Last Night of Freedom

Marius nodded. "Yeah, I keep a few extra outfits just in case." He started to walk, but stopped when Kinaga said he was worried. "I know," he answered sweetly. "I'm glad you are, but there's no need to be. I'll be fine, honest." He was a big boy, he could handle himself. He started to walk, this time he didn't stop at the question. "Nothing." So much for keeping quiet and not having to explain things. He resisted shaking his head. He yawned instead. "I wonder what restaurants are open. I'm feeling something spicy." When in doubt, change the conversation.

Well, that was good to know. Kinaga kept in step beside Marius as they went, looking around as casually as he could. In all honesty, he was kind of glad that Marius wouldn't be staying at his house tonight. It meant that if he broke down, he didn't have to worry about Marius being there to worry about him. "I know, I know...no more worrying, except about the general stuff, right?" he asked with a small smile. Kinaga would try not to worry too much about Marius running back to Tobias, since the guy wasn't worrying about him offing himself anymore. Pft, who was he kidding? He couldn't keep himself from worrying about Marius trying to go back to Tobias if he tried. When Marius said it was nothing, Kinaga frowned, but didn't protest. He gave a light sigh, however, at the change of subject. Marius... "There's always that one on Main street," he said casually, tucking his hands in his pockets as he walked.

"Yep, only the general stuff," he said with a smile. Marius hadn't looked at his phone since he'd gotten it back from Kinaga. He wanted to check it, but what if Kinaga thought he was trying to text or call Tobias. Nope. He'd wait. He wondered if Roy was available tonight. He knew the answer was no, but hey, wishful thinking, right? "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Thanks Kinny! I'll be sure to stop by since it's close." He yawned again. "I'm exhausted. It's been a long day." And eventful too. Marius left that part out though. "You going to work tomorrow," he asked casually. "Food poisoning usually last longer than a day," he told his friend. "Do I need to stop by and do your make up for you? Make you look a little green around the edges?" Marius didn't have an arsenal of make up supplies, but he had a few things, mostly lip gloss, but he had other things too. He rarely used it, but hey, one day it might be useful.

Kinaga gave a light smile when Marius thanked him. Why did things feel...strange, between them? He hadn't thought much on it, but...Marius had told him to butt out earlier. He hadn't even listened to him about Tobias. Not even a little. And even after the guy had hurt him again, Marius couldn't even promise to stay away from him. "Yeah...yeah it has," Kinaga agreed lightly. He felt...really tense. Like at any moment, everything would fall to pieces. Like Marius would call him out on his lie. Or like Tobias would show up and Marius would tell him to leave for good if he couldn't accept the two of them being back together. The blue haired male nearly raised a hand to his chest. The very thought of that made his heart ache. "Yeah, why? Oh." Kinaga chuckled lightly. "Not always. I think I'll be fine going into work tomorrow without makeup on, but thanks," he chuckled lightly. If Marius asked, he could just say that he was tired. It was as good an excuse as any.

Marius snickered when Kinaga spoke. "You sure, because I could drop in and put a little eyeliner on you," he teased. He came to a slow stop. They were at Kinaga's house. "Well, this is your stop," he said with a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow for work," he told his friend. Marius was glad he didn't have a first block. It would mean he could sleep in for a little while. He looked at Kinaga for a moment before he hugged him and gave him a kiss upon the cheek. "I'll text you when I get home," he said reassuringly. "Goodnight, Kinaga." Marius wouldn't draw this out. He didn't want Kinny to try and talk him into staying or walking him to the school.

"No, no, I think I'll be fine," Kinaga managed with a light chuckle. He would much rather not wear any sort of make-up to school. That would be a bit...too much. He could say it might have actually been a twenty-four hour bug or something. He didn't care, but make-up was a big no. Kinaga found himself a little nervous when they got to his house. He nodded when Marius said he'd see him tomorrow. He hugged his friend back, smiling lightly at the kiss. "Don't forget," he teased with a chuckle. He'd be beyond worried if he didn't get a text from Marius. He'd give it twenty-five minutes. His house wasn't that far from the school, so it should have taken Marius fifteen minutes tops. "Be careful," he said, his expression mildly worried. "Goodnight Mar," he said with a wave. He paused for a moment before going into his house, only remembering then that he'd left his door unlocked. Jeez...he'd left in such a panic earlier that he'd even forgotten to do that much...

Marius started for the school. He was nervous. The road was a little dark and an owl gave a hoot somewhere in the distance. "God, I'm in my own personal horror movie." He chuckled at his stupidity. He had planned to go to the apartment, but it was too late to walk that far in the dark. He kept his hands in his sweatshirt, ocean blue eyes scanning his surroundings. He nearly jumped out of his skin when his phone suddenly went off. Thankfully it was a familiar number. "Jesus fucking Christ Roy, you scared the Hell out of me!" His voice was a bit higher than necessary, but he'd been through a lot, so he could do as he pleased.

