Smiling out loud - Chapter 16
Chapter title: 5 + 1 times (T part I)
Summary: Five times Tanaka cries in front of Endô, and one time he doesn't.
Characters: Tanaka, Endô
Word count: 531
Disclaimer: I’m only doing this for fun!
(Crossposted on AO3)
---
The first time Tanaka cried in front of Endô he was sitting in front of the latter’s house, the sight of scraped knees making the other boy rush over and shout: “Are you okay?!”
Tanaka looked up in surprise, forgetting to be shy of his tear-streaked cheeks in the process, but the boy didn’t seem to notice as he immediately crouched and pulled Tanaka’s fingers away from the wound with such care that the already big lump in his throat grew tenfold.
“I’ll go inside to get band-aids, so stay here, okay? Don’t move!” The boy stood up and ran into the house, leaving Tanaka alone again. Now he was able to think a little clearer; he didn’t recognise the boy, but judging by the school uniform they attended the same school, which of course could mean anything but so far the boy had only been nice to him and it caused Tanaka to let out a relieved sigh.
He heard a door slam shut, and the boy was once again by his side, cotton and band-aid in his hands. He carefully cleaned the wound, making small talk as he did so as if situations like these weren’t anything unusual to him.
“How did this happen?”
“I- I just tripped on the curb, I wasn’t looking-“
“For how long have you been sitting here?”
“Only a couple of minutes, if you hadn’t come by I probably would’ve tried to get home…” Tears still trickled down his cheeks, if just a little slower. He was touched by the thoughtfulness this boy was showing him, despite not knowing him, and a smile found it’s way to his lips even as he clenched his teeth in pain.
“There!” The boy gave the band-aid he just put over the wound a light pat and stood up to wipe his brow with the sleeve of his uniform jacket. “My little brother trips a lot so I’d like to think I’ve gotten pretty good at doing this. Do you live far from here? Will you be alright on your own?”
Tanaka couldn’t help but giggle. “Uh, I live here. Just a little further down the road.” The giggle soon turned into laughter as he saw the confused expression forming on the boy’s face.
“Are you serious?”
“I’m serious.”
“But how could I have missed that? I’ve lived here for years!”
“So have I, maybe we leave for school at different times or something?” That had the boy rubbing his chin in thought.
“Now that you mention it, I tend to run late a lot…” The admission had them laughing together again, and then the boy reached out his hand to pull Tanaka up.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Endô Shôzô.”
“Tanaka Naoki, and it’s nice to meet you too.”
“So what do you say? Wanna go to school together tomorrow?” Tanaka smiled, the pain in his knee completely forgotten.
“Sure! See you tomorrow - and Endô?” His new friend had turned to leave, but stopped in his tracks to give him a curious look. “Thank you.”
A wide, toothy grin appeared on Endô’s face, one that Tanaka suddenly felt very happy about being able to see more often from now on.
“Don’t mention it.”
---
