𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐩𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 | 𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘹 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳

FIFTEEN.

comment for motivation!

"I'm going away," Aruna said quietly, "there's some family matters I need to cover."

"You're what?" Y/n stopped licking his ice cream to stare at Aruna in confusion, "like to a restaurant? Like to a—"

"Away to another country." Aruna's voice was strained, "for a month."

Oh.

"For a month..." Y/n's heart dropped. A month. That was thirty one days. Each day had twenty four hours. Every hour had sixty minutes. Every minute had sixty seconds, and every second had—

Oh god. Oh god. Y/n found his hands shaking slightly, swallowing the last remnants of the ice cream down his throat. He had grown aware of his increasing dependence on Aruna—to his new lifestyle, really. Because who was he besides his naga boyfriend? Aruna made him feel like someone. A person with actual feelings and thoughts. Y/n became someone who was loved every time he spent time with Aruna, and not some talentless, penniless loser. He—

"It's a private gathering, right? So I can't come." Y/n's voice was flat, "um, well..." He struggled to find words to express his conflicting emotions, "that's okay. I'll just wait here for a month. We will keep in contact right? So no worries. I can—I can—"

"We'll definitely keep in contact," Aruna softened, "so please don't stress, Y/n."

Why are you so calm about this? Why do you look like you don't care? Am I the only one—

"I told her," Aruna said angrily, raking a hand through his hair, "I told her, damn it! Who even cares that it's Atticus's death anniversary? Who even cares? If I dropped dead, would they care? No! Did they care about dad? No." He launched into a long string of words, before he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Y/n. I...."

Y/n reeled from all this information. Yes, he knew Aruna's father was supposedly dead...but his older brother too? And the fact that his family situation seemed so rocky, what was he supposed to do? Suddenly, he felt like a douchebag for even thinking that...

"Sort your things out first," Y/n said quietly, "there's no rush." His hands found their way to Aruna's hair as he massaged the naga's scalp gently. "Is everything alright?"

"With you, it is." Aruna murmured, "but I'm not sure what will happen...there."

"How long is the flight?"

"A few hours."

"...I'll keep in touch with you frequently. If you ever need help, or just someone to talk to you, I'll always be there. Always," Y/n promised, "don't worry about it. Get your problems solved first—prioritize yourself first."

"It'll be hard to. You...you are my number one priority," Aruna opened his eye and his eyes met Y/n, "I know I'm starting to rely on you heavily—more than I'm supposed to," He confessed quietly, "but I can't help but feel if I let you go, you'll drift through my fingers. That you'll go with someone else."

"Is this about me matching with multiple people?"

"...Partly. Who knows? Maybe by the time I come back, you'll be with someone better. More suited to be with me. I...I have a lot of things I haven't told you. Not anything I lied about, but plenty of that...yes, Jin is rather...but sometimes I keep thinking, and I think, and think. Maybe you'll match with someone else instead. Someone better than Jin and I. To begin with, you're a human."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"It's not. But I wish you could be with someone human, too. Not someone like me."