"Sorry, I was just calling to tell you goodnight," the voice on the other line spoke. "Did I wake you?"

Marius shook his head and then realized that the other couldn't see him. "No, I'm just leaving Kinaga's place. I'm heading home."

"Okay, want me to stay on the phone with you until you get there?"

"You don't have to." Marius played it off like it didn't matter, but it did. He wanted someone to talk to.

"I don't mind. Tell me about your day."

"Mmm, it went well. Got even better when you called. Not that I'm flirting or anything. We're not a thing."

Roy laughed and it made Marius smile. "I know. You know Marius, if you want to-"

"I'm okay with our current arrangements," Marius cut him off. Nope, he wasn't going that route. "I wish you were free tonight, I could use a pick me up."

Roy was silent for a while. "You okay?"

"Peachy." The two talked until Marius got to the school and inside his room. They wished each other a goodnight and then Marius tossed his phone on the bed, took a shower, and passed out with most of the lights on. He hadn't been kidding when he said he was exhausted. The worst part, he'd forgotten to text Kinny.

Kinaga didn't go to bed immediately. No, he'd wait until he heard from Marius. He wanted to make sure that the guy was okay. As the minutes ticked on, he started getting worried. He'd ended up sitting on his couch. He didn't even turn the TV on. Twenty-five minutes had passed. No text. Marius had just forgotten, that was all. Or maybe he'd stopped at that restaurant. Yeah, that...that definitely had to be it. But...he would have texted. Kinaga leaned forward and wrung his hands together nervously. In the end, he decided to shoot Marius a message. 'Hey, you get home alright?' Oh god. Oh god, he should have walked Marius back, what had he been thinking? He should have...he should have either walked him back or forced him to stay at his house for the night. Marius could have changed at the school in the morning. He didn't even have a first block class. The blue haired male fidgeted with his phone in his hand. What if something had happened to him? Kinaga ended up sending another text. 'You didn't end up going to that restaurant without me, did ya?' Oh god, oh god, what if he'd run into Tobias? What if he'd run into someone even less friendly than Tobias? Kinaga ran a hand through his hair. "Get a grip," he muttered to himself. "He's fine...he just...fell asleep. He's fine." If he believed that was true, why was his voice cracking and shaking so badly?

Marius had his volume turned up, but the text message notifications were little pings and not his favorite artist singing at the top of his lungs. The phone was on the nightstand, but he didn't hear it. If he had, he would have answered, or just waited till morning. Probably the latter.. What was so important at this time of night anyway? Marius turned over on his opposite side, pulling the covers over his head. He hadn't meant to forget about Kinaga. He'd just been caught up in talking with Roy and being bone tired. He'd make it up to him tomorrow without a doubt.

No, it was fine. It had to be. Marius had just fallen asleep. That was all. He'd forgotten. He'd...he'd just go to sleep...and he'd see Marius at school in the morning. No big deal. But...but what if he didn't? Kinaga's heart sunk into his stomach. Maybe...maybe he should just call. Marius would surely pick up if he called, right? Kinaga's face had paled and...he didn't remember breaking into a cold sweat. He should call...but then...Marius might've ended up thinking he was being overly clingy or something. And even if something was wrong...what could he even do? Call the cops was probably the only thing he could do, but...it was something, right? Taking a deep breath, Kinaga dialed Marius' number. He had to be sure. He wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if he didn't know for sure that Marius was safe.

Marius lazily reached for his phone as he heard the phone ring. He didn't even look at it to see who it is. "Hello?" His voice was thick with sleep. He looked at the clock on the nightstand. Jesus it was late. He closed his eyes and rolled over onto his back. He stifled a yawn and tried not fall asleep. Marius considered calling out again, but he knew Kinaga would worry. His eyes shot open. Oh God, he'd forgotten to call Kinaga back! How long had he been asleep?! Marius was sure his friend was panicking, thinking something had happened to him. He hoped he wasn't hysterical.

Kinaga fidgeted nervously as the phone rang. "Please pick up," he muttered. Kinaga didn't even try to hide the relieved sigh that escaped him when he heard Marius' voice. See? The guy had just falling asleep. "Hey. Sorry for waking you up," Kinaga said lightly, giving a nervous chuckle. "I just...wanted to make sure you got home alright." His heart couldn't take much more of this. God, he'd...his mind had started going to worst case scenarios. He'd....He'd been afraid that maybe something had happened to Marius too. His eyes teared up and he covered his mouth so Marius didn't hear how shaky his breathing was. He could have just hung up after hearing Marius' voice, but...that would have been rude.

