Saved (rp with Clover and thetraveler)

[クローバー (Clover)]

Makoto opened his eyes and looked around. He was still alive. The boxes were still okay. He wiped his eyes and sighed heavily.

"What a relief." he said. "Thanks, Ringo."

He held Ringo's hand the rest of the way to his house.

That was embarrassing... Who's ever heard of a guy who's afraid of crossing the street?! One day, I will conquer this fear and make Ringo proud! Makoto thought.

[thetraveler]

"-And that's how I learned to braid!" Ringo finished, laughing. He'd been telling stories to Makoto the whole time, and even though the latter was in a bit of a trance, he still seemed to listen to his tales of joy and woe.

 

"Oh, look, we're here," Ringo noted. They were standing in front of a large brick building, which looked old, but sturdy. Ringo opened the door and gestured for Makoto to go inside. "Come on, there's someone I'd like you to meet." 'Also, it's cold as fuck,' he thought to himself, but didn't say it.

[クローバー (Clover)]

Makoto went in, a little nervous. Who was this person Ringo wanted him to meet? Carrying the boxes in one by one, Makoto worked up quite a sweat. He hung up his coat inside and rolled up his sleeves midway in the job to keep himself cooler. He then brought the cart inside and looked for a place to store it.

[thetraveler]

They had entered a large lobby, and in the middle there was a help desk. A doorman approached Makoto and took his coat. "Can I help you with that cart?" he offered, folding the coat over his arm.

 

Ringo approached the main desk. "Hey Steve, I was wondering if I could get a place for my friend Makoto here?" He motioned towards the brown-haired man with his thumb. "If you don't have any room now, we can share my place. For a little while, you know."

 

As Steve checked on the reservations, Ringo turned to Makoto and smiled. "Cool place, eh?"

[クローバー (Clover)]

"Ah, thank you." Makoto gratefully let Steve handle the cart with the boxes in it. He looked around. This was a hotel? Or a high-rise? He didn't know what to think. It looked so much nicer than his old house.

"Ringo... This place looks amazing!" he said, looking at his friend with bright, happy eyes. "Thank you so much for helping me!"

[thetraveler]

Ringo nodded. "Sure thing! I hope you won't mind that there will be a little, er, fee, but I'll pay yours until you figure things out.... Well, this is the George Frances West Home For Lost Souls. Basically, a lot of people needed a place to stay, me included, so the place's founder, George Francis West, opened it up as a place for cheap residence to those who needed somewhere. In fact, the whole thing is run on donations, and we don't have to pay anything money-wise to live here. We aren't taking advantage though, see, we have to do volunteer work in the kitchens or housekeeping and cleaning, stuff like that. But it's not hard, and you get used to it."

 

"Steve? Got anything?" Ringo turned back to the clerk.

"Today is your lucky day," Steve pushed up his glasses, "We happen to have a room right next to yours that's open. Would you like me to set up your friend in that room?" Ringo nodded. "That'd be fantastic!" He shot a zealous glance in Makoto's direction. Steve clacked on his computer.

 

"..aaand, done! Here's your key, Do you want any help carrying things up?"

Ringo accepted the card-key, looked at Makoto, and saw that the cart was gone.

"It appears we've already been helped!" Ringo laughed. "Thanks again, Steve." Ringo winked at the man behind the desk and turned to Makoto, grabbing his hand. "Come on," he coaxed, "I'll show you your room!"

 

They flitted across the lobby and got onto an elevator with 2 other guests. Ringo pressed the button for the fourth floor. As the machine began to move upwards, Ringo smiled at Makoto and squeezed his hand.

