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He’s walking hand in hand with the boy he loves down the street. They’re headed towards the park because Teru wants to show him the new drums they added. It’s not too far from where he lives, so they’re over halfway there.
They turn the corner and it appears, with the drums right at the front. No one’s there cause it’s late at night, so it’s the perfect opportunity to actually use them. He’s briefly heard the sounds they make, and he knows Akane will like them. The shorter instantly starts pulling them towards the set with a smile.
Once Akane’s foot touches the wood chips he lets go and starts tapping. While Teru does want to join in, he doesn’t want to upset the boy. Akane stops when he notices Teru hasn’t moved.
“You know you can touch it, right? It’s not just mine.”
“Sorry, I just didn’t want to ruin your flow,” he laughs. Akane doesn’t join him.
“You doing something you like doesn’t bother me,” he says softly. He hits a bongo instead of saying anything, and he gets the message.
“Wait, hit a steady beat on that.” The ginger nods at the rhythm and gets to work, hitting the different drums in patterns he’ll never understand. It sounds as great as it can get on thick plastic, which is a compliment.
Eventually, the hits dull down until only Teru is hitting the drum. He stops when he realizes Akane is finished.
“What’s next?” Akane asks. While the swings catch his attention, he’s more interested in getting stuck in a slide. They walk towards the nearest (and only) slide, a spinner.
“You’re not even going to make it inside.”
“You want to bet?”
“Un, no? Now get caught in the damn slide already, I’ll meet you downstairs.” He hears Akane’s retreating footsteps in the distance as he falls down the slide.
It somehow fits him perfectly despite him being much bigger than it before. At first it’s fun, but then he just keeps going. The slide was not close to long enough for this, and it’s starting to make him dizzy. He can’t reach the walls with his arms, and his shoes won’t gain traction on the material. Lipstick marks start appearing on the walls at an exponential rate, until the whole slide has changed color. Once he pops out and turns around, the slide is back to its original short, yellow form. Though he didn’t notice the eye shaped opening with a conveniently placed scuff mark making a pupil the first time. It’s lost to his mind when he catches Akane in his peripherals.
He’s crammed himself into a built-in park bench underneath the main floor of the playground. He doesn’t look very comfortable, his legs getting squished by the table. If Teru tries to sit there with him, he’ll surely get permanently squished.
It doesn’t stop him from joining the other.
“Was it everything you dreamed of and more?”
“I needed to get stuck more,” he laughs.
“You were out of there pretty quick. Anything left you want to do?”
“Not after I stuffed myself into this cubby space,” Teru sighs.
“I agree.”
They sit in silence (but not comfort) in each other’s company. Teru looks through the playground at the night sky, bright with the moon and the stars.
“This has almost felt like a dream,” Akane whispers. Like he wasn’t supposed to hear.
“A dream, huh?” Teru smiles. “Well, if this really is a dream, then you’d kiss me.”
“You’re a fool if you think I’d ever do that,” he says, but he leans in. Teru mirrors the movement, which leads Akane to rest his hand on his neck.
They inch closer, and Teru closes his eyes, expecting what he’s dreamed of. But it doesn’t come.
When he opens them again, he sees black.
He blinks a few times to make sure, before lifting his head up. His arms have gotten numb from the pressure, and when he moves his legs they hurt.
The room is dark, but Akane’s perfectly framed by the light of the moon. He’s sitting across from him on his phone with a pack of papers to his left. His laptop is closed and his bag is packed in the chair to his right.
“You’re lucky I didn’t have plans with Ao-chan, because I would’ve been pissed at having to cancel them,” the real, alive version of Akane says.
“Sorry for the trouble,” he yawns. “I didn’t expect to fall asleep.”
“Well now that you’re awake, I can leave. Have fun getting out of the school without setting off an alarm,” he laughs before grabbing his belongings and leaving through the door. He almost falls back asleep, but has half a mind to follow suit.
Once he’s out of the room, Akane is nowhere to be found.