"God, I'm sorry Kinaga. I passed out after I got home. I forgot to call you. Roy talked to me on the way home and it sort of escaped me to call you. I'm sorry. I'm okay though. I promise." He was silent for a moment. "I'll see you in the morning," he promised. "I'll even wait for you at the gate." He smiled lightly. "Or stop by my classroom and I'll have breakfast for you." He hated knowing that Kinaga thought Tobias would do something cruel to him. He wished the guy wouldn't think such horrid thoughts. "Goodnight Kinny, I'll see you in the morning. Hugs and kisses."

"Don't worry, it's fine," Kinaga said after a moment. He couldn't hide the relief in his voice though. It was pretty much impossible at this point. He felt so emotionally exhausted by now that hiding anything felt impossible. "You don't have to, it's fine," he said, a half smile on his face. Why was he forcing a smile that Marius couldn't see? "I'll stop by your classroom in the morning though to say hi," he said with a light chuckle. "Goodnight Mar. See you tomorrow. Hugs and kisses," he chuckled softly. He waited a moment and then hung up. He immediately put his head in his hands after letting his phone drop to the ground. "Jesus Christ...oh my god," he muttered, his whole body shaking with soft, tearless sobs. Thank god Marius was alright...

Marius slept through the night, only waking up when his alarm went out, practically shouting the morning news at him. He hit the snooze button and groaned. Everything fucking hurt. He felt like a stiff piece of wood. He wondered if he had some pain killers. Slowly getting out of bed he had to remember this was the school room and not his apartment. He should have went home last night. He had a lot more clothes and a better variety to choose from. He slipped out his boxers on the way to the bathroom, stopping in front of the mirror when he saw reflection. He had three large hickies going down the left side of his neck. "Fuck....The least he could have done was remembered that I'm a teacher," he muttered. " How the hell am I supposed to cover this up?" He sighed and looked the rest of himself over. His side was a bit red from scratch marks, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. His wrist had the same irritated redness from yesterday, but they had bruised over lightly. He shook his head and got into the shower. He stayed in for a long time. He wanted a bubble bath, but all of the good stuff was back at home. Getting out he dressed himself in a pair of khaki pants, a black long sleeved shirt and a light pink scarf. He took his phone of the counter and headed outside and towards his classroom. Kinaga said he'd meet him there, so breakfast was happening one way or the other. He was practically starved.

It took a while for Kinaga to calm down enough to even make it to his bed, and when he did, he found that he just couldn't fall asleep. It took roughly four hours of lying in bed for him to finally doze off. His alarm went off about three hours later. Any other person might have hit the snooze button, but Kinaga usually resigned himself to getting up at the first alarm. The blue haired male sat up drowsily and ran a hand over one side of his face, rubbing his eye a bit. That had been a pretty shitty sleep. It was honestly more like a long nap than anything. Yawning, Kinaga got out of bed and showered before putting his contacts in and going to get dressed. His normal outfit consisted of black pants, a white collared shirt, and a black overjacket. It was nearly 7am by the time he headed out of his house. The first class didn't start until 9am, so he had some time. He took his time walking to the school and got there at about 7:20. He figured Marius would still be asleep, so he'd probably just go to the guy's classroom and work on what he wanted the kids to do for what was supposed to be the second day of class. With a dark blue and black backpack slung over his shoulder, Kinaga started towards Marius' classroom and sat down at a random table. Honestly, he just wanted to hang out with Marius a bit before classes started. He wanted to know that the guy was okay, even though he'd heard from him last night. He was worrying too much. Giving a light sigh, the blue haired male pulled out a spiral notebook, a copy of the current semester's syllabus, and a pen. There was a small pause before he started writing in it. He had to revise the schedule a bit since he'd missed the first day.

Marius got to his classroom to find his friend already there. "Punctual as usual," he mused. He dropped his papers on the desk and sat down with his legs crossed. "What do you want for breakfast," he asked. "I could eat a horse, but you know, I can settle for less." He flashed Kinaga a smile. "I do adore how into those papers you are. Mr. Kinaga Unabara, perfect teacher, hands down." He clapped lightly. "Mm, so back to breakfast, what are you up for? If there's leftovers, first block can have them."

"Punctual would mean I'm on time," Kinaga said lightly. "I was actually pretty early," he chuckled softly, looking up from his papers. It was nice to see Marius feeling well. "I could go for anything, so it's really whatever you decide to make," he said with a light grin. "But if you're gonna make a horse, make a small one, I'm not that hungry," he joked with a small laugh. He could use some coffee, actually. Maybe he should have stopped by the teacher's lounge before coming to Marius' classroom. "Perfect teacher," he asked with a raised eyebrow. "I'm good, but I'm not that good," he said, looking a little embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I imagine you were," he replied cheekily. He got up and went to the stove, turning it on. "What, not that good? Weren't you bragging about your awesome just last night?" He stuck his tongue out. "So, do you want to hang out after work, or do you have plans?" He was cracking a few eggs. "Sunny side up, or scrambled?" He had another skillet with sizzling bacon in it.

