behind the lens | scara smau

do you get deja vu?

same day as ch7; morning
 
 

You attempt to discreetly leave your building after class, tilting your head down as you move behind a group of students, but ultimately fail as you spot Kuni a few feet away from the door. You wouldn't have even recognized him if it weren't for the fact that you were actively looking for him just to avoid him. He had his hood pulled up to cast a shadow over his eyes and a mask pulled across his face. You hadn't really thought about how his college life must have changed after announcing his streamer identity.

You try to walk past him and almost make it, a glimmer of hope in your eyes lasting a mere moment before you feel a tug on your backpack.

"Are you avoiding me?" you hear him say, his voice a little muffled from his mask.

"Hey," you meekly greet, at a loss for words as you ignore his question.

"It's fine if you are and don't want to go out today," he mutters, his grip on your backpack loosening.

"No! I will," you quickly counter, walking alongside him awkwardly.

A mere night wasn't long enough to process the fact that your nemesis was your current crush. Best to not make it obvious you were internally itching to run away from this. But you couldn't ignore the fact you still held feelings for the bastard.

"Alright," he slowly says, taking your backpack off of you and slinging it over his shoulder.

"You don't have to carry it! I should carry something of yours," you huff, feeling a little naked without your backpack hugging you from behind.

He gives you a glance from beside you before reaching out to grab your hand, his palm cold from waiting outside as he threads his fingers through yours.

"You can hold my hand then," he hums, tugging you along.

"Not what I meant," you mumble as you look away.

He was making it hard to ignore your feelings.

//

You've both been silently sitting at a booth in your favorite ramen shop for fifteen minutes now. It was awkward to say the least.

Most of your ramen was already gone and Kuni's was practically untouched. He nudged his bowl towards you when he noticed you were still hungry and it made you want to throw up from how sweet he was being. You felt weird about everything.

"Have you heard of Twitch?" he asks, finally breaking the silence as he looks up at you.

"Yes," you nod, "I watch a few streamers," you add, not sure if he was about to confess.

"Have you heard of Balladeer?"

"I have," you slowly say, setting your chopsticks down.

Kuni pauses, averting eye contact with you as he gazes around at the restaurant's walls. His tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek as he tapped the wooden table in front of you, letting out a sigh.

"It's me. I'm Balladeer," he announces, finally looking at you.

"I know," you state, meeting his eyes.

He tilts his head at you, "Really?"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" you ask.

The question was rather hypocritical of you, but you let it hang in the air.

"I thought you'd feel uncomfortable and leave," he answers, playing with a ring on his finger, "I don't want to stop seeing you," he mumbles.