A/N: Until I get requests, I'll be posting some one-shots that I've made my myself :3

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Summary:

Within this friend circle, only two of them wear bandages on their arms. Not like the others have to know what's under them, anyway.

TRIGGER WARNING: suicide, self-harm, mentions of depression and anxiety

-minor curse near the end-

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It was red.

Red on her wrists. Red on her fingers. Red on her blade.

Red in his hair. Red in his eyes. Red in his glare.

... Flower should've known that this would catch up with her eventually.

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She was being awfully quiet.

Those words had been ringing through Fukase's head for the whole afternoon now. In the midst of the living room, where their roommates and neighbors had gathered for a casual hangout session, while Oliver was chatting with Rin and Len and Piko was talking with his older sister Miki and the ever popular diva Miku, he could only focus on her lithe figure as she sat on the sofa, her violet eyes staring at the floor and her fingers brushing against each other from time to time, including across her wrists.

As much as he tried to engage with the conversations around him, the redhead couldn't help but notice her reluctance to talk with anyone. It wasn't too unusual that the kuudere didn't want to talk but...

Something was just... off about it. Fukase couldn't pinpoint exactly what, though. That was bugging him.

"And then Fukase, you said... HEY!" A high-pitched yet masculine voice snapped Fukase back to his senses and he turned his head to the source of the noise; a young man with silver shoulder length hair accompanied a 'P'-shaped ahoge and heterochromatic eyes of turquoise and green. They narrowed at the man in question as the owner of the voice continued. "Fuka, were you spacing out again?"

The redhead scratched his head bashfully. "Uhhh.... No?"

"Fukase, you're a better jokester than a liar," The teenage girl standing next to him shook her head in disappointment, her fuchsia-colored hair trailing behind her while her question mark-shaped ahoge bounced in the air. "Seriously though, you've been staring into space for a while now. Are you okay?"

"Haha," He chuckled as an opportunity for a little fun came to mind. "Wow, I can't believe that the girl who 'has the greatest affinity to space' is telling me that I'm spacing out,"

At the sound of his poorly made pun, the final girl in their circle smacked a hand against her forehead, her turquoise twin tails trailing behind her as she shook her head. "For Yamaha's sake, Fukase, that doesn't even make any sense,"

"Hey, those are my creators you're talking about, not yours, Miku!" He retorted, a little ticked off that she didn't appreciate the joke.

"Quite frankly, if they didn't exist, neither would I!"

"Miku, Fukase, calm down..." Piko held a hand out on both sides of the conversation, trying to keep the duo from getting into another heated debate. "We don't need to start another squabble in here..."

And from there, the afternoon continued as jovially as it started; Fukase would dramatically quip at something, Miku would reply back with something just as dramatic, Piko would try to keep the duo apart (it was a miracle that his sanity hadn't been lost yet) and Miki would eventually get so tired of the conversation that she'd try to chat with Rin, Len and Oliver instead. It was just your usual casual, chaotic hangout session.

Though at the back of Fukase's mind, the thought from before still remained. It probably stayed in his head because of the noticeable lack of something in the conversation that afternoon.

More specifically, the curt and deadpan nature of the person Fukase was worried about.

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He couldn't sleep. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't.

As he shuffled in his bed and rubbed his eyes for the umpteenth time that night (and being ESPECIALLY careful about his left eye, mind you-), his mind kept replaying the scenes in his head. How she had been so quiet this afternoon. How she had been rubbing her fingers and wrists over and over again. How she brushed off anyone who tried to speak with her (including him) and soon enough, excused herself back to her room for the day. How she barely said anything beyond 'Sorry, but I'm a little tired. Please excuse me.'

In the tense atmosphere of the room that followed after she left, Fukase, Piko and Oliver were all worried for her. Their roommate hadn't been this distant until the day she started working at CeVIO and even straight after the first few weeks, she had been fine, still chatting with them and giving snarky remarks to Fukase's jokes. The signs of her slowly falling behind their conversations or even talking with them at all had been gradual to appear, but the redhead had long drawn up some suspicions of what was going on.

And that... was why he couldn't sleep. Because he didn't want his suspicions to be true.

"Dammit," He muttered to himself in frustration as he threw the covers off of his body, sitting up on his bed as his fingers ran through his head. No way was he gonna be able to sleep like this. Not when he was so worried.

Meanwhile, in the drawer-turned-bed at his bedside table, a little cloud-colored figure poked its head out of the covers, its eyes blinking at the redhead as if it was expecting an answer. "Sorry, buddy," He apologized sheepishly as his right hand patted the little doll's head. "I just can't sleep tonight. Think I'll go get some water or something. You can head back to bed,"

He lifted his hands from Point's head as he threw on a loose long-sleeved shirt over his singlet and sweatpants, preparing himself to pay a visit to the kitchen. However, instead of listening to its master, the doll pushed away its blanket with its pudgy hands, soon crawling up the bedside table to face Fukase, its hands on its hips.