Kinaga rolled his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm totally not that predictable." Oh yes he was. He ran his life on predictability. Marius had been a little notch in all his plans recently. But...maybe that would turn out to be a good thing. He'd been living stagnant in his sorrow, in his constant missing of Shisu. "Oh, I said I'm awesome, and I stick to that, but perfect is a bit much," he said with a light laugh. "Not really. I won't have assignments to grade for at least a week, so I'll be mostly free until then," he told the pink haired male. He tried not to hand out assignments the first week of classes, just to give the students a feel for his style of notes. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, really, but it was just how he did things. "Sunny side up, please~"

"A week? What are you all going to do for the next couple days? Watch movies and twiddle your thumbs? See, you are lazy," he said, waving the spatula at Kinaga. "A perfectly lazy teacher." He chuckled lightly and popped some toast into the toaster. "Are we going to chill at your place or go to mine and clean it up," he asked with a smile. "Or we can do dinner and a movie. Maybe go downtown and shop a bit. Just to get out and do something."

"Well today I'm going to have them introduce themselves and do about half of the first lecture's notes," Kinaga started casually. "Normally I'd let them get to know one another so that picking groups for projects wouldn't be difficult, but since I missed the first day, I can't really do that," he mumbled, sounding a bit disappointed. He shouldn't have let himself get so out of hand. He'd just...he didn't think he could have stayed in that bar without being completely wasted, and he didn't want to abandon Marius to be with some guy neither of them knew. "I want to at least teach them a bit before I start handing out assignments. So they can get a handle on my teaching style and not be overwhelmed with first week assignments," Kinaga said with a light smile. "I'm totally not lazy," he said dismissively, waving his hand. "I mean, I'd really rather not clean your house for you," he chuckled. "You have to have some responsibility for yourself. Let's go see a movie," he said after the suggestion was made. "It's been a while since I've been to a theater." At least a year, actually. He'd been out of town all summer and he hadn't had the time after the last school year had ended. It would be nice to go see a movie.

Marius cooked while he listened to Kinaga talk about what he'd be doing today. Group projects were always fun in his mind. He looked over his shoulder at Kinaga. "Sorry," he apologized when the guy said he'd missed the first day. Too much had happened in two days. He placed the eggs and bacon on a plate. "I wonder how many other teachers have your mindset. If everyone thought like you, all the kids would be swamped on the second week." He grabbed the toast and found butter and jelly, taking it all over to Kinaga. "Here. By the way, we could have cleaned together, but a movie sounds great." He left out the part about how it could be a date. Kinaga didn't need that pressure, even if it was a joke. That's why he hadn't asked the guy to call up Serena to see if she wanted to hang out with them. Roy worked nights, so it was a no go with him, and well...there were other reasons too that he didn't care to explain aloud.

Blue eyes blinked when Marius apologized after he'd said he'd missed the first day. "Hey, it's not your fault," he said with a light laugh, leaning back in his seat. "I'm the one who went overboard," he chuckled. Waaay overboard. "I'm not sure the other teachers worry much about it, to be honest," he said lightly, looking up thoughtfully. "It's not like I plan on giving them a lot though. Ten question worksheets is usually the max if it's short answer. Twenty if it's multiple choice," he explained with a light shrug. That wasn't too bad. Really, if the kids were paying any sort of attention it shouldn't take them more than a half hour, at maximum. Hell, sometimes he even gave them time to work on it before class let out, if there was a few extra minutes. That way they could ask him questions if they needed. "Thanks. Hmhm, I don't quite know if I want to go over and clean your place. We'll take a look at it some other day," he said lightly. If he cleaned Marius' place, the guy would probably never be able to find anything ever again.

"It kind of is my fault. I left you inside and told you to buy as many drinks as you pleased." He rubbed his cheeks. "Chow time." He started into his food. "See, this is why I like home ec, I don't do all that fancy stuff. If you can make a pillow, bake a cake, whip up a batch of cookies, wash dishes, or manage money you're set. This is why my class is fun. You're not graded on textbook crap, just good ole hands on fun." Marius seemed pleased with himself. "I can handle it myself. I think I'm going to paint this weekend," he murmured thoughtfully. "And shop for furniture." Marius always had plans for the weekend. It kept him going through the week. "What time do you want to meet for the movie?" Why was there a knot of nervousness in his stomach?