Fold, after fold.

Time dragged by. The lone, muffled ticks of his watch bounced around faintly in the empty club room. Io worked in silence, eyes fixed on the task at hand and averted from his companion's intense, fiery stare.

Wrap, fold again.

Silence stirred. Ryuu's eyes began to scorch through his consciousness, boiling the blood under his skin, burning through his throat as he swallows.

Tuck.

The air feels progressively heavier with each breath expelling word unspoken.

Pin.

"I'm done." Io let out a heavy breath and got up from where he'd been kneeling. He marvelled at Ryuu's now neatly bandaged ankle, finally meeting his patient's eyes with a light hearted smile. "Check it out. Not bad, hm?"

The fuschia-haired boy kept his eyes affixed to Io. His expression a rare seriousness.

Io's watch ticked once. The room was still.

"What's wrong?"

Twice. Uneasiness swept across Io's body as he continued to lock eyes with his silent companion.

"You should be more careful next time." He remarked casually as he finally ripped away from his friend's glare and packed up his first-aid kit, the sound of the zipper being pulled closed tore through the room. "We wouldn't want our enemies to recognise you from a silly injury you sustained from a battle, given that they might really be closer to us than we-"

"Why did you leave us?"

All noises ceased. Ryuu's words echoed against the hard walls, lingered in the cold air, then was devoured by the deafening silence.

"Why?"

Io stayed frozen.

"I really thought of you as a friend." Ryuu said through gritted teeth as he got up shakily from his seat and limped towards him. "And I thought you'd think me the same."

Io opened his mouth.

"Don't." Io's eyes were met with a sudden, chilling coldness. "I don't want to hear it."

The pale-haired boy swallowed the lump of words at his throat, and averted his gaze as his classmate stumbled past, bumping him on the shoulder along the way harder than any insult could be delivered.

"Ryuu-"

"I always knew you cared more about money than anything." Ryuu stopped, his voice stern. There was a sort of pain in it that tore at Io's heart like no failing stock market has ever done before. "But I had never expected you to put a price on our friendship."

"Everything has a price." Io clenched his jaw. "Money doesn't betray."

"Right." Ryuu said monotonously.

"You don't understand-"

"No, I completely understand." Ryuu snapped. "You are a coward, Io Naruko. You can't stand being abandoned so you inflict it on someone else. You run away from everything that loves you because you think it can hurt you."

"It will."

"Of course it fucking will." The anger in Ryuu's voice slapped at Io's conscious. "You can, I can, everything can. That doesn't stop us from loving you, does it?! You fucking coward-"

Io swung around and grabbed Ryuu by his collar, slamming him against the wall and glared at him with sharp, cold anger. "I. Am not. A coward." He growled, inches from Ryuu's face, watching as Ryuu hissed at the pain, shaky hands reaching up to grab onto Io's arms.

"What.. are you gonna do? Scare me then gi..ve up.. again?" He jeered coarsely. "You don't… care-"

"SHUT UP!"

The injured boy hacked and coughed as Io's hold became tighter, yanking at his arm in a struggle to be freed. Ryuu's tightening grasp suddenly snapped Io out of his rage, he released him and watched him slide to the floor, gasping for air. Io breathed heavily, trying to regain his senses. "I…"

"You don't care… about us." Ryuu's voice broke, his smouldering gaze unfaltered even as tears began to well in his eyes. "You never cared."

"Ryuu…" A burning guilt overcame Io as he realised what he had done.

Ryuu was right. Io Naruko is a coward. Through all the time he had been living in fear of being hurt again, he hadn't realised the same pain he had caused on others was the dear price to pay.

People didn't usually matter to him, he chose what he wanted to see - cold, hard cash. But today, he'd seen pain. Pain in the eyes of someone that loved him at no cost or interest. Pain in the eyes of someone he'd so foolishly dismissed as simply another step for him to reach numbness from his own agony.

Io got to his knees. "I'm sorry." His words were plain and hushed. He reached out towards Ryuu and this time, his hands were gentle as they slowly found their way to his neck and softly pulled him towards himself.

Ryuu hesitated, but upon finally meeting his eyes in all honesty, he allowed himself to be pulled into Io's arms.

"I'm so sorry."

Crimson rays of the setting sun outside shone through the windows, and painted the furnitures with a warm gold. The two boys huddled quietly in the corner of the room, in the safety of each other's arms.

"Me too." Ryuu's trembling voice muffled against Io's tight embrace.

For a short while, all grief was forgiven, washed away by the comfort of that warm afternoon.

The room was still once more. But the heavy silence in the air was gone.