afraid (kubokai)

chapter nine

the sky was lit with shades of pastel yellows and oranges.

"i want you to punch me in the face."

"what?"

aren stood three feet away from the boy in front of him. his hands lay by his side, like dead weight, and he's staring into crimson eyes with a blank face.

"you know... when you curl your fists in a ball and strike. do it to my face."

shun was confused to say the least. aren's got this emotion in his eyes that he just can't shake. he's too still, too quiet–and yet the moment he does speak he's cracking jokes. well, that's at least what shun thought for a moment or two.

"i'm not punching you in the face."

aren's head tilted slightly. shun thought he looked like a confused puppy.

"why not?"

usually, you'd answer with the obvious, 'i don't want to hurt you, idiot.' or 'because that's an abnormal thing to do to someone you're on good terms with'. but really, the thought of attempting to even land a decent punch made shun's stomach flip with embarrassment.

"don't play dumb, you ass," shun scowled, looking to his right. his eyes landed on two kids walking their bikes across the road. "you know you wouldn't even feel it."

"hm, true."

"hey!" the lighter haired boy whined. aren watched him as his eyebrows knitted together, his small lips pursed, and how his elbow lifted as his arm drew back and all of a sudden his fist was inches away from his face.

"shun, wait, your fist—"

if aren hadn't been so lost in studying shun's face he would've had the time to not only warn shun about the way his thumb was tucked into his curled fingers, but also stop the smaller hand from connecting to his face.

of course it didn't hurt him, but he was slightly surprised at the way he pushed his right foot back to steady himself. perhaps it was him trying to get away from him and losing balance. to be honest, he didn't quite know.

shun, on the other hand, let out a groan in pain, swinging his hand back and forth midair.

"ouch..." he frowned. aren caught his wrist midst in its action.

and he couldn't help but smile.

"idiot..." his grip loosened slightly on the other boy's wrist, taking notice to how small in was in comparison to his "you tuck your thumb over. if you threw any harder you could've broken it."

"sorry!"

when shun laughed his eyes would close tightly  into concaved crescents, a thinner line creasing in the corners below his eyes. it was such a small detail which aren had observed long ago that had given him more of a reason to make the smaller boy smile.

oh, to grab his soft face and kiss him right then and there. aren had no longer remembered about his father and his issues when shun was right in front of him looking like that.

"let's take a break." shun used to loosened grip as an opportunity reached his fingers out to aren's wrist, pulling him down on the ground next to shun. they both sat, cross legged, staring towards the ground.