Work Text:
Yūken left the academy's gym, where he had left his school backpack and training bag, where he had carefully folded and stored his uniform, and put it away, instead putting on a comfortable tracksuit.
The boy stretched a little at the same door, noticing how his muscles rumbled a little as he pushed them to the limit. After a few minutes, Yūken decided he had enough, so he stood on one foot, rolled his ankle, and then repeated the action with the other ankle. Finally, he twisted his neck to crack it a little and took a deep breath, then began to run at a trot.
As he began to run away from the gym, Yūken looked at the still somewhat dark sky; It was barely twenty to five in the morning, and the sun still had a little while to go before it began to rise, so the last stars in the night sky took advantage of the opportunity to shine as brightly as possible so they could be appreciated by someone who was already awake, someone who wanted to contemplate them. Someone who needed to escape and focused on them.
Yuken fixed his gaze ahead after dodging a bump in the ground and began reviewing some of the things he'd done that morning: when he woke up a little after four in the morning, feeling no tired despite not having gotten much sleep, he'd left a note for Grim, telling him he was going for a run to clear his head and that he'd have tuna ready for when his alarm went off. Afterward, he'd grab his things and walk to the gym. He didn't mind if someone found him there so early, since Coach Vargas had given him permission to use the gym under the guise of working out. Blessed narcissistic muscle man, the young man thought.
Yuken shook his head and frowned, not knowing why he'd thought that about a teacher who hadn't done anything to him. The boy sighed as he rounded a tree and continued running, alone with his breathing, his heart rate... and his thoughts.
As he ran, the thoughts Yūken had been having lately began to swirl through his mind. They came all at once, and as they went, they dissipated, over and over again. Unable to help it, Yūken felt a lump form in his throat and began to slow down, so he picked up a little speed as his thoughts returned.
He looked up at the roof of the academy's main building, frowning in rage and pain. Just looking at the building made him feel repulsion, shame, fear of everything that institution had meant and had made him. He saw masked smiles, gentle hands covered in blood, hurtful words spoken sweetly... He saw all the evil in the world in the walls of that academy.
Yūken clenched his fists again, digging his nails into his palms, and blinked several times, keeping from crying. He couldn't cry, he shouldn't cry, he didn't want to cry. He'd already cried once, in front of Azul, and he wasn't going to do it again, not even now that he was alone, because that would show how weak he was being in facing his problems, because it would mean he needed help, and he didn't want help. He had to be strong, he had to stand firm, he had to do it... for whom, now that he thought about it? His sister wasn't there with him, so why did he continue to hide everything he wanted to feel? I didn't have to protect anyone, because she wasn't there, Yūka wasn't there. Fortunately.
The young man exhaled once forcefully, feeling a great pain in his chest. Pain for his sister—or rather, his stepsister. From a young age, the poor girl had suffered a lot, too much, he dare say. She... Yūken didn't even want to remember what Yūka had been through; he only thought that if he had been strong all this time, it was because of her, so that she would feel comforted knowing someone had her back.
However, Yūka wasn't in Twisted Wonderland, so, technically, he didn't have to be strong. He could scream, cry, kick, tear his clothes, pull at he hair... but why didn't he? Why didn't hhe dare scream everything he felt? Why didn't he scream about how much he hated being trapped in that world, how much he hated being undervalued, how much he hated being used, abused, crushed? Why didn't he express how much he wished he were no longer dealing with Crowley's crap, like dealing with the overblots? Why didn't he just send everything to hell? Why, why, why?
Without realizing it, Yūken began digging his nails deeper, even scratching the scar Grim had given him on his palm. He also sped up, running at a great speed that forced him to breathe heavily.
Suddenly, Yūken tripped over a loose tile in the path, falling to the ground with a thud.
There, lying on the ground, Yūken thought about getting up, but decided to stay there, feeling the cold of the tiles against his skin. Slowly, he turned over until his back was against the tiles and his gaze fixed on the last stars in the sky. His eyes blurred with tears, and inevitably, he let one slide down his reddened cheek.
Slowly, he regulated his rapid breathing and blinked, not letting any more tears escape his eye sockets. Yūken pursed his lips and closed his eyes, trying to put his mind in order and clear his mind, because, after all, that was what he had gone out running for.
"What a fall," someone's voice startled him, as he hadn't expected someone to be around campus at that hour.
He opened his eyes, meeting Riddle's gray gaze. His beautiful eyes looked at him expectantly, as if waiting for some kind of reaction from Yūken. However, before he could wait for a reaction from Yūken, Riddle knelt right in front of his head, and despite their faces not being in the same direction, the housewarden of Heartslabyul placed his hands on either side of his friend's head and said:
"Hey, are you okay?" This unsettled Yūken, who, hesitant, kept his eyes fixed on the storm in Riddle's eyes. However, the redhead smiled, which made him smile back. "Sorry, I was just trying to imitate the first time we met face to face."
"You nailed it," laughed Yūken. "Seems like ages ago, huh?"
Riddle smiled and opened his mouth to reply, but noticed his friend's smile twisting, causing him to keep his mouth shut. The young man opted to stand up and extend a hand to help Yūken up.
"Now, seriously, are you all right?" Riddle looked at Yūken with concern and frowned. "You took a pretty big fall."
"Oh, you saw that. Yes, I'm fine. It was just a more effective way of waking me up than my morning jog," he said, somewhat embarrassed. "It's pretty early, by the way. What are you doing up already?"
"It's six-thirty, I only got here half an hour earlier than usual."
Yūken's lips parted in surprise. Had he been running for almost an hour and a half?
"Anyway, I'm coming back early to thoroughly prepare a display I have first thing in the morning. If I don't go over it now, I feel like I'm not quite ready, you know?" Riddle replied with a shrug and a tilt of his head.
"Well, I hope you got enough sleep, huh?" Yūken gave a faint smile and crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't want you to fall asleep while you're doing your display."
Riddle furrowed his brows in a pained expression, then carefully brought one of his hands to Yūken's cheeks and, caressing the area under his lower eyelids, whispered:
"Said by the one with darker circles under his eyes than Idia on a video game night. They're more visible now than they were during the Ignihyde incident."
Yūken's eyes widened in surprise at that, and unconsciously moved away from Riddle, who looked at him, pained.
"I had a bad night," he excused himself.
"For how long?"
"Riddle, I..." Yūken stammered, looking at his friend and then looking away repeatedly. "I'm fine... I don't need you to worry about me."
Riddle watched his friend's nervous movement, but was surprised to see him stop swaying and look at him resolutely, no doubt... as if he had covered his true emotions with a kind smile. The one he remembered seeing on him when he first met him. The housewarden of Heartslabyul smiled too before nodding and saying,
"It's fine. If you tell me there's nothing to worry about, I'll believe it. Just... take care of yourself, okay? I don't want you to be the one who falls today."
Yūken nodded before he felt Riddle stand on his tiptoes and kiss his cheek affectionately.
"See you later, Yū," Riddle said, a radiant smile on his lips.
As Riddle walked away, Yūken placed a hand on his cheek, and for a moment, the affection his friend had offered him with that kiss filled the empty space in his heart that his stay in that world was leaving.
However, once Riddle had gotten far enough away from his friend, he took out his cell phone and entered a Magicam chat he was having with someone. Upon opening it, he held down the microphone button and said:
"Kalim, when you wake up or have some free time, find me. We need to put the "Tropical" plan into action."
-MGGBBRAE