[BudoTaro] Time
Between the springs and winters, Budo loses track of time. Sometimes he finds himself forgetting the date. Sometimes even reading the way the hour hand pointed to is akin to reading a literature written in Shakespearean.
It's frustrating, to say the least, because his mind is so out of there he begins to wonder whether he still functions as a human being when it takes a long look outside the window for him to register what season they're in.
At some point, he's not sure whether he's fifteen or sixteen or seventeen, because it feels like time has frozen over for someone who's so lost and stuck.
Heck, he'd like it if time were to be frozen for real. When he sees, remembers, breathes Taro, everything falls into places once again.
It's Fall. It's Friday today, and it's sort of nice outside. He's seventeen, third-years, next in line to inherit his family's business, graduation just months away, and is so, so in love.
It doesn't help that he's stuck in the library, his halfway-done report in front of him, while he's sprawled limp above said report. The hour hand is somewhere between four and five, and he has six seconds left to pull himself together, continue from where he left off, before...
"Budo, stop lazing around and do your report."
At least he's stuck with Taro. It makes things more... bearable. And worthwhile.
"You know, Taro, graduation is just around the corner."
Budo sits up, lets the two hundred and sixty bones in his body fall in place, and breathes in dry air conditioning.
"You know what that means?"
"That means you should study harder and take things more seriously."
Taro interrupts, dainty fingers curled into a firm grip around his pen. His report is almost done, because Taro is just the type who takes things a bit too seriously.
"Um. I'm doing a homework that's due next week. Yay for me?"
"But not enough."
Taro breaks into a lighthearted chortle, and it makes Budo's mouth crack open a tiny bit, because he's the kind of people who's easily awed by beautiful things. And Taro's little display of nearly-laugh is one.
"Anyway. Taro, we're going to graduate real soon. Like, in a blink of an eye. Try blinking."
"Al... right." - Taro blinks, once. Then, twice - "And?"
"One second closer to graduation."
"You're a sad, sad person, Budo. Back to your report."
Budo slams his weight back to the table, arms spread wide, sprawled wide against mahogany. Taro, who sits beside him, but not close enough to get knocked by arm, but still close enough for Budo to hears Taro's steady respiration, because the library is just that quiet. He simply snorts at him.
"Taro..." - Budo starts, he doesn't really have any idea to whatever he's going to say next, but he rambles on anyway - "I... we're going to go on separate ways, but there're still – so many things I want to do with you. With everyone else."
"I don't think we're going to get that far apart, Budo..."
"We won't be staring into the same blackboard anymore. That's – that's a pretty big change already."
"You got a point, but still – "
Budo doesn't bother to sit back up. Her right hand crawls over to even further right, and when it finds Taro's left, he gives Taro's a loose grab, and he's thankful that his friend doesn't pull back.
"We all should go to a beach."
"Summer is already in the past, in case you're having another case of losing track of time."
"You and me. No, the rest of our class, too. We'll have a lot of fun there. Smashing watermelons, maybe. Musume will be the first challenger and the first one to end up face first on the sand. Ryuto will be the one who goes for the opposite direction, and everyone will laugh. You'll... chuckle, I think. Pippi will be the one who laughs out loud the longest, and he will run after her. We'll laugh some more."
Taro stays silent. Budo wonders what kind of face the smaller boy is making right now, but he's facing forward, because sometimes the wooden, school-issued bookhelves are the less heart-wrenching one.
So, he continues.
"And when it's an hour and a half before sunset, we'll separate ourselves from the others. By the time we're all alone the sun will be setting. Red, blue, violet. It'll be pretty, and you, with the sky like so as the background, will be something that rivals Leonardo di Caprio's Monalisa."
"Da Vinci."
"...ah, right. Anyway. Since it's just the two of us, we'll run out of topics pretty fast. I'll busy myself with kicking around the water, and you'll be there, eyes to the endless horizon before us.
And then I'll ask you to sing, and you, though reluctant, will sing anyway. I'll walk in closer to you, but I'll trip on the way, and you'll stop your singing to catch me, but the sand sucks and you'll lose your footing too, so the next thing we know the two of us are already sitting on the sand. We'll laugh at each other.
And then I'll realize how the timing is pitch-perfect, I will..."
Budo takes a deep breath, but Taro can't see him.
"I will... ask you out, I like you, please go out with me, and you'll freak out, because we're... we're both boys, and you will– "
"And, and I will say yes, because I'll be... so... happy that all this time, the one I'm in love with feels the same way. And we'll burst into another laugh to the point where tears started to form on the edge of our eyes.
Then, I'll stand up, and pulls you up with me, and we'll walk along the shore, hand in hand. It'll be embarrassing at first, but I'll gradually relax because I'm doing it with you.
Your thumb will draw a circle on my hand, gently, and my grip will be tighter by each step, because we're running out of time. And then– "
"—and then I will never let go."
And they stop.
Seconds later, Taro bursts into a laugh, and it's the loudest thing Budo has heard all day.
This time, he faces Taro, marvels at how... lovely Taro is right now, how real, and how ridiculously beautiful Taro is right now, against the wooden brown of the library.
Over the edge of the city, the sun slips into the night. There's a sound of cars honking and hurried footsteps, distant and weary, the town halfway to 6 PM. Budo leans in. Taro laughs a little more.
"I... guess it's time for the very late magical first kiss?"
Budo nods. He's too breathless for words. He feels the warmth of the back of Taro's neck when he pulls his beloved in for a kiss, slow, hesitant, long-awaited, everything at once.
The report can wait.
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