 

The elevator eventually made it to their destination floor, and they slid out to a pleasant hall. It looked a lot like a hotel, with patterned carpets and yellow wall-papered walls. Ringo continued to tug his friend along, and they stopped in front of a door with the number '4221' painted on it. Ringo pulled out the card key and inserted it into the slot before opening the door and gesturing for Makoto to enter. "Welcome home," he offered.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

((geez sorry that's really long isn't it ugh um well I just felt like it all went together er gah sorry))

[クローバー (Clover)]

Makoto smiled. He finally had a new residence. Volunteer work wasn't a problem for him; doing so was an appropriate way to pay back the facility that let him stay. The first thing he did when he got to his room was flop on the bed. It was soft and comfy, and it made Makoto want to fall asleep on it right away, but he couldn't considering how much stuff he had to unpack. The boxes were already in his spacious room, so he began to unpack them. He put all of his clothes in the drawers, neatly folded, left his computer on the desk in the room, and unpacked the rest in around 30 minutes' time.

"Ringo, thank you so much for everything!" Makoto said, "There's one more thing I need to ask of you, though."

[thetraveler]

Ringo watched his new friend's contentment at being there, before he began to help him unpack. They finished pretty quickly, and stood in the middle of the room, admiring their handiwork. "Ringo, thank you so much for everything!" Makoto said. "There's one more thing I need to ask of you, though," he requested politely. Ringo raised his eyebrows. "Oh? What's that?" he wondered aloud.

[クローバー (Clover)]

"Could you help me overcome my fear of crossing streets?" Makoto asked. It was embarrassing to admit that he had such a fear, but the only way to fix the problem was to confront it head on. He knew that Ringo had helped him across the street before, and he wanted to learn some techniques to get over that fear himself.

[thetraveler]

Ringo laughed, "Oh, hon, I was going to help you with that already! Whether you wanted it or not, I was planning on getting you over that obstacle." He closed the space between himself and Makoto, embracing him gently. "I'll make it so that you won't even want to use side-walks anymore, just walk around on the streets. It will be hard, but you can get through it. After all, look at how much you've gotten through already, huh?"

[クローバー (Clover)]

"Yeah..." Makoto said, a little nervous. He heard his stomach growl. "I'm kinda hungry. Wanna get something to eat?"

The day's events had worn him out. Nearly dying by vehicular homicide, being saved by a complete stranger, and developing an annoying phobia for crossing the street wasn't something one experienced on a day to day basis, right? All he wanted to do was stuff his face with food and attempt to drown out the trauma he experienced in food.

[thetraveler]

Ringo let the embrace loosen as the other's stomach grumbled. "Food sounds like a fabulous idea. Wanna go out? Or we could go to my room and get take in. What do you want?" The question hung lightly in the air, softly pleading for a response. Secretly, Ringo was hoping Makoto would want to stay in. He didn't want to go back outside to the cold...

[クローバー (Clover)]

"Let's stay in for the night." Makoto said. "I've had enough of the outside for one day."

Makoto got up and stretched. He had had a long day with everything that had been going on at the moment. At least Ringo was there to try to make him feel better.

[thetraveler]

Ringo sighed inwardly with relief. "Sounds good to me. So, Chinese? Or would you prefer pizza? Hm... I think I'm more in the mood for pizza, personally." Ringo found the phone and prepared to punch in the number of Makoto's choice.

[クローバー (Clover)]

"Pizza sounds nice. Chinese, maybe another night." Makoto said. He just wanted something that he could pick up and stuff his face full with, and pizza seemed like the best option at the moment. He flopped onto Ringo's bed and stretched some more.

[thetraveler]

((when did we get to Ringo's??? Hm, nevermind XD))

Ringo dialed and ordered, winking and giving eyebrows appropriately towards Makoto when the woman on the other end asked for specifications. They ended up ordering a medium cheese pizza with garlic rolls. Ringo hung up and flopped down on the bed next to Makoto with a sigh. "And now we wait," he said in a warm voice. Ringo looked over at his friend. "You play a game or something?"

[クローバー (Clover)]

"Why don't we just talk? Talking takes less thinking." Makoto suggested. "I don't feel like doing things that require a lot of thinking tonight."

What he said was partially true. While the events of the day wore him out, he didn't really know what Ringo was going to do. If he had wanted to play truth or dare, Makoto would've been extremely uncomfortable having to either reveal something about himself or do something potentially embarrassing.

