his mouth.

"Whatever," you huffed quietly.

"You want one?" he finally turned around to look at you.

"A cigarette? No thanks." you looked back as you walked away.

"If you can't sleep it works." he kept pushing you, not turning around.

"I'm good," you rushed with your answer and disappeared in the dark as you headed toward your cabin.

—

This morning felt peaceful and warm, although you were freezing just a few hours before. Until everyone got ready and finished their breakfast, you left the cabin area at 11 a.m. Today's schedule wasn't that busy, which was a relief for you since you haven't slept at all. Seeing Riki before annoyed you even more. You genuinely despise that guy, he's a walking headache.

After kayaking and late lunch, everyone showered and went to the center of the area. Someone planned a little meeting there—sitting by the campfire, making s'mores and roasted marshmallows, and stargazing. You actually liked this idea, so you gladly arrived with everyone else.

The area was full of people who got sunkissed from the kayaking, and the lucky ones who got tan instead. You and Minji found a wooden bench to sit on, while Iroha and Wonhee went to find something to drink.

"Is that Danielle? Oh God, it is!" Minji laughed. "Hey, I'll be right back."

"Sure," you smiled as you watched Minji run to her best friend from Class B.

The campfire area buzzed with life. The music blasted as people's laughs echoed through the night. Some people were roasting marshmallows, carefully turning them over the flames, while others sat in groups, telling stories and teasing one another. As you looked through the place to find someone who gives out the marshmallows, you locked eyes with someone who seemed to be looking at you for longer. Riki stared at you, a beer in his hand, as the campfire smoke drifted through his hair. You quickly looked away, not sure why he stared at you anyway. You rolled your eyes and headed over to a stand, where Iroha and Wonhee stood in line for hot cocoa.

You haven't even got up yet, and he's already coming over to you.

"Since when do you attend these things?" he asked before taking a sip of his beer.

"Is there a problem with that?" you replied sharply.

"Not at all, just curious." he said nonchalantly.

"Why are you suddenly following me?"

"What do you mean? I'm just chatting." he smirked.

God, I hate him so much.

"Well can you not?"

"Why?" he took another sip.

"Just leave me alone, you asshole." you walked away and met with your friends in the line.

—

It's past 3 a.m. when you stepped outside and headed toward the lake.

There's something you find comforting about it. It's been your spot since you were little. Your parents took you there often. You'd always come there when your body felt heavy, when you had a lot on your mind, or when you couldn't sleep.

When you arrived, your mood imidietelly got worse.

"You're here again?" Riki looked at you with another cigarette in his hand.

"Why do you keep coming here?" you walked toward the wooden bench he was sitting on.

"I figured it's a nice spot to calm myself a little bit," he replied.

"Like you know what calm is," you sat on the bench, few centimeters away from him.

"Why are you coming?" he asked.

"Why do you care?"

"Come on, I told you my reason. It would be right to tell me yours," he said.

You saw him looking at you, but you didn't return the glance. "I can't sleep."

He let out a quiet chuckle. "Your brain won't shut up either, huh?"

The silence between you grew as you both watched the sunrise and listened to the birds chirping in the quiet morning air.

"Can you throw that away? I can't stand the smell," you said, nodding toward the cigarette in his hand.

"Deal with it," he pulled a smoke.

"Why are you so negative? Like always."

"And you are so positive," he laughed.

"Why are you laughing?" you bumped him with your elbow. "At least I have a personality."

"Ouch! What did I ever do to you?" he said, turning to face you.

"You don't have to do anything for me to hate you."

"Fair enough."

"So? Why are you such a bitch?" you asked.

He continued to smoke.

"Are you going to answer or what?"

"I'm not answering stupid questions." he exhaled smoke.

"So you accepted your fate," you added.

"Can you go?" he said, crushing his cigarette out.

"I should go? You're the one ruining the atmosphere."

"So you're not leaving?"

"Fuck no."

"Fucking bitch," he muttered and got up.

"You can come back when you learn how to act like a fucking person," you said as you leaned your head onto the bench.

He glanced back as he walked away. “Don’t expect to see me here again until your ass gets off that bench.”

—

By the time you got up, the cabin was empty, since your friends spent the night in another cabin. You quickly put on your clothes and your hair into a ponytail. You remembered the first activity on today's schedule was running. As you stepped out of the door, you bumped into someone.

"Watch where you're going, idiot," Riki said without turning around.

"Oh, great," you sighed, already annoyed within the first ten minutes of your morning.

"Oh, it's you," he said, glancing over his shoulder when he recognized your voice.

"Just forget it," you huffed and walked away.

—

It's 11 p.m. when you and your friends are sitting on the bed, talking, and eating tons of snacks and candy.

"We only have two days left," Minji smiled sadly.

"Thank God. I'm so annoyed by the people," you said.

"Yeah, everyone's so rude for like no reason. But other then that, I had great time," Iroha added.

