good morning, sweetheart || terukane

until then

"Aoi."

"Minamoto-san."

What ever happened to hello, or how are you? Where were the polite greetings? The usual good mornings? Any sort of normal conversation starter?

The atmosphere of the diner was awfully tense. It was possible to hear a pin drop in such an awkward silence. No one else was in the diner but them- Teru asked Mei to come late that day just so they could talk without interruptions.

"We need to talk."

"That's what I came here for."

"Good to know."

The two already planned out what they wanted to say the night before.

So then why was it so difficult?

They sat across from each other at Akane's usual table. The silence remained.

Just seeing each other felt like a nightmare. They were so confident the day prior, swearing they'd apologize- but now that they were actually there, neither of them would dare utter a word. It was way too quiet.

"Aoi-"

"I'd like to speak first." Akane cut Teru off. "If that's okay with you."

Teru furrowed his eyebrows slightly. "That was quite rude of you." he muttered, giving the boy in front of him a slight glare- though it easily softened after he remembered what he was there for. He had no reason to pick a fight. "But you may."

"I want.. to apologize."

"Hm?"

"I said, I want to apologize." Akane looked over at Teru. "You know, for being a literal dick on Friday. I'm not- I.. I don't really say sorry for this type of stuff." he fidgeted with his hands, "So I'm not sure if I sound honest right now. But I hope I do."

"Ah,"

"And," he seemed to be mustering up some sort of courage. He was probably right when he said he didn't usually apologize for bigger situations. "I'm sorry for calling you selfish. And I'm sorry Fuji-kun called you heartless. And I'm also sorry that-"

"Calm down there,"

"..right. Uhm," he awkwardly cleared his throat, "You get my point, right? Look, I.. I get it." he paused, "Well, I don't, actually.. But you were more popular than me back then- you were bound to start hanging out with other people. I never bothered trying to be the one who talked first, so we drifted away and you forgot about me. I'm not saying that it's not completely your fault- because you're still an asshole for completely forgetting about me and everything we've done,"

Teru blinked.

"But you didn't.. cause all of it. It was kinda my fault, too. We should've talked it out before or something. I shouldn't have avoided you and pretended I didn't know you- even if I failed at that."

"I see."

"And you don't have to forgive me," Akane quickly blurted out, "now that you know who I really am.. Even if you still don't remember me very well from before this year. Or, well.. At all, actually."

"Ah.. well, I forgive you, Aoi."

"..you do?"

"Of course." Teru clasped his hands together, "I wanted to apologize as well."

Akane looked a bit taken aback. "You? Apologize? Like.. to me?"

"Yes," the prior made sure to be careful with his words this time. No pent up frustration, no more curiosity. He knew everything he needed to know about their past. "I know it may be shocking. You've known me long enough to know that's something I don't do often."