[thetraveler]

Ringo blinked and half-grinned. "Talking, talking works. Alright, let's talk about..." He rolled onto his side and propped his head up with his elbow. "You. Do you have any hobbies? Play any sports? Got a girlfriend or anything? What do you wanna do, job-wise?" Ringo inquired ferociously, as unrelenting as a curious toddler who's just learned the meaning of "why." He suddenly cut off, awaiting some response.

[クローバー (Clover)]

"Well... I like to draw. I do run, but not competitively. And I'm currently not employed. I'm a university student, so getting experience under my belt now would help me greatly. And... I'm gay. I don't like girls." Makoto blushed a little at the last answer. He hadn't ever told anyone his sexuality this openly, but for some reason, Ringo seemed safe to tell that.

[thetraveler]

Ringo looked away quickly and tried to suppress a small grin. He was... gay? Halleluiah! But not to get ahead of ourselves here, Ringo told himself, we need to pace things. Ringo felt his own cheeks grow hot as he almost whispered, "...I'm.... sort of gay too."

 

He stood and began to pace, looking at his stockinged feet sheepishly as he explained, "See, I'm bi, which means I'm attracted to both genders, and I guess I'll be completely honest with you right now but the real reason I saved you was because... I think you're beautiful!" It had all come out sort of rushed, and especially the last statement. Ringo exhaled and sat on the corner of the bed far enough away from Makoto to give him the space he probably needed.

[クローバー (Clover)]

Makoto turned very red at this statement. Ringo thought he was beautiful?! He was a little dumbfounded, but flattered by the comment, inching closer to Ringo.

"T-thank you..." Makoto said. "That... That really means a lot that you think I'm beautiful. Nobody's really told me that."

His gaze went to the ground as he said the last sentence.

[thetraveler]

As his friend scooted closer, Ringo turned so he wasn't facing away from him. His interest grew as Makoto confessed to never being called beautiful. "Really?" He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "No-one's ever told you that your eyes are the most incredible shade of sky and ocean combined, that your hair looks softer than a swan's wings, or that your smile, when it's around, lights up the space as though it's holy?" As Ringo ranted, his face grew softer, and he allowed himself to smile as he pointed out Makoto's physical beauties. He flopped backwards onto the bed.

 

"And then, after I beheld your appearance with such admiration, you go and increase it ten-fold by showing me your gorgeous heart."

 

Ringo stared contemplatively at the ceiling, and he knew in his gut he'd said too much. But the words were out, and there was no going back now.

[クローバー (Clover)]

Makoto wanted to cry from the kindness of Ringo's words, and he was damn close to it. So he just let out his emotions. He collapsed on top of Ringo and buried his face in his friend's chest.

"I-I've been waiting for someone to tell me that. My mother was the only one who'd say I was beautiful before she died, and hearing this from you... I-It gives me hope. The real reason why I walked out on the street like that was that it was... a suicide attempt." Makoto said through his tears. In the days leading up to Ringo finding him and saving him from killing himself, Makoto had been suffering severe depression in response to the death of his mother and was considering ending his life to be with her again so that he could hear her calling him beautiful. But hearing Ringo say those same words gave him hope and will to live. This was truly the kindest thing anyone could've done for him.

[thetraveler]

Ringo tensed slightly from the volcanic reaction, (he'd said too much, right?) only to get a grip on the situation and, for a second time that day, comfort his sobbing friend. Ringo gently rubbed Makoto's back in small circles, wiping tears away from his eyes with his other hand. "You are beautiful, though. Beauty is in everyone. You just never let oth-"

 

BUZZZ!

 

The moment was interrupted by a loud noise, indicating that someone was at the door. Ringo glanced in the direction of the door, muttering, "that was quick," before helping Makoto sit up and walking to the door. He paid the man for their pizza and brought the boxes into the room. After setting them on the table, Ringo went back to his emotional friend and gently coaxed him to the table to eat.

[クローバー (Clover)]

Makoto went to the table, trying to stop crying. Hearing someone else call him beautiful was one of the most beautiful things he could hope to hear. It meant that someone other than his now-dead family cared about him. It gave him a reason to live.

"Th-Thanks, Ringo." Makoto said, a little less teary now.