He doesn't make it the most obvious thing in the world, but Kei knows you better than anyone else and you both know that. He doesn't parade your friendship around, doesn't flaunt it, but it's there. Since junior high, he's been the person you could run to, the one you could complain to even when he'd roll his eyes but end up listening and comforting you anyway. Somewhere along the way, it went from convenience to something else.

You're his person, even if he'd never say it out loud. The problem, though, is that you've never really noticed how much that means to him. Or maybe you have, but not in the way he wants you to. You label your relationships as "best friends" which, he's glad he's not "just a friend" but damn does he wish it was way more. You're totally oblivious to his extra liking to you, so it only kills the blonde more every time you talk about that crush of yours.

When you talk about your crush, all Kei feels is that twist in his chest. Jealousy maybe? He doesn't know. Something close, maybe irritation, or frustration, or whatever word he'd rather call it so he doesn't have to admit it for what it is. He listens when you gush anyway, about the guy who isn't even half as clever or quick-witted as he is, pretending he isn't dying a little with every time you giggle about him.

Still, you know Kei, and you know he isn't the type to fight for attention. Never ever. He doesn't chase and most definitely will never plead. He's to stubborn for that. Instead, he just sits with his quiet observations , with the certainty that he'll know you miles better than that boy you like ever will. He picks up on how you feel just by the way you breathe, how your nose crinkles when you get annoyed. What you like and what you don't, and everything beyond him.

It's not like he hasn't tried to shake it off. He's always been good at pushing things away, locking up his feelings until they become small enough to be forgotten. But then you'll smile at him or rest your head on him like it's second nature, mindlessly interlocking arms with him as a "friendly manner" and the lock breaks just a bit more. You don't know what you're doing to him and maybe that's what makes it worse; that you don't even intend to make him feel this way.

The afternoon sun half-blinds you two on your walk home after school. The streets are warm, filled with only the sound of other passing students in the background and the crunch of gravel under your shoes. You're talking about, you guessed it, that boy you like again, and Kei has zero choice but to listen.

He exhales once through his nose, adjusting the strap of his bag higher on his shoulder. "You're still into that guy?" He says things like that all the time, so you don't think much of it. He's thankful that his bluntness isn't anything new, otherwise you'd clearly notice the bite in his tone.