friends.

he lays his arm around the other boy's shoulder. a smile is spread across the boy's face, and his face is immediately flushed. not because he is in love, but because he knows he's been forgiven, and the blush indicates happiness. Tako, who is now looking away with pink-tinted cheeks, positions his other arm casually over his thigh. the train continues to wobble from side-to-side awkwardly, but not too heavily.

"you're not angry?" Song finally asks and breaks the silence. the boy, who is famous for being a wonderful all-rounded artist and his friendliness is being his usual self today--humble and polite. Takoyaki, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of Song. lazy, hard-headed, ill-tempered, but in the end, still the most forgiving among themselves. their hair are also so drastically different from normal beings--Song's being a soft pink which surprisingly, doesn't appear too girlie on him and Tako's pale white shoulder-length hair with a bright streak of orange on the left side of his face. no one really knew how these two became friends.

"well, we're friends, right?" Tako replies, still looking the other way and unwilling to let go of his hook from Song's shoulder. despite the eight-year age gap, they get along fine. Tako isn't usually submissive, yet somehow with Song, he lets the pink-haired boy take care of his wardrobe. it's also thanks to Song that Tako has a much more decent job than being a pretty-much-anything freelancer. the whirring of the wind outside of the train and the emptiness inside the coach makes the situation a lot more awkward.

"we are," Song replies blandly. come to think of it, it's even stranger that Tako and Song has been able to converse with each other for so long, when Tako is Japanese and Song is Korean. though Song does have the upper-hand, having learning more than 10 languages by the age of five. Tako was particularly relieved when Song didn't ask about his blood-red eyes. it was a curse, really. it made the people around him see him as a calamity, a bad omen as he grew up. eventually he left his hometown as his parents passed away. he still remembers how his name came about--his father was a genius at making takoyakis. until Tako arrived, at least. his father died shortly after his birth.

the train slows down almost dramatically. "next station, Shinjuku. next station, Shinjuku," the robotic voice announced. Song, returning to his usual self, immediately grins cheekily at Tako. "c'mon, don't be angry! Mayo and Nine are waiting for us at Shinjuku, cheer up, okay?" Tako, who is known for being a cold-blooded creature, smiles without putting in any effort. it's almost natural when he's with Song. 'Song' also seemed easier to be remembered rather than his Korean name, Hae Jun. Takoyaki removes his arm from Song's shoulder and stretches. the train stops right when he places his arms down again.

"yeah, let's go. time is running," Tako says as he stands up and walks out of the train, with Song following behind him like a child.

time is running. we'll be friends forever, even if forever means a day or two hundred years.