Chapter 2 - Cigarettes And Sketches

Chapter 2- cigarettes and sketches!!

Kaito didn’t show up for three days.

Yuto tried not to care. He told himself it didn’t matter—that it was better this way. The library was quieter again. Safe again.

But it didn’t feel right.

He found himself glancing toward the chair across from him. Empty. Like the space had grown a memory.

On the fourth day, just as Yuto was packing up his sketchbook, the chair slid back.

“Miss me?” Kaito asked, dropping into the seat like he’d never left.

Yuto didn’t look up right away. His hand paused halfway through zipping his bag.

“You’re late.”

Kaito smirked. “I didn’t know we had a schedule.”

Yuto didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. His silence was sharp enough.

Kaito leaned back and studied him. “You’re weird.”

“I get that a lot.”

“I mean it as a compliment.”

Yuto finally looked at him. “You say things like that, but I don’t think you know how to mean anything.”

That shut Kaito up—for a second.

Then he leaned in, elbows on the table, eyes dark but strangely open.

“Maybe I don’t,” he admitted. “But you make me want to learn.”

Yuto felt something shift in his chest. Small. Subtle. But real.

⸻

They fell into a rhythm after that. Not quite friends, not quite strangers.

Kaito didn’t talk much about himself. He avoided questions with sarcasm or silence. But he asked about Yuto. About his drawings. About the kind of music he listened to. About what it felt like to always be alone and not hate it.

“I don’t hate it,” Yuto said one afternoon. “But sometimes I wonder what it would be like… not to have to choose it.”

Kaito looked at him with quiet understanding. “It’s easier to be alone than to feel unwanted when you’re not.”

Yuto didn’t reply.

But that night, he drew two boys sitting side by side, sharing the silence between them like it was something sacred.

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For this novel the song I would recommend to listen with it (which you shouldn't or do it) is

“Let Me Down Slowly” – Alec Benjamin

“illicit affairs” – Taylor Swift

Or none well actually I wanted this novel really short but I don’t know why the limit is 500 words be happy with 300 only but anyways actually I really wanted to make it smutty since half (every single one)of my story has them but slow burn is also cute plus I am just yapping in this story so whatever it didn’t mattered much since I don’t know if people will get the concept behind this story it’s actually kind of sad and nice if you get it.. So it all depends well I have Yap enough but I need to complete 500 words so please ignore me now I am just letting it be here I hope they can fix it up and let us write til 300 or something cause there are lazy people here as well like “ME”. So yeah

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