words | akaashi keiji

comforts.

"We didn't talk about anything heavy or light. We were just there together. And that was enough."
Stephen Chbosky

It took Mei another three hours to return to Tokyo, but she figured that she would have the time to stop by the apartment and pick up her things before Hyodo would return.

With the outrage he caused over the price of the hotel, she knew that he would stay there until the very last minute. Still, Mei didn't want to be in the apartment for even a moment longer than she needed to be.

Her adrenaline was still rushing high from the argument, and it made her hurry despite knowing deep down that she had time to relax and think things through.

When she arrived back at the apartment, she looked around in disgust, almost feeling nausea trickle up the back of her throat as her eyes landed on well, everything.

Fyodor snuck out from behind a wall, stretching dramatically before greeting Mei and rubbing his side against her legs. She crouched down to give a light pinch to one of his ears, cooing softly before moving her eyes around the apartment warily.

She had only come to pack some more of her things. And to take Fyodor with her. But still, she walked through the apartment slowly, stopping to stare off into space every once in a while.

If she had to be honest, fatigue was catching up to her. She had barely slept on her way to the hotel, only to end up hiking. Then, when she should have slept that night, it only lasted a couple of hours.

But, she couldn't be caught dead in the place when Hyodo would inevitably return– the thought itself made her heart race just enough to wake her up and force her moving again.

She took clothes, shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer, some pairs of shoes, stuffing them into the already clustered suitcase she had been dragging behind her all day.

To think that she was awake before 9 AM two days in a row. Sheer torture.

She dumped the overfilled bowl of cat food out before tossing the bowl into her suitcase, doing the same with the water bowl before forcing the zipper to shut everything in.

"C'mon, Fyodor, follow in the steps of your namestake and run away with me."

The cat couldn't answer, but Mei lifted him anyway, ignoring his quiet noise of complaint as she bent awkwardly to hold the heavy bag of cat food in her other hand.

With her phone buried in her pocket, and a suitcase slung over her shoulder (barely holding on by a half-broken arm strap), a cat scratching at her in one hand, and a bag of cat food in the other, Mei felt a bit helpless.

Luckily, she knew at least one person who would be home on a Sunday, and who would be willing to help her out.

That's why, after walking through the street like a crazy person for nearly half an hour, Mei ended up in the lobby of Sho's apartment building. She appeared very suspicious as she gazed around warily, but Fyodor played along nicely and kept quiet inside of her coat as she passed the security desk.

Apparently she had crashed at Sho's apartment one too many times, or the man running the security desk just really didn't care for his job, but either way, Mei was going to arrive at Sho's door without even buzzing his room as a warning.

"Mei, dude, what the hell are you doing here?" Sho asked as soon as he saw it was her behind the door, and she gave him a tired smile in response.

"Surprise?"

Sho scanned her quickly, narrowing his eyes before moving forward and taking the suitcase and cat food off of her. "Just hurry up and get in here, will you?"