"Point, you can go back to bed, I mean it," The young man insisted, shaking his head. He hated when his pet wouldn't listen to him, but it was part-and-parcel of owning one, he knew. "I'm just gonna get a drink and it's not gonna be beer, I swear. Just some water and then I'll go to sleep, okay?"

Point still wouldn't move, its arms stuck on its hips as it blinked at him again. If it weren't for the fact that its face was unable to express its emotions or that Point was a literal doll in shape and size, Fukase would have been face-to-face with a stern parent scolding him for evading his bed time.

"Dude... Fine, you can come with me, is that better?" The teenager ended up using the only trump card he had that could sway Point's 'parental vibes' and only then did the doll drop its arms and jump on the spot. In other words, it was satisfied with Fukase's offer.

He sighed as he leaned close to the bedside table, allowing the doll to hop onto his right shoulder and sit there to hitch a ride. It seemed to be a habit that Point had culminated over the years; as it grew more and more attached to Fukase, it started to worry more and more about his well-being like a mother or father would. And just like any mother or father would treat their child, Point hated to have Fukase out of its sight for long. It sounded like a hassle, but truthfully, the teen didn't mind Point accompanying him that night.

As the redhead stepped out of his bedroom, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and slowly walked down the hallway, the darkness seeming to last forever. A quiet yet serene silence occupied the house as its other three residents were sleeping soundly, the only noise coming from Fukase's footsteps as he advanced to the kitchen.

Of course, he couldn't get there without passing by the bathroom. And that was when something interrupted the quietness of their home.

A clear but slightly muffled grunt. Coming from the door on his left. From the bathroom.

He raised an eyebrow at the sound, his eyes looking towards the ground and now noticing a thin line of pale yellow light from the other side of the door. Who the hell would be in there this late? And more importantly, why were they-

Oh no.

"Uhh..." Fukase accidentally blurted out loud as soon as he realized what could be going on. Unfortunately for him, it was enough to alert the person inside and soon enough, another startled voice entered the quietness of the night.

"W-Who's there?" Fukase didn't have to think twice about who that voice belonged to. Medium pitched, androgynous, lack of a British accent... who else could it be?

"It's Fukase," He replied quickly, not wanting to leave her imagining whoever was outside. "Flower, is that you in there?"

He heard her hitch a short gasp for a moment before composing herself. "Y-yeah, sorry, do you need to use the bathroom?"

He shook his head. "No, but..." Be cool, Fukase. Don't make her think you're suspecting her. "Are you okay in there?"

His question was soon replied by the bathroom door opening slowly, revealing Flower standing in front of him, her snow white hair shining under the bathroom light and the single strand of black hair standing out more than usual. Even though she held her head down, the redhead easily spotted the dark bags under her eyes and the paleness of her lips. Heck, they almost matched the shades of her monochromatic nightclothes. What was going on?

"Yeah, I'm okay," She replied nervously, bringing Fukase's attention back to her tired and fatigue ridden face. "Anyway, what are you doing up so late, Fukase?"

A warning light was already going off in his head.

Never, not even once, did Flower ever call him by his full name.

It was always either 'Fuka' or 'F*ckass', but never just 'Fukase'. Something is definitely wrong.

"Eh, the usual insomniac reason," He replied with a shrug, praying that the look in his eyes did not reflect the worry that was bubbling in his chest. "Can't sleep, so Imma get a drink and hopefully, that'll knock me out,"

"You wanna get knocked out by a drink?" Flower narrowed her eyes at him, seeming to return to her usual deadpan reactions to him, though Fukase was still uncertain of it. "Don't you remember the last time that happened?"

He chuckled as she reminded him. "Yes, and no I'm not gonna get drunk and then sleep it off. Point's here this time, so no alcohol," At the mention of its name, the little white doll waved at Flower gleefully, to which she returned its gesture with a small wave back.

Hold on. Her hands, those-

"Well, I won't get in the way of your 'insomniac' ritual," The teen trailed off as she began to step away from Fukase, slowly trotting back to her room. "Just don't go overboard and end up sleeping in the kitchen this time or else Oliver's gonna-"

"Flower, wait,"

She immediately halted in her footsteps at the sound of his voice. She almost couldn't recognize his tone... Deep and firm and... uncharacteristically serious.

No... He couldn't have...

As she digested the realization she just had, the teenaged boy behind her spun around, his body now facing hers as they stood in the empty hallway. There was a momentary silence before Fukase spoke slowly, emphasizing on each word. "Flower," He began, the tone in his voice confident and full of conviction. Looks like my hunch was right after all...

"Give me your hand,"

... Shit.

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