The early evening sky shone gently around the Beigoma Academy building. A mixture of blues and orange mingled across the sky just above the school.
Several bladers, who were on the school's rooftop, watched the sky with soft smiles.
No words were exchanged as one by one the group of bladers disbanded to go do their own thing. Only two bladers remained by the time a certain Roktavor blader left.
With the rest of the team gone, Valt sighed, biting his lower lip.
Being on the school's roof, alone with Shu, staring up at the sky, felt a little embarrassing.
Sure the two had done this before - staring at the sky together - but this time felt different some how.
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that back then Valt didn't have any special feelings towards the scarlet eyed male.
Considering the fact that the bluenette had just discovered new arising feelings for the scarlet eyed make - it could be true.
Back when the two were younger Valt never felt his heart go a flutter when he was with Shu. Nor did he think such caring and loving thoughts of said friend.
No, everything had just become recent.
These feelings were all new and slowly blooming. Day by day they had been growing without Valt even realizing it until, one day when he caught himself thinking of Shu after running into a couple outside his home.
At first the thought of liking his best friend brought the bluenette to his knees, panic stricken. He couldn't believe for a second that he actually liked his best friend romantically.
The first thoughts that coursed through his mind were very practical ones, for like a second! Then they went a little haywire...
There's no way I can like him that way! We're best friends and best friends don't do anything like- WE'RE BOTH GUYS! HE'S GOING TO THINK I'M CRAZY!!! But then again he's really understanding... But what would everyone else say if I told them how I felt about Shu?! WHAT IF EVERYONE MAKES FUN OF ME AND ABANDONS ME AS A FRIEND!!!
All sorts of questioning thoughts coursed through the Valtryek blader for days until he came to the conclusion of bottling up his feelings.
This action worked for a good week until he let out some thoughts to Daigo and Rantaro during after school training.
The thoughts were harmless, just Valt going on about wanting to grow stronger as a blader like Shu. But the thoughts eventually became more excessive as the bluenette's feelings grew.
Just yesterday he had spent an hour spitting out irrelevant facts about the Spryzen blader.
To think that he could spend such a lengthy amount of time talking about his best friend on the same rooftop he had been on just the day before.
Glancing over to Shu, Valt smiled softly. He knew all these feelings were probably just one-sided and that he could never truly be with the scarlet eyed male in a loving relationship. That this was probably just a phase and would vanish one morning when he'd least expect it.
But knowing that these feelings were real at the moment and true, he would cherish these feelings and allow them to blossom for as long as they could.
Obviously he'd keep the feelings to himself, but that doesn't mean he couldn't throw out little hints every now and then of his true feelings for Shu, right?
If he couldn't speak his feelings then the next best thing was to show his feelings at every opportunity he got.
"Valt?" Shu questioned. The scarlet eyed male had been observing his friend for several minutes.
It had appeared to the taller male that Valt had been spacing out while looking towards him. Not that it really bothered Shu - he actually kind of liked the way those chocolate orbs stared at him with such a loving and caring aura around them. The feeling made his heart skip a beat as he kept up the eye contact, not wanting the feeling to end.
It took a moment for Valt to have registered Shu's voice. His own eyes blinking rapidly at the Spryzen blader before he drew an arm behind his head in an awkward fashion.
"S-sorry about that. I was just thinking about a few things."
Shu nodded in understandment. Over thinking was something Valt had always done growing up and by now the scarlet eyed male was used to it.
"I see... You know," Shu paused to look back up at the sky, "I've been thinking about a few things as well."
A gentle breeze blew threw as the two bladers stood next to each other, Valt waiting for the Spryzen blader to continue.
"It's been awhile since we last hung out like this, just the two of us. With the national tournament going on and all of our friends by our sides we haven't really gotten a chance to catch up... What I'm trying to say is - Do you want to come over to my apartment tomorrow? Since it's the weekend I figured it would be a good idea to hang out together." There was a barely noticeable emphasis on the word together.
Valt grinned to his friend, tiny sparkles danced around his eyes as he looked to Shu.
"Really? That would be so cool! I'll be there so you better be ready for me at any time!" The shorter male jumped for joy.
Going to Shu's apartment was going to be so much fun! The last time he had gone over was when Lui had re-injured Shu's shoulder. During that time the bluenette had gone by almost every day just to check up on the Spryzen blader. It was a little way of letting Shu know that he would always be there for him.
None of their other friends knew about Valt visiting Shu so this often gave the two some time to relax and hang out.
It was fun, just the two of them, talking about their beys, school work, and the upcoming individual matches at the national tournament.
All in all that was their special time together.
Now that Shu's shoulder was healing back to be its old self Valt didn't go over the the Spryzen bladers apartment as often. But now that he was invited to go over again, he was thrilled to bits!
The evening sky above the bladers slowly began to change its coloration as the sun dipped down across the horizon.
The once radiant blue sky was now dusted in orange, yellow, pink, and purples. The clouds barely hiding the sun and moving away from an almost visible crescent moon.
"We should probably start heading back home right? It's getting kind of late." The bluenette looked longingly to the bey stadium before turning his attention to the door that led them off the roof and into the school.
Shu caught Valt's stare at the bey dish. His mind bouncing between wanting to battle and wanting to go home and organize a few things for the following day.
Before he knew what he was doing, Shu took Spryzen and his bey launcher out from his school bag and set them into each other.
When Shu looked over to Valt he could see the bluenette had already set up his bey as well.
Looks like he really did want to battle after all.
The two males walked over to opposite ends of the bey dish and took their launching positions. Shu in an Upper Launch position and Valt in a Flash Launch position. Both of the males minds went blank as they focused on the battle ahead.
"3... 2... 1! Let it rip!"
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By the time Valt had returned home it was already 7:39 p.m. The lights around the house were all turned on and small giggles echoed around the corners of the home.
Normally if the lights were turned off those giggles would've scared the bluenette. But seeing as the lights were on and how he just remembered he had siblings, Valt wasn't scared.
"I'm home! Did you guys already eat dinner without me?" Valt smiled wide as he entered the kitchen.
The table was already set up with plates and napkins.
Around the plates were a variety of freshly baked bread and a large bowel of pasta. Everything looked almost too good to eat.
"Woah! This looks amazing!"
Toko smiled to his brother as he grabbed a bread stick, handing it to Nika.
"I know right! Mom made lots to eat, so dig in!"
Nika nodded, taking a bite out of her bread stick before looking to the kitchen door.
"Oh yeah, we almost forgot to tell you, but Hoiji and Wakiya came by earlier. They only came over to buy some bread though... There was something different about them. They seemed a little awkward around each other and us. Did something happen to them at school today?"
Valt swallowed the pasta in his mouth, getting ready to speak, but instead he thought for a moment.
Now that he thought about it he had only seen Hoiji and Wakiya after school. The two of them had only stayed to train and then left when everyone started relaxing.
Come to think of it, when they left they were holding hands...
Valt's cheeks flushed at the thought of his two friends.
How had he not realized this earlier!
Looking down to his pasta, Valt answered quietly. "Yeah something did happen."