sentimentality

Yuki came running into the room.

"Tsu-chan?! I heard glass break, are you alri-"

She stopped dead in her tracks at the sight before her, but only for a split second before lurching forward to grab her roommate's arm. Tsuyoshi knelt on the floor, surrounded by the shattered fragments of a now-broken mirror and gripping one of the larger pieces tightly in his hand. Both hands were covered in blood -- his right scraped at the knuckles while his left dripped from the jagged glass digging into his palm.

She gently pressed on his hand and wrist at several points, finally coaxing him into opening his fist and dropping the glass. As soon as he did, she stood and pulled him to his feet, leading him down the hall and into the bathroom where she good get a better look at the wounds. His bloodied knuckles didn't look nearly as bad once they were cleaned up, but the cut on his palm.. she knew it would leave a scar even after she had worked her magic (literally).

A few minutes and some biological mending later, the various lacerations were all but invisible. She knelt in front of where Tsuyoshi was sitting on the edge of the tub and frowned, eyeing his face uncertainly. He looked distant, dazed, like he wasn't really registering what was happening around him. Yuki knew exactly what was going on, and thankfully she had learned how to help him when he got like like this.

"Tsu-chan? What happened back there, why did you break the mirror?" she murmured quietly, taking both of his hands in her own and peering at him with unabated concern.

A long pause, and then a quiet response, voice raw with emotion.

"I keep seeing him behind me every time I look at my own reflection. He keeps haunting me. I couldn't stand it anymore, Yuki-chan."

The hollow look on his face was heartbreaking. It also helped one last piece of the puzzle click into place for Yuki. She rubbed the back of his hands gently with her thumbs, hesitating with her next question. Her voice was just barely above a whisper as she spoke.

"You were in love with Yukio-chan, weren't you?"

Another pause, and then a minute nod, almost too small to notice.

"Oh, Tsu-chan.. Did he know?" She squeezed his hands as she asked.

Tsuyoshi shook his head this time, tilting his face forward in hopes of hiding his eyes beneath his bangs so that Yuki wouldn't see the tears threatening to spill onto his cheeks.

"Why didn't you tell him? You know he wouldn't have hated you for it."

"There was no point, Yuki. I never had a chance in the first place, so why would I bother?"

"He may have been with Tomoko, but you could have at least gotten it off your chest-"

"And what, been even more of a burden to him?!" Tsuyoshi raised his voice suddenly as he spoke, his head whipping up to look at his roommate and eyes sparking with emotion. "You know he would have found a way to feel bad about it! I didn't want him to throw me some sort of pity party just because he couldn't reciprocate my stupid, childish crush! I couldn't do that to him when he could never feel the same, Yuki."

He stood up sharply then, yanking his hands out of Yuki's grasp and taking a deep breath before turning to leave.

"..I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lash out at you," he murmured, facing the door. "Just.. leave me alone for a little while, okay? And don't worry about the glass, I'll clean it up."

He left then, walking back down the hall and shutting himself up in the very same room Yuki had guided him out of just fifteen minutes prior.

She sighed, standing up and busying herself by cleaning up the bathroom.

"Oh, Yukio-chan.." she murmured, under the assumption that she was talking to herself (although the ghost of a certain someone stood in the doorway now, just out of sight).

"What would you have done?"