Dancing To Your Tune

Stay With Me

Having to deal with the aftermath of someone's selfish and stupid actions made Akk want to scream in rage. Why couldn't people live their lives sensibly without bothering others? It felt like whatever could go wrong was going wrong in his life. It was just one thing after other. He just couldn't catch a break. Tears pricked his eyes but he willed himself to not cry. It wouldn't do him any good to have a meltdown at work. He was working overtime for the fifth time this week. He had missed lunch and hadn't time to eat anything after that. He watched people go off for dinner together.

Akk was an outcast at work. He wasn't being bullied or picked on but he wasn't welcomed either. He couldn't blame anyone for that either. His introvert nature made it very difficult to talk to his coworkers. At the beginning everyone was quite friendly to him but as he replied in monosyllable, hardly contributed to the conversation and didn't join them for dinner and outings, they stopped asking him eventually.

Forming bonds with people was hard for him and as time had passed his social anxiety had just gotten worse. He sighed as he walked back home. Home. Was his almost bare apartment filled only with essentials his home? Or would that be his parents house? But he didn't feel at peace at either of places. Wasn't home supposed to feel peaceful? A place he could feel happy coming back to. A place where you can be surrounded by people who love and cherish you. But what about those who don't have anyone around them? An empty house still can be home, right? It reminded him of a quite by Charles Bukowski,

"and when nobody wakes you up in the morning, and when nobody waits for you at night, and when you can do whatever you want. what do you call it, freedom or loneliness?"

So very true. He stopped at the convenience store to pick up some ramen. He was too tired to cook dinner tonight. As he rounded the corner he collide with a girl. He quickly helped her up and apologized. She looked familiar but he couldn't remember where he had seen her. She narrowed her eyes at him and scanned him from head to toe.

"You're that restaurant guy."

"What? Oh, you're Ayan's sister." His face heated up at the realization.

"How do you know my brother?"

"I'm his producer."

"Oh it's you." She smirked.

"Wha-"

"I'm Amber. Nice to meet you. I'm sorry for that day. My brother is usually level headed but where I'm concerned he gets quite protective."

"You don't need to apologize. It wasn't Ayan's fault. Anyone would react like that."

Amber smiled warmly, "You're so sweet." She pointed to the cup of ramen in his hand, "Is that your dinner?"

"Yeah."

She was silent for few seconds, "Would you like to have dinner at our house?"

"What? No, I don't wanna impose."

"It would be fine."

"I don't think Ayan would like it."

"Don't worry about him and it's not you're a stranger. It would be refreshing to have someone other than us two in the house."

Akk fidgeted with his sleeve, "Still I'm not-"

"Please, it would be fun."

Next thing he knew he was standing at the doorstep of Ayan's apartment. He couldn't believe he had let Amber drag him here. What if Ayan got angry? It's not like they were friends. They were just colleagues and coming unannounced to his house wasn't really a good idea. Ayan looked surprised to see Akk standing behind Amber looking like he was going to be sick any moment.

"Um.....I'm sorry for coming unannounced." Akk mumbled.

Ayan had unreadable expression, "It's okay. Come inside."

Ayan looked at his sister for the explanation. She had that mischievous smile on her face, "We met at convenience store."

"And?"

"I recognized him. The poor guy you had almost strangled."

"I did not strangle him." Ayan retorted.

Amber rolled her eyes, "You would've sent him to the hospital if I hadn't stopped you. Poor Akk must've been so scared."

Ayan frowned, "I wouldn't have done that." He turned to Akk, "Were you scared?"

Akk was biting his lips wondering whether to be truthful or not, "N-Not really. A little."

"Poor fluff ball looks scared even now." Amber cooed.

"I'm n-not. I don't blame Ayan for that day. He didn't do anything wrong."

Ayan stared at Akk for a while, "Don't be."

"What?" Akk asked.

"Scared of me. Don't be scared of me."

Akk blushed as the words registered in his head, "I'm not. I know you won't hurt me."

"As cute you're display of affection is I'm hungry right now." Amber intervened as she sat down on the couch beside Akk. "Now bro go and cook something for us." She shooed her brother to the kitchen.

While Ayan made dinner, Amber and Akk talked about lots of stuff. Tension slowly seeped out of him as he spent more time with Amber. She was really sweet and bubbly, fun to talk to. They discussed about their love for books and manga. Soon the dinner was ready and they all sat down to eat. Akk stood up to leave after dinner but Amber stopped him.

"It's already so late. Stay the night."

"No, I can't. I have already imposed so much."

"Ayan tell him to stay." She turned to her brother.

Ayan avoided the eye contact but softly mumbled, "Just stay. It's too late to go back now. You can leave in the morning."

"But-"

"Akk stay." It was spoken softly but a command nonetheless. Akk felt something shift slightly between them. He couldn't take his eyes away from Ayan. The need to just submit to Ayan, follow every command, shocked him to the core. Akk nodded to indicate he was going to stay.

"Words, Akk."

"Okay."

"Good." Ayan smiled softly at such obedience.

Akk flushed deep shade of red at the compliment. He was sure he had a praise kink. That 'good' had made shivers run down his spine. He couldn't look at Ayan anymore. Amber bid them good night and went to her room leaving Akk and Ayan alone.