"I agree," Wonhee replied.

"Y/n, have you slept at all?" Iroha asked.

"No, not really."

"Have you tried counting sheep?" Wonhee asked.

"Are you joking or what?"

"I don't know. It helps me." Wonhee shrugged.

Everyone laughed.

It's past 3 a.m. Again.

It's a chilly morning today. Good thing you brought a hoodie this time. You walked calmly to the lake, thinking, "Finally, I can have some peace. I guess he realized the place really does belong to m-" "Are you serious?"

"What are you doing here?" you said when you saw Riki sitting on the bench. Yes, with a cig in his hand.

"Smoking."

"No shit," you said quietly, though he heard you. "Did you not understand me last time?"

"I did."

"So? Why did you come back?"

"I have nowhere else to chill at," he said as he took a smoke.

"Your cabin maybe?"

"James and Sunghoon are playing music and they're drunk as hell, I can't chill there."

"But it's okay to ruin my peace?" you added.

"How am I ruining your peace? I'm literally doing nothing. You're the one making my presence a problem."

I swear he's impossible.

You walked over to the bench and sat beside him. He opened the cigarette box and held it out toward you, tilting it slightly so you could see inside. Then he gave a small nod, silent and casual, like he was asking if you wanted one without saying a word.

"You know I don't smoke."

"If you ever change your mind, you know who to ask." he said.

"You're the last person I'd go to for a cigarette," you replied.

He curved his lips into a smirk.

"Does Rei know you come here?" you asked.

"Why would she care?" he said nonchalantly, exhaling smoke.

"Well, if I was your girlfriend I would be hella mad knowing my boyfriend comes to the lake every day at 3 a.m. to talk with a girl."

"You think I'm coming here so I can talk with you?" he turned around and let a slight laugh out.

"No, that's not what I meant."

"That's what you said," he said, still smiling at you.

"But I didn't mean it. You know what I meant," you huffed.

He turned back and sat up straight. "You don't know? About me and Rei? I thought everyone knew."

"Know what?"

"We broke up two months ago. She broke up with me, actually."

"Well, you deserved it," you scrunched your nose.

"You don't even know what I did."

"I don't have to."

He bumped you with his elbow.

"Hey, what the heck? That hurts!" you yelled at him.

"Oh, come on. You're making a scene."

"I'm gonna kill you, I swear," you said, trying to hide the pain.

"I'd like to see you try."

"Oh, shut up." you said, nudging his leg with your foot.

He let out a slight growl, trying to hide the pain as well.

"What are you gonna do after school?" he asked.

You sat in silence for a few seconds before answering. "I'm not sure. Maybe a psychology degree. You?"

"I have a passion for music. But," he laughed, "what's that gonna get me?"

"Maybe you'll become successful, who knows. You shouldn't give up because you now think you're a failure," you replied.

"Are you hyping me up?" he teased.

"What? No. I'm just saying how it is."

"Well, I know for a fact it'll get me nowhere."

"Do you have any of your work in your phone? So I can judge."

"I have something," he took his phone out of his pocket.

He gave you his phone and you plugged your wired earbuds in.

"Click here to start playing," he pointed to the screen. "It's nothing crazy, just random records," he said.

You hit "play" and an eerie, yet powerful beat started playing. It's not even bad how you thought it would be. Maybe not bad at all.

"Riki, that's good. You have potential. Maybe start taking it seriously—the sooner, the better."

"Nah, I need to improve a lot," he said as he crushed his cig.

A few seconds passed in silence before you asked another question. "Did you ever write a song about someone?"

"I did. For Rei."

"Do you have it on here?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Let me hear it."

"I don't know..."

"I don't care, find it."

He sighed. "Okay, but don't laugh at me. I wrote it when I was, like, sixteen."

"I won't, I promise."

"Did you just say 'I promise'?" he asked, laughing at you.

"Shut up and play the song," you muttered, nudging him in the arm.

And that's how the rest of the night went. You listened to his old and new, finished and unfinished songs and beats, talked about each other's paths, and other things you couldn't even remember later. What you do know is that you walked back to your cabins together. Which is weird. Super weird. You used to despise that guy, and now? You still do. But tonight... you felt the urge to open up to him. You didn't know what caused it, but you hoped it would go away.

—

The camp consolers let everyone pick their favourite activity for the last day. Minji and Wonhee went swimming, while Iroha went kayaking—and she insisted that you to come too—but you stayed in your cabin, exhausted from doing nothing. You were tired because to your insomnia.

You were aware that you were missing out on things because of your state, but there was nothing you could do about it. And even worse, insomnia wasn't the only problem now. You couldn't stop thinking about last night. You and Riki talking about deep topics, laughing together, teasing eachother—it was the last thing you would've expected to happen. Were you disappointed in yourself? Or did it feel comforting, even though you hated that it was with him?

