Page 92 of Psync
“I hate to break it to you, Eli, but you two are pretty obvious. The way you look at each other, the fact that he’s the only person who can touch you. You’re always together, he feeds, you, I mean, come on. We’re not blind.” This came from a tall, waif-like girl Eli didn’t recognize at all—though she seemed to know plenty about him. He really needed to start paying better attention to his surroundings.
Haruka put his chin on Eli’s head.
“You’ve been watching us?” Eli wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“What can I say? You guys are a much-needed distraction from the stress of schoolwork and grades,” the first girl said
“Don’t worry though, we won’t get up in your personal business. We’re just happy to watch from afar,” Phone Boy said.
“And discuss you on our Discord server,” another girl put in. “And we can make sure nobody bothers you.”
“There’s a Discord server?” Eli tried to take a step back, but there was a giant, clingy wall behind him, so all he accomplished was making everyone around him sigh again. “How many of you are there?”
Phone Boy frowned and looked thoughtful. “At my last count, I think it was nearly nine hundred.”
“Nine hundred?!”
“It’s a good thing, Eli. If someone messes with you, one of us is always around, so we can tell everyone else you need help.”
“Always around . . .” Eli rubbed his face. “Thanks? I think.”
It wasn’t just him, right? This was super weird. But also, kind of sweet? He decided to go with sweet. He hadn’t gotten molested, which was a serious plus in his book, and their new fan club had said they wouldn’t get too personal.
“Thank you,” he said again, only more firmly. He jabbed Haruka in the gut.
“Thanks,” Haruka said grudgingly.
“You’re very welcome.”
“Okay everyone, let’s give them some space so they can go be”—Girl Number One giggled—“together.”
“Bye Eli, bye Haruka.” The group chorused and began to disperse.
Haruka tightened his arms around Eli, making him squeak.
“You’re squishing me!”
“Good,” Haruka said, grumpily, but relaxed his grip a notch.
“So, I should probably go to class . . .”
“You still have an hour before it starts.” Haruka released his death hold on Eli and took his hand. “We need to talk.”
Well, it had been worth a shot.
Eli allowed himself to be dragged to a secluded bench. He would dearly love to have coffee right now. It was cold, and he needed something to compensate for the adrenaline crash that was about to happen.
Haruka opened his jacket and pulled Eli close, tucking him under an arm to keep him warm.
“You ditched Nate and Alice.”
“I did.” This was so weird. He should be shaking right now, or having some kind of trauma response, but being pressed against Haruka’s side was better than any coffee ever. Even if they were about to have what promised to be a nasty fight.
“It’s not going to be a nasty fight.” Haruka pulled Eli into his lap and pressed his face into his neck. “You scared the shit out of me.”
Eli didn’t even put up a pretense of struggling. After having Hank’s hands on him, all he wanted was for Haruka’s touch to wash it away.
“I’m sorry, I just—” Wanted to be alone for a few minutes? Had gotten so used to feeling safe around Haruka that he’d forgotten the world was still full of predators? “I wasn’t thinking. But I feel suffocated. I was going to talk to you about it today, but then Hank showed up and ruined everything.” Once Alice and Nate found out, he’d have to move schools if he ever wanted time to himself again.
