The next week, they rarely interacted. Their literature classes syllabus was complete so the teacher gave the students a break so they didn't even meet at all. Usually they would plan to go out or even talk over text but even that was reduced to minimal. Aether did send him messages a few times asking for his day or just mundane things but Kunis single worded replies probably gave Aether the wrong impression as he also stopped messaging him. He cannot believe he acted so confident when kissing Aether but now look at him, unable to face his reality.
To Kuni, Aether seemed more unattainable than ever, he wonders if they can fix this. After all, he ran like that without giving any explanation. Thinking about it now, Kuni does not know what to do anymore and maybe, this would be the end of their friendship. They were never meant to be and Kuni never wanted these feelings anyways, but it hurts. He feels like his heart is burning again, everything turning hollow inside him.
Thinking about not meeting Aether ever again makes him feel a strange pain at the pit of his stomach. His life is like it always was but there is something missing, he feels Aethers absence to the core. He wants to sleep all day, he wonders if he is having another depressing episode. His mother had noticed the changes in him yet she cannot do anything as he wont tell her.
He is lying on his bed, buried in his sheets as he hears multiple dimes of messages bombarding his phone. Annoyed, he snatched the phone to see who was bothering him.
He notices a bunch of messages in his literature class group. Apparently they are going to have a group trip for that class as the syllabus is finished already and the professor wants to show them a literary museum while they are at it. The students are discussing and are excited about the two day trip to Kibiji Literary Museum at Okayama. He wonders if Aether is going, but he himself does not want to go. Just as he was wallowing himself in self pity another message pops up, its Aethers private message to him.
"Hey Kuni, I hope you are fine. Are you going on the class trip?"
"Don't know."
"You should come, it will be fun with you."
That made Kuni tear up, he was never such a crybaby but this is probably what he needed right now.
"Please please come." Aether messages him with puppy eyed meme that earns a laugh from Kuni.
"Okay sure."
"Yayyy, finally." Kuni wonders what this finally means, maybe Aether missed him too like he misses him. Maybe he had been wanting to meet Kuni but it was just Kuni himself sabotaging their relationship. He should stop this to himself and others.
Their little interaction fires him up and he fills the attendance form for the trip immediately. He cannot wait for the weekend to arrive so that he can finally see Aether again. Maybe, just maybe there is hope.
.
.
.
The day of the trip rolled around, Kuni had packed up in a shoulder bag as he waited nervously for Aether at the bus stop. Most of his literature classmates have arrived already along with the professor who was busy taking the attendance of the students.
"Hello," Aether greeted him from behind, smiling.
"Oh, hey," Kuni replied shyling, afraid of meeting Aether's eyes.
"Long time no see huh?" Aether said as he and Kuni got on the bus.
Kuni took the seat at the windowside while Aether sat on the empty chair beside him.
"How have you been?" Aether made small talk.
"Fine," Kuni hesitated. "You?"
"I'm okay too."
They both sat in awkward silence after pleasantries. Kuni personally hates this, he ruined what they had and now he cannot face the consequences. He should be thankful that Aether is willing to talk to him after the stunt he pulled, what had gotten over him at that moment? He was never the one to show his feelings like this. Maybe this is not just a crush anymore, its genuine love that is making him pull all types of weird stunts.
After a 15 minute drive, Kuni starts sweating and feeling nauseous. He feels so warm and tired, in all this frenzy of emotions, he had forgotten about his motion sickness and didn't prepare anything for it.
"Hey you okay?" there is pure concern in Aether's voice.
"Yeah, just.." Kuni replies through his hazy mind, looking down at his hands "It's just motion sickness, nothing to be worried about."
"Is there anything I can do for you?"
"No, I am okay."
"What will I do with you Kuni?" Aether comments as he gets up from his chair and goes to the professor. After a while he comes back with a nausea reducing pill and hands it over to Kuni. On Aethers insistence, he takes the pill with some water but the effect will take some time so his face still looks pale.
"Your face is burning." Aether gently cups Kunis' forehead to see if he is feverish, "I think you have a fever."
Kuni leans into the touch, finding Aether's cool hand soothing, "I don't have a fever, it just gets like this when I get motion sickness, I will be fine in a moment."
"Okay, tell me if you need anything,"
Kuni contemplates on the offer, thinking if he should say what was on his mind or just let it go as he does not want to ruin their friendship further. He decides to not tell Aether about how he wants to hold his hand and decides to rest his head on the headrest. This is not about him, it will be selfish of him to do this to Aether while he is just recovering from a heartbreak.
They reach the rest rooms soon enough and are told to get off from the bus and unpack in the resthouse so that they can go out to visit the museum on schedule. The teacher hands them their key rooms according to the arrangement, each room is supposed to hold 4 students and coincidentally Aether and Kuni ended up sharing a room with two other classmates.
Kuni had been feeling better after getting off the bus but still Aether helped him with unpacking. According to their schedule, they are supposed to leave for the museum after lunch in 2 hours. They are free to explore and have fun before the leaving time but Aether decided to stay with Kuni in the room to rest while they order takeout despite Kunis insistence that he is well and can explore around with Aether if he wants to.
They decided to watch a movie to pass the 2 hour wait for the museum trip. Kuni munches on his pizza slice, observing Aether eating and enjoying the movie. He thanks the archons for not making anything awkward for them but he does wonder what Aether is thinking. How can he just ignore all that and remain calm like this? Maybe it didn't affect him like it did to Kuni?
"So are we gonna ignore what happened that night?" Aether interrupts Kunis' thoughts and now it seems everything is still, his thoughts stopping along with his breath.