Warnings: Hinted AkaKuro, AU.

The boy's there again, standing in his room and staring out the window with empty eyes. He's always there, in the exact same spot, with that lifeless expression.

Akashi has no idea of the boy's name, but the paleness of his skin, blankness of his stare and lack of presence have earned him the nickname Ghost boy in the redhead's mind.

Ghost boy's crying again today.

Don't cry.

Akashi wants to help, but he can't go out. His parents forbid him from doing that. His therapist keeps telling him to try and persuade his parents to let him leave his room freely, not just for school, because it's not healthy to be cooped up like that. Honestly, Akashi couldn't care less. When he's in his room, he can see Ghost boy from his window, and that's enough to make him happy.

It seems Ghost boy's stuck in his room as well. Sometimes Akashi catches a glimpse of a woman shoving the boy in and then slamming the door shut behind him. Ghost boy always runs to the door and bangs on it, probably begging the woman to open it, but after a while he gives up and turns so he can stare out of the window.

Akashi knows his own room is just as much of a prison as Ghost boy's. Akashi's mother also locks the door, even if his parents never have to shove him in, but he doesn't even try to open it. He doesn't want to get out, because that would mean joining his parents in the living room and having to listen to their endless nagging of how he's their only son and heir and he has to live up to the family's name and blahblahblah.

Really, he enjoys the silence of his room. He's having plenty of fun in there, even if it is void of all objects he could hurt himself with. That means it doesn't have anything besides a bed and a wardrobe in it (the wardrobe doesn't even have a mirror because it could be broken and the shards used as blades). He even has to do his homework under someone's supervision, mostly a servant's, so he can't stab himself with a pen or something.

He thinks his parents are overreacting, but they say they're doing it for his safety.

So he wouldn't 'get any funny ideas again'.

Akashi chuckles to himself a bit. If he really wanted, he could find a way to harm himself, no matter what his parents do to keep him safe.

But he doesn't want to.

Instead he settles for being locked up in his room day after day. It's not like he would have anything to do outside the safety of those four familiar walls anyway.

Sometimes Ghost boy is really hard to detect, even if he's standing right in the same spot as all the previous days. Akashi has no idea how he does that, but it's one of the daily sources of entertainment for him when he waits for it to be late enough to go to bed.

Wouldn't it be fun if I learned to do that, and then I'd break the window and make it look like I jumped out even though I'm still in the room? Yes, Akashi's parents would totally fall for a trick like that. After all, it wouldn't be the first time Akashi's done something what his parents call 'inappropriate' to himself.

The train of thought dies when Akashi finally spots Ghost boy. The teal-haired boy is sitting on the window sill with a messy hair and no tears streaming down his cheeks. That's good, Akashi muses, it's been so long since he last didn't cry. Maybe things are getting better for him?

Definitely not, Akashi realises just seconds later, when the boy across the street stands up, opens the window and –

"Don't jump!"

Ghost boy probably can't hear him over the noise of the traffic, but Akashi still shouts through the small crack of the window (which for safety reasons doesn't open more). He hopes he could do something, but he doesn't even have a phone so he could call the police or ambulance or whatever it is you call in situations like this.

"Please don't jump!"

(What a hypocrite you are, Seijuurou.)

Ghost boy looks up then, as if he'd heard something, and for a fleeting moment Akashi could swear the other boy's eyes are on him, burning a hole into his soul.

Then the bluenette pulls back and closes the window. Akashi breathes in relief.

You and I have so much in common. If we ever met, I'm sure we'd become friends.

Akashi closes the window.

Hope for the future…

A/N: I wasn't going to start writing anything new, but this plot bunny nearly ate me alive so I had to get it out. It's my first AkaKuro story so please don't kill me if it's not good ;u;

Reviews are appreciated!