Despite how tired you were, you couldn't stop thinking about the way he talked to you. No harsh words like always—just teasing, while genuinely listening to everything you said. There was no explanation in your head for why he was acting like that, or why were you acting like that. Almost as if you had forgotten you were supposed to hate him.

—

You took you hoodie and tied your shoes before stepping out at 3:34 a.m., to be exact. The path toward the lake felt comforting. Although you were cold and tired, the wind calmed your mind.

And just as you thought. There he was, sitting on the wooden bench that he flipped over last night. You remember how dirty his pants were when he got up.

"Oh, hey," he said, turning around when he heard your footsteps.

"No smoke today?" you asked, noticing he wasn't holding a cigarette.

"I figured you'd talk to me more if I don't smell like smoke," he said with a small smile, his eyes staying on you.

You glanced at him, not sure how to answer.

"Do you believe in the afterlife?" you asked as the wind blew through your hair.

"I don't think there's enough proof that an afterlife exists," he said.

"So you don't."

"I didn't say that," he replied. "There might be an afterlife, but we can't know that. We'll find out when we die."

"Do you think it exists?" you added.

"I don't know. Maybe."

"That's a long way to say 'I have no clue.'"

He laughed. "Well, I don't."

"At least you're honest."

He let out a small laugh.

The space between you became silent for a short time.

"You can take out the cigarette now," you said, rolling your eyes.

"What?" he said, confused.

"We both know you've been hiding it in your hand this whole time."

"I already told you. I don't smoke anymore."

"What?" you replied, even more confused than he was. "I thought you were joking when you said that."

"I wouldn't lie to you."

"I'm glad you realized how bad they are for you," you said confidently.

"No," he replied. "I told you why I quit."

You looked at him before bursting into laughter. "You're telling me you quit smoking because you wanted me to talk to you? Riki, I wasn't born yesterday."

"You're laughing, but it worked."

You looked at him, frowning. "What did?"

"You're talking to me."

"You think you're special?"

He sighed and leaned back against the bench. "I'm tired."

"Then smoke. It 'helps,' remember?" you teased.

"I told you, I won't."

"I bet you're already reaching for the pack."

"I threw it away."

"Oh, wow. You're actually serious about this," you said, still convinced he had to be joking.

"I like you."

You quickly looked at him. "What?"

He smiled. "I mean, you're fun to be around. Talking with you is pretty chill."

"Oh," you replied. "You're easy to talk with."

"What does that mean?"

"I know you won't tell anyone what I told you."

"How do you now that?" he said.

"Because you don't care."

"Where'd you get that from?"

"It's pretty obvious Riki."

"Maybe to you. But that's not true."

"Oh, totally," you said, sarcastic. "That's okay. Why would we care about each other's problems if we barely know eachother."

"So you don't care about anything I said? he scoffed. "I opened up to you like I never did to anyone, and you're telling me you don't care? You seemed to be listening the whole time."

But I was listening. "What I meant was, our stories don't mean anything to eachother so why bother caring."

"You're seriously saying that? You know I could walk up to anyone and tell them everything you told me?"

"But you won't. And even if you did, I don't care. Neither would the perosn you told. That's what I'm trying to explain. If you say someth-"

"Forget it." he stood up from the bench.

"I knew it was too good to be true. You were always an asshole."

He scoffed, clearly unimpressed by your comment.

He left. And you thought he'd stay. "What was I thinking? He's literally Nishimura Riki, the coldest and most careless guy I've ever met. He's the biggest fool I've seen. But this time, I was the fool."

—

The sun illuminated the morning as you prepared to leave the camp. After packing your bags, you stepped out of the cabin.

When you arrived at the bus, everyone was already on board.

"Did you pack my charger?" Iroha asked Minji.

"Didn't you do it?"

"You forgot to pack it?!" Iroha bumped her in her elbow.

Minji laughed. "Hey! Chill, I'm just kidding!"

You laughed with them, hoping they wouldn't notice how tired you were.

Iroha stepped into the bus, then Wonhee and Minji behind her. You were the last. You stepped in, trying to find the seat Iroha took. As you looked around your eyes met Riki's. He didn't take his eyes off of you. But he didn't stare at you like last night, souless and cold. His stare was warm and tensional. You stared at him when you heard someone calling your name.

"Y/n? You okay?"

"What?" you turned to look at her. "Yeah, I'm fine."

You never spoke to him again. You'd pass each other in the hallways at school, close enough to exchange a greeting, but neither of you ever did. Sometimes you'd see him standing with his friends, staring at you, yet your eyes would slide right past him as if he wasn't there. The guy you once despised became the person you stayed awake talking to at night. And then, somehow, you went back to hating him.

Not in the same way as before, though.

Beneath all the resentment was a strange warmth that refused to fade.

No matter how much you wanted to get rid of it, some part of you still cared.